Author: Chakrian Hovsep

Middle East Times, Egypt
Jan 22 2007

Turkey probes ultranationalists in journalist murder

January 22, 2007

Photo: MURDER SUSPECT: Ogun Samast (L), the suspected killer of
prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, is escorted by an
officer as he leaves the police headquarters in Samsun, late January
20.
(REUTERS)

ISTANBUL — Turkish police Monday focused their investigation into
the murder of ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink on alleged links
between the prime suspect and an ultranationalist group.

"We are looking into the political aspect of the murder and possible
links with illegal organizations," Istanbul police chief Celalettin
Cerrah told the Anatolia news agency. "The suspect was influenced by
news articles he read" about Dink, he added.

A prosecutor said Sunday that the suspect, 17-year-old Ogun Samast,
had confessed to Friday’s murder and newspapers quoted the teenager
as telling police that he shot Dink because the journalist insulted
the Turkish nation.

Dink, 52, was a taboo-breaking critic of the official line on the
1915-17 Ottoman Empire massacre of Armenians, which he labeled as
genocide, and was given a suspended six-month jail sentence last year
for "insulting Turkishness."

Nationalists branded him a "traitor" and Dink wrote in recent
articles in his weekly newspaper Agos that he had received threats.

Quoting sources close to the investigation, newspapers Monday said
that police were probing links between Samast and a small,
ultranationalist group in his hometown, Trabzon, on the Black Sea
Coast.

Samast told police that he was told to kill Dink by a friend, Yasin
Hayal, who spent 11 months in jail for a 2004 bomb attack against a
McDonald’s restaurant in Trabzon.

"Yasin told me to shoot Dink. He gave me the gun. So I did," the
mass-circulation Hurriyet newspaper quoted the teenager as saying.

Turkish newspapers described Hayal, who is also in police custody, as
an "older brother" figure who frequently met youngsters in the area
and influenced them with his ultranationalist views.

Hurriyet said that Samast, an unemployed secondary school graduate,
was among 10 youths aged 15 to 17 whom Hayal had last year trained to
handle and shoot small arms in order to assassinate Dink.

"I was chosen because I was the best shot and the fastest runner,"
the daily Vatan quoted Samast as telling police.

Friends described Samast, who played football for an amateur team in
Trabzon, as an introvert who frequented Internet cafes but who was
also aggressive.

His mother, Havva Samast, said Monday that she believed that her son
was a mere tool.

"He is not a person who could do this on his own," she said in
remarks broadcast on the NTV news channel. "Someone used him."

Apart from Samast and Hayal, police are questioning six other
suspects in connection with the killing.

Police conducted a re-enactment under heavy security of the murder
with Samast late Sunday, which saw passers-by booing the teenager and
calling him a "disgrace."

Showing no remorse, Samast reportedly told police that he first tried
to meet Dink in his office but was not allowed in by suspicious
staff.

He said that he waited in the street until Dink returned from a
nearby bank.

"I approached him from behind and fired shot after shot," Samast was
quoted by the liberal Vatan newspaper as saying.

Dink died instantly after being shot three times in the head and
neck.

Samast’s testimony turned the spotlight on Trabzon, a Black Sea port
of 1 million and a hot-bed of nationalism, which hit the headlines in
February 2006 with the murder of an Italian Catholic priest by a
16-year-old boy.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday that police
would look into possible links between Dink’s killing and that of the
priest.

Dink had gained respect in Turkey as a sincere activist for
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and for free speech; he also
denounced Armenian radicalism and, most recently, branded as "idiocy"
a French bill making the denial of an Armenian "genocide" a jailable
offense.

Dink will be buried Tuesday at an Armenian cemetery in Istanbul after
a ceremony in front of the Agos offices and a religious service at
the Armenian patriarchate.

A Turkish diplomat said Monday that Ankara had invited prominent
Armenian religious leaders from around the world to attend the
funeral.

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern Diocese of the
Armenian Church of America, has already arrived in Istanbul, Anatolia
reported. (AFP)

Le Monde, France
21 janvier 2007 dimanche

DISPARITIONS;
Hrant Dink

par Sophie Shihab

Militant arménien et intellectuel turc

DERNIÈRE VICTIME en date de la longue série d’assassinats de
journalistes turcs, Hrant Dink, tué par balles vendredi 19 janvier au
pied du siège de son hebdomadaire à Istanbul, se battait autant pour
la reconnaissance du génocide arménien que pour la démocratie en
général dans son pays, la Turquie.

Né en 1954, dans le sud-est, à Malatya et fut pris, à 7 ans, dans un
internat arménien à Istanbul, où il fera des études universitaires de
biologie et de philosophie. Il milite brièvement au parti communiste,
alors interdit, avant de se dévouer à un orphelinat pour Arméniens –
saisi par l’Etat après 1974, comme bien d’autres fondations de "
minoritaires " en Turquie.

En 1996, il crée un hebdomadaire bilingue – s’ajoutant à deux
quotidiens uniquement rédigés en arménien. Laïc et démocratique,
vendu à 6000 exemplaires, Agos (fertilité, en arménien) veut
revivifier une communauté en déclin de 50.000 personnes, sous forte
emprise de son Eglise et conspuée par la propagande après les
attentats de l’Asala.

Hrant Dink dénonce ouvertement le génocide arménien, s’attirant des
poursuites en justice à répétition. Et participe aux combats
démocratiques du pays, y compris sur la question kurde. Cela l’oppose
aux diasporas arméniennes, promptes à lier la " modération " des
Arméniens d’Istanbul à leur situation " d’otages ". Alors que ce
double engagement ne fait qu’attiser la haine que lui vouent les
nationalistes turcs. Elle lui sera fatale.

US States News
January 18, 2007 Thursday 6:37 AM EST

MELIKIAN GIFT BOOSTS ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT

TEMPE, Ariz.

Arizona State University issued the following press release:

Arizona State University’s commitment to global engagement is
receiving a major boost in the form of a $1 million contribution by
two longtime Phoenix civic leaders and philanthropists, Gregory
Melikian and his wife Emma Ordjanian Melikian. Their gift will fund
the expansion of international programming at the university’s
Russian and East European Studies Center, a unit in the College of
Liberal Arts and Sciences that will be renamed The Melikian Center in
recognition of the university’s partnership with the Melikians.

Center programming features the internationally recognized Critical
Languages Institute, which offers intensive instruction every summer
in less commonly taught languages of Eastern Europe and Eurasia,
including Armenian, Albanian, Macedonian, Tatar and Uzbek. The
center’s strategic partnerships with major universities of the region
– notably its linkages with Yerevan State University, Moscow State
University, the University of Sarajevo, Ss. Kiril and Metodij
University (Macedonia) and the University of Pristina – have been
supported by grants from the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency
for International Development.

"This major contribution from the Melikians brings the study of
Eurasia and Eastern Europe into ASU’s wider scope of global
engagement that already includes important programming in China and
Mexico," says ASU President Michael M. Crow. "Programs like these are
at the heart of ASU’s global engagement efforts."

In 2001, an endowment from the couple led to the creation of The
Melikian Fund, which supports the study of Armenian language and
culture at ASU. In announcing this recent $1 million gift, center
director and ASU professor Stephen Batalden says the Melikians
generosity will make a difference in the lives of students and
faculty, a difference that often has transformative results.

"At a time when the geopolitical significance of the Eurasian Islamic
rim has never been greater, this gift from the Melikians will offer
students at ASU a unique research and language training opportunity
for the 21st century," Batalden says. "What the Melikians have done
for the next generation of leaders is to greatly expand the
opportunities for international exchange of scholars, for research
and study abroad, and for critical language training."

In commenting on the growing importance to understand the history,
language and culture of Eurasia and Eastern Europe, Gregory Melikian
says, "What better way to communicate than to speak each other’s
language. These are critical languages, and there is a critical need
in the world today for people who can speak these languages
fluently."

He and his wife Emma are of Armenian descent and between them speak
numerous languages, including Russian and Armenian.

"Our world is shrinking," notes Emma Melikian. "And, in order to
understand all people of the world, and participate in global
engagement, our future generation has to speak critical languages and
know history to help America in the world arena," she says.

This latest gift by the Melikians follows a history of commitment and
giving to Arizona State University. In addition to the creation of
The Melikian Fund, Gregory Melikian previously donated to the
university’s Special Collections eight World War II dispatches,
including a copy of the message sent by Supreme Allied Commander
Eisenhower announcing the end of World War II in Europe. Melikian, an
Army Signal Corps Sergeant at the time, was tasked with sending the
original high speed radio transmission of the message, a copy of
which he saved in plain text on a Signal Corps form.

Gregory Melikian, who says with a chuckle that as a senior citizen he
has always admired longevity, began his long-term relationship with
Arizona State University in the 1970s, while serving on the board of
the Friends of Eight, a volunteer organization at the university’s
PBS-affiliated television station – Eight/KAET.

The Melikians are owners of the historic Hotel San Carlos in downtown
Phoenix and have been generous supporters of education and the arts
in Arizona. Gregory Melikian has been a board member of the Phoenix
Symphony and served as president of the Arizona Opera Company. Emma
Ordjanian Melikian has served on the board of the Asian Arts Council
of the Phoenix Art Museum. She is the founding president of Thank You
America Foundation, an organization in support of educational
opportunities for homeless and abused children of Arizona. For that,
she has received the George Washington Medal of Honor from the
Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge in 1999, the Outstanding
Achievement Award from the Daughters of the American Revolution and
the Alpha Delta Kappa Woman of Distinguished Award in 2002. She also
has been active in the National Society of Arts and Letters for more
than 20 years.

Additionally, the Melikians are among the original donors to the
Armenian Cultural Center in Scottsdale. Their three sons and a
daughter – Robert, Richard, James, and Ramona – have attended Arizona
State University.

More information about The Melikian Center and ASU’s Russian,
Eurasian and East European Studies program is available at (480)
965-4188 or online at

Hayots Ashkharh, Yerevan,
17 Jan 2007, p 4

Opening of the Armenian-Turkish border is the regional key for the
USA

by Vardan Grigoryan

Recent steps of the US Republican administration demonstrate that
George Bush and his political team are going to implement new
strategy to control oil fields in the Near and Middle East via a
policy of regional centres.

During the cold war, Israel and Turkey used to play such a role for
the USA. But today it is clear that the USA is concerned about
searching not global diplomacy tools but new tools that will ensure
regional balance. The first of them is northern Iraq, the area close
to the Iranian-Turkish border, which plays a sort of unique "roof"
for the Arab world rich of oil.

The second one is the clash of Russia-Turkey-Iran interests and the
Armenian factor, a key to control the South Caucasus which is the
main part of the Europe-Middle East energy corridor. Political
experts have been speaking about the simultaneous fulfilment of the
USA’s Kurdistan-Karabakh programme for a while. For this reason, it
is not accidental that Turkey describes the latest attempts of the
USA to determine the future of Kurdistan as a vital issue, as a
programme for the establishment of a "second Karabakh".

To prevent this from happening, Turkey is trying to strengthen its
positions in the South Caucasus making use of Russian-US
disagreements in the region.

The deepening of the US-Turkish disagreements manifests itself from
Iraq to the South Caucasus where the two sides are trying to act
according to the logic of an "existing fact". Today the USA, Turkey
and Russia each have one reliable partner in the region: Georgia for
the USA, Azerbaijan for Turkey and Armenia for Russia. In these
conditions, the USA should settle the problem of Armenia’s blockade
[by Turkey] as soon as possible in order to finally remove Russia
from the region and at the same time restrict Turkey’s influence in
the region.

Having strengthened itself in Georgia and Armenia, the USA may
dictate its will to everybody in the region. For this reason, the
recognition of the Armenian genocide by the USA has been put forward.
Moreover, Jewish lobbyists explain to Turkish officials, who often
visit Washington, that currently the opening of the Armenian ground
border is the only "price" for avoiding the recognition of the
Armenian genocide. It turns out that over the next months Turkey
should make a choice between "the least of evils". It seems that the
way out is clear and Turkey will open the Armenian border as soon as
possible trying to achieve that Armenia agree to one of its known
conditions [not to promote the recognition of the Armenian genocide].

We think that Turkey will not give up to the USA’s dictate. On the
contrary, it will try to create an illusion that steps are being made
on opening the border, and via direct negotiations with Armenia will
try to avert the adoption of the resolution on the Armenian genocide
in the US Congress. On the other hand, it may start secret talks with
Russia, thus, making Moscow, not Washington a mediator in the
Armenian-Turkish relations.

At the same time, understanding the imminence of the strengthening of
the US positions in the region, Armenia should do everything possible
to form a Russian-US consensus to guarantee its security.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur , Germany
Jan 19 2007

Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink shot dead in Istanbul

Ankara – Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was shot dead by an
unknown attacker in Istanbul on Friday, the private NTV television
station reported.

The editor of the Armenian and Turkish language Agos newspaper was
killed as he left the offices of the newspaper Friday afternoon. NTV
reported that police were looking for a man aged around 18 years old
believed to be responsible for the attack.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan later announced that two people
had been detained for questioning.

Dink, 52, had sparked the ire of nationalists in Turkey and was last
year found guilty under Turkey’s notorious Article 301 for having
‘insulting Turkishness’ for comments he had made in his newspaper on
Turkish-Armenian relations.

Prosecutors focused on a quote from an article in Argos newspaper in
which Dink said he had ‘a special call to the Armenians in diaspora
who are getting poisoned by their anger towards the Turks’.

Dink claimed that his aim was deflate tensions between Turkey and
Armenia and was in the process of appealing the conviction.

Dink had earlier been found not guilty of ‘insulting the Turkish
state’ for remarks he said at a conference in 2002 where he stated
that Armenians face discrimination in Turkey.

In his last article written for Argos newspaper Dink said he had
received many death threats and was living under a kind of
psychological torture.

Prime Minister Erdogan said his ‘sadness was great’ and that the
security forces would do whatever needed to be done in order to solve
the crime.

‘This is an attack on freedom of thought and democracy,’ Erdogan
said.

Camiel Eurlings, the European Parliament’s Turkey Rapporteur told NTV
that he was in deep shock over the death of Dink, whom he described
as a close friend.

‘The only thing he wanted to do was express his opinion without the
threat of going to jail,’ Eurlings said adding that Dink had only
ever supported Turkey, ‘not just in front of the cameras but also
behind closed doors.’

Around 70,000 ethnic-Armenians live in Turkey, most in Istanbul.

Armenian numbers were considerably higher, especially in eastern
Anatolia until World War I when the local Armenian population sided
with invading Russian forces.

The Ottoman government ordered the deportation of Armenians living in
the east during which hundreds of thousands of people died.

Armenian historians claim that as many as 1.5 million Christian
Armenians were killed in the deportations and in massacres and that
the actions were a clear genocide.

Turkey admits that there were massacres of Armenians during the
deportations, but vehemently denies that the killings constituted a
genocide.

EDUARDO ERNEKIAN INTENDS TO PURCHASE CONVERSEBANK

YEREVAN, JANUARY 19, NOYAN TAPAN. The Argentinian Armenian
businessman, Chairman of American International Airports company
Eduardo Ernekian intends to purchase Conversebank (Armenia), NT
correspondent was informed from a reliable source.

In 2006, Conversebank failed to make the promised investments in
Haypost, whose management it assumed for a 5-year period, as a result
of which Haypost was transferred to a Dutch company for management.

IN 20-30 YEARS ARMENIA TO CHOOSE WAY OF SOCIALISTIC DEVELOPMENT, YURI
MANUKIAN FORESEES

YEREVAN, JANUARY 19, NOYAN TAPAN. The main goal of the United
Communist Party of Armenia (UCPA) during the pre-electoral period is
unification with the other acting Communist forces. Yuri Manukian, the
First Secretary of the UCPA Central Committee stated about it at the
January 19 discussion organized at the "Hayeli" club. He also
mentioned that the format of the party’s participation in the coming
parliamentary elections is not decided yet. In Yu.Manukian’s words, in
20-30 years Armenia will choose the way of socialistic development. In
his words, liberating values and market relations are today left out
of ruling, and it brought to social stratification of the society:
enrichment of a group of people and impoverishment of the
majority. Touching upon the foreign policy of Armenia, the UCPA head
stressed that one must deepen as much as possible the relations with
Russia as "the Armenian-Russian friendship is the friendship got at
the cost of grandfathers’ blood." In Yu.Manukian’s opinion, the fact
that Russia raise the price for the gas brought to Armenia, must not
negatively affect on the two countries’ relations. Yu.Manukian
considers Iran to be the second strategic partner of Armenia. Another
participant of the discussion, Ashot Bleyan, the Chairman of the "Nor
Ughi" (New Path) public organization also touched upon the coming
parliamentary elections. He expressed a hope that it is meaningless to
participate in the elections in a country where the voters’ rights are
violated and election results are falsified.

LOAN AGREEMENT SIGNED BETWEEN ARMENIA AND OPEC

Noyan Tapan
Jan 18 2007

VIENNA, JANUARY 18, NOYAN TAPAN. A loan agreement "Effecient
Infrastructure Reconstruction Program" was signed on January 17 by
the RA Agriculture Minister Davit Lokian and the OPEC International
Fund in Vienna.

By the agreement, Armenia will receive a 10 million dollar loan
for reconstruction of infrastructures in the country’s mountainous,
foothill and border areas.

According to the RA MFA Press and Information Department, D. Lokian
and OPEC Director General Suleyman Al-Herbish reached an agreement
on further extension and deeping of cooperation.

YOUNG TENNIS PLAYERS OF ARMENIA TO PARTAKE IN THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP

ArmRadio.am
18.01.2007 11:17

In March Armenian tennis players will participate in the under-14
European Championship to be held in Tallinn, Estonia, Deputy
Director of the Tennis Federation of Armenia Alexander Tsaturyan
told Armenpress.

ANAND HELD BY ARONIAN IN ROUND 3

Hindustan Times, India
Jan 16 2007

Former world champion Viswanathan Anand was easily held to a draw by
Grandmaster Levon Aronian of Armenia in the third round of the Corus
Grandmasters A chess tournament here.

After a fine victory with black pieces against GM Alexander Motylev of
Russia in the previous round, the Indian ace could not do much with his
first white pieces in the tournament as Aronian sought comfort in his
first love, Marshall Gambit, and got an easy half point after 32 moves.

The draw took Anand to two points out of a possible three so far in
the tournament and he will now meet out-of-sort Magnus Carlsen in
the next round game.

However, there was good news for India in the ‘C’ group with world’s
youngest GM Parimarjan Negi beating local International Master Thomas
Willemze.

On two points, alongwith Anand, was World champion Vladimir Kramnik
of Russia who was held to a draw by Sergei Tiviakov of Holland.

Playing the black side of a Petroff defense, Kramnik was never in
any troubles in this fairly simple encounter and routine trading of
pieces led to an equal endgame in just 28 moves.

Meanwhile in other games ending quickly in the third round, Ruslan
Ponomariov scored his first victory in the event at the expense of
Carlsen who was caught off guard in a relatively simple trap in the
opening itself.

Losing his queen for two pieces early in the game, Carlsen did not
get a second chance and was grinded in just 30 moves.

Czech GM David Navara proved once again that his recent success was no
flash in the pan and drew comfortably with GM Peter Svidler of Russia.

It was a Grunfeld defense game wherein Svidler did not get the
complications he was looking for and played it safe.

At the time of going to press, top seed GM Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria
was seen struggling against Ukrainian Sergey Karjakin.

Results (Third Round): Radjabov beat Shirov, Tiviakov drew with
Kramnik, Anand drew with Aronian, Karjakin drew with Topalov;
Ponomariov beat Carlsen; Van Wely drew with Motylev; Werle beat L’Ami;
Jakovenko beat Georgiev; Bologan drew with Stellwagen; Smeets beat
Atalik; Sargissian bt Eljanov Nijboer beat Kosintseva; Hou Yifan beat
Van der Wiel; Van Haastert beat Jonkman; Berg drew with Nepomniachtchi;
Negi beat Willemze; Krasenkow beat Spoelman; Bosboom beat Peng.