Author: Vasilian Manouk

TURKISH POLITICS NOW PLAYS OUT IN COURTROOMS

Spero News
July 25 2008

Arrests and revelations in the investigation of the far-right
Ergenekon reveals divisions within the bastions of secularism. Two
retired generals are among those arrested.

Friday, July 25, 2008 By Ioannis Grigoriadis

Turkish politics seem to have been taking place decreasingly in
parliament and increasingly in courtrooms.

A series of revelations and arrests in the investigation into a
far-right nationalist group known as Ergenekon is now attracting
attention away from the closure case against the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP).

Many commentators have made a careful distinction between what they
call the "small" and the "big" Ergenekon. The "small" Ergenekon refers
to a group of officers, lawyers, journalists and others arrested in
the police operations of January 2008. Most belonged to the fringe of
Turkish society. As members of marginal nationalist groups, on the left
or right, they had limited social appeal. The "big" Ergenekon, though,
referred to a group of generals, leading journalists and academics who
were suspected to be the masterminds behind the Ergenekon group. Most
columnists doubted that the investigation would ever dare touch them.

The arrests of Ilhan Selcuk, Dogu Perincek and Kemal Alemdaroglu in
March 2008 gave the first hint that the prosecutors would not spare
prominent suspects. Yet few could expect the twist which events took
this month, when two retired four-star generals, Sener Eruygur and
Hursit Tolon, were among a group of high-profile suspects detained
on July 1.

In a country where the military has been held as "untouchable" and
the perpetrators of military coups have not been held accountable
for their deeds, these arrests were indeed a seminal event. On
July 14, Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, Aykut Cengiz Engin, filed
a 2,455-page-long indictment against 86 persons involved in the
Ergenekon affair. They were charged with organising an armed terror
group and orchestrating a coup attempt. Charges against the latest
group of arrested, including Eruygur and Tolon, are to follow in a
separate indictment.

The arrest of the two generals brought attention to a news story from
the magazine Nokta in March 2007. Nokta published what it claimed to
be excerpts from the diary of the retired admiral Ozden Ornek. They
included information about two coup plots against the AKP government
in 2004 organised by Eruygur, Tolon and other top ranking officers.

Shortly thereafter, Ornek claimed that the documents were a forgery,
the police raided the offices of Nokta and the magazine had to suspend
its operation. Following the arrest of Eruygur and Tolon, information
reinforcing the Nokta claims has appeared in the media. Information
has also surfaced about two additional coup plots and a set of covert
operations aiming to wreak social havoc, polarise existing divisions
in the country and create conditions facilitating a military coup.

Both Eruygur and Tolon had acquired leading positions in Turkey’s
nationalist secularist civil society in the aftermath of their
retirement. Eruygur is the president of the Ataturkist Thought
Association (Ataturkcu Dusunce Dernegi, or ADD), which organised the
massive anti-government demonstrations "in defence of the republic"
last year.

Now allegations are arising that increasing pressure against the AKP
government was not only limited to peaceful demonstrations. It may
have included the murder of the Catholic priest Andrea Santoro in
Trabzon in February 2006, the bomb attacks against the offices of the
secularist daily Cumhuriyet in May 2006, the bloody attack against
Turkey’s Administrative Court in May 2006 and even the murder of the
Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in January 2007.

In this light, the indictment against the AKP could be seen as
one more stage of the deep state’s all-out attack against the AKP,
implemented not only through the operations of the Ergenekon group,
but also through its loyal judiciary.

Connections between the Ergenekon affair and the case against the AKP
are the focus of widespread discussions in Istanbul these days. Some
argue that the AKP uses friends in the judiciary to put pressure upon
his opponents on the eve of the critical decision of the Constitutional
Court on the closure of the AKP. Its alleged aim would be to enforce a
compromise between the government and the secularist elite. This could
entail the survival of the AKP and its leading cadre, perhaps under a
different party name. Others argue that the indictment against the AKP
gains new significance in light of the recent Ergenekon revelations.

Which side will win this struggle is hard to predict, but Ergenekon is
bringing out significant divisions within the bastions of secularism –
the Turkish military and judiciary.

It appears that the former chief of the Turkish general staff,
Hilmi Ozkok, was one of the primary targets of the Ergenekon group,
which included military men. Being perceived as "weak" or even
"crypto-Islamist" because of his unwillingness to undertake initiatives
against the AKP government, Ozkok represented a Turkish military
loyal to the Turkish constitution and the principles of democracy.

His recent meeting with President Abdullah Gul aiming to alleviate
social tension and his repeated public support for Turkey’s EU
integration project have reconfirmed his stance as a moderate. In
addition, his refusal to deny the existence of the Ergenekon-led coup
attempts attested that the case was not simply an AKP forgery against
its political opponents.

A similar rift has opened in the judiciary. Turkey’s chief prosecutor
of the court of cassations, Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, filed on March 14
a closure case against the AKP, a party which won 47 percent of the
popular vote less than a year ago. A decision of the constitutional
court on June 5 annulled a constitutional amendment the government
had voted through parliament allowing the use of the headscarf, and
questioned in its rationale the very principle of popular sovereignty.

On the moderate side, Zekeriya Oz, the Istanbul prosecutor, who
together with his two assistants Mehmet Pekguzel and Nihat Taskin has
been running the investigation of the Ergenekon affair for the last
eighteen months, has become the protagonist in what might become
a turning point in the struggle of Turkish democrats against the
deep state.

To paraphrase the famous conversation between Prussia’s Frederick
the Great and the miller Arnold, "if there are no judges in Ankara,
there are still some in Istanbul".

Dr Ioannis N Grigoriadis is a lecturer at the Department of Turkish &
Modern Asian Studies at the University of Athens, a research fellow
at ELIAMEP. He appears here courtesy of Athens News.

DASHNAKTSUTYUN ON VERGE OF DISSOLUTION

Haykakan Zhamanak
July 23 2008
Armenia

The 14th congress of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation –
Dashnaktsutyun held on 18-20 July in Vanadzor city [Lori Region]
was noteworthy not only because Armen Rustamyan was re-elected to
the office of representative of the Dashnaktsutyun’s supreme body,
but also because of internal political rumblings.

As we have already reported, many Dashnaktsutyun members raised
the issue of withdrawing from the [governing] coalition at that
meeting. Of course, Dashnaktsutyun made an official statement in
the end reiterating its intention to remain in the coalition, but in
essence, the internal problems of this party have not come to an end
by this.

According to our information, the process of dissolution of
Dashnaktsutyun’s some regional entities, which started months
ago, has intensified lately and it cannot be ruled out that the
possibility of withdrawing from the coalition was discussed at the
Dashnaktsutyun congress. Specifically, at issue is the dissolution
of Dashnaktsutyun’s Kosh entity [in the village of Kosh in Aragatsotn
Region]. This was a great blow to Dashnaktsutyun, which had to send a
special representative to the area – Deputy Parliament Speaker Hrayr
Karapetyan. The latter made some promises to his fellows in Kosh,
asking to keep the party’s regional branch in exchange. Karapetyan’s
colleagues, however, announced that they would restore the dissolved
entities only after true reforms had been carried out. It turns out
that discontent in these areas is quite remarkable.

Local Dashnaktsutyun members, who have great influence on the
constituencies in the area, complain that in the [19 February]
presidential election they had to work not for their candidate – Vahan
Hovhannesyan – but for [President] Serzh Sargsyan and [the National
Security Council secretary, then presidential candidate form the
Orinats Yerkir (Law-Governed Country) Party] Artur Baghdasaryan. This
circumstance insulted very much those who really consider themselves
belonging to Dashnaktsutyun, who stress that Dashnaktsutyun has
never been so weak before. It is noteworthy that the data published
by the Central Electoral Commission on the results of the May 2007
parliamentary election and February 2008 presidential election also
prove this. In particular, in precincts Nos 14 and 15, which include
also the town of Ashtarak, Kosh village and Ujan town [in Aragatsotn
Region], the numbers demonstrate more than a prominent pattern. At
almost all the polling stations in these precincts Dashnaktsutyun
received almost the same number of votes as the [ruling] Republican
Party of Armenia [RPA] in the parliamentary election, and at some
polling stations even more than the RPA. The Orinats Yerkir Party,
however, polled half as mush votes, and in some places three times
less votes than Dashnaktsutyun.

[Passage omitted: statistics on polling results at a polling station
in Aragatsotn Region in the parliamentary election]

However, the pattern changed totally in the presidential election, and
it turned out that in the communities which were under the influence
of Dashnaktsutyun members, Vahan Hovhannesyan did not manage to win
as much votes as in the parliamentary election.

[Passage omitted: statistics on polling results at some polling
stations in Aragatsotn Region in the presidential election]

Incidentally, according to our information, local members of
Dashnaktsutyun "worked" for Serzh Sargsyan and Artur Baghdasaryan
in the presidential election on orders from the government and with
the consent of Dashnaktsutyun leaders. The fact that the issue of
withdrawing from the coalition was raised at the Dashnaktsutyun
congress proves that Dashnaktsutyun is in the most complicated
situation than ever, so complicated that the Dashnaktsutyun elite
already had to react to the complaints of rank-and-file Dashnaktsutyun
members. We would like to add that according to our information,
Dashnaktsutyun is waiting for Dashnaks from the diaspora to intervene
and make the final decision in order to find a way out of the
situation. In fact, tensions in Dashnaktsutyun are just flaring up.

ARMENIA CAN BE ISOLATED FROM EUROPEAN FAMILY, PACE PRESIDENT

State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan
July 24, 2008 Thursday

Armenia can be isolated from European Family, said Lluis Maria de
Puig, President of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly,
while being in Yerevan.

PACE President stressed importance of arriving at the truth while
investigating violent clashes on 1-2 March in Yerevan. He also demanded
to release opposition activists who had been arrested for being against
results of presidential elections. PACE President underscored that the
Council of Europe could not accept existence of political prisoners
in its member state.

MCCAIN ATTACK ON OBAMA GENOCIDE POLICY

armradio.am
24.07.2008 11:29

Armenian Americans – a community of one a half million citizens that
has experienced the horrors of genocide and continues to endure the
pain of its denial -defended Senator Barack Obama against Senator
John McCain’s unfounded and starkly hypocritical charges that the
presumptive Democratic nominee is not serious about preventing future
genocides.

Senator McCain’s presidential campaign issued a press statement
attacking Senator Obama as lacking sincerity in his calls of
"never again," even as the Illinois Senator personally traveled
to Israel’s Yad Vashem memorial to honor the millions slaughtered
in the Holocaust. Senator Obama has been a consistently strong and
effective leader on issues of genocide, leading Congressional efforts
to stop the Genocide in Darfur, and fighting vigorously against the
Bush Administration’s complicity – enthusiastically backed by John
McCain – in the Turkish government’s denial of the Armenian Genocide.

"Armenian Americans, a community with a long and painful experience of
genocide, know that John McCain lacks the standing to lecture anyone –
especially a genocide-prevention leader of the stature of Barack Obama
– regarding America’s compelling national interest and moral obligation
in opposing all genocides, past or present," said Armenians for Obama
Chairman Areen Ibranossian. "Barack Obama has led the fight=2 0against
the Darfur Genocide, and publicly taken on the Bush White House’s
obstruction of recognition of the Armenian Genocide, while John McCain
has done little more than to meekly accept the gag-rule imposed by the
Turkish government on the discussion of this crime against humanity."

"John McCain, who has outsourced U.S. genocide policy to the
Turkish government, really hit bottom by launching such an obviously
hypocritical attack against Barack Obama, who is so far out in front of
him in fighting for real U.S. leadership to end the cycle of genocide,"
added Ibranossian.

On January 19th, 2008 Senator Barack Obama issued a forceful and
passionate statement on the topic of genocide, which reads, in part:
"Genocide, sadly, persists to this day, and threatens our common
security and common humanity.

Tragically, we are witnessing in Sudan many of the same brutal tactics
– displacement, starvation, and mass slaughter – that were used by
the Ottoman authorities against defenseless Armenians back in 1915. I
have visited Darfurian refugee camps, pushed for the deployment of
a robust multinational force for Darfur, and urged divestment from
companies doing business in Sudan. America deserves a leader who
speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully
to all genocides. I intend to be that President."

Armenians for Obama is a nationwide voter registration, education
and mobilization effort dedicated to electing Ba rack Obama
President. Based in Los Angeles, and with chapters and affiliates
in all 50 States, Armenians for Obama will harness the energy and
enthusiasm for Barack Obama’s candidacy to ensure record high Armenian
American turnout in critical battleground states

ARMENIAN BODY IN SWITZERLAND WARY OF TALKS WITH TURKEY
Sargis Shahinyan

Azg
July 22 2008
Armenia

"Armenian-Turkish secret negotiations in Bern. The official position
of the Switzerland-Armenia Association"

The Switzerland-Armenia Association (SAA) is happy that Switzerland
has been selected as the venue of the dialogue aimed at resuming
diplomatic contacts between Armenia and Turkey. Apparently, Turkish
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan indirectly confirmed the fact of secret
negotiations held in Bern on 18 July 2008. However, the SAA also
sees behind this in itself a positive fact Turkey’s hidden wish
to dispute again the issue of the Armenian genocide in the context
of international law and thus, to slow down the recognition of this
genocide. This astonishes particularly bearing in mind that Switzerland
unconditionally condemned the denial of the Armenian genocide at the
level of Federal Court, thus confirming the reality. The SAA believes
that the real dialogue between the two countries will be worthwhile
only if Turkey opens the border with Armenia, which was unilaterally
closed since 1993.

The Armenian side has been sending regular signals for the past
month to the Turkish side regarding starting a dialogue. During the
26-27 June visit to Yerevan, Swiss Head of the Federal Department of
Foreign Affairs Micheline Calmy-Rey made it clear that Switzerland
is ready to play the role of a mediator. Turkey has had no diplomatic
relations with Armenia since it [Armenia] proclaimed independence in
1991. Besides, due to its strategic alliance with Azerbaijan, Turkey
unilaterally closed the border with Armenia in 1993, referring to
the Karabakh conflict. Up to the present Turkey links the opening of
this border to the withdrawal of Armenian troops from Karabakh and
Armenia’s refusal to stop demanding the international recognition
of the 1915-17 genocide. Moreover, in recent years Turkey suggested
establishing "a bilateral commission of historians" of the two
countries to investigate the events of 1915-17.

The SAA is not against the establishment of a scientific commission
that enjoys large international support and that will be able to study
in detail the still little-known sides of the Armenian genocide and
publish the results of the studies. It is time for such an initiative
even under the official auspices of the UN. However, the SAA is
categorically against any attempts of moderating, belittling or even
denying the reality of the Armenian genocide.

[Passage omitted: Switzerland tried to play the role of mediator
between Armenia and Turkey before]

Switzerland and Micheline Calmy-Rey tried in the past to clarify the
role of the "commission of historians", but they did not manage to do
so unfortunately, as Turkey always tried to hinder the use of the word
"genocide".

Switzerland is speaking about an international commission, not
defining clearly its final goals. The SAA remains somewhat pessimistic
regarding this. It does not consider turning this seeming dialogue
into a diplomatic game to be serious, in particular in the case
of a country like Turkey, where the intelligentsia are criminally
persecuted or killed for their views or publications regarding the
Armenian genocide. It is enough to recall the case of a publisher,
Ragip Zarakolu, who was convicted based on Article 301 of the Turkish
legislation [which envisages imprisonment for those who publicly
denigrate Turkishness, the Turkish government and other state entities,
and which is used against people who admitted the fact of the Armenian
genocide]; an article which has been recently modified as if to fit the
European demands; or the murder of the journalist of Armenian origin,
Hrant Dink, in January 2007 in Istanbul; and one can understand the
current political situation in Turkey.

The Armenian genocide is not a matter of bargaining. The improvement
of Ankara-Yerevan diplomatic relations is possible only if Turkey
unambiguously recognizes the historical reality of the Armenian
genocide of 1915-17 and when it stops attempts of hindering its
recognition. The Swiss government should know about this intention
of Turkey.

TURKISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY GETS A NEW PRESIDENT

BIA
July 23 2008
Turkey

President of the Turkish Historical Society (TTK) Prof. Dr. Yusuf
Halacoglu has been removed from his post. Prof. Dr. Ali Binici may
take his place.

Bia news center – Ankara 23-07-2008

Head of the Turkish Historical Society (TTK) Prof. Dr. Yusuf Halacoglu
has been removed from his post. Halacoglu is back at his old post at
Gazi University in Ankara. Prof. Dr. Ali Birinci is expected to take
Halacoglu’s place.

According to cnnturk.com, today (July 23) new assignments regarding
the posts in some ministries were announced in the Official
Gazette. Halacoglu’s removal was included. There was no explanation
regarding why he was removed from his post.

Halacoglu found out about his removal while in holiday in Bodrum. He
said that he did not care about the removal, that it was a burden
anyways.

"It is normal"

Halacoglu said, "This is something that can happen anytime. One day
you do your duty for your state, another day you are back to being
a scientist. These are normal things. I take it as normal."

Last year on August 19, Halacoglu had participated in a conference
at Kayseri in Central Turkey about "AvÅ~_ar people in Turkish History
and Culture" and claimed that Kurds living in Turkey were Turkmen and
Kurdish Alevis living in Turkey were Armenian descendants. (NZ/EZO/TB)

–Boundary_(ID_QRFBK5rNnDbVOeyMx9uVXA )–

TURKEY, ARMENIA IN SECRET TALKS TO NORMALIZE TIES

Agence France Presse
July 18 2008

ANKARA – Diplomats from Turkey and Armenia, neighbours without
diplomatic relations, met secretly in Switzerland this month in a bid
to normalize ties, the mass circulation daily Hurriyet reported Friday.

The delegations met in Bern on July 8 and held talks for several days,
Huerriyet said.

Foreign Minister Ali Babacan did not deny the report, saying the two
countries have contacts "from time to time" and stressing that Ankara
favours dialogue with its northeastern neighbour.

Ali Babacan, foreign minister of Turkey, did not deny Friday Turkish
media reports that his country had had dialogues with neighbour and
historical enemy Armenia from time to time.

Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images

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Printer friendly Font:****The meeting reflects a softer attitude
towards Turkey by Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian, elected in
February, Hurriyet commented, and reported that the United States
and some European Union countries were informed of the talks.

Ankara has refused to establish diplomatic ties with Yerevan since
the former Soviet republic gained independence in 1991 because of
Armenian efforts to secure international recognition of Armenian
massacres under the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

In 1993, Turkey shut its border with Armenia in a show of solidarity
with its close ally Azerbaijan, then at war with Armenia, dealing a
heavy economic blow to the impoverished nation.

"We have contacts with Armenian colleagues from time to time," Babacan
told reporters Friday. "It is important to discuss how relations
between the two countries can be normalized through dialogue."

Turkish and Armenian leaders have met on the sidelines of international
gatherings, including a Black Sea regional summit in Istanbul last
year.

In 2006, Ankara disclosed that Turkish and Armenian diplomats had
held three rounds of talks "to determine whether there is common
ground on which to make progress in bilateral ties."

More recently, Sarkisian invited Turkish President Abdullah Gul to
watch a football World Cup qualifying match between Turkey and Armenia
in Yerevan in September. Gul is yet to reply.

Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were killed in
orchestrated massacres during the First World War as the Turkish
Ottoman Empire was falling apart.

They have pursued an extensive campaign for an international
recognition of the killings as genocide, securing the support of an
array of countries, including France.

Turkey categorically rejects the genocide label and argues that
300,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife
when the Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia
and sided with invading Russian troops.

AZERBAIJAN HAS RIGHT TO LIBERATE ITS LANDS: JORDAN GENERAL

Trend News Agency
July 17 2008
Azerbaijan

If the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not resolved
by peaceful means, Azerbaijan has a right to liberate its lands,
Khalid Jamil al Sarayrah, chairman of the United Committee of the
Heads of Headquarters of the Armed Forces of Jordan said in his
meeting with the Defense Minister of Azerbaijan Safar Abiyev.

The defense minister of Azerbaijan informed his guest of the military
and political situation in the region.

The Minister said that 15-year mediation of OSCE Minsk Group on the
peaceful resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict does not yield any
results and added that if no results are achieved in resolving the
conflict by peaceful means, Azerbaijan can resort to serious measures
to liberate its occupied lands.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which
time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful
negotiations.

ARMENIA CALLS FOR 3RD MOBILE OPERATOR

Wireless Week
July 17 2008

The Armenian government is taking bids from prospective buyers to
become the third mobile operator in the country.

According to government representatives, prospective wireless operators
will have to come up with at least $16 million for the license and
invest at least $316.9 million in their network.

There are currently roughly 2 million wireless subscribers in
Armenia. More than 60% of them subscribe to VivaCell, which is owned by
Russia’s largest mobile operator, MTS. The other operator is ArmenTel,
which is owned by Russia’s Vimpelcom.

The Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) anticipates that
the bidding process will take at least four months.

AZERBAIJAN IS POLITICALLY IMPORTANT COUNTRY FOR FRANCE

State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan
July 17, 2008 Thursday

Azerbaijan is politically important country for France and is one
of the highest foreign policy priorities of official Paris, French
Ambassador in Baku Gabriel Keller told journalists Thursday.

He said Azerbaijan is very significant country to the European Union
in terms of energy security.

Touching upon the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh,
the French diplomat said his country supports a peaceful solution in
accordance with the principle of territorial integrity of states.

Keller praised a meeting by the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents
in Saint Petersburg, adding the two countries are now continuing
negotiations in accordance with Madrid Proposals.