Author: Jabejian Elizabeth

Thursday, Sep 21 2006 9:56 am GMT+2

Elif ªafak’s trial begins
Thursday, September 21, 2006

ISTANBUL – Turkish Daily News — Novelist and TDN writer Elif ªafak
will today face the court on charges of insulting Turkishness for
what a fictional character in her book, "The bastard of Istanbul,"
says about the killings of Armenians in 1915.

"The Bastard of Istanbul" is a sweeping saga of four generations of
women moving between Turkey and the United States and recounting the
tale of an Armenian family that fled the massacres of 1915, leaving
behind a child who was reared as a Turk and a Muslim.

Charges against ªafak are based on the controversial Turkish Penal
Code (TCK) Article 301 that criminalizes any insult to the state,
state institutions, top officials and Turkishness.

Many other famous journalists and novelists have been subject of trials
based on the article and the government is under pressure to change it.

ªafak, who last weekend became a mother, will not attend Thursday’s
court session.

YTL 5,000 for insulting the PM:

Birgun daily columnist Erbil Tuºalp was found guilty yesterday of
insulting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with the Ankara
25th Criminal Court ordering the journalist to pay YTL 5,000 in
compensation.

Tuºalp was found guilty of insulting the prime minister for comments
he made in an article, where he asked if Erdogan had suffered from
a high-fever as a child and used the term, "psychotic aggressive,"
to describe him.

Tuºalp’s lawyer argued the comments were not insults, but criticisms,
failing to convince the court.

Erdogan had asked for YTL 10,000 in compensation.

–Boundary_(ID_pux6HxliC5wIMMJtktS7 sg)–

9 CHESS PLAYERS OF ARMENIA WIN AT PENULTIMATE STAGE OF EUROPEAN YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 19 2006

HERZEG NOVI, SEPTEMBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN. The 8th stage meetings of the
European Youth Chess Championship being held in Herzeg Novi took place
on September 18. 9 from 17 representatives of Armenia had victories,
3 had losses and 5 chess players ended their meetings with drawn games.

After 8 stages, Zaven Andreasian (18 years old) has good possibility
to take the 3rd prize-winning place. He got 6 points from 8 possible
ones and is the 4th among 74 participants. Samvel Ter Sahakian (14
years old) and Susanna Gaboyan (10) who occupy the 6th place in their
age group have 6 points each from 8 possible ones.

The last, 9th stage meetings finish on late September 19.

ELBRUS SPEED RACE RESULTS ARE IN: DENIS URUBKO WINNER AT 3 HOURS 55 MIN!

Mounteverest, NY
08:07 pm EST Sep 18, 2006

It’s no chance that Denis Urubko has climbed 10, 8000ers without O2
including new routes on BP and Manaslu. Four days back Urubko proved
his skill. Image courtesy of RussianClimb.com

Luck can create success but not excellence. Repeated success is not
a sign of repeated luck – but of mastery.

It’s no chance that Denis Urubko has climbed 10, 8000ers without O2
including new routes on BP and Manaslu. Four days back Urubko proved
his skill again – this time on Elbrus: Denis not only won the extreme
class (Azau 2400 m – Elbrus West Top 5642 m) 2006 race, but at 3 hours
55 and minutes he also beat the 2005 record (4 hours and 10 minutes).

Fastest Snow Leopard wins Classic race, Space engineer climbs 2000
meters under 5 hours

In the classic race (Garabashi, 3708 m – Elbrus West top 5642 m),
Andrey Puchinin won at 2:46:09. No wonder perhaps:

Hoping to become the first speed Snow Leopard in one season, Andrey
Puchinin started his quest on Peak Lenin July 16, topping out the
next day at 2 pm.

August 7, he did Korzhenevskaya peak BC to summit in 8 hrs and 50
minutes. One week later, on August 14, Puchinin did Peak Communism
BC to summit in about 18 hrs. Next came a peak Korjenevskoy (7105 m)
round trip in only 14 hours and then Andrey Puchinin set out from BC
and summited Khan Tengri shortly after lunch. After Pobeda Puchinin
ran straight for Elbrus – and up in less than 3 hours…

Among other favorites: Just back from his no O2/no sherpas Everest
attempt, Gagarin’s former space engineer and 7-time Snow Leopard
Boris Korshunov 71 finished the classic race at just under 5 hours
(4:58:10)! Perhaps he even made it back for the Soyuz rocket launch
carrying Anousheh Ansari – which took off from Kazakhstan today!

Lena from RussianClimb reports that the race was very interesting
and promises a story soon. Meanwhile, check out all the results at
RussianClimb.com

Denis Urubko (Almaty) is one of the strongest high mountaineers in
Kazakhstan. He has climbed 10, 8000ers without O2 including a new
route on BP in alpine style in 2005 (nominated for Golden Ice Axe)
and a new route on Manaslu in 2006. Denis has won several speed
climbing competitions including the Khan Tengri (7010 m) speed race
in 2000 (7 hours 40 minutes to summit and 12 hours 21 minutes for
the entire climb).

Mount Elbrus (5642 m), located in northern Caucasus (Russia) is the
highest peak in the European continent. These days, Elbrus biggest
fame comes from being one of the ‘Seven Summits’.

Elbrus belongs to the Caucasus (or "Kavkaz" meaning ‘more than
mountains’), mountain range. This mighty range links the Caspian
Sea to the Black Sea, and creates the natural boundary between the
mountains of Russia and the southern states of Azerbaydzhani, Georgia
and Armenia. Mt. Elbrus, the pinnacle of this 700-mile stretch,
has long been a distinguished climbing center for the European and
Russian climbing communities. Elbrus can easily be seen from most
of the high passes in the area and is a traditional climb for those
looking to ascend above 18,500ft.

NO REAL OPPOSITION IN GEORGIA – ETHNIC ARMENIAN PARTY LEADER

ArmInfo, Armenia
Sept 18 2006

Yerevan, 18 September: "We cannot officially take part in local
government election since the Virk party has not been registered with
the Ministry of Justice," the leader of the party, which stands for
the ethnic Armenians of the [Javakhetia] region [in Georgia], David
Rstakyan, has told Javakhk-Info news agency.

Despite this, Georgia’s current electoral code is more democratic and
allows the Virk to nominate its candidates in some constituencies in
Akhalkalaki, Ninotsminda, Tsalka, Akhaltsikhe and other districts of
the country.

Describing the current composition of political forces in Georgia,
Rstakyan said: "There is no real opposition in the country although
there are such political parties as the New Right and the Industry
Will Save Georgia party in the parliament along with the governing
National Movement. As for the Justice Party of Igor Giorgadze and
the anti-Soros movement, the president has simply taken care of them."

Rstakyan said that there is no real opposition in Georgia today.

Hürriyet, Turkey

Saturday, September 16, 2006 10:21

Le Figaro: EU’s treatment of Turkey two-faced

Under the headline of "Unfairly punished Turkey and Syria," the French
newspaper Le Figaro has run an article asserting that Brussels is
trying to "make Turkey accept their conditions in a degrading manner,
by forcing them to open their ports to Southern Cypriots."

The Le Figaro article also mentions what it calls the "two faced
actions displayed by the EU to Turkey," and talks about Turkey being
"thrown about for months" by the EU. Issues such as the Kurdish and
the Armenian manners are also mentioned in the article, with Le Figaro
commenting that "it is a provocation that at a time when Turkey is
approaching the unconditional research of the (so-called) Armenian
genocide, the European Parliament has decided to open up the matter
for discussion. This is also a road sure to dissuade both the Turkish
people and the Turkish government from the path to the EU."

Panorama.am

18:52 15/09/06

NATIONAL UNITY NAMES CROSS FATHERS OF CRIMINALISM IN ARMENIA

Stepan Demirchyan, the leader of Justice Block, talked about the
inclusion of criminal elements into the political field saying `Recent
murders indicate that unpunishibility give birth to new crimes and
proves that criminalism is growing in Armenia.’ Demirchayn said the
whole reality is a fact in itself, answering to the calls to name
facts.

Mher Shahgeldyan, an ex-member of coalition, also expressed readiness
to make facts public saying `they are scandalous.’

The secretary of National Unity, Alexan Karapetyan, said, `All sectors
in the republic are obviously criminalized, including the political
field.’ The `fathers of the criminal’ are Robert Kocharyan and Serzh
Sargsyan, Karapetyan said. /Panorama.am/

MORE LEBANESE ARMENIANS REGISTER WITH ARMENIAN RED CROSS

Armenpress
Sept 13 2006

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS: The number of Lebanese Armenians
who have come here to escape the war and registered with the Armenian
Red Cross has increased in the last 20 days from 84 to 120.

Edmon Azarian from the Red Cross said the Red Cross and the UNHCR
Armenian Agency continue providing financial assistance, food, advice,
medications and medical aid to Lebanese Armenians.

He said five families of Lebanese Armenians registered with the Red
Cross went back home.

PORTERFIELD PUTS FAITH IN ARMENIA

Sunday Express
September 10, 2006 Sunday
Scottish Edition

Behind The Dugout

FAR-TRAVELLED former Aberdeen manager Ian Porterfield is optimistic
he can turn Armenia into a football force.

The globe-trotting ex-Chelsea boss took charge of the former Soviet
state for the first time last week, losing 1-0 to Belgium.

Porterfield, below, has managed in Scotland, England, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
Oman, Trinidad and Tobago and South Korea. And he’s relishing his
latest adventure in Armenia.

He said: "I had a couple of offers after I left Busan Icons in South
Korea, but the Armenia job intrigued me.

"There is a lot of potential out here and we will see what we can do.

"I’m looking forward to the challenge here."

GEORGIA HOPES FOR SUCCESSFUL TALKS OF EU WITH ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.09.2006 17:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Georgia FM Gela Bezhuashvili hopes that before
Georgia’s signing of the Action Plan with the EU Azerbaijan and Armenia
will finish the talks within the European Neighborhood Policy. When
asked whether absence of agreements on the neighbor countries’
joining the EU Action Plan will have any impact at a briefing today,
the Minister remarked that according to the information he possesses,
Armenia has already completed EU talks, while Azerbaijan "will
hopefully manage to agree by that time." Gela Bezhuashvili named
October 2-3 as the date for signing the Action Plan with the EU –
within that period the EU Troika will arrive in Georgia within a
regional visit, reports Trend.

ARCHBISHOP OF TEHRAN: NO WORLD PEACE WITHOUT RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE

Payvand, Iran
Sept 11 2006

TEHRAN, Sept. 11 (Mehr News Agency) — Archbishop Sebu Sarkissian,
the spiritual leader of Armenian Orthodox Christians in Tehran, said
on Monday that dialogue is an absolute necessity of the modern world.

The main objective of all divine religions is to teach people to live
better lives, Sarkissian told the Mehr News Agency.

"Since the followers of all divine religions have a strong belief
in their religious values, it is essential to hold talks between the
followers of different religions and religious denominations.

"Religious negotiations are the most important kind of negotiations
in the modern world because mutual understanding and religious
tolerance will be established between religions when they actually
become familiar with each other," he said.

Archbishop Sarkissian stated that the topic of discussion in dialogue
among religions depends on the interests of the participants in the
religious, social, political, or cultural spheres.

"Moral values are necessities of human life and religious dialogue
because these are the values that unite humans and help them understand
each other," he added.

Religious dialogue has become essential in recent years because
world peace can never be established without mutual understanding,
Sarkissian said in conclusion.