Author: Vardapetian Ophelia

Turkey ready to do its part for good ties with Armenia – premier

Anatolia news agency
9 May 05

ANKARA

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “If Armenia fulfils
its duties, Turkey will do what is required for a fair and lasting
solution in terms of balances in the region.”

Erdogan arrived in Russian capital Moscow late on Sunday [8 May] to
attend ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of end of the World War
II upon the official invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Prior to his departure for Russia, Erdogan told reporters at the
airport that he would have meetings with Putin, and heads of state and
government who would participate in the ceremonies in Moscow.

When asked whether he would have a meeting with Armenian President
Robert Kocharyan, Erdogan said: “There is not a scheduled meeting
now. There is not such a demand.”

“As you know, Turkey is one of countries which recognized Armenia
after disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. But
there are no diplomatic relations between the two countries. If
Armenia fulfils its duties, Turkey will do what is required for a fair
and lasting solution in terms of balances in the region,” he stressed.

Indicating that they opened Turkish airspace to Armenia and flights
between Yerevan and Istanbul started, he said: “We have a positive
attitude towards Armenian citizens in the country. We expect Armenia
to overcome its problems with Azerbaijan.”

Recalling that the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) which undertook the mission of mediation
in the process to solve the Nagornyy Karabakh issue, Erdogan said: “We
hope that they will reach positive results on this issue.”

Pan Armenian News

VICTORY DAY CELEBRATED IN STRASBOURG

10.05.2005 05:28

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ May 9 officers of the Permanent Representation of Armenia
in Strasbourg, headed by Ambassador Christian Ter-Stepanian, took part in
events marking the 60th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic
War, reported the Press Service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry. The
participants of the event went to lay wreaths to the only fascist
concentration camp in France during World War II -Struthof. Besides,
initiated by the Strasbourg Mayor, a ceremony of planting trees in the
memory of the victims of the war was held. During the ceremony Council of
Europe Secretary General Terry Davis and Strasbourg Mayor Fabienne Keller.
Besides, a reception was organized on behalf of permanent representations of
Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine and the representation of
Belarus to the Council of Europe. CoE Secretariat supreme representatives
were present at it.

Putin tells CIS to learn from war and fend off ‘extremism’

Agence France Presse — English
May 8, 2005 Sunday 5:30 PM GMT

MOSCOW May 8 — Russia’s President Vladimir Putin called Sunday on
heads of the CIS bloc of former Soviet republics to remember the
lessons of World War II and be vigilant in combating terror and
extremist threats.

“Nazism, extremism and terrorism — these are threats that all feed
from the same ideological trough… awful threats that we are simply
obliged to protect our unique peaceful commonwealth of civilizations
from,” Putin said as he opened an informal CIS summit here.

Putin was addressing the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) — a
Russian-led gathering of 12 ex-Soviet states — on the eve of showpiece
commemorations of the end of World War II in Europe 60 years ago.

Amid growing fissures within the CIS, he said the group should adopt
a “declaration of humanitarian cooperation,” reaffirming cooperation
in the humanitarian, cultural and scientific spheres.

Despite widespread criticism that the CIS has grown ineffective since
it was created on the ruins of the Soviet Union, there was guarded
optimism from Kyrgyzstan’s interim President Kurmanbek Bakiyev —
swept to power in a March uprising — that the bloc could shape up.

“The decisions reached in recent years didn’t bring the desired
results, above all on an economic level — it’s necessary to strengthen
cooperation on the economic level,” Bakiyev told journalists.

Others dissented however, underscoring internal fissures in the loose
grouping of nations.

Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili is refusing to attend due to
the continued presence of two Russian military bases on his country’s
territory.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev also stayed away saying he could
not sit at the same table with Armenian president Robert Kocharyan
on the anniversary of an occupation of Azeri territory by neighboring
Armenia.

Beyond the CIS meeting however a flurry of other bilateral talks
were due, involving both CIS leaders and others among the nearly 60
world leaders arriving for Monday’s massive military and veterans’
parade on Red Square.

Turkmenistan’s reclusive President Saparmurat Niyazov made a rare
overseas appearance, planning talks with Ukraine and Russia’s leaders
on enhancing Turkmen natural gas supplies to Ukraine.

Moscow is on a high state of alert ahead of Monday’s wartime
commemorations, overshadowed by arguments over the Soviet rule over
the Baltic republics that resulted from the wartime victors’ carve-up
of eastern Europe.

Putin himself has said in the past the CIS had a limited lifespan.

CAPTIVE AZERBAIJANI SOLDIERS HANDED OVER
2005-05-07 17:35

Azerbaijan News Service
May 7 2005

Three Azerbaijani soldiers Ruslan Bakirov, Khayal Abdullayev and
Hikmet Tagiyev kept in captivity by armed forces of Armenia in
occupied Daqliq Qarabaq has been released on May 7. Azerbaijani
soldiers were taken captive three months ago.ANS Qarabaq bureau
informs that handing over process took place near the bridge over
Khachin river on Yevlakh-Aghdam highway. The soldiers were handed over
to representatives of the state committee on war hostages, captives
and missed persons through mediation of the Red Cross at 14.30 PM by
local time. Health condition of the soldiers are reported to be in
normal condition after passed examination at hospital.

ARRANGEMENT ON MEETING OF ARMENIAN AND AZERI PRESIDENTS PRELIMINARY

Pan Armenian News
05.05.2005 08:04

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The meeting of Armenian Foreign Minister with
OSCE MG Ambassadors may take place in Warsaw a few days before the
meeting of the Armenian and Azeri Presidents, Armenian FM Vartan
Oskanian stated at a press conference in Yerevan today. In his words,
the arrangement on the meeting of Robert Kocharian with Ilham Aliyev
is of preliminary nature and the time of the Armenian FM’s meeting
with the mediators is not specified yet. When commenting on the
might-have-been meeting with his Azeri counterpart in Frankfurt,
although the OSCE MG Co-Chairs have made a statement on it, Mr.
Oskanian said the time of the meeting was not convenient for him and
the Co-Chairs were informed about it. He noted, there was no need to
meet in the same place at the same time. In his words, the Armenian
and Azeri FMs reached a point, when their commission was complete,
thus the need for private format meetings was no longer relevant. “The
Ministers did everything that could be done,” Oskanian stated. He
also noted that a need for a meeting of the Presidents of Armenia
and Azerbaijan appeared at that stage.

POSTER EXHIBITION DEVOTED TO THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EUROPEAN CULTURAL CONVENTION

A1plus
| 15:35:57 | 05-05-2005 | Culture |

Poster exhibition “50 years of Cultural Exhibitions of the Council of
Europe” will be held at the European Regional Academy of the Caucasus
(10 David Anhaght Str.), from 5 to 15 May 2005. The exhibition,
organised by the Council of Europe Information Office in Armenia with
the assistance of the European Regional Academy, is aimed at both the
officials and professionals involved in culture and cultural affairs,
as well as public at large.

The poster exhibition presents the history of promotion of European
culture by the Council of Europe since 1954, through annual art
exhibitions.

The RA Deputy Minister of Culture Gagik Gyurjyan pointed out that it
was by the accession to the European Cultural Convention back in 1997
that Armenia proved her belonging to Europe.

Director of the Council of Europe Information Office in Armenia Susan
Marukhyan emphasised that the Council of Europe exhibitions are the
vivid proof of the fruitfulness of the co-operation foreseen by the
European Cultural Convention., which aims to promote the consciousness
of common European culture by creating educational opportunities
and methodology development preconditions and by encouraging and
facilitating the free circulation of people, ideas and works of art.

In 1954, the Council of Europe invited all the European states to join
its Cultural Convention. Since then, it has organised 28 exhibitions
in several European countries, demonstrating the unity of European
art and instilling a sense of belonging to a wide European culture.

AED ORGANIZES SEMINAR FOR LABOR INSPECTORATE EMPLOYEES

Armenpress

YEREVAN, MAY 5, ARMENPRESS: Four specialists of the Lithuanian state
labor inspectorate began yesterday a three-day training course for
20 employees of a recently established Armenian labor inspectorate
of the labor and social issues ministry. The projected is funded by
the USAID Armenia. Lithuanians are supposed to pass their country’s
80-year-long experience to Armenian counterparts.

The course is organized by the Academy for Educational Development
(AED), Armenia Office.

The trainees will be responsible to develop a sustainable
infrastructure of labor inspectorate, which will fulfill the functions
of supervision and monitoring of the implementation of employment,
health and safety laws, as well as the functions of management,
administration and organizational development of the inspectorate
itself.

Participants of the training session will upgrade their overall
insight and approaches on supervision/management technologies and
monitoring/evaluation methodologies of the Labor Inspectorate;

to define the principles of effective implementation of State Labor
Inspection Law in the field of employment legal relationships, labor
protection and technical supervision;

to clearly identify how to supervise, monitor and research compliance
with ‘normative’ acts relating to industrial relations, health and
safety and the technical supervision of dangerous equipment;

to control how employers and employees mutually fulfill the obligations
determined by employment contracts and collective agreements;

to identify the ways of facilitating the cooperation between employers
and employees;

to evaluate, discuss and compare the practical experience of colleagues
from other countries and explore the possibility of adoption of
that experience in Armenia; To identify principles of management,
organization structure, performance evaluation, etc. that will be
used to run the inspectorate.

Mindaugas Pluktas, the head of Lithuanian labor inspectorate, said
what they will teach here is not for mandatory application in Armenia,
as every country has its own peculiarities, but added that the course
will help future organization of labor.

The Armenian labor inspectorate was established in 2004 by a government
decision, the law on labor inspectorate was passed in 2005 April. With
a central office in Yerevan, it has ten regional offices with an
overall 149 staff.

Within three years since the enforcement of the law employers across
the country have to make their labor conditions conform with the
requirements of the Labor Code. The main function of the inspectorate
is to supervise these conditions. The inspectorate will organizes a
series of seminars for employers to help them.

Under the law on administrative offences employers who fail to meet
these demands will be subject to fines and penalties.

Halaçoglu should take the bait
Turkish daily News

Wednesday, May 4, 2005

Come on! Let’s start a huge campaign. Let’s force the issue,
make speeches arguing ‘There was no genocide’ in France and
Switzerland. Let’s force them to convict us. Each court session should
feature all our top politicians, including the prime minister. Let’s
put pressure on these countries. At the same time, let’s open the
border with Armenia. Let’s think big for a change and stop complaining.

Mehmet Ali BIRAND

If you go to France or Switzerland and say, “There was no genocide,”
prosecutors file charges against you. This law was first passed for
the Jewish Holocaust, but later on Armenians also benefited from it.

According to reports in the media, Turkish History Institute
President Yusuf Halaçoglu is being sought by Swiss authorities with
a red Interpol bulletin for having made a speech denying the alleged
Armenian genocide while in Switzerland last year. If he is caught, he
will be arrested and put before a court. I don’t know the details of
the law, but it definitely entails certain penalties if found guilty.

This law was passed due to significant pressure from the Jewish lobby
in order to prevent the spreading of fascist ideas. Many argued that
such laws obstructed freedom of speech, but those against it failed
to make their voices heard.

Can you just imagine? You say something you deeply believe in,
announce the conclusion of your scientific study and say, “There
was no genocide,” and you are arrested by the police while leaving
the hall with the argument, “Hey you! We believe that this genocide
actually happened. You can’t claim otherwise.”

How can such a thing happen?

But it does.

Double standards and illogical attitudes dominate the world, just
like they do here.

Turkey may be able to carry this ridiculous law on to the international
public.

The way to deal with this issue is not to run away but to confront
it head on.

In other words, Halaçoglu needs to go to Switzerland, surrender
himself to the police and demand a trial. During the trial, all the
top leaders of the country, including the prime minister, need to
be present in the courtroom. We need to initiate a campaign overseas
against genocide allegations.

That’s not all.

Famous names need to go to France and Switzerland, declare that
there was no genocide and force authorities to arrest them. They
should make sure the charges are piled up. We should turn this into
an international incident in order to show the ridiculous nature of
the law.

The border with Armenia should be opened at the same time and
negotiations to develop relations should begin.

This is what we should do if we have the courage. Otherwise, we will
go nowhere by voicing arguments no one listens to and condemning
countries that recognize the genocide.

I repeat.

If Turkey does not think big, take bold moves and initiate courageous
political campaigns, it will eventually fall into this genocide
trap. That’s why we should not fall asleep just because April 24
has passed.

Why do Turks expect everything from the state?

I am sure you noticed it too.

There is a public upheaval where the Armenian diaspora is condemned.

Why?

These guys are following something they believe in for their country
and their community. It doesn’t matter if we think they’re wrong
or their arguments are full of holes and lies. The fact is that
the Armenian diaspora has been doing an effective job for the last
60 years.

Why have they been so successful?

Because they work like bees and never leave a stone unturned. They are
organized. There is internal bickering. Any argument they may have
doesn’t affect the way they pursue their objective. One donates $20
million to build a statue, while another pays $50 million to make
a movie. They know how to pressure parliaments and eventually get
what they want. With a single nod, they divert millions of dollars
to a university to found a chair to prove that the genocide actually
happened.

So, what do we do?

We also have a diaspora. Millions of Turks live overseas. Moreover,
most probably the Turkish diaspora has more money than the smaller
Armenian one.

However, when it comes the time to pay, everyone’s gone. We are
incapable of organizing or initiating activities. The one thing we
are good at is complaining. We complain about the government and
Armenians and accuse the West of conspiring against us.

Tell me if anything I’ve said is wrong.

Please listen to your conscience and tell me.

What did we do as civil society?

Besides calling on the state to help us or provide unwanted advice,
what did we contribute?

Apart from a select few, no one did anything.

Those who do nothing should remain silent and accept what’s coming
to them.

If anyone has any intention of doing anything, put your hands in your
wallet and start doing things. And stop complaining about the state,
Armenians and foreigners.

–Boundary_(ID_MgohUgxTHEtrSqNBqJNe+A)–

Turkish Press
April 3 2005

Press Review

Cumhuriyet
SCHROEDER TO VISIT TURKEY

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is due to arrive in Turkey
today for a two-day official visit. During his stay in the country,
Schroeder is expected to meet with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss a number of issues,
including the so-called Armenian genocide, Cyprus, and Turkey’s
European Union membership bid. During his contacts, Schroeder is
expected to call for Turkey to give ground on the “genocide” issue and
take steps on both the Kurdish problem and the nation’s EU membership
bid. In related news, Turkish-German Chamber of Industry and Trade
Chairman Kemal Sahin touted the chamber’s success, adding that it
had exceeded expectations. /Cumhuriyet/

Ha’aretz, Israel
May 1 2005

Fire Ceremony brings groups to boiling point

By Amiram Barkat and Jonathan Lis

Yesterday at 2 P.M., fire emerged from the darkened structure where
according to Christian tradition Jesus was buried. This was the
climax of the Ceremony of Holy Fire, held at the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem on the Saturday before
Orthodox Easter. According to church belief, fire descends from
heaven to the tomb.

Moments before the fire appeared to the roar of the crowd gathered in
the church, the ceremony was on the verge of a blow-up. As the Greek
Orthodox Patriarch Irineos Iand the Armenian Archbishop Pakrad
Bourjekian made their way toward the tomb, fights broke out between
the priests of the two communities – with police attempting to
separate them. The two senior church leaders, who had entered the
tomb alone, faced off inside.

There has been strict adherance to maintaining the rights of the
various Christian sects since 1852, when the Ottoman Turks instituted
the status quo.

The present dispute dates from 2002, the year Irineos became
patriarch. During the ceremony, Irineos extinguished the taper of the
Armenian prelate who went in with him to the inner tomb chamber
(rather than waiting in the outer room), and a brawl broke out
involving hundreds of the faithful. The Greeks claimed the Armenians
were trying to change the status quo, but the Armenians said that
since the ceremony started in the ninth century, the Armenian
representative has gone into the inner room with the Greek patriarch
to light his taper directly from the holy fire.

In 2003, the Armenians petitioned the High Court of Justice to
require the police to enforce the status quo as they saw it. The High
Court referred the matter to arbitration by Minister Without
Portfolio Nathan Sharansky, but the attempt failed.

More than a thousand police were on hand for the ceremony yesterday
as thousands of worshipers crowded the church and many more remained
outside, watching the ceremony on giant video screens. Irineos
appeared, a gold crown on his head, and circumnavigated the tomb
three times before entering, followed by Archbishop Bourjekian.
During the argument between the two, Irineos opened the tomb doors
and asked for the assistance of police Commander Yoram Halevy, who
refused to intervene.

Irineos emerged from the structure first with his taper lit, but on
his way out he tripped and dropped the taper, which went out.
Bourjekian reached out and put his candle through a window in the
structure and lit the candles of the Armenians, as Irineos hurried
back into the tomb to relight his candle. He was then borne out of
the rotunda on the shoulders of his flock, as was Bourjekian, with
both being viewed as the hero of the day.

A few days before the ceremony Greek Orthodox Palestinians had called
for Irineos to be deposed for allegedly selling major church
properties to Jews. Four Palestinians were arrested outside the
church before the ceremony as they shouted insults at Irineos.