Author: Karakhanian Suren

WRITER DEMIRER ON TRIAL FOR "ARMENIAN GENOCIDE"
Erol Onderoðlu

BIA
March 5 2008
Turkey

In protest at Hrant Dink’s murder, writer Demirer had called on others
to commit the same "crime" as Dink had done, i.e. to recognise the
factuality of an "Armenian genocide." He is now facing a trial under
Articles 301 and 216.

A day after journalist Hrant Dink’s murder on 19 January 2007, writer
Temel Demirer read a press statement in central Ankara, saying that
the journalist had not only been killed for being Armenian, but also
because he had spoken of an "Armenian genocide."

Trial under Articles 301 and 216 Around a year later, Demirer has
been taken to court under Article 301 and 216 for "denigrating the
Turkish Republic" and "inciting to hatred and hostility." The case
will be heard at the Ankara 2nd Penal Court tomorrow (6 March).

Temel Demirer and the Solidarity Initiative had said, "We owe something
to those being tried for their thoughts and actions, those being
obstructed, tortured, imprisoned and killed."

In a previous statement Demirer said that he believed that there was
a genocide carried out against the Armenians in the Ottoman period,
that the state was then the "customs of the the Committee of Union
of Process", and that these customs had been continued up to cases
like the Susurluk scandal (which revealed connections between the
state and contract killings).

Calling on others to commit "crimes" in protest The indictment prepared
by Chief Public Prosecutor Levent Savas on 24 December 2007 is based
on police reports and police recordings.

According to the indictment, Demirer said the following at the
protest meeting:

"We live in a country where murders and silencing the truth are
partners. Hrant was murdered not only because he was Armenian but
because he said expressed the reality that a genocide took place in
this country. If the Turkish intellectuals do not commit 301 crimes
under Article 301, then they will be guilty of Hrant’s murder, too."

"There is a genocide in our history, it is called the Armenian
genocide. At the cost of his life, Hrant told us all about this
reality. Those who do not commit a crime against the murderous state
are part of the murder. Those who killed the Armenians yesterday are
today attacking our Kurdish brothers and sisters. Those who want the
brotherhood of peoples need to face up to this history. We have to
commit crimes to avoid that what happened to the Armenians happens
to the Kurds. I call on all of you to commit crimes. Yes, there was
an Armenian genocide in this country."

The statement was signed by the following:

Fikret Baþkaya, Ýsmail Beþikci, Yuksel Akkaya, Mehmet Ozer,
Necmettin Salaz, Ahmet Telli, Ruþen Sumbuloðlu, Tayfun Ýþci, Mahmut
Konuk, Ýbrahim Akyol, Abdullah Aydýn, Oktay Etiman, Sait Cetinoðlu,
Halil Ýbrahim Vargun, Ozgen Seckin, Ziþan Kurum, Mete Kaan Kaynar,
Hakký Atýl, Mustafa Kahya, Anýl Aslan, Huseyin Ontaþ, Erol Býyýklý,
Cennet Bilek, Serpil Koksal, Selcuk Kozaðaclý, H. Ýbrahim Vargun,
Evrim Kýlýc, Yýlmaz Erdoðan, Pýnar Dursun, Samet Erdemir, Ozer Akkuþ,
Ozgur Doðan, Mehmet Toðan, Ramazan Gezgin, Metin Uzunoz, Onur Iþýk,
Huseyin Gevher, Ulku Cevik, Huseyin Gungor, Muzaffer Celikkol, Rýza
Karaman, Metin Ayhan, Ýrfan Kaygýsýz, Caðdaþ Kupeli, Devrim Kahraman,
Tulay Kocak, Ali Ersin Gur, Muharrem Demirkýran, Haldun Acýksozlu,
Adil Okay, Confederation of Europe Workers from Turkey (ATIK) (EO/GG)

–Boundary_(ID_QqPCZayNU/84QPsh9gFxDg)–

AZERBAIJAN HOSTS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE "WOMEN AND STATE BUILDING"

Azeri Press Agency
March 5 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku. Laura Jabrayilli-APA. International conference "Women and State
Building" has been held on the initiative of Azerbaijan Social Welfare
Party. APA reports that representatives from Turkey, France, Russia,
Egypt, Hungary, Ukraine, Kuwait, Jordan and other countries attended
the conference.Professor Maarife Hajiyeva made a speech on the theme
"Women and State Building: Problems and Prospects".

"Those, who say that family is a small state, are not mistaken.

Family paves the way for great state building merits of women,"
she said.

Maarife Hajiyeva put forward the initiative on instituting the order
of "Honor of Family", which should be given not to the mothers of
large families, but to those who have brought up children useful for
the society.

Vice-Speaker of the Parliament Bahar Muradova said holding the
conference on the eve of March 8th – International Women’s Day was
a very pleasant event.

"Azerbaijani women are represented in the government agencies. 14 out
of 125 members of the Parliament are women. Women are also represented
in the municipalities, though their number does not satisfy us,"
she said.

MP Ganira Pashayeva said Azerbaijani women mostly suffered from the
results of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. She said Azerbaijan People
had underwent genocide by Armenians several times, a lot of people,
including women and children had been killed. Ganira Pashayeva said
Armenians continued pursuing hostile policy against Azerbaijanis and
mentioned the developments happened in Terter and Goranboy the day
before. The parliamentarian offered her condolences to Azerbaijani
people and the families of the Azerbaijani soldiers, who had been
killed in the shootout with Armenian aggressors. She said the
document condemning Armenians’ aggressive policy and assessing the
recent developments should be adopted on behalf of the conference
participants.

Vice-Speaker of Egyptian Parliament Zeyeb Radvan, Vice-Speaker of
Kyrgyz Parliament Cholpon Tursunova, Russian MP Natalya Karpovich and
others also addressed the conference. They said that mutual visits
and various international events contributed to the intercourse among
women and solution of common problems.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT-ELECT ADDRESSES NATION, RAPS OPPOSITION FOR UNREST

Mediamax
March 3 2008
Armenia

Yerevan, 3 March: The Armenian prime minister and president-elect,
Serzh Sargsyan, has addressed the nation, sayingthat organizers of
the disturbances in Yerevan "will answer before laws, history and
generations".

"As a result of the latest events, our nation have suffered heavy and
irreplaceable losses – there are victimsfrom both the police, who were
performing their service duty, and among protesters, who fell under
influence of a group of people. Hundreds of people suffered following
illegal actions of the radical opposition," Serzh Sargsyansaid.

"Today, I share grief of all you," the president-elect said in his
address.

AZERBAIJAN BLAMES ARMED CLASH ON ARMENIA

Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS
March 4, 2008
Russia

Azerbaijan has blamed Armenia for the current Azeri-Armenian armed
clash and has described the battle as an Armenian ploy to distract
global attention from the current domestic conflict in Armenia over
the results of a presidential election.

"Everyone both within Azerbaijan and abroad can see quite well what
is happening in Armenia in actual fact," Azeri Foreign Ministry
spokesman Khazar Ibragim told Interfax, in comments on a claim by
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian that Azerbaijan is taking
advantage of Armenia’s domestic political crisis.

"In actual fact, the Armenian leadership, using the head of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of that country as its mouthpiece,
is trying to distract the attention of its public and the world
community from its obvious domestic political problems by employing
the external factor," Ibragim said.

"The Armenian side is using the image of Azerbaijan as its external
enemy," he said.

Azerbaijan does not interfere in the home affairs of any state and
Armenia’s crisis is that country’s internal matter, "but Azerbaijan
will respond to any provocation from the Armenian side," the spokesman
said.

BREAK IN NEGOTIATIONS

AZG Armenian Daily
06/03/2008

Karabakh conflict

According to OSCE Minsk Group US Co-chair Matthew Bryza, it’s necessary
to break off Karabakh negotiations until the situation in Armenia is
regulated. "The situation is tensioned in Armenia and it’s hard to
have success in negotiations", announced Matthew Bryza.

Answering the questions of "Novosti-Azerbaijan" agency Matthew Bryza
mentioned also that Kosovo cannot be a precedent for the settlement
of Karabakh conflict, as each conflict is unique and is not repeated.

OSCE ENVOY VISITS ARMENIA AFTER RIOTS KILL EIGHT
By James Kilner

Reuters
March 3 2008
UK

YEREVAN, March 3 (Reuters) – A European envoy met Armenia’s government
and opposition on Monday in a hastily organised mission to defuse
a standoff that has boiled over into riots in which eight people
were killed.

Soldiers patrol Yerevan’s streets after President Robert Kocharyan
imposed emergency laws during Saturday’s clashes between police and
protesters who say his ally, Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan, rigged
last month’s presidential election.

Heikki Talvitie, a special envoy for the Organisation for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), flew into Yerevan on Sunday night
and met Kocharyan and Sarksyan for talks that resumed on Monday.

Armenia is a country of around 3.2 million people on the edge of the
Caucasus — an oil transit route to Europe from the Caspian Sea where
the United States and Russia battle for influence.

Neither side has shown any willingness to back down, with opposition
leader and former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan pledging to continue
protests and Sarksyan promising to punish trouble makers.

"Organisers of disturbances will answer before the law, history and
generations," Sarksyan said in a statement after meeting Talvitie.

Witnesses saw police fire tracer rounds above the heads of protesters
and lob teargas into the crowd. Protesters armed with metal bars and
petrol bombs torched cars and looted shops in the worst violence in
the ex-Soviet state since 1998.

The 20-day emergency laws ban public meetings and restrict media
reporting. Although armoured personnel carriers guard the main square,
traffic has returned to the streets and the shops are open.

"It was very bad on Saturday," Sahak, a 25-year-old unemployed man,
said as he watched workers hammer together a broken metal shelf in
a looted supermarket.

"But we now really hope that is all over."

Kocharyan officially won 53 percent of the vote in the election and
Ter-Petrosyan won 21.5 percent in a vote the OSCE described as flawed
but sufficient for Armenia to fulfil its international obligations.

But a Western diplomat said another OSCE report on the election this
week would be far more critical.

"Since the election there has been a lot more information coming out
of stuffing ballot boxes and bribery," he said.

Kocharyan and Sarksyan have presided over a period of economic growth
although detractors accuse their government of corruption and nepotism.

Ter-Petrosyan was Armenia’s first president after it broke away from
the Soviet Union in 1991 and although street demonstrations forced him
to resign in 1998 he is still revered by many who want an alternative
to the current government.

EIGHT POLICE WOUNDED BY GUNSHOTS IN ARMENIA: SPOKESMAN

Agence France Presse
March 1, 2008 Saturday

Eight police officers received gunshot wounds Saturday during clashes
with protesters and several are in serious condition, a police
spokesman said.

"Eight policemen have been injured by gunshots. Some of them are in
serious condition," the spokesman said.

PM SERGE SARGSYAN RECEIVED THE SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE OSCE CIO

armradio.am
03.03.2008 12:55

RA president elect, Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan received the Special
Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Heiki Talvitie. At the
beginning of the meeting Mr. Talvitie congratulated Serge Sargsyan
on his elections as President of the Republic of Armenia and wished
him success.

Later the interlocutors turned to the post-election processes in
Armenia, including the tense situation in the capital established as
a result of the unauthorized demonstration of the opposition and the
possible ways of its outcome.

Heiki Talvitie informed that during his stay in Armenia he will have a
tense schedule, meetings with opposition forces are also expected. He
underlined that it’s the wish of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office and
himself that the situation does not get tenser and urged the parties
to do everything possible to reduce the tension.

Serge Sargsyan assured the authorities are as interested in the issue
and from the very beginning they were calling on the opposition to act
exceptionally within the framework of law, be tolerant and express
willingness for cooperation. However, the organizers and inciters
of the unauthorized demonstration were obviously doing everything to
have the outcome we observed on March 1st. He underlined that being
interested in the establishment of public order and stability in the
country, the authorities will continue the efforts in this direction.

Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis reacts to developments in Yerevan

Strasbourg, 1 March 2008 – "I am very concerned about reports of
injuries during the security forces operation to disperse protesters in
Yerevan this morning. If these reports are confirmed, all allegations
of excessive force should be properly investigated. It is also vital
to prevent any further violence.

I am also alarmed by the reports that the runner-up in the recent
presidential elections, former President Lev Ter-Petrossian, has been
put under house arrest. If this is true, he should be immediately
released. If he is accused of committing a crime, he should be
properly charged and prosecuted in a court of law like anyone else.
In a democracy you cannot arbitrarily detain political opponents."

Press Release
Council of Europe Press Division
Ref: 147a08
Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 25 60
Fax:+33 (0)3 88 41 39 11
[email protected]
internet:

OSCE HOPES TO RESOLVE KARABAKH CONFLICT

Interfax News Agency, Russia
Russia & CIS
February 28, 2008

OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Finnish Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva
has pledged further promotion of the Karabakh settlement negotiations.

"The OSCE will continue to support the negotiations. This is my
priority. I hope the OSCE will eventually find a way to resolve this
problem," Kanerva told a press briefing in Baku on Thursday, commenting
on a meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

Kanerva welcomed "the will of the Azeri and Armenian leaders to
continue the negotiations."

"The OSCE will fully support results of these negotiations,"
Kanerva said.

He also called for boosting the Karabakh settlement process.