Author: Kalashian Nyrie

AZERBAIJAN DM DENIED THE AGREEMENT ON THE MEETING WITH SERJ SARKISYAN
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Oct 4 2006
“Azerbaijan and Armenian Defense Minister agreed to meet,” Andrzej
Kasprzyk, OSCE chief personal representative told in the press
conference in Yerevan, APA reports. Armenian Arminfo agency reported
that Andrzej Kaspshik said the ministers will take measures for
maintaining ceasefire in the region.
“There is information about casualties from Azerbaijan and Armenian.
We should take immediate steps maintain ceasefire,” he said.
Azerbaijan DM press service officer Ilgar Verdiyev told the APA that
he has no information about Kasprzyk’s statement.
“There is no such kind of agreement. If there had been, Kasprzyk
would have given any information during his visit to Azerbaijan,”
he said.

AMBASSADOR OF TURKEY TO AZERBAIJAN: WE HAVE NO BELLICOSE ATTITUDE TO ARMENIANS
ARMINFO News Agency
October 3, 2006 Tuesday
“We think it necessary starting a dialogue with Armenia,” said Turkish
Ambassador to Azerbaijan Turan Morali.
APA reports that the Turkish diplomat stressed the necessity for
construction of a dialogue with Armenians. However, Armenia should
demonstrate a good attitude to both neighboring states, he said. The
diplomat said that it is very important to use all the opportunities
to make Armenia act in this direction. “We have no bellicose attitude
to Armenians. We should sit down and discuss everything. We know our
policy, our way and we will continue it,” he said.

GENOCIDE QUESTION CONTINUES TO DOG PVDA
NIS News Bulletin, Netherlands
Oct 3 2006
THE HAGUE, 04/10/06 – Labour (PvdA) is not yet free of the Armenian
genocide question. Various media again cast doubts on the position
of prominent MP Nebahat Albayrak yesterday. Meanwhile, PvdA Senator
Erik Jurgens has proposed dropping the ban on Holocaust denial.
The PvdA broke with candidate MP Erdinc Sacan last week. He is not
running in the 22 November general elections because he refuses to
recognise the genocide perpetrated by Turkey on the Armenians between
1915 and 1917. Albayrak, the highest-placed candidate on the PvdA
list after front-runner Wouter Bos, is however still refusing to
provide clarification of her position.
According to Elsevier magazine, Albayrak has been unavailable for
comment since last week, when she “reduced the debate” to a question
of definition in an interview with Trouw newspaper. Alabayrak said
it is not possible to take a clear position because the historical
sources are “polluted.”
Elsevier says Albayrak is propounding the position of the Turkish
government, as expressed by the Turkish ambassador in a letter
to evening newspaper NRC Handelsblad. The diplomat said in this
yesterday that “historians are divided on how the events should be
characterised.”
According to Elsevier, there are virtually no independent academics
that doubt that the term ‘genocide’ is appropriate. “In the
Netherlands, a report appeared as early as 1918 by a committee of
very eminent politicians which spoke unequivocally of the ‘systematic
slaughter’ of 800,000 Armenians in Turkey.”
While Turkish PvdA members are not committing themselves for now
on the question, it has already led to turmoil within the Christian
democratic (CDA) party. A group of 30 Turkish CDA members protested
at last weekend’s party congress against the forced departure of two
CDA election candidates due to their denial of the genocide.
According to the Turkish ambassador, CDA candidates Ayhan Tonca and
Osman Elmaci were wrongfully removed from the election list. Their
position “cannot be described as a denial of a proven genocide,
but rather as non-acceptance of the one-sided allegation by the
Armenians.” The Turkish parliament on Monday awarded Sacan, Tonca
and Elmaci the distinction of ‘honorary parliamentarians.’
Prompted by the debate on Turkey’s Armenian genocide, PvdA Senator Erik
Jurgens is urging the abolition of the ban on denial of the Holocaust,
the genocide of around six million Jews by the Nazi regime. “It
comes under freedom of speech, unless somebody is inciting to racial
hatred,” in his view. Equally, denial of the Armenian genocide is
not punishable, according to the Senator, who is also a member of
the Council of Europe parliament.
Professor Ton Zwaan of the University of Amsterdam, specialist in
genocide studies, said yesterday in Trouw that “Albayrak, unhampered
by any knowledge, has made a series of dubious statements which are
closely related to negationism and denial politics. The question is
how she and her party think they will get away with this.”
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GENOCIDE ARMENIEN: RAOULT SALUE LE “GESTE FORT” DE JACQUES CHIRAC
Agence France Presse
30 septembre 2006 samedi
Le vice-president UMP de l’Assemblee nationale, Eric Raoult, a salue
samedi soir “le geste fort et solennel” de Jacques Chirac demandant
a la Turquie de reconnaître le genocide armenien.
“La declaration d’Erevan de Jacques Chirac, demandant a la Turquie de
+se grandir+ par la reconnaissance du genocide armenien, est d’abord
un moment de courage du chef de l’Etat”, souligne le depute UMP de
Seine-Saint-Denis, dans un communique.
Pour lui, Jacques Chirac a ainsi “prouve que la France restait,
au-dela de toute polemique, au premier rang de la cause armenienne”.
Sa “declaration fera donc date, pour tous ceux et toutes celles qui
se battent, depuis des annees, pour la reconnaissance de cette brûlure
de l’histoire qui commenca le 24 Avril 1915”, ajoute-t-il.
M. Raoult est l’auteur d’une proposition de loi destinee a condamner
la negation de la reconnaissance du genocide armenien.
Les deputes socialistes ont depose une proposition de loi similaire.
Leur texte a ete examine par l’Assemblee nationale en mai dernier,
mais la proposition n’a pas ete soumise au vote, pour des raisons
de procedure.
Le 12 octobre, les deputes auront a examiner de nouveau la proposition
de loi socialiste dans le cadre de la niche PS (seance dont l’ordre
du jour est fixe par un groupe). Le texte prevoit de punir d’un an
de prison et 45.000 euros d’amende la negation du genocide armenien.
–Boundary_(ID_f+CZ43UY1BBkelpnAerwwg)- –

AZERBAIJAN LEADER URGES AGGRESSIVE METHODS TO GET BACK ENCLAVE
Agence France Presse — English
October 2, 2006 Monday 4:00 PM GMT
Azerbaijan must use aggressive methods against its neighbour Armenia
in order to get back the Nagorny Karabakh enclave, President Ilham
Aliyev told parliament in its opening session Monday.
“Our policies must be aggressive. We must attack,” Aliyev said,
adding that Azerbaijan could use economic and political pressure
to force Armenia to give up control of the ethnic-Armenian enclave
in Azerbaijan.
“We must step up an information and economic attack while strengthening
our military potential,” Aliyev told legislators on their first day
of work.
Aliyev said that only if it was forced into doing so would Armenia
loosen its hold on Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani regions
it has controlled since a war in the early 1990s.
“We must increase pressure on Armenia. Otherwise they are not likely
to give back our territories. We must be ready for war,” Aliyev said.
“Maybe when we are 100 times stronger than Armenia, war will not be
necessary,” he said.
Azerbaijan, which is reaping the benefits of a sky-rocketing oil
boom, has steadily increased its defense expenditures over the last
few years.
Aliyev said increasing such spending was a top priority of his
administration.
His comments come ahead of the arrival here Tuesday of the heads
of the so-called Minsk Group, a tri-party committee mediating the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
Aliyev’s administration has criticized international mediators in
the conflict for not producing a settlement and has urged the United
Nations to discuss the conflict.
“We’re not saying no to this format,” Aliyev said of the Minsk group,
“but we think other international organizations can give their input
to the peace process,” he said.
Armenia has indicated that a departure from the Minsk group format
would signal a breakdown in peace talks and has opposed proposals to
take the issue to the UN.

CHIRAC BEGINS 3-DAY VISIT TO ARMENIA
The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune, France
Sept 29 2006
YEREVAN, Armenia French President Jacques Chirac arrived in Armenia
Friday on a three-day visit to this ex-Soviet Caucasus nation.
Chirac was welcomed at the airport by Armenian President Robert
Kocharian who later treated him to a dinner. The two presidents were
set to have official talks Saturday.
On Saturday, Chirac was also scheduled to visit a monument to Armenians
who were killed in the final years of the Ottoman Empire or died in
a forced evacuation.
Armenians say that as many as 1.5 million of their ancestors were
killed in 1915-1923 in an organized genocidal campaign and have pushed
for recognition of the killings as genocide around the world.
Turkey rejects the claim that a mass evacuation and related deaths
of Armenians was genocide and says the death toll is inflated.
Later on Saturday, Chirac was to meet with local French community
and attend a concert by Charles Aznavour, a famous French singer of
Armenian origin.
Chirac also was set to meet with the head of the Armenian Apostolic
Church before leaving Sunday.
YEREVAN, Armenia French President Jacques Chirac arrived in Armenia
Friday on a three-day visit to this ex-Soviet Caucasus nation.
Chirac was welcomed at the airport by Armenian President Robert
Kocharian who later treated him to a dinner. The two presidents were
set to have official talks Saturday.
On Saturday, Chirac was also scheduled to visit a monument to Armenians
who were killed in the final years of the Ottoman Empire or died in
a forced evacuation.
Armenians say that as many as 1.5 million of their ancestors were
killed in 1915-1923 in an organized genocidal campaign and have pushed
for recognition of the killings as genocide around the world.
Turkey rejects the claim that a mass evacuation and related deaths
of Armenians was genocide and says the death toll is inflated.
Later on Saturday, Chirac was to meet with local French community
and attend a concert by Charles Aznavour, a famous French singer of
Armenian origin.
Chirac also was set to meet with the head of the Armenian Apostolic
Church before leaving Sunday.

PanARMENIAN.Net
Events in Georgia Always Have Impact on Armenia
30.09.2006 15:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The events taking place in Georgia always have an
impact on Armenia. Roads close, problems emerge in the economy and the
Armenian-Russian relations, RA President Robert Kocharian said at
joint press conference with French President Jacques Chirac. According
to the Armenian leader, the problems between Georgia and Russia will
be resolved in the near future. `I have always said both to Georgia
and Russia that Armenia is interested in normal relationships between
these two states,’ the RA President underscored.

UNPRECEDENTED CONDITIONS FOR UNPRECEDENTED CONCERT
A1+
[07:37 pm] 28 September, 2006
There will be two thousand seats for the guests of the concert “Charles
Aznavour and His Freinds” which is to be held in republic Square on
September 30. The most striking is that the most expensive tickets
(150 thousand AMD) had a great demand among the buyers. The front
and central viewers mainly bought tickets at this cost and they are
eager to see the great chansonnier closer.
The central streets of the city leading to Republic Square –
Nalbandyan, Abovyan, Buzand and Melik-Adamyan, will be closed on that
day. But those who cannot afford tickets for the concert can watch
it by three large screens located at the square. The entrance is
free for all those who want to listen to the great chansonnier. The
initiators of the concert warn the people not to come to the concert
by bicycles or not to take heavy bags or packets with them.

AZERBAIJAN FOREIGN MINISTER URGES GLOBAL COMMUNITY TO ENHANCE DIALOGUE AMONG CULTURES AND RELIGIONS
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Sept 26 2006
Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov called for undertaking
“concrete measures to enhance dialogue and broaden understanding
among nations, cultures and religions” at the general debate of
the 61st Session of the UN General Assembly, AzerTAc’s personal
correspondent reports.
The Minister pointed out the necessity to stop the growing tendency
towards Islamophobia in the world, adding that as Chairman of the
Ministerial Council of the Organization of the Islamic Conference
Azerbaijan considers it very important to increase public awareness
of Islam worldwide including in the Muslim societies.
“To this end, we plan to host in Baku in 2007 under the OIC an
international conference on the role of mass media in developing
tolerance and mutual understanding,” he said.
Elmar Mammadyarov stated while condemning all forms of terrorism
Azerbaijan is seriously concerned over attempts to associate terrorism
with Islam and Muslim nations.
Touching upon the situation concerning the massive fires in the
occupied territories of Azerbaijan as a subject of urgent consideration
by the General Assembly, the Foreign Minister said the resolution it
had adopted is aiming to assess the short- and long-term impact of
the fire on the environment, involve conflicting parties, Azerbaijan
and Armenia parties, in joint environmental operation, and thus,
promoting establishment of atmosphere of trust between them, to give
an impetus to the peace process.
“Sadly, this is the only positive development so far,” he however,
added.
Minister Mammadyarov noted “although no substantial progress has been
witnessed so far, the parties accepted the stage-by-stage approach in
the settlement.” “Basically, there are two main issues on which parties
disagree – definition of status of self-rule for the population of
the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region and withdrawal of the Armenian
forces from all the occupied territories of Azerbaijan,” he said.
Describing Azerbaijan’s position on the issue the Minister said the
status can be defined only through democratic and legal process with
direct involvement of both Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of
Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Our position based on relevant resolutions of the Security Council
and OSCE decisions, which unequivocally demand unconditional withdrawal
of the occupying forces from all occupied territories of the Republic
of Azerbaijan,” he said.
“It is difficult to hope for breakthrough in the negotiations
when Armenia rejects face-to-face meetings and refuses to take a
constructive approach to solve existing problems, the Minister said.”
>From the UN rostrum, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan
also spoke of the economic progress achieved in the country for the
past years. He described creation of “favorable environment to attract
investments into the non-oil sector and diversify the export potential
of the country” as key challenge of its Government.
“The year 2006 has marked a historic event for the region and beyond,
which is the official inauguration of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main oil
export pipeline. Currently, we are looking forward to completion of
the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline this fall and remain commitment
to contribute to global energy security,” he said.

EURO MPS DEPLORE TURKEY’S SLOW REFORM PROGRESS
by Yann Ollivier
Agence France Presse — English
September 26, 2006 Tuesday 6:40 PM GMT
The European Union on Tuesday criticised Turkey over its slow pace
of reforms, urging Ankara to respect its obligations in order to
continue talks on EU membership.
Most of the European parliamentary deputies debating the issue
in Strasbourg echoed the views of the European Commission and the
Finnish EU presidency which deplored the lack of momentum in the
Turkish reform process.
“Turkey needs to give fresh impetus to reforms,” said Finland’s
minister for European affairs, Paula Lehtomaki.
“The momentum for reform has slowed down in Turkey in the past year,”
echoed EU Enlargement Minister Olli Rehn
There was more support for Turkish membership from the European
socialists, with bloc leader Martin Schulz arguing that Turkish EU
membership would “refute irrevocably the idea that western values
are incompatible with Islam”.
The debate came on the day that the EU announced that Bulgaria and
Romania could join the group in 2007.
That announcement came with a stark message from EU Commission
President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso that the union had to get its
institutional house in order before letting any other nations in.
A senior Turkish diplomat said Tuesday that EU officials do not expect
Turkey to be ready for membership before 2015.
Turkey’s accession talks, which started last October, have met with
serious European opposition amid concerns over its sizeable population,
relatively weak economy and predominantly Muslim faith.
The Commission is set to issue a crucial report on Turkey’s progress
towards membership on November 8 amid mounting EU criticism that
Ankara is failing to ensure freedom of speech and a row over trade
privileges for Cyprus.
“If there is no progress,” before then “there will be consequences
for the whole accession process,” said Lehtomaki.
Last week, the EU slammed Ankara for failing to promote free speech
after best-selling novelist Elif Shafak went on trial for insulting
the Turkish nation in a book about the massacres of Armenians under
the Ottoman Empire.
Even though the writer was swiftly acquitted, the Commission said “a
significant threat to freedom of expression” remains in Turkish law
and urged amendements in the penal code, including the infamous Article
301, which landed Shafak and a string of other intellectuals in court.
Turkey’s EU bid is also complicated by its rejection to open its sea
and air ports to Greek Cypriot ships and planes on the grounds that
international restrictions on the breakaway Turkish Cypriot statelet
should also be lifted.
“The credibility of the European institutions are at stake,” EU
rapporteur on Turkey Camiel Eurlings told the parliamentary plenary
debate.
Eurlings is the author of a recent hard-hitting report on Turkey
which will go to a vote here on Wednesday.
While there was general unanimity on Turkey’s poor human rights
record and restrictions on the freedoms of religion and free speech,
the eurodeputies remained divided on whether an apology from Turkey
is required over the Armenian massacre.
Earlier this month Turkey denounced an EU report saying that Ankara
must recognize the 1915-1917 genocide in Armenia as a condition for
joining the EU.
Armenians estimate that up to 1.5 million of their forebears perished
in systematic killings orchestrated by the Ottoman Empire between
1915 to 1917.
Ankara rejects all accusations of genocide.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged Tuesday that
Turkey would stick to the path of democratic reform.
“We are keeping up the reform process, without slowing down and
without losing our enthusiasm,” Erdogan said in a speech.
He added, however, that freedoms cannot be “limitless” and underlined
that enacting higher democracy norms in the country also required
“a change in mentality” among the judiciary, “which does not happen
overnight.”