Author: Jalatian Sonya

Los Angeles Times, CA
Oct 13 2007

Turkey’s premier issues warning

>From the Associated Press
October 13, 2007

ANKARA, TURKEY — With Turkish-U.S. relations strained, Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that Turkey would not be
deterred by the diplomatic consequences if it decides to stage a
cross-border offensive into Iraq against Kurdish rebels.

"If such an option is chosen, whatever its price, it will be paid,"
Erdogan told reporters. "There could be pros and cons of such a
decision, but what is important is our country’s interests."

Erdogan also had harsh words for the U.S., which opposes a Turkish
incursion into northern Iraq, one of that country’s few relatively
stable areas.

"Did they seek permission from anyone when they came from a distance
of 10,000 kilometers and hit Iraq?" he said. "We do not need anyone
else’s advice."

Analysts say Turkey could be less restrained about defying the United
States because of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee’s approval
this week of a resolution labeling as genocide the mass killings of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I.

"Democrats are harming the future of the United States and are
encouraging anti-American sentiments," Erdogan said. Democratic
leaders in the House of Representatives support the resolution.

Erdogan said Turkey was ready to sacrifice good ties with Washington
if necessary.

"Let it snap from wherever it gets thin," Erdogan said, using a
Turkish expression that refers to breaking a connection.

Boston Herald, MA
Oct 13 2007

`Elect’ Tankian
System of A Down’s outspoken leader chooses to go solo

Politicians in Washington spent last week heatedly debating whether
to pass an official resolution declaring the Turkish slaughter of
Armenians in 1915 an act of genocide.

It’s a controversy that System of A Down leader Serj Tankian takes
personally. His 97-year-old grandfather recently died, though not
before he revealed the horrors of surviving the Armenian slaughter in
distressing detail to his 40-year-old grandson.

`He was a very special man to have survived such a horrendous thing
in his life,’ Tankian said. `When we look at this older generation,
they suffered a lot more than we have because they don’t have the
luxuries we have. How could they have lived so long with all that
pain? But what I’ve learned is that all that pain makes them want to
live longer and want life.’

Add in Tankian’s strong feelings about the war in Iraq and it’s easy
to understand the stomach-clenching frustration, rebelliousness and
chilling emotion of his new and first solo CD, `Elect the Dead.’

Tankian brings his solo act to the Paradise on Monday on a bill with
another politically outspoken musical renegade, Tom Morello of Rage
Against the Machine.

Speaking by phone from a New York City hotel, Tankian said his
grandfather’s death `had a strong effect on me.’

`For me, it’s always been a personal issue, not a political one,’ he
said. `His presence and his life has motivated me. And the denial of
the Armenian genocide has opened my eyes to other issues around the
world.’

In addition to being one of metal’s quirkiest, most creative and
engaging frontmen, Tankian is also one of the most talented. Aside
from contributions from System of A Down drummer Bryan Mantia and
Primus guitarist Larry LaLonde, he played nearly every note on every
instrument on `Elect the Dead,’ which he recorded at his home studio
in Los Angeles.

The CD is a majestic tour de force. Whether Tankian is crafting a
scale-climbing, sing-along chorus by stringing together the word
`lie’ dozens of times in `Lie Lie Lie’ or asking `Wouldn’t it be
great to heal the world with only a song?’ in `Honking Antelope,’
Tankian is able to snap from frantic punk spazz rocker to soothing
folkster in a nanosecond. And like Jello Biafra and Frank Zappa
before him, his pointed cultural commentary is scathing, while
maintaining a sense of wit.

As for System of A Down, the platinum-draped band that’s backed him
for a decade, it’s on indefinite hiatus.

`We’re still friends,’ Tankian said. `The door is open for future
collaborations but we haven’t made any plans.’

Either way, it’s clear he’ll continue to push boundaries with an eye
toward halting atrocities like the one that befell his ancestors.

`We haven’t learned the lessons of the past with this disease and
that’s genocide,’ he said. `It’s a crime against humanity.’

ANS TV, Azerbiajan
Oct 11 2007

Azeri official says no progress in Karabakh talks due to Armenia’
position

[Presenter] The Nagornyy Karabakh conflict will not be resolved
before the presidential election to be held in Armenia next year.
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said this after his meeting with
President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels.
He said that the current stage of the [Nagornyy Karabakh peace] talks
does not make it possible to achieve a fundamental settlement until
the election is held. Jose Manuel Barroso called on the parties to
the conflict to continue talks, [Russian news agency] RIA Novosti
reported.

The Azerbaijani side’s reaction to the statement by Robert Kocharyan
was prompt. Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Xazar Ibrahim has
said that Armenia always issues these kinds of statements at
important moments.

[Ibrahim] This should only be assessed as a continuation by Armenians
officials of avoiding expressing their will. The reason [why I say
this] is that at very important moments they have repeatedly avoided
responsibility and did not express their will [but] made statements
like this and after that we, in practice, cannot move on with the
talks. As the most recent example we can cite the meeting in St
Petersburg [between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan on 9
June]. Their statements sometimes simply do not correspond to their
steps or, on the contrary, their steps differ from what they say.
Only and only when Armenia’s has a realistic and constructive
position can we talk about progress [in peace talks]. For its part,
Azerbaijan has taken all steps it can, and the co-chairmen [of the
OSCE Minsk Group which mediates a solution to the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict between the two countries], for their part, have given all
proposals [on conflict resolution] they can.

EuroNews – English Version
October 11, 2007

Turks react in anger to US Armenian genocide vote

The US has lost crucial support in key ally Turkey over a vote to
call the 1915 mass killings of Armenians genocide. There were
protests in Istanbul and Turkey against the resolution approved by a
US congressional committee.

The demonstrations were organised by the Labour party and were
relatively small but highlighted the anger of many Turks on the
issue.

The Turkish government has also condemned the vote, which went
against the wishes of the White House.

Turkey rejects the Armenian position that 1.5 million people were
killed in a systematic genocide as the Ottoman Empire collapsed at
the end of World War One.

Turks say it was an inter-ethnic conflict and that there were victims
on both sides.

On the streets their anger against the vote was clear.

"The United States is the last country to say anything about issue.
They to look at their own disasters first, and their own genocides –
there’s no Native American race left," said one man.

"I’ve never seen the US as friendly. They pretend to be, but it’s
only for their own benefit," said another.

HRANT DINK’S BROTHER SENTENCED TO ONE YEAR IN JAIL

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Oct 11 2007

Arat Dink, editor of Agos newspaper published in Armenian language
in Turkey and Serkis Seropyan, owner of newspaper were sentenced to
one year in jail, APA’ s Turkey bureau reports.

The Sisli Court passed the decision. They are accused of insulting
Turkish people. Turkish Court postponed the execution of the decision
taking into account that both had no previous convictions.

Arat Dink is murdered Hrant Dink’s brother.

TURKEY ATTACKS US OVER HOUSE GENOCIDE RULING

Edinburgh Evening News, UK
Oct 11 2007

Turkey: The state said today relations with its Nato ally the
United States would be harmed by a US House committee’s approval
of a resolution calling the 1915 massacres of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks genocide.

"This will make relations more difficult," the state news agency said.

This article:
tional.cfm?id=1625202007

PETROSSIAN PARIS MAKES LIST AVAILABLE

DM News, NY
/42622.html
Oct 8 2007

Petrossian Paris, the 80-year-old supplier of Russian caviar and
other epicurean delicacies, has opened a new list. It reaches 11,540
mail-order buyers.

The company said its customers are upscale seekers of luxury and
gourmet food. They may be interested in other exclusive items including
gifts, artwork and imports as well as culinary classes and periodicals.

The list is under the management of ALC Inc., Tarrytown, NY. It is
available for $150/M.

The Petrossian name, that of two Armenian brothers – Melkoum and
Mouchegh Petrossian- who immigrated to Paris in 1920, is also attached
to a boutiques and cafes and restaurants in New York and Los Angeles.

BUSH SHOWS IGNORANCE OF HISTORY, INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL CODDLING OF TURKEY ON ARMENIA

0/bush-shows-ignorance-of-history.html
Oct 6 2007

In a deference to counterfactually based Turkish government
sensitivities, President Bush says the House of Representatives is
not the place to decide whether or not the murder of more than 1
million Armenians during World War I is a genocide:

Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman, said Friday that Bush
believes the Armenian episode ranks among the greatest tragedies of
the 20th century, but the determination whether "the events constitute
a genocide should be a matter for historical inquiry, not legislation."

Mr. Johndroe and the president are either ignorant of, or willfully
denying what reputable historians have already written: Armenia was a
genocide. There’s dozens, if not hundreds, of history books on Turkey,
Armenia, the Ottoman Empire, etc., that all cover it in detail.

Besides Bush/Johndroe are wrong in another way: The "why" of any
mass murder moves beyond history into psychology, sociology and –
political science.

As for Bush’s claims this will severely dent relations with Turkey
(as if the botching of Iraq and consequent emboldening of Kurdish
rebels inside Turkey hasn’t done anything), that may be hot air out
of both Washington and Ankara, as much as anything:

"Turkey has been threatening every sort of doomsday scenario,"
says Armenian National Committee of America Executive Director Aram
Hamparian. "We have been saying that Turkey would harm itself more
than the United States if it carries through with these threats."

As for Turkey’s call to have a set of international experts examine
the issue, fine, let’s do that – as soon as Ankara stops criminalizing
and censoring discussion of this issue by Turkey’s own historians.

THE DISCUSSIONS IN UN TURN INTO A SHOW
Vardan Grigoryan

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
Oct 6 2007
Armenia

The recent speeches of Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers
delivered in the 62nd Session of the UN General Assembly displayed
that the automatic inclusion of Karabakh issue in the list of the
"delayed conflicts" in GUAM territory and the discussion of the issue
from the UN tribune is not only turning into a waste of time but also
jeopardizes the prospect of the negotiations.

Of course the results of V. Oskanyan – E. Mamediarov "propaganda
skirmish" will be evident later, because the issue of shifting the
discussion of "delayed conflicts" to the UN General Assembly touches
not only upon the benefits of Armenia and Azerbaijan but also other
GUAM countries that have not only supporters but also opponents.

But according to Vardan Oskanyan’s well-aimed characteristics, the
variety of the contents of similar "basket" gives futile direction
to the negotiation process.

Here they have mixed not only the problems linked with the present
situation of Trans-Dniester, Abkhazia, South Ossia, and Nagorno
Karabakh, but also the interests of the super powers that have problems
with those and other "small empires" of former Soviet Union.

Thus they create a big hullabaloo and a wide opportunity to hamper
the solution of all those issues.

A question arises here, who benefits from this? Everyone knows that
the resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly are not obligatory
and to move the process of the regulation of the before mentioned
conflicts, during the previous years the international community
has adopted certain formats and the negotiations on the regulation
of Karabakh issue are conducted under the auspices of OSCE Minsk
Group. The answer is evident; it is beneficial to those who are
interested in delaying the negotiation process, those who are not
ready for mutual concessions.

In other case there would have been no need to use GUAM format and
mix Karabakh issue with other post-soviet conflicts. With this
trick Azerbaijan is trying to set up a so-called "double ally"
against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. The first "layer" of this
ally is reserved for GUAM and the second one (a wider structure)
can seemingly be established by the western countries that support
the first one, in GUAM – Russia confrontation.

They are well conscious in Azerbaijan that there is no disagreement
between Russia, the USA, and France regarding the choice of a
model for the regulation of Karabakh conflict. The three of them
have unanimously elaborated a document, which is based on mutual
concessions and respecting the free will of NKR people. To avoid the
implementation of the document Azerbaijan is intentionally delaying
the negotiations and shifts Karabakh issue into GUAM, mixing it for
instance with South-Ossian and Abkhasian conflicts, in the solution of
which the whole West tends to support Georgian territorial integrity.

It is not accidental that V. Oskanyan’s recent speech in the UN
General Assembly was based on the emphases of the peculiarities of
each of the existing conflict. This time he observed the presently
discussed "Kosovo precedent" from the same point of view, thus giving
an "unpleasant surprise" to his Azerbaijani colleague. But V.

Oskanyan believes, the denial of the universality of "Kosovo
precedent" doesn’t mean that except Kosovoars no other people can
get independence.

The most interesting thing here is that, unlike his Armenian colleague,
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister had built his speech based only on
the denial of the universality of "Kosovo precedent", repeating the
international community’s evaluations expressed many times. Moreover,
he even included Russia in the list of those denying the universality
of "Kosovo precedent" and regarding Armenia he said, "Armenia can
say anything, in this respect. This state has occupied the territory
of its neighbor country. The same thing we can say about Kosovo
conflict. International community will never allow Kosovo issue to
become a precedent."

It turns out that baselessly entitling Armenia the intention to
use "Kosovo precedent" Azerbaijani Foreign Minister appeared in
a ridiculous situation, because in his speech V. Oskanyan didn’t
express similar idea. Another more ridiculous fact is that the same
accusation directed to Armenia about occupying the territories of
the neighbor country, E. Mamediarov addressed to Kosovo. It turns out
that Nagorno Karabakh is occupied not by Armenia but the Republic of
Nagorno Karabakh itself.

Thus, as shown by all this, together with other GUAM countries,
the discussions initiated by Azerbaijan in the UN General Assembly,
are turned into a propaganda show and are aimed at speculating and
unceasingly sharpening the contradictions in the post-soviet territory,
between Russia, the USA and the European Union, thus investigating the
results of the negotiations of the previous years in the framework of
OSCE Minsk Group, hold by the practical mediation of those countries.

POLICE DESTROY FILE ON DINK MURDER SUSPECT

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Oct 4 2007

The police file on a prime suspect in the murder case of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink has been destroyed on grounds
that the file was a "state secret," the private NTV station reported
on Wednesday.

The Ýstanbul court, which is currently trying 19 suspects in the
murder of Dink, who was shot outside his newspaper’s office by an
ultranationalist teenager in January of this year, had not demanded to
see the police files on Erhan Tuncel, a former police informant facing
trial for having incited the gunman to kill Dink. The court’s request
was turned down by the Intelligence Department, where Tuncel’s file is
stored, which said the document was destroyed to protect state secrets.

The prosecutors carrying out the investigation had seen the police
file on Tuncel, a former informant who worked for the Trabzon police.

However, the file was apparently destroyed before the court had a
chance to see the document. Erdal Doðan, a lawyer representing the
Dink family, said this was a "legal scandal." The court denied Doðan’s
request for the file a second time, saying it was "confidential." Doðan
said their demands would continue. "This secret cannot be hidden from
the court even though it is a state secret.

This is a violation of the Law of Procedures," he said.

Prior to the second hearing of the trial, which was on Monday, tape
recordings of a phone conversation between police officer Muhittin
Zenit and Tuncel were leaked to the media. The conversation suggests
that Zenit knew about the plot to murder Dink earlier. However, the
request of Dink’s family lawyers to start an investigation into police
officer Zenit in Monday’s hearing was overruled, the report said.

The controversy over Tuncel’s file is likely to deepen concerns over
a possible cover-up by state authorities in the murder. Dink’s lawyers
have complained that the murder has not been properly investigated and
have expressed fears for the independence of the court, reflecting
concerns about the possible involvement of Turkey’s so-called "deep
state." The "deep state" is a term coined to describe hard-line
nationalists in the bureaucracy and security forces who are prepared
to subvert the law for their own political ends.

There were also reports in the Turkish press suggesting that the
teenager accused of killing Dink, identified as O.S., was probably
attempting to mislead the judges in hopes of winning a reduction
in his sentence when he told the court during Monday’s hearing that
he regretted his actions and claimed he had carried out the slaying
under the influence of drugs.

Blood tests taken immediately after his arrest less than 24 hours
after the murder revealed that he had not taken drugs prior to the
crime, the reports said.

–Boundary_(ID_miopp/aQSWFVkLdF6fdtyQ)–