Author: Torgomian Varazdat

The Age, Australia
Oct 13 2007

Turks recall US envoy over genocide claim

Anne Davies
October 13, 2007

TURKEY has announced it is recalling its ambassador to the US in the
wake of a congressional bill branding as "genocide" the 1915 killing
and displacement of up to 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman
Empire.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan will also ask his parliament
next week to authorise a military incursion into northern Iraq to
hunt down Kurdish rebel groups – something that the US has been
reluctant to see happen.

The latest diplomatic tensions between the US and one of its closest
allies in the Middle East are now a major issue in Washington, as the
US relies heavily on Turkey to provide bases and routes into Iraq.
The act of recalling an ambassador "for consultations" is a serious,
mid-level diplomatic response, but analysts say there could be more
fallout from the rift.

Potential moves by Turkey – a NATO member – could include blocking US
access to the Incirlik air base, cancelling procurement contracts and
downscaling bilateral visits and joint military exercises, diplomats
say.

The diplomatic fracas began on Wednesday when the Democrat-controlled
US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved a
resolution labelling the killings "genocide" – a charge Turkey
denies. The resolution was proposed by a politician with many
Armenian-Americans in his district.

The non-binding resolution now goes to the floor of the House of
Representatives, where Democratic leaders say there will be a vote by
mid-November.

On Wednesday, President George Bush tried unsuccessfully to stop the
congressional committee passing the resolution and on Thursday the
Administration repeated its position that the bill would harm US
efforts in the region by straining ties with Turkey.

"This action is problematic for everything we’re trying to do in the
Middle East and would cause grave harm to our efforts," White House
spokesman Scott Stanzel said.

Any Turkish offensive into neighbouring northern Iraq would seriously
strain ties with Washington.

Washington fears an offensive could destabilise Iraq’s most peaceful
area and potentially the wider region, but Mr Erdogan has been under
mounting pressure to act after Wednesday’s congressional vote, which
has incensed Turks.

There were small anti-US demonstrations in Ankara amid a blizzard of
negative press coverage.

Turkey’s army has frequently called on the Government to give them a
green light to pursue the PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) – which is
considered a terrorist group by Washington, Turkey and the European
Union – into Iraq.

Big incursions by Turkey in 1995 and 1997, involving an estimated
35,000 and 50,000 troops respectively, failed to dislodge the rebels
based in the Iraqi mountains.

Before becoming president, Mr Bush made a public pledge to the US
Armenian community to acknowledge their plight.

Israel braces as US-Turkey crisis erupts

HILARY LEILA KRIEGER and HERB KEINON, THE JERUSALEM POST
Oct. 11, 2007

Turkey recalled its ambassador to the US Thursday as already-strained
relations frayed further following a congressional committee vote
recognizing the Armenian genocide.

The move could be indicative of further Turkish steps away from the US
and have a ripple effect on Turkish-Israeli relations. Both the US and
Israel view the secular Islamic state as a crucial Middle East ally
and strategic bulwark in their fight against radical forces in the
region.

Despite sharp objections from US President George W. Bush and other
administration members, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the
resolution by a 27-21 vote Wednesday. The non-binding resolution,
which refers to massacres of Armenians by Turks during the break-up of
the Ottoman Empire as "genocide," is expected to pass when considered
by the full House later this term.

Bush has warned that the resolution "would do great harm to our
relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror."

Government spokesmen were quick to condemn the committee vote, but
that did not keep Turkey from recalling its ambassador for
consultations.

Turkey, already showing growing anti-Americanism on its streets, had
warned it could reconsider its support for American war efforts, such
as allowing key supplies to travel through its territory, should the
genocide resolution pass.

Ahead of the vote, Turkey had urged Israel to use its influence in
Washington to keep the resolution shelved.

Turkish officials said that in recent days, Israel officials had
contacted key US Congressional leaders and discussed both Israel’s
position on the issue – which is that an independent historical
commission should be set up to evaluate the matter – and the possible
impact of the legislation on Turkish-Israeli ties.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, who was in Israel earlier this
week, told The Jerusalem Post in an interview on Monday that not only
ties with the US, but also those with Israel, would suffer if the
resolution passed.

Israeli officials said that concerns of a crisis in Israeli-Turkish
relations over the issue were overblown, and that countries with
relations in a crisis did not host or invite each other’s leaders.
When Babacan met President Shimon Peres on Sunday, he extended an
invitation to Peres from Turkish President Abdullah Gul to visit
Turkey.

"This is an internal US issue," one official said. "Our ties with
Turkey are very strong. There is no reason why this should change
anything."

Still, during his visit, Babacan said, "All of a sudden the perception
in Turkey right now is that the Jewish people – or the Jewish
organizations, let’s say – and the Armenian diaspora, the Armenian
lobbies, are now hand-in-hand trying to defame Turkey, and trying to
condemn Turkey and the Turkish people. This is the unfortunate
perception right now in Turkey. So if something goes wrong in
Washington, DC, it inevitably will have some influence on relations
between Turkey and the US, plus the relations between Turkey and
Israel, as well."

His comments followed the controversy this August when the
Anti-Defamation League, under pressure from Armenian groups in the
Boston area, issued a statement declaring the WWI-era massacres a
"genocide," though it didn’t back the House resolution.

Alon Liel, a former director of Israel’s foreign ministry and an
expert in Israel-Turkey relations, said the US legislation could
ultimately hurt ties between the US and Israel.

"We tried all these years not to get into it," he said. But because of
the ADL’s new position, "Turkey will blame the Jewish organizations,
and then this could bounce back to us."

Many prominent Jewish organizations have cultivated close
relationships with Turkey and used their lobbying prowess to push
Turkey’s position on Capitol Hill. Yet these groups have come under
increasing criticism from Armenian groups for not recognizing the
Armenian genocide despite emphasizing Holocaust remembrance.

In contrast to past years, when many Jewish organizations lobbied
against similar Armenian genocide resolutions, most Jewish groups
avoided taking a stance on the issue.

According to one Jewish leader, this was the result "of the growing
Armenian pressure on the Jewish community." He said the decision of
American Jewish organizations not to take a stance would "absolutely"
affect the relationship these groups had with Turkey and could spill
over into the Turkish-Israeli relationship.

"It’s going to be highlighted in the Turkish press, and the
anti-Semitic press," he said. "You have a Turkish government that is
looking to go East rather than West, and this is going to help them go
East."

But another Jewish leader said the groups’ stance on the Armenian
genocide resolution shouldn’t have an affect on the relationship with
Turkey.

The matter, he said, was not a Jewish issue: "We are non-combatants in
this matter."

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California), who authored the resolution, defended
it despite the flap it has caused in Turkish-US relations.

"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," Schiff said. "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?"

On Wednesday, the day the US panel voted in favor of the resolution,
the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement praising Turkey’s tiny
Jewish community for working against the resolution.

"The leaders, businessmen and associations of the Jewish community in
Turkey, being an integral part of our society, from the outset have
denied the unjust and erroneous content of the draft resolution before
the US Congress," the spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry said
in a statement.

The statement continued: "They have also exerted great effort to
prevent this draft resolution from being brought before the Congress,
through meetings with the relevant people abroad and publishing
letters and declarations."

Referring to the Anti-Defamation League’s statement in August that
reversed a long-standing policy and said the WWI massacres were
tantamount to genocide, the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman said,
"The Turkish Jewish community has also strongly denied the declaration
made by an American Jewish organization. Finally, the Turkish Jewish
community has recently published a statement in the American press
against the draft resolution. We highly appreciate this act as well."

Turkey’s Jewish community took out an advertisement in The Washington
Post on Wednesday, saying that what happened to the Armenians during
World War I "was a terrible tragedy."

"But," the advertisement read, "eminent historians do not agree as to
whether the term ‘genocide’ is the appropriate description of that
tragedy. More fundamentally, we believe this issue should be decided
first and foremost on the basis of evidence adduced by historians, not
on the basis of judgments by parliamentarians or congressmen, who
naturally (and understandably) may be influenced by concerns other
than historical facts. We cannot help but note that the world
recognizes the Holocaust because of the overwhelming evidence, not
because of the declarations of parliaments."

Source: &cid=1191257286794&pagename=JPost%2FJPArti cle%2FShowFull

October 10, 2007
House Panel Approves Armenian Genocide Measure
By BRIAN KNOWLTON

gton/10cnd-armenia.html?hp

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 – The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a
resolution late this afternoon that designates the killing of more than a
million Armenians during World War I as genocide, despite warnings from the
Bush administration that its passage could seriously jeopardize the delicate
relationship with Turkey.

The nonbinding resolution was approved by a vote of 27 to 21, and the House
speaker, Nancy Pelosi, is expected to forward the matter to the full House,
where more than half of its 435 members are co-sponsors.

Representative Tom Lantos of California, the committee chairman, urged his
colleagues today to approve the resolution, saying that the essential
question was not whether thousands of Armenians had died under the rule of
the Ottoman Turks, but whether the deaths – "this enormous blot on human
history," he called it – constituted genocide, a word implying an intent to
destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

But President Bush warned that the resolution would worsen Washington’s
relations with Turkey at a time of rising tensions over northern Iraq. "We
all deeply regret the tragic suffering of the Armenian people that began in
1915," Mr. Bush said in a brief statement from the White House. "But this
resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings, and
its passage would do great harm to relations with a key ally in NATO and to
the war on terror."

Turkey has been a vital way-station for fuel and matériel shipments to
United States forces in Iraq, and the administration has spared little
effort to lobby against the resolution. The State Department secured the
signatures of the eight living former secretaries of state on a letter
opposing the resolution. And both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates have been speaking out against it for
months.
Earlier, the Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, wrote to Mr. Bush to thank him
for his efforts opposing the resolution and to draw "attention to the
problems it would create in bilateral relations if it is accepted,"
according to a statement from Mr. Gul’s office. After the House committee’s
vote, Mr. Gul denounced the resolution, calling it "unacceptable," according
to Agence France-Presse.

Adding to the tensions are the recent Turkish preparations for a possible
invasion of northern Iraq in an effort to stop lethal incursions by armed
Kurdish militants of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.

The United States strongly opposes such Turkish action, fearing troubles in
what has been the most stable part of Iraq. But the Turkish government is
under heavy public pressure to act, and officials in Ankara have warned that
passage of the genocide resolution would make it harder for the government
to resist such pressure.

In the House committee debate, House lawmakers spoke of facing an "agonizing
choice." Mr. Lantos, who was born to a Jewish family in Budapest and is the
only Holocaust survivor in the House, laid out the "sobering choice" facing
lawmakers: whether to express solidarity with Armenians for their historic
losses or to offend Turkey, with "the risk that it could cause young men and
women in the uniform of the United States armed services to pay an even
heavier price."

"This is a vote of conscience," he said.

Some Republicans opposed the measure, although others supported it.

Representative Dan Burton of Indiana said that "stability in the entire
Middle East could be at risk," and he warned against "kicking the one ally
that’s helping us over there, in the face."

But Representative Gary L. Ackerman, Democrat of New York, argued that a
vote for the resolution was not a vote against modern-day Turkey. "Turkey is
no more the Ottoman Empire than Germany is today’s Third Reich," he said.

Turkey has acknowledged Armenian deaths over a period of several years
beginning in 1915, as the Ottoman Republic was falling apart, but it
vehemently rejects any effort to classify them as genocide. It says that
many Turks were also killed at the time.

Turkey has shown its willingness to react sharply to criticism on the
Armenian issue. When the French legislature called for criminal charges
against those who deny that a genocide occurred, the Turkish military cut
contacts with the French military and withdrew from some defense contracts
under negotiation.

When the resolution seemed likely to reach a vote last spring, Ms. Rice and
Mr. Gates joined in a strongly worded letter to Ms. Pelosi warning against
passage. They repeated their arguments earlier today.

"The passage of this resolution at this time would be very problematic for
everything we are trying to do in the Middle East," Ms. Rice said.
The bulk of American air cargo and about one-third of the fuel headed for
Iraq passes through Turkey, Mr. Gates said, including nearly all the newly
purchased mine-resistant vehicles.

"Access to air fields and to the roads and so on in Turkey would very much
be put at risk if this resolution passes and Turkey reacts as strongly as we
believe they will," Mr. Gates said.

The debate has left the Bush administration in a difficult position, and
officials have gone out of their way to emphasize that they are not
defending what happened. "The president recognizes annually the horrendous
suffering that ethnic Armenians endured during the final years of the
Ottoman Empire," Ms. Rice and Mr. Gates wrote in their March 7 letter.

Armenian-American groups have been rallying support for the resolution. The
Armenian National Committee of America sent e-mail messages to members today
to urge them to watch the Foreign Affairs Committee session online and phone
the offices of any "traditionally friendly member of the committee" who is
not in attendance.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of Turks marched to United States missions in
Turkey to protest the bill, The Associated Press reported. And in Ankara,
leftist protesters chanted anti-American slogans in front of the embassy,
the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

Jack Lynch contributed reporting from New York.

MONUMENT TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS TO BE ERECTED IN CARDIFF, WALES

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.10.2007 15:48 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian community of Wales intends to erect
a monument to the Armenian Genocide victims in Cardiff by November
3. The word Genocide will be inscribed in Welsh, English and Armenian
on the monument shaped as cross.

Wales is the first UK province that recognized the Armenian Genocide
at hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1915, CNN Turk reports.

‘GENOCIDE’ RESOLUTION ANGERS TURKEY
Glenn Kessler; The Washington Post

The News Tribune , WA
Oct 10 2007

WASHINGTON – A proposed House resolution that would label as "genocide"
the deaths of Armenians more than 90 years ago during the Ottoman
Empire has won the support of a majority of House members.

But the backing has unleashed a lobbying blitz by the Bush
administration and other opponents who say the resolution would
greatly harm relations with Turkey, a key ally in the Iraq war.

All eight living former secretaries of state have signed a joint
letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., warning that the
nonbinding resolution "would endanger our national security interests."

Three former defense secretaries, in their own letter, said Turkey
probably would cut off U.S. access to a critical air base. The
government of Turkey is spending more than $300,000 a month on
communications specialists and high-powered lobbyists, including
former Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., to defeat the initiative.

Pelosi, whose congressional district has a large Armenian population,
has brushed aside such concerns and said she supports bringing the
resolution, for the first time, to a full vote in the House, where
more than half of the members have signed on as co-sponsors. The House
Foreign Affairs Committee, which has passed such a resolution before,
is set to vote on it today.

House Resolution 106, officially the Affirmation of the United
States Record on the Armenian Genocide, has been pushed doggedly by
a three-term congressman whose Southern California district contains
the largest concentration of Armenian Americans in the country.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., won his seat in 2000 after his Republican
predecessor was sandbagged when then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert
reneged on a pledge and pulled the bill from the floor after a
last-minute plea from President Clinton.

Schiff, who defeated Rep. James Rogan after Hastert killed the floor
vote, said the deaths so long ago still resonate with Armenians.

"It is an insight you get when you have lots of Armenian constituents,"
he said. "But imagine losing the entire family and having the successor
state say it never happened."

Few people deny that massacres killed hundreds of thousands of Armenian
men, women and children during and immediately after World War I. But
Turkish officials and some historians say that the deaths resulted
from forced relocations and widespread fighting when the 600-year-old
Ottoman Empire collapsed, not from a deliberate campaign of genocide –
and that hundreds of thousands of Turks also died during that time.

Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy noted that the Turkish military cut
contacts with the French military and terminated defense contracts
under negotiation after the French National Assembly voted in 2006
to criminalize the denial of Armenian genocide.

‘JEWISH, ARMENIAN GROUPS DEFAMING US’
By Herb Keinon

Jerusalem Post
Oct 8 2007

The widespread perception in Turkey is that US Jewish organizations
have linked up with Armenian groups to "defame" and "condemn" Turkey,
visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told The Jerusalem
Post Monday.

He warned that if a measure characterizing the killing of Armenians
during World War I as an act of genocide passed the US Congress in
the coming days, it would not only harm Turkey’s ties with the US,
but also Ankara’s ties with Jerusalem.

"All of a sudden the perception in Turkey right now is that the
Jewish people, or the Jewish organizations let’s say, and the Armenian
Diaspora, the Armenian lobbies, are now hand-in-hand trying to defame
Turkey, and trying to condemn Turkey and the Turkish people," Babacan
said. "This is the unfortunate perception right now in Turkey. So if
something goes wrong in Washington, DC, it inevitably will have some
influence on relations between Turkey and the US, plus the relations
between Turkey and Israel as well."

During the interview, Babacan – who arrived in Israel Sunday from
Damascus for a two-day visit – diplomatically deflected whether he
was satisfied with Israeli explanations of its bombing raid on Syria,
and also backtracked from statements he made Sunday that Syria was
playing a constructive role in the region.

He also intimated that he discussed during talks Monday with Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak Sunday’s killing
of 13 soldiers in Turkey, and reports that Turkey was considering
military action against the PKK in northern Iraq.

"In terms of terrorism, Turkey has been under this terrorist threat for
a while, and Iraq is a training ground of this terror organization,"
Babacan said. "I think Israel is a country that could understand how
it feels when terrorists kill people."

Amos Gilad, head of the Defense Ministry’s political-military bureau,
took part in Babacan’s meeting with Barak.

Babacan said Ankara expected the US administration, the Iraqi
government and the administration in northern Iraq to take action
against the PKK operating from northern Iraq.

"We have been and are willing to cooperate more with the parties,"
he said. "We have been quite patient, but patience has a limit."

As to whether he expected any Israeli assistance in this matter,
Babacan said, "Like in any regional issues, if there is any help that
the Israeli government can offer in this specific issue, we are very
happy to receive it."

Babacan would not say whether he asked, or Israel offered, any
assistance.

"We had many, many topics to discuss during my visit," he said. "We
had long agenda in hand, and I was happy to cover all these issues
during my visit here."

One of the main agenda items was the proposed US congressional
resolution branding the killing of Armenians "genocide." Babacan said
Turkey "would be happy if the Israeli authorities" could use their
leverage in Washington "so that nothing goes wrong over there."

He did not spell out what specifically he expected from Israel, other
than to say, "What we have done is told them the problems, and it is
up to them to decide what to do and how to help the situation."

Diplomatic officials said Israel officials in recent days have been
in contact with key US congressional officials regarding the issue,
and briefing them on possible ramifications of the resolution on
Turkish-Israeli ties.

Babacan did not answer directly whether he believed the American Jewish
organizations were in cooperation with the Armenian organizations
to defame Turkey. But, in reference to the Anti-Defamation League’s
recently well-publicized reversal on the matter, he said, "If we
see that, that Jewish organizations are deliberately and in a very
comfortable way using the word genocide in a statement, this is a
problem for us. This offends Turkey."

In August, the ADL – in a dramatic reversal of policy – said Turkey’s
actions against Armenians "were tantamount to genocide."

Asked whether he felt Israel could control the US Jewish organizations,
Babacan replied, "It is difficult to tell the exact relationships,
what kind of influence will work out. But we believe there are ways
that could be tried."

Regarding Syria, Babacan – who met with Syrian President Bashar Assad
on Sunday, and that same day during a press conference with President
Shimon Peres said he felt Syria and Assad were playing a constructive
role in the region – toned down his comments.

Asked what he had in mind, considering Assad’s support for Hamas,
Hizbullah and possible nuclear connection with North Korea, Babacan
corrected any wrong impressions his words may have created.

"I was just expressing my feeling that there is a hope for Syria
to play a more constructive role in the region, and be part of the
solutions, not part of the problems," he said.

"The way they are opening up politically and economically over the
last few years is something positive and something to make use of,
to benefit from," he added. "If the understanding [of what I said] was
beyond that, I didn’t mean [it]. That is what I meant, nothing else."

Babacan also raised eyebrows at that press conference by saying
– regarding the IAF’s raid on Syria and the fuel tanks allegedly
dropped in Turkey by IAF warplanes – he expected an "explanation of
what happened, and why it happened."

Asked whether he received those explanations and was satisfied with
them, he said, "All the agenda items I had in my folder I was able
to talk about with my counterparts." He also did not answer directly
whether Turkey would continue allowing IAF maneuvers in Turkish
airspace, as has been the practice in the past.

In reply to this question, Babacan – referring to military, industrial
and economic cooperation – said, "Turkey and Israel are two partner
countries in many fields," adding that "relations in all of these
avenues move only forward, not backward."

Babacan met with Olmert, Barak and Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu
in Jerusalem on Monday, and then went to Ramallah, where he met with
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and PA Foreign Minister
Riad Malki.

He is scheduled to meet with PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad on Tuesday,
before leaving for a one-day visit to Jordan.

Babacan said he did not carry any message from Damascus to Jerusalem,
and that the Syria-Israel sequence of his visit was the result
of logistical reasons, not because Turkey was conducting shuttle
diplomacy between the two countries.

AZNAVOUR’S LONG GOODBYE — 83 AND STILL SINGING 4 HOURS AGO

Agence France Presse
Oct 8 2007

PARIS (AFP) – As he would, Charles Aznavour, uncontested star of French
song, hummed and tapped a few bars before sitting down to talk about
his latest tour, a seemingly gruelling affair for an 83-year-old —
20 Paris concerts followed by 28 in France, Belgium and Switzerland.

After announcing his retirement in 1999, then again in 2000, and
crooning through a farewell foreign tour in 2006, the French press
reckoned the concerts kicking off next week were the singer’s last
good-bye.

"I never said farewell, never!", said an indignant Aznavour, still
sprightly though a little hard-of-hearing. "But it’s true the tours
are getting shorter. Only 20 concerts in Paris this time against nine
full weeks in the past. Next time it’ll only be three or four days."

"It’s like cutting back on cigarettes to stop smoking," said the
musician who’s composed close to a mammoth 1,000 songs, sold more
than a million records, and played in some 60 films.

"There’ll come a day when I forget the words and stumble on stage —
then I’ll stop."

Nicknamed "Aznovoice" at the beginning of his career by English
critics because of his raspy delivery, the slight and easy-going
showman is the last of a generation of French "chanson" masters —
where the lyrics are king, the tune a prop.

"It’s the words that count," he said. "It’s a French genre. Our
chansons say more than anyone else’s."

Born in Paris in 1924 to Armenian immigrant entertainer parents who
hoped to get to America but were never granted a visa, Aznavour —
original name Aznavourian — grew up in the poorer neighbourhoods of
the city, pulling himself up by the bootstraps to a career on stage.

With his quirky eyebrows and tiny stature — 1.64 metres (5 foot 3
inches in bare feet) — Aznavour never quite made it as a leading
man on screen.

Cash-starved in his early 20s during the war years, Aznavour instead
tried cabaret, where he met and teamed up with young songwriter and
composer Pierre Roche, then with Edith Piaf, who would take him to
America and to a solo career.

"I got lucky," said the singer.

In 1954 he rose to prominence with his live renditions of "Sur Ma Vie",
followed by one of his biggest hits "Je m’voyais deja" in 1960 —
the same year he starred on screen in Francois Truffault’s "Shoot
The Pianist", which catapulted him to fame abroad.

A couple of years later he took New York’s Carnegie Hall by storm
before touring the world and seeing his songs sung by stars from
Ray Charles ("La Mamma") to Liza Minnelli and Fred Astaire. In 1972
he was top of the charts in Britain with the single "She", recently
rerecorded by Elvis Costello for the Julia Roberts-Hugh Grant comedy
"Notting Hill."

"I’m the last of the few singers who didn’t just use their voice," he
said. "There were never very many of us, Sammy Davis, Liza Minnelli,
Shirley Maclaine, Yves Montand and me … we also performed."

Voted one of the century’s top singers with Elvis Presley and Bob
Dylan in a 1999 CNN/Time Internet poll, Aznavour dishes up his lyrics
with a typically French chanson syrupy mash of pop, jazz, blues and
latino sound (his just-released "Colore Ma Vie" was recorded in Cuba
with pianist "Chucho" Valdes).

The hundreds of tunes brought fame and wealth as well as a conflict
with the government tax-man that has left him living in tax-easy
Switzerland half the year.

But the hits often were hard-hitting with a social thrust — songs
about his native Armenia, his 1970s ballad on homosexuality "Comme Ils
Disent" and currently, in his latest album, songs on the environment
and the plight of migrants in France’s sleazy urban ghettos.

"I am attuned to what is going on around me," he said. "I grew up
among the Polish, Armenian and Greek tailors who worked off tables
on the outskirts of Paris. I never knew misery but I did know poverty."

Sitting in his Paris office — the musical publisher Raoul Breton
which he bought in 1995 — Aznavour is interrupted by a small girl
in black boots who suddenly opens the door, his granddaughter Leila,
who’s lost a toy.

A devoted family man and husband married three times but 44 years to
his current wife, Aznavour decribes himself as "the Benetton of song."

One daughter is married to a North African, a son to a half-Canadian,
half-Haitian, himself to a Swedish Protestant though he remains
faithful to the Armenian Gregorian church.

"In half a century the whole world is going to be coloured, people
will be intermixed," he added. "We must all learn to be earthlings
together."

And did he mind being described as a monument of French culture?

"It’s nice to be considered a monument … as long as the pigeons
stay away," he laughed.

TURKISH FM DEMANDS DETAILS OF IAF RAID
By Herb Keinon

Jerusalem Post
Oct 8 2007

Hours after visiting Damascus and pledging that Ankara would not
let Israel use Turkish airspace to strike at Syria, visiting Turkish
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told President Shimon Peres Sunday that
he wanted details of the Israel Air Force raid last month on a Syrian
target near the Turkish border.

Turkey has said it found fuel tanks allegedly dropped in its territory
by IAF warplanes during the September 6 raid, a development Babacan
has called unacceptable.

"During my visit to Israel, I’m expecting an explanation of what
happened and why it happened," Babacan said at a joint press conference
in Jerusalem after meeting Peres.

"We have not yet got an answer," Babacan said, before Peres intervened
to halt further questioning by reporters.

"I suggest not to go into too many details," Peres said.

Babacan also told Peres that Syria would be interested in taking
part in the upcoming US-sponsored Middle East conference if the Golan
Heights were also on the agenda.

"I encouraged the [Syrian] leaders to take part in Bush’s international
conference, and they told me clearly that Syria was interested in the
Israeli-Syrian issue also being on the negotiating table," Babacan
told Peres, according to Beit Hanassi.

Peres replied that Israel was interested in a peace agreement with
Syria, if Syrian President Bashar Assad was "serious." But, Peres
said, Syria was playing a double game: on the one hand saying they
wanted peace, but on the other hand being an Iranian satellite state,
supporting world terrorism and backing Hizbullah and the downfall of
the government in Lebanon.

Babacan arrived in Israel on Sunday afternoon after meeting Assad.

"Turkey will not let Turkish territory or airspace be used in any
activity that could harm the security or safety of Syria," Babacan
said after that meeting.

Babacan said he had chosen Syria as his first destination abroad after
being named foreign minister in August to underline the importance
of maintaining strong Turkish-Syrian ties.

The minister, a member of the Islamist-rooted AK party, repeated
Turkey’s assertions that Ankara had no prior knowledge of the IAF
air strike.

Babacan, who arrived in Damascus on Saturday, also delivered a message
from Turkish President Abdullah Gul to Assad on Sunday.

Babacan said the talks were constructive and useful.

He warned that the region was passing through a very delicate and
sensitive stage, particularly in Iraq, the Palestinian Authority
and Lebanon.

Babacan also met Sunday with Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik and Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni, and brought Peres an invitation from Gul to
visit Turkey.

Diplomatic officials said that at each of the Turkish foreign
minister’s meetings in Jerusalem – in addition to discussing Syria,
Iran, Iraq and the diplomatic process with the Palestinians – he
also discussed the resolution scheduled to come before the US House
Foreign Affairs Committee this week that would declare the World War
I-era killing of Armenians a genocide.

According to the officials, Babacan asked for Israel’s support in
defeating the resolution. In years past, Jewish groups in Washington
lobbied against the resolution. But this year, the Anti-Defamation
League – while not supporting the congressional resolution – did
reverse its position on the matter and declare that events from that
period were "tantamount to genocide."

Peres praised Turkey during his meeting with Babacan as an example
for the entire Muslim world – a country that is Muslim, democratic
and modern, and which seeks peace and cooperation with its neighbors.

Babacan, according to Peres’s office, said that "this is a critical
period for the region, and I want to stress that Israel is important to
Turkey, and there are very good relations between the two countries."

Babacan is scheduled to meet Monday with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert,
Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Likud head Binyamin Netanyahu. He
will also head to Ramallah for meetings with PA President Mahmoud
Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad.

A1+

ARE BABAYAN AND TER-PETROSYAN STILL AT LOGGERHEADS?
[08:26 pm] 05 October, 2007

`All efforts to dissolve the alliance between the Armenian
Liberal-Democratic Party (HRAK) and the `Alliance’ Party (DK) are
doomed to failure,’ DK leader Samvel Babayan told A1+.

According to Samvel Babayan, the idea of an alliance occurred to them
before the parliamentary elections. `We wanted to enter the National
Assembly with the HRAK and the National Revival Party (AVK).
Unfortunately, the AVK board changed its decision at the last moment
and joined Stepan Demirchyan.’

`I take Bazeyan’s decision quite naturally. Obviously, the opposition
based on ideological unity of three forces could bring no changes to
the Parliament. After the parliamentary elections we seriously
pondered over programme, ideological and legislative issues and
entered into an alliance.

In reply to A1+’s question regarding the alliance of HRAK and the
Constitutional Right Union (SIM), Mr. Babayan said, `I was once
accused of the SIM’s split though I was not guilty of it. Just on the
contrary, I did my best to improve the situation.’

Samvel Babayan didn’t rule out their alliance with the HRAK before the
presidential election. `Everything is possible. Nevertheless, I
wouldn’t like the alliance to be formal.’

To the question whether the HRAK or the DK will support Ter-Petrosyan
at the presidential election, the DK leader said, `In 1997 we were at
loggerheads with the Pan-Armenian Movement (HHSh) over the Karabakh
conflict. Any collaboration is ruled out unless Levon Ter-Petrosyan
presents his stance towards the Karabakh issue,’ he concluded.

WRITTEN QUESTION NO 535 TO THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS PRESENTED BY MR HARUTIUNYAN

Panorama.am
20:42 04/10/2007

Violation of the European Cultural Convention by Azerbaijan

———————————

Rec alling the commitment of the parties to the European Cultural
Convention to take all measures in order to safeguard the heritage
placed under their control which constitutes European cultural value;

Underlining the fact that this heritage is an integral part of the
common heritage of Europe;

Deploring the systematic policy of demolition of the Armenian cultural
heritage carried out by the authorities of Azerbaijan, which has been
underscored in recent years by destruction of the medieval cemetery
of ancient town of Julfa in the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan
and in final decimation in December 2005;

Acknowledging that the authorities of Azerbaijan continue to hinder
free access of any international mission to these sites, particularly
of the Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe who planned to visit the region recently;

Taking into consideration the fact that the failure of access of
international missions to these sites of cultural heritage and lack of
appropriate reaction by the international community allow continuation
of such a policy;

Considering that the Azerbaijan Republic, a party to the European
Cultural Convention, violates its obligation arising from this
Convention, particularly the obligation stipulated by Article 5?

Mr David Harutiunyan asks the Committee of Ministers,

If the committee will request the authorities of Azerbaijan to comply
with the above-mentioned obligations and facilitate the access of
the relevant PACE mission to Armenian cultural heritage in Nakhichevan.

Signed:

HARUTIUNYAN Davit, Armenia, NR

Source: