Author: Harutyunian Christine

National Post (Canada)
October 13, 2006 Friday
Toronto Edition

Franco-Turkish relations sour over new law

by David Rennie, The Daily Telegraph

BRUSSELS – The French parliament triggered a fresh crisis yesterday
in Turkey’s relations with Europe by approving a bill that would make
it an offence punishable by jail to deny Armenians suffered a
genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the vote in the French Assemblee
Nationale had dealt "a heavy blow" to bilateral relations, while the
European Union said the bill could interfere with Turkish ambitions
to join the European bloc.

Turkey denies that massacres of Armenians between 1915 and 1923
amounted to genocide, saying large numbers of Turks and Armenians
died in a civil war.

Ali Babacan, Turkey’s Economics Minister, said it was too soon to
know whether the Turkish public would heed calls from nationalist
groups to boycott French goods.

"As the government, we are not encouraging that, but this is the
people’s decision," he said. "I cannot say [the vote] will not have
any consequences."

The Socialist-backed law was widely criticized in Turkey as another
attempt by European politicians to place obstacles in the path of
Ankara’s painful progress toward EU membership. Polls have shown that
60% of the French are opposed to Turkey joining the bloc.

France would impose a one-year prison term and a 45,000-euro fine on
anyone denying the Armenian genocide, the same penalty that is
imposed for denying the Nazi Holocaust.

The vote came ahead of French presidential and parliamentary
elections, in which the 400,000-strong Armenian community in France
will form a formidable voter bloc.

The bill does not have government support and it seems likely to fall
in the upper house, the Senate.

Both Jacques Chirac, the French President, and Segolene Royal, the
Socialist presidential front-runner, say Turkey must acknowledge the
genocide of the Armenians before joining the EU.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative front-runner, is opposed to
Turkey’s EU entry under any condition.

Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 13 2006

Scruffle between Armenian and Azeri football fans
13.10.2006 14:21

Azeri media report that about 200 Azerbaijan football fans had
arrived from some cities of Netherlands and Belgium to watch the
Belgium-Azerbaijan match in the framework of the qualification round
of Euro-2008. They stretched a huge flag along their stand. According
to Azeri media, two Armenians raised the Armenian flag, making
indecent gestures in the direction of Azerbaijani fans. Following
this several Azeris pierced into the Armenian stand where a scuffle
started.
Employees of Belgian security services took the participants of the
fight to Police Department, but soon after the end of the match they
were set free, `Echo’ newspaper reports.
It should be noted that the assistance of the Azeri fans did not help
their national team. Azerbaijan lost the match 0:3.

Hurriyet, Turkey
Oct 13 2006

French Parliament’s vote creates shock waves
Friday , 13 October 2006

In France, a cradle of democracy which helped make freedom a
universal value, the French National Parliament yesterday voted to
approve a bill mandating jail time and monetary fines for people
publicly denying the so-called Armenian genocide.

Despite yesterday’s overwhelming vote of approval however, the bill
must pass through the French Senate and then be signed by the French
president before being put into implementation. Also casting an
ambigious shadow overt the parliament’s vote yesterday was the fact
that the French government repeated both before and after the vote
that it did not support the bill in question.

Paris administration underscores its opposition to the bill

The French Foreign Ministry issued a statement following the vote
saying that it "wanted very much" to continue dialogue between Paris
and Ankara. Foreign Ministry spokeperson Jean Baptiste Mattei said
"Just as we wish to carry on our strong friendship and our
cooperative ties, we want to continue our dialogue with Turkey."
Spokesperson Mattei also referred to the "genocide denial" bill
approved yesterday as both "unnecessary" and "untimely" in his
statements.

Another voice of opposition against the "genocide denial" bill came
yesterday from European Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna, who stood
to address the national assembly prior to its morning vote on the
bill. Said Colonna, "We as the government are opposed to this bill.
As it is, the parliament already voted to officially recognize the
Armenian genocide in 2001. President Jacques Chirac mentioned the
genocide clearly on his visit to the Armenian capital Yerevan. And
looking at things politically, Turkey has already begun work on this
subject, looking back at history, as have other countries. We must
encourage this work. This is why we, as the government, oppose this
bill."

Out of the entire French Parliament, which has 571 seats, a total of
125 MPs participated in yesterday’s vote. Out of these 125 votes, 106
were in support of the bill, with 19 opposing.

Mesrob II: This will only butter the bread of radicals everywhere

Speaking in reaction to news that the French Parliament had passed
the "genocide denial" bill, Patriarch Mesrob II, the leader of the
Armenian Orthodox community in Turkey, issued this warning:

"The French, who have in the past put up serious blockades in front
of Turkey during its quest for EU membership, have now dealt a
serious blow to the already constrained dialogue between Turkey and
Armenia. The law will only butter the bread of both radical Turks and
radical Armenians."

Siberian News Online, Russia
Oct 13 2006

Excise warehouse of Armenian alcohol "Sibarmalco" to open in
Krasnoyarsk in November
10/13/2006 6:43:49 PM

An excise warehouse of Armenian alcohol will appear in Krasnoyarsk in
November, as Vazgen Safaryan, the chairman of Armenian Union of
Commodity Manufacturers, stated at the closure of "Days of Armenia in
Siberia" on October, 13.

"The excise warehouse of alcohol made in Armenia will be opened under
the aegis of Exhibition Center "Siberia". The company will be called
Sibarmalco. It will be a warehouse for wholesale of Armenian cognac,
champagne, dry and vintage wine. The warehouse will open next month
and will have an office in Armenia. The annual turnover of this
warehouse is planned at the level of $20-30 million,’ Safaryan
stated.

It is worth reminding that Vazgen Safaryan had announced about the
excise warehouse of Armenian alcohol at the panel discussion
"Commerce and Industrial Chamber, the Union of Commodity
Manufacturers, the Union of Industrialists with representatives of
Armenian business". This project will be implemented by Sarkis
Muradyan, the chairman of the Board of Directors of CJSC
Sibagropromstroy, the director of International Exhibition Business
Center "Siberia".

Nobel winner denounces French genocide bill

1:30 PM October 13, 2006

ANKARA (AFP) – Dissident Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006
Nobel Literature Prize, denounced a French bill that would make it a crime
to deny Turks commited genocide against Armenians, saying it flouted
France’s "tradition of liberal and critical thinking."

"What the French did is wrong," Pamuk, better known for criticizing his own
government, told the NTV television from New York, a day after the bill was
voted in the lower house of the French parliament, infuriating Ankara.

"France has a very old tradition of liberal and critical thinking and I
myself was influenced by it and learned much from it.

"But the decision they made constitutes a prohibition. It does not suit the
French tradition of liberalism," he said.

The bill, which still needs the approval of the Senate and the president to
take effect, foresees up to one year in jail and a heavy fine for anyone who
denies that the World War I massacres of Armenians under Ottoman rule were
genocide, a label Ankara fiercely rejects.

The 54-year-old Pamuk himself stood trial in Turkey this year for contesting
the official line on the massacres under an infamous provision for
"insulting Turkishness," which Ankara is under European Union
pressure to amend.

The trial was dropped on a technicality in January, but won Pamuk the
reputation of a "traitor" among Turkish nationalists.

His Nobel award, announced shortly after the French vote on Thursday, was
greeted with mixed reactions at home.

The government was among the many who hailed the first Turk to win a Nobel
prize, but skeptics questioned whether Pamuk was rewarded for his writing or
the political dissidence that has often embarrassed his country in the West.

Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc and several newspaper columnists had called
on the writer to speak out against the French bill if he was an earnest
campaigner for free speech.

Pamuk, a staunch advocate of Turkey’s bid to join the European Union, urged
his compatriots not to "blow the issue out of proportion" in their reactions
to France.

"Don’t burn the duvet for a flea," he said, using a Turkish proverb.

Commenting on the mixed reaction to his award, Pamuk said: "There was never
a Nobel literature prize that was not met with any (negative) reactions…
I’m not angry with anyone. People are free to think what they like."

"These debates will one day end but the fact will remain that Turkey has won
a Nobel prize," he said. "I’m very honored and proud to have brought this
award to my country."

Pamuk first drew the ire of the state in the mid-1990s when he denounced the
treatment of the Kurdish minority as the army waged a heavy-handed campaign
to suppress a bloody separatist insurgency in the southeast.

The state extended an olive branch in 1998, offering him the accolade of
"State Artist," but Pamuk declined.

The Guardian, UK
Oct 13 2006

French MPs anger Ankara over Armenian genocide vote

Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Friday October 13, 2006
The Guardian

Turks demonstrate outside the French consulate in Istanbul over
France’s plans to make it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered
genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks after the first world war.
Photograph: Reuters

The French national assembly yesterday passed a bill making it a
crime to deny that Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of
Ottoman Turks during the first world war, sparking anger in Turkey
and condemnation from Brussels.
The bill, proposed by the opposition Socialist party, states anyone
who denies that the mass murder of Armenians from 1915-1917 was
genocide should face a year in prison and a 45,000 (£30,000) fine.

The bill is unlikely to become law as it faces opposition from the
French government and president Jacques Chirac.

But Ankara’s foreign ministry said relations between the Nato allies,
France and Turkey had been dealt "a severe blow" and warned of
"political consequences". French businesses which exported 4bn of
goods to Turkey last year feared a consumer boycott.
Turkish commentators said the proposed law could boost Turkish
nationalists and undermine pro-EU liberals by exposing the depth of
anti-Turkey feeling in France, a founder member state. Some MEPs
warned that the French bill would hamper efforts by Turkish
intellectuals to develop an open debate on the Armenian question,
sending a hypocritical message that an EU country was prepared to
lock people up for expressing a particular view of history just as
Europe is pressuring Turkey to promote freedom of expression.

Richard Howitt, Labour MEP and foreign affairs spokesman, told the
Guardian the French move was the "worst kind of hypocrisy and
provocation". He said the bill reflected problems in France, and was
"partly racially motivated against Turkey which is a majority Muslim
state". He said French politicians were also courting the Armenian
community in France – which at more than 400,000 is the largest
Armenian diaspora in western Europe.

A European commission spokeswoman said: "It is not up to law to write
history. Historians need to have debate."

Turkey’s official policy is to acknowledge that large numbers of
Armenians were killed by Turks, but to reject the overall estimate of
1.5m deaths as inflated. It maintains that deaths occurred as part of
civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and thousands
of Turks also died. Saying otherwise can lead to prosecution and some
of Turkey’s literary names have faced trial over the issue.

The French government yesterday tried to limit the damage by
stressing its "solid ties of friendship and cooperation" with Turkey,
vowing to oppose the bill. The French parliament’s lower house
approved the bill by 106 votes to 19.

The European commission said recognition of an Armenian genocide was
not a precondition for Turkey entering the EU. But Jacques Chirac and
two likely candidates for next year’s presidential elections, Nicolas
Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal, have all stated that Ankara must accept
the genocide before joining the EU.

ARKADY GHUKASIAN NOT GOING TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT AGAIN

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.10.2006 18:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ October 11 Nagorno Karabakh President Arkady
Ghukasian gave a briefing for local and accredited reporters, said
NKR MFA press office.

The NKR President said in part, "I have found it necessary to meet
with you an issue that aroused my concern lately. Rumors are being
spread about my intention to run for President for the third time.

Especially, the initiators of such rumors say that the NKR Constitution
is being adopted for this very purpose. I would never react to such
insinuations but for two reasons – the image of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic as a democratic state and the fundamental importance of
Constitution for the existence out our state.

As a politician and civilian I have no more important goal than
the international recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and
building of a legal state.

During the years of my office I have been trying to speed up this
processes. You witnessed the difficulties we gave experienced on the
way to civic society formation. I do not conceal my consent with
the fact that many challenges were overcome thanks to our people,
who supported the President’s line. I have not turned off the way
and think it’s the only right way that exists.

Constitution is one of the most important conditions for a legal state
building and all the political forces in our state are unanimous on the
issue. During my election campaign I promised to render the essential
assistance in the elaboration and adoption of the Organic Law of the
country but unfortunately a number of circumstances conditioned by
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement didn’t allow us to adopt the
Constitution earlier. I must say that despite the efforts exerted by
the evil-wishers I feel obliged to keep my promise to people.

I deeply regret that my position is being distorted. I assure you
I have no intention to run for President for the third time. Even
is the Constitution provides for this right it does not mean that I
will exercise it. I highlight the norms of morals like the norms of
laws. As an individual and as President I did my utmost to make the
process of democratization of our republic irreversible.

I am convinced that Nagorno Karabakh will once more demonstrate
the high level of democracy and will use the chance to exercise a
civilized chance of power. In this view my major task is to secure
a fair election next year.

In conclusion I would like to voice hope that my today’s statement will
put an end to any fabrications that can damage the international image
of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and disorient public opinion on the
true aims of adoption of the NKR Constitution," the NKR leader said.

DISPUTES OVER ‘ARMENIAN’ BILL IN FRANCE

AZG Armenian Daily
12/10/2006

The French National Assembly will vote today on a bill that stipulates
that a denial of the Armenian Genocide can carry up to one year in
jail and an additional fine up to 45,000 euros. The bill is coming
to supplement the French law of 2001 recognizing the Genocide.

On the eve of the vote there was no unanimity even among the Socialist
Party members who had submitted the bill.

Le Figaro writes that Patrick Devejian, MP of the ruling Union for
a Popular Movement party (UMP), submitted an amendment proposal to
"exempt the studies of historians and scientists on this issue from
the scope of the bill."

The bill has infuriated Turkey. On Tuesday prime minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan called on France to recall its own colonial past. Ankara
threatens to impose on France trade and political sanctions.

TURQUIE: L’UE NE DOIT PAS AJOUTER DE NOUVEAUX CRITèRES D’ADHESION (BARROSO)

Agence France Presse
9 octobre 2006 lundi

L’Union europeenne "ne doit pas ajouter de nouveaux critères"
d’adhesion a la Turquie, a estime lundi le president de la Commission
europeenne, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, faisant allusion a la
reconnaissance du genocide armenien reclamee par la France.

"On ne doit pas aujourd’hui ajouter de nouveaux critères, de nouvelles
conditions" pour l’adhesion de la Turquie a l’UE, a declare M. Barroso
a quelques journalistes.

Interroge il y a dix jours lors d’une visite a Erevan sur le fait
de savoir si la Turquie devait, pour entrer dans l’UE, reconnaître
un caractère de genocide aux massacres d’Armeniens perpetres entre
1915 et 1917 dans l’Empire ottoman, Jacques Chirac avait repondu :
"honnetement, je le crois".

Mais la reconnaissance du genocide armenien n’a jamais ete posee par
l’UE comme une condition pour la rejoindre.

Dans ses declarations, le president francais "n’a pas ajoute une
nouvelle condition aux conditions d’adhesion mais a indique que la
Turquie serait bien inspiree de faire ce travail" sur son histoire,
a repondu lundi a Bruxelles le ministre francais des Affaires
europeennes, Catherine Colonna.

"Ce n’est pas une condition supplementaire dans les negociations
d’adhesion, c’est une reflexion generale qui est faite, d’autres pays
ont su faire ce travail de memoire sur leur passe", a-t-elle continue,
assurant que cette reflexion, "juste au regard de l’histoire", etait
faite "amicalement".

Mme Colonna s’est en revanche interrogee sur la pertinence d’un projet
de loi francaise qui sanctionnerait la negation du genocide armenien.

"Il y a deja une loi en France concernant le genocide armenien. En
faut-il une deuxième, je m’interroge, a titre personnel (…) Poser la
question, c’est y repondre en partie", a-t-elle declare sur ce texte
denonce par Ankara comme par le commissaire europeen a l’Elargissement,
Olli Rehn.

Le ministre francais, tout comme M. Barroso, a egalement regrette le
ralentissement du rythme des reformes en Turquie.

"Je dois vous dire que je suis preoccupe par les negociations avec
la Turquie", a indique M. Barroso.

"Il faut rappeler a nos amis turcs qu’ils doivent respecter le
protocole d’Ankara", qui etend son union douanière avec l’UE aux dix
Etats membres entres dans le bloc europeen en 2004, dont la partie
grecque de Chypre, a ajoute le president de la Commission.

Plusieurs responsables europeens ont menace la Turquie d’une suspension
au moins partielle de ses negociations d’adhesion a l’UE, commencees
en octobre 2005, si elle n’appliquait pas ce protocole a Chypre et
ne laissait pas entrer dans ses ports les navires chypriotes grecques.

D’autre part, "le rythme des reformes sur les libertes publiques
n’est pas satisfaisant", a denonce M. Barroso.

Bruxelles reproche a la Turquie un ralentissement des reformes ces
12 derniers mois, en particulier en matière de liberte d’expression.

–Boundary_(ID_AsexJfWeBEF4/ASHpoPL eg)–

ARMENIAN LOADS WILL TRAVEL THROUGH GEORGIA

A1+
[08:30 pm] 09 October, 2006

Transitional transportation of Armenian loads from and to Russia
through Georgia will not be stopped, informed RA Defense Minister
Serge Sargsyan in Moscow.

The co-chair of the Armenian-Russian intergovernmental Committee
participated in the meeting of Ministers within the framework of the
Committee. Russian Minister of Transportation Igor Levitin mentioned
that the transportation of loads from and to Armenia will be realized
by ferryboats from the ports Novorossiysk and Caucasus, "Itar-Tass"
informs.

The problem is that Armenia has already suffered losses because of
the conflict between Russia and Georgia. And if the roads are closed,
Armenia will face economic crisis. By the way, Serge Sargsyan has
announced in Moscow that Armenia is ready to be a conciliator between
Russia and Georgia.