Author: Ekmekjian Janet

ARMENIA RANKS 101ST IN THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH LIST
Public Radio, Armenia
Oct 20 2006
According to the “Reporters without Borders” international
organization, this year Armenia ranks 101st in the freedom of
speech list. The document, issued today by the headquarters of the
organization in Paris, includes 168 states and covers the period from
September 2005 to September 2006.
The list is concluded by Turkmenistan, Eritrea and North Korea.
Finland, Ireland, Island and Netherlands share the first four places.
France, which is considered a country of free speech, digressed from
the 30h to the 35th position.
As compared to the previous year, Russia digressed from the 138th to
147th position.
Among other CIS countries Azerbaijan ranks 141st, Belarus – 151st,
Uzbekistan – 158th and Turkmenistan – 167th.

Armenian and Russian MFAs Hold Recurrent Consultations in Yerevan
PanARMENIAN.Net
21.10.2006 13:35 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ October 19 recurrent consultations between Armenian
and Russian MFAs were held in Yerevan, reports the Press Office of
the Armenian MFA.
Director of the Fourth Department of CIS of the Russian MFA Andrey
Kelin lead the Russian delegation.
During these matters of Year of Armenia in Russia, bilateral
cooperation in ensuring stability and security in South Caucasus
were discussed. The same day Kelin met with Armenian Deputy FM
Gegham Gharibjanyan. During the meeting matters of mutual interest
were discussed.

Michael Gulezian to play at Windsor Hall in Cumberland Nov. 3
Keyser Mineral Daily News Tribune, WV
Oct 21 2006
Published: Saturday, October 21, 2006 12:40 AM CDT
Michael Gulezian is one of the consummate guitarists of our times.
His first ever, live concert release, Concert at St. Olaf College,
displays Michael’s love of his craft, the intensity of a singular
artist dedicated to music, and the beauty and love of an
extraordinary musician.
Michael’s guitar work displays a blend of several musical influences.
The virtuosity, power, and haunting spirituality reflected in his
compositions reminds one of Leo Kotke and the late great Michael
Hedges.
In conversations with Michael, you can hear the absolute dedication
to his craft; the intensity of an extremely focused individual, and
the natural beauty and awe reflected in his music.
Michael identifies early influences as his Armenian parents;
Mississippi Delta blues artists such as John Hurt and Robert Johnson;
and current influences such as Keith Jarrett; John McLaughlin; and
Sun Ra.
His epiphanic moment was upon discovering the music of John Fahey,
who Michael identifies as the godfather of American solo acoustic
guitar.
Michael’s music reflects a blend of creative self-expression,
haunting melodic composition and identification with the natural and
spiritual world.
Each of Michael’s albums has increased the heights of contemporary
acoustic guitar. From Distant Memories and Dreams (1992) named Runner
up of the year (New Age) by CD Review Magazine; Dare of an Angel
reached new heights of acoustic fingerplay; a tribute to the late
Michael Hedges Language of the Flame (2003) reflects his
understanding and expression of the yearning of the human spirit.
Jazziz describes his music as ” unbelievable…incredible”.
Music Express calls Michael “…among the great acoustic guitar
innovators of the 20th century.”
But Michael really doesn’t need to prove himself anymore to anyone.
What one can recommend is that you listen to his music… and be
transformed.
Michael Gulezian will be performing at Windsor Hall in downtown
Cumberland, Maryland on Friday, November 3rd. Showtime is 8pm; doors
open at 7pm.
Tickets are available at Kauffman Music, 39 Baltimore Street,
Cumberland or by calling (301) 724-6800 to reserve.

French Armenian genocide bill makes no sense-US
Fri 20 Oct 2006 14:45:50 BST
Reuters, UK
Oct 20 2006
BRUSSELS, Oct 20 (Reuters) – A French parliamentary bill that would
make it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered genocide at the
hands of Ottoman Turks in World War One makes no sense, a senior U.S.
official said on Friday.
Daniel Fried, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs,
said he backed French President Jacques Chirac’s opposition to the
bill, which has infuriated Turkey even though it may never become law.
“I certainly share the view that this legislation criminalising
discussion doesn’t seem to make any sense,” Fried told a news briefing
in Brussels.
He said the United States and President George W. Bush had spoken out
repeatedly about the mass killings of Armenians during World War One
and did not want to minimise or deny them.
However, he added: “We as a government have never termed these events
genocide. We don’t use that word.”
Fried said the United States would like to see Turks and Armenians
address the issue honestly and some Turks were already urging their
government to do so.
“It doesn’t strike me as clear that resolutions like this in the
French parliament are going to encourage this process.”
Turkey denies claims that Armenians suffered genocide, arguing that
large numbers of both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks died in
a partisan conflict that raged as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.
Given opposition from Chirac and the French Senate, the bill is
unlikely to become law but it has infuriated Turkey, where consumer
groups have called for a boycott of French-made goods.
France, which faces presidential elections next year, is home to
Europe’s largest Armenian diaspora.

ARMENIA HAS NEW VOICE IN DEARBORN
By David Crumm – Free Press Religion Writer
Detroit Free Press, MI
Oct 17 2006
U-M research center appoints scholar as director
Ara Sanjian, 38, of Dearborn speaks at the University of
Michigan-Dearborn last week. His doctorate is in Middle Eastern
history. “Armenia has centuries of experience to share with the world,”
he says. (KATHLEEN GALLIGAN/Detroit Free Press) An internationally
influential center for Armenian studies in Dearborn is changing
the guard this week and installing only the second director in the
center’s nearly two decades of scholarship.
This week, the Armenian Research Center’s founder, Dennis Papazian,
officially retires as he welcomes Ara Sanjian, an Armenian
historian from Lebanon, to run the facility at the University of
Michigan-Dearborn.
“It’s wonderful that we’re finally making this move in a formal way,”
Papazian, 74, said last week. “My wife and I moved to New Jersey
two years ago and I’ve been running the center since then by e-mail,
telephone and frequent visits. But now I’m formally leaving it to this
first-class scholar who we actually searched around the world to find.”
Sanjian, 38, was born in the large Armenian community based in
Beirut. He studied in Lebanon and Armenia, then earned a doctorate in
Middle Eastern history from the University of London in England. He
moved to Dearborn from Beirut earlier this year. He is fluent in
English and also works professionally in Armenian, Arabic, Russian,
Turkish and French.
“In coming to the center, I do represent a kind of bridge in a number
of ways,” Sanjian said last week. He is settling into Dearborn,
the heart of Michigan’s Arab-Muslim community, already familiar with
Middle Eastern issues from his many years in Lebanon. Plus, he has
dedicated his scholarly life to bringing cross-cultural lessons from
Armenian-Christian history to the larger world.
“Armenia has centuries of experience to share with the world,” Sanjian
said. “Armenians have been around as an identity for more than 2,500
years, as a Christian nation for 1,700 years and as a written language
for 1,600 years.”
However, the future of Armenia was in doubt for much of the 20th
Century from the Turkish government’s massacre of Armenians in the
early part of the century, through decades of domination by the
Soviet Union.
Papazian recalled, “When I founded the center for Armenian research
in the late 1970s, I really was helping with the worldwide effort
to preserve Armenian heritage and prepare for the day when Armenia
could reemerge onto the stage of world history.
“Since 1991, Armenia has been an independent state. Now, Armenia’s
economy is growing. We’ve just built a new American embassy in Armenia
and it’s become a very pleasant place for tourists.”
Plus, Papazian said, Armenia will continue to play a small but crucial
role in global politics because “Armenia walks a tightrope between
the United States, Russia and Iran.”
The country, which is about the size of Vermont, is on the eastern
border of Turkey and the northern border of Iran. To the north of
Armenia are Georgia and Russia.
“We estimate there are about 1 million Armenians now living in the
United States, most of them concentrated in California,” Papazian
said. “No one has an exact count in the Detroit area, but we think
there are 30,000 Armenian Americans living there.”
More than 60 students have enrolled in history courses taught by
Sanjian, including general Middle East history classes. But the center
reaches scholars far beyond campus.
At this point, Sanjian said, the center’s nearly 40,000 books, maps,
articles and artifacts related to Armenia are drawn upon by people
around the world.
Showing a visitor through the rows of steel bookshelves in the center’s
archive, Sanjian said, “People do come here regularly to do research
in person. But constantly, we’re also getting e-mail inquiries, too.
“So, Armenia and our center now are an important part of the virtual
world, too.”
icle?AID=/20061017/NEWS05/610170399

LA TURQUIE FACE A LA QUESTION DU GENOCIDE ARMENIEN
par Sophie Shihab
Le Monde
14 octobre 2006 samedi
Jeudi a ete une journee de sentiments aussi forts qu’ambigus pour la
grande majorite des Turcs qui ont accompagne avec espoir la longue
marche de leur pays vers ce qu’il est convenu d’appeler les ” valeurs
europeennes “. Seuls les ultranationalistes ont eu, jeudi 12 octobre,
le loisir de s’indigner a la fois du vote du Parlement francais, qui a
propose de faire un crime du deni du genocide armenien de 1915, et de
l’attribution, le meme jour, du prix Nobel de litterature a l’ecrivain
turc Orhan Pamuk, qu’ils considèrent comme un ” traître ” parce qu’il
fait partie des Turcs qui reconnaissent publiquement ce genocide.
Pour les autres, qu’ils soient au pouvoir ou non, ecrivains ou
simples lecteurs, la reaction la plus generale a ete celle exprimee
par Murat Yetkin, chroniqueur au quotidien liberal Radikal : ” Nous
sommes tristes pour la France et heureux pour Orhan Pamuk “. La ”
tristesse pour la France ” est celle de tout ce que la Turquie compte
d’intellectuels eclaires et de ” minoritaires ” – parmi lesquels ses
80 000 Armeniens – qui disaient que la proposition de loi socialiste
serait contre-productive. Après le vote, le Patriarcat armenien a
Istanbul a declare que ” les Francais, qui ont, dans le passe, place
divers obstacles sur la voie de la Turquie vers l’Union europeenne,
ont a present porte un coup serieux au dialogue deja limite entre
la Turquie et l’Armenie (….) qui va faire le jeu des nationalistes
extremistes et racistes dans les societes turque et armenienne “.
La reaction officielle d’Ankara au vote francais a ete de denoncer le
” coup dur ” porte aux relations franco-turques et de deplorer que la
France ” perde sa position privilegiee au sein du peuple turc “. Mais
le chef du gouvernement, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, tout en denoncant cette
” honte pour la liberte d’expression ” et cette ” erreur historique
“, a aussi cherche a brider les reactions extremistes, notamment
celles de l’opposition ” laïque republicaine ” – plus nationaliste
en realite que les ” islamistes ” pro-europeens au pouvoir.
” En tant que gouvernement, a annonce le ministre de l’economie, Ali
Babacan, nous ne prendrons pas la tete ” d’un mouvement de boycottage
des produits francais. Tout en concedant que ” certains secteurs
de la societe ” pourraient agir ainsi. La commission parlementaire
qui travaillait sur une loi pour penaliser, en retorsion, le deni du
genocide algerien – ” idee aussi ridicule que le projet francais “,
ont ecrit des commentateurs turcs – a fait marche arrière, au nom
de la necessite de ” laisser l’histoire aux historiens “. Mais le
gouvernement ne peut faire l’economie de toute sanction. Il a laisse
entendre qu’il restreindra les contacts politiques et exclura la
France des grands contrats a venir.
La proposition votee en France pourrait ne jamais devenir une loi. Si
tel n’etait pas le cas, des citoyens turcs, y compris armeniens, qui
ont brave en Turquie le tabou sur le genocide armenien, se rendront en
France pour y braver le ” deni du genocide ” a seule fin, disent-ils,
de defendre la liberte d’expression.
Le problème est virtuel, un peu comme en Turquie, où l’article 301
qui punit les ” atteintes a l’identite turque ” (telles que les mots
” genocide armenien “) n’a jamais envoye quiconque en prison, malgre
tous les procès intentes. Mais les degâts n’en sont pas moins forts.
La Turquie doit ainsi gerer desormais le soupcon que Orhan Pamuk n’ait
obtenu son prix qu’en raison des poursuites qu’elle lui a infligees
en vertu de cet article.
Officiellement, ce soupcon est ecarte. ” C’est un grand bonheur pour
nous tous qu’un ecrivain turc ait remporte un prix aussi prestigieux
(…) c’est un grand succès pour la promotion de la Turquie “,
a ainsi declare son ministre des affaires etrangères, Abdullah Gul.
Interroge sur la sincerite de ses louanges a l’ecrivain, le
sous-secretaire d’Etat a la culture, Moustafa Isen, a egalement cru
bon de preciser qu’il ne se sent ” concerne que par Pamuk le romancier
” et non le politique.
Mais si les milieux intellectuels liberaux se felicitaient pareillement
de voir enfin un ecrivain turc nobelise, ils exprimaient aussi la
crainte de voir la presse populaire fustiger le ” choix de l’Occident –
qui voudrait – a nouveau imposer a la Turquie d’etre ce qu’elle n’est
pas “.
–Boundary_(ID_aaxy6zxvQtE9z+LhL4+46A)–

ARMENIE: CHIRAC A RAPPELE AU 1ER MINISTRE TURC SES PROPOS D’EREVAN (ELYSEE)
Agence France Presse
15 octobre 2006 dimanche
Jacques Chirac s’est entretenu avec le Premier ministre turc samedi
pour lui rappeler sa position concernant le genocide armenien, avec
a la fois le necessaire devoir de memoire turc et l’inutilite de la
loi votee par les deputes francais, a-t-on indique dimanche a l’Elysee.
Le president francais, qui a appele Recep Tayyip Erdogan, lui a repete
ses propos tenus a Erevan lors de sa recente visite en Armenie,
a souligne l’Elysee, interroge sur les affirmations du chef de
gouvernement turc.
Ce dernier a assure samedi soir avoir recu un appel du president Chirac
lui exprimant ses “regrets” au sujet du vote en première lecture
par l’Assemblee nationale francaise d’une proposition de loi sur le
genocide armenien.
Un entretien confirme par le Palais presidentiel. M. Chirac, a-t-on
dit, “a rappele a M. Erdogan l’attachement de la France a la Turquie
et lui a redit la position qu’il avait exprimee a Erevan”.
Interroge lors ce voyage en Armenie acheve le 1er octobre, sur la
proposition de loi des socialistes francais visant a penaliser la
negation de ce genocide, le chef de l’Etat avait rappele que la France
avait “pleinement reconnu la tragedie du genocide”.
“Elle l’a officiellement reconnu de par la loi”, avait souligne M.
Chirac. “Le reste relève plus, aujourd’hui, de la polemique que de
la realite juridique”.
Comme on lui demandait, lors du meme voyage, si la Turquie devait
reconnaître le genocide armenien pour entrer dans l’Union, il
avait repondu: “Honnetement, je le crois. Tout pays se grandit en
reconnaissant ses drames et ses erreurs. Peut-on dire que l’Allemagne,
qui a profondement reconnu la Shoah, a perdu son credit ? Elle s’est
grandie”.
–Boundary_(ID_psxgX0oBMDP9w ZDwEYRzdw)–

ANKARA’S EU PROGRESS, ARMENIAN BILL TO DOMINATE TROIKA TALKS
The New Anatolian, Turkey
Oct 16 2006
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is braced for discussions during today’s
European Union-Turkey Troika meeting with three key issues on the
agenda, including Ankara’s progress in talks, the Finnish plan and
the French Parliament’s bill on the Armenian genocide claims.
Gul and senior EU officials will evaluate the future prospects of
Turkey’s membership bid, progress made in implementing reforms, the
screening process in the year since the beginning of talks and the
latest Greek and Greek Cypriot block during the key meeting which
will is being held in Luxembourg.
The plan proposed by Finland, which holds the rotating EU presidency,
aimed at avoiding a possible “train crash” in Turkey’s membership
talks, will also dominate the meeting.
The Finnish plan foresees the opening of the port of Famagusta
(Magosa) in Northern Cyprus under EU auspices in return for the Turkish
Parliament’s approval of the Ankara protocol, which paves the way for
the opening of Turkish ports and harbors to the Greek Cypriots. In
line with the plan, while the Turkish Cypriots would conduct direct
trade from Magosa, the Varosha (Maras) region, which is currently
under Turkish Cypriot control, would be under United Nations control.
Speaking to reporters ahead of his departure from Turkey, Gul told
reporters that Turkey welcomes all views proposed with good will,
referring to the Finnish plan. However, Gul stressed that this doesn’t
mean “Turkey accepting the unacceptable.”
Underlining that Turkey is not a directly concerned side in the Cyprus
dispute, but that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)
is, Gul urged the EU to discuss the latest initiatives with Turkish
Cypriot leaders to proceed in the Cyprus peace process. The foreign
minister also praised the latest visit of TRNC President Mehmet Ali
Talat to Brussels as a “positive” development.
While Gul is expected to underline the need to find solution to the
Cyprus problem under UN auspices, he will also urge the Union to end
the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots, which could pave the way for
Ankara to open its ports and harbors to the Greek Cypriots through
implementing the Ankara protocol.
The meeting is important since, according to sources, the results
could affect the final touches to the EU’s progress report, set to
be released on Nov 8.
The Turkish foreign minister will also bring the French Parliament’s
recent approval of a bill introducing prison terms and fines for those
who question the Armenian genocide claims to discussions during the
Troika meeting.
During the press conference before his departure, Gul said that he
would tell EU officials that by passing the Armenian bill the French
had already altered the Copenhagen criteria. Lamenting the current
state of Turkish-French relations, Gul said, “I hope France will
take the necessary measures in order not to shake the already shaken
relations and its own image.”
According to sources, besides expressing Turkey’s concerns on the
passage of the bill by the French Parliament, stressing that the
bill limits freedom of expression and also violates the EU’s basic
principles and its pressure on Ankara to amend Article 301 of the new
Turkish Penal Code (TCK), Gul is expected to praise how influential
EU officials, including Rehn, have opposed the bill.
Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, German Foreign Minister
Frank Walter-Steinmeier, whose country will take over the rotating
EU presidency from Finland in January, European Commissioner for
Enlargement Olli Rehn and European foreign policy chief Javier Solana
will be among the participants of the key meeting. In the wake of
latest move by Greece and Greek Cyprus to block the opening of new
chapters in Turkey’s EU talks, Foreign Minister Gul is also expected
to visit Greece late next month to evaluate the latest developments
with Greek officials, the Greek Foreign Ministry announced on Friday.

TWO SHOTS FIRED FROM ARMENIAN
Zaman, Turkey
Oct 14 2006
Armenian soldiers on the Armenian border have reportedly opened
harassment fire on Turkey’s side of the border.
According to a statement posted on the website of the General Staff of
Turkey, “A group of soldiers from an Armenian border unit committed
a violation by shooting twice toward Turkish soil with no casualties
or loss of property.”
The incident has been reported to the foreign ministry for the
appropriate action to be taken.

TURKEY STILL UNDER CONTROL
A1+
[01:47 pm] 16 October, 2006
European Union foreign ministers will meet Monday with Turkish Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul in an effort to diffuse tensions amid moves by
Cyprus and Greece to block Ankara’s EU membership talks.
Ties between Turkey and Europe were also strained by the French
parliament’s decision to approve legislation that would make it
a crime to deny that the World War I-era killings of Armenians in
Turkey were genocide.
Cyprus and Greece have warned they will block entry talks if Turkey
does not extend its EU customs agreement to shipments from EU-member
Cyprus. Last week, Greece and Cyprus forced the EU to postpone
the opening of a new chapter of Turkey’s EU membership talks – on
industrial policy – until a solution to the customs dispute was found.
Turkey has refused to open its ports to Greek Cypriots until an
international embargo against Turkish-Cypriots in the north of the
island is lifted.
Turkey’s “open-ended” membership negotiations, launched Oct. 3, 2005,
already had been progressing slowly. Rehn, who was leading Monday’s
talks, appealed to all parties to help resolve the standoff.