Author: Talalian Arpi

NEXT STOP, BAKU
by Nicholas Birch

Transitions Online, Czech Republic
Oct 15 2007

Trains linking Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan could start rolling
in 2009. But Armenia will be left in the dust. From EurasiaNet.

KARS, Turkey | Barely a decade ago, the city of Kars had to fight hard
to ensure it was connected to a new improved railway line stretching
east across Turkey from Ankara. Now it is set to be a transit hub
connecting southern Europe to China, via the Caspian.

Given the go-ahead early this year by the governments of Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Turkey, after 15 years of hesitations, the $600-million
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway line is expected to be completed
by 2009.

In late September, 14 Turkish companies including construction giants
Nurol and Tekfen presented bids for the 70-kilometer section of track
due to connect Kars to the Georgian border. Turkey has earmarked $300
million for the work. Gas-rich Azerbaijan has already given Georgia
$40 million of a $200 million loan – to be paid back over 25 years
at 1 percent interest – to finance its part of the project.

Kars Mayor Naif Alibeyoglu sees the railway as a crucial lifeline
for the city, one of Turkey’s poorest. "Not so long ago, people joked
about selling Kars off for a handful of lira," he says. "Now we can
look to the future with hope."

He also thinks the BTK rail line confirms Kars’ position as a natural
bridge between two geographical zones. "Kars is as much Caucasian
as it is Anatolian", he says, referring to the city’s distinctly
un-Turkish cobble-stone boulevards and elegant black stone houses.

Kars was in Russian hands between 1878 and 1918, and many of its
inhabitants are the grandchildren of Azeris who fled inter-ethnic
fighting and Bolsheviks at the end of the First World War.

A media-savvy man, Alibeyoglu is convinced it’s his lobbying that
has brought the railway project to fruition. In reality, the BTK
is just another sign of what Stanislav Belkovsky, director of the
Moscow-based Institute for National Strategy, calls "the myth of the
unerring dependence of Eurasian states on Russian hydrocarbons."

GEORGIA NOW ON BOARD

If the railway has taken so long to get off the drawing board, it is
largely because of Georgian hesitation. In part, Tbilisi’s problem was
simply lack of money. But it also feared a trans-Caucasian railway
would undermine the importance of its two major Black Sea ports –
Batumi and Poti.

It changed its mind after Moscow cut transport and postal links
with Georgia following Tbilisi’s arrest of four Russian soldiers in
September 2006 on spying charges.

Not everybody is happy about the new route. Armenia, which has had
antagonistic relations with Turkey for most of the last century,
stands to be shut out from the benefits of the BTK railway.

The green light for railway construction riles Yerevan for the
simple reason that it already has a railway line connecting Turkey
to the Caspian. Considerably shorter than projected Baku-Kars route,
the Armenian line – which crosses the Turkish border 40 kilometers
east of Kars – could be brought back to life for a fraction of
the cost of the new project. The chief obstacle to cooperation is
a Turkish embargo against Armenia – imposed in 1993 after Armenian
forces drove the Azerbaijani military out of the disputed territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh, and went on the occupy a substantial portion of
Azerbaijani territory. Efforts to negotiate a Karabakh peace settlement
remain deadlocked.

BORDER TENSIONS UNDERMINE FINANCING

The lack of Turkish-Armenian cooperation helps explain European and
American unwillingness to help finance the BTK. It remains to be
seen whether the World Bank will respond any differently to an Azeri
request for funding made in September.

In Akyaka, a Turkish town that sits astride the old trans-Caucasus
line just 10 kilometers from the Armenian border, locals seem resigned
to their fall into dusty oblivion.

"We used to get a lot of freight through here," railway worker Fuat
Erdogdu remembers. "Now we’re the end of the line – just one train
a day from Kars."

With the BTK project in the works, Akyaka Mayor Bulent Ozturk
acknowledges, the likelihood of the local track being reopened to
international trade is slim. "We’ll survive. It’s Armenia I feel
sorry for: Armenians are poorer than us."

Like almost all locals, he goes on to insist that there is no question
of Turkey ending its Armenian blockade unless the Nagorno-Karabakh
issue is resolved.

Back in Kars, Naif Alibeyoglu is more candid. Armenian President Robert
Kocharian has painted his people into a corner with his hawkishness,
he says, but Turkey is to blame too.

"Trade is the best way to improve relations. But Turkey’s governments
have always preferred to play the populist card – talking about
standing up for our Azeri brothers. The result? Stalemate."

Nicolas Birch specializes in Turkey, Iran, and the Middle East. A
partner post from Eurasianet.

A MOMENT OF RECOGNITION
By The Crimson Staff

Harvard Crimson, MA

Oct 15 2007

Turkey must acknowledge the crimes of its past

Amid the mire of ways, means, and appropriations, a history lesson
may seem out of place on the docket of the United States House of
Representatives. This month, however, a particularly vivid example
has materialized, and rightly so: The United States House Committee on
Foreign Affairs has approved and submitted a bill that would recognize
that neglected genocide of more than a million Armenian Christians
by Ottoman Turks from 1915 to 1917.

If the Congress was slow to recognize the great crimes perpetrated
nearly a century ago, one would hardly blame them: the Armenian
genocide was scarcely acknowledged for 50 years. Another one of
history’s great criminals, Adolf Hitler, used the mass killing’s
anonymity to justify his own violence towards the Poles in 1939,
saying: "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the
Armenians?"

Much has changed since that dark moment in history, but modern Turkey,
beholden as it is to the Young Turk perpetrators and in spite of the
light of historical perspective, still refuses to admit the taint
on its history and clings to dramatic understatements of the death
toll. Turkey cannot continue to deliberately avoid dealing with the
disturbing facts of its history. Other countries have stared their
genocidal demons in the face, and the fact that they have done so is
a sign that they have moved past a dark era in their history.

Armenians around the world have lobbied for statements of recognition
from major powers in light of Turkey’s frightful obstinacy, and have
won support in more than twenty nations. With Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi in control, it appears that the time has finally come
for America to join this group.

The White House and the Republican members of Congress, however,
warn that this abstract resolution will have no tangible effects
beyond alienating America’s relationship with a key ally in the war
on terror. In particular, they are worried about the United States
military’s mission in Iraq, in which neighboring Turkey has been a
critical ally. It seems there is some legitimacy to these claims,
as Turkish General Yasar Buyukanit has warned that his country’s
"military relations with the United States can never be the same,"
and the Turkish ambassador to the U.S. has been ordered to return
from Washington.

But as Pelosi has pointed out, "there’s never been a good time" to draw
Turkey’s ire over this issue. Furthermore, a modern nation yearning
to join the European Union ought to make peace with its past. If
President Bush can claim that acts of genocide will never occur
"on his watch," surely he should not shy away from recognizing one
for the sake of political expedience. We are also disappointed that
leadership of the recognition of the Armenian genocide has largely
been left to politicians by academics. Academia aspires to question
all orthodoxies in the name of the truth; the Armenian genocide is
one area in which it has fallen woefully short.

So let Turkey rage. The tide has turned globally in favor of the
frank acknowledgement of all the horrors that took place in the chaos
of World War I. Even if this resolution serves as a mere symbol
of solidarity, one may hope that its weight might counteract the
indelible pain of almost a century of impunity and silence.

Sunday Times.lk, Sri Lanka
Oct 14 2007

`Ali wali’ over jumbo going to Armenia
By Isuri Kaviratne

Sports and Recreation Minister Gamini Lokuge is to travel to Armenia
later this month to hand over an elephant as a gift from Sri Lanka
ignoring warnings from animal rights activists and without the
sanction of the Wild Life Department. Mr. Lokuge confirmed to The
Sunday Times that he was planning the visit and had been informed
that the Armenian government was preparing a national ceremony to
receive the elephant.

He said since a national ceremony has been organised he too would be
going to hand over the elephant to Armenia and would be choosing what
animals to bring back to Sri Lanka in exchange. Two mahouts and a
veterinary surgeon would be going with the elephant. `This is not
only an exchange of animals. It’s an exchange of technology as well.
We are sending a group of vets to study foot problems elephants
develop,’ the minister said.

Asokamala, a female elephant 9 years and 2 months old who was born in
the Pinnawala sanctuary is to be sent to Armenia on a special request
of the Armenian government which wants another elephant to keep
company with the only elephant Sri Lanka had sent to Armenia some
time ago, Minister Lokuge said. Environment Minister Champika
Ranawaka said his Ministry has asked for details of how the she
elephant would be handled and other relevant information from the
Armenian government. As soon as an answer is received, the Ministry
would take a decision on permitting the transfer of the elephant to
Armenia.

`We would not give permission if the answer carries any negative
information,’ the Minister said adding that other than granting
permission, the Environment Ministry would not get involved in the
matter. `We have no intention of going against the Cabinet decision
either,’ the Minister said.

However, Wild Life Conservation Department Director General Ananda
Wijesuriya told The Sunday Times that he had not given permission to
take the elephant to Armenia and despite the preparations, the
country requires his permission to send the elephant. `I will look
into the living conditions the elephant would be getting in Armenia
before giving permission to send her. I haven’t received the relevant
papers on the matter from the authorities,’ he said.

According to the Convention on International Trade on Endangered
Species, the Government cannot exchange animals without the
permission of the Wild Life Conservation Department, he said.

html

PanARMENIAN.Net

NATO hopes U.S. and Turkey will resolve conflict in near future
12.10.2007 17:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ NATO is hopeful that Turkey and the United States
will resolve their conflict in the near future. `We do not comment on
the situation. This is a bilateral problem, which doesn’t refer to the
Alliance,’ a NATO representative said, RIA Novosti reports.

October 10, with a vote 27 to 21, the U.S. House Committee on Foreign
Affairs adopted the Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.106, thus
opening a way for full House consideration of the measure.

Turkey accused U.S. lawmakers of `irresponsibility.’

Antiwar.com, CA
Oct 13 2007

White House Hopes to Avert Major Rift With Turkey

by Khody Akhavi

A resolution recognizing as "genocide" the deaths of 1.5 million
Armenians in the former Ottoman Empire nearly a century ago has
gained the sponsorship of a majority of members in the US House of
Representatives. But it has also drawn heavy criticism from George W.
Bush administration officials, who argue that the non-binding and
largely symbolic legislation could harm relations with Turkey at a
particularly crucial time.

The influential House Foreign Affairs Committee, chaired by
Congressman Tom Lantos, voted 27-21 to endorse the legislation
Wednesday despite the pleas of President Bush, who said it threatened
to undermine US foreign policy in the Middle East.

"We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of the Armenian people
that began in 1915, but this resolution is not the right response to
these historic mass killings," said Bush. "Its passage would do great
harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war
on terror."

Armenia and Turkey have long opposed each other’s version of events
during and after World War I which led to the forced migration and
death of large numbers of Armenians. Armenia claims that up to 1.5
million were murdered or starved to death as part of a systematic
effort by the Turkish government to end the national liberation of
the Armenian people, and considers Turkey’s actions as "the first
genocide of the 20th century."

Turkish officials do not deny that mass killings took place but argue
that the deaths resulted from widespread fighting that occurred
during the collapse of the 600-year-old Ottoman Empire, clashes that
also left hundreds of thousands of Muslim Turks dead.

Turkey claims that 600,000 Armenians died after they allied
themselves with Russian forces invading the Ottoman Empire, and that
they were not the victims of a government-sponsored campaign of
genocide.

On Thursday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense
Secretary Robert Gates issued a joint appeal to the Congress, and
offered to provide House members with a classified briefing to
discuss what they described as the "national security interests" at
stake.

Legislators who voted for the measure defended it as a stand against
state-sponsored atrocities.

"I am Jewish. I have both a moral and person obligation to condemn
all acts of genocide no matter where or when they occur," said Rep.
Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, in a statement. "Our
nation’s relationship with Turkey is important. Our relationships
with all other countries are important. But our relationship with
humanity matters as well. I cannot vote to deny that the horrific
actions of the Armenian genocide occurred."

Turkey severed military ties with France after its Parliament voted
in 2006 to make the denial of the Armenian genocide a crime.
Following the US congressional vote this week, Ankara ordered its
ambassador in Washington to return home for "consultations," but says
he has not been formally withdrawn.

"A similar reaction by the elected government of Turkey to a House
resolution could harm American troops in the field, constrain our
ability to supply our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and
significantly damage our efforts to promote reconciliation between
Armenia and Turkey at a key turning point in their relations," said
Rice and Gates in the letter, as reviewed and reported by the
Associated Press.

On Thursday, Gates warned of the "enormous implications" for US
military operations in Iraq if Turkey limited flights over its
airspace and restricted access to Incirlik Air base.

"All I can say is that a resolution that looks back almost 100 years
to an event that took place under a predecessor government, the
Ottomans, and that has enormous present day implications for American
soldiers and Marines and sailors and airmen in Iraq, is something we
need to take very seriously," Gates told reporters in London.

Turkey provides significant logistical support for the US-led war
effort in Iraq. About 70 percent of all air cargo sent to Iraq passes
through or comes through Turkey, as do 30 percent of fuel and
virtually all the new armored vehicles designed to withstand mines
and bombs, according to Gates.

The legislation also comes as Turkey’s government prepares to seek
permission from parliament to carry out a cross-border offensive
against an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 members of the Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq, in retaliation for rebel attacks
that have killed 29 Turkish soldiers, police and civilians in the
past two weeks.

Washington has warned that a Turkish military attack across the
border in Iraq could throw into chaos the only relatively stable
region of Iraq.

The PKK, an armed separatist group whose goal has been to create an
independent socialist Kurdish state, is considered a terrorist
organization by the US, Europe and NATO, and Turkey claims it has
been responsible for more than 30,000 deaths, the majority of them
civilians, when it began using political violence in the early 1980s.

Turkey conducted its last major operation into Iraq in 1997.

Turkish President and head of the Islamist ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP) Abdullah Gul called Wednesday’s committee
vote "unacceptable," and said, "Some politicians in the United States
have once against sacrificed important matters to petty domestic
politics despite all calls to common sense."

The Armenian resolution debate has also unleashed an aggressive
lobbying campaign by Ankara, which is spending more than 300,000
dollars a month on sophisticated public relations specialists and
former Washington lawmakers to help defeat the measure.

The Turkish Embassy is paying 100,000 dollars a month to lobbying
firm DLA Piper, which is associated with former Democratic House
Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, and 105,000 dollars to the Livingston
Group (connected to former Republican lawmaker Robert L. Livingston),
and it recently paid public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard 114,000
dollars a month, according to records filed with the Justice
Department.

(Inter Press Service)

1751

HIS HOLINESS KAREKIN II’S OPENING PRAYER IN THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

A1+
[11:44 am] 11 October, 2007

"Lord, we thank you for bestowing us with the Grace to pray today
for the leaders of this nation who labor in the universal cause of
liberty and justice.

Increase their wisdom and resolution. Their actions grant inspiration
and fulfillment to the desire for justice that lives in every
heart. Our Father in heaven, render guidance to all nations, including
the Republic of Armenia – our homeland and center of our faith – the
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. "With the solemn burden of history, we
remember the victims of the Genocide of the Armenians, the consequences
of which are still felt by the entire world in new manifestations of
genocide. Grant rest to the souls of all victims of crimes against
humanity and bestow peace and justice on their descendants. Give pause
to those who trample life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. "Lord,
bless this land and people. Grant peace and safety to America’s sons
and daughters who serve their nation abroad. May the United States
continue her mission as a great beacon of hope. Amen."

CONGRESS REJECTS BUSH’S PLEA ON ARMENIAN KILLINGS
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington

The Guardian, UK
Oct 11 2007

Congress rejected a plea by the Bush administration yesterday over
a resolution officially recognising as genocide the deportation and
massacre of Armenians in the last days of the Ottoman empire.

George Bush warned of the negative repercussions should Congress use
the word genocide to describe the killing of an estimated 1.5 million
Armenians and their exile.

"This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass
killings, and its passage would do great harm to our relations with
a key ally in Nato and in the global war on terror," Mr Bush said.

But hours later the House foreign affairs committee voted by 27 to 21
in favour of the resolution. The measure now goes to the full House
for a vote.

Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, had warned the resolution
could set back Middle East peace prospects. Its passage could also put
US soldiers at risk in Iraq, Robert Gates, the secretary of defence,
said, warning that America risked losing important supply routes. About
70% of air cargo for Iraq goes through Turkey.

But the measure has strong support in the Democratic-controlled
House, where more than half of members have signed on as co-sponsors,
including the speaker, Nancy Pelosi. About half of the Senate has
co-sponsored the measure.

The resolution calls on Mr Bush to use the word genocide during the
commemoration of the killings each April. Turkey has spent millions
on dissuading western governments from labelling the events of 1915-7
a genocide. The Turkish military cancelled defence contracts with
France last year when its national assembly voted to make denial of
the genocide a crime. Turkey does not deny that many Armenians were
killed, but claims the deaths were the result of widespread fighting.

BUSH AGAINST TURKISH GENOCIDE RESOLUTION
Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times

Washington Times, DC
Oct 10 2007

President Bush added his voice this morning to the chorus of protest
against a House resolution that would declare the Turkish government
to have committed genocide during the First World War.

"I urge members to oppose the Armenian genocide resolution now being
considered by the House Foreign Affairs Committee," Mr. Bush said,
speaking to reporters on the South Lawn driveway, yards away from
the presidential putting green.

"We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of the Armenian people
that began in 1915," Mr. Bush said.

But he added that "this resolution is not the right response to these
historic mass killings."

The Armenian National Institute estimates that around 1.5 million
Armenians were killed at the hands of the Turks or died due to the
Turkish persecution between 1915 and 1923.

The Turkish government refuses to acknowledge its actions as genocide,
and U.S. officials expect that the Turks would close off access to
its air bases, which are a crucial part of the U.S.

military’s resupply routes into Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr. Bush said the resolution’s passage "would do great harm to our
relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror."

TER-PETROSYAN RAFFLES ALL THE OPTIONS
Armen Tsatouryan

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
Oct 10 2007
Armenia

Ex-President Ter-Petrosyan’s recent activeness has raised a certain
hue-and-cry among the politicians as well as in society.

This, however, is not a manifestation of a specific political demand;
it is rather a natural interest in a person who has already earned
his place in history.

With the purpose of transforming the positive tendencies of such
interest into a serious political asset and "putting it into practice",
the ex-President is trying to form 3 camps on the political arena.

The first is the army of his own proponents, and we believe that the
fact of its being limited is obvious to him too.

The second is the issue of defining the non-interferers and neutrals,
as this is a tool aiming to restrict the greater chances of the ruling
authority and its candidate.

And as to the third, rival camp, Ter-Petrosyan’s attitude towards
it still remains on the plane of a psychological war, since this
is an attempt of stirring anxiety over the "permanent rotations"
and breaking his unity.

We believe the principal goal of such kind of tactics is the solution
of a third problem, because Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s current maneuvers do
not promise serious results in case of relying upon the other options.

The reason is obvious. Of the 3 camps mentioned above, the first
consists only of Mr. Ter-Petrrosyan’s party members and other factions
that tend to join him in case he proposes his candidacy.

Among them are "Republic" party, the Armenian Democratic Party and
others. And this is rather insufficient.

As to the second camp, ARFD and "Rule of Law" are the first parties
Mr. Ter-Petrosyan wishes to see in it. And the meetings which have
been organized or are going to be organized by them aim to demonstrate
the ex-President’s broad-mindedness.

As regards third camp which consists of the RPA and "Prosperous
Armenia", futile attempts are being made to isolate them from the
political arena, to reveal and sharpen internal discordances based
on the theoretical assumption the state machinery and parties have a
great number of human resources who have been there since the times
Mr. Ter-Petrosyan was in power.

However, the attempts of hurting this "main target" have not yet
produced any result.

What chances of maneuvers can the ex-President have during the coming
months, in view of this formula that divides the political arena
into three parts? It is clear that in view of the limited political
resources it is impossible to think of Mr. Ter-Petrosyan’s serious role
in the presidential elections. The extra-Parliamentary parties which
are willing to become his political support need help themselves. So,
Mr. Ter-Petrosyan’s "political reanimation" is necessary for the
leaders of those parties and not for the ex-President. Realizing
this fact, Ter-Petrosyan is trying to undertake the next step: to
form a new, non-partisan format, required for initiating a new and
wide public-political movement. For that purpose, the first method he
applied was the attempt of gaining favor among the businessmen and
rejecting the term "oligarch", a labeling that is often associated
with those people’s names. And he did that through his September 21
speech. His next steps are related to the efforts of recruiting the
influential representatives of intelligentsia. The result in this
case was strictly limited too.

Since the overwhelming majority of society has an inert attitude
towards the "rotations" initiated by Mr. Ter-Petrosyan, there only
remains the option of referring to the past in order to make movement
develop. The recent attempts of reanimating "Karabakh" committee come
to prove that by initiating a series of meetings Mr. Ter-Petrosyan
has not managed to reveal a "critical mass" with the help of which it
might be possible to create something. Therefore, there remains the
third option: the trumpet and the fists clenched for the liberation
of Karabakh in 1988. The only difference is that this time those
fists will be directed at "liberating" Armenia from Karabakh.

However, by and large each of those activists is now engaged in
introducing himself/herself, and it is only Vazgen Manoukyan that
remains on the political arena with his small team. Therefore,
Mr. Ter-Petrpsyan’s efforts promise strictly limited results in this
respect too.

Moreover, if the political reanimation of "Karabakh" committee pursues
a goal to "liberate" Armenia from Karabakh, the new "advent" of the
veterans may become the negation of "Union", the task to which they
committed themselves in 1988. And this kind of primitive self-negation
by "Karabakh" committee cannot provide chances for initiating a wide
public-political movement.

In such situation, the only factor is the possible flaws of the ruling
authority or the theoretical assumption that certain discordances
might emerge inside it. And Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s team is now making
persistent efforts in that direction. We believe this is the real
in-depth goal continuously experimented by Mr. Ter-Petrosyan within the
past one-month period with the help of diverse political technologies.

Therefore, there is no need to be surprised by the fact that Levon
Ter-Petrosyan invents some original step once a week, because the
diversity and consistency of those steps can, at least for some period
of time, make the public direct its attention to the political team
which has built its calculations based upon the possibility of the
rival’s defeat or the expected flaws and omissions.

And when all the options of various rotations are ruled out,
Ter-Petrosyan is sure to confess that his nomination has no public
demand in Armenia, and he will desperately stake on another candidate.

TURKISH PM SAYS GENOCIDE MOTION WOULD HURT TIES

Reuters, UK
Oct 10 2007

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on
Wednesday approval by Congress of a resolution calling the 1915 mass
killings of Armenians genocide would harm Turkey’s relations with
the United States.

"The United States’ relationship with one of its most important
partners in the region would be weakened," Erdogan said in a televised
interview.