Author: Ekmekjian Janet

ARMENIA INVOLVED IN FAO INITIATIVE ON SOARING FOOD PRICES

NOYAN TAPAN

JU LY 17

FAO has just approved a series of projects in 48 countries for a
total value of 21 million USD to help small farmers and vulnerable
households mitigate the negative effects of rising food and input
prices. The project will provide farmers with agricultural inputs
as of this month for an expected duration of one year. Funded by the
Technical Cooperation Programme, i.e. FAO’s own resources, they are
part of FAO’s Initiative on soaring food prices (ISFP).

As Noyan Tapan was informed by FAO, Armenia is among these countries
and will benefit from this FAO initiative within the framework of a
newly approved TCP/ARM/3202 (E) -Input supply to vulnerable populations
under the Initiative on Soaring Food Prices (ISFP) project. The overall
objective of the project is to maintain livelihoods and food security
of the most vulnerable households of the food insecure districts
of Armenia, affected by the difficult 2007/8 winter as well as the
recent soaring food prices crisis, to provide technical assistance
on best farming practices and to ensure long lasting and sustainable
results for future planting seasons.

This project will target the most affected farmers with an emergency
distribution of cereal seeds and adequate fertilizers. This will
enable farmers to resume agriculture activities and offer them an
alternative source of income, thus restoring the household economy
and ensuring food security. In addition, the target beneficiaries
will be provided with adequate training in improved potato, wheat
and vegetable production. Some 2.000 vulnerable rural households in
the most affected areas of Armenia will benefit from this project.

The duration of the project is 12 months and the total project budget
is 500 thousand USD. The project already became operational and the
FAO Representation implementing partner of it is the Ministry of
Agriculture of the Republic of Armenia.

FORCES, WILLING TO INCITE ETHNIC CONFLICT IN AZERBAIJAN, ATTEMPT TO USE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE AVARIAN PEOPLE

Today.Az
July 16 2008
Azerbaijan

An appeal of a group of Azerbaijani residents from Zaqatala, Qakh
and Balaken to the then-working president of Russia Vladimir Putin,
President of Dagestan Mukhu Aliyev and Russian ambassador to Azerbaijan
Vasily Istratov was published some time ago at the internet website

The appeal says that being representatives of the Avarian nationality,
they are discontent with the living conditions of national minorities
in Azerbaijan and are pursued by Azerbaijani officials.

The appeal also states political, cultural and socioeconomic
discrimination against Avarians and notes that they feel isolated
from their compatriots.

On the whole, the appeal contained a number of separatist
announcements. The appeal was signed by over 50 residents of the
aforementioned regions. Moreover, the website posted the list of
those who signed.

One of the regional correspondents of Day.Az tried to investigate the
problems of the representatives of the Avarian people, whose names were
listed on the website. The results of the journalist investigation was
quite unexpected. Persons, whose names were listed on the website,
noted that they had not signed any appeals of the kind and even had
not heard about it.

At the same time, several curious facts, which completely disprove
the facts about the alleged discrimination, persecution by officials
of Azerbaijan and so on, have also been revealed.

It turned out that 7 people of the said lists have previously occupied
positions of the municipality chairmen, 9 are current chairmen of local
self-government bodies, one person is a businessman, one is a chairman
of the trade union in the agrarian sector, one-the chairman of the
regions post office, one the chairman of the regional organization
of the Azerbaijan’s Popular Front Party, one the secretary of the
regional organization of the Musavat party and one is a chief of the
rural library.

They noted that appearance of such information on the separatist
website, is not by accident and can be posted by forces, which attempt
to incite ethnic conflict in Azerbaijan, using the issue of national
minorities.

They said these forces sometimes try to raise the so-called Lezgium
and Talish issue and now they intent to involve Avarian people in
it. They said Armenians and their supporters are the main characters
who wish division of Azerbaijan into smaller parts and Armenian trace
should by primarily searched in such cases.

RECOGNISE INDONESIA’S HEART OF DARKNESS
Mark Aarons

The Australian
July 15, 2008 Tuesday
1 – All-round Country Edition

Just as much of the Left needs to revisit its support for murderous
communist regimes, we should also reconsider political support of
Suharto and the military, contends Mark Aarons

WHEN Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jose Ramos Horta receive the Truth
and Friendship Commission’s (CTF) report today, the Indonesian
President will be hoping that it is the final chapter in this
long-running and tragic saga.

Established in 2005 as a joint Indonesian-East Timorese inquiry,
the commission has investigated the campaign of violence that marred
Timor’s 1999 independence vote. Leaked copies of its report confirm
the findings of Timor’s Reception, Truth and Reconciliation Commission
(CAVR) that the campaign of terror, murder and forced deportations was
directed, funded and carried out under the command of the Indonesian
government and military, a fact widely known at the time.

The report’s release coincides with the start of the lengthy
campaign that will culminate in next April’s Indonesian election. The
President’s party is behind in the polls and there is speculation that
former Indonesian armed forces commander Wiranto could emerge as a
serious contender for president. This would be ironic, as the 1999
campaign of destruction was carried out on Wiranto’s orders, which
he denied under Koranic oath when he voluntarily appeared before the
CTF in May 2007.

Wiranto’s denial is symptomatic of the attitude adopted by the Javanese
military elite, which still dominates Indonesian life. Behind the 1999
events stands a series of crimes carried out by the armed forces that
have run the country since 1965. The CAVR report detailed the horrors
inflicted on Timor between 1975 and 1999, in which almost 200,000
people were killed or starved to death and the survivors rounded up
and forcibly resettled in what were, in effect, concentration camps,
where many were tortured.

In 1969, the army rigged the Act of Free Choice to ensure West Papua
was incorporated into Indonesia.

In the preceding seven years the indigenous population was subjected
to a regime of terror and murder to prepare for the vote, which was
recognised by the international community despite widespread knowledge
of the methods that had been used to secure the rorted result. The
massacre of 500,000 to one million alleged communists in 1965-66 set
the tone for military rule, followed by the establishment of a brutal
police state replete with gulags full of political prisoners.

Reminiscent of Turkey’s continuing denial of responsibility for the
Armenian genocide during and after World War I, Indonesia refuses to
confront this decades-long history of criminal behaviour by its army
leaders. Indeed, the families of those slaughtered in the mid-1960s
still cannot disinter their bodies for dignified reburial. Such denial
infects Indonesian society and, while it persists, gravely restricts
the country’s ability to develop its institutions in a democratic
and tolerant way.

It also infects Australian attitudes to Indonesia and skews our
policies towards our most important neighbour. Successive Australian
governments embraced the New Order ushered in by general (later
president) Suharto’s massacres as a welcome development. There are
also indications of Australian assistance in these bloody events.

This condoning of mass murder was recently brought into sharp relief
by former prime minister Paul Keating, who launched a blistering
attack on his robust critic, Paddy McGuinness, at the time of his
death, but travelled to Jakarta to praise the mass murderer Suharto
at his funeral.

Keating’s warmth for Suharto echoes another prime minister, Harold
Holt, who in 1966 cheerfully welcomed the ostensible reorientation
of Indonesian politics that had been brought about by "knocking off"
up to one million people.

In between, there has been an unedifying array of prime ministers who
have explicitly or inferentially condoned the criminal policies of
the Indonesian military. John Gorton and William McMahon continued
Holt’s approach, while Gough Whitlam initiated "batik diplomacy",
welcoming Suharto to Australia and encouraging Timor’s incorporation
into Indonesia.

Malcolm Fraser remained silent about the deaths of 180,000 Timorese
between 1975 and 1982, although Australian intelligence knew the
terrible details. Bob Hawke changed ALP policy to reaffirm Australia’s
formal recognition of Indonesian sovereignty over Timor, then approved
the notorious Timor Gap Treaty. Keating made a secret deal with Suharto
that included upgrading military ties. In 1998, John Howard initiated
the process leading to East Timor’s independence vote, but failed to
act against Indonesian-controlled violence until forced to do so by
the worst atrocities that followed the August 1999 vote.

During the past 40 years, such policies have been supported by
influential Australians. James McAuley and Heinz Arndt greeted the
Suharto regime with enthusiasm in journals such as Quadrant and
Australian Outlook; reporting for the Australian Financial Review,
McGuinness took an Indonesian helicopter trip around Timor at the
height of the military-induced famine and declared it did not exist;
Paul Kelly has written in support of international recognition of
Jakarta’s control of West Papua in this newspaper; in his weekly
newspaper column, Gerard Henderson has minimised the role of the
Indonesian military in organising, financing and directing the 1999
crimes in Timor, despite evidence to the contrary.

Just as Indonesia cannot move forward without coming to terms with
the dark side of its recent history, so too Australia cannot build
a secure and lasting relationship with its most important neighbour
without being honest about our quiescence towards — and sometimes
active support for — the crimes of the Indonesian military.

Just as sections of the Left need to re-evaluate their support for
murderous communist regimes, it is time to reconsider the equally
immoral support given to Suharto and his cohort. The CTF report is
a good starting point. Continuing criminal behaviour in West Papua
makes this even more relevant.

There were alternatives to Australia’s obsequious policies in the
past. By taking a stronger stand on human rights abuses in West Papua
and revisiting the rorted 1969 plebiscite, we would avoid once again
dragging our national honour through the mud.

TURKISH TENSIONS DEEPEN AS 86 ACCUSED IN COUP PLOT
Mark Mackinnon

Globe and Mail
July 15 2008
Canada

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s vast secular-religious divide – and the
high-stakes struggle between the two sides – was on spectacular
display yesterday as prosecutors accused dozens of senior military,
business and media figures of planning a coup against the country’s
mildly Islamist government.

Depending on which side of the divide you stand, the indictment is
either an instance of the judicial system acting to preserve democracy
against an interventionist military, or a spectacular example of the
governing AK Party persecuting its opponents.

Turkey’s religious and secular elites have been at odds for decades,
but now the struggle for power seems set to be decided in the country’s
courtrooms. The coup plot allegations come as the AK Party is facing a
constitutional court challenge, brought forward by its secular foes,
that could see Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President
Abdullah Gul forced to resign and their party banned from politics.

The stakes clearly couldn’t be any higher. The 2,455-page indictment
filed yesterday by Istanbul’s public prosecutor, Aykut Cengiz Engin,
accuses 86 individuals of being members of a secret ultranationalist
organization called Ergenekon that sought to defend Turkey’s secular
traditions by bringing down Mr. Erdogan’s government.

The alleged conspirators were accused of planning to spread violence
and chaos through the country, eventually forcing the army to intervene
and seize power in the name of maintaining order. The case first
came to light last year, when a cache of grenades and explosives was
discovered during a police raid on a house in Istanbul.

Prosecutors have linked Ergenekon to a number of violent incidents
around the country in the past two years, including the assassination
of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007.

The shadowy organization is allegedly headed by Sener Eruygur, the
retired head of the Gendarmerie, a branch of the Turkish armed forces
responsible for maintaining public order, and Hursit Tolon, another
retired general. Though the details of the indictment will not be
made public until a court agrees to hear the case, many of the names
and specific allegations have already been leaked in the Turkish press.

Most of the other alleged conspirators are reported also to be retired
military officials, while several prominent journalists and academics,
as well as leaders of the left-wing Workers’ Party, are also believed
to have been named in the indictment. Forty-eight of the suspects
are already in police custody, some of them having been arrested as
far back as a year ago.

Mr. Engin told a news conference here that the charges filed against
the 86 included counts of membership in a terrorist organization and
attempting to overthrow the government by force. A court must decide
within two weeks whether to hear the case.

The group is actually alleged to have plotted to depose the government
on four separate occasions after the AK Party’s sweeping victory in
2002 elections. The most recent plot was to have unfolded earlier this
month with a wave of bombings and assassinations – Nobel Prize-winning
author Orhan Pamuk is believed to have been one target – creating
widespread unrest that would force the army to step in.

Turkey’s military, which sees itself as the defender of the secular
constitution in this overwhelmingly Muslim state, has staged four
coups in the past 50 years. "The military interferes in political life
in Turkey. They try to influence elections, they tried to pressure
the government into not electing the current president," political
analyst Andrew Finkel said. "There’s obviously an issue where people
who had power think they can hang onto power."

Mr. Finkel said Ergenekon is perceived to be just one incarnation of
what many Turks refer to as "Deep State" – members of the military
and political elite who have long controlled the country from behind
the scenes. The name Ergenekon refers to a legendary mountain in Asia
where, according to myth, Turks gathered to escape the Mongol hordes.

The government’s opponents, however, say that the case is little
more than the official persecution of the AK Party’s enemies. In his
retirement, Gen. Eruygur headed the Kemalist Thought Association –
named after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of Turkey’s secular
republic – a group that was involved in organizing mass rallies
against the AK Party ahead of elections last year. The effort failed,
and the AK Party was resoundingly re-elected.

Indeed, many see the Ergenekon investigation as the government’s
attempt to strike back ahead of the looming Constitutional Court
ruling on the legality of the AK Party. Some of the Ergenekon
arrests were carried out hours before an Ankara court was to hear
the 162-page indictment alleging that the AK Party intends to create
an Islamic state in Turkey, a charge the AK Party denies. A ruling
on the Constitutional Court case is expected some time in the next
three weeks.

"I want to believe that there was no political motivation, or
there was no link between this case and the closure case at the
Constitutional Court against the ruling AKP … [but] it is obvious
that prosecutors will have a difficult time to prove their thesis
that there was a terrorist establishment aimed at toppling the elected
government. … Proving these charges will be an uphill task for the
prosecutor," said Yusuf Kanli, a columnist with the Turkish Daily News,
an English-language newspaper seen as pro-secular.

The AK Party is an offshoot of the Welfare Party, an Islamist movement
that was declared unconstitutional and banned in 1997. Mr. Erdogan,
who at the time was mayor of Istanbul and a Welfare Party member,
was sentenced to 10 months in prison for reciting a religious poem
in public that was deemed inflammatory.

*****

A tumultuous past

Governments in Turkey have often faced coups or the threat of one
when secularists feel in jeopardy.

1920 A revolt led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a distinguished Ottoman
general, led to the collapse of the sultanate centred in Istanbul and
the establishment of the new state of Turkey. In 1928, Turkey became
a secular republic.

1960 The government was overthrown by a military coup led by General
Cemal Gursel, who accused it of betraying Ataturk’s principle of
secularism. Work on a new constitution began immediately and it was
approved by a referendum in July of 1961. An election was held in
October of that year and the army withdrew from active political
involvement.

1980 After a long period of political instability and violence, mainly
between left-wing and right-wing groups, the army seized power in
a bloodless coup and abolished the assembly, political parties and
trade unions, jailed thousands of dissidents and put Turkey under
martial law. In November of 1982, a national referendum approved a
new constitution and in December a new election was held.

FM OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH: INDEPENDENCE IS SUPREME VALUE FOR THE PEOPLE OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH REPUBLIC AND WE ARE NOT GOING TO RENOUNCE IT

ArmInfo
2008-07-14 18:03:00

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has proclaimed and is building its
independence in full compliance with the international law and
the legislation of the USSR whose legal successor is the Russian
Federation, Foreign Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Georgy
Petrossyan said while commenting on the recent media reports that
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict might be resolved on the basis of the
principle of sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of
the borders of a state as reflected in the declaration on friendship
and strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and Russia.

History cannot be turned back. The attempts of the Azeri authorities
to reanimate the artificial Stalin-time borders are making things
even worse.

In the late 1980s-the early 1990s the international community
recognized the results of the independence "referendum" in Azerbaijan,
where no single resident of Nagorno-Karabakh took part, but refused
to recognize the results of a similar referendum in Nagorno-Karabakh,
held before the "referendum" in Azerbaijan.

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY ATTACHES IMPORTANCE TO THE REGULATION OF RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA

AZG Armenian Daily
12/07/2008

Armenia – Turkey

"We attach importance to the regulation of relations with Armenia",
announced Spokesman of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Burak
Ozugergin, "Jihan" agency reported.

He touched upon Turkish Prime Minister’s Iraqi visit and also spoke
of the PM’s coming visit to France while answering the questions of
the journalists.

To the question about the relations with Armenia Turkish Foreign
Ministry Spokesman answered, "We attach importance to the regulation of
relations with Armenia. The recent statement of the Armenian President
has roused a keen response in the sections of the international
community. We are informed that according to those statements, there
is no alternative to the regulation between the two countries. In
such a case we join in and welcome those statements".

MOLDOVA AND ARMENIA FIGHT ILLEGAL MIGRATION

Panorama.am
11:33 11/07/2008

Today the Executive Body of Armenia has affirmed the proposal to sign
a decree "Between the Government of Armenia and Moldova on receiving
back people with illegal status of inhabitance in the countries". It
is mentioned that an agreement is made with the CIS member countries
to send Armenian citizens who have illegal status of inhabitance in
those countries.

After the signatory of the decree the existing cooperation will have
legal measures: the authorized bodies of the sides will be defined,
as well as the data of return, the types of the documents, and other
requests. The signatory of the decree will give a chance to defend
the rights of RA citizens.

NKR PRESIDENT FAMILIARIZED HIMSELF WITH HADRUT REGION’S PROBLEMS

DeFacto Agency
July 9 2008
Armenia

On July 8 Nagorno-Karabakh Republic President Bako Sahakian visited NKR
Hadrut region. The state’s head visited a number of building spots,
where he familiarized himself with course of construction works on
Hadrut medicinal center, a kindergarten and a new hospital.

According to the Central Department of Information under NKR President,
the same day NKR President held a working meeting with participation
of regional administration and self-government’s organs in Hadrut.

The works being carried out during last months, problems and further
plans were discussed in the course of the meeting. The interlocutors
touched on the issue referring to ensuring killed home guardsmen’s
families with housing. In this connection Bako Sahakian expressed
dissatisfaction with the level of the issue’s solution. According to
NKR President, local organs should be full of initiative and realize
tough control over the works. In the NKR President’s words, only in
this case positive changes can be fixed.

In conclusion Bako Sahakian answered the questions of the meeting’s
participants and noted such meetings would be regular.

The NKR President was accompanied by NKR PM Ara Harutyunian and
other officials.

ARMENIAN MP IN CYPRUS WANTS MELKONIAN TO REOPEN

Financial Mirror
July 9 2008
Cyprus

Representative of the Armenian religious group at the House of
Representatives Vartkes Mahdessian will not be raising an issue
of right to vote in the parliament so as not to complicate matters
regarding the Cyprus problem with the changes to the Constitution
that this move would demand, but intends nevertheless to discuss his
participation in meetings of the House Defence Committee after the
decision for obligatory army service of male members of religious
groups.

In an interview with CNA, Mahdessian describes his seat in the
parliament as iconic but notes that much progress has been made and
expresses hope that over the remaining three years of his term he
would manage to meet the aims set out by the religious group.

He adds that a quarterly bulletin is posted to all members of the
religious group, containing his activities, and that he operates a
well-equipped office with full-time staff, while committees of the
religious group have been active in various fields and have produced
results.

Asked if the representation of the religious groups in the House of
Representatives is satisfactory, Mahdessian notes that "sometimes I
feel our presence is iconic."

"We participate in the House Education Committee and I must admit that
its Chairman, in all meetings, gives us the floor, but we cannot submit
draft legislation, we cannot vote in the Committee or the Plenary,
and these are disadvantages," he points out.

Mahdessian wants the criterion for knowledge of the Greek language in
order to qualify for a position in the civil service and other sectors
to be revised, so that the members of the Armenian religious group
are not at a disadvantage compared to the Greek Cypriot applicants.

He also requests the reappointment of the Presidential Commissioner
for Religious Groups, who will coordinate and monitor the course of
various problems faced by the religious groups, namely the Armenians,
Maronites and Latins.

Mahdessian says the decision of the University of Cyprus to enroll
students with international exams opens new horizons, adding that
Cyprus should learn to behave as a European country.

He furthermore expresses hope that Melkonian, the Armenian school,
and the woods around it, with each tree being planted by an orphan
whose parents were killed during the Armenian Genocide, will be
spared from commercial construction. Mahdessian notes that for the
time being the issue is at a standstill, since it is being used to
host a state school.

Mahdessian says the Armenians of Cyprus did not have a say in the final
decision, since the decision-making centre is in New York. However,
he managed, in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior, to
register Melkonian as a protected building.

Replying to questions, Mahdessian said a total of 165 children are
enrolled at the Nareq junior schools in Nicosia, Limassol and Larnaca.

Regarding the Armenian monastery in the Turkish occupied areas,
Mahdessian notes that it is dilapidated with no immediate prospects
of restoration, adding that for the first time since the 1974 Turkish
invasion about 250 Armenians were allowed to organise a pilgrimage
to the monastery, not without obstacles.

Asked about his relationship with Yerevan, capital of Armenia,
Mahdessian says efforts were being made to promote contact with the
Armenian Ambassador in Athens, who is however accredited to other
countries as well.

"Armenia is a new state and is facing huge problems but we are trying
with all our might to further improve the relationship between Cyprus
and Armenia, which are friendly," he points out.

TRIAL ON HRANT DINK TRIAL RECOMMENCED

AZG Armenian Daily
08/07/2008

Hrant Dink Murder

Editor-in-Chief of "Jhamanak" newspaper, Ara Kochunian, informed the
mass media that the recommencement of the trial on Hrant Dink murder
shall be marked with a protest demonstration in front of the court
house. A number of organizations are intended to rise with protest
demanding fair judgment.

Kochunian also informed that most likely the court sessions will be
open for the press. "Until now the murder of Hrant Dink was not adult,
that is why the court sessions were closed. Now when the murderer has
reached the age of 18, it will be legal to announce his full name and
the mass media will have full access to the trial process," he said.

To be reminded, the court trial process was suspended on April 28,
after the evidence of 3 suspects from 19 had been examined.