Author: Vardanian Garo

NKR GOVERNMENT CONCERNED OVER RISE IN BREAD PRICE

ARKA News Agency
Oct 22 2007
Armenia

STEPANAKERT, October 22. /ARKA/. The Government of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic (NKR) is concerned over the rise in bread prices, NKR
Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan stated at a meeting with producers of
baked goods.

The press service of the NKR Government reports that the NKR Prime
Minister pointed out the necessity for measures to regulate the prices
and prevent tension.

A commission has been set up to study the problem. Commission Chairman
Mikael Gasparyan pointed out that in 70% of cases the reason for the
price rise is the rise in the price for flour.

"A new rise in the pbread price is expected in the near future,
which reflects the trends on the world market," Gasparyan said.

In this context, the NKR premier stated that the Government will not
put any obstacles to successful businesses, but it demands that the
businessmen not abuse the situation.

"To settle the problem the country’s Government will continue looking
for new ways of resolving it," Harutyunyan said.

VIKTOR DALLAKYAN: ARMENIAN EX-PRESIDENT TO ANNOUNCE HIS NOMINATION IN UPCOMING ELECTION

ArmInfo
2007-10-22 22:56:00

"I see no sense in hindering the rally headed by the first president
of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, that will take place on October
26," Viktor Dallakyan, an independent Armenian MP, told ArmInfo
correspondent.

According to him, as a rule, if one tries to hinder a rally, this
causes the opposite process. The attempt of the political forces to
artificially hinder the rally allowed by the Yerevan City Hall may
have negative consequences, the MP noted. He added that a tradition
should be formed in the country, according to which the constitutional
laws on holding of rallies and processions should work.

"I don’t think that any incidents may take place during the rally,
which will disturb the security of our country," V.Dallakyan said. He
thinks that Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s team, which has a great political
experience, may use the fact of the rally’s suppression for its
own interests. V. Dallakyan also emphasized that after his speech
during the festive reception in Marriott-Armenia Hotel and his
recent meetings with different political forces, during the rally
L Ter-Petrosyan will declare about his nomination in the coming
presidential election. Otherwise, his steps will not fit within the
frames of political actions.

To recall, the rally of opposition forces under the chairmanship of
the first Armenian president Levon Ter Petrosyan, "Republic" Party
Leader Aram Sarksyan and Leader of "People’s Party" Stepan Demirchyan
will take place on October 26. On the same day, the Republican Party
of Armenia organizes a concert "Gold autumn".

ERDOGAN FACES AN IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE

FT
October 22 2007 20:26

A Turkish attack on northern Iraq to end cross-border raids by the
rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is beginning to look politically
unstoppable after this weekend’s attack on troops in south-east Turkey,
the worst in a decade.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, is under intolerable
pressure that will test his skill and judgment to the limit. The
PKK attacks have outraged Turks, emboldened the electorally defeated
ultranationalists and put Turkey’s powerful army back on the front
foot after a string of setbacks in its cold war with Mr Erdogan’s
neo-Islamist Justice and Development party.

The PKK attempt to revive the insurgency in the south-east, the
heartland of Turkey’s 15m Kurds, comes just as Ankara’s alliance
with Washington is nearing breaking point. Turkey is the main supply
route for American forces in Iraq, despite its opposition to the US
invasion. Turkey says it will end all military co-operation if the US
Congress proceeds with a vote defining as genocide the Ottoman Turks’
massacres of Armenians during the first world war.

The often justified perception in Turkey of European Union bad faith in
its accession negotiations adds to the feeling of a beleaguered nation.

Yet, for all that, an invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan is a terrible idea.

First, Mr Erdogan’s government has made modest but tangible progress
reconciling Turkey’s Kurdish minority, which will be vaporised by
all-out war with the PKK.

Second, previous big incursions of Turkish troops, most recently
in 1995, 1997 and 2001, failed to dislodge the rebels from the
near-impregnable Kandil mountains.

Third, a Turkish invasion would destroy the relative peace of Iraqi
Kurdistan, trigger the redeployment of Kurdish peshmerga forces on
which the US depends in central Iraq, suck in Iraq’s other meddlesome
neighbours such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, and drive another nail into
the coffin of US-Turkish relations. Mr Erdogan knows this.

He has twice been given the parliamentary authorisation he was voted
last week to go in hard against the PKK. So far, he has declined
to use it. He is right to see diplomacy as a more realistic weapon,
but to avoid an invasion his allies must get him a real result.

In their own interest, Iraq’s Kurds need to curb the cult-like PKK. US
forces, stretched as they are across Iraq, need to act against the PKK
– not least to preserve one of their most important military alliances.

The Iraq neighbours conference Turkey is hosting in Istanbul will
give all parties a chance to iron this out. It will probably be the
last one.

BRATTLEBORO MAN’S POSTER A VISION OF THE PAST
By Nicole Orne, Reformer Staff

Brattleboro Reformer (Vermont)
October 22, 2007 Monday

BRATTLEBORO — Richard Langlois stands in his living room, gazing
up admiringly at a piece of art that was intended only as propaganda
when it was created during World War I.

The piece is a framed poster portraying Lady Liberty wielding a sword
with a small girl with olive skin and dark hair grasping her leg.

He got the poster from an attic above an old general store in
Townshend, where he and the current owner, Everett Childs, found
roughly 25 similar posters, wrapped up and labeled with care.

"Someone, when they first put them up, said, ‘This is beautiful,’
and decided to keep it," he said.

All the posters were related to the war, many with themes depicting
"daddy coming home," he said.

Langlois framed the Volk print and gave it to his wife for Christmas.

While it may not bring much money at an antiques fair, for Langlois,
it’s priceless.

The caption reads: "They shall not perish," and urges Americans to help
the American Committee for Relief in the Near East raise $30 million to
help those suffering in Armenia, Greece, Syria and Persia (now Iran).

A poster dated 1918 that seems to suggest that the United States had
already sided with the Armenians during the conflict is an ironic
and interesting find.

For Langlois, though, the poster is more about the art then the
political message. The artist was Douglas Volk, who Langlois says was
"one of the foremost illustrators at the time."

He admires the artist’s interpretation of Lady Liberty, which
he describes as "almost pornographically beautiful, almost too
beautiful. But that was the type of way they painted."

The controversial plight of the Armenians who were killed by the
Ottoman Turks during World War I has cropped up again lately as
Congress attempts to pass a resolution labeling the killings a
genocide.

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed.

Scholars view it as the first genocide of the 20th century, but
Turkey says that the toll has been inflated and that those killed
were victims of civil war and unrest.

"This is real art," he said. "Not art for the sake of art, but to
accomplish a real life purpose."

Dar Al-Hayat, Lebanon
Oct 19 2007

Keep Your Heads Down
Walid Choucair Al-Hayat – 19/10/07//

When both the regional and international arenas enter a period of
realignments and recalculations, smaller regional powers had better
take notice and keep their heads down lest they fall victim to the
game of nations. This is doubly true for countries at the mercy of
regional currents and conflicts

When Turkey’s adopts a policy towards the Kurdish Workers’ Party that
clashes with America’s, condemns the US Congress’ recognition of its
massacre of Armenians, and prepares for an incursion into Iraq, the
Party had better keep its head down in anticipation of the Turkish
incursion. It ought to be wary of the consent of Syria, the U.S. and
Iraq to Turkey’s decision. Things become negotiable.

When Syria bets on its rapprochement with Ankara helping it avoid
Israeli attacks like that of September 6, or defuse tensions with
Israel and banish the recent specter of war, concerned Lebanese and
Palestinian factions ought to reevaluate the mobilization mandated by
their alliances with Damascus.

When U.S.-Russian tensions escalate over American plans to build a
missile shield based in its Eastern Europe allies – causing Russia to
reevaluate its policies in the Mideast and Caspian sea and leading to
President Vladimir Putin’s historic visit to Tehran – several
regional powers are pleased at the return to times reminiscent of the
Cold War because they anticipate a series of negotiations and prefer
it to a situation of confrontation and war. President George Bush’s
call to Russia to resume negotiations over the missile shield in
exchange for blocking Iran’s nuclear ambitions is just such a
negotiation.

When the U.S. fails to get Israel to soften its position on the
intended outcome of the upcoming Annapolis conference and demands it
of the Palestinians instead, it is aborting the conference before it
begins and giving credence to Iran, which has demanded Arab countries
boycott it. It reopens the way for endless conflict in Palestine,
betraying the Palestinian Authority in its struggle against Hamas as
well as moderate Arab governments who feel that a resolution of this
conflict is integral to resolving other regional crises. It
strengthens the case of those calling for resistance against
Israel… and forces regional powers to take positions inconsistent
with the their position on these conflicts.

Suffice it to say that regional and international realignments are
volatile, and demand the deepest caution and care on the part of
smaller powers.

The powers that ought above all to keep their heads down are those in
Lebanon, be they majority or opposition, because the slightest
misreading or miscalculation – or mistaken reliance on confrontation
or compromise between regional powers – would be fatal.

D/10-2007/Article-20071019-b8701366-c0a8-10ed-00c3 -e8c4330dae6d/story.html

KARABAKH PRESIDENT TO DISCUSS EXPANDING COOPERATION WITH UNION OF ARMENIANS OF RUSSIA IN MOSCOW

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Oct 16 2007

Within the next few days Nagorno-Karabakh Republic President Bako
Sahakian will depart for Moscow to discuss expanding cooperation with
the representatives of the World Armenian Congress (WAC), the Union
of Armenians of Russia (UAR) and business circles, Novosti-Armenia
reports quoting Armenian Public TV.

To note, a new modern school, where 600 children will study, is
being built in Stepanakert under the aegis of the Union of Armenians
of Russia.

Yesterday the head of WAC and UAR Ara Abrahamian and Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic President Bako Sahakian got to know with the course of
construction works.

Abrahamian also visited Stepanakert School N 10, which had received
computer equipment from UAR. He noted the Union would provide four
more Karabakh schools with computers.

The Chair of the Union of Armenians of Russia also told journalists
that in the course of a meeting with NKR leadership the interlocutors
had discussed the mechanisms of UAR participation in educational
projects, the programs targeted at the development of rural regions,
health care, as well as providing the families of Karabakh army
officers and killed servicemen with housing.

Turkey threatens to attack Kurdish separatists in Iraq

Despite U.S. pleas for restraint, government will ask parliament to
approve the operation.

Los Angeles Times
By Yesim Borg
Special to The Times

October 16, 2007

ISTANBUL, TURKEY – The Turkish government Monday said it would seek
parliamentary approval this week to launch a major military operation
into northern Iraq to attack Kurdish separatists based there, after
days of cross-border shelling of suspected rebel positions.

The threatened action comes despite pleas from Washington and Baghdad
that Turkey refrain from an incursion into Iraq that could destabilize
an already volatile part of the world.

Government spokesman Cemil Cicek said that although Turkey respected
Iraq’s sovereignty, it had to act against Kurdish separatists who have
stepped up their deadly attacks on Turkish troops in recent weeks.

Several thousand rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, are
believed holed up in the mountains of northern Iraq.

"The reality that everyone knows is that this terrorist organization,
which has bases in the north of Iraq, is attacking the territorial
integrity of Turkey and its citizens," Cicek told a news conference in
Ankara, the Turkish capital.

He was speaking after the Cabinet approved a motion seeking yearlong
permission to send troops into Iraq. The motion is to go before
parliament Wednesday, and is expected to be approved.

Analysts caution, however, that approval of the request does not mean
an invasion will be launched immediately.

The motion gives Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan a bargaining chip
as he seeks to quell rebel attacks and placate an army chomping at the
bit to attack.

Turkish governments were granted similar carte blanche twice in recent
years but did not act on them.

Turkey has been shelling targets in northern Iraq in recent days,
including populated villages, according to Iraqi, Kurdish and Turkish
sources. Shelling continued Sunday night in the hamlet of Kani Masi in
the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, Agence France-Presse
reported.

The Bush administration, fearful that Turkish military action in
northern Iraq would inflame the single relatively peaceful part of
that country, has dispatched a string of envoys to Ankara to urge
restraint.

But Washington lost much of its power of persuasion in Turkey last
week, when a U.S. House of Representatives committee voted to
recognize as genocide the deaths of as many as 1.5 million Armenians
at the hands of Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago.

The resolution angered Turkish officials, who maintain that the mass
slaughter of Armenians should be viewed in the context of world war
and judged by historians, not politicians.

Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Rome contributed to this report.

Source: g-turkey16oct16,1,1069584.story?ctrack=1&cset= true

TURKEY TAKES STEP TOWARD IRAQ OPERATION
By Selcan Hacaoglu

The Associated Press
Oct 15 2007

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – The Turkish government will seek parliamentary
approval for a military operation against Kurdish rebels in northern
Iraq, a government spokesman said Monday, taking action on one of
two major issues straining relations with Washington.

The spokesman, Cemil Cicek, said he hoped Parliament would vote on
the motion this week – passage is considered likely – but indicated
that the government would still prefer a solution to the conflict
that does not involve a cross-border offensive.

"Our hope is that there will be no need to use this motion,"
Cicek said.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government twice acquired similar
authorizations from the Parliament in 2003, but did not act on them.

Cicek insisted the only target was the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party,
known as the PKK.

"We have always respected the sovereignty of Iraq, which is a
friendly and brotherly country to us," Cicek said. "But the reality
that everyone knows is that this terrorist organization, which has
bases in the north of Iraq, is attacking the territorial integrity
of Turkey and its citizens."

The statement appeared to be aimed at reassuring Iraq’s central
government as well as Iraqi Kurds, who run their own administration
in northern Iraq.

Fighting along the border with Iraq was reported over the weekend,
where Turkey’s military said it "responded heavily" to attacks from
northern Iraq by Kurdish fighters on Friday. Iraqi Kurds reported
that Turkish artillery hit their territory.

Senior rebel commander Duran Kalkan said the Turkish military would
suffer a serious blow if it launches a cross-border offensive, saying
it would "be bogged down in a quagmire," the pro-Kurdish Firat news
agency reported Monday.

Oil prices rose Monday, partly reflecting concerns over a conflict
that could open up a new front in the Iraq war. Light, sweet crude for
November delivery hit a new high of $85.19 a barrel before retreating
in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midafternoon
in Europe.

Cabinet ministers also were expected to debate retaliatory measures
if the U.S. Congress passes a resolution that labels the World War
I-era killings of Armenians as genocide.

A U.S. House panel approved the resolution last week, infuriating
Turkish leaders who said ties with their NATO ally would suffer.

At issue in the resolution is the killing of up to 1.5 million
Armenians by Ottoman Turks. Many international historians contend the
World War I-era deaths amounted to genocide, but Turkey says the mass
killings and deportations were not systematic and that many Turkish
Muslims died in the chaos of war.

Turkish anger over the genocide resolution has led to commentary that
Turkey would be less likely to take into account U.S. opposition
to a unilateral Turkish action in Iraq, which could destabilize a
relatively peaceful part of the country.

Turkey’s top general warned over the weekend that military ties
between Turkey and the United States could be seriously damaged if
the genocide resolution is approved in the U.S. Congress.

Turkey, a major cargo hub for U.S. forces in Iraq, has recalled its
ambassador to Washington for consultations and warned that there
might be a cut in logistical support to the United States.

About 70 percent of U.S. air cargo headed for Iraq goes through
Turkey, as does about one-third of the fuel used by the U.S. military
there. U.S. bases also get water and other supplies carried in by
Turkish truckers who cross into Iraq’s northern Kurdish region.

In 1975, Washington imposed an arms embargo that lasted three years
against Ankara following its invasion of Cyprus, using U.S. weapons.

Turkey, a Cold War ally of the United States, responded by limiting
U.S. military and intelligence activities on its soil.

Turkey has urged the United States and Iraq to crack down on PKK rebels
who have been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey since 1984.

Armenians Who Need Help Today

By Fred Hiatt
Monday, October 15, 2007; A15

Imagine what the Armenian diaspora might have accomplished had it
worked as hard for democracy in Armenia as it did for congressional
recognition of the genocide Armenians suffered nearly a century ago.
It’s even possible that modern Armenia would be as democratic as
modern Turkey.

The Armenian American community notched a political victory last week
when the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted 27 to 21 for a
resolution demanding that the U.S. government officially acknowledge
that Turkey committed genocide against the Armenian people early in
the 20th century. The Turkish government insists that, while terrible
things happened, there was no genocide. The Bush administration,
reluctant to offend an important ally, lobbied hard against the
resolution.

There are passionate arguments on both sides of this fight: the
urgency of facing history honestly, on one hand; unease over
attempting to resolve such matters by political declaration, on the
other. But what is sad, when members of Congress are hailing the vote
as a victory for human rights, is how poorly human rights fare in
Armenia today.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, none of its 15 component
republics seemed better poised to evolve democratically than Armenia.
A beautiful country of mountains and pastures and vineyards, it had a
clearer sense of national identity than most, with a long pre-Soviet
history as a nation; its own language, alphabet and church; and a
passionate diaspora, many of whose members were ready to bring not
only their skills but also their habits of democracy and civil society
to Yerevan. Of an estimated 10 million ethnic Armenians in the world,
only 3 million dwell in Armenia; more than 2 million live in Russia,
but about 1.5 million are in the United States.

Things began well, with the honest election of a former dissident as
president. But authoritarian tendencies soon emerged, the former
dissident rigged his reelection in 1996, and things went downhill from
there. As Freedom House noted last year, "all national elections held
in Armenia since independence have been marred by some degree of
ballot stuffing, vote rigging, and similar irregularities." Meanwhile,
opposition politicians have been jailed, protests have been brutally
suppressed, and broadcast media have been taken under government
control.

Conditions in Armenia are better than in some post-Soviet republics.
Though corruption is endemic, the economy is growing and ranks
relatively high in some measures of freedom for private enterprise. A
parliamentary election in the spring was conducted more fairly than
past polls. The ruling oligarchs tolerate some opposition parties,
nongovernmental organizations and non-official newspapers.

But conditions also are a lot worse than in some republics, notably
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Many members of their diasporas also
returned to their ancestral homelands, where they became passionate
advocates not only of national rebirth but also of democracy and
corruption-free capitalism.

Why the difference? Armenia was sidetracked early on by a war with
neighboring Azerbaijan over an Armenian enclave inside that country.
The enclave is under Armenian control today, but a cease-fire has not
given way to a peace settlement. Consequently, the two main Armenian
American lobbying organizations in Washington have focused more on
security questions — opposing arms sales to Azerbaijan, for example,
and opposing Turkey, Azerbaijan’s ally — than on promoting democracy
in Yerevan. Armenia’s rulers have known that, no matter how they
trample on individual rights at home, the lobbying groups will cover
for them here.

The heads of both U.S. organizations told me that their groups have
worked, sometimes quietly, to promote human rights and civil society
in Armenia. Undoubtedly their influence would be limited, no matter
how hard they tried.

But what if they had tried as fervently as they did to win Wednesday’s
vote? It’s hard not to think that 3 million Armenians might be less
poor and more free than they are today.

[email protected]

Source: le/2007/10/14/AR2007101400957.html

TURKISH MILITARY CHIEF: PASSAGE OF U.S. BILL ON ARMENIANS TO WORSEN TURKEY-U.S. MILITARY TIES
Editor: Mu Xuequan

Xinhua

Oct 15 2007
China

ANKARA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) — Turkey’s General Staff Chief has
warned that the passage of a U.S. bill, which recognized killing
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I a genocide, will
damage the military relations between Turkey and the United States,
local Milliyet newspaper reported on Sunday.

In an interview with the Milliyet, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit said that "the
United States is an important ally of Turkey, but allied countries
do not treat each other like this."

Turkey’s new President Abdullah Gul (L) talks with Turkish Chief of
Staff General Yasar Buyukanit during a graduation ceremony for 965
cadets at the Air Force war academy in Istanbul August 31, 2007. He
has warned that the passage of a U.S. bill, which recognized killing
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I a genocide, will
damage the military relations between Turkey and the United States.

The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved
last Wednesday a bill labeling the killings of Armenians between 1915
and 1917 a genocide by 27 votes to 21, the first step towards holding
a vote in the House.

Buyukanit further warned of possible deterioration of military ties
between the two countries, if the bill is passed by the House as well.

The passage of the bill by the committee has already drawn Turkish
government’s condemnation, though it would have no binding effect on
the U.S. foreign policy.

Although the U.S. leadership has warned against passage of the bill,
the committee gave its nod to the bill.

The U.S. President George W. Bush urged Congress not to pass the bill
lest it would do "great harm" to U.S. relations with Turkey, which
in Bush’s word "a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror."

The U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary
Robert Gates had also denounced the move, claiming it would "be very
problematic for everything we are trying to do in the Middle East."

For now, some 70 percent of U.S. air cargo head for Iraq via Turkey,
so does about a third of the fuel used by the U.S. military in Iraq.

Armenians claim that more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a
systematic genocide in the hands of the Ottomans during World War I,
before modern Turkey was born in 1923. However, Turkey insists that the
Armenians were victims of widespread chaos and governmental breakdown
as the 600-year-old Ottoman Empire collapsed in the years before 1923.