Author: Boris Nahapetian

Aravot, Armenia
Sept 20 2005
“MESROP MASHTOTS” INSTEAD OF FOUR HORSES
The President Robert Kocharian received yesterday the delegation led
by the member of highest council of the United Arabic Emirates, the
Emir of Sharjah, sheikh doctor Sultan ben Mohammad al Kasimi who
brought with him 4 Arabic thoroughbred horses as a gift. The
President gave to the Emir the highest state award of Armenia “St.
Mesrop Mashtots” medal for strengthening relative relations between
Armenian and Arab people and also for warm attitudes towards the
Armenian community of Sharjah.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri President Visits Sumgayit
Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 14 2005
14/08/2005 06:32
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev visited to Sungayit, third largest city
in Azerbaijan, on Friday to participate at a opening ceremony of
the monument to Heydar Aliyev, the former President of Azerbaijan,
Trend reports.
In his remarks, the President mentioned Heydar Aliyev’s important
contribution to the development of Sumgayit, including establishment
of the industry potential of the city. He noted that over the last
6 months the country’s economic development comprised 20%, which is
a very significant indicator. The President said that the program
on poverty reduction was successfully implemented, but problems
still remain.
“Despite decrease, the level of unemployment is high as usual.
However, the work in this direction will be continued. I would like
Azerbaijani residents to live well and get high salary,” Aliyev stated.
He assured the participants of the ceremony that community problems
such as water supply, energy supply, gas supply would be settled. The
President also mentioned the construction of 506 megawatt Sumgayit
power station.
Touching upon the forthcoming parliamentary elections, Aliyev noted
that the Azerbaijani Election Code would be observed, the election
would be held in democratic and transparent conditions. He also
stressed that local bodies should not interfere to the citizens’
voting.
“I’m sure that the wise Azerbaijani people will make a right choice
and elect candidates, who will serve for the welfare of the people.
The same time there is no place for persons brought the country to
chaos in the past,” he said.
According to Aliyev, the public budget for 2006 will comprise at
least 3 billion manats. The public budget for 2005 was increased by
40% as compared 2004, the military expenditures – 76%. “The military
expenditures will also have to be increased by 76%. We must completely
use an opportunity of peaceful negotiations on settlement of the
Karabakh conflict. Necessary measures will be taken in case of their
failure,” Aliyev stated.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Pentagon aims to bolster security in Caspian Sea region
Stars and Stripes (European edition)
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
By Russ Rizzo
The Department of Defense will oversee a $130 million effort in the next
six years to increase security in the volatile Caspian Sea region,
according to European Command officials coordinating the effort.
The U.S. hopes to improve patrolling on the Caspian Sea and secure
borders of countries in the area to stop the flow of terrorists, weapons
and drugs, and to stabilize a region with significant U.S. political and
business interests, officials said.
The program, called the Caspian Guard Initiative, focuses on Azerbaijan
and Kazakhstan – the two most western-leaning countries in the area that
lie on opposite sides of the sea – but could expand in future years,
said Army Lt. Col. Scott Sweetser, who helped coordinate the program for
European Command.
European Command Special Forces and contractors began training members
of Azerbaijan’s Navy last year on intercepting terrorists, drugs and
weapons trafficked on the Caspian Sea. Future training will include
border patrol, Sweetser said.
In both countries, the U.S. hopes to build command-and-control centers –
similar to the one used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security – as
well as centers to direct air and maritime security operations, Sweetser
said.
The U.S. also built an interim maritime command and control center in
Baku, Azerbaijin, which it hopes to expand, Sweetser said. The U.S.
State and Energy departments also are taking part in the program.
Interest in the region developed as EUCOM officials looked at potential
threats in their area after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,
Sweetser said.
`We started to look at where the threats were and realized this one was
glaringly obvious,’ Sweetser said.
Azerbaijan is a particular interest to the United States because it
shares borders with Russia to the north – with the nearby region of
Chechnya – and Iran to the south, making it potential transit point for
terrorists, Sweetser said.
`You’ve got a central point, if you drew a line between those, that make
Azerbaijan vulnerable to the movement of terrorists,’ Sweetser said.
The new interest in the region also comes as Azerbaijan situates itself
as a key player in the U.S. effort to reduce dependency on Middle East
oil. An oil pipeline running from Baku to Tbilisi, Georgia, to the
Mediterranean port city Ceyhan, Turkey, opened earlier this year and is
considered crucial to that cause, according to news reports.
EUCOM officials were quick to downplay the role of oil in the Caspian
Guard Initiative, saying that securing natural resources are only part
of the overall strategy.
`The idea is to protect regional stability,’ Sweetser said. `If you
create regional stability, it makes the security of economic
infrastructures that much [greater].’
;article=30850
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Russia, Iran agree to join hands against drug trafficking
10/ 08/ 2005
MOSCOW, August 10 (RIA Novosti) – The government agencies for drug
control in Russia and Iran have agreed to cooperate in combating
illegal trade in narcotics and psychotropic substances. The heads of
the respective agencies, Viktor Cherkesov and Ali Khashemi, today
signed a cooperation memorandum outlining principal strategies for
sharing information on drug-related crimes and their perpetrators.
Russian drug control officials said that before signing the
memorandum, the sides had to work out common approaches to fighting
drug trafficking, specifically, the distribution of Afghan heroin.
Russian officials also said their initiative to create and strengthen
anti-drug “security belts” around Afghanistan had been fully supported
by Iranian counterparts. Last November, Iran contributed to a Eurasian
anti-drug trafficking operation, under the auspices of the Collective
Security Treaty Organization (Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan).
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI YOUTH MOVEMENT LEADER ACCUSED IN COOPERATION WITH ARMENIAN SPECIAL SERVICES
PanArmenian News Network
Aug 6 2005
06.08.2005 04:21
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijan’s Office of Prosecutor General has
released a statement, that says their officers have taken into
custody Ruslan Bashirli, the leader of Yeni Fikir youth movement.
Bashirli, who is close with People’s Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA),
is suspected in cooperation with Armenian special services and is
arrested on the basis of a statement of youth organization another
member – Osman Alimuradov. According to the latter, July 28-29 he
and Bashirli “visited Tbilisi, where they met with certain Georgi
Ispiryan and Vardan, who were actually Armenian special services
officers.” PFPA flatly denies these accusations and calls the happening
a provocation. “The provocative report says that allegedly Bashirli met
with Ispiryan in a private flat and the latter promised the Yeni Fikir
leader comprehensive assistance in organizing a “colored revolution”
in Azerbaijan and PFPA leader Ali Kerimli coming to power. Ispiryan
promised to provide opposition with discreditable information about
the Azeri authorities and gave $2 thousand to Bashirli on receipt. He
also told Bashirli that the assistance of that kind will be provided
periodically,” PFPA release says. The PFPA has urged international
community not to keep indifferent towards the lot of Yeni Fikir
activists and protect R. Bashirli, reported IA Regnum.

Scholars Petition President of Armenia on Behalf of Jailed Ph.D. Candidate
By AISHA LABI
Chronicle of Higher Education
Monday, August 1, 2005
More than 200 academics from the United States, Armenia, Turkey,
and elsewhere have signed an open letter to the president of Armenia
expressing their “grave concern” at the arrest and detention of a
Ph.D. candidate from Duke University. The student, Yektan Turkyilmaz,
a Turkish citizen, was arrested on June 17 as he was leaving Armenia
for Turkey with about 100 secondhand books he had legally purchased.
Mr. Turkyilmaz, who has been in jail in the Armenian capital of
Yerevan since then, was charged last week with customs violations for
attempting to remove books that are more than 50 years old from the
country without permission. The prohibition against doing so falls
under an article of the Armenian criminal code that mentions items
such as narcotics; radioactive materials; firearms; nuclear, chemical,
and biological weapons; and “technologies which can also be used for
the creation or use of mass-destruction weapons or missile-delivery
systems.”
Mr. Turkyilmaz has been charged under a provision relating to the
removal of “cultural values for the transportation of which special
rules are established.”
Ayse Gul Altinay, an assistant professor at Sabanci University in
Istanbul who is coordinating efforts on Mr. Turkyilmaz’s behalf,
said that many of the scholars she has contacted, including Armenians
and Armenian-Americans, were “shocked” to find out that Armenian law
treats customs violations relating to books in the same way it does
violations to do with nuclear weapons. If convicted, Mr. Turkyilmaz
faces a jail sentence of four to eight years.
Mr. Turkyilmaz is a candidate for a degree in cultural anthropology,
and his dissertation is to be called “Imagining ‘Turkey,’ Creating
a Nation: The Politics of Geography and State Formation in Eastern
Anatolia, 1908-1938.”
Relations between Turkey and Armenia have long been strained, and
the period that Mr. Turkyilmaz is studying is at the heart of the
tension. In 1915 Ottoman Turkish forces killed 1.5 million Armenians
in Eastern Anatolia. Armenians characterize the killings as genocide,
but Turkey attributes the deaths to civil war and other factors,
and emphasizes that many Turks also perished.
Orin Starn, Mr. Turkyilmaz’s dissertation supervisor at Duke, described
him as a “humane and lovely person, as well as the model of a top-notch
researcher and scholar” who has won many awards and grants, including
a Social Science Research Council fellowship that is supporting his
work in Armenia. “His work is very interdisciplinary. He is very
interested in culture and the politics of culture, and his research
is much more historically focused,” said Mr. Starn. “It connects very
much to political science and international relations and geography.”
Ms. Altinay, who also completed her Ph.D. under Mr. Starn’s supervision
at Duke, said that the research Mr. Turkyilmaz is doing is highly
original. “This was a very violent moment in the history of this
region, and it’s also a very complicated moment, when different
nationalisms clashed with one another, ideologically and physically.
This is the formation period of Turkish nationalism, of Kurdish
nationalism, and of Armenian nationalism,” she said.
“Scholars so far have focused on one of these issues,” she said, “and
have not looked at how these different nationalisms have influenced,
formed, and affected one another.”
Mr. Turkyilmaz is fluent in modern and Ottoman Turkish and different
dialects of Armenian, as well as French and English.
“Yektan loves Armenia. He learned the language and is fascinated
by all things Armenian,” said Mr. Starn. “He made a lot of friends
there, and part of the reason he’s there and has been collecting books
is that he’s fascinated and engaged by Armenian culture.” This was
Mr. Turkyilmaz’s fourth trip to Armenia and he had become the first
Turkish scholar to be allowed to conduct research in the Armenian
National Archive.
“His work involves a lot of copying documents in the archives and
getting ahold of old books, early 20th-century books related to his
work,” said Mr. Starn. “All these books were purchased from secondhand
booksellers who sold them openly. There was no secret sale or purchase
of these books.” It is common for scholars and especially historians to
acquire or collect books from the period they study, Mr. Starn pointed
out. “This was clearly an unknowing violation of the law,” he said.
Last week Ms. Altinay visited Mr. Turkyilmaz in prison. She was the
first person to be allowed to do so other than his lawyers. They spoke
in what she described as an interrogation room, in the presence of
a National Security Service agent, and neither was allowed to take
notes. “I tried to explain that there are a number of people doing
all they can to address his situation,” she said. “He explained to
me what he thought was happening. He had no idea that he had to have
permission to take these books out of the country.”
Mr. Turkyilmaz told Ms. Altinay that he had been very excited by
the “wonderful material” the archives had yielded, but that all his
research, including CD’s with his work from the national archives, had
been confiscated. A backup set of CD’s he had left with a friend was
also confiscated. “This was one of the signs that this is not a customs
investigation,” Ms. Altinay said. “He didn’t even have these with him.”
The open letter to Armenia’s president, Robert Kocharian, says of Mr.
Turkyilmaz: “We understand that he has been questioned about his
research and theoretical orientations, and the digital copies
of his archival research have been confiscated. There can be no
justification for this treatment.” The letter goes on to note that
“the current law places no obligation on the sellers of old books
to inform the purchasers that special permissions will be needed to
take the books out of the country and makes no distinction between
violations involving nuclear weapons and books.”
Mr. Starn plans to travel to Armenia on August 12, unless Mr.
Turkyilmaz is released before then. No trial date has been set, but
the judge who will hear the case has said that it would take place
around August 15.
Duke University officials have contacted members of Congress about
Mr. Turkyilmaz’s situation and have also sought the help of prominent
Armenian-Americans. Mr. Starn said Mr. Turkyilmaz would pay whatever
fine and turn over whatever historical volumes the Armenian authorities
demanded. “The really big issue is that a four-to-eight-year jail
term and being detained now for six weeks is a very severe penalty
for such an unknowing mistake.”
As of this morning, President Kocharian had not responded to the
letter, which was sent to him on Friday with about 100 signatures. An
updated version with an additional 100 signatures was sent today.
“This letter in and of itself has become a peace project,” said Ms.
Altinay. “The kind of people who have come together on this have never
come together before on any other issues. There are prominent genocide
researchers who have signed this document who have dedicated their
whole lives to criticizing Turkey and Turks. That they are coming
and signing this document, written by Turks, in support of Yektan,
criticizing the actions of the Armenian government, is very crucial.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanArmenian News Network
July 29 2005
SWISS PARLIAMENTARIAN: TURKEY BOUND TO ACKNOWLEDGE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
29.07.2005 04:30
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Chairman of the commission for foreign affairs of
the Swiss House of Representatives Ervin Jutset stated that Turkey
must acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, otherwise it will face
serious problems with the EU. In his words, Turkey should abandon its
tone of aggression and blackmail and proceed to reform. When
commenting on the criminal prosecution against Chairman of the
Turkish Union of Historians Yusuf Ghalaoghlu and Chairman of the
Turkish Labor Party Dogu Perincek, who keep on denying the Armenian
Genocide, the Swiss parliamentarian that unless Turkey assumes the
responsibility for the Armenian Genocide it will perceive any events
of the kind oversensitively, Yerkir online reports.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FBI INVESTIGATES CASE OF ATTEMPTED MURDER AGAINST BUSH OUT OF GEORGIA
Azg/arm
26 July 05
The employees of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation searched in
the apartment of Vladimir Harutyunian. The latter was accused of
attempted murder against George Bush, US President, in Tbilisi on May
10. “Rustavi 2” TV informed that the US and Georgian special services
are looking for the accessories of the crime out of Georgia. Givi
Targamidze, head of Defence and Security Committee at the Georgian
parliament, didn’t exclude that the traces will lead to Russia.
The Georgian home affairs minister stated that the terrorist act
carried out in town of Gory, on February 1, 2005, was organized by the
Russian Military Special Services. It’s worth mentioning that over 20
people were injured and 3 policemen died as a result of the terrorist
act. The Russian defense Ministry denied this accusation. Meabishvili,
Georgian home affairs minister, announced the names of the Russians
that were responsible for the terrorist act.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Report: Turkish FM criticizes Switzerland for detaining Turkish
politician
AP Worldstream; Jul 25, 2005

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul criticized Switzerland for
briefly detaining a Turkish politician on suspicion of violating Swiss
anti-racism laws by denying that the killings of Armenians around the
time of World War I amounted to genocide, a newspaper reported Monday.
“It is not possible for us to accept these things to be done to the
leader of a political party in Turkey,” Gul was quoted saying in
Hurriyet newspaper. “Do these actions suit a country like
Switzerland?”
Switzerland briefly detained and launched a criminal investigation
into Dogu Perincek, leader of Turkey’s Workers’ Party last week after
a speech he held in the Swiss town of Opfikon-Glattburg, in the canton
(state) of Winterthur.
In the speech honoring the 82nd anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne,
which fixed the borders of modern-day Turkey, Perincek called claims
of genocide against the Armenians an imperialist lie, Swiss
authorities said.
Under Swiss law, any act of denying, belittling or justifying genocide
is a violation of the country’s anti-racism laws.
Armenians say 1.5 million of their people were killed as the Ottoman
Empire forced them from eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1923 _ and
that this was a deliberate campaign of genocide by Turkey’s rulers at
that time.
Turks say the death count is inflated and insist that Armenians were
killed or displaced as the Ottoman Empire tried to secure its border
with Russia and stop attacks by Armenian militants.
Switzerland and Turkey have squared off in the past over the killings.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

‘Rural Architecture In The Eastern Black Sea Region’ at Milli Reasurans Art Gallery
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
FEATURE
The gallery has prepared an extensive exhibition with the photographs of Ali Konyalı and a 256-page book on the rural architecture of the eastern Black Sea region
BERÄ°L AKTAÅ~^
ISTANBUL – Turkish Daily News
Milli Reasurans Art Gallery in Istanbul is currently presenting a
exhibition of photographs of the eastern Black Sea region by Ali
Konyalı.
Milli Reasurans Art Gallery Director Amelie Edgu and Professor Afife
Batur from Istanbul Technical University have organized the exhibition,
complemented by a book, on the little-known eastern Black Sea region
with the aim of helping people understand the significance of its
culture, architecture and lifestyle.
Batur says the following about their project: “Under the guidance of
Professor ReÅ~_at Sumerkan from Karadeniz Technical University, we have
explored the most significant and interesting spots. With his camera,
or rather his insightful eye, Ali Konyalı took many photographs
and did the graphic design for the book. Professor Å~^engul Oymen
Gur from the Karadeniz Technical University faculty of architecture
contributed with her valuable treatise on the cultural components
of Black Sea architecture. Dr. Sumerkan added drawings to produce a
documentary catalogue of the most typical buildings.”
The “Rural Architecture in the Eastern Black Sea Region” exhibition,
with Edgu and AyÅ~_e Gur as curators, opened June 27 at the start
of the 5th Congress of the International Organization for Modern
Asian Architecture.
The 256-page book “Rural Architecture in the Eastern Black Sea Region”
contains more than 500 photographs and an introduction by Professor
Batur. Professor Å~^engul Oymen Gur wrote an analysis of the culture
of the region: old peasant houses, Armenian and Georgian churches and
old wooden mosques. People still speak the Laz language, Old Greek,
Armenian and Georgian in this area once known as Pontos.
Curator Edgu says the “conference/book/exhibition” combination will
make great contributions to the awareness of Turkish architecture
and overall promotion of Turkey.
The exhibition can be viewed through Aug. 1 at the Milli Reasurans
Art Gallery. Suha Arın’s film titled “Eastern Black Sea Region:
Old Houses, Old Craftsmen” is also being screened during the exhibit.
—-Box—
Settlements and houses in the eastern Black Sea region:
Professor Afife Batur
The scattered settlements of the eastern Black Sea region usually
consist of groups of a few houses built on a mountain slope used by
the members of the same family. Occasionally there is a distance of
one or two kilometers between them.
The scenery is breathtaking, with the steep slopes of the mountains
stretching to the sea, countless hills and tiny settlements of only
a few houses on the slopes, or individual houses lost in the woods
and greenery.
The real excitement, however, is to be found at the end of a rough
footpath leading to one of these houses. The first glance may create
an impression of homogeneity, yet an insider’s view combined with an
analytical approach are enough to discern architectural variety and
differences between settlements.
The majority of the houses in the eastern part of the region are
made exclusively of wood. Besides the charming beauty of the houses,
the skillfully constructed barns located at the ground floor of the
rear section should not be neglected.
Made exclusively of stone, the barns consist of two partitions on a
corridor. Each partition is vaulted with three or four arches. Called
a “bridge” in local dialect, barn arches are as wide as those of the
outer hall. Partitions are covered by wood in order to protect the
health of animals. Troughs for fodder and waste are also wooden.
–Boundary_(ID_xK2dvK5GZOnOwY1ZrtsMwA)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress