Author: Karagyozian Lena

TURKISH TO BOYCOTT ELECTION OVER ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’
Expatica, Netherlands
Oct 5 2006
AMSTERDAM – A large section of the Turkish community in the Netherlands
is planning to boycott voting at the 22 November national elections.
The director of Turkish lobby group IOT, Ahmet Azdural, said primarily
young Turkish immigrants feel that the nation’s political parties
don’t listen to other opinions.
Turkish voters are reacting to decisions from Labour PvdA and
the Christian Democrat CDA to dump Turkish politicians from their
candidate lists.
The decision was taken after they refused to accept that genocide
was committed in the mass murder of Armenians by Turkey in 1915.
The controversy will cost the left-wing opposition parties PvdA,
green-left GroenLinks and Socialist PS a lot of votes.
A poll of immigrant voters indicated two weeks ago that the three
parties could count on 60 percent of immigrant votes.
The poll was conducted when the Turkish candidates Ayhan Tonca and
Osman Elmaci (CDA) and Erdinc Sacan (PvdA) were still listed as
candidates for the Lower House of Parliament elections.
National Turkish organisations and politicians will now meet on Sunday
in Capelle aan den Ijssel to decide on a joint course of action to
prevent the Armenian issue damaging the relatively large voter turnout
rate for the Turkish community.
Turkish student groups protested in Amsterdam, The Hague and Groningen
and in front of the PvdA office in Amsterdam on Thursday.
PvdA MP Nebahat Albayrak said on Wednesday it was right to discuss
genocide and that Turkish immigrants in the Netherlands and Europe
must be prepared to enter debate about the mass murder of the Armenian
population.
Despite Turkey’s denials, Albayrak said it was right to describe the
mass killings as genocide. But she also said Turkey has the right to
dispute the use of the international legal term ‘genocide’.

AZERI AND ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS TO MEET IN MOSCOW
Author: A.Ismayilova
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Oct 4 2006
Matin Mirza, the speaker for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told
Trend that the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, Elmar Mammadyarov is
to meet with his Armenian counterpart Vardan Oskanian, in Moscow,
Trend reports.
According to Mirza, a meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian
Foreign Ministers was scheduled for 6 October, as the OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairs had proposed. Oskanian also gave his consent for the
meeting to take place, as stated to a news conference in Yerevan by
the Russian Ambassador Yuriy Merzlyakov, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair.
In 10 days the Ministers may hold one more meeting. In his turn
the French Ambassador Bernard Fasie spoke of the possibility of
conduct of talks between the Azerbaijani and Armenian President in
the near future.
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, who arrived in Baku on 2 October,
visited Yerevan and now plan to leave for Nagorno-Karabakh.

ANNUAL NANSEN REFUGEE AWARD PRESENTED TO JAPANESE OPTOMETRIST
Source: UNHCR
Reuters, UK
Oct 3 2006
GENEVA, October 3 (UNHCR) – The prestigious Nansen Refugee Award was
formally presented to Japanese optometrist Akio Kanai in Geneva on
Monday night for his work in improving the sight of tens of thousands
of uprooted people around the world over the past two decades.
In a ceremony at the headquarters of the UN refugee agency, Dr. Kanai
said he was “deeply honoured and grateful,” adding that the award was
“testimony to the significance that the role of optometry plays in
the future of refugees by improving their sight and thus empowering
them to secure a ‘future in focus.'”
The award, which comes with a medal and a cash prize of US$100,000,
is given out yearly to a person or group for outstanding services in
supporting refugee causes. Dr. Kanai said he planned to use the money
to help vision-impaired displaced people in Azerbaijan and refugees
in Armenia.
The Nansen Refugee Award committee selected Dr. Kanai, 64-year-old
chairman and chief executive officer of Fuji Optical, for his practical
commitment to humanitarian work and dedication to easing the plight
of refugees by improving their eyesight.
The committee found the doctor had “rendered exceptional service
to the refugee cause” and had made a huge and genuine contribution
to uprooted people in human as well as financial terms. Dr. Kanai’s
company is based in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido.
“We are very proud that we are the partner of Dr. Akio Kanai and that
the partnership has been extremely important for the lives of more
than 100,000 refugees,” High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres
said before handing over the Nansen medal to the Japanese winner.
Dr. Kanai, himself forcibly displaced from the northern Pacific island
of Sakhalin at the end of World War II, first became interested in
volunteer humanitarian work when he was in the United States training
to become an optometrist.
He began his humanitarian optometry work in 1983 in Thailand with
Indochinese refugees, many of whom had lost or broken their glasses
while fleeing. He has since conducted more than 20 missions for UNHCR
to help uprooted people in Nepal, Thailand, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Dr. Kanai has donated more than 108,200 pairs of glasses, provided
optometry equipment, made cash grants and trained local medical
staff. Fuji Optical, which is UNHCR’s longest-serving corporate
partner, also undertakes regular Vision Aid missions. Scores of
employees have taken part in these missions, using their holidays to
work in refugee camps.
“Without the dedicated and caring support received through our
partnership with the UNHCR, the success of the Vision Aid missions
simply would not have been possible,” Dr. Kanai said at Monday’s
ceremony.
The Japanese humanitarian said his work with UNHCR was exciting, full
of life-changing experiences and had “enriched my life immensely.” He
said he planned to continue with his work with refugees and internally
displaced people.
“I hope this award demonstrates that sometimes, small individual
efforts can play an important role in the lives of refugees and
internally displaced persons,” Dr. Kanai said.
The Nansen Refugee Award, created in 1954, is named after Fridtjof
Nansen, the celebrated Norwegian polar explorer and the world’s first
international refugee official. Previous recipients include Eleanor
Roosevelt, Medecins sans Frontières, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands
and Graca Machel.
–Boundary_(ID_VQUIbhfqm+rUUY0+9zdEeA)–

CHESS WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP STARTS IN YEREVAN
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 3 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN. Solemn opening ceremony of the world
chess championship of chess-players below 20 took place on October 3
at the Central Chess House after Tigran Petrosian. Grand master Smbat
Lputian, Vice-Chairman of the Armenian Chess Federation, champion
of world olympiad, Mikael Ispirian, Vice-Chairman of RA State Sport
Committee, Gagik Hovhannisian, Secretary General of the Armenian Chess
Federation, and Ashot Vardapetian, principal coach of the championship,
made greeting speeches addressed to the championship participants.
Before this the championship participants laid wreaths to the monument
to 9th world champion T.Petrosian.
Armen Hambartsumian, head of the U.S. delegation, Armenian deserved
coach, Tatev Abrahamian, former pupil of Yerevan Chess School,
Hamlet Tumanian representing Iran are among the guests who have
arrived in Armenia.
To recap, the championship organizers have a great experience of
holding such tournaments. World championship of chess-players below
20 was held in Yerevan in 1999 and in 2000.

HRANT KHACHATRYAN’S ROOM BECAME MUSEUM
A1+
[05:26 pm] 02 October, 2006
Although former President of the Constitutional Right Union Hrant
Khachatryan resigned from his post last week and announced that he
leaves the politics field for good, the tension inside the party
wasn’t reduced.
Moreover: the adherents of Hrant Khachatryan who have not left the
party do not mean to retreat and try to restore their position in
the party; and the supporters of Hayk Baboukhanyan continue their
activity as if nothing has happened.
By the way, to everyone’s surprise, after seeing off the foreign
guests of the party, Hrant Khachatryan returned the “VAZ 31-10”
which was serving him, to the party, although the party had decided
to leave the car to him as the honorary President of the party.
Despite his connections with the members of the party, Hrant
Khachatryan does not go to the office. He has also stuck a table saying
“Museum” to his former room.

ALIYEV: THERE WILL BE NO TRADE-OFFS IN GARABAGH ISSUE DURING MY PRESIDENCY
Azeri Press Agency
Oct 2 2006
“I take delight when I look at the renovation of the parliament’s
building. I wish parliament had had such a renovated building when I
was a parliamentarian,” Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said in his
address to the opening of the parliament’s autumn session, APA reports.
The head of state said the repairing of the parliament building in a
way that meets modern standards is the part of the construction works
carried out in Azerbaijan. He said this will improve efficiency of
the parliament’s work.
Stating that the role of the parliament in the Azerbaijani society
is increasing, President Ilham Aliyev said parliamentary elections
have always been the start of a new period.
Touching on the state budget for 2007, the head of state said the
government is focusing on the development of non-oil sector.
“We are reproached that Azerbaijan’s state budget is increasing by
the account of oil. But in fact, the government is implementing big
projects to improve non-oil sector. The state budget for 2007 will
target social sphere,” he said.
Azerbaijani President also said the infrastructure projects in the
country will be completed by 2007-2008. Noting that the period of
juridical state institution will start in Azerbaijan after 2008,
Mr.Aliyev said political reforms are being carried out.
Touching on the measures implemented in the regions, the head of
state said 450, 000 jobs have been created, 600 schools were built
in the past two years and big currency flows into the country. He
said Baku-Tbilisi-Akhalkalak-Kars railroad will be opened which will
create a new situation in the country.
“Azerbaijan faces no problem but Nagorno Garabagh. The solution
of the Nagorno Garabagh does not depend on Azerbaijan only. Our
position in this issue remains unchanged. That is Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity should be ensured, UN four resolutions should
be implemented. We support granting high autonomy to Nagorno Garabagh
within Azerbaijan. There are favorable opportunities for the solution
of the problem now. We are making information attack in this field.
This should be followed by economic attack. Azerbaijan’s military
budget will reach Armenia’s state budget. Azerbaijan should choose
attacking policy. Our opponents reproach us sometimes for not finding
a solution to the Nagorno Garabagh problem. This cannot be solved
as Azerbaijan does not agree to any compromises. I will not make
any trade-offs during my presidency. We support negotiating process
in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group,” Azerbaijani President
underlined.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN AND JACQUES CHIRAC UNANIMOUS IN OPINION ABOUT LEAVING KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT WITHIN FRAMEWORK OF MG
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 30 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 30, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Armenian
President Robert Kocharian and the French President Jacques Chirac
take the view that the OSCE Minsk Group should continue to deal with
the issue of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement. The presidents
of the two countries stated this at the September 30 press conference
in Yerevan during J. Chirac’s three-day state visit to Armenia.
Assessing the work done for the conflict’s settlement, J. Chirac as
the president of a country – co-chair of the Minsk Group noted that
the resolution of the Karabakh conflict is “a very complex problem”,
with the Minsk Group experts working efficiently for its solution.
“Their last proposals were serious and can be discussed by official
Yerevan,” the French president underlined, not giving details of
these proposals. In this connection he considered it inexpedient to
transfer the settlement process to another stucture which would have
to start its work by familiarizing itself with the facts.
Robert Kocharian expressed his conviction that a solution to the
Karabakh problem should be found thanks to the work of teams of
skillful negotiators rather than through discussing the problem in
commissions. The last way, in his opinion, will result not in success
but in a growing file of negotiation documents with a simultaneous
accumulation of resolutions favorable to the sides to some or
other extent. “This is not a solution to the problem but rather its
continuation from one or another rostrum,” R. Kocharian noted.
In his words, Jacques Chirac has an expert knowledge about the issue
of the Karabakh conflict settlement.
To recap, GUAM organization member states (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan
and Moldova) are taking actions aimed at putting the issue of the
“long-lasting conflicts” in the territory of the CIS on the UN agenda.

GEORGIAN POLITICIAN CONSIDERS APPROACHES TO SEPARATISM SHOULD BE STRICT
Author: S.Agayeva
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Sept 30 2006
Separatism is the highest form of organized criminality, and the
fight with it should be held in equal with organized criminality. The
outstanding Georgian politician, Professor Patu Davitaya briefed
journalists on September 30 within the participation in the round
table organized by Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, European
Forum and Russian Foreign Center of the Russian Foreign Ministry on the
topic of “Caucasus without separatism and separatists”, Trend reports.
The politician considers that the persons who committed crimes
against humanity in Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Skhinval region
should answer before the world administration of justice. “It is the
key settlement of the problem,” he considers. The approachs towards
separatism should be strict, the politician concluded.

Turkish Daily News
September 29, 2006 Friday
ALI KULEBI PKK TERRORISM UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE GLOBAL FORCES
(I)
Abdullah Ocalan, whom Syria refused to hand over to Turkey, claiming
he didn’t live there, was deported from the country after the
decisive ultimatum of the Turkish Armed Forces. Thus, a phase came to
an end in the struggle against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)
terrorism that had lasted for almost 19 years. While Salman Zirqi,
who was put in charge of Ocalan by Al Muhabarat, the Syrian
Intelligence Service, helped him out of Syria to new destinations
where he would find an equal amount of help and support, the chief
terrorist was dreaming of new beginnings. This was understandable as
PKK terrorism had cost Turkey tens of thousands of casualties and
billions of dollars. It could easily be said that Syria, which was
supported by the Soviet Union in the pre-1990 era; Greece, which is
still hallucinating about revenging its defeat in Cyprus in 1974;
Iran, which does not want a strong, democratic and secular Turkey in
the region; and the post-1990 Armenia and the pre-1990 Bulgaria as
well as prominent EU countries have extended their support in varying
degrees to the PKK throughout the period in which this ruthless
terrorist organization has sought power and recognition.
Additionally, the United States, subsequent to the launch of the
Combined Task Force — Poised Hammer, and finally Israel, within its
search to somehow make a use for the Kurds following the second Gulf
war, have provided some support to the PKK. At this point, it should
be emphasized that alongside the United States, Russia, as another
global power, has also supported and sheltered PKK terrorism at
different times.
Soviet Union as global force and PKK:
The Syrian strategy of systematically supporting the PKK is
undoubtedly in accordance with Syria’s historical national designs.
Within the illusion of a Greater Syria, the acquisition of Hatay has
always been a dream. To attain this goal, first Turkey was to be
weakened, and to weaken Turkey they would trigger internal
disruptions. Therefore, the harsh reality that the PKK terrorists
received training in the camps in Syria and Lebanon and were
transported from there to the Turkish border in the very vehicles of
the Syrian Army and Al Muhabarat should be understood as an extension
of this historical strategy of Syria. When Syria, whose military
inventory always looks very impressive on paper, was pursuing such a
strategy against Turkey, did it rely on its thousands of tanks,
artillery and hundreds of warplanes or on the Arab world, which
undeniably failed to support the Syrians during their wars against
Israel? For the pre-1990 era the answer to this question should be
“no.” Firstly, it was obvious that the Syrian Army would be no match
against the much stronger and very well-disciplined Turkish Army,
which was well equipped — according to NATO standards — to
challenge the Soviet Army. Secondly, considering past events, Syria
could not rely on the other Arab states, either. In this case, Syria
could have relied only on powers other than the United States and
NATO, which were evidently the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact
countries. Syria expected that Turkish interference with Syria would
have resulted in the harsh retaliation of the Soviet Union. In other
words, the global and military force behind Syria, which was one of
the two prominent patrons of the PKK (the other was evidently our
neighbor Greece), was the Soviet Union.
The profit to be gained by the Soviet Union from the intensification
of PKK terror and even the disintegration of Turkey was not to be
underestimated. After all, a NATO member would have disintegrated and
thus the Soviet Union would have easily been able to access the
Mediterranean, the Middle East and, more importantly, the oil
resources in the region. In fact, it should be remembered here that
Bulgaria too played a certain role in the enhancement of the PKK’s
terrorist power. Given that such involvement of Bulgaria in the issue
was encouraged by the Soviet Union, the Soviet support provided to
the PKK in the pre-1990 era became more visible. It is clear today
that the Russian Federation, being the successor of the Soviet Union,
has inherited Soviet methods of foreign policy and thus is continuing
to handle the PKK similar to how the Soviets handled the group. This
time, however, parallels have been drawn between PKK terrorism and
the Chechen movement.
Focusing on the post-1990 era and elaborating on how Syria remained
in support of the PKK until 1998, even after the dissolution of the
Soviet Union, we arrive at a critical point. Syria did not take into
account the fact that it was not in a position to compete,
militarily, economically or politically, with Turkey, especially
having lost the empowering support of the Soviet Union with the
collapse of this giant empire. Furthermore, Syrian military assets,
which looked impressive on paper, had become outmoded and thrown on
the scrap heap over the course of time.
On the matter of the PKK, one can not help but wonder about the
answers to the following questions: If Syria was to be pacified
easily, why then did Turkey very sadly lose thousands of sons and
experience so much distress for years? Was it because of the
insensitive and almost anti-national policies of the maladroit
governments that ruled Turkey at the time? Were Turkey’s passiveness
and indecisiveness a result of its miscalculation of the military and
political powers backing PKK terrorism? Why did Turkey wait eight
years until 1998? Why did not we force Greece, Armenia, the Greek
Cypriot administration and Iran, alongside Syria, to answer for their
support to the PKK? Was Turkey afraid that these states would form a
Holy Alliance and conspire against Turkey? Or was there a concealed
truth behind the global actors’ support of these states?
What caused our setback then? Was it the U.S. deployment of the
“Combined Task Force — Poised Hammer” north of the 36th parallel in
Iraq that began preparations for a Kurdish establishment in the
region? Was it because, in a state of euphoria, we were completely
mesmerized by our entry to the customs union? In reality, the
situation was no different than the Ottoman signature on the Treaty
of Baltalimani in 1838, which is today accepted as the beginning of
the decline of the Ottoman Empire. All these points must be examined
historically. The first point to be elaborated upon is that the close
relationship between the PKK and the Soviet Union was in the
pre-1990, era when Soviet Russia was one of the two global powers.
Unfortunately, contemporary Russia continued the same attitude
towards the PKK for some time. Some significant proof of this is as
follows:
Allegedly, there was a PKK-controlled training camp that was active
for many years and which made possible the ideological education of
the PKK’s mountaineering staff in Yaroslavl, lying 250 kilometers
north of Moscow.
Materiel captured during Turkish military operations indicated that
some of the weapons, including surface-to-air missiles (SAM), were
Russian made.
The Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, once attempted
to recognize the PKK, which is something we still remember
Ocalan, the leader of the PKK, went to Russia twice after leaving
Syria, and his efforts to take refuge in Russia are also still in our
minds.
* Ali Kulebi is acting president of TUSAM (National Security
Strategies Research Center). He can be contacted at [email protected]

EP TO VOTE ON TURKEY REPORT TODAY
Turkish Press
Sept 27 2006
The full European Parliament is due today to vote a Turkey report
prepared by Dutch Christian Democrat Camiel Eurlings. During
yesterday’s session, MEP Louis Michel said that recognizing the
so-called Armenian genocide shouldn’t be a precondition for Turkey’s
accession, adding that it wouldn’t be appropriate to put forth new
criteria. “We have to understand the importance of Turkey,” said
Michel. “Turkey plays a key role in the region.” Michel added that
the European Union needs Turkey for peace and stability.