Author: Kalantarian Kevo

SYRIAN MUSICIANS WIN EU-FUNDED RADIO MUSIC AWARD
SANA – Syrian Arab News Agency, Syria
Sept 26 2006
Damascus, (SANA)
Syrian musicians Lena Chamamyan and Basel Rajoub were declared winners
of the first Radio Monte Carlo Moyen-Orient Award in the finals of
the competition at the al-Hussein Cultural Center in Amman, Jordan,
the Delegation of the European Commission in Syria said Tuesday.
In addition to cash prize of EU 6,000, Ms. Lena Chamamyan and Mr.
Basel Rajoub will be in an international promotion campaign through
Radio Monte Carlo Moyen-Orient and its partners.
Lena revealed a passion for music at the age of five. Some years
later she studied eastern classical songs at Aleppo Conservatory, but
she has since explored other styles including Jazz and traditional
Armenian music which have become an integral part of her own very
personal style.
Aleppo-born Basel Rajoub began his musical career playing trumpet
before enrolling at the Conservatory where he studied eastern and
European classical music as well as Jazz. The result is a blend of
rich melodies, his eastern background and Jazz influences, often
featuring an unusual mix of sounds such as piano and brass.
The award is organized by Radio Monte Carlo in partnership with the
European Commission in the framework of the MEDA program to promote
new talents in the Mediterranean basin.

SERGEI IVANOV: RUSSIA WILL NOT ALLOW GUAM PEACEKEEPERS TO CIS CONFLICT ZONES
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Sept 25 2006
Russia will not allow GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova)
peacekeepers to the conflict zones in the CIS, Russian Defense Minister
Sergei Ivanov told Greek “Katimerini” newspaper, APA reports.
He said GUAM plans to deploy its peacekeepers not only to Abkhazia
and South Ossetia, but also to Nagorno Garabagh and Transnistria.
“Russia wants to solve current conflicts in political way and therefore
will take adequate actions to prevent this scenario,” the Minister
said.

PM ANDRANIK MARGARYAN CONGRATULATES THE NATION ON INDEPENDENCE DAY
Public Radio of Armenia
Sept 21 2006
RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan issued a congratulating message
on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of independence of the Republic
of Armenia.
“Dear compatriots, I congratulate you on the occasion of the
15th anniversary of independence of the Republic of Armenia. The
Independence Day is undoubtedly the brightest and most important
holiday for us. It is the day of nationwide pride and fulfillment
of the dearest national dreams that came true after a break of over
600 years.
15 years ago our people made its historic choice and when achieving
the right of living independently, it was realizing pretty well the
difficulties and obstacles on the way chosen, at the same time it
was confident that there was no alternative to independence.
Establishing an independent state on part of the Motherland, in 1991
the Armenian nation launched a process, which is no more preventable
or retrievable.
On this prominent day for all of us let’s congratulate each other,
wishing long-lasting peace to our state and well-being to our people.
I’m confident that we have enough will and potential to jointly
resist all the difficulties to steadily continue moving along the
path of Independence.”

OPINIONS: TURKEY’S CHRONIC HEADACHE
Yavuz Baydar
The New Anatolian, Turkey
22 September 2006
After all, it all comes down to free speech. When I met Chief
Negotiator Ali Babacan at an international meeting Friday, Sep 15,
it was evident: as soon as he stopped his deliberation before the
guests, the first question asked was about Elif Shafak case and what
the government would to amend or lift the infamous article 301 of
Turkish Penal Code.
Babacan, politely as he has always been, told us that the government
had no such plan to touch 301 and came up with the only possible
argument: that we should wait and see the course all the cases invoked
upon 301 would lead to.
He seemed to mean that no precedent by a verdict from High Court was
established yet. He added, to be cautious, that changes were possible
in the future if needed.
For those in the audience, those who know about how far the case of
Hrant Dink, editor of Agos – daily of the Armenian minority – these
remarks were not convincing at all.
It seemed as if the chief negotiator was unaware of the seriousness
of the matter. After all, politics and human rights are not his
real playground.
Many shook their heads in grave disbelief.
As we continued to gather in a one-day meeting – fourth Bosphorus
Conference – the overwhelming view expressed privately by the eminent
guests were that, regarding the complexities of Cyprus case as a
strong enough stumbling block for the Turkish accession, the most
clever and facile path Ankara should take to make things easier would
be to revise Article 301 urgently.
Such a move, argued those who wanted to see at least some “progress”
for Turkey before the year ended, would certainly disarm the skepticals
and give the Commission fuel for further moves in Turkey’s favor.
***
Would the government change its mind and set about to deal with 301?
It is rather evident, that, if it does not, it will yet again squeeze
itself in a corner.
High Court of Appeals (Yargýtay) issued the detailed final verdict
days ago on Dink case, which ended with Dink being sentenced to six
months in prison.
Nine judges had taken part in the voting and seven of them agreed that
“Critique may be hard, but slander or libel can not be tolerated. Hrant
Dink, in a masterful style, humiliated Turkishness.”
Although two judges (one of them being the chairman) made clear in
their dissent, that the spirit of new laws in accord with the norms of
EU was not comprehended, the inevitability of the right to criticize
was not reflected (in the verdict); that the lower court did not take
into consideration ECHR precedents.
Two judges also emphasize that “There is still fear for expressing
thought of dissent in Turkey. No opinion, which has been tried
and sent to jail dies. On the contrary, such opinion finds other
supporters. One should know that dissent can not be prevented by
creating fear for punishment.”
Fine conclusion, indeed, but in clear minority.
***
What, then, stops the government to deal with Article 301?
After all, the parliament is now convened under extraordinary
circumstances, only to pass further laws of reform.
What is at stake here?
As Dink case is finalized and as Elif Shafak case becomes the focus
for global attention, what you see in behaviour amongst the ranks of
AK Party deputies could be defined by certain motives:
First of all, you have the ignorance about what Free Speech
means in a democracy. For many deputies, the difficulty lies in
between distinguishing libel/slander and criticism; between fact and
fiction. (It is clear, regarding Shafak case, that, for some attorneys
fiction must also be punished!) For others, it simply does not have
a priority amongst the issues.
And for those who are now dealing with the upcoming elections, this
issue is not a “winner”; for electoral support.
The element that adds salt to the wound is the attitude of the main
opposition, CHP, which made it clear that it will not be supporting
any move to amend 301.
A deputy of CHP, Orhan Eraslan, member of the justice commission of
the parliament, said “301 is not wrong. It should not change. It is
not only a need, it is also a necessity. If we want to remain as a
nation and state, it should remain.”
Depressing view for those who see a clash ahead with the EU and ECHR.
Surprising? I doubt it. Recently a colleague told me, that he had
coincidentally met lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz at a holiday resort, who
organises violent demonstrations in and around free speech cases. At
one point he asked him what party he should vote for.
“CHP,” he answered, without hesitation.
***
What should or could be done, then?
If the government means still serious business with the EU Commission,
it is of great importance that it deals boldly with the matter, as
it dealt with some issues in agriculture and bureacracy, before the
Progress Report is discussed in the EU.
As a primary move, the government could, through the Ministry of
Justice, ask prosecutors to drop all cases related with articles 301
and 288. Further, the ministry should, with the participation of the
Chief Negotiator, gather representatives of the judiciary and clearly
explain them that both the prosecutors and the judges should take
all the international legal treaties, human rights agreements and
ECHR precedents into consideration, and decide accordingly.
Secondly, the Turkish Government should present a bill to the
Parliament, that at least abolishes imprisonment for those who
“breach” articles as 310 and 288, and instead puts symbolic fines;
as it is in some “sensitive” cases throughout EU.
This, to gain time in order to revise all articles that in one way
or another, relates to articles on the free speech territory.
This will mean good intentions both to the domestic scene and EU.
The AK Party government should make itself clear, that unless it
reforms such articles, it will be causing ” in the long run” great
damage to democracy.
CHP, perhaps not surprisingly, thrown the towel to the ring, and
declared that “enough is enough” for EU reforms, by its leader.
Who will, then, lead Turkey into EU, other than AK Party?
Without a leadership, the project of EU membership is doomed.
Turkey’s EU path must be irreversible.
But, where is the leadership?
–Boundary_(ID_COnJlNODPBKkU+ZC5SGZnQ )–

INTERNATIONAL BERTELSMANN FORUM 2006 COMMENCES IN BERLIN
[September 23, 2006, 14:16:09]
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Sept 23 2006
The International Bertelsmann Forum 2006 commenced in Berlin on
September 22, AzerTAc’s personal correspondent reports from the
German capital.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev arrived at the Federal Foreign
Office to join leading representatives from 20 counties gathered here
to discuss the future of the European continent.
The forum is dealing with a wide range of issues including the future
of the Balkan states and the Black Sea region, Eastern Europe, West’s
strategies in the Middle East, migration and integration within Europe
and others.
Werner Weidenfeld, member of the Executive Board of the Bertelsmann
Foundation made opening remarks.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU Commission President Manuel
Barroso, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, Belgian Prime
Minister Guy Verhofstadt and Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany
gave keynote addresses.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev addressed the 1st session of the
forum held under the title The Balkans and the Black Sea – A Litmus
Test for Europe.
President Ilham Aliyev spoke of the legal, political and economic
reforms in Azerbaijan.
“Today, the South Caucasus region is of significant importance to
Europe, especially the delivery of the Caspian Sea energy resources
to the world markets. But the region’s Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is
a huge obstacle to ties between Europe and South Caucasus. Europe
should seek establishment of peace in the region through playing a
key role in settlement of this dispute”, he said.
President Ilham Aliyev noted Azerbaijan today has become a significant
oil and gas producing country, adding it is ready to play the role
of a reliable partner in providing energy security in Europe.
Then President Ilham Aliyev, Romanian President Traian Basescu,
Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, Montenegrin Prime Minister and
Armenian Foreign Minister had wide-ranging discussions.
President Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan is actively involved in the
European new neighborhood policy.
“Integration into the West is one of the major priorities of
Azerbaijan’s foreign policy”, he noted.
The Azerbaijani leader reiterated his country’s stance on the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Romanian President Traian Basescu who supported Azerbaijan’s position
said the policy of protecting the rights of national minorities should
not infringe upon territorial integrity of a state.
“It is impossible for each national minority to establish its own
state, there is a practice of autonomy. Such conflicts should be
solved on the base of these principles”, the Romanian leader noted.
President Ilham Aliyev said Armenia today is the only state that has
no national minorities in its territory, describing it as a monostate.
“Creation of two Armenian states is impossible, it doesn’t meet any
international legal standards and principles, including the European
standards as well as poses a huge threat to Europe’s future”, he added.
The Azerbaijani leader also responded to a variety of questions
covering global energy problems, the country’s oil and gas policy,
the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and other projects as well as international
problems.
The Forum’s first day ended with sessions entitled “Eastern Europe –
New Power, Old Order” and “From the Middle East to the Hindu Kush –
Collapse of Western Strategies?”.
The International Bertelsmann Forum 2006 wraps up on September 23.
* * *
President Ilham Aliyev also attended the official reception given
in the Bertelsmann Foundation in honor of the participants of the
International Bertelsmann Forum 2006.
* * *
Later in the evening, President Ilham Aliyev addressed the “Challenge
Democracy” event, which also involved Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo
Djukanovic and former Polish leader Aleksander Kwasniewski.

Congressional Record: September 21, 2006 (House)
> > From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access
> > [wais.access.gpo.gov]
MARKING 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF REESTABLISHMENT OF INDEPENDENCE OF ARMENIA
Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of
order. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman
from California is recognized for 5 minutes.
There was no objection.
Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, today marks the 15th anniversary of the
reestablishment of the independence of the Republic of Armenia. On
behalf of the tens of thousands of Armenia Americans in my district,
the largest Armenia community outside of Armenia, “Oorakh Angakhootyan
Or,” congratulations to the people of Armenia on a decade and a half
of freedom.
Building upon the foundations of the first Armenian Republic of 1918,
today’s Armenia has, in the years since it declared its independence
from the disintegrating Soviet Union in 1991, strengthened democracy
and the rule of law, promoted free-market reforms, and sought a just
and lasting peace in a troubled region.
With America’s help, Armenia is overcoming the brutal legacy of
Ottoman persecution, Soviet oppression, Azerbaijani aggression against
Karabagh, and the ongoing dual blockades by Turkey and its allies
in Baku.
Recognizing this progress, John Evans, the former U.S. Ambassador, said
in 2004, that “Armenia now has well-founded hopes for a prosperous and
democratic future.” I am proud of the role that the United States
Congress has played in strengthening the enduring bond between the
American and Armenian peoples.
This special relationship is rooted in our shared values and
experiences over the course of more than a century. Among these shared
values are a commitment to democracy, tolerance, religious freedom,
human rights and the peaceful resolution of conflicts.
In the 1890s, Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross,
traveled to Armenia to help the Armenian victims of massacres being
perpetrated by the Ottoman Turkish Government.
In 1915, as the Ottoman Empire began its campaign of genocide against
the Armenian people, the U.S. Ambassador to Constantinople, Henry
Morgenthau, documented and, at the risk of his own career, protested
the ongoing massacres, death marches and other barbarities.
Later, President Woodrow Wilson led the formation of the Near East
Relief Foundation to help the survivors of the Armenian genocide,
and spearheaded the international efforts to secure justice for the
Armenian people and to support the first Republic of Armenia.
Later, after the short-lived Republic of Armenia was annexed by the
Soviet Union, Armenians here in America and around the world were
key allies in our decades-long struggle against the Soviet threat
to freedom. This cooperation contributed to bringing an end to the
Soviet Union, to the rebirth of an independent Armenia, and to the
democracy movement and self-determination of Karabagh.
Armenia has made tremendous progress in building up a free-market-
oriented economy over the past decade and a half. According to the
Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom,
Armenia is consistently ranked as a free economy, and is currently
the 27th freest in the index’s 2006 rankings.
Recognizing this, the United States has named Armenia as one of only
a handful of countries to have qualified for assistance through the
Millennium Challenge Account, a program which targets development
assistance to countries that rule justly, invest in their people and
encourage economic freedom.
Armenia has also sought to integrate itself in the world economy as
a member of the World Trade Organization, and I was pleased to join
many of my colleagues in working to extend the Permanent Normal Trade
Relations status to Armenia.
Armenia’s economic accomplishments are more extraordinary when you
factor in the crippling and illegal economic blockades imposed by
Turkey and Azerbaijan. The blockades cost Armenia an estimated $720
million a year and have forced more than 800,000 Armenians, close to
a quarter of Armenia’s population, to leave their homeland over the
past decade.
The biggest challenge Armenia faces is the hostility of its neighbors.
While the primary threat from Turkey is economic and diplomatic,
Azerbaijan has been far more bellicose. Both Armenia and Nagorno
Karabagh have demonstrated their commitment to a peaceful resolution
of the Karabagh conflict through the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe. In contrast, Azerbaijan has taken reckless
steps that have contributed to instability in a region of strategic
and economic importance.
Armenia’s Soviet past and the economic and security challenges it
faces have impeded the country’s progress towards full democracy
and the rule of law. Those of us who care deeply about Armenia and
the Armenian people must continue to help Armenia to perfect its
institutions and expand the rule of law.
Mr. Speaker, nobody knows the need for broad engagement with Armenia
more than the Armenian-American community, which has strong ties to its
ancestral homeland. Armenian Americans have made contributions to every
aspect of American life. From investor Kirk Kerkorian to Ray Damadian,
inventor of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, to the multiplatinum rock band
System of a Down, Armenian-Americans have enriched our Nation. They
are also committed to contributing to an ever brighter future for
Armenia. I have been privileged to work with many of the community
on ending this government’s tragic failure to recognize the Armenian
genocide, on ending the Turkish and Azerbaijani economic blockade,
on securing aid to Armenia, and securing permanent normal trade
relations with Armenia.
Armenia has come a long way in 15 short years, and I look forward to
much more progress in the years ahead.

Trend
Today 21.09.2006
Venice Commission to discuss law “On freedom of assembly” in Azerbaijan on 13-14 October
Source: Trend
Author: A.Ismaylova
21.09.2006
68th Plenary Session of the Venice Commission will be held on October
13-14, Trend reports with reference to the statement of the Venice
Commission.
The next session of the Venice Commission is expected to discuss the
issue of upgrading the law “On freedom of assembly in Azerbaijan”. Such
decision was made on September 19 in Baku at the conference held with
the participation of the representatives of Azerbaijan government,
experts of OSCE and Venice Commission, and discussions were held
on the implementation mechanism of the law “On freedom of assembly
in Azerbaijan”.
In addition, during the conference it was decided to create a working
group consisting of the representatives of the Azerbaijani government,
experts of OSCE Baku and Venice Commission, which will begin its
activities after the next session of the Venice Commission. The
working group will prepare its proposals regarding improvement of
the same legislation in Azerbaijan.
The previous 67th session of the Venice Commission was held on June
9-10, 2006. During the session, a joint statement of the Venice
Commission and OSCE regarding the electoral legislation in Armenia,
Georgia and Macedonia was heard.
69th session of the Venice Commission will be held on December 15-16.

STATE COMMITTEE FOR AFFAIRS WITH AZERBAIJANIS LIVING ABROAD: 10TH CONGRESS OF TURKIC STATES AND NATIONAL ENTITIES ACHIEVED ITS HISTORICAL GOAL
Author: S. Ilhamgizi
Trend
Today 20.09.2006
10th Congress of the Turkic States and National Entities has already
become an important step in the Turkic World consolidation issue. “I
dare say that the Congress has already achieved its historical goal”,
Nazim Ibrahimov, Chairman of the satte Committee for Affairs with
Azerbaijanis Living Abroad exclusively told Trend today.
It should be mentioned that at present, in the Turkish province of
Antalya, 10th Congress of Friendship, Brotherhood, and Cooperation
between the Turkic States and National Entities is being held. Being
a member of the Azerbaijani delegation to the congress, Mr. Ibrahimov
told about its work and the importance of the arrangement.
He pointed out that the participation of Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev in this arrangement is the vivid evidence of that our country
s attaching importance to the cooperation with the Turkic states.
“President Ilham Aliyev`s speech, his during the first day of the
work of the Congress, his message to the Turkic World, as well as the
next year`s holding of the Joint Forum of the Azerbaijani and Turkic
Diaspora organizations, and recommendations on the joint activity to
prevent the Armenian propaganda were greeted by all the participants
of the Congress with a big enthusiasm. I hope that the Joint Forum
to be held in Baku the next year will give a strong impetus to the
further cooperation between the Azerbaijani and Turkish Diaspora,
as well as establish the joint lobbyist activity, and accelerate this
process”, told Mr. Ibrahimov.
He also pointed out that there is a close cooperation between
the Azerbaijani and Turkish Diaspora organizations from different
countries. The State Committee also works jointly with the Turkish
Diaspora organizations and establishes close relations.
According to Mr. Ibrahimov, the joint functioning of the two Diasporas
in different countries is reflected in the positive influence on the
common case. “The first Forum of the Diaspora organizations to be held
the next year will be devoted to the discussion of the works being
implemented up to present moment, the analysis of the results of the
joint activity, and the determination of perspectives of the further
cooperation and joint works. Senior officials of Azerbaijan and Turkey
are expected at the event. In this connection invitations will be sent
to the Turkish officials. All the participants of the forthcoming
Forum will make a decision on acceleration of the joint activity of
the organizations of the Azerbaijani and Turkish Diasporas”, he told.
The Head of the state Committee also added that all necessary
organizational measures will be taken to hold the Forum at the highest
level.
Mr. Ibrahimov pointed out that he held meetings with the participating
representatives of Azerbaijani and Turkish Diaspora organizations
form different countries.
According to him, during the work of Congress, different committees
where the members of the Azerbaijani delegation participates were
founded. “All necessary decision will be taken tomorrow. However,
I dare say that the Congress has already achieved its historical
goal. The speeches of the Azerbaijani President and the Turkish
Prime-Minister allow talking with confidence that the Congress is being
held successfully and will be completed this way. The Congress has
become an important step in the Turkic World consolidation issue. On
the other hand, the participation of the Azerbaijani President at
the arrangement and his speech demonstrated again that he is one of
the leaders of the Turkic World”, underlined Mr. Ibrahimov.
He also pointed out that the work of the Congress will be completed
the day after tomorrow, and the Azerbaijan delegation will return
the motherland then.

AT 82, CHARLES AZNAVOUR IS SINGING A FAREWELL THAT COULD LAST FOR YEARS
By Alan Riding
The New York Times
September 18, 2006 Monday
Late Edition – Final
At 82 Charles Aznavour is on his farewell tour, but don’t let anyone
confuse this with retirement.
No, for this last practitioner of a decades-old musical tradition known
as the chanson francaise (French song), the tour better resembles
a slow lap of honor, one taking him to scores of cities around the
world and, health permitting, that may last until 2010 or beyond.
“We’re in no hurry; we’re still young,” Mr. Aznavour said
good-naturedly several weeks ago before embarking on a 10-city swing
through North America, which includes dates in New York at Radio City
Music Hall on Monday and Tuesday. “There are some people who grow
old and others who just add years. I have added years, but I am not
yet old.”
As proof he claims with no little pride that his voice is in better
shape than 30 years ago. He has just signed a three-record contract
with EMI. He is still busily writing new songs about the travails of
love and life. And, let’s face it, he doesn’t look his age: dapperly
dressed, he seems as sure on his feet as he is quick in his repartee.
Nonetheless the plan is to say goodbye to fans in each city he visits
this month. He has already been to Montreal, Ottawa, Seattle, San
Francisco, Toronto and Washington. After his New York shows, Boston,
Los Angeles and Saratoga, Calif., will complete his schedule.
“Later I’ll return to the cities I haven’t done, Philadelphia,
Dallas, Miami and so on,” he explained. “This is all part of the
English-language tour: London — that’s in the Royal Albert Hall —
and Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. I’ve already done Germany:
10 cities. Japan next year, then all of Latin America.”
Still, by bunching together many of the English-speaking cities, where
half of his songs are usually performed in English, Mr. Aznavour is
finally acknowledging his age.
“In the past I could mix languages,” he said, sitting in the offices of
Editions Raoul Breton, one of several music publishers he owns, before
he began his current tour. “My memory was better. I passed easily
from language to language, Spanish, Italian, French, English. But I
can’t do that any longer.” He tapped his head and laughed. “Calma,
calma, I’m 82.”
When he began, though, he was almost the youngest of the crooners
who made the chanson francaise popular in the postwar years. And to
his good fortune, it was Edith Piaf, the legendary “little sparrow,”
who took him under her wings: in time they came to enjoy what he calls
“une amitie amoureuse” — an amorous friendship — which, he said,
“means more than friendship and less than love.”
It was a time when the smoke-filled clubs and theaters of the Paris
Left Bank were bursting with talent. Maurice Chevalier was already
an international star, but new voices were gaining a following,
among them Georges Brassens, Jacques Brel, Leo Ferre, Yves Montand,
Gilbert Becaud, Charles Trenet and Juliette Greco. (Of these only
Ms. Greco is still alive and, at 79, very occasionally performing.)
Mr. Aznavour had one strong card. This short, wiry son of Armenian
immigrants (his real surname is Aznavourian) had a talent for writing
lyrics that echoed the language and sentiments of ordinary people.
And long before his husky tenor became as recognizable as that of, say,
Brassens or Becaud, he won a place in their circle as a songwriter.
Even now, while best known around the world as a singer (he has
also appeared in more than 50 French movies), Mr. Aznavour considers
himself first and foremost a songwriter: he starts with the words,
and only later does he or another composer add the melody and rhythm.
For him the chanson francaise is quite simply the art of telling
stories to music.
For material he has always counted on love and its pitfalls, but
recent songs confirm that he is also ever-alert to what is topical.
“I don’t write stories like novels,” he said. “I don’t invent
anything. I bring language to existing facts and events. I read all
the newspapers. I watch all the news programs on television. I was
the first to write about social issues like homosexuality and the
deaf. In my new record I write about unrest in the suburbs, about
ecology. I find real subjects and translate them into song.”
One recent record, “Le Voyage,” includes two songs about journalists:
in “La Critique,” he snipes at critics and concludes that, “in the
end, only the public is right”; and in “Un Mort Vivant,” or “A Living
Death,” which he dedicated to Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal
correspondent assassinated by Islamic extremists in Pakistan in 2002,
Mr. Aznavour pays tribute to reporters who risk their lives while
seeking the truth.
“What really matters is that you hear the text clearly,” he noted.
Now, reflecting on his long final bow, he feels confident that he
will be best remembered by his songs. “When a singer dies, only his
records survive,” he said. “But when I die, there are at least two
songs which will continue to be played regularly in the United States:
‘Yesterday When I Was Young’ and ‘She.’ There will be no break because
the songs exist. I will remain in the business.”
And he will do so all the more if a project under discussion in the
United States and France comes to fruition: to create a stage show
built entirely around his songs and modeled after “Jacques Brel Is
Alive and Well and Living in Paris.”
So, still very much alive and well and living in Geneva, Mr. Aznavour
could easily rest on his laurels. In France he is regularly voted one
of the country’s 10 most popular personalities. In Armenia, the land
of his forebears, where an Aznavour Museum is planned, he is warmly
remembered for organizing help after a devastating earthquake that
killed 45,000 people there in 1988.
But his farewell tour is also an excuse to get back on stage and show
that he has not lost his touch as a performer extraordinaire. Then,
after North America, he is to fly to Havana to make his next record
with the Cuban musician Chucho Valdes. And he has already agreed to
appear in a movie adaptation of Georges Simenon’s novel “The Little
Man from Archangel.”
Tomorrow evidently still beckons.
“Once I have done something,” he said conclusively, “I think of
something else. I never look back.”
Except, that is, when he claims a place in the Guinness Book of
Records.
“I have been married to the same woman for 43 years,” he said with a
smile, referring to his Swedish-born wife, Ulla, “and, in my business,
that’s a record.”

The Japan Times
Sunday, Sept. 17, 2006
Take a wild ride on the Orient Express
By MARK SCHREIBER
THE OTTOMAN CAGE by Barbara Nadel. New York: Thomas
Dunne Books, 2005, 312 pp., $ 23.95 (cloth).
DRAGON FIRE by William S. Cohen. New York: Tom Doherty
Associates, 2006, 383 pp., $ 24.95 (cloth).
“One of the most frequently asked questions that I get
as a British author,” Barbara Nadel tells the e-zine
Shots ( ), “is ‘why do you set your
crime series in Istanbul?’ I generally finish my now
familiar diatribe with . . . ‘Istanbul has a lot of
places in which to hide bodies.’ ”
Since her release of “Belshazzar’s Daughter” in 1999,
Nadel has continued to prove her point in an ongoing
series of police procedural novels set in Istanbul
featuring inspector Cetin Ikmen. The work under review
is for the U.S. edition, initially released in Britain
under the title “A Chemical Prison.”
Ikmen, Nadel’s series character, is a tough Turkish
cop, a chain smoker and plodding investigator out of
the Simenon-Maigret mold, so old-fashioned he still
hasn’t figured out how to use his cell phone. From his
personal life we see he’s also something of a male
chauvinist. Problems at home, including a senile
father who needs to be institutionalized, are taking a
toll on his subservient wife.
In “The Ottoman Cage,” police find themselves
confounded by the crime scene. Located in a house next
to Topkapi palace, it bears a striking resemblance to
what is known as a Kafes apartment, where the old
Ottomans used to keep rivals confined in a sort of
urban exile. The victim, a young man, had been
strangled, and the atrophied condition of his body
suggests he has been prisoner in the room for a
considerable duration, kept in a sedated state by
injections of a synthetic opiate that only doctors can
easily obtain, and thereby casting suspicion on the
city’s close-knit community of well-to-do Armenian
physicians.
Part of book’s appeal is in how well Nadel presents
Turkey’s social classes and ethnic diversity, with a
Jewish police detective, Armenian physicians and
people smuggled into the country from parts of the
former Soviet Union. A side plot involves an
on-the-job relationship: Sgt. Farsakoglu, an
attractive, single policewoman, has the hots for
Suleyman, her unhappily married male colleague.
The London-born Nadel, who is intimately familiar with
Turkey, also has a background in counseling sexually
abused teenagers and teaching psychology, which
doubtless has influenced her various insights into the
sexual mores of a predominantly Muslim country that
are touched upon in this book.
Those interested in reading other mysteries set in
Turkey might enjoy contrasting Nadel’s series with the
translated works of Turkish mystery author Orhan
Pamuk, whose novel “My Name Is Red,” set in
16th-century Istanbul, was reviewed here last March.
Title fatigue
With a name like “Dragon Fire,” it’s got to be a
potboiler involving China, right? Fortunately, this
thriller by William S. Cohen, who was U.S. Secretary
of Defense from 1997 to 2001, turned out to be more
original than its cliched title.
The protagonist is the U.S. defense secretary — not
Donald Rumsfeld but Michael Patrick Santini, a former
senator who spent several years as a prisoner of war
in the Hanoi Hilton and who accepted the Cabinet
appointment after his predecessor died mysteriously of
anthrax.
Threats from Middle Eastern terrorists barely figure
in this work. Instead, poor America is in danger of
being blindsided by a host of other foreign intrigues,
beginning with a militant faction in China that is
plotting to hamstring the civilian party leadership so
it can pounce on Taiwan.
First, however, it needs to keep the U.S. Navy out of
the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese conspirators outsource
their skulduggery to someone with money and influence:
a billionaire Russian oligarch who hopes to forge an
alliance with Germany, and who will sell drugs,
high-tech weaponry or assassination services to all
comers, if the price is right. To add to the intrigue,
Elena, a beautiful and mysterious Israeli assassin,
sashays into the picture.
Aside from having a John McCain clone as his main
protagonist, Cohen does not succumb to the temptation
of caricaturing specific individuals in the Bush
administration. But that does not mean he doesn’t have
a serious message, which seems to be that Americans
seem bent on being their own worst enemies. The heroic
Santini, unable to dissuade the president from the
aggressive strategies pushed by saber-rattling
conservatives, is driven out of desperation to disobey
his boss’s orders and put his country first.
This cliffhanger is convincingly spun as only a
Washington insider of Cohen’s caliber can do, although
its climax, a Dodge City shootout at Tiananmen Square,
seems a bit contrived. I was pleased to see Chinese
names in the story rendered more or less correctly
using hanyu pinyin spellings — usually a bete noir
for American proofreaders — although a “Hsu” (using
the old Wade-Giles romanization) was allowed to slip
in. It should have been “Xu.” But as I like to say, if
the Hsu fits, wear it.
The Japan Times
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