Author: Nadirian Emma

TURKEY APPROVES ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AGAINST PKK SUPPORTERS

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.11.2007 15:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A senior Turkish official says the Cabinet
has approved economic sanctions against Kurdish rebels and their
supporters.

The measures could affect members of the autonomous Kurdish
administration in northern Iraq.

Ankara accuses rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, of
launching attacks in southeastern Turkey from bases in Iraq.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Defense Department says it is providing Ankara
with the kind of intelligence on Kurdish rebels that could enable
the Turkish military to take action against them.

A Pentagon spokesman says the United States has been supplying
actionable intelligence to Turkey, and has been providing "more and
more" information as a result of recent developments.

He says part of the effort to help Turkey fight rebels involves an
order to U.S. troops in Iraq to detain anyone on a list of the 10
most wanted PKK members.

In Baghdad Wednesday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the
number of checkpoints in Iraq has been increased in an effort to cut
the supply lines of the PKK.

He also said his government is making intensive efforts to find eight
Turkish soldiers kidnapped in a rebel ambush in southeastern Turkey
last week.

Separately, Turkish media reports say Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan has accused the leader of Iraq’s Kurdish region, Masoud
Barzani, of aiding Kurdish rebels who are fighting Turkey, the VOA
reports.

ABDULLA GUL: I AM PROUD OF AZERBAIJAN’S DEVELOPMENT

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Nov 1 2007

We are glad to see progresses in Azerbaijan. This country develops
on the way paved by Heydar Aliyev. When we remind past of fraternal
country, we see today’s development better.

Azerbaijan is a country which attracts attention of the whole world.

Economics is strengthening, democracy is developing. Of course,
there can be several problems, but no country solves problems in a
day. I see that Azerbaijan is developing. Country media write what
they want, political figures express their opinions freely. All
these will strengthen Azerbaijan. Democracy should be strengthened
in Azerbaijan. It will give an impetus on informing world community
about Nagorno Karabakh conflict well. I am proud of Azerbaijan’s
development, Turkish President Abdulla Gul said in an interview to a
group of Azerbaijani media representatives in Ankara today. Turkish
president speaking about Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline stressed
that this project becomes true.

"We are about to open Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline. We also start
construction of Kars-Akhalkalak-Tbilisi railway. We do not speak,
we work. This railway will extend till Kazakhstan and China.

We will always help in the implementation of these projects. We pay
attention to security issues while preparing projects. There was
not threat against pipelines till now. But we will continue taking
measures beforehand," he said.

Abdulla Gul noted that fighting against terrorism is priority for
Turkey.

"This issue was largely debated. We attach great importance to Iraq’s
borders. We do not need Iraq’s oil and gas. Arabs, Turkmens and Kurds
in Iraq are our brothers, we have no problems with them. If there is
terror in Iraq, it should be thwarted. Everybody should cooperate
against terrorism. We will not keep away from military operations,
but there is time for everything. Operations are being carried out
in some of our regions. We can organize operations in terrorist camps
in Iraq," he said.

Commenting on the visit of Turkish Prime Minister and Army General
Ergin Saygun to Washington, Abdullah Gul said they have great
expectations from the visit.

"Prime Minister has advisers on military issues, commanders express
their opinion to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister’s military advisers
accompany him during the visits to foreign countries. This is a very
important visit. You know I had talks with the US officials. Prime
Minister and ministers also had talks. This is one of the important
visits connected with Turkey’s future steps in fighting against
terrorism. The US invaded Iraq. According to the UN statute, there
are issues in Iraq, for which the US is responsible.

The US can not say that fighting against terrorists in Baghdad and
Al-Ambar is its duty, and fighting against terrorists in Northern
Iraq is not its duty. The US can not say it. It is responsible
for the whole situation in Iraq and is obliged to fight against
terrorists all over the country. The US will either fight, or say
"I discriminate terrorists". And it means that the US fights against
one terrorist organization and does not fight against another. The
Prime Minister’s visit to the US is important for making all these
issues clear. It should not also be forgotten that the US recognizes
PKK as a terrorist organization. Therefore we attach great importance
to this visit," he said.

HOVER CHAMBER CHOIR TO TAKE PART IN LOGOS 11th MUSIC FESTIVAL ORGANIZED ON NOVEMBER 2-4 IN POLAND

Noyan Tapan
Oct 31, 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 31, NOYAN TAPAN. The Hover chamber choir, a laureate
of a number of international contests, performed on tour in Germany
between September 23 to October 7. The choir performed sacred Armenian
songs, choral songs, as well as works of foreign composers at more
than ten concerts in several German cities. As Sona Hovhannisian,
the Art Director and Conductor of the choir, said at the October 31
press conference, the German public was delighted with Armenian music,
especially sacred songs. He also said that the choir will take part in
the Logos 11th sacred Christian music festival to be held on November
2-4 in Poland.

S. Hovhannisian said that the 15th anniversary of choir’s foundation
is marked this year, and a number of concerts both in Armenia and
abroad are envisaged on that occasion.

U.S. Stanford University’s Flora Family Foundation will release
choir’s 7th disk by the order of professor Hrant Khachatrian by
the end of the year. The disk will include Komitas’ secular choral
songs. By the way, Komitas’ Patarag performed by Hover’s masculine
staff in 2006 was recorded in Germany and the disks were delivered
to the most important cultural centers of the world.

AZG Armenian Daily #197, 27/10/2007

Culture

"SCREAMERS" IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

On October 24, the film "Screamers" was demonstrated in the European
Parliament as a mark of honor to Editor Chief of "Akos" daily Hrant
Dink killed in Istanbul.

Before the demonstration of the film the Director of the film Karla
Karapetian made a speech; she called for "not to shut eyes to the
genocides, when they happen".

She also mentioned that Europe should assist those Turks, who want to
raise up their voices on the issue of the Armenian Genocide".

Translated by L.H.

"DASHNAKTSUTIUN IS DECISIVE IN TAKING PART IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS WITH COMMON CANDIDATE," CHAIRMAN OF ARF DASHNAKTSUTIUN DECLARES

Noyan Tapan
Oct 26, 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The ARF Dashnaktsutiun is decisive in
taking part in the presidential elections with a common candidate. This
statement was made by Hrayr Karapetian , the Chairman of the ARF
Dashnaktsutiun faction of the RA National Assembly, during the
parliamentary briefing held on October 26. In his words, both of the
candidates nominated by the party: Vahan Hovhannesian, the Vice-Speaker
of the National Assembly and a member of the ARF Dashnaktsutiun Bureau,
and Armen Rustamian, the Chairman of the RA Standing Committee on
Foreign Relations and the ARF Armenia Supreme Body representative,
are "good" and it will be very difficult to make a choice between them.

It should be mentioned that it will be decided which of these two
candidates will be officially nominated in the ARF Supreme Council
to be held at the end of November.

MINISTER: DIGITEC EXHIBITION ONE OF MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS OF ARMENIA’S IT SECTOR

ARKA News Agency
Oct 26 2007
Armenia

YEREVAN, October 26. /ARKA/. Digitec exhibition is one of the most
important events of Armenia’s IT sector, Armenian Trade and Economic
Development Minister Nerses Yeritsyan said Friday at the ceremony
of Digitec-2007 third exhibition opening in Yerevan. The minister
thinks that such events give the organizations a good chance to
demonstrate their achievements in this area and discuss the sector
development. The minister said that Armenian government remained
steadfast in its determination to develop this sector. The exhibition
is to remain opened until Sunday. It includes following areas –
computer equipment, telecommunications, wireless networks, software,
financial and banking systems, electronic control, electronic business,
research works and education in information and telecommunication
areas. 43 organizations take part in the exhibition. Forums and
seminars are planned to be held as part of the event. Digitec-2007
is being held under the auspices of Armenian Prime Minister Serge
Sargsyan and with USAID/CAPS support.

THE RECOGNITION OF THE GENOCIDE INESCAPABLE
Kima Yeghiazaryan

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
Oct 26 2007
Armenia

During the press conference convened yesterday Vardan Oskanyan gave
the ins and outs of his visits and meetings in the USA, Brussels,
Luxemburg, Paris and the United Arab Emirates.

Separating his speeches during the conference in the Ministers’ level
in UNESCO and the UN General Assembly Vardan Oskanyan underscored
that in the UN he also met the newly elected Turkish Foreign Minister
Aly Babajan. Though Vardan Oskanyan had certain expectations from
this meeting, but as he said, "No essential changes are noticed in
Turkey’s foreign policy towards Armenia.

Turkey is interested in processes. We are interested in the
results." During the UNESCO conference the Minister touched upon the
main topic troubling Armenian side – the issue of preserving the
historical and cultural heritage. The UNESCO observation mission
will most probably visit Nakhijevan in the near future. "If this
time Azerbaijan doesn’t create new obstacles, in my view this visit
will take place very soon," V. Oskanyan hopes. Giving assessments
to the official visit of the Iranian President to Armenia the
speaker underscored," In terms of contents the visit was profound
and rather comprehensive. Our relations with Iran become deeper and
deeper. And the programs that we implement are not only of bilateral
significance but also regional – beginning from the gas-pipe-line to
the probable construction of Armenia-Iran railway station. As well as
the construction of oil refinery." Though the last two programs are
in the process of discussion, the fact that they have become agenda
issues means " they are rather serious political, strategic issues of
regional significance." Touching upon the adoption of Resolution #
106 by the US House of Foreign Affairs Committee, he hoped that the
proper time will come and the plenary session of the Congress will
pass the Resolution. " I strongly believe the recognition of the
Genocide is inescapable. The time will come and the US Congress
will recognize the Resolution. In my view the discussion of the
Resolution, the fact itself, and the various opinions heard on the
level of the congressmen, the press and the political scientists have
a very interesting tendency. And this tendency makes me believe that
if the proper time is chosen the Resolution will be passed. The issue
is observed exclusively from the point of view of security. I haven’t
heard any speech; I haven’t seen any article, and any editorial that
denies the fact of Armenian Genocide. Even the pro-Turks say that
they don’t deny the Genocide has occurred."

During the recent visit of OSCE Minsk Group co -Presidents to the
region V. Oskanyan has noticed a new style in the negotiation process
of the regulation of NKR issue. It is the shuttle diplomacy that is
conditioned by the 2008 Presidential elections. Little time is left
for the elections and the possibility of the meetings between the
Presidents of two countries is reduces. "No other version seems to
be left. The best one is the active work of the co-Presidents in the
region and their attempts to bring the attitudes of the sides close,
through shuttle diplomacy. Thus trying to record positive results
before the presidential elections. Therefore, we hope shuttle
diplomacy will give good results for us to enshrine what we have
already achieved and to add what is not yet agreed upon," he said
and added that the mediators who have left for Baku from Yerevan
will again be in Yerevan on Sunday. The only thing left to do is, "
To wait and see what news they will bring from Baku."

VOTE ON ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’ RESOLUTION PUT OFF
Deirdre Walsh CNN

CNN International
Oct 26 2007

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Supporters of a congressional resolution that would
have declared the Ottoman-era killings of Armenians "genocide" dropped
their call for a vote on the measure Thursday. The resolution spurred
fierce criticism from NATO ally Turkey, where officials acknowledge
the killings of Armenians during World War I but vehemently object
to the designation "genocide." Turkish leaders threatened to curtail
U.S. access to bases vital to supporting the more than 160,000 American
troops in Iraq if the measure passed. The Bush administration, which
is trying to persuade Turkey not to launch cross-border raids against
Kurdish rebels in Iraq, had lobbied aggressively against the resolution
as well. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a House committee
Thursday that the resolution’s consequences on the war in Iraq would
be "quite dire." The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved the
resolution earlier this month. But Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the No. 3
Democrat in the House of Representatives, conceded last week that
"the votes are not there" for the resolution to clear the full House.

In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, its major sponsors wrote
that the measure would pass "if the timing is more favorable."

Pelosi, D-California, had promised to schedule a floor vote if the
resolution made it out of committee, but told reporters Thursday that
she accepted the sponsors’ request to set the matter aside. Though
the sponsors, led by California Democrat Adam Schiff, suggested the
measure could be brought back later this year, a senior Democratic
leadership aide said the issue is off the table indefinitely. "This is
not going to be taken up until next year at the earliest," the aide
said. Historians estimate about 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
the Ottoman Empire — the predecessor of modern Turkey — during World
War I. But Turkey, now a secular and democratic Muslim nation, and
masses of its people reject the term genocide, viewing the deaths as
part of a war that claimed lives among all peoples in the region. House
Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the handling of the issue
raises questions about the judgment of Democratic leaders — "a pattern
that is undermining our national security." "Given Turkey’s importance
in the war on terror, the role it plays in the care of our troops
on the ground, and their close alliance with us in NATO, attempting
to force a vote on this resolution in the first place was just plain
reckless," Boehner said in a written statement after the news emerged.

STAY OUT OF THIS DISPUTE: NO REASON TO ANTAGONIZE TURKEY

Chicago Sun-Times,IL
ry/616773,CST-EDT-edit24a.article
Oct 24 2007

This is a momentous week for the local Armenian community. The
Armenian pontiff, Karekin II, arrived in Chicago on Tuesday for his
first visit to these parts. His monthlong American tour is timely:
Leading House Democrats are pushing to pass a resolution in which
the United States would denounce as genocide the mass killings of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks during the World War I era.

It’s one thing for this country to apologize for moral missteps in its
own past, such as slavery and the internment of Japanese Americans
during World War II. But getting involved in this bitter, endless
dispute, which originated on another continent nearly 100 years ago,
would put the United States in the position of criticizing another
government over a conflict in which our government played no role.

More crucially, it would create serious problems for us in Iraq
by antagonizing Turkey, one of our key allies in the Mideast. The
resolution has been around in various forms for years. Why in the world
would House Speaker Nancy Pelosi choose this moment to make a case
for making such a divisive proclamation? Chances for the resolution’s
passage have gone from good to bad after Turkey’s angry response to it.

The United States can and should acknowledge that the killing
and torture of up to 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923
was genocide, as an expression of sympathy and understanding to
Armenians. Such a statement would be emblematic of our vigorous support
for human rights. But formalizing that stance serves no purpose.

When the United States pushed early this year for a United Nations
resolution to recognize the Holocaust, an atrocity that has deep
personal relevance to millions of Americans, it was in response
to a campaign by Iran to deny those horrors. When President Bush
characterized the mass killings in Darfur as genocide, he was trying
to spur efforts to stop the slayings. The resolution on the Armenian
massacres wouldn’t achieve anything except to become a self-inflicted
thorn in U.S. foreign policy.

Turkey intimated that it would close off crucial air and land supply
lines into Iraq to U.S. troops and stop cooperating in other ways with
the U.S. war effort if the resolution passed. That response took on
unsettling meaning this week when Turkey threatened to send troops
into northern Iraq after Kurdish militants hiding there killed 12
Turkish soldiers.

The last thing the United States needs as it struggles to stabilize
Iraq is for Turkey to turn the only calm area in that country into a
battleground — a scenario that could play out if it loses diplomatic
influence because of resentment over the ill-timed genocide accusation.

We should never kowtow to a country that is so offended by the mere
suggestion that a massacre occurred that it has made it a crime to
use the "g" word. But neither should Turkey interpret our lack of
formal condemnation as an endorsement of its version of history.

BAKOU DeNONCE LA POSITION D’EREVAN SUR LE RèGLEMENT DANS LE HAUT-KARABAKH

RIA Novosti
Oct 23 2007
Russie

BAKOU, 22 octobre – RIA Novosti. Les autorites azerbaïdjanaises
espèrent que les copresidents du Groupe de Minsk de l’OSCE feront
clairement comprendre a l’Armenie la necessite d’adopter une approche
constructive envers le règlement du conflit dans le Haut-Karabakh.

"Nous esperons que durant leur visite dans la region et leurs
rencontres personnelles, les copresidents transmettront a la partie
armenienne des messages plus clairs quant a la necessite d’adopter
une position constructive et de l’appliquer compte tenu de l’etat
reel des choses. A defaut de quoi, nous ne realiserons pas de progrès
aux negociations", a declare lors d’un point de presse a Bakou le
porte-parole du ministère azerbaïdjanais des Affaires etrangères
Hazar Ibrahim.

"Des propositions ne cessent d’etre formulees, mais c’est precisement
la position de l’Armenie qui a empeche jusqu’ici d’enregistrer le
moindre progrès", a-t-il affirme.

"L’Azerbaïdjan demeure fidèle a sa position. Celle-ci est connue: le
conflit ne doit etre regle que par etapes, en passant par des phases
bien determinees. A aucune des etapes, il ne peut etre question de
discuter des propositions ou des suppositions concernant la creation
d’un "Etat commun" avec l’Armenie.

"Le rôle des copresidents est de communiquer des messages aux parties,
de les aider a realiser un progrès aux negociations", a indique
le diplomate.

"S’il n’en etait pas ainsi, les parties negocieraient sans
mediateurs. Ce sont precisement ces derniers qui doivent expliquer a
la partie ayant emprunte une voie erronee que son choix est incorrect
et que la politique, la strategie et les demarches qu’elle envisage
d’appliquer ne contribueront pas a regler le conflit", a conclu le
porte-parole de la diplomatie azerbaïdjanaise.

–Boundary_(ID_f/nUcUXErXfG 2m0o4E3D2A)–