Author: Karakhanian Suren

FRENCH FM: LATEST TALKS ON KARABAKH HELD IN CONSTRUCTIVE ATMOSPHERE

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.12.2006 18:33 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "I believe that talks [over settlement of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict], held within the past months helped achieve notable
progress owing to mediation of the OSCE MG co-chairs and were held in
a constructive atmosphere," French FM Philippe Douste-Blazy stated
at the session of the OSCE Foreign Ministers. He urged parties to
continue moving along the way chosen.

Luxembourg Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Jean Asselborn
also addressed the issue of unsolved conflicts in his speech. "The
increase of tension in Georgia, delay of search for a solution of
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, separatism, the so-called referendum
and elections in Transnistria and South Ossetia hamper solution of
"frozen" conflicts," he noted. He welcomed OSCE efforts to search for
an agreement. In his opinion, the OSCE can form a favorable atmosphere
for search for a lasting solution of conflicts, reports Trend.

A HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER SENTENCED TO 30 MONTHS IN PRISON

AZG Armenian Daily
02/12/2006

Freedom Of Expression At Risk

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World
Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) express their deep concern
regarding the condemnation of Mr. Selahattin Demirtas, a lawyer and
the Chairman of the Diyarbakir Branch of the Human Rights Association
(HRA).

According to the information received, on November 14, 2006,
Mr. Selahattin Demirtas was sentenced to 15 months in prison by the
4th Heavy Penal Court and a suspended sentence of 15 more months by
the 5th Heavy Penal Court for propaganda for an illegal organisation,
on the basis of an official complaint filed by the Diyarbakir Security
Directorate. This complaint followed two public statements made by
Mr. Demirtas in June and July 2005, during which he took position in
favour of a peaceful and negotiated solution to the Kurdish issue
through discussions with Abdullah Ocalan, who, he stated, should
be considered as indispensable as he is regarded as a leader by the
Kurds. The Diyarbakir Chief Public Prosecution Office decided to
file two separate claims against Mr. Demirtas at the 4th and 5th
Heavy Penal Courts (previously known as State Security Courts), for
violation of Article 220/8 of the Turkish Penal Code which provides
that "those who do propaganda for an illegal organisation or for its
aims in published writings or through media channels are sentenced
to 18 months to 4.5 years imprisonment with hard labour".

Mr. Demirtas appealed against both sentences, and the Supreme Court
should make a decision within six months. Our organisations recall
that Mr. Demirtas has been subjected to numerous legal proceedings due
to his statements or activities in favour of human rights, peace and
democracy. Indeed, more than 80 investigations were launched against
him, and among them, 14 cases were brought to court in the last few
years1. Our organisations express their deepest concern about this
sentence which illustrates ongoing repression of freedom of expression
in Turkey, in particular when it comes to statements regarding a
peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue. This decision blatantly
violates Turkey’s commitments regarding freedom of expression,
in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (article 19.1 and 19.2), as well article 10 of the European
Convention on Human Rights and article 9.1 of the Document of the
Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference of the Human Dimension of the
Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), which all
provide the right for everyone to "freedom of expression" including
the freedom to receive and impart information and ideas, without
interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. FIDH
and OMCT remind the Turkish authorities that they have to conform
with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders
adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular
article 6c), which provides that everyone has the right "to study,
discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance, both in law and in
practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, through
these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those
matters". Our organisations urge the Turkish authorities to ensure
Mr. Demirtas a fair and impartial trial in appeal and to guarantee
freedom of expression in any circumstances, in accordance with the
above-mentioned regional and international human rights instruments.

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) World Organisation
Against Torture (OMCT).

THE ECUMENICAL DEBATE CALLED TO MIND BY THE POPE’S VISIT
Abdulhamit Bilici

Zaman Online, Turkey
Nov 30 2006

As a country, when we postpone problems facing us that we have been
unable to resolve, we feel we have made gains. However, even though it
may appear this way in the short run, in reality no postponed problem
disappears because we have delayed its resolution. To the contrary,
it grows. In fact, many problems, which until yesterday had a national
character, have now become gangrenous. Before long, they take on an
international nature and give us an even bigger headache.

Despite the reality of our history and society, the method we followed
in the Kurdish issue was precisely this. We weren’t able to accept
the existence of this matter for a long time. Today we are following
a similar path in regard to the Alawi issue. We employed the same
method in Cyprus until about four years ago. Except for one or two
steps taken recently against the Armenian genocide claim, we are not
able to take bold moves. It isn’t necessary to list problems with
non-Muslim minorities, because the government has not even been able
to resolve many issues in its relations with devout Muslims.

If we look carefully, we see that all of these problems have
become internationalized one way or another. An issue’s taking on an
international nature means this: Even if you do not want to, you lose
the freedom of resolving the matter on the basis of your own truths.

Most of the time problems that you did not solve become trump cards
in the hands of others.

Of course, every problem mentioned here may not have an easy
solution. However, the reason most problems grow is their being seen
as insignificant when they first appear or their being neglecting
over a long period. For this reason, the important thing is to have
the will to resolve problems before they develop gangrene. One of
our unresolved problems is the ecumenical issue.

Patriarch Bartholomeos, who is seen as religious leader of the Greek
Orthodox Community by the nearly three thousand Greeks living in
Turkey, uses the adjective "ecumenical," meaning the universal leader
of 300 million Orthodox Christians in the world. Turkey’s objection
to this extends back to Lausanne, where there was discussion of the
Patriarchate being moved outside the country. It is a debate that
has continued for years in the form of dialogue between the deaf, or
arm wrestling. However, the visit to Turkey by Pope Benedict XVI that
began yesterday has brought the issue to the surface again, because
the invitation made two years ago to the pope, religious leader of
1.2 billion Catholics, was an initiative begun by the Patriarchate.

The attempt of the Patriarch, who is just the leader of a handful of
Greeks, to take on the world-wide task of drawing the Orthodox and
Catholics closer together, is incomprehensible when viewed from the
perspective of official suppositions.

The final shape the pope’s visit became possible after intense
diplomatic efforts to salvage this odd situation. The most important
of these is the pope’s being invited as a head of state by Turkish
President Sezer. Actually, his heavy criticism of Islam in a
speech made at the Regensburg University on September 12th and the
subsequent reaction of the Islamic world overshadowed this aspect
of the crisis. However, the adjective "ecumenical" being used on the
press cards distributed by the Patriarchate to reporters who wanted
to follow the pope’s Istanbul program again inflamed the crisis.

The Patriarchate does not hesitate to use this adjective everywhere,
from its official website to international events it participates in.

Patriarch Bartholomeus expressed his approach to this issue in his
latest interview with the Sabah newspaper as follows: "Administering
a church is not easy. Churches in North and South America, England,
Germany, Western Europe, New Zealand, Korea and Hong Kong are tied
to us. But we are not ecumenical! We do not have an ecumenical problem.

We have carried this title since the sixth century. We carried this
title during the Byzantine, Ottoman and Republican periods and we
will continue to carry it. The ecumenical title has created some
difficulty in recent years. They write as if I had invented it…"

Actually there is no full concurrence among the Orthodox on this
subject. According to the Moscow Patriarchate, the concept which
only expresses respect is given other meanings by the Phanariot
administration. Of course, this does not change the fact that everyone
from the U.S. President to the pope accepts this title.

We have to immediately concentrate on a right solution. Personally,
I do not find it appropriate for Turkey’s being a forced to remain
witness to a situation it does not approve of.

PUTIN LIFTS WINE BAN FOR MOLDOVA
By Maria Levitov
Staff Writer

The Moscow Times, Russia
Nov 29 2006

Vladimir Rodionov / Itar-Tass

Presidents Vladimir Putin and Viktor Yushchenko heading into a
meeting during a CIS summit in Minsk on Tuesday. Behind them are
other CIS leaders.

President Vladimir Putin used a Commonwealth of Independent States
summit in Minsk on Tuesday to lift the ban on wine and meat imports
from Moldova.

"We agreed on the resumption of shipments of meat and wine from
Moldova to Russia," he said late Tuesday after talks with Moldovan
President Vladimir Voronin, Interfax reported.

Putin also announced that Gazprom would form a 50-50 joint venture
with Belarussian state gas monopoly Beltransgaz. In televised remarks,
Putin said the details of the deal would be worked out by the end of
the year.

No further information on the deal was made available late Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Gazprom indicated that it might charge Belarus
less than $200 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas — the price it is
currently demanding — in exchange for more gas pipeline assets.

Russia suspended imports of wine from Moldova and Georgia last
March, citing health concerns. Both Voronin and Georgian President
Mikheil Saakashvili complained that the ban had more to do with their
aspirations to escape Moscow’s influence and move closer to the West.

The wine ban took a heavy toll on the economies of both countries.

Business Analytica, an industry consultancy, said that in 2005,
Georgian and Moldovan wines accounted for some 44 percent of all
in-store wine sales in Russia.

Saakashvili also asked the Kremlin for a face-to-face meeting with
Putin in Minsk, but was turned down.

The lifting of the Moldovan wine ban was the highlight of the 15th
annual CIS summit, which produced few other positive results.

Importantly, the 12 member states failed to agree on how to reform
the organization, which is increasingly viewed as obsolete.

"In Kazan, we postponed [the implementation of reforms] until Moscow,
and in Moscow until Minsk," Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev
said, RIA-Novosti reported. "Now, we are postponing everything until
Dushanbe," he said, apparently referring to the next CIS summit. A
CIS spokeswoman said, however, that the location of the next summit
had yet to be decided.

The organization’s waning relevance was underscored by the coverage on
Russian state television of a squabble that ensued when two leading
Russian newspapers were denied access to the event for "unfavorable
coverage" of Belarus.

Kommersant and Moskovsky Komsomolets were barred from the summit
because they had published "articles and photographs insulting to
the head of the Belarussian state," Pavel Legkiy, a spokesman for
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, told Interfax.

Despite the incident, which stole the spotlight in Minsk, analysts
said Tuesday that CIS summits remained an important forum where
leaders can meet in person.

In Minsk, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and Azeri President
Ilkham Aliyev discussed the fate of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh
republic. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a bitter,
decades-long struggle for the republic, which they both claim.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko met with Uzbek President Islam
Karimov to discuss cooperation on energy resources extraction and
shipping, the RBC Ukraine news agency reported.

Saakashvili did not get to meet with Putin, however. The Georgian
president had hoped to make progress on improving ties between the
two countries, he said in televised remarks Monday.

"I don’t want to insult Georgia and the friendly Georgian people …

but relations with Georgia are not a priority for us at the moment,"
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said in an interview published this
week in Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine.

Nazarbayev said that while no bilateral meeting was held in Minsk,
Putin and Saakashvili had exchanged opinions during the summit. This
"gives hope" for the warming of Russia-Georgia relations, Nazarbayev
said in televised remarks.

The CIS remains an important platform where heads of state can meet,
but otherwise it lacks relevance, said Alexei Makarkin, deputy general
director of the Moscow-based Center for Political Technologies.

"It lacks a common idea apart from [providing] a civilized divorce,"
Makarkin said. The CIS was established to ease the transition of its
members to independence after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Konstantin Zatulin, general director of the CIS Institute, said the
organization would remain a functional political force. "The CIS is
first and foremost a political organization," he said.

Zatulin said the CIS would remain active unless Russia were to pull
out, which would not be in Moscow’s interest. He added that Russia
needed to provide incentives to other member states to compensate
for coming gas price hikes.

Defense Minister Ivanov reaffirmed the Kremlin’s stance that Russia
would no longer supply energy to Georgia, Ukraine or other former
Soviet republics at discounted prices.

"Russia is not obliged to foot the bill for any foreign state as it
has, for example, in Ukraine, covering a $6 billion to $7 billion
annual bill," he said.

SERGEY MIRONOV: MOSCOW ASSESSES HIGHLY OSCE MG ACTIVITIES

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.11.2006 15:32 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia assesses highly the activities of the OSCE
Minsk Group, chairman of the Russian Federation Sergey Mironov said at
the meeting with the Armenian parliamentary delegation. He reiterated
that Russia is ready to stand guarantor of the solutions admissible
for the sides in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. For his part RA NA
Speaker Tigran Torosian remarked that the end of the Karabakh war was
determined neither by weapons nor money and number of soldiers. "And
now the outcome of the conflict does not depend on these factors,"
he said adding that Azerbaijan had better target the financial flows
at creation of normal living conditions for the refugees.

Tigran Torosian also said that the mediators have found a good
formula for the conflict settlement by comparing but not opposing
the principles of territorial integrity and right of peoples to
self-determination. However Azerbaijan rejects these proposals,
the Speaker added.

Watertown TAB & Press, MA
Nov 25 2006

Explore early Armenian history
Friday, November 24, 2006

Film and lecture series runs through Dec. 3

The Boston Chapter of the Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and
Cultural Society, the Armenian Library and Museum of America, the
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research and the
Harvard Armenian Society are presenting a lecture and film series on
early Armenian history by Professor Artak Movsisyan.

Movsisyan is an associate professor of history at Yerevan State
University and a scholar at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the
National Academy of Sciences, Republic of Armenia.

The schedule of the lecture and film series is as follows:

"The Pre-Christian Written Culture of Armenia," lecture, Wednesday,
Nov. 29, 7:45 p.m., at Harvard University, Sever Hall, Room 113,
Cambridge. (Harvard Yard to the right of Memorial Church).

"The Origins of the Armenian Nation: From Earliest References to
Now," lecture, Thursday, Nov. 30, 7:30 p.m., at NAASR, 395 Concord
Ave., Belmont.

"Tigran the Great – A Patriotic Sovereign," film screening, Saturday,
Dec. 2, 1:30 p.m., at ACEC, 47 Nichols Ave., Watertown.

"Pre-Christian Armenian Belief System and Transition to
Christianity," lecture, Sunday, Dec. 3, 3 p.m., at ALMA, 65 Main St.,
Watertown.

Admission to all events is free and lectures will be delivered in
English.

To find out more, contact Hamazkayin-Boston at
[email protected] or call 617-924-8849; ALMA at
[email protected], 617-926-2562; or NAASR at [email protected],
617-489-1610.

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Nov 24 2006

ARKADY GHUKASIAN MEETS IN U.S. WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF ARMENIAN
TRADITIONAL PARTIES

LOS ANGELES, NOVEMBER 24, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. "We are
obliged to built the country of our dreams for freedom of which the
best sons of the Armenian people sacrificed themselves," NKR
President Arkady Ghukasian stated at the November 22 banquet
organized by Archbishop Moushegh Mardirussian, the U.S. Western
Diocese primate of the Cilicia Catholicosate of the Armenian
Apostolic Church.

As the NKR President’s Acting Press Secretary states, Arkady
Ghukasian went to the mentioned event accompanied by Archbishop
Pargev Martirosian, the Artsakh Diocese primate of the Armenian
Apostolic Church, and Armen Liloyan, the RA Consul General to Los
Angeles, after visiting the new building of primacy being built in
the suburb of La-Crescenta, Los Angeles.

In his speech the President particularly made a speech calling on the
Armenian community’s gathering in Diaspora, entrusting to the
national unity and own forces.

Representatives of the ARF U.S. Western Central Committee, AGBU,
Armenian Relief Association, "Hamazgayin" (National) institution,
Armenian Educational Foundation, Women’s Union attached to the
Cilicia primacy as well as former Mayor of Glendale Larry Zarian and
members of the present city council Ara Najarian and Raffi Manoukian,
other honorary quests participated in the event.

On the same day the NKR President had a number of meetings with
representatives of leading instances of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun,
Liberal Democratic Party and Social-Democratic Hnchak Party Western
structures. Arkady Ghukasian persuaded interlocutors to show their
active assistance for creation of honourable life for the people
passed through war ordeals and won in unequal struggles.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenian Genocide One of Reasons of Loss of Dutch Labor Party
25.11.2006 15:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Genocide was one of reasons
of loss of the Dutch Labor Party (PvdA), the
Federation of the Armenian Organizations of
Netherlands (FAON) told PanARMENIAN.Net. On the one
hand many Turks did no appreciate the sending away of
Turkish genocide denier Sacan to place 53 of the PvdA
candidate list, but neither they like the tuning
around position which leader of the Dutch Labour Party
Wouter Bos took later. `We may call it genocide, but
we have to watch our word. We don’t know whether it
matches the juridical sense of the word genocide yet,
like in genocide treaties. But also Armenians (of
course) and many Dutch voted for other parties, like
Christian Union (who launched the genocide recognition
motion in 2004)," he said.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenia Fund Annual Telethon Launched Today
23.11.2006 18:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On November 23, 2006, Armenia Fund will air its 9th
Annual International Telethon. This year’s telethon will highlight the
organization’s 15 years of achievements as well as celebrate the 15th
Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Armenia. Since
1991, Armenia Fund has rendered more than $160 million in short term
humanitarian aid as well as long term infrastructure development
project. The organization was instrumental for urgently facilitating
the critical energy needs of the fledgling Armenian republic in from
1991 – 1994. In addition to its relief aid, the organization has
constructed major infrastructure that includes rural roads and
highways, drinking water and irrigation networks, healthcare
facilities, schools, and cultural and historical projects’
rehabilitation.

Proceeds from Telethon 2006 will benefit the war torn region of Hadrut
in Nagorno Karabakh. Among various major projects, the plan calls for
the reconstruction of a regional hospital, a series of new schools,
new water pipelines and distribution networks, as well a comprehensive
regional agricultural development program all designed to enhance the
socio-economic standards of the region. The plan will draw parallels
to the Martakert Regional Development plan, which is currently
underway, after months of planning and fund collection.

Berliner Morgenpost
23. November 2006

Memories of Armenia: "The Fairy Tale of the Last Thought" play by
Edgar Hilsenrath

Erinnerung an Armenien;
theater "Das Märchen vom letzten Gedanken" von Edgar Hilsenrath

Sebastian Blottner

*Regelmäßig wird von engagierten Zeitgenossen der Völkermord an den
Armeniern ins kollektive Gedächtnis gerufen – und trotzdem gehört
dieses dunkle Kapitel der europäischen Geschichte zu den
bestvergessenen Verbrechen des letzten Jahrhunderts. Der Autor Edgar
Hilsenrath, der in diesem Jahr seinen 80. Geburtstag feierte, näherte
sich dem Thema auf literarischem Wege, mit dem preisgekrönten Roman
"Das Märchen vom letzten Gedanken". Im Stil eines abendländischen
Märchens schildert er darin die Seele eines Volkes und nimmt die Spur
von Leben und Untergang der Armenier auf. Hilsenrath ist deutscher
Jude. Der Dramatiker Andreas Jungwirth und Regisseur Rolf Krieg haben
sein Buch für die Bühne adaptiert. Herausgekommen ist ein Stück, das
die Erinnerung zum zentralen Punkt der Inszenierung macht. Nach der
Uraufführung in Yerewan ist die deutsch-armenische
Gemeinschaftsarbeit bereits erfolgreich durch Armenien getourt und
ist nun fünf Tage in Berlin zu sehen.

Theater Unterm Dach, 20 Uhr, Telefon 902 95 38 17. Bis 29.11.

Drama vom Leben und Untergang