Author: Hovhannisian John

HILLARY CLINTON’S MEETING WITH ARMENIAN ORGANIZATIONS IN U.S. POSTPONED

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.02.2010 15:10 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Meeting of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
with representatives of Armenian organizations in the United States,
scheduled for February 9, was postponed for an indefinite time.

"The meeting on Armenian-Turkish Protocols was delayed due to adverse
weather conditions in Washington," Armenian Weekly quoted a source
in the White House as saying.

The proposal to hold consultations with Armenian NGOs of U.S. was
initiated by the Secretary Clinton. Armenian Assembly of America
(Assembly), the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), Eastern and
Western Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the United States,
The Knights of Vartan and the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA) were invited to take part in the meeting.

The Protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of
the border between Armenia and Turkey were signed in Zurich by Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet
Davutoglu on October 10, 2009, after a series of diplomatic talks
held through Swiss mediation.

On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of
Armenia found the protocols conformable to the country’s Organic Law.

AMERIABANK CLIENT BASE SHOWS 57% GROWTH OVER 2009

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.02.2010 17:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Ameriabank continues to strengthen its positions
in Armenia’s financial market, with 57% client base growth over 2009,
the bank’s press service reported.

31 of 100 major Armenian taxpayers are among active Ameriabank clients.

As a corporate bank, Ameriabank has developed a wide range of physical
person-oriented services, which prompted significant increase in
their number.

The number of Ameriabank accounts increased by 79.7%, legal entities
accounts comprising 67.9% and those of physical persons – 82.2%.

Ameriabank CJSC is am investment bank offering various package
services. Being a strategic partner of Moscow-based Troika Dialog
since August 2007, the bank has two branches in Yerevan, one in
Kajaran and one in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

THE 12TH HEARING FOR THE CASE OF HRANT DINK HELD IN ISTANBUL

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.02.2010 18:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The 12th hearing for the case of Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, who was fatally shot by an ultranationalist
teenager outside the Agos weekly in 2007 was held in Istanbul.

The hearing took place with the participation of five of the defendants
under arrest, Ogun Samast, Erhan Tuncel, Yasin Hayal, Ahmet Ä°skender
and Ersin Yolcu. Among a total of 20 defendants, Osman Hayal and
Mustafa Ozturk, who were released pending trial, were also in court.

The court’s chief justice, Erkan Canak, said the telephone numbers
and records of the relevant police officers had been requested from
the Trabzon Police Department but the request had been refused as
the release of such documents would lead to "lapses in security."

Canak also said that intelligence reports written prior to Dink’s
murder had been requested and had arrived at the court. The Dink
family lawyer, Bahri Belen, said all documents coming from the police
department talked about the "confidentiality of documents" but pointed
out that documents regarding crimes should not be secret.

The hearing will continue with the defense of Tuncel, one of the
key suspects, who reportedly had worked with the police and the
gendarmerie as an informant and gave them tip-offs about the plot
to kill Dink several months before the assassination. Tuncel, who
belongs to the Grand Unity Party (BBP), argued against the fact that
he had been labeled as a leader in a terrorist organization. He said
this was only because of his "political views."

Tuncel asked BBP leaders YaÅ~_ar Cihan and Halis Egemen, who were at
the court, whether or not the party approved of Dink’s murder. Egemen
said they would never support an act of murder and they "love the
created because of the creator. This view does not discriminate
between Muslims or non-Muslims."

At the last hearing of the Dink trial last October, co-plaintiff lawyer
Fethiye Cetin stated that Dink’s murder, along with that of an Italian
priest in 2006 and the 2007 slaying of three Christians in Malatya,
was part of an operation carried out by Ergenekon, a neo-nationalist
gang believed to be the extension of a clandestine network of groups
with members in the armed forces.

Hrant Dink (September 15, 1954 – January 19, 2007) was a
Turkish-Armenian journalist and columnist and editor-in-chief
of Agos bilingual newspaper. Dink was best known for advocating
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and human and minority rights in
Turkey. Charged under the notorious article 301 of the Turkish
Criminal Code, Dink stood a trial for insulting Turkishness. After
numerous death threats, Hrant Dink was assassinated in Istanbul in
January 2007, by Ogun Samast, a 17-year-old Turkish nationalist.

US BASED LOS ANGELES TIMES DISREGARDS AZERBAIJAN’S TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY

APA
Feb 9 2010
Azerbaijan

Washington. Isabel Levine – APA. The US based Los Angeles Times
disregarded the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

According to APA’s Washington DC correspondent, the newspaper is
planning to hold a Travel and Adventure show, where "the Republics
of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) will be represented.

The tourism offices of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh will share a large
"Welcome to Armenia" booth in the Exhibition Hall of the Travel Show
on December 13".

The show will feature spectacular photography of the people, vistas,
and historic sites of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, the newspaper said.

The Azerbaijani Diaspora to US is already aware of that act of
disrespect and expressed its deep concern about it. US Azerbaijanis
sent a letter to Los Angeles Times saying that they urge the show
holders and the newspaper to stop this outrageous misuse of Terms of
Use and the international law. US Azerbaijanis stated it is absolutely
unacceptable for any exhibitor to promote any part of land, culture,
and heritage that does not belong to them.

"As is well known, Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan has been
occupied by the Armenian military since the early 1994, but has
always been legally recognized by the UN, U.S. government and the
entire international community as part of Azerbaijan. All Azerbaijanis
around the world, including our own Azerbaijani-American community in
the US, as well as the government of Azerbaijan, strongly object to
any report, incident or event, where the territorial integrity and
sovereignty of Azerbaijan over Karabakh is somehow misrepresented
and compromised. As a community, we have staged boycotts and protest
marches throughout cities in US to drive the point home, whilst the
Azerbaijani government is known for denying visas and "blacklisting"
known violators and alerting Interpol to assist in the apprehension
of such individuals" – says the letter.

According to Azerbaijani Diaspora, Armenians should promote tourism to
Armenia only, not encouraging illegal tourism to Azerbaijan’s occupied
lands. "As a community, we strongly support U.S. government’s position
on the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and are of the opinion
that all U.S. legal entities must adhere to the government’s position.

There is still time to prevent this outrage from taking place", –
they said.

FICKLE ARMENIAN LOBBY NOT SO POWERFUL
Aliyah Fridman

news.az
Feb 9 2010
Azerbaijan

Adil Baguirov News.Az interviews Dr Adil Baguirov, managing director
and co-founder of the US Azeris Network (USAN).

What is USAN doing about the United States census in 2010?

The US Azeris Network (USAN), as well as our sister organization
the US Turkic Network (USTN), became the first-ever not only
Azerbaijani-American, but also Turkic-American organizations to be
recognized officially as partners by the US Census Bureau for the 2010
Census. We immediately started raising awareness and promoting this
partnership as well as the need to participate in the Census among the
Azerbaijani-American and Turkic-American community. We will continue
this in the next few months before and after the census starts.

US First Assistant Secretary of State James Steinberg thinks that
the Karabakh conflict can be settled on the basis of two principles
of international law. He said during his recent visit to Yerevan:
"I believe that the simultaneous use of the right of nations to
self-determination and territorial integrity is possible." Doesn’t
this contradict Washington’s official position on the recognition of
Karabakh as Azerbaijani land?

There is no problem between the two principles, and that’s why
Azerbaijan agrees to resolve the occupation of Karabakh and other
lands of Azerbaijan based on the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, which
stipulated both of the principles, since they don’t interfere with
each other; indeed, the principle of territorial integrity trumps
the principle of self-determination. More specifically, there is a
principle of international law uti possidetis juris, which in the
opinion of such eminent international law experts as Prof. Malcolm
Shaw applies directly to all post-Soviet countries, specifically to
Armenia and Azerbaijan. This principle postulates that all newly
formed sovereign states should have the same borders that they
had before. Additional in-depth research and commentary have been
provided by top Azerbaijani legal experts, such as Dr Vugar Seidov,
Dr Fuad Ahundov, Tofiq Musayev (LL.M) and M. Mammadov (LL.M). There is
simply no doubt that international law is very clear on this issue, and
it’s on Azerbaijan’s side. Karabakh, whether Mountainous, or Lowland,
along with Kerki (an exclave of Naxcivan), the two exclaves of the
Gazakh region of Azerbaijan and its villages that are also occupied
by Armenia, are all de jure part of Azerbaijan, have been recognized
as such by the UN, and must be returned to Azerbaijan.

Leaders of the US Azerbaijani diaspora recently met a group of New
York senators to discuss Azerbaijan. It is the third year that USAN
has been involved in such a meeting. Is it possible to talk of real
interest of US law-makers, especially Democrats, in the problems of
Azerbaijan despite the strong Armenian resistance?

I would view the importance of such regular meetings as an affirmation
of our community’s growing political activism, and as a consequence,
the inevitable noting of this by the members of Congress, who see
us more and more at various venues and are greatly impressed by the
depth and quality of our arguments, by the education that we provide
to them on the issues that we consider very important for us, as well
as for regional and international peace and the prestige and moral
standing of the United States. But the number one rule for any member
of Congress is that "all politics is local", hence, if the Armenian
community is more active (for any reason) driving its point across,
then members of Congress will be more prone to listen to it. It’s
somewhat understandable that a member of Congress would have a
pro-Armenian and anti-Azerbaijani position if he/she is visited more
often by the Armenian community or receives thousands of dollars in
political contributions from the Armenian lobby. Unfortunately, every
single one of such members of Congress are affected by this scourge
of the political process – Armenian special interest groups, a lobby,
that buys access and forces members to take a certain position.

US Congressmen are planning to discuss the resolution on the "Armenian
genocide" in Ottoman Turkey in 1915. Will this resolution be adopted
and how may it influence the recognition of the "genocide" by the
White House?

There is a possibility, considering that all the Democratic leadership
of Congress – Speaker Pelosi, Con. Berman, Sen. Reid, Sen. Durbin,
Sen. Menendez, Sen. Kerry – are on the record strongly supporting the
Armenian community in general, and all of their agenda in particular.

At the same time, elections in November are expected to create a
big change, with Republicans retaking control of many seats in the
US Senate and US House (the two chambers of the US Congress), and
American voters get angry when Congress is preoccupied with foreign
history instead of creating jobs and improving the economy. Obviously,
considering the economic weight of Turkey, and the huge bilateral trade
between the US and Turkey (Turkey is the United States’ 39th largest
goods trading partner), bilateral trade has been steadily growing
over the last 15 years. US-Turkey two way goods trade totalled $14.6
billion in 2008 and the US would not want that burgeoning trade to come
to a standstill. But there is also something interesting happening
this election cycle in US politics, just like in 2008. Back then,
an Armenian candidate, Dr Jack Kevorkian, affectionately known as
Doctor Death, decided to challenge Congressman Knollenberg and take
his seat in the House of Representatives, despite the fact that Rep.

Knollenberg was a co-chairman of the Armenian Caucus and a big friend
of the Armenian community. In this interesting twist of misfortune,
both cancelled out each others’ efforts and lost the elections to
another candidate, Gary Peters. Also, back then the Armenian community
supported and endorsed the then presidential candidate, Sen. Obama
during the primary in California and other states, but Sen. Obama
actually lost those primaries to Sen. Clinton, in spite of the support
from the Armenian community. It shows that even in California the
500,000-strong Armenian community cannot "move elections" unless they
are local elections centering on Glendale. This year, the same thing
has happened – in the special elections in Massachusetts, the Armenian
community supported Democrat Martha Coakley, whilst the Azerbaijani
community, led by the efforts of the USAN "2008 Outstanding Leadership
Award" recipient Dr John Vafai, who spearheaded a political initiative
"Azerbaijanis for Scott Brown", supported the underdog, Republican
nominee Scott Brown. Mr Brown won and was sworn in last week.

Likewise, this year, despite all the dedicated support and service
that Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has given to
the Armenian community, they have officially endorsed his opponent,
Jerry Tarkanian, who will try to send Sen. Reid into retirement.

This is reminiscent of 1996, when the Armenian community saw the polls
and realized that their favourite and officially endorsed Sen. Dole
was inevitably losing the presidential race to Bill Clinton, they
switched their support within one month of the elections. Of course,
Bill Clinton was easily re-elected for a second term. Later, during
the first term of President George W. Bush the Armenian community also
tried to show its relevance and alleged that they supported Bush’s
candidacy, but Bush’s trusted advisor and "architect" Karl Rove quickly
shot down that feeble allegation to the public embarrassment of the
Armenian lobby. The Armenian community "retaliated" by supporting
Sen. Kerry in 2004, but of course their support once again proved to
be non-essential, and President Bush won. All this shows how ungrateful
and not-so-powerful the Armenian lobby really is, and how the combined
Turkic-American community and our friends can stop its destructive
activity which counters US national interests and regional stability.

ARMENIAN YOUTH FENCING CHAMPIONSHIP LAUNCHED IN BYUREGHAVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.02.2010 15:25 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Youth Fencing Championship launched on
February 4 in Byureghavan will continue until February 6. As Artashes
Madoyan, general secretary of Armenian Fencing Federation told a
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, 51 athletes fight for the Armenian rapier
champion title on the first day of the tournament. Athletes represent
‘Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor and Byuregavan. The winners will be known
today," Madoyan said.

Rapier (Fencing) sports Fencing is a family of sports and activities
that feature armed combat involving cutting, stabbing, or bludgeoning
weapons that are directly manipulated by hand, rather than shot,
thrown or positioned. Examples include swords, knives, pikes,
bayonets, batons, clubs, and similar weapons. In contemporary common
usage, fencing tends to refer specifically to European schools of
swordsmanship and to the modern Olympic sport that has evolved out
of them.

Fencing is one of the four sports which has been featured at every
modern Olympic Games. Currently, three types of weapon are used in
Olympic fencing:

* Foil – a light thrusting weapon; the valid target is restricted
to the torso, the chest, shoulders, and back; double touches are not
allowed (see priority rules below). This weapon follows the rule of
"right of way" * E’pe’e – a heavy thrusting weapon; the valid target
area covers the entire body; double touches are allowed. There is no
"right of way" * Sabre – a light cutting and thrusting weapon; the
valid target area is the saddle line, which is from one side of your
hip to the other and up, this also includes the head. The target area
does not include the hands. This weapon follows "right of way"

The word fence was originally a shortening of the Middle English
defens, which came from an Italian word, defensio, in origin a
Latin word. The first known use of defens in reference to English
swordsmanship is in William Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor:
"Alas sir, I cannot fence."

FROM THE BOSPHORUS: STRAIGHT – WHEN DOGMA IMPERILS DIPLOMACY

Hurriyet
Feb 4 2010
Turkey

When the roles of judicial, diplomatic and political authorities blur,
the result is problematic. This will be amply demonstrated in coming
days in the news involving Turkey, Armenia and Switzerland.

As readers know, we support the position of the Turkish government
and many others that the nature of the events before and leading up
to 1915, a time of nationalist slaughter throughout the collapsing
Ottoman Empire, should be discussed as part of the normalization
process between our two countries. Whether the word "genocide" is a
legitimate part of the discussion is something with which we have no
quarrel. But given the highly charged nature of the issue, as well as
other matters including complex legal questions related to the fact
the relevant law on the matter was promulgated in 1948, we support
the argument that this should come at the end of the normalization
process. Not on opening day. We have also noted, to the discern of
many readers holding diverse perspectives, our view that historians
are generally converging toward a common view of the facts of this
important history. Increasingly, the greater disputes are over the
question of what the facts mean. Do they add up to "genocide"? We
think not. But we are neither historians nor legal scholars. That’s
why we strongly support the creation of a historical commission by
the two countries that can examine these questions authoritatively.

Which takes us to the matter of dogma. The encyclopedia definition:
"Dogma is the established belief or doctrine by a religion, ideology or
any kind of organization: it is authoritative and not to be disputed,
doubted or diverged from."

Like most journalists, we are not fond of dogma. We have long shared
the concern that when national legislatures, or other institutions,
venture into the making of historical conclusion, the result is dogma.

And dogma is inflexible.

The reason the Turkish-Armenian protocols are now in trouble is
that the Armenian Constitutional Court has trumped the proposed
work of the envisioned commission. It has stated that "genocide" is
not up for discussion, that the ratification process cannot proceed
if such is in the cards. Hoping to retrieve the negotiations, the
Turkish government is seeking the support of the Swiss diplomats who
facilitated the protocol agreement last year. A Turkish ambassador
was on his way to Bern yesterday on this mission.

This is good diplomacy. But it is about to encounter dogma. For the
Swiss Parliament has made questioning the term "genocide" a crime. It
has made it dogma. Next week, three Turks will be on trial for this
crime. Will the envoy’s request for Swiss mediation be a crime? If
the Swiss Foreign Ministry helps, will it be in violation of its own
national law?

We don’t know. But we do know that this is why we don’t like dogma.

SPRING IN ARMENIA FRAUGHT WITH MAJOR UPHEAVALS
by Konstantin Yemelyanov

Politkom.ru
Jan 22 2010
Russia

The new year 2010 had a stormy start in Armenia. No sooner had the
New Year holidays ended than a parliamentary by-election was held
in Yerevan on 10 January, which, according to the opposition, was
once again flagrantly falsified by Armenian authorities. The person
that was declared the winner is a heretofore unknown candidate. He
competed with Nikol Pashinyan, one of the most prominent opposition
activists and editor of the Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper, who has been
in custody since the events of 1 March 2008…

On 11 January, the Dashnaktsutyun party held a rally protesting
against the ratification of the Armenian-Turkish protocols, and right
on the following day the Constitutional Court ruled that the protocols
largely complied with the country’s Constitution. Leaping ahead, it
should be noted that on 20 January, the Turkish Foreign Ministry and
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed their protest over the
Constitutional Court’s ruling, noticing "unacceptable preconditions"
in it and threatening to freeze the protocol ratification process
until the Armenian Constitutional Court revised its decision.

On 13 January, Erdogan left for Moscow and on 14 January, Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Yerevan. In those days,
Armenian Defence Minister Seyran Oganyan and NKR [Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic] President Bako Saakyan paid a visit to Moscow. Yet, no
information was available on meetings held by the former. On 16
January, a visit to Yerevan was paid Robert Bradtke, US co-chairman
of the OSCE Minsk Group, who on the same day met with the Armenian
president and the foreign minister and left for Nagorno-Karabakh
on the following day, 17 January, to meet with NKR President Bako
Saakyan. On 18 January, [Armenian President] Serzh Sargsyan flew
to Moscow on a one-day visit at the invitation of Russian President
Dmitriy Medvedev, and on 19 January, Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard
Nalbandyan received the entire team of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

On the same day, 19 January, a farce court trial of Nikol Pashinyan
was finished. Pashinyan was accused of organizing mass unrest on 1-2
March 2008 and sentenced to seven years in prison. "Judge Mnatsakan
Martirosyan passed an illegal sentence on Nikol Pashinyan, chief editor
of the Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper, and I view it as immorality,"
Lusine Saakyan, the lawyer defending Nikol Pashinyan, declared in
a conversation with a correspondent of News From Armenia-NEWS.am,
commenting on the sentence. "It was clear that justice has long
not existed in Armenia but passing such a sentence is immoral in my
opinion. The judge effectively increased the prison term demanded by
the prosecution. The defence will appeal against the sentence."

As Saakyan said, the sentence will be appealed with relevant courts.

Nevertheless, she does not consider it realistic to receive a fair
sentence in Armenia. This move, Saakyan noted, is intended to complete
the procedure with local court institutions and secure an opportunity
to go to the European Court of Human Rights.

The Armenian National Congress [ANC], for its part, issued a
declaration that said in particular: "The illegal verdict passed by
the court is yet another desperate attempt made by the regime to avoid
responsibility for the 1 March manslaughter, for the persecution of
thousands of citizens, for criminal falsification of elections. It has
proved that the regime does not intend to step back from its path of
increasing authoritarianism, lawlessness, and terror, thus pushing the
country towards an inevitable demise. This demise is inevitable for
any country whose constitutional system is replaced with a hooligan
regime, where laws and justice are violated, and where real criminals
try innocent people in court."

In fact, all events taking place in the country demonstrate that over
the past two years the regime, which came to power amid the bloody 1
March events, has been unable, or more precisely, unwilling to find
a common language with the opposition and stabilize the situation,
hoping instead to do it by force. Significantly, Galust Saakyan, one
of the most notorious leaders of the ruling Republic Party, shocked
journalists by openly supporting the sentence for the newspaper editor
and accusing Pashinyan of… killing 10 people.

The ongoing persecution of political opponents, "justified" by such
declarations, the unwillingness to detect and punish culprits in the
1 March tragedy, the unconcealed falsification of elections at all
levels, the cynical farce trials – all that proves that the regime
is perfectly aware of its illegitimacy and continues propping itself
with bayonets.

A significant factor in this situation is the fact that over
the same two years, the opposition Congress has become a large,
coherent, and organized political force. Since its formation, ANC has
captured a considerable and quite stable percentage of the vote at all
elections despite their completely falsified results. Even according to
official data, ANC’s popular support has increased by several times,
amounting currently to about 40 per cent. In its entire history,
the Republic of Armenia has not seen such an organized, functional,
and competent opposition force of this level, and the authorities
understand it perfectly well, fear, and do their best to weaken
it. Yet, despite the attempts to break ANC apart and split it, the
organization continues strengthening its position, which is why the
regime feels increasingly unconfident.

An equally dramatic situation is also in the area of foreign policy.

In a bid to divert public attention from the manslaughter they
perpetrated in Yerevan streets on 1 March and to balance out their
position with support from the international community, the country’s
authorities have been actively engaged in the process of settling
Armenian-Turkish relations, believing that such processes are as
simple and safe as, for example, football matches between school
teams. To no avail did the Congress try to bring their attention
to dangerous paragraphs that unexpectedly appeared in the initialed
Armenian-Turkish protocols. To no avail was a warning that an implicit
"mine" was planted in the protocols in the form of the refusal to
acknowledge the Genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire at the
beginning of the past century and to pull out troops from the security
area in Nagorno-Karabakh. Serzh Sargsyan and his political team
authoritatively brought the protocols to the stage of signature and
clutched their heads only when the Turkish side declared loudly for the
whole world that further development of relations was only possible on
condition of "progress in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict…"

If you put together the spiral of foreign-policy events winding up
at a mind-boggling speed and the tense situation inside Armenia,
you will see quite an unsettling picture. In fact, the country’s
authorities allowed others to drag them into a big geopolitical
risky game at a time when they, on the one hand, do not have popular
trust and, on the other, most obviously do not have a required set
of diplomatic instruments. If you add a brewing economic collapse –
with an economic decline of 18.3 per cent, more optimistic expectations
make no sense – you could confidently say that Armenia will soon see
very serious upheavals.

Speaking of the situation emerging in Armenia, one should note also
declarations by Smbat Karakhanyan, head of the Miabanutyun Armenian
National Club in Moscow, that a truly state system capable of defending
national and territorial interests, as well as the interests of
ordinary citizens, has not been established in Armenia. "The country’s
regime itself was formed, through falsification and forcible pressure,
from representatives of oligarchs, the underworld, and outside
figures. It stands to reason that these groups serve the interests of
their masters and do not care about problems experienced by a majority
of the population, resorting to methods ranging from betrayal of
national interests to economic and financial machinations, including
speculation on the dram [Armenian currency] rate and cheating on the
quality of gas supplied to households for benefit of their groups.

There is no other explanation for the fact that top leaders of the
country and their family members own about 85 per cent of all national
assets and enterprises, including illegal and unaccounted operations,
and control almost 90 per cent of financial flows. In this sense, it
is easy to imagine the fate and real purpose of inter-state credits
they received," Smbat Karakhanyan emphasized.

The previous year in Armenia was notable for the fact that its
authorities indirectly encouraged artificial immigration among people
and an outflow of citizens from the country. The Armenian community in
Russia quite sensitively reacts to all vitally important processes
taking place in Armenia. It is no secret that despite a certain
decrease in private money transfers from Russia to Armenia, a huge
number of Armenian citizens still live on that money. Naturally, the
predatory and fraudulent methods applied in their country certainly
worry the [Armenian] citizens who work in Russia and send significant
amounts of cash to their families and loved ones in Armenia, and who
are not eager to see their money being pocketed by fraudsters in power.

In this context, Karakhanyan believes that the appearance in Russia
of such a project as the Information and Research Anticorruption
Centre [for] Crime Among Armenian Authorities should be quite planned
and expected. In his opinion, data cited in the Centre’s research
documents, with some minor exceptions, are true.

Speaking of the Nagorno-Karabakh process, Karakhanyan stresses that
strange as it may seem, the only issue that Armenian leadership is
really interested in is whether external forces will help it stay in
power next spring.

The documents that should effectively become chapters of a framework
treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan give practically no answer to
core questions, which started the whole conflict. As a technological
trick, they use the expression "self-determination" but do not
explain its essence or mechanisms of implementation. As for the
practical return of territories and real change of the established
system of security, [which is supposed to be] "great achievement"
but effectively is yet another verbiage connected with the use of
the expression "self-determination", this issue is fraught with yet
another round of escalation in the region.

In this case, one did not have to lock horns so uselessly and long
because any region in any state can initiate, in compliance with
international law and while ensuring work for a large number of highly
paid international bureaucrats, a long and fruitless procedure of
self-determination, being confident of the hopeless nature of this
effort. On the other hand, a notable feature of the current process
is that given the chosen format of effective information blockade,
it enables all the sides to interpret numerous "constructive and
positive meetings" in their own manner and in interests of their own
PR campaigns. Obviously, it is the process itself that is important
for the army of high-level international officials – the main thing
is to demonstrate dynamics. At the same time, it is already clear
for everyone that even procedural decisions are made in completely
different places and the probability of an armed conflict, too, depends
on their willingness to reach agreement and the degree of accords.

An alarming factor, Karakhanyan believes, is that the Armenian leaders
have increasingly adopted the position of US and Western centres,
which are inclined to turn a blind eye on all outrageous things that
are being done in Armenia and clearly contradict principles they
themselves proclaimed in exchange for obtaining control over the
discredited and compliant leadership, as well as buying some time in
order to increase their position in Armenia and more energetically to
push Russia out of various spheres of influence. This way, the regime
obtains yet another loophole for manoeuvring and soft blackmail in its
conversation with Russia, using these methods whenever a convenient
opportunity comes along. Many have long noticed that the Armenian
regime tries to make all of its repressive and illegal decisions
following visits to Russia and never forgets to express before cameras
extensive and incomprehensible gratitude to the Russian leadership.

Western political technologists duly appreciate such coarse and
unceremonious actions by dull-witted individuals, Karakhanyan believes.

Western diplomats have started to display strong activity in Armenia,
accompanying their visits with profuse promises to the population. A
noteworthy behaviour is that of OSC Minsk Group Co-Chairman Robert
Bradtke. The US co-chairman visited the region before the rest
co-chairmen (French and Russian) did. He managed, among other places,
to visit Stepanakert and make pledges to the NKR authorities. "I want
to assure you that in the new year the United States of America will
make every effort so that the people of Karabakh could have a peaceful
and good life in the future," Robert Bradtke said at a meeting with
NKR President Bako Saakyan. While in NKR, the co-chairman also pointed
out that the purpose of the current visit is to prepare another meeting
between Serzh Sargsyan and [Azerbaijani President] Ilkham Aliyev.

It is hard to say where the current regime may lead the country
but there is no doubt that events are already unfolding beyond its
control. In the opinion of some experts, only a resignation of the
top leadership and new and free nationwide elections can lead the
country out of the "zone of turbulence". At least, that would make it
possible to take a timeout and analyse the situation, and a legitimate
government would be formed in the country capable of operating on
the foreign-policy front without feeling a deficit of popular trust.

GETTING RID OF FREEDOM OF THOUGHT…

BIA Magazine
expression/119836-getting-rid-of-freedom-of-though t
Feb 4 2010
Turkey

At least 9 newspapers were banned based on the Anti-Terror Act,
23 people were sentenced to 58 years imprisonment and fines summing
up to 9,740 TL; 101 people were convicted of "attacks on personal
rights", received prison sentence of 98 years in total and were sued
for compensation claims of 1,408,680 TL. Journalist Cihan Hayırsevener
was killed due to the state’s indifference to violence.

Erol ONDEROÄ~^LU [email protected] Istanbul – BÄ°A News Center04
February 2010, Thursday The process of the "Kurdish initiative" imposed
a muzzle to freedom of expression. The 2009 Media Monitoring Report
by the Independent Communication Network (BÄ°A) Media Monitoring Desk
revealed that 323 people, among them 123 journalists, were tried in
the context of freedom of thought and freedom of expression.

Three years after the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink, the state’s indifference to violence against journalists lead
to the death of Guney Marmara YaÅ~_am newspaper editor-in-chief Cihan
Hayırsevener. Hayırsevener was writing about organized crime and
corruption in tenders.

The Anti-Terror Act (TMY), which was not accounted for as "in contrary
to the Constitution" by the Constitutional Court, silenced nine
newspapers and magazines: Gunluk, Ozgur Yorum, Politika, Ayrıntı,
Azadiya Welat, Ozgur Mezopotamya, Demokratik Acılım and Atılım
newspapers and Aydınlık magazine. One-month publication bans were
imposed once or in some cases more than once.

The report tackles the struggles and cases of 978 people. Violations
of freedom of expression are divided into the following sections:
Attacks and Threats, Detentions and Arrests, Cases on Press Freedom
and Freedom of Expression, Corrections and Seeking Justice, European
Court of Human Rights, Reactions to Censorship and Punishments by RTUK.

Heavy convictions in TMY and TCK cases 47 people, 22 of them
journalists, were prosecuted in 2009 under charges of "publishing
pronouncements of terror organizations", "spreading propaganda for an
illegal organization" or "revealing people struggling against terrorism
as targets". 23 people were sentenced to 58 years imprisonment and
monetary fines of 9,749 Turkish Lira (TL) (â~B¬ 4,640). However,
this is a small number compared to 44 convicts and thus twice as many
convictions under the TMY in 2008.

The convicts: Baki Yıldırım, Cesur Yılmaz, Huseyin Tunc,
Orhan Miroglu, Murat Polat, Aysel Tugluk, Mehmet Altay, Ethem
Acıkalın, Temel Demirer, Dincer Ergun, Leyla Zana, Hasan Yuksel,
Mehmet Bıldırcın, Hasan Mutlu, Halime Keceli, İlhan Sarıoglu,
Emrah Eskibal, Ozkan Tacar, RuÅ~_tu Demirkaya, Abdullah DemirtaÅ~_,
Osman Baydemir, Nejdet Atalay and Bedri Adanır.

Increase in cases and punishments related to defamation 34 journalists
among 101 Turkish citizens were sentenced to 98 years and five days
imprisonment and compensation claims summing up to TL 1,408,680
(â~B¬ 670,800) under charges of "attacks on personal rights".

Local courts in 2009 decreed for a total of nine years, three
months and 6 days imprisonment and monetary fines of TL 41,290 (â~B¬
19,660). In the previous year, 74 people received prison sentences
of 77 years and faced compensation claims of TL 1,885,500.

The defendants convicted at local courts were Perihan Magden, Cemal
SubaÅ~_ı, Hacı Bogatekin, Leman Yurtseven, Fakir Yılmaz, Selmi
Yılmaz, Å~^amil Tayyar, Sevda Turaclar, Betul Ozturk, juvenile O.K,
Ahmet Keskin, Hasan Ozaydın, Berna Ozarslan, Ozgur Bogatekin, Dengir
Mir Mehmet Fırat, Mahmut Alınak, Muzaffer Erdogdu, Ahmet Guner and
Taner Akcam.

16 years seven months imprisonment for "Incitement to hatred and
hostility" 21 people, six of them journalists, stood trial for
"incitement to hatred and hostility"; 13 defendants were convicted,
among them three journalists. They received a total of 16 years and
seven months imprisonment.

The names of the convicts are Aysel Tugluk, Ethem Acıkalın, Tayyip
Temel, Ercan Oksuz, Oktay Candemir, Mahmut Alınak, İbrahim Guclu,
Huseyin Kalkan, Fuat Onen, Arif Sevinc, Nadir YektaÅ~_, Eyup Karakeci
and Mehmet Kemal Ugurlu. In 2008 on the other hand, seven defendants
out of 23 were acquitted.

Writer Demirer still defendant under article 301 37 people were
tried under article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK) in 2009,
six cases were dismissed by the Ministry of Justice.

The trial of author Temel Demirer is still pending. Ten activists from
EskiÅ~_ehir and radio journalist Sabri Ejder Ozic were acquitted. The
Ministry of Justice has still not decided whether to pursue or dismiss
the prosecutions of another 20 people.

The trials of 54 mayors of Democratic Society Party (DTP), which was
closed down by the Constitutional Court in mid December, including
four journalists, are pending under charges of "praising criminals".

State impassive to violence; Hayırsevener killed 27 journalists and
the Bizim Kocaeli newspaper were subjects of attacks in 2009. Ten
people were threatened for their thoughts, among them six journalists.

Violence was mainly directed at local journalists: Cihan Hayırsevener
(Balıkesir), İzzettin Oktay (Siirt), Omer Celik (İstanbul),
Seyfullah Ayvalı (İzmir), Hacı Bogatekin (Adıyaman), Zeki Dara
(Hakkari), Erhan Telli (Bursa), Diya Yarayan (Siirt), Yakup Onal
(Tekirdag), Mansur Obut (Batman), DurmuÅ~_ Tuna (Aydın), Omer Pınar
(Å~^anlıurfa), Sedat Å~^ahinler (Antalya), Fırat Akyol (Giresun),
Rasim Ozan Kutahyalı (İstanbul), İbrahim Gunduz (Ankara),
Mahmut Bozarslan (Diyarbakır), Ozden ErkuÅ~_ (Ankara), Ediz Alıc
(Adana), Rengin Gultekin (Adana), Kadir Puslu (Adana), Meral Ozdemir
(Diyarbakır), Mehmet Emek (Diyarbakır), Gamze Dondurmacı (Ankara),
Dogan Durak (Ankara), NeÅ~_et Oner (Bursa), Å~^ukru Oner (Bursa)
and Orhan Kaplan (Bursa).

Five out of 25 detained journalists were released Devrimci
Demokrasi newspaper owner and editor-in-chief Erdal Guler and former
editor-in-chief of the Kurdish Azadiya Welat newspaper Vedat KurÅ~_un
are in prison under charges of "publishing praise" for organisations
such as the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) or the Maoist
Communist Party (MKP).

Prison sentences were handed to at least 23 people arrested for
activities related to their profession, the actual number in this
respect is estimated even higher. Abdurrahman Gök, Serhat Bolluk,
Nadiye Gurbuz, Mehmet Ali VarıÅ~_ and Vedat Yenerer were tried
un-detained and released throughout the year.

Journalists like Mustafa Balbay and Emcet Olcayto are still in prison
in context of the Ergenekon case. Gun TV official Ahmet Birsin, Adana
Radyo Dunya broadcasting director Kenan Karavil and Seyithan Akyuz
from Azadiya Welat newspaper were taken into detention in the scope
of an operation regarding the Union of Kurdistan Societies (KCK),
the umbrella organization of the PKK.

Istanbul Ozgur Radio broadcasting director Fusun Erdogan, Atılım
magazine publishing co-ordinator Ä°brahim Cicek and magazine official
Sedat Senoglu are in detention since 2006 on the grounds of alleged
membership of the illegal Marxist Leninist Communist Party (MLKP)
organization.

Penalties of ECHR more than doubled The European Court of Human Rights
(ECHR) convicted Turkey to a total fine of TL 472,392 (â~B¬ 225,000)
in compensation. In the previous year, this amount added up to TL
183,801 (â~B¬ 87,525). 11,100 complaint files concerned with Turkey
are currently waiting to be dealt with at the ECHR.

26 employees of Ulkede Ozgur Gundem, Gundem, Guncel ve Gercek
Demokrasi newspapers sought their rights at the ECHR together with
Seyithan Demir, Ä°smail Kara, Omer Bahceci, Fikret Turan, Cihan Ozturk,
Aziz Ozer, Ä°brahim Guclu, Sedat Ä°mza, Ayhan Erdogan, Mehmet Cevher
Ä°lhan, Ruya KurtuluÅ~_, Erdinc Gök, HaÅ~_im Ozgur Ersoy, Ä°nci Acık,
Serpil Ocak, Ayfer Cicek, Nuri Gunay and Murat Kaya.

The following new applications were made to the ECHR in 2009: the
Hrant Dink murder, publication bans imposed to Ozgur Mezopotamya,
Ozgur GöruÅ~_, Rojev, Siyasi Alternatif and Surec newspapers,
Internet Technology Association (INETD) in regard to the ban of
youtube.com, Birecik’in Sesi newspaper official Å~^evket Demir, Siirt
Mucadele newspaper owner Cumhur Kılıccıoglu, Cumhuriyet newspaper
journalist Alper Turgut, Cevat DuÅ~_un from Alternatif newspaper,
Vakit newspaper writer Abdurrahman Dilipak and Taraf newspaper
journalist Orhan Miroglu.

GENOCIDE CHARGE NOW POSSIBLE FOR SUDAN’S AL-BASHIR

Asbarez
Feb 3rd, 2010

THE HAGUE, Netherlands(AP) – The International Criminal Court will
again consider charging Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with genocide
in Darfur, after an appeals panel ruled that judges made an "error
in law" when they refused to indict him on that charge last year.

"He should get a lawyer," court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo said
after ruling Wednesday.

He accused al-Bashir of keeping 2.5 million refugees from specific
ethnic groups in Darfur in camps "under genocide conditions, like a
gigantic Auschwitz."

The appeals decision – which said the burden of proof should be lower
when prosecutors seek an indictment than when they try to secure a
conviction at trial – fueled hopes among human rights activists that
prosecutors will indict other leaders around the world for atrocities.

The court is currently considering allegations of atrocities in
countries from Colombia to Kenya, Gaza to Afghanistan, but has so
far launched formal prosecutions in just four countries, all of them
in Africa.

"This gives a new wind to the sails of international justice," said
Kenyan human rights activist Njonjo Mue.

Moreno Ocampo welcomed the decision to reopen the Darfur genocide case
and vowed to give judges even more evidence when they again consider
charging al-Bashir with genocide.

A five-judge appeals chamber said the International Criminal Court
wrongly concluded in March that there was insufficient evidence to
charge al-Bashir with three counts of genocide for allegedly attempting
to wipe out entire ethnic groups in the war-ravaged province of Darfur.

Instead, the court charged him with seven counts of war crimes and
crimes against humanity for allegedly orchestrating a campaign of
murder, torture, rape and forced expulsions in Darfur.

The Sudanese president refuses to recognize the court’s jurisdiction
and has vowed never to surrender to it. Since the charges were issued,
he has traveled to friendly countries but called off trips to nations
where he fears he could be arrested and sent to The Hague.

Al-Bashir’s hardline regime also threw out 13 international aid
agencies working in Darfur last March when the court first indicted
him. The move further compounded the humanitarian crisis in a region
where 300,000 people have died since fighting broke out in 2003 between
the government and rebels. The United Nations says 2.7 million people
have been driven from their homes by the conflict.

"For me, the fact that President Bashir expelled the humanitarian
organizations is confirming that his intention is the physical
destruction of these people," Moreno Ocampo told The Associated Press
in his office at the court.

Wednesday’s ruling set an important precedent because it marked the
first time the world’s first permanent war crimes court has dealt
with a genocide case, said David Crane, a law professor at Syracuse
University and former chief prosecutor at the Special Court for
Sierra Leone.

The appeals bench effectively said "lower the bar, take a look at
the evidence again and see what you come up with," Crane said in a
telephone interview.

William R. Pace of the Coalition for the ICC, a non-government group
that supports the court, also hailed the decision’s significance,
saying it could for the first time "lead to the inclusion of charges
of genocide by ICC judges for a sitting head of state."

What it didn’t do was bring al-Bashir any closer to justice. On
Wednesday he was in Qatar at Darfur peace talks.

Rabie Abdel-Attie, a Sudan government spokesman, said Wednesday’s
decision will not affect al-Bashir’s bid to run again for presidency
at elections expected in April, and claimed it reflected the court’s
isolation from reality on the ground in Sudan.

"The government doesn’t give the court any consideration and doesn’t
care much for it. This is a matter of principle," he told the AP from
Khartoum. "The court is heading in one direction and we in the other."

Moreno Ocampo credited his investigations in Darfur with energizing
peace efforts.

Since he launched his case in 2008 "everything is moving," Moreno
Ocampo said. "When I presented my case, there was no peace process …

now there are vibrant discussions."

Moreno Ocampo accuses al-Bashir of mobilizing the entire Sudanese state
apparatus with the aim of destroying a substantial part of the Fur,
Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups in Darfur over more than six years.

Prosecutors accuse Sudanese troops and the janjaweed Arab militia they
support of murdering civilians and preying on them in refugee camps.

Moreno Ocampo said part of the alleged genocide was a campaign of
rape to drive women into the desert, where they die of starvation.

"[The appeals ruling] put genocide back on the table," Crane said. "It
will certainly put the world’s leaders on notice once again that
these types of crimes are now available [to prosecutors]."