Author: Karakhanian Suren

DINK TRIAL RESULTS IN MELEE AS SUSPECTS ENGAGE IN FIGHT

Hurriyet
/domestic/10861347.asp?scr=1
Jan 27 2009
Turkey

ISTANBUL – Two leading suspects in the murder of prominent
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink fought one another in the
eighth hearing of the case in a local court in BeÅ~_iktaÅ~_.

Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel, two suspected inciters of Dink’s murder
argued and Hayal struck Tuncel, who was sitting in front of him.

The brother of Yasin Hayal, Osman Hayal, said, "My brother is a victim
of a plot. Everything happened after he met Erhan Tuncel," reported
the private news site CNNTurk. Tuncel intervened and said, "What does
it have to do with me?" Yasin Hayal replied, "You get the money,
you get the wage, I have the trouble." Hayal then punched Tuncel,
causing the judge to send them out of the courtroom. After the murder,
it was disclosed that Tuncel was working as a police informer at the
time. The gunman, Ogun Samast, did not participate in the hearing.

Not remembering Osman Hayal, who is being tried without being kept
in custody, testified in court that he had nothing to do with the
murder. Hayal said the only thing he knew was that he was in Istanbul
on the date of murder and nothing more.

"It is a complete coincidence that I left Istanbul one hour after the
murder," he said. Arzu Becerik, the Dink family’s lawyer, said there
were contradictions in Osman Hayal’s testimonies. Hayal had given
evidence previously as a witness and was added as a suspect to the case
after it was disclosed he was in Istanbul on the date of the murder.

Zafer Uskul, head of the parliamentary commission on human rights,
Sebahat Tuncel and Akın Birdal, Democratic Society Party, or DTP,
deputies, Ufuk Uras, deputy of the Freedom and Solidarity Party, or
ODP, and the Dink family also participated in the hearing, private
news site BÄ°ANET reported. Dink was shot and died on Jan. 17, 2007,
in central Å~^iÅ~_li in front of the building of the multilingual
weekly Agos, where he was the editor in chief.

–Boundary_(ID_rTUiDKGh1p2EMwl2KDSSVQ)–

ARMENIAN TROOPS COULD BE SENT TO AFGHANISTAN – DEFENSE MINISTER

Interfax
Jan 26 2009
Russia

Armenia is planning to send its troops to Afghanistan, the country’s
Defense Minister Seyran Oganian told Interfax.

"We were able to complete our peacekeeping mission in Iraq and were
highly praised by international organizations and the command units,
in which our peacekeepers served. Apart from Iraq, our peacekeepers
are also present in Kosovo. Currently, we are in discussion to send
a small contingent to Afghanistan," he said.

"I think that as a part of the world that is now building a security
structure, we too must make our own contribution in providing this
security," Oganian said.

MEL GIBSON NOT FILMING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DOCUMENTARY

Hollyscoop
http://movies.hollyscoop.c om/mel-gibson/mel-gibson-not-filming-armenian-geno cide-documentary_1292.aspx
Jan 26 2009
CA

It’s time for some rumor patrol. There are several reports circulating
the internet that movie mogul Mel Gibson is planning on shooting a
documentary about the Armenian Genocide.

The documentary, "The Forty Days of Musa Dagh," was going to address
the genocide that took approximately 1.2 million Armenians lives
during WWI.

To this day, the Turkish government has done everything it can to sweep
the facts about the Armenian genocide under the rug. And apparently
Mel was ready to address them on the big screen.

According to the reports, actor Sylvester Stallone was also set to
partake in the movie, but declined the role after he received 3,000
e-mails from the ASIMED organization.

Hollyscoop contacted Mel Gibson’s rep Alan Nierob to get confirmation
on the project, but he assured us there is "No truth to it whatsoever."

So what’s next for Mel? He’s going to play a homicide detective who
investigates the death of his activist daughter in his next flick,
‘The Edge of Darkness’.

Trend, Azerbaijan
Jan 25 2009

Russian gas transit to Armenia via Georgia stopped
25.01.09 12:16

Georgia, Tbilisi, Jan. 25 /Trend News, N.Kirtskhalia/

Transit of the Russian gas to Armenia via Georgia has been ceased,
Georgia’s Oil and Gas Corporation told Trend News.

An accident at the Gveleti gas-measuring station caused stopping gas
deliveries. Moreover, the Russian gas transit to South Ossetia has
also been stopped which was resumed on Jan. 24.

The Oil and Gas Corporation reported that at present relevant measures
are being taken to eliminate the accident, but it is still unknown
when the Russian gas transit will be resumed. This is the second
accident in main transit gas pipeline.

The Georgian people’s gas supply will not be ceased, as the country
will get natural gas from Azerbaijan.

ARMENIA FACES EUROPEAN SANCTION
By Naira Melkumian

Institute for War and Peace Reporting
;s=f&o =349389&apc_state=henh
Jan 22 2009
UK

The country could lose its vote in PACE for refusing to conform to
European rights body’s resolutions.

A Europe-wide human rights body may suspend Armenian delegates
from voting next week in protest against the South Caucasus state’s
continued failure to implement its demands, including the release of
opposition activists.

The move by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,
PACE, would be a humiliation for Armenia, and would severely damage
its international reputation.

A PACE committee recommended last month that Armenia lose its voice
at the meeting if progress had not been made to conform to PACE’s
resolutions, and a visit last week by two officials is appears unlikely
to have changed its mind.

"It’s no accident that the monitoring committee adopted the draft
resolution. As a rule, such drafts are adopted at the plenary
session. There would have to be a miracle for it not to be adopted,"
said Zaruhi Postandjian, a deputy in the Armenian parliament form
the opposition Zharangutian (Heritage) party.

The PACE investigation stems from the suppression of opposition
protests, which followed February presidential elections. Ten people
died in the protests, and as yet no one has been charged for their
murders.

The presidential polls themselves were described by international
observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation
in European as having been "mostly in line with the country’s
international commitments", but candidates including Levon
Ter-Petrossian – the country’s first post-independence president –
said Serzh Sargsian had stolen the election.

Two weeks of mass protests by supporters of Ter-Petrossian and other
candidates followed, but they were crushed on March 1, with the
government declaring a state of emergency and banning independent
news coverage.

In two successive resolutions – number 1609 in April and number 1620
in June – PACE demanded that Armenia guarantee citizens’ rights to
protest; allow an unbiased investigation into the deaths; and that
it free activists "seemingly detained on artificial and politically
motivated charges".

But three parliamentary deputies and ex-foreign minister Alexander
Arzumanian are among seven people still in detention charged with
organising the mass protests, and attempting a coup, making it likely
that PACE will exclude Armenia from its ranks

"If this decision is taken, then it will affect Armenia in a negative
way, because such things affect the country’s rating, including
its attractiveness for investors," said analyst Alik Iskandarian,
director of the Caucasus Institute.

The court case against the detained opposition leaders has been already
adjourned five times, because the defendants were not sufficiently
respectful to the court. A hearing on January 16 lasted just a few
minutes before the judge rescheduled it for January 30 because the
defendants had not stood up when he came in.

Few Armenians doubt that the court is acting to keep the opposition
activists behind bars as long as possible.

"Maybe this has a legal base, but this is really a political process
just with a legal form. I think PACE’s decision could either speed
up or prolong this process," said Andranik Tevanian, the head of the
Politekonomia think tank.

John Prescott and Georges Colombier, co-rapporteurs for PACE, visited
Armenia last week to check the country’s progress. They held meetings
at the highest level, including with Present Sargsian, who promised
them Armenia was determined to follow PACE’s recommendations.

They also met General Prosecutor Aghvan Ovsepian, who told them that
the detained opposition activists had aimed to seize power.

"They played a key role in the organisation of the disturbances,
in the course of which several dozen cars and shops were burned and
looted, while hundreds of people were hurt in different ways and ten
people died," he told them, according to a press release.

But the prospect of the country losing its right to vote at PACE
has caused splits among the parliamentary deputies of the governing
coalition, not all of whom are as forthright as the prosecutor.

Eduard Sharmazanov, secretary of the Republican Party of Armenia,
said Armenia was only harming itself if it did not go along with
PACE’s resolutions.

"It is a fact that much of what is in resolutions 1609 and 1620 is
unacceptable to us, but we must recognise that no one is forcing us
into European structures, it is our choice. No one is more interested
than us in solving problems within the country," he said.

But despite such doubts, the opposition leaders were unconvinced that
pressure from PACE would help free their detained colleagues.

"There can be no doubt that there are political prisoners in the
country. These defendants are political prisoners," said Arman
Musinian, spokesman for Ter-Petrossian.

He said that the prisoners were being abused in prison, with
investigators trying to force them to sign confessions.

"From this we can conclude that the PACE resolutions will remain
unfulfilled, and the situation in the country will just get worse. The
government has exhausted its resources and it has nothing to show
PACE," he said.

YEREVAN CONFIRMS ARMENIAN, AZERI PRESIDENTS WILL MEET SOON

Interfax
Jan 20 2009
Russia

The Armenian and Azeri presidents, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev,
will meet in the near future, the Armenian presidential press service
told Interfax on Tuesday.

"The participants in a meeting between the co-chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan reached an agreement on organizing a
meeting between the Armenian and Azeri presidents in the near future,"
the press service said.

Presidential press secretary Samvel Farmanian did not specify when
a meeting between Sargsyan and Aliyev could take place and where.

Yury Merzlyakov, the Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, told
journalists in Azerbaijan on Monday that Baku had given its consent to
such a meeting during the traditional annual economic forum in Davos.

"The main result [of the talks in Baku] is Azerbaijan’s consent to hold
a new meeting between the Azeri and Armenian presidents in the near
future, apparently on the sidelines of the Davos economic forum. When
we are in Yerevan tomorrow, we expect to obtain confirmation from
Armenia," Merzlyakov said at a news briefing in Baku on Monday.

The Armenian presidential press service also said the participants in
the Tuesday meeting also discussed certain aspects of the current stage
in the ongoing negotiations on solving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"The co-chairmen informed the president of Armenia about results of
the Baku meetings," it said.

GAZA STRIP HISTORY GOOD LESSON FOR ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.01.2009 17:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Israel is wrapping up its campaign in the Gaza
Strip. On the one hand, it seems the Jewish state can celebrate
victory. On the other hand, it could avoid constant bombardment from
a hostile entity, an Armenian expert said.

"On August 22, 2005, evacuation of Netzarim, the last Jewish settlement
in Gaza, was described as a security measure. The events that followed
can be a good lesson for Armenia and a warning that it’s impossible to
achieve peace in exchange of territories," orientalist Suren Manukyan
told PanARMENIAN.Net.

"Evacuation of Jewish settlements from Gaza brought neither peace nor
security. On the contrary, it made Israel more vulnerable and played in
Hamas’ hands. The enemy took this step as demonstration of weakness and
continued bombing Israeli territories more fiercely. The East doesn’t
have respect for the weak. We should have understood this long ago,"
Manukyan said.

NO SPEECH GOES ON ABOUT ANY NEW INITIATIVES ON GARABAGH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

Azerbaijan Business Center
Jan 22 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. This time the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs who
visited the region of Nagorno Garabagh have offered no ideas on the
occasion of settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

Azeri FM Elmar Mamadguliyev said the co-chairs have not any new
proposals.

"We are working only within the key principles of the
settlement. Speech is only about introduction of new formulations and
specifications suiting both Azerbaijan and Armenia," Mammadyarov said.

But the specifications are not new as well.

"The proposals with specifications were presented by the co-chairs
within the December Helsinki meeting at the level of Azerbaijani
and Armenian FMs. We are working over them and answered to the
co-chairs that it is necessary to do that on the basis of upcoming
meetings between the presidents and FMs of Azerbaijan and Armenia,"
Mammadyarov said.

The two countries’ FMs are to meet on 27 January in Zurich and the
presidents some days later within the Davos Economic Forum.

"We are ready for compromise but only within restoration of territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan and return of refugees and IDPs," Mammadyarov
added.

Following the conflict started in 1988 Armenia has been occupying 20%
of Azerbaijani territory. Ceasefire regime has operated between both
states since 1994.

TURKEY CANNOT REMAIN SILENT AGAINST KILLINGS OF INNOCENT CIVILIANS IN GAZA, BABACAN

Today’s Zaman
Jan 22 2009
Turkey

Turkish Foreign Minister said on Thursday that nobody should expect
Turkey to remain indifferent to killing of children, women and elderly
people in Gaza.

In an exclusive interview with private TGRT News channel, Foreign
Minister Babacan said, "Turkey had intensive talks in Cairo, Egypt
and Damascus on the matter and carried out a diplomacy traffic in the
UN Security Council to quell the weapons. Turkey also had talks with
Israel. Turkey’s proposals were adopted after some changes."

Responding to a question about new U.S. President Barack Obama,
Babacan described his election as historic.

"Expectations from Obama are very high. His team includes very
important names. Turkey is pleased over Hillary Clinton’s becoming
Secretary of State. Foreign policy agendas of Turkey and the United
States overlap each other. Names in the cabinet related to economy
know the markets very well," Babacan said.

Commenting on the pledges Obama made to Armenians regarding 1915
incidents, Babacan said, "the statements made during election campaign
and the statements that would be made when they sit at table may
be different."

"Nevertheless, I can not say there isn’t any risk," Babacan said
and expressed hope that the new administration in the United States
would not assume a posture that would impede the dialogue process
that started between Turkey and Armenia.

Asked to comment on Turkey’s EU process, Babacan said Turkey’s reform
process was delayed in 2007 and 2008 because of internal political
developments, "however, map of next 4 years has been sketched with the
National Program that was made public at the end of 2008," he remarked.

ON MANIFESTAIONS OF IDENTITY IN TURKEY
Ruben Melkonyan

"Noravank" Foundation
22 January 2009

In Turkish reality the issue of ethnic origin is rather delicate and it
often finds reflection in politics, directly touches on state officials
and politicians, causing different speculations. In Turkish "national"
state belonging to other ethnos is regarded as an insult, something
equal to "alien". It is also a widespread method of "accusations"
perceptible by vast masses.

Very often state officials of high rank and politicians have to go
into the problem of ethnic identity and relating "accusations". You
can notice some blur and contradictions in their statements and
comments. Among high-ranking Turkish officials the name of Turkish
prime-minister Recep Erdogan is often mentioned in the context of
ethnic identity and it is pointed out that he is not "pure-blooded"
Turk. In the course of the discussion on his name on 6th December,
1997 in Sghert Erdogan tried to answer these accusations with his
inherent ingenuousness: "They say I’m rizian or laz. I say that I am
not laz. I asked about it my father, and he asked his grandfather who
was mullah and he answered this way: "Tomorrow we’ll die. God will
ask: "Who’s your god, who’s your prophet, what’s your religion? He
will not ask about your nationality or kin. And then you answer:
"Thank God I’m Muslim" and pass by.

But if we follow the ideas he expressed later, we’ll see that he
contradicts to himself. Thus on 21st May, 2004 in Romania he declared
that: "There are no more ideologies in the world. Both ethnic and
religious ideologies are perishable". This was followed by another
statement which contradicted to the foregoing and which was made
on 11th August, 2004 in Georgia: "I am also Georgian; our family is
Georgian family which moved from Batum to Rize". And on 12th April,
2005 in Norway Erdogan said: "I’m Rizian, my wife is from Aghert,
she is Arab and not Turk".

Such a mess in his thoughts let Turkish media suppose that Erdogan
is in the identity crisis now.

Different observations and facts let us attend, that among Turkish
Armenians who had adopted Islam and their successors there is a strata
of those who, having Armenian origin not only reject it, but also
try to prove to their milieu their "pure-blooded Turkish" or Muslim
descend and become convinced anti-Armenian. There is definitely some
psychological point too.

They psychologically regard the part of Armenians who could abide
to their roots as their main enemies. The hostile attitude towards
Armenians in Turkish society is also an important condition
of anti-Armenian manifestations among those who had Armenian
origins. They psychological ly don’t want to belong to the hostile
nation, that’s why they choose the road of assimilation with the
dominant nation. Turning to this matter, the ethnographer Harutyun
Marutyan expresses the following idea: "Publications, direct and
indirect pressure of political and economic character may cause
people to try to get rid of pinned labels, change their milieu,
break off with their relatives and people of the same nation and in
fact choose the road of assimilation and estrangement".

Different sources impute Armenian or at least "non-pure Turkish"
origin to many famous Turkish nationalists, and this, as it was
mentioned above, can be used in political speculations. Among such
examples we would like to mention the statement which was put into
circulation recently saying that one of the most ardent anti-Armenians,
the chairman of Workers party Dogu Perinchek has Armenian roots. We
should remind you, that he is one of the most active extirpators
of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and he was
condemned for the denial of the Genocide in Switzerland.

Some Turkish circles made a big stink, and Perinchek was nicknamed
as "the conqueror of Lozano". The radical-chairman of Workers party
evaluates the Armenian Genocide as "imperialistic lie".

Perinchek’s son is in the track of his father and he also joined the
struggle against the recognition of the Genocide. It is worth noting
that at present Dogu Perinchek is detained on "Ergenekon" terrorist
organization case which caused a sensation in Turkey.

The scandalous disclosure of his routs drew a wide response in Turkish
media. Thus, it was mentioned that Dogu is a native of Apchagha village
in province of Eghin (Akn, Erznka). It is worth noting that province
of Akn is well known for the great number of apostate Armenians and
historical sources confirm that up to 1915 this province was inhabited
mainly by Christians, generally Armenians and Georgians.

But Turkish magazine "Chronicle" came out with more serious facts of
Perinchek’s origin. There are quotations from archival documents of the
Ottoman court in the article which give information on demographic,
social, economic, religious, ethnic situation in the region. In
accordance with them there were many Armenians in the region at the
close of 19th and the beginning of 20th century. Most of them were
craftsmen, and they mainly lived in village of Akn. There were also
many Armenians in the villages of Kemer-gab, Apchagha, Ilich and
e.t.c. The village of Apchagha, the native village of Perinchek’s
ancestors, was mainly inhabited by Armenians. The village headman,
the members of the council of elders were Armenians. Some of their
names have even remained in the court records: the son of Hakob
Krikor, the son of Artin Kirkor and e.t.c. As it was20mentioned in
the foregoing article there was wide spread and at the same time
interesting regularity among Armenians of Akn. They all had generic
names (it should be mentioned for comparison that the surname law was
put into circulation only in 1934, and only after that Turks began to
use surnames), but it is interesting that most of them were made up of
Turkish names: Mouratoglu, Degirmendjioglu, Chilingirolu, Ayvazoglu,
Perinchegoglu and e.t.c. But there was one more interesting detail
in the records of the court. In spite of the fact that most of them
had Turkish generic names, their surnames were Armenian. Turkish and
other surnames were exclusions. In that very court documents there
are records saying that the Perinchoglus were Armenians, and there are
even court cases where they were involved and there was mentioned that;
"Perinchoglu Stepan and Khachatur of Armenian "millet" (nation)". The
father of Dogu Perinchek’s grandfather Mehmet Sadik was born in 1850
in Apchagha. His son Mehmet Djemal Perinchek also was born in the same
village (1887). But as you can see, their surnames are not Armenian
and, in fact, the above mentioned peculiarity is infringed. This
may be regarded as exclusion but the facts from the court documents
throw light on this and many other questions. Thus in the records of
Ottoman court it was written clearly that Mehmet Sadik Perinchoglu was
"muhetdi", and

muhetdi means a person who has converted the faith, it means that
he had adopted Islam in the second half of 19th century, but there
was nothing said about the reasons of the conversion of faith. This
also means that Islam conversion policy with its ascents and declines
continued during the whole history of Ottoman state. Dogu Perinchek
is the offspring of Islamized Armenian. His Armenian descend made
him take the road of self-denial and Turkish chauvinism.

However even this circumstance does not save the likes of Perinchek
from the danger of accusation of being non-Turkish by Turkish
society. This is what Bagrat Esdukyan, the journalist of "Akos"
daily, writes about in his article "Who is Armenian?": "What can we
say to those who have disavowed their nation? Those who have not only
disavowed but even hate their nation. But it occurs that collective
memory doesn’t let you disavow your nation. It will reveal the true
face of the adjurers and show what they have been trying to escape
from for their whole life".