Author: Kanayan Tamar

Official Baku not empowered to settle issues regarding NKR

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.01.2007 16:54 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Official Baku is not empowered to decide on sending
any international mission to Nagorno Karabakh, NKR President’s
advisor on foreign affairs Arman Melikian told a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter. "Only the NKR authorities have the right to give consent to
presence of an EU mission. Such issues are decided in Stepanakert but
not in Baku. It’s another matter that the EU eyes Nagorno Karabakh
as a part of Azerbaijan.

All this happens because NKR doesn’t take part in the negotiation
process. They speak only of the meetings of the Armenian and
Azerbaijani Presidents, so it turns out to be an Armenian-Azeri
conflict but not Nagorno Karabakh one, what is totally incorrect,"
Melikian underscored. He also remarked that Armenia can nothing but
approve such a mission.

EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby said
if Azerbaijan gives consent a mission for creation an atmosphere
of trust will be sent to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict region. The
purpose of the mission is to investigate the possibilities of carrying
out measures in conflict zones within the EU New Neighborhood Policy.

Police Looking for Ultranationalist Trace of Dink Assassination

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.01.2007 17:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish police have focussed their investigation
into the murder of ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink on alleged
links between the prime suspect and an ultranationalist group. "We
are looking into the political aspect of the murder and possible
links with illegal organizations," Istanbul police chief Celalettin
Cerrah said. Quoting sources close to the investigation, newspapers
on Monday said police were probing links between Ogun Samast and a
small, ultranationalist group in his hometown, Trabzon, on the Black
Sea Coast. Samast told police he was told to kill Dink by a friend,
Yasin Hayal, who spent 11 months in jail for a 2004 bomb attack against
a McDonald’s restaurant in Trabzon. "Yasin told me to shoot Dink. He
gave me the gun. So I did," the teenager said. Turkish newspapers
described Hayal, who is also in police custody, as an "older brother"
figure who frequently met youngsters in the area and influenced them
with his ultranationalist views.

Hurriyet said Samast, an unemployed secondary school graduate,
was among 10 youths aged 15 to 17 whom Hayal had last year trained
to handle and shoot small arms in order to assassinate Dink. "I
was chosen because I was the best shot and the fastest runner,"
Samast told the police. His mother, Havva Samast, said Monday that
she believed her son was a mere tool.

Samast’s testimony turned the spotlight on Trabzon, a Black Sea port
of one million and a hot-bed of nationalism, which hit the headlines
in February 2006 with the murder of an Italian Catholic priest by a
16-year-old boy. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
Sunday that police would look into possible links between Dink’s
killing and that of the priest, report Turkish media.

KGET 17, CA
Jan 21 2007

Armenian-Americans condemn journalist’s death
Last Update: 1/21/2007 9:35:00 AM

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Armenian-Americans rally to condemn the murder of
a newspaper editor whose views on the 1915 massacre of Armenians
challenged those of the Turkish government.

About 50 people gathered today outside the Turkish consulate near
Beverly Hills.

They’re blaming the government for the death of Hrant Dink, an ethnic
Armenian who was gunned down outside his office in Istanbul on
Friday.

Turkish officials say they’ve arrested a suspect in the killing.

Dink gained notoriety after he was convicted of breaking Turkish law
by saying the mass killing of Armenians in Turkey was genocide.

Panorama.am

18:40 20/01/2007

WHAT WERE THE AIMS OF HRANT DINK?

`Hrant fought for the democratization of Turkey. He
was deeply sure that Turkey would recognize the
genocide not because of external but internal
pressures as a result of its democratization,’ Arsen
Avagyan, department head of political programming of
the ministry of foreign affairs, told reporters today.
`Even the murder of Hrant Dink was the continuation of
the cause he fought for and will serve its aims,’ Azat
Yeghiazaryan, director of national institute of
literature, added.
One of the aims of Hrant Dink was to bring the
Armenian and Turkish societies closer and he planned
to establish a center of Turkish Studies in Yerevan.
In the words of Avagyan, Dink had accomplished a lot
to that aim and obtained a lot of literature. One of
his articles was titled, `The anti-poison for a Turk
is an Armenian and for an Armenian – a Turk.’ He
strongly believed the two nations must lay a bridge
between them and tackle problems together.

Hakob Movses, writer and translator, said the murder
makes us reconsider the relations with Turkey.

Source: Panorama.am

Atýlým, Turkey
Jan 20 2007

Journalist and author Hrant Dink killed

ÝSTANBUL (20.01.2007)- Hrant Dink, journalist and chief editor of
the newspaper Agos was killed following an armed assassination
attempt yesterday at the entrance to the newspaper office.

A new link joined the chain of political assassinations in Turkey.
Hrant Dink who had become the target of racist fascists because of
his statements concerning Armenian and Kurdish question was killed
today. He had been charged and sentenced rdue to Article 301 of the
Turkish Penal Code a short time ago because of his commentaries. The
killing of Dink attracts a lot of attention happening after the
conference of intellectuals in Ankara who had emphasized their demand
for democratical solution in the Kurdish question.

According to the first information provided by the office of the
director of public prosecutions, Dink lost his life because of two
bullets in his head at the entrance to the newspaper office. It was
also said that the murderer must be 18 or 19 years old and that he
left taking a vehicle on Halaskargazi Street.

He was threatened before

Aydin Engin, Hrant Dink’s colleague and journalist, declared that
Dink had been threatened by different people, amog them officials,
too. Engin said that some time ago Dink received a phone call by one
of the governor assisstants of Istanbul and remembered:

"When Hrant Dink went there, nobody cared. There were two people with
the governor assistant whom he introduced as ‘My relatives’. Then one
of the two, a man, hold a long speech saying. There are lots of
people on the streets and something might happen to you’. Hrant Dink
had told about this incident when he applied to the European Court of
Human Rights. ‘

CHARLES AZNAVOUR PARTICIPATES IN GATHERING AGAINST DENIAL OF GENOCIDE

PARIS, JANUARY 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A big gathering took
place in Paris two days ago on the initiative of the Armenian
Associations Coordination Council of France. Politicians and
intellectuals, about 2 thousand people, speaking for defining criminal
responsibility for the denial took part in the gathering.

According to the information of the Euro-Armenian Federation, those
making speches spoke for the united struggle against denial and
solidarity with ones suffered from the genocide. They emphasized
especially the similarity of the Armenians’ and Jews’ genocides as
well as the generality of their denial.

Serge Klarsfeld, representing the Jewish community of France assured
that the community representatives will support Armenians in the
claims addressed for the Senate for defining criminal punishment for
denial of the Armenian Genocide.

Famous lawyer Me Charrire-Bournazel stated that "the denial is the
continuation of the genocide crime from generation to generation."

Francois Hollande made a speech on behalf of Segolene Royal, the
candidate of the French Socialist Party and the Socialists in the
President’s elections.

The gathering was closed by the speech of Charles Aznavour arrived
specially to express his assistance.

PanARMENIAN.Net

It’s High Time to Resolve Problem with Ambassador in Armenia
19.01.2007 16:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Ambassador Richard Hoagland is a career US diplomat
and has served with distinction as the American Ambassador to
Tajikistan, Richard Giragosian, expert of the Armenian International
Police Research Group – AIPRG, Washington.DC. said in an interview
with PanARMENIAN.Net. `The long delay over his confirmation, although
in large part due to the State Department’s refusal to use the term
Genocide, should end and the case over his coming to Armenia
closed. Armenia is losing more without an American ambassador present
and it is time to end this confrontation. The real conflict is with US
policy and not the person,’ he said.

THE BILL ON THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN THE US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ArmRadio.am
17.01.2007 12:58

"The bill on recognition of the Armenian Genocide will be presented
to the House of Representatives in one or two weeks. It’s impossible
to mention the exact date because of constant changes in the agenda
of the House," Press Secretary of the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA) Elizabeth Chuljian told "Armenpress." According to her,
the number of Congressmen signing under the document is increasing.

"Of course, it will be symbolic if the resolution is adopted by
April 24, but in this case it is impossible to note the exact date,
either. Nevertheless, we’ll do our best to have it adopted by April
24," she assured.

According to Elizabeth Chuljian, the best opportunities exist today
for adoption of the Genocide bill in the US Congress. Many Congressmen
have already declared about that. "The adoption of the resolution
greatly depends also on the activity of the Armenian community. Through
letters and phone calls we’ll be trying to convince those Congressmen,
who have not clarified their positions so far. At the same time we
must not forget the factor of the Turkish lobbyist organizations,"
Chuljian noted. She added also that if in the past the Genocide bill
and other pro-Armenian resolutions were promoted by 179 Congressmen,
now we should do our best to have their number increased.

Let us remind that the authors of the resolution are Co-Chairmen of
the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues Frank Pallone and Joe
Knollenberg, Congressmen Adam Sciff and George Radanovich.

THE GREATEST WISH OF THE ARMENIANS

A1+
[07:10 pm] 15 January, 2007

"WHAT EVENTS WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAPPEN IN ARMENIA IN 2007?" This was
the poll question of the A1+ website at the end of year 2006. 862
readers have participated in the poll. According to the results,
the greatest wish of the Armenians is that people don’t abandon
Armenia. 28% has chosen this variant.

The rest of the votes have been distributed as follows:

I wish the parliamentary elections were free, fair and transparent
– 25%

I wish the Karabakh conflict were settled – 17%

I wish the social-economic situation of the country were improved – 15%

I wish Turkey recognized the Armenian Genocide – 15%

A1+ will try to find out if the wish of the people will come true by
a new poll. This time the question is "Have you ever wanted to leave
Armenia and to live permanently in another country?"

SPECIAL ELECTION OF COMMUNITY HEAD TO BE HELD IN NORABAK

YEREVAN, JANUARY 12, NOYAN TAPAN. In accordance with RA law "On Local
Self-government" and RA Electoral Code, at the January 11 sitting RA
government made a decision ahead of schedule to stop the powers of
Norabak (Gegharkunik marz) village community head Samvel Karapetian.

According to RA government Information and Public Relations
Department, the last Sunday of 30-day term following the day of the
decision’s coming into force was fixed as a day of holding special
election of village head in the above mentioned rural community.

RA Minister of Finance and Economy was instructed to allocate 125.6
thousand drams (nearly 340 USD) at the expense of RA government
reserve fund to RA Central Electoral Commission for financing the
expenditures of preparation and holding the village head special
election.