Author: Nalbandian Albert

Financial Times (London, England)
November 10, 2006 Friday
London Edition 1

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR; Pg. 17

Turkish entry would fatally dilute the Union

By FRITS BOLKESTEIN

It is called "the great train crash". The European Union’s
negotiations with Turkey are coming to the crunch. In December 1999
Europe’s leaders agreed, after a few minutes’ debate, that Turkey
would be a candidate member. Its accession would not be a matter of
if, but of when. Now a number of leaders, perhaps a majority, are
trying to wriggle off the hook.

Would Turkey’s accession be a good thing? For Turkey it would
probably be the best thing that could happen to it, even though
enthusiasm for membership there is waning. For the EU it would be a
bad thing. Why?

There are incidental reasons and structural ones. The present crunch
is about Cyprus. Turkey does not recognise Cyprus, nor does it open
its harbours to Cypriot ships. That in itself is odd. If one wants to
join a club, it does not do to reject one of its members.

Another incidental matter is the Armenian genocide. Whoever calls it
so commits a crime in Turkey, as the writer Orhan Pamuk found out,
even though he has been let off the hook. Curiously, this restriction
of free speech is mirrored in France where a proposal has been made
to make denial of the genocide a crime. But it does not look as if
this proposal will reach the statute book, whereas article 301 of the
Turkish criminal code is real enough.

The so-called Copenhagen criteria demand that all EU members respect
democracy, human rights and the rights of minorities. The European
Commission decided in 2004 that Turkey satisfied these criteria
sufficiently for negotiations on membership to be opened. I was the
sole dissenter.

Gunter Verheugen’s report – he was then commissioner for enlargement
– mentioned that, in 2003, 21,870 Turks had asked for asylum in the
EU, of whom 2,127 were accepted. So member states themselves
acknowledged that in 2003 more than 2,000 Turks had been persecuted
by their government.

In March 2005 Turkish police violently disturbed a demonstration of
women intended to celebrate International Women’s Day.

This week the Commission’s report on Turkey again condemned these
failings, stressing in particular the use of torture and shortcomings
with respect to the freedom of religion, expression and assembly.
Some of these shortcoming are undoubtedly incidental. Article 301 can
be changed, torture in prisons can be stopped. But others are not.

Will there ever be true religious freedom, which means mosque and
church are be treated on a par? Will minorities ever have the same
cultural freedom as the majority? Will women ever be treated in the
same way as men?

Some people will say: these things will improve after accession. I
doubt it. To the contrary: after accession all desire to liberalise
will evaporate.

What is Turkey’s basic identity? It has a marvellous history. But it
is not a European history. Europe is marked by the great developments
of its past: Christianity, Renaissance, Enlightenment, democracy,
industrialisation. Turkey does not fit in that mould. Here I will be
accused of saying that Turkey may not enter because it is not
Christian. That is emphatically not what I say. But it can hardly be
denied that European civilisation has been deeply marked by its
Judaeo-Christian heritage, however much politically correct
bien-pensants may deem this old hat.

Some maintain that only membership will stop the tide of Islamism.
But the EU wants to reduce the power and influence of the Turkish
army, which is a bulwark against radical islam. Does Europe know what
it is doing?

I now come to the most important reason for rejecting Turkish
membership: its consequences. Whoever lets Turkey in cannot very well
refuse Ukraine, which is more European than Turkey. Ukrainian
membership (much advocated by Poland) would be followed by that of
Belarus, Moldova and – why not – Georgia, Armenia and Azerbidjan.
Together with the successor states of Yugoslavia that would mean, in
time, an EU of some 40 member states, bordering on Russia in the
east, Syria, Iraq and Iran in the south. I was responsible for the
customs union: I do not envy my future successor.

Supporters of Turkish membership focus on foreign relations. That is
legitimate. But the EU’s cohesion comes first. These advocates think
they know how the EU works. But they do not.

It is already hard to get member states to toe the line. That can
only get worse. Helmut Schmidt, former German chancellor, said: "We
cannot manage Turkish membership." He was right. It would fatally
dilute the EU. But perhaps this might suit the UK government,
especially when headed by Gordon Brown.

The writer was a member of the European Commission 1999-2004

GAZPROM OFFERS CHEAP GAS IN EXCHANGE FOR PIPELINE
By Diana Dundua

The Messenger, Georgia
Nov 9 2006

Gazprom’s Medvedev warns gas supplies will be cut off if no deal
is reached

Gazprom will not increase natural gas price from USD 110 to USD
230 per thousand cubic meters (tcm) for Georgia if Tbilisi sells it
some of its state assets. Chair of Gazprom’s Management Committee
Aleksander Medvedev stated at a press conference on November 7. He
did not specify which assets he wanted.

"In the past we have already hinted in which assets we were interested
though we did not get concrete answer from the Georgian side,"
Medvedev explained on Tuesday.

According to him, if an agreement is not reached with Georgia only
Armenia will receive natural gas from Russia.

Last year Gazprom made said it was interested in buying Georgia’s
North-South Caucasus gas pipeline (the main natural gas pipeline)
that is used to deliver Russian natural gas to Armenia and Georgia.

Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze categorically ruled out the
possibility of selling the main natural gas pipeline.

"There will be no trade with Russia regarding the main natural gas
pipeline. I have always been and will always be against this. And
I can say with full assuredness that Saakashvili is also strongly
against this. Energy independence is of vital importance to us and
we are ready to pay any price for this," Burjanadze stressed at the
parliament session on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli claimed that Gazprom’s statement was
not a surprise to him calling it "political blackmail."

"I will say that our companies are conducting negotiations about the
commercial price for natural gas not only with Russia, but with other
neighbouring countries, and in the end we will select the best choice
for the country. I want to repeat that we are ready to pay a commercial
price for natural gas but blackmail is absolutely unacceptable for us,"
Noghaideli stated on November 8.

"Russia should change its attitude toward its neighbours. It is just
impossible for Russia to achieve its political goals by developing
economic sanctions and energy blockades against Georgia in order to
make our county change its political course," Minister of Foreign
Affairs Gela Bezhuashvili, who is on an official visit to France,
stressed on Wednesday.

According to deputy chair of the parliamentary Budget and Finance
Committee, Vladimir Papava, Georgia will have to pay GEL 230 per tcm.

"Russia’s scheme is clear. Even if we sell these assets to Gazprom,
this will make it possible to maintain the current price on natural
gas only for this year and next year the price will go up again,"
explained Papava at the parliamentary session.

Opposition factions in parliament demanded that President Saakashvili
guarantee that Georgia will not sell the natural gas pipeline, they
also accused State Minister for Reforms Coordination, Kakha Bendukidze,
of lobbying for the sale.

In the past Kakha Bendukidze has said several times that there was
no threat in selling Georgia’s main natural gas pipeline, but he
always added that this was his personal position and was not shared
by the government.

"Gazprom has a business partner and agent in the Georgian
government-state minister Kakha Bendukidze," one of the leaders of
the opposition Democratic Front faction, David Berdzenishvili, said
on November 8.

After the government Session on Wednesday, Bendukidze stated that
the Georgian government would not give in to Russian blackmail and
it would never agree to deals like this with Gazprom. He also lashed
out at the opposition.

"Opposition members are dishonest people and they have some new ideas
making them sound like ultra-leftists. I recommend they change their
names to Communist-Bolsheviks," he said.

Pikria Chikhradze of the New Rights opposition party retorted that
Bendukidze was even prepared to sell his conscience too.

The opposition also demanded the administration buy back those state
assets that Russian businesses have already bought from Georgia.

According to them, this is important in order to gain energy security
and independence. Although Nino Burjanadze welcomed the idea, she
said that Georgia did not have money for that yet.

THE PROPERTY "PAKAGITS" IS CONFISCATED

A1+
[06:48 pm] 09 November, 2006

Today, at 1-2 o’clock, there was a bustle in the club of "Pakagits"
daily. The Compulsory Executive Services confiscated the property of
the editorial office, thus depriving the staff of the possibility of
publishing the daily.

The representatives of the editorial office claim, "It is already two
days the copies of "Pakagits" daily have been taken from all the news
stands. Today, while participating in the NA session, I got a call
that the Compulsory Executive Services are taking the property of the
office out of the building. The workers of the office forbade them
to take it out in the absence of the editor but they didn’t listen
to them," says Agapy Haykazuni, editor of the newspaper.

We couldn’t get any information from the Compulsory Executive Services
on the decision according to which they confiscated the property. The
director of the newspaper didn’t sign the documents of confiscation
either.

"According to the documents, submitted by the Compulsory Executive
Services, a Daniel Tounyan demands 8 million AMD from us. I am unaware
of it as I have got no court summons.

I assume the Republican Party is responsible for this action. Our
newspaper displayed courage to open the brackets and here is the
result," complains Mrs. Haykazuni.

Political commentator Lili Martirosyan added, "Asked how they would
comment on their biased attitude towards "Pakagits" daily, the Defense
Minister and Andranik Margaryan said they are not interested in
"Pakagits." We have seen how interested they are. This gives us a
perfect ground to conclude that on the eve of elections the current
authorities don’t need free and independent media."

KAZAKHSTAN, ARMENIA INK AGREEMENT ON CO-OPERATION BETWEEN OVERSIGHT BODIES

Gazeta, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan today
Nov 7 2006

ASTANA. Kazakhstan and Armenia have inked an agreement on co-operation
between oversight bodies of the two states. Rashid Tussupbekov, General
Prosecutor of Kazakhstan, has signed the agreement from Kazakhstan,
and Agvan Ovsepyan, General Prosecutor of Armenia, from Armenia,
the General Prosecutor’s press service reports.

"The key objective of the agreement is to increase the efficiency of
co-operation between the prosecuting bodies of Kazakhstan and Armenia,"
– a press release distributed Tuesday says. In particular, the sides
"have agreed on regulation of joint activities when oversight functions
protecting the rights and legal interests of citizens are carried out,"
the relapse says.

Mr. Tussupbekov and Mr. Ovsepyan also discussed co-operation in
combating crime at their meeting.

In conclusion of the meeting the General Prosecutor of Armenia,
invited his Kazakhstani counterpart to visit Armenia.

PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 27.00.03, 27.16.00 (temporary)
Fax: (+374 – 10) 52.48.46 (temporary)
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website:

October 30, 2006

HERITAGE: OPEN LETTER TO THE ARMENIAN PUBLIC

Yerevan–The forcible March closure of the Heritage Party’s headquarters,
the subsequent surreptitious and illegal break-in at the already-sealed
office, the criminal theft of information from its main computer, and the
campaign of political pressure and persecution unleashed against members,
supporters, and local chapters of a duly-registered political organization
compelled Raffi Hovannisian and the leadership of Heritage to seek justice
amid the tribunes of the legal system.

In spite of incontrovertible evidence attesting to the commission of
criminal acts, the multiple levels of the judicial branch have repeatedly
rendered capricious rejections of the legal claim to reopen the offices.

This series of unfounded judgments supports the conviction that we have
come
up against different links in a single chain of criminal conduct that is
guided by the highest echelon of executive authority.

As for the scandalous reproduction of the "Watergate" precedent–the
unlawful break-in to party headquarters and the presidential theft of
information therefrom–the Armenian police department and then Yerevan’s
prosecutor have refused our legitimate demand to file criminal charges,
evidently in an ill-disguised attempt to cover up the crimes in question.

Accordingly, as a measure of final recourse, we have petitioned–and expect
a just determination from–the Republic’s prosecutor general to institute
criminal proceedings and commence a full investigation by November 10, the
deadline set by law.

All this is taking place against the backdrop of the administration’s
recently repeated "oaths" to guarantee the absolute fairness of the
parliamentary elections scheduled for Spring 2007.

Without further interpreting Heritage’s recent "experiences," we submit that
the party enters the pre-election season–which de facto has already been
launched and is overflowing upon the country’s television screens–(a)
locked out of its central offices, (b) with its database broken into and
compromised, (c) being systematically and unlawfully deprived by relevant
state bodies of the right to rent meeting space and thus to exercise the
freedoms of speech and association, and (d) on a presidentially-conceived
"black list" wholly forbidding access for Heritage, its founder and
officials to the electronic media, which all are under strict supervision
and vertical control.

We appeal to the Armenian public with these key queries for the national
agenda:

– Can this constant course of illegalities and blatant violations of
civil rights assume, under any circumstance, the mantle of
fundamental legitimacy for the upcoming elections?

– Is it possible that the failure to launch court proceedings–or
their dismissal once instituted–against individuals, both officials
and others, who have committed or commissioned crimes will serve
to rein in the perpetrators of thousands of instances of electoral
fraud?

– Does Armenia’s leadership have, in the first place, the moral right
and legal standing to speak in the name of democracy and justice?

– In the sum total of the foregoing, isn’t the prospect of the
parliamentary elections already prejudiced, and its fairness breached
in advance?

We demand answers, expect justice, and will continue our nation’s quest for
liberty and the rule of law, the triumph of equal rights for all, and the
achievement of an Armenia for and of the people.

Nagorno Karabakh to hold referendum on draft constitution on December 10

Regnum, Russia
Nov 3 2006

Nagorno Karabakh President Arkady Gukasyan signed a decree on November
3, to carry out a referendum on draft Nagorno Karabakh constitution
on December 10, 2006, a REGNUM correspondent in Stepanakert informs.

The draft constitution, particularly, says that the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic is a sovereign, democratic, law abiding, social state. Power
in Nagorno Karabakh belongs to the people. The people exert their
authority through free elections, referenda, and through governmental
institutions, local authorities and governmental officials envisaged by
the Constitution and basic legislation. The state secures protection
of basic human and civil rights in accordance with general principles
and international law. Until the territorial integrity of the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic is restored and the borders delimitated, public
authority is being exerted in the territory practically being under
the NKR jurisdiction.

It is worth mentioning, the NKR draft constitution was passed by the
parliament in the first reading, after that public debates were held.

During the debates, a large number of proposals on the draft
constitution were received, including 127 proposals from parliamentary
factions and groups, as well as from MPs. All the proposals were sent
to the head of the work group of the constitutional commission and
discussed with commission members. As a result, the draft was amended
before the second reading and submitted to the parliament. As had of
the work group Armen Zalinyan said, the draft was elaborated that
"would give a reason to us to be proud of it." He also noted high
public activity during the debates, which, according to him, showed
involvement of society into the process of drafting and adopting
the document.

VimpelCom buys Armenian phone company

United Press International
Nov 3 2006

YEREVAN, Armenia, Nov. 3 (UPI) — Russia’s VimpelCom and Hellenic
Telecommunications Organization are buying a majority stake in
Armenia’s CJSC Armenia Telephone Co.

The $486 million purchase price includes debt assumption, VimpelCom
said Friday in a news release.

CJSC Armenia Telephone is a fixed-line and mobile operator in Armenia
with licenses in the GSM-900 and CDMA standards. Armentel’s subscriber
base includes approximately 600,000 fixed-line subscribers and 400,000
GSM subscribers.

VimpelCom owns cell phone companies in Russia and Kazakhstan and
recently acquired cellular operators in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan
and Georgia.

RA MOD REFUTED SAFAR ABIYEV’S STATEMENT

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Nov 2 2006

RA MOD has refuted Azeri Defense Minister Safar Abiyev’s statement
circulated by the Azeri mass media, according to which October 20, in
the course of a meeting with his Armenian colleague the Azerbaijan’s
Minister raised the issue of "the Armenian troops’ withdrawal from
the occupied Azeri territories".

According to the information DE FACTO received at the RA MOD, the
issue of the Armenian troops’ pullout from the territories controlled
by the NKR had not been discussed. Serge Sargsyan and Safar Abiyev
considered only the border’s control and the cease-fire’s maintenance.

To remind, RA and AR Defense Ministers’ meeting was initiated by
the OSCE Chair-in-Office’s Personal Representative Andrzey Kasprzyk
within the frames of the measures targeted at raising mutual confidence
between the parties. The meeting was held October 20 on the Ijevan –
Ghazakh sector of the Armenian-Azeri border. The meeting’s goal was
to discuss the issues referring to the control of the border and the
maintenance of the cease-fire.

UN SECRETARY GENERAL MET WITH PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD ARMENIAN CONGRESS

ArmRadio.am
02.11.2006 11:43

Yesterday in Moscow the newly appointed UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon met with the President of the World Armenian Congress Ara
Abrahamyan, who is also UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. The interlocutors
exchanged views on the maintenance of the cultural legacy of peoples,
increase of the role of UN and its structures in the development of
education and science, ITAR-TASS reports.

STREETS IN ARMENIA TO UNDERGO NEW NUMERATION AND TO BE RENAMED SOON
By Karine Danielian

AZG Armenian Daily
02/11/2006

Kamo Areyan, first deputy mayor of the Yerevan, said at a regular press
conference, that the numeration process and renaming of the Yerevan
streets is quite a complicated and urgent issue. He stated that the
address and numerology of a real estate are very important elements
of realty regulation, while the capital has lost the labels of the
old numbers. Areyan said that on December 25 2005, RA Government
adopted the decision to elaborate and introduce a single order of
numeration and addressing, as well as the state registration of real
estate. Areyan informed that the general order of numeration will be
undergo no changes: even- numbered on the right side, odd-numbered of
the left side. "The address will be provided by a responsible body,
who is Yerevan mayor.

Earlier it was the Address Bureau," he explained. The mayor will take
the relevant decision on provision of an address within 5 days after
submission of an application. Then, this decision will be submitted
to the relevant bodies engaged in address registration processes,
particularly, to the State Realty Register Committee. This committee
is to accept and register or reject an address within 5 days. Then,
all this will be transferred to the address register. At present, 1.258
streets, parks, alleys, 4,566 residential buildings, over 216 flats and
31,000 private houses have undergone the process of being inventoried.