Author: Mamian George

EDITORIAL: INSULT TO HISTORY, FREE SPEECH

San Antonio Express, TX
Oct 5 2007

Turkish President Abdullah Gul is taking a wise, if preliminary,
step in seeking to amend Article 301 of the Turkish penal code.

The article, aptly criticized as a hindrance to free speech, makes
it illegal to "insult Turkishness."

Often, that perceived insult comes in the form of mentioning one
of the country’s most sensitive historical moments: the 1915 mass
killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces that many consider the first
systematic genocide in modern times.

Nobel Prize-winning writer Orhan Pamuk, novelist Elif Shafak and
newspaper editor Hrant Dink were all charged or tried under the code
for talking or writing – sometimes fictionally – about the highly
controversial historic episode.

Dink, an Armenian Turk, was shot to death in January outside the
offices of Agos, the bilingual newspaper he ran.

Turkey has been struggling to overcome a sorry record of human rights
abuses as it seeks to gain entry into the European Union.

Although Gul, elected in August, cannot change policy on his own,
his widely reported support for addressing Article 301 is a step in
the right direction for Turkey.

PROFESSOR DURMUSH TEZJAN: AZERBAIJANIS CAN GET THEIR PROPERTY BACK FROM ARMENIANS THROUGH EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Oct 4 2007

If you look at my book "Human rights in Turkey" you will see the
main thesis on the rights of Azerbaijan. Armenia and Azerbaijan
concluded agreement of Council of Europe in 2001. Our Azeri
compatriots hold mourning ceremonies in the anniversary of Khodjali
genocide every year. But nobody asks me who to protect his rights
as a scientist-Turkish lawyer in European Court of Human Rights,
professor of law faculty of Kultur University in Istanbul Durmush
Tezjan told the APA’s Turkey bureau.

He stated that if Azerbaijanis sue Armenians in European Court of
Human Rights they will probably win.

"I said to every Azeri who I met that I can prepare application for
you and let’s write your name-surname, address, property you lost
and sent these applications to Strasburg. But nobody appealed to me.

Explain this issue to your compatriots through your Agency. It is
impossible to achieve everything by holding mourning ceremonies. The
main thing is to win in law. Azerbaijanis are my brothers and I am
ready to share my knowledge and experience with them as a lawyer,"
he said.

TURKISH DIPLOMAT ADVISES ARMENIA TO APPLY FOR NATO MEMBERSHIP

ArmRadio – Public Radio, Armenia
Oct 3 2007

The Turkish diplomat sharply reacted to the speech of the
representative of the NATO Information Center in Armenia at the
international conference held in Moldova, Mediamax reports.

October 2nd in Kishinev Deputy Director of the NATO Information
Center in Armenia David Alaverdyan participated in the international
conference titled "NATO’s Values and an Alliance of Solidarity,"
presenting a report on "Armenia’s relations with NATO: Reality and
Perspectives."

Reference to the absence of Armenian-Turkish relations in the report
met the sharp resistance of Turkey’s Vice-Ambassador to Moldova Hakan
Ozdemir, who declared that it’s not a proper place for discussion of
such issues and left the conference.

However, in his report David Alaverdyan simply stated that the absence
of diplomatic relations between Ankara and Yerevan hinders the full
development of Armenia’s relations with NATO.

"During the recent years the Armenian authorities have been repeatedly
telling the representatives of the Alliance that the Armenian-Turkish
relations are one of the main obstacles for the further deepening of
Armenia-NATO relations," David Alaverdyan said.

He noted that "more than 15 years have passed after the collapse
of eth Soviet Union, but the Armenian-Turkish border remains an
"iron curtain."

In response to that Hakan Ozdemir declared that "Armenian-Turkish
relations are not discussed here, and if Armenia wishes to develop
relations with NATO, let it apply for membership, meet all the
commitments and join the Alliance." After a while the Vice-Ambassador
of Turkey left the conference, not waiting for the start of the
discussions envisaged by the agenda.

AFRICAN SWINE FEVER SPREADS FROM GEORGIA TO ARMENIA

Pravda, Russia
Oct 3 2007

A U.N. food agency said Wednesday that African swine fever, a
contagious viral disease in pigs, is spreading from Georgia to Armenia.

In Georgia, 52 out of 65 districts are currently affected by African
swine fever ()

The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said the virus has
hit northern Armenia and the outskirts of the capital, Yerevan.

"The spread of the African swine fever virus to the Caucasus region
poses a very serious animal health risk and could lead to a dramatic
situation," FAO’s Chief Veterinary Officer Joseph Domenech said
in a statement. "The EU, Russia, the Ukraine and other countries
have a serious problem on their doorsteps that needs to be urgently
addressed," he added.

In Georgia, 52 out of 65 districts are currently affected by the
disease, with more than 68,000 pigs dead or culled, the agency said.

The disease, which causes fever and death in pigs, does not affect
humans.

Killing infected animals or animals at risk and movement control are
essential measures to contain the virus, the agency said. It said it
is planning to provide training and equipment to Georgia and Armenia
to help them increase surveillance.

TURKISH TEEN EXPRESSES REGRET FOR KILLING ARMENIAN JOURNALIST

By Associated Press
Jerusalem Post
Oct 1 2007

A teenager accused of killing ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink
told a Turkish court on Monday he regretted his actions and claimed
he carried out the slaying under the influence of drugs, according
to a lawyer present at the hearing.

Dink was shot dead in front of his newspaper’s office in January in
a brazen daylight attack that prompted international condemnation
and debate within Turkey about free speech.

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Sept 29 2007

CIS cannot exist without united political, economic basis

YEREVAN, September 29. /ARKA/. The Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS) cannot exist without a united political and economic basis,
reporter of `Ekho Moskvi’ radio Vitaly Dimarsky said at the
conference
`Commonality of CIS information field: vision and reality’.

`The CIS can be considered an attempt to establish a united political
space and collective security zone, but all this cannot exist on its
own, without political and economic fundament,’ he said.

`Everyone knows that the CIS has played its positive role in the
civilized divorce of the former Soviet republics, but the list of
achievements of this organization has not gone further,’ he said
adding that this structure resemblances today `an old suitcase
without handle – it is a pity to throw it away and it is hard to
carry it’.

According to the journalist, the responsibility for this situation is
with the political leadership of all the countries and first of all
with Russia.

`Russia is the main responsible for the development of a sort of
policy within the post-Soviet space, which looks quite indistinct
today,’ Dimarskiy said. N.V. -0–

KENYA: ARTUR BROTHERS WERE DRUG TRAFFICKERS WHO ENJOYED STATE SECURITY – REPORT
Patrick Nzioka

The Nation, Kenya
Sept 28 2007

The infamous Artur brothers were con men and drug traffickers who
enjoyed high-level State protection.

Their presence in the country was part of a conspiracy to commit
atrocities, investigations into their stay in Kenya reveal.

Special adviser to President Mwai Kibaki based at State House Stanley
Murage, Ms Mary Wambui and her daughter Winnie Wangui Mwai were
some of their close associates, a situation which led to the two
parliamentary committees that investigated the saga to conclude the
Armenian brothers had direct high-level protection in the Government.

Internal Security minister John Michuki, head of the civil service
Francis Muthaura, former CID director Joseph Kamau and businessmen
Raju Sanghani and Kamlesh Pattni were fingered as having played a
critical role in their stay in the country.

Artur Sargasyan and Artur Margaryan – branded as mercenaries by
Lang’ata MP Raila Odinga – were found to have engaged in illegalities
with the full knowledge of the law enforcement agencies.

Some of their malpractices included irregularities in their business in
Kenya. They are found to have registered their companies – Kensingston
Holdings Ltd and Brotherlink International – irregularly.

They used the companies to import goods without paying duty.

They also used Government vehicles and had even been appointed to
the police force as deputy police commissioners.

"The illegalities lead to only one conclusion; the Artur brothers
were enjoying State protection at the highest levels of Government,"
the report tabled yesterday in Parliament by nominated MP Kipkalya
Kones on behalf of the investigating committees says.

The investigations on the Arturs were undertaken by a joint team
composed of members of the departmental committees on administration,
national security and local authorities and administration of justice
and legal affairs.

The joint committees lament that evidence adduced on the matter was
manipulated to conceal the true intention of their presence in Kenya
as well as to protect their sponsors.

The committee says the deportation of the Arturs after they drew guns
at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport was stage managed to avert
further atrocities.

The report delves into the raid at the Standard Group, saying
the management disputed Internal Security minister John Michuki’s
assertions the media house was about to publish damning stories about
State House.

"The Artur brothers clearly demonstrated that they had political
connections. A case in point is the instigated and orchestrated raid
on the Standard Group which minister John Michuki termed as Government
operation," the report says in part.

The investigations established there was a lot of administrative lapses
as well as cover-ups to assist the two and their suspect operations
in Kenya. They cite the lapse at JKIA, use of Government vehicles and
the role of the police department who they say aided and sometimes
abated the brothers’ criminal activities.

The committees point out they did not get to the bottom of the saga
following hurdles placed on their way by those who were bent on
protecting the brothers.

They cite failure to honour summons served on senior police officers
Isaiah Osugo (PCIO, Nairobi), David Kimaiyo (director of operations)
and Patrick Lumumba (OCPD, Gigiri) as the most serious attempt to
scuttle the investigations.

Others include an attempt by Justice minister Martha Karua to stop the
investigations when the Kiruki Commission on the same was appointed.

They take issue with the rejection of the committee’s attempt to
introduce a motion in Parliament to take evidence in public, a
situation they attribute to Ms Karua by virtue of her position as
the deputy leader of Government Business in Parliament.

The appointment of the Kiruki Commission, whose report is yet to be
made public, as well as failure to avail the same to them was part
of the cover-up as it was never intended to unearth the truth.

The committees wants Parliament adopt the report and call upon the
attorney general Amos Wako to prosecute the three senior police
officers and any other individual who disobeyed summons to appear
before them.

The committee wants further investigations into the saga.

FACTBOX-BREAKAWAY REGIONS LOOK TO KOSOVO PRECEDENT

Reuters, UK
Sept 28 2007

(Reuters) – Serbs and Albanians hold direct talks on Friday on the
margins of the U.N. General Assembly in New York in a last-ditch
diplomatic bid to decide the fate of the breakaway Serbian province.

The West supports independence, but insists it would not set a
precedent. Other regions of the world, notably in the former Soviet
Union, disagree. Following are a few of the regions that might look
with interest at the Kosovo case:

TRANSDNIESTRIA – Moldova

** A tiny sliver of land on the Dniestr river, Transdniestria broke
away from Moldova in September 1990. A brief war killed hundreds
before Russian troops intervened. The region of 550,000 people is
dominated by Russian-speaking Slavs, who pressed for independence
fearing Moldova’s Romanian-speaking majority would one day join
Romania to the south. Around 1,200 Russian troops remain.

Transdniestria covers one eighth of Moldovan territory but is home
to the bulk of Moldova’s industrial base.

ABKHAZIA AND SOUTH OSSETIA – Georgia

** Home to 200,000 people, Abkhazia is sandwiched between the Black
Sea and the Caucasus mountains and was once a renowned tourist
destination. It fought a 1992-3 war against Georgia and effectively
rules itself. It was isolated for years after the war but has since
forged closer ties with Russia, which has given Abkhaz residents
passports and pensions. South Ossetia fought to throw off Georgian
rule in the early 1990s. A ceasefire was signed but the violence has
threatened to reignite. Russia has peacekeepers in both regions.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH – Azerbaijan

** Sporadic clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh between Azeri and local ethnic
Armenian irregulars began in 1998, escalating by 1992 into full-scale
hostilities between Azeri forces and troops from Armenia.

About 35,000 people died and hundreds of thousands fled before a
ceasefire was signed in 1994. The territory remains part of Azerbaijan
but is controlled by Armenian forces. A major BP-led pipeline linking
Azerbaijan’s Caspian Sea oil fields to world markets passes a few
kilometres from the conflict zone.

PAPUA – Indonesia

** In the remote eastern Papua province, activists have led a
campaign for more than 30 years to break away from Indonesia, while a
low-level armed rebellion has been rumbling for decades. Critics say
military abuses and dissatisfaction over Jakarta’s distribution of
wealth generated by the mineral- and gas-rich province has fuelled
grievances. A 30-year insurgency in Aceh province, killing 15,000
people, ended in a European Union-monitored peace accord in 2005.

BASQUE COUNTRY – Spain

** Basque separatist movement ETA has spent the past four decades
fighting for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and
southwestern France, killing more than 800 people. The semi-autonomous
Basque region in northern Spain is home to 2.1 million people. More
than 750 suspected members have been detained since 2000. ETA declared
a ceasefire last year, but the Spanish government scrapped peace talks
in December 2006 after ETA bombed Madrid airport, killing two people.

THE KURDS – Turkey/Iraq/Syria/Iran

** Around 20 million Kurds are scattered between northern Iraq, Syria,
Iran and Turkey, describing themselves as the world’s largest stateless
minority. Most live in southeastern Turkey, where Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK) guerrillas have fought an insurgency since 1984 in which
more than 30,000 people have died. A ceasefire was called in 1999,
but fighting resumed in 2004. Turkey fears that Kurds in northern
Iraq plan to establish their own state, which would stir tensions
among Turkish Kurds.

WESTERN SAHARA – Morocco

** The Polisario movement of Western Sahara fought a low-level war
for independence after Morocco annexed the desert territory with the
pullout of colonial power Spain in 1975. U.N. troops have monitored
an uneasy peace since 1991. It is Africa’s oldest territorial dispute,
over land the size of Britain, inhabited by 260,000 people.

A U.N. ceasefire agreement in 1991 promised a referendum on the fate
of the territory, but it never took place and Morocco now rules it out,
saying autonomy is the most it will offer.

NTV MSNBC

Turkish PM meets representatives of US Jewish community

The delegates also asked Erdogan to discuss regional issues.

Güncelleme: 11:44 TSÝ 27 Eylül 2007 Perþembe

NEW YORK – Turkey’s Prime Minister has used a meeting with
representatives of the US Jewish community to reject allegations the
Ottoman Empire committed an act of genocide against its Armenian
citizens in 1915. Haberin devamý

Meeting with representatives of groups including the Conference of
Presidents, the Appeal of Conscience, the Foundation, the
Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Congress, and Bnai Brith
International in New York late Wednesday Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan described the genocide claims as baseless. The allegations
were not supported by any scientific or historical grounding.

"The Prime Minister also recalled Turkey’s call to Armenia to
establish a joint commission to study historical facts, and stated
that Turkey expected the Jewish community to confirm its support
against the baseless allegations," a statement issued after the
meeting said.

Following the meeting, Abraham Foxman, the National Director of the
Anti-Defamation League (ADL), said that at times there could be
disagreement between friends, referring to the League’s had accepted
the events of 1915 as being tantamount to genocide. However, Foxman
said that the issue should not be the subject of a resolution of the
US Congress.

"We believe that a matter between Turkey and Armenia related to
history should be tackled between the two parties, not in the US
Congress or the parliament of any other country," he said. "This is
not a political matter and those in the Congress are not historians."

"I believe that we should focus on the future, not the past. If the
Jewish community, the United States and the Congress are willing to
assist they should bring together Turkey and Armenia for the
grandchildren of the two parties."

(c) 2006 NTVMSNBC.com

Source:

ARMENIANS WALK OUT ON HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE
By Steven Ryan

Needham Times, MA
GateHouse News Service
Sept 25 2007

Dialogue between the Human Rights Committee and local
Armenian-Americans apparently broke down at a meeting Thursday night,
Sept 20.

Frustrated descendents of the Armenian Genocide walked out on the
committee when it appeared unlikely it would recommend suspending
ties with the Anti-Defamation League before the national organization
discusses its stance on the genocide at its annual meeting in November.

"A month has gone by, and we’re no further along," said Charles
Sahagian of Hunting Road, before walking out. "We, the discriminated,
sit here for word from the perpetrator. For shame what has
transpired. [The committee] has forfeited its right to represent me
on human rights issues."

The Needham Human Rights Committee sent a letter in early September
expressing the town’s intention to end participation in ADL programs
– including No Place for Hate, which the organization co-sponsors
with the Massachusetts Municipal Association – if the organization
doesn’t unequivocally recognize the Armenian Genocide and support
Congressional legislation doing the same.

The genocide, which the Turkish government denies, saw the mass
deportation and murder of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire
during the World War I era. The ADL has yet to respond to the letter.

"We have to give other people time to respond," said committee member
Sandra Walters. "It’s a process."

The committee agreed to follow up with the ADL to confirm receipt of
the letter and to send a second letter clarifying that the November
meeting would be the tipping point for when they would make a decision
on whether they would sever ties.

There was also a motion before the committee, set forth by committee
member Mark Smith, to instead suspend ties with the ADL until November
and re-evaluate the situation then.

"The letter was the right thing to do," Smith said. "Not hearing back,
we should take the next step and not wait until November. My little
No Place for Hate sweatshirt – I just can’t wear it anymore."

The motion was voted down, with Smith and committee member Olly Harari
casting dissenting votes.

"Is this a practical issue rather than a moral issue?" Harari said.

"We need their programs, but they need us to be in their programs. We
are a human rights committee, and we must listen to the people whose
rights have been violated."

Needham’s main involvement with No Place for Hate revolves around
student-led activities at the high school during the month of March.

The town also works with the ADL through the World of Difference
anti-bullying program at Pollard Middle School.

Before the vote, the meeting teetered on the brink of chaos, as those
in attendance interjected comments during the board’s discussion,
believing eye contact and rhetorical questions from committee members
were cues to respond.

"We agree with you on everything, except severing ties," said
committee Chairwoman Debbie Watters, which elicited groans from those
in attendance. "We’re neighbors. This is the first time we’re dealing
with something this controversial."

Then, after offering to read the initial letter sent to the ADL for
those who did not attend previous meetings, more people walked out.

"You can tell this is difficult for us," Watters later said. "We
would appreciate your respectful presence."

After the meeting, Needham Armenian-Americans vowed not to attend
the next Human Rights Committee meeting, tentatively scheduled for Oct.

10, and to appeal directly to the Board of Selectmen.

"This committee is not doing what it’s supposed to do," said Dorothy
Esperian of Great Plain Avenue.

The Massachusetts Municipal Association, the other co-sponsor of No
Place for Hate, designated Needham a No Place for Hate town in 2000
through the Board of Selectmen. Selectmen could end that designation
with or without input from the Human Rights Committee. Members of
the board said they would not consider taking such unilateral action.

In the past two weeks, Newton and Belmont dropped out of the No
Place for Hate program. Watertown, where the issue first took hold,
was the first community to end ties, while Arlington, which had not
yet been designated a No Place for Hate community, pulled out of the
certification process.

"Are we going to be one of the last ones?" said Gary Najarian, of
Lexington Avenue, before the committee voted Thursday night. "Are we
going to fall in line or are we going to be leaders?"

Over the past couple of months, the ADL fired Regional Director Andrew
Tarsy after he publicly acknowledged the Armenian Genocide. He was
rehired on Monday, Aug. 27. In between the firing and rehiring, the
ADL’s national director, Abraham Foxman, issued a statement claiming
the "consequences" of the tragic events of more than 90 years ago were
"tantamount" to genocide. Armenians feel the wording circumvented
acknowldegement of the genocide, and the ADL has not budged on not
supporting the Congressional legislation.

Steven Ryan can be reached at [email protected].