Author: Emil Lazarian

REGULARLY VISITED ARMENIA FOR THREE YEARS
Lragir, Armenia
Nov 3 2006
On November 3, 2006 the name of a candidate of president for 2008
became known at the Pastark club, who is the first to confess his
likelihood to be nominated. It is the leader of the People’s Party
of Armenia and the president of ALM Holding Tigran Karapetyan. He
announced that one of the goals of his political party is to nominate a
president in 2008, and naturally it is going to be Tigran Karapetyan,
because he states that the members of the People’s Party cannot
imagine progress of the political party without him.
Tigran Karapetyan says he will be nominated not because he does not
consider Serge Sargsyan a worthy candidate of president but because he
has his own ideas, which determines his intention. Tigran Karapetyan
says there are no legislative bars. He says he is a citizen of Armenia
since 1994 and since 1999 he is a resident. In this case, it appears
that he does not comply with the provision of the Constitution that a
resident of Armenia in the past 10 years can be nominated. Meanwhile,
from 1999 to 2008 is 9 years.
But this is not a problem for Tigran Karapetyan. Of course, this does
not mean that Karapetyan is going to break the law, althogh there is
no need to doubt that he will do this too if this will make people
happy. But for the time being, Tigran Karapetyan’s confidence has
another, a more legal basis. He says he is a resident since 1999 but
for three years he regularly visited Armenia.
“If I am a resident, it means I was here all the time, I lived here.
But I can leave and come back, if I am a citizen of Armenia. So I have
the right to be nominated, and if someone thinks that I do not have the
right, they can go to court,” states the leader of the People’s Party.
Meanwhile, before 2008 he is likely to run for parliament in 2007,
especially that there are no legal, even theoretical bars. Tigran
Karapetyan says the parliamentary election in 2007 will differ from the
previous elections because today there is not one political party that
falsifies the outcome. “If formerly there were political parties, which
falsified the outcome, gave some of their votes to other political
parties, today no political party would agree to such deals, because
it has a problem, if it gives one percent to other political parties,
it may have serious problems in the parliament.
Everyone thinks for himself,” says Tigran Karapetyan.
And he will run for parliament alone, without alliances. And he
excludes alliances because he cannot see a force in Armenia, which
is committed to their idea – democracy based on people. Karapetyan
says in the parliamentary election the possibility of reproduction
of the present coalition majority will be great, but this does not
mean that the outcome of the election is already clear. Nevertheless,
the president of ALM Holding thinks that we will see fewer political
parties in the parliament after the election than now. And if someone
tries to misappropriate the votes of the People’s Party, Karapetich
says he will go to church and light a candle. Of course, he does not
say for the enjoyment of the misappropriators or the contrary.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SERZH SARKISSYAN: THERE IS NO ARRANGEMENT ABOUT NEXT MEETING WITH
AZERBAIJAN’S DEFENSE MINISTER
ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Nov 3 2006
There is no arrangement about the next meeting of the Secretary
of the National Security Council under RA President, RA DM, Serzh
Sarkissyan, with DM of Azerbaijan, Safar Abiyev, S. Sarkissyan told
ArmInfo correspondent today, commenting the results of his meeting
with S. Abiyev on October 20 on Armenia-Azerbaijan frontier in the
region of Ijevan-Gazakh.
S Sarkissyan has noted once more that only issues of the frontier
control and keeping of the armistice regime were discussed at October
20 meeting. The issue of “released territories” was not discussed at
the meeting, S. Sarkissyan emphasized.
To remind, the meeting of the two states’ Defense Ministers was held
October 20 by the proposal of the Personal representative of OSCE
Chair-in-Chief, the Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk on the frontier in
the region of Ijevan-Gazakh. – na-
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Vimpelcom buys 90 pct stake in Armenian telecom operator for 381.9 mln eur
AFX International Focus
November 3, 2006 Friday 2:50 PM GMT
MOSCOW (AFX) – Vimpelcom said it has agreed to buy a 90 pct stake
in the Armenian telecom operator CJSC Armenia Telephone Company from
Greece’s Hellenic Telecommmunications (OTE) for 381.9 mln eur in cash
and debt.
Vimpelcom will pay 341.9 mln eur for the company and will assume an
additional 40 mln in debt, it said.
Armentel is a fixed-line and mobile operator in Armenia with around
600,000 fixed-line subscribers and 400,000 GSM subscribers, the
Russian mobile telecoms company said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
November 3, 2006 Friday
BAKU IS PUTTING COVERS ON ARTILLERY PIECES;
The Azerbaijani establishment is trying to wait it out
by Igor Plugatarev
NEW DETAILS OF THE AZERBAIJANI-ARMENIAN CONFRONTATION OVER
NAGORNO-KARABAKH; Azerbaijan is out to intimidate Armenia with its
economic and military might.
Addressing the national parliament when relations between Moscow and
Tbilisi reached their all-time low, President of Azerbaijan Ilham
Aliyev announced that “we need an aggressive policy, we must attack
again and again” to force Yerevan to pull back from the occupied
Azerbaijani territories.
Aliyev promoted this new policy when the Trans-Dniester region had
already convened the referendum (September 17) where an overwhelming
majority of the population voted for independence from Moldova and
for eventual membership in Russia. A similar referendum in South
Ossetia is scheduled for November 12, and its outcome is easily
predictable. Abkhazia convened a referendum like that several years
ago. Its President Sergei Bagapsh refers to its outcome and promises
to aspire for recognition of the runaway autonomy from the UN, OSCE,
Council of Europe, and European Union on the basis of the plebiscite.
As a matter of fact, Abkhazia has already forwarded the request for
recognition of its independence from Georgia to all international
structures.
In early October, on the eve of celebration of 15th anniversary of
the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, 77 US lawmakers sent a letter to
President George W. Bush urging him to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as
a sovereign state. Authors of the letter made a special emphasis on
“continued efforts aimed at development of democracy and
establishment of a sovereign state in Nagorno-Karabakh.” Moreover, it
was not the first such appeal to Bush.
No wonder all of that irritates Azerbaijan enormously. Particularly
since Nagorno-Karabakh keeps an eye on what is happening elsewhere in
the post-Soviet zone and openly supports Tiraspol, Sokhumi, and
Tskhinvali and their actions. Hence the calls for “aggressive policy”
and “attacks” from Baku.
Aliyev proceeded to announce that the attacks “were not an automatic
prelude to war which is of course the last resort.” “With all other
factors – economic, political, and otherwise – we will manage to put
Armenia under pressure,” the Azerbaijani leader said.
Generally speaking, official Baku is convinced that Azerbaijan holds
an advantage over Armenia. “If we take into account all these factors
along with rapid economic development of Azerbaijan, we will see
opportunities for resolution of the conflict,” Aliyev said. “If
Azerbaijan becomes 100 times stronger than Armenia, there will be no
need perhaps to try and use military force to solve the problem.”
This is what is new about the latest Azerbaijani rhetoric. Nothing
like that has ever been announced in Baku.
“Using these factors, we must launch an offensive,” Aliyev said. “We
have already launched an information attack, time for an economic
one. Armenia is unlikely to withdraw from the occupied territories
unless it is feels this pressure.” In other words, official Baku
decided not to oil its automatic rifles and uncover artillery pieces
for the time being. It will deploy “other means” to regain the lost
territories.
Aliyev’s order last year to intimidate Armenia with a dramatic
increase of arms spending is being carried out (in addition to the
expectations of the no less dramatic rate of economic development,
that is). The task he set was quite specific. “Our military budget
must equal the Armenian budget or even exceed it,” Aliyev said. The
2006 arms spending in Azerbaijan had been initially planned at a
level of $600 million but actual spending reached $700 million.
That’s more than two 2005 military budgets ($300 million) and four
times the 2004 military budget ($175 million). Reports from Baku
indicate in the meantime that next years military budget may amount
to $900 million.
All of that enabled the Azerbaijani leader to announce a while ago
(on a visit to Germany) that “unless the international community
begins to play a major role in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
resolution, the events may take an unexpected turn because there is
no more parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan now.”
Stratfor experts say that the Armenian budget in 2005, amounted to
$930 million and Azerbaijani almost $3 billion. As for the Armenian
military budget, it amounted to $155 million in 2005.
Official Yerevan inevitably reacted to every “aggressive” statement
from Baku a year ago, but these days it does not rise to the bait.
Hardly the best tactic in the information war.
On the other hand, Yerevan probably believes that it may always count
on Russia no matter how hard the neighbor is flexing muscles and play
oil and gas cards. Indeed, Russia has a military base in Armenia
where 5,000 men serve. The base is being reinforced with merchandise
from the bases Russia is withdrawing from Georgia. Come to think of
it, the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization is also supposed
to come to Armenia’s help. Its General Secretary Nikolai Bordyuzha
told Nezavisimoe Voennoe Obozrenie this January, that should
Azerbaijan send its army to reacquire Nagorno-Karabakh, leaders of
the Organization would take it as an aggression (no need to dwell on
implications). Bordyuzha’s words impressed Baku then.
In the meantime, Azerbaijan has spared neither time nor effort to
advance its relations with Russia. Official Baku is certainly busy.
In any case, no progress at all has been made in the more than 12
years of Azerbaijani-Armenian negotiations since the truce made in
May 1994. Experts believe that the OSCE Minsk Group is but going
through the motions. The OSCE examined the front line between
Armenian and Azerbaijani troops in the middle of October. To quote
Aliyev, Azerbaijan is deploying a “tactic of patience” for the time
being.
Source: Nezavisimoe Voennoe Obozrenie, No 39, October 27 – November
2, 2006, p. 2
Translated by A. Ignatkin
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkey and the EU drifting apart over membership bid
By BENJAMIN HARVEY, Associated Press Writer
Associated Press Worldstream
November 3, 2006 Friday 4:46 PM GMT
The cautious courtship between Turkey and the European Union looks
increasingly like it might be headed for a messy and acrimonious
breakup.
They were a mismatched couple from the beginning: one wealthy, mostly
Christian and liberal, the other far poorer, overwhelmingly Muslim
and largely conservative. Perhaps it’s no surprise that over time the
mood has deteriorated from buoyant optimism to mutual recriminations
and a seemingly hopeless inability to communicate.
The mood is likely to get noticeably worse after next Wednesday,
when the EU releases a progress report that sizes Turkey up. The
Associated Press saw a draft Friday that said Turkey is dragging its
feet on reform and failing to meet minimum human rights standards.
The consequences of further worsening of relations between Turkey and
the EU could be dramatic and far-reaching: At stake is an ambitious
vision of bringing a Muslim nation into the fold of liberal European
society, proving that a “clash of civilizations” between the West
and Islam is not inevitable.
Many analysts say that’s why the two parties are likely to continue
talking for the foreseeable future, never committing to a clean split
which would deliver the message to Muslims everywhere that the West
is not prepared to deal with them on equal footing.
“Of course I support the EU (bid),” said Bayram Kapici, a 38-year-old
security guard. “But the question is, what will our place in the EU
be? I mean, we’re Muslims. Are we barbarians? How will they see us?”
For the moment, enthusiasm toward Turkey’s bid has cooled dramatically
on both sides, and Turkish leaders’ passionate claims that an
“alliance of civilizations” can replace the much-feared “clash”
are starting to ring hollow.
Turkish public support for membership in the EU has fallen to below
50 percent, and many believe that perceived insults from the European
Union in the form of frequent criticism and seemingly endless demands
for reform play directly into the hands of nationalists and Islamists
waiting to tap into a broken and defensive Turkish psyche.
Europeans, meanwhile, have a litany of complaints about Turkey: Its
refusal to look objectively at the past, notably the massacre of
Armenians after World War I that many historians call a genocide;
its intransigence on key diplomatic issues like recognizing the
Greek-speaking part of Cyprus, which has been a full EU member since
2004; its poor record on human rights and treatment of its Kurdish
minority; its intolerance to free speech that runs to the extent that
“insulting Turkishness” is a crime; its outsized admiration for its
military; its unwillingness to abandon some elements of its Islamic
culture, such as hardline attitudes toward adultery and homosexuality.
Many here fault Turkey’s old rivals Greece and Cyprus for the growing
acrimony, claiming they are lobbying the EU to take a hard line over
Turkey’s refusal to extend its customs union with the EU to the Greek
Cypriot part of Cyprus. Turkey does not recognize the Cyprus government
and props up the internationally unrecognized administration in the
north of the island.
On Thursday, a meeting that was supposed to be a last-ditch effort
to settle the Cyprus problem was canceled, leaving the Turks with
very little time to negotiate before the EU’s year-end deadline to
concede or see talks suspended.
What would happen if the talks collapsed?
First, the symbolic value of having a 99 percent Muslim, democratic
nation firmly integrated into the West would be lost. Turkey’s 71
million citizens, educated to look to Europe for inspiration since
the country’s secular tranformation in the 1920s, might look elsewhere
for positive reinforcement.
“Nationalists are benefiting from this, there’s no question about it,”
said pollster and political science professor Hakan Yilmaz.
Islamic countries of the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa,
with which Turkey’s Islamic-rooted government has been forging
increasingly close ties, might be natural surrogates for a Turkey
spurned.
But there is a sense on the street that a complete breakup with the
EU is out of the question.
Yilmaz said many EU leaders were just playing to the crowd by publicly
belittling Turkey. “Some in the European Union public love this
humiliation particularly in France,” he said, alluding to a proposed
French law that would make it a crime to say Turks did not commit
genocide against Armenians.
Meanwhile, some leading politicians on both sides are trying to
make the relationship so miserable that Turkey will just walk away
on its own, said Ilter Turan, a political analyst at Istanbul Bilgi
University.
But Turan added that any Turkish government that walked away from
the EU would be excoriated by the Turkish public, despite the current
anti-EU mood.
The key question appears to be how to persuade Turkey to change
without damaging national pride.
“There is one thing where the Turkish public seems to be rather
adamant,” Turan said, getting to the heart of what Turks want in
this relationship. “If there is to be a union, it is to be on equal
grounds.”
Kapici, the security guard, said he didn’t think the EU would ever
take Turkey, but at least it was good for his country to try.
“I’m a Muslim, praise God,” he said. “But I don’t want to be part of
an Arab Union or something. It’s always better for Turkey to be on
the side of Europe.”
Benjamin Harvey has covered Turkey since 2005.

La Nouvelle Republique du Centre Ouest
03 novembre 2006 vendredi
Edition DEUX SEVRES
” Armenie mon amie ” en valeur a Faymoreau
D.M.
L’annee de l’Armenie en France se decline aussi en Vendee, où le
conseil general vient d’engager une cooperation economique et
culturelle avec ce pays ami. Vendredi 27 octobre, la delegation
armenienne, en voyage d’etudes pour une semaine, a participe au
vernissage d’une exposition rare, dans la chapelle des mineurs de
Faymoreau (près de Saint-Laurs) : ” Tresors d’Armenie ” (1). Edward
Nalbandian, ambassadeur d’Armenie, et Gagik Gyurjyan, ministre
adjoint de la Culture et de la Jeunesse, conduisaient la delegation
au côte du president du conseil general de Vendee. Cette expo dans le
petite village ” phare ” du bassin minier de Faymoreau/Saint-Laurs,
en avant-première nationale, prendra ensuite le chemin du Louvre, ou
de ville comme Lyon. Dans la petite chapelle, une soixantaine
d’objets de l’art chretien, pour la plupart dates du V au XVIII
siècle, temoignent de l’anciennete et du raffinement de la culture
armenienne, premier Etat chretien du monde depuis l’an 301. L’expo
est aussi chargee de symboles, comme cette porte de monastère cachee
par les Armeniens lors du genocide dans l’empire ottoman :
” Cette exposition met en valeur tout le spectre de l’identite
armenienne structuree par une spiritualite singulière, a travers les
Khatchkars, veritables professions de foi gravees dans la pierre sans
equivalent ailleurs, les vestiges monastiques, des objets de cultes,
des splendides pièces d’art liturgique armenien ainsi que des
vetements ou tapis “,note Edward Nalbandian. La presence de ces
oeuvres sacrees ou culturelles en la chapelle de Faymoreau, mises en
valeur par la lumière eclatante des dix-neuf grands vitraux, est
exceptionnelle. Ne vous en privez pas !
(1) Entree libre tous les jours jusqu’au dimanche 3 decembre inclus,
de 10 h a 12 h et de 14 h a 18 h. Catalogue explicatif gratuit.
–Boundary_(ID_a4TgibFNL5RkUGrqLMgzXA)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Baptist Press, TN
Nov 3 2006
2 converts in Turkey charged under free speech restrictions
Nov 3, 2006
By Staff
Baptist Press
ISTANBUL, Turkey (BP)–A Turkish prosecutor has filed criminal
charges against two converts to Christianity, accusing them of
“insulting Turkishness,” inciting hatred against Islam and secretly
compiling data on private citizens for a local Bible correspondence
course, according to an Oct. 31 report by Compass Direct news
service.
Hakan Tastan, 37, and Turan Topal, 46, joined the ranks of 97 other
Turkish citizens taken to court in the last 16 months over alleged
violations of the country’s controversial Article 301 restricting
freedom of speech, Compass reported.
The attorney for the two Christians, Haydar Polat, said a state
prosecutor in the Silivri Criminal Court filed a formal indictment
against Tastan and Topal on Oct. 12. If convicted, the accused men
could be sentenced from six months to three years in prison, Compass
reported, noting that the first hearing for the trial is set for Nov.
23 in Silivri, 45 miles west of Istanbul along the Marmara Sea coast.
Polat said the trial could be expected to continue for a year or
more.
Citing articles 301, 216 and 135 of the Turkish penal code, the
indictment accuses the defendants of approaching grade school
children and high school students in Silivri and attempting to
convert them to Christianity, Compass reported.
According to the written charges, the three plaintiffs, identified as
23-year-old Fatih Kose, 16-year-old Alper and Oguz, 17, claimed the
two Christians had called Islam a “primitive and fabricated religion”
and had described Turks as a “cursed people.”
They also accused Tastan and Topal of opposing the Turkish military,
encouraging sexual misconduct and procuring funds from abroad to
entice young people in Silivri to become Christians. Tastan and Topal
deny all charges, Compass reported.
Neither of the men knew they were under investigation until Oct. 11,
when two carloads of gendarme officials appeared with a search
warrant at Tastan’s home at 8 a.m., Compass recounted. The officers
informed Tastan that a complaint had been made against him claiming
he had unlicensed guns and was conducting illegal missionary
activities. While Tastan and his wife and two small children looked
on, the search team spent two hours combing their apartment in
Buyukcekmece, on the western outskirts of Istanbul.
“Now let’s go to your office and find Turan,” the soldiers told
Tastan, instructing him to call Topal and ask him to stay at the
office until he arrived, without explaining why, Compass reported.
Tastan was surprised that they knew his office address and the name
of his office partner; he later learned that a Silivri prosecutor had
given the gendarme written permission to follow, photograph and
secretly tape them for one month.
After searching the small bureau in Istanbul’s Taksim district, the
gendarme confiscated two computers and an array of books and papers,
Compass reported. They then loaded the two Christians into their
vehicles and drove them back to Silvri.
After hours of interrogation by military intelligence officials, the
two men were released for the night and ordered to return the next
morning to complete the investigation, Compass reported. By the end
of Oct. 12, they had recorded their formal statements before the
prosecutor.
Both men said they had categorically denied all the accusations
against them, Compass reported, noting that the charges apparently
are based on three or four trips they had made to Silivri months ago
to meet a teacher and several high school students who had contacted
an Istanbul-based Bible correspondence course requesting a visit.
“It’s all lies,” Topal told Compass. “Someone is trying to make us
look like a Christian tarikat [banned religious sect].” He said one
of the gendarme officials told him he was accused of having weapons,
forming illegal cell groups, evangelizing children and trying to
destroy the secular state of Turkey.
Topal, who became a Christian 17 years ago, said he told the gendarme
interrogators that he was innocent, “but I am doing missionary work.
I am a Christian evangelist and I don’t deny that. So you can put me
in jail for that, if you want. But you know what I’m doing is not
against the law.”
A Christian for 12 years, Tastan said he told the prosecutor, “I am a
Christian and I am a Turk. I will keep on sharing my faith. We are
not ashamed to be Christians and we are not hiding anything.”
Tastan said he worked part-time at a printing house and gave the rest
of his time to Christian ministry, Compass reported.
Just four days after the two were released, the mass-circulation
Hurriyet newspaper gave front-page coverage to the Silivri
investigation under the headline, “Gendarme raid missionary office,”
Compass reported.
Declaring that parents of Silivri students had complained that the
two men were promoting missionary activities among grade school
students, the Oct. 16 article claimed that their office, linked with
the Taksim Protestant Church, had compiled names and detailed private
data on 5,000 citizens in Turkey’s Marmara region.
Topal said the claims are absurd, but news clips based on the
Hurriyet release were broadcast that same day on TGRT television and
the local TV music channel.
The next morning, an article in the Islamic Zaman newspaper linked
the Christians’ arrest and interrogations with a Turkish draft-dodger
who had hijacked a Turkish Airlines plane two weeks before flying
from Albania to Istanbul. Claiming he was a Christian and a
conscientious objector, Izmir-born Hakan had appealed to Pope
Benedict XVI for asylum.
According to Zaman, “… it was confirmed that the hijacker had ties
with Tastan and Topal.” The Oct. 17 article stated that the men had
confessed in their formal statements that they knew Ekinci and that
he had led Protestant missionary activities in the Aegean region of
Turkey.
After examining the legal file against Tastan and Topal, Isa Karatas,
spokesman for the Alliance of Protestant Churches in Turkey,
commented, “There is no legal proof. It only contains verbal
allegations, without any evidence.”
Karatas told Compass he considered it “a violation of democratic
rights” for the gendarme team to raid and search a private home and
office “without a single piece of evidence — and then pass on this
destructive and unsubstantiated information to the media.”
Meanwhile, the European Union has reiterated its demand that Turkey
either amend or scrap Article 301, which prohibits “insulting
Turkishness.”
EU critics complain that the law fails to define “Turkishness,”
allowing prosecutors to issue widely varying legal interpretations in
a rash of cases against journalists, novelists, professors and other
intellectuals. Turkey instituted Article 301 in June 2005 as part of
the country’s package of reform laws to facilitate the overwhelmingly
Muslim nation’s entry into the European Union.
According to Turkish media reports, Rene van der Linden, chair of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, suggested in an Oct.
26 meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul that Europe’s
objections to Article 301 could outweigh even the unresolved dispute
over Turkey’s refusal to open its seaports and airports to traffic
from EU member Greek Cyprus.
But the government insists that the issue focuses on “implementation”
of the law, arguing that the courts have yet to send anyone to jail
for alleged speech restriction violations.
Although several prominent defendants have been acquitted, including
this year’s Nobel prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk, dozens of
trials still are pending in the courts. A number of cases focus on
comments regarding the Turkish state’s denial of what it terms the
“alleged genocide” of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
Another acquittal was handed down in May to two professors who
prepared a controversial report for a parliamentary sub-commission
regarding minority and cultural rights. The report maintained that
non-Muslims in particular were subject to discrimination in Turkey
and sometimes treated as foreigners rather than equal Turkish
citizens.
The report, accused by nationalists of being treasonous, was disowned
by the government and never published, according to Compass Direct.
–30–
Reported by Barbara G. Baker for Compass Direct, a news service based
in Santa Ana, Calif., focusing on Christians worldwide who are
persecuted for their faith. Used by permission.
.asp?ID=24326
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri Opposition against OSCE MG Activities
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.11.2006 15:00 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Our Azerbaijan opposition bloc demanded that the
authorities give up MG mediation in the Nagorno Karabakh settlement,
says a statement of the bloc released in Baku. “The bloc urges the
authorities of Azerbaijan to undertake specific steps to release
territories, occupied by Armenian armed grouping, by force and give
up OSCE MG mediation in the Karabakh settlement,” the statement notes,
reports Day.az.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Serbian MFA: Kosovo’s Independence May Become Example for Nagorno Karabakh
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.11.2006 17:15 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Vuk Draskovic
said that Kosovo may be an example for Nagorno Karabakh. The Minister
said that in case that Kosovo achieves its independence it will be a
precedent for Nagorno Karabakh and other unrecognized institutions
in the post soviet space. He said that while discussing Moldova’s
sovereignty and integrity Serbia voted for such kind of resolution. The
Minister said it is ‘impossible to agree to Kosovo’s independence
even theoretically.’ “We will not allow Kosovo’s accession to the UN
and organizations supporting the sovereignty of states openly. We
will keep to this principle even in the most severe diplomatic
struggle,” the minister said. Vuk Draskovic said if the UN grants
independence to Kosovo, it will be an example for Transdniestria,
Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno Karabakh, Northern Cyprus, Basque
in Spain and even Ireland. “I counted. Nearly 40 regions of the world
may achieve independence,” the Minister said, reports the Azeri Press.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZG Armenian Daily #211, 04/11/2006
Turkey
ISTANBUL-BORN ARMENIAN HISTORIAN IN LIMELIGHT OF TURKISH TV
Istanbul-born Armenian historian Levon Panos Tapakhian has denied the
fact of the Armenian Genocide. On November 3, the Turkish television
posted the historian’s denial on its website under the title “Armenian
Historian’s Truth Is Completely Different.
Even Armenians Oppose the French Lie.”
According to the website, Tapakhian delivered a lecture on
Armenian Genocide at Istanbul’s municipal department of People’s
Democratic Party. He underscored that the Armenian issue refers to
the Turkish-Armenians and the Turks and that the so-called Armenian
genocide allegations were invented by the Western powers which keep
speculating the issue.
Rounding off Tapakhian said: “Armenians underwent deportation from the
Ottoman Empire. The West now calls this incident, which is described
as deportation, genocide. There was no such thing. It was a deportation
not genocide.”
By Hakob Chakrian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress