Author: Maghakian Mike

VARDAN OSKANYAN: HRANT DINK’S MURDER WAS AN ASSAULT ON DEMOCRATIC STATE BUILDING – OF THE TURKISH STATE

2008-01-17 13:35:00

ArmInfo. Hrant Dink’s murder was an assault on democratic state
building – of the Turkish state, RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan’s
message reads on the occasion of the anniversary of death of Editor
of the "Agos" Armenian-Turkish newspaper Hrant Dink, murdered on
January 19, 2007.

I can confess that I have lived through two deep and unforgettable
shocks during my years in office; once in 1999 when the stability
of Armenia was threatened by gunmen and the second time last year,
when I received the call that Hrant Dink had been assassinated. Both
were attacks not on men, but on ideas and values. Hrant’s murder was
an assault on democratic state building — of the Turkish state. His
murderers took aim at his vision of a Turkey that allowed free speech,
that tolerated open discourse and that embraced its minority citizens,
like himself.

We miss Hrant. He would come to Armenia a couple of times a year. In
September 2006, when he spoke at the third Armenian Diaspora
Conference, his message was that as members of the European family,
Turkey and Armenia would have normal relations, because even the
unwilling in Turkey would be induced to find a way to dialogue. That
was music to our ears, echoing as it did our own wishes.

He also addressed the "International Conference on the 90th Anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide" we held in Yerevan in April 2005. Everyone
respected his ardent, reasoned plea for dialogue, for distinguishing
between today’s Turkish Republic and the perpetrators of atrocities
nearly 100 years ago. He recounted passionately how he had explained
to Turkish authorities that Armenians are looking for their roots —
the same roots which the Ottoman Empire slashed when it attempted
to completely eradicate a people and tear it away from its home,
its culture and its traditions. Each time he came to Yerevan, we
would find a few minutes to talk. It was important that I hear from
him about the mood in Turkey.

Hrant was the right person to ask because he was not just an Armenian
living in Turkey, he was proud of both his identities — Turkish
and Armenian — and was insulted and angered that while trying to
reconcile them he was accused of "insulting Turkishness." When he
was first charged under Article 301 for "insulting Turkishness," I
asked whether it would help if I wrote a letter or spoke publicly. He
responded confidently. "My thanks and gratitude, but right now, I’m
all I need. So help me God, I’m going to take my struggle and my rights
all the way to the end." Later, he wondered how "on the one hand, they
call for dialogue with Armenia and Armenians and on the other want
to condemn or neutralize their own citizens who work for dialogue."

Hrant Dink was candid and courageous, but not naive. Still, he could
not have predicted this kind of "neutralization." His honest and brave
voice was silenced. Worse, some saw in this assassination a clear
message that the danger they face lies deeper than a mere judicial
conviction. This message is just one of the dividends that this
killing offered those who contributed to the fanatical nationalist
environment which colors Turkish politics in and out of Turkey.

The brutality, the impunity, the violence of Hrant’s murder serves
several political ends. First, it makes Turkey less interesting
for Europe, which is exactly what some in the Turkish establishment
want. Second, it scares away Armenians and other minorities in Turkey
from pursuing their civil and human rights. Third, it scares those
bold Turks who are beginning to explore these complicated, sensitive
subjects in earnest. In Armenia, we have insisted for more than a
decade, that although we are the victims of historical injustice and
although we are on the other side of a border that Turkey has kept
closed, we are prepared at any time for dialogue with our neighbor
on any subject, so long as there are normal relations between us,
so long as this last closed border in Europe is opened, so long as
someone on the other side wants to talk. We are ready.

A year ago, we were moved by the outpouring of fundamental, human
grief from all levels of Turkish society, especially from those who
have been scared by the demonstration of such violence on the part
of a young person, and saw it for what it is — the continuation of
hatred and enmity into the next generation. Hrant Dink’s family, his
colleagues at and around Agos and his friends in Armenia and in Turkey
will find some comfort knowing that today and tomorrow Hrant will be
remembered – by Armenians, who share his vision of understanding and
harmony among peoples, and by Turks, who share his dream of living
in peace with neighbors and with history.

Azerbaijan – Heyder Aliyev Foundation
Jan 11 2008

PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN RECEIVES DELEGATION OF US CONGRESS

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan on 10 January received the
delegation headed by Bill Schuster, co-chair of the working group on
Azerbaijan at the US House of Representatives of Congress.

Head of the Azerbaijan State noted active and successful cooperation
between the two countries in diverse fields. Bilateral relations and
mutual activity on different levels promote expansion of strong
partnership ties between Azerbaijan and the United States, the
President emphasized. The two countries are allies and partners, he
said. Speaking of the ongoing development processes in the country,
President of Azerbaijan said Azerbaijan’s positions have considerably
strengthened in region. He expressed confidence the current visit
would also contribute widening of partnership relations.

Mr. Bill Schuster, in his turn, noting importance of the current
visit of the US delegation to partner country, highly assessed active
participation of Azerbaijan in the anti-terror coalition, the mission
of Azerbaijani peacekeepers they implement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He also stressed importance of the partnership of Azerbaijan in the
energy sphere.

BAKU. 11.01.2008. AzerTAg.

The Northern Echo, UK
Jan 15 2008

A house of many mansions

Comment
As George Bush makes his first visit of his presidency to the Middle
East, pledging to broker a peace deal, Adam Pletts visits a
Palestinian refugee camp to explore the region’s religious and
cultural diversity

THE one thing about Lebanon that is most likely to fascinate is the
diversity of its people and religions, which is both its greatest
strength and biggest weakness. There are arguably more similarities
between some parts of Lebanon and Europe than there are between its
constituent communities.

It is this great diversity and the differences in ideology that give
rise to one of the country’s central problems: what it means to be
Lebanese.

advertisementTo a large extent the answer depends heavily on which
community you come from. As the title of a book by one of the
country’s best known historians, Khalil Salibi, proclaims: Lebanon is
a House of Many Mansions.

By and large, most communities live in happy coexistence, which may
seem strange for a county that fought a 15-year civil war, in which
the opposing alliances were largely built on sectarian basis.
Intermarriages between Christians and Muslims, or other groups for
that matter, are not uncommon. Nonetheless, albeit with plenty of
exceptions, each community lives in its own reasonably well-defined
areas.

Traditionally, Christians and Druze, as minority groups in the region
at large, settled in Lebanon’s rugged mountains as a place of refuge.
To this day the Chouf Mountains south east of Beirut are still a
Druze stronghold. Christians dominate East Beirut, together with the
mountains and coast running north until Tripoli.

WEST Beirut – also the title of the most famous film depicting the
Lebanese civil war – is predominantly Sunni, as are the ancient
coastal towns of Tripoli and Sidon, whose histories stretch back to
the time of the Phoenicians. Shia Muslims are the majority in
southern Beirut, the south of Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

But that’s far from the end of the story. There are whole communities
that only arrived in Lebanon in the last century, fleeing persecution
elsewhere. Firstly the Armenians, who arrived from Eastern Turkey in
1915, escaping what is gradually being accepted as a genocide that
took the lives of as many as 1.5 million. Later the 1948 Arab-Israeli
war, or "the catastrophe" as the Palestinians call it, which resulted
in the humiliating defeat of a joint Arab army and the displacement
of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, some of whom took refuge in
Lebanon.

Nowadays, there are also significant numbers of immigrant workers
from countries such as Egypt, the Philippines and Sri Lanka – one
suburb of Beirut, Dowra, is even popularly known as Dowra Lanka.

It was the French who drew the lines on the map that eventually led
to the creation of an independent Lebanon in 1943, since when the
country has been governed by a complex power sharing constitution.

Key government positions are spread between the different sects based
on the demography at the time when the constitution was written. As a
result, the President must be a Christian, the Prime Minister a
Sunni, the Speaker of the House of Parliament a Shia.

Since then, the relative size of each community has changed
considerably, but it’s such a sensitive issue that there hasn’t been
a consensus since 1933.

Although precise figures are not available, it is Shia Muslims who
now make up the largest group in the country, having displaced
Maronite Christians through higher birth rates and less immigration.

Shias feel they are under-represented by a system that was set up to
reflect the larger populations of Christians and Sunni Muslims as was
the case when the constitution was written.

So Lebanon really is a patchwork of communities, an entity that has
difficulty defining itself and is continually threatened by break up,
with religious identity at the centre of a struggle for power.

Although not Lebanese citizens, Palestinian refugees have played a
central part in Lebanon’s recent history and are one of the poorest
sections of society. There is no better way to understand Lebanon’s
diversity than to journey from the heart of a Palestinian refugee
camp to the smarter suburbs of Beirut, be they Christian in the east
or Sunni in the west. Since two of the 12 Palestinian refugee camps
are located in southern Beirut, you can, traffic permitting, make the
trip from third world poverty to first world chic in 15 minutes.

The Palestinian refugee camps are like micro environments. As you
enter, the atmosphere immediately changes, and you know without a
shadow of a doubt that you really are in the Middle East.

All of a sudden the prices drop, posters of Yasser Arafat are
ubiquitous, a hum of activity takes over with a cacophony of voices
and children seemingly everywhere. The population density rises
rapidly, with breezeblock houses crammed into every space connected
by a labyrinth of winding passages. Infrastructure and social
provisions are scarce and mostly provided by the UN agency in charge
of Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. In short, poverty is prevalent and
opportunities are few.

Together, the poverty and haphazard security arrangements have turned
the camps into potential safe havens for extremists, as was the case
with the rise of Fatah Al Islam, most of whose members were not
Palestinian, but recognised the camps as places where they could
operate unnoticed.

With the exception of aid workers, Lebanese simply don’t spend time
in the Palestinian camps.

At the right time of day, as you leave the Palestinian camp the call
to prayer would be echoing from a dozen mosque minarets, while at the
destination of our journey – a middle class, Francophile, Christian
suburb – you may well be greeted by the sound of chiming church
bells. Here it’s all "bonjour", "ca va?" and stylish cafes. It’s in
areas like this when the saying "Lebanon is poor, but the Lebanese
are rich" comes to mind. But some things don’t change, the taxis here
will still honk at you each and every time they pass, and there are
plenty of them.

There is a TV advertisement running at the moment, funded by a
Lebanese bank, showing Lebanese from different communities, each
stating their religion, until the sound of gunfire erupts and a
voiceover asks "When will we learn to be Lebanese?"

The advertisement is an attempt to diffuse the tensions surrounding
the current political battle between the Western-backed government
and its Hizbullah-led opposition. Thankfully, both sides now seem
likely to agree on a presidential candidate, which would bring an end
to the latest flashpoint in their stand-off.

However, none of the political groups have taken, or are likely to
take, the advertisement’s message on board, with each of the main
parties firmly aligned with sectarian interests. Maybe they need to
take a leaf from my taxi driver’s book, who when asked what his
religion was, simply brushed his hands in the air and stated with
pride: "I’m Lebanese, Khalas – enough."

Adam Pletts is a freelance journalist and photographer based in
Beirut. He grew up in Barnard Castle, County Durham, where he went to
Teesdale School. www. adampletts. com

leader/display.var.1966141.0.a_house_of_many_mansi ons.php

RA FM: THERE IS PRELIMINARY AGREEMENT ON VISIT OF COCHAIRMEN TO YEREVAN ON JANUARY 15-18

arminfo
2008-01-11 14:12:00

ArmInfo. RA Foreign Ministry confirmed probability of OSCE MG
co-chairs’ visit to Yerevan on January 15-18, RA FM’s spokesman
Vladimir Karapetyan told ArmInfo.

He said that ambiguities with the co-chairs’ visit terms were
conditioned by the visit of Armenia’s president to France. "There is
a preliminary agreement on the co-chairs’ visit within these terms",
V. Karapetyan said. To recall, RA President Robert Kocharyan left
for France yesterday, where he will undergo examination in one of
the ophthalmological clinics.

As APA reports, the co-chairs will visit Baku on January 13-15,
Yerevan – on January 15-18, Stepanakert – on January 18-21 and Tbilisi
– on January 21-22.

LEVON TER-PETROSIAN STATED THAT HE WILL DEEPEN THE RELATIONS OF ARMENIA WITH RUSSIA

Mediamax
January 11, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Ex-President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosian stated
in Yerevan today that in the years of his rule, "Armenian-Russian
relations were the most balanced, correct and mutually beneficial".

Mediamax reports that, speaking at a news conference in Yerevan today,
Levon Ter-Petrosian stated that "those were not relations of a vassal
and a suzerain".

The Ex-President stated that in case he comes to power, he is going
to develop and deepen the relations with Russia.

"I WANT TO MEET WITH 9 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES"

A1+
[06:31 pm] 10 January, 2008

While talking about the presidential candidates, representatives of
NGOs and other organizations in Armenia, Secretary General of the
Council of Europe Terry Davis and the OSCE Needs Assessment Mission
have pointed out that the most obvious violation before 19 February
presidential election is the unequal conditions for the presidential
candidates in the information field.

Members of the OSCE observation mission refused to answer to the
question of "A1+", in favor of which candidate the principles of
equality are violated by the mass media and advised to read the Needs
Assessment Mission Report.

OSCE/ODIHR media analyst Ivan Godarsky was involved in the monitoring
of mass media in the pre-election period. Ambassador Geert-Hinrich
Ahrens, head of the observation mission also reflected on the primary
role of the mass media in the elections. "The role of mass media can
be decisive in the elections", said Mr Ahrens. He raised the issue
during the meetings with the RA Minister of Foreign Affairs and the
Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission. "I want to meet with all
presidential candidates, judicial authorities and the representatives
of NGOs. I also want to meet the long-term observers in the regions",
said the head of the OSCE observation mission.

The OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutes and Human Rights (ODIHR)
opened an election observation mission today for the presidential
election in Armenia on 19 February. Besides 11 core staff of the
mission, 28 long-term observers will be deployed throughout the
country on 15 January.

Mr Ahrens also informed that 250 short-term observers would be deployed
immediately prior to the election.

They will monitor the opening of polling stations, the voting, the
counting of ballots and the tabulation of results. Mr Ahrens, who
headed the OSCE observation mission during the election in Ukraine in
2004, declared that they would asses the electoral process in terms
of its compliance with OSCE commitments for democratic elections,
other international standards and national legislation. Before 19
February, the OSCE observers will present 2 interim reports, the next
day of the election they will present their assessment, and the last
one they will release in 2 months after the election.

The head of the OSCE mission mentioned that the OSCE has never
conducted an exit poll, and it is the US Government’s intention to
conduct an exit poll in Armenia.

"We can use it as information and analyze it, but we cannot consider
the results of the exit poll decisive for the final results of
election", said Ambassador Greet-Hinrich Ahrens.

30 PERCENT OF SCALES ARE ACCURATE

Lragir
Jan 10 2008
Armenia

On the eve of New Year besides the soaring prices of goods the problem
of underweight aggravated, which persists always. The problem of
underweight was raised by the head of the Protection of Consumers’
Rights NGO Abgar Yeghoyan in a news conference on January 10 at the
Pastark Club.

According to him, there is no checking of scales on the consumer
market, only 6 thousand scales were checked in Armenia. "Two kinds
of scales are used in Armenia, mechanical and electronic. According
to the National Institute of Measurement, last year 6000 scales were
checked. According to the law on common measurements, the scales much
be checked for accuracy once a year. On average, there are 20-25
thousand scales in Armenia used in shops, excluding scales used in
outdoor trade," Abgar Yeghoyan says.

According to him, a breach is fined 50-100 thousand drams. Abgar
Yeghoyan says income from short weight is multiple, and a businessman
prefers to pay a fine of 100 thousand drams from his income from
short weight goods. Abgar Yeghoyan proposes raising the fine from
100 thousand to 250 thousand drams.

ANKARA, WASHINGTON CAP STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP IN PRESIDENTIAL TALKS

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 9 2008

Turkish and US presidents yesterday confirmed the two NATO allies’
strategic partnership over a wide range of issues after a period
of turmoil in ties over Iraq and US inaction on the presence of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.

Speaking after a meeting with President Abdullah Gul at the White
House, US President George W. Bush called Turkey a major "strategic
partner" and said relations with Turkey are stronger now. The US
president also reiterated that the PKK was a common enemy for the
United States and Turkey as well as for the people who want to live in
peace and added that Washington was ready to work with Turkey against
the group to promote peace. "We are long-standing allies and we share
common values," said Gul for his part, noting that Turkish-US relations
have an impact not only on the two countries but also on the region
and on global politics. Gul also said he and Bush confirmed that the
cooperation against the PKK would continue.

Positive comments from the two leaders were no surprise as the visit,
the first by a Turkish president to the White House in nearly 12
years, came amid a spring mood in Turkish-US relations that followed
successful efforts to win US cooperation in the fight against the
PKK. Bush said the outcome of the talks was in line with expectations,
explaining that this is the natural result when two friends sit down
in a room and talk.

The two leaders also discussed energy and the situation in the Middle
East in their meeting, which came just before Bush departed for a
tour of the Middle East. Bush also supported Turkey’s troubled bid
to join the European Union, saying the EU will benefit if Turkey joins.

Gul met Bush for a meeting and lunch, attended also by Foreign Minister
Ali Babacan, Energy Minister Hilmi Guler and Economy Minister Mehmet
Þimþek. Prior to the meeting with Bush, he met Vice President Dick
Cheney at the White House and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
over breakfast.

The visit came after landmark talks between Bush and Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoðan on Turkish-US cooperation against the PKK in
early November, which Gul said opened a new era in relations and ended
a period of turmoil between the two countries. Bush then offered
Turkey a commitment to cooperate in the fight against the PKK and
since then, the US has assisted a series of air strikes against PKK
targets in northern Iraq by providing intelligence about the group
and not objecting to strikes by Turkish jet fighters.

"It is a fact that there has been some turmoil in relations in past
years. But today this has been overcome and a climate of confidence has
emerged," Gul told journalists aboard his plane en route to Washington.

The extensive agenda of Gul’s talks with Bush, analysts comment, is
the sign of a sharp improvement in relations, which, over the past
five years, have been mostly confined to disagreements over Iraq and
the PKK. Having mostly left aside the acrimony over the PKK dispute,
the two countries are now able to discuss cooperation on a wider
range of issues, said analysts.

Gul said in his Monday comments that on almost all of the major
regional issues, Turkey and the United States were on the same page and
that he would clearly express Ankara’s stance on regional issues, since
Turkey is one of the countries that best understands the Middle East.

Tension in ties with the US goes back to 2003, during the buildup to
the Iraq war. The Turkish Parliament then rejected US requests to send
troops into Iraq through Turkish territory. In the following years,
the US Congress also did its share to poison the atmosphere.

Despite pleas from the Bush administration and personal appeals from
Gul, who served as foreign minister at the time, and other prominent
Turks, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives
passed a nonbinding resolution last year that described the World
War I-era deaths of Armenians during the final years of the Ottoman
Empire as genocide.

Revealing the depth of the crisis, a poll last summer showed just 9
percent of Turks saw the US favorably.

Gul’s visit comes amid an improvement in the US image in Turkey. But it
also marks a change of stance in Washington towards Gul, who, as the
prime minister in 2003, was widely blamed among US neo-conservatives
for Parliament’s rejection of US requests for cooperation in the Iraq
war. Gul’s reception by Bush at the White House shows that the era
of mistrust of Gul in certain segments of the US administration is
over now, according to Turkish analysts.

Before his official meetings at the White House on Tuesday, Gul
visited an exhibition of paintings by Turkish artists. The exhibition
was jointly organized by the Turkish Central Bank and the US Federal
Reserve.

Gul was accompanied by his wife, Hayrunnisa, and by Foreign
Minister Ali Babacan. Gul will meet Defense Secretary Robert Gates
on Wednesday before flying to New York to meet at the United Nations
with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

In the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), presidential
spokesman Hasan Ercakýca said he expected Gul to convey the Turkish
Cypriot expectations and their position on efforts to restart
reunification talks to the United States and the United Nations.

While in the United States, he is also to meet with representatives
of the Meskhetian Turks. A minority group ousted from the Soviet
Republic of Georgia. The Meskhetians were bounced around to other
Soviet republics until settling in Krasnodar Krai in southern Russia.

The timing of Gul’s visit has been a contentious issue in Turkey,
with critics saying it was not necessary to pay a top-level visit
to the United States just two months after a landmark visit by Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan in November. In Ankara, main opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal claimed such
visits may lose their importance if they take place too often.

Others, however, say Erdoðan’s visit was focused particularly on one
issue, namely that of cooperation against the PKK, while Gul’s talks
in Washington are about everything that concerns Turkish-US relations.

–Boundary_(ID_AwUQvH4vMu0QP9Kx/9NxDQ) —

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version: nian.htm

HIS HOLINESS ARAM I RECEIVES SEASON’S GREETINGS

Catholicos Aram I conveyed good wishes and greetings on the occasion of
Christmas and the New Year to the spiritual leaders of several churches as
well as governmental, political and diplomatic figures. He received
greetings from the former president of Lebanon, the Prime Minister, the
Speaker of Parliament, former prime ministers and Parliament speakers.
Former president Emine Jemayyel personally visited the Catholicos in
Antelias to convey his wishes for the holiday season to him.

On this occasion the Catholicos also held phone conversations with the
President of the Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharian, Catholicos Karekin II
of All Armenians and Prime Minister Serge Sarksian exchanging good wishes.

The Christmas Liturgy officiated in Antelias on the occasion of Christmas on
January 6 was broadcast live on the satellite channels of LBC and Tele
Lumiere which allowed Armenians worldwide to follow the service in the
Cathedral in Antelias and listen to the Pontiff’s sermon.

##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.

TURKEY SAYS TO AMEND LAW CURBING FREE SPEECH
By Hidir Goktas

San Diego Union Tribune, CA
Reuters
Jan 7 2008

ANKARA – Turkey’s government, under pressure from the European Union,
will propose changes this week to a law that has been used to prosecute
writers and is widely seen as a major obstacle to Ankara’s troubled
EU membership bid.

Article 301 of the penal code makes it a crime to insult ‘Turkishness’
and has been used to prosecute Nobel Literature Laureate Orhan Pamuk
and many other writers and journalists.

Advertisement’The change in article 301 … will be presented to
parliament as a proposal this week,’ Justice Minister Mehmet Ali
Sahin told a news conference on Monday.

Sahin gave no details of the proposed changes, but a justice ministry
official told Reuters the revised article would make it a crime to
insult ‘the Turkish people’ instead of the vaguer ‘Turkishness’.

Also, the justice ministry would have to give its permission in
future for cases to be opened under article 301, the official said,
a move that should prevent nationalist prosecutors with their own
political agenda from exploiting the law.

Tackling article 301 has become a litmus test of Turkey’s commitment
to reforms for the EU, which opened formal accession talks with the
large Muslim but secular country in 2005.

Ankara’s EU negotiations have slowed to a crawl amid disputes over
human rights and Cyprus.

Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has recommended that the EU not
extend accession talks to the justice dossier until the article has
been changed.

NATIONALISTS

The centre-right government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has
repeatedly pledged to amend article 301, but analysts say it has been
treading warily despite its large parliamentary majority for fear of
sparking a nationalist backlash.

Despite the high-profile cases brought under the law, it remains
broadly popular among the Turkish public. Defenders of article 301
point out that few cases end with a conviction.

Pamuk, whose own case was dropped on a legal technicality, upset
nationalist prosecutors with his comments about the mass killings of
ethnic Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915-16.

Ankara denies Armenian accusations, which are backed by many Western
historians, that the killings amounted to systematic genocide. Most
Turks view the genocide tag as an insult to their national honour.

Supporters of Turkey’s EU bid hope amending article 301 will help put
the accession process back on track, but Ankara faces opposition from
French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel say Turkey is too big
and too culturally different ever to fit in the EU and want Ankara
to accept instead a ‘privileged partnership’ falling well short of
membership, a proposal Erdogan has rejected.