Author: Nahapetian Zhanna

PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA APPRECIATES PROCESS OF REFORMS BEING IMPLEMENTED IN ARAGATSOTN MARZ
Noyan Tapan
Sept 06 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, NOYAN TAPAN. RA President Robert Kocharian
attaches serious importance to development of reprocessing production
in the marz of Aragatsotn, in encouraging of which, in his words,
the local authorities have much to do. The country head stated about
it at the meeting with journalists after the working visit paid
to the marz of Aragatsotn on September 5. As a succeeded example,
the President mentioned one of the “Tamara-Fruit” factory, which,
according to his estimation, has great perspectives. The factory makes
an attempt to occupy a place in the European market, by cooperating
with the European Bank. The President expressed satisfaction with
the high speeds of school construction in the marz: “Other 2-3 years,
and the promise that there will be no unrestored school in Armenia,
will become a reality,” the President mentioned. In his words, a
great volume of gasification works is also done in the marz. The
President emphasized that only some villages had gasification
in the territory of the marz during the Soviet period, when 29
rural communities have gasification at present, and it’s envisaged
that other 15-20 communities will have gasification till late this
year. According to the President’s estimation, the state of highways
is not bad in the marz, and as for improvement of the irrigation
system, it’s envisaged to improve the irrigation system particularly
by the program of reconstruction of reservoirs and construction of
water-pipes. The IPAC and World Bank allocated capital investment of
4.5 bln drams for this purpose. During the visit paid to Aragatsotn,
the RA President visited the newly restored school of the village of
Aragats, Saghmosavank and “Tamara-Fruit” factory. The President held
a consultation at the Regional Governor’s Office on the same day.

US GOVERNMENT COMPLETES $30,000 OF RENOVATIONS TO THE ARMENIAN NATIONAL CINEMATHEQUE
ArmRadio.am
05.09.2006 15:42
The US Embassy announces the completion of $30,000 worth of renovations
to the National Cinematheque of Armenia. This project has allowed
the Cinematheque to create a climate-controlled space to preserve
its collection of over 270,000 Armenian films, audio recordings,
and photos. The Cinematheque is the only existing collection of
Armenia’s film heritage, and houses the first Armenian silent film,
rare musical recordings, and historically significant Armenian photos.
The US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation, through which
the US Government provided the funding, works worldwide to assist
countries in preserving museum collections, ancient and historic
sites and traditional forms of expression. This program strives to
help preserve the cultural heritage of countries throughout the world
by providing small grants to support heritage preservation. Since
its creation in 2001, this program has supported almost 300 projects
worldwide, totaling $6.7 million.

LEVON ANANIAN: DIASPORA IS NOT ONLY MATTER BUT ALSO SPIRIT
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Sept 05 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Relations between
Armenia and the Diaspora have always been firm, the Diaspora has
always stood near Armenia and in the recent years, after Armenia’s
independence, these relations got a new quality. Levon Ananian,
Chairman of the Armenian Union of Writers, declared at the September 5
meeting of representatives of creative intelligentsia with RA Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian dedicated to the forthcoming Armenia-Diaspora
forum.
As he estimated, the Diaspora’s support was one-sided formerly, but
now Armenia has reconsidered its policy towards the Diaspora. “As
the Diaspora is not only a matter, but also a spirit,” Levon Ananian
declared.
Vartan Oskanian presented the agenda of the Armenia-Diaspora third
forum to the meeting participants. In the minister’s words, the forum
creates a historical possibility for discussing important national
issues among representatives of Armenia and the Diaspora.
The minister drew the attention of those present to the project of
improving the living conditions of 50 Armenian villages and informed
them that 30 Diasporan sponsors have already given consent to finance
the project.

DEFENSE ARMY IS ON OF THE MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS OF NKR
ArmRadio.am
05.09.2006 13:25
“One of the major achievements of NKR is the Defense Army. Created
along with the military actions, in a short period of time the
Karabakh Army developed into a combatant organization equipped
with modern military tools and armaments,” NKR Defense Minister,
Lieutenant-General Seyran Ohanyan stated during the festive events
dedicated to the 15th anniversary of declaration of the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic. According to NKR Defense Minister, today the
Defense Army is providing for the security of NKR borders without
the intervention of a second force. The Army is ready to show proper
resistance to any infringement of the rival.

GUL HAS POSTPONED HIS VISIT TO ATHENS. HE IS GOING TO WASHINGTON INSTEAD.
Sabah, Turkey
Sept 4 2006
Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Gul is entering into intensive
diplomacy traffic. On September 13th, Gul will visit France. Gul’s
goal for this trip is to promote relations with France, which has
prepared a draft bill that supports so-called Armenian genocide. On
September 14th, Gul will be on his way to New York to attend the UN
General Assembly. Gul will spend a week in the States then he will
return back to Ankara. In his previous agenda, Gul was planning to
visit Athens on October 2nd. Gul has postponed his trip to Athens and
has decided to go to Washington instead in order to solve the Middle
East and PKK terrorist organization problems.

ASHOT GHULIAN: ALL LEGAL ACTS OF DECLARING NKR WERE FAULTLESS
Yerkir.am
September 01, 2006
“The celebration of the 15th anniversary of the independence prove the
liveliness of our statehood and that the road we chose on September 2,
1991 was right,” Ashot Ghulian, the speaker of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic National Assembly, said in a live broadcast of the Karabakh
Public TV, news agency Regnum reported.
Declaring an independent Nagorno Karabakh Republic during the Soviet
rule was a brave move, Ghulian said.
He also said the process of declaring the NKR was faultless in terms
of legitimacy.
“All the steps made and all the legal acts to declare independence
were faultless, and we have never heard any criticism in this regard to
date,” Ghulian said. “We did everything in line with the international
law and laws of the Soviet Union.”
Speaking of the war and its consequences, Ghulian said that beginning
2000, a serious work has been done to overcome the war consequences
and develop the economy. He also pointed to the role of the army in
ensuring the country’s security.

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Aug 29 2006
Opinions
Do we have to go to Lebanon?

by Nursun Erel

In Turkish there is an expression “to be like a muhtar (district
official),” which is used to describe people who know a lot about
everything and who always get firsthand information. Yesterday I had
to visit our district muhtar for some paperwork, and he knows that I’m
a journalist so the moment I entered his office he started talking:
“Congratulations to Recep Bey (meaning Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan) on his success, as the Cabinet decided to send our troops to
Lebanon. But I have an idea, would you be interested in hearing it?”
I said yes, so he went on:
“Let’s first convince all the Justice and Development (AK) Party
deputies in Parliament and then all the AK Party members in Turkey to
have their sons take part in the peacekeeping force. If they really
think that this would bring some prestige to Turkey’s image, let them
do this first.”
He continued in that vein while preparing my papers. Without
commenting on his words, I thanked him and left his office. I took a
taxi afterwards. The driver had just been reading from daily Bugun,
whose headline that day read, “Mehmetcik gidiyor” (Turkish soldiers
are going). As he drove me to the office he said, “Sister, how come
the prime minister dares to do such a thing? If his son was a soldier,
do you think he would send him there?”
Just two of these anecdotes are enough to understand the Turkish
public’s opinion towards the new task to be given soon to Turkish
soldiers. The AK Party heads expect some gains from such an action,
especially from their foreign colleagues, but I’m afraid they will
lose much in the eyes of the people.
Also, I don’t believe that this is going to be easy for the
government; I mean the motion debate is expected to be tough in
Parliament because I keep on hearing negative assessments from many AK
Party deputies. Parliament Foreign Affairs Commission head Mehmet
Dulger’s words (in TNA Monday) were very clear:
“Turkish soldiers may face resistance in Lebanon because we’re Sunni
but the Lebanese are mostly Shiite. Plus there are all kind of
extremist minorities in Lebanon like Armenians and Greek Orthodox
groups. They would never welcome a Turkish presence in Lebanon. This
is a kind of a war that was almost predestined, developed and
strategically designed long ago. The U.S. is one the players, and it’s
clear this is part of their grand plan for the Mideast. More and more
Turkish and American interests in the region are at odds, our policies
and theirs on the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Israeli
aggression, and Iran and Syria aren’t parallel. So once we work with
the U.S., our interests are being harmed. The U.S. could be here for
50 years but our neighbors will always be there.”
Trying to asses all these different opinions, I wanted to talk to
military men too so I called up a retired air force general. Once upon
a time he actively served the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), even as a
jet pilot. He was known for his courageous stance, but on the Lebanon
issue his views were surprisingly contrary to the others. This is
what he had to say to me:
“I don’t share the opinions that going to Lebanon would be harmful for
us. On the contrary, I believe that it’s essential for Turkey. Why?
Haven’t we sent our troops to various places in the world before, even
to Afghanistan and Somalia? But Lebanon is closer to us; it’s our
neighbor so it would be a sin to avoid such a historic task.
“What about President Sezer’s words? Well they first surprised me
because I thought maybe such a negative decision was taken on National
Security Council (MGK) grounds. But then I noted that the task given
to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) wasn’t clear
enough at the time, perhaps he thought Turkish troops would
riskclashes in Lebanon. Later it became clearer that the task is only
a peacekeeping responsibility. On the other hand, Lebanese society is
not so dependent on religious or ethnic identities and that is why I
don’t share the fears of some that Turkish soldiers will face
resistance from Shiites.
“Also it is quite obvious that the U.S. is trying to rearrange the
Middle East and they want Turkey to actively take part in such a
project. I firmly believe that Turkey mustn’t be an outsider in the
project. Sooner or later a new Middle East will be created and if we
take part in these efforts now, in the future we will have a say too.
“Lastly, there can’t be any question about the position of the
TSK. They are under the orders of the Turkish government. Once the
task is given they will try to carry it out to the best of their
ability, no matter who commands the Chief of Staff. As far as I can
see, the TSK is ready for such a task.”

ANDRANIK MARGARIAN CONGRATULATES ROBERT KOCHARIAN ON OCCASION OF 52TH BIRTHDAY ANNIVERSARY
Noyan Tapan
Aug 31 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. RA Prime Minister
Andranik Margarian congratulated President of the Republic of Armenia
Robert Kocharian on the occasion of the 52th birthday anniversary. As
Noyan Tapan was informed by the Government’s Information and Public
Relations Department, the Prime Minister wished the country head sound
health, sucesses in his high and responsible work and happiness in
his private life.

KOCHARIAN AGAINST DRASTIC CHANGES IN ELECTION CODE
ARMENPRESS
Aug 30 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS: Viktor Soghomonian, a spokesman for
Armenian president Robert Kocharian, said today the president was
against a drastic change in the election law that would eliminate
the so-called majoritarian or single-mandate election system.
Soghomonian singled out two major reasons to explain why Kocharian
was against a system when all parliament members are elected under
the so-called proportional system or by party lists.
The first reason is that members of the ruling coalition had agreed
to retain the current system when 41 seats of the 131-member National
Assembly are contested by contenders in single-mandate constituencies
and 90 seats by parties. He said Kocharian is against revision of
this sort of agreements.
Soghomonian said the second reason stemmed from the imperfect political
system of the country. He said Kocharian believes that it would be
wrong to cut electors from the candidates and constituencies.
Soghomonian also downplayed media speculations about tension between
Kocharian and his defense minister Serzh Sarkisian, saying also there
is no tension between the Republican Party of prime minister Margarian
and the Prosperous Armenia, which are seen as the two major rivals
in 2007 parliamentary polls.
Soghomonian said also Kocharian was not mulling joining a political
party. He said neither he nor any other member of Kocharian’s staff
were going to join a party as long as the president remained not
affiliated.

‘TURKISH SOLDIERS MAY FACE RESISTANCE IN LEBANON’
Nursun Erel
The New Anatolian, Turkey
Aug. 28, 2006
Parliament Foreign Affairs Commission head Mehmet Dulger speaks to TNA
Turkey is preparing to send Turkish soldiers to join the UN
peacekeeping efforts in Lebanon, and some say this will be a
prestigious task for Turkey. But what about the risks? Why hasn’t
this vital issue been debated in Parliament?
I had such questions in my head while going to meet Mehmet Dulger,
chairman of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission. His office in
the Parliament building was still under renovation, but we found two
comfortable chairs to sit on and talk about the hot issues. Here’s
what he had to say to us:
TNA: Being here, I must be luckier than the Israeli ambassador,
because according to rumor you turned down his request for a meeting.
DULGER: In fact I’d really like to talk to him, not only the Israeli
ambassador but also l the Lebanese and Palestinian ambassadors. But
as you see, the weather’s been too hot recently and our office is
undergoing renovations.
TNA: How do you see the situation in Lebanon right now?
DULGER: Well, I saw some cartoons in today’s newspapers. One of them
wonderfully described the situation, showing how the Americans are
trying to get the best advantage from the situation.
TNA: How do you see the opposition to sending Turkish soldiers to
the area?
DULGER: Actually the situation is extremely complex in the Middle
East now and that’s why most of the crises there are unpredictable.
Especially the Lebanese state mechanism is set up on a very complex
ethnic base. So there are risks and opportunities waiting for Turkish
soldiers there. What are the opportunities? Because of the rejected
March 1, 2003 resolution (which would have allowed U.S. troops to be
stationed on Turkish soil for the imminent Iraq invasion) Turkey had
to stay out of developments in the Mideast, but now there’s a chance
of getting back in the game.
Risks in Lebanon
TNA: What are the risks?
DULGER: Lebanon has a very complex ethnic situation, so even for a
peacekeeping mission, Turkish soldiers may face strong opposition.
Because we’re Sunni, but the Lebanese are mostly Shiite. Additionally
there are all kind of extremist minorities in Lebanon like the
Armenians and Greek Orthodox groups. They would never be happy to
see a Turkish presence in Lebanon. So this is a vital decision for
Turkey and it has to be considered very seriously.
TNA: How do you see UN Resolution 1701 and the related documents? Are
they clear enough about describing the peacekeeping mission?
DULGER: First of all things happened too late, that’s why the urging
parties lost a great deal of prestige in the eyes of the victims. And
also the resolution is far from being unbiased, since it openly
reflects U.S. views. But we have to admit that if U.S. hadn’t insisted
this would never have happened.
TNA: Could you elaborate on that?
DULGER: Well, it seems that this is a kind of a war which was almost
predestined, developed and strategically designed long ago. The U.S.
is among the players and it’s clear this is a part of its project to
reshape the Middle East. So what do we do now? Hundreds of civilians,
even children, have been killed in this war, most of the infrastructure
is destroyed, none of the kidnapped (Israeli) soldiers have been
returned, Hezbollah hasn’t been disarmed, its ties with Iran and
Syria haven’t been cut, and on the contrary now it’s stronger than
before. I’m afraid similar resistance will be used by others too.
Parliament will debate deployment
TNA: Are you satisfied with the information given by the government
on the UN resolution?
DULGER: So far I haven’t gotten much detailed information either on
UN Resolution 1701 or about our government’s policies. So I don’t
know what kind of advantages there are in taking part in this project.
TNA: According to the opposition, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
is purposely avoiding detailed discussion around the resolution. It’s
said he especially doesn’t want the issue to be dealt with in
Parliament, because there’s a concern something could happen among
AK Party members like with the March 2003 resolution. What do you
think about this?
DULGER: I don’t think so, because there’s no decision (on deployment)
yet. Without such a decision and without any document to talk about,
what will we debate in Parliament? First we have to wait for the
final decision, this way or that. If they decide to join UNIFIL,
the motion will certainly be debated in Parliament.
TNA: But we’ve heard some foreign leaders claim the Turkish government
has already declared its willingness to join the force, so isn’t it
strange that we still don’t know the final decision of the government?
DULGER: Some journalists asked me whether we will send Turkish soldiers
to the area or not. But I’m not the man to answer that question.
TNA: If Turkish soldiers are sent to the area, do you think such a
gesture will help repair the Turkish-American relationship, which
is still chilly since the March 2003 resolution was rejected by
Parliament?
DULGER: Let’s look at the details of what’s happening in the area.
First of all an indirect war between Iran and U.S. is escalating,
there are the tensions between the ethnic groups, the U.S. has an
imperial project in the area, and Iran is trying to emphasize its
dominance there too. Supported by the U.S., Israel claims to balance
the regional politics. Syria can’t stand with Lebanon without their
obedience. And there’s the huge Iraq problem.
So that picture is important for Turkey for different reasons. First,
the PKK (terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party) is a vital issue for us,
and its command mechanism and sources of legitimacy are in Iraq. So
as long as we can’t accomplish our goals in the region concerning the
PKK, this becomes more risky for us, because a populist nationalism
is on the rise, which I think is very dangerous.
Another negative regional development is that Turkish and American
interests are more and more at odds. I mean our policies and theirs on
issues like the PKK, Israeli aggression, and the stand towards Iran
and Syria aren’t parallel. So once we go hand in hand with the U.S.,
our other interests are being harmed. The U.S. will stay here for 50
years at most but our neighbors will always be there. So we have to
find common ground here.
If someone else comes to power in the US
TNA: Due to the different administrations, even U.S. regional policies
can change, don’t you think?
DULGER: If another administration comes and changes its policies,
what will happen then? Because in changing our stand, we will be
taking great risks in the region. So all these factors are extremely
important and we have to check them all very carefully. Many Turks
support Hezbollah’s cause in Lebanon, so they say: What will we do
there? Will we protect Israeli soldiers? Or try to take arms away
from Hezbollah members? I was recently in Antalya, and many people
came to me asking those questions.
TNA: How do you see other regional governments’ stances?
DULGER: No one really knows what kind of risks there are. Also there’s
another issue, namely that the West is downplaying the victims of
war. Do you know how many casualties there have been in Iraq? We don’t
know yet how many Iraqis have died so far, but everyone knows the
number of American casualties. Also the number of Lebanese casualties
isn’t known, but everyone knows how many Israelis died. So it’s clear
there’s a great prejudice against the people of the Middle East. We
must change this first. After Sept. 11, the West got paranoid about
terror. But what about us? What about the PKK? Is the PKK a terror
group? If they say yes, than they have to push for the necessary
steps to be taken too.
TNA: How do you see the PKK coordinator expected to be appointed soon
by the U.S.?
DULGER: Let’s wait and see his positions and words. Because during
her visit, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saw the Turkish
determination on the PKK issue, so they felt the need to take this
stand. It’s a very vexing situation that there’s such cooperation
among the Kurds in northern Iraq. Even though it’s crystal clear
that the PKK is provoking all kind of terror actions against Turkey,
Iraqi leaders Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani let them survive,
because they are also Kurds.
TNA: Everyone seems to be obsessed about the Israel-Lebanon war,
but there are other hot issues too. How do you see Turkey’s European
Union accession process?
DULGER: Normally we deal with issues as they come up, but I’m not
sure if we’re ready for the important days we’re going to be facing
soon. The new EU progress report on Turkey will be discussed next
month in Brussels and there are about 437 different proposals to
make changes to the report. Some of them are against our interests,
and some are in favor, so I propose our party puts together a group
of 20 deputies from Parliament and let them lobby in Brussels.
TNA: Is there any reason why this can’t happen?
DULGER: No but we have to do this as soon as possible, otherwise
those negative proposals will be a headache for Turkey. For example
the Croatians don’t have any problem with their accession but they
organized themselves so well, yet with so many problems we fail to act.
The Cyprus issue and flirting
TNA: How do you see developments on the Cyprus issue?
TNA: Well, our Greek Cypriot friends must stop talking on behalf
of the Turkish Cypriots. If things go on like this, separation will
become unavoidable. They must give up their unrealistic dreams. Just
like trying to flirt with a young girl, if you keep on pressing but
she turns you down again and again, you can say it 50 times but you
can’t say it a 51st time, at that point you have to leave her alone.
TNA: Let’s discuss domestic politics too. When do you expect the next
general elections?
DULGER: I haven’t checked the calendar, but any Sunday of November
2007.
Presidential election
TNA: So that means you don’t expect early elections, but many people
believe that in this case the presidential election set for May 2007
will cause fierce debate.
DULGER: I can’t see the logic behind such an argument. Why do they
question the legitimacy of an elected president? Let’s look at the
last three elections. What was the number of the votes for previous
presidents and what are we talking about now? When I was a member of
the True Path Party (DYP), we opposed President Turgut Ozal because
he didn’t really represent Turkish society; his votes were sharply
declining in both general and local elections. But we don’t have any
problem like that. So now I have only one wish: that the new president
be elected from among the deputies of this Parliament. I get the sense
that even Mr. Deniz Baykal (main opposition Republican People’s Party,
CHP, leader) is close to such a dialogue with the AK Party.
TNA: If the AK Party decides who the next president is, some people
are concerned that its “hidden agenda” will come out. This is because
then most high court members and university rectors will be appointed
by this new AK Party-origin president, and the headscarf ban could
also be overturned. How do you respond to this?
DULGER: I totally reject these stupid allegations. There’s no
such hidden agenda. I hear what they say, they even speculate that
Sharia law could be applied or all the women will become headscarved
overnight. But this is total nonsense. If I had any thought like that
I wouldn’t be sitting here, and if anybody tried to do that I’d fight
them till the very end. This is the paranoia of some circles. So how
do they explain that AK Party came to power with all the values those
circles brand it with? And more importantly, how do they explain the
stable term AK Party government up to now?
TNA: How do you see the developments on the right? For instance,
former Premier Mesut Yilmaz is back in politics, and there are efforts
to unify right-wing parties. Do you think anything will come of this?
DULGER: Most of them are my good old friends, but unfortunately
I don’t expect them to succeed. Because it’s quite clear that all
their efforts are for certain individuals and groups around them,
instead of new political dimensions.
Bring the nails
During our interview Dulger told a joke and said, “This is where we
plan to send our troops.”
“Up in heaven, Jesus was so bored one day so he said to God, ‘Father,
it’s so dull living in paradise all the time, I want to do something.
I see down on earth things aren’t going well, especially in Africa,
thousands of people are dying of starvation, let me go down and help
them.’ God said okay, so Jesus went down to Africa and went into a
market and told the owner, ‘Hi there, all your shelves are full of
food but outside the people are starving, let’s give all that food
away to the people. Don’t worry; I’ll fill your shelves tomorrow with
twice as much as there is now.’ So the food was given away to the
people. The next day the shelves had twice as much food. Then they
did it again and Jesus kept on filling the shelves. In a few days,
the starvation ended in Africa and Jesus went back to heaven with
satisfaction. He went on living like that for a while, but then he
again got bored with the routine and once again asked God: ‘Father,
can I go back again? Because I’m so bore! d here and the things
aren’t going well on the earth.’ God said okay, but this time he
wanted Jesus to go to the Palestinian-Israeli area, saying, ‘There’s
so much hunger there.’ So Jesus went down and knocked on the door
of a supermarket filled with food. A man opened the door and asked,
‘What do you want?’ Jesus said, ‘Hi there, all your shelves are full
of food but outside the people are starving, let’s give all that food
away to the people. Don’t worry; I’ll fill your shelves tomorrow with
twice as much as there is now.’ The man stood silently for a moment and
than yelled to the back of the store: ‘Hey Mishon, bring the hammer,
nails, and wood here, be quick, that pimp is back.’