Author: Chatinian Lara

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER WARNS OF BREAK WITH U.S., ISRAEL OVER WWI ARMENIAN MASSACRE

International Herald Tribune
The Associated Press
Oct 9 2007
France

JERUSALEM: Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan warned that his
country’s relations with both the United States and Israel could be
harmed if the U.S. Congress passes legislation declaring the World
War I massacre of Armenians a genocide, according to an interview
published Tuesday.

Babacan called on Israel to use its influence to stop the
legislation. An Israeli official said Babacan expressed his concerns
during a meeting with Israel’s foreign minister.

Interviewed by the Jerusalem Post daily, Babacan said, "The
perception in Turkey right now is that the Jewish people, or the
Jewish organizations let’s say, and the Armenian Diaspora, the Armenian
lobbies, are now hand-in-hand trying to defame Turkey, and trying to
condemn Turkey and the Turkish people."

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks during World War I, an event widely viewed by scholars
as the first genocide, or planned extermination, of the 20th century.

Turkey, however, denies that the deaths constituted genocide, saying
that the toll has been inflated and that those killed were the victims
of civil war and unrest.

In August the New York-based Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish
organization known for combatting anti-Semitism, reversed its position
on the issue and labeled the killings as "tantamount to genocide."

"If we see that Jewish organizations are deliberately and in a very
comfortable way using then word genocide in a statement, this is a
problem for us. This offends Turkey," Babacan told the paper.

Babacan, who arrived in Israel on Sunday, said Turkey "would be
happy if the Israeli authorities" could pressure Congress to ensure
"nothing goes wrong there."

"If something goes wrong in Washington, D.C., it inevitably will
have some influence on relations between Turkey and the U.S., plus
the relations between Turkey and Israel as well," he said.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Babacan raised the
issue during his meeting with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Sunday.

"We listened closely to his concerns, and we shared with him our
position," Regev said, but refused to give details.

DANIEL FRIED: THE WHITE HOUSE ADMINISTRATION THINKS THAT HOUSE RESOLUTION 106 WOULD DO GRAVE HARM TO U.S. INTERESTS

ArmInfo Agency, Armenia
Oct 8 2007

ArmInfo. The Administration opposes House Resolution 106, stipulating
recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and it would do grave harm,
both to U.S.-Turkish relations and to U.S. interests, US Assistant
Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Daniel Fried,
said at a briefing in the US Department of State.

"It would hurt our forces deployed in Iraq, which rely on passage
through Turkey. It would do far greater harm than good. It would do
nothing to advance Turkish-Armenian reconciliation," he stressed.

"But more to the point, it is not simply this Administration which
opposes this bill, but all former living Secretaries of State have
written to Speaker Pelosi in opposition, including: Madeleine Albright,
Warren Christopher, Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger, James Baker,
Alexander Haig, George Shultz, Larry Eagleburger," he added.

"Now, no one, neither the former secretaries nor the Administration
denies that a terrible and inexcusable tragedy of mass killings and
forced exile befell innocent Armenians in the last years of the Ottoman
Empire in 1915 and after. Those are historical facts. Up to a million
and a half people were killed or forced into exile. The United States
has recognized this. President Bush, like President Clinton before
him, has formally recognized it in annual statements on Armenian
Remembrance Day on April 24th," the American diplomat noted. So the
Administration does not deny anything, he added. "We do not deny
anything. But we do not believe that this bill would advance either
the cause of historical truth or Turkish- Armenian reconciliation or
the interests of the United States and we oppose it," D.Fried repeated.

D.Fried didn’t want to discuss a possible Turkish reaction to a bill
that he hopes doesn’t pass. "It is true that the Turkish reaction
would be extremely strong. It has been strong when such resolutions
have passed before and we have to be mindful of how much we depend
and how much our troops and the Iraqi economy depends on shipments
from and through Turkey," he stressed.

For his part, Spokesman of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Vladimir
Karapetyan noted that the USA’s position in this matter is not new.

He referred to the Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian’s
statement on the letter by former Secretaries of State to US Speaker
of the House Nancy Pelosi on House Resolution 106.

To recall, V.Oskanian said in his letter addressed to N.Pelosi: "It
is quite unfortunate that eight experienced diplomats would buy into
Turkish manipulation. There is much to disagree with in that letter,
especially about the purported dangers of such a resolution. I will
only address the insincere claim that such a resolution would "damage
efforts to promote reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey. I regret
to say that there is no process in place to promote normalization
of relations between Armenia and Turkey. Expressing concern about
damaging a process that doesn’t exist is isingenuous".

VARTAN OSKANIAN HONORED WITH DEAN’S MEDAL OF TUFTS UNIVERSITY FLETCHER SCHOOL

PanARMENIAN.Net
08.10.2007 16:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian addressed
a gathering of students and faculty at the Tufts University Fletcher
School in Medford, Massachusetts on October 5.

Prior to delivering his address, the Minister was awarded the Dean’s
Medal by Fletcher Dean Steven Bosworth, a former U.S. ambassador. The
Minister, a graduate of the Fletcher School, is the most recent
recipient of the medal, awarded to distinguished Fletcher alumni
including Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi, Foreign Minister of Indonesia
Hassan Wirajuda, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Former UN
Undersecretary Shashi Tharoor, Liu Xiaoming, Chinese Ambassador to
the DPRK.

The Minister expressed his appreciation for the special award,
and continued by thanking the Fletcher School administration for
the continuing special relationship between the Fletcher School
and Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Fletcher School,
in partnership with Armenia’s Foreign Ministry, has accepted five
groups of 15 diplomats and civil servants for special certificate
programs since 1999.

In addition to diplomats from the foreign ministry, civil servants from
the ministries of finance, trade, justice, health, the president’s
office, the prosecutor general’s office and other agencies have
benefited from the program. The program is supported entirely by
the Tavitian Foundation, founded by philanthropist-businessman Aso
Tavitian, to develop capacity within Armenia’s government, by enabling
and encouraging continuing education for mid-career professionals. The
program is designed under the guidance of Dr. Joyce Barsam, a member
of the Tufts University Board of Trustees, and also a member of the
Tavitian Foundation.

Following the award ceremony, Minister Oskanian spoke about the
"Diplomacy of Small Countries." He referred to the various global
and regional challenges which adversely affect smaller countries,
and spoke about the specific strategic choices made by Armenia
since independence. He spoke about the region, Armenia’s relations
with all its neighbors, and about the challenges facing Armenia’s
foreign policy.

A question-answer session followed in which Fletcher School’s many
international students, as well as faculty, participated, the RA MFA
press office reported.

THE ARMENIAN TRANSLATION OF THE "BLACK GARDEN: ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN THROUGH PEACE AND WAR" RELEASED

ArmRadio – Public Radio, Armenia
Oct 1 2007

The US Embassy and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting Armenia
Branch held a discussion at the US Embassy on October 1 to mark the
release of the Armenian translation of British journalist Thomas
de Waal’s book "Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace
and War."

The book presents a careful reconstruction of the history of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict and its aftermath, based on six months
traveling through the South Caucasus, more than 120 original
interviews, and unique archives.

The widely-read book was first published in English in 2004. A Russian
translation of the book came out in November 2006 and discussions
were held in Yerevan, Tbilisi and Baku.

Thomas de Waal is editor of the Caucasus Reporting Service of the
Institute for War and Peace Reporting. He is also known as co-author
of A Small Victorious War, a book on the conflict in Chechnya. De Waal
completed a degree in Russian and Modern Greek at Oxford, has worked
for the BBC, The Moscow Times and The Times in London and Moscow.

ANS TV, Azerbaijan
Sept 30 2007

Azeri soldier killed by Armenian sniper fire

An Azerbaijani serviceman has died of wounds sustained by Armenian
sniper fire, ANS television has reported.

Vurgun Akbarov, 19, died in hospital on 30 September – a week after
being wounded in the head in Azerbaijan’s Tartar District, the report
said.

The soldier was buried in his home district of Masalli, ANS said.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Contact Group on Kosovo discussed further plans
29.09.2007 14:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The six-nation group charged with leading talks to
resolve the sovereignty dispute over Kosovo met Thursday at the United
Nations, trying to develop fresh ideas to move the negotiations
forward.

High-ranking government officials from the United States, Russia,
Germany, Britain, Italy and France met with UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon in a closed-door session in a conference room in the basement
of UN headquarters in New York.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband chaired the meeting, attended
by foreign ministers from other countries and Javier Solana, the
European Union external affairs chief. No one made any comment to the
media.

The contact group is also known as the troika, composed of the leading
European Union members (Germany, Britain, Italy and France), Russia
and the United States.

The group is to make a final report to Ban on the negotiations by
December 10.

`An agreement between Belgrade and Pristina with a following approval
by the UN Security Council would be the optimal way of Kosovo problem
resolution,’ said a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

On Friday, representatives from Serbia and Kosovo are scheduled to
meet face-to-face for the first time at UN headquarters in a session
sponsored by the European Union.

Serbia is opposed to independence for Kosovo, instead offering
autonomy but keeping that province within its national territory, the
UN news center reports.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Georgian opposition demands extra presidential and parliamentary election
28.09.2007 14:42 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Former Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili,
who went into opposition to President Mikhael Saakashvili, was
detained in Tbilisi yesterday. He is accused under 4 articles of the
Georgian Penal Code: extortion, money laundering, abuse of authority
and office negligence.

September 27 evening a skirmish between the police and Okruashvili’s
supporters took place at the office of opposition party `Movement for
United Georgia’ led by the former Defense Minister.

As result, 10 people were detained.

The party premises were searched and blocked by the police.

Today several opposition parties are going to hold a rally at the
parliament building to demand extra presidential and parliamentary
elections.

Okruashvili’s supporters commented on his arrest. `I and several other
party fellows were in the office discussing plans for the future. At
that time some 100 policemen, mostly in masks, rushed into the
building. To avoid misunderstanding and provocations, Okruashvili
asked us and the guards to keep calm. He surrendered to the police
without resistance,’ MP Giya Tsagareyshvili told Imedi TV company.

According to former chief of the Georgian general staff, general Levan
Nikoleyshvili, `policemen were awkward to arrest Okruashvili,’ Russian
media reports.

Earlier, Irakli Okruashvili accused President Saakashvili of
organizing the murder of well-known businessman Badri
Patarkatsishvili.

NIKEA: FRENCH FLAG, ARMENIAN MIND

Panorama.am
17:24 27/09/2007

Tigran Garamyan, a chess player of Armenian nationality representing
France has scored 8 out of 9 possibilities in 15th open chess
championship in Greek city of Nikea winning the first award. Armenian
chess federation official web portal informs that Garamyan is followed
by Banikas from Greece, Petkov from Bulgary and Malakhatko representing
Belgium. One hundred forty one chess players take part in the open
championship in Nikea.

HEAD OF ICRC’S YEREVAN DELEGATION: IT IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PRISONER AND HIS FAMILY TO BE RECOVERED AND MAINTAINED

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2007

ArmInfo. It is very important for the communication between a prisoner
and his family to be recovered and maintained, Head of the Yerevan
delegation of the International Committee of Red Cross James Reynolds
told ArmInfo.

The ICRC facilitates communication between prisoners and their
families. This is done through Red Cross Messages – short letters
that contain family news only, and that are written on a special
pre-printed form. They are offered to the detaining authority for
censorship and our staff check them as well, removing any ‘political’
comments or comments regarding the conditions of detention. Finally,
the ICRC delivers the Red Cross Message to the addressee, i.e. the
prisoner or his family. In short, it is not possible that such a
letter emanated from the ICRC.

Asked about the periodical publications of the Armenian war prisoners’
letters in the Azerbaijani press, in particular, the letter of a
soldier Ambartsum Asaturyan, which contains political assessments
of Armenia’s authorities, J. Reynolds said: "Concerning the letter,
you are talking about, there is no probability that it was published
under assistance of ICRC". At the same time, he said that the Red
Cross’s messages are sometimes published. "So, the main concern is
for a letter’s content to be correct", he added. James Reynolds also
recalled that the Geneva Conventions require that prisoners of war
and civilian internees be protected from ‘public curiosity’, so I
will not comment on the individual cases to which you refer.

THERE ARE SOME PROBLEMS IN YEREVAN’S WATER-SUPPLY SYSTEM, SERGE POPOFF ADMITS
Author: Tonoyan Susanna Editor: Eghian Robert

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 26 2007

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. Although the quality of water
supply has improved a bit as compared with last year, there are
some problems in the system. The director general of Yerevan Water
company Serge Popoff said at the September 26 press conference that
the monitoring results show 40% improvement and 15% deterioration in
the water-supply schedules of the city communities. He pointed out
the efficient operation of 1-85 hot line, to which 40 thousand calls
have been registered in the past three months.

According to S. Popoff, 8 million dollars has been invested in the
system in the past year, while in 2006 investments will make 7 million
dollars. The total amount of credit resources allocated by the World
bank for improving the city water supply system makes 18 million
dollars. 17 million euros will be invested at the expense of raising
the drinking water tariff, that is, Veola company (France) – Yerevan
Water’s shareholder will not make investments with its own resources.

It was announced that the French government intends to allocate a 26
million-euro credit for improvement of Yerevan’s water-supply system.