Author: Jagharian Tania

FROM ZEROES TO HEROES OF FAIR PLAY

Hurriyet
Jan 14 2009
Turkey

ISTANBUL – Only a few years after hitting rock bottom, Turkey seems
to be on the path to clear its reputation in fair play. That view is
apparently marked by FIFA’s honoring Turkish and Armenian Football
Federations with the Fair Play Award for 2008. The progress is seen
as cautiously admirable by sports writers claiming that the return
game will be crucial.

In addition to achieving a flurry of miracles during matches, Turkish
football is now beating the odds off the pitch.

Making a name for itself for its never-say-die attitude and overcoming
all kinds of obstacles to become an unlikely semifinalist in the
European Football Championship last summer, Turkey won the hearts
of many football fans around the world. Now it is doing the same in
other aspects of the game. Say, fair play.

Honored with the FIFA Fair Play Award for 2008 on Monday, alongside
its Armenian counterpart, the Turkish Football Federation gave
signals the country was shaking off its horrible reputation in
fair play. Both Federations received the award "for their part in
encouraging dialogue between two countries which otherwise do not
have any form of diplomatic relationship," said the statement on the
Web site of the world football’s governing body.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan on Sep. 6, 2008,
on the invitation of Armenian President Serge Sarkisian, in order
to attend the two countries’ encounter in a qualifier for the 2010
FIFA World Cup South Africa. The match, which was the first event to
bring together the two countries in a high-profile football event,
was played without any crowd trouble.

Coincidentally, Turkey received the award in Zurich, the largest city
of Switzerland, which is a country ringing the bells of some unpleasant
memories of the past. Turkey was slapped with heavy bans, including
playing games behind closed doors on neutral grounds, suspensions
of footballers and weighing fines after the Switzerland game at the
Å~^ukru Saracoglu Stadium on Nov. 2005. Some members of Turkish team
and staff attacked the Swiss players after the final whistle, which
meant missing out on the chance to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.

Turning point in Euro 2008

Some great performances in Euro 2008 followed by the Armenian game
have seemed to save Turkey from its embarrassingly low reputation.

"Turkey cleared its image in the last six months, for displaying
the entertaining side of the game," said Fırat Topal, a writer for
Hurriyet Spor weekly and the highly-popular Flying Dutchman blog
(). "I am sure all the football fans remembered
Tuncay Å~^anlı as the guy who had to replace the goalkeeper. Every
action that shatters the monotony reserves its place in the mind of
a football fan forever."

Topal thinks that Turkey and Armenia’s Fair Play Award is a result of
FIFA’s support of countries’ putting football over political problems.

"FIFA honors everyone who uses the game to unite countries politically
and socially," explained Topal. "For example, they closely watched the
Cuba-U.S. and Chad-Sudan games recently, hoping that the Turkey-Armenia
game mad a good example."

However, sports writer İbrahim Altınsay is not holding his breath
for Turkey’s record of fair play.

"We have to fix the way we are approaching football more than try to
correct our image," said Altınsay, focusing that the incidents in
the Switzerland game and the U21 match against Germany should not be
forgotten quickly. "That can only be if the ones who have the power
are willing to change themselves. Otherwise, the award comes and
goes without a trace." Altınsay added that Turkey did not deserve
the award as much as Armenia did.

"Turkey did not get the award, Turkey and Armenia did," said
Altınsay. "President Gul accepted the invitation, credit to Young
Civilians Movement, who was the first to suggest that Gul should go
to Armenia. Armenian people did the most of it, acting peacefully
in the game. But Turkey will have to deserve it in the return game
in October."

Topal agrees that the match Oct. 15 will be crucial.

"Any incident in that game will erase all the positive effects of this
progress, making Turkey look like an erratic country that always has
a risk of making trouble in football," stated Topal. "But at least
the Turkish fans learned to behave themselves in the international
games after the heavy bans, it is nice to see that awareness."

–Boundary_(ID_2ykjRvb4r1RyyH405 RbFNA)–

Panorama.am
14:52 10/01/2009

`GASPROM’ VERIFIES REASONS OF DAMAGED GAS PIPELINE

`Gasprom’ company will verify the reasons of damaged gas pipeline in
the territory of Georgia, announced the representative of the
company. According to the representative of the company they are
concerned with the plan of the reconstruction activities in such cold
season.

Remind that Georgia blocked the flow of natural gas to
Armenia. Georgian side ensures that gas pipeline has been damaged in
Ghazakh-Saguramo territory.

Source: Panorama.am

GAS SUPPLY TO ARMENIA SUSPENDED BECAUSE OF RECONSTRUCTION WORKS

armradio.am
09.01.2009 19:11

The Gas and Transport Company of Georgia officially declared in
the morning of January that the supply of natural gas to Armenia
was temporarily suspended because of reconstruction works on the
Ghazakh-Saguramo gas pipeline.

"HayRusGazard" Company informed Radiolur that a group of experts of
the company has been sent to Georgia to familiarize with the situation
and provide assistance if necessary.

"Georgian partners assure that the works will be completed as soon
as possible. According to the data of the "HayRusGazard" Board, gas
will be supplied from reserves at the expense of the gas stored in
an underground store. The suspension of gas supply will not lead to
changes in the gas consumption market," the Company assures.

ARMENIA-ESTONIA MATCH TO TAKE PLACE IN THE YEREVAN "REPUBLICAN" AND THE RESPONSE GAME – IN TALLINN "A LE KOK" STADIUM

ARMENPRESS
Jan 9, 2009

YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS: The Armenia-Estonia match of the 2010
World Football Cup qualification round will be held March 28 in the
newly renovated Yerevan "Republican" stadium after Vazgen Sargsyan.

Press secretary of Armenian Football Federation Georgi Matevosyan
told Armenpress that the Estonia-Armenian response match of the
qualification round will take place April 1, in Tallinn "A Le Kok"
stadium.

For the best preparation for the match with Estonia on February 11
the Armenian National Team will have a friendly meeting with the
Latvian team in Cyprus.

It is also possible that the Armenian team will have another friendly
match before the game with the Estonians: at present the Armenian
Football Federation negotiates with football federations of a number
of countries.

Hürriyet, Turkey
Dec 30 2008

Pro-Kurdish party leader apologizes to Armenians for 1915 incidents

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party leader apologized on Tuesday to Assyrian as
well Armenians for the 1915 incidents.

"Maybe Kurds have contributed to the loss of this (cultural)
richness. We are ashamed when we look at our Armenian or Assyrian
brothers," said Ahmet Turk, the leader of pro-Kurdish DTP.

They are always ready to apologize for their mistakes and they
struggle to allow people to live in peace, he was quoted as saying by
the Dogan News Agency.

A group of Turkish academics, journalists and artists recently
launched an Internet campaign to apologize on behalf of all Turks for
ignoring what happened in 1915 at the time of the Ottoman Empire.

Armenians claim the Ottomans conducted "genocide" against
them. However there are many historical documents showing that 300,000
Armenians, along with at least as many Turks, died in civil strife
that emerged when Armenians took up arms, backed by Russia, for
independence in eastern Anatolia.

OSCE HOPES FOR PROGRESS IN KARABAKH PROCESS IN 2009

Azat Artsakh Daily
25 Dec 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) hopes
for progress in settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict next
year. "We hope we will see progress in 2009," new OSCE chairman, Greek
Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said. The OSCE chairman-in-office
and Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb officially handed over
office of the chairman to his Greek counterpart Dora Bakoyannis
at the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki on
Dec. 4. Greece’s chairmanship in the Organization will start on January
1, 2009. Bakoyannis said Greece believes that frequent meetings
between representatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia will lead to the
establishment of mutual confidence which is essential to resolve
the conflict. "Greece fully supports these efforts and encourages
constructive engagement from both parties, in line with the Statement
delivered at the Helsinki Summit earlier this month by the French
Foreign Minister on behalf of the European Union," Bakoyannis said,
Trend Azeri news agency reports. "We hope we will see progress in
2009," new OSCE chairman, Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said.

The OSCE chairman-in-office and Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander
Stubb officially handed over office of the chairman to his Greek counte
rpart Dora Bakoyannis at the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council
in Helsinki on Dec. 4. Greece’s chairmanship in the Organization
will start on January 1, 2009. Bakoyannis said Greece believes that
frequent meetings between representatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia
will lead to the establishment of mutual confidence which is essential
to resolve the conflict. "Greece fully supports these efforts and
encourages constructive engagement from both parties, in line with
the Statement delivered at the Helsinki Summit earlier this month
by the French Foreign Minister on behalf of the European Union,"
Bakoyannis said, Trend Azeri news agency reports.

HOVHANNES HOVHANNISIAN: YEAR 2008 WILL BE WRITTEN IN ARMENIA’S HISTORY AS A BLACK YEAR

NOYAN TAPAN

Dec 23, 2008
YEREVAN

Hard and tragic events happened in 2008, and year 2008 will be written
as a black year in Armenia’s history.

Hovhannes Hovhannisian, the leader of the Liberal Progressive Party
of Armenia, stated at the December 23 press conference dedicated to
summing up the 2008 political year.

According to him, 2008 started with a great people’s awakening, which
however finished with the March 1 and 2 terrible slaughter. "It was
an unprecedented crime against their own people. As far as I know,
no country member of Council of Europe has experienced such events,"
H. Hovhannisian stated.

He said that a new political category, political prisoners, appeared
in Armenia after the March 1 events, which make Armenia similar with
Chile in the 70-s. Meanwhile, according to him, all efforts of the
authorities aimed at exterminating people’s struggle were in vain:
the Armenian National Congress uniting 16 political parties, dozens of
NGOs, thousands of people became really a mighty political institution,
which will be a serious guarantee for establishment of democracy.

OLLI REHN: NEXT YEAR SHOULD BE THE YEAR OF SETTLEMENT IN CYPRUS

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.12.2008 13:32 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Turkey must overcome internal divisions and get back
to long-delayed reforms early next year to show it is serious about
wanting to join the European Union", the bloc’s enlargement chief said.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said he expected more Balkan
countries to apply for EU membership following Montenegro’s move
earlier this month, but urged them not to rush in because they must
first show a track record of reforms.

"Next year should also be the year of a settlement in Cyprus," Rehn
said. "Next year will be an important litmus test of whether Turkey
is serious about its EU accession perspective."

"After one or two years of domestic difficulties, we would expect
Turkey now to put up a new gear and seriously start to pursue the
reforms again," he said.

Turkey narrowly avoided a crisis this year over a public prosecutor’s
attempt to have the Constitutional Court ban the ruling AK Party.

"There is too much energy used on internal tensions which could be
used for pursuing legal and economic reforms that are required for
EU membership."

Rehn urged Turkey to get to business quickly. "The sooner the better,
but at the latest after the March (local) elections, Turkey should
totally resume the reforms again," he said, Reuters reports.

FIVE NEW PROJECTS TO RECEIVE FUNDING FROM ITVS
By Kristin Brzoznowski

World Screen News
lename=fivenew12178.htm
Dec 18 2008
NY

SAN FRANCISCO, December 17: The Independent Television Service
(ITVS) has selected five projects from its recently completed ITVS
International Call 2008 for funding, with two more expected to be
announced shortly.

The films set to receive production funding were selected from
an application process, which included 385 submissions from 74
countries. Since 2005, some 100 international programs have been
supported through ITVS International’s Global Perspectives Project
and its International Media Development Fund.

The 2008 International Call projects selected for funding and
U.S. television broadcast include The Caviar Connection by Dragan
Nikolic and Jovana Nikolic (Serbia), Jalanan by Daniel Ziv and Leonard
Retel Helmrich (Indonesia), The Last Tightrope Dancer in Armenia by
Vardan Hovhannisyan and Inna Sahakyan (Armenia), Last Train Home by
Lixin Fan and Mila Aung-Thwin (China) and On the Borders of Desperation
by Nima Sarvestani (Kurdistan–Iran, Iraq).

The deadline for submission for projects to be considered in the next
ITVS International Call is February 6, 2009.

YOU SHOULDN’T PUNISH THE SWITCHMEN
Lilit Poghosyan

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
18 Dec 2008
Armenia

If The Organizers Are In Freedom

Interview with the President of the Sakharov Foundation of the
Protection of Human Rights Levon Nersisyan

"Today the PACE monitoring committee is discussing the "issue" of
Armenia. Do you think they will condemn us for not releasing the
"political prisoners" as expected by the revolutionary public?"

"They are politicized structures, where they employ emphasized double
standards. That is why, frankly, I’m not very much interested in what
issues they will discuss during the session of the committee and what
decision they will take regarding Armenia.

Of course we would be very glad if the decision is pro-Armenian, but
if we go deep into the "European criteria", on the one hand they pass
condemning resolutions, as in Armenia’s case and on the other hand they
manifest quite different stance, as for example in case of Georgia."

"By your assessment are there political prisoners in Armenia at
the moment?"

"I have to respond to your question by a question. Is there any
politics in Armenia? Politics is first of all a struggle between
ideas and projects.

Do you see any struggle between ideas, stances, and programs in
our country?

Have you ever seen our elections to be held

under the "flag" of ideological, political and program based
struggle. No. The struggle is among individuals, or personalized
approaches at best, or the parties fixed on individuals.

And, where there is personalized struggle, there is no place for
politics.

If I’m a political figure, if I haven’t joined the government, if I
haven’t got a any program, or if I have put my program in my pocket
and I promise the heaven in case people vote for me, I’m sorry this
has nothing to do with politics. If you have any proposals, ideas,
any approach regarding the settlement of certain problems faced
by society, just make them public and let the people make their
choice. Where were these people many years before? Those who call
themselves radical opposition. They were in the government, holding
positions. They had both time and chance to show what they could do.

On the other hand if some people committed criminal offenses, why
didn’t they speak about it before? Why does the ruling power only now
remember about it? Each criminal offense must be punished on time. If
they haven’t done that there will always appear people who would like
to politicize it, manifesting vendetta, political persecutions etc."

"The "political prisoners" of our days are persecuted not for their
previous crimes, but for the organization of March 1 mass disorder and
for direct particip ation in this disorder. What they want is that
the leaders are released and those who followed their provocative
appeals be punished. Is this approach justified?"

"No doubt there were people who have organized and headed all those
developments. If the charges imposed are grounded, that is to say
if they are confirmed by the facts, naturally these people must
be punished.

You can’t punish the "switchmen", passing round the organizers.

Of course the switchmen are also guilty but they say everyone has
its share.

After all you can’t spit on the face of the policeman, use foul
language and call it democracy. I’m sorry but it is hooliganism,
and far not democracy.

If the leaders call to "overthrow the government of chieftains" and
to do it by all the possible means: by breaking, destroying, etc.,
some part of society, who are disapproved of these authorities will
naturally follow them.

Of course the leaders must firstly be subjected to liability and not
those who trusted them and took to the streets, to break and destroy
everything at hand.

Society should also give their assessment. After all we must form civil
attitude towards the country, our motherland and state institutes. We
shouldn’t split the people into those from Karabakh, Yerevan, Gyumry,
etc, saying that if this or that person is from Javakhq or Karabakh
he/she is our enemy. If we20are guided by this mentality we will
appear in the middle age."