Author: Emil Lazarian

PANIC IN THE ARMENIAN DIASPORA OVER TURKISH PRESSURE ON FRANCE

Hurriyet, Turkey
May 17 2006

Sources are reporting that the Armenian diaspora in France is reacting
negatively to the general reaction from both business and civilian
organizations in Turkey in the run-up to the debates tomorrow in
the French Parliament on a bill which, if approved, would mandate
prison sentences for those denying Armenian claims against Turkey of
a genocide. Fearful that the law may not pass tomorrow, organized
members of the Armenian diaspora in France put a full page ad in
yesterday’s French newspaper “Liberation” in support of passage of
the bill. The ad noted that “denial is a crime” and that “a law is
necessary” to deal with the denial.

One web site run by Armenians in France, “Nouvelle d’Armenie,”
reflected the general feeling in the community yesterday, with an
article entitled “Turkey’s unacceptable blackmail.” Portions of the
article read “For days, Turkey has been putting pressure on France
to prevent the passage of the denial bill. Prime Minister Erdogan is
himself threatening French firms with boycotts. There is an aggressive
e-mail campaign aimed at the French Parliament members.

Despite this propoganda, the French Armenian Organization Coordination
Council believes that the interference by a third country in France’s
business will not be accepted, as French laws concern only French
citizens.”

Meanwhile, Turks living in Paris have organized a group in connection
with the controversial “genocide denial” bill, and have sent more
than 12 thousand e-mails and letters to French MPs and top level
authorities over the past weeks. Tomorrow, during the talks in the
French Parliament on whether or not to pass the bill, the Turkish
group, calling themselves “Soz Hurriyeti Kolektifi,” will protest in
Paris’ La Place d’Invalides.” Armenians have also reportedly received
permission from the police to protest at a different spot.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

STEP TOWARD CLOSURE?
By Yonet Tezel
Charge d’affaires, Turkish Embassy

Globe and Mail, Canada
May 17 2006

Ottawa — It might surprise many Canadians to know that, for centuries,
the Turkish-Armenian relationship was predominantly about friendship,
tolerance and peaceful co-existence. It is unfortunate that, all too
often, only the incriminating version of the tragic events of 1915
are taken to represent this relationship.

It should not be inconceivable for both nations to come to terms with
what happened during the First World War and renew their friendship.

That is why Turkey has made a serious effort to engage the Armenian
side in a dialogue about that tragic phase and has proposed
establishing a group of Turkish, Armenian and other historians and
experts to study the events, not only in the archives of Turkey and
Armenia, but in all relevant archives. Their findings would then be
presented to the international community.

Despite Turkey’s offer, however, some accuse the Turks of being
“denialists” and try to discredit any non-Turkish scholars, should
they dare question the validity of Armenian claims.

It is disappointing that Patricia Marchak (The Bonds of History —
letter, May 12), in stating that she has already done research on
this subject for a book she wrote, brushes aside this honest effort
to get to the bottom of the claims of genocide by conducting a joint
study of the primary sources.

Genocide is a very serious accusation. The language of knowledge,
not conviction, should prevail. It could be the first step toward
real closure for both peoples.

tory/LAC.20060517.LETTERS17-11/TPStory/Comment

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED INVOLVED IN “PAID PUBLIC WORKS” PROGRAM TO INCREASE IN SYUNIK

Noyan Tapan
May 17 2006

KAPAN, MAY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. By the decision of RA Government, 85.6 mln
drams has been allocated to Syunik region this year for implementing
the “Paid Public Works” program. The resources allocated this year
exceed by 15.6 mln drams (about 35 thousand dollars) the sum allocated
in 2005 for these works. As Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed
from the regional structure on program’s implementation, this will
enable to increase not only the programs to be implemented in the
region, but also the number of the unemployed involved in them. The
Syunik Regional Commission on Assistance to Employment has already
distributed these resources according to the unemployment level in
the regions of Syunik. Thus, 35.5 mln drams will be given to Kapan
region, 25.7 mln drams to Goris region, 18.3 mln drams to Sisian
region, 6.1 mln drams to Meghri region. It is envisaged to give more
than 57 mln drams to rural communities.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BLACK BOXES FROM CRASHED A-320 TO BE HANDED OVER TO AIRBUS
by Tigran Liloyan

ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 16, 2006 Tuesday

When recovered from the Black Sea bottom, the cockpit voice and flight
data recorders from the crashed A-320 liner of the Armenian air
carrier Armavia will be handed over to the bureau of investigation
of the aircraft-building concern Airbus, the owner of the company
that operated the lost plane, Mikhail Bagdasarov, has told the media.

The voice and flight data recorders have special codes known only to
Airbus specialists, Bagdasarov said. There is a possibility Russian
and Armenian experts will be invited to participate in retrieving
and interpreting flight data.

The crew of the Armenian liner was a well-trained one, the plane
itself was in normal technical condition and it had enough fuel,
the air carrier’s owner said.

“True, the weather in the area of Sochi’s Adler airport was bad,
but not so bad to prevent an Airbus plane from landing safely,”
Bagdasarov said.

Representatives of the British insurance company are arriving in
Yerevan later on Tuesday.

“We have been conducting negotiations with them. It looks like the
insurer is prepared to pay compensations to the relatives of all 113
victims of the disaster,” Bagdasarov said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NEW TRIAL OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH EDITOR BEGINS IN ISTANBUL

source:
Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
May 17 2006

Hrant Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian origin, is accused of
“attempting to influence the judiciary” when his newspaper ran articles
criticizing a law that makes it a crime to “insults Turkishness.” The
law has been used to indict writers and intellectuals, including Dink
himself and novelist Orhan Pamuk, for commenting on the mass killings
of Armenians by Turks around World War I.

Turkey denies claims by Armenians and others that the killings amounted
to genocide.

The cases against Pamuk and Dink have raised concerns about freedom
of speech in the European Union, which Turkey aspires to join.

Three other writers from the “Agos” newspaper, including Dink’s son,
also went on trial today.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

US OFFICIAL SAYS ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN AGREEMENT MAY BE NEAR
by Alexander Plakhov

ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 17, 2006 Wednesday

A State Department official said on Tuesday they were optimistic
about the possibility of a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and
Armenia over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The two sides are closer to an agreement than they have been in the
past,” said Matthew Bryza, State Department European affairs expert.

He spoke to a meeting of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus,
which was convened to examine humanitarian suffering in the region
a dozen years after the war over Nagorno-Karabakh ended.

Bryza said the Armenian and Azerbaijani governments will have to show
political courage to bridge the final gaps. “We look at these next
couple of months as a real window of opportunity,” he said.

Earlier, Anne Derse, who is nominated ambassador to Azerbaijan, said
Washington hopes that Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev and Armenian
President Robert Kocharyan will reach agreement on Nagorno-Karabakh.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VIC: GENOCIDE STATEMENT PART OF FREE SPEECH: BRACKS

Australian Associated Press Pty. Ltd.
AAP Newsfeed
May 16, 2006 Tuesday 11:18 AM AEST

A Victorian MP’s parliamentary speech accusing Turkish people of
ignoring acts of genocide more than 80 years ago is a sign of free
speech at work, Victorian Premier Steve Bracks says.

Jenny Mikakos, the parliamentary secretary for justice, whose ethnic
background is Greek, has accused Turkey of ignoring the killing of
hundreds of thousands of ethnic Greeks between 1916 and 1923.

In a short speech to the Victorian upper house during the last session
of parliament, Ms Mikakos reportedly said: “On May 19, the Pontian
community in Victoria and around the world will commemorate the 87th
anniversary of the Pontian genocide that occurred in present-day
Turkey.

“Between 1916 and 1923, over 353,000 Pontic Greeks living in Asia
Minor and in Pontus, which is near the Black Sea, died as a result of
the 20th Century’s first but less-known genocide,” Fairfax reported
her as saying.

“Over a million Pontic Greeks were forced into exile. In the preceding
years, 1.5 million Armenians and 750,000 Assyrians in various parts
of Turkey also perished.”

Two Labor MPs of Turkish descent, Adem Somyurek and John Eren,
interjected but Ms Mikakos continued speaking.

“The Turkish government must begin the reconciliation process by
acknowledging these crimes against humanity. The suffering of the
victims of the Pontian genocide cannot and will not be forgotten,”
she said.

The comments, made under a system of 90-second free statements for
MPs established by the Bracks government, have outraged Turkish and
Jewish groups.

But Mr Bracks today said Ms Mikakos, one of two members for the safe
Jika Jika province in Melbourne’s north, was free to make the speech.

“Free speech is something that we uphold, and I understand that,
and the freedom to criticise someone who makes a statement is also
appropriate as well,” he told Southern Cross Broadcasting.

“As to the interpretation of those events, that is a matter which,
really, other people can judge, but this is something she obviously
felt passionate about.

“It’s up to her. She is a member of parliament who can submit those
things to the parliament.

“But equally, people have the right to vigorously disagree with her
point of view.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HIGH-RANKING REPRESENTATIVES OF USA STATE DEPARTMENT CLAIM OF THEIR OPTIMISM CONCERNING AGREEMENT ACHIEVEMENT FOR KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

Yerevan, May 17. ArmInfo. High-ranking officials of the USA State
Department claim of their optimism concerning achievement of agreement
between Armenia and Azerbaijan for the Karabakh conflict settlement,
the “Svoboda” Radio Station informs with reference to the “Associated
Press”.

“The parties are close to the agreement achievement as never before”,
the USA deputy State Secretary on issues of Europe and Asia Matthew
Brise said during the meeting with the members of the Armenia’s
support group of the USA Congress. He noted that the governments of
Armenia and Azerbaijan have to show political courage to eliminate
the last disagreements. “We consider the coming months as a real
“window of possibilities””, Matthew Brise said.

According to another high-ranking representative of the State
Department, David Appleton, one of the evidences of progress is
the fact that Azerbaijan appealed to the UN Agency for Problems of
Refugees with a request to develop programs of return of the forced
migrants after the conflict settlement.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

INCIDENTS LORS D’UN PROCèS CONTRE UN JOURNALISTE ARMENIEN DE TURQUIE

Agence France Presse
16 mai 2006 mardi 12:11 PM GMT

Un procès contre le journaliste turc d’origine armenienne, Hrant Dink,
accuse de “tentative d’influencer la justice” pour avoir commente ses
propres demeles judiciaires, a ete suspendu mardi a Istanbul après que
des nationalistes eurent provoque des incidents, a indique son avocate.

L’audience a ete fortement perturbee par un groupe de juristes
nationalistes a l’origine des poursuites, au point d’obliger la cour
a reporter le procès au 4 juillet, a affirme par telephone a l’AFP
Me Fethiye Cetin.

“Kemal Kerincsiz (president de l’Union des juristes nationalistes,
ndlr) et son equipe sont venus en nombre, ils nous ont agresse aussi
bien physiquement que verbalement”, a declare Mme Cetin, qui n’a
pas pu donner de plus amples details, expliquant qu’elle etait sous
protection policière.

“Quand je suis rentre, ils s’en sont pris a moi, ils ont crie ‘fiche
le camp de ce pays’ et m’ont crache dessus”, a explique a l’AFP M.

Dink, ajoutant qu’il avait du quitter le tribunal par la porte de
derrière et sous escorte policière.

La police a egalement dû intervenir a la demande de la cour pour
empecher des militants nationalistes d’entrer dans la salle d’audience.

A l’exterieur du tribunal, une cinquantaine de manifestants d’extreme
droite se sont battus avec une quinzaine de militants de gauche venus
soutenir M. Dink aux cris de “ce sont nos intellectuels, nos peuples
sont frères”, a constate un photographe de l’AFP.

M. Dink, redacteur en chef du quotidien bilingue turc-armenien Agos,
et trois autres membres de la redaction encourent jusqu’a trois ans
de prison pour s’etre interroges en octobre dans leurs colonnes sur
le fonctionnement de la justice turque.

L’article en question faisait suite a la condamnation de M. Dink a
six mois de prison avec sursis pour “insulte a l’identite turque”.

M. Dink etait poursuivi pour un article paru en 2004 dans son journal
consacre a la memoire collective des massacres d’Armeniens commis
entre 1915 et 1917 en Anatolie.

La question armenienne est très sensible en Turquie, qui estime
inapproprie l’emploi du terme genocide pour definir les evenements
qui se sont deroules dans les dernières annees de l’Empire ottoman.

Plusieurs pays ont qualifie les massacres de genocide.

–Boundary_(ID_oKX/Zk+Z6ETYeRO3fR1syg)- –

TURCHIA: GENOCIDIO ARMENO, ANKARA METTE IN GUARDIA PARIGI

ANSA Notiziario Generale in Italiano
May 17, 2006

Domani Parlamento Francese Vota Su Progetto Di Legge

(ANSA) – ANKARA, 17 GIU – Il ministero degli esteri turco ha oggi
messo in guardia la Francia lasciando intendere chiaramente che
un’eventuale approvazione domani al Parlamento di Parigi di una legge
che prevede sanzioni contro chi negasse il genocidio degli armeni,
potrebbe inficiare le relazioni tra i due paesi.

“Noi ci aspettiamo che la Francia non consenta alcuna iniziativa che
possa danneggiare le nostre relazioni storiche.

Noi sappiamo che il governo ed il popolo francese condividono il nostro
punto di vista. Ci aspettiamo percio’ che il parlamento francese
respinga il progetto di legge che prevede sanzioni per coloro che
negano il cosidetto genocidio armeno”, ha dichiarato questo pomeriggio
il portavoce del ministero degli esteri, Namik Tan.

Nei giorni scorsi diversi esponenti del governo turco avevano
stigmatizzato il progetto di legge osservando tra l’altro che esso,
se approvato, introdurrebbe in Francia un reato di opinione.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress