Author: Nalbandian Eduard

RIA Novosti. Russia
Jan 20 2007

BACK TO THE USSR, RUSSIAN COMMUNISTS SAY

Moscow, 20 January: Russian communists are planning to fight for the
restoration of the Soviet Union and are calling on the communist
parties of the former union republics to unite.

"We believe that our key task is to restore the ruined union
fatherland, and we shall continue to work energetically to work on
this task," the leader of the CPRF, Gennadiy Zyuganov, told a plenum
of the Council of the Union of Communist Parties-CPSU.

Representatives of the communist parties of Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia
and other former union republics came to the plenum, which was held
in the northeast of the capital.

Zyuganov spoke at length about the need for cooperation with these
republics. "Without the alliance of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus and
all the fraternal republics which formed part of the union, we have
no historical perspective," Zyuganov declared.

The resolution adopted at the plenum points out that all the parties
formed on the territory of the former USSR which adhere to communist
views should join together. The main aim of the united parties should
be the fight for "Soviet people’s power, for socialist development of
the states of fraternal peoples and their unification into a union
state".

Editor hated by Turkish right gunned down
Gareth Jenkins, Istanbul

The Sunday Times
January 21, 2007

THE daughter of a murdered Turkish-Armenian editor cried out to his
fleeing killer from the balcony of the Agos newspaper offices in
Istanbul where they both worked.

As the body of Hrant Dink lay below, Sera Dink shouted: `They have
killed my father. Is his blood any cleaner now?’ Dink’s colleagues
said he had received a phone call shortly before 3pm on Friday and
left the office at once.

Witnesses said that as Dink, who had received numerous threats,
emerged he was shot three times in the nape of the neck by a young
man. His murderer fled, shouting, `I have killed an Armenian’, and
levelled his pistol at passers-by who tried to stop him. Video footage
from a shop next to the offices showed the assailant in the moments
before the attack, his gun in his right hand.

Last night police said they had captured the suspected gunman,
identified as Ogun Samast, after being tipped off by his
father. Samast, said to be 16 or 17, was arrested on a bus in the
Black Sea city of Samsun.

In recent years Dink, 52, had become a figure of hate for Turkey’s
ultra-nationalist right, particularly over the fate of the Armenians
in the first world war, when between 1m and 1.5m were driven from
their homes. Many were killed straight away with others abandoned in
the Syrian desert. Some estimates put the total at 600,000, although
it was almost certainly higher.

Most foreign historians recognise the deportations and massacres as
the first genocide of the 20th century. This has always been denied by
Turkey, which says it was simply a tragedy of war.

In 2005 an Istanbul court sentenced Dink to a suspended six-month jail
term for `insulting Turkishness’. The conviction was upheld last year
and at the time of his death Dink was facing charges of trying to
influence the judiciary by comments he made in an article about his
trial.

`If a defendant cannot influence the judiciary, then who can?’ he
wrote in Agos.

The cases brought Dink to the attention of the right. He was well
aware of the risks. `He had been receiving death threats for the past
2½ years,’ said Erdal Dogan, his lawyer.

On Friday, in his last article, Dink reported that the threats had
recently intensified. He said he had passed them on to the local
police but they had done nothing. `I want to make a note of that
here,’ he wrote. `Just in case.’

Dink’s assassination could not have come at a worse time for Turkey’s
bid to join the European Union. With opposition on the rise inside
member states such as France and Germany, few Turks expect their
country ever be to granted membership. Friday’s killing has deepened
the gloom.

Tycoon sued over party at Elton’s home
382504-details/Tycoon+sued+over+party+at+Elton’s+h ome/article.do
20.01.07

A wealthy property developer is at the centre of a potential High
Court wrangle over an £800,000 party held at Sir Elton John’s home.
Rafi Manoukian is refusing to pay £200,000 of the bill for the event
last December to celebrate his 50th birthday and his daughter’s
christening.
Mr Manoukian, who is believed with his brother Bob to be worth more
than £250million, is unhappy about ‘the quality of the service’ at
Elton’s Windsor mansion and claims the organisers received more than
he had agreed in commission from their ‘suppliers’.
Organiser DNA Productions – which boasts of hosting events for Elton,
Stella McCartney and Kevin Spacey – is taking the case to the High
Court.
According to its writ, it sub-contracted to suppliers for food,
drinks, lighting, marquees and entertainment.
Sir Elton himself performed some of his hits on the night.
Armenian-born Mr Manoukian allegedly asked the party planners to limit
commissions or rebates it received from those suppliers to £16,000 –
but the writ claims that while a letter of request was signed ‘such
agreement was unsupported and is of no contractual effect’.
Curiously, DNA Productions was dropped as Elton’s party planner
shortly after the Manoukian party, although its chief executive Matt
James has dismissed suggestions of a link.
Mr Manoukian has made part payments amounting to £588,685. DNA is
suing him for the balance.
The writ claims the party organisers agreed to discount the total bill
by nearly £10,000 after complaints about the party.
Charlotte Connor, solicitor for DNA Productions, who described the
party as ‘highly successful’, said: "It would be inappropriate to
comment further at this time."
Mr Manoukian was unavailable for comment.

ARF Bureau Statement on Hrant Dink’s Murder
ASBAREZ, 1/20/2007

The Bureau of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation condemns the
murder of "Agos" Weekly editor Hrant Dink in Istanbul.
This abhorrent crime brings new threats to the rights and existence of
the Armenian community in Turkey. The Turkish state and its government
are fully responsible.
Dink was killed for his political beliefs, which, in his own manner
conveyed the state of the Armenian community in Turkey, as well as the
civil rights of other minorities, Turkish-Armenia relations and the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey, always taking into
consideration and defending the interests of a "civilized"
Turkey… Beliefs, for which he was constantly pursued by the Turkish
government. Dink’s murder, once again, proves that there is no
tolerance in Turkey for differing views.
On the occasion of Dink’s murder we offer our condolences to his family.
ARF Bureau
January 19, 2007
Yerevan

Hürriyet, Turkey
Jan 19 2007

PM Erdogan meets with US State Department official on Iraq affairs

Nicholas Burns, the Political Affairs Attache for the US State
Department, arrived yesterday in Ankara to meet with Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan regarding US President George W. Bush’s recently
disclosed new plans for Iraq.

Erdogan and Burns met for well over an hour at the Turkish
Parliamentary buildings, with Erdogan relaying the Turkish view on
the current situation in Iraq to Burns. Sources from the capital say
that in particular, Erdogan put stress on the developments in the
northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, underscoring the sensitivity of this
city’s future from Turkey’s perspective. Erdogan also reportedly used
the meeting to warn Burns about Ankara’s discomfort with the draft
bill on the Armenian claims of genocide, a bill which is due to come
to the floor of the US House of Representatives in coming weeks.

Speaking after the meeting, Burns touched on Turkish apprehensions
about the PKK presence in the mountains near the border between
Turkey and Iraq, noting that the US planned to continue fulfilling
its promises to struggle against the PKK: "In terms of stopping the
attacks on Turkey launched by the PKK from Iraq, I believe we are the
start of a positive effort….We will continue closing down their
headquarters and bureaus."

PanARMENIAN.Net

OSCE MG Co-Chairs to Arrive in Yerevan January 24
19.01.2007 13:45 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Bernard
Fassier (France) and Matthew Bryza (U.S.), the
Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group on the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict settlement, will arrive in Yerevan
January 24, the U.S. Embassy told a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter. Within the framework of the regional visit
the mediators will visit Baku as well.

January 23 the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs will take
part in the recurrent meeting of the Armenian and
Azerbaijani FMs in Moscow

Armenian Assembly of America
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:

PRESS RELEASE
January 19, 2006
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
E-mail: [email protected]

ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA EXPRESSES OUTRAGE OVER ASSASSINATION OF
HRANT DINK

Calls on Turkey to End Denial of Armenian Genocide

Washington, DC – The Armenian Assembly of America was shocked and
appalled to learn of the tragic murder of one of the most prominent
Armenian voices in Turkey, Hrant Dink, who was gunned down outside his
newspaper office in Istanbul, Turkey, in what was a blatant political
assassination. Dink was frequently and unfairly targeted by Turkish
nationalists who labeled him a "traitor" for his public statements on
the Armenian Genocide.

The Assembly condemns the Turkish authorities for their failure to
provide a safer political environment for Armenians in Turkey, despite
repeated calls from the United States, the European Union and human
rights groups urging Ankara to improve conditions for minorities in the
country. Turkey is currently home to some 60,000 Armenians.

The Assembly also remains deeply troubled by Ankara’s refusal to heed
international calls to abolish Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code,
which stifles freedom of speech and criminalizes public discussion of
the Armenian Genocide. Hrant Dink himself stood trial several times for
his public comments on the genocide and was convicted in October 2006
for "insulting Turkishness" under the much-criticized law. He received
a six-month suspended sentence and was set to appear in court again in
March 2007 for telling a foreign journalist that the events of 1915
constituted genocide.

When prosecutors in Istanbul announced the new "denigration" charges,
Amnesty International expressed dismay, saying "the organization
considers that this prosecution is part of an emerging pattern of
harassment against the journalist exercising his right to freedom of
expression – a right which Turkey, as a State Party to the European
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has a legal
obligation to uphold."

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), "in the last 15
years, 18 other Turkish journalists have been killed for their work,
making [Turkey] the eighth deadliest country in the world for
journalists." CPJ research further shows that "journalists, academic,
and others have been subjected to pervasive legal harassment for
statements that allegedly insult the Turkish identity."

"It is past time for Turkey to reform its laws and take serious steps to
protect the rights of all its citizens," said Assembly Board of Trustees
Chairman Hirair Hovnanian. "No other human being in Turkey should have
to pay the price with his life for his government’s lack of resolve to
uphold the rule of law and respect for human rights."

The Armenian Assembly also calls on the United States, as a world
leader, to end the vicious cycle of genocide denial in Turkey by
adopting a congressional resolution reaffirming this fact of world
history.

Bryan Ardouny, Executive Director of the Armenian Assembly, said that
"sadly 92 years after the start of the Armenian Genocide, Hrant Dink is
now the latest victim of Turkey’s outrageous campaign of denial and
intolerance."

"In light of this terrible tragedy, it is all the more inappropriate for
the Administration to oppose congressional reaffirmation of the Armenian
Genocide," added Hovnanian.

"In memory of Hrant Dink, we reaffirm our commitment to fight for
universal reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide," Hovnanian continued.

The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of
Armenian issues. It is a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt membership organization.

NR#2007-009

Editor’s Note: For more information, please see the attached fact sheet
provided by the Armenian National Institute.

SHIRAK TO BECOME FIRST-CATEGORY AIRPORT

Noyan Tapan
Jan 17 2007

YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Gyumri’s Shirak Airport will be
given first category as a result of work to be done at the airport this
year. Now it h as no category. NT correspondent was informed from the
RA Civil Aviation Main Department that about 4 million dollars will
be invested in Shirak Airport from various sources of financing. Last
year the Armenian government already allocated 67 mln 500 thousand
drams (about 184 thousand USD) from its reserve fund for development
of design estimates of the airport’s repairs.

The program of Shirak Airport development was worked out by the RA
Civil Aviation Main Department two years ago and includes capital
repair of the runway and installation of new equipment.

The airport was put into operation in 1961. It can service TU-154,
IL-76 and other planes of this type. The airport currently operates
regular flights to Moscow, Rostov-on-Don and Sochi.

IN SUMMER OF 2007 ICG TO PUBLISH A REPORT ON KARABAKH CONFLICT

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.01.2007 18:10 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Representative of the International Crisis
Group for South Caucasus, will spread a special document related
to the Nagorno-Karabakh in summer 2007, said Sabina Freiser,
the representative of ICG (International Crisis Group) on South
Caucasus. She expressed a hope that the negotiations on the resolution
of the conflict will be continued throughout 2007, and that there
will be changes for the better. She said that due to the forthcoming
parliamentary elections in Armenia in 2007, it will not be easy year
for Armenians. Mrs. Freiser said that in order to change the situation
for the better, it was necessary to prepare the publicity both in
Armenia and Azerbaijan to take an additional step in this issue. She
is sure that both parties would consider the interest of each other in
taking this step. Mrs. Freiser said that Azerbaijan and Armenia should
meet half-way, however it would be difficult for both of the parties.

NO PRECIPITATIONS FORECAST IN ARMENIA IN COMING WEEK

Noyan Tapan
Jan 08 2007

YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, NOYAN TAPAN. No precipitations are forecast in
Armenia in the coming week. As Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed
from Meteorological Forecasts Unit of Haypethydromet Department, the
air temperature will not essentially change until January 11 and on
January 12 it will rise by 1-2 degrees. The weather will be foggy in
Ararat valley on these days, at night the temperature will be -10 -15,
in the daytime -5 -7. In mountainous regions the air temperature at
night will be -15 -20, in some regions up to -25 and in the daytime
-6. The highest temperature will be registered in Tavush and Syunik
valleys, in the daytime +10, at night -10.

No precipitations are forecast on January 9-13 in Yerevan: the air
temperature at night will be -10 -15, in the daytime -5 -7.

It was also mentioned that currently the air temperature in Ararat
valley is lower than the norm by 6-7 degrees.