A1+
FIFTH VICTORY IN GIBRALTAR
[02:56 pm] 31 January, 2007
Vladimir Hakobyan continues to succeed in the international chess
tournament in Gibraltar. In the seventh round he beat Milos
Pavlovic. At present Hakobyan has 5.5 points and occupies the 3rd
place.
Michael Adams who occupies the 2nd place also has 5.5points but has a
higher reputation than that of Hakobyan. The list is topped by Ivan
Sokolov. The latter has 6 points.
In the 8th round Hakobyan will play with Sokolov.
PanARMENIAN.Net
EU going to support OSCE MG efforts for Karabakh settlement
31.01.2007 17:19 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The European Union is going to support the efforts
of the OSCE Minsk Group for the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement,
EU’s Envoy for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby said when commenting
of OSCE MG French Co-chair Bernard Fassier’s statement that the EU
should cooperate with the regional states within the European
Neighborhood program but not engage in the conflict settlement. Mr
Semneby confirmed that the Minsk Group is the only mechanism available
and the EU supports and will support its efforts, reports Trend news
agency.
Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918 Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]
PRESS RELEASE
January 22, 2007
Contact: Lerna Kayserian
Tel: (818) 500-1918
ANCA-WR LEADS COMMUNITY IN CONDEMNING MURDER OF JOURNALIST HRANT DINK
LOS ANGELES, CA – The Armenian National Committee of America – Western
Region (ANCA-WR) led community-wide efforts this week in condemning the
murder of Hrant Dink. Dink, an outspoken champion of freedom of speech and
acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide, was shot dead last Friday in front
of the offices of AGOS, an Armenian/Turkish bilingual newspaper based in
Istanbul, Turkey.
An ANCA-WR press conference held on Saturday to condemn Dink’s assassination
was covered by KCBS, KNBC, KABC and KCAL television news stations and by KFI
and KFWB radio stations. A staff writer for the Los Angeles Times and other
reporters were also present to cover the story. The ANCA-WR press
conference included the participation of leaders from over 25 Armenian
American community organizations in the greater Los Angeles area, human
rights organizations, and other interest groups who gathered in front of the
Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles for the press conference.
"While one or two people may be ultimately identified as Hrant Dink’s
killers, the blood is on the hands of the Turkish Government, and by
extension our own U.S. government, from this latest victim of the Armenian
Genocide." remarked Zanku Armenian, ANCA-WR Board Member and spokesman at
the press conference. "It is the apex of hypocrisy for the Turkish
government to condemn this murder when it is they who have emboldened a
culture of intolerance, hate, and genocide with their continuing denial of
the Armenian Genocide, and their prosecution of Turkish citizens who attempt
to speak the truth and have an open dialogue about this dark chapter in
Turkey’s history."
Also addressing the media were California State Assembly Member Paul
Krekorian (D-43rd), Frank Zerunyan, Mayor Pro-Tem of Rolling Hills Estates
and Chairman of the Armenian Bar Association, Glendale City Council Member
Ara Najarian and Carla Garapedian, director of the movie, "SCREAMERS". Dink
was prominently featured in "SCREAMERS", a documentary movie about the
ongoing cycle of genocide in the world. In the movie the slain journalist
addressed the persecution of those seeking to drive dialogue in Turkey about
the issue of the Armenian Genocide.
Katusha Galitzine, Freedom to Write Director from PEN USA joined the
community in condemning the murder. PEN USA, based in Los Angeles, is the
national affiliate of International PEN, a prominent, world-wide
organization for writers that champions freedom of speech issues. On
Friday, International PEN issued a statement on Dink’s murder which stated,
in part, "Dink, whose campaign against the law making it a crime to insult
the Turkish State, particularly as it relates to the killings of Armenians
in the early years of the last century, has paid the highest price with his
own life."
The ANCA-WR was joined at the press conference by representatives from the
Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church Western United States, Diocese of
the Armenian Apostolic Church Western United States, the Armenian Catholic
Exarchate of North America, the Organization of Istanbul Armenians, the
Ramgavar Party, the American Hellenic Council, the United Human Rights
Council, representatives from Armenian Student Associations, Armenian
Revolutionary Federation, Armenian Relief Society, Hamazkayin Cultural
Association, Homenetmen, Armenian Youth Federation, and the ANC Professional
Network.
ANCs around the globe condemn Dink murder
On Friday, the ANCA released a statement condemning the murder. "Hrant
Dink’s murder is tragic proof that the Turkish government – through its
campaign of denial, threats and intimidation against the recognition of the
Armenian Genocide – continues to fuel the same hatred and intolerance that
initially led to this crime against humanity more than 90 years ago," said
ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.
Also on Friday, the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy
released a statement in which EAFJD Chairwoman Hilda Tchoboian declared, "In
a country where the system of education and the political culture moulds the
minds of the people with hatred towards the Non-Turkish citizens of the
country and where racism is rampant with extreme-right organizations
occupying a place of honour, this is a sad reminder that things are far from
changing in today’s Turkey. This vile murder proves once again that racism
has deep roots in Turkey."
On Saturday, the San Francisco-Bay Area ANC hosted a community event
featuring Turkish scholar, Dr. Taner Akcam, on the occasion of the recent
release of his book A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question
of Turkish Responsibility. Following the event, Akcam, a friend of Dink’s,
flew to Turkey to attend his funeral.
On Sunday, the Central California ANC hosted director Carla Garapedian on
the occasion of the local premier of her newly released movie SCREAMERS.
Both the San Francisco and Fresno area events were covered by local print,
radio, and television media.
In the news.
* ANCA Comments on Dink Assassination on CNN
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* ANCA-WR Comments on Dink Assassination on KCBS News
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* ANCA-WR Comments on Dink Assassination in Saturday edition of the
Los Angeles Times
ld/la-fg-armenian20jan20,1,561374
.story
< 25.html>
* ANCA-WR Comments on Dink Assassination in Sunday edition of the
Los Angeles Times
key21jan21,1,662281.story?coll=la
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* ANCA-WR Comments on Dink Assassination on National Public Radio,
Los Angeles Affiliate KPCC
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* ANCA-WR Comments on Dink Assassination covered by London’s
Guardian Unlimited
2007/01/wave_of_condemnation_at_murder.html
Prose cuted for his outspoken references to the Armenian Genocide of the
early 20th century, the Turkish judiciary recently upheld a six-month
suspended sentence against Hrant Dink for "insulting Turkishness." Several
other prominent voices of dissent against the Turkish Government’s official
policy of genocide denial have been similarly charged under Article 301 of
the Turkish criminal code. The code, a continuation of previous penal codes
outlawing discussion of the Armenian Genocide, continues to draw sharp
criticism from the European Union, which Turkey hopes to join.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and most
influential Armenian American grassroots political organization. Working in
coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout
the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA
actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad
range of issues.
The Japan Times, Japan
Jan 30 2007
EDITORIAL
Will a murder help Turkey?
The assassination of Turkish journalist Hrant Dink has forced Turks
to face their past. Mr. Dink was killed because he had called the
mass killings of Armenians in the early 20th century a genocide.
While his rhetoric angered many Turks, his death appears to have
prompted many more of them to think twice about the dangers of
unbridled nationalism. Mr. Dink’s murder has given Turkey the
opportunity to examine its past and heal the wounds that continue to
poison relations with its Armenian minority.
The exact number of Armenians that died between 1915 and 1917 is
unknown: Estimates range from 300,000 to 1.5 million, out of a
population reckoned to be over 2 million before 1914. Whatever the
exact figure, the scale is immense. Even more hotly disputed is the
cause of those deaths. The official Turkish government narrative is
that they were the result of ethnic strife, disease and famine, the
tragic but inevitable product of the chaos and confusion of World War
I.
Armenians counter that the deaths were the result of a deliberate
policy of the Ottoman Empire, an attempt to cleanse the territory of
a group of citizens that were not Turks. They demand that the
killings be recognized as the first case of genocide in the 20th
century. Historians are deeply divided, but a growing number accept
the argument that genocide is an apt description for what happened.
The historical dispute is tangled up in Turkish nationalism. Not only
are the two communities still deeply divided about what actually
happened and why, but Turks see the charge as an attack on the
legitimacy of their state. Allegations of mass murder are interpreted
as a slur against the country and its founding father Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk. Turkish nationalists are intolerant of such criticism. Nor
is the dispute purely historical: Some worry that the genocide charge
could legitimize the demands of ethnic Kurds in southern Turkey for
their own state.
Aggrieved Turks have legal recourse against such attacks. Article 301
of the Turkish Penal Code prohibits "insulting Turkishness," a
catch-all provision that has been used to punish or intimidate anyone
who supports the charges of genocide, along with a slew of lesser
inflammatory allegations. (To their credit, Turkish courts have
acquitted all those so charged.) Nobel Literature Prize Winner Orhan
Pamuk was charged with violating the statute in 2005, but that
allegation was dropped when it sparked an international uproar.
Mr. Dink was also prosecuted under 301 for his reiteration of the
genocide claim. His defense — that he only wanted to improve
relations between Armenians and Turks — was enough for the tribunal
but not for some of his critics. On Jan. 19, Mr. Ogun Samast, a
17-year-old Turkish nationalist, shot and killed Mr. Dink on the
street in front of his office. Mr. Samast was captured days later and
confessed to the crime, but questions have been raised about the
ability of someone of that age to pull off the act and then flee as
he did to another city. Many suspect he was part of a wider network.
The murder has shocked Turkey. Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer
called the murder a "repugnant and shameful attack" that "deeply
wounded" Turkey. While many Turks may have disagreed with Mr. Dink’s
comments, only the most extreme nationalists are prepared to condone
the murder of such critics. The proof is in the estimated 100,000
mourners who marched the streets in solidarity at Mr. Dink’s funeral,
demanding freedom of expression and reconciliation between the
Turkish and Armenian communities. This mass outpouring of sympathy
suggests that such hopes are not misplaced. The Turkish government
even invited Armenian officials, religious leaders and members of the
Armenian diaspora to the funeral.
Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul admitted that
Article 301 was "problematic," and hinted that changes may be on the
way. This is part of a more general liberalization process, nudged
along by the prospect of Turkey’s membership in the European Union:
The EU has demanded various reforms as the price of Ankara’s entry
into the group.
Those changes must reflect more than political expediency if they are
to lead to real reconciliation. The perception that the Turkish
government is somehow diluting its authority as a result of foreign
pressure will only increase nationalism. Ankara must be seen as
leading the reform process and taking the initiative because it is
truly in the national interest, rather than merely responding to
European demands and adopting a path of least resistance. The
reaction to Mr. Dink’s murder suggests that a foundation for national
reconciliation exists in Turkey. A government that sought legitimacy
and support from all its citizens would seize the moment to condemn
the extremists and propose a truly nationalist agenda that embraced
all Turkey’s citizens.
ed20070130a1.html
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Jan 30 2007
Head of Kars Municipality: I will not have dialogue with Armenians,
until Azerbaijani territories liberated
[ 30 Jan. 2007 15:52 ]
`Armenia is not bazaar for us,’ Head of Kars Municipality Naif
Alibeyoglu said in the meeting with heads of Mass media of Azerbaijan
visiting Igdir and Kars, APA correspondent reports.
Alibeyoglu, while answering the question on opening of the borders of
Armenia-Turkey, clarified his position.
`Armenia had 4, 5m population, but now this indicator is 1,5m.
Armenians leave their country because of financial difficulties. It
is necessary for us not to get economic profit from our relations
with Armenia, but to get accession to Caucasus and Central Asia
markets. After the implementation of Baku-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki -Kars
railway project, we get the accession. That is we have refused of our
positions on opening the borders with Armenia,’ the head of
municipality noted. Then he continued his thoughts this way.
`Some speculations about me occur in Azerbaijan. I declare I will not
offer peace to Armenians, until occupied Azerbaijani territories
liberated. We have appealed to Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and
Kars businessmen and city leadership plans to visit Baku. If our
appeal accepted, we will come and prove our devotion,’ he said.
Touching on the case when Azerbaijani delegation was insulted by
Armenians during the festival held in Kars, the head of municipality
`Armenians can not oppose my people in my land’ said. He also touched
on the fraternization of Ganja and Kars and noted that he had visited
Ganja.
`We invited the delegation from Ganja to Kars, but they did not
come,’ Alibeyoglu said. /APA/
PanARMENIAN.Net
Armenian army ready to complete struggle started 19 years ago
29.01.2007 13:32 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ From the viewpoint of military
cooperation, Armenia’s joining the CSTO was a
significant move. It became not only the main
constituent of our state’s security but also conveyed
a stimulus to development and expansion of relations
between Armenia and Russia, RA Defense Minister Serge
Sargsyan said at a solemn event dedicated to the 15th
anniversary of the Armenian Army formation.
In his words, cooperation with NATO is also extremely
important for the RA. As result, the IPAP was
elaborated and ratified; the process of cooperation
for next ten years was outlined. `Cooperation with
NATO promotes modernization of the army and
implementation of international experience. All our
efforts are targeted at defense reforms. Our army’s
efficiency is proved by annual military exercise
within the Partnership for Peace program,’ Sargsyan
underscored.
The Minister also voiced assurance that the army will
fulfill all the tasks set to it by the state and
people. We granted peace to our people and are obliged
to help them to live in peace. The Armenian Army
cannot be frightened with billions the Azeri President
promised for his army. It’s not only money that makes
army efficient. We have enough will, we are devoted to
our motherland and are ready to put a finish to the
struggle started 19 years ago, in 1988,’ resumed Serge
Sargsyan.
The Calgary Herald (Alberta)
January 28, 2007 Sunday
Final Edition
Baby steps for democracy
The Turkish response to the assassination of writer Hrant Dink has
been encouraging.
"We are all Hrant Dink," said the protesters’ signs. It looks as if
the people of Turkey are ready to defend their freedom.
There is little doubt Hrant Dink was killed because of his opinions.
He was shot to death on Jan. 19 in Istanbul. He was the editor of a
Turkish-Armenian newspaper, who spoke his mind about the 1915
massacres of Armenians.
The Turkish authorities have arrested a 17-year-old and say they
suspect the teenager was incited by nationalist militants.
Turkey has yet to come to terms with its history, and there is
tension between ethnic Armenians and ethnic Turks. In such a climate,
one might have expected the assassination of a prominent advocate to
inflame sectarian divisions.
That hasn’t happened. There have been large and peaceful protests.
Non-Armenians carried signs that read, "We are all Armenian." Crowd
estimates from Dink’s funeral procession have been 100,000 mourners.
This is an encouraging sign that the people of Turkey want to live in
a secular, pluralist and free society. As for the Turkish government,
the signs are not as clear. Despite the official display of mourning,
it must not be forgotten that Turkish law makes it a crime to
"insult" Turkey and its national character.
This law has led to charges against several writers, including Dink.
It may have been a misguided teenager who shot him, but it is the
government that is willing to send writers to jail for using the word
"genocide" in the context of the Armenian massacres.
When Turkish police brought a nationalist into a courtroom to face
charges in the Dink case, he yelled that Orhan Pamuk had better watch
out. Pamuk is the Turkish writer who won the 2006 Nobel literary
prize. He, too, has been charged with insulting Turkishness, although
his case was thrown out on a technicality. The state is sending mixed
signals to nationalist zealots.
Turkey’s policy of harassing its best writers is an embarrassment to
a country that wants to be seen as worthy of inclusion in the
European Union.
Most writers, and especially journalists, work to keep governments
accountable. In return, citizens will pressure their governments to
respect the press. In China, outcry over a journalist beaten to death
at a coal mine has caused President Hu Jintao to become personally
involved in the investigation.
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression puts the number of
journalists killed last year at 82 and calls 2006 the most deadly
year on record for journalists.
Freedom of expression is the first freedom; without it, Turkey cannot
reach its potential.
CONSTRUCTION IN YEREVAN IS DONE WITH SERIOUS VIOLATIONS OF URBAN
DEVELOPMENT AND ECOLOGICAL NORMS, ECOLOGISTS SAY
YEREVAN, JANUARY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. Construction is Yerevan is done with
serious violations of urban development and ecological norms and
destruction of green areas, which impedes air circulation and has a
negative effect on health of the city’s population. Karine Danielian,
Chairwoman of the Associatioon for Sustained Human Development, said
this during the January 26 round table "SOS: Polluted Air". According
to her, Kentron and Shengavit communities are the most unfavorable
districts of Yerevan from the ecological point of view. K. Danielian
noted that desertification risks have grown as well, while density of
multi-storied buildings constructed in downtown Yerevan without a
modern engineering and geological map has increased seismic risks. The
presentation of the film "Death-Bringing Formulas" took place during
the discussion. Manuk Hergnian, one of the film’s authors, said that
the film presents the main sources of air pollution which affects the
human health and environment. According to the data cited in the film,
16-288 tons of CO2, 1.7-3 tons of CO, 1.5 tons of nitrogen oxide and up
to 30 kg of heavy metals is released annually per a kilometer of
Yerevan’s busiest streets. Released gases contain 200 components, 20%
of which belong to first and second categories of danger. The average
annual density of dust in almost all streets of Yerevan exceeds 2-3fold
the maximim permissible norm.
Rabble.ca, Canada
Jan 26 2007
Conservatives modify position on Turkey
Turkey’s state policy of denial continues to serve as a daily affront
to all Armenians.
>by Anthony Wing
January 26, 2007
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay recently modified the Canadian
government’s official acknowledgement of the 1915 Armenian genocide
with a statement of support for the government of Turkey’s proposal
to establish a joint commission with Armenia to investigate the
events of that period.
This apparent gesture of goodwill towards conflict resolution between
neighbour states admits of an astonishing naiveté that may
effectively kill the government’s acknowledgement resolution first
passed in 2004 by the Liberal government and briefly reaffirmed by
the ruling Conservatives.
Even a cursory glance behind Turkey’s proposal should have been
enough to stay the Minister’s hand: the government of Turkey, after
denying for decades historical responsibility for the organized and
bureaucratic extermination of an unarmed Christian Armenian minority
by Ottoman Turks (which in recent years featured arrests and show
trials for writers mentioning the genocide, including current Nobel
laureate Orhan Pamuk), first floated the joint-commission idea in
2005.
However, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)
quickly revealed that this gesture amounted to a further act of
aggression: Turkish authorities had sought the help of U.S. scholars
to obfuscate the historical record and, the IAGS argued, this
spurious scholarship would be used to sabotage such a panel. The IAGS
expressed this in a June 2005 letter to the Turkish Government,
re-sent nearly a year later:
We are dismayed that your government, in asking the Armenian
government to establish a so-called objective commission to study the
fate of the Armenian people in 1915, is refusing to acknowledge the
resolved discourse on the Armenian Genocide in the mainstream
international scholarly community outside of Turkey. We are concerned
that your request is a political ploy designed to create controversy
over the Armenian Genocide when in fact, outside of your government,
there is none.
Also not open to debate is the government of Turkey’s transparent
record of human rights abuse. Eager to speed negotiations for terms
of accession into the European Union, Turkey officially abolished the
death penalty and state torture in a new Penal Code adopted in 2004;
however, Amnesty International has since reported that torture and
extrajudicial executions have persisted outside official detention
centres, largely unchecked by a feeble investigation process.
Moreover, persecution of the Kurdish minority in the southeast has
not abated, and the 32-year control of an impoverished military
colony in the northern third of Cyprus bestows on Ankara the title of
sole occupying power in mainland Europe since 1945; indeed, the EU
recently suspended membership negotiations over Turkey’s latest
paltry concessions over the latter issue.
Here at home, the Harper government’s decision to modify their
Armenian genocide acknowledgement was criticized by columnist Jeffrey
Simpson, but for a different reason: The Globe and Mail’s sophist
emeritus disagreed with the acknowledgement in the first place. For
some time The New York Times had a policy that the term `Armenian
genocide’ could be used freely and without qualification; not so the
Globe’s editorial board, which twice recently allowed Simpson to
place quotation marks around the word `genocide’ when writing of the
event.
Moreover in a recent Globe online Q&A, Simpson appeared to argue
simultaneously that 1) the events of 1915 are a matter for genuine
debate and 2) Canada should ignore 1). But in the case of 1), I am in
agreement with Simpson, albeit on very different terms:
Rafael Lemkin, international law professor and U.S. War Department
adviser during WWII, coined the term `genocide,’ later furnishing a
definition in his 1944 work Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. His
proposal that the neologism enter language as a violation of
international law was adopted by jurists at the Nuremberg trials and
thereafter by the United Nations General Assembly. Appearing on U.S.
national television in 1949, Lemkin was the first to call what
happened to the Armenians `genocide.’ Earlier he had elaborated on
components of the term in an address to the Geneva Conventions:
The objectives of a [genocidal] plan would be the disintegration of
the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national
feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups,
and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health,
dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such
groups.
Applying this calculus today, Turkey’s state policy of denial
continues to serve as a daily affront to all Armenians. Could it not
therefore be put that zero acknowledgement of historical
responsibility will postpone indefinitely the reconciliation and
healing process for the affected group, thus perpetuating several of
the articles of genocide as defined in the Geneva Conventions? This
may well be the matter for genuine debate, not the `question’ of
whether the massacres occurred at all.
As for Canada, there is absolutely no place for credulity as we begin
to emerge as a world leader in 21st century international
jurisprudence. The United States government sponsored and encouraged
Rafael Lemkin’s efforts to entrench genocide into international law,
yet in 1994 the U.S. proxy at the United Nations helped block a
resolution to assist the UN Rwanda mission on the eve of the 100-day
genocide of close to one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
This avoidable event may have occasioned the demise of peacekeeping,
and after an intervening period of UN confusion and indecision it was
Canada who seized the initiative with their support of the
`Responsibility To Protect’ commission. The latter’s 2001 report
provided a template for the policy behind Canada’s current Afghan
deployment, but if our leaders still hope to maintain a conscientious
world leadership in foreign policy, missteps of this magnitude must
be addressed.
The world’s failure to remember the Armenian genocide was an
inspiration for both Adolf Hitler, who borrowed its techniques of
cattle-car transport and pit-burial for the Final Solution, and
Rafael Lemkin, who made an indivisible contribution to human rights,
international law and language in the wake of the Holocaust. If the
Canadian government supports the formation of a joint commission to
look into `genocide allegations,’ then we should immediately appoint
a committee to investigate whether the 1922 discovery of insulin has
really been of any help to diabetics.
The Foreign Affairs Minister must interrupt his human rights
posturing with China to condemn forthwith Turkey’s latest attempt to
avert the world’s gaze from the 20th century’s first genocide.
Anthony Wing is a Toronto writer.
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AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Jan 26 2007
PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV MET WITH SWISS PRESIDENT
[January 26, 2007, 16:28:43]
President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has meet with the President of
the Swiss Confederation Micheline Calmy-Rey in Davos, 26 Jan.
Development of bilateral relations and expansion of cooperation
between Azerbaijan and the Swiss companies were focused. Also was
expressed a wish that the Swiss businessmen have invested in economy
of Azerbaijan.
The Swiss President took interest in settlement of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict. President Aliyev
updated on the conflict and negotiations carried out for its
settlement.
President of the Swiss Confederation Micheline Calmy-Rey emphasized
the important role of Azerbaijan in energy security of Europe. This
has turned Azerbaijan to a leading country in the world, she said.
President Ilham Aliyev spoke of the processes ongoing in Azerbaijan,
noting reliable investment environment in the non-oil sector in the
Republic.
The Presidents had comprehensive exchange of views on a number of
issues of mutual interest.