Author: Boshkezenian Garik

DINK MURDER PROBE WIDENS TO INCLUDE CHIEF OF POLICE

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 8 2007

The chief police official of Ýstanbul may face an investigation
over an alleged failure to follow up a tip-off about a plot to kill
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, news reports said Wednesday.

On Monday, the Interior Ministry sacked Ýstanbul Police Intelligence
Chief Ahmet Ýlhan Guler as part of an ongoing probe over allegations
that the security organizations failed to take measures that could
have saved Dink’s life.

The dismissal of Guler was received with suspicion in the media,
which said he apparently "sacrificed" himself to save Istanbul Police
Chief Celalettin Cerrah. Guler reportedly told inspectors that he had
received the tip-off from a police informant about plans to kill Dink
some 11 months before the murder but had never reported it to Cerrah
because he thought the information was not reliable.

Inspectors investigating the allegations have asked for permission to
launch a preliminary investigation into Cerrah and Interior Minister
Abdulkadir Aksu swiftly gave the authorization, daily Sabah said.

Cerrah may face a full investigation if the preliminary investigation
results show this is necessary.

Dink, editor of the bilingual Agos daily, was gunned down in broad
daylight on Jan. Dink was tried and sentenced to a six-month suspended
imprisonment for an article he wrote about an alleged genocide of
Armenians and the Armenian diaspora’s attitude toward it.

Some five policemen and five members of the gendarmerie have been
dismissed in a separate investigation launched after a leak to the
media of scandalous footage showing members of both the police and
gendarmerie posing for souvenir photos with Samast at a police station
in Samsun, where Samast had been arrested after a nationwide manhunt.

Newspapers reported that the gendarmerie had also been given the
same tip-off about the plot to kill Dink, but it also ignored the
warning. News reports said yesterday that one of the suspects in the
case, 24-year-old Yasin Hayal who has earlier confessed to inciting
the murder, has changed his initial testimony and said Erhan Tuncel,
the police informant who reportedly gave the tip-off to the police
and gendarmerie, had incited the killing. Tuncel is one of the chief
suspects in the case and is currently in jail.

–Boundary_(ID_JLv77Jiu6XK74cFDvM4ARA)–

V. AYVAZYAN IS NOT A COMPETITOR FOR ‘POWERFUL MOTHERLAND’

Panorama.am
18:59 06/02/2007

"The position of our party regarding the coming elections will become
clear only during our forthcoming congress. We cannot say anything
concrete today", asked by a correspondent of Panorama.am whether the
information that two leading persons of "Powerful Motherland" party
will be included in the proportional list of "Prosperous Armenia"
party is true, Deputy Chairman of "Powerful Motherland" party,
Chairman of "Javakhk" union, Shirak Torosyan answered.

He is sure that "Union of Vir-Armenians" headed by RA Minister of
Nature Protection, Member of RPA board, Vardan Ayvazyan, is not a
competitor for them at all.

He is sure that during the parliamentary elections the "Union of
Vir-Armenians", which supports the RPA, will not seize the electorate
of "Powerful Motherland".

ARF YOUTH PARTICIPATES IN SOCIALIST YOUTH WORLD COUNCIL

ASBAREZ
2/6/2007

CORK, Ireland–Representatives of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Youth from Thursday to Saturday participated in the general meeting
of the World Council of the International Union of Socialist Youth,
an affiliate of the Socialist International.

Ovsanna Atanessian of England and Hovnatan Spankenberg of Germany
represented the ARF Youth at the gathering, where they presented a
report on the treatment of Armenian minority community in Turkey and
the recent murder of Agos newspaper editor Hrant Dink.

"We as ARF Youth ask that, as socialist youth, we discuss the real
picture of Turkey and by adopting a resolution condemning Hrant Dink’s
murder, we send a clear message to the Turkish government about the
fascist forces working in Turkey,"said Spankenberg.

The presidency of the meeting presented the resolution, which was
adopted unanimously by the general meeting.

In 2004, at the IUSY World Council’s general assembly in Santiago,
Chile, a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide was approved.

The ARF Youth delegation also participated in the European Committee
meeting. During a presentation on Armenia’s current situation,
highlighting the upcoming parliamentary election, the ARF Youth
representative said "Our party’s main objective is to see the
people vote for values and political programs and not for short-term
interests."

The IUSY has representatives from 143 socialist, social-democratic
and labor unions from 100 countries.

Below is the complete text of the resolution on Hrant Dink’s murder:

The World Council of the International Union of Socialist Youth
condemns the cold-blooded murder of Hrant Dink, an Armenian journalist
and editor of "Agos" a bi-lingual Weekly in Istanbul on the 19th
January 2007. This abhorrent crime brings new threats to the rights
and existence of the diminishing Armenian community in Turkey.

The Turkish State should ultimately be held responsible for the murder
of Hrant Dink, a citizen of Turkey due to its,

* Failure to provide Dink with protection, even though he had
explicitly asked for it after receiving death threats for allegedly
"insulting Turkishness"

* Systematic denial of the Armenian Genocide

* Prosecuting of intellectuals like Dink and Pamuk for openly
acknowledging the historic truth of the Armenian Genocide

The continuing policy of Genocide denial has encouraged racism,
fascism and discrimination in Turkish society

Dink’s murder proves that there is no tolerance in Turkey for differing
views, freedom of speech and minority rights.

Therefore, and mindful of its 2004 World Council Resolution, the IUSY
calls on Turkey:

* To recognize the Armenian genocide and take full responsibility
for this crime against humanity

* To repeal paragraph 301 of the penal code, which is frequently used
to prosecute anyone who "insults Turkishness."

* To respect the rights of minorities and freedom of speech.

EU-ARMENIA PARLIAMENTARY COOPERATION COUNCIL DENOUNCES DINK ASSASSINATION

ArmRadio.am
05.02.2007 17:58

During the sitting in Brussels on 29-30 January the Armenia-EU
Parliamentary Cooperation Commission respected the memory of the
editor-n-chief of the Agos daily Hrant Dink with a minute of silence,
Co-Chair of the Commission, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on
Foreign Relations Armen Rustamyan said at a press conference today.

According to him, the resolution adopted by the Commission as a
result of two-day activity also includes reference to Hrant Dink’s
assassination. It is noted, in particular, that "the Commission
severely denounces the assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist,
public figure Hrant Dink, who was the forerunner of human rights
defense in Turkey. He always promoted the establishment of full
democracy in Turkey through the process of accession to the European
Union. He was the supporter of opening of the Armenian-Turkish border
and recognition of the Armenian Genocide." The Commission called
on Turkish authorities to undertake urgent measures to disclose the
reasons and those who ordered the murder to prevent the reoccurrence
of similar crimes.

ARMENIA’S CREDITING MARKET IS POORLY DEVELOPED: EX CB PRESIDENT

Yerevan, January 31. ArmInfo. Specialized credit organizations in
Armenia are just beginning to develop – they issue 5% of total
credits in the country, says the executive director of Garni Invest
Universal Credit Organization, Ex President of Central bank of
Armenia Bagrat Asatryan.

He says that this is due to slow financial market development rates
and imperfect legislation, particularly, in housing construction and
consumer crediting. In Armenia the demand for these credits is much
higher than the offer. At the same time, in the last three years
crediting has been growing quicker than economy. Asatryan notes that
Armenia needs a law allowing to restructure credit organization into
commercial bank.

Garni Invest was set up in Oct 2006 with an authorized capital of
196mln AMD.

Last year it worked at a loss due to primary expenses – this year it
is planning a profit equivalent to 6%-7% of its total
capital. Presently, Garni Invest’s credit portfolio totals 150mln AMD
– in Jan-June 2007 it will be raised by 60mln AMD a month. By the end
of this year the assets of Garni Invest will amount to 500mln AMD,
while the liabilities will exceed 300mln AMD. The money will be
attracted from the shareholders. Presently, Garni Invest has 10
shareholders, of whom 7 are non-residents (from the US, Germany and
Iran).

Asatryan says that Garni Invest issues consumer and business
credits. The share of business credits in the total portfolio exceeds
50%. The maximum credit per borrower is 50mln AMD, the interest –
21%-26%, the maximum repayment period – 7 years.

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
February 1, 2007 Thursday 11:01 AM EST

Moscow court sanctions arrest of former senator from Kalmykia

Moscow’s Basmanny Court on Thursday sanctioned a two-month arrest of
former Federation Council member, senator from Kalmykia Levon
Chakhmakhchian.

The court thereby met the petition of the prosecutors who said that
“Chakhmakhchian, if at large, may hide or put pressure on
investigators.”

Prosecutors said Chakhmakhchian has stepped down from his post, he is
no longer eligible for deputy’s immunity.

In passing the decision, the court agreed with prosecutor Anton
Tronin’s arguments, saying they were justified.

“Staying at large, Chakhmakhchian may negatively influence witnesses
and induce them into testifying in his favor,” the judge ruled.

The ex senator is suspected of being involved in a grand fraud
committed by an organized group, which is punishable by five to ten
years in jail.

The ex senator’s lawyer, Boris Kuznetsov, intends to appeal the
decision on Chakhmakhchian’s arrest at a higher court.

Chakhmakhchian still enjoys deputy’s immunity, meanwhile, the Supreme
Court ruling that corpus delicti exists in his actions, did not take
effect.

But the court found the arguments unsound, citing that “lodging an
appeal cannot suspend investigative actions against the suspect.”

Chakhmakhchian stated in court that “does not intend to run away and
that he had not been hiding from anybody.”

He also stated he had been brought to the court and the prosecutor’s
office illegally.

The former senator was detained in hospital on Thursday morning.

Kuznetsov protested the detention as “the Supreme Court ruling that
corpus delicti exists in his actions, did not take effect as we
lodged an appeal on time. The Supreme Court will consider it on March
6.”

Chakhmakhchian refused to testify at the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Chief accountant of the Russian-Armenian Business Cooperation
Association Igor Arushanov and assistant auditor of the Audit Chamber
Armen Oganesian were detained on suspicions of bribe taking in Moscow
on June 2, 2006.

According to the investigators, they tried to extort from a
businessman 1.5 million dollars, promising to take out negative
information from an audit act of the Audit Chamber. Police agents
confiscated 300,000 marked dollars during the detention operation in
the office, where Chakhmakhchian happened to be at that time.

As a member of the Federation Council, Chakhmakhchian enjoyed
immunity, and no measures of restraint were taken against him.

Kalmykia’s Parliament terminated Chakhmakhchian’s powers ahead of
time at the request of Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov on
June 23, 2006.

A1+

HRANT KHACHATRYAN THINKS HE IS THE PRESIDENT OF CRU
[08:44 pm] 31 January, 2007

After the decision of the Court of Appeal Hrant Khachatryan told a
news conference today that their next step will be the solution of
moral problems. Nevertheless, he mentioned that «there will be no
witch hunt and we will not fight against the mutineers by their own
way. Those who were my supporters followed the legal way without
trying to intimidate anyone: that is not our method».

Let us remind you that Hrant Khachatryan’s supporters turned to the
Court of the First Instance asking to cancel the decisions taken on
September 16, 2006, during the 17th conference of the Constitutional
Right Union.

Although Hrant Khachatryan does not really trust the work of court
bodies; he thinks that the decision of the Court of Appeal proceeded
from the idea of justice. «The fact that the four months when the case
was being heard there were a number of press issues and public
discussions about it also testifies to our righteousness», he
mentions.

According to Hrant Khachatryan, the problems would be solved without
any fuss if the members of the party hadn’t been subjected to
provocation. He announced that also he does not engage in active
politics, he will participate in the process of `healing’ the party as
`the political swamp is swallowing the party: that process must be
stopped’.

With this aim Hrant Khachatryan is going to organize a new committee
and make the final decision whether he or Hayk Baboukhanyan will be
President of CRU.

By the way, although Hrant Khachatryan had resigned from the post, he
thinks that he is still legally the president of the party, but he
assures that he has no ambitions.

Hrant Khachatryan is not going to participate in the upcoming
elections. As for Hayk Baboukhanyan’s announcement that his supporters
are carrying out the orders of the authorities, Khachatryan is not
going to prove anything. He claims that time will show who is who.

Associated Press
Jan 31 2007

House Gets Armenian Genocide Resolution
By DESMOND BUTLER, Associated Press Writer

Tuesday, January 30, 2007
(01-30) 17:14 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) —

Democratic and Republican lawmakers have introduced a resolution
urging the government to recognize as genocide the deaths of 1.5
million Armenians at the end of World War I.

The measure is likely to touch raw nerves in Turkey, which rejects
the charge that genocide was at the root of the deaths. The Bush
administration has warned that even congressional debate on the
matter could damage relations with Turkey, a vital Muslim ally and
member of NATO.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a co-sponsor, acknowledged that the
resolution might harm U.S.-Turkish relations in the short term.
Nevertheless, he said, "I’m optimistic that the relationship will go
on. We will move beyond this."

Sponsors of the measure, who held a news conference Tuesday attended
by two Armenian survivors of the episode, say that the move to
Democratic control in Congress increases chances that it will reach
the House floor for a vote. Similar resolutions have been introduced
in the past but were kept from a vote by congressional leaders.

"We feel very strongly that this year is the year we’re going to get
this passed," said another co-sponsor, Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone
Jr., whose state, New Jersey, has a large Armenian-American
community.

The resolution’s supporters say that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
D-Calif., who has expressed her support, is likely to come under
pressure from the Bush administration to keep the House from voting.

"Make no mistake, the speaker will get a call from the president
asking for no vote on the grounds of national security," said Rep.
George Radanovich, R-Calif., a co-sponsor.

Bush issues a statement every year to commemorate the event. He has
used such words as "tragedy,""forced exile" and "terrible events" but
not "genocide." In Turkey, it is a crime to use the word to describe
the deaths.

Turkey has adamantly denied claims by scholars that its predecessor
state, the Ottoman government, caused the Armenian deaths in a
genocide. The Turkish government has said the toll is wildly
inflated, and Armenians were killed or displaced in civil unrest
during the disarray surrounding the empire’s collapse.

After French lawmakers voted in October to make it a crime to deny
that the killings were a genocide, Turkey said it would suspend
military relations with France. Turkey provides vital support to U.S.
military operations. Incirlik Air Force Base, a major base in
southern Turkey, has been used by the U.S. to launch operations into
Iraq and Afghanistan and was a center for U.S. fighters that enforced
the "no-fly zones" that kept the Iraqi air force bottled up after the
1991 Gulf War.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Istanbul court decreed on arrest of 7th suspect in Dink’s murder
31.01.2007 19:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Istanbul court today decreed on
the arrest of another suspect in Hrant Dink’s
assassination, Salih Hajisalihogly, a 30-year-old
resident of Trabzon. Thus the number of suspects
reached 7. They all live in Trabzon. The investigation
has not established any connection between the
suspects and any organization, however all 7 are under
the influence of radical national ideas and in their
words `struggled against the threat to Turkish unity,’
reports RFE/RL.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 30 2007

Turkey and the European Union

by
Prof. Dr. NORMAN BARRY

There seem to be further difficulties in Turkey’s application to join
the European Union.

Some relate to cultural and political aspects of the application, and
I will deal with these last. But first the economic questions. The
union is a market economy and new member states must meet certain
vague standards. But all the evidence suggests that Turkey has met
them better than the two newest member states, Bulgaria and Romania.
Unemployment is down to 10 percent, clearly lower than Bulgaria’s,
and agriculture has been reduced to 33 percent of the economy, less
than Romania at 42 percent. The government of Recep Erdogan has
pursued an orthodox conservative economic policy and has succeeded
where other, more overtly free, market governments have conspicuously
failed. Inflation, which raged for 25 years, is now a thing of the
past. Economic growth is at a spectacular 7.5 percent per annum and
has been for the past five years. But per capita income is at $8,400;
this still some way behind the EU average of $28100. This is partly
because the country has been a little slow to expand in the higher
valued areas of production and services. Although employment in
agriculture is now down to 28 percent, the average in Europe is 5
percent. But this is changing rapidly. Turkey now produces 53 percent
of all European TVs and is moving into automobiles and high-tech
electronic goods. But improvement here will require massive
investment in education to produce a workforce equipped to cope with
the demands of globalization.
Compared to the EU there are far too few women in full-time
employment and too few of the jobs here are what Europeans would call
regular, salaried full-time employment. Indeed there is a large
informal economy in Turkey. The regional variations in income between
the relatively impoverished rural east and the prosperous west will
not please the egalitarians in Brussels. But there are similar income
discrepancies in other European countries and surely the bureaucrats
in Brussels will not expect a Scandinavian utopia overnight from an
economy that has experienced some turmoil in the past 30 years?
Perhaps the European skeptics are concerned about Turkey’s free trade
credentials and have the country’s prohibition of Cyprus vessels
docking in its ports in mind. But that relates to the political
objections to Turkey’s entry into the EU rather than the strictly
economic. And it must not be forgotten that Turkish Cyprus has been
almost completely isolated by the rest of the world. And it is the
Greek Cypriots who have resisted reunification of the island.
When it comes to economics Turkey has a good case: it is certainly
better than Bulgaria’s or Romania’s and is as good as Spain and
Portugal’s when they applied. Of course, there is still much to do,
not least absorbing the acquis communitaire, the myriad and ever
expanding set of rules and regulations of business that each new
member must accept as a condition of entry. But Turkey’s economy is
thriving at the moment, and the wise and prudent economic stewardship
of Erdogan’s government has made it capable of coping with the new
conditions of the European Union. Furthermore, it has a young
population, average age 28, which puts it in a better long-term
position than those of France, Germany and Italy, whose ageing
populations will impose a tremendous burden on their workers in the
near future for the payment of state pensions.
At the end of the day one feels that it won’t be economics that bars
Turkey’s entry into Europe: there is a genuine fear that Europe’s
Christian culture will not be able to absorb over 70 million Muslims.
There is definite hostility to Turkey in France, and the government
has promised a referendum before it will agree to the acceptance of
the country. And Germany and Italy have populations with similar
predispositions. All this seems rather strange from a continent that
loudly displays its secularism. Most countries of old Europe have
abandoned their Christian heritage. And it also shows a complete lack
of knowledge of Turkey, whose secularism, in unpropitious
circumstances, is as rigorous as theirs.
And then there is the question of civil liberties, which seems to
interest European politicians more than economics these days, and
they are anxious to put Turkey in the dock on three issues. First
there is the alleged `Armenian genocide,’ then the problem of Kurdish
separatism and the abiding complaint that in Turkey the military has
too great a say in politics.
I deliberately say `alleged’ Armenian genocide since there is genuine
disagreement among reputable historians about what exactly took place
in World War I. Undoubtedly there was harsh treatment of the Armenian
minority, but was it a genocide? Probably not, and we must remember
that it also took place in extraordinary times: Turkey was fearful of
Russia and a potentially subversive minority posed a serious problem.
But France is convinced of Turkey’s guilt and has passed a law making
`Armenian genocide denial’ a criminal offence.
Well, the French are very fond of moralizing, but not about their own
behavior in Algeria, for example. Most European hostility to Turkey
is much governed by ignorance, and this is undoubtedly true of the
Kurdish question. There was some denial for the Kurds of the use of
their own language and they were deprived of their broadcasting
rights. But their freedoms have been increased in recent years, and
let us not forget: the Kurdish terrorist group, the PKK, was the most
brutal in Europe, if not the world. They were responsible for at
least 30,000 deaths. Britain has had serious problems with the IRA
and Spain with ETA but these groups do not compare in ferocity with
the PKK. There have also been occasions in Turkey when the military
has taken power, but only for brief periods, and civilian rule has
been quickly restored. And, anyway, the military in Turkey has been a
force for secularism and compared to most military rulers has been
relatively benign.
On the whole Turkey is as well-qualified as most regimes for
membership in the European Union. But the ultimate question needs to
be asked by the Turks themselves: Do they really want or need to
join? Economically the country is doing quite well, and it is not at
all clear that it would benefit from membership of the EU. It already
does 53 percent of its trade with Europe, and that will continue
whatever the outcome of their application. And do they wish to join
what is now a laggard economy, with constricting regulations and a
declining share of world trade? It is not like some rapidly
expanding, young Far Eastern economy. Turkey, with its vigor, is more
like these economies rather than the sleeping giant of the European
Union.
The only reason for Turkey joining Europe was political: it is
perhaps the final destination of Ataturk’s dream of transforming a
near-medieval theocratic state into an advanced country,
industrialized and characterized by civility and the rule of law. It
can have all these things without the French 35-hour maximum working
week.