Author: Boshkezenian Garik

DUTCH UNIVERSITY AWARDS HONORARY DEGREE TO PAMUK
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.10.2006 13:53 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Tilburg University in the Netherlands has decided
to award Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish Nobel prize winning novelist, with
an honorary degree. The university council approved the request made
by the philosophy, culture, communication and theology faculties. The
university released a statement about its decision that read: “Orhan
Pamuk has been awarded an honorary degree for his pioneering analysis
of traditionalism and modernism along the East-West, Christianity-Islam
axes. In his novels, Pamuk not only deals with issues from a historical
point of view, but he handles them as a theologist, philosopher and
a man of culture,” the Zaman writes.
The Nobel prize winner on literature in 2006 was lately criticized
by Turkish nationalists, who accused the Nobel committee in bias and
political partiality.
Orhan Pamuk was indicted on article 301 of the Turkish Criminal
Code for “insulting Turkishness” as he mentioned the Armenian
Genocide. Under the pressure of the international community the
accusations were withdrawn.

Associated Press
Oct 14 2006
EU slams French bill on Armenian deaths
MATTI HUUHTANEN
Associated Press
HELSINKI, Finland – The European Union on Friday condemned a French
bill making it a crime to deny that the World War I-era killing of
Armenians in Turkey was genocide, calling it unhelpful at a critical
stage in the Muslim country’s EU entry talks.
The bill was approved by lawmakers in France’s lower house Thursday,
but still needs approval by the French Senate and President Jacques
Chirac to become law. Turkey has said the decision would harm
relations with France.
Chirac’s government is thought to be unlikely to forward the bill for
passage by the Senate.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said “we don’t
think this decision at this moment is helpful in the context of the
European Union’s relations with Turkey.”
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said the bill came at a bad
time as the 25-member bloc was trying to avoid “a train crash” in
negotiations with Turkey.
“This law is counterproductive,” he told reporters.
France, which is home to hundreds of thousands of people whose
families came from Armenia, has already recognized the 1915-1919
killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians as genocide. Under the bill,
those who contest it was genocide would risk up to a year in prison
and fines of up to $56,000.
Armenia accuses Turkey of massacring Armenians during World War I,
when Armenia was under the Ottoman Empire. Turkey says Armenians were
killed in civil unrest during the collapse of the empire.

Financial Times, UK
Oct 12 2006
Royal seeks to reignite French passion for EU
by: By JOHN THORNHILL
Segolene Royal, one of the leading contenders for the French
presidency, sketched out her blueprint for Europe yesterday, calling
for a revision of the eurozone’s fiscal rules, harmonisation of
labour market standards and reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.
Europe’s institutions must be brought closer to the people, protect
workers better from the worst ravages of globalisation and promote
environmental initiatives, such as zero tax rates on renewable
energy, she said. A strong Europe was also essential for tempering US
hegemony and alleviating poverty in the developing world.
In a suggestion that will infuriate the UK and many businesses, Ms
Royal, favourite to become the opposition Socialist party’s
presidential candidate, called for the suppression of the “opt-out
clause” allowing employees in some European countries to work more
than 48 hours a week. She said minimum social standards must be
applied across the European Union.
Ms Royal appeared keen yesterday to counter accusations she was all
style and no substance. She was also responding to Nicolas Sarkozy,
the most likely presidential champion of the Gaullist right, who has
recommended a new mini-treaty to make Europe’s institutions work more
efficiently.
At a frantic press conference, Ms Royal read out seven ideas for
reigniting French enthusiasm for Europe and relaunching the European
project. “Europe is blocked. France is isolated. I want to unblock
Europe and lead France out of isolation,” she said. “There is a
demand for the French in Europe and a demand of Europe in the world.”
Declaring herself to be a convinced European, Ms Royal attacked
politicians for fanning selfish nationalism and turning the EU into a
scapegoat for unpopular economic policies. This had produced only
indifference and distrust towards Europe, leading to the rejection of
the constitutional treaty by French and Dutch voters last year.
She said Europe must overcome its “democratic deficit” and involve
citizens more in its decision-making processes. She said it was not
“healthy” that the European Central Bank was concerned only with
taming inflation rather than encouraging growth and jobs.
She called for the EU’s growth and stability pact, the rules
underpinning the euro, to be revised, allowing countries to exclude
investments in research and -innovation from their budget deficit
calculations.
She suggested the EU budget should be increased so long as the extra
money was spent on sensible -projects, such as research, innovation,
renewable energy and trans-European transport networks.
Ms Royal called for a redeployment of spending within the Common
Agricultural Policy, switching money from intensive farming into
environmentally-friendly agriculture. “No subject should be taboo,
not the CAP nor the British rebate,” she said.
The 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the bloc’s founding
moment, next year would provide the perfect opportunity to debate the
EU’s past and future and think about new rules for governing its 27
member states, she said. This debate would lead to new ideas for
helping Europe emerge from the institutional impasse created by the
rejection of the constitution.
Ms Royal appeared less sure when questioned about Turkey. She refused
to say whether or not she supported Turkey’s accession to the EU,
saying it was up to the French people to decide in a referendum.
The French parliament will vote today on a Socialist bill that would
make the denial of the 1915 genocide of Armenians during the collapse
of Ottoman Turk rule an offence.
The Socialist party’s members will vote for their preferred
presidential candidate on November 16. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the
centrist pro-European former finance minister, and Laurent Fabius,
the former prime minister turned leftwing firebrand who inspired the
No campaign in last year’s referendum, are also running.

PanARMENIAN.Net
Mammadyarov Not Going to Be «Too Optimistic» in Karabakh Issue
14.10.2006 14:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azeri FM Elmar Mammadyarov expects that during a
meeting with Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian the parties will have an
opportunity to find common points in most complicated matters of
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. «Within that context
the meeting in Moscow was useful. Though, when proceeding to details,
unexpectedly one finds out that there are many problems. I am not
going to be too optimistic, at the same time I want to assess the
situation realistically. New elements appeared, as well as a new field
for work over these,» Mammadyarov remarked.
Answering the question «why these «common points» were absent
before,» the Azeri FM said, «A poignant search for opportunities
is underway. It is necessary to find a fragile balance to make
positions closer. Given polar, opposite viewpoints, it is very hard
and laborious to reduce these to a common opinion, taking into account
how sensitive is the NK issue both for us and Armenia. Within this
context of course our task is to work for making positions closer. It
is hard to say whether we will succeed or not. I do not want and,
maybe, I cannot look far forward. However, in principle it is
undoubted that we have that desire. Now everything is so subtle that
I would not speak of a break,» Azeri FM said.

A1+
THERE IS STILL A CHANCE TO WIN A MEDAL
[12:11 pm] 13 October, 2006
The 9th round of the chess world junior championship
turned out to be rather unsuccessful for Armenian
chess players.
Arman Pashikyan playing with white draughts lost the
game to Nikita Vityugov from Russia, and Zaven
Andreasyan tied with Ildar Khayrulin. The two players
are in the 7-17th places with six points each.
As for the girls, the only Armenian player who still
has theoretical chances of winning a medal is
Siranoush Andreasyan who is currently in the 17th
place.

GOVERNMENT, OTE DECLINES RUMORS ABOUT COMPLETING ARMENTEL SALE
Armenpress
Oct 12 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 12, ARMENPRESS: Armenian government said yesterday it
was not notified by Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE),
which owns 90 percent of shares in the national ArmenTel telephone
operator, about ArmenTel’s sale. Armenian transport and communication
minister Andranik Manukian said no official document was received
from Greece about the outcome of an international tender for ArmenTel.
OTE also denied rumors in the media that it has picked a tender winner
for its 90% stake in ArmenTel.
In a statement Wednesday, quoted by Prime-Tass, OTE said the tender
has not been yet completed and the company would make an official
announcement in due time.
On Monday an Armenian news agency and a Russian newspaper reported,
citing their unnamed source, that a consortium from the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) including telecom company Etisalat and investment fund
Istithmar, won the tender for the 90% stake in ArmenTel with an offer
of US$600 million. Etisalat has also denied these reports.
Besides Etisalat and Istithmar, Russian companies AFK Sistema and
VimpelCom have also bid for ArmenTel, as well as a consortium of VTEL
Holdings and Knightsbridge Associates, OTE said earlier.
ArmenTel has a monopoly on fixed-line and long-distance services in
Armenia. The company also had a monopoly on mobile services until
mid-2005.
ArmenTel’s fixed-line subscriber base stood at about 600,000 users
and its mobile subscriber base at about 330,000 users, as of mid
2006. Armenia’s population amounts to about 3.2 million people.

COOPERATION AGREEMENT SIGNED BETWEEN LORI MARZ AND PROVENCE ALPES COTE D’AZUR
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 10 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The existence of the French Armenian
community is greatly conducive to the development of friendship and
cooperation between Armenia and France, which is also evidenced by
establishment of mutual cooperation between various regions of the two
countries. The Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margarian stated this
on October 10 when receiving the chairman of the regional council of
the French province of Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur Michele Vosel and
the delegation headed by him. The delegation is in Armenia with the
aim of approving some cooperation programs with Lori marz.
A. Margarian said that it is no accident that friendly links have
already been established among 22 Armenian and French cities and
cooperation programs are underway.
He also attached importance to the fact that the delegation’s visit
is taking place in the days following the events of significance to
Armenia – the visit of French president to Armenia and the start of
Year of Armenia in France. He expressed his confidence that all the
agreements reached between the two presidents in the political and
economic spheres will be successfully continued.
M. Vosel also underlined the great importance of marking Year of
Armenia in France in terms of promoting the bilateral cooperation. He
noted that numerous events with the active participation of many
French and French-Armenian organizations will be held in Provence,
a French province with the greatest number of Armenian inhabitants. He
expressed his satisfaction at the agreement on cooperation in various
spheres, which was recently signed between Lori marz and Provence
in Vanadzor, stating with confidence that all the envisaged programs
will be successfully implemented.
During the meeting, the sides also addressed issues related to
Armenia’s Eurointegration process, the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide and regulation of the Armenian-Turkish relations.

TURKISH BUSINESS GROUP LOBBIES AGAINST FRENCH GENOCIDE DENIAL BILL
NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Oct 11 2006
Representatives of the TOBB held talks with French business leaders
Monday to discuss the dangers to trade implied in the legislation.
PARIS – A senior Turkish business leader has warned that if the
French parliament passes legislation making the denial of the alleged
massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire a crime that relations
between France and Turkey will be badly harmed.
Rifat Hisarciklioglu, the Chairman of the Union of Chambers and
Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), said that the vote in the French
parliament on October 12 on the legislation had grave consequences
for ties between Turkey and France.
In Paris at the head of a TOBB delegation to lobby against the bill,
which envisages fines of 45,000 euros for anyone denying the alleged
genocide, Hisarciklioglu said he had told French business leaders
that the issue should be dealt with using common sense and logic,
not emotions.
“I am having difficulty in understanding why a country like France,
which is a pioneer in democracy, secularism and freedom of expression,
has brought up a resolution on making denial of the so-called Armenian
genocide a crime,” Hisarciklioglu said Tuesday night following a
dinner with representatives of the Movement of French Enterprises
(MEDEF) and the French chambers of commerce.

PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address:  Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact:  Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel:  (374 10) 517 163
Fax:  (374 10) 517 301
E-Mail:  [email protected]
Website: 
October 10, 2006
Three New “Vardapets” in Holy Etchmiadzin
On September 15, three young priests successfully defended their doctoral
theses in the Gevorkian Theological Seminary of the Mother See of Holy
Etchmiadzin.  The examination committee was comprised of His Eminence
Archbishop Nerses Bozabalian, Chairman; His Eminence Archbishop Navasard
Kjoyan, Vicar of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese; and His Grace Bishop
Arshak Khatchatrian, Chancellor of the Mother See. 
Rev. Fr. Barsegh Pilavchian defended his thesis entitled “The Spiritual and
Cultural Life of the Hungarian-Armenian Community”.  Rev. Fr. Daniel
Tumanian defended his thesis entitled “The Third Chapter of the Book of
Genesis in Various Commentaries and Armenian Apocryphal Literature”.  Rev.
Fr. Vasken Nanian defended his thesis entitled “The Presentation of the Lord
to the Temple (Candlemas) and its Introduction into the Ritual Structure and
Calendar of the Armenian Church”.  All three priests are members of the
Brotherhood of Holy Etchmiadzin.
The following day, on September 16, during the celebration of Divine
Liturgy, His Eminence Archbishop Navasard Kjoyan elevated the three monks
and bestowed them with the rank of “Vardapet” (archimandrite).  According to
tradition, the service was offered in the Church of St. Mesrop Mashtots in
Oshakan.

FRANCE SACRIFICING FREE THOUGHT FOR ARMENIAN VOTES
TDN editorial by Yusuf KANLI
Turkish Daily News
Oct 9 2006
The French must see that they will not only lose Turkey, but at
the same time they will as well be sacrificing free thought just
to appease and get votes of a small Armenian minority in the coming
presidential elections
Neither with nationalistic slogans and declaring the issue a taboo
nor with imposing economic and cultural sanctions against countries
helping out Armenians to rewrite history with political statements
and parliamentary resolutions can we overcome the mounting pressure
demanding this country to acknowledge the 1915-1917 killings of the
Armenian population of this land as a “genocide.
“We can say that the French, Dutch, Danish or other European nations
lending support to the Armenian “genocide” claims are nothing but
an effort to find a way of forgetting their own “contributions” to
the suffering of not only the Armenians but other ethnic communities
of the dissolving Ottoman Empire, as well as how they collaborated
with Nazi Germany to butcher the Jews, Gypsies and other “unwanted”
peoples, or how they mercilessly staged an act of genocide in Algeria
and elsewhere as they were forced out of their colonies and in a
way to “cleanse the blood on their own hands” by demonstrating how
sensitive they are now on the issue of what might have happened to
the Armenians in the first quarter of last century.
We may as well try to provide an explanation that Russians were
attacking our territory, Armenians were collaborating with the enemy,
their forced resettlement had become an absolute necessity for national
defense, there was a civil war and perhaps more Turks (and Kurds) than
Armenians perished because of the prevailing conditions of the time, as
well as from epidemics and such. Still, we cannot say nothing happened
to the Ottoman Armenian population and all the claims are just fiction.
I was talking with a survivor of the 1915-17 events in Yerevan in
2001. He was a man in his early 90s. That is he was a young boy at
the time all those troubles were being staged on our land. “We fought
a war with the Turks. We lost it, they won it. We killed and got
killed. Today, we either decide to bury this in history and continue
the fight that we lost on the battle field, or look to creating a
common future together,” he had said stressing that he hoped to “see”
one day before he dies his home city Erzurum once again.
His advice, though very precious for me, unfortunately cannot become
reality until the Armenian claims are resolved through a detailed
research into the issue by historians and both the Armenians and Turks
acknowledge their share in the massive suffering that was lived by our
peoples during those years. The suggestion of Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdoðan, thus, for the creation of a committee of scientists
from Turkey, Armenia and other states, which will work under the
auspices of the U.N., has to be considered very seriously.
The Turkish prime minister has as well declared that Turkey would
accept and abide with whatever the outcome of that commission’s work
would be.
Though “genocide” terminology only became part of international
law in 1952 and it cannot be applied retrospectively, the Erdoðan
was clear in his declaration that Turkey would accept whatever the
conclusion of the commission of historians would be. While this
must have been taken by Armenia as a historic opportunity to bring
clarification to what indeed happened in the first quarter of the
last century and bring an end to this hostility, which indeed has
been more harmful to landlocked Armenia than Turkey, unfortunately
the Yerevan administration has turned this golden opportunity down
with the back of its hand. Why? Because of the support they receive
to their unsubstantiated claims from politicians in France, Holland
and elsewhere who have been trying to win votes of the local Armenian
minorities buy paying lip service to their emotional allegations.
Legislating laws describing the 1915-17 events as “genocide” are
nothing but trying to rewrite history with political considerations.
It’s nothing new, Adolf Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union had
attempted to do the same thing as well. Rewriting history to serve
their political aims did not help either. It will not serve anyone
today either. However, what is more dangerous and indeed threatening is
the restrictions wanted to be imposed on freedom of expression with the
pretext of acting in solidarity with the Armenians. Criminalization of
“genocide denial” risking five years in prison and a hefty fine, or
forcing candidates to withdraw their candidacy or succumb to the claims
cannot and should not be considered as signs of a promising future
for Europe that we believe is founded on free thought and reason.
The impact of the cancellation of lucrative gigantic Turkish contracts
will perhaps hurt French and Dutch companies. But, will France arrest
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, or thousands of Turks who
might pour into France after the Thursday vote to declare publicly
their opposition to criminalization of genocide denial?
The French must see that they will not lose only Turkey, but at
the same time they will as well be sacrificing free thought just
to appease and get votes of a small Armenian minority in the coming
presidential elections.
–Boundary_(ID_+iIOvTm0Smy8zOQ5pMSUBg) —