Author: Kalantarian Kevo

ARMENIANS VIOLATED CEASEFIRE AGAIN
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Nov 14 2006
Today beginning from 08.25 the divisions of Armenian Armed Forces from
their positions in the occupied village of Aghdam Bash Gervend fired
at the opposite positions of Azerbaijani Armed Forces for 15 minutes,
APA Garabagh bureau reports.
Yesterday beginning from 12.00 Armenian Armed Forces from their
positions in the occupied village of Jabrail Mehtili and Leletepe
fired at the opposite positions of Azerbaijani Armed Forces with
large-caliber machineguns for half an hour. Yesterday Armenian Armed
Forces fired at the Azerbaijani Armed Forces in the same direction.
The enemy was silenced by response fire. There are no losses. Fizuli
residents told the APA that the enemy tried to commit arsons in their
haystacks and pastures this month. Azerbaijan Defense Ministry told
the APA they have no information about the violation of ceasefire.

KAZAKHSTAN’S SECURITY TIES GROWING IN THE MIDDLE EAST
By Roger McDermott
Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
Nov 15 2006
Kazakhstan is seeking to diversify its security interests, looking to
Middle Eastern states for assistance. This trend was evident during
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s first state visit to Kazakhstan
on November 7. Kazakh officials also explored potential security
cooperation with Jordanian Defense Minister Maruf al-Bakhit in talks
in Astana on November 9.
A security dimension to the bilateral relationship between Kazakhstan
and Egypt emerged alongside efforts to emphasize burgeoning trade
links. Following the bilateral talks, Vladimir Shkolnik, Kazakhstan’s
trade and industry minister, and his Egyptian counterpart, Rashid
Husayn, signed a protocol allowing Egyptian goods and services free
access to Kazakhstan’s markets. Bilateral trade currently stands at
approximately $14.5 million in the first eight months of 2006. Trade
agreements envisage the deepening of bilateral trade in various
sectors of the economy, including textiles and pharmaceuticals
(Kazakhstan-Interfax, November 7).
Taking full advantage of Mubarak’s visit, Kazakh President Nursultan
Nazarbayev, explained, “We agreed on many issues during the meeting
today. First of all, they concern economic and political relations
between the two countries. The bilateral meeting discussed topical
international problems, including regional problems in the Middle
East, Iraq, and Afghanistan and the situation in Central Asia”
(Kazakh TV First Channel, November 7).
On November 8 Amangeldy Shabdarbayev, chairman of the Kazakh National
Security Committee (KNB), met Colonel-General Umar Sulayman, director
of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, in Astana. They
reportedly discussed ways to establish mechanisms for information
sharing. “During the meeting, the heads of the special services
expressed their intention to further develop interaction to counter
international terrorism and religious extremism, as well modern
threats and challenges,” according to the KNB’s press service
(Kazakhstan-Interfax, November 8).
Kazakhstan’s Middle Eastern diplomacy has been intense and pointed,
and Astana has steadfastly continued to deploy elements of its
peacekeeping battalion (KAZBAT) in Iraq. Kazakh Prime Minister
Daniyal Akhmetov met his Jordanian counterpart, al-Bakhit, in Astana
on November 8. “We attach special importance to stepping up the work
of the Kazakh-Jordanian intergovernmental commission [for trade and
economic cooperation]. Agriculture Minister [Akhmetzhan] Yesimov will
be heading the commission from the Kazakh side,” Akhmetov confirmed
after his talks. The prime minister believes Kazakhstan can offer
Jordan a wide range of products in the metallurgy, chemistry, oil,
and agricultural sectors. Kazakhstan’s markets are open for trade with
both Egypt and Jordan, and there is clear interest in Kazakhstan’s
energy sphere. Nazarbayev has been invited to visit Jordan in late
November, when he is likely to explore these issues further.
Kazakhstan’s Defense Minister Mukhtar Altynbayev expressed interest
in military-technical cooperation during talks with his Jordanian
counterpart. “During the meeting, the sides discussed issues relating
to international and regional security, as well as prospects for
developing bilateral military and technical cooperation,” the Kazakh
Defense Ministry disclosed (Interfax, November 9). Astana’s efforts
to foster security links with Egypt and Jordan appear to be at a
tentative stage, but there is reason to believe that they will make
practical progress. The KNB agreement on cooperating with Egyptian
intelligence may presage wider defense cooperation, as Kazakhstan’s
national security interests are identified.
While Kazakh officials were conducting Middle Eastern diplomacy,
the government was keeping a close eye on the political unrest in
Kyrgyzstan. Security officials in Astana fear the consequences for the
region, should their southern neighbor become a dysfunctional state
and a breeding ground for terrorism and extremism. Such concerns are
currently driving the exploration of new themes in Kazakh security
cooperation trends; Nazarbayev is keen to learn from Egypt and Jordan
about ways to tackle the terrorist threat.
These are some ways in which Astana is changing the established
cooperation dynamics in the region. But there are also other indicators
that regional security dynamics may again shift or realign in the
near future. The first joint anti-terrorist exercises held between
the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states will be held in Russia
in spring 2007. “Peaceful Mission-Border 2007” will take place in
May 2007 at the Chebarkul testing ground in Chelyabinsk region.
China and Russia will each send a battalion, while Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan will contribute a company and Kyrgyzstan
will send a platoon. Armenia and Belarus will participate as
observers. Russia and China will reportedly provide the largest
contingents of troops to the forthcoming maneuvers, with each sending
a battalion. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan each intend to
send a company, and Kyrgyzstan intends to send a platoon. Armenia
and Belarus, which are not SCO members, will attend the maneuvers as
observers (Avesta, November 8).
Joint CSTO and SCO anti-terrorist exercises will once again raise the
profile of these organizations within the region. How far it will
strengthen the pro-Russian security trends in Central Asia remains
unclear. Meanwhile, analysts are speculating about what dividends
Nazarbayev could extract from security cooperation in the Middle
East that he cannot get by concentrating on his partnership with
Western countries.

INSURANCE COMPANY STARTS SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS BY HEIRS OF 1915 GENOCIDE
By Aram Vanetsian in Los Angeles
Radio Liberty, Czech rep.
Nov 13 2006
New York Life Insurance Co. has started to pay compensations to more
than 2,000 heirs of victims of the Armenian genocide.
The company agreed to pay compensation to Armenian heirs and legal
successors who had been insured by the company in Western Armenia
and Turkey and fell victim to the 1915 massacres of Armenians in
Ottoman Turkey.
Vartkes Yeghian, one of the lawyers who had brought a case against
New York Life, said the corresponding committee had accepted 2,515 of
the 5,692 claims and sums began to be paid on Saturday to decedents
found eligible to compensation.
Yeghian explained that people living outside Armenia will simply get
bank checks in envelops and will cash them at banks. In the case with
Armenia an agreement was reached only with one bank and the sum has
already been transferred to that bank.
All 5,692 applicants will receive a letter notifying them that their
applications was either accepted or rejected.
According to Yeghian, these letters will be received in the USA within
several days, and in Armenia it may take up to a couple of weeks.
The greatest share of the sum, around $3,600,000, has been transferred
to Armenia where 1,254 people are eligible for compensation. The
second largest destination is the United States, to where $2,700,000
have been transferred for 896 people, the third is France, and the
fourth is Canada. In total, sums will be received in 26 countries.
The total sum to be paid is $7,954,000. A little more than $3,000,000
will remain, which lawyers will distribute among charity organizations.
Vartkes Yeghian also said that money have already been received from
the French Axa Insurance company. “We are only waiting for names to
be posted on the internet, as it was done in the case with New York
Life. The French government’s consent is needed for that.”
Names of four to five thousand Armenians insured at the French company
will appear on the internet in several weeks.
(Note to readers: More information about the Axa settlement can be
found at )

FRANCE SHOULD FACE ITS OWN HISTORY
Sabah, Turkey
Nov 13 2006
The Prime Minister of Algeria criticized France’s accusing Turkey of
Armenian Genocide.
Abdulaziz Bilhadim, the Prime Minister of Algeria, reminded France of
their accusations about Turkey regarding the Armenian ‘genocide’. He
said: “you should also face your own history. You should accept your
crimes waged between 1830 and 1962. 1.5 million people died.”
First apologize for the colonies
The Prime Minister of Algeria, reminded of the words of President
Chirac, said: “France should accept its crimes during the colonial
period in order to establish friendly relationships.”
France is being forced to face its own music, after pressing Turkey
to recognize the Armenian genocide in order to become a member of
the EU. Algeria, its colony for years, where thousands of people
were killed, is charging France with a similar accusation; using the
words of president Chirac: “face your own history. Nations grow as
they accept their mistakes.” The Prime Minister of Algeria reminded
of the words of President Chirac, said: “France should accept its
crimes waged during the colonial period in order to establish friendly
relationships.”

OSCE CHAIRMAN-IN-OFFICE PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE RECEIVED MANDATE TO HOLD INVESTIGATION OF CASES OF BREAKING CEASEFIRE ON AZERBAIJANI-ARMENIAN FRONTLINE
TREND< Azerbaijan Nov 8 2006 The personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, has received the mandate from the Organization to hold an investigation into the case of breaking the ceasefire on the Azerbaijani-Armenian frontline, Kasprzyk briefed the media on 7 November in Yerevan during the reception for the participants of the international conference "South Caucasus: perception of the region and challenges". "The OSCE gave its consent so that I have a separate mandate to hold the investigations," he said. According to Kasprzyk, the budget needs to be increased for personal representatives for this purpose. "I require experts, especially for arms and ballistics," he stated, Trend reports with reference to Novosti-Armenia. He added that direct co-operation between the commanders of both sides is also required to carry out the investigations. "However, at present such co-operation does not exist," Kasprzyk said.

ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY TERMS A WEEKLY’S REPORT AS “BLATANT LIE”
Armenpress
Nov 07 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS: The Armenian defense ministry
has denied today a report placed by the weekly Iravunk, run by the
Constitutional Right Union opposition party, which claimed as if
the ministry’s governing board had convened an emergency meeting on
November 4 to discuss defense minister Serzh Sarkisian’s political
agenda.
A brief press release by the defense ministry, disseminated today to
all Armenian media outlets, said the report that appeared in today’s
issue of the weekly, was inconsistent with reality.
The ministry said no emergency meeting had been held on November 4. It
said also the report in the weekly claiming this was ‘a concoction
and a blatant lie.”
The ministry’s press release said, ” The defense ministry has said
on various occasions and many times that the Armenian army is an
apolitical body that does not meddle in political processes.”

CONTACTS:
Brian Kabateck Mark Geragos
Kabateck Brown Kellner LLP Geragos & Geragos
213-217-5000 213 625-3900
[email protected] [email protected]
Diane Zakian Rumbaugh
Rumbaugh Public Relations
805-493-2877
[email protected]
PRE SS RELEASE November 6, 2006
NEARLY $8 MILLION IN NEW YORK LIFE SETTLEMENT CHECKS
TO BE DISTRIBUTED TO HEIRS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS
LOS ANGELES, CALIF.–Settlement checks totaling
$7,954,362.24 will be distributed this week to more than 2,500 Armenian
descendants of victims massacred in the 1915 Armenian Genocide. The
checks are a share of a multi million dollar settlement in a class
action lawsuit brought against New York Life Insurance Company for
unpaid life insurance benefits. In addition, $3 million has been already
distributed to various Armenian charitable organizations (Martin
Marootian, et al. v. New York Life Insurance Company).
The board reviewed thousands of claims and found that 2,515
claims could be traced to Armenians who had purchased life insurance
policies from New York Life prior to 1915.
“We are thrilled that thousands of Armenians will finally
get the insurance compensation they deserve,” says Brian Kabateck,
partner with Kabateck Brown Kellner, LLP and one of the lead attorneys
who represented the Armenian heirs. “Armenians don’t give up easily and
this settlement is a testament to that.”
“Although compensation is about 90 years late, we’re still
pleased that Armenians are receiving some of what is owed them,” says
Mark Geragos, partner with Geragos & Geragos, another of the lead
attorneys in the case. In addition to Kabateck and Geragos, Vartkes
Yeghiayan of Yeghiayan & Associates represented the plaintiffs in the
case. All are of Armenian decent.
Letters will be mailed to all claimants. Checks will be
included to claimants awarded compensation. Of the nearly $8 million in
settlement checks, Armenians in Armenia will receive the most ($3.4
million) followed by Armenians in the United States ($2.6 million) and
Armenians in France ($656,413). In all, Armenians in 26 countries will
receive compensation.
For questions about the settlement, contact the settlement
board at 213-327-0740.
###

KAZAKH-ARMENIAN BODY DISCUSSES ECONOMIC TIES AHEAD OF PRESIDENT’S VISIT
Interfax, Russia
Nov 6 2006
Astana, 5 November. The second sitting of the Kazakh-Armenian
commission on trade and economic cooperation is being held in Astana
today.
The Kazakh side is represented by Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Nurlan
Onzhanov and the Armenian side by Deputy Agriculture Minister Samvel
Avetisyan, a report circulated by the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said.
The meeting is being held without media’s participation. A news
conference is expected to be held in the afternoon, following the
talks.
The bilateral commission is holding the meeting on the eve of Armenian
President Robert Kocharyan’s visit to Kazakhstan. Kocharyan is arriving
in Kazakhstan on 6 November. His talks with Kazakh President Nursultan
Nazarbayev are to be held the same day. A number of bilateral documents
are to be signed and a joint news conference of the two countries’
leaders is to take place following the talks.

ANALYSIS: TURKEY AND THE EU DRIFT APART
By Benjamin Harvey
Washington Post
The Associated Press
Nov 5 2006
ISTANBUL, Turkey — The cautious courtship between Turkey and
the European Union looks like it might be headed for a messy and
acrimonious breakup.
They were a mismatched couple from the beginning: one wealthy, mostly
Christian and liberal, the other far poorer, overwhelmingly Muslim and
largely conservative. Perhaps it’s no surprise the initial optimism
over Turkey’s bid to join the bloc has deteriorated into mutual
recriminations and a seemingly hopeless inability to communicate.
The mood is likely to worsen after Wednesday when the EU releases
a progress report on Turkey’s bid which says Ankara is dragging its
feet on reform and failing to meet minimum human rights standards,
according to a draft copy viewed by The Associated Press.
The consequences of worsening relations between Turkey and the EU
could be dramatic and far-reaching: At stake is an ambitious vision
of bringing a Muslim nation into European society, proving that a
clash of civilizations between the West and Islam is not inevitable.
Many analysts say that is why negotiations are likely to continue
for the foreseeable future, with neither side committing to a clean
split that would send the message to Muslims everywhere that the West
is not prepared to deal with them on equal footing.
“Of course I support the EU (bid),” said Bayram Kapici, a 38-year-old
security guard in Istanbul. “But the question is, what will our place
in the EU be? I mean, we’re Muslims. Are we barbarians? How will they
see us?”
For the moment, enthusiasm toward Turkey’s bid has cooled dramatically
on both sides, and Turkish leaders’ passionate claims it could
bridge the gap between Europe and the Muslim world are starting to
ring hollow.
Turkish public support for membership has fallen below 50 percent,
and many believe that perceived insults from the EU _ in the form
of frequent criticism and seemingly endless demands for reform _
play directly into the hands of nationalists and Islamists who are
largely opposed to the bid.
Europeans, meanwhile, have a litany of complaints about Turkey,
including its poor record on human rights, intolerance to free speech
and hardline attitudes toward adultery and homosexuality.
Many Europeans also say Turkey has refused to look objectively at its
past, notably the massacre of Armenians after World War I that many
historians call a genocide. Turkey acknowledges that large numbers
of Armenians died, but says the overall figure is inflated and that
the deaths occurred in the civil unrest during the collapse of the
Ottoman Empire.
Many Turks fault the country’s old rivals Greece and Cyprus for the
growing acrimony, claiming they are lobbying the EU to take a hard
line over Turkey’s refusal to open its ports to planes and ships
from the Greek-speaking part of Cyprus. Turkey does not recognize
the Cypriot government and props up the internationally unrecognized
administration in the north of the island.
A last-ditch meeting last week to settle the Cyprus issue was canceled,
leaving the Turks with very little time to negotiate before the EU’s
year-end deadline to concede or see talks suspended.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in remarks released Sunday that
the standoff over Cyprus was “very serious.” Asked if the talks
would be frozen, she said: “The EU cannot simply carry on. Turkey
must understand that there will be no simple ‘carry on’ if there is
no movement” on Cyprus.
If talks collapse, the symbolic value of having an overwhelmingly
Muslim, democratic nation firmly integrated into the West would be
lost. Turkey’s 71 million citizens, taught to look to Europe for
inspiration since the secular Turkish state was founded in the 1920s,
might look elsewhere for positive reinforcement.
The Islamic countries of the Middle East, Central Asia and North
Africa, with which Turkey’s Islamic-rooted government has been forging
increasingly close ties, could be natural surrogates.
“Nationalists are benefiting from this, there’s no question about it,”
said pollster and political science professor Hakan Yilmaz.
But many Turks feel that a complete breakup with the EU is out of
the question.
Yilmaz said many EU leaders were just playing to the crowd by publicly
belittling Turkey.
“Some in the European Union public love this humiliation _ particularly
in France,” he said, alluding to a proposed French law that would
make it a crime to deny the Turkish genocide of Armenians.
Meanwhile, some leading politicians on both sides are trying to
make the relationship so miserable that Turkey will just walk away
on its own, said Ilter Turan, a political analyst at Istanbul Bilgi
University.
Turan said, however, the government would be excoriated by the Turkish
public if it walked away from the EU, despite the current anti-EU
mood in the country.
The key question appears to be how to persuade Turkey to reform
without damaging national pride.
“There is one thing where the Turkish public seems to be rather
adamant,” Turan said. “If there is to be a union, it is to be on
equal grounds.”
___
Associated Press Writer Stephen Graham contributed to this report
from Berlin.

ORGANIZERS SAY CoE FILM SCREENING NOT A VIOLATION OF LAW
Panorama.am
15:18 04/11/06
Film campaign launched by Council of Europe kicked off today at
the National Gallery aimed to prevent trafficking, violence against
children and racism. The selected 16 films which won the competition
will be shown every Saturday and Sunday. The entrance is free.
The audience was shown a Spanish film “Forgotten” which is about
violence against children. As reported, the films are in original
languages with English subtitles. So, if someone does not know at
least English, the campaign has no meaning for him/her.
The Armenian Law on Language says that Armenian translations must be
provided during mass events.
However, Melik Karapetyan, manager of film project, believes there
was not violation of law. He said they would be very limited films,
if Armenian translations were provided for all.