Author: Vardapetian Ophelia

AZERI ISLAMIC PARTY’S EX-LEADER SLAMS USA, ISRAEL FOR "DOUBLE STANDARDS"

Azeri press Agency, Azerbaijan
Oct 9 2007

9 October: "Those accusing the village of Nardaran [near Baku]
of serving Iran’s interests serve the interests of the USA, Israel
and international Zionism. Nardaran has never expressed an opinion
against Azerbaijan’s state interests," the former chairman of the
[pro-Iranian] Islamic Party of Azerbaijan, Haciaga Nuri, has told APA.

He said that the USA, Israel and all international organizations
serving Zionism applied double standards in their approach to the
[Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagornyy] Karabakh problem. Nuri said that
political bodies choosing Nardaran as an object of accusations are
carrying out the orders of those states which operate double standards
concerning the country’s main problems.

[Passage omitted: Nuri said accusations have no logical and legal
grounds]

Nuri said that that Azerbaijan’s official circles had close ties
with Iran.

US CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE TO VOTE ON ARMENIAN DRAFT WEDNESDAY

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Oct 10 2007

President Gul has warned passing the legislation would harm Turkish-US
relations.

WASHINGTON – The Foreign Affairs Committee at the US House of
Representatives is set to vote Wednesday on a contentious bill that,
if passed by Congress, would recognise the so-called Armenian genocide
of 1915.

Turkey has lobbied hard against the bill, rejecting claims made by
Armenians that the Ottoman Empire committed an act of genocide against
its Armenian citizens during the First World War.

On Tuesday, a Turkish delegation led by Justice and Development Party
(AKP) deputy Egemen Bagis, met with US officials in Washington to
push Turkey’s case. The delegation met with US Deputy Secretary of
State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns and Deputy Secretary of
State for European and Eurasian Affairs Dan Fried.

Following the meeting, Fried said that the Bush administration opposed
the passing of the bill, describing it as a "mistake".

"We are against the bill and we are working for it not to pass,"
he said.

"We think that the bill is a mistake and there is nothing good the
bill can produce."

In a letter sent to his US counterpart George Bush, President Abdullah
Gul said that the passing of the bill would harm ties between the two
countries and that the Turkish people would react emotionally if the
legislation became law.

TURKEY AUTHORIZES TROOPS TO ENTER IRAQ TO FIGHT REBELS
By Sebnem Arsu And Sabrina Tavernise

The New York Times
Oct 10 2007

ISTANBUL, Oct. 9 – Turkey took a step toward a military operation in
Iraq on Tuesday, as its top political and military leaders issued a
statement authorizing troops to cross the Iraq border to eliminate
separatist Kurdish rebel camps in the northern region.

Burhan Ozbilici/Associated Press A military truck carries a tank near
the Turkey-Iraq border.

Reach of War

Go to Complete Coverage " Turkey moved toward military action in the
face of strong opposition by the United States, which is anxious to
maintain peace in the region, one of the rare areas of stability in
conflict-torn Iraq. But more than two dozen Turkish soldiers have
been killed in recent days, and the government of Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan seemed far more determined than before to act
decisively.

A government official without authorization to speak publicly on
the issue who asked not to be identified by name, said preparations
were under way to seek parliamentary approval for a cross-border
military operation, a request that would be the first formal step
toward an offensive.

The Associated Press reported that the request would be submitted to
Parliament as early as Wednesday.

Government offices and institutions have been ordered "to take all
economic and political measures, including cross-border operations when
necessary, in order to end the existence of the terror organization
in a neighboring country," said the statement, which was released
by Mr. Erdogan’s office, after he met with political and military
leaders in Ankara.

A Turkish military offensive into northern Iraq, while unlikely, would
have far-reaching consequences for the United States. Turkey is a NATO
member and has the region’s most powerful army. Turkey’s support of the
United States in the Iraq war is crucial. The United States’ Incirlik
Air Base in southern Turkey supplies the military in central Iraq.

Sean McCormack, a State Department spokesman, said the United States
had encouraged Turkish officials to work together with the Iraqi
government.

"In our view, it is not going to lead to a long-term, durable solution
to have significant incursions from Turkey into Iraq," he said at a
news briefing in Washington.

But Iraq’s government has little authority in the region, which is
controlled exclusively by Kurds, and an accord reached by Iraq’s
interior minister and senior Turkish officials last month did not
include permission for military operations, a formulation that
frustrated Turkey.

Relations between the United States and Turkey are delicate on another
front. A bill on the Armenian genocide – the killing of more than
a million Armenians by Turkey at the end of World War I – is due
before the House Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. Turks have
been working to prevent its consideration, with Mr. Erdogan making
phone calls Tuesday, according to a Turkish member of Parliament in
Washington to work against the bill.

Its passage "would be insulting to Turkey," said Egeman Bagis,
the Parliament member. "It would mean losing Turkey’s support in
the region."

He did not say precisely what that might mean. Turkey ended military
cooperation with France last year after France voted to make denial
of the Armenian genocide a crime.

"It could make it very difficult for Turkey to continue supporting"
the United States in Iraq, Mr. Bagis said.

Turkey’s foreign minister, Ali Babacan, made a similar appeal to
Israeli authorities on a visit over the weekend, asking them to press
Congress to drop the matter. Turkey has close relations with Israel,
and Turkish officials have bristled at a recent statement by the
Anti-Defamation League declaring that the killing of Armenians was
"tantamount to genocide."

Some analysts said that given the complex relationships among Turkey,
Iraq and the United States, Turkey would continue to consider military
action a last resort.

Edip Baser, a retired general who was special coordinator in a United
States-Turkey effort against the Kurdish Workers’ Party in 2006,
said it was likely that political and military leaders would wait
for the appropriate time to act.

The government official who asked not to be identified by name said:
"Our government will soon start technical consultation with the
military to see what they need in order to end this violence that make
our hearts bleed. First, there needs to be necessary preparations
and assessments. We can say that they have already started." Senior
cabinet members, state officials and high-ranking military officials
met Tuesday after President Abdullah Gul, Mr.

Erdogan and Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, the leader of the Turkish Army,
vowed to strengthen efforts against the Kurdish Workers’ Party,
the Kurdish rebel group.

Sebnem Arsu reported from Istanbul and Sabrina Tavernise from Baghdad.

WHAT WAS DISCUSSED AT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT? A LOOK FROM INSIDE

Panorama.am
20:25 08/10/2007

"They discussed a series of very important political issues." Thus
stated NA deputy Davit Harutyunyan, leader of the Armenian delegation,
about the five-day session. In his opinion, the issues discussed are
important for the political progress of all member countries of the
European Parliament.

The first issue was that of migration. "Much was discussed concerning
migration. The creation of transit and processing centers were
discussed. The aging population of Europe was also talked about,"
Harutyunyan said. Another issue gone over was the tragic situation
in Sudan, and the role the international community needs to play.

Another committee went over the situation of human rights and the
European Court. Judges were chosen from 12 countries, including
from Armenia. Judge Alvina Gyulumjyan represented Armenia in the
court. "More serious problems are discussed in the court, especially
those of pressuring individuals. In certain northern Caucasian
countries, such as Moldova, Turkey, and Azerbaijan, cases have been
registered in which they put pressure on one’s personal documents,
followed by investigation of personal taxes," Harutyunyan stated. They
discussed, he said, better ways of protecting individual rights. "They
talked about a wide range of issues, including how to make sure a
country’s police protect the individual’s rights, and what the European
court can do in cases when rights are not protected," he added.

"It is very important," Harutyunyan concluded, "how cases of slander
and denial of freedom are reported.

We talked about countries have laws in which merely talking about a
certain genocide is considered a criminal act." Besides the noted
issues, globalization was also discussed, both its positive and
negative sides.

BABACAN TELLS OSKANIAN TURKEY OPEN TO DIALOGUE

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Oct 4 2007

Foreign Minister Ali Babacan met on Tuesday with his Armenian
counterpart, Vartan Oskanian, in the first meeting between the two
ministers since Babacan was appointed to his post after the Turkish
general elections held on July 22. The meeting at UN headquarters
in New York was held at the request of Armenia and was mostly a
"greeting" aimed at the two ministers getting to know each other, the
Anatolia news agency reported. The general atmosphere was positive,
and Babacan’s message to his Armenian counterpart was that Turkey is
open to dialogue with Armenia on disputed issues.

The meeting came as the US House of Representatives’ Committee on
Foreign Affairs prepares to debate and vote on a resolution next week
declaring that Armenians were subject to genocide at the hands of the
Ottoman Turks in the beginning of the last century. Babacan said at
the meeting that history could not be written by votes of politicians
in parliaments and brought to mind a proposal Turkey made to Armenia
in 2005 for joint study of that portion of history. The Armenian
minister, for his part, reiterated Armenia’s request for the opening
of its border gate with Turkey, which has been closed for more than
a decade. Ýstanbul Today’s Zaman

–Boundary_(ID_PucIbtKIj59I7Kp0EoAEOw)–

TURKISH PREMIER, ISRAELI PRESIDENT DISCUSS OVER PHONE ARMENIAN ISSUE

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
Oct 5 2007

Ankara, 5 October: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
expressed his views about Armenian allegations regarding 1915
incidents, during his conversation with Israeli President Shimon
Peres on the phone.

Peres, in return, reiterated that Israel will continue to support
Turkey’s position in this matter.

TURKISH PREMIER TELLS BUSH ARMENIAN BILL MAY HARM "STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP"

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
Oct 5 2007

Ankara, 5 October: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told
US President George W. Bush that the adoption of a draft resolution
on Armenian allegations over the incidents of 1915 in Ottoman Turkey
would harm "strategic partnership" between Turkey and the US.

"The resolution would not serve in the mutual interests of Turkey
and the US and it would cast a blow on efforts exerted to improve
relations between Turkey and Armenia," sources cited Erdogan as
telling Bush on a telephone conversation on Friday [5 October]

Sources quoted Bush as saying that his administration would exert
resolute efforts to have the Congress drop the resolution, adding
that president himself was also concerned about the issue.

REPUBLICAN PARTY’S PRIORITY TO HAVE ‘GOOD’ ELECTION, DEPUTY CHAIRMAN SAYS

ARMENPRESS
Oct 05 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS: A deputy chairman of the
governing Republican Party, Galust Sahakian, said today one of the
major priorities of his party is to organize ‘good" presidential
election." He warned that if the election is marred by irregularities
and fails to win the approval of international organizations Armenia
will face serious problems regardless of who is elected head of
the country.

Sahakian described the opposition’s steps as ‘absurd,’ saying
concurrently with negotiations over a single candidate opposition
parties nominate their leaders, one by one, as presidential candidates.

Sahakian predicted that political groups will become ‘more serious’
after mid-November, when his party plans its recurrent congress to
formally nominate its presidential candidate. Sahakian said his party
will not declare war at anyone because ‘it is a serious party with
a political ‘capital.’ The Republican Party, according to him,
has 2000 regional and 61 territorial offices. In a reference to
ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosian Sahakian said no one has the right
to insult statesman in general and the ex-president in particular.

"In the last analysis no person is able to achieve several great things
during his activity. Armenia is independent today and Ter-Petrosian’s
role in it is big," he said.

ARMENIAN INFLATION ACCELERATES IN SEPTEMBER
by Venla Sipila

Global Insight
October 3, 2007

Positive monthly inflation returned to Armenia in September.

According to latest data from the Armenian National Statistical
Service, consumer prices increased by 0.7% month-on-month (m/m),
after decreasing by 1.5% m/m in August, ARKA News reports.

Specifically, both the cost of food and services rose by 0.9% from
August, while prices of non-food goods retreated by 0.4% m/m.

Seasonal falls in fruit and vegetable prices continued to curb food
price inflation, but this was counteracted by increased cost of other
foodstuffs, for example bread.

Year-on-year (y/y) inflation accelerated to 2.7% after registering
1.6% in August. Thus, September broke the easing pattern of annual
inflation seen in recent months; prices had increased by 2.2% y/y
in July after surging by 4.8% in June. With growth of 3.8% y/y, food
prices took the leading role in annual inflation developments, while
non-food good prices fell by 2.7% y/y and service tariffs increased
by 3.3% y/y. Over the January-September period, Armenian consumer
prices have increased by 3.8% y/y, driven mostly by a 4.8% y/y rise
in food prices. On average, prices have fallen by a marginal 0.05%
over the first nine months of the year, while over the same period
last year, they increased by an average of 0.3% m/m.

Significance:This year’s state budget targets end-2007 inflation at 4%,
with a band of 1.5 percentage point on either side. In its September
meeting, the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA)
expressed their trust that this target can be met, despite recognising
external inflation pressures. Indeed, due to the strong bearing of
food costs on the Armenian inflation, for example world market prices
for grains are reflected in inflation rates. In addition, the high
cost of energy provides cost inflation pressure.

Moreover, prices are also pushed upwards from the demand side, and
also the CBA expects near-term inflation pressure due to strength of
domestic consumption and investment spending, as well as high budget
expenditures. We believe that the central bank’s 2007 inflation
target at present indeed looks realistic. The CBA is implementing
inflation targeting policy, which has proved successful, even if
implying strong appreciation of the dram exchange rate, in conditions
of strong foreign remittance and FDI inflows.

Wall Street Journal
REVIEW & OUTLOOK

Politics and Genocide

October 4, 2007; Page A18

Most Members of Congress don’t know enough about U.S. history, much
less anyone else’s. But that isn’t stopping the House of
Representatives from trying to weigh in on a painful chapter of
Ottoman history — and hurting U.S. interests in the bargain.

A pending resolution, co-sponsored by 226 Members, calls on President
Bush to ensure that U.S. foreign policy "reflects appropriate
understanding and sensitivity concerning . . . the Armenian Genocide"
in 1915, when Turks carried out "the systematic and deliberate
annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians." The resolution isn’t binding,
but Turkey can be forgiven for seeing an absence of "understanding and
sensitivity" in that broadside.

As a general rule, legislatures in far-off countries ought to think
carefully before judging another people’s history. It’s a fair bet
that points are being scored with domestic lobbies, and playing with
history often complicates current foreign policy. In this case, all of
the above apply. The sponsor is Adam Schiff, a California Democrat
whose district has a lot of Armenian-American voters. His adoption of
the genocide cause helped him get elected in 2000 and made his "name
in foreign affairs," as the Los Angeles Times put it in 2005.

This Congressional free-lancing would put a strain on U.S. ties with a
key Muslim ally in a tough neighborhood. If the resolution passes, the
backlash in Turkey will be more than symbolic. In urging Speaker Nancy
Pelosi to stop the resolution from reaching the floor for a vote,
eight former U.S. Secretaries of State wrote last week that it "could
endanger our national security interests in the region, including our
troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and damage efforts to promote
reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey."

Horrible massacres certainly took place during World War I in the
Ottoman Empire, and the Turkish government has never been eager to
discuss the Armenian question in good faith. But this history is more
complex than either the genocide crusaders or official Turkish deniers
are willing to concede.

To briefly recap: On April 24, 1915, the nationalist Young Turk
government ordered the Armenians of eastern Anatolia deported en masse
to Syria and Iraq. The Turks feared the Armenians were in cahoots with
their enemy, Czarist Russia, and fighting to carve their own state out
of a collapsing Ottoman Empire. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians
died on their trek, murdered by Turkish or Kurdish fighters and
marauders, or falling to disease, hunger and cold. The Ottoman War
Crimes Tribunal, set up by the victorious allies after the war,
estimated that 800,000 Armenians perished. Armenians put the toll at
1.5 million, which was about the entire Armenian population of
Anatolia at the time.

In October 1984, when Congress considered a similar resolution, we
wrote: "There can be little doubt that the Armenian repression was a
terrible chapter in history and perhaps the Turks have been too
insistent on denying guilt. But it was only one part of a global
tragedy that claimed nearly 15 million lives. Dredging it up now in
Congress, some 70 years after the event, may be a generous gesture
toward Americans of Armenian descent but is hardly an appropriate
signal to U.S. enemies." Or to our Turkish friends.

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