Author: Emil Lazarian

Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
Oct 14 2006
EUROPE’S PATRONIZING ATTITUDE TOWARD TURKS CAN PUSH ANKARA CLOSER TO MOSCOW
By Igor Torbakov
Friday, October 13, 2006
Turkey’s prospects of becoming a full-blown member of the European
Union are again seriously endangered — this time by a fierce row
with France over the `Armenian genocide’ bill. According to analysts,
the West’s continuous snubbing of the Turks could result in Ankara’s
moving strategically closer to Moscow.
On October 12, France’s National Assembly approved a bill making it a
crime to deny that the mass slaughter of Armenians in the final years
of the Ottoman Empire was genocide. The Socialist-backed legislation,
which gained support from right-wing assembly members, stipulates
that anyone denying that genocide took place will be jailed for up to
five years. (France recognized the killings of Armenians as genocide
in 2001, but that bill did not provide for any criminal penalties for
denying genocide.)
The Turkish government adamantly denies any accusations of genocide,
insisting that hundreds of thousands of Turks and Armenians died in
civil strife that was merely a part of the larger World War I
conflict.
The French vote caused a wave of indignation in Turkey with thousands
of protesters marching in Istanbul and the country’s parliamentary
speaker calling the vote a `shameful decision.’ There have been calls
across the country to retaliate by starting a boycott of French
goods.
Although both the French Foreign Ministry and the European Commission
distanced themselves from the bill and called it `unhelpful,’ most
Turks believe they are purposefully discriminated against by the
Europeans, who do not want to see Turkey in the EU and thus put
ever-new hurdles on Ankara’s European path. The French vote came two
weeks after the European Parliament issued a report calling on Turkey
to acknowledge the Armenian killings as `genocide.’ Last week, French
President Jacques Chirac suggested, while visiting Yerevan, that
recognition of `genocide’ against the Armenians should be a
precondition of EU entry. And the leading French presidential
hopeful, Nicolas Sarkozy, a long-time opponent of Turkish entry into
Europe, raised the stakes further by saying that even if Ankara
admitted genocide, that change should not guarantee it EU entry.
The mishandling of the `Turkish question’ could prove too costly for
Europe’s strategic interests, a number of the Western and Turkish
analysts warn.
First, the rebuffs of Ankara’s European ambitions undermine support
for the pro-EU forces in Turkey’s domestic politics, as a growing
number of the country’s policymakers and experts begin to doubt
Europe’s intention to negotiate Turkey’s accession seriously. Some
Turkish observers note that with the growing frictions between the
West and the Muslim world, the Turkish political discourse has come
to be dominated by Islamic considerations. As a result, more Turks
tend to view their country and the world around it exclusively
through a religious prism — a trend that leads to the perceived
dichotomy between Turkey and the West. According to recent opinion
polls, almost half of the Turks think that Turkey does not belong in
the EU because it is predominantly Muslim. At the same time, an
increasing number of Turks appear to feel stronger affinity with
other Muslim peoples in the Middle East — a development that results
in public demands to establish closer ties with neighboring countries
such as Syria and Iran. The rise of the ruling Islamist-leaning
Justice and Development Party, which rests on resurgent Islam, and
the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which is severely condemned by the Turkish
public, `created strong feelings of solidarity between Turkey and its
Muslim neighbors,’ a recent policy paper suggests.
Second, Europe cannot take Ankara’s loyalty for granted because
Turkey has strategic alternatives. One such alternative, notes Denis
MacShane, Britain’s former Europe minister, in a Financial Times
commentary, is that `it can create a Black Sea alliance with Vladimir
Putin’s increasingly authoritarian Russia.’
Many Turkish analysts consider the Kremlin’s more assertive policy in
the Middle East as a positive development rather than as a potential
threat. Ankara sees Moscow, which seeks to take a more independent
line in the region and is keen to dispel the image of being
Washington’s junior partner, as a useful counterbalance to what the
Turks perceive as dangerously destabilizing U.S. policies. Both
Russian and Turkish experts note the affinity of Ankara’s and
Moscow’s positions regarding Middle East issues. `In the final
analysis, Turkey’s views are different from the West and closer to
Russia,’ one influential Turkish analyst argues.
Similarly, both Ankara and Moscow share a pronounced bias in favor of
preserving the status quo in the Black Sea and Caucasus region. The
U.S. and EU policies of `spreading democracy’ make both Turkey and
Russia jittery. Their outlooks on the West’s democratic proselytizing
are almost identical: reform and change should come as a result of
the countries’ internal dynamics; no external influence should be
allowed.
(Turkish Daily News, New Anatolian, October 13; RFE/RL, October 12;
Financial Times, October 11)
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TREND Info, Azerbaijan
Oct 13 2006
Presidential Administration`s Department`s Chief: Steps Taken by
France`s Parliament May Have an Influence on International Relations

Source: Trend
Author: A. Ismayilova

13.10.2006

Such a country like France, where democratic and human rights
principles are highly developed, should be very careful in discussing
such a sensitive issue, Novruz Mammadov, Chief of External Affairs
Department of the Azerbaijan President`s Office exclusively told
Trend today commenting the law envisaging a punishment for a denial
of the Armenian Genocide, which was adopted by the French National
Assembly yesterday.
Mr. Mammadov thinks that such actions may have a negative influence
on international relations. He is sorry that a group of MPs of the
French National Assembly have been caught by an effect of the
inventory `Armenian Genocide’, had not counted its steps.
Mr. Mammadov is sure that adopting of such a law is contrary to
principles of the freedom of person existing in France. `Just imagine
that in the country with the population of 60 m., all the citizens
will suddenly be punished for expressing their opinions relating the
events happened 100 years ago. How you can explain it?’ , he told.
The Head of the Presidential Administration’s External Affairs
Department told that first of all it is necessary to find out the
exact opinion relating these events, study archives, and only then
express their position. `At present, the advantage of political
factor is evident. And the Armenian influence on these processes is
direct’, he told.
`The French Parliament has already acknowledged the Armenian
Genocide. Why should they have raised this issue again? Politicians
cannot give an exact estimation to historic events. Moreover, some
French figures, specialists, and international historians have many
times stated that this issue was invented, and given the adequate
sources’. Taking the decision when the clarity has not moved for all
that may trigger negative tendencies in international relations, as
well as affect the constructivity of the current negotiations on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement. Soon they will realize that the
step they took was wrong’, he thinks.
He also considers that amid the happening, France, as a Co-Chair of
OSCE Minsk Group will have to do its best in order that its neutral
position and sincerity was out of the question.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Hurriyet, Turkey
Oct 13 2006
Pamuk: This Nobel goes to all of Turkey, the Turks, and Turkish
language
Friday , 13 October 2006
Speaking at a press conference in New York City yesterday, where he
is currently a visiting professor at Columbia University, Orhan Pamuk
told reporters that the Nobel Prize for Literature was not only given
to him, but to all of Turkey, Turkish culture, and the language of
Turkish. Said Pamuk, “Today I would just like to celebrate this good
news. There is nothing else I wish to talk about or comment on.”
Pamuk said that he had learned in the morning of the news via a phone
call from the Swedish Academy. He explained “The head of the Swedish
Royal Academy called me and asked whether I would accept the prize. I
said I would.”
Pamuk told reporters that he hoped the awarding of the Nobel to his
work would raise the profile of Turkish literature and culture in the
world at large, adding “I think that this award will cause the world
to re-examine Turkish culture as a culture of peace, and as a mixture
of East and West cultures. My books are proof that in fact Turkey is
a part of both the East and the West.”
Pamuk declined to answer any questions on Turkey’s controversial
penal code, nor on his previous statements regarding the Armenian
genocide and cultural clashes.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Open Democracy, UK
Oct 13 2006
Orhan Pamuk’s prize: for Turkey not against it
Anthony Barnett
13 – 10 – 2006
Orhan Pamuk forges a literature for the world from the intimacies of
his Istanbul, and in so doing gives Turkey’s experience universal
stature, says Anthony Barnett.

Orhan Pamuk gets the Nobel prize for literature. Most commentators
will take their cue from the politics of the award, Pamuk being among
the first writers to be put on trial for mentioning the Armenian
massacres of 1915. Others will discuss his novels. I’d like to
reflect on his compelling memoir Istanbul and how it illuminates his
distinction.
It presents itself as an early biographical reflection. It opens with
his strange sense of himself created by deeply feuding parents and
takes the reader through to the loss of his first love and his turn
from painting to writing – all woven through a careful mapping of his
fascination with his native city.
But Istanbul is also a justification for Pamuk’s profound decision to
become a writer who writes in the same family building in which he
grew up.
Ours is the age of migration. To stay or to leave is the question
that dominates adolescence. Often it expands to a choice of country –
or more often the dream of that choice. The pain, necessities and
consequences of migration have become one of the great themes of the
literature of our time. Never more explicitly than in The Satanic
Verses.
Alas, that novel is not famous for its commanding theme and Salman
Rushdie’s insistence on its long history. Should we back Lucretius or
Ovid, he has his characters ask. Do you break from yourself by
leaving the boundaries of your birth, or is moving a vital act of
freedom that leads to the discovery of who you are? To stay, or to
go, and what then happens?

Salman celebrates movement. Without the death of the old how can the
new be born, is his theme. His laureate doubtless awaits the time
when the old ceases to take mass offence at such apostasy.
Orhan Pamuk stayed. But what a way to remain! He reclaims one of the
world’s great cities for itself. His memoir is not an indulgence. It
records the loss of “old Istanbul” with just the right amount of
sentiment. At the same time it replaces its definition, taking it
from the hands of 19th-century literary travellers.
In a neat passage laced with subdued patriotism for Turkish women,
Pamuk gently turns the tables on Edward Said. In his pathbreaking
study Orientalism, Said makes much of Gustave Flaubert and notes
Flaubert’s description of an Egyptian doctor in Cairo ordering his
patients to show off their cases of syphilis to the visiting French
writer. It is presented as a vivid literary moment in the
19th-century projection of the orient as a combination of beastly
revulsion and sexual allure waiting to be “known” by the western
mind.
What a pity, Pamuk writes, that Said did not continue the story to
Istanbul where Flaubert, himself now suffering the genital
disfigurement of syphilis, manages to get into bed with the reluctant
young daughter of a brothel-owner who then, in Italian, demands that
he uncovers himself first so she can make sure he is not contagious.
Faced with humiliation, Flaubert wrote: “I acted the Monsieur and
jumped down from the bed, saying loudly that she was insulting me”.
She demanded to see him. She did not have the intellectual authority,
the network of interests or the external power to “define” Flaubert,
who ran away rather than expose himself before Turkish eyes. But the
story tells a lot about what Pamuk is doing with his own learning and
fluency. He reassesses the western painters and writers who “told the
world” about Ottoman Istanbul. He surpasses the Turkish westernisers
who were in thrall to them. Pamuk speaks with a world voice, not a
local or Istanbul one. Neither unduly modest nor overly boastful, he
says “we live here”.
To do this he makes much of hüzün, a word broadly translated as
melancholia. For Pamuk this state of feeling, between anguish and
resignation, inhabits the city and its inhabitants, including
himself. He suggests that its origins go back to the decline of the
Ottoman empire followed by its brutal replacement by a Turkey which
in the name of nation-building moved the capital to Ankara, depriving
the ancient heart of empire of its ruling functions.
The Turks I know do indeed share an exceptional, I can only say
civilised, sense of hüzün. Yet I have always found it strange,
because Istanbul fills me with energy and as I got to know it, a
feeling that Europe has a New York, a city of hope.
Orhan Pamuk’s achievement is considerably more than writing some
bestsellers followed by an interview about the massacres of the
Armenians. His Nobel prize is bound to be patronised as further
evidence of the need for solidarity with Turkey’s human-rights
movement, and thus as a sign of Turkish backwardness and its
problems, as if he were a Shirin Ebadi in Iran up against an
overwhelmingly fundamentalist regime.
In fact, he deserves to take the same pedestal as Toni Morrison. Her
government in Washington is undoubtedly parochial and in the hands of
nationalist zealots if not fundamentalists. But her achievement is
not defined by the obvious quality of her opposition to them. She
brought the black experience in America to universal stature. Pamuk
has helped make Turkey a world country, despite the hüzün-inducing
fleabites of rightwing jurists and nationalists. Oh yes, and Europe
should be proud.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Regnum, Russia
Oct 13 2006
Expert: Ankara’s next step will be charging the US with the genocide
of Indians in North America
As you may know, after the visit of French President Jacques Chirac
to Armenia and his statement during a press-conference in Yerevan
that the French Parliament was drafting a bill on criminal
responsibility for denying the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923, they
in Turkey and Azerbaijan have launched a large-scale anti-French
campaign. Expert of the Caucasus analytical center Sergey Shakaryants
comments on the matter.
He says that the situation when Turkish politicians are charging
France with `genocide in Algeria’ is more like the childish `You are
fool yourself!’ style than an attitude of conscious political or
public figures to a serious problem. `Instead of recognizing or
producing real facts and documents to disprove the Armenian Genocide
perpetrated in Western Armenia and other parts of the former Ottoman
Empire, the Turks are trying to charge with genocide the countries
who have taken steps to recognize and condemn the crime committed by
Turkish chauvinists. In such a case, the Turks will have no end of
work to do – for example, their next step may be charging with a
genocide of North American Indians almost all the US states whose
national assemblies have passed resolutions recognizing and
condemning the Armenian Genocide.’
`True, Turkey will hardly dare to be as blackmailing to even one US
state as it is now to France. Old Continent is a different story –
they are burdened with the necessity of negotiating EU membership
with Ankara and are absolutely at a loss what to do with the problem
of yearly swelling Muslim and Turkish gastarbeiter communities in
almost all European states,’ says Shakaryants.
He believes that Azerbaijan’s solidarity with Turkey in the matter
comes more from self-interest than barely from commitment to the
recent Azeri-Turkish agreements on mutual support in `fighting the
Armenian lobby’ worldwide. `This can be seen in the recent behavior
of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov, who have begun to actively argue for the deployment of
some `international peacekeepers’ in the Karabakh-Azerbaijani
conflict zone. Their point is that, since the OSCE MG states have,
allegedly, no right to provide their military contingents for such
`peacekeeping,’ they, in tandem with Ankara, will succeed in `pushing
through’ the scenario of Turkish peacekeeping presence, like was the
case in Lebanon,’ says Shakaryants.
`However, the attempts of Turkey and Azerbaijan to blackmail the
international community and Armenia with NKR are a priori doomed to
failure. It was not without purpose that Turkey was debarred from any
active part in the OSCE MG – Yerevan and Stepanakert are unanimous
that Turkey, who, de facto, took part in the war (to remind, any form
of blockade by any country, in fact, even by the UN, is considered to
be a form of waging or partaking a war) had and has absolutely no
right to take part in the affairs of the South Caucasus, not
mentioning the Karabakh peace process. The Armenian Genocide issue
will always be `a sword of Damocles’ for Ankara if it actually wants
to join United Europe – at least, because there are still many
descendants of Armenian Genocide victims living in many European
countries,’ says Shakaryants.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Oct 13 2006
Azeri Parliament to Make Second Protest Letter to French Government

Source: Trend
Author: J.Shahverdiyev

13.10.2006

The Chairman of the Milli Majlis [Azerbaijani Parliament] condemned
the draft law envisaging punishment for the denial of the so-called
Armenian Genocide adopted on 12 October 2006. The speaker made the
statement at a plenary sitting of parliament on 13 October, Trend
reports.
Asadov noted that the adoption of the draft law contradicts democracy
and human rights. He underlined the role of Armenians residing in
France in the approval of the Bill.
The Parliament made a resolution to establish a commission under the
chairmanship of Vice Speaker Bahar Muradova to develop the second
written appeal to the French parliament on behalf of Milli Majlis.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Focus News, Bulgaria
Oct 13 2006
Bulgarian PM: Chirac and I Haven’t Discussed France’s Bill on
Armenian Genocide

13 October 2006 | 13:42 | FOCUS News Agency

Paris. `French President Jacques Chirac and I haven’t discussed the
French bill on the Armenian genocide’, Bulgarian Prime Minister
Sergey Stanishev said answering a question of AP Stanishev was
received today by the French President at his Elysees Palace. `The
issue is nether related to the French-Bulgarian relations, nor to the
common European politics. It’s an issue related to the Frech-Turkish
relations’, said the Bulgarian Prime Minister, who is on a official
visit to France.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanARMENIAN.Net
Baku Police Dispersed Picket at French Embassy in
Azerbaijan
13.10.2006 16:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On Friday the United National Front
Party of Azerbaijan tried to hold a picket at the
French Embassy in Baku. A group of 15 party activists
were pushed from the building. Two party members were
detained. Despite the pressure the activists read a
resolution calling on the `Azeri population to boycott
French products, on Milli Mejlis recognize the
genocide of 30 thousand Algerians committed by France
in 1954-1961 and refuse from the French mediation
within the OSCE MG.’ The resolution also calls on the
Azeri government to break all the economic ties with
France, reports Day.az
Baku’s discontent was aroused by the bill adopted by
the French parliament yesterday. The bill provides for
a 45 000 euros fine and a year in prison for the
denial of the Armenian Genocide.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanARMENIAN.Net
Adoption of Armenian Genocide Bill in France – Correct
Step by Good Friend
13.10.2006 16:33 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The bill penalizing the denial of
the Armenian Genocide in France is of great importance
for Armenia, since our two states enjoy very warm
relations, RA NA ex-Speaker Artur Baghdassarian said.
`We always stand for the development of the
French-Armenian relations and think it’s a correct
step made by a good friend,’ he said. At that Artur
Baghdassarian added he is not surprised at Turkey’s
reaction. `We should not forget that besides France
many other states have condemned the Armenian
Genocide. If we do not condemn genocides we will have
to face this evil in future. We should recognize what
happened in the past in order to prevent its
repetition tomorrow,’ he said, reports Golos Rossii.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Siberian News Online, Russia
Oct 13 2006
“Days of Armenia in Siberia” finished in Krasnoyarsk 10/13/2006
6:36:45 PM
“Days of Armenia in Siberia” were closed in Krasnoyarsk in
International Exhibition Business Center “Siberia” officially on
October, 13. Yerevan Champagne Plant, Gent Group (facing ceramics),
Vedi Alko Ltd (vintage wine) and Lamag Ltd (decorative goods) were
awarded with medals of Krasexpocenter Ltd.
It is worth reminding that Armenian and Krasnoyarsk businessmen had
meetings as part of “Days of Armenia in Siberia”, participated in a
panel discussion with members of Central Siberian Commerce and
Industrial Chamber, The Union of Industrialists and Businessmen of
Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Union of Commodity Manufacturers and
Consumers. Famous Armenian singers and musicians gave two concerts,
one in IEBS Siberia, the second one – in the Big Concert Hall of the
philharmonic society.
Visitors were also able to see an exhibition of Armenian food and
industrial goods. The expositions showed decorative goods, national
souvenirs made of stone and ceramics, shoes, textile, equipment, a
wide range of beverages, including alcohol.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress