Author: Jalatian Sonya

AZG Armenian Daily #016, 30/01/2007

Armenian Film Demonstrated in Hollywood

THE TRIUMPH OF THE ARMENIAN CINEMATOGRAPH

January 25 was a very special day at the Chinese Theatre of Los
Angeles, CA. For the first time Hollywood has ceded the screen to the
Armenian cinematograph and the film "The Priestess" by Armenian filme
director Vigen Chaldranian was demonstrated. The demonstration was a
real success – the tickets were sold out 2 days before the opening
night and the movie was accepted with enthusiast, by the
public. American producer of the film Mel Metcalf emphasized its role
in the contact and dialogue of the Armenian and the Americans cultures
and added it was the debut of the Armenian cinematograph in the
international market. Film director V. Chaldranian was awarded a
"Welcome to Hollywood" diploma by the city Mayor Erick Garsetti.
Numerous Hollywood celebrities were present to the demonstration of
"The Priestess".

By Sahakanush Sahakian

ISSUE OF INCESSANT MURDERS OF ARMENIANS IN RUSSIAN TERRITORY DISCUSSED
BY RA AND RF PRESIDENTS IN SOCHI

Yerevan, January 29. ArmInfo. The issue of incessant murders of
Armenians in the territory of Russia was discussed at the recent
meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Russia, Robert Kocharyan and
Vladimir Putin, in Sochi, RA Presidential press-secretary, Viktor
Soghomonyan, said at today’s press-conference.

Responding to ArmInfo correspondent’s question, he noted that the
problem was also discussed earlier at the level of two countries’
Foreign Ministers.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to resolve it quickly. These murders
are aimed not only against Armenians but against the representatives
of other "non-Russian" nationalities, V. Soghomonyan said.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Adam Schiff: Hrant Dink’s courage cost him his life
27.01.2007 14:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Caucus Rep. Congressman Adam Schiff has
circulated a letter in Congress addressed to Turkey’s Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calling upon the members of the House of
Representatives to sign under the letter.

`We write to express our shock and condemnation of the murder of Hrant
Dink, the Armenian-Turkish editor of newspaper `Agos’. We urge you to
personally oversee the investigation into Mr. Dink’s murder and to
ensure that this crime is solved and that those responsible are
punished. The silencing of such a prominent and outspoken voice is not
only a personal tragedy; it is also a tragedy for those who believe in
a free and unfettered press, and those who are committed to a
thoughtful examination of the past. Hrant Dink had the courage to
confront the facts of the Armenian Genocide, and that courage may have
cost him his life. We hope that you will also use the occasion of Mr.
Dink’s murder to repeal the odious law making it a crime to "insult
Turkishness." As you know, Mr. Dink was prosecuted under this law and
was given a six-month suspended sentence in October 2005 after writing
about the Armenian Genocide. Finally, we also ask that you pass on our
deepest condolences to his family and colleagues,’ says Adam Schiff in
his letter, the Armenian Assembly of America reports.

Armenian genocide and publishing decisions

Los Angeles Times, CA
Jan 25 2007

Turkey, Armenia, and the Armenian diaspora are in an uproar over the
cold-blooded execution-style murder of outspoken journalist Hrant
Dink, a man who until being shot in the head in broad daylight on a
busy sidewalk street was best known for braving jail time by
insisting that modern Turkey finally recognize Ottoman Turkey’s
genocide of roughly 1.2 million Armenians nearly 100 years ago. This
chronology of L.A. Times coverage tells the story in headlines:

Journalist slain in Turkey
L.A. Armenians saddened but not surprised over editor Hrat Dink’s
shooting
L.A. Armenians denounce slaying of Turkish editor
Teenager held in journalist’s killing
Militant confesses in journalist death
Armenians say goodbye to a hero

On Jan. 23, we published an Op-Ed by Hugh Pope, the Istanbul-based
author of Sons of the Conquerors: the Rise of the Turkic World,
entitled "Armenia haunts the Turks again: The killing of a prominent
Armenian journalist last week further widens the gap between Turkey
and Europe." Excerpt:

What killed Dink, in short, is the Turkish republic’s inability to
deal with the Armenian issue – the charge that its predecessor state,
the Ottoman Empire, killed 1.2 million Armenian men, women and
children in a genocide that began in 1915.

Official Turkey is stuck in a rut of denial. Discussing the great
omissions on the subject in Turkey’s public education remains taboo.

Efforts to open archives and to "leave it to the historians" lead to
dead ends, partly because a scholarly debate won’t assuage diaspora
Armenians who demand formal acknowledgment of the genocide, and
partly because of Turkey’s anti-free-speech laws – most notoriously
Penal Code Article 301, with its catchall penalties for "denigrating
Turkishness."

We published three letters today on Dink, including one directly
referring to Pope’s piece:

Hugh Pope wishes for Armenians to compromise, not realizing that you
can’t compromise when you are dead.

VAHE KHACHATURIAN
La Canada Flintridge

Khachaturian certainly wasn’t the only person upset. After the jump,
read a form letter we’ve been receiving, and some clarifications
about The Times’ policies when discussing the Armenian genocide.

Here’s the text of the letter:

Dear Editorial Staff Members:

I was shocked by the editorial by Hugh Pope entitled "Armenia Haunts
the Turks Again" which ran on Tuesday, Jan. 22nd in the Los Angeles
Times. As a lifelong resident of Los Angeles and reader of the Los
Angeles Times I am ashamed that my newspaper would publish an
editorial which puts forth views regarding the Armenian Genocide
which run contrary to the current standards of legitimate public
discourse. I agree with Pope’s views regarding Article 301 of the
Turkish Penal Code, as well as the fact the Republic of Turkey should
reconsider its denialist activities, however the fundamental premise
of Pope’s editorial rests on an argument of denial of the Armenian
Genocide and is equivocally unacceptable for publication. This denial
has long been used by the Turkish government to assuage the world’s
declarations of Ottomon Turkish complicity in Genocide.

While I respect that the Los Angeles Times would want to show
alternate viewpoints, it should be clear that certain viewpoints are
outside of the realm what is accepted as legitimate and relevant.

Turkish Denial is clearly outside of this realm. When published in
the Los Angeles Times, it appears to be legitimate. Other newspapers
throughout the United States, most notably the New York Times, have
long since moved beyond humoring individuals that hold this belief.

Many of them have adopted policies to officially refer to the events
of 1915-1923 as Genocide, not an alleged or so-called Genocide. Why
hasn’t the Los Angeles Times adopted this policy?

Compounding this error is the fact that it was allowed to run at
perhaps one of the most inappropriate times in recent history. The
murder of Hrant Dink, editor of the Agos newspaper, has become a
force of unification in Turkey. Turks and Armenians have marched
through the streets of Istanbul proclaiming "We are all Armenian," an
event that would have been considered impossible just a week ago.

Tens of thousands of Turkish citizens mourned at his funeral, and
rose up his ideals for a Turkey which honors human rights and the
right of free speech. Amidst these historic events your newspaper
decided to run an editorial that from its title to its content paints
Turkey a victim of Armenian and Western interference. While Turks and
Armenians are enjoying a unity long unseen, Pope’s editorial served
to be a derisive tool to incite division. This should be considered
highly irresponsible and wholly naïve given that the Los Angeles
Times serves the largest Armenian-American community in the United
States.

If issue is indicative of the nature of the LA Times’ international
coverage, I can no longer rely on its quality and should have to look
elsewhere for world news.

I ask you to reconsider your standards regarding the Armenian
Genocide so that editorials of this kind won’t be published in the
future.

With best regards,
A Concerned Armenian American

This letter raises many issues about the newspaper, the most relevant
of which is: Op-Eds (and their cousins, Letters) have a wider band of
acceptable style and word choice than perhaps any other type of
content category in the paper, including Editorials. This is for
obvious reasons; they are the often controversial political opinions
of people who disagree about fundamental issues and have their own
way of expressing it. The Times news pages and unsigned editorials
have a style guide, which reads partly as follows regarding the
Armenian genocide:

The Armenian genocide during and after World War I is a historical
fact, and the word "genocide" can be used without qualification in
referring to it. The Turkish side argues that whatever happened, it
was not genocide, but there is a large body of historical evidence
and authoritative recent research that finds genocide a fully
appropriate term. Even some Turkish scholars now agree with this
view. […]

Suggested standard language is along these lines:

"The Armenian genocide of 1915 to 1918 claimed the lives of about 1.2
million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, which became the modern
republic of Turkey. The Turkish government disputes that a genocide
took place."

Unsigned editorials, which reflect the opinion of the Editorial
Board, do not share the news pages’ more rigorous (and space-filling)
sense of being scrupulously fair to all sides and remaining neutral.

Instead, we just get to the point of our stance. Our stance regarding
the Armenian genocide is roughly as follows: It happened, Turkey
should admit it happened, and the United States (of all countries!)
should lead the way in using the G-word. As a July 16, 2006 editorial
begins:

What happens when you refer to Turkey’s 1915-1923 genocide of
Armenians, accurately, as "genocide"? In Turkey, you face a possible
three-year jail term, even if it wasn’t you using the term but a
character in your novel. In the United States, you just lose your job
as ambassador to Armenia.

But to get back to the multi-forwarded form letter from A Concerned
Armenian American, there is a misreading of Hugh Pope’s column:

Pope’s editorial rests on an argument of denial of the Armenian
Genocide and is equivocally unacceptable for publication.

Why "misreading"? Because nowhere in the Pope Op-Ed does he deny the
genocide. The closest he comes is this passage:

Turks cannot believe the sincerity of foreign parliaments which,
usually ill-informed about the Turkish case, give in to Armenian
diaspora lobbying for genocide declarations.

That’s not a denial. Close, but no cigar.

We’d be happy to hear arguments to the contrary, and any arguments at
all, in the comments.

To post your comments, go to
menian_genoci.html

–Boundary_(ID_kVY23ZstN3U4jhl MnAHatw)–

Dink’s murder attempt to creating chaos – Turkish nationalist party leader

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
Jan 24 2007

Ankara, 24 January: MHP [Nationalist Action Party] General Chairman
Devlet Bahceli said that convicting the state without evidence and
starting lynching campaigns to erode public confidence in the state
each time an incident occurs has become a very dangerous habit.

Speaking at a press conference at his party’s general headquarters,
Bahceli said that Turkey has been left defenceless against internal
and external provocations, that attempts are under way to make it
a problem-ridden country and nation, and that the assassination
of journalist Hrant Dink is one of the scenarios aimed at creating
political chaos.

Bahceli charged that in the current environment lies are mixed with
the truth, that a climate of psychological pressure built using
provocations and allegations that exceed the limits of reason or
propriety is used for political marketing, and that emotional and human
reactions are cruelly exploited to tarnish Turkey’s national values
and sensitivities. He added that the merchants of hate, malevolence,
and antagonism, who are intent on creating an environment of chaos
by destroying Turkey’s social nerve endings, have staged a parade
behind the guise of being democrats. Bahceli said that Turkey is
going through a very dangerous and dark period.

Stating that "the inhuman murder of a citizen of Armenian ancestry
has shaken Turkey deeply," Bahceli continued:

"The truth is that Turkey has to learn the necessary lessons from
both this cowardly murder and the climate of psychological terrorism
and provocation that has been built up in its aftermath.

"The circles that were waiting impatiently for an excuse to condemn
Turkey on the international arena have gained a new opportunity for
exploitation. The ploys that have been staged and given an initial
rehearsal in recent days have also brought to surface concrete signs
of the campaigns of provocation and hostility that will be aimed at
Turkey in the coming period. A mine-filled road full of risks lies
ahead for Turkey.

"The murder of the general publishing manager of Agos is, above all,
an abhorrent crime that everyone who has not lost his or her human
dignity must condemn. The revulsion this has generated in people’s
minds and hearts must naturally be seen as a human and ethical
reaction, provided that it remains within those bounds."

Bahceli noted that it is incumbent upon the government to find
out the political connections, if any, of this assassination,
those who instigated it, those who provided assistance and succor,
and their connections to any organizations and said that this is a
moral obligation.

Convicting state

Stating that non-Muslim minority Turkish citizens "who have tied
their destiny and future to the destiny and future of the Turkish
nation" are honourable members of Turkish society with equal rights
and responsibilities, Bahceli said that treating them as foreigners
simply because of their ethnic background and ostracizing them is
incompatible with the ethics with which Turkish nationalism views
the concept of homeland.

Bahceli said: "Those who conduct politics based on the exploitation
of minorities even as they denigrate the Turkish nation and its
sentiments of nationalism must understand these realities very well."

He continued:

"Convicting the state without evidence and starting lynching campaigns
to erode public confidence in the state each time an incident occurs
has become a very dangerous habit.

"This scenario was staged exactly this way in the latest incident.

Immediately after the attack, conspiracy theories that convict the
state without evidence were spread, and developments that generated
deep concerns in anyone with any sense of reason and decency
unfolded. Immediately after the murder, groups carrying mobile
target boards and black flags flooded the streets and identified the
perpetrator of the attack: They convicted the state with chants of
‘The murderer state will give a reckoning,’ and ‘Here is the state
and here is genocide.’

"Subsequently, courts of so-called intellectuals and thinkers were
formed on television screens and in newspaper columns with the
instigation of a group that wears these titles like a shaky label on
its lapel. On such grounds, a sweeping profile of guilt was painted
without any ethical restraints and steps were taken to execute the
a priori conviction verdict in newspaper columns and on television
screens."

Bahceli charged that the said individuals "believe it is their
natural right to assume the powers of police, prosecutors, judges,
and corrections officers." He added that these slogans associated
the Turkish judiciary, Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code – which
regulates the act of insulting the Turkish identity – and Turkish
nationalism "with a wretched trigger man and convicted them of being
the instigators behind this murder." Bahceli continued:

"Even more importantly, certain circles that are so degraded as to
use this incident for their political ends are engaged in a malicious
race with each other to paint a portrait of a contrite and guilty
Turkish nation.

"Strangely, the slogan under which they united throughout this
deliberate lynching and smear campaign was ‘We Are All Armenians.’
This slogan may be viewed as an expression of solidarity in an
emotional moment and at a personal level. However, everyone has to
decide in their own conscience what this means for circles who argue
that this slogan is a sign that Turkey is changing skin.

"Turkey has suffered tremendous anguish and lost numerous martyrs
in its battle against PKK terrorism since 1984. These circles never
appear as members of the Turkish nation in the funerals of martyrs or
their condolence registers. The slogans they have now developed on
the basis of the ethnic affiliation of the victim is an oddity that
requires explanation. Furthermore, it is these same circles who demand
political amnesty for the PKK terrorists who murder unscrupulously
members of our security forces and our innocent citizens. That is
another symptom of a disease that deserves particular attention."

Legitimate foundation for separatism

Bahceli charged that Turkish nationalism has recently been portrayed
as an objectionable idea and that activities to build a legitimate
foundation that will advance the cause of political separatism have
gained speed.

Bahceli said: "Multilingual municipal services that have been started
in municipalities run by a party that is the political centre
of ethnic separatism in the East and the Southeast, conferences
that promote the PKK’s politicization projects under the rubric
‘Turkey Seeking Its Peace,’ the TUSIAD [Turkish Industrialists’
and Businessmen’s Association] ‘democratization report’ that will
serve the objectives of political separatism, the provocative rally
that a PKK-steered party organized in Mersin earlier this week and
that turned into a show of force in favour of the PKK are the latest
examples of attempts create a legitimate foundation for this purpose.

"These provocations that are staged with the aim breaking up
Turkey and replacing it with a new multinational and multilingual
partnership republic have assumed very dangerous proportions under
the political protection and tolerance of the Justice and Development
Party government."

TUSIAD report

Bahceli charged that TUSIAD "sponsors the PKK’s politicization
projects."

Arguing that TUSIAD must form its own party and stand before
the nation, Bahceli said: "TUSIAD’s recommendations that mother
tongues other than Turkish be offered as elective courses and that
ethic-based political activity be allowed, as presented in its
‘Updated Democratization Report’ which was released last week,
suggest that TUSIAD also sponsors the PKK’s politicization projects.

"The president of TUSIAD has disclosed this new mission of his
organization by arguing that putting these issues on Turkey’s agenda
and opening them up for debate would help the formation of a pluralist
and democratic structure. He has described these PKK-patented proposals
as a conciliatory approach.

"Our advice and recommendation to TUSIAD is that, if they endorse
the PKK’s political goals, they must turn these into a political
programme, organize under a political party, and stand before the
Turkish nation. It is evident that TUSIAD would not have any financial
problems in forming a party given the resources it has."

Unsolved murders

When a reporter asked Bahceli who Dink’s murderer was, the MHP leader
said: "The social violence we have experienced as a society for the
last 40 years has given us the knowledge and experience to find out
who it is."

Bahceli said that the administrators of the state and potential
contenders for the administration of the state must pursue every
matter seriously. He added:

"It is disconcerting to see that murders that remained unsolved in the
period 1984-1991 resumed in the period 2002-2007. It is the government,
not we, that must investigate this issue. It must find the perpetrators
without fail. Those who pass themselves as intellectuals and have made
a habit of passing judgment before the perpetrators are found, members
of the press, men of thought, university faculty, and retired persons
who have run agencies like MIT [National Intelligence Organization]
must act more carefully."

Boston Globe, MA
Jan 24 2007

Tens of thousands mourn ethnic-Armenian editor
Killing triggers soul searching in Turkey

By Yesim Borg and Laura King, Los Angeles Times | January 24, 2007

ISTANBUL — Tens of thousands of mourners wound through the heart of
this ancient city yesterday in the funeral procession for an
ethnic-Armenian journalist whose killing triggered soul searching
over national identity, freedom of expression, and the historical
ghosts that shadow Turkey.

Followed by the largely silent throng, a black hearse slowly bore the
flower-strewn coffin of editor Hrant Dink to an Armenian Orthodox
church, where he was eulogized as a voice of courage and conscience.
A teenage nationalist reportedly has confessed to gunning down the
52-year-old journalist Jan. 19 outside his office.

The extraordinary display of public mourning shut down much of
downtown Istanbul, whose narrow back alleys and wide boulevards are
normally the scene of a raucous commercial free-for-all. Onlookers,
many dabbing their eyes, leaned from balconies and watched from
doorways as the cortege passed by. Some applauded, in the traditional
sign of respect for honored dead.

Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian extraction, was best known as an
advocate for the rights of the country’s Armenian minority —
including efforts to win official recognition by Turkey that the
deaths of some 1.5 million Armenians in the final years of the
Ottoman empire constituted the first genocide of the 20th century.

Turkey blames the deaths on fighting, cold, and hunger rather than
any systematic campaign of extermination, a stance that is widely
viewed internationally as an obstacle to its aspirations to join the
European Union.

Scores of Turkish academics, journalists, and novelists, including
Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, have been prosecuted under a provision
known as Article 301, which contains a wide-ranging ban on "insulting
Turkishness." Any public reference to an Armenian genocide, even in
carefully couched language, can result in being hauled into court and
possibly jailed, as Dink was.

Hours before the daylong funeral rites began, mourners gathered
outside the offices of Agos, Dink’s newspaper, whose name refers to
the nurturing of a seed. Many carried placards saying "We are all
Armenians" and "We are all Hrant Dink."

Even among those Turks who believe their country has been unfairly
tarred with genocide allegations, the violent backlash by right-wing
nationalists has prompted profound unease. Many were disturbed by the
young age of the alleged killer, identified by authorities as
17-year-old Ogun Samast, and the fact that he had apparently come
under the sway of nationalist militants.

A mood of quiet desolation pervaded the day’s events. Loudspeakers
played a mournful folk song. At the site of the slaying, his
supporters released white doves.

"I feel like I lost a brother," said Zeynep Catik, a 55-year-old
housewife who joined the funeral procession. "Turkey lost one of its
core values."

The Armenian patriarch, Mesrob II, addressed the mourners, urging
that the 60,000 Armenians living in Turkey be accepted as an integral
part of society.

"We still hope that [Turks] . . . will accept that the Armenians are
Turkish citizens who have been living in this land for thousands of
years, and are not foreigners or potential foes," he said.

Federation of Armenian Organisations of the Netherlands (FAON)
24 April committee for recognition and commemoration of the Armenian
genocide of 1915
Address: Weesperstraat 91 – The Hague
K.v.K. 27264382
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
Contact: M. Hakhverdian

Press Release

Demonstration in The Hague for Hrant Dink

Armenians, Turks, Kurds, Arameans for the first time together in a
demonstration; large interest of politics and press; Turkish embassy refuses
to receive declaration.

The Hague, 23 January 2007 – The cooperating Armenian organisations in the
Netherlands held a demonstration and a silent march on 23 January in The
Hague for Armenian journalist Hrant Dink assassinated last Friday in
Istanbul. Approximately 1000 persons gathered at the square Het Plein near
the building of the House of Representatives (Dutch Parliament). The
demonstration started at 1 p.m. Approximately at the time of the burial of
Dink in Istanbul. The square was filled with sounds of Armenian classical
and medieval music.

Armenians coming from all parts of the country, met on the square with
Turks, Kurds, Arameans, Assyrians and Dutch to emphasise their outrage for
the assassination of Dink. The participants were carrying banners, posters
and badges with the portrait of Dink and placards with inscription "We are
all Hrant Dink, We are all Armenians". Also flyers with the portrait and
biography of Dink and the declaration of the organisation in reaction to
Dink murder were distributed. After a two-minutes silence representatives of
Armenian, Turkish and Kurdish organisations as well as Members of Dutch
Parliament from CDA (Christian Democrat), GroenLinks (Greens) and Socialist
Party factions came to the stage to express their indignation at murder of
Dink. Core of the messages was the condemnation of the assassination of
Dink, Turkey being also responsible for the murder in view of the Turkish
Penal Code (TPC) and the lack of required police protection for the
frequently threatened Dink.

In the new form of dialogue and cooperation between the different ethnic
groups – in the spirit of Dink – hope was raised for a better future for all
in Turkey and abroad.

In the House of Representatives a delegation submitted a declaration to the
chairman of the Permanent Commission on Foreign Affairs Mr. Hans van Baalen
(VVD Party). Other members of the Commission, like Mr. Koenders and Mr.
Timmermans (PvdA – Labour Party), Mr. van Dijk (CDA – Christian Democrat),
Mr. van der Staaij (SGP), Ms. Marieko Peters (GroenLinks – Greens) also
attended this meeting. It was remarkable that two Members of Parliament of
Turkish origin, namely Mr. Coruz (CDA) and Ms. Koser Kaya (D66) also were
present.

In the declaration, signed by Armenian, Turkish, Kurdish, Aramean and
Assyrian organisations, the Parliament was asked to adopt a still more
critical attitude towards Turkey with respect to the freedom of speech and
the rights of minorities. This is important, because there is a direct
relation between the condemnation of Dink under Article 301 TPC and the fact
that Dink clearly spoke about the Armenian Genocide and also because he was
an Armenian. Mr. Van Baalen assured the delegation that the Parliament will
follow closely the investigation to the murder of Dink. Mr. Van Baalen added
that according to the motion Mr. Rouvoet of 2004 the Dutch Parliament has
recognised the Armenian Genocide and it will stick entirely to this motion
in its relation with Turkey.

Then in a silent march the participants marched to the Turkish embassy and
assembled in front of the embassy at the Malieveld field. During the march
they were carrying a large portrait of Dink followed by a banner with the
text "Armenian Genocide, when will it stop?" At the Malieveld, a delegation
went to the Turkish embassy to submit the same declaration to the
ambassador. In spite of the fact that it was announced in advance that a
delegation would come to hand over a declaration to the Ambassador, the
doors of embassy remained closed. The Dutch police was charged to bring the
declaration to the embassy later. The participants were disappointed of the
embassy¹s is attitude, because they were hoping that the spirit of dialogue
and openness would have reached also the Turkish embassy.

National and regional TV, radio and other media were present and covered the
event positively.

–Boundary_(ID_oX32f8e7JeUSqThZanTr4g )–

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRMEN TO ARRIVE IN YEREVAN ON JANUARY 24

YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, NOYAN TAPAN. The document on the main principles
of the Nagorno Karabakh problem settlement presented by the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chairmen was discussed during the January 23 Moscow meeting
of Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers lasted few hours. In
the interview given to Radio Liberty Armenian Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian stated that though the present meeting was regular,
but differed from the previous ones as after the last meeting of the
2 countries’ Presidents some problems were found out which were to
be touched upon. In the Minister’s words, an attempt was made this
time to discuss "the second layer of some principles" presented by
the Co-Chairmen. I can not fix that there is some serious progress
in addition to what we already had, but however, I think that it
was an effective attempt and one must continue the negotiations,"
V.Oskanian said.

By the way, according to the radio station, the Azerbaijani
Foreign Minister’s press conference envisaged in Moscow did not
take place. After the meeting the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen left
for Baku with him where he would meet with Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev. In V.Oskanian’s words, the Co-Chairmen will arrive in
Yerevan on January 24. It is expected that they will meet in Yerevan
or Stepanakert with the Nagorno Karabakh authorities. The meeting
with RA President Robert Kocharian is scheduled for January 26.

Associated Press Worldstream
January 20, 2007 Saturday 1:10 PM GMT

Azerbaijan marks 17th anniversary of clashes with Soviet Army

BAKU Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan on Saturday marked the 17th anniversary of clashes with
the Soviet Army, some of the most violent events surrounding the
Soviet Union’s breakup.

Tens of thousands of mourners, including President Ilham Aliev, filed
through the memorial to the dead, known as Martyrs’ Alley, laid red
carnations and wreaths on the tombs of the victims and the streets
where some of them died trying to prevent Soviet tanks from moving
in.

Some 134 people were killed and more than 770 wounded.

The violent protests came amid ethnic clashes between Azerbaijanis
and Armenians and followed a vote in neighboring Armenia to
effectively take control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory populated
by mostly ethnic Armenians which is inside Azerbaijan.

The Soviet government imposed a state of emergency in Baku and
deployed some 11,000 troops to crack down on the protesters who also
demanded the ouster of communist officials and independence from the
Soviet Union. International rights groups said the force used against
the demonstrators was excessive and disproportionate.

Azerbaijan gained independence in 1991 after the Soviet collapse.
Nagorno-Karabakh has been controlled along with some surrounding
areas by Karabakh and Armenian forces since 1994.

Meanwhile, hackers attacked the Web site of a foundation run by
former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, accusing him of brutally
suppressing the demonstration in Baku. The perpetrators posted
photographs of the rally on the Web site and published an open letter
to the former leader, blaming him for the deaths of the victims.

The Web site of the Gorbachev Foundation, which deals with
international issues including globalization, security, weapons of
mass destruction, environmental and natural resources and poverty,
was shut down Saturday. Nobody from the group was immediately
available for comment.

Azerbaijani hackers attack Mikhail Gorbachev’s website

ArmRadio.am
20.01.2007 15:26

This night Azerbaijani hackers attacked the website of the
International Fund for Socio-Economic and Political Research, which
belongs to the ex-President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev.

Information about the group of hackers, as well as photos and open
letters to Mikhail Gorbachev were placed on the website, Trend
reports. In their letters the hackers charge the ex-President with the
murder of Baku citizens the night of January 20, 1990. Then internal
troops entered Baku at the instruction of the USSR leadership. 137
people were killed in the result.