Author: Basmajian Ani

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY: AZERBAIJAN BREAKS THE PLANS OF PACE DELEGATION TO VISIT SOUTH CAUCASIAN REGION FOR THE PURPOSE OF ASSESSING THE CONDITION OF CULTURAL MONUMENTS IN EARLY SEPTEMBER, 2007

arminfo
2007-08-30 01:42:00

"We are informed that the PACE delegation had decided to visit the
region at the beginning of September, after several postponements",
Vladimir Karapetian, Spokesperson of the Armenian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, says.

He regrets that the visit has now apparently been cancelled as a
result of the non-constructive stance of the Azerbaijani side, due
solely to their intent to veil the demolition of Armenian monuments
in Nakhijevan.

According to him, Armenia places great significance on the visit of the
cultural monuments assessment mission, headed by the Rapporteur on the
Cultural Heritage in the South Caucasus for PACE, Eddie O’Hara, to the
region, and particularly to Nakhijevan. "We had ourselves initiated
the idea of visits to the region by PACE, the European Parliament as
well as UNESCO, for the purpose of assessing the condition of cultural
monuments. I think it is important to note that Armenia and Nagorno
Karabakh had given the O’Hara delegation their agreement regarding
the mission," V.Karapetian notes.

A LOOK BACK AT THE TURKISH ELECTIONS
by Saad Eddin Ibrahim and Mensur Akgun

Media For Freedom, Nepal
sp?ArticleID=3987
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews)

Aug 29 2007

Cairo/Istanbul – We were both in Turkey before and after Sunday, 22
July, the day of the intensely debated parliamentary elections. Given
the large-scale, contentious demonstrations and the post-modernist
military intervention – via the internet – over the issue of
secularism, there were hundreds of eager international observers
expecting something spectacular to happen. But to their dismay,
and to the dismay of many others, balloting was calm and orderly.

No violence or irregularities were reported. It was one of the highest
voter turnouts in the history of Turkey’s democratic elections (84.4
percent). The highly debated role of the religiously-affiliated
Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP) was put to the test for
the second time in five years; it passed with flying colours.

The Turkish political community had anticipated the outcome. The few
surprises had to do only with margins of performance of the various
actors. Though the AKP was poised to win a majority, it did far better
than even it expected with 46.7 percent of votes, 12.4 points higher
than its 2002 victory.

Among the losers was the Turkish military, which has never hidden its
deep misgivings vis-a-vis the ascendance of the AKP in the country’s
socio-political space. It is widely believed that the military blessed
the pro-secular demonstration earlier in the spring as well as the
unification of centre-right and centre-left parties. Though clearly
rebuffed by the voters, the military seems to be learning to manage
such public adversities, at least for the time being.

AKP leader Recep Tayyib Erdogan went out of his way in his victory
speech later on the night of 22 July to allay the fears of AKP
detractors. He assured all concerned of his solemn commitment to the
secular principle of the Turkish Republic. He equally reiterated his
drive to join the European Union; and proudly pledged to maintain
the high rate of Turkey’s economic growth.

The whole world was watching Turkey that day: some admiringly, some
cynically, looking for any mishaps to justify keeping Turkey out of
the European Club; and yet others watched nervously, for fear of a
success that would put pressure on them to follow its model. Among
the latter were Arab autocrats, to whose reactions we now turn.

While Arab opposition parties, civil society and democracy activists
cheered the news from Turkey, there was official silence from Arab
governments, as if the elections had occurred on another planet.

Unlike the front-page headlines in independent media, the
state-controlled media in many Arab countries either ignored, delayed
or relegated the Turkish elections’ story to internal pages or the
tail-end of their regular news.

By the third or fourth day, these media pundits went out of their way
to tell their respective audiences how different the situation in
Turkey was from that of Arab countries. Some played up the chronic
Kurdish, Armenian and Cypriot problems as if to dampen any Arab joy
for their northern neighbour.

In some ways, this was reminiscent of cool or even hostile reactions
by the same Arab autocratic regimes to Mauritania’s giant step in
transitioning to democracy. Libya’s Qaddafi, already well into his
38th year of dictatorial rule, had dismissed Mauritania’s experience
as an exercise "in backward tribalism". None of the Arab heads of
state cared to attend the April 2006 inaugural celebration of the
democratically elected Mauritanian President.

It is abundantly clear that when such developments occur in Arab
or Muslim-majority countries, it proves doubly embarrassing. This
may also explain – at least in part – why many of these regimes are
reported to be undermining efforts to democratise Iraq.

The triumphant AKP is again victorious today in the election of the
mostly ceremonial President of the Republic, an event which became
controversial a few months earlier over the headscarf of the would-be
First Lady. Yet a challenge for the AKP in the short-run is the
army’s request to use military means to crush the Kurdish rebels in
the southeast. Erdogan has resisted so far in search of non-violent
alternatives and support from regional and domestic players.

In the medium and the longer term, the AKP has managed not only to
become solidly mainstream in Turkish politics but also, through its
own example, paved the way for other Muslim Democrats, in a manner
akin to Christian Democrats in the West. As a matter of fact, a
Moroccan Islamic party bearing the same name in Arabic (French PJD)
is already a major contender in the parliamentary elections being
held the beginning of September.

Beyond the Middle East, the latest democratic election in Turkey,
coupled with the success of other religiously-affiliated parties in
recent years in other countries, from Indonesia to Mauritania, may
be putting to rest the suspect proposition of "Muslim Exceptionalism".

If countries like Turkey can survive as democratic regimes with
Muslim-majority populations, why can’t others?

###

*Saad Eddin Ibrahim is a human rights activist and founder of the
Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies in Cairo, Egypt. Mensur
Akgun is the program director for the foreign policy department at
TESEV, an independent think-tank in Istanbul, Turkey. This article
is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be
accessed at

ANDREW TARSI RESTORED AT HIS POST OF DIRECTOR OF ADL U.S. REGIONAL OFFICE

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Aug 28 2007

BOSTON, AUGUST 28, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The heads of the
Jewish organization Anti-Defamation League (ADL) restored Andrew
Tarsi at his post of the director of the ADL US regional office,
"The Boston Globe" reported.

To recap, more than two weeks ago Tarsi was removed from his post
for calling on the ADL heads to recognize the Armenian Genocide and
to qualify publicly this reality as genocide.

The ADL head Abraham Foxman stated that after having a talk with Tarsi
in their Boston office, he decided to restore Tarsi at his position
and he is happy with his return.

Tarsi in his turn noted that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide
by Foxman caused the decision about his return.

Foxman added that the Turkish government’s pressure on them will
not prevent them from reconsidering their position on the issue
of Congress’ resolution No 106 recognizing the Armenian Genocide –
at the ADL forum scheduled for November 1.

ORINATS YERKIR ALSO AGAINST KARABAKH RECOGNITION
By Ruzanna Khachatrian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug 29 2007

The Orinats Yerkir Party on Wednesday spoke out against Armenia’s
formal recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state,
which is sought by another opposition force represented in parliament.

Raffi Hovannisian, the leader of the Zharangutyun Party, introduced
on Tuesday a relevant draft law in the National Assembly and urged
the pro-government majority there to promptly debate and pass it.

Majority leaders, however, rejected the initiative, saying that it
would only undermine international efforts to resolve the Karabakh
conflict.

Mher Shahgeldian, deputy chairman of Orinats Yerkir, made similar
arguments as he presented his party’s position on the issue. "If it
was possible to solve the problem by such acts, many countries with
such national-liberation causes would have done so," he said. "We
advocate a pro-Armenian solution to the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh
and believe that the conflict’s settlement within the framework of
international structures more than corresponds to this principle."

Parliament speaker Tigran Torosian and other majority leaders claimed
on Tuesday that the Zharangutyun bill is a publicity stunt aimed at
earning Hovannisian and his party more political points.

Karabakh declared itself an independent state in 1991 shortly after
breaking away from Azerbaijani rule but has since failed to win formal
recognition by any country of the world, including Armenia.

The current and former authorities in Yerevan have resisted domestic
calls to recognize the dispute territory’s independence, saying that
such a move would only have a symbolic significance and antagonize
the international community.

TAN: ISRAEL MUST GET US JEWS BACK DOWN

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Aug 27 2007

Turkey expects Israel to get Jewish lobby in the U.S. to back
down, said Turkish Ambassador to Turkey Namik Tan, regarding the
Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) reversal of position last week on the
Armenian allegations.

ADL President Abraham Foxman said in a statement posted on the group’s
web-site that his organization had come to share the view that the
incidents of 1915 "were indeed tantamount to genocide."

In an exclusive interview with Israel’s prominent English daily
Jerusalem Post, Tan said he understood that Israel’s position had
not changed and that Israel should not let the U.S. Jewish community
change its position regarding the incidents of 1915.

"This is our expectation and this is highly important," said Turkish
Ambassador. "If you want to touch and hurt the hearts of people in
Turkey, this is the issue," Tan said. "This is the #1 issue. You can
not easily explain to them any change in this."

Tan stated that Turkey expects Israel to deliver American Jewish
organizations and ensure that the U.S. Congress does not pass a
resolution qualifying as "genocide" the incidents of 1915 during
World War I.

Tan said he understood that the American Jewish organizations were
just that American Jewish organizations. But "we all know how they
work in coordinating their efforts (with Israel)," he added.

"In the eyes of the Turkish people, Turkey’s strategic relationship
with Israel was not with Israel alone, but with the whole Jewish
world," Tan said. "Turkish people can not make that differentiation."

"Turkish people are waiting for this effort on the part of Israel to
straighten out, to put this issue in perspective," he continued and
said that he does not accept the arguments that Israel has no control
over the American Jewish organizations.

"On some issues there is no such thing as ‘Israel can not deliver’.

This was one of those issues," he said.

Upon a question about what would happen if the U.S. Congress passes
a resolution on the matter, Tan remembered that Turkey –since the
establishment of a close strategic relationship with Israel in the
1990s– had never "played with the basics of this relationship,
or with the basic fundamentals of it."

"It would be tantamount to playing with one of the fundamentals of
this strategic relationship," he said.

Tan also noted that congressional resolutions on this issue would
have no real "teeth," however, he said the psychological importance
would be enormous.

ARMENIA ALSO HIT BY AFRICAN SWINE FEVER

PigProgress.net, Netherlands
nia_also_hit_by_african_swine_fever.html
Aug 27 2007

The outbreak of African Swine Fever in the Caucasian region has
entered Armenia as well.

This weekend, Armenian agricultural authorities confirmed reports that
several rural communities in the North-Eastern provinces of Lori and
Tavush have been affected by African Swine Fever (ASF).

Last week, the disease was reported in the autonomous region of
Abchazia in Northern Georgia after a summer with many outbreaks
in Georgia.

Now Armenia, south of Georgia and north of Iran, has become the next
victim of the virus that usually does not spread north of the Sahara.

Authorities said that in the villages of Vahagnadzor, Vahagni, Pambak
and Dsekh pigs died in mass.

Penetration Grisha Baghian, head of food safety and veterinary medicine
department of the ministry, said the infectious disease has most
probably penetrated from neighbouring Georgia, where it has killed
already over 30,000 pigs and where about 22,000 pigs had to be culled.

The ministry said it has ordered swift preventive measures to ward
off spread of the disease.

Ban In some areas of both provinces the ban on pig movements and
marketing was enforced.

Pig owners were told to burn the carcasses of dead pigs and also
strict entry and exit controls between all infected and free areas
have been enforced, all vehicles and people entering and leaving
farms must undergo strict disinfection procedures.

In the meantime, veterinary officials from the Georgian ministry
of agriculture have met with their Abkhaz and Russian colleagues to
discuss the outbreak of the disease in the regions affected.

FresnoBee.com
The Fresno Bee Editorial Opinion Blog
Posted by Jim Boren
August 21, 2007 04:40 PM

Here’s something I bet you didn’t know about next year’s Fresno County
District 5 supervisor electionDebbie Poochigian, one of the candidates
challenging Supervisor Bob Waterston in next year’s District 5 race,
is running third in fund-raising, according to the political wiseguys
in the county. That’s true if you don’t look at all the campaign
statements on file in the Fresno County Elections Office.

This is the way some people see the fund-raising race so far: Clovis
Council Member Nathan Magsig leads with close to $214,000, with
Waterston having more than $208,000. Poochigian is third with
$168,900.

But look a little deeper and you’ll see that Poochigian has other
money potentially at her disposal. Her father, the late Deran
Koligian, still has $108,737 in his old supervisorial account. Her
husband, former state Sen. Chuck Poochigian, has $148,848 in his
account from his unsuccessful run for attorney general last year.

It’s unclear whether Debbie Poochigian can transfer all of that money
to her supervisorial campaign. But if she can, she has $426,485
available without holding another fund-raiser. Maybe she won’t be able
to use all that money because of campaign laws, and maybe her husband
will want to keep his campaign account open in case he runs for
something in 2010.

But just maybe she is way ahead of her opponents already and they
don’t even know it. Some think this will be a million-dollar race,
with three experienced and well-funded politicians running. Poochigian
has proven in dozens of campaigns over a generation that she’s a major
fund-raiser for others. That’s a lot of IOUs, and she hasn’t even
asked donors to dig deeply into their pockets yet. She could be a
million-dollar candidate all by herself.

7/08/heres_something_i_bet_you_didn.html

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Aug 23 2007

Armenia proposes establishing in its territory CIS transit bases for
providing humanitarian aid

YEREVAN, August 23. /ARKA/. Armenia proposes to establish in its
territory CIS transit bases for providing humanitarian aid.

Rudik Ghukasian, Head of the Government Reserves Department, RA
Ministry of Territorial Administration, put forward the proposal
during today’s sitting of the CIS Advisory Council of Executives in
charge of government reserves in Yerevan.

`We suggest using for this purpose the current bases in Armenia,
where material values of the CIS will be accumulated, which, in their
turn, will be used in case a country of the Commonwealth needs
humanitarian aid,’ Ghukasian said.

He pointed out that Armenia can become an operator in allocating the
accommodated values.
The Armenian party made this proposal, taking into account the
unstable political situation in a number of countries in the region,
as well as the seismic risk and the importance of taking measures
against possible natural calamities.

The proposal was appreciated by the CIS.

Vladislav Gasumyanov, Deputy Chief of Russia’s Federal Agency of
Government Reserves, pointed out that the Russian delegation approves
the proposal made by the Armenian party on the establishment of
transit bases for providing humanitarian aid.

However, a number of obstacles must be removed in national
legislations before the implementation of the project, he stated. `We
need time to study the issue and only after this, we will make a
decision, taking into account national legislations,’ Gasumyanov
said.

Chairman of the State Reserves Committee, Ministry of Emergency of
Kazakhstan Kabidolla Sarekenov also welcomed the proposal of the
Armenian party. He believes it is right that Armenia raises the issue
of establishing transit bases for humanitarian aid and emergency
situations, hoping that the decision will be accepted. Z. Sh. -0–

Anatolia News Agency
Aug 24 2007

TURKISH PREMIER SAYS US JEWISH GROUP RETRACTED STATEMENT ON "ARMENIAN
GENOCIDE"

Ankara, 24 August: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stating that
the Jewish lobby in the United States, the ADL [Anti-Defamation
League], which was reported to have changed its stance regarding the
1915 Armenian incidents, has sent a message to the Office of the
prime minister, said that the false step made previously has been
retracted with this statement. Erdogan said: "The indicated that,
just as they have provided all the support they could until now, they
will provide it in the future as well."

Erdogan, after casting his vote in the second round of the
presidential election, was questioned by journalists in the
corridors: "You spoke with [Israeli President] Shimon Perez. There
are reports that the Jewish lobby in America has taken a step
backwards; what are the developments in this regard?" Stating that
the text with the ADL’s written message had come, he said: "They said
that they share our sensitivities in particular on account of this
statement regarding us, and they expressed the mistake they had made
in the written fax they sent us."

Erdogan, pointing out that he has to date suggested to Armenia that
the topic be studied by a commission comprised of historians,
archaeologists, and political scientists, and that politicians sit
together and work on this, noted that Armenia has not responded to
him on this matter. Erdogan said: "They [the ADL] indicate that they
agree with this as well. On account of this, they expressed their
regret."

In response to a question, Erdogan stated that a fax had come from
the ADL. Asked "are they going to declare this to the world, or will
it just be limited to a fax coming to the Office of the prime
minister?", he said: "No. It has already been posted on their own
[web]site." In response to the question "did they fax to you what is
on the site?", Erdogan said "I do not know the one on their site, but
there is a fax that came to the Office of the prime minister."

Prime Minister Erdogan, before taking part in the voting in the
General Assembly, met for a while in his office with the Presidential
candidate, Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul.
Afterwards, Erdogan went to the General Assembly with Gul.

Gul, when asked by journalists about a cartoon of his wife that
appeared in a humour magazine [portraying her as a headscarfed
Playboy "bunny"], responded "I didn’t see it… I don’t look [at such
things]."

Jerusalem Post
Aug 27 2007

Israel must get US Jews to back down, Turkey’s envoy tells ‘Post’

By HERB KEINON

Turkey expects Israel to "deliver" American Jewish organizations and
ensure that the US Congress does not pass a resolution characterizing
as genocide the massacre of Armenians during World War I, Turkish
Ambassador to Israel Namik Tan told The Jerusalem Post Sunday.

The Armenian Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Torkom Manoogian, lays
a wreath in the city last year, marking the anniversary of the mass
killing of Armenians in Turkey.
Photo: AP [file]
Tan cut short a vacation and rushed back to Israel Thursday to deal
with the Anti-Defamation League’s reversal last week of its
long-standing position on the issue.

Tan said he understood that Israel’s position had not changed, but
"Israel should not let the [US] Jewish community change its position.
This is our expectation and this is highly important, highly
important."

Turkey’s concern is that last week’s decision by ADL national
director Abe Foxman would open the dikes and enable the passage in
Congress of a nonbinding resolution calling Ottoman Turkey’s actions
against the Armenians "genocide."

"If you want to touch and hurt the hearts of the people in Turkey,
this is the issue," Tan said. "This is the No. 1 issue. You cannot
easily explain to them any change in this."

He said he had requested urgent meetings with Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik,
to impress upon them the importance of this issue to Turkey.

Tan’s request for these meetings came after President Shimon Peres
spoke last week with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and
explained that Israel had no intention of changing its policy on this
issue, which is that Turkey and Armenia should resolve their
differences over the matter through dialogue.

In the eyes of the Turkish people, Tan said, his country’s strategic
relationship with Israel was not with Israel alone, but with the
whole Jewish world. "They [the Turkish people] cannot make that
differentiation," he said.

Tan said he understood that the American Jewish organizations were
just that – American Jewish organizations. But "we all know how they
work in coordinating their efforts [with Israel]," he added.

Tan opted for an anecdote to illustrate his point, saying former US
secretary of state Henry Kissinger once said he was first an
American, then the secretary of state, and then a Jew. Golda Meir
"told Kissinger: ‘You know, Mr. Secretary, we read things from right
to left.’ This tells a lot about my case," Tan said.

The Turkish people "are waiting for this effort on the part of Israel
to straighten out, to put this issue in perspective," he said.

While senior Israeli government officials said Sunday that Israel was
trying to explain to Turkey that it did not control the American
Jewish organizations, Tan did not accept that argument.

"On some issues there is no such thing as ‘Israel cannot deliver?’"
he said, adding that this was one of those issues.

Tan, who served two terms in Washington in the 1990s and worked
closely with American Jewish organizations on this issue, said Israel
had proven its ability to deliver the organizations on this matter in
the past.

While voicing no threats as to what would happen if Congress passed a
resolution on this matter, Tan said Turkey – since the development of
a close strategic relationship with Israel in the 1990s – had never
"played with the basics of this whole relationship, with the basic
fundamentals of this relationship." A reversal by the American Jewish
community of its position on this matter, leading to the passage of
the resolution in Congress, would be tantamount to playing with one
of the fundamentals of this strategic relationship, he said.

Meanwhile, visiting Rep. Gary Ackerman (D.-New York) told the Post
that were the resolution to come to the Congress today, "it would
pass, I guess. There is lots of heavy lobbying on both sides. Some
things are better left in the fuzzy area. Some think that not
addressing this for the moment is the better deal, considering the
consequences."

Nevertheless, Ackerman, a staunch supporter of Israel, said he had
"been signed up on the bill for a long time."

"Those of us who have condemned genocide and ethnic cleansing and
insisted on people accepting responsibility and learning from the
lessons of the Holocaust… well, the Armenian Genocide is something
we’ve said must be owned up to," he said.

The "complication is in the justice and timing," Ackerman said.
"Turkey is a very important player, juxtaposed in many complicated
issues now. Their government’s cooperation is essential in a number
of areas."

He said he had been lobbied by Turkish Jews on the matter, who had
asked that the issue be resolved "in a different arena," not in
Congress.

On the wider issue of the weight of Congressional resolutions,
Ackerman said: "We’re constantly shocked by the weight [attached to]
the resolution. We don’t take them [such resolutions] one-tenth as
seriously as other people do. They don’t have the force of law. If
the Turkish parliament passed a resolution saying, ‘Shame on you for
stealing Manhattan’… we’d laugh it off. But then, of course, it
doesn’t rock our political boat."

Tan said that while he understood Congressional resolutions on this
would have no real "teeth," the psychological importance was
enormous. Accepting the resolution, he said, "means you deny the
past, it means you say that my ancestors have done something
inconceivable. And the people who will be encouraged by this will use
it to set up a campaign against Turkey and the Turkish people."