Author: Nargizian David

PRESS NOTIFICATION

Azat Artsakh Daily
19 Sep 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]

A working conference in National Assembly On September 16th the Speaker
of NKR National Assembly Ashot Ghoulyan convened a working conference,
by participation of executives of permenant commissions and the stuff’s
services. The theme of the discussion was the question of formation of
the NA seventh session of the fourth convening and agendas of its first
conventional session. In that connection the reports of the chairs of
permenant commissions about thematic inclusions of the bills being
in the circulation and degree of readiness were heard.Particularly,
it was noted, that the agenda of the session in coming future would
be completed by new bills. At the conference, in the result of an
exchange of opinions agenda inclusions of the seventh session and
its first conventional session were confirmed for representing to the
affirmation of the session. According to the acting legislative norm,
the Speaker of the Parliament declared, that NA conventional session
will be convened on September 17th, at 11:00 am, in the conference-
hall of NA.

Radio Netherlands, Netherlands

Freedom to Publish Prize for Turkish journalist

Persistence in the face of constant harrassment by Eric Beauchemin

19-09-2008

Controversial Turkish journalist and publisher Ragip Zarakolu has been
awarded the International Freedom to Publish prize. He has been a
thorn in the side of the Turkish state for nearly 40 years, publishing
books on taboo subjects such as the Armenian genocide, the Kurdish
issue and Turkey’s Greek minority.

Ragip Zarakolu receiving the IFA prize in Amsterdam
(picture: Kaj ter Borgh)

The prize is awarded by the International Publishers Association for
exemplary courage in upholding freedom of expression and freedom to
publish. Ragip Zarakolu received the award in Amsterdam, this year’s
World Book Capital. Ragip Zarakolu and his late wife in 1977 set up a
publishing house in Istanbul that has been the target of Turkish
censorship laws ever since. They constantly tried to create more space
for democracy and freedom in Turkey.

One of the most controversial books they published was about Kurdistan
in 1990, when the region was embroiled in a guerrilla war between the
Turkish state and the PKK separatists. The book was immediately banned
by the authorities.

"They came to the publishing house and wanted to take all the copies,
but we distributed all the copies before they came. We made 3000
copies. They were astonished. There was nothing they could do. So
later they charged us and began a trial. The first trial was at the
Serious Crimes Court. And we were accused of inciting Kurds to rebel
and my late wife went to prison in 1994 for six months."

Controversy
The prison sentences and the constant harassment from the Turkish
state did not deter the Zarakolus. Two years later they published a
book about the Armenian genocide, an even more controversial subject
in Turkey.

"Our reaction was to publish more books about same topics because they
charge us. They accuse us of a crime. So we try to understand what is
the crime in reality: to publish a book or the topics inside the
books. And if there is a crime inside the books, who are the real
criminals. If you publish a book about the Armenian genocide and you
were accused, you must show what the Armenian genocide is, who is
responsible and who is really criminal."

Persistence
Earlier this year, Zarakolu was found guilty of translating and
publishing yet another book about the Armenian genocide. He seems to
relish these run-ins with the authorities, and the International
Publishers Association has now recognised his persistence by awarding
him the Freedom to Publish prize, an award his late wife won exactly
ten years ago.

"You feel your struggle is accepted. I’m proud to take it because I
love books. So I feel a nice tiredness because of that prize. Also I
feel shame because it is a crime to be a publisher sometimes in
Turkey. It’s a shame for my country. So I will go on to publish, to
find new titles, to open new doors, new windows. So I will go
on. There’s always potential dangers. I like that. As a publisher,
nobody can put borders on my work."

Iran’s wrestlers grab four medals

press tv
Sun, 21 Sep 2008 10:15:57 GMT

Iranian freestyle wrestlers have won four medals, including one gold
medal, at the second World Deaf Wrestling Championships in Armenia.

There was a tight race between Iran and Russia on Saturday with Iranian
wrestlers facing Russian opponents in three categories.

Amri Samadi won the gold medal in the 55kg, but Mojtaba Latifi and
Ahmad Nasseri lost to their Russian opponents in the 84kg and 120kg
respectively to take the silver medals.

In the 66kg category, Keyvan Samadi won a bronze for the Iranian squad.

Iranian wrestlers in the 60kg, 74kg and 96kg categories will begin
their matches on Sunday.

The Greco-Roman competitions ended on Thursday where Iran took the top
spot with three gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

ARMENIAN MEDIA DO NOT HAVE POSSIBILITY OF SELF-FINANCING AND FREE WORK, EDWARD ANTINIAN CONSIDERS

Noyan Tapan

Se p 19, 2008

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN. "The urgency to make amendments
to the law On Television and Radio is evidence that the authorities
had a goal not to digitalize television but to solve a political
problem. Edward Antinian, the Chairman of the Liberal-Progressive Party
of Armenia (LPPA), stated at a discussion organized on September 19
at the National Press Club. He affirmed that their political goal was
to deprive the A1+ and Noyan Tapan closed TV companies of possibility
to return on air. And the most interesting, according to E. Antinian,
is that it is RA Minister of Economy who speaks about digitalizing
television in seven years, "a person who knows that the country does
not have even seven days’ wheat stock."

The LPPA leader said that the most important among the circumstances
hindering development of Armenian media is the lack of independent
financing and therefore, lack of freedom. Free media cannot be even
spoken about in a country where, according to E. Antinian, businessmen
are called and warned not to dare to place an advertisement in the
air of the Gala opposition TV company. The condition of printed media,
according to him, is also sad. E. Antinian said that being in Gyumri
lately, he failed to buy newspapers in kiosks. "The half of newspapers
just was not on sale and as the kioskman told me, they had put aside
the other half for the Prosecutor," he said.

SERZH SARGSYAN: ATMOSPHERE OF IMPUNITY SHOULD BE ERADICATED

ArmInfo
2008-09-18 16:24:00

ArmInfo. ‘The quality of justice is assessed exclusively by means
of public perception, and from this viewpoint the quality of justice
in our country is rather poor, to put it mildly, Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan said when introducing the new head of the Armenian
Cassation Court Arman Mkrtumyan to the Court’s personnel.

As the Armenian presidential press-service told ArmInfo, the president
noted: ‘We’ll do our best to make the court in our country independent
and judges – incorruptible’. At the same time, he recalled that the
authorities’ desire and efforts are not enough, the judicial system
itself should come out with initiatives. ‘You should be able to carry
out the establishment of the judicial system’, Sargsyan said. ‘The
court can’t satisfy everybody’s requirements, and there will always
be discontent people. But I can’t agree with the argument that the
society is discontent with the judicial system because the latter
fails to satisfy all parties’ requirements’, the president noted.

He added that the Cassation Courts’ judges should realize the
degree of their responsibility, cast a new look at the mileage and
continue their good undertakings, at the same time they shouldn’t
evade criticism. The president expressed confidence that the new
chairman of the Cassation Court will shortly presen t suggestions
about reforms and shortest ways to carry out the tasks faced by
the court. ‘We should be intolerant with respect to corruption,
irresponsibility, lack of criticism against our own activity. The
atmosphere of impunity should be eradicated’, Sargsyan stressed.

VAHAN HOVHANNISIAN: OPENING OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER ALSO MEETS TURKEY’S INTERESTS

ArmInfo
2008-09-18 16:16:00

ArmInfo. ‘Turkey makes use of the results of the visit of the
Turkish President Abdullah Gul to Armenia perfectly, while Armenia
is overmodest and does not try to make use of the brave step of
Serzh Sargsyan who invited his Turkish counterpart’, Head of the
parliamentary faction of ARF ‘Dashnaktsutyun’ party Vahan Hovhannisian
said at today’s press-conference in the National press-club.

Having touched on the issue of establishment of diplomatic relations
between Armenia and Turkey and opening of the border, V. Hovhannisian
said: ‘Having opened the border, Turkey will not oblige Armenia as it
is necessary both for us and them’. The MP also emphasized that due to
the fact that the Armenian-Turkish border was closed, Armenia could
avoid a threat of drug trafficking. ‘Everyone knows that the drugs
entered the south regions of Armenia from Azerbaijan, while Turkey
provides the whole Europe with drugs’, Hovhannisian said. ‘Having
opened the border, Turkey will be able to claim of its tolerance to
the European Union.

However, judging by the present situation, I doubt if Armenia will
be able to receive political dividends from this’, the MP said.

EU: COMMISSION PLANS TO PUSH TURKEY ON ISSUE OF FREE SPEECH
by David Cronin

IPS – Inter Press Service
September 18, 2008 Thursday

The slow pace of Turkey’s freedom of expression reforms is holding
up its effort to join the European Union, according to an official
assessment set to be published in November.

The European Commission’s upcoming annual report on Turkey will outline
its views on reforms undertaken by the Ankara authorities with a view
to fulfilling the country’s decades-old ambition of EU membership.

For most of this year, the Turkish political establishment has been
fixated on a legal challenge against the ruling Justice and Development
party over allegations that the Islamist background of its leadership
threatened the country’s constitutionally enshrined secularism.

Although the case was dismissed by Turkey’s highest court in July,
Jean-Christophe Filori, head of the European Commission’s Turkey
department, said it had "taken up energies on all sides" and
"distracted attention from the need to pursue reforms."

Addressing a Brussels debate on Turkey, Filori was nonetheless sanguine
about some steps that have been taken. It is positive, he contended,
that Article 301 of the country’s penal code — under which writers
and academics have been prosecuted over claims that they insulted
Turkishness — has been amended. And he argued that there appears to
have been a "sustained decrease" in incidences of torture of detainees,
even if the number of complaints of ill-treatment has risen.

Human Rights Watch is less impressed, however. "In general, there
has been a stagnation in the implementation of human rights reforms
in the past few years," said the group’s researcher on Turkey, Emma
Sinclair-Webb. "This year has been another one of stagnation."

She was particularly critical of efforts to alter Article 301. Whereas
reforms approved by the Turkish assembly earlier this year amounted
to a "tweaking in the wording" of this article, she insisted that it
would be preferable to delete the clause entirely.

Article 301 has been invoked against intellectuals who have exhorted
the present-day Turkish authorities to acknowledge that the slaughter
of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 was tantamount to
genocide. Among those who have faced charges as a result of it were
the Nobel winning novelist Orhan Pamuk and Hrant Dink, editor of a
bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper who was murdered by extremists
last year.

Under reforms, the offense of insulting Turkishness has been replaced
with the offense of insulting the Turkish nation. The approval of
the minister of justice is also now required for prosecutions to
proceed. Earlier this month, the current minister Mehmet Ali Sahin
decide to allow a case be taken against the writer Temel Demirer over
a speech he delivered the day after Dink’s murder.

Demirer’s lawyer Siar Isvanoglu said the prosecution illustrated how
promises by the authorities "regarding the European Union, democracy,
structural reform and human rights are all fairy tales."

During a visit to Ankara this week, the head of the Liberal grouping in
the European Parliament Graham Watson said: "The revision to Article
301 earlier this year was a positive step but its text continues to
prescribe prison sentences to those who insult the state and its
organs of government. That is troubling to other European nations
and is incompatible with liberal democracy. Mature democratic states
should have the self-confidence to absorb criticism from within. The
Turkish state is legitimate — it should be able to withstand peaceful
expressions of opinion from its own citizens."

But the country’s foreign minister Ali Babacan cited the changes to
Article 301 as an example of the reforms that Turkey is taking in
order to bring its legislation into line with that applying in the
EU. After talks in Brussels Sept. 17, Babacan promised that further
steps will be taken to meet the requirements of EU membership.

The European Commission is also likely to express concern
about the persecution of homosexuals in its forthcoming report
on Turkey. According to Filori, the banning of the gay rights
association Lamba Istanbul by a local court in May "does give us
cause for concern."

Lamba spokeswoman Sedef Cakmak said her organization is appealing
against the ban and if necessary will take the case to the European
Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

While homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey, the country offers no
legal protection to gays, lesbians and transgender people. "This means
you can be fired from a job just because you are lesbian or taken
into custody without any reason just because you are transgender,"
Cakmak said.

Cakmak said her organization had documented many incidents of
homosexuals being arrested arbitrarily or beaten by the police. While
a greater social tolerance toward gays and lesbians has emerged,
there have also been several killings of homosexuals in recent years.

"If you can hide your identity, you will have no problem," Cakmak
added. "If you cannot or if you refuse to hide your identity, that is
where the problems start. If you are not a very feminine gay or not a
very masculine lesbian, you can have an easy life. As you can imagine,
that is not the case with transgender people. They can’t hide their
identity, and that’s why they are suffering most."

ASIM MOLLAZADE: "THERE ARE NO GROUNDS TO DOUBT ABOUT THE RESTORATION OF THE TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF OUR COUNTRY"

Today.Az
olitics/47637.html
Sept 18 2008
Azerbaijan

Day.Az interview with Asim Mollazade, chairman of the Party of
Democratic Reforms and Milli Medjlis deputy.

– How would you comment on the results of President Ilham Aliyev’s
visit to Moscow?

– The visit of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to Moscow showed
that our country, despite all difficulties in the South Caucasus
region, maintains normal political relations with Russia and develops
bilateral cultural and economic relations.

These actions of official Baku show that Azerbaijan conducts a correct
external policy, owing to which we have good strategic relations with
the United States, develop relations with the European community, play
and important role in ensuring energy security of the Western countries
and at the same time maintain good neighbor relations with Russia.

I am sure that Azerbaijani-Russian relations have all conditions for
further development, especially, in the economic sector.

– How would you comment on the announcement of several local experts
that Azerbaijan’s NATO membership can be the only protection from
Russia’s possible aggression?

– Today, Azerbaijan is developing relations with NATO, attaching great
importance to this cooperation. In particular, Azerbaijani army is
transforming and being brought in compliance with NATO standards. But,
at the same time, it should be reminded that NATO has not yet decided
about admission of Ukraine and Georgia, which I consider to be an
excessive delay.

On the whole, I do not see any problems in the development of good
neighbor relations with Russia for Azerbaijan, which continues the
policy of strategic cooperation with NATO. In this connection, it
should be reminded that Azerbaijan is also successfully developing
ties with the Middle Asian countries and Turkey. In conclusion, I want
to say that the multi-directional and balanced external policy of
Azerbaijan allows it to play significant role not only in the South
Caucasus region, but also position itself as an important player on
the world political arena, capable of finding contact points in the
relations with the United states, as well as Europe and Russia.

– Will this multi-directional and balanced external policy of
Azerbaijan promote return of the occupied lands of our country?

– I am sure that we are closer to the resolution of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict more than ever, for both the NATO countries and
Russia are interested in its resolution.

– But resolutions differ, therefore, will all the lands of our country
be returned in the result of the resolution, you have mentioned?

– Naturally, it will, for there can be no other variant of the
resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, except for the
return of all the Azerbaijani lands, occupied by Armenia. The
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is not a subject of talks, which
was reiterated by President of our country Ilham Aliyev during his
visit to Russia. Based on international law, Azerbaijan’s position
is supported by the world community, which means that there are no
grounds to doubt about the restoration of the territorial integrity
of our country.

– I want very much to believe in your optimistic
forecasts. Nevertheless, there is still an unsettled question: what
can make Armenia agree to return the occupied lands to Azerbaijan?

– This can be the real assessment of the situation in the South
Caucasus region. A fleet glance at the situation in all the three
countries of our region would be enough to realize that Armenia is
the most backward country in our region. By isolating itself from
all positive and perspective processes and projects, implemented in
our region, due to the existence of territorial claims to all the
South Caucasus countries and due to the occupation of Azerbaijani
territories, Armenia has driven itself to a poor economic state,
thus being deprived of the prospects of further development.

The number of politicians who are aware of the complexity of the
situation is growing in Armenia, which allows to state that Armenia
will have to adhere to international law, under which the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict can be settled only in the framework of the
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

US AMBASSADOR TO AZERBAIJAN: "IT IS TIME TO SETTLE ALL CONFLICTS IN THE CAUCASUS"

Today.Az
politics/47584.html
Sept 16 2008
Azerbaijan

The events in Georgia proved once again that it is time to settle the
conflicts, existing in the region, said US ambassador to Azerbaijan
Anne Derse.

"US vice president Dick Cheney said during his visit to Azerbaijan that
it is the most favorable and important moment for the resolution of
Nagorno Karabakh conflict. He announced that the United States support
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the conflict should be
settled by this principle, but naturally, considering international
and diplomatic experience", she told reporters Tuesday.

The ambassador noted that the United States had been active in the
resolution of Nagorno Karabakh conflict and "it will further continue
being active".

"As you know, US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza is
visiting the region, tomorrow he will arrive in Baku and hold talks
in this direction", said Derse.

She also noted that the independent and sovereign states, existing in
the Caucasus, have a right to define their future independently. This
is a long-term position of the United States, which remains changeless.

"Official Washington wants to see the Caspian and South Caucasus
region as developing, stable and democratic regions in the world".

Speaking of the Caucasus security platform, the diplomat said there
is no news in this direction and "this idea is in process of formation
and we are just watching this process".

As regards the announcement about inclusion of the South Caucasus
into the influence area of definite countries, the ambassador noted
that the United States do not believe or accept such statements.

RA PRESIDENT CONGRATULATES PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA ON BIRTHDAY

ArmInfo
2008-09-16 10:44:00

ArmInfo. A telephone talk was held today between President of
Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and RF President Dmitry Medvedev, during which
S. Sargsyan congratulated his Russian counterpart on birthday.

As the Armenian presidential press service told ArmInfo, the presidents
of Armenia and Russia also discussed a wide circle of issues of
mutual interest.