Author: Nalbandian Albert

The New Anatolian, Turkey
May 16 2005

No alternative in foreign policy?
View: Professor Huseyin Bagci

[email protected]

Turkey is currently further debating the Ocalan case while terrorists
from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) again cause great military
and psychological damage to Turkish politics. Since the decision
declared by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), more than
10 soldiers have lost their lives in southeastern Anatolia and the
common perception is that more uneasy days for Turkey are on the way.
The expected nationalist tendencies are rising, and this is exactly
what strikes fear amongst the Turkish public. Statements made by Gen.
Yasar Buyukanit that large amounts of C4 explosives have been smuggled
into Turkey through the Iraqi border indicate that new bloodshed
is to be expected. The Turkish Army must undertake urgent measures
to protect its borders. Homeland security is therefore of primary
importance in Turkey.

The debate over whether Ocalan should be or will be put on trial again
is, as some say, a new hindrance to Turkey’s stability. Until now
the government’s position has been very calm and they’re currently
looking to coordinate all state institutions on the matter in order
to share responsibility. This is why Justice Minister and government
spokesman Cemil Cicek has said that it’s not a government but more
of a state issue. Indeed, his statement is right. It became a state
issue and neither the Justice and Development (AK) Party government
nor any other future government can solve this issue alone. The fear
however is that if it’s a state issue then it will take on a different
dimension, leading to much harsher reactions and military policies.

Prime Minister Erdogan’s meetings with many European statesmen today
and tomorrow in Warsaw at the Council of Europe meeting will show to
what extent European politicians share the views of the ECHR.

Interestingly, the Armenian issue has also changed in direction after
some new documents were published. The Algerian government’s claims
that France has to recognize events in Algeria in the late ’40s and
’50s has been rejected by French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier,
stating that one should leave such issues to historians. Of course
it should be left to historians, but why not the same approach
for the Armenians’ claims too! The main problem today is that in
this post-Sept. 11 world, the entire history of the issues will be
reevaluated. Europe is also responsible for these debates or to put
it bluntly, the East is responding for the first time with the same
methods as the West. Historian Bernard Lewis wrote of the impact of
the West on the East in his book, while clearly stating how Europe
is currently facing political and ethical challenges from the East,
and that the world is no longer interpreted in the same manner as
that of the 19th century.

Turkey’s AK Party government has a very interesting mission in this
respect. Both in the Islamic and the Arab world, the AK Party’s
policies will be praised. Turkey is indeed now experiencing a new
interpretation of history which is no longer “Eurocentric.” But in
Turkey the entire teaching of history has been Eurocentric until the
present day. This is again why Professor Ahmed Davudoglu, adviser to
Prime Minister Erdogan, will be strongly criticized. He’s the main
architect of this new interpretation of history, including Turkish
history. The element of Islam is now increasingly integrated with
today’s events and challenges, and the search will be manifested by
looking at events from the Islamic and Eastern ways of interpreting
history. In other words, the Eurocentric interpretation of history
and the Islamic interpretation of history are now clashing. This
is reason enough to confuse those with an interpretation of history
that lies somewhere between the two. The main parameters of Turkish
foreign policy aren’t changing yet, but are getting a more and more
eastern look.

The AK Party government’s policy has been criticized but at the
moment are there any other policy options or other applicable
political alternatives. The main challenge that remains however is
that Turkish-EU relations will not be conducted in the same way as
before. The compromise policy adopted by the AK Party seems currently
to be the only one. They don’t know what else they could do. Never
before has Turkey been in such situation where no other alternatives
exist.

RA PARLIAMENT SPEAKER MEETS WITH AMBASSADORS OF EU MEMBER-STATES

YEREVAN, May 18. /ARKA/. The Speaker of RA National Assembly
Arthur Baghdasaryan met today with Ambassadors of EU member-states.
According to the Public Relations Department of RA NA, the participants
of the meeting discussed issues related to constitutional reforms,
amendments to the RA Electoral Code, as well as RA draft law On the
order of Holding Meetings, Rallies and Demonstrations”. L.V. -0–

KOCHARIAN’S SPEECH TO AIM AT ‘DRIVING TURKEY INTO A CORNER

AZG Armenian Daily #090, 19/05/2005

Armenia-Turkey

In their CE Warsaw Summit coverage Turkish newspapers labeled
Armenian President Robert Kocharian’s speech “brief”. The speech was
apparently carrying some weight if it drew Turkey’s attention. Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who expressed readiness to meet
Kocharian, was the first to respond to it. The second response followed
the first one.

Turkish papers emphasize in May 17 articles that Erdogan’s
answer stemming out from his disappointment was rather
“tough”. Representatives of the Azerbaijani delegation, according to
Milliyet, said, “Kocharian is an old Dashnak member, that’s why his
speech should not be surprising. You cannot expect anything but old
approaches from him”.

Apparently feeling the weigh of Kocharian’s words and his own
vulnerability, PM Erdogan prepared his second speech on May 17
(having already expressed his position on the Genocide in a previously
called press conference) to oppose Kocharian with his links between
“international recognition of Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey
and faithfulness to European values”.

Daily Zaman cites some sentences from Erdogan’s speech in May 18
article titled “Crossfire of Words on Genocide in Warsaw”. Erdogan
reminded that Turkey has opened both civilian and military archives
and repeated its calls for Armenia and the third impartial countries
to open their archives as well.

Semih Idiz of Milliyet draws readers’ attention to the fact that
French journalists considered Erdogan’s speech to be inappropriately
“tough” and “irreconcilable”. But Idiz does not agree with them,
“Instead of creating favorable grounds for Turkish-Armenian relations,
Kocharian is trying to strengthen the old concepts in Europe and by
doing this to ‘get Ankara in line’ and ‘drive Turkey into a corner”.

In other words, Milliyet sees the reason of Kocharian-Erdogan
meeting failure in aforesaid “calculations” of Kocharian. Referring
to political observers Zaman, on the contrary, sees the reason in
failure of Kocharian-Aliyev meeting. The same observers indicate
that Erdogan viewed a meeting with Kocharian possible if the
Kocharian-Aliyev meeting had been successful; however, “upon the
failure of the bilateral summit, he did not attempt to meet with the
Armenian President”.

By Hakob Chakrian

AZG Armenian Daily #090, 19/05/2005

Opinion

IS A ‘VELVET’ REVOLUTION RIPE IN ARMENIA?

Head of Russia’s Institute for National Strategy, Stanislav
Belkovski, drew the sequence diagram of “velvet” revolutions in the
CIS states. Regnum agency informs that he pointed out the countries
where necessary conditions for a revolution are ripe. Those states are
spitted into 3 risk zones and the most risky zone includes Armenia,
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

He thinks that use of force in Uzbekistan has postponed the revolution
for two years. The perfect conditions for a “velvet” revolution
are in Armenia, he thinks. The second risk zone includes Russia,
Azerbaijan and the third one – Byelorussia and Turkmenistan.

By Ruzan Poghosian

Armenia denies offer to hand over territory to Azerbaijan

AP Worldstream
May 18, 2005

Armenia on Wednesday denied a claim by neighboring Azerbaijan that
it offered at recent talks to return occupied territory adjacent to
the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Gamlet Gasparyan said the statement
by Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mamdyarov that Armenia had
agreed in principle to withdraw from seven occupied regions “does
not correspond to reality.”

The talks between the presidents of both countries took place Monday
ahead of the two-day Council of Europe summit in the Polish capital,
Warsaw.

They focused on the presence of Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh,
a mountainous region inside Azerbaijan that has been under the control
of ethnic Armenians since the early 1990s, following fighting that
killed an estimated 30,000 people.

Despite the denial of the territorial concession, the Armenian
official stressed that the Warsaw talks _ which also included a
meeting between the leaders of Azerbaijan and its main ally Turkey _
had achieved progress in securing a settlement.

“It was another step on the road to a resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh problem,” he said.

A cease-fire was signed in 1994, but the enclave’s final political
status has not been determined and shooting breaks out frequently
between the two sides, which face off across a demilitarized buffer
zone.

France, Russia and the United States lead the Minsk Group under the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is seeking
to assist a diplomatic solution.

PRESS RELEASE

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY ARMENIA
Aygestan 8th str, h5
Yerevan-070
Armenia
Contact :

Zaruhi Tonapetyan
Resource Development Coordinator for HFH Armenia
(374 10)556-114
[email protected]

ARMENIA SELECTED AS PARTNER TO JIMMY CARTER WORK PROJECT

Armenian delegation visits U.S. to spread word of critical poverty
housing issue;

Head of Armenian Patriarchate, the Catholicos, to meet with Carter
in Michigan

YEREVAN, Armenia (May 16) – Forty percent of
Armenia’s population lives in substandard housing.
____________________________________________________________________

For the 22nd annual Jimmy Carter Work Project (JCWP), held in Benton
Harbor, and Detroit, Michigan June 19-24, Armenia has been selected
as a partner country, and will receive a portion of the tithe.

“We are delighted and grateful to have been selected to partner with
the JCWP this year,” says Ashot Yeghizaryan, Executive Director of
Habitat for Humanity Armenia. “There is a significant poverty housing
issue in Armenia, and we hope to forge new partnerships in America
to help us in our continuing efforts to fight this problem.”

President Carter, his wife Rosalynn will join 1000s of international
volunteers to build homes alongside families in need in Michigan. This
year, an Armenian delegation will join them – including the head
of the Armenian church: The Catholicos and Supreme Patriarch of All
Armenians His Holiness Karekin II.

“This expression of good will by the Armenian Patriarch will become
an excellent demonstration of the volunteer values within people from
all walks of life, backgrounds and beliefs,” says Ashot Yeghizaryan.

Armenia, a country of 3 million nestled in the southern Caucasus,
suffers rates at a 45% poverty level, according to the Council of
Europe. Over the past decade, the country has suffered the aftermath
of the devastating 1988 earthquake which left 500,000 homeless; the
Azerbaijani war, which hampered the country’s ability to rebuild;
the collapse of the Soviet regime, and a newfound independence. All
have led to economic crisis.

Thousands of Armenians still live in metal “domiks”, iron containers
erected for temporary earthquake relief. In Armenia’s harsh elements,
these homes act like refrigerators in the winter; and like boilers
in the summer.

To share the story of the critical housing need, the Armenian
delegation from Habitat for Humanity, Executive Director Ashot
Yeghizaryan and Resource Development Coordinator Zaruhi Tonapetyan,
will tour several states in the U.S. in June-July: Michigan, Wisconsin,
Minnesota, California, and Florida, and will be available for meetings
and interviews. After the JCWP week, the delegation will visit Armenian
communities and churches in the U.S.

“We’re looking forward to being able to personally thank those who
have so generously contributed to the work of HFH in Armenia,” says
Zara Tonapetyan.

“We’re also excited to share our future plans to fight poverty housing
from Armenia.”

Concurrently with the events in Michigan, prominent Armenian officials
will be building a home with a family in need in Detroit City.

The tithe of all the raised funds within Armenia during these events
will be sent to Indonesia, where HFH is rebuilding after the December
26th tsunami.

“While there is a dire need to eradicate poverty housing in Armenia, we
also recognize the importance of helping those in need elsewhere,” says
Tonapetyan. “We have been praying for those affected by the tsunami,
and we hope this tithe, in a small way, will help them build hope.”

Habitat for Humanity Armenia has been working with families in need
since 2000, and provided homes for 600 people.

About the Jimmy Carter Work Project
______________________________
Since the first Jimmy Carter Work Project in New York City in 1984,
President Carter has been drawn to Habitat for Humanity’s efforts
to bring hope to people and areas others have abandoned. The Carters
have personally worked on Habitat homes that house more than 10,000
people around the world.

About Habitat for Humanity
_____________________
Habitat for Humanity is a nondenominational Christian organization
dedicated to eliminating poverty housing. By the end of 2005, Habitat
will have built its 200,000th house and more than one million people
will be living in Habitat homes they helped build.

Habitat for Humanity Armenia delegation U.S. travel schedule:
________________________________________________
June 19-24 – Michigan (Detroit, Benton Harbor)
June 25-28 – Wisconsin
June 28 -July 2 – Minnesota
July 3 – 10 – Northern California
July 10 -16 – Southern California
July 17-19 – Florida

For more information, to schedule an interview, or a meeting, please
contact:

In Armenia:
Zaruhi Tonapetyan, Habitat for Humanity Armenia
Tel: + (374 10) 556-114; E-mail: [email protected]

In the U.S.:
Ned Kelly, Habitat for Humanity Headquarters
Tel: (229) 924-6935, ext.2149; E-mail: [email protected]

~THE END~

WORLD-FAMOUS CHANSONNIER CHARLES AZNAVOUR TO PARTICIPATE IN ROUND
DANCE AROUND FOOT OF ARAGATS MOUNTAIN IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, MAY 16. ARMINFO. On May 26, world-famous chansonnier Charles
Aznavour will arrive in Armenia to participate in unexampled by its
scales round dance around Aragats Mountain, member of “Nig-Aparan”
organization Ofelia Petrossyan informed ARMINFO.

Organizers of the round dance (taken place on May 28) informed that
200.000 people are already registered for participation in this
action. They pin hopes that a new achievement on organizing “natural”
chain along mountain’s 155 km perimeter might be appeared in the
Guinness Book of Records. The round dance organized by “Nig-Aparan”
benevolent friendly association is a symbol of nation’s unity timed to
the 90th anniversary of Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey, the 1600th
anniversary of creation of the Armenian alphabet and the Bash-Aparan
victory against Turkish troops in 1918. “Love to the Motherland”
trees will be planted at the foot of Aragats Mountain on each meter
after the round table.

OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS CALL TO MAKE ACTIVE EFFORTS IN SETTLEMENT OF
NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT

Azer Tag
[May 17, 2005, 15:56:47]

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has
distributed a communiqué for press about the meeting of presidents
of Azerbaijan taken place on May 15 in Warsaw and Armenia with
participation of co-chairmen of the Minsk Group of OSCE.

In the message, it is stated that on May 15, before Summit of the
Council of Europe in Warsaw, has been carried out the next meeting of
the president of Azerbaijan I. Aliyev and the president of Armenia R.
Kocharyan on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement with participation of
co-chairmen of MG of OSCE (Russia, the USA, France).

It is marked that on behalf of Minsk Group member countries, Minister
of Foreign Affairs of Russia S. Lavrov who has called both presidents
to give a necessary pulse to the further negotiations and to set
forward process of settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
opened the meeting. The Russian minister was supported by Minister
of Foreign Affairs of France M. Barnje and from the USA – S. Mann.

After the two-hour private conversation, I. Aliyev and R. Kocharyan
asked the co-chairmen of the Minsk Group together with the Ministers of
Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan and Armenia to continue on the basis of
the positive operating time achieved during discussions carried out by
this year of the basic components of settlement. They have confirmed
mutual aspiration to achieve the prompt break during settlement of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

–Boundary_(ID_+h+M/m2FY6MeN/uSyp9xnw)–

CONFLICTING LAW

A1plus

| 13:39:27 | 14-05-2005 | Politics |

The RA law “On Parties” conflicts with the RA Constitution. This
is the opinion he;d by Stepan Zakaryan, member of Justice faction,
who several years ago presented the law “On Parties” to the National
Assembly on behalf of the Armenian People’s Party. The author of the
law was Vladimir Nazaryan.

Steapn Zararyan says that during the discussions of the preliminary
draft the APP adandoned some of its principles to make the law
admissible for the whole political field. The authors of today’s
amendments do not take into account the opinion of forces at the
political arena. “The draft submitted by us ungerwent considerable
changes. We are adherents to a law, which would not violate the rights
of the political forces. We are against these changes. Taking into
considertaion the present domestic situation in Armenia there are
some apprehentions that the law will not be implemented properly”,
Stepan Zakaryan says.

The possible violations of law were as well discussed with Vladimir
Nazaryan, who said to Stepan Zakaryan, “In this case we should not
draft laws. But we are doing it for normal people”.

The law “On Parties” submitted y the APP also contains an attempt
to regulate the political field. However the demands and minimal
barriers set for the parties were less stricts then the present draft
determines. To note, according to Stepan Zakaryan, the barriers
produced to the parties were admissible for all the political
forces. The opposition parties consider that the law “On Parties”
became antidemocratic in all aspects and characterize the changes
as regress.

Lena Badeyan

Leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey hold separate talks on disputed region

AP Worldstream
May 16, 2005

Azeri President Ilham Aliev met with Armenian and Turkish leaders
at separate talks on the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, an
official said Monday.

Aliev first met with Armenian President Robert Kocharian, followed
by a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said
Council of Europe official Seyfi Tashan.

The meetings, which took place late Sunday and early Monday ahead
of the two-day Council of Europe summit, focused on the presence
of Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region inside
Azerbaijan that has been under the control of ethnic Armenians since
the early 1990s, following fighting that killed an estimated 30,000
people.

“I hope that negotiations will bring results,” Aliyev was quoted as
saying by the Interfax-Azerbaijan news agency. “The positions are
well known. The issue has been discussed for years, and each side
has its own position. These positions have been discussed again.”

A cease-fire was signed in 1994, but the enclave’s final political
status has not been determined and shooting breaks out frequently
between the two sides, which face off across a demilitarized buffer
zone.

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier and Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov also took part in the talks, officials said. France,
Russia and the United States lead the Minsk Group under the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is seeking
to assist a diplomatic solution.