Author: Kamalian Hagop

Kazakh diplomat presented credentials to Armenian president

Kazinform, Kazakhstan
Oct 20 2006

ASTANA. October 20, 2006. KAZINFORM – Today Kazakh Ambassador Aimdos
Bozzhigitov has presented credentials to the President of Armenia
Robert Kocharyan in Yerevan; Kazinform has learnt from press service
of Kazakh MFA.

In the course of the meeting the parties considered expansion of
bilateral cooperation in trade and economic sphere. Special attention
was paid to the issue of Kazakhstan’s agricultural and oil products’
export, investment into Armenian banking sector and attraction of
Armenia to the joint information technologies projects.

Armenia considers Kazakhstan as a leader in Central Asian region, R.

Kocharyan noted. He stressed necessity of further interaction
enhancement. Since Kazakhstan established diplomatic relations with
Armenia in 1992 cooperation between them has been developed in the
spirit of mutually beneficial partnership.

Basic documents regulating bilateral relations are two agreements –
on fundamentals of relations and on friendship and cooperation.

Scientific and cultural collaboration is being realized as well.

FINNS HOPE THEY HAVE AN ANSWER TO TURKS’ ACCESSION CRISIS
by: Jamie Smyth

The Irish Times
October 17, 2006 Tuesday

European Diary: Turkey’s 40-year mission to join the European Union
is in trouble again.

Barely a year after EU foreign ministers grudgingly gave the go-ahead
for accession talks to begin at a cantankerous meeting in Luxembourg,
diplomats are warning of a "train crash" in the negotiations that
could lead to their suspension.

The European Commission will play a key role in deciding whether the
talks need to be frozen when it publishes a report on November 8th
on Turkey’s progress since they began in October 2005.

The state of human rights, freedom of expression and the penal code
will be analysed in the report, which is expected to reprimand Ankara
for a slowdown in the pace of reform.

However, it is Turkey’s refusal to open its ports and airports to
Greek Cypriot traffic until the EU ends its economic embargo of
Turkish northern Cyprus that is the crunch issue that could lead to
a suspension of talks.

British ambassador to Turkey Peter Westmacott warned yesterday that
the EU would hold Turkey to account for failing to comply with the
Ankara protocol – a 2005 deal to extend Turkey’s customs union to
the 10 new member states, including (Greek) Cyprus.

"The negotiations, once stalled, would be very hard to restart," said
Mr Westmacott, whose government is one of the strongest advocates of
Turkey’s accession.

Cyprus has been divided since Turkey invaded the island’s north in
1974 following an abortive coup supported by Greece. The Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus is not recognised by any EU state and
relies primarily on support from Turkey. An economic embargo forces
all EU exports and air traffic to travel through Turkey and the entity
was excluded from EU membership when Cyprus joined the union in 2004.

Fuelled by resentment against Cyprus for rejecting a UN-sponsored
peace plan in 2004, Turkey is now insisting the EU lift the isolation
of northern Cyprus before it adheres to the Ankara protocol.

In retaliation, Greece and Cyprus are already using their EU vetoes
to block Turkey’s accession talks, which have resulted in just one
chapter of law – science and research – being completed in a year
of negotiation.

"I wouldn’t call it a veto; it is more a consideration We must go
slowly as we want Turkey to honours its commitments," said a Greek
diplomat yesterday, who added that both states would not allow any
new chapters to be opened ahead of November 8th.

This leaves Turkey’s accession talks in limbo, with a further 34
chapters of legislation to be amended to comply with the 90,000 pages
in the EU acquis communautaire.

With a potential crisis just a month away, the current EU president,
Finland, a strong supporter of enlargement, is preparing a plan to
prevent the complete derailment of the talks. The proposals involve
opening a small number of Turkish ports to Cypriot traffic. In return
Turkish Cypriot trade restrictions would be eased by opening a sea
port on the east of the island under EU supervision, say EU diplomats.

Another controversial proposal under consideration is getting the
Turkish military to hand over administration of the northern town
of Varosha to the UN. More than 40,000 Greek Cypriots fled the town
after the 1974 invasion. Since then Varosha has become a ghost town
and a symbol of the invasion and continuing division of Cyprus.

But at an EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg yesterday the
Greek Cypriot delegation insisted that Nicosia would not accept any
plan that didn’t return the town to its former inhabitants.

The response of the Turkish Cypriot government has been cautious too.

Last week President Mehmet Ali Talat, on his first visit to Brussels,
said the Finnish plan included "dangerous elements". Mr Talat warned
that the plan made the issue of the lifting of the isolation of Turkish
Cypriots a bargaining chip. This was unfair, as the EU had already
agreed to lift the embargo in 2004 when the Turkish Cypriots voted
in favour of unification as part of a UN plan that Nicosia rejected,
he said.

Despite scepticism in Cyprus, enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn
warned yesterday that the Finnish proposals were now the "only game
in town" for Turkey, which he praised as "an anchor of stability"
and "bridge-builder" in an unstable Middle East.

Yet the fear expressed by pro-Turkish diplomats in the EU is that a
suspension of the accession talks over Cyprus could turn the country
away from Europe. With tensions already high in Turkey over French
lawmakers’ proposal to make denying the genocide of the Armenians a
crime, a negative signal from Brussels could hamper domestic reformers.

"Already you have seen a drastic drop in support for EU membership in
Turkey. It has fallen 20 per cent in just two years," says Katinka
Barysch, analyst with the think tank Centre for European Reform in
London. "At the start of the accession process Turkish people were
happy to be part of it; now there is a real risk of disillusionment."

ARMENIAN BUSINESSWOMEN – 2006 SECOND EXHIBITION TO OPEN THURSDAY IN YEREVAN

Arka News Agency, Armenia
Oct 18 2006

YEREVAN, October 18. /ARKA/.Armenian Businesswomen – 2006, the second
exhibition, is to open on Thursday in Yerevan, press center of ASME,
the exhibition co-organizer, reports.

The other organizer is LOGOS EXPO Center.

The report says that about 60 Armenian businesswomen will expose
their works in various areas such as foods, textile, clothes, stone
and wood processing, carpets and others.

The aim of the exhibition is to present Armenian businesswomen
abilities and to help them expand their business ties in home and
world markets.

Round-table discussions are to be held as part of the event to help
them outline prospects for cooperation.

The exhibition will last until Saturday.

ASME, the program of market development of small and mid-scale
business, was launched on September 15, 2000, and to be completed on
December 31, 2007.

The program is funded by USAID and implemented by Development
Alternatives, Inc. (DAI).

The program’s aim is to create jobs in Armenia through developing
profitable and dynamically developing private companies.

LOGOS EXPO Center is the leading Armenian company in organizing
industrial, national and international exhibitions and congresses.

LOGOS EXPO Center started functioning in 1999. The center has organized
55 exhibitions in Armenia and the outside since then.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenian MFA Concerned over Nuclear Tests in North
Korea
14.10.2006 14:31 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian MFA has issued a
statement over the nuclear tests in North Korea. The
statement specifically says, «Abiding by the
principles of the Republic of Armenia on
non-proliferation, the MFA is expressing concern over
nuclear tests in North Korea, as it threatens the
security of this region, as well as undermines
international efforts on non-proliferation. The
Armenian MFA hopes that the North Korean authorities
will come to terms with the international community
and the problem will be solved via talks, thus
prevention further arms race.»

AZG Armenian Daily #196, 14/10/2006

Visit

NATO IS FOR PRESENT FORMAT OF NAGORNO KARABAKH REGULATION

Robert Simons Visits Armenia

NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative to the Caucasus and
Central Asia, Robert Simons, stated at a joint press conference with
Vartan Oskanian on Oct. 12 that progress was achieved in all
directions of Armenia’s Individual Action Plan that aims at boosting
cooperation with NATO. He stated that he is glad to support the
Armenian Government, particularly the sphere of defense. Oskanian and
Simons discussed regional issues, spoke about the current
Russian-Georgian relations, and Oskanian informed about the present
stage of Nagorno Karabakh regulation.

Simons stated that NATO supports the Minsk Group process in the
Karabakh issue adding that he hopes the sides will come to
terms. "NATO is not part of the negotiation process. We are grateful
that the two sides keeps us informed but assessment should come from
the Minsk Group co-chairs. That’s the Minsk Group’s work, not the
NATO’s," said Simons.

Vartan Oskanian, on his part, said that a council affiliated to RA
President was set up to systematize works with the NATO, EU and the
CE. The need for such a council has arisen as documents are huge and
require individual approach. If there is a project within NATO that
Armenia does not opt in, it is not because NATO has left Armenia out
but because neither side had a desire to participate. Mr. Simons added
that NATO, EU and CE have a unique direction of activity and that they
have division of labor and mutual assistance.

As to Georgia’s membership to NATO, Mr. Simons said that Georgia is
now at the first stage and it’s untimely to speak of its membership.

Asked what’s his opinion about Armenia’s goal to join the European
Union, Mr. Simons said: "Contrary to Georgia, neither Armenia nor
Azerbaijan have taken a decision of joining the NATO, and we respect
this stance. We are satisfied with the steps that are being taken
within the framework of the Individual Action Plan."

By Tamar Minasian

The Daily Telegraph, UK
Oct 13 2006

Nobel prize for Turkish author who divided nation over massacres
By Oliver Poole in Istanbul
(Filed: 13/10/2006)

Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish novelist prosecuted for "insulting
Turkishness" after commenting on the scale of the Armenian massacre,
was yesterday named winner of the Nobel Prize for literature.

Orhan Pamuk: Overjoyed
This could bring renewed claims that the prize is now politicised
after Harold Pinter, a critic of the Iraq war, won last year despite
his last acclaimed stage work having been written in 1978.

Yesterday’s announcement was particularly contentious as it came on
the day French MPs voted to make it a crime to deny that the Armenian
massacre occurred, a move that provoked fury in Turkey.

Pamuk, 54, is lauded for novels such as Snow and My Name is Red that
deal with Turkey’s coming to terms with its imperial past and its
position as a crossroads between East and West.

But last year he became better known as a symbol for free speech
campaigners after he was put on trial for rejecting the official line
on the Armenian massacre, which the Turkish government says was not
genocide. Pamuk told a Swiss newspaper that Turkey was unwilling to
face the reality that "30,000 Kurds and one million Armenians" had
been killed in the country’s recent history.

advertisementHe faced up to three years in prison, but the case was
dropped on a technicality in January.

However, Pamuk’s comments resulted in death threats and a provincial
governor calling for his books to be burnt. At one point he had to go
into hiding abroad.

Horace Engdahl, the head of the Nobel academy, stressed that Pamuk
had been chosen for his literary achievements. "It could lead to some
political turbulence but we are not interested in that," he said. "He
is controversial in his own country, but so are almost all our
prize-winners."

Pamuk was selected because he "enlarged the roots of the contemporary
novel" through his links to both Western and Eastern culture.

The citation for the award praised his latest work, Istanbul:
Memories of a City, as a "quest for the melancholic soul [in which
he] has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of
cultures".

The Turkish cultural ministry chose to dwell on Pamuk’s achievement
in becoming the first Turk to win the prize rather than the recent
court case, or his decision in 1998 to reject the accolade of State
Artist. "I am concerned only with Pamuk as a novelist," said Mustafa
Isen, the ministry’s under-secretary. "I congratulate him."

Pamuk was born into a wealthy, westernised family and turned to
writing after deciding he did not have the talent to become a
painter. He has published five novels and won the International IMPAC
award for My Name is Red.

Pamuk, who will receive a gold medal and a £750,000 cheque, described
his writing as a study of "international themes. . . seen through my
Turkish window".

It is a vantage point that has enabled him to examine East-West
issues and subsequent clashes between Islam and secularism, tradition
and modernity. In My Name is Red and Snow, he explores "the confusion
in-between" that occurs when the cultures attempt to exist together.

The study of Istanbul, written in a room overlooking the Bosphorus,
celebrates the "melancholy" atmosphere caused by the impact of
westernisation on a city filled with reminders of a glorious but
abandoned imperial past.

Embracing that emotion, he says, at least offers the citizens a
chance to escape from the far more painful belief of cultural
triumphalism.

Pamuk, at present a visiting professor at Columbia University, New
York, said that he was overjoyed by the award.

It was "an honour bestowed upon the Turkish literature and culture I
represent".

Kemal Kerincsiz, who leads a group of ultra-nationalist lawyers that
helped bring the charges against Pamuk, said he was ashamed by the
award.

"I don’t believe it was given for his books or literary identity. It
was given because he belittled our national values, for his
recognition of the genocide. As a Turkish citizen I am ashamed."

SOCIAL CARDS ARE NO OBLIGATION FOR PENSIONERS
By Gohar Gevorgian

AZG Armenian Daily
11/10/2006

Many people who refused to have social cards were deprived of their
right to get pensions, when about three years ago RA law "On social
cards" was adopted.

In the interview to "Azg," most of them explained their decision to
refuse having social cards by religious reasons.

After three years of struggle in the court instances, the Armenian
Constitutional Law Protection Center and the lawyer of the center
Arayik Papikian were a success. According to the verdict ofm RA
Constitutional Court, the first of the cases on the issue of the
pensioners was legally settled, on October 4. The Constitutional Court
recognized the second point of the article # 11 of the abovementioned
law as invalid by its decision # 649. The pensioners Manoushak
Kocharian and Hranoush Davtian won their case. Besides, all of the
sub-legislative acts that used to force the pensioners get the social
cards lost their legal force. Thus, according to the verdict of RA
Constitutional Court, the social card is not an obligatory document
any longer and the citizens can get them due to their own will.

The representtatives of the Armenian Constitutional Law Protection
Center assured that the pensioners will get their pesnions, benefits
and salaries that they failed to get for about 20 months.

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
"Capital punishment must be totally removed in all countries which
strive to uphold democracy, the rule of law and human rights," says PACE
President

Strasbourg, 10.10.2006 – "Capital punishment must be totally removed
once and for all from the legislation of all countries which strive to
uphold democracy, the rule of law and human rights," the President of
the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), René van der
Linden, said today to mark the World Day Against the Death Penalty.

"The death penalty has been abolished in all our member states, with
just one exception, the Russian Federation", Mr van der Linden said. He
urged the Russian authorities to show, vis-à-vis public opinion in
their country, the same determination and persuasiveness displayed by
the other Council of Europe member states, which had the political will
and courage to abolish the death penalty despite the potential
unpopularity of the measure. "The sentence of life imprisonment of the
only surviving Beslan terrorist was a clear signal of Russia’s respect
of a de facto moratorium on the death penalty, but I hope that this
moratorium could soon result in a de jure abolition of the death
penalty," he said.

At the same time, he warned against all attempts to launch discussion on
the re-introduction of the death penalty in Europe.

He also recalled that at its June 2006 session, the Assembly had noted
with concern that the separatist territories, not recognised
internationally, of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and the Dnestr Moldavian
Republic do not observe the abolition of the death penalty by Georgia
and Moldova respectively. "The Assembly believes that the death penalty
should be abolished in these territories and that the sentences of all
prisoners currently on death row in Abkhazia and the Dnestr Moldavian
Republic should be immediately commuted to terms of imprisonment in
order to put an end to the cruel and inhuman treatment of those who have
been kept on death row for years in a state of uncertainty as to their
ultimate fate," he stressed.

In respect of countries having observer status with the Council of
Europe, he referred to earlier PACE Resolutions 1349 (2003)
< D/Documents/AdoptedText/ta03/ERES1349.htm> and 1253 (2001)
< D 1/ERES1253.htm> , in which the Assembly calls on Japan
and the United States to place an immediate moratorium on executions and
to take the necessary steps to abolish the death penalty. "The Assembly
finds it inadmissible that these appeals have gone unheeded and that
both Japan and the United States continue to apply the death penalty and
violate their fundamental obligation to uphold human rights."

He finally called on all countries in the world which have not yet
abolished the death penalty to follow the lead given by the 46-nation
Council of Europe, a de facto "death-penalty-free zone".

Press Release
Parliamentary Assembly Communication Unit
Ref: 575a06
Tel: +33 3 88 41 31 93
Fax :+33 3 90 21 41 34
[email protected]
internet:

The Parliamentary Assembly brings together 315 members from the national
parliaments of the 46 member states.
President: René van der Linden (Netherlands, EPP/CD); Secretary
General of the Assembly: Mateo Sorinas.
Political Groups: SOC (Socialist Group); EPP/CD (Group of the European
People’s Party); ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe);

EDG (European Democratic Group); UEL (Group of the Unified European
Left).

OLLI REHN DENONCE LE PROJET DE LOI FRANCAIS SUR LE GENOCIDE ARMENIEN

Agence France Presse
9 octobre 2006 lundi

Le commissaire europeen a l’Elargissement Olli Rehn a denonce lundi le
projet de loi francais "contre-productif" sur le genocide armenien,
qui pourrait selon lui entraîner de "graves" consequences pour les
relations UE-Turquie.

"Il s’agit evidemment d’une loi francaise et c’est bien sûr le problème
des deputes francais mais cela a des consequences potentiellement
graves pour l’UE et ses relations avec la Turquie", a declare M. Rehn
a quelques journalistes.

Ankara a deja denonce ce projet de loi et prevenu que la France
pourrait voir ses projets economiques en Turquie menaces si elle
l’adoptait.

"J’ai peur que si l’Assemblee nationale francaise adopte cette
loi qui criminalise la question du genocide armenien, cela soit
contre-productif et bloque le debat en Turquie au lieu de l’ouvrir",
a continue M. Rehn.

Le texte francais, qui sera discute jeudi par l’Assemblee nationale
francaise, impose des sanctions a quiconque nierait le genocide
armenien de 1915.

Son adoption "aurait deux consequences: cela bloquerait le debat sur
la question armenienne en Turquie et cela ralentirait et entraverait le
debat sur la liberte d’expression en Turquie", a estime le commissaire.

Le commissaire, qui ne cesse de reclamer des progrès en matière de
liberte d’expression en Turquie, a explique que lors de sa visite la
semaine dernière a Ankara, les responsables turcs avaient estime que ce
projet francais constituait une limitation de la liberte d’expression,
alors meme que les Francais reclament plus de liberte d’expression
en Turquie.

Le commissaire a appele les deputes francais a prendre leurs
responsabilites.

"J’appelle les parlementaires francais a prendre en compte les
consequences de cette loi parce que nous avons les memes objectifs:
notre but est d’avoir un debat serieux sur cette question douloureuse",
a-t-il ajoute.

"Je fais confiance aux parlementaires francais pour etre conscients
(de ces consequences) mais je veux aussi preciser ca publiquement
parce que nous avons besoin d’un debat très responsable sur cette
question", a indique M. Rehn, encourageant un dialogue "ouvert"
en Turquie et entre la Turquie et l’Armenie.

Les Armeniens estiment que jusqu’a un million et demi des leurs ont
peri dans un genocide orchestre par l’Empire ottoman. Ankara affirme
que des massacres ont ete commis de part et d’autre et recuse les
accusations de genocide.

–Boundary_(ID_nHEd7t/m8FINB4VAEBRn+Q)- –

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Oct 6 2006

Azerbaijan Ambassador to CE: Azerbaijani Delegation Achieved Ends Set
at PACE Autumn`s Session

Source: Trend
Author: A. Ismayilova

06.10.2006

The Azerbaijani delegation to the Council of Europe (CE) has achieved
the ends set at the autumn`s session of PACE (Parliamentary Assembly
of Council of Europe), Agshin Mekhtiyev, Azerbaijan`s Ambassador to
CE exclusively told Trend commenting the autimn`s session of PACE
completed today.

Mr. Mekhtiyev thinks that on the whole, the results of the session
are can be called positive. The Azerbaijani delegation prepared
documents on a number of issues touching different aspects of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well as other issues of a great
interest to Azerbaijan and d then distributed them in PACE. Among
these issues, a document on possible dangerous consequences of the
operating Metsamor Atomic Power Station in Armenia, and continued
pollution of waters of the Kura River by Armenians, etc.

In addition, the Ambassador pointed out that some issues that were
introduced to the agenda were of a certain interest to Azerbaijan as
well. For example, the debate on discussing the issue on foundation
of the memorial Centre for Victims of Forced Deportations and Ethnic
Clean-Ups. "Armenians did all their best to use this debate to
blacken our country again, and once more appear as a "long-suffering"
nation. But, the Azerbaijani MPs perfectly rejected all their views"
he added.

"The information about the black business of Armenian Dashnak bands
against Azerbaijanis in the course of the history, including the
Stalin`s approved deportations of Azerbaijani population from the
territory of the modern Armenia, the nowadays` genocide acts and the
ethnic clean-up in Khodjali and the other territories which are under
the Armenian occupation now", told Mr. Mekhtiyev.

Within the PACE session, Pact on Stability in South Caucasus was
discussed in the PACE Political Committee and recommended to further
discussion during the January`s session of PACE. The initial
discussion of the issues concerning the preparation of the report of
Rapporteur of the PACE Committee for Migration, Refugees, and
Population in South Caucasus Leo Platvoet was took place as well. The
Ambassador thinks that both the issues will be included to the agenda
of the PACE January`s session.

He also considers the meeting among Head of the Azerbaijani
Parliamentary Delegation to CE Samad Seyidov and Head of the PACE
Subcommittee for Nagorno-Karabakh Lord Russell Johnston with the Head
of the Armenian delegation to CE important. The corresponding offices
of PACE discussed the preparation for the visit of the PACE mission
on the situation over the Azerbaijan cultural heritage on the
occupied territories of Azerbaijan and in Armenia itself.
Negotiations with the Co-Rapporteurs on Azerbaijan Tony Lloyd and
Andreas Herkel were held.