Author: Khoyetsian Rose

RAJAB TAYYIP ERDOGAN: IMPOSSIBLE TO OPEN BORDERS WITH ARMENIA, UNLESS THERE IS IMPROVEMENT IN THE SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT

Azeri Press Agency
Oct 11 2007

Turkey’s Prime Minister Rajab Tayyip Erdogan once more stated that it
is impossible to open borders with Armenia, unless there is improvement
in the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

The Prime Minister said this in his interview to CNN Turk TV channel,
APA Turkey bureau reports.

Asked about the development of the relations with Armenia and whether
they are thinking of opening borders the Prime Minister said: "There is
a problem of Upper Karabakh. The question is Armenia occupied these
territories. Everybody admits that this is an invasion and Armenia
is demanded to free the lands. It will hurt Azerbaijan, if we open
borders, unless there is any improvement," he said.

Rajab Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey and Azerbaijan are fraternized
countries, moreover the two countries cooperate on Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan,
Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars and other projects and are
strategic partners.

San Gabriel, CA, 10/12/2007

10/11: What do you think?

Do you agree with President Bush that passage of the Armenian Genocide
measure would harm critical relations with Turkey?

A. Yes
B. No

VOTE:

Turkey calls US envoy back home

By Vincent Boland in Ankara, Demetri Sevastopulo in London and Daniel
Dombey in Washington

Published: October 11 2007 17:44 | Last updated: October 12 2007 00:13

Turkey summoned back its ambassador from Washington on Thursday night
in reaction to the US congressional vote labelling the mass killings
of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

The move comes amid warnings that the issue could mark a turning point
in relations between Washington and Ankara and jeopardise US troops in
Iraq.

The non-binding resolution was adopted by the House of Representatives
foreign affairs committee in a 27-21 vote on Wednesday.

It is now set to go to the full House in coming weeks despite intense
opposition from Turkey and the Bush administration, which fears the
measure will further damage an already strained relationship.

"We are not withdrawing our ambassador. We have asked him to come to
Turkey for some consultations,” Levent Bilman, a Turkish foreign
ministry spokesman, said.

He added that the ambassador would stay in Turkey for a week or 10
days for discussions on the vote.

"We look forward to his swift return and will continue to work to
maintain strong US-Turkish relations," the White House said.

Turkey accepts that hundreds of thousands of Ottoman Armenians were
killed from 1915 to 1917 as the empire collapsed and before the
Republic of Turkey was created. But it rejects the idea of genocide
and insists that the victims died because of war, hunger, and
displacement.

Several countries have endorsed the genocide verdict, but for the US
to be on the brink of now doing the same – as seems likely if the
whole House of Representatives votes on it – is especially dismaying
to many Turks.

Some see it as a symbol of a growing disengagement between two
military allies who enjoyed a long and largely pragmatic relationship
until the US invasion of Iraq.

"When we look back in 20 years we might see this as a milestone in the
way Turkey and the US have drifted apart," said Suat Kiniklioglu, an
MP for the ruling Justice and Development party.

Others say that Turkey has backed itself irrevocably into a corner on
the Armenian issue by refusing to engage with its critics and by
silencing domestic debate. Cengiz Aktar, an academic and commentator
in Istanbul, said: "Turkey has made this a question of honour but it
has no other policy. We were more flexible on this issue 20 years ago
than we are today."

The House resolution comes at a delicate time in US relations.
Ankara’s parliament is expected next week to approve a military
operation into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish PKK separatist
rebels who have staged bloody attacks inside Turkey in recent weeks.

Such a move is fiercely opposed by the US, which fears that Iraq’s
most stable region could be engulfed in a new conflict.

Such an authorisation might not be acted on immediately. But the
Turkish authorities appear determined to rout the PKK in the face of a
wave of outrage at recent killings of civilians and soldiers. "The
prime minister feels that our policy of restraint [on the PKK] has to
end," Mr Kiniklioglu said.

But threats of retaliation against the US if the House adopted the
resolution, made by some Turkish politicians, may be premature.
Several diplomats pointed out on Thursday that the Bush administration
and much of the US foreign policy establishment took Ankara’s side in
opposing the resolution, a fact that could influence any official
Turkish response.

Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, said there could be "enormous
present-day implications" for US operations in Iraq if Turkey took
retaliatory action.

Nicholas Burns, the undersecretary of state, said the administration
would contact the Turkish government to convey its "deep
disappointment" at the adoption of the resolution.

Additional reporting by agencies

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007

Source: 0000779fd2ac.html

Turkey strikes suspected Kurdish rebel positions

The Associated Press

October 11, 2007

SIRNAK, TURKEY — Turkish warplanes and helicopter gunships attacked
suspected positions of Kurdish rebels near Iraq on Wednesday, a
possible prelude to a cross-border operation that would be likely to
raise tensions with Washington.

The military offensive also reportedly included shelling of suspected
Turkish Kurd guerrilla hide-outs in northern Iraq, which is
predominantly Kurdish. U.S. officials are preoccupied with efforts to
stabilize other areas of Iraq and oppose Turkish intervention in the
relatively peaceful north. The White House issued a warning Wednesday
against such an incursion "at this time."

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters that a
motion authorizing a cross-border operation was being prepared and
might reach parliament today. An opposition nationalist party said it
would support the motion.

If parliament approves, the military could launch an operation
immediately or wait to see if the United States and its allies decide
to crack down on the rebels, who have been fighting for autonomy in
Turkey’s southeast since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed tens of
thousands of lives.

"If you’re against [the rebels], make your attitude clear and do
whatever is necessary," Erdogan said in comments directed at
Washington. "If you cannot do it, then let us do it."

Turkey and the United States are North Atlantic Treaty Organization
allies, but relations have also been tense over the U.S. congressional
bill that would officially recognize as genocide the Turks’ World War
I-era killing of as many as 1.5 million Armenians. The bill passed a
House panel Wednesday and has been sent to the floor. Turkey denies
the killings amounted to genocide.

An Iraqi government spokesman said a Turkish military incursion would
be regarded as a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.

"We are aware of the size of the threat Turkey is subjected to, but
this does not give Turkey the right to enter Iraqi territories," said
the spokesman, Ali Dabbagh.

Turkey has conducted two dozen large-scale incursions into Iraq since
the late 1980s. The last, in 1997, involved tens of thousands of
troops and government-paid village guards. Results were inconclusive.

The latest Turkish military activity followed attacks by rebels that
have reportedly killed 15 soldiers since Sunday.

Turkish troops were blocking rebel escape routes into Iraq while F-16
and F-14 warplanes and Cobra helicopters dropped bombs on possible
hide-outs, Turkey’s Dogan news agency reported. The military had
dispatched tanks to the region to support the operation against the
rebel Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which the U.S. has branded a
terrorist group.

Source: g-turkey11oct11,1,6775807.story?ctrack=1&cset= true

Panel Labels Armenian Killings Genocide

By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 11, 2007; A03

A House panel voted yesterday to approve calling the mass killings of
Armenians that began in 1915 genocide, defying the White House, which
warned that the measure could damage U.S.-Turkey relations.

The Foreign Affairs Committee passed the nonbinding resolution on a 27
to 21 bipartisan vote. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has promised
she will bring the resolution to the full House for a vote.

Turkey, one of Washington’s most staunch Islamic allies, lobbied hard
to kill the measure, launching a multimillion dollar campaign and
threatening to curtail its cooperation in the Iraq war. President
Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert
M. Gates were joined by eight former secretaries of state and three
former defense secretaries in condemning the proposal.

"This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass
killings, and its passage would do great harm to our relations with a
key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror," Bush told reporters
in the White House Rose Garden yesterday.

But the committee’s chairman, Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), said, "We
have to weigh the desire to express our solidarity with the Armenian
people . . . against the risk that it could cause young men and women
in the uniform of the United States armed services to pay an even
heavier price." Lantos supported the measure, as did most lawmakers
>From California, whose large and influential Armenian American
community has pursued similar proposals for decades.

The tally was far closer than the last vote to support the resolution,
in 2005. But committee members that year knew the resolution would
probably not reach the floor, and it did not. This time, Pelosi’s
support makes a full House vote much more likely, causing committee
members under heavy pressure by Turkey to think twice about their
positions.

Pelosi did not lobbying colleagues yesterday, viewing it as a "matter
of conscience," an aide said.

Several lawmakers have abandoned their support for the measure since
it was introduced by Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) in January,
including co-sponsors Reps. Phil English (R-Pa.), Dan Boren (D-Okla.),
Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), Bobby Jindal (R-La.),
John Shimkus (R-Ill.) and Dennis Moore (D-Kan.).

Two former sponsors who serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Reps.
David Scott (D-Ga.) and Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), voted against the
resolution yesterday.

Scott said he is concerned that Turkey will scale back its role as an
ally in the Middle East. "Are we willing to take that gamble to say,
‘Oh, they’re not going to do anything,’ when they clearly have stated
that they will," he said.

Nabi Sensoy, Turkey’s ambassador to the United States, sat in the
second row of the hearing room, flanked by a delegation of Turkish
parliamentarians. He said Ankara would continue its fight against the
resolution, believing it would lead to requests for massive monetary
compensation by Armenian survivors.

"Why is Armenia not taking this to an international court? They are
trying to win this on political grounds, and they will never let go,"
he said. "It’s very disappointing. I’m hoping they will assume
responsibility for the consequences," he said of House supporters.

Armenian Americans erupted in applause after the vote, while attendees
of Turkish descent sat in stony silence.

Outside the hearing room, the Rev. Sarkis Aktavoukian, who leads an
Armenian church in Bethesda, wept. "America has shown its justice
today," he said.

The vote drew swift condemnation from the Bush administration. "We are
deeply disappointed," said R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state
of political affairs. "Turkey is one of our most important allies
globally."

Staff writers Glenn Kessler and Peter Baker contributed to this report.

Source: le/2007/10/10/AR2007101001280.html?hpid%3Dmorehead lines&sub=AR

ZHARANGUTIUN AGAINST NA EXTRAORDINARY SESSION

Panorama.am
17:05 10/10/2007

"What a vicious thing to call extraordinary sessions!

What is the problem that we want to make the work of all the 131s
formal? After all, we have come to work and discuss. The submitted
bill has arrived with the most ungrounded and doubtful amendments
and we want to rush it without known reasons and do it in a rush.

Shall we not vote? Shall we say we are not taking part? What is
this – an invitation for boycott? We will not boycott. The method
of boycott is not our method. You do not boycott against hostility
but you mobilize forces even more," Larisa Alaverdyan, member of
"Zharangutiun" block, raised these questions from the platform during
today’s extraordinary session of the National Assembly.

By saying "law that has arrived with the most ungrounded and doubtful
amendments" Alaverdyan means the bill "On making amendments to the
law on RA budget system."

Stiopa Safaryan from the same block also named calling extraordinary
session and adopting laws in a rush "vicious." He said they have
learned from the mass media about the decision of NA chairman to
call an extraordinary session and received the package of bills late
yesterday. "Let’s adopt laws in proper procedures by organizing proper
discussions, otherwise, we put more significance on the procedure of
voting and for the sake of that we are able to conduct discussions
at any speed, non-professionally and not proper for the National
Assembly," Safaryan said.

In reply to all these questions and observations, Chairman of the
National Assembly Tigran Torosyan said: "I will ask not to be at
fault with the truth.

Everybody has received the drafts of the laws and the agenda. So,
I do not think such statements are constructive," After that, the
National Assembly proceeded with the discussion of the bills.

Note: NA extraordinary session was held in accordance with the
Constitution and at the initiative of deputies.

BUSH URGES ‘NO’ VOTE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL
By Johanna Neuman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Los Angeles Times, CA
Oct 10 2007

The administration, while acknowledging the tragedy in which 1.5
million were killed, says the resolution in Congress would damage
relations with key ally Turkey.

WASHINGTON — President Bush and top administration officials urged
Congress today to reject a bill that would recognize as "genocide"
the World War I-era slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians.

With a showdown on the bill scheduled later today in the House Foreign
Affairs Committee, Bush warned that passage could damage U.S.

relations with Turkey, a key ally in the war against terrorism.

"Its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in
NATO and in the global war on terror," Bush said on the south lawn
of the White House. "We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of
the Armenian people," he said, adding: "This resolution is not the
right response to these mass killings."

The contentious issue has been simmering in Congress for years, as
Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), whose district includes more Armenian
Americans than any other, has lobbied for the bill’s passage. This
year, he has collected more than half the House’s 435 members to his
side — including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), who
has vowed to bring the bill to the floor for a vote for the first time.

The resolution calls on the president to ensure that U.S. foreign
policy "reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity" to the
issue and to use the word "genocide" in his annual April message
about the killings.

Turkey denies that the killings amounted to genocide, saying that
Armenians and Turks alike were killed in ethnic clashes after World
War I. Turkey, a NATO ally, has threatened to cut off cooperation with
the United States on a number of security fronts if the resolution
is passed. The country has unleashed a powerful lobbying force,
including former House Speaker Bob Livingston (R-La.), to defeat
the measure. The bill faces a tougher road in the 100-seat Senate,
where Sen. Richard Durbin J. (D-Ill.) has attracted 32 co-sponsors.

In speaking to reporters against the measure, administration
officials went out of their way today to recognize the Armenian
slaughter. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the opposition
stemmed from the danger to U.S. security interests, "not because the
U.S. fails to recognize the terrible tragedy of 1915." She added that
"the passage of this resolution at this time would be very problematic
for everything we are trying to do in the Middle East."

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said that about a third of the
fuel used by the U.S. military in Iraq went through Turkey, along
with many of its planes. Access to airfields and roads "would very
much be put at risk if this resolution passes and Turkey reacts as
strongly as we believe they will," he said.

BAHCELI: REFERENDUM NEEDED FOR A CROSS BORDER OPERATION

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Oct 10 2007

"I suggest a referendum to be held for a cross-border military
operation," said Nationalist Movement Party Chairman Devlet Bahceli,
during his speech at his party’s parliamentary group meeting on
Tuesday.

"By this way, Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government will stop
receiving overseas instructions and they will consult the ‘willpower
of the public’ which they talk about continuously," Bahceli said.

Commenting on the recent attacks killing 16 Turkish soldiers in eastern
province of Van and southeastern provinces of Sirnak and Diyarbakir,
Bahceli criticized Erdogan for not comprehending the importance of
the issue.

Bahceli said the government wholly handed over the will to fight with
terrorism to foreign countries.

"Neither Mr. Premier nor the government could struggle against
terrorism with such a submissive stance. The serious events that took
place during the last 5 years prove that," Bahceli said.

MHP chairman added that the government’s unwilling, fearful,
hesitant and encouraging stance increased the arrogance and courage
of separatist forces.

Bahceli also said confusing statements were delivered regarding the
recent incidents, although it was quite clear who the actors of such
incidents were.

"Such remarks constitute a part of the insidious scenario which aims to
leave our state and security forces under suspicion," Bahceli affirmed.

Bahceli also claimed that Erdogan preferred to remain silent on
national issues.

"Our nation expects Mr. Premier and Justice and Development (AK) Party
authorities to display a little sample of the speed and interest they
show for exploitation of religion, for the protection of national
sensitivities and prevention of attacks against our national
institutions as well," he noted.

THE ARMENIAN ISSUE

Commenting on the Armenian allegations on incidents of 1915, Bahceli
said, "these allegations were never expressed in the form of such a
common, systematic and effective imposition and campaign, as it is
done during AK Party’s ruling today".

"Whenever a cross-border operation probability arises in Turkey
–despite the government– due to the increasing terrorist attacks,
certain international powers bring forward the Armenian allegations
on incidents of 1915 again," he noted.

Stressing that Turkey currently experienced a referendum chaos,
Bahceli also said the public did not know what would be voted for
whom and why at the referendum.

"Referendum is definitely a constitutional and democratic right that
should be exercised for important matters. However, Mr. Premier
expressed with his recent remarks that he would frequently bring
up this exceptional issue. With such stance, Mr. Premier desires to
change the concept of referendum into a confidence vote for his party
and this is quite dangerous," Bahceli noted.

PEACE ACTION TO SUPPORT PASSAGE OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION TO BE HELD IN FRONT OF US EMBASSY IN TBILISI

ArmInfo Agency, Armenia
Oct 10 2007

ArmInfo. Today, a peace action to support passage of Armenian Genocide
Resolution N106 will be held in front of US Embassy in Tbilisi,
the Armenian Cooperation Centre of Georgia told ArmInfo.

The source recalled that today the Resolution N106 on the Armenian
Genocide recognition will be discussed in the U.S. House Foreign
Relations Committee. Discussion and adoption of this Resolution in this
Committee will become a subsequent stage for application of a similar
measure by the whole Lower Chamber of the Congress. The document
was presented in the Lower Chamber of the Congress by Adam Schiff
and George Radanovich on January 30, 2007. The Resolution contains a
call to the country’s president to guarantee the provisions, in the
country’s foreign policy, which truly reflect the understanding and
delicacy of the issues related to the human rights, ethnic cleansing
and the Armenian Genocide – the facts which are documented in the USA
state archives. According to the source, the Resolution is supported
by 226 Congress members from 39 American states.

"We believe in justice and we can say with confidence that the
progressive mankind supports restoration of justice", the message
for press reports.

DAUGHTERS’ ANGUISH AT FUNERAL OF MOTHER KILLED BY PRIVATE GUARDS

Sources: Iraqi Government; UNHCR
The Times
October 11, 2007

Sarmad al-Waali in Baghdad and Deborah Haynes in Baghdad

Three Christian sisters, beating their mother’s coffin in grief,
wailed and hugged each other at her funeral in Baghdad yesterday
as their rapidly shrinking religious community vented anger at the
foreign security guards who killed her.

Marou Awanis, a part-time taxi driver, and one of her women passengers
became the latest victims to die at the hands of a foreign private
security team in Iraq after they were shot dead in the centre of the
capital on Tuesday.

Both the women were Armenian Christians. Their deaths stunned their
minority religious sect, which has seen its numbers in Iraq fall by
more than a half, to 10,000, since the invasion of March 2003.

The killings also heightened a sense of outrage towards private
security companies, in particular Blackwater, which many people regard
as a private army that acts with impunity.

Unity Resources Group, an Australian security outfit based in Dubai,
said that it was investigating an incident in Baghdad on Tuesday when
its guards opened fire on a vehicle. The Iraqi Government said that
the men killed Mrs Awanis and her passenger.

Scores of relatives and friends gathered at the main Armenian Church
in Baghdad to grieve the death of Mrs Awanis, aged 48. The body of
the second woman, identified as Geneva Jalal, was also there but no
one from her family showed up.

Everyone was shocked that Mrs Awanis, a widow and former agricultural
engineer who was forced to drive a taxi to make ends meet, had been
killed. "I don’t know what to say. This is the worst crime I have
ever seen," said Abu Mareeam, the dead woman’s nephew.

The three daughters, Aless, 12, Karown, 20, and Noraa, 21, were doubled
up in tears as they crowded around their mother’s simple wooden coffin,
which was decorated with a small golden cross.

"These criminals killed a mother and left three orphaned girls.

Who will take care of them now?" asked one relative, who gave her
name as Um Masees.

Watching the proceedings with sadness, the Rev Nareek Ashkanean,
50, said: "This is another crime against the citizens in Iraq. Every
day civilians are being killed and no one is trying to stop it from
happening." He blamed foreign private security companies for a lot
of the suffering.

"I ask the Government to stop these companies and to bring those who
kill without reason to justice regardless of his nationality or his
country," the Rev Ashkanean said. "I want the Government to force
these companies out."

Iraq and the United States formed a joint commission to look into a
range of issues related to foreign private security companies in the
wake of a shoot-out involving Blackwater guards that left 17 people
dead last month. The commission has yet to make its recommendations
but it is expected to explore areas such as accountability and
jurisdiction.

In the latest shooting, Unity said an investigation was under way
but initial findings showed its security team fired after a vehicle
failed to stop despite "an escalation of warnings which included hand
signals and a signal flare".

Witnesses and police said that it appeared that Mrs Awanis, who
had been driving two women and a child, was trying to stop when the
shooting began.

The women are due to be buried at a cemetery near Baqouba, 35 miles
(55km) northeast of Baghdad, today.

Minority faith

1.4 million Christians were recorded in Iraq’s last full national
census in 1987

700,000 have fled since then, mostly to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan
and Turkey

30% of Iraqi refugees in the Lebanon are Christian, although Christians
make up only 2-3 per cent of the Iraqi population