Author: Hambardsumian Paul

POST-SOVIET STATES DELEGATIONS FEEL ALIEN IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.02.2009 18:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Becoming a member of an international organization,
a country voluntarily undertakes commitments to the given structure,
an Armenian MP said.

"After the USSR decline, post-soviet states did not have alternative to
international organizations. However, given its geopolitical authority,
the Russian Federation can be bolder during international discussions
than other post-soviet delegations," Armen Ashotyan, chairman of the
RA NA standing committee on education, science, culture and sports,
said during today’s "Membership in international organizations:
a tool of pressure on sovereign states or support to democracy
development?" TV space bridge.

At the same time he emphasized that delegations from CIS countries
should still learn to work within international structures. "A joint
campaign is needed to make Europeans revise their engaged opinion on
the CIS countries," Ashotyan said.

DEPUTY HEAD OF THE ARMENIAN POLICE GEVORK MHERYAN KILLED

ArmInfo
2009-02-03 21:59:00

ArmInfo. Deputy Head of the Armenian Police, Colonel Gevork Mheryan,
who curated the passport and visa issues, was killed yesterday at 8:30
PM at the door of his flat in Barbyus Street. The killer shot at the
head of Mheryan when the latter was leaving the elevator. G. Mehryan
was 34 years old. He had a wife a three small children.

Prior to his appointment a deputy Head of the Armenian Police in
early July, 2008, Mheryan worked assistance of the Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan. To recall, the passport and visa sphere has become
"the first victim" of the president-announced corruption-fight which
led to mass personnel reshuffles.

The Visa and Registration Office has actually become a showpiece from
the viewpoint of an elementary order and supremacy of law available. In
view of this, the observers in Armenia connect the murder of a young
colonel with possible "signal" to the president not to take abrupt
steps. The Police of Armenia do not yet comment on the occurrence.

MEHER BABA PRAYERS SANS REFERENCE TO MEHER BABA
By M Rama Rao

Asian Tribune

Jan 3 2009
Thailand

Meherabad (Ahmednagar, India), 03February (Asiantribune.com):
The annual congregation of Meher Baba followers is just over. And
Meherabad, the venue for the gathering has returned to its old sleepy
ways. It will come alive once again later this month when the birthday
of Meher Baba is celebrated on February 25.

The birthday is generally a low key affair for reasons unclear.

‘No huge turnout is expected’, say the local residents but they
are unanimous that ‘new comers’ are dominating the gatherings these
days. New comer is a euphemism for neo-converts to the Meher Baba path.

But Meher Baba did not propound a new religion or new creed, according
to V.S Kalchuri, (Bhau to every one), the chairman of the Trust that
overseas the assets created in and around Meherabad

Interestingly, the prayers Meher Baba followers recite every day also
don’t carry Meher Baba’s name. These prayers are given by Baba himself
in the fifties and are recited at every gathering of his followers and
every time a function like Amartithi (Baba’s death anniversary) is held

Says Bhau ‘ Meher Baba gave two prayers – one a Universal Prayer
addressed to God, the Almighty, and the other Prayer of Repentance
for the daily inability to live up to God’s wish. Both prayers were
recited in his presence by his devotees when he was alive’.

Why there is no reference to Meher Baba, the Avatar as he himself
proclaimed? The question appears to puzzle many followers of Meher
Baba. Old as well as new, whose number is swelling. And it was put
to Bhau at the post-Amartithi gathering in Meherabad itself.

He began his reply saying "It (the doubt) is an important question".

According to him, the Universal Prayer to the Parvardigar is an ode
to the attributes of God in all his manifestations, his non-duality,
his status as preserver and protector and all other infinite attributes
God is known to have been associated with.

The Repentance Prayer, likewise, is an earnest appeal of the seeker to
the God for forgiveness for his constant failures to think, speak and
act in the way God wants us to live, speak and act without backbiting
others, without a lustful thought and without speaking a lie.

"You are right both prayers don’t refer to any one particular
Avatar. But then where is the need when the Avatar himself had dictated
the prayer", asked Bhau.

In the same breath, the lone surviving Mandali (Baba’s close circle
who lived with him) member pointed out that reference to Meher Baba
comes prominently in a small prayer, Baba had given to his Mandali.

Like the other two prayers, this prayer is addressed to the God. Where
it differs is in its direct appeal to God to help the seeker to hold
fast to Baba’s daman. It urges the Almighty to help the ‘seeker’
in loving god ‘more and more and still yet more’.

Why this special stress on ‘love’?

‘Because God is absolutely independent. The only way to approach God
is through love, constant repetition of His name and invocation of
His Mercy’, according to Lord Meher, the biography of Meher Baba.

So much so, why ‘conversions’ to Meher Baba path as they say.

I put this question to a group of Armenians who had come to attend
the Amartithi. They are all Christians. And in fact they are proud
to be Christians.

Armenians are found in Armenia as also Iran which is their second
home. ‘In a way we hold dual citizenship as some of us are born in
Iran’, said Joseph, a software expert, who leads the group of Armenian
Baba lovers in Teheran.

‘Where did Baba ask us to give up our religion’, he put a counter
question to me. Not knowing the answer, I posed the very question to
people of other nationalities besides Indians.

According to them, Meher Baba did not advice anyone to give up his or
her faith, religion or religious practices. What all he said was he
is the Avatar and to love him and to repeat his name would suffice. ‘I
am God .100 per cent. So, there is nothing beside me. Therefore think
only of me and constantly repeat my name every second, every moment. If
it becomes natural in your sub-consciousness, automatically it will
come out during moments of difficulty to help and save you’.

‘There is no Sadhana greater than love. There is no law higher than
love. And there is no goal beyond love. God and love are identical’,
remarks Mohsen Khatami, quoting Meher Baba. A broadcaster by profession
and temperament, Mohsen relocated himself from Iran to India some
years ago. He presently stays in Meherabad and spends his days glued
to Internet.

How did he hear about Meher Baba, I asked Joseph. I was also keen to
know how and why he accepted Meher Baba. For the first question he
gave a direct reply. He heard about Baba from his friends and learnt
more about the new god through books. For the second question, he
offered no direct reply. Like fellow Meher Baba lovers, he said it
was an intense internal feeling.

The journalist in me pressed him. But failed to make him open up. And
many others at Meherabad. It appears that Meher Baba had told them
not to speak about one’s experience. Why? ‘It is possible we could be
misunderstood, or not understood at all. More over an experience is
some thing personal to be cherished and not distributed as a sweet’,
remarked a Baba lover, who said, he had not seen Baba but came into
Baba-fold as a ‘long lost lover’ some seven years ago.

Muncher and Ferozie Wadia (Manuchehr and Firuzeh to go by their
original Parsi names) have no such reservations. Both have survived
a nightmarish experience in Mumbai on the day of their 14th wedding
anniversary on November 26.

About it in their own words.

‘A friend of ours who works for the Taj gave us a free night in the
Palace wing on the 6th floor of the Taj Mahal Hotel. We were to get a
sea facing suite but the person who was to check out was delayed. Our
room then was a pool facing room facing the back (in the end it proved
to be lucky as the sea facing rooms were badly gutted)

‘We checked into the room after a heavy lunch at the Thai
Pavillion. … For dinner we were toying between going down to the
Shamiana (Coffee shop) and just staying in the room and ordering
room service. We decided to stay back as we were quite exhausted
after the walk and were feeling lazy too. We opened a bottle of wine
and were listening to music. A short while later we got a SMS from
a friend telling us to be careful as there was some shooting going
on at Colaba. We switched on the TV and saw reports of a shoot out
at Leopold cafe. Within minutes the cable TV went off.

‘We then heard gunshots in our own hotel on our floor. At first we
thought they were fire crackers. Later we realised they were gun shots
which were being fired quite close to our room on our floor. By this
time friends had also started to call us and alert us about the shoot
out going on in our hotel. The shooting went on for two to three hours
on our floor. We kept moving from the bathroom to the balcony. Our
friends kept calling us and updating us ….. Friends were calling us
from all over the world and praying for us. Friends were also sending
various prayers ranging from Sai Baba, Meher Baba and the Koran &
Bible. Reciting these prayers is what calmed us down and gave us hope.

‘At about three in the morning the fire started spreading towards our
room. We moved ourselves to the balcony as the thick black smoke was
filling up in our room and it was becoming very difficult to breathe
and keep our eyes open. The gunshots were still being fired from our
floor, the fire was spreading, we tried to break the windows and were
contemplating on jumping out of the window. When we looked down there
were no ledges. We could hear people screaming out for help and we
could see the fire burning in many rooms and on the terrace on the
opposite side. This was one of the worst things we saw that night
and felt terribly helpless too.

‘On hearing us trying to break open the grills with our bare hands a
man standing near the poolside spoke to us. Muncher asked him if he
was speaking to us and he said that he was speaking to everybody. He
instructed us to open our room door and run towards the left till we
reach the fire exit. We did just that! (What really seems a mystery
is how we heard this man’s voice through all the screams, firing and
blasts that were heard simultaneously?)

‘While we were running I could not see Muncher who was a foot
away from me, the smoke was so thick. Luckily the corridor lights
were on and we found the fire exit after about a hundred meters .We
started running down the stairs, in spite of gunshots being fired in
the background. When we reached the second floor the staircase was
blocked by huge steel cupboard and metal chairs stacked up. On the
right was a door leading out to an open terrace which had AC ducts
and pipes. We were not too sure about going out in the open.

‘When we tried to move the blockage we saw some bodies that may have
just been killed as the blood was still oozing out. So we changed our
minds and ran out. Luckily the army guards standing across the road
pointed out to a metal ladder which we climbed down and ran across
the road, after which we were safe. ….We are glad to be back and
grateful to god for answering all the prayers of our friends and even
people we had never met before’.

I caught up with Muncher when she was about to leave for Dubai. And
asked her whether she visited Meherabad.

She replied that they had visited Meherabad a week after 26/11 and
offered their prayers at Meher Baba’s tomb.

How and when did she hear about Meher Baba? She gave full credit
to Leopold Café (the café too was targeted by terrorists) owners,
who are her friends. ‘She (the lady owner) was away in Chennai but
she remained in touch with us on phone and SMS. She asked us to just
keep saying Meher Baba. Meher Baba and this we did

Who was that person who guided them from his pool side post? It seems
no body knows that person’s identity. In fact, there are doubts as
to whether any one could be at the poolside at that time and even if
there was one, how could he make himself heard by the family on the
sixth floor.

‘O dear it was all nothing but a miracle,’ said Muncher as she
signed off.

–Boundary_(ID_6YUGTwN3QKRYrd39Z/VXmg)–

THE DANGERS OF REJECTING TURKEY
Melik Kaylan

Forbes
dogan-turkey-nato-opinions-columnists_0203_melik_k aylan.html
Jan 3 2009
NY

Erdogan’s exclamations are the least of it.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan walked out of Davos in
a huff last week during a discussion about Gaza in which he berated
Israel and was greeted–like some gold medalist returning home–at
Istanbul airport by banner-waving supporters. For a moment, the rift
between Islam and the West appeared once again to begin at the border
between Turkey and Europe, just as it did for so many centuries.

Nothing could be further from the truth–for now. Most Turks value
their Western secular institutions, and anyway the fault-line begins
deep inside Europe itself, where insular blocs of immigrant Muslims,
from Bradford to Copenhagen, show no inclination to Westernize their
values. They are a good deal more Islamist than Turks in Turkey.

But who knows what the future holds? Every time Erdogan makes a
populist gesture against the West or Israel, he generates a Putinesque
flurry of support for himself in his country–not just among Islamists
but among Turks who resent the West for any number of grievances,
real or imagined.

These days, at a time when Muslims worldwide are in the habit
of conjuring up grievances to suit any occasion, it seems rather
unrewarding to enumerate Turkey’s. But Turkey is a hugely strategic
country, a NATO ally and a longstanding friend to the West. What Turks
do and think affects the balance of power in the world, positioned as
they are between the Middle East and Europe, between Russia and the
Arab-Islamic bloc, while serving as a conduit for trade and supplies
to Iraq in the south and Georgia in the north.

So let us consider Turkey’s perspective. To start with Erdogan’s
personal motives, the first and most important: As the global economy
tanks and brings Turkey with it, he needs to distract attention from
the bottom line.

The Turkish journalist Asli Aydintasbas noted in this section
recently that Erdogan has acquired a reputation within Turkey for
brutal and bullying flashes of temper, which he doesn’t bother to
curb even on camera. One might argue that he felt some personal
resentment toward Israelis for attacking Gaza and thereby spoiling
his painstaking efforts at peacemaking between Israel and Syria
for upward of two years. But publicly accusing Israel’s president
of being a child-murderer, as Erdogan did at Davos, does not much
advance the cause of peace, especially as, during public visits to
Turkey by the presidents of Iran and Sudan, Erdogan didn’t see fit
to mention suicide bombings or the genocide in Darfur.

No, the fact of the matter is that Erdogan was playing to the
gallery. The gallery he sees in his mind’s eye is packed with Arabs
deploying oil money, interspersed with excitable Turks aching over
Turkey’s post-Imperial powerlessness, who will sympathize with him
for venting before the world’s news media. Politically, he needs Arab
oil money to fund his Islamic political party, the AKP, and a cross
section of domestic public opinion to support his internal struggle
against the secularist military.

Comment On This Story

Since Turkey’s military has in past years made strategic alliances
with Israel, Erdogan is striking a shrewd blow against the generals
in rabble-rousing anti-Israeli sentiment. Currently, at the behest of
Erdogan’s party, Turkey’s judiciary is conducting a witch hunt against
an ever-growing number of pro-secular journalists, intellectuals
and ex-soldiers, who are accused of a highly nebulous "conspiracy"
to overthrow the constitution. No doubt, some of them will soon be
tarred with evidence of having worked too closely with Israel.

The larger issue, though, revolves not around Israel but around
Turkey’s disillusion with its friends in the West. Turkey has learned
the hard way that you cannot depend on friends if they don’t need
you, and for a while, as the Russian threat diminished, it seemed
like Turkey could be ignored. When push came to shove, decades of
membership in NATO didn’t count for much as Turks watched the 1990s
slaughter of former Ottoman-Empire cousins in the Caucasus and Balkans.

In the meantime, the U.S. didn’t fulfill its pledge to reimburse
the $100 billion the first Iraq war cost Turkey (from which war,
it should be remembered, the U.S. treasury ultimately made a
profit). Some 500,000 Kurdish refugees entered Turkey at that time,
and pretty soon the Kurdish insurgency within Turkey spiked to new
heights. Then the U.S. wanted another go-around in 2003. This time
the younger Bush administration hadn’t even bothered to consult the
Turks on the operation, while the Turkish military was perfectly
aware of clandestine U.S. co-planning with the Iraqi Kurds.

In the meantime, the E.U. clearly didn’t intend ever to accept Turkish
membership, and all over the West national assemblies kept up the
threat of Armenian Genocide bills.

Prime Minister Erdogan knows that when he plays the Islamic card,
he is also playing to the anti-Western sentiments of large numbers of
non-Islamist patriotic Turks, even leftist ones. They sense that even
after Turks have embraced the West culturally and politically for nigh
on a century, the West thinks nothing of spurning their embrace. The
Arabs, however, are delighted, as are the Iranians and the Russians.

In all of this, it doesn’t matter whether the Turks are right or
wrong, wise or ill-advised in their sense of grievance. What matters
is what happens if the West loses Turkey. The generals could step
in with a coup to right things, but they’re not feeling particularly
pro-Western either as Kurdish PKK terrorists continue to operate out
of Iraqi Kurdistan under the noses of American observers.

Iran, Russia and Syria would feel instantly emboldened at having
a flanking threat go neutral on their borders. Up north, Central
Asia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, hemmed in by Russia and Iran, would
become fully isolated. Down south Lebanon would be re-swallowed by
Syria. Mideast oil states would feel the pull of a renewed pan-Islamic
momentum, and Israel’s security would suffer directly.

That’s just for starters. In the long term, Europe would find that
it has allowed an Islamic state to burgeon again on its frontiers,
adding an external threat to its internal security woes. Imagine a
dominant country like Turkey, a Sunni one at that, adding its weight to
the nuke-swapping, jihad-spewing, crusade-invoking mentality already
at large in the region. Now imagine if the country got destabilized,
creating a kind of Pakistan as a geographical arrowhead into Europe.

Erdogan is certainly playing a dangerous game, but the West is not
in the game at all. While Russia has become Turkey’s main trading
partner, Iran a partner in the struggle to contain Kurdish separatism,
Syria ditto, and Arab oil money a major investor, the West keeps not
turning up to the dance while Turkey waits, publicly humiliated.

It won’t last. With the likes of Erdogan at the helm, the West’s loss
will be its enemies gain.

Melik Kaylan, a writer based in New York, writes a weekly column for
Forbes.com. His story "Georgia in the Time of Misha" is featured in
The Best American Travel Writing 2008

TWO SEPARATE YET RELATED ANNOUNCEMENTS
Shahan Kandaharian

Aztag Daily
Jan 30 2009
Lebanon

Our readers must have noticed that lately our spotlights have been
fixed on the announcements made by the Turkish side. Particularly
Middle Eastern issues, the highs and lows of Israeli-Turkish relations
and of course the newest manifestations of the tactical game played
with respect to the Armenian issues have formed the overall "dossier"
of the opinions and approaches publicized by official Ankara.

In certain announcements coming from different official spheres of
Turkey you can see many direct or delicate contradictions. One of the
noteworthy factors in the Turkish foreign ministry stances concerning
the Armenian issues is the newest dynamism characterized by a pretense
of "peacefullness".

We’re referring to the announcements made by the foreign minister
and prime minister of Turkey almost simultaneously. SoAli Babacanthe
foreign ministerpredicts that in 2009 the unsolved issues hanging
between Armenia and Turkey will be solved. At a first glance it’s an
extreemly naïve or simplistic announcement made on the political
platformspecially that only considering the general preconditions
set by Turkey in the current year Armenia is expected to renounce
the recognition of the Armenian Genocideto pull back the Armenian
forces out of the "occupied" territories of Azerbeijanto officially
recognize the territorial integrity of Turkeyprobably through a
special agreement. Then and only then Turkey will end the blockade
of Armenia and the two countries will be able to establish diplomatic
relations (at the end the year or before that…?)leaving the opening
of embassies till next year…

The Turkish side has got the process of resolving the unsolved issues
the other way round though. Yesterday the Turkish prime minister
announced that they are getting prepared to discuss the foundations
of establishing diplomatic relations.

We were obliged to resort to humor when presenting Babacan’s
optimism. HoweverBabacan’s optimism doesn’t seem that naïve. That
statement complies with the rules of the tactic game played here.

The motivations of the announcement and the simplistic optimism get
clearer when we read between the lines of the latest announcement
that the prime minister madeunderlining a contradiction between the
moderate Armenia and the hard-liner Diaspora. That tactic has become
classicalin this case Babacan’s announcement has one clear message:
the Turkish side has no problems with the Armenian state.

The relations are in good terms. So much so that in the eyes of the
foreign minister all issues are to be resolved this year. Without
any conditionswithout any "if"s…The explanation of the "if" or
illustration of the conditions for this smooth process is left for
the prime minister. Only if the Diaspora doesn’t spoil it!

This label of being a "spoiler" more than the Diaspora organizations is
directed to the third party nationsthose that have either recognized
the Armenian Genocide or are on the verge of doing so. In earlier
announcements Babacan had warned the political spheres of France
and the United States not to interfere in the Turkish-Armenian
relationshipswhich have set off and are prospective. Interference
clearly refers to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Now
the same thing is being said. The Diaspora organizations must put
the lobbying on hold so that in one year all the obstacles found
in the Turkish-Armenian relationships will be resolved. At the
end of this yearwaiting till the last day of this yearall of usthe
political-official-public spheres of Armenia and the Diasporawill
inquire from the foreign minister of Turkey about the announcements
he made in the beginning of the year. The answer will surely be that
which the prime minister is saying today. OtherwiseTurkey itself will
have renounced its preconditions. Hardly possible…

–Boundary_(ID_S6E/hJfRBE1uNA5sQQ7YXw )–

AZERBAIJANI PARTY CONTINUES BREAKING OF CEASE-FIRE REGIME

ArmInfo
2009-02-03 17:15:00

ArmInfo.At night from 2 to 3 February and at daytime the line of
contact between the armed forces of Nagornyy Karabakh and Azerbaijan
was broken at several sectors.

As ArmInfo special correspondent reported from Stepanakert, according
to the information of the NKR Defence Ministry, Azerbaijani army
fired at the Karabakhi positions in Hudrut, Askeran and Mardakert
defence sectors. After the actions of subdivisions of the NKR army
in respond, the enemy stopped firing. No serviceman died as a result
of the cease-fire breaking by the Azerbaijani party.

NewsReleaseWire.com (press release)
Jan 30 2009

Turkey’s Glass House

Chicago, IL January 30 2009

Winston Mid East Analysis & Commentary January 30, 2009

Turkey’s Glass House by Emanuel A. Winston, Mid East analyst &
commentator

The old homily of not throwing stones if you live in a glass house was
certainly appropo for Turkey January 29th. Turkey’s Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan stormed out of the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland.

Erdogan literally screamed at Israel’s President Shimon Peres for
Israel finally retaliating against the Hamas in Gaza. He said: `When
it comes to killing, you know well how to kill.’ and he stormed off
the stage. (1) President Shimon Peres responded in an apologetic way,
saying: `What would you do if your people were subjected to Rockets
daily?’ Therein lies the crux of the problem. (2)

Turkey (under the Ottoman Empire) has an indelible history of planning
and implementing a Genocide (before the word, Genocide, was coined to
describe Hitler’s Holocaust). Turkey used its army to massacre over a
million to 1,500,000 Armenian citizens of Turkey. Men, women and
children were slaughtered in every way possible – not unlike Hitler’s
Genocide against the Jews.

`The Armenian Genocide of 1915 carried out by the Ottoman Empire is a
historical fact attested to by eyewitness survivors, journalists,
foreign ministers, telegrams, and photos. Despite Turkish denials, it
is unanimously verified by the International Association of Genocide
Scholars and accepted by nations that uphold moral responsibility
above political gain.’ (3)

Erdogan accused Israel of killing Hamas Palestinians but neglected to
state how or why.

‘Erdogan’s remarks aid anti-Semitism’ by Haviv Rettig Gur, THE
JERUSALEM POST Jan. 29, 2009

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is encouraging expressions
of anti-Semitism in his country by espousing biased views and
wholeheartedly accepting the Hamas narrative of the recent Gaza
fighting, a senior Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post on
Wednesday.

Erdogan blasted Israel throughout the fighting, called on it to be
barred from the UN, accused it of using white phosphorus against Gaza
civilians and charged it with other "inhuman actions which would bring
it to self-destruction. Allah will sooner or later punish those who
transgress the rights of innocents."

Yet during the fighting, Erdogan "did not utter one word that placed
even one percent of the responsibility for the conflict on Hamas,"
said the Israeli official. "He has utterly adopted the Hamas
narrative." (4)

Erdogan ignored the more recent Turkish atrocities against the Kurds
where Turkish aircraft attacked both in Turkey and across the border
into Iraq. Villages were bombed. Turkey attacked civilians in villages
on the off chance Kurdish fighters were mixed in with the civilians.

Human Rights Watch has documented many instances where the Turkish
military forcibly evacuated villages, destroying houses and equipment
to prevent the return of the inhabitants. An estimated 3,000 Kurdish
villages in Turkey were virtually wiped from the map, representing the
displacement of more than 378,000 people. (5)

The Kurds did attack Turkish troops in cross-border raids. The Kurds
did provoke the Turks who responded with attacks. These Turkish
attacks were not surgical strikes aimed at Kurdish fighters. They
attacked villages to wipe out the entire population. (You may recall
the Soviets did the same in Afghanistan.)

Israel suffered 8 years of Hamas bombing the civilian population in
Southern Israel with Rockets, Missiles and Mortars. The Israeli
response was either none at all or some surgical strikes at Hamas
terrorist leaders. There was no comparison to Turkey’s strikes against
the general Kurdish population.

Turkey, under Erdogan, has been drifting closer and closer to typical
radical Muslim Islamo-Fascism, not unlike Iran and Syria. When Israel
defends herself against Muslim attacks, Islamists in unison rise up in
rage, in effect, saying: `You can’t kill our killers.’

Israel has had an excellent relationship with Turkey, mostly as a
supplier of High Tech Military equipment and the refurbishing of older
model Russian tanks. It is a beneficial relationship of mutual needs
and accommodation.

[Israel once had a similar relationship with Iran under the Persian
Shah. That all changed radically from 1977 when then President Jimmy
Carter withdrew American support from Iran’s Prime Minister Shapour
Bakhtiar. On February 11, 1979 the Shah’s government fell as did civil
order. At the Defense Ministry in Teheran, the military fled – leaving
secure intelligence unguarded. For certain, Soviet agents entered and
captured that information vital to America’s own defense.

The U.S. Navy was compromised the most. They lost:

*The F-14 fighter, keystone of long-range fleet defense, especially
the electronics and missiles; *The AN/AWG-9 radar and weapons control
system.
*The AIM-54APh9oenix long-range air-to-air missile.
*The ASG-18 fire-control radar.
*The ALR-45 radar warning set.
*The ALQ-100/126 electronics counter-measures suite, designed to jam &
deceive Soviet radars.
The U.S. Army (and thus NATO’s infantry and armor) also suffered
security losses in Iran to the Soviets:
*The Improved HAWK surface-to-air missile, the Army’s basic element of
ground defense.
*The AN/TSQ-73 command system, which directs the Improved HAWK.
*The BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missile, which NATO regards as a primary
means of neutralizing the 4-to-1 Soviet advantage in tanks in
Europe.] (6)

Remember that it was Jimmy Carter’s actions that brought back the
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini from exile in France February 1979. The
Ayatollah immediately imposed typical Muslim Islamic hostility against
Israel and America – leading to his invasion of the American Embassy
November 4, 1979 and his taking some 70 Americans hostage for 444
days.
Remember the example of Iran and the loss of a vital American ally as
well as American military and intelligence data and technology as
Turkey moves further toward Islamization.

Erdogan returned to Turkey to a hero’s welcome for his defamation
against Israel. Arabs, Muslim, Turks, Islamists have a convenient loss
of memory for what they have done to others. Every embarrassing loss
or massacre of others is either forgotten or turned into a justifiable
revenge – even when there is no justification.

Peres whose previous blithe ignorance of the Genocidal Jihad and Jew
Hatred in Hamas

foundational Covenant actually read extracts from this odious document
to the audience (Erdogan and the equally vile Amr Moussa of the Arab
League, prominent among those attending), including (in part) the
Genocidal hadith in Article 7,

`¦the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to realize the promise of
Allah, no matter how long it takes. The Prophet, Allah’s prayer and
peace be upon him, says: `The hour of judgment shall not come until
the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, so that the Jews hide behind
trees and stones, and each tree and stone will say: `Oh Muslim, oh
servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him,’ except
for the Gharqad tree, for it is the tree of the Jews.’ ([6] Sahih
Muslim, Book 41, Number 6985),’
and the clear statement in article 13 that Hamas’ jihadism is
completely incompatible with any meaningful Middle East peace
settlement:

`Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international
conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic
Resistance Movement. Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse against
part of religion. Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is
part of its religion. Its members have been fed on that¦There is no
solution to the Palestinian question except by Jihad. All initiatives,
proposals, and International Conferences are a waste of time and vain
endeavors.’ (7)

Turkey, as a nation with a history of Genocide, would be better off NOT to throw stones from their own Glass House.

###
1. `A Gaza Talk Sets Off Tempers In Davos’ by Katrin Bennhold NEW YORK
TIMES 1/30/09
2. `Turkish Premier Storms Out Of Davos After Run-In with Israeli
President’ DEBKAfile 1/30/09
3. `Armenian Genocide 1915 Recognition Struggle’

4. `Erdogan’s remarks aid anti-Semitism’ by Haviv Rettig Gur JERUSALEM
POST 1/29/09
5. Human Rights Watch
6. `Selling AWACS To Saudis Risks Our Own Security: It Puts Vital
Defense Secrets Where the Russians Can Get At Them’ by Aaron
D. Rosenbaum & Emanuel A. Winston WASHINGTON POST Outlook Sunday,
August 30, 1981
Turkish premier storms out of Davos after run-in with Israeli
president DEBKAfile January 30, 2009, 1:13 AM (GMT+02:00)
7. Davos Epiphany? Simple Shimon Reads Hamas Charter to Mas-Kom-Ya
Erdogan, Et Al Posted By Andrew Bostom 1/30/09
0/davos-epiphany-simple-shimon-reads-hamas-charter -to-mas-kom-ya-erdogan-et-al/print/
If you can, please send this to the Turkish Ambassador in Washington
and/or any of its consulates.
************************************** *************************************

Turkish premier berates Israel at Davos DEBKAfile 1/30/09

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Turkish prime minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan Thursday, Jan. 29, reproached Israeli president Shimon
Peres over the Gaza offensive, saying "You kill people," continuing
the abuse he has leveled against Israel in recent weeks.

Israeli president Shimon Peres said, raising his voice, Israel’s
22-day offensive was launched in reaction to eight years of rocket
fire. Turning to Erdogan, who had said Israel had made Gaza an "open
air prison," Peres asked: "Why did they fire rockets? There was no
siege against Gaza. There was never a day of starvation in Gaza."

The former Norwegian prime minister, Khell Magne Bondevik, said he had
never seen Shimon Peres so passionate. I think he felt Israel was
being attacked by so many in the international community. He felt
isolated."
The Turkish premier stalked out of the forum when the moderator,
Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, cut him short when he tried
to reply. He complained Peres had spoken for 25 minutes while he had
been allotted only 12 and shouted: "I remember two former prime
ministers in your country who said they felt very happy when they were
able to enter Palestine on tanks." He went on to protest the applause
Peres had won: "You are applauding killing and war!"

Arab League secretary Amr Mussa said Erdogan’s action in leaving the
hall was understandable. Of Israel, he said: "They don’t listen."

Peres read out passages from the Hamas charter which call for Israel’s
destruction. "I want to see what you would do if rockets landed on
Istanbul every night. What would you say to the mothers?" he asked the
Turkish prime minister. `Since 2000, more than a thousand Israelis
have been killed in terrorist attacks and more than 5,500 rockets have
been dropped on Israel." [Including Missiles and Mortars the total for
8 years is more than 10,000. Winston Note]

He again raised his voice when he said: "You talk about a non-existent
reality and I am telling the truth. Can you understand a million
people living in shelters? Are you mad? I cannot accept lies. Mubarak
accused Hamas and he knows the situation as well as you,
Mr. Erdogan. Hamas fired out of kindergartens and schools. How could
we not respond?"

"All Peres said was a lie. It was unacceptable," said Erdogan as he
left. He warned there would be repercussions on relations between
Turkey and Israel. "I am a prime minister and no one shouts at me," he
said.

The Israeli leader later called the Turkish premier and they agreed
the incident would not affect relations between their countries.

Emanuel or Gail Winston
Analyst and Commentator
Winston Mid East Analysis and Commentary
Chicago Area, IL
Phone : 847-432-1735
Fax : 847-433-3981

lt.cfm?Action=ReleaseDetail&ID=25037

CONSEQUENCES OF POOR LIVING CONDITIONS

A1+
[04:30 pm] 30 January, 2009

The Sahakyans and Haroyans differ from the other families of the
neighbourhood. One is deprived of family benefit; the other has no
dwelling place. They both live in domiks – "temporary" shelters in
Gyumri’s Nor Avan district.

The eight-member family of Sahakyans has been denied family benefit
since there is a workman in the family. 71-year-old Lusine Sahakyan
has diabetes which has led to gangrene.

The Haroyans live side by side with the Sahakyans. One of the
family’s two children, 15-year-old Varsik always has a bandage on her
mouth. Doctors say her white blood cells are below normal. Varsik is
aware of her illness. She knows that the cancer found in the glands
has spread reaching her chest and armpit.

Alongside with other medicines, the doctor has recommended that the
child be taken to a warmer and drier place with more sunlight. Varsik
studies in the 9th form. She hasn’t gone to school for six weeks. She
has been warned against reading as chemical medicines can cause
blindness.

The treatment will take another two years. But the family’s financial
state hinders the child’s further treatment. "I can no longer keep
the child here as she gets a cold in the domik. I cannot afford to
buy the necessary medicine," says the girl’s mother Mrs. Karine.

The only workman in the family is Grigor Haroryan who cannot even
afford the family’s bare necessities. Thanks to Haroryan’s friends
Varsik has undergone five courses of treatment.

In her diary Varsik writes she would like to do reading and watch
photos. God grant that she may spend more time with her friends
and relatives.

MOTHERLAND WILL WAIT. BUT THE GOVERNMENT’S PATIENCE HAS LIMITS
Naira Mamikonyan

Aravot
Jan 24 2009
Armenia

The Armenian government made a decision at the end of 2008 to dissolve
the special combat operations department of the National Security
Service [NSS], abbreviated as the NSS’s "special forces". This
subunit was set up in the above entity in January 1994 on the
instruction of fist Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan. The
purpose was to protect Armenia’s territory from foreign aggression
during the years of the Karabakh war; and the task of the subunit
was to organize various subversive operations up to 50 km inside
[Azerbaijani territory]. Incidentally, such entities exist within
the national security body of any country. That entity also had the
goal to ensure security in our country – for instance, the security
of the Armenian nuclear power plant and so on. At present, while the
Artsakh [Karabakh] war is not fully over and in general there is a
threat of foreign aggression, the people who served in this entity
(staffed with quite competent personnel, according to some experts)
and pundits believe that the dissolution of this subunit is a betrayal
of the state and nation. A former deputy head of Armenia’s State
National Security Department, Gurgen Yeghiazaryan, is one of those
who describe this decision of the Armenian government in this way.

According to an Aravot source, part of the servicemen and officers
of the dissolved subunit have been moved to border troops under the
NSS or to Armenia’s police troops. However, a significant part of the
officers refused to move to Armenia’s police troops or the "special
forces" to be established under the police.

The matter is that the national government has decided to set up
"special forces" of police. The police has this kind of forces only as
part of its general department for fighting organized crime. According
to information that we received, the future "special forces" will
comprise 1,000-1,500 servicemen, but not conscripts, like it was in
the case of the NSS, but exclusively contract-based servicemen. This
subunit will, naturally, serve to restrain, disperse, beat or kill
those participating in domestic political riots.

The matter is that the already former "employees of the special forces"
were less aggressive than police troops, "the special forces of the
6th [police department for fighting organized crime]", and bodyguards
of oligarchs during the 1 March 2008 post-election events and during
the "cleansing" of Freedom Square [the venue of opposition sit-in
protests in Yerevan], and thus they are no longer reliable. As we face
a financial crisis in the future and aggravation of social conditions,
social riots and activation of the opposition’s wide-scale protests
is possible. "Naturally, the concern of this government will not be
protection of the motherland. They now have the task of protecting
their power. Involving the NSS ‘special forces’ into domestic
political processes yet another time can cause a wider reaction,"
Yeghiazaryan said.

ARMENIA NEGOTIATING WITH ITS MAIN PARTNERS OVER LOANS TO SUPPORT ECONOMY UNDER CRISIS CONDITIONS

ARKA
Jan 23, 2009

Yerevan, January 23. /ARKA/. Armenia is negotiating with its main
partners over loans required to support the country’s economy under
the world economic crisis conditions, Armenian Minister of Finance
Tigran Davtyan said in his exclusive interview to ARKA Agency.

Earlier Russian Vice-Premier and Foreign Minister Aleksey Kudrin said
that Armenia applied to Russia for a stabilization loan to mitigate
the consequences of the global crisis.

Negotiations are held with principle trade-economic and financial
partners, including Russia, in both multilateral and bilateral formats
involving the World Bank and other international organizations,
Davtyan said.

There is nothing new in such negotiations, the Minister said adding
that Armenia has been always taking the advantage of external lending
on soft conditions acceptable for Armenian economy.

Davtyan refrained from mentioning an overall lending amount pending
the completion of the negotiations. Yet, it will be a substantial
volume allowing Armenian economy effectively coping with the possible
effects of the global economic crisis, he said.

It is also early to mention any amount of loan from Russia, the
Minister said adding that the things may be getting clearer within
the next weeks.

Particularly, the ministry is now clarifying the volume of lending
with the WB for the next four years.

"We are carrying on negotiations with various partners and they
are interconnected, but the loan support will be substantial,"
Davtyan said.