Author: Vorskanian Yeghisabet

DEMANDS FOR MORE REFORM BY TURKEY LESSEN EU MEMBERSHIP CHANCES
Dorian Jones

Voice of America
15 October 2009
Ankara

The European Commission’s annual progress report on Turkish membership
says Ankara has improved its handling of human rights issues and the
Kurdish minority. But it says that a lot more work needs to be done
for it to become an EU member. The report is being met with little
enthusiasm in Turkey as doubts over its bid to become a member
continues to grow.

The European Commission’s annual progress report on Turkish membership
said Ankara has made some improvements on handling of human rights
but said Turkey needs to speed up reforms to boost its chances of
joining the bloc.

The EU and Turkey started membership negotiations in 2005, but
they have made little progress since, while France and Germany have
expressed opposition to Turkey’s bid.

The report’s findings were welcomed by Ergemen Bagis, the cabinet
minister responsible for Turkey’s bid to join the EU.

He said the Democratic initiatives introduced by our government have
been met with praise and he said the necessity of taking concrete
steps alongside this wide ranging process is emphasized. He also said
the steps such as Turkey’s continuing dialogue with the non-muslim
communities as well as its relationship with Armenia are all included
in the report in positive terms.

But Professor Cengiz Aktar, head of European Union studies at
Istanbul’s Bachesehir University, says such reports from the commission
are becoming just an academic exercise. "Total schizophrenia. On the
one hand, Turkey is now moving and the government is moving with this
Kurdish opening and this opening towards Armenia and many other things
on its way. All is in line with the EU membership (requirements), and
the negotiations are completely stalled. It is day and night. Europe is
absent, the commission is there but the European Union member states
are not there. They are not supporting Turkey in its endeavors,"
he said.

One area of contention between both sides in yprus. A member of the
European Union since 2004, Cyprus has no diplomatic relations with
Turkey which invaded the island’s northern third after a brief Greek
inspired coup in 1974.

In its report, the EU executive arm said Turkey made no progress in
normalizing relations with Cyprus, adding that it was urgent that
Ankara open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot traffic.

But Suat Kiniklioglu, spokesman for the Turkish parliamentary foreign
affairs committee, says Turkey won’t do so until the EU honors
it commitment to Turkish Cypriots. "Our policy is conditioned. The
European Union has told us that direct trade with Turkish Cyprus would
be established. That did not happen. As long that does not happen,
there is no way we are going to open the ports to Greek Cyprus,"
he said.

Brussels had indicated that it would lift the embargo if Turkish
Cypriots voted in favor of a U.N.-sponsored unification plan. They did,
but the Greeks rejected it.

The row over the ports could reach a head at the end of this
year. Under a protocol signed by Turkey, the country risks having the
talks suspended by the EU unless it opens its ports to Greek Cyprus
by December.

Richard Howitt of the European Parliament’s Committee on Turkey
warns that Ankara is in danger of throwing away all the good work
it has achieved so far. "I warned them that there isn’t too much
ambiguity. I would argue no ambiguity in that legal text agreed by
the council ministers. So, don’t underestimate the threat of the
talks being suspended altogether," he said.

But analysts say such a threat does not carry the weight it once did
in Turkey. Professor Aktar of Bachesehir University says the rapid
progress of EU applicant Croatia only adds to Turkish resentment. The
report gave no entry date for Croatia, but reports say the former
Yugoslav state could become the EU’s 28th member in 2012 after
ratification of its accession treaty. "Croatia, who started the
negotiation process the same day as Turkey, will probably will be
ready by the end of 2010 to become eds over 10 years to be ready at
this pace. And they are slowly losing Turkey," he said.

There have been efforts within the EU to dilute the membership talks
and redirect the cooperation between Turkey and the bloc to something
less than full membership. Turkey has seen this as a snub and reform
has not proceeded as fast as many want.

OBAMA’S DECISION TO INCREASE U.S.-RUSSIA RELATIONS

Aysor.am
Wednesday, October 14

U.S. administration intends to have joint activities with EU
to increase U.S.-Russia relations. This announcement is made by
U.S. President Obama when he and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis
Rodriguez Zapatero met with journalists.

Obama congratulated Zapatero on Spain’s impending turn in the EU
presidency and promised that his government will work closely with
Madrid in such areas as the fight against terrorism, improving
relations with Russia and European integration.

GAZA HAUNTS TURKISH-ISRAELI STRATEGIC TIES

Islam Online
IslamOnline.net & Newspapers

"We hope that the situation in Gaza will be improved, that the
situation will be back to the diplomatic track," Davutoglu said.

CAIRO – Several months on, Israel’s savage onslaught against the
impoverished, sealed-off Gaza Strip continues to haunt its once
"strategic" relations with heavyweight Turkey.

"We hope that the situation in Gaza will be improved, that the
situation will be back to the diplomatic track," Turkish Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told CNN.

The Turkish military said last week the international section of the
"Anatolian Eagle" air exercises, carried out annually since 2001,
had been delayed.

Tel Aviv said the drills were scrapped after Ankara excluded Israel,
a decision which prompted the US and Italy to pull out.

The war games are important for Israel as they provide an opportunity
for its aircraft to train in a vast air space unavailable in Israel.

Turkey had earlier linked the Israel decision to "a technical matter"
but Davutoglu acknowledged the link to the Gaza war.

"And that will create a new atmosphere in Turkish-Israeli relations
as well. But in the existing situation, of course, we are criticizing
this approach, [the] Israeli approach."

More than 1,400 people, including 437 children and hundreds of other
civilians, were killed and 5,450 wounded in three weeks of air,
sea and land attacks.

A report last month by the UN’s human rights council accused Israel
of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war.

The war cast a shadow over Turley’s once-flourishing relations
with Israel.

Davutoglu cancelled plans to visit Israel in September after he was
denied permission to visit the Gaza Strip.

Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of committing genocide
in Gaza Strip and wants its officials to be tried for war crimes.

In January, he confronted President Shimon Peres at Davos and told him
"you know well how to kill people."

Crisis

Israel scrambled to contain a with its most important military
relationship in the region.

"The relations between Israel and Turkey are strategic and have
been maintained for dozens of years," Defense Minister Ehud Barak
said Monday.

He warned against further harming Israel’s relations with Turkey.

"Despite all the ups and downs, Turkey continues to be a central figure
in our region; it is unsuitable to be drawn into criticizing it."

Muslim-majority Turkey has been Israel’s chief regional ally since
1996 and has long enjoyed military co-operation with Tel Aviv.

Israeli officials and media outlets have opened fire at Turkey over
the past weeks and even pressed for re-evaluating Israel’s ties
with Ankara.

"It may be that the reality has changed and the strategic ties that
we thought existed have simply ended," a senior official told Haaretz.

"Maybe we need to be the ones who initiate renewed thinking regarding
our ties and must adopt response measures."

Defense officials told the Jerusalem Post they were rethinking arms
sales to Turkey and would end support for Turkey in its efforts to
stop the US Congress voting to declare the mass killing of Armenians
by the Ottoman Turks genocide.

An adamant Turkey asked Israel to show restraint in its reactions.

"Assessments and comments attributed to Israeli officials in the
press are unacceptable," the Foreign Ministry said.

"We invite Israeli officials to common sense in their statements
and attitudes."

WORLD BANK: ARMENIA SUFFERS DUE TO MONEY TRANSFERS

News.am
12:09 / 10/12/2009

According to the 2009 annual report issued by the World Bank (WB)
Armenia is one of the countries in the region which considerably
suffered due to reduction of international money transfers and
crisis-impacted countries’ financial and labor markets.

Armenia is one of the countries that had an opportunity to use
interest-free loans and grants that will be allocated from the WB
special fund created to overcome the crisis consequences.

According to the WB forecast, world economy recession will reach 2.9%
by the end of 2009. The overall value of international trade and
services will be reduced over 10%.

According to international financial organizations, economy recession
will make 15% in Armenia.

PROTESTS, DEMANDS FOR RESIGNATION: SAMVEL BABAYAN FORESEES DEVELOPMENT

Tert.am
16:03 09.10.09

After the signing of the pre-signed Armenian-Turkish Protocols,
planned actions will include protests taking place in Yerevan, and
even a demand for a resignation, Dashink Party Leader, ex-foreign
defense minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Samvel Babayan stated at a press
conference today.

He is convinced the presigned Protocols can not be put into force
without a mutual concession on the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh,
which, however, is impossible, according to him. "If they are able
to establish relations with Turkey and open the Armenian-Turkish
border without the Karabakh issue, I welcome it," Babayan said,
adding that it’s unlikely and the border will be opened only in case
of concessions in the Karabakh issue. But according to Babayan, it
is impossible to make concessions in that matter; he is convinced
that no one will agree to hand over Karabakh.

Characterizing the Armenian-Turkish Protocols as being pro-Turkey,
Babayan stated that he is convinced their contents were not developed
under pressure from outside forces, but resulted from negotiations
by the Armenian side. According to Babayan, this raises the question:
how, in that case, could such pro-Turkey documents have been created?

FOREIGN MINISTRY OF ARMENIA STILL REMAINS SILENT REGARDING THE DATE OF SIGNING OF ARMENIA-TURKEY PROTOCOLS

ArmInfo
2009-10-09 13:01:00

ArmInfo. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend the ceremony
of signing the protocols between Armenia and Turkey on October 10 in
Zurich, assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasian affairs
Philip Gordon said, AFP reports.

"The secretary is going to start off (her European tour) by going
to Zurich where she will attend the signing of two protocols between
the governments of Turkey and Armenia. She’s going there to show our
support for what we believe is a historic step for both Turkey and
Armenia toward normalization of their relations," Gordon said.

According to the source, Clinton’s counterparts Sergei Lavrov of
Russia, Bernard Kouchner of France and Javier Solana of the European
Union have been invited to the ceremony and will attend.

Meanwhile, Head of Mass Media Relations Department Tigran Balayan
told ArmInfo by phone that he has nothing yet to say on this issue.

ARMENIAN PROTESTERS DENOUNCE DEAL ON TURKEY TIES

AFP
09 oct 09

YEREVAN — Several thousand Armenians took to the streets of the
capital Yerevan on Friday to protest against the government’s plans
to sign a landmark deal on normalising ties with Turkey.

Carrying placards reading "No Concessions to the Turks," the protesters
were marching from central Yerevan to a hilltop memorial to World War
I-era massacres of Armenians under Ottoman rule, an AFP reporter saw.

Armenia and Turkey are expected to sign two landmark protocols Saturday
to normalise ties and reopen their border, in a major step towards
ending nearly a century of hostility over the massacres.

In a statement handed over to Armenia’s presidency, the protesters
urged President Serzh Sarkisian not to sign the deal.

"These protocols contain some very dangerous points for our nation
and for our state, which threaten our interests," the statement
said. The protesters said Sarkisian would "be held responsible for
the unpredictable consequences" if the deal is signed.

The protests were organised by a coalition of opposition parties,
including the nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun), which quit the ruling coalition earlier this year
over the reconciliation efforts with Turkey.

After they are signed, the protocols will still need to be ratified
by the two countries’ parliaments. Despite some vocal opposition,
Armenia’s ruling coalition has backed the protocols, making their
approval by the country’s national assembly almost a guarantee.

Turkey has long refused to establish ties with Armenia over Yerevan’s
international campaign to have the early 20th-century massacres
recognised as genocide, a label Ankara categorically rejects.

Turkey also closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with
ally Azerbaijan over Yerevan’s backing of ethnic Armenian separatists
in the breakaway Nagorny Karabakh region.

FOOTBALL DIPLOMACY SEALS THE DEAL BETWEEN ARMENIA AND TURKEY

The Times
October 10, 2009

Meetings between Armenian and Turkish leaders have prompted protests
from opponents in both countries but the talks could finally end a
century of enmity

Tony Halpin in Moscow

It is the World Cup final of football diplomacy: amid high tensions
and strong emotions, Armenia and Turkey will end a century of enmity
today in a process that was begun on the pitch.

Watched by a top flight of diplomats, the foreign ministers of Turkey
and Armenia are due to sign documents that will establish relations
between them for the first time and open Europe’s last closed border.

The agreement has infuriated many Armenians, who see it as a betrayal
of 1½ million of their ancestors who were massacred in the crumbling
Ottoman Turkish Empire during the First World War.

The signing of two protocols in Switzerland is the culmination of
negotiations that began when Serzh Sargsyan, the Armenian President,
invited his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul, to watch a football
World Cup qualifying match between the two countries in September
last year.

Mr Gul accepted and flew to the Armenian capital, Yerevan, even though
the neighbouring states had no diplomatic links. His invitation to Mr
Sargsyan to watch the return match in Turkey next Wednesday became
a deadline for establishing relations, af ter the Armenian leader
said that he would refuse to go unless a deal on opening their common
border had been reached.

The significance of today’s ceremony in Zurich is being underscored
by the presence of Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State,
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, and Javier Solana,
the European Union foreign policy chief, who have all pushed hard
for a reconciliation.

The agreements provide for the establishment of joint commissions
on trade and political relations. Most controversially, they also
establish an historical commission to conduct an "impartial scientific
examination" of what Armenians call the first genocide of the 20th
century, in what is now eastern Turkey, in 1915.

The decision outraged millions of Armenians in the former Soviet
republic’s worldwide diaspora, who are descendants of survivors
of the massacres. By agreeing to the commission, they say, their
Government insulted the memory of the victims and cast doubt on a
genocide acknowledged by most international historians.

Mr Sargsyan was met by furious Armenian demonstrators who denounced him
as a traitor when he made a whistlestop tour of diaspora communities
in France, Lebanon and the United States last week. The protocols have
also sparked anger in Armenia, where the nationalist political party
Dashnaktsutyun has quit Mr Sargsyan’s ruling coalition in protest.

Turkey denies that genocide occur red and has waged a long diplomatic
battle to dissuade the United States and other countries from siding
with Armenia. President Obama declared before his election that he
would recognise the events of 1915 as genocide but avoided using
the word itself when he visited Turkey before the annual April 24
commemoration of the massacres.

Instead, he urged Armenia and Turkey to "deal with a difficult and
tragic history". Days later, the two countries said that they had
agreed on a "road map" intended to lead to today’s establishment
of relations.

Despite the protests, a majority of the 3.2 million people in Armenia
support Mr Sargsyan’s initiative, arguing that it will boost trade and
living standards for the landlocked republic’s impoverished citizens.

Many Armenians already travel to Turkey to buy and sell goods. Turkey
views the agreement as a landmark in its efforts to be seen as a key
regional power in the Caucasus and Central Asia, where the US and
EU are eager to tap into vast reserves of oil and gas. The opening
of the border was a key goal for the West because it creates new
opportunities to run pipelines from Central Asia through the Causasus
to Europe, bypassing Russia and reducing the EU’s dependence on the
Kremlin for energy.

It may also raise pressure to resolve the conflict between
Armenia and neighbouring Azerbaijan over the disputed territory
of=2 0NagornoKarabakh. The two countries fought a war over the
Armenian-dominated enclave in the early 1990s that left 25,000 dead
and created one million refugees.

After a brief opening when the Soviet Union collapsed, Turkey closed
its border with Armenia in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan. Armenian
forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, backed by Yerevan, took control of the
enclave and occupied several regions of Azerbaijan in the war, but
international efforts to negotiate a lasting settlement have failed
to produce an agreement.

Mr Sargsyan and President Aliyev of Azerbaijan met for talks on
the issue in Moldova yesterday. Negotiations were described as
"constructive" although no breakthough was reported.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

A WORLD VISION DELEGATION VISITS HIS HOLINESS ARAM I

On Tuesday 6 October 2009 His Holiness Aram I met in his office with the
leadership of World Vision. The Delegation had come to the region to learn
about the challenges in the region and how these challenges affected the
life of the people and the response of the Churches.

After welcoming the guests and thanking the World Vision for their
humanitarian work, His Holiness Aram I spoke of the important task of the
churches in diakonia and the challenges of globalization on the region. He
also spoke of the importance of dialogue between religions and cultures.
After this brief introduction there was lively dialogue during which the
representatives asked questions.

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View the photo here:
tos/Photos399.htm#4
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.

AJB MEMBER OFFERS IMPOSING SANCTIONS FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL, SIMILARLY TO NEGATION OF HOLOCAUST

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.10.2009 21:05 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ At "Denial and Democracy in Europe" conference in
the European Parliament, Brussels, Association of Jews in Belgium
(AJB) representative, Nicolas Zomersztajn offered imposing sanctions
for denial of Armenians’ and Rwanda Tutsis’ Genocide, similarly to
negation of Holocaust, adding that arguments over which Genocide was
more horrible are pointless.

"Denial is the ultimate act of Genocide. Even if it’s not perpetrators
who negate the Genocide, the negation itself aims at trying to prove
the victims to be liars or criminals," Sorbonne University professor,
specializing in Genocide history, Yves Ternon stated.

Conference participants also noted that not only perpetrators are
to blame for Genocides, but also the world community who remained
silent on the issue. Auschwitz concentration camp survivor, Ralph
Giordano emphasized that the international community kept long years’
silence over Armenian Genocide. "My country – Germany recognized the
fact in 2005, as well as the role of German Emperor German II, who
was perfectly aware of massacres," Rzeczpospolita polish newspaper
cited him as saying.