Author: Ekmekjian Janet

TURKEY: FREEDOM OF SPEECH AGAIN AN ISSUE
Nicholas Birch

EurasiaNet
Feb 1 2008
NY

Turkey’s troubled record on freedom of expression is again in the
spotlight following the convictions of several Turks, including a
prominent academic, for insulting the memory of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk,
the founder of the modern Turkish state.

In the most prominent case, a Turkish court gave a 15-month suspended
sentence on January 28 to Atilla Yayla, who became the target of a
media-led hate campaign after he questioned the ubiquity of images
of Ataturk during a speech given in November 2006.

In an interview from the United Kingdom, where he is now on sabbatical,
Yayla declined to comment on his conviction. "All I will say is that
without freedom of expression, Turkey cannot call itself a civilized
country," he said. "If Turks want their country to progress, they
must defend the right to speak out."

The day after Yayla’s sentence was announced, two students in the
northern Turkish city of Samsun received similar suspended 15-month
sentences. Their crime was sticking flyers advertising the play,
The Vagina Monologues, over a poster of Ataturk at a local university
campus.

On January 30, the news website Today’s Zaman published comments
attributed to a European Union Commission representative indicative
of Brussels’ profound displeasure with the verdict against Yayla.

Turkey’s bid to join the EU has met with second-guessing in recent
months on the part of some influential member states, namely France.

The convictions would do nothing to bolster Turkey’s accession chances,
the EU official suggested. "This illustrates the need for Turkey to
bring freedom of expression in line with European standards," said
the EU official, speaking to Today’s Zaman on condition of anonymity.

Yayla was prosecuted under Article 301, which limits free speech by
criminalizing insults to "Turkishness." Other intellectuals prosecuted
in recent years under the Article 301 include Nobel Prize winning
novelist Orhan Pamuk and Hrant Dink, an Armenian-Turkish journalist
who was assassinated last January. [For background see the Eurasia
Insight archive].

Article 301 has also figured in many lower-profile cases. In 2007,
for example, authorities in the resort town of Bodrum opened an
investigation into a 17-year old girl who doodled a clown’s hat on
the picture of Ataturk in her school history book. The headmaster let
the girl off after she apologized. But some parents of her classmates
complained to the local deputy-governor, who ordered the opening of
criminal proceedings. In another 2007 case, a local politician was
arrested and charged after a military officer spotted him chewing gum
while laying a wreath in front of an Ataturk statue on Republic Day.

Some analysts say that veneration for Ataturk is perhaps stronger now
in Turkey than at any time since the founder’s death in 1938. "The
cult of Ataturk used to be organized by the state," says Ahmet Insel,
a liberal-minded political scientist. "Now, it has become a social
phenomenon. Standing up for Ataturk comforts people in their sense
of being good, upright citizens."

Public reverence for Ataturk took off in the 1990s, which was generally
a period of growing fears about political Islam and angst generated by
a brutal war against Kurdish separatists in the southeast. Ataturk’s
legacy received even more attention following the 2002 elections, when
a party rooted in political Islam took control of the government and
reawakened secularist fears about the country’s future direction. When
10 million Turks visited Ataturk’s mausoleum in central Ankara in 2006,
it was an all-time record. Last year, 15 million people made the trip.

Turkan Saylan, one of the organizers of last year’s huge secularist
march, said that Turks "love and respect Ataturk as the British love
and respect their Queen."

Turkey’s best-known producer of the statues and busts of Ataturk, many
of which grace town squares and public buildings throughout Turkey,
is the sculptor Necati Inci. Despite his professional connection to
Ataturk, he is skeptical about the recent trend.

"Ataturk has become an excuse for the incompetence of secularist
politicians," he said. "These people stick pictures of him up, as
though that is enough to endow them with his qualities. It isn’t."

Sitting in a cluttered office at the heart of the foundry he runs in
the southern outskirts of Istanbul, Inci describes plans he has to
persuade the Turkish army to donate him land so that he can erect a
70-meter-high statue of Ataturk. "Think of it: the Statue of Liberty is
only 46 meters high," he says. "I’ve dreamed of this since I started
making statues 40 years ago. Once I’ve done it I can retire."

Somewhat surprisingly, Inci then goes on to admit reservations about
what he calls the "idolization" of Turkey’s founder. "If you stick
statues of the man everywhere, of course he’s going to be idolized,"
he says.

OMBUDSMAN ARMEN HARUTYUNYAN URGES CITIZENS NOT TO SELL THEIR VOTES

armradio.am
01.02.2008 15:16

Today RA Ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan called on the citizens of the
Republic of Armenia not to sell their votes on the presidential
elections on February 19.

The Human Rights Defender noted that "if the elections are based
on ideas and not the bribing of voters, we shall get a system where
speaking about human rights will be simply senseless."

The Ombudsman considers that "the political force that buys ballots
will have no moral responsibility before the nation, will not be
interested in the improvement of the socio-economic condition, and
will not promote the real defense of the civil freedoms."

"Our citizens must be the masters of their votes, their franchise
right," Armen Harutyunyan underlined. He informed that there is a
"hotline" at the Ombudsman’s Office, through which the voters and
observers can submit their complaints.

The phone numbers of the "hotline" are: 53-76-51, 53-92-71, 53-88-31,
53-76-34, 53-85-77, 091 00-88-17, 091 28-02-06.

AZERBAIJAN VULNERABLE FROM SAFETY POINT OF VIEW: EXPERTS BELIEVE

arminfo
2008-01-31 11:56:00

ArmInfo-TURAN. The roundtable session ‘Polarized and balanced
safety: South Caucasus between Russia and NATO’ took place in the
International Press Center of the NGO ‘Peace and Conflicts Settlement
Center." According to the head of this structure Elkhan Mehdiyev,
from the safety point of view Azerbaijan is in a vacuum. "Part of the
territory is occupied, and the country shares a 120 km border with
Iran. Baku has not expressed its attitude on membership in NATO,"
Mehdiyev said.

He believes that Armenia’s situation is more favorable, because
it participates in the Partnership for Peace and Individual Plan of
Cooperation with NATO. Georgia sees its safety in NATO, and has stated
this, Mehdiyev said. The session participants noted that resolution
of the question on Azerbaijan’s safety is to keep independence and
to restore territorial integrity.

At the same time, safety is dependent on democracy, free elections,
social justice and transparency.

Russia and Iran have always been the source of threats to Azerbaijan’s
independence and territorial integrity. Therefore Azerbaijan should try
to join the multi-polar union of states’ safety. NATO cannot yet make
a contribution into restoration of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity,
because there is no consensus between NATO members, participants of
today’s roundtable session believes.

BORIS GRYZLOV: COMMODITY TURNOVER BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ARMENIA TO REACH $1 BILLION BY VARIOUS FORECASTS IN 2008

arminfo
2008-01-29 15:22:00

ArmInfo. President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan received Chairman of
the RF Federal Assembly State Duma Boris Gryzlov and his delegation,
Tuesday.

Presidential press-service reports Robert Kocharyan congratulated
Boris Gryzlov on victory of ‘Yedinaya Rossia’ (United Russia) Party
in the parliamentary elections of 2007. The parties stressed the
importance of the agreement signed between ‘Yedinaya Rossia’ and
the Republican Party of Armenia that makes inter-party cooperation
more practical and coordinated. As regards the Armenian-Russian
cooperation, President Kocharyan expressed satisfaction with bilateral
economic ties that have become a moving force of the two countries’
cooperation. Due to it, Russian capital is invested in many sectors
of Armenian economy, the president said. He emphasized the dynamic
development of the cooperation in energy and transport spheres. For
his part, State Duma Chairman said that the commodity turnover
between Armenia and Russia will reach 1 billion dollars in 2008 by
various forecasts. The parties also touched upon the two countries’
cooperation at international organizations.

TOROSYAN’S CONGRATULATES ON THE OCCASION OF THE HOLIDAY OF NATIONAL ARMY OF RA

National Assembly of RA
Jan 29 2008
Armenia

President of the National Assembly Mr. Tigran Torosyan congratulated
on the occasion of the 16th anniversary of the National Army of the
Republic of Armenia

"Dear Compatriots,

"Dear Compatriots,

The day of the National Army is the most important and one of the
brightest holidays of our state calendar. The Army is the pledge of
stability and protection of the life of each state, and the role of
our army is more important in the life of Armenia as the guarantor
in the aspect of regional conflicts and various tensions.

The history of the establishment of the Armenian National Army, which
is the most efficient and strong army, has also become the history of
the establishment of independent Armenia, passing through unimaginable
tests of war and peace.

On the day of the 16th anniversary of National Army we bow heads
before the memory of our compatriots, who fell for peace – at the
price of their lives the safety and opportunities of development of
Armenia and Àrtsakh are achieved.

I congratulate the officers and soldiers of the National Army of
Armenia, all our people on the occasion of this wonderful holiday,
which gives us pride and confidence and I wish you inflexibility and
courage for the Republic of Armenia and Armenian people. "

–Boundary_(ID_lpGzpRoGOAyF8QctRho2SQ)–

COUP PLANNER ERGENEKON GANG ‘INVOLVED’ IN DRUG TRAFFICKING

Today’s Zaman
Jan 29 2008
Turkey

Charges brought against the deep-state linked Ergenekon organization
by a Turkish court have shown that the gang was after a military
takeover in Turkey while records of phone conversations of its members
in the hands of German police show that they were also involved in
the drug trade.

The Ergenekon organization — 14 of whose members were
arrested Saturday in one of the biggest operations ever against
deep-state-linked groups in Turkey — was working to create a chaotic
atmosphere so that its counterparts in the military could overthrow
the government, charges brought against the group by a law court
in Ýstanbul has confirmed. All in all, 28 members of Ergenekon are
currently under arrest. They were also involved in the drug trade,
documents from the German police confirmed. Germany’s Niedersachsen
State’s anti-drug department, Landeskrimi-nalamtes (LKA), which tapped
the phones of some of the Ergenekon members as part of a narcotics
investigation, proved that Ergenekon members were indeed in the drug
business as well.

The court accuses the members of the Ergenekon gang, a xenophobic
and ultranationalist organization suspected of a number of political
murders including that of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink,
of committing bombings and attacks in the past two years, of inciting
people to revolt, establishing a terrorist organization, of leading
that terrorist organization and of membership in the terrorist
organization.

Some of the gang members against whom charges have been brought are
Veli Kucuk, a retired general who is also the alleged founder of a
clandestine and unofficial intelligence unit in the gendarmerie,
the existence of which is denied by officials; controversial
ultranationalist lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, who filed countless suits
against Turkish writers and intellectuals who were at odds with
Turkey’s official policies; Fikret Karadað, a retired army colonel;
and Sevgi Erenerol, the press spokesperson for a group called the
Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate.

Documents seized during the investigation into the gang, whose members
include former military officers, some of them high-ranking, revealed
that they were planning to create complete chaos in the country to
prepare fertile ground for a military coup d’etat in 2009.

An inspection of Kucuk’s personal organizer showed that Ergenekon had
planned six steps to stage an eventual coup. Leaders of the Ergenekon
gang had jointly decided to "OK" Dink’s murder in January of last year,
the murders of three Christians in Malatya last April, an attack on
the Council of State that left a senior judge dead and bombings at the
secularist daily Cumhuriyet, claimed some Turkish newspapers on Monday.

Daily Sabah also alleged that the murder of academic Necip Hablemitoðlu
was ordered by the German secret service. Hablemtioðlu’s research
suggested that individuals opposing gold prospecting disguised their
acts as environmentalism but were really serving the interests of
powerful gold exporters in Europe. Several newspapers wrote that the
group had links to German intelligence.

The gang’s plans to create chaos and confusion included giving rise
to armed conflict between Kurdish and Turkish citizens.

Newspapers wrote on Monday that the first stage of the group’s plan was
to establish civil society organizations such as the Association for
the Union of Patriotic Forces (VKGB), the National Forces Association
and the Bureau of the Protection of Rights, all ultranationalist
organizations. The second stage was to find support in the military
among younger officers and higher-ranking soldiers unhappy about the
ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

The third stage involved a strange company known as the Special Bureau,
an intelligence agency for the group set up by a former intelligence
officer. The Special Bureau would protect the group’s plans from
falling into the hands of the Nationalist Intelligence Organization
(MÝT) or a shady intelligence unit in the gendarmerie whose existence
is officially denied. The fourth stage included adding into this scene
bogus terrorist organizations that would foment conflict between
the country’s Kurdish and Turkish populations. The unemployed,
nationalist and uneducated Turkish youth, most of whom spend their
time in the ultranationalist Idealist Clubs, would be used in various
acts. The sixth stage includes recent political murders the group
has been suspected of, including Dink’s, the killing of an Italian
priest in 2006 and an armed raid on the Council of State — as well
as plans that have not yet been realized, including the assassination
of Turkey’s Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk.

Ergenekon involvement in drug trafficking

Meanwhile, the deep-state-linked Ergenekon organization has been
actively involved in drug trafficking to finance its activities,
documents from the German police confirmed.

Germany’s Niedersachsen State’s anti-drug department, the LKA,
which tapped the phones of some of the Ergenekon members as part
of a narcotics investigation, proved that Ergenekon members were
indeed in the drug business as well. The records of a Nov. 20, 2003
phone conversation between retired Capt. Muzaffer Tekin, arrested
in June of last year as the owner of the munitions depot found in
anÝstanbul shantytown that started the Ergenekon operation, and Yýlmaz
Tavukcuoðlu, an alleged drug trafficker, shows that Ergenekon used
drug money to fund its activities. The two men in these conversations
talk about the sale of a plot of land in Umraniye. According to
the LKA’s Willi Neumann, the co-owners of the land were Tekin
and Ertuðrul Yýlmaz, the former owner of Doðuþ Factoring, who was
murdered in eastern Germany two years ago. Neumann’s report asserts
that this piece of land might have been used to launder money from
drug trading with Tavukcuoðlu. According to a book by Doðan Karlýbel
titled "Turkey Operations of German Secret Services," the piece of
land was sold for $2.5 million. The money was shared between Tekin,
Tavukcuoðlu and Ayhan Parlak, who was arrested in the 2006 attack
against the Council of State, the same book claims.

Latest in the investigation

Meanwhile, the public prosecutor in the case objected to the release
of nine individuals taken into custody earlier on in the Ergenekon
investigation but later freed by the court. Late in the evening on
Monday, the prosecution appealed the release of lawyer Fuat Turgut,
who is currently the legal counsel of a suspect in the Dink murder,
daily Akþam columnist Guler Komurcu, Asým Demir, Raif Gorum, Emir
Caner Yiðit, Tanju Okan, Yaþar Aslankoylu, Anatoli Medjan and Atilla
Aksu. Representatives of Kerincsiz also appealed his arrest. The
Ýstanbul 13th Higher Criminal Court will review the appeals from
both sides.

–Boundary_(ID_HSqgk1Ttu2VAdY9oCoE4ig)–

‘River’ wins grand prize at Sundance
Drama about smuggling illegals takes top honor

Variety
January 27, 2008
By TODD MCCARTHY

PARK CITY, Utah — "Frozen River," Courtney Hunt’s somber and
suspenseful film about two desperate women who smuggle illegals into
the United States, won the grand jury prize for dramatic features at
the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, while "The Wackness," Jonathan
Levine’s wacky coming-of-age serio-comedy about a teenage dope dealer,
snagged the audience award.

On the documentary side, "Trouble the Water," directed by Tia Lessin
and Carl Deal and which offers a close-up, subjective account of
survival during and after Hurricane Katrina, took the grand jury
prize. Docu audience award went to Josh Tickell’s "Fields of Fuel,"
the story of one man’s impassioned effort to wean the country from oil
and improve the environment.

In the World Cinema Competition, grand jury prize for dramatic feature
was given to Swedish helmer Jens Jonsson’s "King of Ping Pong," which
centers on the precarious social equilibrium of a chubby 16-year-old
table tennis whiz. Audience award for international dramatic film was
won by Jordanian-born helmer Amin Matalqa’s "Captain Abu Raed," a
heart-tugger about an Amman airport janitor mistaken by local kids for
an airline pilot.

James Marsh’s "Man on Wire," a British entry about Philippe Petit, the
Frenchman who won instant notoriety in 1974 when he spent an hour
walking back and forth on a wire between the newly constructed World
Trade Center towers in New York, emerged as best documentary for both
the jury and the audience in the international competition.

Directing prizes for American films were bestowed upon Lance Hammer,
in the dramatic division, for "Ballast," an intense study of a
12-year-old boy in the impoverished Mississippi Delta region and, for
documentaries, Nanette Burstein for "American Teen," a slickly made
account of the several Indiana high schoolers’ senior year.

Directing nods in world cinema went to Anna Melikyan for her
elaborately conceived modern Russian fairy tale "Mermaid" and, in the
docu division, to Nino Kirtadze’s French-produced "Durakovo: Village
of Fools," a sobering look at a xenophobic leader-teacher who
indoctrinates young recruits in the cause of right-wing nationalism.

Winners of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award were Alex Rivera and
David Riker for their sociological quasi-scifier "Sleep Dealer. This
film also copped the Alfred P. Sloan Prize, an annual $20,000 award to
the film with science or technology as a theme, or a scientist,
engineer or mathematician as a major character. Award for scripting of
an international feature was nabbed by Samuel Benchetrit from France
for his comic crimer "I Always Wanted to be a Gangster."

Docu editing awards were voted to, on the American side, Joe Bini for
"Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired" and, for world cinema, to Irena
Dol for "The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins."

Awards for excellence in cinematography were given in four categories:
For U.S. dramatic feature, Lol Crawley for "Ballast;"
U.S. documentary, Phillip Hunt and Steven Sebring for "Patti Smith:
Dream of Life;" world dramatic, Askild Vik Edvardsen for "King of Ping
Pong," and world documentary, Jordanian helmer-lenser Al Massad for
"Recycle."

There were several special jury prizes: In the U.S. dramatic
competition, a Spirit of Independence Award was voted to director
Chusy Haney-Jardine for "Anywhere, USA," and a nod for work by an
ensemble cast went to Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly Macdonald
and Brad Henke for "Choke;" in the American documentary field,
director Lisa F. Jackson was singled out for "The Greatest Silence:
Rape in the Congo," while in world dramatic cinema, a special jury
prize was specified for Ernesto Contreras, the director of the Mexican
drama "Blue Eyelids."

California Progress Report, CA
Jan 27 2008

Review of `Basic Brown: My Life and Our Times’ by Former Assembly
Speaker Willie L. Brown

By Tony Quinn
Co-editor
California Target Book

[Editor’s Note: Former Speaker Willie Brown, whose book gets a Tony
Quinn treatment below, is scheduled to discuss his book at the Crest
Theater Feb. 19 in a conversation with his former staffer and now
lobbyist Phil Isenberg. It should be a great show.]

Generally autobiographies of politicians are best left on the
bookstore shelf, but that is not the case with Basic Brown, My Life
and Our Times, by former Assembly Speaker Willie L. Brown. [Published
by Simon and Shuster, the book is scheduled for publication Feb. 5.]
While excessively self laudatory, and not as introspective as one
might like, nevertheless this book provides a rare look at the rise
of an unusual politician from segregation in Texas to being the most
powerful legislator in America.

The first 40 pages or so might have been left on the bookshelf; their
purpose is largely to demonstrate he is the most brilliant politician
he ever dealt with. But then Brown begins talking about his views on
race and politics, and finally gets around to his own rise from
poverty in Texas to style and power in San Francisco.

His treatise on race begins with an amusing story. He was in Atlanta
in 1968 with white Assemblyman Bill Bagley and several black
politicians, and Bagley had rented a car, which he was driving. They
passed through the Atlanta black ghetto and Bagley asked why all the
blacks on the street corners were staring at them. Brown answered,
"Because they have never before seen a white man chauffeur four black
men around."

There is both resentment and condescension when Brown talks about
race. "I’ve never become a country club black person, like former
Congressman J.C. Watts of Oklahoma or even Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice. I’ve always kept my membership in the black world."
One suspects his criticism is more that Watts and Rice are not
liberals like him, and that they have broken out of the expected mold
of black politicians.

He makes an unusual attack on his successor as mayor of San
Francisco, Gavin Newsom, all but accusing him of racism in
appointments. "When I was mayor of San Francisco I made a point to
appoint as many qualified blacks as I could to city posts. Now when I
walk around city hall, I see almost no black faces. When I left,
blacks were ousted along with me."

Brown is at his best in describing his rise in San Francisco
politics, and then his rise to leadership in the Assembly. The pages
on his life from the time of his arrival in San Francisco in 1951
until his election to the Assembly in 1964 may be the best part of
the book for future reference, because they parallel the changes in
San Francisco Democratic politics from the old Irish based
establishment to the more militantly liberal San Francisco politics
that has emerged in recent decades. Brown was deeply involved in
every aspect of these changes.

The chapter on his election as Assembly Speaker in 1981, starting
with no votes and forming a coalition with Republicans to beat out
the heavy favorite in his caucus, is superb. This is a lesson in
politics in very personal terms, with the usual and expected Willie
Brown flair.

But Brown has an irritating habit of amending and revising facts when
they do not suit his purposes and this is something his editors
should have caught. For instance, in describing his first try at the
speaker’s office in 1974, that he lost, Brown blames his misfortune
on a "stab in the back" by his fellow black Assemblyman Leon Ralph.
He says he lost the Speakership "by one vote." This is not true, the
July 1974 issue of the California Journal, page 245, tells what
really happened: Brown lost the backing of all his fellow black
Assemblymen but one and lost by four votes not one.

He was chairman of the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee when
Proposition 13 passed in 1978 and says nothing he could have done
"would assuage the spirit of tax cutting abroad in the land." But he
fails to note that he helped put a weak competing measure on the
ballot, that the voters trashed, and that he failed to promote
meaningful property tax relief all the time he headed that committee.

Term limits is one of his least favorite topics, because he is right
that it was aimed at getting him out of office, pushed through by
"mean spirited wretches from southern California." But he fails to
note that the original impetus for term limits arose from his own
actions as speaker, including pushing through a highly partisan
redistricting plan in 1981 that Republicans never forgave him for.

Brown’s relationship with Republicans is one of the more interesting
features of the book. Like many politicians, he saves his greatest
contempt for members of his own party, especially those he feels
betrayed him over the years. But he does praise the principles and
consistency of some Republicans, with whom often he had little in
common.

One such case involves GOP Gov. George Deukmejian. Brown badly wanted
Deukmejian to sign an Assembly bill divesting California of
investments in the apartheid government of white minority South
Africa. He got to know Deukmejian on a personal basis and was able to
point out parallels between the Turkish massacre of Armenians in 1915
– a matter Deukmejian knew well – and the plight of black South
Africans in 1985.

Deukmejian eventually signed the divestiture bill – in Brown’s
hometown of San Francisco. History will show that the California
divestiture played a roll in replacing the white minority government
with the democratic one South Africa has today.
It is little gems like this that make Brown’s book a good read, for
all the flamboyant self-praise of its author.

And speaking of praise, Brown deserves some for the front-piece
compliment his book gives to P.J. Corkery, the former SF Examiner
columnist who did the writing. Not all celebrities are so generous.

Tony Quinn is a co-editor of the California Target Book, a
nonpartisan analysis of California legislative and congressional
campaigns. His political background has been in Republican politics,
but he is mostly involved in political and elections analysis and
writes, from time to time, for the Los Angeles Times and Sacramento
Bee. He worked for the Assembly Republican Caucus during the time
Brown was Speaker. This article was originally published in the
Capitol Morning Report and republished with their permission and that
of the author.

008/01/review_of_my_li.html

SARKISIAN RESPONDS TO ‘MALICIOUS’ TER-PETROSIAN ATTACKS
By Ruzanna Stepanian

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Jan 25 2008

Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian pledged to turn Armenia into a
"brilliant country" and responded to intensifying verbal attacks from
former President Levon Ter-Petrosian as he took his election campaign
to Yerevan on Friday.

Sarkisian spent a large part of his speech at a campaign rally in the
city’s northern Nor Nork suburb condemning the "malicious" discourse
of his most bitter opposition challenger.

"But I am asking you not to succumb to provocations, not to respond
to malice with malice because our aim is not just to garner many
votes," he told several hundred people who gathered in front of a
local church. "Our aim is to move Armenia forward after the elections
… It is never possible to do good things with malice."

Although Sarkisian did not mention Ter-Petrosian by name, the remarks
were a clear response to the ex-president’s toughening anti-government
rhetoric. Campaigning in the central Kotayk region on Thursday,
Ter-Petrosian compared the prime minister to Lavrenti Beria, Joseph
Stalin’s notorious security chief, and alleged that Sarkisian will
provoke another war with Azerbaijan if wins the upcoming presidential
election. He also implicitly accused Sarkisian and outgoing President
Robert Kocharian of masterminding the 1999 terrorist attack on the
Armenian parliament.

Sarkisian, who prayed in the church before addressing the crowd,
portrayed such allegations as a sign of growing "panic" reigning in
the Ter-Petrosian camp. He also responded to Ter-Petrosian’s claims
that he is "begging" Armenians to vote for him.

"I am never averse to appealing to my people and telling them that
I need their votes," said Sarkisian. "Others may say this is vote
begging. Of course, I ask [for votes.] I don’t find it offensive to
ask my people."

"One must not turn their own ambitions into a way of life. It is
inadmissible to act against the country’s interests for the sake of
false personal authority," he added.

In what has become a pattern, Sarkisian’s speech came mid-way through
a concert by Armenian pop starts supporting his presidential bid, and
there were no other political figures speaking at the gathering. And
as was the case in Sarkisian’s previous campaign events, many in
the crowd were medical workers, school and kindergarten teachers and
other public sector employees as well as scores of schoolchildren.

Some of them held up Sarkisian’s campaign posters.

The Armenian premier assured them that he will ensure a significant
rise in living standards if he becomes the country’s next president.

"I assure you that Armenia will be a brilliant country," he said.

"There are all the grounds to assert that we will live in a totally
different country five years later."

Not everyone was convinced, though. "I will make up my mind before
February 19," said one woman.

"It’s hard to say which candidate is the best and which candidate is
the worst," said another participant of the rally. "I don’t know who
I will vote for."

THE CAPITAL’S NEW ORDER OF WATERSUPPLY

Azat Artsakht Tert
Jan 24 2008
Nagorno Karabakh Republic

The problem of watersupply in NKR, particularly, in the capital,
has been always vulnerable. The heavy cold weather disclosed failure
of water-pipe and water netting, because of which a great part of
inhabitants has reached a deadlock.

At the conference, held on January21st by the President B.Sahakian,
the head of the country gave instructions, according to which all the
netting of watersupply should be changed with new one and should be
corresponded to the accepted norms and standarts.

According to the mayor of Stepanakert Vazgen Michaelian, the works
of change would refer to filter stations, reservoirs, the main
water-pipe coming from Ghaybalu, pipes of the capital’s all water
netting. V. Michaelian noted, that for bringing quickly this order
to life, specialists have been already invited from Armenia and a
task have been set before them: to represent corresponding estimates
and designes in the shortest period of time. He noted also, that the
works followed by a designed stage would be realized by own efforts.

They would be controled by the state.

In his turn, the director of "Jrmough-Koyugh" CSJC V.Arzumanian noted,
that broadening of water system of the capital was foreseen.