Author: Kalashian Nyrie

CHARGES MADE BY CONTROL CHAMBER GROUNDLESS AND EXAGGERATED
Panorama.am
19:01 04/08/06
The General Prosecutor’s Office considered valid only 4 out of
16 charges made by the Control Chamber of the National Assembly
against the government of Armenia and Yerevan municipality on the
program of privatization in 2003-2006. Gevork Danielyan, deputy
chief prosecutor, told reporters today that the fact that 12 other
charges were not considered valid speaks about the failure of the
lawyers at the Control Chamber of the National Assembly, saying that
charges may have been made either deliberately or because of lack of
professionalism. Danielyan said he was concerned only about the legal
aspects of the case and did not want to see any political meaning in
the case.
Danielyan assures that General Prosecutor’s office very often receives
reports with exaggerated figures, which do not prove themselves in
the course of investigation.
Note: The Control Chamber of the National Assembly forwarded two
packages of reports to the General Prosecutor’s Office regarding the
program of privatization in 2003-2006. /Panorama.am/

ANOTHER TURKISH WRITER FACES PERSECUTION
World War 4 Report, NY
Aug 2 2006
Submitted by Bill Weinberg on Wed, 08/02/2006 – 01:55.
We have noted a growing number of Turkish writers to face prosecution
for their words. The latest is, especially perversely, charged in
connection with a work of fiction. From The Guardian, July 24:
In Istanbul, a writer awaits her day in court
Bestselling novelist Elif Shafak is the latest writer to face trial
for “insulting Turkishness”. She tells Richard Lea about her work,
the charges that have been brought against her, and how the Turkish
language has become a battleground.
“Nobody was expecting this,” says bestselling Turkish novelist
Elif Shafak. A decision in Istanbul’s seventh high criminal court
earlier this month reopened her prosecution on charges of “insulting
Turkishness”. She faces a maximum jail term of three years if
convicted.
Shafak joins a roster of more than 60 writers and journalists to
be charged under Article 301 of the Turkish criminal code since
its introduction last year. University professors, journalists and
novelists such as Perihan Magden, Orhan Pamuk and now Shafak have
been charged under legislation drawn so broadly as to criminalise a
wide range of critical opinions. Writers not only face the prospect
of a three-year jail term, but the prosecutions also lay them open to
a campaign of intimidation and harassment waged by rightwing agitators.
“The protests are maybe even more unnerving than the actual trial,”
Shafak told the Guardian today from her home in Istanbul. “Although
their number is very limited they are very aggressive, very
provocative.” She describes crowds of protesters slapping and jostling
defendants both inside and outside the courtroom, shouting and throwing
coins and pens.
The charges against Shafak open up new ground. She is not accused of
“insulting Turkishness” because of her campaigning journalism or her
academic work, but for remarks made by a fictional character in her
latest novel, The Bastard of Istanbul.
The novel, which was originally written in English, was published in
a Turkish translation in March 2006 and quickly became a bestseller.
The novel follows four generations of women, moving between Turkey and
the US to tell the story of an Armenian family and the descendants
of a son left behind during the deportations, who converts to Islam
and lives as a Turk. It is perhaps the first Turkish novel to deal
directly with the massacres, atrocities and deportations that decimated
the country’s Armenian population in the last years of Ottoman rule.
Initial reactions to the book were mostly positive, and it went on
to sell over 50,000 copies in less than four months. “I gave numerous
readings, talks and book signings all over Turkey,” explains Shafak.
“Although the novel was difficult to digest for some people, in
general the reception has been very positive.”
But in June a nationalist lawyer called Kemal Kerincsiz filed a
complaint in Istanbul’s Beyoglu district court against Shafak, her
publisher, Semi Sokmen, and her translator, Asli Bican. Shafak and
her publisher argued during interrogation that the book was a work
of literature and that comments made by fictional characters could
not be used to press charges against an author.
“The interrogation went on for some time and eventually the prosecutor
decided there was no element of insult and he dropped the case,”
says Shafak. But her relief was short-lived. Earlier this month the
same lawyer took the case to a higher court, and ultimately managed
to have the decision overturned. She is now confronted with a long
and daunting legal process. A trial, with all the unwelcome attention
from rightwing groups which that entails, is now inevitable.
It could not have come at a worse moment – she is six months
pregnant. “From now on it is a long legal battle,” she says. “The
later stages of the pregnancy will probably coincide with the first
stages of the trial.”
Peter Ayrton, founder of Serpent’s Tail, a publisher deeply committed
to literature in translation, was unsurprised by the news of Shafak’s
prosecution. “Most writers that are any good would get into trouble
with the Turkish authorities,” he explains. “She’s a very acerbic
voice. Her novels are lively, episodic and innovative. She’s obviously
a feminist, and her work is obviously rooted in contemporary social
conditions in Turkey.”
Perhaps the time she spent abroad has given her a different perspective
on Turkish life. She was born in Strasbourg, France in 1971 and spent
her teenage years in Spain, before returning to Turkey to study social
sciences. Four years ago she moved to the US, spending a year at the
University of Michigan before her appointment as assistant professor
at the University of Arizona. She now divides her time between the
US and Turkey, where she has been touring the country to promote her
new novel.
Shafak herself believes the charges were brought for two reasons:
“The overt reason is my latest novel and the critical tone of the
book. The latent reason is deeper and more complex. I have been active
and outspoken on various ‘taboo’ issues, critical of ultranationalism
and all sorts of rigid ideologies, including those coming from the
Kemalist elite, and I have maintained a public presence on minority
rights, especially on the Armenian question. It is a whole package.”
Indeed, her fiction has always focused on social issues which Turks
prefer to keep hidden, explains sociologist Muge Gocek, who translated
the first of Shafak’s novels to appear in the UK, The Flea Palace. “But
she does so with humour, with grace, and without ever letting her
characters lose their nobility of spirit,” she adds.
The way Shafak deals with Turkey’s past is also unique, continues
Gocek, “both in terms of her knowledge of religious heterodoxy as well
as her use of Ottoman words – these elements add layers of depth to
her novels.”
According to Shafak, language has been at the heart of the process of
creating a new nation state, with words of Persian, Arabic or Sufi
origin being purged from the language in an attempt to break away
from the Ottoman past. “In the name of modernisation our language
shrunk tremendously,” she says.
“As a writer who happens to be a woman and attached to Islamic, as well
as Jewish and Christian heterodox mysticism, I reject the rationalised,
disenchanted, centralised, Turkified modern language put in front
of me,” she declares. “Today in Turkey, language is polarised and
politicised. Depending on the ideological camp you are attached to,
for example Kemalists versus Islamists, you can use either an ‘old’
or a ‘new’ set of words.”
It is a choice she refuses to make, filling her writing with both “old”
and “new” words. She says her fiction is like “walking on a pile of
rubble left behind after a catastrophe. I walk slowly so that I can
hear if there is still someone or something breathing underneath. I
listen attentively to the sounds coming from below to see if anyone,
any story or cultural legacy from the past, is still alive under the
rubble. If and when I come across signs of life, I dig deep and pull
it up, above the ground, shake its dust, and put it in my novels so
that it can survive.”
Catheryn Kilgarriff, co-director of her British publisher Marion
Boyars, was also drawn to her use of old Turkish language, as well
as her use of allegory and fable. “She’s an extraordinary writer,”
she says, and an extremely exciting prospect for the future. “She’s
only 35 now and she’s already mastered one or two different voices
in her fiction. There’s more to come.”
It’s a body of work which is building her a formidable reputation
overseas. “She’s doing astoundingly well,” adds Kilgarriff, pointing
out that Shafak’s books have been taken up by the large chains and
offered in three for two promotions – unusual treatment indeed for
literature in translation.
Shafak has been published in Turkey, the US and Britain, though only
two of her six novels are available in the UK at the moment. Since
writing The Flea Palace, which was shortlisted for the Independent
Foreign Fiction prize in 2005, she has begun writing in English –
an act which has been seen by Turkish nationalists as a “cultural
betrayal”.
It was a choice motivated more by her passion for language, by the
search for new modes of expression. “There are certain things I’d
rather write in English, certain others I’d rather write in Turkish,”
she explains. “English, to me, is a more mathematical language, it
is the language of precision. It embodies an amazing vocabulary and
if you are looking for the ‘precise word’, it is right out there.
Turkish, to me, is more sentimental, more emotional.” English seems
more suited for philosophy, analytical writing or humour, “but if I
am writing on sorrow I’d rather use Turkish.”
This is something that nationalists fail to understand, she says. “It
is always us versus them, this or that. Nationalists cannot understand
that one can be multilingual, multicultural, cosmopolitan … without
feeling obliged to make a choice between them once and for all.”
It is perhaps this instinct which lies at the heart of the wider
conflicts taking place in contemporary Turkish society. An increasingly
urban Turkey has seen a broad cultural renaissance over the last three
decades, which has been consistently under-reported in the west. Voices
in literature, academia and the arts have begun to examine subjects
which have long been taboo, to raise questions about uncomfortable
issues such as the role of women or the history of Turkey’s Armenian
minority.
But as this cultural resurgence has gained strength it has been met
by a nationalist reaction.
“On the one hand there are the ones who want Turkey to join the EU,
democratise further and become an open society,” says Shafak, but
on the other “are the ones who want to keep Turkey as an insular,
xenophobic, nationalistic, enclosed society. And precisely because
things are changing in the opposite direction, the panic and backlash
produced by the latter group is becoming more visible and audible.”
There are those who think that the prosecutions of leading writers
under Article 301 are a sign that nothing is changing in Turkey, but
Shafak thinks it is just the opposite: “Article 301 is being used
more and more against critical minds precisely because things have
been changing very rapidly in Turkey. The bigger and deeper the social
transformation, the more visible the discomfort of those who want to
preserve the status quo and the louder the backlash coming from them.”
It’s a reaction which has already cast doubt on to Turkey’s accession
into the EU. Earlier this month the European commissioner in charge
of negotiations with Turkey urged the Turkish authorities to amend
Article 301, reminding them that freedom of expression “constitutes
the core of democracy” and is a “key principle” in determining a
state’s eligibility to join the EU.
It is too early to say what effect the trial will have on Shafak. She
is determined that it will not influence her writing. “Next time I
start a novel, I do not want to have qualms, fearing this or that
topic might cause me yet another trouble,” she says, adding that
she is “much more daring” in her fiction than in her daily life:
“While I am writing the urge to go on with the story outweighs any
other concern that might cross my mind.”
A date for her trial has not yet been fixed. For the moment all she
can do is wait.
The Bastard of Istanbul will be published in the US by Viking/Penguin
in 2007
Elif Shafak’s The Gaze was published in the UK earlier this month
by Marion Boyars at £9.99
–Boun dary_(ID_+eZnzo6BRILg56xv10Vjpg)–

NKR PRESIDENT ATTACHES IMPORTANT TO ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL OFFICER CORPS IN
CREATING EFFICIENT ARMY
STEPANAKERT, AUGUST 1, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. NKR President
Arkadi Ghukasian attached importance to the role of the professional
officer corps in the affair of creating an efficient army and keeping
peaceful and creative life of the NKR people at the July 31 annual
traditional meeting of officers of the NKR Defence Army having got
education at military institutions of highest education out of the
NKR borders. Arkadi Ghukasian mentioned that the state in its turn
year by year increase steadily the volumes of works being done in
the direction of improving military service’s and officers’ families’
social-life conditions. The President congratulated the graduates on
the occasion of finishing their education with “excellent” and “good”
marks and stated with confidence that they will with honour continue
their service in the Fatherland. As Noyan Tapan was informed by the
NKR President’s Acting Press Secretary, Lieutenant General Seyran
Ohanian, the NKR Defence Minister, participated in the meeting.

ALL PROBLEMS CONNECTED WITH YEREVAN SHOULD BE SOLVED
WITHIN FRAMEWORK OF LAW, SAYS YERVAND ZAKHARIAN
YEREVAN, JULY 31, NOYAN TAPAN. All the problems connected with Yerevan
should be solved within the framework of law. Yervand Zakharian,
mayor of Yerevan, expressed such an opinion at the July 31 press
conference. In his words, two draft laws “On Yerevan” have been put
into circulation, one of which suggests making the present outskirts
of the capital separate small cities.
Formerly, the extension of the borders of Yerevan, in Y.Zakharian’s
words, was justified with the increase of number of the
population. However, as the mayor said, the “junction” of some
territories to the city was not right. He also mentioned that at
present the necessity of changing the governing system of the city
exists, and today the possibility of selecting that system is given.
It should be mentioned that the corresponding commission formed
under the guidance of Hovik Abrahamian, RA minister of territorial
government, will clarify its approaches around this issue until
October.

CONSENT WITHOUT AGREEMENT
Aravot.am
29 July 06
Both Armenia and Azerbaijan agree with the OSCE Minsk Group
cochairmen’s proposals about the NK conflict settlement.
Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mamedyarov has declared recently
that Azerbaijan agrees with the declassified version of the OSCE Minsk
Group cochairman about NK conflict settlement. They regard it as a
“phase” version, which is profitable for Azerbaijan. Both RA Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian and Defense Minister Serge Sargsian announced
about their consent to that version.
The latter was insisting that the proposed version was a ”package”
one. The current situation is more than surprising, because if
we believe in both sides of the conflict, both of them agree with
the MG cochairmen’s proposals. In that case why isn’t the conflict
settled, why do the cochairmen complain that they don’t have enough
imagination any more to make new proposals? Thus, what does hamper
the authorities of Armenia and Azerbaijan to settle the conflict and
achieve peace? Politician Stepan Grigorian answered to our question:
“It seems to me that both sides aren’t ready to sign any document,
because both sides understand whatever document they sign, good or bad,
it will cause dissatisfaction among societies of Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Karabakh. So the authorities don’t want to sign any document. G8
declaration also included itself the problem, and it happened when
the whole world was busy in Israeli-Lebanon problems. It will still
put pressure on both sides. So they carry out a strategic fight:
none of them wants to be put pressure more, that’s why each of them
declares that they are for the proposed version. Now they carry out
so-called fight of nerves. But in global case, no side is ready for
the conflict settlement and sign of an agreement because they will
be struck inside their countries”.
Perhaps our societies don’t know but OSCE Minsk Group cochairmen indeed
know which side has refused that version of settlement. Dissatisfied
party was Azerbaijan but it declares now that it agrees with that
settlement waiting what will happen next. Certainly, these strategic
games can’t last long. If both sides agree with the proposed version,
OSCE MG cochairmen will make them come and sit round negotiating
table and will say: sign below the corresponding document. Serious
processes will launch after”.
OSCE MG co-chairs stressed in their declaration on July 22 that
they froze their mediatory mission for a while and would wait for
the proposals of the conflicting sides, after which the negotiating
process will restart. Mr. Grigorian is sure “the co-chairs will hold
another meeting during the coming 1-2 months”.
RA some political powers affirm that the 1998 year will be repeated /
that is, changeover of political powers/ in case of international
community’s pressures on the NK conflict. But S. Grigorian thinks
there is no sign for special elections. “I don’t think NK conflict
or international community will have connection with the special
elections. There must be a serious tension inside the country, but
it doesn’t exist.”
Naira Mamikonian
–Boundary_(ID_FR4EGph3I7YmcbDe7fVujA) —

Azeri prosecutor issues arrest warrant for Russian commander

ANS TV, Baku
29 Jul 06

Presenter] A draft resolution has been issued on the arrest of Yuriy
Zarvigarov, the commander of the 366th regiment, which was involved in
the Xocali genocide organized by Armenians against Azerbaijanis [in
February 1992], Military Prosecutor Xanlar Valiyev has said. Official
talks have also been held with Interpol officials to track him down,
Valiyev said at a meeting of the board of the Military Prosecutor’s
Office.
[Correspondent over video of meeting] The Military Prosecutor’s Office
is trying to secure the arrest of Yuriy Zarvigarov, the former
commander of the 366th regiment, which was involved in the Xocali
genocide, and the former head of the Asqaran District interior
department, Mavrik Gukasyan. Draft resolutions and arrest warrants
concerning the two men are ready, Military Prosecutor Xanlar Valiyev
said at the meeting of the board on the results of the first six
months of 2006.
[Passage omitted: details of the investigation and criminal case
against the two, other attacks of Armenians on Azeris]

PanARMENIAN.Net
Turkish Soldiers Invade Northern Iraq
29.07.2006 14:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 200 Turkish soldiers entered two kilometers into
Northern Iraq on Wednesday. Passing the Iraqi border the Turkish
military advanced into the Dohuk region, where in the opinion of the
Turkish command the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) is headquartered.
Meanwhile, Turkish artillery troops bombed camps near Zaho, Cihan News
Agency reports referring to the Voice of Iraqi Radio.
It is also reported that a division of the Turkish military `entered
the Kveste village region in Ahmediye in order to conduct an operation
against the terror organization PKK.’

Football UEFA CUP
The Guardian – United Kingdom; Jul 27, 2006
First qualifying round, second leg
Banants Yerevan v Ameri Tbilisi (3.0)
CSKA Sofia v Dinamo Tirana (6.0)
Derry City v IFK Goteborg (7.30)
Dinamo Bucuresti v Hibernians (7.0)
Dinamo Minsk v Zaglebie Lubin (4.30)
Domzale v Orasje (7.15)
Drogheda Utd v HJK Helsinki
Etzella Ettelbruck v Atvidabergs FF (5.0)
FBK Kaunas v Portadown (6.0)
FC Haka v Levadia Tallinn (5.0)
FC Nistru Otaci v BATE (5.0)
FC Spartak Trnava v Karvan Evlakh (6.0)
FC Vaduz v Ujpesti (6.30)
FK Suduva v Rhyl (4.0)
Flora Tallinn v Lyn Oslo (4.45)
GI Gota v FK Ventspils (6.0)
IA Akranes v Randers FC (7.0)
IK Start v Skala (6.0)
Kairat Almaty v Videoton FC Fehervar (2.30)
Karabakh Azersun v CSF Zimbru (4.0)
Liteks Lovetch v Koper (6.45)
Llanelli v Gefle IF (7.30)
Makedonija Gj. P v Lokomotiv Sofia (6.30)
Murata v Apoel Nicosia (8.0)
Omonia Nicosia v Rijeka (6.0)
Ranger’s Venecia v FK Sarajevo (5.0)
Roeselare v Vardar (7.0)
SK Brann v Glentoran (6.30)
SK Tirana v Varteks (4.0)
Skonto Riga v Jeunesse Esch (4.0)
Sliema Wanderers v Rapid Bucuresti (5.0)
Tobol Kostanay v Basle (2.0)
Valur Reykjavik v Brondby
WIT Georgia Tbilisi v Artmedia Bratislava (3.0)
Young Boys v Mika Ashtarak (6.30)

NATO PA vice-president complains of Armenian parliament speaker to the Assembly
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
July 27, 2006
First vice-president of NATO Parliamentary Assembly, head of Turkish
delegation to NATO, ruling AKP party parliamentarian from Krikkale
Vahit Erdem has submitted second application of complaint to the
Assembly in connection with Armenian parliament president Tigran
Torosyan’s insulting him. Mr.Erdem told APA’s Turkey bureau.
“I submitted the first application of complaint to the Assembly in
June. And Torosyan also submitted an application regarding me. I
filed the second application of complaint to the Assembly after that.
I’ll make public the details tomorrow,” the vice-president said.
20-member delegation from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly led by Vahit
Erdem visited Yerevan in mid June this year. At the meeting in Armenian
parliament, the delegation head rejected the claims of the so-called
“Armenian genocide”. And Torosyan told him that he had no right to
speak as Turkish parliamentarian as he heads NATO PA delegation. When
Erdem insisted on his position, he was deprived of the cars and
bodyguards. Though the NATO PA firs vice-president had a diplomatic
passport he had to pass the common salon in the airport, and was
checked. Therefore, he delegation head separated from the team to leave
for Tbilisi and came back to Turkey. The first vice-president demanded
in his first complaint to reproach Armenia for such insult./APA/

MORE THAN 600 PEOPLE ARRIVE IN ARMENIA FROM LEBANON AND ISRAEL SINCE
BEGINNING OF OPERATIONS, ANOTHER 120 PEOPLE TO ARRIVE TOMORROW
YEREVAN, JULY 26, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A consultation
dedicated to Armenia’s possibilities to provide a humanitarian
assistance to Lebanon that suffered from war took place on July
26 at RA Government, by the instruction of RA Prime Minister. The
consultation was conducted by RA Minister of Territorial Government
Hovik Abrahamian.
According to RA Government Press Service, the consultation participants
discussed issues relating to providing possible first and foremost
aid according to the list provided by Lebanon, as well as delivery
of this aid and other organization issues.
Proceeding from the above mentioned possibilities, it was decided
to provide medicines, equipments and tents to Lebanese people that
suffered from the humanitarian disaster. RA Minister of Economy and
Finance was instructed to prepare a draft government decision after
coordinating the issue with the Prime Minister, for the purpose of
submitting the draft decision for approval on July 27. After making
a decision the aid will be sent the same day by a plane flying late
in the evening to Aleppo.
RA Deputy Foreign Minister and Head of Migration Department of
RA Ministry of Territorial Government presented the work done in
the direction of moving RA and foreign citizens from Lebanon to
Armenia. It was mentioned that more than 550 compatriots have been
moved from Lebanon to Armenia up to this day and another 54 people
have arrived from Israel. It is expected that another 120 people will
arrive in Armenia by a special flight on July 27. These are mainly RA
citizens, but foreign citizens are also moved to Armenia, 51 of which
have already applied to the Migration Agency with a request to receive
a status of temporarily protected persons. 49 of them are Lebanese,
2 Israelis. As the head of the agency said, this status will be given
to them together with the certificate of temporary residence.
In consideration of the fact that the number of persons moving from
the Near Eastern region to Armenia is increasing and not all of them
have relatives or possibility of staying in our country, it was also
charged to discuss the possibilities of providing assistance to them
by preparing the respective draft decision of government if necessary.