Panorama.am
03:08 26/08/2007
President expresses grief over murder
President Robert Kocharian has initiated a special investigation into
the murder of Albert Ghazaryan, head prosecutor of the province of
Lori.
This announcement was made by the president’s press department.
The president expressed his condolences to the victim’s family, while
labeling the crime as `against the entire legal system.’
Source: Panorama.am
Bloomberg
Aug 23 2007
Turkey Is Central on World War IV’s Frontline: Frederick Kempe
By Frederick Kempe
Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) — For those who argue that Sept. 11 plunged the
U.S. and the West into World War IV, a long struggle against militant
Islam, this has been a dark summer.
Yet a Muslim-oriented party’s sweeping parliamentary victory in
democratic Turkey provides hope in a strategic place, provided
Europe, the U.S. and the Turks themselves don’t squander the
opportunity.
“Turkey is to our national security now what Germany was in the Cold
War,” says Richard Holbrooke, a veteran U.S. diplomat who served as
ambassador to Germany and is now adviser to Hillary Clinton. “It is
our new frontline state.”
Former Afghanistan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani sees Turkey’s
centrality emerging from its position on the three critical fault
lines of our times: between order and disorder, between moderate and
extremist Islam, and between the Western and Islamic world.
Those fault lines have never looked more perilous. Iraq is sliding
toward a vicious civil war abetted by American domestic politics that
don’t grasp the stakes. Iran is advancing its malignant regional and
atomic ambitions. A nuclear-tipped Pakistan grows more unstable,
while al-Qaeda and the Taliban regroup within its borders.
Afghanistan is slipping, Hamas has taken Gaza, and Hezbollah
threatens Lebanon. European-based Muslim extremists struck the U.K.
again and promise to elsewhere.
That only heightens the importance of the July 22 parliamentary
victory of Turkey’s Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party, or
AKP, giving it unprecedented political dominance. It gained some 47
percent of the vote, adding 12 points to its 2002 victory and landing
341 of 550 seats.
Falling Short
In that victory lies a rare example of a Muslim-oriented party
leading a lively, democratic system that continues to separate mosque
and state and protects secular and minority rights.
That is also why the current debate in Turkey falls too short. It
focuses on whether the AKP should install as president, the bastion
of its national secularism, a pious Muslim whose wife wears a
headscarf. Buoyed by its victory, the party renominated Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul, whose presidential candidacy the military
blocked in April. He will probably be elected by the time of the
parliament’s third round of voting Aug. 28, assuming the military
doesn’t risk the social and economic cost of intervening again.
Yet the point isn’t what his wife wears but what the Turkish
political transformation from military-enforced secularism to
Muslim-oriented leadership means to our fragile times.
Soft Power
Many dislike the notion of Turkey as a player in World War IV,
following World Wars I, II and the Cold War. That’s partly due to the
term’s roots among neoconservatives and the false inference that
President George W. Bush’s “War on Terror” has a military solution.
Johns Hopkins University Professor Eliot A. Cohen, writing in the
Wall Street Journal two months after Sept. 11, argued that World War
IV — like the Cold War — would be global, have ideology at its core
and above all require the mobilization of soft power: skills,
expertise and resources.
The Bush administration has failed most profoundly in underestimating
the ideological challenge and overestimating the effectiveness of
force. Anti-Americanism has grown rapidly in Turkey, with only 9
percent of Turks having a favorable view of the U.S., according to a
Pew Research Center poll, down from 52 percent in a 2000 survey by
the U.S. State Department.
Favoring bin Laden
Turks are three times as likely to have a favorable view of Osama bin
Laden as they are of Bush. The European Union has also suffered due
to its own reluctance to embrace Turkey. Turks’ favorable view of the
EU has fallen to 28 percent this year from 57 percent in 2004.
So with that in mind, here’s what Europe, the U.S. and above all
Turkey must do to ensure this summer’s shift has a happy ending.
EU leaders and citizens must agree that Turkey is the most critical
geopolitical challenge and that the only thing riskier than absorbing
it as an EU member would be to shut it out on religious grounds.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy must reflect on the broader
consequences of his dangerous opposition to Turkey’s membership.
More Damage
The U.S. must avoid more damage during the Bush administration. That
will require providing Turkey with help combating PKK Kurdish
terrorist cells operating along its border with northern Iraq, if
only to ensure the Turkish military itself doesn’t do so. Congress
must also resist the temptation to pass pending bills branding the
Ottoman Empire’s actions against Armenians as genocide. Irrespective
of the facts of the argument, such resolutions have been blocked
before by U.S. presidents and the timing now is particularly
inopportune because it could inflame a country that is critical to
U.S. supply lines for Iraq.
Yet the greatest responsibility rests upon the Turks, particularly
Prime Minister Recep Erdogan and his party. The irony is that the
AKP, whose predecessor parties were hounded and outlawed for being
too openly Islamic, remade itself as a pro- Europe, pro-secular force
and has now replaced the Turkish military as the guarantor of
Turkey’s democratic future. At the same time, secular parties must
regroup to provide a more viable opposition that keeps the AKP
honest.
Turkey’s historic shift, however, invests the AKP with greatly
increased responsibility. It must tame the extremists in its ranks
who prefer Islamic to constitutional law, and combat al-Qaeda cells
and assorted threats in the country. And even as it establishes
closer relations with the Islamic world, which can benefit the West,
it needs to preserve its ties to NATO and its EU membership
aspirations.
None of this means the West can afford to shift attention to Turkey
from Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, any more than it could
ignore the Warsaw Pact and focus on Germany during the Cold War. But
just as Germany’s fate was crucial then, so too could Turkey’s be
decisive now.
To contact the writer of this column: Frederick Kempe in Washington
at [email protected] .
;refer=columnist_kempe&sid=aDbgUfufga0M
J ournal of Turkish Weekly
08/25/07
ADL corrects ‘genocide’ mistake in letter, ErdoÄ?an say
The US-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed regret over
debates centered on its recent decision to recognize Armenian claims
of genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in a letter addressing
PM Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an.
Foxman said in his letter that the ADL had huge respect for the
Turkish people and has never desired to put the Turkish people and
their leaders into a difficult situation, expressing deep regret over
what the Turkish people had to go through in the past few days since
it agreed to recognize the alleged genocide, reversing a long-held
policy, the Anatolia news agency said.Foxman also said the ADL would
continue to look for ways to improve relations with Turkey, lamenting
the fact that the latest debates strained ties between Turkey and the
ADL.
"The wrong step that has been taken is corrected," said ErdoÄ?an in
subsequent comments to reporters. "They said they shared our
sensitivity and expressed the mistake they made. ¦ They said they will
continue to give us all the support they have given so far," he added.
In a statement published on its Internet site on Thursday, the ADL
said it was ready to support reconciliation efforts between Turks and
Armenians after it sent shockwaves through Ankara by recognizing
Armenian allegations of genocide earlier this week.
Reports in the Turkish media said the move followed a telephone
conversation between ErdoÄ?an and Israeli President Shimon Peres on
Thursday. ErdoÄ?an stressed the "futility" of the ADL decision to call
the events genocide in the conversation and Peres responded by saying
that Israel’s well-known position on the issue of genocide claims has
not changed. The Israeli prime minister also said Israel attached
great importance to relations with Turkey and promised to "advocate
Turkey’s position on the issue in the US."
Reports said Peres then called ADL National Director Foxman.
"We must encourage steps to create an atmosphere in which Armenia will
respond favorably to the several recent overtures of Turkey to convene
a joint commission to assist the parties in achieving a resolution of
their profound differences. We believe there are many renowned
historians, human rights activists and distinguished world leaders who
are willing to lend their knowledge, experience and judgment to this
cause. We know that earlier this year, Professor Elie Wiesel and more
than 50 of his fellow Nobel Laureates called for concrete steps to be
taken by Turkey and Armenia to find a way forward to reach the goal of
reconciliation, and that, last week, Professor Wiesel reaffirmed his
support for efforts to create a body in which both Turkish and
Armenian experts can come together to work cooperatively in
re-examining the shared past of both peoples. The force and passion of
the debate today leaves us more convinced than ever that this issue
does not belong in a forum such as the United States Congress," the
ADL’s Thursday statement said, going on to say: "Although independent
scholars may have reached a consensus about the genocide, in an effort
to help accomplish the reconciliation there is room for further
dispassionate scholarly examination of the details of those dark and
terrible days."
"ADL and the American Jewish community should focus their attention on
supporting efforts to urge Turkey and Armenia to make this happen,"
the statement added, though it used the g-word, "genocide."
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen died in a
systematic campaign by the Ottoman Turks around the time of World War
I, but Ankara categorically rejects the label, saying that both
Armenians and Turks died in civil strife during World War I when the
Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided
with Russian troops invading the crumbling Ottoman Empire. According
to the Turkish archive documents more than 520.000 civilian Turkish
and Kurdish people were massacred by the armed Armenian groups between
1915-1918.
Ahead of ErdoÄ?an’s conversation with Peres, the Turkish Foreign
Ministry spokesperson Levent Bilman said there was no "consensus"
among scientists and historians that the World War I events
constituted genocide, contrary to the ADL’s conviction that there is.
"Moreover, it is Turkey who has asked Armenia to establish a joint
commission and reveal the historical realities. No positive response
has yet been made to this offer," he added. It sparked attention that
the ADL referred to the same proposal in its Thursday statement.
* Envoy to hold more talks in Israel
Meanwhile, Turkey’s Ambassador to Israel Namık Tan, who this week cut
short his holiday in Turkey to return to Israel, told the Anatolia
news agency yesterday that he would once more voice Turkey’s stance on
the ADL statement during talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
as well as with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, both currently on
vacation.
Ankara believes that as much as Turkey attributes high importance to
its relations with Israel, Israel attributes the same level of
importance to its relations with Turkey, Tan said. "These statements
do not have any legal and historical grounds. They should be corrected
without fail," he added, noting that the statements have not been
compatible with Turkey’s existing strategic relations with either
Israel or the US.
25 August 2007
Copyright (c) 2005 Journal of Turkish Weekly
787
THREATS CONTINUE
Hayots Ashkharh Daily Newspaper
22 Aug 2007
Armenia
Armenian Patriarch in Constantinople Mesrop-B announced after the
conspiratorial murder of the editor of "Akos" newspaper Hrant Dink
he continues to receive death threats from the Turkish nationalists.
Mesrop-B underscored he is satisfied with his meeting with the head
of the General Headquarter of Turkish armed forces Yashar Byuyukanety
as a result of which he has got assistance to visit "Certain Churches
and Communities in Anatolia". "Byuyukanety has promised to provide all
the necessary means of security for this visit," the Patriarch said.
"GUL’S ELECTION WILL NOT AFFECT ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS"
Panorama.am
20:27 21/08/2007
"Today’s Turkey isn’t the same as five or ten years ago. Today there
are strong movements there, which we can use to our advantage." Thus
stated Lebanese-Armenian political scientists Asbed Koochigian today
at a meeting with journalists at the "Friday" club. In his words,
the Islamic Party is represented by Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul,
whose victory could leave the impression that Turkey is looking
eastward, but more important is the relation Gul will have with the
military. The speaker says that in the case of a lack of cooperation
between the two, the danger of a military revolution exists, yet in
the case of cooperation, the contents will be what count, which will
determine the progress of the country.
Referring to the same question, Richard Giragosian, of the Washington
bureau of Caucasian and Central Asian issue, said that independent of
who might win the presidential election in Turkey, our relations won’t
be affected. "The question of opening the border will be put off,
as no decision has been made concerning this issue," he underlined,
adding that in recent years Turkish society has begun to "play an
important role" in the country’s politics, which has a positive
influence concerning the opening of the border.
"In the near future, it will be clear whether Turkey will lean towards
the West or the East. Armenia needs to be prepared to develop relations
with the new Turkey," concluded Giragosian.
CULTURE: A MONSTER IS ONLY SKIN DEEP: ACTOR ANDY SERKIS SHEDS THE SPECIAL EFFECTS TO EMERGE AS A NEW KIND OF ANIMAL IN BRITISH DRAMA SUGARHOUSE. CINEMA
Alison Jones reports
Birmingham Post
1ST Edition
August 20, 2007, Monday
UK
Andy Serkis is accustomed to playing monsters. He essayed the
cadaverous, jewellery-obsessed half-Hobbit Gollum in Lord of the
Rings and the giant love-lorn ape in King Kong.
For his latest role, he at least gets to appear human on screen
although his character in Sugarhouse, Hoodwink, is every bit as
monstrous.
A former UDA terrorist, he uses his propensity for aggression to
control the drugs trade on the nameless London estate where he lives.
However, Andy didn’t escape the make-up artist’s chair as Hoodwink’s
personal history of violence is inked on to his skin, so he had to
have guns and even the red hand of Ulster painstakingly stencilled
onto his body using temporary dyes – each session taking 20 hours.
"This really lovely couple from Manchester did it using Jaguar
fruit ink.
"They painted it on and then ripped it off. All down my legs and up to
my backside. It was agony actually because most of the hair came off."
The fact that the 43-year-old actor normally sports a lustrous quiff
that normally increases his 5ft 8in height by several more inches
hints at just how painful the process must have been.
The luxuriant mop is also gone in Sugar-house as Hoodwink is a
skinhead, which only adds to his visual ferocity.
"I got my kids to do that while we were on holiday," reveals Andy,
who has three children, Sonny, Ruby and Louis, with his wife, True
Dare Kiss actress Lorraine Ashbourne.
"We had this ritual one day of just having a go with the shaver and
they just shaved it off. They quite enjoyed that."
Sugarhouse is a low-budget British drama, adapted by Dominic Leyton
from his play Collision and directed by former TV actor Gary Love.
It stars Steven Mackintosh as an outwardly affluent but inwardly
tormented city worker who is attempting to buy a gun from strung-out
junkie D, played by one time So Solid Crew member Ashley Waters.
The owner of the gun, Hoodwink, wants its back and doesn’t care how
much blood he sheds to get it.
"He is a beast of a man," agrees Andy. "When he was functioning in
the UDA he had a belief system, his violence was used in a political
way. He was part of a brethren who believed they could achieve
something through terrorism.
"Having come here (London) he is isolated. He’s lost his belief system
and has become this uber capitalist, a sort of survival of the fittest
Darwinian thug.
"People have said he is a bit pantomime-ised but he’s based on a
couple of people that Gary knows personally and that I know.
"I’m always amazed there isn’t more violence in London quite frankly.
It’s only a hair’s breadth away most of the time. People like Hoodwink
are part of humanity, we can choose to disassociate ourselves,
pretend they are not there, but they are."
Hoodwink is a barely contained bundle of rage, in spite of his pregnant
wife’s attempts to manage his anger by having him chant mantras.
In one scene, Andy was called on to destroy the interior of a lift
with a machete and went at it so hard he couldn’t physically move
afterwards.
And in another when a co-actor decided to deviate from the script
and challenge Hoodwink, Andy found himself correcting him rather
forcefully.
"I was absolutely wired to get the scene right and I was pinning them
all up against a garage door and Teddy, this really enthusiastic
young actor, sort of fronted my character which I didn’t think he
would ever have done.
"I couldn’t control myself, I grabbed him and shoved him on the floor
and I just started smacking him saying ‘Are you f****** fronting up
the Hoody?’.
"Then suddenly he was gone, vanished. He’d gone round the corner and
he was crying.
"I said ‘look mate we are just acting, it gets a bit rough’ and he
was okay.
"That was just the rehearsal but I felt it established the state of
the character.
"Then on the last day, Teddy came up to me in the dressing room
and he said ‘I really respect you and I’ve loved working with you,
do you mind if I just do this?’.
"I said ‘Yeah, what?’ and, bang, he smacked me as hard as he could
around the face. I went ‘I’ve really enjoyed working with you too’."
The shoestring project was filmed almost entirely in the claustrophobic
confines of a warehouse in 24 days. The lack of cash meant the cast
could not relax in personal trailers between takes but had to stay
on set in the mock crack den.
The intense yet malleable Serkis has been called on to work on
blockbuster movies, including Stormbreaker, The Prestige and the romcom
13 going on 30 – where he did Michael Jackson’s Thriller dance – as
well as high profile TV projects like Longford, in which he played
Ian Brady.
Reassuringly for Gary Love, Andy doesn’t judge a job by its perks or
per diems: "Whatever I am doing at any given time I always think it
is the best thing I have ever done or am doing".
The tight-knit set and time constraints meant there was no room for
prima donnas, not a stunt the hard-working Andy would ever consider
pulling having been embarrassed to witness examples of it while
working abroad.
"I won’t mention names but I was involved in a film, it was classic big
shot actor having a resurgence in his career who had big tantrums. Went
and sat in his trailer for hours, crew sat around doing nothing,
had his drug dealer around, prostitutes on the set, all that kind of
lark, wasting people’s time and just generally being despicable and
horrible really.
"There was a real equality across Sugar-house. There was no chance of
anyone throwing any kind of hissy fit, it was a fantastic environment
to work in."
Andy took the opportunity to study Gary’s approach to directing as
he is soon to start work behind the camera.
"I’m not seeking to drop acting by any stretch but there are a couple
of projects that have been brewing over the last couple of years. One
is based on the Steven Smith book Addict and there’s a film called
Dark Blue Rising which a friend of mine Patrick Viragh has written
and hopefully that is going to be made relatively soon."
He also hopes directing will enable him to make more use of his visual
arts degree from Lancaster University.
The son of an Armenian doctor – until Andy was ten, the family shuttled
back and forth between Baghdad and London – he grew up wanting to be
an artist.
He fell into acting while working as a set designer and builder,
establishing himself first in the theatre in productions like Mojo
before turning to television and feature films.
"I suppose I am more compelled to work in film than television because
of that sense of working with people who are passionate about their
particular project. Television does get caught in that terrible trap,
you become a bit of a functionary as a TV director because it is not
your vision," says Andy.
"I’ve always wanted to be a storyteller from the outside as well
as within."
FIRST ARMENIA IS STATE THEN FATHERLAND
Lragir.am
21-08-2007 15:12:00
More effective activities and more distinct steps are needed to promote
the Armenia-Diaspora relation than the pan-Armenian games or the
Armenia-Diaspora forums, said Aspet Kochikyan, a Lebanon-based Armenian
analyst, who held a news conference on August 21 at the Friday club.
According to him, the pan-Armenian activities which do help sustain
the Armenia-Diaspora relation are not enough to use fully the existing
resource.
"The law on dual nationality was adopted last year. In the Diaspora,
in most communities, people are interested in the procedure of living
in Glendale and being a citizen of Armenia," says the Lebanese Armenian
analyst Aspet Kochikyan, adding that efforts in this direction are
belated.
He says presently Armenia is in a region where all the countries
are on the way towards shaping their identity, and in this context
Armenia must be an active player in the region to escape isolation. In
this sense, according to the analyst, harmony with the Diaspora is
especially important.
"The Diaspora is tired of the Armenia-oriented approach of the past
17 years, it helps Armenia but gets nothing in return except for kind
words that the Diaspora is our support, only cliches and no policy,
no efforts are likely to be made," Aspet Kochikyan says. At the same
time, he thinks it is important for the Diaspora to have a pragmatic
rather than a romantic approach toward Armenia, perceiving Armenia
first as a state then as a Fatherland.
Agence France Presse — English
August 18, 2007 Saturday 10:28 PM GMT
Boxing: King Arthur made to work hard in fifth defence
BERLIN, Aug 18 2007
IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham was made to work for his
eleventh-round knock-out win in Berlin on Saturday after plucky
challenger Khoren Gevor threatened to go the distance.
This was the 27-year-old Armenian-born German champion’s 19th
knock-out, and 24th win in 24 fights, as he saw off the hard-working
challenger at Berlin’s Max Schmeling Halle.
It was a strong upper-cut in the dying stages of the eleventh round
which left Armenian Gevor slumped on the canvas after the challenger
had absorbed plenty of punishment and threatened to go to the twelfth
round.
This was Abraham’s fifth defence and the champion’s next fight has
been pencilled in for America after manager Wilfried Sauerland
revealed last week he has received offers to bring his fighter
stateside.
Having won the vacant IBF middleweight title in December 2005 by
beating Kingsley Ikeke, "King Arthur" underlined his reputation as a
hard-hitter when he won a unanimous decision in September 2006
against Edison Miranda despite having his jaw broken in two places.
Abraham comfortably won his last defence against Canadian Sebastien
Demers in May this year with a third round technical knock-out, but
this was a much harder fight.
His 28-year-old challenger, a fellow Armenian who also now lives in
Germany, had an impressive record of 15 knock-outs from 29 fights he
had lost just twice, with one knock out, to Czech Republics Lukas
Konecny.
The pair recorded an identical weight and after an even first round,
Abraham took till the end of the third before he made his punches
tell.
The champion hit the canvas briefly in the fourth when he stumbled,
but while Gevor was throwing lots of punches, few were getting
through Abraham’s defence.
The champion took a heavy punch at the end of the sixth square on the
jaw, but he had caught the challenger with a flurry of punches, but
it was in the seventh that Gevor clearly weakened.
Only the bell at the end of the eighth kept him in the fight as
Abraham landed some punishing shots and although the challenger
recovered he was again in trouble at the end of the tenth round.
But it was a devastating upper cut 2 minutes and 41 seconds into the
eleventh which left Gevor slumped on his knees and sealed Abraham’s
win.
Vice-President of Iran to attend the opening of the Pan-Armenian Games
armradio.am
17.08.2007 18:38
August 18 the Vice-President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Minister
of Organization of Physical Education Mohammad Aliabadi will arrive in
Yerevan.
During the visit the Vice-President of Iran is expected to have
meetings with RA President Robert Kocharyan, Minister of Territorial
Administration Hovik Abrahamyan, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian,
Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Armen Grigoryan and President of
the National Olympic Committee Gagik Tsarukyan.
Mr. Aliabadi will also participate in the opening ceremony of the
Fourth Pan-Armenian Games due on August 18 at 18:00 at the Republican
Stadium.
Porterfield battles to lead Armenia
Wednesday 15 August 2007
Having named his squad for the qualifier Coach Ian
Porterfield is hoping to lead Armenia against Portugal
despite currently receiving cancer treatment in
England.
Cancer treatment
The 61-year-old Scotsman left Armenia two months ago
to receive treatment for a cancerous growth in his
intestines but said that he is determined to return to
the Armenian capital for Wednesday’s game as his side
seek a third successive UEFA EURO 2008′ qualifying
win. "I want to be with my team and to try to fight
against such strong opponents despite everything,’ he
said. `Portugal are one of the leading forces in
European football but can play our game."
Porterfield’s 22-man squad includes two changes, with
FC Ararat defender Hrajr Mkoyan receiving a first
call-up while FC MIKA goalkeeper Felix Hakobyan
replaces the injured Gevorg Kasparov.
Armenia squad
Goalkeepers: Roman Berezovski (FC Khimki), Felix
Hakobyan (FC MIKA).
Defenders: Robert Arzumanyan (FC Pyunik), Karen
Dokhoyan (FC Pyunik), Sargis Hovsepyan (FC Pyunik),
Aleksander Tadevosyan (FC Pyunik), Vahagn Minasyan (FC
Ararat Yerevan), Hrajr Mkoyan (FC Ararat Yerevan),
Yegishe Melikyan (FC Banants), Ararat Arakelyan (FC
Banants).
Midfielders: Hamlet Mkhitaryan (FC Pyunik), Romik
Khachatryan (AFC Unirea Valahorum Urziceni), Artavazd
Karamyan (FCU Politehnica Timisoara), Levon Pchajyan
(FC Pyunik), Artur Minasyan (FC Ararat Yerevan), Artur
Voskanyan (FC Ararat Yerevan), Henrikh Mkhitaryan (FC
Pyunik), Samvel Melkonyan (FC Banants), Agvan
Lazarian (FC Pyunik).
Forwards: Arman Karamyan (FCU Politehnica Timisoara),
Aram Hakobyan (FC Banants), Gevorg Ghazaryan (FC
Pyunik), Robert Zebelyan (FC Khimki).
©uefa.com