Author: Emil Lazarian

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 13 2006
“MIKA-YEREVAN” AGAIN WINS AT EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP
INNSBRUCK, OCTOBER 13, NOYAN TAPAN. “Mika-Yerevan” again won at the
Europe chess club teams championship being held in the city of
Innsbruck, Austria. At the 5th stage held on October 12, the team
representing Armenia won with a score of 2.5:1.5 the Saratov
“Economist” and continues alone heading the tournament table with 9
points. The Georgian “Energy Invest Sakartvelo” has a pointer less
than the leader and occupies the 2nd horizontal.
At the men’s tournament, the Armenian “Bank King” played a drawn game
at the 5th stage with the RF “Tomsk – 400” and shares with 8 points
the 3rd-9th places.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 13 2006
Vartan Oskanian comments on the adoption of the bill on Genocide
negation in the French Parliament
13.10.2006 10:38
Commenting on the French National Assembly vote of October 12, 2006,
RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said, `Today’s approval of the
bill by the French National Assembly is a natural continuation of
France’s principled and consistent defense of human and historic
rights and values.
This decision is also a natural reaction to the intensive, aggressive
and official denialism of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish state.
They have undertaken a premeditated, planned assault on the truth.
To adopt such a decision is the French Parliament’s sovereign right
and is understandable. What we don’t understand is the Turkish
government’s instigation of extremist public reactions, especially
while Turkey itself has a law that does exactly the same thing and
punishes those who even use the term genocide or venture to discuss
those events.’
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday
Turkish press in half-hearted celebration of Pamuk’s Nobel award
Turkish newspapers were torn Friday between joy at the country’s
first Nobel prize and doubts whether the literature laureate,
novelist Orhan Pamuk, was rewarded for his writing or his political
dissidence that has often embarassed Turkey.
“He is our pride,” trumpeted the liberal daily Radikal on its
front-page, while the mass-selling Milliyet said: “The world honors
Orhan Pamuk.”
Next to the festive headlines were furious banners denouncing a
French bill that would make it a crime to deny Turks committed
genocide against Armenians during World War I.
The draft was voted by the French national assembly Thursday shortly
before Pamuk was named winner of the Nobel prize for literature in
Stockholm.
The massacres, which Ankara denies were genocide, earned Pamuk, 54,
the reputation of a “traitor” among Turkish nationalists and landed
him in court after he questioned in a magazine interview the official
line on this most controversial episode in Turkish history.
“Orhan Pamuk wins the Nobel prize — for what he said or what he
wrote?” the popular Vatan asked, saying his achievement brought
“bittersweet joy” to Turks.
“Undoubtedly, the award is a source of pride for the whole nation…
but the stunts Pamuk performed to win it are not forgotten,” an
editorial in the best-selling Hurriyet newspaper said.
“Unfortunately, Pamuk abided by the rule of the Western world that in
order to win a literary prize, you should go against your country
whether you are right or wrong,” it added.
But many commentators played down the doubts.
“Some people draw the following picture: those who say it was not
genocide go to jail and those who say it was win the Nobel… It is
not that easy,” one columnist wrote in Vatan.
“These heated debates, these stale jokes will soon pass,” he said.
“And what will be taught in schools in 10 years’ time will be that
Orhan Pamuk was the first, and perhaps only, Turkish writer to win
the Nobel Literature Prize.”
The case aghainst Pamuk, in which he risked up to three years in
jail, was dropped on a technicality in January after only one hearing
marred by far-right demonstrators attacking and booing the author.
He first drew the ire of the state in the mid-1990s when he denounced
the treatment of the Kurdish minority as the army waged a
heavy-handed campaign to supress a bloody separatist insurgency in
the southeast.
The state extended an olive branch in 1998, offering him the accolade
of “State Artist,” but Pamuk declined.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday
Nobel prize boosts demand for Pamuk’s books
Orhan Pamuk’s publishers in Turkey said Friday they were receiving a
flood of orders for his books after the 54-year-old dissident author
won the 2006 Nobel Literature Prize.
“In the four hours between the announcement of the Swedish academy
and the end of office hours Thursday, we sent out 6,000 of Pamuk’s
books from our warehouse,” Bahar Siber, an editor at Iletisim
Publishing, told AFP.
Iletisim publishes nine of the 10 books Pamuk has written so far,
including his first novel “Cevdet Bey and His Sons”, and “The Silent
House”, “The White Castle” and “The Black Book”, all of which have
won him awards at home or abroad.
“We have been receiving a lot of orders, mainly from Istanbul and
other major cities, but also quite a few from other parts of the
country,” Siber said, adding that the company’s printing house was
working non-stop to meet the demand.
Yapi Kredi Publishing, which publishes Pamuk’s newest novel
“Istanbul”, said they had also started re-printing the book on
Friday.
“We are getting a lot of orders from major bookstores which appear to
be a measure against failing to satisfy possible customer demand,”
Onur Cici, the head of the sales and marketing department, told AFP.
Pamuk became the first Turkish laureate of the Nobel Literature Prize
Thursday when the Swedish academy chose to honour him for a body of
work that probes the crossroads of Muslim and Western cultures.
He is Turkey’s best-known author at home and abraod but also a
political dissident who has often clashed with the establishment on
sensitive issues such as Ankara’s treatment of its Kurdish community
and the World War I massacres of the Armenians.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanARMENIAN.Net
France: Vandals Profaned Armenian Genocide Monument
14.10.2006 15:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Two days after the vote of the
French Parliament adopting the text of the bill
penalizing the Armenian Genocide, the memorial set up
in the town of Chaville, close to Versailles, was
deteriorated in the night from the 13 to October 14.
In fact, two plates engraved in bronze, dedicated to
the victims of the Armenian Genocide were torn off
from the base, forming a case in the background of the
work of art. The police undertook an investigation
immediately, independent French journalists Jean
Ackian told PanARMENIAN.Net. The monument itself
consists of a tangle of the letters of the Armenian
alphabet, which form a cross in the center.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE)

Oct 13 2006

More co-operation needed to avoid fires in Nagorno-Karabakh region,
OSCE-led expert mission finds

YEREVAN, 13 October 2006 – An OSCE-led team of international and
local experts today called for more co-operation to prevent and
manage fires in and around Nagorno-Karabakh following the end of a
10-day mission to assess the environmental impact of fires in the
region.
“The fires have covered extensive areas and inflicted significant
damage,” said Bernard Snoy, Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and
Environmental Activities, who headed the Environmental Assessment
Mission.
“The authorities have used all available means to counteract the
fires; in the future, capacities will need to be strengthened to
prevent and handle fires, through co-operation in a regional and
international framework.”
The mission examined and assessed fire-affected areas and met with
officials on both sides of the Line of Contact. It is preparing a
report that will include recommendations towards an environmental
operation and other confidence-building measures as envisaged in a
resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on 7 September 2006.
The mission’s report will be submitted to the OSCE Chairman-in-Office
in November. The UN General Assembly Resolution requested the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office to provide a report to the member states of the UN
General Assembly by 30 April 2007.
The mission included experts from the Global Fire Monitoring Center,
the United Nations Environment Programme, the European Commission,
the Council of the European Union and the Council of Europe as well
as local experts. Also participating were officials from the Office
of the Personal Representative of the Chairman-in-Office on the
Conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference.
The mission was supported by a contribution of the Environment and
Security (ENVSEC) Initiative. Armenia and Azerbaijan provided in-kind
contributions.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri Press Agency
Oct 13 2006
Azerbaijan Parliament objected to France Parliament’s unfair decision.
[ 13 Oct. 2006 19:31 ]
Azerbaijan Parliament issued statement on France Parliament’s unfair
decision, APA reports. The statement reads that Armenian lobby is
ready to harm state interests of France.
`This decision violates democratic principles, human rights,
especially freedom of thinking and speaking. It shows once again that
there are dual standards in the world. This is the wrong policy of
France and causes new problems in South Caucasus. France National
Assembly believe Armenians’ fictions about the events happened in the
beginning of the 20th century, but turn the blind eye to Azerbaijani
genocide by Armenians. This decision makes it difficult to maintain
the peace in the region. Azerbaijan Parliament objects to France
National Assembly decision and expects the Senate to take measures to
prevent the adoption of unfair law.’ /APA/

The Guardian, UK
Oct 13 2006
Pamuk’s Nobel divides Turkey
Nicholas Birch
Friday October 13, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Twenty-four hours after Orhan Pamuk became the first ever Turkish
writer to win the Nobel prize, reactions in Turkey are strangely
mixed.
His fellow artists have been overwhelmingly positive. Yasar Kemal,
doyen of Turkish novelists and often tipped for the Nobel himself,
emailed Pamuk to congratulate him for an award that he “thoroughly
deserved”, while the winner of the 2003 Grand Jury prize at Cannes,
Nuri Bilge Ceylan declared he was as happy as if he’d won it himself.
Others picked up on Pamuk’s suggestion that his award was above all a
victory for all Turkish writers. “It’s a great opportunity for Turkey
and Turkish literature to be better known by the world,” said the
bestselling crime writer Ahmet Umit.
Generosity has been in much shorter supply in Turkey’s mainstream
media. “Should we be pleased or sad?” asked Fatih Altayli, editor of
the mass circulation daily Sabah, in his Friday column.
Unlike the fork-tongued contributions of other equally prominent
journalists, what he wrote next at least had the merit of being
straightforward.
The best reaction to Pamuk’s victory was pride, he opined. And yet
“we can’t quite see Pamuk as ‘one of us’… We see him as someone who
‘sells us out’ and … can’t even stand behind what he says.”
Turkey’s most influential paper, Hurriyet, also felt the same impulse
to question Pamuk’s Turkishness.
Editor Ertugrul Ozkok wrote at length in his column about the
difficulty of choosing the seemingly banal headline “Nobel to a
Turk,” declaring “we all know this headline will probably satisfy
nobody’s ‘Turkish side’.”
While some have seen Pamuk as something of an outsider since the
publication in 2002 of Snow – his most overtly political novel – such
ill-disguised bile has surrounded him ever since he told a Swiss
newspaper last year that nobody but him dared to say that Turkey had
killed 30,000 Kurds and a million Armenians. Within hours, he became
Turkey’s enemy number one.
Lawyers hauled him into court on charges of “insulting Turkishness” –
charges dropped amid ugly scenes earlier this year after
international pressure – and one provincial official issued orders
for copies of his books to be collected and burnt. Not one was found.
Pamuk’s sin wasn’t just to break a taboo. By talking about such
delicate topics with foreigners, he opened himself to accusations of
treason and political opportunism. Many Turks remain convinced his
remarks were a calculated attempt to win the status of political
dissident.
The cartoon on the front of today’s Sabah shows the novelist in front
of shelves emblazoned “works that won Orhan Pamuk the Nobel”.
On the upper shelf, his seven novels. On the lower, a grey tome with
“Turkish Penal Code Article 301” – the article used to bring him to
trial last December – inscribed on its spine.
Some see the criticisms as simple jealousy on the part of a
parochial-minded intelligentsia. Others present them as just the
latest evidence of how much damage the authoritarian coup of 1980 did
to Turkish society.
But the debate is also typical of the country’s elite: determined to
be taken seriously on the international stage, but only on its own
terms.
“It’s tragic really”, said Elif Shafak, another novelist brought to
book under Article 301 last month. “This is a huge honour both for
Pamuk and the country, and yet so many people are so politicised they
forget about literature entirely.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Oct 14 2006
France no longer home of freedom: Gul
The Turkish Foreign Minister said that the vote of the French
parliament was shameful.
NTV-MSNBC
Güncelleme: 17:05 TSÝ 13 Ekim 2006 CumaANKARA – France will have to
live with the consequences of the French parliament’s decision to
approve a bill making it a criminal offence to deny allegations that
Armenians were massacred by the Ottoman Empire, Turkey’s Foreign
Minister said late Thursday.

Speaking at a joint press conference with visiting Afghani Foreign
Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta in Ankara, Foreign Minister Abdullah
Gul said that France could no longer describe itself as the home of
freedoms. `France will live with this shame,’ Gul said. `I hope that
France will take a backward step from this dead end.’ Turkey will
take every step necessary to counter the impression created by the
passing of the legislation, he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Oct 14 2006
Turkey slams passing of French genocide denial bill
The Armenian Patriarch warned that the new law will strengthen the
hands of far right nationalists in both France and Turkey.
NTV-MSNBC
Güncelleme: 17:05 TSÝ 13 Ekim 2006 CumaANKARA / ISTANBUL – The
passing of controversial legislation by the French parliament
outlawing the denial of allegations that the Ottoman Empire massacred
Armenians during the First World War has sparked an outpouring of
criticism across Turkey. The bill, approved by the lower house of the
French parliament on Thursday, foresees fines of 45,000 euros and up
to one year behind bars for those found guilty of denying the so
called genocide.

Deniz Baykal, chairman of the opposition Republican People’s Party
(CHP), said it was impossible to mortgage history by making such
decisions. `This decision aims at preventing talks over historical
facts,’ he said. Mehmet Agar, the leader of the opposition True Path
Party (DYP), said that the decision was a violation of democracy,
human rights and freedom of expression. `It will lead to
irrecoverable damage in the bilateral relations between Turkey and
France,’ Agar said.
Another to criticise the decision of the French parliament was Mesrob
II, the Armenian Patriarch in Turkey, who said that the new
legislation will strengthen the hands of not only Turkish but also
Armenian extreme nationalist and racist groups. `The French, who have
put several obstacles before Turkey on its road to the EU, have given
a major blow to the very limited dialogue between Turkey and
Armenia,’ he said. `I think that this resolution, adopted by the
French parliament, is anti-democratic because it limits personal
freedom of expression.’
Turkey’s leading business lobby group, the Turkish Industrialists’
and Businessmen’s Association (TUSIAD), said that the vote of the
French parliament was a great mistake and was contrary to the
European Union’s philosophy and its standards of democracy. In a
statement issued late Thursday TUSIAD said that France had mortgaged
its foreign policy in order to gain the votes of the Armenians in
France. French politicians didn’t have the required authority and
expertise to make a judgement on the issue, the statement said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress