Author: Emil Lazarian

GENOCIDE ARMENIEN : PARIS FACE A LA COLèRE D’ANKARA
La Nouvelle Republique du Centre Ouest
10 octobre 2006 mardi
Edition Informations Generales
La diplomatie francaise cherche a calmer la colère d’Ankara face
aux debats en France sur le genocide des Armeniens et l’entree de
la Turquie dans l’Union europeenne (UE), qui font peser des menaces
de crise serieuse entre les deux pays. Le Quai d’Orsay a rappele
son” attachement a la perennite des relations “franco-turques et a
souligne la ” perspective europeenne de la Turquie “, au moment où
Ankara assurait que les Francais pourraient” perdre la Turquie “, en
particulier des parts de marche et de gros contrats.Ankara a multiplie
les protestations avant l’examen, jeudi a l’Assemblee nationale, d’une
proposition de loi instaurant des sanctions penales contre la negation
du genocide des Armeniens commis en 1915 sous l’empire ottoman.Philippe
Douste-Blazy a rappele que le gouvernement francais ne soutenait pas
la proposition de loi controversee instaurant des sanctions d’un an
de prison et 45.000 euros d’amende, en cas de negation du genocide
des Armeniens.Ce texte, depose par l’opposition socialiste, avait
deja ete presente sans succès le 18 mai. Le suspense plane toujours
sur son adoption, les deputes etant très partages.
–Boundary_(ID_dFlxEnnMCNeSKUONwlITww)- –
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

UNE ORGANISATION ARMENIENNE DENONCE LES MENACES “IRRATIONNELLES” D’ANKARA
Agence France Presse
11 octobre 2006 mercredi
La federation euro-armenienne a denonce mercredi le “discours
irrationnel” de la Turquie en assurant que la menace d’Ankara d’imposer
des sanctions economiques contre la France en cas d’adoption d’une
nouvelle loi sur le genocide armenien etait “illusoire”.
“Les chiffres officiels que nous apportons dementent ce discours
irrationnel et montrent que la menace de boycott est illusoire”,
a assure dans un communique Laurent Leylekian, directeur executif de
cette federation qui regroupe de nombreuses associations representant
la diaspora armenienne en Europe.
“Avec l’union douanière (entre la Turquie et l’UE), les economies sont
a ce point integrees que la Turquie serait dans l’incapacite de mettre
en oeuvre une telle menace meme si elle le souhaitait”, a-t-il ajoute.
Selon la federation, les represailles annoncees par Ankara lors du
vote de la première loi francaise qui a reconnu le genocide armenien
en 2001 n’avaient “aucunement” affecte les echanges entre la France
et la Turquie.
Les echanges commerciaux entre les deux pays ne cessent d’augmenter
depuis dix ans, a-t-elle ajoute. La France est le 5ème fournisseur
de la Turquie avec 4,7 milliards d’euros d’exportations en 2005.
Le texte de loi qui doit etre debattu jeudi a l’Assemblee nationale
(chambre basse du parlement francais) vise a completer par un volet
penal la loi du 29 janvier 2001 dans laquelle la France reconnaît le
genocide armenien, et fait de sa negation un delit punissable d’un
an d’emprisonnement et de 45.000 euros d’amende.
–Boundary_(ID_XtJdUe55RVWyBpX7uciifw)- –
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKEY CALLS ON EU TO DENOUNCE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL IN FRANCE
By Selcan Hacaoglu, Associated Press Writer
Associated Press Worldstream
October 10, 2006 Tuesday
Turkey called Monday on the European Union to oppose French legislation
that would outlaw denials that World War I-era killings of Armenians
amounted to genocide.
Lawmakers in France, which has some 400,000 citizens of Armenian
origin, have introduced a bill to penalize Armenian genocide denial
with fines and jail terms. Turkey, which says the deaths came during
a period of civil unrest and don’t constitute genocide, asked the
European bloc it seeks to join to weigh in on its side.
“We expect the European Union to express its opposition against
such a development that restricts freedom of expression in France,
because it contradicts key values of the EU,” said Justice Minister
Cemil Cicek, who also serves as the government’s spokesman.
Armenians claim that as many as 1.5 million of their ancestors were
killed between 1915-1923 in an organized campaign to force them out
of eastern Turkey and have pushed for recognition of the killings
around the world as genocide.
Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died, but says
the overall figure is inflated and that the deaths occurred in the
civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought the help of
French companies doing business in Turkey to prevent the approval
of the bill and tensions between Turkey and France have been rising
before Thursday’s debate by French lawmakers in the lower house.
Under the bill, people who contest that there was an Armenian genocide
would risk up to a year in prison and fines of up to $57,000.
In May, French lawmakers had caved in to pressure from Turkey and
put off the sensitive debate on the issue in the lower house.
At the time, Turkish legislators also froze a retaliatory bill which
said anyone who denied that the French committed genocide in Algeria,
a former French colony, could be put in jail and fined. Turkish
lawmakers are now scheduled to re-debate that bill Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a Turkish legislator Koksal Toptan called for a boycott
of French goods.
Last week, Erdogan turned down a series of proposals for reconciliation
by French Interior Minister and presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy,
his office said Monday.
Among the demands of Sarkozy, who is staunchly opposed to EU membership
for Turkey, were opening the Turkish-Armenian border and dropping a
Turkish condition that only historians should represent both sides in a
joint research committee. Turkey has accused Armenia of not responding
to Turkish initiatives to jointly research the mass killings.
Last week, Turkey said it was out of the question to accept a call
by French President Jacques Chirac for Ankara to acknowledge the mass
killings of Armenians in the early 20th century as genocide.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

QUESTIONS SURROUND FRENCH PRESIDENT’S VISIT
Eurasianet, NY
October 11, 2006
Opinions are divided about the purpose of French President Jacques
Chirac’s recent state visit to Armenia, with some observers contending
that the mission had more to do with Turkey’s candidacy for European
Union membership than with the South Caucasus state itself.
Armenian officials presented the September 29-October 1 visit as
a sign of the country’s growing regional importance; the country
was the second Commonwealth of Independent States member visited by
Chirac after Russia. “I believe that the visit of President Chirac was
… a result of the fact that today Armenia is a factor of stability,
a reliable partner in the region for France and [other] big countries,”
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian was quoted by the Azg daily newspaper
as telling reporters.
However, many experts did not share this outlook. Some have charged
that opposition to Turkey’s membership bid for the European Union
prompted the French leader’s visit. By visiting Armenia and discussing
the Ottoman Empire’s 1915 massacre of thousands of ethnic Armenians,
Chirac was, in effect, reiterating long-standing European skepticism
about Turkey’s human rights record, a potential barrier to European
Union (EU) membership.
“Judging by the deeds and the words of Jacques Chirac [during the
visit], his thoughts were in neighboring Turkey rather than in
Armenia,” commented former Armenian Foreign Minister Aleksander
Arzumanian in an October 6 interview with the Russian newspaper
Izvestia. “And this is understandable, as now serious problems have
emerged between united Europe and Turkey.”
Chirac could not avoid addressing the topic of the 1915 massacre, which
France recognized officially as genocide in 2001. European media showed
Chirac during a Yerevan press conference exhorting Turkey to recognize
the massacre as genocide in the same way that Germany has recognized
the Holocaust. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. “I
believe every country becomes greater when it recognizes its errors
and crimes of the past,” Chirac said when questioned if Turkey needed
to acknowledge the Ottoman genocide in order to gain EU membership.
Chirac’s comments produced a sharply negative reaction from Turkey,
including threats to expel the 70,000 Armenian citizens now reportedly
living in the country. The backlash prompted a renewed discussion in
Armenia about whether its call for the 1915 events to be universally
recognized as genocide suits the country’s interests.
In an October 4 editorial, the Haykakan Zhamanak independent daily
wrote that France is keeping the Armenian genocide issue as a “moral
excuse” for not granting Turkey EU membership if political reasons
do not work. Even if Turkey recognizes the massacre as genocide, the
paper continued, Armenian President Robert Kocharian’s administration
has affirmed that only the descendants of the victims, most of whom
are Diaspora Armenians, could present material claims against Turkey.
“It turns out that the policy of the Armenian authorities serves,
first of all, the interests of the citizens of France, whereas Armenian
citizens [must] develop with blocked communication routes [with Turkey]
for one more century, for the sake of the happiness of United Europe,”
the editorial read.
While Chirac’s comments may have stirred controversy among Armenians,
the French leader made clear his support for the government’s refusal
to transfer negotiations with Azerbaijan over the breakaway region
of Nagorno-Karabakh to the United Nations General Assembly or the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, as Azerbaijan has
proposed. Talks currently take place within the framework of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group,
a tripartite body headed by France, the United States and Russia.
According to news reports citing Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry,
Chirac is expected to visit Azerbaijan in early 2007, following a
January state visit to Paris by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
Other analysts see regional issues as motivating the French president’s
trip. A desire to compete with Russia and, maybe, the United States
for influence in the South Caucasus could be one explanation,
said David Hovhannisian, a political scientist and former Armenian
ambassador to Syria. Chirac is also interested in Iran, Armenia’s
southern neighbor and a longtime ally, with an eye to participation
in infrastructure and non-military nuclear projects, Hovhannisian
added. Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian told reporters after
Chirac left that the French president “was very interested to learn”
President Kocharian’s opinion about Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Richard Giragossian, a Washington-based political scientist, however,
argued during a public lecture in Yerevan on October 5 that France’s
influential Armenian community rather than any geopolitical factors
prompted the trip. This opinion was partly shared by the 168 Zham
daily, which said that the visit had acted as “triple PR” — for Chirac
himself, for Kocharian, and for Armenia, which used the opportunity
to tout the country as a foreign investment destination.
The trip included a concert for 100,000 in downtown Yerevan by French
crooner Charles Aznavour, the son of Armenian immigrants.
NOTES: Haroutiun Khachatrian is a Yerevan-based writer specializing
in economic and political affairs.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN DM: EFFICIENT ARMY IS NOT ONLY BIG FINANCING
ARMINFO News Agency
October 10, 2006 Tuesday
Efficient army is not only big financing, Armenian Defense Minister
Serzh Sargsyan says in an interview to REGNUM (Russia) and El Pais
(Spain).
Asked for how long the “neither peace nor war” situation may go on in
Nagorno-Karabakh now that Azerbaijan is quite actively strengthening
its economy, Sargsyan says that the Azeri economy is really developing,
but in 2005 Armenia had bigger economic growth.
This year, due to growing oil revenues, Azerbaijan is developing a
bit more actively, but it would be wrong to say that the economic
growth in Azerbaijan may force the Armenian side to capitulate. On
the contrary, it may urge it to work better and to seek improvement
not only in the economy but in other sectors – to become a developed
state with a modern highly efficient army. “Only this will allow us
to effectively oppose Azerbaijan in case of new war,” says Sargsyan.
He notes that Azerbaijan does not have an overwhelming economic
advantage over Armenia. It will take Azerbaijan several decades
to attain the advantages it had in the early 1990s. And even then,
despite its big advantages, the Azeri side lost the war. “So, I would
like to advise all those relying on money to come to their senses and
to consider the lessons of the war Azerbaijan has once unleashed and
lost,” says Sargsyan.”
He says that in 2007 Armenia plans to spend 3.5% of its GDP on defense
– some $270-280 mln. This may be much for Armenia but compared with
some other countries this is not enough for building a modern efficient
army. Everything is relative, says Sargsyan.
Asked if the Nagorno-Karabakh problem can be solved by peace, Sargsyan
says: “Of course, it can. Any peace agreement implies agreement of
the sides. This is like marriage. There is no marriage without mutual
agreement. So, if we seek to solve the problem and Azerbaijan not, we
can’t help it. We believe that this problem must be solved peacefully
on the basis of mutual compromise,” says Sargsyan.
Asked about the possibility of return of refugees, Sargsyan says
that now that the problem is yet unresolved, that people have not
yet healed the wounds they got during the war, the return of refugees
is impossible.
The compromise is not about this. The people who left Nagorno-Karabakh
14-15 years ago have long settled down in new environments and are
hardly prepared to leave everything they have there and to come back
to Nagorno-Karabakh. The compromise is about Azerbaijan’s recognizing
the right of the Karabakh people to live independently, so they can
feel themselves secure and no longer rely on the security zone. There
are other important components. The compromise must concern security –
only then it will lead to stable peace, says Sargsyan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJAN WILL NOT MEET IN MINSK OCT 17
ARMINFO News Agency
October 10, 2006 Tuesday
The Armenian and Azeri presidents will not meet in Minsk Oct 17,
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan says in an interview to
Hayastani Hanrapetoutyun daily.
The point is that the CIS Summit in Minsk Oct 17 has been postponed for
a month at least. Only the CIS FMs will meet in Minsk but the Armenian
and Azeri FMs will not meet tete-a-tete as they will have little time
and it is more expedient for them to meet Oct 24, says Oskanyan.
To remind, during their last meeting in Moscow Oct 6 the Armenian
and Azeri FMs agreed to meet in Paris Oct 24.
Commenting on the results of the meeting, Oskanayn says that the
co-chairs did not make new proposals but offered some new ideas
concerning the moot questions. Oskanyan says that the ideas are quite
interesting and should be seriously considered. Oct 24 the FMs will
consider them in general and during the next meeting in detail. Only
then will they be able to see if these ideas are leading them in the
right direction and if there is a necessity for a presidential meeting.
Oskanyan refuses to specify the moot questions but advises to
attentively follow the statements of the OSCE MG co-chairs and the
Armenian and Azeri FMs.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CRISIS LOOMS IN TURKISH-FRENCH TIES OVER GENOCIDE BILL
by Hande Culpan
Agence France Presse — English
October 10, 2006 Tuesday
Ankara launched a scathing attack against Paris on Tuesday, accusing
it of losing its reason over a draft law on the World War I massacres
of Armenians and warning that bilateral ties will suffer if the bill
is enacted.
The draft, scheduled for debate and a vote before the French National
Assembly on Thursday, calls for one year in prison and a 45,000 euro
(57,000 dollar) fine for anyone who denies that Armenians were the
victims of a genocide under the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of
modern Turkey.
“We expect Paris to avoid this blunder, this political accident
that will harm Turkish-French relations,” Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the parliamentary group of his Justice and
Development Party in a speech interrupted by applause.
“The EU must absolutely take a stand against this eclipse of reason
in France,” he said, charging that the bill would violate freedom
of expression, a basic EU norm that Turkey itself is under pressure
to respect.
Drawn up by the Socialist opposition, the bill was first submitted
in May, but the debate ran out of time after filibustering from the
ruling UMP party bloc.
Turkish officials believe it stands a good chance of being voted
Thursday — as a gesture to France’s large Armenian community ahead
of legislative elections next year — as many lawmakers opposed to
the bill will be away in their constituencies.
Ankara has warned that French firms will be barred from major tenders,
including one for the planned construction of the country’s first
nuclear power plant, if the bill is accepted.
“The French will lose Turkey,” Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul warned
on Sunday.
The Ankara Chamber of Commerce, which groups some 3,200 businesses,
and the Consumers’ Union, a non-governmental consumer rights group,
have threatend to boycott French goods.
In 2001, Turkey sidelined French companies from public tenders and
cancelled projects awarded to French firms when parliament adopted
a resolution recognising the massacres as genocide.
At stake now is a flourishing trade between the two countries that
totalled 8.2 billion euros (10 billion dolars) in 2005.
About 250 French firms are active in Turkey, providing employment
for about 65,000 people.
France also plays a leading role in foreign direct investment in
Turkey with 2.1 billion dollars (1.6 billion euros) last year and 328
million dollars (260 million euros) in the first seven months of 2006.
But some commentators have warned that suspending economic ties with
France would have a bruising affect on Turkey, for which foreign
investment is vital as it recovers from two severe financial crises.
Turkey could also retaliate politically, keeping bilateral contacts at
a minimum and at the lowest diplomatic level and possibly cancelling
bilateral visits.
One senior lawmaker warned the Turkish parliament could retaliate with
a law proclaiming the killing of Algerians under French colonial rule
as genocide and its denial a jailable offense, but Erdogan rejected
the suggestion.
“No,” he said, “we will not retaliate in kind — we do not clean
filth with filth.”
The Armenian massacres are one of most controversial episodes in
Turkish history and open debate on the issue has only recently begun
in Turkey, often sending nationalist sentiment into frenzy.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in
orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917.
Turkey categorically rejects the genocide label, arguing that
300,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife
when Armenians rose for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided
with invading Russian troops as the Ottoman Empire fell apart.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI MPS ASK FRANCE TO BE “SENSITIVE” WHEN DEBATING GENOCIDE BILL
ITV, Baku,
10 Oct 06
[Presenter] The Milli Maclis [Azerbaijani parliament] has voiced
concern about the Armenian genocide bill to be discussed at the
French parliament. The [Azerbaijani] MPs regarded the bill as an
attempt to violate human rights and freedoms and decided to appeal
to the French parliament.
[Passage omitted: MPs voice their attitude to the French bill]
[Correspondent] In the afternoon, the MPs adopted the appeal to the
French parliament.
[Deputy Speaker Bahar Muradova, reading the appeal at the rostrum] The
law that may be passed following the activity of various political
groups and ethnic lobbies, can only discredit the influence of
France, a country that has old democratic traditions. In addition,
[if passed] the law will call into question impartiality of France as
a co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group for the peaceful settlement of
the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh. Therefore,
the Milli Maclis of the Azerbaijani Republic calls on colleagues at
the French parliament to be careful and sensitive when debating the
mentioned issue.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKEY HOPES FRANCE WILL NOT PASS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL
Anatolia news agency, Ankara,
11 Oct 06
Ankara, 11 October: “We hope that French authorities will reject the
draft law (criminalizing denial of so-called Armenian genocide),”
Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Namik Tan said on Wednesday
[11 October].
In his weekly press conference, Tan noted that French government has
launched some initiatives to counter the draft law, stating that it
was a positive development.
“(French) government has undertaken some initiatives against this
bill,” he stressed.
On the other hand, a delegation headed by Rifat Hisarciklioglu, the
Chairman of the Union of Chambers & Commodity Exchanges of Turkey
(TOBB), met representatives of French Economy & Social Labour Council
in Paris this morning.
Sources quoted Hisarciklioglu as saying in the meeting that the
bill was against freedom of expression, stressing that it would harm
relations between the two countries.
After holding talks in Paris, TOBB delegation left France for Turkey.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH ASSEMBLY SUBCOMMITTEE CONSIDERING BILL AGAINST FRANCE, ARMENIAN “LIES”
Anatolia news agency, Ankara,
11 Oct 06
Ankara, 11 October: Turkish Parliamentary Justice Commission has sent
the draft laws on criminalizing “lies on so-called Armenian genocide”
and “denials of Algerian genocide by France” to a sub-commission on
Wednesday [11 October].
According to the bill submitted to the sub-commission, any verbal
or written claims of Armenian genocide by Turks will receive a jail
term of 1 year up to 3 years. If the claims are made overseas, the
penalty then may be increased to 4 years in prison.
The other bill envisages to declare 8 May the day to commemorate
French genocide of Algerians. Those who deny the Algerian genocide
by the French will receive a jail sentence of 1 year up to 3 years.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress