Author: Toneyan Mark

MINISTER URGES PROBE INTO POLICE ROLE IN ARMENIAN JOURNALIST’S MURDER

Agence France Presse — English
January 21, 2008 Monday 9:57 AM GMT

Turkey’s justice minister has called for a "serious" probe into claims
that security forces were involved in the murder last year of ethnic
Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

"Certain members of the security forces are said to be linked to
this murder," Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said in an interview
published Monday in the daily Sabah.

"Every allegation must be considered a tip-off and seriously
investigated," he said.

Thousands marked the first anniversary of Dink’s assassination on
Saturday with protestors accusing the authorities of ignoring the
alleged protection the suspected gunman and his associates received
from the police.

"If what they (the police) did was a crime, they must be definitely
punished," the minister said.

Dink’s murder prompted fresh calls for the elimination of the "deep
state" — a term used to describe security forces acting outside the
law to preserve what they consider Turkey’s best interests.

Lawyers for Dink’s family say the police withheld and destroyed
evidence to cover up the murder, including footage from a bank security
camera in downtown Istanbul near where Dink was gunned down on January
19, 2007.

The charge sheet says police received intelligence as early as 2006
of a plot to kill Dink organised in the northern city of Trabzon,
home of self-confessed gunman Ogun Samast, 17, and most of his 18
alleged accomplices currently on trial.

A taped telephone conversation between a policeman and a suspect
shortly after the killing suggests the officer knew of the plot in
advance. The tape, leaked to the media last year, includes degrading
comments about Dink.

Dink, 52, campaigned for reconciliation between Turks and Armenians,
but nationalists hated him for insisting the World War I massacres
of Armenians under Ottoman rule was an act of genocide — a label
Ankara fiercely rejects.

Only four members of the security forces have been indicted in
connection with the murder, but face minor charges unrelated to the
killing itself.

Sahin also said a draft proposal to amend the controversial Article
301 of the Turkish penal code under which Dink was given a suspended
six-month jail sentence for "denigrating Turkishness" would be
submitted to parliament in the coming days.

The law has been criticised as a threat to freedom of speech in Turkey,
which is engaged in membership talks with the European Union.

LEVON ARONIAN IN LEADERS’ GROUP WITH 5 POINTS IN WIJK AAN ZEE INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT

Noyan Tapan
Jan 21, 2008

WIJK AAN ZEE, JANUARY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. In the 7th tour of the
International Chess Tournament being held in the city of Wijk aan Zee,
Holland, Levon Aronian defeated Teymur Rajabov (Azerbaijan) and in the
8th tour drew the game with Shahriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan). After
8 tours, the leader is Magnus Karlsen (Norway). Levon Aronian
and Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) take the 2nd and 3rd places with 5
points each. L. Aronian will compete with Pavel Elyanov (Ukraine)
on January 22.

In tournament B, Gabriel Sargsian in the 8th tour was defeated by
Mikhail Krasenkov (Poland) and takes the 13th place on the tournament
table with 2.5 points. Sergei Movsisian representing Slovakia defeated
Vuter Spulman (Holland) and is in the lead with Etienne Bakro. Each
of them has 5 points.

January 21 is announced a rest day in the tournament.

4 AZERI CITIZENS WERE RELEASED FROM ARMENIAN CAPTIVITY IN 2007

Azerbaijan Business Center
Jan 21 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. As a result of carried out measures in 2007,
the State Committee for Hostages, Prisoners and Missing persons has
registered 231 missing persons of Azerbaijan.

The Commission informed the list includes names of 79 alive, 75 dead
and recognized by close persons and 77 persons included into the list
repeatedly. At the same time, 18 missing persons were included into
the list.

"By December 25, 2007 it was registered 4,354 missing people. It was
exposed that 97 of them are captured by Armenian Army. For the last
year, 4 Azeri prisoners were released and 1 Armenian returned. At
the moment 1,393 prisoners and hostages are registered as released,"
was said in the press-release.

Materials on killed, lost from tortures, ID copies of 412 released
prisoners, database on missing, released, and hostages were sent to
Office of Public Prosecutor.

Materials on registered in the State Commission, but not in
International Red Cross Committee, on 1,062 citizens were directed
to suitable body.

Because of 15-year of occupation of Khodjaly, Garadaghly, and Shusha
more than 10 measures with participation of members and employees
of the State Commission were carried out. Also State Commission held
meetings with directors of World Azerbaijani and Turkish Diasporas,
participated in CIS workshop for struggle with violence to women of
South Caucasus held on May 9-11 in Tbilisi.

PACE ENCOURAGES COE MEMBER-STATES TO INFLUENCE ARMENIA TO STOP DESTRUCTION OF AZERBAIJANI HISTORIC MONUMENTS

Today
/42515.html
Jan 21 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani Parliamentarian Ganira Pashayeva, participating in
the PACE winter session within a delegation from Azerbaijan, has
developed a document on the historical monuments of Azerbaijan,
constantly destroyed by Armenian occupants.

In line with the document "historic monuments represent a cultural
heritage of nations and their protection is a must to flourish our
common European values".

The document says that it is now for 20 years since Azerbaijani
historic monuments are constantly destroyed by Armenia on the
occupied Azerbaijani territories. It enumerates cultural, scientific
and other monuments destroyed by Armenians in the occupied lands of
Azerbaijan. For example, 24 historic monuments, 20 religious monuments,
353 educational and cultural centers were destroyed by Armenians in the
Fizuli region of Azerbaijan (occupied by Armenia on 23.08.1993) only.

"Having expressed its deep concern over the destruction of Azerbaijani
historic monuments inconsistent with European values the Assembly
encourages the Committee of Ministers and CoE member-states: to
call immediately on the Council of Europe member states to take the
necessary steps to influence Armenia to stop destruction of Azerbaijani
historic monuments on the occupied Azerbaijani territories; to give a
legal and political assessment to these actions by Armenia; to call on
Armenia to implement Resolution 1416 from 2003 (demanding withdrawal
of Armenian forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories)",
the document says.

The document has been signed by 30 participants of the PACE winter
session.

Azeri Press Agency
Jan 14 2008

UK URGES TRAVEL AGENCY TO VISIT BREAKAWAY AREA VIA AZERBAIJAN –
SPOKESMAN

14 January: The British government has insistently recommended that
the British travel agency Sunvil Discovery appeal to the Baku
government when organizing tours to Azerbaijan’s [Armenian-]occupied
territory of Nagornyy Karabakh, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry
spokesman, Xazar Ibrahim, has said. Ibrahim noted that he was quoting
a letter that the British embassy in Azerbaijan had received.

"The British government has insistently recommended that the travel
agency refrain from organizing any tours to the occupied territories
or appeal directly only to Azerbaijan when doing so, because the
position of the international community, including the UK, is that
Nagornyy Karabakh is Azerbaijan’s territory. In general, if anyone
wants to visit Nagornyy Karabakh and other occupied areas, they
should directly appeal to the Azerbaijani government," Ibrahim said.

[Azerbaijani news agency APA, Baku, in Azeri 0747 gmt 12 Dec 07
quoted the press secretary of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture and
Tourism as saying that the Azerbaijani government had sent a protest
letter to the UK over the activity of the British travel agency
Sunvil Discovery that organizes special tours to Nagornyy Karabakh
and insisted that the special tours be stopped.]

Haykakan Zhamanak, Armenia
Jan 15 2008

ARMENIAN TV DENIES RUMOURS OF BEING SOLD TO PREMIER’S RELATIVE

by Kristine Khanumyan
"Armenia TV reacted very wildly"

An article published in Aravot daily on Friday [11 January 2008] said
that Bagrat Sargsyan, the owner of Armenia TV, had sold his stocks
(75 per cent) to the son-in-law of Armenian Prime Minister Serzh
Sargsyan, Mikayel Minasyan.

The publication said that it is [Bagrat] Sargsyan’s relatives who
will first suffer from the transaction, as [Bagrat] Sargsyan hired
most of them to work at the TV company, so in case Armenia TV is
sold, they could loose their jobs. However, in its next issue Aravot
printed a denial which said that there have been no changes in the
list of owners of the TV company. Aravot also said that its anonymous
sources, however, state the contrary, and that if they dare to
disclose and prove the opposite with documents, then the newspaper
will report this.

However, despite the denial printed in Aravot, the management of the
Armenia TV company has itself initiated an unprecedented series of
denials. Bagrat Sargsyan and some journalists of the TV company
denied for several days in their TV broadcasts the report printed in
Aravot. But this was not an ordinary denial, but a whole shower of
denials which were broadcast on Saturday [12 January] and Sunday [13
January] on the "Zham" news bulletin.

It is obvious that the article in Aravot seriously worried the
Armenia TV management. We did not manage to clarify why the Armenia
TV management was in such confusion – the general director of the TV
company, Gagik Lazarian, refused to provide any comments in this
regard. The latter only answered to all our questions: "Without
comments."

For his part, the chief editor of Aravot daily, Aram Abrahamyan, told
us that although he did not watch the series of denials by Bagrat
Sahakyan, such strong reaction of his colleagues was also a surprise
for them. "I can’t tell what it is caused by. I can speak only for my
part – not to defame anyone, not to insult anyone, to provide
trustworthy information," Abrahamyan said.

Today, Azerbaijan
Jan 18 2008

Armenian Foreign Ministry: "Signs of despair are obvious in
Azerbaijan"

18 January 2008 [11:14] – Today.Az

Signs of despair are obvious in Azerbaijan, as announced by the
spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Armenia Vladimir Karapetyan.

According to the department of press and information of Armenia’s
Foreign Ministry, Vladimir Karapetyan thus commented on the
announcement of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, who stated that
the economic positions of Armenia and Azerbaijan on the international
arena can not be compared.

"Considering the style of the announcements of Azerbaijan’s
President, signs of despair are observed in this country. Azerbaijan
fails to comply with international standards or develops against the
dominating international tendencies almost in all spheres", the
spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry noted.

He said panic is caused by the growing understanding of the
international community of the issue of national self-determination.
Moreover, he noted that Azerbaijan’s indicators in economic and
social spheres are also vulnerable.

"The announcements of President of Azerbaijan regarding achievements
in economic development and the state system establishment date to
the publications of the reports of influential international
organizations, which prove that Ilham Aliyev’s announcements merely
mislead the people of Azerbaijan", he said.

According to him, Armenia has improved its indicators occupying the
28th place by the scale of economic freedom of the Heritage
foundation and the Wall Street Journal newspaper, while Azerbaijan is
on the 107th place among 162 countries.

"In line with the Freedom House indicators of democratic development,
Azerbaijan, like it was in the previous years, has been included on
the list of not free countries in the political sense. Armenia also
outstrips Azerbaijan by 50 points among 177 countries on the list of
"Frustrated countries" of the influential US edition Foreign Policy",
the spokesman said.

Armenia outstrips Azerbaijan almost on all international standards,
including human rights and freedom of speech, Karapetyan announced.

He also said that according to the World Bank, despite the
Azerbaijan’s significant reserves, this country has achieved
Armenia’s level by the indicator of per capita GDP not long before.

"And, gradually, despite the militaristic announcements of the
leadership of Azerbaijan, I would like to note, that in experts’
opinion, it will take another 10-15 years to Azerbaijan to achieve
the level of Armenian armed forces, even if the current economic
growth rates are preserved", the spokesman noted.

Karapetyan considers that the unsubstantiated statements of the
Azerbaijani leadership aim to mislead its own population to distract
it from real problems, which Azerbaijani people face in daily life.

/Novosti-Armenia/

URL:

Turks remember slain journalist

Story from BBC NEWS:
europe/7197451.stm

Published: 2008/01/19 15:12:00 GMT

Thousands of people have gathered in the Turkish city of Istanbul to
commemorate the murder last year of ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink.
Flowers were laid and candles lit in the street where Mr Dink was shot
dead, while a huge picture of him covered part of the building where he
worked.

Mr Dink campaigned for his country to confront the mass killings of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I.

Observers say Mr Dink’s stance made him a hate figure for Turkish
nationalists.

Nineteen people, including two leaders of an ultra-nationalist group,
are currently on trial for his murder at a court in Istanbul.

The trial, which began in July, is being held behind closed doors
because the alleged gunman, Ogun Samast, is 17 years old.

Mr Dink’s family has accused the authorities of collusion, and the
court is also considering allegations of a cover-up.

Target

At a short ceremony led by Mr Dink’s close friends and family, crowds
of people marked his murder at 1457 (1257 GMT) on 19 January 2007 with
a moment of silence outside the offices of the Agos newspaper.

You are here for justice today – a scream for justice rises from your
silence
Rakel Dink

Dozens of carnations and candles were laid at the spot where the
53-year-old died.

A huge photograph of Mr Dink covered the newspaper’s building, while
mourners in the street pinned smaller pictures to their chests.

"We are at the pavement where they tried to clean his blood with soap,"
Mr Dink’s widow, Rakel, said in an emotional address from a window in
the newspaper’s office.

"You are here for justice today. A scream for justice rises from your
silence."

The murder of Mr Dink triggered widespread anger and shock in Turkey,
and caused massive crowds to take to the streets, chanting: "We are all
Armenians, we are all Hrant Dinks."

Mr Dink was a hate figure for extreme nationalists and had received
death threats before he was killed.

He was well-known for writing articles about the mass killing of
hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks in 1915.

Armenians have campaigned for the killings to be recognised
internationally as genocide, as some countries have done.

Turkey admits that many Armenians were killed but it denies any
genocide, saying the deaths happened during widespread fighting in
World War I.

But the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford in Istanbul says his friends believe it
was his conviction under the controversial Article 301 – for "insulting
Turkishness" – that singled him out as a target.

VARTAN OSKANIAN: HRANT WILL BE REMEMBERED BY ARMENIANS AND TURKS

armradio.am
17.01.2008 15:03

On the occasion of the one-year anniversary of the assassination of
Hrant Dink, Editor of the weekly Agos newspaper of Istanbul, Minister
Vartan Oskanian wrote an opinion piece, at the request of the Agos
newspaper. The piece appeared in the Thursday, January 17 edition of
Agos in Armenian and in Turkish, and in English in the Turkish daily
newspaper Today’s Zaman.

The Minister wrote:

"I can confess that I have lived two deep and unforgettable shocks
during my years in this office – once in 1999 when the stability of
Armenia was threatened by gunmen and the second time last year when
I received the call that Hrant Dink had been assassinated. Both were
attacks not on men, but on ideas and values.

Hrant’s murder was an assault at democratic state-building of the
Turkish state. His murderers took aim at his vision of a Turkey that
allowed free speech, that tolerated open discourse, and that embraced
its minority citizens, like himself.

We miss Hrant. He would come to Armenia a couple of times a year. In
September 2006, when he spoke at the third Armenia Diaspora Conference,
his message was that as members of the European family, Turkey and
Armenia would have normal relations, because even the unwilling in
Turkey would be induced to find a way to dialogue. That was music to
our ears, echoing as it did our own wishes.

He also addressed the "International Conference on the 90th Anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide" we held in Yerevan in April, 2005. Everyone
respected his ardent, reasoned plea for dialogue, for distinguishing
between today’s Turkish Republic and the perpetrators of atrocities
nearly 100 years ago. He recounted passionately how he had explained
to Turkish authorities that Armenians are looking for their roots –
the same roots which the Ottoman Empire slashed when it attempted
to completely eradicate a people and tear it away from its home,
its culture and its traditions.

Each time he came to Yerevan, we would find a few minutes to talk. It
was important that I hear from him about the mood in Turkey. Hrant was
the right person to ask, because he was not just an Armenian living in
Turkey. He was proud of both his identities – Turkish and Armenian –
and was insulted and angered that while trying to reconcile them he
was accused of ‘insulting Turkishness’.

When he was first charged under Article 301 for ‘insulting
Turkishness’, I asked whether it would help if I wrote a letter or
spoke publicly. He responded confidently. "My thanks and gratitude,
but right now, I’m all I need. So help me God, I’m going to take my
struggle and my rights all the way to the end."

Later, he wondered how "On the one hand, they call for dialogue with
Armenia and Armenians, on the other hand they want to condemn or
neutralize their own citizen who is working for dialogue."

Hrant Dink was candid and courageous, but not naive. Still, he
could not have predicted this kind of ‘neutralization’. His honest
and brave voice was silenced. Worse, some saw in this assassination
a clear message that the danger they face lies deeper than a mere
judicial conviction.

This message is just one of the dividends that this killing offered
those who contributed to the fanatical nationalist environment which
colors Turkish politics in and out of Turkey. The brutality, the
impunity, the violence of Hrant’s murder serves several political
ends. First, it makes Turkey less interesting for Europe, which is
exactly what some in the Turkish establishment want. Second, it scares
away Armenians and other minorities in Turkey, from pursuing their
civil and human rights. Third, it scares those bold Turks who are
beginning to explore these complicated, sensitive subjects in earnest.

In Armenia, we have insisted for more than a decade, that although
we are the victims of historical injustice, and although we are
on the other side of a border that Turkey has kept closed, we are
prepared at any time for dialogue with our neighbor on any subject,
so long as there are normal relations between us, so long as this
last closed border in Europe is opened, so long as someone on the
other side wants to talk. We are ready.

A year ago, we were moved by the outpouring of fundamental, human
grief at all levels of Turkish society, especially by those who have
been scared by the demonstration of such violence on the part of an
adolescent, and seen it for what it is – the continuation of hatred
and enmity into the next generation.

Hrant Dink’s family, his colleagues at and around Agos, his friends
in Armenia and in Turkey, will find some comfort knowing that today
and tomorrow, Hrant will be remembered – by Armenians, who share his
vision of understanding and harmony among peoples, and by Turks, who
share his dream of living in peace with neighbors and with history."

"THERE IS NO OTHER CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENCY ENJOYING PEOPLE’S LOVE," TIGRAN KARAPETIAN SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Jan 17 2007

YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The preelection program of Tigran
Karapetian, the Chairman of the People’s Party, a candidate for
presidency, will be published on January 21. The candidate said this
at the January 17 press conference. The PP Chairman also said that 100
preelection headquarters have been opened. They include all regions
of Armenia, except Syunik. The lists of the empowered persons, who
will work at polling stations, are also ready.

According to T. Karapetian, he is people’s, alternative candidate
and is the only one among the candidates, who really enjoys people’s
love. Touching upon the candidates considered favorites, he said:
"In our political sphere there is a tradition of singling out those,
who seem to be strong. Can only those, being in power currently or
formerly, be reproduced, aren’t there any other persons in Armenia?

Answering the question of a correspondent of the Chorrord Ishkhanutiun
newspaper of whether the PP Chairman has an apprehension that during
the election campaign he will be accused of being a pickpocket in
his youth, T. Karapetian said that he is not anxious about that. He
advised journalists to be anxious about the accusations brought to
first President Levon Ter-Petrosian by the head of the National Unity
party, according to which, a number of murders were committed in the
years of the first President’s tenure.