Author: Emil Lazarian

Spain Withdraws Alleged Armenian Genocide Draft
By Anadolu News Agency (aa), Madrid
Zaman Online
09.21.2006 Thursday – ISTANBUL 09:32
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
zaman.com
It has been reported that a proposal on the alleged Armenian genocide
submitted to the Spanish parliament by two deputies from the extreme
nationalist Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) Party was withdrawn
following efforts made by the Turkish Madrid Embassy to prevent
its adoption.
The draft proposal, submitted to the Spanish parliament’s foreign
affairs commission in June by Rosa M. Bonas and Joan Puigcercosi from
the ERC, was withdrawn without parliamentary discussion.
Following its submission, Turkey’s ambassador to Madrid, Volkan Vural,
communicated with authorities from the Spanish foreign ministry and
parliament, and sent letters to the MPs who put forward the proposal
as well as to Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Commission, Josep Duran
Lleida, in an effort to prevent its adoption.
Ambassador Vural stressed in the letters that the adoption of the
proposal would be harmful to the bilateral relations between Turkey
and Spain.
Ambassador Vural lastly met with Catalan Deputy Maria Bonas and
convinced her to withdraw the proposal.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkey Puts Novelist Shafak on Trial, Risking Breach With EU
By Ayla Jean Yackley
Bloomberg
Last Updated: September 20, 2006 19:29 EDT
Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) — Turkey will put novelist Elif Shafak on trial
today on charges she denigrated the national identity, in a case that
may trigger a showdown with the European Union over the government’s
failure to permit freedom of speech.
Shafak, 34, faces up to three years in prison if the Istanbul court
rules she “insulted Turkishness” in her best- selling novel, “The
Bastard of Istanbul.”
The charges, under Article 301 of the country’s penal code, stem from
a passage in which one character, an ethnic Armenian, says “Turkish
butchers” massacred his ancestors in a 1915 “genocide.”
The EU has repeatedly told Turkey that prosecuting writers for
expressing ideas isn’t acceptable and said the country’s year-old
membership talks may break down if Turkey fails to improve human
rights. Shafak’s case may show the European Commission, which is
drafting a report on Turkey’s progress toward membership, whether
those warnings are being heeded.
“The commission is following this case, and we’ll report on the
issue of freedom of expression” in an assessment due Nov. 8, said
Krisztina Nagy, a commission spokeswoman, in a telephone interview
today. Turkey must “amend Article 301 and other vaguely formulated
articles in order to guarantee expression,” she said. The commission
is the EU’s executive branch.
A setback to membership talks with Turkey, which hopes to become the
EU’s first Muslim member, may inflame tensions between Europe and
the Islamic world, and hurt efforts by Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan to anchor Turkey in the West and lure investment to
its $360 billion economy.
`Isolated Entity’
“My case and others like it are an attempt to stop the EU process
by forces that want Turkey to remain an enclosed, isolated entity,”
Shafak said on Sept. 5 at a press briefing. “Anti-Islamic elements
in Europe also feed off of it.”
Turkey, a country of 72 million people, has ignored the latest EU
calls for legal changes to defend free expression. The issue wasn’t
addressed in a package of EU-inspired reforms currently under debate
at an emergency session of Parliament, which cut short its summer
recess to pass the laws before the EU’s progress report comes out.
“It’s very regrettable the government has chosen not to revise or
abolish Article 301 at this time and a worrying sign it’s not committed
to the reform process,” said Emma Sinclair- Webb, a researcher on
Turkey at Amnesty International in London.
The case against Shafak, the author of seven novels and an assistant
professor at the University of Arizona, “is in the realm of thought
crimes,” Sinclair-Webb said. More than 40 writers, journalists,
publishers, academics and others have been prosecuted under Article
301, introduced in May 2005 and designed to meet EU standards, said
BiaNet, a press-advocacy group.
“The penetration of the domain of art and literature is the dimension
that worries me most,” Shafak said.
“It’s peculiar to bring a novel into court, that a fictional character
is in the dock.”
Armenians
Like Shafak, Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s best-known novelist whose books
have been translated into 34 languages, and Hrant Dink, an ethnic
Armenian journalist, have been prosecuted for their statements on
the massacre of Armenians during World War I. Pamuk was acquitted on
technical grounds in January, while Dink was convicted and given a
suspended six-month jail sentence in May.
Armenia says 1.5 million people were killed in a genocide by Ottoman
Turks beginning in 1915. The Turkish Republic, established in 1923
after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, says the killings were the
result of internecine fighting and not part of a centrally planned
campaign.
The government considers allegations of genocide acts of treason. So
does Kemal Kerincsiz, the head of a nationalist lawyers’ group that
filed the initial complaint against Shafak, as well as Pamuk and Dink.
“We believe it’s our responsibility to bring Elif Shafak and others
who curse our national values to justice,” said Kerincsiz in a
telephone interview.
“We would be very pleased if this meant the EU didn’t take us.”
Others say Erdogan’s government, which has achieved more progress
toward meeting EU standards than any of its predecessors, doesn’t
understand how crucial unfettered discourse is for the EU.
“Freedom of speech is the government’s blind spot,” said Haluk Sahin,
a professor at Bilgi University and a Radikal newspaper writer in
Istanbul, in an interview. Sahin was acquitted in April of charges
brought under Article 301.
“It does not appreciate the seriousness of prosecuting people for
these so-called crimes in the democratic world and how damaging it
is to our EU prospects,” Sahin said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ayla Jean Yackley in Istanbul
at on [email protected]
Last Updated: September 20, 2006 19:29 EDT
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Bedford storytelling festival sure to provide some tall tales
By Kathleen Cordeiro/ Staff Writer
Westford Eagle, MA
Thursday, September 21, 2006
“Three apples fell from heaven:
One for the teller of the tale;
One for the listener;
And one for all the people of the world.”
-Traditional Armenian ending for stories
If the traditional Armenian ending for stories is true, the heavens
above Bedford will break open next weekend, when the Three Apples
Storytelling Festival brings together storytellers from around the
state and across the country in a weekend of masterful performances,
amateur story swaps and traveling tales.
Now in its 22nd year, the festival demonstrates that storytelling is
for children, octogenarians and everyone in between. And while Three
Apples (Sept.
30-Oct. 1) has adults-only events ranging from evening performances
to classes with the masters, the best memories may be made in the
family-friendly performances that take place throughout the day on
Saturday, or from the vantage point of a blanket at the free events
on Bedford’s Town Common.
The storytellers have been selected for the breadth and balance they
will bring to the event, according to Susan Harris, treasurer of the
Three Apples Storytelling Festival. The three featured performers
are a case in point. Jay O’Callahan – one of the founding members
of Three Apples – has been a storyteller for 25 years. His stories
range from his growing up years in Boston, to the dramas of World
War II to species extinction. O’Callahan has discovered stories as
well as told them as he travels around the world to perform.
“The storyteller of old got on a horse,” he said.
“I get on a plane, parachute into a community and I’m part of its
life for a while before moving on to the next one.”
O’Callahan will host a family concert on Saturday afternoon and will
open the festival on Saturday morning with fellow featured performer
Elizabeth Ellis.
Ellis is a renowned teller of Appalachian and Texas tales and stories
of heroic American women. She grew up in the Appalachian Mountains
and learned to tell stories from her grandfather, a circuit-riding
minister. Although Ellis has been a featured performer at storytelling
festivals around the world, this will be her first appearance at the
Three Apples. In addition to opening the weekend, she will perform
for school-age children.
Rounding out the trio of featured performers is Antonio Rocha, who has
studied mime with masters Marcel Marceau and Tony Montanaro. His tales
take listeners on a journey to his native Brazil and around the world,
using mime, theater and sound effects.
Rocha will host the free Community Stage on Bedford Town Common and
perform for school-age children Saturday afternoon.
O’Callahan, Ellis and Rocha will be joined by 10 accomplished
storytellers from around New England, who have been selected based
on their body of work In addition, there will be selected tellers
(all members of the League for the Advancement of New England
Storytelling) who auditioned specifically for this year’s Three
Apples Storytelling Festival. Among the storytellers hailing from the
surrounding communities are Tim Seston of Concord, Robert Isenberg
of Lexington, Jim LaChapelle of Wilmington and Joey Talbert of Sherborn
“Every year we find people we have never heard of before,” Harris
said. This year, Vics & Sticks are among those unknowns. They are
musical storytellers from Leicester and will host a portion of the
Story Swap on Bedford Common.
The festival spent its first 21 years in Harvard, a beloved venue
that the festival finally outgrew, according to Harris. “We looked
for a community that was similar to Harvard, to maintain the intimate
nature of the festival,” she said. Bedford is that town.
Bedford Center for the Arts, which is the festival host, has worked to
ensure that festival-goers are warmly welcomed, with indoor performance
venues located close to the Common, free parking – even for bicyclists
who take advantage of the Minuteman Bike Trail – and shuttle buses
from selected parking lots.
At two sites, Town Common and the John Glenn Middle School, there
will be a marketplace and food.
Visitors can find published selections from every featured
teller. Homemade meals and apple treats will be available for purchase,
benefiting Bedford community groups.
The schedule
Performances on and around the Bedford Town Common begin on Saturday,
Sept. 30 at 10 a.m. with the Festival Opening featuring Ellis and
O’Callahan. Bring a blanket and enjoy the free Story Swapping Ground
from 10:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. on the Common. Anyone from toddlers to
adults, amateurs to professional tellers, can share a story.
At 11:30 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. on Saturday are a selection of eight
performances for adult, elementary and preschool audiences at indoor
venues around the Common.
Gain insight into how storytellers work on their craft with Antonio
Rocha at the free Community Stage on the Town Common at 12:30
p.m. Rocha will work with volunteer audience members to improve their
storytelling right in front of your eyes.
Participate in Traveling Tales and see how stories evolve over time
as they are told and re-told. Look for people with story pouches
and ask them to tell you the story, then you get the pouch and pass
the story onto the next person who asks. Come to the Traveling Tales
Finale on the Town Common at 4:45 p.m. to see what happened to the
stories over the course of the day.
Special Events take place at the John Glenn Middle School including
the Family Concert with Jay O’Callahan at 2 p.m., an Adult Concert
with Jay O’Callahan at 7 p.m. and Down Home Humor featuring Elizabeth
Ellis, Kevin Brooks and Antonio Rocha at 8:30 p.m. Or if you dare,
join Terror in the Night Ghost Stories with Laura Packer, Tony Toledo
and Elizabeth Ellis at First Parish Bedford at 8:30 p.m.

SHUSHI (NKR) MAY BECOME SCIENTIFIC AND EDUCATIONAL, HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CENTER OF ALL-ARMENIAN SIGNIFICANCE
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Sept 19 2006
YEREVAN, September 19. /ARKA/. President of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic Arkady Ghukasyan told journalists in Yerevan on Monday
that Shushi city (NKR) might become a scientific and educational,
historical and cultural center of all-Armenian significance.
He said that the program on rehabilitation of Shushi was one of
the wide-ranging directions of rehabilitation and development of
Nagorno-Karabakh.
“It’s also a serious political step of NKR in strengthening of peace”,
he said.
In this connection Ghukasyan emphasized that one of the most
perspective directions of cooperation of Karabakh and Diaspora is the
intellectual sphere, and particularly search for ways of cooperation
with leading Armenian businessmen of world scientific centers.
“The international experience and the best scientific and educational
traditions of Armenia may become a basis for creation of a system of
training of high-qualified specialists in Karabakh”, Ghukasyan said.
On September 18-23, the third Armenia-Diaspora forum is being
held in Yerevan. Presidents of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Robert
Kocharyan and Arkady Ghukasyan, Catholicos of all-Armenians Garegin
II and Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I, as well as
representatives of the scientific and educational spheres, Diaspora
and national minorities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN-EGYPTIAN BUSINESS IT FORUM TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN SEPT 22
ARMINFO News Agency
September 19, 2006 Tuesday
Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF) informs that it is organizing
Armenian-Egyptian Business IT Forum to be held on 22 September, 2006
at the Congress hotel in the framework of the IT Month 2006 events.
Egypt -Armenia meetings held in February 2006 in Cairo has become
the starting point for joint Egypt-Armenia initiatives, first of
those is the Armenian-Egyptian Business IT Forum devoted to further
exploring of business development opportunities between IT companies
of two countries.
The main focus of the Armenian-Egyptian Business Forum is mutually
beneficial cooperation in ICT projects and initiatives targeting
the Egyptian and Armenian markets as well as other regions by
utilizing the expertise of companies. As well, the mutual cooperation
includes development and enhancement the capabilities, resources,
management and business practices applied by companies. Among other
issues, such pressing topics as implementation of expert exchange
program, which will be based on preliminary the identification
of mutual interest/matching, provision of technical assistance
and implementation/deployment services in the mutual projects and
activities will be discussed.
8 leading Egyptian companies are expected to participate in the
Forum, representing such IT specializations as software development,
IT services, IT applications for e-government, e- health, industrial
systems, e-commerce and data centers.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HRANT DINK INTENDS TO APPEAL TO EUROPEAN COURT ON HUMAN RIGHTS
ARMINFO News Agency
September 19, 2006 Tuesday
Hrant Dink, Editor-in-Chief of the Turkey-based Armenian newspaper
“Agos”, is going to appeal to the European Court on Human Rights.
He told journalists today that his trial for insulting the Turks’
national mentality has gone through all Turkish courts. “The other
day the Turkish Cassation Court approved the First Instance Court’s
verdict to sentence me to six months in prison”, he said. As soon as
he gets the official verdict of the Cassation Court he will ask the
European Court to protect his rights. This may take several months.
He said that he intends to struggle for his freedom in Turkey
till the end, but if he is still convicted he will have to leave
his motherland. He said that Turkey not only denies the Armenian
Genocide, but also suggests an absurd version of the historical facts:
it says that it was the Armenians and not Turks who perpetrated the
massacre. Modern Turkey undergoes the process of democratic reforms
and, particularly, the question of the Genocide.
Dink said that his business is not to condemn the Turkish viewpoint
of the Genocide, but to submit the subject for a wider discussion.
“The Turkish authorities defend their viewpoint and their freedom of
speech everywhere, particularly, in France, who wants to adopt a law
stipulating that a person denying the Armenian Genocide in France
should be prosecuted, but, in fact, are not willing to provide this
freedom in their own country. It is inadmissible and needs revision”,
Dink said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RULING COALITION AND OPPOSITION MEMBERS HAVE DIFFERENT VIEWS OF PRESENT ARMENIAN-US RELATIONS
ARMINFO News Agency
September 19, 2006 Tuesday
US-Armenian relations are at such a high level that Washington
has begun to give understanding to the inevitability of Armenia’s
deepening its cooperation with Iran, says the head of the Hay Dat
office and political issues of the ARFD Kiro Manoyan.
He says that Armenian-US relations are developing dynamically and
there are no negative tendencies therein. Manoyan points out the
importance of the Armenian lobby of the US. When after Sept 11 2001
Armenia was put into the though visa regime list, this problem was
solved within 48 hours. One more positive moment is the US annual
assistance to Nagorny Karabakh.
However, the leader of the Democratic Fatherland party Petros Makeyan
does not share Manoyan’s view. He says that the US supports and
develops relations only with the countries respecting democratic
rights and freedoms and Armenia is hardly one. The country’s
international image is plummeting and the de facto suspension of
the Millennium Challenge Program is a proof of worsening Armenian-US
relations. Makeyan says that Armenian-US relations are in crisis.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AL-JAZEERA AIRS PROGRAMMES ON SEPARATIST KARABAKH – AZERI TV
ANS TV, Baku, in Azeri
19 Sep 06
[Doha-based] Al-Jazeera TV channel has prepared a series of programmes
on the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the separatist regime
on occupied Azerbaijani territories. The TV channel has broadcast a
broad interview with Armenian President Robert Kocharyan. The interview
touched on the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, relations
between Armenia and the Arab world and other regional issues. An
Al-Jazeera correspondent also visited Nagornyy Karabakh and had an
interview with the head of the separatist regime, Arkadiy Gukasyan.
[Video showed Al-Jazeera studio, scenes of Karabakh, Kocharyan’s
library pictures]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EAFJD: ARMENIA SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT DIASPORA ISN’T IN DEBT TO ANYONE
PanARMENIAN.Net
20.09.2006 13:37 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The programs for agriculture development proposed
at the Third Armenia-Diaspora Forum should be understandable for
Diaspora, which must be sure that the funds allocated will be properly
spent, said Hilda Tchoboian, the chairperson of the European Armenian
Federation (EAFJD), in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net. In her words,
absolute trust should be achieved between Armenia and Diaspora. “This
is very important. Moreover, Armenia should understand that Diaspora
isn’t in debt to anyone and all we need is to work jointly. Armenian
entrepreneurs should invest in the development of their country,
especially in the rural areas. Otherwise, the Forum will not justify
the hopes of the initiators and Diaspora,” she said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA’S INDEPENDENCE DAY GREAT HOLIDAY FOR ARMENIAN PEOPLE’S FRIENDS
PanARMENIAN.Net
20.09.2006 13:25 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The restoration of independence and modern state
building of a nation with centuries-old history accord with our joint
efforts targeted at strengthening peace, philanthropy and prosperity,
says the congratulatory address sent by President of the Association of
Russian-Armenian Friendship Victor Krivopuskov to PanARMENIAN.Net on
the occasion of the 15th anniversary of Armenia’s independence. “We
send our sincere greetings to the Armenian people and leadership
of the republic. History witnesses the ties of belief and creation
between the two peoples.
Following the precept of our ancestors we will be sure of great
achievements in the development of the Armenian-Russian relations,”
the message says in part.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress