Author: Chatinian Lara

Three Arrested in Turkey for Murder of Outspoken Journalist Hrant Dink
Friday , January 19, 2007
Associated Press – |News |Flash

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Istanbul governor Muammer Guler said three people
were arrested in connection with the murder of journalist Hrant Dink
earlier on Friday, CNN-Turk television reported.

No further information was provided on the arrests. Earlier in the
day, two people were arrested, only to be released when officials
decided they had no connection to the crime. Dink was one of the most
prominent voices of Turkey’s Armenian community, and a frequent target
of nationalist anger.

Dink faced constant threats and legal proceedings as one of the most
prominent voices of Turkey’s shrinking Armenian community was shot to
death Friday at the entrance to his newspaper’s offices, police said.

Dink, a 53-year-old Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, had gone on
trial numerous times for speaking out about the mass killings of
Armenians by Turks at the beginning of the 20th century. He had also
received threats from nationalists, who viewed him as a traitor.

Dink, who edited the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, said
in his last column on Jan. 10 that he had become famous as an enemy of
Turks and had received no protection from authorities despite his
numerous complaints about the threats against him.

"My computer’s memory is loaded with sentences full of hatred and
threats," Dink wrote. "I am just like a pigeon. … I look around to
my left and right, in front and behind me as much as it does. My head
is just as active." He ended the column by predicting this would be a
difficult year, but he would survive it. "For me, 2007 is likely to be
a hard year. The trials will continue, new ones will be started. Who
knows what other injustices I will be up against," he wrote.

Dink’s killing drew condemnation from Europe, Armenia, the United
States and numerous media freedom and human rights
organizations. Thousands of Turks marched down the street where he
died, blocking traffic and carrying posters bearing his photo.

In October 2005, Dink was convicted of trying to influence the
judiciary after Agos ran stories criticizing a law making it a crime
to insult Turkey, the Turkish government or the Turkish national
character. He was given a six-month suspended sentence.

The conviction was rare even in a country where trials of journalists,
academics and writers have become common. Most of the cases, including
thatof the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk, were either
dropped on a technicality or led to acquittals.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Dink’s death as an
attack against Turkey’s unity and promised to catch those
responsible. He said he had appointed top officialsfrom the Justice
and Security ministries to investigate the killing.

"Once again, dark hands have chosen our country and spilled blood in
Istanbul to achieve their dark goals," Erdogan said.

Dink cried during an interview with The Associated Press last year as
he talked about some of his countrymen’s hatred for him, saying he
could not stay in a country where he was unwanted.

"I’m living together with Turks in this country," Dink told the AP. "I
don’t think I could live with an identity of having insulted them in
this country … if I am unable to come up with a positive result, it
will be honorablefor me to leave this country."

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said 18 Turkish
journalists have been killed for their work in the past 18 years.

"Like dozens of other Turkish journalists, Dink has faced political
persecution for his work and now appears to have paid the ultimate
price for it," CPJ Middle East Program Coordinator Joel Campagna
said. "Turkish authorities must ensure that this crime, like past
ones, does not go unpunished." Two people detained in the killing
were later released because they had no relationship to the crime,
news reports said.

Turkey’s relationship with its Armenian community is fraught with
tension and painful memories of a brutal past. Much of Turkey’s
once-sizeable Armenian population was killed or driven out of the
country from 1915-1923 in what an increasing number of countries are
recognizing as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died but
vehemently denies it was genocide, saying the overall figure is
inflated and the deaths occurred in the civil unrest during the
collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey, which is overwhelmingly Muslim, and Armenia, which claims to
be the first country to official adopt Christianity, share a border,
but it is closed and the two countries have no formal diplomatic
relations.

Can Dundar, Dink’s friend and fellow journalist, said he wished Dink
had left the country as he once promised he would in the face of the
threats, protests and legal proceedings against him.

"Hrant’s body is lying on the ground as if those bullets were fired at
Turkey," Dundar told private NTV television.

Dink’s body was covered with a white sheet in front of the newspaper’s
entrance. NTV said four empty shell casings were found on the ground
and that he was killed by two bullets to the head.

Workers at the newspaper, including Dink’s brother, who has also been
put on trial in Turkey, wept and consoled each other near his body.

Fehmi Koru, a columnist at the Yeni Safak newspaper, said Dink’s
slaying was aimed at destabilizing Turkey. "His loss is the loss of
Turkey," Koru said.

Dink had complained in a letter that he received no responses even
after complaining to authorities about threats of violence made to
him, NTV reported.

A colleague at Dink’s newspaper, Aydin Engin, said Dink had attributed
the threats to elements in the "deep state," a Turkish term that
implies shadowy, deeply nationalist and powerful elements in the
government.

FROM KNIVES TO EXPLOSIVES. THE NEW WAVE OF NAZI TERROR IN RUSSIA

Infoshop News
Jan 17 2007

An article by Vlad Tupikin about the murders of antifascists.

Last Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2006, the murder case of 20 year old
antifascist Alexander Ryuchin was taken to court. On the 16th of
April, 2006, (just nine days before his twentieth birthday in fact)
he was slaughtered in the suburbs of Moscow, on his way to a concert
of punk-hardrock music, popular among young Moscow antifascists. A
few skinheads armed with knives attacked Sasha and his friend Egor.

Actually there was no fight – there was a murder.

Three attackers have been detained, Nazi paraphernalia and literature
have been found it their apartments. Another three of them have gone
into hiding. It may seem that everything is clear. But don’t hurry to
make your judgements. The case has been brought to court not under
the murder clause. The detainees, two members of Slavonic Union –
Vasily Reutov and Andrey Anziferov, as well as Alexander Shitov, a
member of the group "Format 18," are to be charged with "hooliganism"
conducted by a group of individuals through a deliberate collusion
or organized group (Art. 213. 2 CC RF), "Wilfull infliction of light
injury" (Art. 115 CC RF) and for "beatings" (Ñò. 116 ÓÊ ÐÔ). And the
actual murder case has been sidetracked to a separate procedure,
with the accused being Alexander Parinov and Nikita Tikhonov, who
are in hiding, and one unidentified person.

The attorney Stanislav Markelov, representing the mother of the
deceased, Tatyanan Petrovna Ryukhina, has informed a reporter from
the REGNUM agency: "Everything is being done to minimize the level of
social harm of Reutov’s, Anziferov’s and Shitov’s actions. There is a
pretty cynical, but working rule: if there is corpse there is a case
for ‘Murder.’ And I’m very concerned, that the murder of an antifascist
by right wing radicals becomes an exclusion from this rule."

Another similar abnormality is that the case stemming from the
murder of another 20 year old antifascist form Saint Petersburg,
Timur Kacharava, still hasn’t gone to trial. He was also slaughtered
by the followers of extreme right wing views, who attacked him and his
friend Maxim on the 13th of November, 2005, in the very city centre
of Saint Petersburg, near the shop "Bukvoed," on Ligovsky Avenue.

It’s a busy place, where tourist buses leaving for Finland park,
and right next door is the Moscow train station. Again there was no
fight. The fascists rushed upon him, stabbing him several times with
knives. Timur received one wound to the neck that proved fatal.

The perpetrators of this widely publicized crime last year were
already detained in December 2005. The governor Valentina Matvienko
and the speaker of the Federation Council Sergey Mironov were making
declarations about the Nazi character of the murder and about the
need to combat the display of xenophobia in the capital city of
northern Russia. However the case is dragging along, and the Petersburg
antifascists are starting to believe it will be smothered completely,
with the state charging the detainees only with hooliganism, and
limiting the sentence to an insignificant period, if not suspending
it altogether.

And finally one more event, very recent. On Friday, 22 December,
in the south-eastern part of Moscow, in Lyublino, a home-made bomb
exploded in the entrance of an apartment house. On the wall near the
bomb was a swastika. The can containing the explosives was hidden
beneath a radiator, and apparently the bomb was activated by wires
running from the explosives to a board with an offensive nationalist
inscription written on it: "The residents of the flat … are black…"

The bomb, or rather the board, was detected in the apartment entrance
by 20 year old Tigran, who was living in that flat. He almost touched
the bomb, but saw the wires in time. He wasn’t able to see the bomb,
but decided to call the police. After a while the police detachment
arrived with a bomb expert and a bomb sniffing dog. While the police
were trying to clear the device it exploded.

This event has been reported in the press as the latest attack by
nationalists on non-Slavonic residents of Moscow. In their reporting,
a young Armenian man was able to escape becoming the next victim of
right wing extremists – a banal story for modern Moscow, no matter how
terrible it may seem. Quite banally the Office of the Public Prosecutor
initiated a criminal case on hooliganism – not murderous assault
…Tigran has been interrogated as a witness (not as a victim!).

However this event is not simple. Tigran was born in Moscow and
his parents are Muscovites (in the press there has already been an
absurd and false version in circulation, that he and his family have
only been living in Moscow for some ten years). He is not merely
"a young man from Caucasus." He is a Moscow Antifascist, in the past
one of the workers of the web site. Besides that, he
-just like his dead coevals Timur Kacharava adn Alexander Ryukhin –
is an admirer of punk-hardcore music.

To all appearances, Tigran should have been the third in the list
of murdered young antifa. His photograph has been posted in Nazi
web sites, he has been threatened several times, on the walls of the
construction site in front of his house one could see Swastikas, with
the words: "Tigran, say hello to Timur". Several times he has been
attacked in concerts, several times he bumped into people who looked
like boneheads (boneheads, in Russian bons, – are named by antifa which
are Nazi-skinheads, to avoid confusion with skinhead-antifascists,
who exists). Tigran is quite tough, he was always the winner in
any skirmish.

And now there was a bomb.

The politics, which is being ignored by the Office of Public
Prosecutor, through initiation of the criminal case on relatively
slight clauses in Tigran’s case, is being followed by the Federal
Defence Service of RF. While police were interrogating him as a
witness, the members of FSB visited his mother at home (the door was
damaged by the explosion, and it wasn’t closing) and, taking advantage
of her emotional shock, they confiscated things like: badges with the
crossed out swastika, stripes, but most importantly – the computer,
said Tigran.

Tigran even has a receipt of confiscation for the computer from the
FSB. All his materials for the term papers due before examinations
are now unavailable, something that has to be answered for in the
Institute.

I would like to emphasize: as far as I know, neither Timur Kacharava,
nor Alexander Ryukhin were members of any antifascist organisations,
they were just following their own antifascist views and were people
with active lifestyles. Timur was playing in an antifascist hardcore
group, on Sundays he was serving hot food to homeless people (homeless,
or, according to old militia terminology, bums, if anybody doesn’t know
yet – they are another object of hatred by young Nazis, along with
non-Slavs and representatives of several youth subcultures – punks,
rappers). Sasha was carrying out the Propaganda on his own: he was
designing on computer and distributing self-made antifascist stickers
(some such stickers were found in his pocket after his murder). Tigran
was also not a member of any organisation, but was helping an
antifascist web site, when he was not busy with his education.

To my question, whether Tigran was taking part in fights with Nazis,
he answered with affirmation: "Of course, if they are attacking.

Should we give up then?"

"Nazis made us antifascists, – a former member of antifa.ru
contitnues. – We all belong to some subcultures, to some groups,
whose representatives were clashing with fascist violence, and thus
becoming a target for their attacks. In one particular moment you
stop respecting yourself if you’re not answering blow for blow.

Especially if the police and the state as a whole don’t do anything
in general, in order to stop the street fascist danger".

"We, young antifascists, are sometimes being accused," Tigran
continues, "that, if we were not present, Nazis would already calm
down. Saying that we are acting as a teasing red flag to them. If
there would be no antifascists, say those who accuse us, the
street Nazi violence would come to naught. Everything is completely
opposite. Antifa was not present and obvious long enough and finally
they appeared, owing to the fact that Nazi violence was not stopping,
but rather getting larger and larger. And everybody knows that at
first Nazis were attacking people of non-Slavonic appearance and normal
representatives of youth subcultures, that were weaker. Atifa appeared
later – as a reaction, as a response of informal antifascist youth ".

"Look, – Tigran says, – fascists, when attacking, often pursue an
objective of mutilating or killing their victim, they use knives and
even guns. Antifas, when fighting with fascists, do not pursue an
objective of physical elimination or disabling. Fascists should just
understand, that they are also not eternal, they are not immortal,
they have to understand the value of human life, the value of every
individual. Maybe, small, underage Nazis, teens, who shaved their
heads because its cool, because now everybody will be afraid of
them, after getting it several times in the neck from normal guys,
will understand that there is nothing cool in being a fascist, –
no. Maybe at least some of them would stop."

Tigran thinks, however, that Nazis in general – as a violent street
movement – can’t be stopped by just fights. This is just containment,
the defence of youth subcultures against Nazis. "If they aren’t put
in jail, Nazi idiots following their sense of impunity will begin
doing much worse things. In their closed forums on the internet they
are already discussing the preparation of terrorist acts on markets
and even against state agencies, but haven’t decided yet whether to
make the newcomers carry it out or whether to take the responsibility
themselves". "How do you know?" I ask Tigran. "Our antifa hackers
have broken such forums several times," he answers. According to him,
on the same forums there are reference books on preparing and using
home-made explosives, same as the one that exploded in the entrance
of his apartment house.

"How do you feel after that event?" I asked him. "It’s ok. Friends
helped me to repair the door, they gathered some money. Now we need
money for a good attorney, we got to search for them. Now we have
something to be busy with. But somehow it seems that my door is just
about to be blown up."

Isn’t he afraid that the unexpected guests will come again? "They
were already here – the night after the explosion, when the door was
not closing. At four o’clock a ring on the remote entrance phone –
a young cheeky voice, saying a telegram. Later on, walking in the
entrance. Some of them were hiding their faces under a scarf or hood,
poking by the door, up along the staircase and down. The cat in my
flat pricked up its ears, I looked into the peephole, and I saw –
"guests". I asked my sister to call the police again, and rushed
to the staircase to chase them. But in home slippers you can’t
run fast, I couldn’t catch them up. And the police too, they came
with automatic-guns quite quickly, apparently they were stationed
somewhere close."

All this phantasmagoria is really taking place now in Moscow before New
Year. And blocking it from my mind, by blaming it on youthful rage,
a desire to kick up a row and a gang fight, is getting harder for me
personally. Knives were already in use. Now explosives are in use.

It’s absolutely obvious, that the question requires not only the
consideration of the police, but of the politics, and pedagogy too.

Is the official initiative of ~DNashy" enough that declared themselves
as a democratic antifascist movement? Obviously, not.

Politicians who don’t want to give up the antifascist theme to the
Kremlin and its political agents must think about how to react to
new circumstances avoiding the standard methods.

Fascism and xenophobia – it’s not merely another trump-card in an
election campaign in the marked pack of cards of the authorities,
it’s a social reality. Those who were not shown the truth of the
situation by the "Russian March," should have been made aware by the
Nazi terror in the streets. But apparently, opposition politicians,
coming in their cars to carry out discussions or joint demonstrations
with nationalists (whom they think to be "moderate") don’t take the
streets into account in general. The fact is these streets are being
controlled d by Nazis too.

Often this is ignored by the mass media too. In one of the respected
newspapers, I have been told that the statement of some antifa.ru
out there, regarding the murder of Sasha Ryukhin – is not yet an
informational couse. "Moreover, they should be certainly registered", –
said the editor looking strictly into my eyes. I don’t’ know, whether
they are registered or not. I know that in order to take the knife
and make a bomb, there is no need for registration. And Nazis know
it very well.

–Boundary_(ID_uFKqR+T8YzK+HajOmo+Hyg)–

ARMENIA AGAIN RATED ‘PARTLY FREE’
By Gevorg Stamboltsian in Prague and Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Jan 17 2007

Armenia remains a "partly free" country because of its leadership’s
"limited respect for political rights and civil liberties," a renowned
U.S. watchdog said on Wednesday.

In an annual survey of freedom around the world, Freedom House ranked
Armenia among 58 nations which its believes are rife with corruption,
lack free elections and rule of law, and are often dominated by a
single political party.

The Washington-based group again evaluated the state of political
rights and civil liberties in each of the 193 countries surveyed on a
7-point negative scale. It found no changes in these areas in Armenia
over the past year, giving it 5 and 4 points in the two respective
categories.

"Armenia’s scores are right on the border between a partly free and
a not free country," Christopher Walker, Freedom House’s director of
studies, told RFE/RL. "So it’s actually one of the weaker Partly Free
countries in the global review."

"This is a reflection of a weak performance in a number of key
areas, including in the media and citizens’ ability to express their
participation in the political process in a meaningful way," Walker
said. He expressed concern about what he described as an ongoing
"oligarchization of politics in the country" and increased instances
of violence against Armenian journalists reported in 2006.

Freedom House underlined these concerns in a statement last November
that urged the United States to withhold $235.6 million in promised
economic assistance to Yerevan. It accused the administration of
President Robert Kocharian of "backsliding on promised reforms"
and using "multiple anti-democratic methods" to cling to power.

The statement drew on two detailed country reports that were released
by Freedom House earlier in 2006 and painted a bleak picture of
democracy and rule of law in Armenia. The findings of those reports
were dismissed by the Armenian authorities.

U.S. officials say Washington will take into account Freedom House’s
opinion in deciding whether to disburse the promised aid. But they
indicated that its release is primarily conditional on the freedom
and fairness of the upcoming Armenian parliamentary elections.

SENATOR CALLING FOR GENOCIDE RECOGNITION TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.01.2007 13:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois jumped
into the 2008 White House race on Tuesday, promising to "change our
politics" with a campaign that could make him the first black president
in U.S. history, reports Reuters. Obama, a freshman senator and rising
party star, formed an exploratory committee to begin raising money and
hiring staff to campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination
to succeed Republican President George W. Bush. He plans a formal
campaign announcement in his home state of Illinois on February
10. "Our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together
in a practical, common-sense way. Politics has become so bitter and
partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can’t tackle
the big problems that demand solutions," Obama said in a video message
announcing his bid. "We have to change our politics, and come together
around our common interests and concerns as Americans," he said.

September 14, 2006, over two-hundred Illinois constituents had an
opportunity to hear Sen.Barack Obama speak out on the importance
of recognizing the Armenian Genocide and encouraged the Turkish
Government to end their campaign of denial. Sen. Obama stated that
the Armenian Genocide was one of the most horrific tragedies that
occurred during the 20th Century by the Turkish Government. He also
stressed the importance of working to end the campaign of denial
and speaking the truth, which in some instances has unfortunately
jeopardized peoples’ careers.

THEY ‘WON.’ NOW WHAT?

Registan.net, WA
Jan 15 2007

President Lukashenka was able to score a major concession from Russia
in getting it to reduce export duties on oil transiting Belarus.

While it looks like a significant victory-other instances of Gazprom
relaxing fees seemed far more calculated-Lukashenka is actually in
a desperately weak position. Commonly derided as "the last dictator
in Europe," he has made Belarus an economic backwater, highlighted
the farce of his election-equivalents, and as one of the few serious
human rights violators west of the Urals has few friends. So what now?

There are larger implications for the oil spat. In 2003, years before
its own gas crisis with Russia, Ukraine had made a half-hearted stab
at diversifying oil routes on the southwest corner of Russia: the
Odessa-Brody pipeline. It was partially sunk by Kazakhstan choosing to
funnel its oil through the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline, going further
south to the Mediterranean rather than north around the Black Sea and
into Poland. Dealing a death blow was Russia essentially dictating
that the pipe flow south, rather than north: a complete reversal of
the geopolitical coup it was meant to strike in the first place. Though
late in 2005 the EU decided to invest in the OB line, nothing concrete
had taken place. It’s only been in recent months that Ukraine’s desire
to gain some independence from Russian energy policy has made sense,
now that the discontent with Moscow’s bullying is widespread.

Georgia’s spats with Russia have increased, too, from the recent
tangerine embargo to the more momentous decision to buy natural gas
from Azerbaijan, at the same time Azerbaijan began its own supply
games with Moscow. Across the Caucasus, countries are trying to band
together to form alternatives to Russian projects.

Of course, these alternatives aren’t without problems: Turkey and
Azerbaijan have decided to circumvent Armenia in their new railway.

Both are mad at the Armenians over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh,
a region with a majority of ethnic Armenians, occupied by Armenia,
but officially part of Azerbaijan (Turkey also still hasn’t quite
gotten over its little genocide thing 90 years back). The situation
is enough of a slap to have U.S. diplomats worried. More broadly,
there remain simmering tensions throughout the region; each state,
including Turkey, has major problems with unrest and separatism.

In other words, no one, at least no one serious, is predicting some
kind of Unified Caucasus acting in opposition to Moscow. But it
will be interesting to see how Lukashenka’s latest ploy eventually
reverberates through the Near Abroad. The CIS has chafed under Russian
membership, and multiple revolutions to throw out Moscow-approved
leaders in Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan have hinted at the depth
of such discontent. It has also inspired a fresh wave of pro-Western
politiking, at least in Kazakhstan, and weakened the rule of both
Karimov in Uzbekistan and Lukashenka in Belarus.

Karimov is in no particular danger of falling any time soon. But in
Lukashenka’s case, he has managed to alienate his only friend-Putin.

Without Moscow’s strong support, Belarus’ economy won’t thrive. Nor
will the EU swoop in to save him. No one west of Kaliningrad much
cares for Belarus. If this latest crisis wasn’t the exact downfall
of Lukashenka, I think we can at least start the clock from this point.

He is permanently weakened, further delegitimized at home, and caught
out in a bad way regionally. My only big question is: will this be a
"soft" collapse with a reasonably smooth transition into other better
governance, or will Belarus simply swap tyrants?

IMITATION OF NEGOTIATIONS WILL CONTINUE IN 2007, STEPAN GRIGORIAN IS SURE

Noyan Tapan
Jan 16 2007

YEREVAN, JANUARY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The year 2006 was very interesting
in the respect of peaceful settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict:
new tendencies appeared. Stepan Grigorian, Board Chairman of Analytical
Center on Globalization and Regional Development, declared this in
his interview to Noyan Tapan correspondent.

In his words, one of them supposes rather bad understanding of
Nagorno Karabakh problem by the international community, including
OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs. "This incomprehension was manifested in
the great enthusiasm of Co-chairs who were sure during the whole
previous year that they will be able to provide a breakthrough in
the negotiations process on peaceful settlement of Nagorno Karabakh
conflict," S.Grigorian stated.

Another tendency, in the analyst’s words, is emergence of a
new element in the negotiations connected with nations’ right
of self-determination. In his words, "during the whole period of
negotiations on conflict settlement the right of self-determination
was not even discussed. At the same time, he said that placing of this
principle on the negotiations agenda no doubt is a positive element.

In S.Grigorian’s words, the principle of nations’ self-determination
emerged in the process of settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict after
the precedent connected with Montenegro’s receiving independence,
as well as possible getting of independence by Kosovo. "In spite of
the fact that Kosovo’s recognition is delayed, all of us understand
that Kosovo’s independence is not so far.

Strange though this may seem, this moment received a strong echo in
our region," the expert declared.

He expressed confidence that in the year 2007 again an attempt to
imitate some actions will be undertaken by Armenian and Azerbaijani
authorities, but no decisions will be made. "I think the year 2007,
at least under the current leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, will
not be a year of a breakthrough."

Agence France Presse
14 janvier 2007 dimanche 12:05 PM GMT

Meeting mercredi des Arméniens de France "contre le négationnisme"

PARIS 14 jan 2007

Un "grand meeting républicain contre le négationnisme" organisé par
le Conseil de coordination des organisations arméniennes de France
(CCAF) se tiendra mercredi à Paris en présence de plusieurs
personnalités, selon un communiqué de l’association reçu dimanche.

Après le vote par l’Assemblée nationale française le 12 octobre
dernier, d’une loi controversée sanctionnant la négation du génocide
arménien de 1915, qui doit être soumise au Sénat, le CCAF "lance un
appel à l’ensemble de la communauté arménienne de France pour qu’elle
se mobilise à l’occasion de la grande réunion publique", prévue
mercredi 17 janvier à 20H00 au Palais de la Mutualité, dans le 5ème
arrondissement de Paris.

Les associations arméniennes, très actives sur le terrain du lobbying
politique, organisent ce meeting en pleine campagne électorale pour
les élections législatives et présidentielle en France.

Elles assurent que "l’ensemble de la classe politique républicaine
française sera représentée" et que "les principaux candidats à la
présidentielle" seront présents.

Elles annoncent la présence mercredi du chanteur d’origine arménienne
Charles Aznavour, de l’avocat Serge Klarsfeld, président de
l’association des Fils et Filles de déportés juifs de France, de
Bernard Henri Lévy et de Me Christian Charrière-Bournazel, nouveau
btonnier de Paris et avocat de la Licra lors du procès Papon.

La France avait déjà dans une loi déclarative le 29 janvier 2001
reconnu le génocide arménien, contesté par la Turquie.

Le vote à l’Assemblée d’un second texte sur ce sujet en France,
proposé par les socialistes et prévoyant des peines allant jusqu’à un
an de prison et 45.000 euros d’amende pour négationnisme a déclenché
l’ire des autorités turques, mais a également été rejeté par des
historiens et des juristes français qui s’opposent à l’instauration
de "vérités officielles".

Panorama.am

16:59 13/01/2007

U.S. – TURKEY RELATIONS TENSE

Tensions are expected in U.S. – Turkey relations
connected with the urgency of recognizing the Armenian
Genocide in U.S. Congress.

In addition to this, George W. Bush’s statement that
the Kurds are the alleys of the United States has
shocked Ankara. Further, U.S. State Secretary
Condoliza Rice’s statement that the failure of US
strategy in Iraq is devastating has even deepened
Turkish concerns.

Turkish media reports that President Bush and State
Secretary Rice avoid naming Kurdish worker’s party as
a terrorist union. Ankara tried to hinder proclamation
of Krkuk town the administrative center of Kurdistan,
which was opposed by U.S. ambassador in Baghdad. He
advised the Turks to deal with the issues within their
state and not to interfere the business of Iraq. `If
that is so why does the United States interfere with
the internal affairs of Iraq which is thousand miles
away from the USA?’ Turkish Prime Minister furiously
replied.

Source: Panorama.am

PanARMENIAN.Net

Germany Calls for Punishment for Genocide Denial
12.01.2007 15:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries has called
for a Europe-wide initiative to tackle right-wing extremism to be put
in place and plans to push ahead with the idea using her country’s
current presidency of the EU. The minister told German daily Bild that
officials are worried about the rising levels of extremism being
carried out across Europe, with the perpetrators taking advantage of
the different rules in member states. "That is why during the EU
presidency we are immediately going to make a new attempt to finally
lay down uniform standards when it comes to fighting right-wing
extremism," she said. She added that Italy, which had blocked
previous plans to get an EU law on the issue off the ground, had now
signaled its support for the idea. An EU law combating racism and
xenophobia has been stuck in the legislative pipelines since 2003 with
Rome objecting to it in the past on freedom of speech grounds. The
proposed law says that member states should make punishable "public
incitement to discrimination, violence or hatred against a group of
persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race,
color, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin". It also calls
for punishment of "public condoning, denial or gross trivialization of
crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes."

Political discussion on the law in 2005 came unstuck when it was
overshadowed by divisive debate on whether Nazi symbols should be
banned, reports the EUobserver.

POSSIBILITY OF MINSK GROUP VISIT TO REGION DEPENDS ON OSKANYAN-MAMEDIAROV MEETING IN MOSCOW

Arka News Agency, Armenia
Jan 10 2007

YEREVAN, January 10. /ARKA/. The possibility of the OSCE Minsk Group
visit to the conflict region depends on the outcome of the meeting
between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers in Moscow in
January 2007, Press Secretary of Armenia’s Foreign Ministry Vladimir
Karapetyan reported.

The sides will agree on the terms and format of the visit of the
Minsk Group Co-Chairs on the spot.

According to a preliminary agreement, the Oskanyan-Mamediarov meeting
is to be held in Moscow on January 23, with participation of the MG
Co-Chairs, Armenia’s Foreign Minister reported.

The previous meeting of the two foreign ministers was arranged in
Brussels on November 14, 2006, with participation of the MG Co-Chairs
on the Karabakh peace process Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Mathew Bryza
(USA) and Bernard Fassier (France).