Author: Tigranian Ani

NATO REPRESENTATIVES ARRIVE IN ARMENIA TO ESTIMATE PROCESS OF
IMPLEMENTATION OF ARMENIA-NATO INDIVIDUAL PARTNERSHIP ACTIONS PLAN

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The complete estimation of the
process of implementation of the Armenia-NATO Individual Partnership
Actions Plan (IPAP) proceeds starting from January 30. Representatives
of NATO corresponding departments arrived in Armenia for that
purpose. Noyan Tapan was informed about it by the RA Foreign
Ministry’s Press and Information Department.

The NATO delegation combined this time the complete estimation of the
IPAP implementation with the estimating visit of the Planning and
Review Process (PARP). The estimation results will be present to the
NATO Political-Military Steering and Political Committees after what
they will be discussed during the joint sitting of the North Atlantic
Council and Armenia.

PanARMENIAN.Net

U.S. has special responsibility to ensure that lessons
of past are never forgotten
31.01.2007 15:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Shortly after the Armenian Genocide
bill was introduced in the U.S. House of
Representatives, Congressmen Pallone, Schiff,
Knollenberg, and Radanovich held a press conference on
Capitol Hill which was attended by Genocide survivors
Rose Baboyian and Yer. Sirarpi Khoyan, members of the
media, the Armenian Assembly and other leading
Armenian-American organizations and community
supporters.

"The United States has a compelling historical and
moral reason to recognize the Armenian Genocide, which
cost a million and a half people their lives," said
Schiff, the bill’s lead sponsor. "But we also have a
powerful contemporary reason as well — how can we
take effective action against the genocide in Darfur
if we lack the will to condemn genocide whenever and
wherever it occurs? With the new leadership in
Congress, I am hopeful we can finally get this
resolution passed."

Congressman Radanovich said he was pleased that the
bill was introduced with the strong support of his
House colleagues, adding that "the United States has a
special responsibility to ensure that the lessons of
the past are never forgotten – no matter the political
discomfort or cost."

Congressmen Pallone and Knollenberg said they would
work with members of the Armenian Caucus and the
leadership of both parties to secure a floor vote. "By
properly recognizing the systematic torture and murder
of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide, we will honor
America’s historic leadership and remind the world of
the democratic and humanitarian values on which our
country is founded," the lawmakers said, reports the
Armenian Assembly of America.

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Jan 30 2007

Arinc’s call for PM to stay on draws opposition backlash

The New Anatolian with Anka / Ankara
30 January 2007

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Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc’s surprise move calling upon the
premier to keep his post for another five years, allegedly to create
room for his own presidential candidacy this May, led to a strong
political backlash yesterday.

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy General
Secretary Mehmet Sevigen branded Arinc a showman with his heart set
on assuming the post of president.

Arinc said late on Sunday that Erdogan should keep his post for the
benefit of the country, but added that if he opts to run for
president, he would be supported.

The official election process will begin on April 16, and the premier
appears determined to remain silent over his possible candidacy until
then.

Several deputies, ruling out Arinc’s candidacy, described the
Parliament speaker as a dangerous figure cast in the same mold as the
premier. "I believe Turkey doesn’t want to jump out of the frying pan
into the fire," said CHP Kocaeli Deputy Izzet Cetin, branding Arinc a
man purely against Ataturk’s values.

Calling him a megalomaniac, Sevigen said Arinc has been making
individual plans while disregarding balances in his party. He also
said that it would not be surprising if Arinc came up with fresh
documents against Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

A secular figure who has proved himself as a protector of the state’s
values should assume the post of president, said CHP Istanbul Deputy
Guldal Okuducu, citing Arinc’s suggestion last year to redefine
secularism. CHP deputy leader Cevdet Selvi also expressed agreement
with Okuducu’s views and said that any candidate from the ruling
Justice and Development (AK) Party will spark tension.

Comments from the ruling party officials, however, focused on the
nature of the post and the prospects of the party rather than Arinc’s
remarks.

Vahit Erdem of the ruling party defended Arinc by saying that he had
revealed his individual views. "This year has not been a good year
for domestic affairs so far," said Erdem, adding that tension is on
the rise due to complex and problematic international issues such as
Iraq, the Armenian genocide claims and the Cyprus deadlock.

International developments are running completely against Turkey
nowadays, said Erdem, adding that debate on the presidential election
should be avoided.

AK Party Ankara Deputy Ersonmez Yarbay touched on the limits of
presidential authority, which he said would not satisfy the premier.

"The president’s post is not an influential post today. Its authority
should be extended to satisfy Mr. Erdogan," said Yarbay. "A balance
regarding authority between the two posts should be sought to avoid
confrontation between the president and the prime minister," he
added.

CONFERENCE ON THEME "TURKISH-ARMENIAN RELATIONS AND TERRORISM" HELD IN
LONDON

LONDON, JANUARY 30, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A conference on the
theme "Turkish-Armenian Relations and Terrorism" took place at the
famous Royal Lecture Theater auditorium of the London Royal College on
January 26. The conference was organized by the "Federation of Turkish
Associations of London."

Tatevik Grigorian, the Chairwoman of the Union of Armenians of the
London School of Economics and Political Sciences was also invited to
this conference. She presented details about that conference to Noyan
Tapan.

As T.Grigorian mentioned, Turks make similar speeches at different
auditoriums. Invited lecturers Professor Turkkaya Ataov (theme:
"Influence of Armenian Terrorism on Ottaman Empire"), Assistant to
Professor Orhan Cekic (theme: "History of Terrorism against Turk
Diplomates in Our Days) and Professor Norman Stone (theme:
"Armenian-Turkish Relations Today and in Nearest Future) made speeches
on that day. A Azeri professor named Golam-Reza Sabri-Tabriz also made
a short speech at the conference. The theme was "Karabakh Conflict."
Photos of Turk diplomates killed by Armenian avengers were displayed
at the lecture hall. The speeches were in general downright statements
and swearings, without historic facts, the idea of the genocide was
mainly mocked, considering it baseless.

The first performer, Ataov addressed many times to the auditorium with
a question that "on the occasion of Hrant Dink’s murder Turks went out
to street, by stating that "we are Armenians," and where the Armenians
were when Turkish diplomates were killed," why they did not come out
to street to shout that "we are all Turks." Wasn’t Turkey the first
country in the world that allowed Armenians to get officially
registered as a community when their church separated from the Roman
church and the Armenians were given possibility to have a Catholicos?
In Ataov’s words, "Armenians continuously subjected Turks to terrorism
in Balkans and as a result of it, about five million of Turks were
annihilated in Balkans." Especially awful aspersions were heard in
Scot Norman Stone’s speech. He stated that "There were more than three
million of Armenians in the Soviet Union, and there is not even one
and half million of them in Armenia. That’s, Armenians damaged
themselves more than Young Turks did it ever during the history. What
do they demand then from Turks? More, more than 100 thousand of
Armenians illegally work in today’s Turkey. Thus, Armenians have no
possibility of living in Armenia and again run to Turkey to save
themselves. It is impossible to live in Armenia, and they have no
problem of living and working in Turkey. Today’s Armenia has no future
without Turkey, more, being surrounded by enemies from all sides, it
can not live without Turkey and has a short life."

In Stone’s words, the greatest misfortune of Armenia is Diaspora,
especially the American Diaspora. The latters do not speak Armenian,
are not acquainted with their culture, do not know history at all, are
acquainted only with cult worship of money, eat at McDonalds’, grow
fat like Americans and are idiots like them. They attempt to keep
their nationality for some understandable senseless reasons but money
and profit is on the back of everything," Stone assures and states:
"if Diasporan Armenians are sure that a genocide happened, why they do
not even make an attempt to address with this issue to the
international court and solve it once and for all. Let them bring the
facts and prove. They do not do as they know well that no just court
will affirm their falsifications. I have continuously read about the
Armenian genocide and have never found any serious evidence that it
happened. Armenian sources are not at all ones to read and are not
objective, they only contain cheap feelings and dramatic,
heart-breaking stories. For example, the "Burning Tigris" novel. This
is a book which must be read with a dramatic-mocking voice. The source
of the genocide infection is Diaspora, and the sooner the Armenians of
Armenia separate from the poison spread by Diaspora the sooner they
will get better. All their misfortunes come from Diaspora.

At the end the Azeri lecturer (Sabri-Tabrizi) added to what he said
that the main reason for the Armenians’ misfortune is its being a
slave of Russia as the misfortunes of the region come from Russia. He
stated that the Turks and Azeris live in one country, simply have
different governments and everything that Turks do against Armenians,
coincide with the Azeris’ interests. He asked the Turks not to forget
that one million of Azeri refugees waits for the lost country of
Karabakh for which eberybody must struggle.

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Jan 29 2007

Church attacked in northern Turkey
No one was hurt in the attack, though minor damage was done to the
church.

Güncelleme: 11:40 TSİ 29 Ocak 2007 PazartesiSAMSUN – A church in
the Turkish Black Sea city of Samsun was damaged Sunday when
unidentified attackers threw stones at the building, breaking a
number of windows.

The attack came nine days after a Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hrant
Dink, was gunned down outside his office in Istanbul, provoking
widespread condemnation.
Five men have been charged over the shooting, with the man alleged to
have carried out the attack coming from Trabzon, also on Turkey’s
Black Sea coast.
According to Mehmet Orhan Picakcilar, a priest at the Agape Church,
there were no casualties in the attack.

`This does damage to Turkey. This attack depicts Turkey in a bad way
before international public opinion,’ Picakcilar was quoted by the
Reuters news agency as saying.

In February last year, a Catholic priest was shot and killed in his
church in Trabzon.

A NUMBER OF ARMENIAN YOUTH NGOs CALL RUSSIAN LAW ENFORCEMENT BODIES
FOR PROMOTING CONSISTENT ACTIVITY IN DIRECTION OF DISCLOSING ARMENIANS’
MURDERS

YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, NOYAN TAPAN. Social-Democratic Hnchakian Party’s
Sargis Tkhruni student-youth union, Young Politicians’ Club, Mitk
youth center and Let’s Unite for the Sake of Our Future NGO sent an
open letter to RF Ambassador to Armenia Nikolay Pavlov on January
24. In the letter they mentioned that foreigners’ murders in Russia
have become a usual, everyday phenomenon.

"One more young Armenian was killed two days ago in Russia. Your law
enforcement bodies try to present this murder as a murder committed
on the domestic ground," the letter read. Strictly condemning the
crime committed towards the young Armenian, the letter’s authors call
Russian "proper bodies for promoting consistent activity to exclude
recurrence of such cases in the future."

Nationalists rally in Yerevan to protest reporter Dink’s murder

Agence France Presse — English
January 23, 2007 Tuesday 12:50 AM GMT

Dozens of Armenian nationalists brandishing slogans decrying "the
continuing genocide" rallied Monday in Yerevan to denounce the murder
of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

The protesters, rallied by the youth movement of the nationalist
party Dashnak Tsutyun, marched in downtown Yerevan to the European
Union’s mission, many adorned with black ribbons and Dink’s photos.

"This crime was motivated by racial hatred which must disgust the
civilised world, including the EU which must punish the organisers
of this terrorist act," protesters said in a declaration.

"Dink died for our future and we will follow his cause," said Ani
Azatkoli, an Armenian-born student from Iran, adding that she did
not believe the Turkish police who Saturday announced the arrest of
the suspected killer, a 17-year-old.

"They organised this terrorist act and know well where to find the
killer," she accused.

"I cannot say that the Turkish state organised this crime, but the
fact that there are extremists in that country is the result of the
Turkish authorities’ anti-Armenian policies," said Manuel Kanian,
a young artist from Canada.

Dink, the 52-year-old editor of the weekly Agos newspaper, was shot
dead outside his Istanbul office on Friday. Police say a 17-year-old
suspect has confessed to the murder.

Dink had publicly criticised the Turkish state’s refusal to admit to
genocide in the Armenian massacres of the early 20th century.

Armenian Genocide Movie
Last Update: 1/22/2007 9:44:52 AM

CBS 47, CA
Jan 22 2007

More than eighty years after the Armenian genocide of 1915
Armenian-Americans have a documentary to remember the horror.

The movie was brought to Fresno at the request of the Armenian
community.

Carla Garapedian, the film’s director said, "The term screamers comes
from a book by Harvard professor Samantha Howard. She calls a screamer
someone who refused to stand idly by and watch genocides unfold in
front of them. All through history, we’ve had screamers who have
raise a hand and said we’ve got to stop this."

Over the weekend, the film took on extra significance when one of
the interview subjects was killed on Friday, January 19th, outside
his office in Istanbul, Turkey.

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
Jan 19 2007

Premier says journalist’s killing not to divert Turkey from
democratic reforms

Ankara, 19 January: "No bloody provocation will prevent Turkey from
advancing on its path towards freedom and prosperity," Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday [19 January].

Erdogan attended a ceremony to decorate Guenter Verheugen,
vice-president of the European Commission, with Association of
Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen (Tusiad) Foreign Policy Award
in Ankara.

In regard to killing of Hrant Dink, editor-in-chief of bilingual
Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, Erdogan said that everyone was shocked
by the assassination.

"A bullet was fired to free thought and our democratic life with the
bloody attack against Dink. Two ministers and all security units are
continuing their investigation," Erdogan noted.

"I believe that our nation will give the best response to this
traitorous homicide in unity," he stressed.

He added that they would keep fulfilling democratic reforms.

RIA Novosti, Russia
Jan 19 2007

Azerbaijan claims soldier killed in Nagorno-Karabakh
12:47 | 19/ 01/ 2007

BAKU/ YEREVAN, January 19 (RIA Novosti) – A soldier was killed when
Armenian separatists opened fire on Azeri positions in the breakaway
region of Nagorno-Karabakh, an Azeri Defense Ministry spokesman said
Friday.

The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies within Azerbaijan,
some 270 kilometers (170 miles) west of the capital Baku, first
erupted in 1988 when it declared its independence from Azerbaijan and
moved to join Armenia.

Over 30,000 people were killed on both sides in fighting between 1988
and 1994, and over 100 died following a 1994 ceasefire.

Ilgar Verdiyev said a 24-year-old warrant officer was killed January
17 in the Fizuli District in what he claims was a violation of a
ceasefire agreement by the Armenian side.

Nagorno-Karabakh remains under Armenian military control, and
tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia have persisted as a result.

The Defense Ministry of the self-proclaimed republic in turn refuted
the allegations of the attack.

"There was no gunfire on that day, as far as I know, and generally
speaking, the Karabakh side is committed to the ceasefire agreement,"
said Senor Asratyan, the ministry’s press secretary.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov and his Armenian
counterpart, Vardan Oskaryan, are expected to meet in Moscow January
23 in another attempt to reach a compromise on the region’s status.

Residents of Nagorno-Karabakh overwhelmingly voted in a referendum on
the republic’s Constitution last month to reaffirm the predominantly
Armenian region’s independence from Azerbaijan.

More than 100 international observers and journalists from Russia,
France, the United States, Italy, Israel, Serbia and other countries
monitored the referendum.

The Azeri leadership, which is determined to restore its control over
the separatist region, dismissed the referendum as a farce.

The United States, the European Union and other international
organizations, including the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said no country will recognize the
referendum’s results.