Author: Vasilian Manouk

OSCE Troika Called Upon Yerevan and Baku To Try To Solve Karabakh Problem in 2007

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.01.2007 13:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The OSCE Troika agreed the sides in the so-called
frozen conflicts – protracted conflicts in countries that were part
of the former Soviet Union – should be urged to resume constructive
negotiations without delay and build on progress where it has been
made. "We have been encouraged by the intensive mediation efforts
of the Minsk Group on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict solution last
year and we urge the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to redouble
their efforts this year," said current OSCE Chairman-in-Office Spanish
Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.

The Troika also welcomed the work being done on the infrastructure
rehabilitation program in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict
and hoped remaining donors would provide funds soon, OSCE press-office
reports.

It would be logical to hold such conferences not in Armenia but in Turkey

Yerkir.am
January 19, 2007

Interview with A. Nranian, ARF Bureau advisor on economic issues.

Q: The conference exploring the economic and social consequences
of opening the Armenian-Turkish border was held in Yerevan. Can you
comment on the importance of this event?

A: This is not the first event during which Armenian and foreign
experts discuss the economic consequences of opening the border as
well as the costs and benefits of opening for Armenia. I should first
of all say that my overall impression is that through such events we
are trying to convince the Armenian public that opening the border will
benefit Armenia. Meanwhile, in our discussions we tend to forget that
the border was closed by Turkey in an attempt to pressure the newly
independent Armenia on the issues of Genocide recognition and the
Karabagh conflict. Moreover, the issue of opening the Armenian-Turkish
border is artificially exaggerated in Armenia and the importance of
this issue is overestimated. The problem is clear – Turkey has closed
the border, and Turkey should be the one to open it. It would be much
more logical to hold such conferences in Turkey and not in Armenia.

Q: But aren’t there people opposing opening of the border in Armenia?

A: I don’t think that any expert or political leader in Armenia would
oppose opening of the border.

Q: What is the ARF’s position?

Q: ARF has never opposed opening of the Armenian-Turkish border. ARF
has always opposed going for any political compromises in return for
opening the border because this would mean yielding to the pressure
exerted by Turkey.

We should clearly realize this difference. In the context of the
liberalization of the world economy and international integration in
the modern world blockades and closed borders are unacceptable.

Q: What can you tell about the economic consequences that might follow
the opening of the border?

A: Here we should differentiate between theoretical economic studies
and application of real leverages for practical benefits and losses.

Theoretically, Armenia can export a number of goods to Turkey
(according to a study, the volume of exports from Armenia to Turkey
can reach 100 million dollars). However, in practice, we can see that
despite the open borders with Georgia and Iran the volume of exports
is not very large. The annual export to Georgia and Iran reaches 40
and 30 million dollars respectively.

Therefore, what matters is not the theoretical opportunities but the
capacity to use this opportunities to the best possible extent. Armenia
has a lot to do in this respect.

If we look at the imports, a range of competitive Turkish goods is
imported to Armenia either by air or through Georgia. We should not
wait that there will be any drastic changes in this exports-imports
pattern. I do not think that negative and positive consequences will
immediately follow opening of the border. It will take some time
before such consequences will become noticeable. Our country should
do its best to get prepared for the changes as well as possible.

Freeman’s Sells Caucasian Rug for $341,625

Maine Antique Digest, ME
Jan 22 2007

A rug from the estate of deceased Philadelphia lawyer and museum
president Robert Montgomery Scott, estimated at $15,000/25,000, sold
for $341,625 (includes buyer’s premium) at Freeman’s in Philadelphia
on December 14, 2006, a record for any rug sold at Freeman’s in the
firm’s 200-year history.

Cataloged as a Chelaberd rug, South Caucasus, probably early 19th
century or earlier, the 6’1" x 5’4" rug, advertised on Freeman’s Web
site and in HALI, the international rug magazine, brought potential
buyers to Freeman’s from around the globe. The buyer on the phone,
according to the buzz in the rug world, was a prominent European
dealer. The underbidder was a private collector in the salesroom.

When asked why the rug provoked such competitive bidding, San
Francisco, California, and Dublin, New Hampshire, dealer Peter Pap
said he advised his client, who was the underbidder, to buy it because
of its rarity and desirability.

Pap explained, "I have always wanted to see a rug that represented
a link between the South Caucasian workshop carpets-always long and
narrow-of the seventeenth and eighteenth century and the circa 1800
and early nineteenth-century small village rugs from the same region.
The Freeman’s rug is as close to that link as I’m aware of having
come on the market to date," he said.

"The eagle or sunburst medallion is actually a secondary motif found
in the original long rugs, but becomes the main design element, as
the dramatic central medallion, in these later small village rugs.
The Freeman’s rug is actually an exact replica of a section of a famous
mid-eighteenth-century Karabagh carpet in the famous Thyssen-Bornemisza
collection. The weavers have simply put a frame around the single
center medallion and its secondary palmettes and created a small rug,
possibly the first of its type.

"The fact that the Freeman’s rug is woven on a cotton foundation and
has a weave that differs from both the early workshop carpets and
the later village rugs from the Karabagh region suggests an origin
further east in the Caucasus. The colors are more muted than the
Karabagh palette would dictate and lack the classic yellow and green
and strong red so often found in Karabagh weaving."

David Weiss, who catalogs rugs for Freeman’s, said the wool was
lustrous and silk-like, and it was in very good condition. "It shows
that the rug market is strong for the finest pieces," he said.

The rug was sold in a three-day pre-Christmas sale of silver,
decorative arts, rugs and carpets, and Asian arts that brought just
over $2 million, raising Freeman’s total sales for 2006 to $23.1
million.

Photo of rug at
7/rug0207.htm

17.html

Friday, January 19, 2007. Page 4. (javascript:window.print();)
A Schism Emerges in AzerbaijanBy Aida Sultanova
The Associated Press

BAKU, Azerbaijan — A newspaper article that landed two journalists in
jail and provoked Muslim protests underscores rifts over crucial
issues — religion, freedom of speech and foreign influence —
troubling Azerbaijan.

An expected trial on charges of inciting religious hatred could begin
this month and would be closely watched in the West, which is deeply
interestedin Azerbaijan because of its oil riches and its strategic
position between Iran and Russia.

Rafiq Tagi’s article in the small newspaper Senet asserted that Islam
has suffocated people, pulled them away from freedom and hindered
humanity’s development, and that the Prophet Mohammed created problems
for eastern countries.

If convicted, Tagi and Senet editor Samir Huseinov, whose newspaper
was little known before it published the article, could face three to
five years in prison. In mid-November, a court ordered them held for
two months for further investigation. Their case underlines wide
complaints by opponents of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev that the
country persecutes independent media.

But the struggle over freedom of speech is just one facet of a
broad-ranging battle over the future of Azerbaijan, which stands at
the volatile juncture of Europe and Asia.

The article sparked angry protests in Nardaran, a village near the
capital, Baku, whose conservative Muslim community has clashed with
the authoritarian government in the past. Some residents called for
Tagi’s death.

The response raises questions about the role of religious faith in a
country that is overwhelmingly Muslim but whose government is secular
and deeply wary of any Muslims whose views and practices go beyond the
bounds of the approved.

It has also compounded concerns about the influence of nearby Muslim
nations — chiefly neighboring Iran, which has a large ethnic Azeri
minority and is often seen as seeking to boost its clout in the
smaller nation. Like Iran, Azerbaijan’s Muslims are predominantly
Shiite.

Reports in Azeri media of protests in Iran over the article, with a
religious leader reportedly offering a reward for Tagi’s killing, show
that Iran is seeking to use the scandal to increase its influence,
said Rasim Musabekov, an independent analyst in Baku.

"Azerbaijan is in pincers" between pressure from radical Sunni Muslims
in Russia’s violence-plagued Caucasus mountains to the north and
"strong Shiite influence from the south, from Iran," Musabekov said.

He said "militantly anti-Western Islamic movements" were taking root
in Azerbaijan.

Rafiq Aliyev, a former chief of the State Committee on Religion who
now heads a center for the study of Islam, said that while other
Middle East nations fund the construction of mosques in Azerbaijan,
Iran hosts its students.

"More than 1,000 people are studying in Iran who will inculcate their
knowledge when they return, and this will give [Iran] a better result
thansimply building mosques" in terms of gaining influence, Aliyev
said.

"Certain countries are exerting huge pressure" on Azerbaijan’s
religious scene, he said.

But both he and Musabekov said militant Islam was not an imminent
threat to Azerbaijan. Ilgar Ibragimoglu, an imam who leads a
congregation scattered among small prayer houses after authorities
stripped him of his mosque in Baku, suggested the future cast of Islam
here depended more on the government’s actions than on external
factors.

Growing interest in Islam is natural and will not take an extremist
turn "if the rights of believers are not limited," he said.

Religion is not the only aspect of Azeri society and politics that is
subject to heated debate at home and influence from abroad, and Iran
is far from the only country with an interest in its future path.

Its oil riches make Azerbaijan important to energy-hungry China,
Europe and the United States and also to Russia, which is struggling
to maintain influence among its neighbors following the 1991 Soviet
collapse.

For the United States and Europe, it is also a key part of a corridor
to supply Caspian and Central Asian energy resources westward without
sendingthem through Russia or Iran — and a target for efforts to
promote democracy in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East.

Those efforts have had mixed results in Azerbaijan, where Aliyev took
over from his father in a 2003 election denounced by opponents as a
sham, and has faced persistent Western criticism over the heavy-handed
treatment of government critics — particularly in the media — and
the plodding pace of moves to improve democracy.

To Leyla Yunus, a human rights activist and director of the Institute
of Peace and Democracy, a Baku think tank, the arrests of Tagi and
Huseinov and the reaction are less a symptom of a rise in militant
Islam or foreign influence than of an overly iron-handed government.

"It was unlawful to arrest journalists for writing an article," she
said.

"It was wrong."

_© Copyright 2007 The Moscow Times_
( opywrite.html) .

BBC News, UK
Jan 20 2007

Q&A: Armenian "genocide"

French MPs have passed a bill making it a crime to deny that the
Ottoman Turkish empire committed genocide against Armenians in 1915.
The decision has delighted Armenians and infuriated Turks.

Why put "genocide" in inverted commas?

Whether or not the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians
during World War I amounted to genocide is a matter for heated
debate. Some countries have declared that a genocide took place, but
others have resisted calls to do so.

What happened?

During World War I, as the Ottoman Turkish empire fought Russian
forces, some of the Armenian minority in eastern Anatolia sided with
the Russians.

Turkey took reprisals. On 24 April 1915 it rounded up and killed
hundreds of Armenian community leaders.

In May 1915, the Armenian minority, two or three million strong, was
forcefully deported and marched from the Anatolian borders towards
Syria and Mesopotamia (now Iraq). Many died en route.

What does Armenia say?

Armenia says 1.5 million Armenians were killed in this period, either
through systematic massacres or through starvation.

It alleges that a deliberate genocide was carried out by the Ottoman
Turkish empire.

What does Turkey say?

It says there was no genocide.

It acknowledges that many Armenians died, but says Turks died too,
and that massacres were committed on both sides as a result of
inter-ethnic violence and the wider World War.

What is genocide?

Article Two of the UN Convention on Genocide of December 1948
describes genocide as carrying out acts intended "to destroy, in
whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group".

What do others say?

France, Russia, Canada and Uruguay are among those countries which
have formally recognised genocide against the Armenians.

The UK, US and Israel are among those that use different terminology.

Why does the row continue?

Armenians are one of the world’s most dispersed peoples. While in
Armenia, Genocide Memorial Day is commemorated across the country, it
is the diaspora that has lobbied for recognition from the outside
world. The killings are regarded as the seminal event of modern
Armenian history, and one that binds the diaspora together.

In Turkey, the penal code makes calling "for the recognition of the
Armenian genocide" illegal. Writers and translators have been
prosecuted for attempting to stimulate debate on the subject.

Turkey has condemned countries that recognise the Armenian genocide,
and was furious when the French parliament passed a bill outlawing
denial of it.

The European Union has said that accepting the Armenian genocide is
not a condition for Turkey’s entry into the bloc. But some, including
French President Jacques Chirac, have said it should be.

ARMENIAN REPORTER
PO Box 129
Paramus, New Jersey 07652
Tel: 1-201-226-1995
Fax: 1-201-226-1660
Web:
Email: [email protected]

BREAKING NEWS, Updated January 19, 2007, 4 p.m. EST
Update 4 p.m.: release of arrested pair; vigil outside “Agos’ office;
“Radikal” statement; more from Dink’s article on threats against him
Update 1 p.m.: statements by “Milleyet” DC Bureau Chief, Ara Sarafian,
AAA, and Cong. Schiff

Armenian editor Dink killed in Istanbul
Murder condemned as a “literal killing of the truth”
Crowds in Turkey chant, “We are all Armenian”

YEREVAN — Hrant Dink, 53, the outspoken editor-in-chief of the
bilingual Turkish and Armenian weekly “Agos,” was shot dead in front
of his central Istanbul office around 3 p.m. local time (8 a.m.
Eastern) today.

The murder in broad daylight was greeted with horror in Turkey.
Hundreds of Turkish citizens gathered outside the “Agos” office,
chanting “We are all Armenians, we are all Hrant Dink.”

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the assassination an attack
against “Turkey’s stability,” Bloomberg reports.

“This attack against Hrant Dink is against the Turkish nation’s
togetherness and peace,” Mr. Erdogan said. “A bullet was fired at
freedom of thought and democratic life.”

The Turkish broadcaster NTV said Mr. Dink had been shot three times in
the neck; police had arrested two people in connection with the
murder, but had released them after interrogation. Police believe a
male aged 18 or 19 may have killed Mr. Dink, CNN Turk television
reported, citing unidentified police officials.

Armenia’s foreign minister, Vartan Oskanian told Armenia TV he was
“deeply shocked by the news of the assassination” of Mr. Dink, “a man
who has lived his life with the belief that understanding, dialog, and
peace are possible among people.”

“Hrant Dink was a friend and colleague who will be dearly missed by
everyone who had known him,” Yasemin Congar, the Washington Bureau
chief of Istanbul’s “Milliyet” told the “Armenian Reporter.” “Dink was
prosecuted, convicted, and continously threatened for exercising his
freedom of speech. And now he paid the ultimate price. It is a
terrible day for freedom of speech and freedom of press in Turkey.”

“I hope this will be an eye-opener for those who use and/or provoke
the intolerant discourse of extreme nationalism in the Turkish public
sphere,” Ms. Congar continued. “It’s time for all responsible parties
in Turkey to help build an environment of tolerance and freedom so
that we can discuss our country’s history without fear of prosecution
and punishment.”

“Both in his life and by his untimely death, Dink showed how much the
Armenian issue matters in Turkey today,” said the historian Ara
Sarafian, who knew Mr. Dink and interviewed him for the documentary
“Screamers.”

Mr. Dink “was disliked by extremists because he did not back, nor did
he thrive on, sectarian divides. Instead, he struggled against such
divisions by standing firm, building bridges, and speaking out. He
always maintained that Turks, Kurds and Armenians should be the best
of friends and neighbours,” Mr. Sarafian added.

Haluk Sahin, a columnist for “Radikal,” told the “New York Times” that
that Turkey had been hit right in the heart by his murder.

“Those who wanted to harm Turkey couldn’t have chosen a better
target,” Mr. Sahin said. “As opposed to other killings in the past,
Turkish public reaction against this murder will show us where Turkey
stands in the world.”

An editor at the “Turkish Daily News” told the “Armenian Reporter” in
tears, “We all thought the time was past” when people were shot in
Turkey for taking unpopular positions.

In a statement condemning the murder, the Committee to Protect
Journalists noted, “In the last 15 years, 18 Turkish journalists have
been killed for their work, many of them murdered, making [Turkey] the
eighth deadliest country in the world for journalists.”

Ross Vartian, executive director of USAPAC, said, “Turkish government
denial of the Armenian Genocide and prosecution of those who dare
speak the truth breeds an environment of extreme intolerance. The
government is ultimately responsible for this murder–this literal
killing of truth.”

Protesters at the scene chanted “shoulder-to-shoulder against fascism”
and “the murderer government will pay,” Reuters reports.

“This bullet was fired against Turkey,” said CNN Turk television
editor Taha Akyol. “An image has been created about Turkey that its
Armenian citizens have no safety.”

Television footage showed Mr. Dink’s body lying in the street covered
by a white sheet, with hundreds of bystanders gathering behind a
police cordon.

Last year Turkey’s appeals court upheld a six-month suspended jail
sentence against Mr. Dink for referring in an article to the Armenian
Genocide.

The court said the comments went against article 301 of Turkey’s
revised penal code which lets prosecutors pursue cases against writers
and scholars for “insulting Turkish identity.” The ruling was sharply
criticised by the European Union, which Turkey wants to join.

Mr. Dink was one of dozens of writers who have been charged under laws
against insulting Turkishness, particularly over the Armenian
Genocide.

The European Union’s enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn issued a
statement saying he is “shocked and saddened by this brutal act of
violence.”

“Hrant Dink was a respected intellectual who defended his views with
conviction and contributed to an open public debate. He was a
campaigner for freedom of expression in Turkey,” Mr. Rehn’s statement
continued.

The U.S. Embassy in Ankara issued a statement saying it was “shocked
and deeply troubled” by the news.

In a letter to colleagues, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said, “I met
Mr. Dink in Turkey in 2003 and we talked at length about the Armenian
Genocide and about the effects that the Turkish blockade of Armenia
was having on Turkey’s landlocked neighbor. In our meeting, Mr. Dink
was candid about the difficulties that he faced as an Armenian
journalist in Turkey, but he was quietly determined to create a better
world for the peoples of both countries.”

Mr. Dink “was a brave man, an outspoken advocate of human rights,
genocide recognition, and of the Armenian community in Turkey,” Arpi
Vartanian, the Armenian Assembly of America’s country director for
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, told Armenia TV. “The work that Hrant
was doing and all of us were doing will not stop with the murder of
one man.”

Mr. Dink wrote in “Agos” that he had been receiving “angry threats.”
He said he found one letter “extremely worrying” and said police took
no action after he complained.

“I do not know how real these threats are, but what’s really
unbearable is the psychological torture that I’m living in,” Mr. Dink
wrote. “Like a pigeon, turning my head up and down, left and right, my
head quickly rotating.”

He added, “Yes, I might see myself living in the timidity of a pigeon,
but i know in
this country people do not touch the pigeons.”

Mr. Dink’s notoriety had also led him to get calls every day from
Turkish citizens who wanted to “come out” as Armenians. “He was the
point person for people who were deciding no longer to keep their
Armenian identity a secret,” an acquaintance who asked to remain
anonymous told the “Reporter.”

Mr. Sarafian, the historian, said, “Dink’s death should be a rallying
point in denouncing all violence, building bridges across human
divides, and working to resolve the Armenian issue as a matter of
common humanity.”

TURKISH HACKERS ATTACKED BELGIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY WEBSITE

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.01.2007 14:33 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Yesterday the website of the Belgian Ministry of
Defense was attacked by a group of hackers of Turkish nationality
stating themselves to be the "little children of Ottoman Empire",
independent journalist Jean Eckian told PanARMENIAN.Net. The main
page maintained a post "Hacked by VolTigoRe – Turk Forcers". In
an explanatory text, the hackers justified this attack by saying,
"Turks had done nothing but defended themselves against the Armenians
"who killed many Turks". "There is no Kurdish problem in Turkey",
added the "hackers" also threatening "never to cease pirating your
websites if you make errors as regards Turkey". Mrs Ingrid Baeck,
the Spokesman of the Belgian Defense Ministry declared that an
investigation had been initiated and the Ministry intends to issue
a complaint against the authors of this data-processing attack.

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
Jan 13 2007

Turkey: Minister praises good trade relations with neighbours

Istanbul, 13 January: "We have yielded results of our good relations
with the neighbouring countries. We hope that it will be same with
our relations with Armenia," Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy
Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Saturday [13 January].

Speaking at a meeting hosted by the Provincial Office of the ruling
Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Istanbul, Gul said: "Since the
day we came to the political power, we have succeeded in increasing
exports from 30-35bn dollars up to 85bn dollars. Our new target for
exports is 100bn dollars. We have made a series of reforms in order
to further strengthen democracy in Turkey. Those reforms were
described as a ‘silent revolution’ in the world. As a result,
Turkey’s esteem has further consolidated in the international
platform."

"The rate of neighbouring countries in foreign trade rose from 3 per
cent to 33 per cent. We have yielded results of our good relations
with the neighbouring countries. We hope that it will be same with
our relations with Armenia," he said.

"We are determined to reach EU standards in all areas. Public opinion
in the EU-member countries will understand Turkey’s importance and
future contributions in the course of time," he said.

Referring to the Cyprus issue, Gul said: "The [self-declared] Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has gained both economic and
political power during the political power of the AKP. Leaders of
several countries held official talks with TRNC President Mehmet Ali
Talat. A situation like de facto recognition has emerged."

Touching on Turkey’s Iraq policy, Gul said: "We attach great
importance to our relations with Iraq. Turkey has fulfilled its
responsibilities to provide stability in Iraq. However, there are
gaps and mistakes in Iraqi constitution. It includes a number of
uncertainties. We also attach great importance to protection of
Iraq’s territorial integrity and political unity. We have never
intervened in Iraq’s domestic affairs."

KARABAKH HAS RIGHT FOR SELF-DETERMINATION WITHIN AZERBAIJAN – BAKU

Interfax
14:46 GMT, Jan 09, 2007

BAKU. Jan 9 (Interfax) – Azerbaijan recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh’s
right to self-determination, but only as part of Azerbaijan, head of
the information department at the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Tair
Tagizade told Interfax.

"We recognize Nagorno-Karabakh’s right to self-determination and we
believe that Karabakh residents should exercise that right within the
framework of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity," he said commenting
on a statement by Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian.

It was reported earlier that Oskanian said in an interview with
Interfax that "it is very important for us that the talks on a
peaceful Karabakh settlement focus on Nagorno-Karabakh’s right to
self- determination, which in turn is reflected in the document on
the negotiation table."

VARTAN OSKANIAN HIGHLY ESTIMATES CURRENT LEVEL OF ARMENIAN-IRANIAN ECONOMIC RELATIONS

Noyan Tapan
Jan 09 2007

YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, NOYAN TAPAN. "In 2006, a number of important
programs with Iran were implemented. We will continue our active
cooperation with Iran in 2007, too." RA Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanian declared this at the January 9 press conference.

In his words, Armenian-Iranian economic relations develop successfully
in various spheres, among which energy and transport are considered as
most important. Progress was also registered in spheres of agriculture,
commerce, science, culture and sport.

V.Oskanian said that Armenian-Iranian economic relations also
include elements of regional cooperation. In this respect he
attached importance to Armenia’s joining the agreement of North-South
international transport corridor in 2006. In the same context among
the important achievements of the year are agreements reached as a
result of Iran-Armenia-Georgia tripartite meeting in Yerevan among
the Ministries of Energy of these countries.

Armenian-Iranian Intergovernmental Commission plays an important part
in promotion of Armenian-Iranian bilateral relations. The commission’s
6th sitting took place in January in Tehran. In V.Oskanian’s words,
among the most important programs controlled by the commission are:

– construction of Iran-Armenia gas pipeline, the official opening
and exploitation of which are scheduled for 2007 March,

– construction of Iran-Armenia high tension electric conductivity
third line,

– construction of joint HPPs on Araks,

– exploitation of newly repaired sector of Armenia-Iran motorway.