Author: Emil Lazarian

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT MET WITH EU SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR SOUTH CAUCASUS
Pan Armenian News
29.09.2005 04:30
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian met with
EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Heikki Talvitie,
reported the Press Service of the Armenian leader. In the course
of the meeting the parties discussed issues referring to the
practical program of cooperation within the European Neighborhood
Policy. Besides, the interlocutors discussed the process of settlement
of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, as well as regional issues and
development. R. Kocharian and H. Talvitie touched upon constitutional
reforms in Armenia, emphasizing their importance and considering them
a new opportunity to promote and strengthen democracy in Armenia.

PARLIAMENT POSTPONES RATIFYING TURKEY’S CUSTOMS UNION
Cyprus Mail, Cyprus
Sept 29 2005
FRUSTRATED over Turkey’s refusal to recognise Cyprus, the European
Parliament yesterday postponed a vote to ratify Turkey’s customs
union with the EU, a requirement of Ankara’s bid for membership in
the 25-member bloc.
Days before the scheduled start of EU membership talks, MEPs also
called on Ankara to recognise the 1915-1923 killings of Armenians as
a genocide, which Turkey vehemently denies.
The Turkish lira and stock market lost ground on the events, although
traders said they did not believe the October 3 opening of accession
talks was at risk.
The EU legislature has no say over the start or conduct of the talks
but its assent is needed before Turkey can join, which is at least
a decade away.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan immediately dismissed the
non-binding European resolution on the killings of Armenians, saying:
“It does not matter whether they took such a decision or not. We will
continue on our way,” according to private CNN-Turk television.
MEPs said in their resolution that recognition of the 1915-1923
killings as genocide should be a prerequisite for Turkey to join the
European Union.
Armenians say that 1.5 million of their countrymen were killed by
Ottoman Turks around the time of the First World War, which Armenians
and several nations around the world recognise as the first genocide
of the 20th century.
Turkey denies that the massacres were genocide, saying the death toll
is inflated and Armenians were killed in civil unrest as the Ottoman
Empire collapsed.
The EU Parliament voted 311-285 to postpone the customs union
ratification vote at the request of conservative MEPs. There were
63 abstentions.
EU governments meanwhile remained deadlocked on the mandate for the
talks, with Austria seeking a more explicit mention of an alternative
to full membership.
EU foreign ministers will have to hold an emergency meeting on Sunday
in Luxembourg, hours before negotiations are to start, unless their
ambassadors clinch a deal earlier in Brussels.
The opening ceremony could slip to Monday evening because Turkish
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will not board a plane until the
EU ministers have formally endorsed a framework for negotiations,
diplomats said.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, whose country holds the
revolving EU presidency, said it would be “a huge betrayal of the
hopes and expectations of the Turkish people and of Prime Minister
Erdogan’s programme of reform if, at the crucial time, we turned our
back on Turkey”.
The EU legislature demanded that Turkey recognise EU member Cyprus
soon and said negotiations could be suspended unless it granted access
to Cypriot aircraft and shipping by next year.
The vote by the parliament followed an emotional debate in which many
deputies attacked Turkey’s record on human rights, religious freedom
and minorities, reflecting widespread public hostility to the poor,
populous nation ever joining the bloc.
Greens party leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit caused an uproar by accusing
some right-wing critics of Turkey of “surfing on a wave of racism”.
The ballot’s delay will have no effect on the starting date for
Turkey’s accession negotiations, scheduled for October 3. The
assembly had already postponed its vote earlier this month, when
the parliament’s foreign affairs committee argued the customs union
would not work unless Turkey agreed to allow Cyprus to use its ports
or airports.
In July, Turkey signed an agreement to widen the customs union with
the EU to include Cyprus and nine other new EU members. But Ankara
said this did not amount to recognition of Cyprus.
EU governments issued a counter-declaration last week, warning that
failure to recognise Cyprus could paralyse Turkey’s EU entry talks.
European People’s Party chairman Hans-Gert Poettering said Turkey’s
position was “logically and politically unacceptable.” “We want … a
statement from Turkey saying non-recognition of Cyprus will not be
part of the ratification process (in the Turkish parliament),” he said.
“We haven’t received such a statement.” EU expansion chief Olli Rehn
said he regrets the parliament’s decision to postpone.
During the assembly’s debate, Martin Schulz, chairman the Socialists
in the Parliament, accused the conservatives of not wanting Turkey
in the EU.
“It would be better for you to say clearly: We don’t want Turkey in
the EU. You’re skirting the message,” Schulz said.
In their resolution, MEPs also voiced concern about criminal
proceedings against Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, who was charged with
insulting the country’s national character after making comments on
Turkey’s killing of Armenians and Kurds. He could face up to three
years in prison.
Some EU countries, including Germany, homeland of many of the MEPs
who sought postponement, advocate the idea of a privileged partnership
for Turkey rather than full membership.
A new draft text outlining negotiating guidelines for Turkey’s entry
talks had still not been finalised due to strong objections by Austria.
Vienna is also demanding the EU offer Turkey a privileged
partnership. An Austrian diplomat said Vienna’s demand has yet to be
met. All 25 nations must agree on the EU’s position before talks begin.
But Ankara reacted sharply, saying any deviation from full membership
would be unacceptable.

CALL FOR AUTONOMY SPARKS CONCERN
The Messenger, Georgia
Sept 29 2005
Calls this month by the Akhalkalaki-based Armenian organizations
Javakhk and Virk demanding that Javakheti region be granted autonomy
and its own parliament have revived Georgia’s deep-seated paranoia
over separatism.
The organizations are trying to give their entreaty a peaceful and
constructive character and have argued simply that if Tbilisi is
offering similar perks to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, why not to
other regions. But as Georgia’s history shows, the idea of autonomy
has involved at best simmering rivalry toward the central government
(as in the case of Aslan Abashidze’s Adjara) and at worse bloody
conflict. The forum that was held in Akhalkalaki irritated the Georgian
media and was regarded by many as an event staged by Moscow.
Reactionary print media, in turn, has called on the government to
pay serious attention to statements.
Russians did not believe for a long time that they would ever have to
withdraw their military bases from Georgian territory, assuming that
the local Armenian population would never stand for the withdrawal of
the Russian military bases from Akhalkalaki as the base represented
a security guarantee and an important source of income.
But now it is clear that the Russian military base is to finally leave
Akhalkalaki by 2008. In the meantime, the Georgian government tries
to diffuse any unrest among the local population. Some time ago the
Russian newspaper Nezavisimaia Gazeta wrote that: “There are fears
in Tbilisi that separatist sentiment among the Armenians living in
Javakheti can be strengthened and in response, the government tries
to increase financial support for the region’s development.”
The argument that the withdrawal of the Russian bases from Akhalkalaki
will deprive the local population of their main source of income has
already been rebutted. President Mikheil Saakashvili has announced
a program whereby the Ministry of Defense will purchase foodstuffs
from Javakheti farmers in order to provide larder for the Georgian
army. What is more, USD 102 million of the sum to be received from the
U.S. Millennium Challenge program will be spent for the development
of the Javakheti transport infrastructure. It is also planned to put
investments in the region for the purpose of creating new jobs. It
can be safely said that at this point, no other region of Georgia is
receiving so much long-term economic attention.
But all of this is of little meaning for those forces in the region
for whom socioeconomic problems only provided rhetorical fodder for
their demands for separatism. On September 24 Javakhk and Virk held
their third forum in Akhalkalaki. The forum representatives were
dissatisfied with the increased number of Georgian-language schools
in the region and the possibility of Javakheti’s Georgian population
increasing. They stated that in order to overcome these tendencies,
Javakheti should be separated from the other parts of Georgia.
The authors of the resolution adopted in Akhalkalaki state that the
Georgian government makes representatives of ethnic minorities live
in unequal conditions. Moreover the authorities have proposed models
for autonomy to minorities in conflict zones that they do not offer
to other ethnicities who constitute a majority in other regions.
Representatives of Javakhk and Virk have not decided yet what to
demand – autonomy for the region, or to pin their hopes on the
establishment of a Georgian federation and becoming a constituent
entity of said federation.
“This can be autonomy, but if there is no autonomy then there can be
a region with the rights of autonomy with its own constitution. It
should be distinguished just what rights the region will have. I
propose that this region should have its own parliament, government
and laws,” stated representative of Javakhk Manvel Saltenian, as
quoted by Kronika, whereas Virk member Khachatur Stepanian demanded
that Javakheti be given the status of “federation subject.”
In Georgia many suspect that Russia stood behind the Akhalkalaki
forum. This “Third Power,” Kronika writes, “is not going to accept the
loss of Georgia and after Samachablo and Abkhazia now seeks to create
the next hot spot, now in the South.” The heads of the Akhalkalaki
forum themselves deny the existence of any “Russian trail.” They also
claim not to be separatists and state that they are acting entirely
within the frames of Georgian legislation. Khachatur Stepanian, who
also chairs the Council of Armenian Organizations, stated that the
decisions of the form are in complete compliance with the European
Convention of Defending the Rights of Ethnic Minorities, reports the
newspaper Kviris Palitra.
Such demonstrations however have been labeled in the Georgian media as
“acts against Georgia.” “Regardless of whether Russia is controlling
these actions in Georgia or not, it has recently become clear that
some representatives of the ethnic minorities that are sheltered in
our territory are not hiding their cynical attitude towards Georgian
state interests,” writes the newspaper Kviris Palitra. “Stepanian
and Saltenian should not hold their breath for Georgian society to
agree to the establishment of Armenian autonomy,” writes the newspaper
Akhali Taoba.
Representatives of the Georgian government have stated that there
is no cause for alarm yet. They are supported by the fact that
only a small group of people signed the resolution adopted at the
Akhalkalaki forum. But far more people in Javakheti, and throughout
Georgian regions, would agree that more must be done to develop the
country outside of the capital.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI ELECTION: RIVALS SLAM OPPOSITION BLOC FOR UNSANCTIONED DEMOS
Azerbaijani TV Channel One, Baku, in Azeri
26 Sep 05
The parliamentary election campaign in Azerbaijan continued on Monday
26 September with free and paid election broadcasts on state
television.
A paid electoral advertisement for parliamentary candidate, Farhad
Qaribov, head of the Azari Holding financial and industrial group,
described him as a hardworking person who loves his country and
parents and praised him for donating money to charity.
After that, Malahat Hasanova, a parliamentary candidate from the
ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP), said in her free election
broadcast that the party follows the path of Heydar Aliyev which is
the path of truth. She praised the late ex-President Heydar Aliyev
for saving the country from a civil war, establishing a cease-fire
with Armenia and starting economic development in the country. Major
oil and gas projects such as Baku-Ceyhan and Baku-Erzurum which were
signed under Aliyev, as well as the Silk Road and TRACECA (Transport
Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia) projects guarantee the country’s
economic development and security, she stressed.
In turn, Agacan Xosrovov, a candidate from the opposition Liberal
Party, promised to solve problems if elected to parliament. He also
said that no conditions have been created in Lankaran for him to meet
his voters.
After that, a candidate from the Azadliq election bloc, Malahat
Mursudlu, criticized the ruling party candidates for advertising
things that do not exist. People should have the right to influence
decision-making and everyone should be equal before the law, she
said. Mursudlu also invited people to attend the bloc’s rally on
Cafar Cabbarli Square in central Baku on 1 October.
Araz Alizada from the Yeni Siyasat opposition bloc criticized his
rivals for illegal actions and violence. He called for reconciliation
which he believes can help liberate Karabakh. Speaking about the
leader of the bloc, ex-President Ayaz Mutallibov who lives in exile
in Russia, Alizada said that President Aliyev wants reconciliation
and will resolve the issue of Mutallibov’s return to Azerbaijan.
Bahar Muradova, another candidate from the New Azerbaijan Party,
accused the opposition of provocations. In her paid election
broadcast, she said that “the radical opposition” does not like it
when campaigning is progressing successfully and for this reason, is
trying to destabilize the situation in Baku. Citing the 25 September
rally as an example, she said that the opposition agreed to talks
with the authorities only after the US embassy advised them to do so,
but the talks failed through the opposition’s fault. And they want to
hold a rally in a densely-populated area in central Baku again, she
said. The aim is to organize a provocation so that pressure is
exerted on the authorities later on, Muradova added. She called on
young people not to support these forces and vote for the NAP and
President Ilham Aliyev.
Meanwhile, Sevinc Huseynova, another candidate from the NAP, used her
paid election broadcast to appeal to President Aliyev and his wife.
She complained about the executive authorities in her constituency in
Samux District, which she said are ignoring the presidential decree
on improving electoral practices and illegally campaigning for one of
the candidates. I believe that you will create conditions for a free
and fair election, she said in conclusion.
At the same time, Ayyub Ayyubov from the Unity bloc praised President
Aliyev for his policy and said that all problems facing the country
could be resolved through national unity.
The United People’s Front of Azerbaijan Party used their paid
election broadcast to advertise party candidate Niyamaddin Orduxanov.
After that, Mammad Alizada, a candidate from the Islahat (Reform)
bloc, praised Heydar Aliyev for developing the market economy in the
country. In his paid election broadcast, he also criticized the
opposition for being puppets in the hands of foreign countries and
for serving those who do no want Azerbaijan to conduct an independent
policy. He called on voters to fight “these scoundrels”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A1+
| 18:08:42 | 28-09-2005 | Social |
WHO NEEDS FINANCING?
The President of Equatorial Guinea has already made friends with the head of
the Union of Armenians of Russia Ara Abrahamyan and will soon arrive in
Moscow as his personal guest.
This is the last thing Ara Abrahamyan is doing in return to the setting free
of the Armenian pilots imprisoned in Guinea. Before that an investment of 2
million USD was made for the construction of the Guinea irrigation system.
In the margins of the program `Days of the Union of Armenians of Russia in
Armenia and Artsakh’ a delegation of 500 people has arrived in Yerevan –
writers, scientists, pupils, etc. The Union of Armenians of Russia is
celebrating its 5th anniversary this year. In the press conference rendered
today Ara Abrahamyan said that as a non-governmental organization «they did
what they could for the past 5 years».
According to him, they gave the Armenians of Russia the most important thing
– hope, alongside with financial aid and advice. And in Armenia they
realized several programs.
Asked the question of Ara Abrahamyan is going to actively participate in the
political life in Armenia he said, «I do not have the right, besides, there
are too many people involved in politics in Armenia». Nevertheless, he did
not exclude the possibility of indirect participation, that is – financing
of a political power in case of need.

Bishop to pay visit to Toronto
Armenian leader last here in ’01
20,000 in Toronto prepare welcome
Toronto Star
Sep. 29, 2005
CHRISTIAN COTRONEO
STAFF REPORTER
The spiritual leader of Armenians throughout the world is coming to Toronto.
And nowhere was it more evident yesterday than in an unlikely bastion of
Armenian pride wedged between Highway 401 and the strip malls, high-rises
and office buildings that flank Victoria Park Ave.
While a trio of women potted fresh flowers outside St. Mary Armenian
Apostolic Church, another dozen or so busied themselves inside, cleaning and
freshening up the building.
Aram I, chief bishop and supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church,
arrives in Toronto Friday for a six-day visit.
In a room tucked inside the church’s basement, Meghrig Parikian is holding
his excitement in his hands. The priest has prepared a book with a golden
cover to commemorate the visit.
“It’s in Armenian,” he says, opening it. “But you can get an idea with some
of the pictures.”
And so the Lebanese-born Parikian takes his time, lingering over every
picture of the holy man that was once his teacher.
As the pages turn, so does Aram’s life, from a boy on a bicycle in Lebanon,
where Aram and the church’s headquarters are based today, to student, to
leader of the Armenian Orthodox faith.
The later pages tell of a peacemaker – a man standing alongside everyone
from Pope John Paul II and the Archbishop of Canterbury, to world leaders
from France to Ethiopia. The Catholicos of Cilicia, as he is formally
called, serves as moderator of the central and executive committees of the
World Council of Churches, and is renowned for reaching across faiths, a
tireless builder of bridges.
In Armenia, which in the early fourth century became the first nation to
declare Christianity its official religion, there’s still a lot of peace to
be made. Years after breaking loose from the Soviet Union in 1991, the
country has yet to reconcile with its long history of oppression.
During what’s come to be known as the Genocide of 1915, millions of
Armenians were rounded up by the Turkish government, worked to death or
marched into the open-air coffin known as the Syrian Desert. Not long after,
the region fell under Soviet control.
Although the Soviet era has long ended, the people of Armenia face an
uncertain democracy under the heavy-handed regime of President Robert
Kocharian. Allegations of corruption and brutality have dogged his
presidency, spurring about a million people to leave the country, mostly for
Russia, since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Which brings one burning question to mind. Why visit Toronto – twice, even,
since 2001?
After all, the city’s Armenian community of 20,000 is tiny compared with
some in the U.S.
“Canada is considered one of the most active diasporas around the world,
with its religious activities and achievements,” explains Aris Babikian, a
volunteer at the Armenian Community Centre who is helping co-ordinate the
Catholicos’s visit. “That’s why Canada is always considered an important
stop for any Armenian religious or political leaders.”
Indeed, the community’s little patch in North York, where Aram will lead
services on Sunday, has expanded since the leader’s last visit. Most
notably, there’s a new Orthodox high school across from the church and
community centre.
A tour, Parikian said, will most certainly be in order.
But at the moment, Parikian is just finishing his picture tour of Aram’s
life. Before closing the book, he lingers on an image of his mentor offering
a candid grin to a little boy in his arms.
“He so loves kids,” Parikian says. “And I love this picture so much.”
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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES TALKS WITH TURKEY
Expatica, Netherlands
Sept 28 2005
STRASBOURG – Despite concerns about Cyprus and human rights, the
European Parliament on Wednesday formally approved opening negotiations
with Turkey for membership in the European Union.
In a resolution adopted by 365 votes in favour, 181 against and
125 abstentions, the Parliament officially declared that accession
negotiations between the E.U. and Ankara can start on October 3,
as foreseen.
However, European deputies also approved, by a narrow margin,
a proposal by centre-right wing factions to postpone the vote on
approving the protocol extending Turkey’s customs union with the E.U.
and all its members, including Cyprus.
Although Turkey approved the customs
union with all 25 members, it added an appendix which said that this
did not signify recognition of the Greek-led government of Cyprus.
The appendix, the Parliament declared in the resolution, “cast serious
doubts on (Turkey’s) willingness to fully implement all provisions”
of the customs union protocol.
The European Commission is therefore to assess at the end of 2006 if
Ankara has fully implemented the protocol. If not, it could lead to
a cessation of the negotiations.
Turkey occupied the northern part of Cyprus in 1974 in protest at
a Greek-Cypriot coup on the island and is the only country not to
recognize the Republic of Cyprus. Ankara recognizes the Turkish-
Cypriot north of Cyprus as the island’s only legitimate government.
The European Parliament also voiced its concern about criminal
proceedings against Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, who has been charged
with public denigration of Turkish identity for telling a newspaper,
“Thirty thousand Kurds were killed here, one million Armenians as
well. And almost no one talks about it.”
It also raised questions about an article in the Turkish penal code
that criminalizes “acts against fundamental national interests”.
In the debate before the vote, British Minister for Europe Douglas
Alexander, speaking on behalf of the E.U. presidency, said Turkey
still has a lot to do to reach European standards.
However, he noted that thanks to its desire to join the E.U., Ankara
had already achieved impressive progress.
E.U. Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn said that the bloc needs
a stable, democratic and increasingly prosperous Turkey that accepts
European values, which is why it was decided to start accession talks.
“The E.U. expects the full implementation of the additional protocol,
including (the removal of) all obstacles to the free movement of
goods,” Rehn said.
Several deputies called on Ankara not to wait until the end of
accession negotiations – which could last up to 15 years – before
recognizing Cyprus.
Social-democrat faction leader Martin Schulz of Germany’s SPD party
said, “It can not be that a country applies for membership but does
not recognize all member states.
Speaking in favour of Turkey’s accession to the E.U., British
parliamentarian Andrew Duff said, “It is extraordinary that those who
have profited so much from E.U. integration in terms of prosperity,
security and liberal democracy should refuse to extend these prizes
to Turkey.”
Duff also argued that the Cyprus issue could not be resolved if Turkey
is not allowed to join the Union.
However, another British deputy, Roger Helmer, supported the proposal
of conservative German politician and possible future Chancellor
Angela Merkel, who has called for a privileged partnership for Turkey,
rather than full E.U. membership.
The key condition, he said, should be “democratic accountability”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

INTEGRATION BUT NOT ASSIMILATION
By Tatoul Hakobian
AZG Armenian Daily #173
28/09/2005
Diaspora
NGOs of Javakhk Demand Wide Autonomy Within Georgia
On September 23-24, the Armenian NGOs of Samtskhe-Javakhk region held
their 3d assembly in Akhalkalak within the frameworks of “Integration
but not Assimilation” initiative. The assembly adopted a resolution at
the end of the meeting. In a phone conversation with Azg, head of Virq
Party, Davit Rstakian, informed that a number of active organizations
of Javakhk took part in the assembly (“Javakhk” movement, JEM, Akunq,
A-Info and Virq).
The resolution they passed says that “only federally united Georgia
can secure final stability in the region as well as territorial
wholeness of the country… Unbalance approach in the state structures
to national minorities can damage Georgia’s international authority
and the democratic tendencies in the country”.
The Armenian organizations of Javakhk outlined the necessary steps for
the Georgian government to take in regard to national minorities:
“Granting Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakhk and Kvemo-Kartli
regions the status of an autonomous subject within Federal Georgia
with wide autonomy including the right of holding free elections
for of all autonomous bodies; granting Armenian language the status
of official along with Georgian; appropriate subsidies from state
budget for preserving and developing the national identity, culture,
language and history of the nations living in Samtskhe-Javakhk”.
The Russian and Georgia mass media widely covered the meeting. While
Moscow stresses the demand of autonomy, Tbilisi labeled the organizers
of the assembly extremists and separatists. Davit Rstakian told Azg
that “we are the owners of this land” and “we organized this assembly”
to give truthful assessment to present problems.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkish academics break genocide taboo
Aljazeera
Features
Turkish academics break genocide taboo
By Jonathan Gorvett in Istanbul
Tuesday 27 September 2005, 15:21 Makka Time, 12:21 GMT
The recent conference in Istanbul on the controversial killing of Ottoman
Armenians in the closing stages of first world war has been widely lauded as
a breakthrough event which could strengthen accession talks with the
European Union.
“It was a major shift in the understanding here of the importance of freedom
of expression,” Ferai Tinc, a leading columnist with the Turkish daily
Hurriyet, told Aljazeera.net. “It showed a transformation in mentality.”
Others see it as a major step too on Turkey’s rocky road to European Union
membership, with talks on this due to start in just one week’s time.
The conference – held on 24 September amid cries of treachery from hardline
Turkish nationalists and resounding applause from academics, politicians and
pundits – was the first ever in Turkey to see an open discussion on the
events of 1915.
At the turn of the 20th century, Turkey’s predecessor, the Ottoman Empire,
was allied with Germany and Austria (part of the Austro-Hungarian empire)
against Britain, France and Russia.
Genocide debate
The Ottoman government, many historians say, then organised what amounted to
genocide of its ethnic Armenian population, which was considered pro-Russian
and disloyal.
But Turkish authorities have in the past 90 years denied this version of
events, saying that both Turks and Armenians were killed in chaotic
fighting.
While Ankara does concede that the Ottoman government ordered the
deportation of its ethnic Armenian population to the southeast of the
country, it insists this did not constitute genocide.
This controversy has led to heated and often violent disputes, with the
official Turkish line fiercely defended within the country, effectively
preventing public discussion of alternative points of view.
Yet this month, academics met to do just that – and were pelted with eggs
and tomatoes by hardline Turkish nationalists, who accused the professors of
betraying the country.
The conference had already been cancelled in May after the country’s justice
minister described it as a “stab in the back” by Turkish academics who were
willing to consider claims of a genocide.
Reset for September 23, at the last minute, hardline Turkish nationalists
obtained a court injunction preventing the event from being held at its
original venue.
Yet this ban was successfully got round by another Istanbul university
offering its premises – a move also seen by many as deeply significant.
Important step
“This was Turkey’s academic community asserting its independence,” says
Razmik Panossian, a leading Armenian academic and director of programmes at
the Canadian Rights and Democracy pressure group.
“They were saying ‘We’ll go ahead with this even if people are against us’.
This was a very important step to take.”
For many then, both in Turkey and elsewhere, the significance of the
weekend’s conference, which saw mainly Turkish scholars debate the record,
was not 1915, but 2005.
“The conference was not just about the Armenian issue,” says Ekyen
Mahcupyan, the ethnic Armenian director of Turkish think-tank TESEV’s
democratisation programme. “It was about Turkey showing itself and the world
that it can discuss issues like who we are and what kind of world we want to
live in.”
The conference was also taking place at a crucial time in Turkey’s bid to
become a member of the European Union.
On 3 October, accession negotiations are scheduled to begin, with Brussels
pushing Turkey to further democratise – and taking a dim view of the
controversy over the conference.
Support received
Turkish Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan and his foreign minister,
Abdullah Gul, both gave their support for the event and reacted strongly
against the court order cancelling it.
“It is obvious that Europe will be influenced in a positive way by how
things turned out,” adds Mahcupyan. “As soon as the court halted the
conference, everyone reacted – many people came forward to condemn the court
and support the event and free speech.”
The message here, many Turks believe, is that the recent democratic reforms
the current government has introduced are taking hold.
“After the reforms were introduced, there was a lot of questioning in the EU
over whether they would be implemented,” says Tinc.
“Now, the ability to hold this conference shows how the mentality has
changed, enabling the implementation of reform.”
The issue also has wider strategic implications for Turkey’s EU accession
bid. Turkey borders Armenia, yet the frontier remains closed, with no
diplomatic relations between the two.
Frozen relations
The claims over genocide are a key factor in these frozen relations –
although there is one other major issue at stake.
“Relations are being held hostage by the Nagorno Kharabakh conflict,” says
Panossian. Since war between Armenia and Turkish ally Azerbaijan resulted in
the occupation of some Azeri territory by the Armenians, Turkey has shut off
its links with its Armenian neighbour.
“Yet, from the moment the EU accession talks start, the Armenian issue will
keep coming up,” says international relations professor Gareth Winrow of
Istanbul’s Bilgi University – where the conference was eventually held.
“All EU states must have good relations with their neighbours and Turkey
must therefore find a formula for normalising its relations with Armenia.
Perhaps the hope of some Turks in the conference was to begin that process.”
That being said, the conference’s reception has not been entirely popular in
Turkey. Some see the Europeans in particular not as pushing democratic
reform along, but as trying to use the issue against Turkey.
Pressuring Turkey
“People in France and Germany and some other countries encourage the
Armenians to attack Turkey,” says Sedat Laciner , director of the
International Strategic Research Organisation in Ankara.
“They can’t find any other reason to keep Turkey out of the EU so they use
this. Western countries always used the Armenians – in World War I they did
the same thing, encouraging them to rise up against the Ottomans.”
It is a view not too dissimilar from Panossian’s. “European capitals will
use Armenia to put pressure on Ankara,” he says.
“This has been a convenient way for them to set up hurdles for Turkey ever
since the 19th century.”
Meanwhile, ordinary Turks seem largely divided on the issue.
“I don’t think it should have been allowed,” says shop worker Mert Aslan.
“There was no such genocide – it was the Turks who suffered. Nobody ever
talks about that, and to think that Turkish professors are supporting the
Armenians is a shame for us.”
By contrast, student Dicile Atacam said: “I think it’s a very good thing.
If we can’t talk freely about the past, then how can we ever understand each
other today, in the present?”

It’s Azerbaijan’s turn
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2005
By Farhad Husseinov
ANKARA — As the threat from terrorism becomes ever more acute, the
West is caught in a strategic dilemma between stability and
democratization in the Muslim world. While the pursuit of stability
has been mostly abandoned in the Middle East, it remains operative in
the Muslim countries of the former Soviet empire – as displayed until
recent times in the West’s cooperation with autocrats like
Uzbekistan’s Islam Karimov.
Azerbaijan is the latest victim of this sacrifice of freedom in the
pursuit of stability. A country of 8.5 million people – roughly half
of whom live in poverty – on the Western shores of the energy-rich
Caspian Sea, it is preparing for parliamentary elections in early
November. Baku, the capital, is the next obvious candidate for a
democratic revolution of the kind witnessed in Georgia and Ukraine. At
stake are the multibillion-dollar investments of oil giants like BP
and Chevron.
The incumbent president, Ilham Aliyev, is a Soviet-educated autocrat
who inherited power from his late father, Geidar Aliyev, in late 2003
as a result of rigged elections followed by a ruthless police
crackdown. Opposition activists were imprisoned and tortured. Yet the
creation of the first dynastic regime in the post-Soviet space was,
incongruously, blessed by the administrationof George W. Bush.
So far, Aliyev junior has proved less adept than his ex-Communist
father at playing political cat-and-mouse with Western capitals. His
regular consultations with President Vladimir Putin of Russia have not
escaped analysts’ attention. One development that apparently
infuriated Washington was the security arrangement he made with Iran
in May. This was followed by news that Azerbaijan had been used as a
conduit for supplying Russian nuclear technology to Iran.
Now that the campaign for the November elections has officially
started, efforts by the regime to steal votes are once again under
way. The main issue is the formation of election commissions dominated
by the government. The U.S. Congress and the Council of Europe demand
that these be amended to create a balance between representatives of
the government and the opposition.
Cases of harassment by the regional authorities on behalf of regime
favorites are abundant. The media – with a few embattled exceptions in
print and on the Internet – is entirely under state control. The
latest trend on Azeri TV channels is to describe opposition leaders as
either homosexual or agents of Al Qaeda. Criticism of the president
is characterized as betrayal of the motherland.
Another sign of the regime’s contempt for fair elections is the recent
reshuffling of posts within the power ministries. Hard-liners
responsible for organizing the crackdown in 2003 were rewarded with
promotions and even state medals. In this way, the government has
perpetuated a climate of arbitrariness and arrogant lawlessness.
Despite the campaign to denigrate and destroy real political
opposition, it now poses a serious challenge to the regime. Indeed,
many in Baku predict the downfall of a bankrupt government built on
corruption, nepotism, coercion and a record of political murder.
The greatest hope is invested in the newly forged Freedom Bloc, with
the pro-Western Musavat Party as its driving force, which succeeded in
holding a series of rallies across the country that the government was
compelled to allow because of domestic and international pressure. The
last such demonstration was organized in Baku on Sept. 10 and drew
about 50,000 people, many of them wearing orange shirts and waving
orange flags in an echo of the pro-democracy rallies in Ukraine last
year.
In today’s globalized world, democracy requires support from
without. The Bush administration’s “freedom agenda” is a praiseworthy
step in this regard. It should, however, also be extended to illiberal
countries that possess oil or host a NATO military base. Democratic
turnover in the post-Soviet states is not Western imperialism by
another name, as some would like us to believe. What they represent,
rather, is a shift toward the rule of law, democracy and national
reconciliation.
Azerbaijan presents the next opportunity for Western leaders to prove
their commitment to the founding principles of their own
nation-states. With time, this moral choice will prove to be a smart
strategic choice as well.
As for Putin, instead of bemoaning his country’s imperial past, he
should be the first to desire the creation of a progressive and
liberal space around it, as this would benefit no state more than
Russia itself.
Farhad Husseinov is professor of economics at Bilkent
University in Ankara and a pro-democracy activist in Azerbaijan.