Author: Torgomian Varazdat

FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS WITH PAKISTANI AMBASSADOR
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Oct 11 2006
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Pakistan’s
newly appointed Ambassador to the country Javed Qureshi, press service
of the Ministry said.
Mr. Qureshi said he is pleased he had been appointed the Ambassador
to Azerbaijan.
He stressed he will make all efforts to strengthen the bilateral ties
between the two countries.
Elmar Mammadyarov, in his turn, said he welcomes the bilateral
political, economic, cultural and other relations between Azerbaijan
and Pakistan.
On the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh,
Mr. Mammadyarov stressed Armenia’s non-constructive stance on the
dispute.
The Azeri Minister noted the conflict should be solved in accordance
with international norms.
Elmar Mammadyarov also expressed his gratitude to Pakistan
for continuously supporting Azerbaijan within the international
organizations including the United Nations and Organization of the
Islamic Conference.
Mr. Mammadyarov stressed the importance of further enhancing the
political ties between the two countries.
Elmar Mammadyarov and Javed Qureshi also discussed a range of other
questions of mutual concern.

PARLIAMENT TO DEBATE ALGERIAN ‘GENOCIDE’
The New Anatolian, Turkey
Oct 9 2006
Parliament is to be busy this week, as it’s set to consider a
bill lowering the eligibility age to be elected a deputy to 25,
the opposition’s censure motion against the education minister and
a revived bill criminalizing denial of France’s “genocide” in Algeria.
The Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) motion against Education
Minister Huseyin Celik, submitted to Parliament on Friday, will be
debated tomorrow afternoon.
The CHP’s criticisms of the minister include seeking to protect
religious orders as well as some school textbooks published by the
ministry being full of factual errors, inappropriate language and
religious overtones.
Parliament will then hold the first round of voting on a bill to
reduce the eligibility age to be elected a deputy from 30 to 25,
with the second round on Thursday.
A commission set up to investigate the current situation in the
vegetable and fruit production sector will convene on Tuesday as well.
Among the commissions to meet on Wednesday is one set up to probe
the threat of cancer posed by industrial waste in Dilovasi, Gebze.
Deputies will also continue debating issues carried over from last
week, such as debates on seeds legislation on Wednesday, which aims to
increase efficiency and quality in seed production and to restructure
the sector as called for in the last European Union progress report.
Under the bill, which has been criticized for opening the way for
the sector to be monopolized, plant types, production licenses and
genetic resources will be recorded by the Agriculture and Rural Affairs
Ministry. The bill also stipulates providing the sector with incentives
and harmonizing legislation related to the sector with the EU acquis.
The ninth EU harmonization package will also continue to be debated
on Thursday to formulate a brand-new roadmap for this legislative year.
France discusses Armenian ‘genocide,’ Turkey addresses Algerian one
Among the issues to be debated by Parliament are three once-shelved
bills to recognize an Algeria “genocide” committed by France, and
criminalizing its denial.
Although it hasn’t been officially announced, Justice Commission Chair
Koksal Toptan stated over the weekend that three bills set aside
by the related commission will be debated on Wednesday in response
to the French Parliament debating a bill on the Armenian “genocide”
on Thursday.
The commission is ready to discuss the recently amalgamated bills
seeking prison terms and fines for those who deny there was an Algerian
“genocide.”

DUTCH FM CALLED ON ARMENIA AND TURKEY TO FACE UP TO PAST
PanARMENIAN.Net
09.10.2006 13:55 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot asked the
Turkish community in the Netherlands to stay calm in regards to the
exclusion of Turkish members from the parliamentary member election
list due to their rejection of the Armenian Genocide. Bot said the
government is not the cause of the problem, noting that the parties
had decided on the exclusion themselves. Attending the iftar meal
organized in Rotterdam by Zaman Daily, he evaluated the crisis, which
broke out after Turkish candidates, who refused to acknowledge the
Armenian Genocide, were withdrawn by the Christian Democrats (CDA)
and the main opposition, the Labor Party (PvdA). Asking Armenia and
Turkey to face up to their past, Bot added that the Armenian Genocide
issue should not strain both communities until an agreement based on
serious and detailed research is reached, reported zaman.com.

DEVELOPPEMENT TURQUIE – “GENOCIDE” ARMENIEN PROPOSITION DE LOI: TAYYIP ERDOGAN MET EN GARDE LA FRANCE
Schweizerische Depeschenagentur AG (SDA)
SDA – Service de base francais
8 octobre 2006
Ankara (ats/afp/reuters) Le premier ministre turc Tayyip Erdogan a
mis en garde la France contre la proposition de loi sur le genocide
armenien que les deputes francais s’appretent a examiner. En meme
temps a Istanbul, une manifestation contre le projet francais a reuni
500 personnes.
Ce texte de loi, qui doit etre debattu jeudi a l’Assemblee nationale
(chambre basse du parlement francais), vise a completer par un volet
penal la loi du 29 janvier 2001 dans laquelle la France reconnaît le
genocide armenien, et fait de sa negation un delit punissable d’un
an d’emprisonnement et de 45 000 euros d’amende.
La Turquie rejette les accusations de genocide dont elle fait l’objet
en raison des massacres de chretiens armeniens pendant la Première
Guerre mondiale, et souligne qu’un grand nombre de Turcs musulmans
ont egalement ete tues dans les affrontements.
Erdogan s’adresse aux hommes d’affaires
“Que ferez-vous lorsqu’un premier ministre de Turquie se rendra
en France et dira qu’il n’y a pas eu de genocide armenien ? Vous le
mettrez en prison ?”, a demande M. Erdogan, qui recevait une delegation
d’hommes d’affaires francais en visite a Istanbul.
“Nous attendons de vous que vous fassiez tout pour eviter cela”, a
poursuivi le premier ministre turc. “Nos avertissements ne doivent pas
etre pris a la legère. Il faut comprendre la gravite de la situation”,
a-t-il ajoute.
La semaine passee, le ministère turc des Affaires etrangères avait
deja prevenu que l’adoption de cette proposition de loi aurait de
lourdes consequences sur les relations economiques et politiques
entre les deux pays.
En 2005, les echanges commerciaux entre la France et la Turquie ont
approche les 10 milliards de dollars, et plusieurs grandes entreprises
francaises, dont Renault et Carrefour, ont des interets en Turquie.
Manifestation a Istanbul
A Istanbul, quelque 500 personnes ont manifeste dimanche contre le
projet de loi francais. La foule – des militants d’un petit parti de
gauche – a defile en direction du consulat de France situe dans le
centre d’Istanbul mais a ete immobilisee par les vehicules blindes
de la police anti-emeutes avant d’acceder aux abords du consulat.
Seuls quelques manifestants ont ete autorises a poursuivre la marche
et a derouler devant le consulat des banderoles clamant “France stop!
Le boycott arrive” et “Le genocide est un mensonge”.
A l’occasion de sa recente visite en Armenie, le president francais,
Jacques Chirac, a estime “honnetement” qu’il serait necessaire que
“la Turquie reconnaisse le genocide armenien pour entrer dans l’Union
europeenne”.
La loi de janvier 2001 qualifiant de genocide les massacres
d’Armeniens avait deja amene la Turquie, par mesure de retorsion,
a ecarter les entreprises francaises des appels d’offres publics et
a annuler plusieurs projets attribues a des entreprises francaises.
NOTE: precisions apportees au 2e paragraphe. De plus, il s’agit bien
d’un an de prison et non de cinq, comme ecrit dans le bsf155.
–Boundary_(ID_xPsqXneV+uxR5g0quf+bfg)–

ETHNIC ARMENIANS RUN FOR ELECTIONS IN BELGIUM
PanARMENIAN.Net
07.10.2006 15:56 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ October 8 elections of regional and local
authorities will be held in Belgium. As the Armenian community of
Brussels told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, electoral lists of various
parties include ethnic Armenians. In Jette district of Brussels,
where Armenians compactly live, there are candidates representing
liberals and socialists. Melik Melikyan represents the Liberal Party,
while Krikor Kaspar represents the Socialist Party.

Detroit Free Press, MI
Oct 7 2006
BIO: Kirk Kerkorian
October 7, 2006
AGE: 89. TITLE: Self-made billionaire. Cochairman, president and CEO
of Tracinda Corp., a Beverly Hills, Calif.-based company named for
his daughters, Tracy and Linda. Tracinda is the majority owner of
casino and hotel operator MGM Mirage.
NET WORTH: $9 billion
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Born in Fresno, Calif., to Armenian immigrants. Flew
planes across Atlantic during World War II. First fortune: Sold Trans
International Airlines for $104-million profit in the 1960s, invested
proceeds in Las Vegas; acquired Flamingo Hotel in 1967. Has been in
the hotel and casino business ever since. His MGM Mirage owns more
than half the hotel rooms on the Las Vegas Strip.
EDUCATION: High school diploma.
HOMETOWN: Los Angeles.
PERSONAL: Two children, three divorces.
Source: Forbes.com, Hoovers Inc. and Free Press research

International Herald Tribune, France
Oct 6 2006
Turkey warns French draft bill on Armenian killings could severely
hurt ties
The Associated Press
Published: October 6, 2006
ANKARA, Turkey Turkey on Friday warned that a French bill that would
make it a crime to deny that World War I-era killings of Armenians
amounted to genocide could severely hurt ties between the two
countries.
French lawmakers, who had caved to pressure from Turkey and put off
sensitive debate on the issue in the lower house in May, are
scheduled to debate the bill on Thursday.
“The Armenian issue has poisoned our relations in the past more than
enough. But this time, it is obvious that the mentioned draft bill
will inflict an irreparable heavy blow to our improving relations,”
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Namik Tan told a news conference.
Tan said that the approval of the bill would be considered by the
Turkish public as “a hostile act.”
It is obvious that it would not be possible to control the reaction
of our public opinion,” he said.
Under the bill, people who contest that there was an Armenian
genocide would risk up to a year in prison and fines of up to ~@45,000
(US$57,000).
On Tuesday, Turkey said it was out of the question to accept a call
by French President Jacques Chirac who urged Turkey to acknowledge
the mass killings of Armenians in the early 20th century as genocide.
Armenians claim that as many as 1.5 million of their ancestors were
killed in 1915-1923 in an organized campaign to force them out of
eastern Turkey, and have pushed for recognition of the killings
around the world as genocide.
Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died, but says
the overall figure is inflated and that the deaths occurred in the
civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. But Ankara is
facing increasing pressure to fully acknowledge the killings,
particularly as it seeks membership in the European Union.
ANKARA, Turkey Turkey on Friday warned that a French bill that would
make it a crime to deny that World War I-era killings of Armenians
amounted to genocide could severely hurt ties between the two
countries.
French lawmakers, who had caved to pressure from Turkey and put off
sensitive debate on the issue in the lower house in May, are
scheduled to debate the bill on Thursday.
“The Armenian issue has poisoned our relations in the past more than
enough. But this time, it is obvious that the mentioned draft bill
will inflict an irreparable heavy blow to our improving relations,”
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Namik Tan told a news conference.
Tan said that the approval of the bill would be considered by the
Turkish public as “a hostile act.”
It is obvious that it would not be possible to control the reaction
of our public opinion,” he said.
Under the bill, people who contest that there was an Armenian
genocide would risk up to a year in prison and fines of up to ~@45,000
(US$57,000).
On Tuesday, Turkey said it was out of the question to accept a call
by French President Jacques Chirac who urged Turkey to acknowledge
the mass killings of Armenians in the early 20th century as genocide.
Armenians claim that as many as 1.5 million of their ancestors were
killed in 1915-1923 in an organized campaign to force them out of
eastern Turkey, and have pushed for recognition of the killings
around the world as genocide.
Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died, but says
the overall figure is inflated and that the deaths occurred in the
civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. But Ankara is
facing increasing pressure to fully acknowledge the killings,
particularly as it seeks membership in the European Union.

TURKEY THREATENS TO BANISH ARMENIANS LIVING IN ITS COUNTRY IF FRANCE ADOPTS BILL ON PUNISHMENT FOR GENOCIDE DENIAL
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 5 2006
ISTANBUL, OCTOBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. If the bill on
punishment for denial of Armenian Genocide is ratified in France,
Turkey can send back “70 thousand refugee Armenians, towards which
broad-mindedness has been shown by now.” This statement was made
by the Turkish parliament’s delegation, which is in Paris for the
purpose of preventing the ratification of the above mentioned bill.
According to Marmara’s report, so, the number of Armenians suddenly
rose to 70 thousand, whereas, 30 thousand Armenians temporarily
residing in Turkey had been spoken about before this.
Deputy Shukru Elekdagh, member of the delegation, former Ambassador
in Washington, spoke about Armenians living in Turkey with status
of refugee at a press conference mentioning that Turkey has closed
eyes to their existence by now against absence of any diplomatic
contacts between the two countries. Elekdagh said that some Armenian,
American and French circles assert that Turkey is afraid of sending
back these 70 thousand Armenians. “If the law is ratified, perhaps,
Turkey will have to prove that it is not at all afraid of sending
back these Armenians,” Elekdagh said.
Another member of the delegation, Onur Yoymen, also made a similar
statement, according to which, by now Turkey has closed eyes to
presence of 70 thousand Armenians, but no one can demand from Turkey
to continue to permit the same till the end.

TURKISH-ARMENIAN WINS BJøRNSON PRIZE
Aftenposten, Norway
Oct 4 2006
The Bjørnson prize for 2006, worth NOK 100,000 (USD 15,200), was
awarded to the editor of the Turkish-Armenian magazine Agos.
The editor, Hrant Dink, received the prize for his work with the
Turkish genocide of Armenians in connection with the deportation
of 1915. Most historians characterize Turkey’s conduct of this
deportation as genocide, a view that the Turkish state still refuses
to acknowledge.
The Bjørnson Academy awards the prize. The president of the academy,
Knut Ødegård, said Wednesday at a press conference in Molde that
the Armenians would be the theme of the Bjørnson Academy seminar on
Nov. 24.
–Boundary_(ID_KhA6XcHlsVYjppT2fMmMpw)–

PanARMENIAN.Net
France: Armenian Genocide Recognition is Law Obligatory for Everyone
30.09.2006 15:26 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `I would like to remind that France recognized the
Armenian Genocide on the state level. This is our law and it’s
obligatory for everyone,’ French President Jacques Chirac said at a
press conference in Yerevan when commenting to a Le Figaro reporter on
the Socialist Party’s initiative to adopt a law criminalizing the
Armenian Genocide denial. The French leader underscored that France is
a legal state and any demonstration of racism and xenophobia is
punished in compliance with the Penal Code. `The rest, in my opinion,
is politics having nothing in common with the legal side of the
issue,’ he said.