Author: Hunanian Jack

NO LANDINGS AT "ZVARTNOTS"

A1+
[04:04 pm] 29 January, 2009

Airplanes flying to Yerevan from different directions were not
able to make a landing at "Zvartnots" airport today due to foggy
weather. There haven’t been any landings to date and it is still not
clear as to when the airport will be back on track.

"Each airline company has its own reserved airport where airplanes
make landings in such cases," told "A1+" representatives of the
Armenian aero-navigation company.

Some airline companies use the Tbilisi airport as a reserved airport,
but due to the tense political situation, Russian planes refuse to
land in Georgia.

The "Shirak" airport of Gyumri and the Turkish city of Trabizon are
used as reserved airports. The plane coming from Prague to Yerevan
landed in Trabizon and some of the passengers on that plane were
actually Armenian journalists providing coverage of the PACE winter
session.

There have been some flights despite no landings. The press secretariat
of "Zvartnots" told "A1+" that the fog disappeared for a while and
the planes were able to fly to Moscow, Ufa and Tbilisi.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER OFF TO ZURICH FOR KARABAKH TALKS

Mediamax
Jan 26 2009
Armenia

Yerevan, 26 January: Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edvard
Nalbandyan left for Zurich today, where his meeting with the foreign
minister of Azerbaijan and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs [that
mediate a solution to the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict] will take
place on 27 January, Mediamax was informed in the press service of
the Foreign Ministry.

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website:

PRESS RELEASE

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Berdj Terzian’s "Egyptian Armenian Views" Presented at Official
Reception in Cairo

On January 18, 2009, a new Arabic-language book entitled
"Egyptian-Armenian Views on History, Politics and Cultural Heritage"
written by Berdj Terzian, Chairman of AGBU Egypt, was launched on the
premises of the Armenian Embassy in Cairo, under the auspices of His
Excellency Rouben Karapetian, ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to
Egypt.

The reception was attended by a host of Egyptian dignitaries,
representatives of various government ministries, scientific and
cultural institutions, as well as leading members of the
Armenian-Egyptian community.

Ambassador Karapetian introduced Terzian’s collection of forty articles,
which were originally published in the "Arev" Arabic monthly supplement
from 1998 to 2008. The ambassador described the book as "unquestionably
an important contribution to Armenia-related Arabic literature."

In addition to personal memoirs, the book gives a bird’s-eye view of
Armenian history, including the Armenian genocide, and its ongoing
repercussions in contemporary Armenian affairs. The book also discusses
the political situations in Armenia and Karabakh, and contains
reflections on the Armenian Church, important Armenian figures, Armenian
communities in different countries.

In his speech, Terzian thanked the Armenian ambassador for hosting the
book launch and Mohamed Refaat El Imam, who is the editor in chief of
the "Arev" Arabic monthly supplement. He also pointed out the importance
of "Arev" in spreading Armenia-related news to Arabic-language readers
in Egypt and abroad. The publication is a joint project of the Armenian
National Fund and AGBU Cairo.

Berdj Terzian, a prominent Egyptian-Armenian intellectual, has been a
member of the AGBU District Committee of Egypt since 1964 and its
chairman since 1988. He is the honorary chairman of AGBU Cairo, after
serving as chairman from 1992 to 2002. He is also the editorial advisor
of AGBU Cairo’s "Deghegadou" quarterly and the monthly "Arev" Arabic
supplement. Terzian was the Chairman of the Executive Board of the
Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate in Cairo from 2003 to 2006 and has been
an active member of the Diocesan Council of the Armenian Church in Cairo
for several decades.

Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU
preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through
educational, cultural and humanitarian program, annually touching the
lives of some 400,000 Armenians around the world.

IN CASE ARMENIA IS DEPRIVED OF VOTING RIGHT IN PACE, AUTHORITIES OF ARMENIA WILL BE THE ONLY PARTY TO BENEFIT FROM THIS: RUSSIAN POLITICAL EXPERT

ArmInfo
2009-01-26 19:17:00

ArmInfo. "I strongly doubt about possible depriving Armenia of the
voting right in PACE as I personally do not understand the reasons
or consequences of this step for both Armenia and the organization
itself", – Sergey Markedonov, a famous Russian political expert,
head of the Department of International Relations at the Institute
for Political and Military Analysis said to ArmInfo correspondent.

‘The only one, who will win from depriving Armenia of the voting
right in PACE, are the Armenian authorities, as in that case the
Armenian society will line up behind the ruling elite’, – he said and
added that in case of repressing Armenia by PACE the country will
hardly turn to 180 degrees towards the democratic Europe and start
implementing all the required reforms.

‘I think that by depriving Armenia of the voting right PACE will just
display its own weakness as in that case it will become clear that
the given organization simply does not own other ways of influence.

Russia was also deprived of the voting right earlier. And what did
they reach?’ – Markedonov concluded.

THE CHALLENGES OF MULTI-POLAR WORLD

"Noravank" Foundation
26 January 2009

Amid the world system crisis the main ideological provisions are
revaluated.

As a result essential changes take place in political sphere and the
most essential of those changes is the creation of multi-polar world
order. The geopolitical outlines of this new system are very dim and
the rules of the game are not laid down yet. This dictates terms to
the international actors.

They have to specify their political tactics and to produce basically
new strategy.

The foregoing tendencies are reasonable. The political philosophy
of the United States turned out to be plain and many countries
reacted adequately on it. Today there are several centers of
global power; their relations comply with the logic of new cold war
and turn into military (local wars), diplomatic and informational
conflicts. According to the analysts approach, the current economic
crisis is also a geo-economic component of that war: energy products
price deflation, "gas war" between Russia and Ukraine, decline in
capacities and many other developments of that kind definitely touch
on Russia, China, and this reminds the economic war against "social
camp" during the cold war.

It is also significant that today contradictions are deepening not
only between traditional opponents (the USA- the RF, the USA- the CPR,
the USA-Islamic countries) but al so implicitly between the EU and the
USA. E.g. some official circles in the EU regard the disapproval of
"Treaty of Lisbon" on a referendum in Ireland (it had to substitute
the rejected Euroconstitution) in 2008 as a result of Pentagon and
CIA activity (there was even unofficial investigation pursued on
this matter).

There are different characteristics of political developments
in circumstances concerned. But there is one issue that political
analysts are concurrent. The formation of multi-polar world contains
many dangers and in this context the growth of possibility of new
wars outbreak is inevitable.

The pessimistic scenarios. The culture of political forecasts is more
cultivated in the USA and on this matter it is significant that there
was a report on danger of expansion of mass destruction weapons (they
had in their minds North Korea and Iran) that the US special services
presented to the Senate in 2008. It is interesting that the report
contained not only observations on the difficult situation in Iraq,
Afghanistan and Pakistan but it also touched on the problems which
may cause political instability in Europe. In other report made by
internal security service, there was said that in the coming five
years the United States may be attacked by WMD. The report "Global
trends – 2025" by National Intelligence Council, which also contains
some troublous signs, needs special analysis.

Russian analysts are not optimistic either. Some of them stand on the
opinion that the state of war has been sustainable since September 11,
and it is difficult not to agree with this point of view. Others think
that this crisis may cause large-scale nuclear war. It is significant
that in 2008 the USA and Russia reconsidered their military doctrines;
the EU, Great Britain and China also introduce military reforms.

The above mentioned forecasts seem to be reasonable. Unlike two-polar
world (the USA – the USSR), there are no "deterrent mechanisms" formed
in multi-polar world, there are no treaties on the restriction of
strategic weapons and this increases the possibility of large-scale
(or even nuclear) war.

Middle East (ME). In recent years (especially in 2003-2007) ME was
considered as "risk" zone, where the relations between the USA, its
ally Israel and Iran were escalated because of the nuclear program
of Iran and developments around Iraq. At present (in spite of the
new conflict between Palestine and Israel which broke out in December
2008) there is an impression that all sides reached some non-official
agreements which deescalated situation and reduced the possibility
of nuclear war in ME. This is evidenced by passive behavior of
"Hezbollah" and particularly by the fact that on January 11 of this
year Ali Khomeini prohibited the citizens of Iran to take part in
current war a nd terrorist attacks against Israel. On the assumption
of those tendencies the following scenario should not be ruled out:
strange as it may seem today but there is possibility that in future,
in case when Iraq is parted, Israel, Iran and Kurdish state formations
may become strongholds of the USA in the region.

Today "the nuclear dominance" has shifted to the angle of India –
Pakistan relations. As it was aptly mentioned by one political analyst
"if a huge number of nuclear missiles which were at disposal of the
USA and the USSR in the years of cold war played deterrent role,
because in case of war both states could be destroyed, then the
restricted amount of nuclear weapons in India and Pakistan have
opposite effect. The absence of mutual agreement and fear of enemy’s
attack increases the possibility of using missiles".

Pakistan – India confrontation. When on August 19, 2008, the president
of Pakistan Pervaz Musharraf resigned under the pressure of opposition,
the international community was mainly occupied by the war in South
Ossetia between Russia and Georgia and other political developments
were pushed to the sidelines. Meanwhile from the point of view of
classical geopolitics Central Asia is key region and superstates
always were keen to control that part of Eurasia. Without going into
historical details it should be remembered that Afghanistan was
the first aim of the US A after the attacks on September 11th. It
is significant that in 2001 political technology, which can be
conditionally called "positive result from negative processes"
(positive reaction on negative action), was realized. Taking terrorist
attacks on September 11th (negative process) as a basis, the US (and
NATO) transformed it into a big geopolitical conquest and established
military presence in Central Asia, in the neighbour of the RF and
the CPR (positive result). In the past the same technology was used,
e.g. in 1941 when they used Purl Harbor to enter World War II. In this
political conception informational factor is of great importance, and
this allows some analysts to regard it as a component of "informational
wars of third generation".

Apropos of the resignation of Musharraf, which took place under
internal and external constraint, we can state, based on the analyses
of information flows that the controllability of Pakistan, which was
not on a high level, has even reduced. According to some versions this
trend coincides with the programs of Great Britain and the USA, aiming
to destabilize the region (on the basis of conception of controllable
chaos) and as a result to try to weaken their major opponent, China.

In the frame of the foregoing version the terrorist attacks on Mumbai
in November, 2008, which are supposed to be organized by Pakistani
government and mainly by Inter-Service Intelligence=2 0(ISI) (it
is regarded as the most powerful special service in the region)1,
show that there is such strategy. As a result the relations between
India and Pakistan became extremely tense; troops were concentrated
on the border; and mass media started to discuss the possibility of
nuclear war. It is significant that in 1997-2001 the best military and
analytical specialists of the USA worked out the following documents
"Asia – 2025" and "Joint vision – 2020", which contained the scenarios
of possible nuclear confrontation between Pakistan and India.

"New order in South Asia" scenario. In 2010 Pakistan is in deep
economic crisis. Its economy recesses, the inability of government
brings to instability, some tribes rebel, Islamic radicals become
active, invade and take over the control of Indian state of
Kashmir. India, which due to the collaboration with the USA is in
advance of China and becomes the leader of that region, demands
Pakistani government to subdue radicals and withdraw them from
Kashmir but weakened Pakistani government is not to comply with the
demand. India brings additional troops into the state. Pakistan demands
to withdraw Indian troops, China supports that demand and begins to
concentrate their troops on the border with India. The USA involves and
demands China to safeguard neutrality. The conflict reaches its climax
when India being afraid of WMD engagement on behalf=2 0of Pakistan
conducts missile attacks on WMD posts and terrorist camps (according
to other scenario that conflict emerges after Pakistani missile crashes
the plane carrying Indian ministers and high-ranked officers in the sky
over Kashmir) and as a consequence in 2020 Pakistan as a state does
not exist any more. Meanwhile India turns into undeniable regional
leader and all Asian countries and firstly Iran make overture to India.

The foregoing scenario is the most advantageous from the point of view
of the US interests. In consequence of war their main opponent China
is pushed to the sidelines and the US strategic partners India and
Iran turns into the leaders of Asia. The US has established new higher
level of cooperation with India in recent years (particularly in the
nuclear sphere). As it was mentioned above the US use new strategy
towards Iran, which can bring to partnership relations between these
two countries.

Some conclusions. It should be mentioned that there are also some
American scenarios which state the dominance of China and which suppose
the displacement of the US from South Asian and Asian-Pacific region
(the so called "Mighty China" scenario). On the assumption of modern
tendencies it may be supposed that this scenario is more realistic than
"New order in South Asia". At the same time, in multi-polar system
the US is "the first among equal" and their successively impl emented
strategy may strongly affect any process which seems to be natural.

By the way, the possibility of opposite scenarios should not be
excluded either. Zbigniew Brzezinsky, the adviser of new U.S. President
B. Obama, suggested the U.S. and China to create "big two" ("G2"),
which will be able to handle main global problems. But it remains an
open question how China would react on that suggestion.

1Not only Indian government but also some independent observers
are of the opinion that terrorist attacks were very well developed
and technically supported, particularly they had electronic ground
navigation systems. It should also be mentioned that specialists, who
are addressed to the issues of special services, agree that "Taliban"
and bin Laden are the products of joint-activity of ISI and CIA

KONSTANTIN ORBELYAN JUBILEE TO BE MARKED IN MOSCOW

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.01.2009 18:17 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Konstantin Orbelyan’s jubilee will be marked in
Moscow on February 24.

As a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter came to know from Armavia national
carrier, the sponsor of the event, Armenian and Russian pop stars
will perform at the concert dedicated to the 80th birthday of the
USSR People’s Artist and composer.

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Jan 25 2009

How Ergenekon evolved: the near past of a clandestine organization

ANKARA – Initial details about the Ergenekon terrorist organization
were published by Can Dündar, a columnist from the Milliyet
daily, and journalist Celal Kazda�Ÿl�± in
the book "Ergenekon," published in 1997. Although Dündar denies
the existence of the Ergenekon organization,
KazdaÃ?ŸlÃ?&#xC 2;± argues that the history of this
organization can be traced back to the early ’90s.

Speaking to Today’s Zaman, KazdaÃ?ŸlÃ?±
comme nted on the emergence of Ergenekon, saying: "Ergenekon, which is
not defined as a state within the state or the "deep state,’ is an
entity set up by the CIA in all NATO-member countries in the aftermath
of the Cold War. This was an American invention to fight against
communism. The organization, which did not rely on domestic
legislation, was referred to as Gladio in many NATO countries, but
while measures were taken against this sort of organization in these
countries, it remained influential in Turkey.

The Susurluk accident revealed the activities of this
organization. Ã?°stanbul’s Ziverbey Castle is where those
who tried organizing the March 9, 1971 coup and the intellectuals
supporting them were subjected to torture following a military memo
released on March 12, 1971. Gen. Memduh
Ã?Å`nlütürk was the commander of the Ziverbey
Castle. Those tortured there included �°lhan
Selçuk from the Cumhuriyet
daily. Ã?Å`nlütürk was the first military
officer to make mention of Ergenekon and provided brief details about
its organization."

Kazda�Ÿl&#xC 3;?± argues that the Susurluk
accident was an excellent opportunity to deal with the Ergenekon
investigation but that Turkey did not effectively capitalize on
it. Noting that those who survived the initial measures against the
organization took it to another dimension,
KazdaÃ?ŸlÃ?Â& #xB1; also notes that it was no
coincidence that the perpetrators of many murders committed after 1996
were all apprehended because of the "elimination of some parts of the
organization" during this period.

"The first serious assassination attempt made in Turkey after Nov. 3,
1996 targeted Human Rights Association [�°HD] President
Ak�±n Birdal.

The attackers, Bahri Eken and Kerem Deretarla, were detained shortly
after the attack. The perpetrators of most of the criminal acts,
including assault, murder and arson, were all apprehended. Suspects in
an attack on the Council of State, the Hrant Dink assassination, the
Father Santoro murder and the Malatya massacre were arrested shortly
after the incidents took place. However, such acts and offenses used
to remain unresolved before 1996. Retired Gen. Veli
Küçük was the first to arrive at the scene so as
to claim the body of Abdullah �atl�±, who died in
the car accident in Susurluk on Nov. 3, 1996."
KazdaÃ?ŸlÃ? ± said.
Kazda�Ÿl�± doubts that Ergenekon might
have deliberately been unveiled so that its leader could set up a
different organizational
structure. Kazda�Ÿl�± attributes this to
the Nationalist Movement Party’s (MHP) eagerness to distance itself
from this organization, adding that leftist-nationalist circles are
feeling close to the new entity. Noting that leftist parties expended
much effort revealing the details of the Susurluk scandal because
�atl�± was known for his affiliation with the
MHP, Kazda�Ÿl�± also said: "Leftist
parties held that this illegal entity involved the nationalists
alone. They are now opposed to the ongoing investigation because this
illegal entity took a different shape and form after being named
Ergenekon."

Traces of Feb. 28

Turkey has started questioning the Feb. 28, 1997 postmodern coup now
that the Ergenekon investigation is under way because it has become
obvious that this organization played a determinative role in social
upheavals prior to the Feb. 28 process, which started with allegations
implying that the Welfare Party (RP)-True Path Party (DYP) coalition
government was not competent in dealing with religious fundamentalism.

Official visits by then Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan to Libya and
Nigeria raised tension in relations between the government and the
General Staff. Allegations were made indicating that military officers
discharged from the army were employed in municipalities run by RP
mayors. A fast-breaking dinner held with the participation of
religious leaders and sheiks at the official residence of the prime
minister, plans to build a mosque in Ã?°stanbul’s Taksim
Square and the re-conversion of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque
heralded a new era of fear.

A polemic between Ã?°stanbul’s Mayor of Sultanbeyli Nabi
Koçak and Gen. Do�Ÿu
SilahçÃ?&#x C2;±oÃ?Ÿlu, who asked for the
erection of a statue of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the town,
increased the tension. After retiring from the military,
Silahç�±o&#x C3;?Ÿlu began working for the
Cumhuriyet daily as a columnist. In his last column before the
initiation of the Ergenekon investigation,
SilahçÃ?Â&#xB1 ;oÃ?Ÿlu argued that it was no
longer possible to deal with the Justice and Development Party (AK
Party) while relying on democratic
methods. SilahçÃ?±oÃ?Å ¸lu has not
published any article in the paper since. High-ranking military
officers convened in G�¶lcük on Jan. 22, 1997 to
discuss whether religious fundamentalism had become influential in the
country. Labor and business unions, professional organizations and
trade associations began speaking out against the government. Women’s
organizations held rallies to protest Shariah and promote
secularism. The General Staff started briefing members of the
judiciary, university rectors and journalists on religious
fundamentalism at its headquarters. The National Security Council
(MGK) made a number of decisions in its meeting on Feb. 28, 1997, and
presented them to Prime Minister Erbakan for approval. Erbakan was
forced to sign the decisions.

Erbakan subsequently resigned, handing over the prime ministry to his
coalition partner, Tansu Ã?iller. He presented the signatures of
270 deputies stating that they would vote for the suggested Cabinet to
President Süleyman Demirel, who was expected to ask
Ã?iller to form the Cabinet; however, surprisingly, he asked
Motherland Party (ANAP, now ANAVATAN) leader Mesut
Y�±lmaz to do so. The government formed by
Y�±lmaz was unable to get a vote of confidence in
Parliament. At this point, Demirel intervened in the process and asked
his confidants in the DYP to resign and join the Party for a
Democratic Turkey (DTP), founded by Hüsamettin Cindoruk,
thereby forming an alternative coalition government.

Why is Cindoruk serving as an advocate of Ergenekon?

The reason that former Parliament Speaker Hüsamettin Cindoruk,
who was removed from the political stage because of his role in the
Feb. 28 process, now serves as an advocate of Ergenekon may be found
in the works of the parliamentary commission set up to investigate
unresolved murders. Bing�¶l deputy Hüsamettin
Korkutata, who served on the commission at the time, comments on
Cindoruk’s mission during this period: "The military commanders
obstructed our work. We failed to get depositions from the military
officers because they asked Parliament Speaker Cindoruk to block our
work. We had noticed the traces of Ergenekon in our work back
then. Some groups were committing offenses and the state was hiding
their actions. All were aware that these groups were working in
cooperation with PKK informants and that Veli
Küçük held a crucial position in the
organization. It has become evident that their only concern was money
and material gain, rather than national sentiments. The commission
members had to deal with obstructions by Chief of General Staff
Gen. Do�Ÿan GüreÅŸ and other
high-ranking military commanders. We wanted to hear from some military
officers serving in the Special Warfare Unit in an attempt to get some
information about the murder of SavaÅŸ Buldan. Cindoruk
told us not to do this because the military was opposed to it."

The Western Study Group (BÃ?G) was another important entity that
came out of the Feb. 28 process. The group was formed within the naval
forces and assigned to collect information on fundamentalist
tendencies and actors within the state. The military has always denied
the existence of such an organization; however, a legal process was
initiated after Cpl. Kadir Sarmusak leaked information to the police
department. Sarmusak was acquitted by the military court, but the
military judges serving on the panel that ruled for Sarmusak’s
acquittal were all discharged from the military.

Resolved murders still inspire unanswered questions

There haven’t been any unresolved murders in Turkey since the
assassination of scientist Necip Hablemito�Ÿlu. This
implies that the perpetrators of murders since 2003 have either been
identified or caught; however, there are also murders that have
remained a mystery despite their perpetrators having been
identified. These include the murders of Ã?`zdemir
Sabanc�±, Hrant Dink and Father Andrea Santoro and the
attack on the Zirve publishing house in Malatya.

SabancÃ?±’s murderer was identified at the last
moment. He was murdered by Revolutionary People’s Liberation
Party/Front (DHKP/C) militants Mustafa Duyar, Ismail Akkol and Fehriye
Erdal on Jan. 9, 1996.

Duyar turned himself in at the Turkish Embassy in Damascus on Jan. 6,
1997. Duyar, who confessed the details of how they committed the
murder, said Erdal, an employee at the Sabanc�± Business
Center, confused the rooms. Duyar also said: "The target was
Sak�±p Sabanc�±. Because of the mix-up,
�`zdemir Sabanc�± and Haluk
G�¶rgün were murdered." The murder was seemingly
resolved; however, subsequent developments have inspired new questions
that remain unanswered.

Duyar was murdered in prison by the men of Vedat and Nuri Ergin, also
known as the Karagümrük gang, on Feb. 15, 1999. Erdal
was seized in Belgium on Oct. 27, 1999; however, she was never
extradited to Turkey. She is still at large, wanted by the Belgian
authorities.

In a book titled "Code," Zihni �ak�±r argued that
SabancÃ?±’s murder was organized by Abdullah
�atl�±, Hüseyin Kocada�Ÿ and
military officer Hüseyin Pepekal. The book also argues that
Erdal and Duyar were both used by intelligence units.

Mystery surrounding Hrant Dink murder

The perpetrators of the murder of Dink, a Turkish journalist of
Armenian descent, were apprehended shortly after the incident on
Jan. 19, 2007. It quickly became evident that the murder was committed
by Ogun Samast from Trabzon, but police informant Erhan Tuncel had
warned security forces of the planned murder months before.

This murder, which was committed in �°stanbul, also
pointed to something happening in the city of Trabzon, where Father
Santoro had been assassinated. First, military officers serving in the
provincial military unit were removed from office. Regional
Gendarmerie Commander Col. Ali Ã?`z was reassigned to
Bilecik. An investigation has only recently been launched into Ramazan
Akyürek, chairman of the Trabzon Police Department’s
Intelligence Unit.

Ã?`z spoke before the parliamentary Commission on Human Rights,
where he expressed concern for his life, adding that he would not
testify.

Prosecutors investigating the Dink murder demanded that the General
Staff hand over the ongoing investigation into Ã?`z; however,
the General Staff did not comply with the request. Ã?`z was
later assigned to General Staff headquarters. CoÅŸkun
�°&#xC 3;?Ÿci, uncle by marriage of Yasin Hayal,
who incited Samast to commit the murder, reportedly notified
gendarmerie Sgt. Veyşel �ahin of the
murder beforehand; however, Col. Ã?`z recommended that
�°�Ÿci not discuss such topics. As the
arguments suggesting that intelligence about the murder was
deliberately overlooked have become stronger, inquiries have been made
to reveal Ã?`z’s past.

Col. Ã?`z was allegedly involved in the Ulucanlar Prison
operation, which occurred when he was serving under Ankara Provincial
Gendarmerie Commander Col. Kemal Bayalan. Ten inmates were killed
during the operation in September 1999. Ã?`z was the first to
arrive at the crime scene where Professor Ahmet Taner
K�±ÅŸlal �± was
murdered. These may be coincidences; however, Turkey’s recent past
suggests that this sort of coincidence is unlikely.

The report prepared by the Prime Ministry Inspection Board with regard
to the Dink murder stressed that there were many vague points
requiring clarification and that public authorities had made grave
mistakes. For this reason, permission for a thorough investigation
into Akyürek has been granted.

The brutal incident in which Necati Ayd�±n, Tilmann
Geske and U�Ÿur Yüksel were brutally murdered in
Malatya was seemingly resolved. Even though the perpetrators have been
apprehended, further investigation has revealed that there are still
ambiguities in the case and that there may have been other actors
involved.

Sa�Ÿlar: There are 17,547 unresolved murders

Fikri Sa�Ÿlar, a member of the parliamentary commission
set up to investigate the Susurluk incident, which revealed
connections and cooperation between the police, politicians and
criminal gangs, argues that there are 17,547 unresolved murders in
Turkey. Noting that members of parliamentary commissions investigating
these murders have had to deal with many obstacles,
Sa�Ÿlar also said, "Three of my friends who were trying
to shed light on these murders were killed."

Stressing that the work of these commissions was obstructed by an
"invisible hand," Sa�Ÿlar says illegal entities within
the state were responsible for most of these murders. Emphasizing that
the Gladio-like organization founded in Turkey during the Cold War era
was the major actor in a number of unresolved murders and social
disturbances, Sa�Ÿlar argues that while most NATO
countries got rid of their Gladios, Turkey failed to follow the same
path.

Noting that these commissions have prepared excellent reports
resolving the plots staged by shadowy actors in Turkey but that the
political administrations have failed to implement their
recommendations, Sa�Ÿlar says the Ergenekon
investigation is Turkey’s last chance to purge the state of illegal
entities. "If the report prepared by the Susurluk commission and those
written up by the parliamentary commission for unresolved murders had
been considered by the prosecutors and the political administrations,
maybe we would not be talking about Ergenekon today. For this reason,
the prosecutors in the Ergenekon case should carefully review these
two reports. Both reports have clues and information about the deep
state. If these clues are traced, the illegal entities within the
state may be effectively eliminated. If we do not use this chance, we
will come back to the same point 10 years later," he explains.

By ERCAN YAVUZ ANKARA
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Source: TZ

PanARMENIAN.Net

Baku doesn’t settle down, insists on "Russian armament delivery to Armenia"
24.01.2009 13:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Official Baku will continue investigation of
"delivery of Russian weapons to Armenia," said a spokesman for the
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

"There was a similar incident in 1996. The Foreign Ministry will study
any information and facts regarding to the issue," Elhan Polukhov
said, Novosti Azerbaijan reports.

Baku’s accusation campaign started after publication of some media
reports about delivery of Russian armament to the amount of $800
million to Armenia. Some two weeks ago, Azeri ANS TV quoted Russian
Defense Ministry’s spokesman Alexander Petrunin as saying that "Russia
delivered military hardware to Armenia in the framework of a
transnational agreement."

The Russian Foreign Ministry refuted the information. "Such untrue
anti-Russian publications undermine friendly relations between the
Russian Federation and Azerbaijan," it said in a note sent to the
Azeri MFA.

AMBASSADOR OF PHILIPPINES PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO THE FOREIGN MINISTER OF ARMENIA

armradio.am
23.01.2009 10:50

The newly appointed Ambassador of Philippines to Armenia, Victor
Garcia III presented the copies of his credentials to the Foreign
Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian.

The interlocutors discussed the possible ways of development of
relations between Armenia and Philippines.

Reference was made to the issue of expanding cooperation between the
two countries within international organizations, particularly the
UN and its specialized agencies.

GEORGIA ACCUSES TO ARMENIANS OF ESPIONAGE

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.01.2009 18:32 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The intelligence agency at the Georgian Ministry
of Interior has detained two members of the Armenian community on
suspicion of espionage.

Grigory Minasyan and Sargis Hakobjanyan were detained in Samtskhe
Javakheti on January 22.

A criminal case in compliance with articles 18.1, 223.1 and 314
(formation of illegal armed unit and espionage) of the Georgian Penal
Code was initiated, Georgia Online reports.