Author: Emil Lazarian

UN Resident Coordinator: I’m not entitled to address the Karabakh issue

ArmRadio.am
02.02.2007 17:25

`During all these five years I have been stressing that the Karabakh
conflict is not in my liabilities,’ Marco Borsotti, UN Resident
Coordinator, said at a press conference in Baku.

He said that `all UN actions connected with the issue depend on the
decisions of the Security Council and the General Assembly.’ `If we
receive an instruction to work in the field, the decision on its
direction and process should be adopted by the Secretary General of
the organization. However, since no such decision has been taken at
the given point, it will not be correct to interfere with the
resolution of the conflict when other organizations, in this case the
OSCE, are entitled to address the issue,’ said Borsotti.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FOR EXCLUDING FALSIFICATIONS RA CEC MEMBER PROPOSES OBSERVERS STAYING
AT ONE ELECTORAL DISTRICT DURING WHOLE ELECTION DAY

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. The foreign observers should be
invited to parliamentary elections immediately after publicizing the
date of the elections. RA Central Electoral Commission member Felix
Khachatrian gave such assurance at the February 2 press conference. In
his words, the process of electoral falsifications starts long before
the elections when they bribe the electors, when the principle of
ensuring equal conditions for candidates is violated during the
electoral campaign, etc. In CEC member’s words, if the observers not
go from one electoral district to another but stay at one district
during the whole election day, the falsifications will be excluded
there.

F.Khachatrian reported that according to CEC decision, during
calculation of votes given by proportional system the empowered
persons of candidates nominated by majoritarian system are to be asked
to leave the districts. The CEC member proposes invalidating this
point of decision, as ballot-boxes can be changed during absence of
empowered persons.

Dink’s murderer treated like a hero

ArmRadio.am
02.02.2007 16:03

The criminals that murdered Hrant Dink was honored in Turkey like
Ramil Safarov was honored in Azerbaijan two years ago.

During yesterday’s news program one of Turkish TV Channels aired a
film, which pictures the moment of arrest of Hrant Dink’s
murderer. Policemen treated the detainee as a hero. Instead of
handcuffs the criminal was handed the state flag of Turkey.

Editor-in-chief of the Istanbul based `Marmara’ daily Rober Hatechian
told ` Radiolur’ that the film blasted like a bomb in
Turkey. `According to comments of Turkish newspapers, policemen agree
that it was a patriotic step,’ he said.

The Government has already arrested the policeman who handed the
Turkish flag to the murderer.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Congressional Record: February 1, 2007 (Senate)
>From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

SENATE RESOLUTION 65–CONDEMNING THE MURDER OF TURKISH-ARMENIAN
JOURNALIST AND HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATE HRANT DINK AND URGING THE PEOPLE
OF TURKEY TO HONOR HIS LEGACY OF TOLERANCE

Mr. BIDEN submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on Foreign Relations:

S. Res. 65

Whereas Hrant Dink was a respected, eloquent advocate for
press freedom, human rights, and reconciliation;
Whereas, in 1996, Mr. Dink founded the weekly bilingual
newspaper Agos and, as the paper’s editor in chief, used the
paper to provide a voice for Turkey’s Armenian community;
Whereas Mr. Dink was a strong proponent of rapprochement
between Turks and Armenians and worked diligently to improve
relations between those communities;
Whereas Mr. Dink’s commitment to democratic values,
nonviolence, and freedom in the media earned him widespread
recognition and numerous international awards;
Whereas Mr. Dink was prosecuted under Article 301 of the
Turkish Penal Code for speaking about the Armenian Genocide;
Whereas, notwithstanding hundreds of threats to Mr. Dink’s
life and safety, he remained a steadfast proponent of
pluralism and tolerance;
Whereas Mr. Dink was assassinated outside the offices of
Agos in Istanbul, Turkey, on January 19, 2007;
Whereas tens of thousands of people in Turkey of many
ethnicities protested Mr.Dink’s killing and took to the streets
throughout the country
to honor his memory;
Whereas the Government of Turkey has pledged to undertake a
full investigation into the murder of Mr. Dink;
Whereas the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
has stated that when Mr. Dink was shot, “a bullet was fired
at freedom of thought and democratic life in Turkey”;
Whereas the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Vartan Oskanian,
stated that Mr. Dink “lived his life in the belief that
there can be understanding, dialogue and peace amongst
peoples”; and
Whereas Mr. Dink’s tragic death affirmed the importance of
promoting the values that he championed in life: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate–
(1) condemns the murder of Hrant Dink as a shameful act of
cowardice perpetrated with contempt for law, justice, and
decency;
(2) supports the pledge of the Government of Turkey to
conduct an exhaustive investigation into the assassination of
Mr. Dink and to prosecute those responsible;
(3) urges the Government of Turkey to repeal Article 301 of
the Turkish Penal Code and work diligently to foster a more
open intellectual environment in the country that is
conducive to the free exchange of ideas;
(4) recognizes the decision of the Government of Turkey to
invite senior Armenian religious and political figures to
participate in memorial services for Mr. Dink;
(5) calls on the Government of Turkey to act in the
interest of regional security and prosperity and reestablish
full diplomatic, political, and economic relations with the
Government of Armenia; and
(6) urges the people of Turkey to honor Mr. Dink’s legacy
of tolerance.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FULL AND COMPREHENSIVE TRANSLATION OF THE QURAN – HOLY BOOK OF MUSLIMS
PUBLISHED IN ARMENIAN

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. Within the framework of festive
events on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the Islamic Republic
of Iran, the presentation of the full and comprehensive translation of
the Holy Book of Muslims – the Quran took place at the Union of
Writers of Armenia on February 2.

Until now no translation of this kind has been made in Armenia. The
Matenadaran has two non-comprehensive (and not free of mistakes)
versions of the Quran’s translation, which were made 110 years ago
from Arabic and French. Taking this circumstance into consideration,
translator Eduard Hakhverdian started the Koran’s translation at the
suggestion of the Iranian embassy. Cultural advisor of the Iranian
embassy Reza Atufi said that the translation of the Quran from Persian
has a strategical importance for deepening the friendly relations
between Iran and Armenia. He is convinced that Muslims and Christians
should have a good knowledge of religious stories and dogmatic
meanings of each other, since this knowledge will help prevent
intolerance and disagreement among nations. In the words of Eduard
Hakhverdian, the translation of the Quran lasted 3 years, and today he
can state with confidence that "we have a precisely translated
Quran". "I was quite pedantic in translating the Holy Book. Each
translated sura (chapter) was sent to Tehran’s Iranology Center to
pass an xpert examination there," he underlined. Eduard Hakhverdian
did not conceal that he had some worries when undertaking the
translation as this is not an ordinary book but the Holy Book of the
whole Islamic world, so each inaccuracy may result in misunderstanding.

The Armenian translation of the Quran was published in 700 copies. It
has 1,224 pages, including the original in Arabic.

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
February 2, 2007 Friday

IS GABALA RADAR WORKING FOR ARMENIA?

by: Grigori Alexandrjan

SPECULATIONS THAT THE GABALA RADAR IS WORKING FOR ARMENIA ARE
ELEMENTS OF THE CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED TO CLOSE THE INSTALLATION; Official
Baku has reasons to want the Russians out.

The matter concerns the Darjal-type radar in the environs of Gabala
leased to Russia, the installation of the missile attack early
warning system. Speculations on how it is allegedly working for
Armenia began in Azerbaijan, clearly fomented by Baku’s intention to
exact revenge and up the rent in Moscow is paying off.

Here is a quote from theoretizations by Arif Yunusov, the head of the
Department of Conflict Studies of the Institute of Peace and
Democracy in Baku, "Suppose the hostilities between Azerbaijan and
Armenia break out again. It goes without saying that the Gabala radar
will keep track of everything. Where are the guarantees that
information, say, on movements of Azerbaijani military hardware, is
not imparted to the Armenians? Have we given shelter to a spy working
for our enemies? Members of the CIS Collective Security Treaty,
Russia and Armenia are supposed to share military information with
each other." Yunusov is convinced in other words that the Gabala
installation does not promote the interests of Azerbaijan in the
least. It is only working for Russia and, partially, for Armenia. The
political scientist therefore maintains that Azerbaijan should rid
itself of the radar data which may already be in the hands of the
Armenians.

The Gabala radar was originally built to detect ICBMs launched in the
Southern Hemisphere (launches by USSNs in the Indian Ocean included)
and to keep an eye on the southern hemisphere of outer space. It can
and does monitors airspace above the territories of Iran, Turkey,
India, Iraq, Pakistan, part of China, and some African countries.

Being an undeniably strategic tool, what kind of information can the
radar provide Armenia with? Yunusov fears that the matter concerns
movement of Azerbaijani military hardware. Isn’t that amusing? As
though it takes such a powerful radar to guess the destination of
such equipment.

There must be something else then, something Yunusov deliberately
omits. Azerbaijan with its pro-Western orientation is supposed to
tell the Americans sooner or later if it intends to allow them to
install their own military bases on its territory. And if it does
(which this correspondent, at least, has no doubts of), then the
campaign to close the Gabala radar will only gain momentum. The
principal agreement to sign documents on deploying a mobile American
contingent in Azerbaijan was reached during US Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld’s visit to Baku in 2004.

AF General Charles Wald, US Commander in Europe, had spared neither
time nor effort to brainwash the Azerbaijani leadership before the
visit of his superior to Baku. American specialists examined
Azerbaijani airfields in Kjurdamir, Nasosny, and Gala. Kjurdamir
runways were repaired and the cantonment nearby was upgraded to NATO
standards. The Americans even planned to set up mobile TRML-3D radars
with the range of 200 kilometers near the settlement of Sanchagaly on
the coast. It goes without saying that the Gabala radar run by the
Russians is the last thing these objects needs close by. It means
that Armenia does not really have to do anything with Baku’s true
motives of wanting the Russians out.

Source: Novoye Vremya (Yerevan), January 30, 2007, EV

Translated by A. Ignatkin

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Manchester Evening News, UK
February 2, 2007 Friday

Help! My business is going down the drain

by: MIKE KEEGAN

BUSINESSMAN Masis Kalanyan contacted Get It Sorted! in desperation as
he is on the verge of being forced to close down his popular
Manchester city centre restaurant.

Masis, 53, has been running the basement Armenian Taverna on Princess
Street for over 30 years.

In that time he has served up tasty Eurasian cuisine to thousands and
the restaurant has become something of a city institution.

But when contractors began work at the back of the premises in
November it began to cause major problems.

"We’ve had sewage water coming through from the work they were doing"
said Masis.

"It was coming into the toilets but it wasn’t far off getting into
the kitchen – we had to put flattened cardboard boxes down to stop if
from spreading."

He contacted his landlord, United Utilities and Manchester council,
but was on the brink of having to close for health and safety reasons
when he called us.

United Utilities assured us that workmen were on their way to tackle
the problem straight away and promptly sent a team who pumped out the
water from the restaurant on Wednesday.

But on Thursday morning, when Masis returned to the restaurant, the
water was back.

"I’ve been told two different things" he said.

"One is that there is grease in the drains which is causing a
blockage and the other is that it is an old Victorian drainage system
and part of the wall has collapsed.

"I just need whatever problem it is to be sorted because we’re not
far away from closing down."

We went back to United Utilities who said that a permanent fix would
be worked on next week.

In the meantime they are sending teams to pump water out and allow
Masis to carry on trading.

We will keep an eye on the situation.

GRAPHIC: THE HOLE PROBLEM Roadworks near the Armenian Taverna which
is suffering from flooding

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 2 2007

[NEWS ANALYSIS]
The murder solved, hunt for killers goes on

A confessed killer may be behind bars, but recriminations and
conjecture still rage two weeks later over who is really guilty of
the death of Agos newspaper editor Hrant Dink.

The police are themselves under investigation for failing to protect
a man whom they knew to be in danger for his outspokenness on the
fate of the Armenian people in 1915. However, Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdoðan has hinted that the crime was not simply the work of a
provincial gang of ultra-nationalist thugs but part of a covert plan
to create political mayhem ahead of presidential elections due to be
held in May.

A confessed killer may be behind bars, but recriminations and
conjecture still rage two weeks later over who is really guilty of
the death of Agos newspaper editor Hrant Dink.
The police are themselves under investigation for failing to protect
a man whom they knew to be in danger for his outspokenness on the
fate of the Armenian people in 1915. However, Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdoðan has hinted that the crime was not simply the work of a
provincial gang of ultra-nationalist thugs but part of a covert plan
to create political mayhem ahead of presidential elections due to be
held in May.
Erdoðan spoke this week of Turkey `paying the price’ for not
dismantling the `deep state’ — shorthand for the self-styled
guardians of the Turkish Republic, often the military, whose grip on
the state apparatus would be weakened if Parliament voted Erdoðan
into the presidential office.
`It sounds paranoid, but that’s the way Turkey is,’ said Cüneyt
Ülsever, a liberal columnist on Hürriyet — a newspaper that has in
the past been vociferous in questioning Dink’s patriotism. In death,
however, Dink has been rehabilitated and is being depicted as the
latest in a series of politically motivated assassinations.
Even so, the great difference between the Dink murder and, with rare
exception, that of other journalists and political figures in
previous years is that a perpetrator has been caught still in
possession of the murder weapon. Six other people are also under
detention, including Yasin Hayal, who served 10 months for the
bombing of a McDonald’s restaurant and who has admitted recruiting
17-year-old Ogün Samast to fire the gun.
So far there have been no revelations that would link the gang to a
wider conspiracy, although there is circumstantial evidence
suggesting they had sympathy with the Grand Unity Party (BBP), which
espouses the same heady mix of nationalism and religion.
Ýsmail Çalýþkan, spokesman for the police nationwide, dismissed as
speculation press accounts of what the police did or did not know. He
was responding to criticism that the police acted incompetently or
even out of tacit sympathy for the crime. Both the governor and the
chief of police in gunman Samast’s hometown of Trabzon have been
recalled from their posts to answer accusations that they failed to
act on informers’ reports. Sections of the press are now calling for
their Istanbul counterparts to be removed as well for failing to
provide protection for Dink even after he himself published fears
that his life was under threat.
Police in Samsun also face criticism that they allow Samast to be
photographed in a heroic pose at the very police station where he was
first detained. He was given a Turkish flag to hold beneath a
quotation attributed to Atatürk reading `The soil of the homeland is
sacred and cannot be left to fate.’ However, Turkey’s most-wanted
fugitive, Kurdish militant Abdullah Öcalan, was also photographed in
front of a flag, a symbol that he was subdued by the Turkish state,
not that he had been acting in its name. Yet video footage of police
hoping to be photographed with Samast suggests that they were not
convinced of his crime.
Deniz Baykal, leader of the opposition, has now called for the
resignation of Minister of the Interior Abdülkadir Aksu for
overseeing a police force that appears to have ignored 12 informers’
reports of specific threats. Yet the vast crowds who kept a noisy
vigil outside Agos the night of the killing chanted accusations that
Baykal was himself culpable of doing everything but pull the trigger.
They accuse the leader of Turkey’s left-wing Republic People’s Party
(CHP) of failing to deflect the hate campaign directed against Dink,
even refusing to side with critics of the notorious Article 301 of
the Turkish Penal Code under which Dink was prosecuted, making it an
offense to `insult Turkishness.’
`We all share responsibility, but those who defended 301 bear the
greater share in Hrant Dink’s death,’ said Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s
Nobel Prize winner who was himself prosecuted under the same law.
Pamuk’s word echo suspicions that Dink died not as the result of an
intricate conspiracy but an institutional intolerance against anyone
opposing orthodox views.

03.02.2007
Andrew Finkel

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 2 2007

Provocation by Greek Cypriots, a `fait accompli’ and `casus belli’

by BULENT KENES

Making `Peace at home, peace in the world’ its motto for foreign
policy, Turkey has always tried to develop peaceful policies with
equal parties since its foundation. The founder of modern Turkey,
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, exerted great efforts for the creation of the
Sadabad Pact (1937), the Balkan Pact (1934) and the Baghdad Pact
(1955) and thus endeavored to turn the region into a basin of peace.
The oppressive and devastating waves of communism and fascism and the
Cold War era following World War II saw the years when Turkey’s own
peace efforts proved effective within its scope of power. When the
Cold War era ended, we found a Turkey troubled by problems with all
its neighbors. The problems with Bulgaria centered on the oppression
of fellow Turks living there, an airspace problem with Greece along
with numerous Aegean troubles caused by conflicts over territorial
waters and the continental shelf, the persisting Cyprus crisis, the
PKK crisis with Syria as its host, security crises with Iraq again
centered on the PKK, crises with Iran stemming from its never-ending
export of the `Islamic revolution,’ Nagorno-Karabakh and `genocide
claim’ crises with Armenia and, as always, tense relations with
Russia.
Turkey’s experience throughout the 1990s was marked by never-ending
rifts with all the neighbors and did not fit the `Peace at home,
peace in the world’ motto. Of course the role of our neighbors in
building this picture was great, yet they never adopted similar for
their foreign policy.
Turkey made significant headway around the year 2000 to putting the
relations with neighbors back on track. The relations with Syria,
which was forced by Turkey in 1998 to kick the head of the PKK,
Abdullah Öcalan, out of the country, embarked in a very positive
direction particularly after the death of the father, Hafez al-Assad.
And relations with Greece, after the shame Athens brought upon itself
when caught red-handed daring to abet Öcalan, began to go more
smoothly, especially with the efforts of the late former Foreign
Minister Ýsmail Cem and the atmosphere of solidarity that came about
following the Aug. 17, 1999 earthquake.
The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government took over
Parliament in 2002, aware that Turkey’s interests lay in bettering
relations with its neighbors. Following a `Zero Problem Policy,’ a
policy to minimize the problems with its neighbors, the AK Party
elevated relations with all countries to the highest level possible,
except those with Armenia. And the returns were fast to come,
particularly in foreign trade. Turkey’s close involvement with its
neighbors and the world’s many problematic regions during the AK
Party’s time in power has meant that Turkey’s traditional peaceful
attitude is developing and becoming more tangible.
While Turkey’s peaceful attitude was apparent throughout the March 1,
2003 vote [against a bill allowing US troops to use bases in Turkey
to support its invasion of Iraq], its facilitator role for
negotiation on the Israel-Palestine conflict and its `Alliance of
Civilizations’ project along with its efforts to rehabilitate the
conflict areas threatening the world were sincerely appreciated.
However, the recent peace moves Turkey has been arduously pursuing
have obviously been misinterpreted by certain countries. Even though
they rejected the Annan plan, which had been the most serious chance
of establishing peace and resolving the problem, the Greek Cypriots
were accepted into the European Union (despite the Turkish Cypriots’
acceptance of the plan), and upon being accepted as the only legal
representative of the island, they took the bit between the teeth.
This approach of Turkey, which has recently followed a path of
reconciliation and has always been a step or two ahead, was
apparently misleading to the Greek Cypriots. Otherwise, why would
they be trying to unilaterally claim economic resources — considered
the common property of all Cypriots, be they Greek or Turk — in the
island’s territorial waters and continental shelf and to make
offshore licensing agreements with third countries? What could this
mean but dangerous provocations?
It would suffice to look back into the near past for Greeks to
understand how serious Ankara is, who warned the Greek Cypriot
administration, spoilt by the EU, and `third countries’ Egypt and
Lebanon. And I think Turkey sending warships to the waters near the
region yesterday is sufficiently informative in demonstrating its
intolerance over any sort of `fait accompli.’
Certainly Turkey will not remain a passive spectator while the Greek
Cypriot administration is preparing to usurp about 8 billion barrels
(approximately $400 billion worth — as research conducted by a
Norwegian oil company revealed) of crude oil reserves around the
island. Adding one more `casus belli’ to the list would not make much
difference for Turkey, but such a development would be of vital
consequences for the Greek Cypriot administration, even if it is an
EU member.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 2 2007

NGOs gather to discuss changes in Article 301

Turkish nongovernmental organizations are meeting today to discuss
possible changes to Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) as
pressure mounts on the government to amend the law.
The government says it is open to the idea of changing the
controversial article, which critics including the European Union say
restricts freedom of expression, but it adds that changes would
require social consensus.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan made clear, earlier this week ,
that abolishment of the article was out of the question but that
amendments were possible. He also said the government was ready to
make its own decision and act alone on amendments to the law if the
nongovernmental organizations fail to come up with a joint proposal
on how Article 301 should be changed.
Today’s meeting, called by the Turkish Bar Association (TBB), will be
attended by representatives from some 19 nongovernmental
organizations, including the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity
Exchanges (TOBB), the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions
(Türk-Ýþ), the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Unions (DÝSK)
and Turkish Medical Association (TTB).
The nongovernmental organizations previously met with the government
to discuss how the article should be amended, but the government
demanded written proposals. News reports said the nongovernmental
organizations were expected to come up with a joint proposal on the
requested changes of Article 301.
Pressure to change Article 301 has been mounting since the murder on
Jan. 19th of Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist who had been
tried and sentenced to a six-month suspended imprisonment for
`insulting Turkishness’ in an article he wrote about the alleged
Armenian genocide.
Article 301 makes it a crime to `insult Turkishness’ and foresees up
to three years in jail for offenders.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress