Author: Chakrian Hovsep

PanARMENIAN.Net
Adoption of French Bill on Genocide Victory of Whole Armenianhood
13.10.2006 13:52 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The adoption of the bill penalizing the Armenian
Genocide in France is a victory for the whole Armenianhood, The
California Courier editor-in-chief Harut Sasunian told a
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words, the Turkish government by
threats, blackmail and lies attempted to dissuade French deputies from
adoption of the bill. `Turks tried to represent the issue as a taboo
on freedom of speech but owing to inadmissibility of their actions,
the attempts failed,’ Sasunian said.
Sasunian marked out three principal aspects. `First, Turkey is the
single country in the world that lacks the law on freedom of
speech. If anyone on Turkey dares to speak of the Armenian Genocide he
is sent to prison at once. Second, this bill has nothing in common
with freedom of speech. This is a means of political struggle of the
Turkish government and the Armenian people. Third, France like many
other states has a law providing for punishment for Holocaust
denial. So why doesn’t this law infringe freedom of speech but the law
on the Armenian Genocide does? These are double standards which are
inadmissible. I hope that in the near future the French Senate will
ratify the bill and President Chirac will sign it,’ said the
editor-in-chief of The California Courier.

Turkish Daily News
Oct 7 2006
For those who do not understand
Saturday, October 7, 2006
Angela Merkel, Jacques Chirac, Olli Rehn, Jose Manuel Barroso and
Camiel Eurlings all indicate with their latest remarks in this or
that manner that Turkish membership in the European Union is not
being considered.
Gunduz Aktan
Angela Merkel, Jacques Chirac, Olli Rehn, Jose Manuel Barroso and
Camiel Eurlings all indicate with their latest remarks in this or
that manner that Turkish membership in the European Union is not
being (probably has never been) considered.
The controversial report of the European Parliament (EP) Foreign
Affairs Commission has been “corrected” by the EP General Assembly.
The Armenian genocide allegation remains unchanged; it is just that
in the final text Turkish recognition of it is no longer cited as a
precondition for EU membership. In its final version the report does
refer to the alleged “Pontian and Assyrian genocides” cited in the
initial draft, but it makes those references without actually using
the word “genocide.” All in all, the report seems to be written not
towards making Turkey a member but with the purpose of discouraging
Turkey from going ahead with the accession process.
Meanwhile, Chirac’s visit to Armenia has resulted, as expected, in
his voicing the “Armenian genocide” allegations — repeatedly. Chirac
is the vanguard among French politicians when it comes acknowledging
the crimes committed by his country in the past and publicly
apologizing for them. Therefore he may deem it a moral obligation for
himself to “recognize” the “Armenian genocide” as well. On the other
hand, the Armenian community in France is enjoying an increased
weight prior to a tough presidential election. So, this is more about
politics than moral obligations.
France knows that Turkey will never accept the Armenian genocide
claim. And it exploits the genocide issue so as to block Turkey’s
path to EU membership. Their new draft law envisages heavy fines and
prison sentences for those “negating the Armenian genocide.” Even if
we endured all kinds of humiliation and reached the stage of signing
the accession treaty, that treaty would be subjected to a referendum
in France; and to obtain a positive result from the referendum we
would be required to “acknowledge the genocide.”
The EU calls it “the need to face up to the past.” That is the
principle on which the European project has been based in the
aftermath of the Holocaust. We did not play any role in that
disaster. However, obviously if we are to be admitted into the ranks
of the genocide perpetrators, we too will have to find ourselves a
proper case of genocide, declare our regrets for “having committed
it” and pledge not to do any such thing ever again.
Until she became chancellor, Merkel had advocated a “privileged
partnership” status for Turkey as opposed to full membership. Now she
seems not to be opposing Turkish full membership. She must have
adopted that role as a result of the “re-casting of the roles” with
France. This way she will prevent a disruption of her relations with
the sizable Turkish community in Germany. Meanwhile she sees the
Cyprus problem as an issue that can suitably be used in order to
block our path to EU membership.
The commission traditionally sides with the member countries. The
current commission backs our membership bid. However, the EU member
states lack the common political will needed for that. And this makes
the commission’s job extremely difficult. We have reached a certain
point where neither the new government of the Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus (KKTC) nor this or any future government of Turkey
can possibly back down. This impasse cannot be overcome with the kind
of proposal the Finns have offered. There is only one way out: The EU
has to acknowledge the erroneous nature of its Cyprus policy and make
the Greek Cypriots toe the line. Since this is not being done, the
commission is focusing on the reforms; however, the lack of political
will has undermined the Turkish government’s eagerness to make
further reforms.
When referring to reform they are talking about the rights of
minorities and Christians, and Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code
(TCK). Almost all of those that have been in trouble due to that
article are “intellectual” Turks who have “acknowledged” the
“Armenian genocide.” Therefore, the calls for abolition of Article
301 are aimed at bringing about widescale public discussions in
Turkey on the “Armenian genocide” issue. In other words, these calls
are justified in principle, but the purpose seems hardly justified.
Indeed, it was pointed out to Rehn that the EU demands from Turkey
conflicted with the situation in France (regarding the genocide law
in the offing) and the Netherlands (where Turks who reject the
Armenian genocide allegations are not allowed to run for parliament
seats). He had a hard time trying to respond to questions in this
vein.
Barroso’s latest statement shows that the commission does not fully
back our membership, either. Barroso first talked about suspending EU
enlargement until institutional reforms are made, that is, until the
EU Constitution problem is resolved. Then he pointed out that Turkey
could be a member in 15, 20 or 25 years. What kind of impression have
we given them that they seem to think that we would wait all those
years?
Viewed together, these signs show clearly that basically the EU
does not want to make Turkey a member but that it is unwilling to
openly say so since that would entail a political price. Obviously,
it aims to exasperate Turkey by waging a “guerrilla war” on secondary
issues.
If Turkey’s prestige is to be maintained, even at a minimal level,
we must immediately get out of this masochistic mood we seem to have
plunged into. Otherwise we will come to hate the West, the EU and
Christianity. And our naive liberals and the Justice and Development
Party (AKP) will have to pay for that situation.

ELECTION CODE MAKES THE ROLE OF CONSTITUTIONAL COURT CLEAR
Panorama.am
13:48 06/10/06
Amendments in the Election Code clarify the role of the Constitutional
Court in deliberating election disputes. “Peculiarities of the
defined procedures will contribute to the organization of democratic
elections and will enlarge the responsibility of those institutes
that have powers. They can not more hide under other structures,”
Gagik Harutunyan, chairman of Constitutional Court told a conference
on the role of Constitutional Court in elections.
Janni Bukikio, secretary of Venice Committee of the Council of Europe,
said the decisions of the Constitutional Court must stem from the
interests of people. “In democracy, a Constitutional Court must
be transparent and fair in order its decisions be called legal,”
Bukikio said. /Panorama.am/

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Oct 6 2006
Peter Semneby: Azerbaijan and Armenia delay the solution to Garabagh
conflict
[ 06 Oct. 2006 15:40 ]
Azerbaijan and Armenia delay the solution of Garabagh conflict,
Peter Semneby, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus said
in the meeting of European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee.
Ha said Azerbaijan hopes petrodollars will ensure its economy and
military strength.
“Increase of the number of weapons in the region is a great problem
and causes concern. It means Azerbaijan does not consider the solution
to Nagorno Garabagh conflict actual,” he said.
He also said Armenia waits for the solution to Kosovo problem.
“Armenia hopes the reality will play its part,” the representative
said.
Mr. Semneby plans to meet with Azerbaijan and Armenia Foreign
ministers. /APA/

OSCE MISSION BEGIN TO MONITOR ARSONS ALONG FRONTLINES IN AGHDAM, TERTER AND GERANBOY
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Oct 5 2006
OSCE mission to assess the arsons has come to Ganja today. APA
bureau reports that Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental
Activities Bernard Snoy told a media briefing that the mission will
work transparently.
“Our main aim is to assess the fires. We have satellite photos of the
fire places. We plan to monitor the territories showed in the photos
and lists we were given”.
Mission will also meet with Armenian representatives.
The mission will prepare recommendations on the results.
“There is no machinery to make the parties to observe the
recommendations. We will analyse the details. The mission includes
experts from the CE and EU,” Bernard Snoy said.
He said the Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other of fires.
Today the OSCE mission began monitoring territories along frontlines
in Aghdam, Terter and Geranboy.

ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTIAL MEETING POSSIBLE IN NEAR FUTURE
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 3 2006
YEREVAN, October 3. /ARKA/. A meeting between the Armenian and
Azerbaijani Presidents is possible in the near future, OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chair Bernad Fassier told reporters in Yerevan He expressed hope
that the meetings of the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign Ministers
will lay the foundation for this meeting, and it will be held after
the negotiations results have been summed up.
According to Fassier, even with 1% probability of a favorable outcome,
the OSCE MG Co-Chairs must exert every effort to resolve the protracted
conflict.
Fassier sees a number of hope-inspiring factors of a favorable outcome
of the negotiations over Nagorno-Karabakh: the appointment of Matthew
Bryza as US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, new approaches involving
this appointment, and the OSCE MG Co-Chairs’ resolution to continue
forming new approaches to the settlement.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers are to meet in Moscow
on October 6, 2006.

LA RECONNAISSANCE DU GENOCIDE ARMENIEN N’EST PAS UNE CONDITION DE L’UE (REHN)
Agence France Presse
3 octobre 2006 mardi
La reconnaissance du “genocide” armenien n’est pas une condition a
l’entree de la Turquie dans l’UE, a affirme mardi le commissaire
europeen a l’Elargissement Olli Rehn, prenant a contre-pied le
president francais Jacques Chirac qui avait exprime un avis inverse.
“Le point de vue de l’Union europeenne sur la question est que la
reconnaissance du genocide armenien n’est pas une condition d’adhesion
a l’Union”, a dit M. Rehn aux journalistes au premier jour d’une
visite en Turquie.
Interroge samedi lors d’une visite a Erevan sur le fait savoir si
la Turquie devait, pour entrer dans l’UE, reconnaître un caractère
de genocide aux massacres d’Armeniens perpetres entre 1915 et 1917
dans l’Empire ottoman, Jacques Chirac avait repondu : “honnetement,
je le crois”.
Ses propos ont ete denonces mardi par le ministère turc des Affaires
etrangères qui s’est dit “profondement consterne” par le fait que
le chef de l’Etat francais ait reconnu le caractère genocidaire des
evenements controverses du debut du XXe siècle dans des declarations
“denuees de fondement historique”.
“Cette qualification de genocide est inacceptable”, souligne un
communique.
Les propos de M. Chirac ont ete critiques par le president de
l’Assemblee parlementaire du Conseil de l’Europe (APCE), Rene van der
Linden, qui a estime que l'”on ne peut changer les règles du jeu au
milieu du jeu”.
M. Rehn a indique que le club europeen encourageait un “debat
rationnel et ouvert” sur les massacres d’Armeniens, autrefois sujet
tabou en Turquie.
Il a aussi appuye la proposition turque de creer un comite mixte
d’historiens turcs et armeniens pour etudier les massacres survenus
dans les dernières annees de l’empire ottoman auquel succeda en 1923
la Republique de Turquie.
“C’est une bien meilleure facon de traiter de cette question
historique sensible que de lancer des ultimatums”, a estime le
responsable europeen.
La Turquie a entame le 3 octobre 2005, il y a un an jour pour jour,
des negociations en vue d’une entree dans l’UE dans dix ou quinze ans.
Les Armeniens estiment que jusqu’a un million et demi des leurs ont
peri dans un genocide orchestre par l’Empire ottoman.
Ankara soutient que 300.000 Armeniens et au moins autant de Turcs ont
ete tues au cours de troubles suscites par des soulèvements d’Armeniens
et leur ralliement aux armees russes en guerre contre l’empire ottoman,
et lors des deportations qui ont suivi.
–Boundary_(ID_ipUyz1AF1bmBld7dBgcRLQ)–

AN AZERI AIRPLANE IN “ZVARTNOTS”
A1+
[05:37 pm] 03 October, 2006
Today at about 11:30 a.m. airplane TU – 134 belonging to the Azeri
aviation “Azal” landed in “Zvartnots”.
This information is located on the airport’s website and it has
aroused a great interest.
Gevorg Abrahamyan, head of the press service of “Zvartonots”, told
A1+ that the OSCE Minsk group Co-Chairs arrived in Armenia on that
very plane.
By the way, today we got other information as well. If anyone dared to
come to Armenia from Moscow today he would counter a great difficulty
as all the tickets were sold out in advance. This can be explained
by that fact that Georgians try to get to their country via Armenia
taking into account the Russian-Georgian conflict.
The airport representatives informed A1+ that they continue their
routine by usual schedule and they haven’t fixed a rush of Georgians
to Armenia by planes. They haven’t countered cases when the Georgian
residents try to use Armenia as a transit zone to get to Georgia.

CONSOLIDATION OF MILITARY POTENTIAL DOES NOT MEAN RESOLVING THE ARMENIAN-AZERI CONFLICT IN COMBAT – AZERI PRESIDENT
Author: S.Aliyev
TREND, Azerbaijan
Oct 2 2006
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated to the opening of the autumn
session of the Azerbaijani Parliament on 2 October 2006 that some
Forces ask why the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh
has not been resolved yet. “I want to state that we will never approve
any agreement not suited to us. Despite pressures, as the President,
I will never sign an agreement contradicting the Nation’s interests,”
he stressed.
“We are keen to continue talks under the format of the OSCE Minsk
Group. However, the participation of other international organization
could promote the resolution of the problem. Our position remains
unchanged. The territorial integrity of the Country must be restored.
I do not see an agreement further than this. The occupied territory
of Azerbaijan must be liberated and the refugees must be repatriated.
The Armenian population of Karabakh can be issued with a high status
of autonomy. The political situation is in our favor,” he said.
Azerbaijan should further pursue an active policy. This has been done
by informing the Western world of our situation and its economy. The
military’s potential is strengthening continually. “The military budget
of Azerbaijan should be equal to Armenia’s entire public budget. We
will achieve it next year,” Aliyev emphasized. He noted that the
consolidation of the military potential does not mean the automatic
resolution of the conflict in combat. This is a last resort. “Our
policy should be aggressive. We should attack,” he stressed. As
Azerbaijan grows much stronger than Armenia, then there may not be
a necessity for the resolution of the conflict in battle.

FBI WORRIES ABOUT AL-QAIDA TIES TO MOB
By Pat Milton, Associated Press Writer
Los Angeles Times
Oct 1 2006
WASHINGTON — The FBI’s top counterterrorism official harbors lots of
concerns: weapons of mass destruction, undetected homegrown terrorists
and the possibility that old-fashioned mobsters will team up with
al-Qaida for the right price.
Though there is no direct evidence yet of organized crime collaborating
with terrorists, the first hints of a connection surfaced in a recent
undercover FBI operation. Agents stopped a man with alleged mob ties
from selling missiles to an informant posing as a terrorist middleman.
That case and other factors are heightening concerns about a real-life
episode of the Sopranos teaming with Osama bin Laden’s followers.
“We are continuing to look for a nexus,” said Joseph Billy Jr.,
the FBI’s top counterterrorism official. “We are looking at this
very aggressively.”
The new strategy involves an analysis of nationwide criminal
investigations, particularly white collar crime, side by side with
intelligence and terrorist activity.
“We have developed an ability to look harder and broader in a greatly
enhanced way to see if there is any crossover,” Billy said in an
interview with The Associated Press.
Organized crime syndicates could facilitate money transfers or
laundering, human smuggling, identification fraud or explosives and
weapons acquisitions, officials said.
The options are many for terrorists groups.
There are the five reputed La Cosa Nostra families in New York,
Russian criminal enterprises from Brighton Beach in the New York
borough of Brooklyn to Moscow, and the emerging Asian crime syndicates
that operate in many Islamic countries with al-Qaida offshoots.
A contract study produced recently for the Pentagon and obtained
by the AP warned that the potential for organized crime assisting
terrorists is growing.
“Although terrorism and organized crime are different phenomena, the
important fact is that terrorist and criminal networks overlap and
cooperate in some enterprises,” the study said. “The phenomenon of the
synergy of terrorism and organized crime is growing because similar
conditions give rise to both and because terrorists and organized
criminals use similar approaches to promote their operations.”
The traditional mafia has highly developed networks for acquiring
goods and services and money, all for a price.
The mob’s potential interest in helping a terrorist has nothing to
do with ideology or sympathy but with greed, said Matt Heron, head
of New York FBI’s organized crime unit.
“They will deal with anybody, if they can make a buck,” Heron said.
“They will sell to a terrorist just as easily as they would sell to
an order of Franciscan monks. It’s a business relationship to them.”
“If the mob has explosives and a terrorist wants them and they have
the money, they could become instant friends,” he said.
Pat D’Amuro, a retired senior FBI official and now chief executive
of Giuliani Security, said a Mafia boss once acknowledged that the
mob would help terrorists.
“I am aware of a high-level Mafia figure, who was cooperating with
authorities, being asked if the Mafia would assist terrorists in
smuggling people into Europe through Italy,” D’Amuro said. “He said,
‘The Mafia will help who ever can pay.'”
Officials said they have no specific evidence that such a relationship
has been cemented. But concerns were heightened last year after an
Armenian immigrant was arrested in New York for allegedly leading
a plot to sell military weapons to an FBI informant posing as a
middleman for terrorists.
Arthur Solomonyan had claimed to be able to deliver shoulder-fired
missiles from his connection in Russian organized crime to the
informant, who claimed to have ties to al-Qaida, federal prosecutors
said. Solomonyan and 17 others in New York, Florida and California
were charged in the case.
Solomonyan is scheduled for trial this month. His lawyer, Seth
Ginsberg, said he plans to “vigorously contest” the charges and call
the government’s confidential informant to the stand to challenge
his motives. The Italian, Russian, and Asian mafia remain active,
particularly in New York, even though the government has successfully
prosecuted numerous figures in recent years.
In the past three years, well over 100 associates from all five La
Cosa Nostra families have been arrested in New York, Heron noted.
While the potential of a gangster-terrorist marriage is on the FBI’s
radar, homegrown terror cells and weapons of mass destruction are
also big concerns for those in the FBI given the job of stopping the
next terrorist attack.
“We are not only aware that they want to come across the ocean to
attack us but they may be physically here developing in our own
homeland,” Billy said.
The Internet has become the new Afghanistan, allowing terrorist
sympathizers to promote their radical ideas and to recruit and train
followers right their home computers. That makes it far more difficult
for investigators to identify them.
Billy said his biggest concern remains weapons of mass destruction.
While Hezbollah and Hamas are more defined terrorist groups, with
a territorial focus and a political platform, al-Qaida is more
unpredictable.
“We know they were trying to acquire it prior to 9/11, bin Laden’s
own words said that,” said Billy. “What makes us think they are still
not trying?”