Armenian Ombudsman Proposes Police Chief To Examine Fact Of Artavazd

ARMENIAN OMBUDSMAN PROPOSES POLICE CHIEF TO EXAMINE FACT OF ARTAVAZD. S. BEING SUBJECTED TO TORTURE

Noyan Tapan
Dec 04 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The Ombudsman of the RA Armen
Harutyunian sent a letter to the chief of the RA Police, proposing
that an internal investigation should be conducted and measures be
taken to call to account those guilty of subjecting Artavazd S.,
a detainee, to torture.

According to information received from the RA Ombudsman Office,
the working group, which was was set up by instructions of the
RA Ombudsman, on November 29 went to "Hospital for Convicts"
penitentiary institution of the RA ministry of justice with the aim
of checking an alarm call about torture – just at the moment when
the detainee Artavazd S. was being taken to the Erebuni medical
center: by permission of doctors, they talked with Artavazd S. in
the ambulance car.

The detainee told the working group members that on November 13 he
was taken to police by employees of the RA Police Main Department
of Fight against Organized Crime, who treated him cruelly. In the
words of Artavazd S., during "the time he spent there", employees
of the indicated department delivered blows on various parts of
his body, including the spine, as a result of which some ribs were
broken. Doctors said that Artavazd S. was taken to hospital with the
diagnos "brain stroke".

In his letter, the RA ombudsman asked the police chief to inform him
in writing about measures taken in connection with this case.

NKR president estimated visit to Russia, France & US as efficient

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Dec 5 2007

NKR PRESIDENT ESTIMATED HIS VISIT TO RUSSIA, FRANCE AND US AS
EFFICIENT

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic President Bako Sahakian estimated his visit
to Russia, France and US in the frames of preparation and conduct of
a TV marathon under the aegis of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund held
November 22 as efficient.
In the course of a press conference in Stepanakert Bako Sahakian
noted that at the meetings with the representatives of Armenian
Diaspora Karabakh delegation had presented a number of provisions
referring to NKR’s social-economic and cultural development, which
had been supported, DE FACTO own correspondent in Nagorno-Karabakh
reports. According to Bako Sahakian, Diaspora’s business circles are
ready to promote the realization of programs, referring, in part, to
the development of village, energetic sphere and health care.
NKR President spoke up for the necessity of attaching new quality to
relations of NKR authorities and Diaspora. In this context Bako
Sahakian mentioned the importance of establishing Hayastan
All-Armenian Fund’s permanent representation in the Republic and an
information centre to provide information concerning life in NKR to
Diaspora’s structures. In the President’s words, to ensure NKR’s
aerial connection with the world Stepanakert airport should be put
into operation, which would be realized by next fall.
Touching upon Karabakh issue, Bako Sahakian again confirmed official
Stepanakert’s position, underscoring that `’Nagorno-Karabakh will
never be Azerbaijan’s part, and we are ready to continue our
constructive activity in the conflict settlement process”.

The Isparta Crime: Undeclared War against Turkey

American Chronicle, CA
Dec 5 2007

The Isparta Crime: Undeclared War against Turkey

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
December 5, 2007

Before approximately seven (7) months, we published an article
predicting severe deterioration of the Turkish – European relations
in the advent of an electoral victory of Erdogan, the coarse and
ignorant Turkish premier with the Islamist agenda and the simulation
tactics. Under the striking title `European Manichaeism, the End of
Turkey, and the Subversion of Europe’
( anichaeism-end-turkey-subversion-europe.html)
that article sounded odd at those days (28 April) when the
Freemasonic mass media establishment of Europe was so passionately
active in supporting the uneducated and uncultured Islamist Erdogan
against the politically closer to Europe forces of the Center Left
secular Turkish opposition.

All have a general idea of the developments that took place ever
since; Gulf capital distributed with no restrain throughout Anatolia
gained voters for the Turkish Islamist simulators, who thought they
would thus cheat the West, while rising to power in Ankara. The fact
that Abdullah Gul, the person designated to become President of
Turkey, was a `brother’ to many in a supposedly distinguished
Freemasonic Lodge of Albion was thought to be a `guarantee’ for the
gullible Westerners.

As the few fake Freemasons around Erdogan could not possibly cheat
anyone, the deeply anti-Turkish forces that have been ruling from
behind the scenes in America, England and France could not offer
eulogies for too long. As a matter of fact, they are not annoyed by
Erdogan’s better relations with Middle Eastern countries,
rapprochement with Iran, interference in Northern Iraq, coalition
with Caucasus and Central Asiatic Turkic speaking countries,
insistence to adhere to the EU, and/or Turkey’s progressive alliance
with Russia. Certainly all this is comical as political effort, as
not a single country in the world can possibly be the ally of the
existing enemies and adversaries, even though this is artificially
overshadowed by pirouettes like the Peace University project, and the
like. And certainly the Anti-Turkish Freemasonic bloc that controls
the West’s most influential governments was not disturbed by the
Islamization process of Turkey that – perceived correctly by them –
is meant to weaken Turkey’s international position and status (which
corresponds perfectly to their targets).

The Anti-Turkish elites of the West have always been distraught
because of the great potentialities that Turkey has always had in a
historical perspective of almost two millennia. Perceiving the
reformed survival and transcended heir of the Ottoman Empire as a
historical prolongation of both the Islamic Caliphate and the Eastern
Roman Empire, these elites are fully aware of the fact that their
conspiracies against many peoples of the East can be met with a
lethal blow by Turkey – alone or in alliance with others.

Their policies would be better implemented – to the detriment of a
great number of peoples between Eastern Mediterranean and China – if
Turkey were to be ruled by idiotic leaders, eventually similar to the
so-called `Arab’ cannibals, who would focus exclusively on the
(disastrous for Turkey) perspective of adhesion to the EU, while
`liberalizing’ and `Islamizing’ the Turkish state and society.

Gul – Erdogan: turned to instruments of the Military establishment

More recently, the Anti-Turkish elites of the West have always been
terribly troubled because of the political reality and the real
nature of the events that took place there. In fact, Erdogan would be
dead, and Gul would enjoy his free time in a jail today, if the
survival instinct was not very strong in these two persons. It would
be very easy for the army either not to have allowed the elections to
take place or to have closed the parliament before Gul’s election to
presidency.

If the army did not intervene in Turkey, it is because the army is
currently in control, guaranteeing the respect to Kemal Ataturk’s
principles and concept. Actually, instead of interfering in the
political life, and triggering a flood of well-prepared and perfectly
hypocritical reactions from various Western governments, the army
simply presented the existing options to the Islamist leaders,
finally instrumentalizing them.

Correctly assessing the present threats against Turkey, namely Iran,
Israel/US attack on Iran, Western inspiration Islamic extremism
promoted among besotted Arabic speaking populations, the rise of
totalitarianism in Russia, and above all, the anti-Turkish hysteria
of the Freemasonic Western elites, the Turkish military shaped an
ambitious political – military plan – answer to these threats.

The plan was accepted by Gul and Erdogan, and their acceptance
ensured their longer stay in power – to the profit of Turkey, not the
apostate Freemasonic lodge of the doomsday. According to the plan,
Turkey will soon become a nuclear power.

Nuclear Turkey

A Nuclear Turkey will bring about the end of all Freemasonic schemes
against the peoples of the Orient that have been performed due to the
unawareness of the Western peoples, first victims of the Western
Freemasonic elites of Apostasy. That is why the effort to avert
Turkey’s nuclearization will be carried out as a real war between
Turkey and the West, first covered, and second biased. The most
vehement and virulent reaction will not come from the Neo-cons in
America, but the Oil cartel that is engaged in an all-out war against
the Neo-cons and any other group of power or country that may / might
cause possible damages to their plans.

As far as the former is concerned, all possible crimes and terrorist
acts are to be expected; US, UK, Israeli and French secret services
keep a close eye on developments in Turkey, and they will be used by
the manipulators behind the scenes in all possible ways. It will be
within Turkey’s interests not to uncover officially all these acts,
nor to release related intelligence, as this would cause a
confrontation across the board.

With respect to the latter, every successful step Turkey makes in the
Nuclear autonomy and self-determination path will be met with
unreasonably closed chapters in the negotiations related to Turkey’s
adhesion to the RU, with discussions about the Armenian, the Pontiac,
and other inexistent genocides, with US arms to the PKK terrorists,
and with further prejudicial treatment of the Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus.

Apparently, there is no reason for which France should be allowed to
have nuclear weapons, and Turkey not. Turkey has full right to
nuclear energy and arms; one should not see Turkey’s effort to become
a nuclear power as part of rivalry with Iran.

On the contrary, Turkey as premier nuclear power in the Middle East,
will have two positive effects:

a. First, it will offer the guarantee of a permanent settlement
between Israel and the Palestinians. If peace is a choice, the two
top warrantors have to be in a position of balanced power.

b. Second, it will minimize Saudi Arabia’s and the Gulf countries’
importance as energy resources. Combined with the exploitation of
Central Asiatic resources, transported mainly through Turkey, and
with Iran’s nuclearization, Nuclear Turkey will cause a dramatic
change in the history of Freemasonic grip of the Oil resources of the
peninsula and the Persian Gulf.

All this is far from political futurism; as the precipitation of
Middle Eastern and Asiatic developments seems to have sped up, the
first grave incident in the undeclared war between the West’s
Freemasonry-controlled governments and Turkey occurred a few days
ago!

Atlasjet plane crash at Isparta – Act 1 of the War against Turkey

The Atlasjet MD-83 plane that flied from Istanbul late in the night
of Thursday, 29 November, and crashed early on Friday morning near
the Turkish city of Isparta in SW Anatolia did not emit an emergency
signal before it came down, according to details made available by
the State Airports Management General Directorate (DHMÝ) late Friday
afternoon.

According to reports published in Turkish news agencies and
newspapers
( detaylar.do?load=detay&link=128452),
officials at the DHMÝ said the radar station based in Ankara
facilitated communication between the private airline aircraft, which
was on its way to Isparta from Ýstanbul, and the Isparta control
tower for the pilots to get the tower’s flight instructions at 11:23
p.m., shortly before the plane took off from Ýstanbul. The plane
disappeared from radar surveillance at 1:45 a.m.

Officials at Isparta’s Süleyman Demirel Airport tower said
communication was cut off when the tower was instructing the pilots
to `keep approaching.’ However, no emergency signal was sent prior to
the communication cutoff.

Emergency signals help radar stations, which in this case would have
picked up signals not only in Isparta but also in Ankara and Antalya,
locate the site of a plane crash much more quickly and easily than
would normally be possible. The officials said other pilots
transiting in the same zone at the time of the craft’s disappearance
were questioned, however none were able to offer any information.

Officials first calculated that the plane might have crashed into
Burdur Lake. The wreckage was located only after military radar
detected its whereabouts. According to DHMÝ officials, no explosion
occurred after the crash because the plane’s fuel tank was not
completely filled as the flight was only short distance.

Tuncay Doðaner, chief executive of Atlasjet, said that `there are no
survivors among the passengers or crew’.

Reason for crash: ‘unclear’

The Deputy President of the Turkish Airline Pilots Association
(TALPA), Altay Yildirim, stated that the reason for the crash remains
unclear. Further on, he noted that the Atlasjet plane had been in
contact with the Isparta control tower and that weather conditions
had been normal during its landing. Mr. Yildirim, who had been
classmates with the co-pilot of the crashed plane, Tahir Aksoy,
specified that `the crash of this airplane involves many unknown
factors. I realize that it is difficult for people to hear that these
things are unknown. I mean, everything was normal, the weather was
good. The pilot said he had seen the runway and was coming in. Thus,
it is just not clear how this plane could have crashed’.

In addition, Mr. Yildirim said: `sometimes when a plane is landing,
there can be turbulence. It could be that after such turbulence there
was a loss of elevation. Aside from such a possibility, I cannot
imagine what else could account for this crash. However, it is not
right for me to comment on something that is not yet known. After we
find and listen to the black box from the airplane, it will be clear.
And this process will of course call for experts’.

Remarkably illuminating stories

The Atlasjet MD-83 plane was carrying 50 passengers and seven crew
members, when it crashed on approach to Isparta on Friday.
Passengers’ relatives were waiting in the airport despite the late
night hours, as it usually happens allover the world. They provided
the Turkish press with valuable information about what they had been
testimonies to. Meral Uysal, the mother of 26-year-old Sibel Uysal,
who died in the crash, said she saw the aircraft pass near the
Isparta airport
( r.do?load=detay&link=128450).

Uysal said that the plane passed the airport around 1:30 a.m. but
headed in the direction of Keçiborlu and never returned, while she
was waiting to meet her daughter at the airport. Uysal and her
husband waited for their daughter at the airport the whole night.

Turkey’s `coolest’ airline

The crash of the plane operated by low-fare carrier Atlasjet showed
the irony of fate as it occurred shortly after that company had been
branded Turkey’s `coolest’ airline in a survey conducted by
CoolBrands, an initiative by Superbrands, an independent arbiter and
collector of public opinion that identifies the world’s coolest
brands in 59 countries.

Quite interestingly, the crash came just a few hours after Atlasjet
appeared in national newspapers with full-page advertisements reading
`British experts say Atlasjet is Turkey’s coolest airline’. The
advertisement ran in newspapers on Friday, the very same day a
McDonnell Douglas 83 jet, operated by Atlasjet and flying from
Ýstanbul to Isparta in southwest Turkey, crashed.

6 Turkish Academics and Nuclear Scientists: Dead

Six Turkish academics – all nuclear scientists – were among those who
lost their lives in the Isparta crash of the Atlasjet plane last
Friday. More particularly, three academics from Boðaziçi University,
Professor Engin Arýk, Research Assistant Özgen Berkol Doðan, and
graduate student Engin Abat, and three academics from Doðuþ
University, Professor Dr. Þenel Fatma Boydað, Associate Professor
Ýskender Ýsmet, and Research Assistant Mustafa Fidan, were on board
the plane to participate in a workshop scheduled to be held at
Süleyman Demirel University in Isparta.

Following the terrible plane crash, it was officially announced from
Süleyman Demirel University that the workshop had been cancelled.
Ankara University’s Prof. Dr. Ömer Yavaþ stated that the six
academics were on their way to participate in the fourth workshop of
the `Technical Design of Turkish Accelerator Center (TAC) and
Building Test Facilities’, a project sponsored by the State Planning
Organization (DPT) to explore the formation of the universe.

Prof. Yavaþ also said: `We are very saddened to hear about the plane
crash in which six academics lost their lives. They were on their way
to take part in a workshop at Süleyman Demirel University in Isparta.
We organized this workshop almost one-and-a-half years ago to present
research conducted within universities regarding the project in
question’.

Prof. Yavaþ also noted that 25 academics and 75 researchers coming
from Ankara, Gazi, Boðaziçi, Ýstanbul, Uludað, Erciyes, Niðde,
Dumlupýnar and Süleyman Demirel universities conducted research for
the project, which aims to explore the formation of the universe and
develop new technology in fields of biotechnology and medicine. He
went on saying that `the project was launched last year and is
scheduled to be completed by 2010′.

Boðaziçi University’s Professor Engin Arýk, one of the six academics,
had worked as a fellow at Boðaziçi University since 1985 and was part
of the team conducting research for the `Atlas Experiment,’ (A
Toroidal LHC Apparatus) — one of six particle detector experiments
currently being conducted at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in
Switzerland.

Turkish mass media and governmental down playing

After years of sheer anti-Turkish hysteria from various capitals,
lobbying powers, and statesmen, it would not be very difficult for
many journalists in Turkey to identify the plausible reasons of the
mysterious `accident’. The fact that 6 (six) Turkish nuclear
scientists were passengers of the fatal plane was not a coincidence;
it was anticipated that they would participate in the finally
cancelled Isparta workshop. Of course, nothing great would happen
there, and the communications of the assassinated scholars would not
unseal otherwise revealed secrets. The plausibility of a sabotage
carried out by the Secret Services of an ally of Turkey hinges on the
need for an alarming warning sent by those who would advise Turkey
against the nuclear energy path because this simply suits their
illegitimate and disreputable interests.

What turns the plausibility of a sabotage into a certitude is the
reaction of the Turkish government and officials, and the comments of
the pro-governmental media. We find many comments like the following:
`The fact that one of Turkey’s most prominent nuclear physicists was
a passenger on the plane, which had no known technical problems, as
announced in the immediate aftermath of the accident, was apparently
perfect material for some sordid journalism — many of Turkey’s
newspapers and columnists speculated that the crash was no accident,
but sabotage by a foreign secret service to block what would have
been Turkey’s unstoppable climb once it became the most advanced
nation in terms of nuclear energy. However there was no physical
evidence suggestive of sabotage, and dozens of statements from
officials stressed that it would be impossible to draw any
conclusions before the craft’s data recorders were inspected’.

( oad=detay&link=128517)

Quite interestingly, and prior to any study of evidence collected in
the black box, last Sunday, Ali Arýduru, the head of the Turkish
Civil Aviation Authority, said there were no indications of terrorism
or sabotage! Really? Why bother then for the black box, if Mr.
Arýduru knows everything in advance!

While a US team of investigators from aircraft manufacturer McDonnell
Douglas joined Turkish experts hunting for clues, academics with
links to the government joined the aviation officials and the
pro-governmental media in the ill-fated effort to deflect the Turkish
public opinion from the real causes of this act of war.

In a commentary published in daily Zaman, energy physics expert
Serkan Gölge pretended the following: `The Turkish public opinion
once again — and perhaps knowingly — is interested in conspiracy
theories rather than the real causes of the accident. Since every
pain that is lived is associated with a conspiracy theory,
effectively distracting the public from the real causes, light is
never shed upon accidents and the same mistakes are made over and
over again since none of those responsible are ever found out’.

Trying to convince through the ages-old trickery of over-magnifying
an opponent’s statement or concept in order to make it look highly
unlikely and definitely incredible, Gölge suggested that, based on
Turkish media’s interpretations of the event, `one would think that
our scientists had made an invention that will turn Turkey into a
world superpower in a few days and were thus killed by foreign powers
for what they did’.

In fact, no one suggests this. Turkey’s rise to nuclear power status
will be a matter of few years, not days. Even so, Turkey will not be
a superpower, but it will certainly be far stronger than what its
declared and undeclared enemies would like. As a matter of fact,
Turkey will have to advance more attentively; different flights will
be imposed on nuclear scientists participating in the same congress
or workshop. After some time, the investigators will announce a well
invented false reason for the plane crash, and the story will look as
`terminated’.

At a later stage, when Turkey will advance in the nuclear path, the
Freemasonic elites of US, UK, and France will shamefully and
scandalously demonize Turkey as possible threat against the Mankind.
However, by then the world will have forgotten the true reasons of
the Isparta crime against Turkey – a crime that clearly demonstrates
how inhuman, biased and dangerous the Apostate Freemasonic Lodge has
always been.

Orientalist, Historian, Political Scientist, Dr. Megalommatis, 50, is
the author of 12 books, dozens of scholarly articles, hundreds of
encyclopedia entries, and thousands of articles.

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/european-m
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detayla
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?l

Greek minority journalist attacked in Istanbul

PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung), Austria
Dec 5 2007

Greek minority journalist attacked in Istanbul
© AP

2007-12-05 20:51:26 –

ATHENS, Greece (AP) – An ethnic Greek journalist who runs a minority
newspaper in Turkey was attacked and injured outside his office in
Istanbul on Wednesday, Greek authorities said.
Andreas Rombopulos, who runs the newspaper Iho, or Echo, was attacked
and beaten by two people outside the paper’s offices in the city
center. He was
being treated at a local hospital for head and arm injuries, but was
not in a life-threatening condition, authorities said.
Istanbul is home to a dwindling Greek minority of about 3,000 people,
down from an estimated million at the turn of the century.
Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos said Rombopulos
was «brutally attacked.
«At a time when efforts are being made and steps are being taken to
further improve and reinforce relations between the two countries,
some people, with their unacceptable and criminal acts, are trying to
create obstacles,» Koumoutsakos said. «They will not succeed.
«We unreservedly condemn them,» Koumoutsakos said, adding that Greece
expected Turkish authorities to arrest and try the perpetrators and
to take measures so that such attacks are not repeated.
In January, ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was shot dead in
front of his newspaper’s office in a brazen daylight attack that
prompted international condemnation and debate within Turkey about
free speech.

Traditional rivals Greece and Turkey have been improving ties
recently. On Tuesday, they announced they were expanding military
cooperation as part of new confidence-building measures. Greek Prime
Minister Costas Karamanlis is expected to visit to Turkey in the near
future for what would be the first official visit by a Greek premier
in 48 years.

Armenia to continue NK negotiations despite upcoming elections

Russia & CIS Presidential Bulletin
December 3, 2007

ARMENIA TO CONTINUE KARABAKH NEGOTIATIONS DESPITE UPCOMING …

Yerevan is ready to continue the Karabakh settlement negotiations
despite the presidential elections due in 2008, Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanian told Interfax in Madrid.

We keep working on [the settlement]. True, the elections are ahead,
but we do not link them to the negotiations. We are working, and the
cochairmen [of the OSCE Minsk Group] can visit the region, he said.

The international mediators will visit the area in late December or
the middle of January and carry on the negotiations, he said.

At the same time, Armenia will be unable to give enough attention to
the Karabakh issue during the pre-election period, Oskanian said.

Certainly, we will concentrate with the elections and will be unable
to give much attention to Karabakh. Yet we will stay involved in the
[settlement] process, he said.

The independence of Kosovo will doubtlessly set a precedent for other
conflicts, although each conflict is peculiar, he said.

We have always said that all conflicts are different and each has its
own way of settlement. In general, precedents are significant and,
like it or not, we will face the effects. However, we do not link the
solutions of Kosovo and Karabakh problems. The Karabakh negotiations
are progressing normally, the minister said.

Karabakh has chosen its future, the self-determination. We will
continue negotiations on the basis of the elaborated principles no
matter what happens to Kosovo, Oskanian said.

On the other hand, we cannot disregard the Kosovo precedent. If
Kosovo becomes independent, no one can tell us that others won’t get
independence. There is no quota on freedom, he said.

TBILISI: Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Brings New Hopes For (Most Of) The South

BAKU-TBILISI-KARS BRINGS NEW HOPES FOR (MOST OF) THE SOUTH CAUCASUS
By M. Alkhazashvili
(Translated by Diana Dundua)

The Messenger, Georgia
Nov 27 2007

On November 21, in the once out of the way village of Marabda, three
presidents stood together to inaugurate the start of construction on
the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad.

Mikheil Saakashvili, who resigned as the president on Sunday to begin
a bid for a new term in early elections, hosted Turkish President
Abdullah Gul and Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev as they cut the
ribbon on the newest project to bolster the unfulfilled promise of the
Silk Road transport corridor Georgia has long hoped to be. Once the
railroad is built, cargo can ride the rails from Shanghai to Calais
with hardly a break in between. After a long-delayed tunnel is dug
under the Bosporus, Georgia and Turkey will be have direct links to
a continent they both are intent on joining. The benefits are many:
the economic boost, the security guarantees which accompany the
role of a transit state. The rail project will even contribute to
global security, proclaimed the Azerbaijani president, by opening
more options for cargo passage across Eurasia. The Russian news
agency Regnum estimates the project will increase cargo turnover in
Azerbaijan by 30 percent.

For Georgia, Saakashvili said, the railroad will be a "window to
Europe" after losing control of the rail connection to Russia and
beyond which runs through secessionist Abkhazia.

Armenian officials, meanwhile, downplay the significance of the
project. Yerevan has previously had harsh words for the railway,
which by Turkish and Azerbaijani design will isolate the country.

Neither country has diplomatic relations with Armenia, which fought
a protracted war with Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"The project is of more symbolic than economic importance," Regnum
quoted one Armenian official as saying. Some skeptics have suggested
any extra cargo revenue will be offset by less activity in Georgia’s
seaports.

The project presented a sticky conflict of interests for Georgia,
which counts the US as its top foreign ally and benefactor but Turkey
and Azerbaijan as key regional trade partners. Washington opposed
the railroad for bypassing Armenia.

Tbilisi has now unequivocally embraced the railroad, however, and for
good reasons. When construction is complete, Georgia-and Marabda-will
be that much less out of the way.

Parliament Adopts State Budget For 2008

PARLIAMENT ADOPTS STATE BUDGET FOR 2008
By Ruzanna Khachatrian and Astghik Bedevian

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Nov 28 2007

Armenian lawmakers on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to adopt the state
budget for next year despite opposition claims that its fulfillment
could be a risky job.

By a vote of 87 to 2, with eight abstentions, the parliament majority
passed the government-submitted draft budget that envisages increased
revenues mainly at the expense of improved tax collection and reducing
the shadow segment of the economy.

The budget foresees the revenue pattern at 746 billion drams (about
$2.5 billion). Its expenditure pattern is 822 billion drams, with a
deficit of 76 billion drams.

The dollar exchange rate assumed is the budget is 325 drams; the euro
is assumed at 470. A gross domestic product (GDP) growth of about 10
percent is expected.

The Republican Party, the Prosperous Armenia Party and the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation voted in favor of the budget.

Among those voting against the bill were two deputies from the
opposition Heritage faction attending the vote. Another opposition
faction, Orinats Yerkir, abstained.

The parliament completed the discussion of the draft budget on Tuesday.

"We cannot have a negative attitude to the fact that pensions rise
by about 65 percent," Mher Shahgeldian, of Orinats Yerkir, said,
explaining why the faction had abstained.

Speaking in parliament yesterday, Speaker Tigran Torosian predicted
"against votes", but said the document, which he called "the budget
of the second generation of reforms", would be passed.

Parliamentary Budget Committee head Gagik Minasian was also convinced
that the draft would be passed. He brushed aside opposition claims
that the budget was risky. "Our fulfillment of the previous six or
seven budgets is a bright evidence of this. We will also fulfill the
coming year’s budget, and there is nothing risky in it."

Artsvik Minasian, of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun), said that their faction would vote for the bill
"considering that a majority of their proposals had been accepted."

Meanwhile, Heritage faction secretary Stepan Safarian said: "We cannot
vote for a budget which is risky from the point of its implementation,
a budget that simply gives temporary solutions to certain social
problems."

Foreign Ministers Oskanian And Mammadyarov Meet In Madrid

FOREIGN MINISTERS OSKANIAN AND MAMMADYAROV MEET IN MADRID

armradio.am
29.11.2007 16:21

Today in Madrid the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and
Azerbaijan met with the Foreign Ministers of Russia and France Sergey
Lavrov and Bernard Kouchner and US Deputy Secretary of State on
Political Issues Nicolas Burns, RA MFA Spokesman Vladimir Karapetyan
told Mediamax.

Issues related to the perspectives of the Karabakh conflict resolution
were discussed during the meeting attended by the OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairs.

Referring to Azeri MFA Spokesaman Khazar Ibrahim, Trend agency
reports that during the meeting the Co-Chairs presented a package
of suggestions comprised of ten points, one of which has not been
agreed upon.

Sons Of The Conquerors – Review

SONS OF THE CONQUERORS – REVIEW

Registan.net, WA
Nov 29 2007

Considering that Laurence reviewed this book two years ago last
month, I don’t feel too bad about writing another review. Quite a
bit has happened since then. Many of the factors mentioned in this
book as being current events in 2005 still hold true today. The
United States is still in Iraq, an independent Kurdistan is still
in limbo, the EU and Turkey remain in relatively the same position,
though who knows where this newest round of French riots will send
Europe’s relationship with Muslim immigrants and their children,
disappointed by the equal treatment they are promised but kept from by
the inherent racism of a once homogeneously white country? Granted, a
Turkish-led riot in Berlin could well be even worse than the Detroit
race riots of 1943 and 1967. I have a German friend, a native of
Berlin currently living in the United States, that has stated how
much she prefers the Turks of Turkey to the immigrants living in her
own neighborhood. We talked on the subject at length, and it put me
in mind of the complaints against ethnic Uzbeks living and working
in Kazakhstan. Those who know Uzbeks in their homes readily agree
that Uzbeks living and working abroad tend to act by a different set
of rules. Another friend joined in this conversation, saying that it
wasn’t only Turks, but that strongly family-oriented societies tend to
use a large amount of shame and fear of the elders to control their
younger family members, and that when those pressures are removed,
the youth act callously and irresponsibly. His examples were the
immigrant Italians from Sicily, who, like Uzbeks and Turks, would
give you the shirt off their back if you happened upon the house of
their parents, but might not stop to save your life if they witnessed
your car accident. That’s a drastic illustration, but I can recall
several horrible car accidents where the driver of the car I was in
could not be persuaded to stop and help. Still, I don’t want to take
specific life examples out of context – it’s a slippery slope to racist
stereotypes. Mr. Pope’s intentions seem pure enough, and he really
only wants to educate those interested as the realities of a "Turkish
World" and how those people act, think, live, worship, and do business.

As for my own experiences with Uzbeks, Tatars, Turks, and the lot,
it would be a momentous task to boil down my opinions into a novel,
and I have a deep respect for Hugh Pope’s ability to describe opinions
garnered over decades of living and traveling among the Turkic
people. As for Turkic violence, discrimination, acts of genocide,
and uncaring treatment of strangers, this is a darker side of the
Turks than Mr. Pope concentrated on, though he’s no apologist. The
Armenian Genocide is mentioned, and the atrocities of the Ottoman,
Timurid, and other Turkic empires are stated without trying to offer
extenuating circumstances.

Suffice it to say that over this past week I’ve been reading Hugh
Pope’s Sons of the Conquerors: The Rise of the Turkic World.

Published, as I mentioned, in 2005, it is one of his newer works
concerning the Turkic world, and definitely his most widespread
attempt at approaching the entirety of the Turkic people. Mr. Pope,
a Reuter’s writer who contributes to the Wall Street Journal, has
lived in Turkey for many years. He speaks Turkish fluently, and can
also speak Arabic and Persian. He has fans in many circles, from NPR
listeners to Economist readers to Robert Kaplan and company, which in
turn gives him even more attention. He has all the appeal of the clever
British student making good on his dreams of becoming international,
worldly, and respected. There are a few times when I didn’t follow
his logic, as Mr. Pope seems a bit too apologetic on the behalf of
President Karimov of Uzbekistan. In his defense, he makes no allusion
to the Andijan massacre, so i assume that happened after his deadline.

On the whole I enjoyed the book. His writing is as entertaining as it
is intelligent, and not condescending to the anyone he portrays. I
sensed a very real love of Turkey, without a sense of him forgiving
all the sins of their fathers. It’s simply the realistic response
that would come from living among a people I objected to certain
adjectives, as I have a knee-jerk reaction to the use of the word
‘wily’ being used to describe anyone, no matter how ‘wily’ they may
be. I guess it stems from reading old British imperialist texts,
and less old American imperial texts. They seem to assume the white
people are clever and intelligent, and ‘Orientals’ are dastardly,
wily, and fully of tricks. That being said, I’m willing to chalk that
up to nuance and connotative differences between American and British
academic writing styles. I don’t actually think that Hugh Pope is
racist in the slightest degree, and I mention this largely to make the
point that many of the books written on the Turks and Turkic Republics
of the former Soviet Union have been British, and their vocabulary
is quite different from what I am used to. Descriptive words like
"keen", "clever", "cheery", and "wily," are just not in my everyday
lexicon, nor do I particularly understand the exact meaning of "smart"
as it applies to appearance. For me it’s still rather like reading
C.S. Lewis or Roald Dahl as a kid. It’s the wonder of our dual-English
age, when someone can ask for a ‘torch’ and be expecting a flashlight
and be handed a stick of wood dipped in burning pitch.

As for writing about the Turkic World… Just as it would be impressive
to see someone try and nail down the ideas, policies, histories,
and beliefs of the Germanic peoples, it’s staggering to see such a
feat even attempted, let alone carried off. And, to my mind, that’s
just what happens – Hugh Pope really has done an excellent job with
this book. In about 400 pages the reader is whipped around from Asia
to Europe and back again, with brief stops in the Americas to cover
both the new Turkic minority in the New York/New Jersey area, as well
as the tenuous and controversial connection between certain Native
Americans and the Turks. Hugh Pope does a brilliant job, however,
of not coming off as some quack impersonating an anthropologist. He
merely states that the Turks are "notoriously hard to classify."

Turks, Azeris, and Turkmen are certainly related. Uzbeks, Tatars,
Kirghiz, Kazakhs, Uyghurs, Karakalpaks, too. Mongolians, Tuvans,
Manchurians – the reach becomes longer, the ties tenuous, but
still there is a common ancestry. Stretching that across the Bering
Strait, while a bit of a stretch, is at least within my own realm
of imagination. I also liked seeing the pan-Turkic take on History,
arguing that the Turkic nomads and conquerors stretch from the storming
of Constantinople to the Genghis Khan’s and Tamerlane’s sackings,
back to the Seljuks and Huns. The Scythians didn’t make the cut,
though, as Mr. Pope must agree with the anthropological assumption
that they were proto-Indo-European nomads, and thus relatives of
the Tajiks, Persians, Kushans, etc. In my own opinion, seeing as how
many conflicting theories there are about the origins of each of these
groups of people, it’s less important which theory Mr. Pope picks than
how consistent he is with his reasoning. And that is where I think he
really shines. It might be difficult to find a common thread throughout
the Turkish world, from the Turks in Germany to the shamans living
on the shores of Lake Baikal, but I think that Sons of the Conquerors
makes a bold and enjoyable attempt at capturing some of the mythos and
most of the science and history. And I love the "Turkic Family Tree"
in the Appendix! I wish that the various Peace Corps programs in the
Turkic Republics had one so they could help the new Volunteers keep
track of the various Turkic tribes.

I had some favorite moments in this book. His interview with
Kazakhstan’s President Nazarbaev was just great, and I wasn’t shocked
at all when Nazarbaev identified himself first and foremost as a
"Turk." The idea that the Turks of Turkey are the half-blooded sons
of the original Turkic conquerors may or may not be true, but it’s
a real stretch of the imagination to think that the Kazakhs have had
any more luck preserving some kind of pure warrior’s bloodline.

Ethnicities don’t die off – they merge and marry off. The Turkic
Determinist’s version of anthropology is as sketchy and self-serving
as Stalinist accounting and statistic managing.

The entirety of the epilogue was just brilliant – as daunting a
proposition as wrapping up this kind of work must have been, Mr. Pope
met the task head-on with clear and concise conclusions, without
being too sentimental. Also, every example given from his personal
life and experience was constructed very professionally, never taken
out of context or expected to stand for broad generalizations.

There’s a very real trend in travel writing for the worst-day-ever
in some tourist’s life to be used to build a very nasty view of some
ethnicity or country. While some Uzbeks may delight in ripping you off,
others are as honest as they come. It’s akin to judging all Americans
by the hawkers of fake watches in New York City, and Mr. Pope did
admirably at avoiding falling into that particular trap.

I also enjoyed using the Uygurs to bookmark the work. They are almost
the furthest east of the Turks, and probably the most oppressed
of their brothers, with the least amount of hope for the immediate
future. They are beginning to turn to Islamic fundamentalism as a
political reaction, much more than a religious reaction. I imagine
we can expect to see the Uzbeks continue in the same vein with Hizb
ut-Tahrir, which has come a long way in the last fifty years since
its founding. While these Islamist people will seek to be peaceful
in the beginning, the brutality of their respective governments’
responses will, I’m afraid, certainly drive them to violence. Mr. Pope
even mentions those Uygurs picked up while the US DoD was filling
the halls of Guantanomo with Islamic Fundamentalist terrorists. I
strongly recommend listening to this interview with Adel, an Uygur
held in Guantanomo, given on the NPR radio show This American Life.

I really had a great time reading this book, and I’m hoping that next
week’s The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan
by Ben Macntyre will be as intriguing as its subtitle leads me to
hope. I welcome all comments, questions, and cuss words! Let me know
what you thought of Hugh Pope’s work, and if there are other works
which might relate to our Central Asian emphasis here at Registan.net.

007/11/28/review-hugh-pope-sons/

http://www.registan.net/index.php/2

Radar Station Available: Anatoly Serdyukov To Inspect The Gabala Rad

RADAR STATION AVAILABLE: ANATOLY SERDYUKOV TO INSPECT THE GABALA RADAR STATION
by Sokhbet Mamedov, translated by Elena Leonova

Nezavisimaya Gazeta
What the Papers Say Part B
November 28, 2007 Wednesday
Russia

Defense cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan; Defense Minister
Anatoly Serdyukov is starting his first visit to Azerbaijan today.

The Russian and Azeri defense ministers will hold official talks,
discussing military cooperation development and the prospects for
using the Gabala radar station.

Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov is starting a working visit to Baku
today. Azeri Defense Ministry spokesman Eldar Sabiroglu told us that
the Russian and Azeri defense ministers will hold official talks,
discussing military cooperation development and the prospects for
using the Gabala radar station.

This is Serdyukov’s first visit to Azerbaijan. He arrived in Baku on
the evening of Tuesday, November 27, flying in from Astana, where he
had attended a meeting of the CIS Defense Ministers’ Council.

Relations between the defense ministries of Russia and Azerbaijan
are based on the principles of mutual benefit; their contacts are
regular and productive. All the same, the defense ministers have
much to discuss when they meet in person. For example, the Azeri
government has expressed concern about transfers of Russian military
hardware from Georgia to the 102nd Russian military base in the town
of Giumri, Armenia. The Azeri government believes that in the event
of hostilities being resumed, this hardware could be used by Armenia
against Azerbaijan. The Azeri government has also alleged that Russia,
co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group on Armenian-Azeri conflict regulation,
is effectively helping to strengthen the military forces of Armenia –
and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has stated repeatedly that Armenia
is occupying almost 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory.

According to Azeri Defense Minister Safar Abiyev, these circumstances
pose a real threat to regional stability and could lead to a resumption
of hostilities at any moment. While visiting Astana the previous
day, Abiyev told journalists that armed conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan is "quite likely."

An equally important topic of discussion for the two ministers will
be the fate of the Gabala radar station. Vasili Istratov, Russian
Ambassador in Azerbaijan, commented on this as follows: "We believe
that the radar in Gabala can perform all tasks related to identifying
actual or potential threats. We also understand that the Americans
have not entirely rejected the possibility of using this radar. We
shall wait until the Americans respond to our proposal for shared
use of the Gabala radar." Istratov went on to say: "In any event,
decisions on using the Gabala radar can only be made after preliminary
consultations with Azerbaijan."

The Gabala radar station, located near the town of Zaragan in the
Gabala district of Azerbaijan, has been operating since 1985 and
is designed to detect ICBM launches in the Southern hemisphere. It
monitors the territories of Iran, Turkey, China, Pakistan, India,
Iraq, Australia, most of Africa, and islands in the Indian and Atlantic
oceans. A bilateral agreement signed in January 2002 gives the Darial
radar at Gabala the status of an information-analysis center, owned
by Azerbaijan and used by Russia under a ten-year lease.