Author: Chatinian Lara

MEMORANDUM CONCERNING COOPERATION BETWEEN JUDICIAL SYSTEMS OF ARMENIA AND BELARUS SIGNED
Noyan Tapan
Oct 24 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 24, NOYAN TAPAN. The heads of upper judicial
instances of the Republics of Armenia and Belarus signed on October
24 a memorandum concerning cooperation and exchange of legal
information. A memorandum was signed on cooperation between the two
countries’ economic courts as well. In words of Hovhannes Manukian,
the Chairman of the RA Court of Cassation, the cooperation is not new,
the two countries cooperated within the framework of international
structures, particularly, the chairmen’s council of CIS economic,
arbitration and other courts. And by the mentioned memorandum, in his
words, cooperation of the two countries’ courts of common competence,
judicial systems is started. Valentin Sukalo, the Chairman of the
Supreme Court of Belarus, in his turn, estimated signing of the
memorandum as a new spur for bilateral cooperation. In his words,
approach of the two countries’ judicial systems and corresponding
legislation is important for development of effective cooperation.

ARMENIAN ALPHABET EXHIBIT AT MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY
Monmouth University News & Events, NJ
Oct 21 2006
Program Celebrates the 1,600th Anniversary of the Armenian Alphabet and
Will Feature Multiple Armenian Alphabet Artifacts Monmouth University,
in conjunction with the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America
(Eastern), will host an Armenian Alphabet Exhibit, November 6 to 9, 11
a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, in historic Wilson Hall, located on the Monmouth
University campus. The program celebrates the 1,600th anniversary
of the Armenian Alphabet and will feature multiple Armenian Alphabet
artifacts. In addition, on November 8 at 7 p.m., Mr. Aram Arkun will
give a keynote address about the history of the Armenian Alphabet in
Wilson Hall Auditorium.
Mr. Arkun, a specialist in Armenian history serves as the coordinator
of the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center of the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of America (Eastern). He is editor of the periodical
Ararat, chairman of the Armenian Student Association Arthur H. Dadian
Armenian Heritage Award committee, and secretary of the board of
directors of the Armenian Center at Columbia University.
Mr. Arkun is a doctoral candidate in Armenian history (C.Phil.) at
UCLA, for which he is completing his dissertation on the Armenians
of northern Cilicia after World War I.
The exhibit and keynote address are free and open to the public.
Local schools and large groups are asked to please contact the
Office of Public Affairs at 732-571-3526 to schedule a time to view
the exhibit.
Media Contact: Val Manzo 732-571-3526/[email protected]

INTERNATIONAL TABLE TENNIS TOURNAMENT IN STEPANAKERT
Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]
Oct 17 2006
On October 7 and 8 the fourth international table tennis tournament
of NKR president was held in Stepanakert. Players from Russia,
the cities of Tehran and Tabriz of Iran, Lebanon, Georgia, Armenia
and Nagorno Karabakh Republic took part in it. In his address at the
opening ceremony NKR President Arkady Ghukassian said the geography of
participants is expanding, and “it means that the tournament has become
traditional, and sport is developing in our republic.” In individual
and pair games the 1, 2 and 3 places were taken by Victoria Baramidzeh
(Georgia), Nosrati Arash (Iran), Gallina Degtiarova (Moscow), Luisa
Nazarian (Yerevan), Marianna Sahakian (Beirut), Hasmik Matevossian,
Tatev Yengibarian, Arthur Poghossian, Murad Asatrian, Mesrop Ghukassian
(Yerevan), Mikhail Khomutov, Victor Kozlov (Moscow).
NVARD SOGHOMONIAN.
17-10-2006

Turkish Daily News
Oct 20 2006
An ‘innovative’ open letter to a French presidential candidate
Friday, October 20, 2006
This letter is to salute your courageous and visionary call last
Thursday for expenditures by European Union governments in the areas
of research and development and in innovation to be exempt from the
budgetary constraints of the Growth and Stability Pact, the so-called
‘Maastricht Criteria.’ Your ‘blueprint’ outlined last week touched on
many important areas, from labor standards to agriculture. It is
consequently my hope that the breadth of your vision and blueprint
does not lead to neglect by the media and others of the specific
incentives to boost intelligent spending on R&D and innovation. For
yours is without question the most original idea I have heard in
recent years to revitalize Europe’s technology-based industries and
prepare them for a future in which they can compete without resorting
to ‘flight’ to the United States or ‘outsourcing’ to low-cost China
and India. In short, this dimension of your set of proposals deserves
a thorough airing.
David Judson
Mme. Segolene Royal:
This letter is to salute your courageous and visionary call last
Thursday for expenditures by European Union governments in the areas
of research and development (R&D) and in innovation to be exempt from
the budgetary constraints of the Growth and Stability Pact, the
so-called “Maastricht Criteria.” Your “blueprint” outlined last week
touched on many important areas, from labor standards to agriculture.
It is consequently my hope that the breadth of your vision and
blueprint does not lead to neglect by the media and others of the
specific incentives to boost intelligent spending on R&D and
innovation. For yours is without question the most original idea I
have heard in recent years to revitalize Europe’s technology-based
industries and prepare them for a future in which they can compete
without resorting to “flight” to the United States or “outsourcing”
to low-cost China and India. In short, this dimension of your set of
proposals deserves a thorough airing.
I hope you will forgive the temerity of a journalist’s resort to
the device of an “open letter” to offer my praise. But given the fact
your R&D proposal came on the same day as the unfortunate vote in
France’s Parliament to censure those who disagree with a particular
interpretation of events surrounding the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire at the beginning of the 20th century, I am sure you will
understand my motives. The history of the tragedy that befell the
Armenian people in 1915 is a separate matter. But as that vote has
set in motion a train of political events that may well stalk
relations between France and Turkey for many years, the timing of
your proposal on European economic regeneration may well be a source
of hope for the continuation of productive dialogue and collaboration
between the two countries.
The reasons for this are two:
First, Turkey is deeply engaged in its own debate about nurturing
and supporting the concept of innovation. Books on the topic go
through multiple printings, innovation is frequently in the headlines
of virtually all the press and the importance of innovation is one we
champion in my own newspaper, Referans, the national business daily.
With strong academic networks and a student population that is more
than twice as large as that of any other European country, Turkey has
much to contribute to innovation in the broader European context in
life sciences, IT, engineering, agro-industry and in many other
sectors. Turkey’s resources in this area are, in my view, key to
restarting the so-called “Lisbon Agenda” of 2000 that seeks to make
Europe the world’s most competitive economic bloc.
The second reason goes to the underlying logic in your proposal of
exempting expenditures in support of long-term economic
sustainability from the constraints of short-term fiscal accounting.
As you are aware, Turkey is well on the way to orienting its own
economy to the terms of the EU’s “Growth and Stability Pact.” But
Turkey also faces an additional fiscal burden imposed by the
International Monetary Fund (IMF). I refer to the IMF-imposed
requirement to maintain a budgetary surplus exclusive of interest of
6.5 percent. This criterion leaves planning for Turkey’s 2007 budget
with a current shortfall of some YTL 6 billion, a sum equivalent to
about 3.25 billion euros. At this juncture, the logic and elegance of
your proposal is something that should be brought to the attention of
the IMF, not just as it relates to the case of Turkey but perhaps as
its potential relates to the health of other emerging economies as
well.
I wholeheartedly support your view as you expressed it last
Thursday that “There is a demand for the French in Europe and a
demand for Europe in the world.” There is also a demand in Turkey, in
Europe and the world for the kind of economic thoughtfulness you so
articulately put forward last week at a moment when our attentions
were elsewhere.
I would certainly appreciate your forwarding of this letter to
those members of your economic policy team who might assist us in
exploring the specifics of what you propose. Similarly, if either you
or anyone on your team might envision a trip to Turkey, we would be
pleased to host you as guests and provide you with a broad forum for
the further sharing of your ideas.
With kind regards and best wishes for your success,
David Judson
Managing Editor
Referans

ARMENIAN YOUTH MARCHES FOR 3000 MILES RECOGNITION OF THE CRIME COMMITTED AGAINST HUMANITY
By Gohar Gevorgian
AZG Armenian Daily
18/10/2006
On June 27, at the initiative of “The United Armenian Students”
organization, the youth of California began a march that was to
stretch for 3000 miles. The procession was entitled “For the Sake
of Humanity” and lasted for already 3,5 months. The initiative is
aimed to inform the people about the crimes committed against the
humanity and make the government settle the issue. The young people
are carrying posters that condemn the genocides. They hope to reach
from Los Angeles to Washington in November. They expect to meet with
the US Government there.
In the information rendered to “Azg,” the organizers of the procession
state that in the course of the procession they meet with congressmen
and senators, hold various arrangements and political meetings
dedicated to not only the Armenian genocide but also about all of
the crimes committed against the genocide. The initiators of the
arrangement aim to achieve the state recognition of these crimes.
Another important goal of the program is to show the undeniable
connection between the genocides to the American society and
its government. The students from a number of California based
universities, collages and educational institutions participate in the
procession. They believe that recognition of genocides will help avert
new crimes. Albrik Zohrabian, who has taken photos of the procession,
said this in the telephone conversation with “Azg.”

OSCE REPRESENTATIVE URGES FRENCH SENATE TO REJECT CRIMINALIZATION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL
Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE)

Oct 17 2006
VIENNA, 17 October 2006 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the
Media, Miklos Haraszti, expressed his concern today about the French
National Assembly’s adoption in a first reading of an amendment that
aims to criminalize the denial that the 1915 killings of Armenians
in Turkey was genocide.
In a letter sent to the President of the French Senate, Christian
Poncelet, the Representative asked the Senate members to reject the
amendment when it reaches the Senate in its capacity as second chamber.
“I acknowledge the humanitarian intentions of those members of
the Assembly who support this proposal. However, the adoption of
the amendment raises serious concerns with regard to international
standards of freedom of expression,” wrote Haraszti.
“It is in the name of these same standards that I continue to call upon
Turkey to remove Article 301 of the Penal Code, ‘Insulting Turkish
identity’, which prosecutors in Turkey repeatedly use in the context
of the Armenian genocide debate.”
France recognized the genocide in the 19 January 2001 Law. The proposed
amendment would introduce a punishment for denial amounting to one
year’s imprisonment and a fine of EUR 45,000.
“Both the fact of criminalization of statements, and the severity
of the sanctions would infringe upon editorial freedom in France,”
added Haraszti. “The adoption of the amendment by France, a nation
with a long-standing tradition of freedom of expression, could set
a dangerous precedent for other nations of the OSCE.”

EU CRITICIZES FRENCH BILL ON MASS KILLINGS
Chinadaily.com.cn
October 14, 2006 Saturday
The European Union on Friday condemned a French bill that would make
it a crime to deny that the World War I-era killings of Armenians in
Turkey were genocide, describing it as counterproductive at a critical
stage in Turkey’s EU entry talks.
“We don’t think that this decision at this moment is helpful
in the context of the European Union’s relations with Turkey,”
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said. “This is not
the best way to contribute to something we think is important.” On
Thursday, French lawmakers in a 106-19 vote approved a bill that would
criminalize denying that the mass killings of Armenians amounted to
genocide. Turkey denounced the French lawmakers’ decision, saying it
would harm bilateral relations.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said the bill, “instead
of opening up the debate, would rather close it down, and thus
have a negative impact.” “We don’t achieve real dialogue and real
reconciliation by ultimatums, but by dialogue. Therefore, this law
is counterproductive,” Rehn told reporters.
Rehn said it came at a bad time as the 25-member bloc was trying to
avoid “a train crash” in negotiations with the predominantly Muslim
nation.
“The real issue now is to avoid a train crash because of a slowing
down of the reform process (in Turkey) and because of Turkey not yet
meeting its obligations” in EU entry requirements, Rehn said.
Barroso said “the very sensitive issue” of Armenia should be made by
“Turkish society itself.” “Frankly, we don’t think it is helpful that
another parliament outside takes a legislative action on a matter of
historical interpretation and analysis,” he said.
The Armenia genocide issue has become intertwined with ongoing debate
in France and across Europe about whether to admit Turkey into the
EU. France is home to hundreds of thousands of people whose families
came from Armenia.
France has already recognized the 1915-19 killings of up to 1.5
million Armenians as genocide. Under Thursday’s bill, those who
contest it was genocide would risk up to a year in prison and fines
of up to US$56,000.
Rehn appealed to Greek and Turkish Cypriots to help smooth Turkey’s
talks.
“I trust that both communities on the island, all the parties and
especially all the EU member states will fully support (efforts)
to unblock the current stalemate on Cyprus,” Rehn said.

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 13 2006
AZERBAOIJAN WAGES ACTIVE INTERNET WAR AGAINST ARMENIA AND NAGORNO
KARABAKH, ROSBALT REPRESENTATIVE SAYS
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, NOYAN TAPAN. “Since the start of the Karabakh
conflict, Azerbaijan has conducted an Internet propaganda at the
state level against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.” Samvel
Martirosian, Armenian representative of the Rosbalt news agency,
stated this at the October 13 seminar “Information War in the
Internet and Armenia” held at “Noravank” scientific and education
foundation. According to him, Azerbaijan is quite efficient in its
war against Armenia in terms of information websites and resources,
often resorting to misinformation.
Thus, according to S. Martirosian, DAY.az site spreading
misinformation is currently considered to be the main and most
frequently visited Internet site in the South Caucasus. It provides
information about the region, and even the Armenian mass media uses
information available at this site. “It is noteworthy that after
registering key words related to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh in the
Internet, Azerbaijani information resources become availabale first
of all,” S. Martirosian noted.
According to him, Azerbaijan also uses hacker methods in its
information war against Armenia in order to damage Armenia’s Internet
resources temporarily or permanently, with the Armenian side trying
to counteract.
In his opinion, taking all this into consideration, it is important
for Armenia to ensure information security in this field. S.
Martirosian said that shortcomings of Internet propaganda are in
certain cases related to insufficient development of the Internet and
especially Internet resources, to that fact that Armenian mass media
are not fully informed, etc. The successful work of Armenian Internet
resources in some cases is due, in his words, to efforts of
enthusiasts.

Bloomberg
Oct 13 2006
Nobelist Pamuk Reflects on East and West in Novels (Correct)
By Hephzibah Anderson
(Corrects Turkey’s position on genocide in World War I in last
paragraph.)
Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) — As cheers greet the naming of Orhan Pamuk as
literature’s newest Nobel laureate, his political bravery shouldn’t
eclipse his intellectual credentials.
By comparison with the work of those in whose pantheon he now finds
himself, the Turkish author’s oeuvre might indeed seem slim. Last
year’s winner, Harold Pinter, has to his name 29 plays, 24
screenplays, and assorted volumes of prose and poetry. When German
author Gunter Grass won in 1999, his output in English translation
alone topped 20 works of fact and fiction. And by the time the
prolific V.S. Naipaul was summoned to Stockholm in 2001, he could
show off 14 books about him.
Pamuk, 54, has written seven novels, two works of non- fiction and a
screenplay, of which half-a-dozen are currently available in English.
These encompass a whodunit, a family saga and a haunting political
thriller. Though they unfold against disparate temporal backdrops
spanning more than five centuries, it is the urgent contemporaneity
of Pamuk’s themes that unites them.
In particular, he is preoccupied with the meeting of East and West,
suggesting that it’s an encounter still more complicated than we
imagine.
Born in Istanbul in 1952, Pamuk was alert to the Western influences
affecting his traditional Ottoman home. He draws on this
autobiographical material in his first novel, “Cevdet Bey and His
Sons,” which was published in 1982 and tells the story of one family
over three generations.
Civil Strife
A second novel, “The House of Silence,” appeared the following
year, using five narrative perspectives to capture simmering civil
strife at a Turkish seaside resort in 1980.
His third novel, “The White Castle,” appeared in 1985 and five
years later became his first to be translated into English. Set in
17th-century Istanbul, it is an allegorical tale depicting a slave
and a scholar who find themselves through each other’s life stories,
underscoring a notion of unstable identity that becomes a recurring
motif in his work. It’s especially prominent in his next novel, “The
Black Book” (Turkish 1990, English 1994), whose central character
swaps identity with his missing wife’s half-brother.
“The New Life” (Turkish 1994, English 1997) centers on a miraculous
book with the power to change forever the life of any person who
reads it, but it was Pamuk’s sixth novel that gave him his
breakthrough in the U.S. and the U.K. “My Name is Red” (Turkish
1998, English 2001) is an exhilarating detective story set in a time
of violent fundamentalism — Istanbul in the late 1590s. Like “The
New Life,” it has a book at its heart, this time a highly
controversial tome commissioned in secret by the sultan.
Risky Enterprise
Though its text celebrates the glories of his realm, the sultan has
requested figurative, European-style illustrations, and it’s these
that make the book such a risky enterprise. When one of the chosen
artists disappears, a suspenseful tale of love and deception
develops, as much a philosophical mystery as a whodunit.
The novel went on to win the 2003 International IMPAC Dublin Literary
Award, currently worth 100,000 euros ($125,325).
In 2002, Pamuk followed “My Name is Red” with “Snow” (English
2004), a thriller set during the 1990s, whose poet protagonist finds
himself caught up in a military coup in a Turkish border town. Begun
before Sept. 11, it’s Pamuk’s most overtly political novel to date,
and dramatizes the conflict between Islamists and the secular forces
of Westernization.
Maze-Like City
Throughout his career, Pamuk’s native Istanbul has been more than a
backdrop. A place he revisits time and again in his fiction, it is a
character and a muse, and in 2003 he paid it homage in a non-fiction
love letter, “Istanbul: Memories and the City” (English 2005).
He sees this maze-like city and its rich, tumultuous history as being
defined by “huzun,” a Turkish word signifying a profound sense of
spiritual loss and melancholy longing. The portrait that emerges is
deeply personal, and he braids Istanbul’s history with vignettes from
his own, permitting glimpses of his parents’ troubled marriage, his
eccentric grandmother, and his early literary stirrings.
Narrating His Country
Reviewing “Snow” in the New York Times Book Review, Margaret Atwood
suggested that Pamuk was engaged in a “longtime project: narrating
his country into being.” If this truly is his ultimate aim, he is
likely to find himself spending more time in the political limelight.
This will not be easy. His willingness to state that Turkey
persecuted the Armenians during World War I provoked anger in a
country that refuses to admit any genocide during World War I and
charged him with insulting the nation. These charges were dropped in
January, but the issue simmers among others involving Islam’s role in
modern life. Yet if any artist can pull off the trick of being
political and imaginative, it’s likely to be Pamuk.

Toronto Star
Oct 13 2006
France’s Armenian genocide bill hurts Turkish EU bid
Oct. 13, 2006. 01:00 AM
SANDRO CONTENTA
EUROPEAN BUREAU
LONDON – A French bill making it a crime to deny that Armenians
suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks is being widely
described as a blow to Turkey’s chances of joining the European
Union.
The bill – also denounced by critics as an attack on free speech –
was approved by France’s lower house of parliament yesterday. But
either the Senate or President Jacques Chirac is expected to block it
from becoming law.
Still, the vote caused a political storm, not least because some
interpreted it as a bid by leading candidates in the presidential
election next year to exploit anti-Turkey feelings in France.
France’s Armenian community, one of the largest in Europe at an
estimated 500,000, had pushed hard for the bill. It sets the same
penalty as a French law that makes denial of the Nazi genocide of
Jews a crime – a one-year prison term and a 45,000 euro ($64,000)
fine.
“Does a genocide committed in World War I have less value than a
genocide committed in World War II? Obviously not,” Philippe Pomezec,
an MP with the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), said during
the parliamentary debate in Paris. Turkey denies the premise of the
bill, that some 1.5 million Armenians, most of them Christians, were
systematically massacred or starved to death during the
disintegration of the Ottoman empire in 1915.
It argues that thousands of Turks and Armenians died during
inter-ethnic violence when Russia invaded the empire’s eastern
provinces in World War I. Modern Turkey, an officially secular state
with a largely Muslim population of 70 million, was established in
1923.
The bill passed the same day that Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk won
the Nobel Prize for literature.
Pamuk was recently charged with “insulting Turkishness” after telling
a Swiss newspaper that no one in Turkey dared mention the Armenian
massacre. The charges were dropped during the trial.
To some defenders of free speech, France’s bid to criminalize denial
of the massacre was no different than Turkey’s attempts to punish
those who mention it.
“Voltaire must be spinning in his grave,” said Andrew Duff, a British
member of the European Parliament, referring to the 17th century
French philosopher and civil libertarian.
France’s centre-right government didn’t support the bill – proposed
by the opposition Socialist party – but allowed its UMP members to
vote freely. The government promised to block the bill in the Senate,
but Turkey said the damage had been done.
“French-Turkish relations … have been dealt a severe blow today as
a result of the irresponsible false claims of French politicians who
do not see the political consequences of their actions,” the Turkish
Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Turkish analysts said the vote exposes the depth of anti-Turkey
feeling in France, a founding member of the European Union.
They predicted a backlash in Turkey that boosts nationalist sentiment
and weakens support for the legal reforms necessary to join the
25-nation EU.
The possible entry of the first Muslim nation into what is now an
exclusively Christian club raises anxieties in a number of European
countries, even though negotiations between Turkey and the EU are
expected to last at least a decade.