Author: Emil Lazarian

Georgian leader hails regional cooperation in oil pipeline inauguration speech

Channel 1, Tbilisi
13 Jul 06

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has said that the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline is opening new prospects for regional
cooperation. He was speaking at the pipeline inauguration ceremony
in the Turkish port of Ceyhan on 13 July. Saakashvili said that the
pipeline project had led to "a completely new political situation"
in the region in which there was no longer any place for "a policy of
diktat". He also said that regional economic projects were transforming
their participants into "some of the most dynamically developing
countries in the whole world". The following is an excerpt from
Saakashvili’s speech, which was broadcast live by Georgian Public
Television Channel 1:

[Saakashvili] Your excellencies, esteemed President Sezer, President
Aliyev and Prime Minister Erdogan, ladies and gentlemen.

For us, today’s ceremony and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline
mean far more than an economic, political or energy project. This is
a historic prerequisite for our countries’ freedom and independence
and a solid foundation for our future success. This project is very
important because – together with the [Sah Daniz] gas pipeline project
which is also very important for Georgia – it marks the end of an era
of one type of relations and the beginning of a completely new era in
relations and a completely new political situation in our region. From
now on, the possibility of confrontational methods and a policy of
diktat being used is ending and a completely new era is starting
in the Caucasus and the wider region which includes Central Asia,
post-Soviet space and Turkey. A new political reality is emerging,
which is based on cooperation and respect for mutual interests.

During the discussion of this project, my country Georgia has often
been referred to as a corridor. [Smiles] I would like to state
categorically that Georgia is not a corridor. Generally, I do not
accept the concept of a corridor. A corridor is surrounded by walls and
is an enclosed space, no matter now big the building is. In reality,
what is happening today means that we have created one large space
rather than corridors and terminals. This is a space for cooperation,
mutual understanding and friendship between our countries.

A completely new reality has formed within Georgia as well. We have
been cooperating very well with BP and other companies working here.

A completely new economic reality is emerging. I can tell you frankly
that for several years, before the Rose Revolution in 2003, the oil
pipeline project was the only source of Georgia’s economic growth.

The project has effectively been completed, yet this year the Georgian
economy will grow much faster thanks to other local economic factors.

A synergy has emerged. We have managed to create a completely new
reality. Not only have we changed our strategic energy [supply] lines,
but we have also completely changed the domestic energy distribution
system in Georgia and created a new investment climate.

The fact that there is no longer corruption in Georgia – I declare this
with a full sense of responsibility – has allowed us to achieve this:
whereas a year ago we were unsuccessfully pleading with several large
foreign companies to buy our power grid for one dollar and operate it,
several weeks ago, that is a year later, we sold just a part of the
same grid for several hundred million dollars. That is the result of
more effective administration and a more transparent environment free
of corruption.

We are moving into a new era. In the Soviet period we were told who
we were supposed to like and who we were not supposed to. Not only
were we forbidden to have warm relations with Turkey, but the Soviet
regime’s ideology was that Turkey was the Georgians’ enemy. Today
and yesterday I have been telling our Turkish brothers that in the
space of just a few years Turkey’s consistent, generous, friendly
and fraternal attitude has completely negated many decades of work
by Soviet ideologists.

For Georgia today, Turkey is a most important partner and a great
friend. We have entered a phase of great cooperation with Turkey.

Turkey is fast becoming Georgia’s leading trading partner. Turkey
is fast becoming, and will probably become, the leading investor
in Georgia.

I remember well that when two years ago Prime Minister Erdogan arrived
for the first time in a destroyed and devastated Batumi, we together
went to the border crossing where there were long queues of suffering
citizens who needed to get Turkish or Georgian visas. We promised
each other that there would be no visas needed for travel between
Georgia and Turkey.

Now Georgia and Turkey have one of the most transparent and free
borders. This used to be a border between NATO and the Soviet bloc,
a border with the largest number of restrictions and bans, but now it
is one of the most transparent, easily negotiable and friendly borders
in the region between two fraternal states. That is the result of a
decision by politicians who care about their people.

The prime minister and I also decided that Batumi airport would
be in joint use. This decision was taken, and Batumi airport will
open in November, as will a new Tbilisi airport terminal, which is
being built by Turkish companies. It means that Batumi and Tbilisi –
especially Batumi from November, which is a new development – will be
linked to the whole world via Istanbul with daily services or perhaps
several services a day.

I talked earlier about our experience with Turkish business and
the arrival of many business people in Georgia. Many construction
companies have arrived. In these companies, side by side with Turkish
engineers, Georgian specialists are working and learning to use modern
working methods. This happened during the oil pipeline project and is
happening now in the wider construction industry. [Passage omitted:
more on Turkish business involvement in Georgia]

That is real cooperation, a real synergy. We no longer have corruption,
we have reduced taxes, and we have opened borders. The governments
have done everything possible to facilitate access to markets. For
the first time, under a low taxation regime, 1m bottles of Georgian
wine will enter Turkey this year. That will be the first time in
history. Georgian agricultural produce is also entering Turkey at a
time when it faces certain problems on other markets.

I think that this kind of cooperation as well as the development we
are witnessing in Azerbaijan – [changes tack] We are very pleased about
that because, again, no other state is closer to us. Such development
and mutual assistance will allow us to create completely new prospects
for our people.

We have arrived here after going through a very difficult period. We
were in a very difficult situation. But the situation is changing
radically. We are happy about it, our people are happy about it,
although there may also be forces that do not particularly like that.

Likewise, the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway project we are currently working
on is a new transport link. The Kars-Akhalkalaki railway means the
creation of hundreds or thousands of jobs in the Javakheti region
of Georgia [area in southern Georgia populated mainly by ethnic
Armenians], a completely new transport infrastructure, and a new
strategic significance for the region.

The oil and gas pipelines, new airports, new railways – it was hard to
imagine all that not so long ago. Not so long ago our countries were
described as weak, flawed and unstable countries whose prospects were
poor. Now these are some of the most dynamically developing countries
in the whole world, which have become examples of development,
consolidation and vision of the future for many other nations and
countries.

[Passage omitted: switches to English and the broadcast continues with
a Georgian translation superimposed; Saakashvili thanks BP for its
courage and long-term vision, welcomes the creation of alternative
energy routes, looks forward to new projects]

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS SIGNS CREDIT AGREEMENT OF 30 MLN USD WITH EBRD AND DEG

YEREVAN, JULY 14, NOYAN TAPAN. A credit agreement of 30 mln drams was
signed on July 13 among RA Civil Aviation Chief Department attached
to RA government, Armenia International Airports CJSC, European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and German Investments
and Development Company (DEG). 20 mln USD of the above mentioned
sum will be provided by EBRD, 10 mln USD by DEG, which is part of
KfW German bank. As Head of EBRD Yerevan Office Michael Weinstein
informed journalists, the program will play an important role for
development of Armenian transport contacts and systems, as Armenia
has no exit to the sea and greatly depends on air transportations.

Michael Weinstein said that the sum will be provided for financing the
last stage of construction of a new passenger compelx of Zvartnots,
including buying modern equipments for the purpose of improving the
quality of services.

The bank representative refused to provide information about the credit
interest rates only mentioning that this is a commercial credit and
is provided for 7 years’ term.

Zvartnots Director Juan Pablo Gechijian said that in total, 63 mln
USD will be spent on the construction of the new passenger complex, 25
mln USD out of which has been already realized. It was also mentioned
that the complex will be completely put into exploitation in 2007
May and passengers arrival hall will operate from September this year.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VARTAN OSKANIAN: DURING BRYZA’S VISIT ARMENIAN SIDE WILL AGAIN CONFIRM
ITS POSITION TOWARDS FRAME AGREEMENT

YEREVAN, JULY 14, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. "There is some
uncertainty in the negotiations process and we hope some clarifications
will be made during Matthew Bryza’s visit to the region to take place
soon," RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian declared at the July 14
press conference.

According to him, at the moment it is difficult to foresee the next
steps connected with the Nagorno Karabakh settlement. He said that for
the present, there is no issue of a new meeting between Armenian and
Azerbaijani Presidents. The Minister declared that he does not know,
with what proposals American Co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group, Matthew
Bryza is arriving in the region. He expressed a supposition that the
visit will rather have a cognitive character.

V.Oskanian said that during Bryza’s meeting the Armenian side will
again confirm its position, namely, acceptability of the frame
agreement proposed by the Co-chairmen.

He emphasized that these principles are difficult to fulfil for the
Armenian side and it will be also difficult to convince the people
and the political forces of these principles’ being acceptable. "No
matter how much non-ideal these principles are for us, we are ready
to assume this political responsibility and on the basis of these
principles we are ready to continue the negotiations and to achieve
peaceful settlement," Vartan Oskanian declared.

According to him, "the document on the negotiations table is not
an Armenian variant," but a document that was created as a result
of two-year negotiations. "I.e. this is a synthesis of Armenian and
Azerbaijani positions the Co-chairs present as a medium settlement of
the problem that takes into consideration the anxiety of both sides
and at the same time requires concessions from them."

He declared that the publication of the text of proposed agreement by
the Co-chairmen was a full unexpectedness for the Armenian side. At
the same time, the Minister added that he does not see any problem
here. "I think all this is good for us to prepare a sound discussion
on these issues in our society."

Oskanian agreed that there will be some forces in the society that
will occupy a sharp negative position in this issue. At the same time,
he declared that we should not undertake any efforts on convincing the
Armenian public until Azerbaijan gives its consent to the proposed
document. "If the document were ideal for us in all parameters,
irrespective of Azerbaijan’s position, I would convince people that the
document is good. But this is not ideal, but a compromise document,
in which the formula of right concessions has been found, and for
us this document could be a basis for conducting negotiations. And
if the Azerbaijani side has not given consent, why shall we start to
convince our people that the document is good?".

According to him, the time to convince will come when an agreement
is reached between the sides.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

July 13, 2006

PRESS RELEASE

Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate
6252 Honolulu Avenue
La Crescenta, CA 91214
Tel: (818) 248-7737
Fax: (818) 248-7745
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

ARCH. MOUSHEGH MARDIROSSIAN, PRELATE, OFFERS CONDOLENCES TO THE
CONSUL GENERAL OF LEBANON

On the occasion of the passing of Elias Hrawi, the former
president of the Republic of Lebanon, His Eminence Arch. Moushegh
Mardirossian, Prelate, sent the following letter to His Excellency
Charbel Wehbe, Consul General of Lebanon in Los Angeles:

July 11,
2006

Honorable Charbel Wehbe,

Consul General of Lebanon

Los Angeles

Honorable Mr. Wehbe,

On behalf of the Western Prelacy Religious and Executive Councils, I
would like to express my deepest sympathies for the loss of H.E.

Elias Hrawi, former president of the Republic of Lebanon. We share
your grief and that of the Lebanese government and people.

The late President Hrawi was a great patriot and statesman who led
Lebanon during turbulent times and had a pivotal role in delivering
the country to the shores of peace. He will be remembered as a
courageous leader, a humble person, and a loyal and committed friend
to the Armenian people.

Please accept our condolences for your loss.

I pray to Almighty God to grant his soul eternal rest and keep
Lebanon in peace and harmony.

Prayerfully,

Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate

On Wednesday, July 12, the Prelate visited the Lebanese Consulate
accompanied by Mr. Boghos Sassounian, secretary of the Prelacy
Executive Council, to personally express his condolences to Mr.

Charbel Wehbe. His Eminence asked Mr. Wehbe to convey his sympathies
to the leaders of Lebanon.

PRELACY DIVAN

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Mad Crowd Extremist Gang Leader Arrested in Saint Petersburg

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.07.2006 14:10 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Leader of Mad Crowd extremist grouping Ruslan Melnik,
who was wanted by the federal police since 2004, was arrested in
Saint Petersburg.

The press service of the city’s prosecution office informed that in
2005 five gag members were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment
for "stirring up national, racial and religious hatred" and assaults
on foreigners while their former leader Dmitry Borovikov was shot
during detention in May 2006.

The department of the Federal Security Service on Saint Petersburg and
the Leningrad oblast clarified that Melnik is accused of organization
of extremist community and stirring up of national, racial and
religious hatred. To note, one more criminal suspected in committing
crimes through national hatred was detained in Petersburg yesterday.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turks charge UA professor over her novel
By Stephanie Innes

Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.13.2006

An assistant professor in the University of Arizona’s department
of Near Eastern studies is facing criminal charges in Turkey for
"insulting Turkishness" in a novel she wrote.

The charges against Elif Shafak, filed under the Turkish Criminal
Code, stem from her recently released book "The Bastard of Istanbul,"
in which a character refers to the killing of Armenians in World War
I as genocide, according to The New Anatolian, an English-language
newspaper in Turkey.

Shafak, a well-known and celebrated author in Turkey, wrote "The
Bastard of Istanbul" while she was in Tucson. She’s taught at UA for
two years but is living in Turkey on a one-year leave.

"For any author to suffer through this is just terrible and she is
pregnant right now, so I am very concerned about her well-being," said
Anne H. Betteridge, director of the UA’s Center for Middle Eastern
Studies. "It seems there is just a serious program of intimidation
under way by right-wing forces in Turkey."

Shafak’s UA colleagues are looking at how they can support her defense,
Betteridge said.

The New Anatolian says the challenged sentences in Shafak’s book are:
"I am the grandchild of a family whose children were slaughtered by
the Turkish butchers," and "I was brought up having to deny my roots
and say that genocide did not exist."

The issue has been contentious in Turkey. Many people say up to 1.5
million Armenians living in Turkey perished between 1915 and 1923 in
what they call a "forgotten genocide."

Turkey has denied its former leaders tried to wipe out the Armenians.
Leaders say only that many died of starvation, disease and exposure on
forced marches to Syria in retaliation against the Christian minority
for reportedly collaborating with Russia during World War I.

Shafak, 35, is a Turkish citizen whose mother was a Turkish diplomat.
Shafak grew up in France and Spain and now is a celebrated author
and somewhat of a media star in her country — the press there even
wrote about her marriage.

Now, she faces up to three years in prison. Her colleagues say the
prosecution is nerve-racking and expensive.

Andrew Wedel, an assistant professor of linguistics at the UA who has
been to Turkey, hopes the charges will be dropped, citing the recent
dismissal of charges against Orhan Pamuk, another famous Turkish
novelist. In 2005, lawyers for two Turkish professional associations
brought criminal charges against Pamuk after he made a statement
about Armenian genocide and the massacre of Kurds in Anatolia.

Wedel noted that Shafak’s prosecution also could be a blow to the
country’s bid for inclusion in the European Union, though he said
that’s precisely what nationalist forces in the country would like
to see.

"Of course it is ridiculous. Half of Turkey is deeply embarrassed,"
Wedel said. "Elif is trying very hard to open up Turkey to be more
modern in its ability to think about itself and move forward culturally
and historically. It’s sort of a cultural watershed moment in Turkey
right now."

Wedel helped copy-edit "The Bastard of Istanbul," which he says is
about a young Armenian girl living in the United States who discovers
that her real father is Turkish and half her family lives in Istanbul.

The girl then runs away to visit them.

According to the Writers in Prison Committee at International PEN,
a worldwide writers group, Shafak’s publisher, Semi Sökmen, of the
Metis Publishing House, and translator, Asli Bican, also face charges.

A news release from PEN says the public prosecutor in Istanbul
dismissed initial proceedings against Shafak after hearing her
and Sökmen’s argument that the book was a work of literature and
therefore not appropriate for prosecution. They added that the book
aimed to promote the culture of peace.

But in early July, Istanbul’s Seventh High Criminal Court overruled
the decision not to proceed, following a complaint filed by a member
of a group of right-wing lawyers known as the "Unity of Jurists,"
who have been active in the prosecutions of numerous writers and
journalists in recent months. The trial date has not been set.

Shafak holds a master’s degree in gender and women studies and earned
a doctorate from the department of political science at Middle East
Technical University in Ankara, Turkey.

She first came to the United States in 2002 as a fellow of the Five
Colleges Women’s Studies Research Center. Before joining the faculty
at the UA, she was a scholar at the University of Michigan, where
the courses she taught included "Women Writing on Women: East-West
Encounters" and "The Queer in the Middle East."

–Boundary_(ID_0iO+xmCf2Qoml/2KNtLDHQ )–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CLOSING VERIN LARS, RUSSIA WAS CONVINCED THAT SECOND CHECK-POINT WORKS,
RF TRANSPORT MINISTER SAYS

YEREVAN, JULY 13, NOYAN TAPAN. Closing the Verin Lars check-point
on the Russian-Georgian border, Russia was convinced that the Nerkin
Amaragh check-point works. RF Transport Minister Igor Levitin declared
this at the July 12 press conference. "To say that Russia has closed
the border is at least non-correct," Igor Levitin declared. According
to him, the Armenian side was not informed about the closure of the
Verin Lars in advance, as the Russian side in its turn was not aware
that Georgia has stopped cargo admission through Nerkin Amaragh.

I.Levitin informed that repairs are being done in the Verin Lars
check-point at present, which are to finish by September-October,
as later the road can be closed due to weather conditions.

According to I.Levitin, Russia will do its best for relaunching Nerkin
Amaragh. "We are ready to accept cargos through this check-point
and this issue should be coordinated with the Georgian authorities,"
RF Transport Minister said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN ILHAM ALIYEV: ARMENIA IS NOW ISOLATED FROM
ALL THE INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
July 12 2006

"Despite all Armenians’ efforts to hamper realization of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, I am convinced that we will realize this
project. Indeed, the Armenian lobby is striving for some organizations,
international structures not to support this project", said President
Ilham Aliyev in an interview to Turkey’s Cumhuriyet newspaper.

The President said "our current situation allows us to be independent
of other organizations. We have possibilities, and we have funds.
Azerbaijan is prepared to fulfill its financial obligation".

"Therefore, this Armenian policy will fail to succeed; Azerbaijan
will become stronger, and take stronger position in the region.
Armenia is now isolated from all the international projects, and
their situation will further worsen," President added.

>From Orhan Pamuk to Oriana Fallaci

Brussels Journal, Belgium
July 12 2006

>From the desk of James McConalogue on Tue, 2006-07-11 23:56

In Turkey, Orhan Pamuk has recently taken to defending a controversial
female columnist – Perihan Magden – after the Turkish Armed Forces
pursued a case against the author for objecting and denigrating
military service. Since the defendant, Magden, is a female supporting
Mehmet Tarhan, a homosexual citizen, it has become a case not simply
considering the place of women and homosexuals in Turkish culture, but
more importantly, a case highlighting the right that all individuals
have to express themselves, given the intrusive status of religion in
public life. The cases of these authors demonstrate the very reason(s)
why it continues to be necessary to defend the freedom of expression
on religious matters in Europe’s transitional democracies.

In Late December 2005, Pamuk found himself embroiled in a case
of defending his right to free expression. His homeland of Turkey
brought charges against him for "insulting Turkishness" after he had
claimed in a Swiss newspaper, Tages Anzeiger, that 30,000 Kurds and
one million Ottoman Armenians were killed in Turkey yet nobody would
dare to talk about it. He attended a court in Istanbul for his trial.
The case was dropped on 22 January 2006 after the Ministry of Justice
held that it was not legally viable for the country to intervene. For
a country desperate for EU entry, and confident on proving basic
liberal credentials, it was a sensible move. More recently, Elif
Shafak – author of The Bastard of Istanbul – also faces charges of
"insulting Turkishness" under the notorious Article 301 of the Turkish
Criminal Code.

However, Pamuk’s case clearly demonstrates the religious boundaries
that have to be challenged in order to attain free expression in
transitional democratic countries. The trial of Pamuk was (rightfully)
thrown out in January this year. The trial of his Italian counterpart,
Oriana Fallaci, was due to begin on 12th June this year but has been
delayed. Italy has encountered similar problems. While Italy, like
Turkey, is attempting to run a nation by its demos, it still remains –
in law, electoral politics and political culture – a variant democracy
in transition.

A modern Italian journalist whose writing on Islam has tended to cause
insult is Oriana Fallaci. Perhaps unlike other writers, such as Salman
Rushdie in Britain and Michel Houellebecq in France, Fallaci’s case
is slightly tainted. It is tainted because the case does not appear
to offer critique through fiction – rather the essays themselves
are political essays directly opposing Islam in fairly biting and
vehement criticisms.

The Oriana Fallaci controversy

It seems important to retrace the steps of how, in particular,
Fallaci’s case developed; it is a valuable contemporary lesson on
how Europe’s transitional democratic states ought not to have acted
following a literary controversy. On 11th September 2001, just under
three thousand people were horrifically killed, following the intended
crashing of four aircraft into the central and densely populated
urban areas within New York City, Virginia and Pennsylvania. It was
alleged by the American government and accepted by Islamic leader,
Osama bin Laden – and remains accepted within most ranks of society –
that a collective of Islamic organizations which operate under the
name al-Qaeda were the perpetrators of the atrocity.

Radically different analyses of the situation – most hot-headed
and intolerant reports by either Western-centric reporters or
Islamic commentators – have been offered across the world, based
within a variety of political spectra. The immediate conflict has
been posed as one of the West versus the Islamic faith, the Western
value of toleration versus Islamic intolerance, or liberalism versus
multiculturalism. One popular and vehement critic was the journalist,
Oriana Fallaci. Her opinion essay, La Rabbia e l’Orgoglio (The Rage
and the Pride) had been published in Italy, just eighteen days after
the attacks of September 11 occurred. Two years later, in 2003,
a brief follow-up book entitled The Force of Reason, formulated a
similar critique of Islam operating in Europe.

What it seems important to question is this: what is Islam’s opposition
to Fallaci’s essays and books on Muslims? More to the point, how did
the author ever manage to offend Islam? These questions are important
since they enable us to then address the impossible sanctions that
Muslims appear to be imposing upon individuals who seek to express
themselves on issues relating to Islam.

Fallaci’s book, The Rage and the Pride, heavily criticizes many
aspects of Islam and is vulgar, to say the least, in the manner
in which it achieves its degrading criticism. Unlike Houellebecq’s
and Rushdie’s novels, the text is a critique of Muslims in America
and Europe. Her intolerance at the presence of Muslims in Italy,
following the terrorist attacks in America, is immediately apparent.
She writes: "I’m telling you that we have no room for muezzins,
for minarets, for false teetotalers, for their fucking Middle Ages,
for their fucking chador."

The grounds and basis of its critique can be found in its hot-headed
reactionary journalism, populist armchair philosophy, obsessive
patriotism, ill-considered "atheism" with a large residual respect
for Christian values, and a religious separatist outlook towards
individuals in Muslim and non-Muslim cultures. Fallaci confesses her
extreme Italian and American patriotism – the two countries in which
she has lived. Of course, she finds that eternally divided Italy has
no such modern patriotic blessing and the country has surrendered
itself to what she refers to as Islam and its "sons of Allah". The
mere "presence" of Muslims in the world is too much for Fallaci, and
as for the presence of Muslims in Italy, it "was not an immigration,
it was more of an invasion conducted under an emblem of secrecy." The
"war of religion", we are warned, "is in progress." Consequently, "if
we don’t oppose them, if we don’t defend ourselves, if we don’t fight,
the Jihad will win." (Interestingly, many well-respected academics,
particularly in the United States, had already begun to pit Islam
against the West in their accounts of global political conflicts,
such as Sam Huntington’s The Clash of Civilizations, 1993).

For Fallaci, those who did not see the subsequent war in Iraq
approaching are those who allowed Muslims, "the sons of Allah get
away with a little too much." The essay quite clearly labels Muslims,
"birdbrains", "scoundrels", "terrorists", inherently lazy people,
welfarists and "idiots". As with the Theo van Gogh controversy in
Holland, the criticisms were not of a wildly intellectual nature. The
author often confesses her ignorance at the understanding of the
Islamic faith, in addition to claiming the West to have the hold on
rationalism, and Islam (and its associated states) to have the claim
on arbitrary womanizing and countless murdering and wars.

The Italian courts are still embroiled in the Fallaci controversy
and the case is far from resolved. The courts have recently decided
to pursue the trial of Fallaci, by trying her case on the Italian
defamation laws. It is claimed that Fallaci defamed Islam. If this
case were to win, it would challenge a largely common response of
Western liberal states: to not intervene in cases of free expression,
especially when those cases relate to religion. A state can be brought
to its knees through intervention in the sphere of free speech.

Why free expression?

A basic tenet of a modern European society is that each individual is
free to enjoy certain basic and personal freedoms, including that of
expressing oneself freely. In its history, that sense of expressing
oneself freely is often felt to be most sincerely represented when
it comes to defending free expression with respect to religion.

In the doctrine of John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, published in 1859,
the right to freedom of expression and its conditions are stated
clearly. The most fundamental principle of a freely operating liberal
society is the right to the "freedom of opinion". This "independence
is, of right, absolute." The only exception in which Mill conceived
such freedom to be limited was if it were to impose severe harm onto
others – he declared this to be a rare thing. The intervention in
a literary controversy is no longer an option for a modern European
government.

In the Fallaci controversy, the right to freedom of expression
currently prevails. Despite the fact that Fallaci had written a
derogatory essay claiming that Italian Muslims are "birdbrains"
and "idiots", it still remains important to proceed to defend the
freedom of expression – publishing it freely and imposing no ban. The
statements expressed here, by themselves, are decontextualised from
the remainder of the text. Therefore, pithy extracts offer us little
insight into the argument – just as the pamphleteering of Rushdie’s
extracts by Muslims on the streets of Pakistan meant very little,
since they are not merely name-calling texts.

Within the confines of the law, Fallaci’s essay itself does not
harm others. The harm or offence caused by the text could only,
at the very most, be understood as a breach of racial and religious
hatred or the blasphemy laws. In modern society, the breach of those
principles should rarely qualify for harm or strong offence-related
arguments in cases of free expression. It is certain that we live in
a multicultural society and that the notion of multicultural society,
and Muslims within that society, are constantly changing. However,
it is just as certain that we live within a liberal society – in
which its basic architecture requires that we do not remove or alter
certain fundamental freedoms, including that of free expression.

The harm done to others, in cases where it is felt the text will
incite mass religious hatred – with the preconditions of tyrannical
governments and a homogenous citizenry – should only be executed
on rare occasions, since it does little justice to the cultural
diversity and critical discussion said to underpin free expression
itself. That is to argue that a ban, based on harms incurred, assumes
the individual to be unreflective, lacking in spontaneity and often,
incapable of reason. If that is to be every Muslim’s subject of
defence, then it might be asked if it is a subject worth defending.
In fact, the texts themselves rarely represent harm, or offence, and
the calls for bans based on offence are often premature reactions
of the unnervingly dogmatic representatives of Islam, clearly set
against the West in politics, economy and individual values.

It is certain that free expression on matters pertaining to Islam
will prevail. It is through recourse to dated Catholic-centric
Italian laws that Muslims have sought to legitimize their claims to
offensiveness. This legally enables the right to intervene in the
publications of Fallaci’s anti-Islamic writings. However, since the
harm done to others did not signify a physical injury, or anything of
that magnitude, to any individual or group, there were few grounds for
rightful interference. The most coherent legal route to preventing
the offence was through the prosecution of Fallaci, with reference
to the defamation laws.

In Italy, a unique history, embroiled in changes under the Italian
constitution during Mussolini’s regime, meant that Catholicism occupied
a primary place in considerations of the state. It is certain that
the Italian constitution, in its first three articles sets out to
protect all citizens and accord them the freedom to speech until it
sacrifices "public morality". The third article of The Constitution
of the Italian Republic of 1947 states that "All citizens have equal
social dignity and are equal before the law, without distinction
of sex, race, language, religion, political opinions, personal
and social conditions." Yet, only in the past twenty years, have
significant changes in Italian society brought about toleration of
free expression towards religion. The Constitution also states that
"Religious confessions other than Catholic have the right to organize
in accordance with their own statutes, in so far as they are not in
conflict with Italian laws." Therefore, there are cases in which
the law does impinge upon the freedom to organise and express oneself
on religious matters, when it contravenes Italian law; a law already
heavily skewed by the solidarity of Catholicism.

As elsewhere in Europe, in Italy it is clearly illegal to incite
discrimination on religious grounds. However, rather than argue for
offence through incitement to religious hatred laws – which Fallaci’s
Muslim prosecution still remain eager to pursue – the most successful
and quickest way of suppressing free expression in Italy is through
claims to defamation. This is the current claim that has been made in
the Muslim prosecution against Fallaci. It is claimed that her writings
"defame" Islam. Italy’s own government often use the defamation
laws to bring critics of ministers, and antagonists of the state,
to justice, and it has been claimed that it is rare (and possibly the
first case in Italy) for free expression to be challenged by Muslims
through recourse to the defamation laws. At the time of writing,
the case for Fallaci has not finished. One would, however, hope for
Italy that what has happened in the rest of Europe for many centuries,
will continue to happen and that free expression on matters pertaining
to Islam will prevail. That is to say, Fallaci should be acquitted.

The only imaginable case in which this would no longer hold would be
as follows. Since Fallaci offers perhaps the strongest and prejudiced
"hate" article against Muslims – against a national (Italian) and
global community – there is a possibility that it could be proven to
incite religious hatred. The case for incitement to religious hatred
would have to prove that there was a threat to physical existence, or
harm done to others, of such significance that this piece of literature
should no longer be available in society, and the author sentenced
accordingly. Her trial has yet to begin this month in Bergamo.

Europe could well do with laying down a red carpet for authors such as
Fallaci rather than trying them – after all, it is freely speaking and
writing individuals that make European society such a vibrant platform
for the free exchange of ideas. If you remove the artistic and literary
freedom to express, through the bizarre invention of corrupt laws,
then there is very little left in the essence of modern society –
constitutional or cultural – that is still worth defending.

74

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Georgian journalists left for Samtskhe-Javakheti region

The Messenger, Georgia
July 12 2006

As reported in Svobodnaya Gruzia, a group of Georgian journalists
>From leading national and regional newspapers left for the
Samtskhe-Javakheti region (Eastern Georgia) July 10. During the
five-day visit, journalists will become familiar with the political
and social problems of the local population. They will hold meetings
with representatives of local self-governance bodies, public and
non-governmental organizations and colleagues from the local media
in Akhaltsikhe, Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda.

This visit is part of the programme "Overcoming the information vacuum
in Samtskhe-Javakheti," which is being implemented under the aegis of
the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) with the financial
support of the OSCE. According to the coordinator of the project,
Shorena Ratiani, taking part in the project will help journalists get
information regarding the real situation in the region, and lead to
objective coverage of the issues.

"The Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda districts of Samtskhe-Javakheti are
over 90 percent populated by Armenians who do not know the Georgian
language. In terms of access to information they are in isolation
compared to other regions because they cannot read the Georgian
press. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the Georgian media
does not have representatives in the region, and they know almost
nothing about the problems of the local population," stated Ratiani.

Ratiani also said that this project is mainly directed to helping
journalists find out the cause of the processes which have been
taking place in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region. "All this will help
destroy the stereotypes which exist concerning Armenian areas, and
the integration of the region into the country," Ratiani noted.

Newspapers 24 Saati, Rezonansi, Akhali Versia, Akhali 7 Dghe,
Khvalindeli Dghe, Batumelebi, Akhali Gazeti, Samkhretis Karipche and
Panorama took part in this project.

The paper notes that the first visit took place in 2005 within
the framework of the same project. During that journey to
Samtskhe-Javakheti journalists met with representatives of local
government structures and the NGO sector, a first step toward
overcoming the information vacuum in the region. After the visit,
over 30 articles were published regarding the life and problems of
this region.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress