Author: Tatoyan Vazgen

Speak no evil?
Los Angeles Times
Sunday, July 16, 2006
EDITORIAL
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU refer to Turkey’s 1915-1923 genocide of
Armenians, accurately, as “genocide”? In Turkey, you face a possible
three-year jail term, even if it wasn’t you using the term but a
character in your novel. In the United States, you just lose your
job as ambassador to Armenia.
The novelist is Elif Shafak, who learned last week she will go on trial
for defamation of the Turkish Republic. The former ambassador is John
M. Evans, who was recalled from Yerevan in May after referring to the
“Armenian genocide” in a speech before a group of Armenian Americans
in February 2005. As one State Department bigwig told an Armenian
newspaper: “Ambassadors serve the president, and they are obliged
to follow his policy. President Bush’s policy as regards the mass
killings of Armenians is precise.”
Precisely what purpose this policy serves is clear: avoid using
the most truthful word in the English language to describe an
eight-decade-old atrocity for fear of offending a crucial NATO ally.
As Bush’s proposed replacement for Evans, Richard Hoagland, put it
last month during his confirmation hearing, “Instead of getting stuck
in the past and vocabulary, I would like to see what we can do to
bring different sides together.”
Vocabulary may not be the president’s best subject — Bush himself has
poked fun at his frequent malapropisms — but he’s shown he knows the
meaning of the word “genocide.” Campaigning for the White House in
2000, Bush told Armenian American groups that “the 20th century was
marred by wars of unimaginable brutality, mass murder and genocide”
and that “history records that the Armenians were the first people
of the last century to have endured these cruelties … If elected
president, I would ensure that our nation properly recognizes the
tragic suffering of the Armenian people.”
It’s one of the more blatant of Bush’s broken campaign promises.
Luckily, the Senate is showing signs of giving this rhetorical
appeasement the rebuke it deserves. Half of the senators on the
Foreign Relations Committee have demanded that the State Department
give an official explanation for Evans’ premature recall, and some
have hinted that Hoagland’s appointment could hang in the balance.
They should block the nomination altogether until the ambassador-to-be
dares to utter the g-word.
And the Bush administration should have the courage of its lack of
conviction and explain forthrightly — not just to Armenian Americans
but too all Americans who believe in calling evil by its proper name —
why U.S. policy is being dictated by Ankara nationalists.

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
July 14 2006
Azeri, Turkish, Georgian ambassadors to UN lead BTC-related
conference
Source: Trend
Author: Ì.Òagiyev
14.07.2006
The ambassadors of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia to UN lead a press
conference in respect to opening of BTC pipeline, Trend reports with
reference to Turkish media.
In particular, during this conference Azeri ambassador Yashar Aliyev
provided details on BTC pipeline.
Turkish and Georgian ambassadors Baki Ilkin and Revaz Adamia also
replied to the journalists questions. The five-minute move was
demonstrated on the project. In turn, Mr Adamia said BTC pipeline
will give a boost to welfare in the entire region.
Answering the question why the pipeline was not laid through Armenia,
Turkish ambassador Mr Ilkin said in case official Yerevan denies
its unreasonable prejudices Turkey can develop cooperation with
this country.
Turkish diplomat said all three states the pipeline is laid in possess
all necessary means to ensure its security.
–Boundary_(ID_S17uRTuG4aSWAyj+s/lQJQ)- –

Foundatio
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ARMENIA RANKS 126TH UNDER “HAPPY PLANET INDEX” BY BRITISH NEW ECONOMIC
FOUNDATION
Yerevan, July 13. ArmInfo. Armenia occupies the 126th position in
the rating by British New Economic Foundation “Happy Planet Index.”
Analysts ranked the states as to the following criteria: life
satisfaction, life expectancy and ecological footprint.
Thus, in the former Soviet area, the citizens of Khirghizstan are
satisfied with their lives most of all, the country occupies the 19th
position. Then goes Tajikistan (25), Uzbekistan (59), Georgia (101),
Azerbaijan (105), Kazakhstan (125), Moldavia (147), Belarus (165),
Turkmenistan (169), Lithuania and Lavtia occupy the 149th and 160th
positions, respectively. Russia goes 172nd of 178 in the rating of
the happiest states. In the CIS, only Ukraine and Estonia are less
happy than Russia.
The leader of the rating is Vanuatu, an archipelago in the western
pacific, made up of over 80 islands, 65 of which are inhabited by a
population approaching a quarter of a million. This country is called
“virgin paradise.” Modern towns and the villages of islanders live in
harmony. The original culture of the villages has not changed since
the discovery of the archipelago by Europeans in 1606. Even motor
vehicles in the country function on coconut oil not to pollute the
environment. 1 liter of fuel is made from 5 coconuts. After Vanuatu,
the list of top ten happy states comprises Columbia, Costa-Rica,
Dominican Republic, Panama, Cuba, Honduras, Guatemala, Salvador,
Sent-Vincent and Grenadines. Meanwhile, the citizens of almost all the
developed states are not satisfied with their lives. For instance,
among the G8 member-states, the happiest are Italians (66), then go
Iranians. Germany ranks the 81st, Japan- 95th, Great Britain 108th,
Canada – 111th, France – 129th, the USA – 150th. The unhappiest
are the residents of Congo, Burundi, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, which
occupies the last 178th position.

SERGE SARGSIAN REFUTES RUMOURS ABOUT ARMENIAN SIDE’S INTENTION TO
PASS OVER ARMENTEL TO RUSSIA
YEREVAN, JULY 13, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia cannot pass over ArmenTel
to Russia, as 90% of the latter’s shares belongs to the OTE Greek
company. Serge Sargsian, RA Defence Minister, Co-chairman of the
Armenian-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation,
declared this at the July 12 press conference.
Mentioning that several companies take part in the tender on sale of
ArmenTel’s shares, the Minister refuted the information, according
to which the Armenian side is carrying on lobbying activity aimed
at passing over ArmenTel to the MTS operator making part of the AFK
Systema Russian company. According to the same information, in return,
the AFK Systema, allegedly, assumes an obligation to relaunch the
Mars enterprise passed over to Russia for the Armenian national debt.
Igor Levitin, Russian Co-chairman of the Armenian-Russian Commission,
RF Transport Minister, in his turn said that the AFK Systema company
has expressed willingness to privatize or to assume long-term
management of Mars. He said that currently the Russian government is
discussing the way of passing over this enterprise to Systema.

EBRD and “Zvartots” airport to sign a contract
ArmRadio.am
13.07.2006 11:36
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and “Zvartnots”
airport will sign a 30 million credit contract. The money is provided
for the reconstruction of this international airport. The credit will
be given for the period of 7 years.
In 1994 EBRD had provided 17 million for the construction of the
freight terminal in “Zvartnots” airport.

A-320 AIRLINER CRASH CAUSE TO BE UNVEILED LATE JUNE
Panorama.am
14:45 12/07/06
International Aviation Committee (IAC) rep Tatianna Anodina stated
that conclusions on causes of A-320 airliner crash will be made public
late July. She claims the cause will be surely stated. In her words,
IAC has all the necessary materials to ascertain the causes of the
accidents. She said they will complete the final report together with
the Armenian, Russian and French experts. She urges not to come up
with any possible causes of the accident unless the final conclusion
is made. She, however, told they are not going to make public the
transcripts of the talk between the pilot and dispatchers saying it
is improper. The Armenian president is reported on the course of the
work today.
Note: Airliner A-320 crashed into Black Sea near Sochi on May 3 killing
113 passengers on board, including 8 staff members. /Panorama.am/

Azeri court jails youth activists
Turan news agency
12 Jul 06
Baku, 12 July: Judge Tofiq Pasayev of the Court for Serious Crimes
today passed a sentence on the three leaders of the Yeni Fikir (New
Thought) opposition youth movement.
The court found the leader of the organization, Ruslan Basirli, and
his deputies Ramin Tagiyev and Said Nuri guilty under Article 278 of
the Criminal Code (coup attempt).
Ruslan Basirli was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, Ramin
Tagiyev – to four years and Said Nuri to five years’ suspended
imprisonment with a probation period of three years.
Thus, the court recognized the arguments of the prosecution that the
Yeni Fikir movement was intending to seize power in the country by
force. By way of confirmation, the court pointed to the testimony of
a number of witnesses and video recordings.
It is notable that the sentence was read out in the absence of lawyers
who were not invited to the trial. At the same time, the staff of
the court did everything possible to let members of the public and
journalists find out about the sentence as late as possible.
It must be remembered that the trial of Yeni Fikir leaders started
on 31 March 2006. The charges were based on a hidden video tape made
in Tbilisi during Basirli’s meeting with two people, one of whom
was allegedly Armenian. The Armenian gave Basirli 2,000 dollars to
“develop democracy” in Azerbaijan. Later on, this tape was used by
the investigation to accuse Basirli of cooperating with the Armenian
intelligence service.
[Passage omitted: Other details of the investigation]

Zaman, Turkey
July 12 2006
Christian Democrats Delay Progress Report on Turkey
By Anadolu News Agency (AA), Zaman, Brussels
Published: Wednesday, July 12, 2006
zaman.com
The European Parliament (EP) Foreign Affairs Commission has postponed
debates over a draft progress report on Turkey until September.
Dutch parliamentarian Camiel Eurlings, a member of the Christian
Democrat Party, said they did not have enough time to combine the
proposed amendments.
“The report should not be hastily debated. When the issue is Turkey,
it needs to be discussed in greater detail.”
The Commission will discuss the report during a session in the first
week of September in Strasbourg before it is sent to the general
assembly.
The Christian Democrats have purportedly postponed the report in
order to negatively affect the contents of the report, while others
believe the report was delayed in order to ensure inclusion of the
recent positive developments in Turkey.
Speaking at the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Commission,
representatives from political groups stressed that recently, positive
developments on the Cyprus issue should be included in the report.
There were also certain reforms regarding women and animal rights,
compulsory religious education and the mater of Alevis.
The same representatives recalled that the EU Commission’s Progress
Report on Turkey will also be debated in the fall, and highlighted
the importance of releasing both reports at the same time.
However, some EP sources suggested that the Christian Democrats
deliberately postponed the report in order to negatively influence
Report and to create a Cyprus crisis between Turkey and the EU.
The same sources reported that harsh exchanges have broken out between
political groups over the Armenian issue, which, is frequently raised
by the Christian Democrats, who remain hesitant about Turkey’s entry
into the EU.
The Christian Democrat group has been commissioning reports on Turkey
for years.
EU parliamentarians and political groups will not be able to make
motions for amendments to be included in the report.
However, developments will be included in Turkey’s report through
compromise motions upon Eurlings’ approval.
The draft report calls on Turkey to accelerate the implementation of
reforms in line with the reform process, focusing mainly on freedom of
speech, religious and minority rights, civilian-military relations,
women’s rights, trade unions, cultural rights and the autonomy of
the judiciary.
The report welcomes the 9th reform package prepared by the government
of the ruling Justice and Development Party, and asks Turkey to remove
any item from the Counterterrorism Act that restricts basic rights
and freedoms.
The report stated that government officials, military and security
personnel shouldn’t receive preferential treatment in the courts;
condemned the Kurdistan Workers’ Party terrorist network and conveyed
concerns over former Van Public Prosecutor Ferhat Sarikaya’s dismissal.
Furthermore, the report asked Turkey to lower the 10 percent electoral
threshold, recognize the Alevis as a religious minority and to open
Turkish ports to Greek Cypriot traffic.

Armenian-Slovenian Relations Notably Activated Lately
PanARMENIAN.Net
13.07.2006 13:35 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian met with
Slovenian Ambassador to Armenia Jozefa Puhar, who is completing her
diplomatic mission in the country, reports the Press Service of the
Armenian leader. During the meeting thanking the Ambassador for her
effective work, Kocharian stated that within her service in Armenia
the Armenian-Slovenian relations have become notably activated,
visits at different levels were held, including Armenian President’s
official call to Slovenia. The interlocutors also discussed matters
referring to bilateral cooperation programs.

Banks.am Internet Project Presented in Yerevan
PanARMENIAN.Net
11.07.2006 13:13 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Mediamax news agency presented its new internet
project in Yerevan – the financial portal Banks.am (Financial
Armenia). The member of the Board of the Central Bank of Armenia,
Vartan Movsisyan, representatives of commercial banks of the republic
and journalists attended the presentation.
Banks.am is the first and only Armenian web portal providing
full information about the whole spectrum of banking services. The
information is free and available for all visitors who are interested
in financial services. Banks.am is a convenient tool for the
specialists working in the banking sector and all people interested
in the developments on the financial market. The portal contains all
latest news related to the banking sphere of Armenia and the region,
newspaper publications and interviews, stock reports, etc.
The project aims to create an interactive space for providing
comprehensive information about the rapidly developing financial
market of Armenia.
As the member of CB Board Vartan Movsisyan said at the presentation
of the site today, “the Central Bank of Armenia welcomes Mediamax’s
initiative for creating the site This is the first
portal in Armenia providing available and full information about the
banking sector of the republic.”
According to him, “Mediamax’s initiative meets the conception of the
Central Bank aimed at the development of the financial market and the
banking sector in particular.” Vartan Movsisyan expressed the hope that
Mediamax will cover not only the banking sector but will also worthily
represent the Armenia’s insurance and exchange markets on the web.