Author: Nanijanian Alex

Roundup: Turkish parties, businessmen extend cautious welcome to EU entry decision
by Zheng Jinfa ANKARA

The Xinhua News Agency.
December 18, 2004 Saturday 10:00 AM EST

The EU decision to open Turkey’s entry talks on Oct. 3, 2005 met a
cautious welcome from Turkish parties and businessmen, who considered
it a success but acknowledged meanwhile more efforts were needed.

The Motherland Party (ANAP) said in a statement that a success was
made in “making concessions” during the Dec. 17 EU summit.

Mehmet Agar, leader of the True Path Party (DYP), told a news
conference that “we consider the point we reached as positive for
continuation of the EU process.”

Agar said EU did Turkey a favor by setting a date to open full
membership negotiations, adding that Turkey was granted a treatment
that was never shown to any country before.

Zafer Caglayan, chairman of Ankara Chamber of Industry, said the
decision to start full membership negotiations with Turkey was
pleasing, viewing it as “a new starting point for Turkey.”

Caglayan said Turkey entered a new period, and all society should
take responsibilities from now on.

Meanwhile, there were also some who struck a cautious note.

Former Parliament Speaker Husamettin Cindoruk considered the outcome as
“neither a success nor a failure”, but “an acquisition”.

“EU neither accepts us nor lets us go. EU will make a decision
according to the performance of Turkey,” Cindoruk told a seminar.

Cindoruk said there were two difficulties in reaching final agreements
with EU. “One is negotiations being ‘open-ended’ and the other is
the Cyprus issue.”

Sinan Aygun, chairman of Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO), echoed
his view.

He said this could be seen as a success, but it remained uncertain
what would be brought in front of Turkey till Oct. 3, 2005.

Aygun said Turkey would meet various limitations even if it became
an EU member, such as the Cyprus issue and the Armenian issue.

“We can not know that would be asked from us from now on,” Aygun said.

Gold Coast Bulletin (Australia)
December 16, 2004 Thursday

History, legend and tradition

THE history of Christmas dates back more than 5000 years, the
traditions we now associate with December 25 were celebrated
centuries before the Christ child was born.

The concept of Christmas originated in ancient Egypt in the days of
King Osiris and Queen Isis around about 3000BC.

After the untimely death of King Osiris, his wife Isis claimed a
full-grown evergreen tree sprang overnight from a dead stump,
symbolising the new life of the king’s spirit from his death.

On each anniversary of Osiris’s birth – the date we now know as
December 25 – Isis would leave gifts around this tree.

Isis became the Queen of Heaven and Osiris became the reborn divine
son of heaven. Through the later Phoenicians, Osiris became Baal the
sun god.

The mother and child became the Babylonian’s objects of worship, the
trend spread across the world under various names – Cybel and Deoius
in Asia, Fortuna and Jupiter in pagan Rome.

The 12 days of Christmas, the yule log, the giving of gifts, carol
singers and feasts can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians.

The Mesopotamians believed Marduk – the ruler of all their gods –
waged war on the monsters of chaos each winter. To help Marduk in his
struggle the Mesopotamians held a 12-day festival.

The Persians and the Babylonians celebrated Sacaea, a similar
festival featuring an exchange of roles; slaves became masters and
masters obeyed.

Early Europeans feared the sun would not return after the December
winter solstice, rituals and celebrations welcomed the sun after the
shortest day of the year.

In Scandinavia, the sun disappears for days during winter.

In ancient times, a sunless 35 days saw scouts scurry to the
mountaintops in search of the sun. At the first glimpse of light, the
great yuletide festival would be held with a special feast served
around a fire burning with the Yule log.

Across the land bonfires would be lit and apples tied to tree
branches as a reminder of the return of the warmer season.

The ancient Greeks celebrated the victory of their god Kronos against
Zeus and the Titans in December and the Roman’s celebrated their god
Saturn during the Saturnalia festival from mid-December to January 1.

The celebration involved festive feasts, visits with friends, and the
exchange of gifts called strenae or lucky fruits. The Romans decked
their halls with garlands of laurel and green trees lit with candles.

As Christianity spread across the globe, church leaders became
increasingly cranky about the continuing pagan festivals. They tried
to put a stop to the fun and games but gave up and combined old
traditions with the new enlightenment.

The exact day of the Christ child’s birth is not reliably recorded
but it has been celebrated since 98AD. According to the Encyclopaedia
Britannica, some Latins may have transferred the birthday of Christ
from January 6 to December 25 around 354AD. December 25 was then a
Mithraic feast or the birthday of the unconquered Sun.

The Syrians and Armenians clung to January 6 accusing the Romans of
sun worship and idolatry, claiming the December 25 festival was
invented by the disciples of Cerinthus.

In 137AD, the Bishop of Rome ordered the birthday of the Christ Child
celebrated as a solemn feast. In 350AD, Julius I – another Bishop of
Rome – chose December 25 as the day to celebrate.

Pottering: Turkey should recognize Armenian Genocide

16.12.2004 12:29

YEREVAN (EYRKIR) – Hans-Gert Pottering, German parliamentary leader
of the European People’s party, said Turkey should acknowledge the
Armenian Genocide and accept its ancestors’ history like Germany
admitted to the Nazi Holocaust of 1933-1945, Armenpress reported.

Speaking to the Turkish NTV television, he said that otherwise the
Armenian issue would always stay on Turkey’s agenda.

He also noted that the accession talks with Turkey would be successful,
and that privileged relations with Turkey is an alternative to the
full membership. He concluded that without recognizing the Republic
of Cyprus, it would be impossible for Turkey to start accession talks
with the EU’s 25 member states.

Armenian leader, visiting Russian speaker praise improved trade

Noyan Tapan news agency
15 Dec 04

YEREVAN

The development of Russian-Armenian relations in the context of
bringing the two countries’ political and economic legislation closer
together and prospects for international cooperation were discussed by
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and Speaker of the [Russian] State
Duma Boris Gryzlov today.

Boris Gryzlov is in Yerevan on an official visit.

Robert Kocharyan expressed his satisfaction with the fact that 2004
saw an improved trade structure between the two countries. For his
part, the speaker of the Russian State Duma said this was laying the
basis for boosting bilateral relations even further.

[Passage omitted: Reported details]

The sides also touched on ways of improving the transport link between
Armenia and Russia, namely issues concerning the railway and the
Kavkaz ferryboat lines, the press service of the Armenian president
told Noyan-Tapan.

The sides also exchanged views on regional and international problems.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
December 12, 2004 Sunday 9:45 AM Eastern Time

Lights down in majority of Georgian districts

By Tengiz Pachkoria

TBILISI

Lights went down in the majority of Georgian districts because of an
emergency shutdown of several power lines and a unit of the Inguri
hydropower plant.

Electricity imports from Armenia stopped late on Saturday night
because of the emergency shutdown of the Alaverdi power line, which
supplied 100 megawatts of electricity to Tbilisi and another 60
megawatts to Georgian areas bordering on Armenia, a source in the
Tbilisi-based Telasi electricity distribution grid told Itar-Tass.
Russia’s UES energy grid has a 75% interest in Telasi. Reasons for
the shutdown are yet unknown.

One of the two units of the Inguri hydropower plant stopped
functioning for several hours last night on technical reasons.
Consequentially, electricity imports from Russia by the Kavkasioni
power line was stopped. The power line supplies 100 megawatts of
electricity to Tbilisi and 100 megawatts to other Georgian districts.

Inguri hydropower plant head Levan Mebonia told Itar-Tass on Sunday
they had repaired the unit and resumed electricity imports from
Russia.

The ninth unit of the Tbilisi power plant, which produces over 200
megawatts of electricity, supplied electricity to several
neighborhoods of Tbilisi last night and on Sunday morning. The unit
met less than 50% of Tbilisi electricity needs.

Zaman, Turkey
Dec 12 2004

The European Union or the Heresy of the ‘Miraculous Conception’

by Daniel Cohn-Bendit
Co-Chairman of the EP Greens

If reconciliation between France and Germany had waited for the
“people”, I believe that this novel way of managing our relations
that the EU consist of, would simply not have happened.

Nothing predisposed Europe to find the political will required to
abandon war in favour of the pact that currently makes possible the
peaceful co-existence of generations that all share in the same
project: an anti-totalitarian Europe. The political map that has been
redrawn across Europe with democratic states has enabled us to
determine our existence according to co-responsibility and led to,
after the “miracle of the Rhine”, to the “miracle of the “Oder”.
Today, I contend that within the world as it has become,
co-responsibility means to realise the “miracle of the Bosphorous”.
This ambitious goal requires, on the one hand, an aptitude to
undertake the necessary changes to be in step with the current world,
whilst at the same time, preparing for tomorrow’s world. On the other
hand, and simultaneously, this presupposes a Turkey that takes full
responsibility for the attainment within its territory of the
necessary democratic reforms, and, obviously, the consequential
changes in mentality. Thereafter, a necessary softening will be
required to a nationalistic, authoritarian Kemalism, which will
especially imply innovation in the models of coexistence for Kurds,
religious minorities and others. The assumption of the Armenian
genocide, in part perpetrated by Kurds, will also be the symptom of a
metamorphosis enabling Turkey to further acclimatise to the European
practices of sharing sovereignty, a process not easy for any nation
to accept.

I have never thought for a single moment that this path would be
simple. I even support the critics of the politics of the “fait
accompli” that enlargement has been, and, I and many others, have
pleaded in favour of deepening before enlargement. Furthermore, not
even the “cultural difference” argument so often couched in
politically correct language but often dissimulating a more
xenophobic undertone, would constitute a sufficient reason to exclude
Turkey. In a decade or so, neither the EU nor Turkey will be or can
be what they are today. Turkey will have to integrate a Union
governed by the Constitutional Treaty, that, I hope, will have also
help us progress down the path of further communtarisation. This also
means that tomorrow’s Union will have increased the exigency it set
on itself and on candidate states. On the other hand, the Union will
also have foreseen the conditions of possibility of “absorption” of
such a large and populated country as Turkey, therefore not simply
comparable to previous enlargements

At this stage, I would like to make an important remark, especially
to my French friends: Turkey made its membership application and it
has been accepted unanimously. And as the Commission keeps on
repeating, there is no “Plan B”. To pretend this is not the case and
continue to seek engagement whilst giving the impression that a
“privileged partnership” is of value to Turkey, a state that has a
full customs union with the EU, is really taking people for a ride.

Therefore, I am convinced that the tomorrow’s European Council in
Brussels must give a precise date for the start of negotiations. Any
other decision would be entirely irresponsible.

When one considers the world we live in, in all its complexity, where
radical Islamic terrorism coincides with the Union’s attempts to
exist on the international scene and where Muslims minorities make up
an important section of our populations, the perspective of Turkish
membership is not only politically sound but above all a “win -win”
scenario. This is clearly the path that Turkey has followed over the
years and that it will continue, thereby continuing its cultural
evolution, affecting not only itself, but also Islam as well. This
does not allow us to downplay the negative effects that the hostility
felt against the perceived threat to national identity that Turkey’s
accession is having in certain member states. We cannot simply do as
if the “crusaders of national and cultural identity” had sung their
last psalm. In my mind, any attempt to glue back together the
symbolic orders within our societies should prevent the further
compartmentalisation of our societies and deal head on with the
identity crisis within them. This would prevent the use of such
concepts as “the people”; what does this mean? Do the Turks born in
Germany belong to the German ‘Volk’? What is the German People? How
far can we discriminate when we know that over 3 million Turks live
in the EU? One thing is clear, however: the viability of Turkey’s
integration into the EU depends on our ability to establish an open
debate and a pedagogy susceptible of unleashing the collective
imagination that is current bounds by backward reactions that I would
qualify as a pseudo-identity. This is not some replacement for
cultural relativism. This would, in effect, only lead to a dead end
for the recognition of both the specificities and the autonomy of
individuals and the universals principals given to us by Modernity,
which have since then become an integral part of our political
culture. In contrast, European culture has since many a year turned
its back on “revelatory” dogmas and has sufficiently integrated the
concepts of diversity in order to affirm itself through a dynamic
identity, capable of evolution. It is therefore up to us, in these
historic times, to exploit these resources at our disposal in order
to both live and believe ourselves an “open society”.

La Nouvelle République du Centre Ouest
09 décembre 2004

Le CL Joué s’incline logiquement

CL Joué : 10 Saint-Priest : 39

Après La Riche lors de la dernière journée, le CLJ émigrait cette
fois-ci à La Ville-aux-Dames pour disputer sa rencontre face à
Saint-Priest. Déjà champion de 2e division l’an passé, Saint-Priest
s’est octroyé cette saison les services de quatre renforts : les
Arméniens Minasyan et Makarian (déjà quarts de finaliste des
championnats du monde), les internationaux Buisson et Lafon
(ex-champions de France) afin de briguer cette fois-ci la montée. Les
lutteurs de Saint-Priest ont donc logiquement dominé leur adversaire,
des pieds jusqu’à la tête, sur chacune des deux périodes (5-18 et
5-21). Les Jocondiens n’ont pas fait le poids, autant en lutte libre
qu’en lutte gréco-romaine, même s’ils ont réussi à arracher deux
victoires en libre grce à Mehdi Boucetta et au lutteur local Yann
Cousin. L’objectif de Joué est donc plus que jamais le maintient en
D2. Le club devra aller chercher un résultat positif à Sarreguemines
le 18 décembre prochain. L’école de lutte est en marche mais il
faudra à l’avenir se renforcer dans les gros poids qui font défaut,
et également posséder des lutteurs davantage spécialisés.

Les résultats

Victoires pour Joué

Lutte libre

55 kg : M. Boucetta bat B. Abrial aux points : 3-1.

60 kg : Y. Cousin bat B. Abrial aux points : 3-1.

Victoires pour Saint-Priest

Lutte libre

66 kg : E. Buisson bat V. Lojaberry aux points : 3-0.

74 kg : V. Makarian bat M. Mamouni par tombé : 5-0.

84 kg : V. Makarian bat F. Mertad aux points : 4-1.

+ 84 kg : S. Ismail bat F. Bordes par tombé : 5-0.

Lutte gréco-romaine :

55 kg : A. Minasyan bat M. Boucetta aux points : 3-1.

60 kg : A. Minasyan bat Y. Cousin aux points : 3-1.

66 kg : E. Buisson bat V. Lojaberry aux points : 3-1.

74 kg : C. Lafon bat M. Mamouni aux points : 3-0.

84 kg : C. Lafon bat F. Mertad aux points : 4-0.

+ 84 kg : S. Ismail bat F. Bordes aux points : 4-0.

– La rencontre départementale dans les catégories poussins et
benjamins aura lieu samedi, à partir de 14 h, au gymnase Paul-Bert de
La Riche.

Russian police spokesman outlines impact of foreigners on crime figures

ITAR-TASS news agency
7 Dec 04

Moscow, 7 December: The number of crimes committed by foreign nationals
in Russia continues to rise, reporters were told today by the head of
the Interior Ministry’s Criminal Investigation Directorate, Viktor
Pansuyev. Foreigners have committed nearly 41,500 crimes since the
beginning of the year, which is 20 per cent more than in the same
period of last year.

Most offences by foreigners concern the use and manufacture of false
documents (27 per cent), theft (18 per cent), drugs trafficking
(10.5 per cent) and also robbery, mugging and fraud, Pansuyev
said. “According to statistics, cit izens of CIS states are the most
criminally active and account for over 92 per cent of all offences,”
he said. Citizens of more distant countries – China, India, Lithuania,
Vietnam, Latvia and Mongolia – account for less than 0.5 per cent.

Migration is one of the main causes of higher crime by foreigners,
Pansuyev reported. “We are particularly concerned by the fact that
Russia has become a bridgehead for illegal migration. Expert analysis
indicates that there are about 4m foreigners in the country illegally.”

At the same time the number of crimes committed against foreign
nationals is down, Pansuyev continued. Just 8,600 have been recorded
this year. “The victims are most often foreign nationals who are
permanently resident in Russia, here on business or as tourists, or
here seeking employment,” he added. According to the figures, nationals
of Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Moldova are the
most frequent victims of crime. Most of these offences are committed
in and around Moscow and also in St Petersburg and Leningrad Region.

“One in five offences in Moscow is committed by or with the complicity
of foreign nationals,” ITAR-TASS reported at 1008 gmt, quoting the
head of the Moscow CID, Andrey Reznikov. “Over 15,000 have been
recorded since the beginning of the year, which is an increase on
last year. At the same time, Reznikov pointed out, 3,300 crimes were
committed against foreigners in the city in the first 11 months of
this year, which is 700 more than last year.”

“The Interior Ministry forecasts that the crime situation in this
respect will deteriorate,” ITAR-TASS said in another report at 0959
gmt, quoting Pansuyev. “Foreigners tend to ‘have large sums of foreign
currency and possess expensive hi-tech devices. While in Russia they
engage in business and thereby attract the attention of criminals,
including of their own compatriots’,” he said. Pansuyev added that
there are over 33,000 foreign students in Russia, and 283 crimes
against them have been recorded this year.

“He said the largest diasporas from the CIS are the Ukrainians, Azeris,
Tajiks, Moldovans, Armenians and Georgians, and from further abroad
the Chinese, Vietnamese, Indians and Turks,” RIA-Novosti news agency
reported at 0954 gmt. “This influx of foreign nationals is causing
a rise in crime linked to them,” it quoted Pansuyev as saying.

Armenia, Iran sign memo on construction of third high-voltage power line

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
2 Dec 04

[Presenter over video of signing ceremony] The Armenian and Iranian
energy ministers signed a memorandum in Yerevan today on the
construction of the third high-voltage power line.

The second power line connecting the two countries was commissioned on
30 November [2004]. The third power line is expected to be built in
two years.

Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan said that only this
[gas-for-electricity] formula currently existed between Armenia and
Iran. It is envisaged that the construction of the third high-voltage
power line will cost about 25m dollars. Under the agreement, the
Iranian gas will be used for producing power on the territory of
Armenia and its subsequent export to Iran, in proportion of 1
cu. m. of gas for 1 kW of electricity.

[Armen Movsisyan, captioned] At present, we do not see any need to
sell electricity. If there is a problem, we can sell.

[Iranian Energy Minister Habibollah Bitaraf, captioned, in Persian
with Armenian voice-over] These lines are of great importance for
bilateral economic cooperation. The construction of these lines has
three purposes. First, to create an alternative power source; second,
to ensure a gas-for-electricity formula; third, to provide Armenia
with Iran’s technical and engineering service and equipment.

Armenian MP chides president for congratulating Ukrainian premier

Mediamax news agency
30 Nov 04

YEREVAN

“Armenia is placing itself against the democratic world and European
entities,” a member of the [Armenian] National Assembly from the
opposition Justice bloc, Shavarsh Kocharyan, said in Yerevan today.

He was commenting on the message of Armenian President Robert
Kocharyan to congratulate [Ukrainian prime minister and presidential
candidate] Viktor Yanukovych on his election as Ukrainian
president. The parliamentarian also said that the Armenian president
joined a statement critical of the OSCE, which was signed by some CIS
presidents earlier this year.

Drawing parallels between the situation in Armenia after the
presidential elections in 2003 and the developments in Ukraine,
Shavarsh Kocharyan said that the Armenian opposition is more passive
because of the lack of “public order for democratization” and people’s
unreadiness for nationwide protests.

He also said that “Russia doesn’t want to have a strong ally in the
region as Armenia, preferring an easily managed puppet leader”.