Author: Torgomian Varazdat

ISTANBUL: NATIONALIST ORGANISATION SUSPECTED OF POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS ATTACKS UNVEILED

AsiaNews.it
Jan 24 2008
Italy

The group, called "Ergereken", could also be behind the killing of
Dink. Meanwhile, prime minister Erdogan seems to want to recognise the
patriarchate’s title of "ecumenical", and its role within Orthodoxy.

Istanbul (AsiaNews) – The Turkish police have arrested 35 persons
suspected of belonging to a secret nationalist organisation called
Ergereken, from the name of the place where, according to legend,
the Turkish race was born.

At a press conference, Istanbul governor Muammer Guler said that the
investigations began eight months ago, following the explosion of
a weapons cache at an apartment in the Umraniye area of Istanbul,
which belonged to a member of the organisation. Surveillance was
later carried out after various attacks in Istanbul, Izmir, Malatya,
and Adana.

The organisation is suspected of involvement in politically motivated
violence against persons and institutions, like the killing of a
Turkish journalist of Armenian origin, Hrant Dink, and of planning
other attacks against Christian figures (like the killing of
Bartolomeo, covered by AsiaNews on 1/08/2007), as well as Turkish
institutions and personalities, which until recently were generally
attributed to to other groups.

The organisation was formed mainly by retired military members,
journalists, and lawyers. The people arrested include some prominent
figures like the retired general Veli Kucuk, the presumed founder of a
clandestine military police unit, which is thought to be responsible
for a variety of attacks and assassinations, like that of the
lawyer Kemal Kerinisiz, a nationalist activist, of Sami Hostan –
a key figure who emerged after the famous automobile accident in
Susurluk in 1996 that brought to light the connections between the
so-called "deep state" and nationalist, political, secret service,
and organised crime groups – and of Sevgi Erenerol, spokesman of the
so-called Turkish Orthodox patriarchate.

The news media have showered praise on this institution, founded
in 1924 by Fr. Eftim, a married Orthodox priest, who in spite of
this demanded to be ordained a bishop. Over the objections of
the patriarchate, he created, with the approval of the Turkish
authorities, the "Turkish Orthodox patriarchate", with the twofold
objective of undermining the prestige of the ecumenical patriarchate
in the Christian world, and of attracting Turkish-speaking Orthodox
Christians. The effort did not meet with the desired success, neither
among the Orthodox Churches nor among the few Orthodox Turks. But it
did succeed in obtaining, with state approval, the historic church
of the Madonna of Kafatiani in Galata, with its important properties
and foundations. From that time, the "Turkish Orthodox patriarchate"
became nothing more than a family business for Fr. Eftim, whose nephew
was arrested, and a centre of nationalist propaganda.

"Ergereken" is a large operation, the deputy of Erdogan’s party, Dengir
Mir Mehmet Firat has said, adding "I am very curious over the results
of the investigation". In other words, as is said in journalistic and
diplomatic circles, dismantling has begun on the organisations believed
to be linked with various sectors of the public administration.

And there is no mere coincidence in statements that Erdogan made today
in a joint press conference with Greece’s prime minister Karamanlis,
on the occasion of the first visit of a Greek premier to Turkey in 50
years. Replying to a question from journalists about the ecumenical
patriarchate and the theology school of Halki, Erdogan spoke for
the first time about the title of "ecumenical" as applied to the
patriarchate, saying that "all are aware of our interest in this matter
and the efforts we are making in its regard". In essence, he continued,
the ecumenical status of the patriarchate is of interest to the entire
Orthodox community, and his government wants to streamline its internal
procedures. As for the theological school of Halki, which was closed
in 1971, he said his administration is analysing the situation.

It’s a sign that things are on the move in Turkey, and not only in
the economy. At least we hope so.

GREEK PRIME MINISTER TO VISIT TURKEY FIRST TIME IN PAST 50 YEARS

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.01.2008 15:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis flies
to Turkey today for the first official visit by a Greek leader in
nearly 50 years.

"I will be the first Greek Prime Minister to visit Turkey after a
48-year pause. Mr Erdogan and I will have a chance to focus of the
Greek Turkish relations and their future," Karamanlis said.

As reported by the TDN, speaking to the Greek parliament last
week, Kostas Karamanlis explained the real meaning of his trip to
Turkey, and the real meaning of Greek-Turkish relations: "Greece and
Turkey," he said "have a very long history and a very long difficult
history. Our relations with Turkey are not straightforward; they have
their ups and their downs. They have moments of tension and moments
of abatement. There have been several efforts since the time of Kemal
Ataturk and Eleftherios Venizelos, some went better some went worse."

"We follow a strategy with the eye to the future and not as a hostage
of the past. We are looking for a gradual restoration of mutual
trust. We are working on the full normalization of our bilateral
relations, which, of course, presupposes, a solution on the Cyprus
issue. With these crystal clear thoughts, this return visit of mine
to Turkey is being planned. There is neither excessive optimism
nor pessimism. There is realism. There is a sense of duty," he
said. "Ankara should normalize relations with Cyprus and recognize it."

ARONYAN AGAIN IN THE LEAD

armradio.am
23.01.2008 11:48

In the 9th round of the Corus International Chess Tournament underway
in Wijk aan Zee, Holland, Armenian Grand Master Levon Aronyan played
a draw with Grand Master Pavel Elyanov of Ukraine. Aronyan currently
shares the 1st and 2nd places with Magnus Carlsen of Norway.

In Group B Sergey Movisyan is leading with 6 points. In Round 9 Grand
Master Gabriel Sargsyan of Armenia played a draw with Ethiene Backroy
of France.

TURKISH ULTRA-NATIONALISTS TRY TO SILENCE PROMINENT CANADIANS

AZG Armenian Daily
22/01/2008

Toronto – The Turkish Government’s propaganda machine tried to
intimidate and silence many prominent Canadians who had come forth to
make deputations during the monthly meeting of the Toronto District
School Board’s (TDSB) program and services committee.

During the Jan. 16 meeting the TDSB committee provided an opportunity
to two Turkish representatives (Ozay Mehmet of the Council of Turkish
Canadians, and Lale Eskicioglu) and four Canadians (Prof. Frank Chalk,
director of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights
Studies; David Warner, former Speaker of the Ontario Legislative
Assembly; Leo Adler, prominent criminal lawyer and human rights
advocate; and Hon.

Jim Karygiannis, MP) to present their points of view on the board’s
Grad 11 ‘Genocide: Historical and Contemporary Implications’
curriculum.

The Turkish representatives protested the inclusion of the Armenian
Genocide in the curriculum. The prominent Canadians’ group praised
the TDSB for its moral fortitude, vision, and commitment to develop
such a timely curriculum and asked for the inclusion of the Armenian
Genocide in the curriculum. Mr. Warner read a letter signed by
prominent Canadians from all walks of life, urging the TDSB to "stand
firm by its decision and not to be swayed by politically-motivated
pressure groups." Among the signatories were Stephen Lewis,
Gerald Caplan, Jack Layton, Bob Rae, Joy Kogawa, Amir Hassanpour,
Jacques Kornberg. During the presentations of Chalk, Warner, Adler
and Karygiannis, ultranationalist Turks hackled the speakers and
tried to stop them from speaking. Several times committee chair,
trustee Chris Bolton, was forced to call for order and ask the Turkish
representatives not to disrupt the meeting.After the meeting, members
of the Turkish group approached some of the pro-Genocide inclusion
speakers and taunted them with abuse and profanities. The scene was
reminiscent of the trials of many righteous Turkish individuals who
in recent years have challenged the Turkish Government on its denial
of the Armenian Genocide and have been silenced under Article 301
of the Turkish penal code. At the meeting, Aris Babikian, executive
director of the Armenian National Committee of Canada, tabled a
petition in support of the curriculum. The petition carried 2,643
signatures. Among the signatories were many teachers from the TDSB
system. For the past two years the TDSB has been developing ‘Genocide:
Historical and Contemporary Implications’ curriculum for Grade 11
students. The course comprises of three genocide case studies: the
Armenian Genocide; the Holocaust; the Rwandan Genocide, in addition
to other cases of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.The
course has been approved by the Ontario Minister of Education. An
overwhelming majority of principals, teachers and program directors
have commended the TDSB for this timely project. They have also
indicated that they are eager to teach the program.In the last two
months the Turkish denial machine has launched a vicious campaign of
falsehood, misrepresentation, unsubstantiated accusations, innuendo
and revisionist historical discourse to persuade the TDSB to remove
the Armenian Genocide from the curriculum.

155,000 DISABLED REGISTERED IN ARMENIA AS OF JANUARY 1 2008

ARKA News Agency
Jan 21 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, January 21. /ARKA/. 155,000 disabled were registered in
Armenia as of January 1 2008, the Head of the Agenc for Medical and
Social Examination of Armenia’s Ministry of Labor and Social Issues
Misha Vanian told a press conference.

"Like in the rest of the world, in Armenia trend toward increase
in the number of the disabled is recorded due to easier access to
medical and social examination and to milder criteria for receiving
a category of the disabled," Vanian said.

According to Vanian, among the recorded disabled women constitute 40%
and men 60%; 8,241 disabled children have been recorded.

Vanian did not exclude that the number of the disabled in Armenia is
even more as for different reasons some people do not apply for an
examination.

ROSFINMONITORING DELEGATION TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA

armradio.am
21.01.2008 12:55

Today the delegation of the Federal Financial Monitoring Service
(Rosfinmonitoring) will arrive in Armenia today, Press Service of
the Central Bank of Armenia informed.

The delegation of Rosfinmonitoring will be headed by Chief of Service,
President of the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and
Financing of Terrorism Oleg Markov.

On January 22 the Rosfinmonitoring and the Financial Research Centre
of the Central Bank of Armenia will sign an agreement on cooperation.

On January 23 members of the Russian delegation will organize a seminar
for representatives of the Central Bank and the law-enforcement bodies
of Armenia.

ARMENIA TO SHOWCASE ITS AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AT BERLIN FAIR

ARMENPRESS
Jan 17 2007

YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS: Over 30 Armenian companies producing
brandy, wines, vegetable and fruit preserves, honey and dried fruits
will showcase their products at International Green Week fair in
Germany’s Berlin that opens today.

Armenian agricultural minister David Lokian will lead an Armenian
delegation participating in it.

Armenian companies were assisted greatly by German KfW bank and GTZ
organization.

Farming issues and global supply and demand will be discussed at a
special forum and an international conference of agriculture ministers
during Green Week, which runs until January 27.

More than 400,000 visitors are expected to attend the exhibition,
which is now in its 73rd year. Around 100,000 products are on display
by 1,610 exhibitors from 52 countries.

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS CALL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES OF ARMENIA TO INCLUDE ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN ELECTION PROGRAMS

2008-01-16 19:02:00

ArmInfo. 40 non-governmental organizations (NGO) of Armenia sent
a letter-appeal to the republic’s all 9 presidential candidates
calling to reconsider the extensive maintenance of the country’s
natural resources as well as to include points of the resources’
rational use in their election programs.

In the appeal signed by 40 organizations they express concern in
the exploitation rates of natural resource, as well as in the hasty
decision of field development of the copper-molybdenum deposit in
Teghut. The laws are mentioned in the letter, which will be violated
during the development of the deposit in Teghut. These are the Forest
and Water Codes, the laws "On Fauna" and "On Flora", as well as a
number of international conventions.

Yerevan Press Club, "Internews" NGO and a number of other ecological,
jurisprudential organizations and clubs of journalists from Yerevan,
Gyumri and Vanadzor are among the signatories of the letter.

To recall, development of the copper-molybdenum deposit in Teghut, Lori
region, Armenia started without the conclusion of Armles (Armforest)
CJSC on possible damage to Lalvar’s forestry. The forest in Teghut is
under Armles’s control. At the same time, according to the assessment
of specialists of Armles, 50 000c/m of the forest will be cut down for
the development of the deposit on 357ha lot of Teghut. At the same
time, ecologists assert that in case of development of the copper-
molybdenum deposit in Teghut all the lands adjacent to it will turn
into a "dead zone" and ACP company has no ecological conclusion with
the proposals of all the interested departments.

Up to now the project doesn’t include any conclusion on possible damage
to archeological monuments, dating to ancient era. At the same time,
in the government they only speak about economic gain of the project,
and Director of ACP Gagik Arzumanyan said in his talk with journalists
that the ore concentrate will not be fused at Alaverdi’s melting plant,
as it was supposed to be, but will exceptionally be exported. The
company made this decision taking into consideration unprofitability
and the possible closure of Alaverdi’s copper- molybdenum plant in
connection with the fact that the term of fulfillment of environmental
obligations by ACP company expires in 2009. The National Assembly
didn’t extend this term.

IN OPINION OF EXPERT IAN REDMOND, CONDITIONS IN YEREVAN ZOO ARE NOT SATISFACATORY FOR KEEPING ELEPHANTS

Noyan Tapan
Jan 17 2007

YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The Yerevan zoo does not meet the
requirements for a 21st century zoo, and its conditions do not allow
to keep yet another elephant there. Biologist Ian Redmond, advisor
of UN environmental programs, who has come to Armenia as an expert
to assess the possibilities of the Yerevan zoo, stated this at the
January 16 press conference. Accoridng to him, even after repairs of
the zoo, the conditions will be satisfactory only for two elephants –
Grandy and Masha that currently live there. In the expert’s opinion,
the climatic conditions of Armenia are not suitable for elephants.

The zoo director Arshak Abovian said that an elephant will be
brought to Armenia from Sri Lanka in the spring under a program on
interstate cooperation. In his words, the repair work will start
at this time, for which about 3 million dollars has been allocated
from the state budget. A special building for elephants will be
constructed. S. Abovian said that the conditions to be created will
be good for keeping another elephant.

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Jan 14 2008

PEACE AND STABILITY IN SOUTH CAUCASUS IS IMPORTANT DIRECTION OF
TURKEY’S FOREIGN POLICY, PRESIDENT ABDULLAH GUL

During his visit to the United States, Turkish President Abdullah Gul
said in his address at Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars that peace and stability in South Caucasus is important
direction of Turkey’s foreign policy.
Turkish President also said that they have a close diplomatic
dialogue in this question with the United States, strategic partner
of Turkey.
Gul stressed that his country would continue to support Azerbaijan
and Georgia to develop democracy. `Turkey is interested in rapid
economic development and guaranteeing the territorial integrity of
these countries. Therefore, strengthening of regional cooperation is
very important’, Gul underscored.
He pointed out that Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas
pipelines and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway projects are key steps
towards progress and stability in region.
As to Armenia, Mr. Gul said that this country could join regional
cooperation and have normal relations with Turkey only after
settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.