Author: Karagyozian Lena

RAMIL SAFAROV TAKEN TO PRISON

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.03.2007 16:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Yesterday Azeri serviceman Ramil Safarov, who was
sentenced to life imprisonment by the Budapest Court for the murder
of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan, was conveyed to prison located
170 km far from Budapest.

Safarov’s family representative Ikram Shirinov informed that lawyer
Clara Fischer is going to attend the convict in prison. The decision
by the Court of Appeal has not been submitted to the lawyers yet. Upon
receipt Safarov’s lawyers are going to organize a cassation complaint
to the Hungarian Supreme Court.

February 22, 2007 judge Piroski Karpati of the Hungarian Court of
Appeal sustained the April 13 verdict providing for life imprisonment
for Ramil Safarov.

February 19, 2004 Armenian armed forces lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan,
who was taking an English language course within Partnership for
Peace NATO program, was hacked to death by Safarov. The Hungarian
court sentenced the murderer to life imprisonment without the right
to pardon during initial 30 years.

SWISS COURT TRIALS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIER

ArmRadio.am
07.03.2007 10:32

A Turkish nationalist leader has gone on trial in Switzerland for
denying that the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey in 1915 amounted
to genocide.

Dogu Perincek, 65, is accused under Swiss law of racial discrimination.

The Swiss parliament, along with more than a dozen countries,
recognizes the killings as genocide.

The prosecutor in the city of Lausanne called for a six-month jail
sentence for genocide denial.

Dogu Perincek, head of the Turkish Workers’ Party, made the statements
in a public speech in Lausanne in 2005.

"I have not denied genocide because there was no genocide," he said
in court on Tuesday.

COURT BLOCKS ACCESS TO YOUTUBE IN TURKEY
By Thomas Crampton

International Herald Tribune, France
March 7 2007

PARIS: A court in Turkey on Wednesday ordered blockage of all access
to YouTube, the popular video-sharing Web site, over a video deemed
insulting to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.

The ban followed a week of what the media in Turkey dubbed a "virtual
war" of videos between Greeks and Turks on YouTube and came as
governments around the world – including France – grappled with the
freewheeling content now readily posted on the Internet.

The largest Internet provider in Turkey, Turk Telecom, immediately
complied with the ban and cut off access to the site.

"We are not in the position of saying that what YouTube did was an
insult, that it was right or wrong," Paul Doany, the chairman of Turk
Telecom, told the state-run Anatolia news agency. "A court decision
was proposed to us, and we are doing what that court decision says."

Visitors to the site in Turkey on Wednesday afternoon were greeted
with the message first in Turkish and then in English: "Access to
site has been suspended in accordance with decision
no: 2007/384 dated 06.03.2007 of Istanbul First Criminal Peace Court."

YouTube expressed dismay over the move, adding that the offending
video had been removed and that the company was working with the
government to resolve the situation.

"We are disappointed that YouTube has been blocked in Turkey,"
the company said in a statement. "While technology can bring great
opportunity and access to information globally, it can also present
new and unique cultural challenges."

A later court ruling said the service could be restored after YouTube
removed the offending material, Anatolia reported, but it was not
clear when that would be.

The ban comes as Turkey struggles to prove its human rights credentials
to the European Union and as governments around the world grapple
with content posted to the Internet by private citizens.

YouTube faced a court-ordered national ban in Brazil for several
days in January after footage of a model cavorting in the sea with
her lover kept reappearing on the site.

Separately, activists in France this week warned that a recent law
against posting video of violent acts would stifle free expression.

The French law, which was intended to criminalize "happy slapping" –
acts of violence committed for posting on the Internet – could also
criminalize the recording of police brutality, activists said.

"I don’t think the French government intended to attack user-generated
content, but that is the effect," said Julien Pain, a spokesman
for the press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders. "If
someone films a policeman wrestling someone to the ground, that can
be considered a criminal act."

While the French law has provisions to protect professional journalists
or those who record violence to turn it over to the authorities,
passersby remain liable for fines of as much as ~@75,000, or nearly
$100,000, and five years in prison, Pain said.

"This law removes protection for citizen-journalists or bloggers
who would want to record the violence if riots start again in the
Paris suburbs," Pain said. "The distinction between professional and
amateur journalists is no longer valid since all Internet users are
now in a position to create and disseminate information."

The video that prompted the ban in Turkey allegedly said that Ataturk
and the Turkish people were homosexuals, according to news reports.

Insulting Ataturk is a criminal offense in Turkey. In a front page
story, the newspaper Hurriyet said thousands of readers had written
to YouTube complaining about the video.

For Turkey, the ban will present a further hurdle as concern grows
in Brussels that Ankara is flouting free- speech norms necessary to
join the European Union.

In recent weeks, Turkey has pledged to revise a controversial law
that makes insulting Turkishness a crime. The law – Article 301
of the Turkish penal code – has resulted in prosecutions against
leading Turkish intellectuals, including the author Orhan Pamuk,
a Nobel laureate, and Hrant Dink, an Armenian-Turkish journalist
murdered in January.

But the government has refused to drop Article 301 altogether, while
the law against insulting Ataturk, which has given rise to the YouTube
case, is considered even more sacrosanct.

The European Commission, the executive branch of the EU, has been
particularly concerned by Article 301, which attracted global criticism
last year when Pamuk was put on trial for telling a Swiss newspaper
that more than a million Armenians were massacred by Ottoman Turks
during World War I.

Krisztina Nagy, spokeswoman for the EU expansion commissioner, Olli
Rehn, who is overseeing Turkey’s EU accession process, declined to
comment, saying the commission was still trying to confirm the facts
surrounding the YouTube case.

But other EU officials said privately that the abrupt decision to
block access to YouTube would give ammunition to thsoe who argue
that the avowed secularism of Turkey does not sufficiently safeguard
free speech.

The latest controversy comes as Turkey is going through a difficult
period in its relations with the EU following the decision late last
year by Union leaders to partially suspend entry negotiations over
Ankara’s refusal to open its ports to Cyprus, an EU member.

Dan Bilefsky contributed reporting from Brussels and Sebnem Arsu
from Istanbul.

COMMUNITY TO BUILD NEW CHURCH AND COMMUNITY CENTRE IN LAVAL
Par John Fasciano

Courrier Laval, Canada
March 6 2007

Construction of $5.5 million project to start in spring of 2007;
completion expected for early 2008

Armenian Community to build new church and community centre in Laval
Construction of $5.5 million project to start in spring of 2007;
completion expected for early 2008

The weather may have been very frightful on the streets of the Greater
Montreal area this past Wednesday but that didn’t deter representatives
of Holy Cross Armenian Church of Laval from holding a press conference
in Montreal to announce the good news that the Armenian community
would soon have a new church and community centre of their own on
Laval island.

Among those present at the announcement was His Eminence, Bishop
Bagrat Galstanian, the Primate of the Armenian Church of Canada. "The
new church and community centre will be built to better serve the
ever-growing needs of the Armenian community in Laval," the bishop
stated.

Explaining that the Armenian community in Laval has been blessed with
substantial growth and expansion during the last decade, the bishop
made it known that it was time to build a new spiritual and social
centre that could and would more effectively respond to the needs of
the community.

"The existing facility in Laval can no longer adequately
accommodate the spiritual and social needs of our community,"
Mr. Vicken Darakdjian, member of the Parish Council and chairman
of the fund-raising committee told Courrier Laval Weekly News in a
telephone interview.

Mr. Darakdjian also cited several other reasons for the launching
of this $5.5 million project expected for completion in early 2008,
with the first shovel hitting the ground this coming spring, at a
site on Souvenir Blvd. in Chomedey.

"The Armenian Churches in Montreal are too far from Laval. People
who may want to attend these churches are dissuaded by the distance,
especially in the wintertime. Many of these people told us that because
of this, it wasn’t very appealing for them to be part of the Armenian
Church and to take part in the Community’s activities, so for these
and many other reasons the Diocesan Council decided that the Armenian
community in Laval should have its own separate religious, social,
and cultural facilities close to them on Île-Jesus," Mr. Darakdjian
elaborated.

Only the beginning Mr. Taro Alepian, vice-chairman of the Diocesan
Council, pointed out that the church and community centre project is
the first step in a long-term plan to expand the services offered
the Armenian community in Laval. "It is only phase one of a vision
for the future that will see the eventual building of an auditorium,
a seniors’ residence, a low-income housing project, a Genocide Memorial
Museum and a gymnasium," Mr. Alepian specified.

But for now, the new church and community centre will be built to
provide a new home for the Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church,
presently serving its faithful at 4464, St-Martin Blvd. West, in
Chomedey, Laval.

"It was a simple decision, really," stated Mr. Darakdjian. "We wanted
a new home in which to better serve the religious, social, cultural,
and educational needs of the 12,000 Armenian residents of Laval and
in the process also enhance the humanitarian services and facilities
we presently offer, all of which, we sincerely believe, will improve
the quality of life of the members of the Armenian community.

The plans Once built, the new church will have place for 250 seated
attendees, with standing room for 100 others in the Nakhakavit. The
Mezzanine will have place for 50 choir members.

The activities and facilities envisaged at the new church include a
children’s glassed-in playroom adjacent to the Mezzanine, a Memorial
Wall in memory of the departed, a Church Choir, Sunday School and Bible
Study, a Women’s Auxiliary, a Professional Day Care Centre, a Youth
Centre (with Internet access, games and TV), a Seniors Activity Hall
(exercise programs, bingo, card and Tavli tournaments, TV, Bible
reading and outings), a Lecture and Exhibition Room (fully equipped
with projection and sound systems, adjacent to small kitchen for
catering services), a Library, a reception hall with a capacity for 365
(300 in main hall + 65 with moveable wall and moveable dancing stage,
state-of-the-art kitchen and accessories), and furnished conference
rooms.

The preliminary conceptual design for the new church and community
centre, which was was produced by architect Mardiros Baygin, was
made public by Mr. Hagop Seradarian, the president of the Holy Cross
Parish Council.

For more information, feel free to contact Mr. Vicken Darakdjian at
(514) 889-8100 or the Church office at (450) 687-5355.

–Boundary_(ID_Fl0K5ZmDS8kNa0lnyi0clg)- –

PERINCEK BEFORE SWISS COURT, SUPPORTERS NOT ADMITTED

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 7 2007

The leader of the neo-nationalist Turkish Workers’ Party (ÝP), Doðu
Perincek, went on trial in the Swiss city of Lausanne for calling
the alleged genocide of Armenians in 1915 an "international lie"
during Turkish rallies in Lausanne two years ago.

Nevertheless, 160 members of the Talat Pasha Committee who traveled
to Lausanne in show of support to Perincek were not allowed to enter
the court hall, as well as the Turkish journalists who wanted to
watch the trial.

The Talat Pasha Committee, which aims at combating Armenian
allegations, is named after an Ottoman interior minister whom Armenians
claim had a key role in the alleged Armenian genocide.

Talat Pasha was killed in 1921 by an Armenian gunman in Berlin.

A Swiss official said the Turkish group — most of whom were wearing
red scarves and waving Turkish flags — should have had written
accreditation earlier from Swiss authorities to enter the court,
the Anatolia news agency reported, noting that meanwhile, a group
of Swiss and foreign journalists based in Switzerland and a group of
Armenians living in Switzerland were allowed to enter the court hall.

The trial, which started yesterday, will continue for four days,
the agency also reported from Lausanne.

Among Perincek’s supporters was Rauf Denktaþ, the first and former
president of Turkish Cyprus. "We’re not going [to Switzerland] for
enmity, we’re going to see whether we can lay the foundations of a
friendship … In order to be friends, parties should avoid insults. We
hope that cantons and governments in Switzerland eventually draw
the conclusion that a years-long smear campaign is not something
necessary for world peace," Denktaþ said on Monday ahead of his
departure for Switzerland.

If found guilty, Perincek will be the first person sentenced under
Switzerland’s anti-racism law for denying the alleged genocide. In the
past, a Bern court acquitted 12 Turks facing similar charges in 2001.

Turkey vehemently denies that Armenian subjects under its predecessor
the Ottoman Empire were victims of genocide. Facing a mounting Armenian
campaign to get international recognition for the alleged genocide,
Turkey called for a joint committee of Turkish and Armenian experts
in 2005 to study the allegations. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan
sent a letter to Armenian President Robert Kocharian proposing the
establishment of such a committee. Nevertheless, Yerevan hasn’t given
a positive answer to Ankara’s proposal up to date, instead arguing
that such a committee should be inter-governmental.

American historian Professor Justin McCarthy was also in Lausanne
yesterday in order to stand before the court as a witness for the
defendant. McCarthy has become a well-known name in Turkish public
opinion in recent years.

McCarthy said at the time that the source known as the "Blue Book,"
chosen by Armenians to prove their claims of genocide, was one
of the products of the British war propaganda bureau’s efforts at
misinformation during World War I. Turkey also argues that Armenian
allegations in the book, formally titled "The Treatment of Armenians
in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-1916," are not factually supported and
the book as a whole was wartime propaganda by the British.

–Boundary_(ID_XZBSx/9ZXpEn9Si02C1SjQ)–

ARMENIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, RUSSIAN DEPUTY PREMIER DISCUSS TIES IN MOSCOW

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
5 Mar 07

Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sargsyan met Russian First Deputy
Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov in Moscow today. This was the first
meeting of the officials after Ivanov’s new appointment.

Sargsyan and Ivanov discussed a broad range of issues under Ivanov’s
supervision. The issues included agriculture, technology, aviation,
economy, education and other fields. Taking cooperation to a higher
level was stressed.

During the one-hour meeting the officials discussed closer cooperation
in the field of defence. They also discussed political developments
in the two countries.

[Video showed the meeting]

SUMGAIT MUST BE CONDEMNED NOT TO REPEAT
Laura Grigorian

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
March 5 2007

On February 28 the ARF Dashnaktsutyun’s Youth Union of Artsakh held
an event at the central office of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun in Artsakh
to mark the February 1988 tragedy in Sumgait. The representative of
the ARF YUA released the statement by the youth organizations of
Artsakh on the initiative of the YUA and the students union Aram
Manukian, which condemns the atrocities committed February 27-29,
1988 in Sumgait. The youth organizations demands that the international
community define the atrocities in 1988-1990 in Azerbaijan as genocide
and condemn it. "We must do our duty and reach the condemnation of the
events of 1988-1990, and by recalling our tragedy in the late 20th
century we will prevent new crimes against the humanity. Hopefully,
once the international community gives an adequate evaluation of
those events it will become intolerant of other such crimes once and
for all." "We demand the restoration of the rights of the Armenians
displaced from Sumgait, Baku and other places in Azerbaijan. If our
demand is met, it will foster stability and peace in the region,"
runs the statement. The statement will be sent to the embassies of the
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, the UN office in Armenia, the legations
of other countries and NGOs.

TURKEY REPLACES THE EU WITH A RETURN TO THE MIDDLE EAST
By Soli Ozel

Daily Star – Lebanon
March 5 2007

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave the cue for Turkey’s foreign
policy priorities in this dual election year (first presidential
then general elections) when he declared that Iraq had replaced the
European Union as Turkey’s top priority item. The statement certainly
reflected the legitimate concerns of most observers who assess that
this year could be the defining one for the future of Iraq.

Turkey has felt all the repercussions of developments in Iraq since
even before the beginning of the war. Jealously status-quo-oriented,
the Turkish elites and populace alike opposed the war from its
inception, fearing the potentially revolutionary consequences.

Although negotiations were held with the United States prior to the
war and an understanding was reached on modalities for cooperation,
ultimately Parliament denied the US permission to deploy troops in
Turkey and open a northern front. Since then, US-Turkish relations,
particularly military-to-military ties, have been rocky though never
fatally damaged.

Today, having seen many of its most dire predictions come true, Ankara
is deeply concerned that Iraq’s descent into a brutal sectarian civil
war with seemingly inexhaustible reserves of violence threatens the
stability of the entire region. In addition, as with its neighbors
Syria and Iran, the prospect of an independent Kurdistan deeply
troubles the authorities and the non-Kurdish public alike.

At the same time, Ankara is concerned with other developments in the
region such as the instability in Lebanon and the Iranian nuclear
program. And it is equally worried about American policies on these
questions. Hence it tries to maintain a balancing act by staying on
good terms with Iran and Syria while improving relations with the US
and looking for ways for the two allies to limit the damage in Iraq.

It is therefore only natural that the government would divert its
attention and energies toward the Middle East, and particularly Iraq,
this year.

But there was another sense in which Erdogan’s statement could be
interpreted. Arguably the prime minister and his Cabinet lost much
of their appetite for EU-induced reforms as early as the day after
Turkey got a date to start accession negotiations in December 2004.

Those negotiations did begin on time in October 2005, but only after
acrimonious debates within the EU and between Turkey and the union
over Turkey’s obligation to open its ports to Greek Cypriot shipping.

Some EU members tried their best to renege on their promise to
treat Turkey the same way as other candidates. Politicians in member
countries built electoral platforms on Turkey-bashing.

By the end of 2006, then, much if not all of the momentum was lost
in Turkey’s EU bid. The final blow came when EU suspended 8 out of
35 negotiating chapters and effectively put the process on hold,
although technical work still continues and three minor chapters were
opened. That some of the suspended chapters, such as foreign affairs,
had no bearing on the controversial customs union issue with Cyprus
suggest that the latter was at least partially an excuse to delay
Turkey’s accession process.

Such a drifting apart in the relationship was what the nay-sayers in
the EU and the Euro-bashers in Turkey passionately wanted. Just as
anti-Turkish sentiment in EU member countries was on the rise, so was a
rampant, xenophobic, anti-Western nationalism in Turkey. Both Turkey’s
opposition parties and the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party)
decided to cater to nationalist sentiment.

Evidently the AKP’s higher echelons felt that to continue in an
election year with their reformist and liberalizing agenda would be a
losing proposition. They already had the example of Erdogan’s opening
to the Kurds in the summer of 2005, which fractured the party and cost
it dearly in terms of electoral support. Therefore for all practical
purposes, the reformist wave came to an end in 2006; it is unlikely
to pick up until after the general elections.

As a result of this rising nationalism, Turkey was shaken by successive
court cases brought against outspoken intellectuals. These cases
were all related to Article 301 of the penal code that criminalizes
offenses against "Turkishness." Turkey’s Nobel laureate in literature,
Orhan Pamuk, was among those who were tried and assaulted in court
by self-proclaimed guards of national pride. The AKP government
did close to nothing to contain these movements, nor did it change
or rescind 301. Arguably as an indirect result of such a climate –
jointly created by political classes, old elites and a susceptible,
offended and fearful population – a prominent Armenian journalist,
Hrant Dink, was murdered in January.

All these developments, alongside already existing anxiety about the
AKP’s so-called true intentions (read, seeking to advance Islamic
law), raised concerns in the West. Almost no conference relating
to Turkey in the West can be held lately without a panel entitled:
"Are we losing Turkey?" or "Who lost Turkey?"

Yet nationalist outcries notwithstanding, so far there is no indication
that Turkey’s Western orientation has been replaced by an alternative
one. Still, a number of problems present themselves.

First and foremost is the closing of political space in the country
because of the radicalization of nationalist discourse. Second is the
lack of harmonious relations among Turkey’s foreign policy-making
actors, particularly on Iraq. And third, the prime minister’s
aspiration to be elected president has raised tensions in the country,
corroding the government’s relations with the military.

The combination of these three domestic problems fuels nationalist
fever in Turkey. There are calls to attack the PKK inside Iraqi
Kurdistan. There are also calls for militarily intervening to stop the
Iraqi Kurds from taking over the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, whose
demography has been drastically altered by the Kurdish authorities.

Just last week, Turkey’s National Security Council put an end to
an acrimonious debate conducted mainly in the media between the
government and military. The council called for appropriate diplomatic
and political moves to solve outstanding problems with the Iraqi
Kurds. The fact that such a decision was reached in the wake of
back-to-back visits by Turkey’s defense and foreign ministers and
chief of the general staff to Washington may also suggest that the
Turkish-American dialogue on the sensitive issues of the PKK and
Kirkuk is healthier than before.

Soli Ozel is a professor of international relations at Istanbul Bilgi
University and a columnist for the daily Sabah. This commentary first
appeared at bitterlemons-international.org, an online newsletter.

ARMENIA TREE PROJECT
65 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472 USA
Tel: (617) 926-TREE
Email: [email protected]
Web:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2007

ATP Receives $100,000 Grant from Conservation International to Partner with
Yale University’s Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry

A new partnership between Armenia Tree Project (ATP), Yale University’s
Global Institute for Sustainable Forestry (), and
Conservation International () will bring international
`best practices’ of sustainable forestry to Armenia. The joint venture,
`Evaluation and Implementation of Sustainable Forestry Models in Northern
Armenia,’ involves conducting a state of the art analysis of the forest
ecosystems in the Lori region with the aim of producing the first
sustainable forestry training manual tailored to the specific needs of
Armenia.

The severe degradation of forested areas in Armenia necessitates a new and
bold approach to forestry practices. With Yale’s expertise in sustainable
forestry, ATP along with Armenia’s leading academic and government forestry
officials will collaborate in a partnership to bring cutting edge forestry
training to Armenia. It is our hope that the project will literally reshape
the nation’s landscape and ensure a sustainable future for its population.

The goals of the project are to evaluate the condition of the forests in
northern Armenia, paying particular attention to the factors that are
limiting the ability for regeneration. An assessment will be made of plants,
herbs, and other non-timber products that may be sustainably harvested for
generating alternative income for residents living in close proximity to the
forests. Trainings on rotational grazing will be held with livestock owners
to prevent soil erosion and further degradation of forests.

A model forest will be planted to serve as a training site, and paired with
a sustainable forestry training manual specific to the unique environment of
Armenia. This manual and demonstration plot will serve as the focal point
for future trainings with foresters and residents from around the country.

This project is being funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
(CEPF), a joint initiative of Conservation International, International Bank
for Reconstruction and Development, the Global Environment Facility, the
Ministry of Finance of Japan, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation. A fundamental goal of CEPF () is to ensure civil
society is engaged in biodiversity conservation.

Armenia Tree Project (ATP), a grassroots-supported non-profit organization
based in Watertown and Yerevan, conducts vitally important environmental
projects in Armenia’s impoverished and deforested zones and seeks support in
advancing its reforestation mission.

Since 1994, ATP has made enormous strides in combating desertification in
the biologically diverse but threatened Caucasus region. Nearly 1.5 million
trees have been planted and restored, and hundreds of jobs have been created
for Armenians in seasonal tree-regeneration programs. For more information
or to support ATP, visit

PHOTO CAPTION: A partnership with Yale University and Conservation
International will help ATP conduct an analysis of the forests in the Lori
region and produce a sustainable forestry manual for Armenia

WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU, MCMURPHY, THE CHILLI ON MY KEBAB?

Irish Independent
March 4, 2007 Sunday

ONE of Fifth’s favourite films is One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,
a tale of a devil-may-care Irishman called Randall Patrick McMurphy
who gets ground down by the starched forces of orthodoxy, by the
thin-lipped, frigid, intolerance of Nurse Ratchet.

A free spirit made mad by a relentless, crushing drive to conform. Is
there a sadder moment in all cinema than the agony on the face of
McMurphy’s friend Chief as he takes a pillow and stifles the former’s
lobotomised features to let him soar into the afterlife, to let him
cast off the surly, clammy grip of a life not worth living?

Fifth’s eyes are becoming misty as he remembers Chief hurling the
drinking fountain through the window before leppin’ through to jog
away across the lawns and into celluloid immortality.

Fifth’s wife arrived into the room last Sunday night and found him
on his knees with a cushion across the TV, sobbing and wailing,
trying desperately to end another’s agony, trying to set free again
one who had showed us all how to live before succumbing to the mental
amputation.

Conor Lenihan was on The Week in Politics and Fifth made a special
effort to catch him. Fifth always liked Conor; there’s a bit of the
auld devil about him and you could imagine having a right laugh with
the man over a couple of pints. If the brother, Brian, is a bearnaise
sauce on a fillet steak in Thorntons, then Conor is a bit of chilli
on a kebab from the Abrakebabra in Rathmines on the way home on a 15B.

Now Fifth is not implying that referring to anyone or any group –
especially one as numerous and as fierce as the Turks – as some form of
sandwich is ever acceptable. But on the grand scale of racial abuse,
telling Joe Higgins to "stick with the kebabs" wasn’t really that
serious. Certainly not as serious as the kind of racial abuse the
Turks have handed out down the years. Ask the Armenians. You’ll find
them anywhere but where they used to live.

But Conor said it and he had to pay the price. The prim,
self-righteous, utterly boring price. The sanctimonious,
face-reddening, Nurse Ratchet price, as a long line of NGOs, officials
and semi-officials, quangos and quasi-quangos, lined up to tell him
he was revealed as a racist and would have to resignforthwith.

Poor old Conor lived through it, but something happened to him.

Somebody ‘did’ something to that silly-but-sincere streak that made
him believable and urgent.

How does Fifth know?

The Week in Politics featured a disagreement between Conor and John
O’Shea of Goal about Ireland’s State Aid Programme’s African policy.

O’Shea has long and volubly argued that delivering aid on a
state-to-state basis merely gives licence to the crew of kleptocrats,
tyrants and world-class thieves at the top of the heap in these poor
countries to divert much of the money to their numbered accounts
in Zurich.

The alternative O’Shea recommends involves actually doing the hiring
and firing ourselves on a project-by-project basis. What’s the problem,
Conor was asked.

Conor felt there was one main problem. O’Shea’s idea involved lots
of white men running around telling the Africans what to do. This,
we are to understand, is a disqualifying defect. Not a word about the
effectiveness or otherwise of trying to keep the aid vultures away,
just a sad, silly, clapped-out cliche that ensures that people must
suffer or die, just to keep that veneer of venality intact.

If we direct the money ourselves, it implies that the local bigwigs
are corrupt and they might get offended and that’s not acceptable.

They might shout ‘racism’ and then Conor would be looking at a
two-time rap.

What did they do to you, McMurphy?