Category: News

European Parliament calls for start of full entry talks with Turkey
NTV television, Istanbul
15 Dec 04
[Presenter] The European Parliament sent a strong message to the EU
leaders ahead of tomorrow’s [16 December] historic summit, calling for
the commencement of the full membership negotiations with Turkey
without delay. Kayhan Karaca followed the voting in Strasbourg. Kayhan
we are listening to you.
[Correspondent] Just a few seconds ago, the European Parliament took a
historic decision and, for the first time, it cleared the way for the
membership talks with Turkey and Turkey’s membership prospect. As we
all watched together, the Christian Democrats tried until the very end
to block Turkey’s path and give Turkey a special status in place of
membership. They even wanted and secured secret voting on it. But all
that effort was rejected at the general assembly of the parliament.
The parliament took a decision and called on the EU leaders to
commence the membership talks with Turkey in 2005 without delay. This
is a very important decision, and it would definitely impact the
meeting of the European leaders who are to gather tomorrow evening to
discuss Turkey. Joseph Borrell, head of the European Parliament, will
personally explain the European Parliament’s decision just adopted in
Strasbourg to the EU leaders in Brussels tomorrow at the start of the
summit.
In the voting held a while ago, the Christian Democrats put two
amendments to the secret voting. In one, they wanted giving a special
status to Turkey. This motion was rejected by a vote of 415 to
259. Another amendment, and a tougher one, called for the rejection of
the Turkish membership. It too was rejected by a majority of votes.
On the other hand, the European Parliament adopted a motion submitted
by the Communist Group on the Armenian genocide. Accordingly, an
article was added to the report at the last moment calling on the
Armenian and Turkish peoples to [examine] the issue of genocide. All
the amendment motions submitted by the Greek parliamentarians on the
Cyprus and Aegean issues were rejected. But, a motion proposed by
[name indistinct], a member of the NDP [New Democracy] and Christian
Democratic Group, on the ecumenical status of the Greek Patriarchate
was endorsed. But all these are secondary issues now. Presently, the
parliament has really put its imprint on the 16-17 [December]
summit. This was expected, but we went through a tense period due to
the Christian Democrats’ amendment motions. The European Parliament
adopted a historic decision, and most probably the EU leaders will
adopt a similar decision on Turkey tomorrow evening or on Friday.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Chirac to make case on TV for EU-Turkey talks

The Guardian – United Kingdom
Dec 15, 2004
JON HENLEY IN PARIS

President Jacques Chirac is so concerned about French hostility to
Turkey joining the EU that he has taken the step of asking to be
interviewed on the subject on the TF1 television news tonight.
Two days before EU leaders are expected to propose the start of formal
entry talks with Ankara, Mr Chirac, facing political isolation in
France, “will try to inform the public and explain what’s at stake”, a
spokesman said.
Yesterday the Turkish prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, said he would
not hesitate to reject entry talks if “unacceptable issues” were
raised.
One such might be France asking Turkey to acknowledge its genocide of
Armenians in the early years of the 20th century, a highly contentious
issue between the two countries.
But the French foreign minister, Michel Barnier, appeared to back away
from this yesterday, despite saying on Tuesday that France might
consider making this a precondition.
A survey published on Monday confirmed the public opposition to
Turkish accession: 67% of those questioned, including 71% of
conservative voters and 61% of leftwingers, disapproved.
That puts Mr Chirac, who has repeatedly backed Turkey’s bid for
accession but admitted openly in Britain last month that the question
was “a real problem in France”, in a very delicate position.
At home he finds himself out of step not only with the voters and many
senior opposition Socialists, but also with most members of his own
centre-right UMP, including its newly installed and highly ambitious
leader, Nicolas Sarkozy, a probable rival in the 2007 presidential
election.
Although he has promised voters the opportunity to veto Turkey’s
accession when the moment comes in another 10 years or so, he is
worried that their fears will affect the outcome of next year’s
referendum on the EU constitution.
Popular rejection of the constitution would be a heavy blow to his
possible quest for a third term in office.
But changing tack on Turkey to appease the public would leave him
exposed in the EU, angering his allies and further diminishing French
influence.
As a former prime minister, Eduard Balladur, said this week: “Europe
is no longer just foreign policy. A good part of it is now domestic
policy.”
The reservations most commonly cited by French voters are
straightforward: the risk of Turkish immigrants entering the EU job
market (the most important factor for 40% of the poll’s respondents),
and the fact that most of Turkey’s 70 million citizens are Muslims
(25% of the poll).
There is also concern about Ankara’s human rights record, including
its refusal to recognise the Armenian genocide.
But Mr Barnier said yesterday that the genocide was “not a condition
that we are setting on the opening of negotiations, like the ones that
the heads of state will discuss on Thursday and Friday”.
France would bring it up in the first round of talks, likely to begin
next year. When the time came Turkey should face up to the need to
recognise “this tragedy”.
He added: “The European project itself is founded on the idea of
reconciliation.
“We have 10 years to ask it; the Turks have 10 years to think about
their response.”
But Ankara has made it clear that there is no question of it
recognising the genocide, which it denies.
The success of Mr Chirac’s attempt to win over French voters,
stressing less the advantages to the EU than the fact that entry talks
will not automatically lead to membership, is by no means certain.
He has already angered Turkish leaders and upset his main EU partners
by suggesting that the talks should be delayed until late next year,
and by floating – with Austria – the idea that Brussels should hold
out to Ankara a form of privileged partnership or “third way” if it
fails to meet the full EU criteria.

Turkish Speaker regrets Slovak decision on Armenian “genocide”
Anatolia news agency
14 Dec 04
ANKARA
Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc sent a letter to Slovakian
National Parliament Speaker Pavol Hrustovsky on Tuesday [14 December]
and expressed his regret over approval of a decision by the Slovakian
parliament to recognize the so-called Armenian genocide.
In his letter, Arinc said: “Some members of the Slovakian national
parliament supported a distorted and prejudiced allegation ignoring
all historical facts. It created a profound disappointment in the
Turkish parliament. I believe that parliaments are obliged to
consolidate friendly relations among their peoples. A while ago,
Turkey supported Slovakia’s membership to NATO. I want to express our
profound sorrow and regret over approval of such an unfair and
wrongful decision by Slovakian MPs.”
The Slovakian national parliament made a decision on 30 November 2004
on recognition of the so-called Armenian genocide.

Russia backed neither side in Ukraine poll – Duma speaker
RIA news agency, Moscow
15 Dec 04
YEREVAN
In the presidential elections in Ukraine Russia supported none of the
candidates for the post of head of state, State Duma speaker Boris
Gryzlov, who is on a visit to Armenia, told journalists on Wednesday
[15 December].
“Russia did not champion any of the candidates in the presidential
elections in Ukraine. I am stating that officially,” Gryzlov said.
He said that the Ukrainian Supreme Court had exceeded its powers when
it passed an unprecedented ruling that the results of the second round
of the presidential elections should be deemed void. In his view,
under existing legislation this decision could only have been taken by
the Ukrainian Central Electoral Commission.
Gryzlov believes that there was obvious strong-arm pressure by one
side against the other after the second round of the presidential
elections.
He also noted that only talks between Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor
Yanukovych helped to avoid bloodshed in Ukraine.
According to the State Duma speaker, events in Ukraine are influencing
the situation in the CIS as a whole.
Gryzlov also said that Russia would work with the elected president of
Ukraine.

US envoy hails resumption of Karabakh talks
ANS TV, Baku
15 Dec 04
[Presenter] The US government is in favour of finding a peaceful
solution to the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. The US ambassador to
Azerbaijan, Reno Harnish, has said the While House is pleased that the
Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers have decided to resume the
talks.
[Correspondent over video of Harnish, talking to reporters] Official
Washington hails the decision to continue the Karabakh talks between
the foreign ministers, US ambassador Harnish said. He said that the US
government is glad that Elmar Mammadyarov and Vardan Oskanyan will
meet in January next year.
The continuation of the talks in this format will help resolve the
Karabakh conflict, end quote. Harnish said that the settlement of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict would help eliminate some restrictions
on US aid to Azerbaijan.
[Passage omitted: reported retails]

SYNAPSE EXPLORES NEW MEDICAL DIAGNOSTICS VIA CAMERA CELL PHONES
Asia Pulse
Dec 15, 2004

TOKYO, Dec 15 Asia Pulse – Artificial intelligence developer Synapse
Communications Inc. plans to launch at the end of next year a service
that checks for diseases by looking at images of irises captured with
camera cellular phones.
The iris is the thin circular membrane between the cornea and lens of
the eye.
The firm plans to tap the findings of Armenia’s artificial
intelligence development center. The former Soviet Union republic’s
national research institution discovered that patients with different
diseases have different iris conditions, and it has created a database
on this correlation.
Those subscribing to the new service will connect to the designated
Web page through their cell phones and use their camera-equipped
handsets to shoot and send images of irises. Synapse will analyze the
information by looking for spots and deformations, for example, and
check the results against the database to alert users to possible
illnesses such as internal diseases.
The company does not intend to venture into medical practice, only to
provide information and recommend measures to stay healthy, such as
diet and exercise. The price of the service is yet to be decided.
The Armenian-Japanese Scientific, Educational and Cultural Ties
Association, a group that promotes exchanges between the two
countries, played matchmaker for Synapse and the Armenian research
center.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian tragedy
The Guardian – United Kingdon
Dec 15, 2004

* Armenia accuses Turkey of genocide in the deaths of 1.5 million
people between 1915 and 1923, when the Ottoman empire was breaking
up. It says they were massacred or died in epidemics during their
forced deportations from eastern Turkey to Syria and Mesopotamia.
* Ankara flatly denies the genocide, says the death count is
exaggerated and that those Armenians who died were just some of many
victims of the geo-strategic turbulence of the time.
* In 2001 the French parliament recognised the killings as genocide,
sparking huge protests. A motion was tabled in the Turkish parliament
accusing France of genocide during Algeria’s 1955-62 war of
independence.

Official says cargo cannot go to Armenia through Azerbaijan – TV
Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
15 Dec 04
Presenter in studio] Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud
Mammadquliyev told a news conference in Baku today that the
Azerbaijani authorities had sufficient legal grounds to examine the
railway wagons detained on the Georgian-Azerbaijani border. He added
that this would not affect bilateral relations.
[Correspondent over video of railway wagons] Azerbaijan has both
political and legal grounds not to let the railway wagons into
Georgia. Having said this, Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud
Mammadquliyev mentioned that Azerbaijan’s refusal to allow goods bound
for Armenia to pass through its territory is reflected in a number of
documents.
[Mammadquliyev shown in an office] First of all, both Georgia and
Azerbaijan have joined the TRACECA [Transport Corridor
Europe-Caucasus-Asia] project. As you may know, there is a provision
there that the territory of Azerbaijan cannot be used for the transit
of goods bound for Armenia. We have a similar agreement with
Georgia. This is what disturbs us now. And we are trying to find a
solution to the problem together with Georgia.
[Correspondent] Mammadquliyev added that even though the solution to
the problem is taking time, this will not affect Azerbaijani-Georgian
relations.
The deputy minister also expressed his attitude to the work of some
foreign companies on the occupied Azerbaijani territories. Saying that
most of these companies are owned by representatives of the Armenian
lobby, Mammadquliyev added that Azerbaijan is taking serious sanctions
against these companies.
[Mammadquliyev] Even though these companies are registered in America
and elsewhere, they are purely Armenian. Of course, when such
information is confirmed, we appeal to the countries they officially
represent. And there are results because the governments of these
countries are threatening to close these companies’ bank accounts. We
will continue doing everything we can to that end.
[Correspondent] In conclusion, touching on the allocation of US
assistance to Nagornyy Karabakh, the deputy minister said Baku is
taking measures in that respect. America sees this as humanitarian aid
and we will try to prevent that. But this is not an easy task, end
quote.
Namiq Aliyev and Ilqar Abdullayev, “Son Xabar”.

Blair, Azeri president discuss ties, Karabakh
Space TV, Baku
15 Dec 04
[Presenter, over video of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and
British Prime Minister Tony Blair shaking hands at 10 Downing Street]
A few hours ago President Ilham Aliyev completed his visit to Britain
and returned home.
On the last day of his London visit Aliyev met British Prime Minister
Tony Blair. The talks focused on the ways of resolving the
Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. The sides also
discussed prospects of Azerbaijani-British relations, regional
cooperation, international issues and our country’s integration into
the EU. Views were exchanged on issues of mutual interest as well.

Armenian premier upbeat on country’s economic growth
Golos Armenii
14 Dec 04

Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan has said that in 2005 the
country will reach the economic level at which Armenia was in 1989. In
his interview with Golos Armenii newspaper, the prime minister noted
that international financial institutions treat Armenia as a country
with a developing economy. However, this creates certain difficulties
in getting credits on light conditions and the country will not be
able to give up credits in the next few years, he said. Andranik
Markaryan added that he will take an active part in the next
presidential, parliamentary and local government elections. He also
denied that the dispatch of an Armenian military contingent to Iran
poses a threat to the country’s security. The following is an excerpt
from Marina Lazarian report by Armenian newspaper Golos Armenii on 14
December headlined “They treat us as a country where the economy is
developing” and subheaded “says the Armenian prime minister and leader
of the Republican Party of Armenia, Andranik Markaryan”. Subheadings
as published:
Interview with the Armenian prime minister and leader of the
Republican Party of Armenia, Andranik Markaryan.
Certain people used the difficult situation
[Correspondent] Given the latest events, doesn’t the government think
it expedient to intervene in the currency policy of the Central Bank?
The population is suffering from the fall in the exchange rate of the
dollar and the explanations of the Central Bank do not convince people
any more.
[Markaryan] First, the rate of the dram for the dollar is stabilizing
in our country.
[Passage omitted: about processes in the world economy]
[Correspondent] Doesn’t the tendency of economic growth to stabilize
prompt the need and a possibility to refuse credits of the World Bank
and the IMF? Isn’t it time to stop living in debt?
[Markaryan] The aforesaid institutions monitor every year whether we
fulfil our obligations and meet certain criteria. On the basis of the
results of the monitoring, foreign investors decide whether it is
expedient to invest in our economy. Cooperation with our country is
based on the degree of IMF and World Bank assessments. Even Russia,
with its great natural reserves, stakes on credits. As for us, Armenia
is among the countries that are not given credits on light conditions,
we get only commercial credits. On the one hand, it is good as we are
treated as a country whose economy is developing. On the other hand,
it creates difficulties in getting credits on light conditions. We
will not be able to give up credits in the next few years.
In 2005 we will reach the level of Soviet Armenia of 1989
[Correspondent] There are reports which suggest that if the Armenian
economy cannot take an economic leap at the moment, in 2020 it will
find itself at the level of the Lithuanian economy in 2003. In other
words, can our country take a big leap, just the same way as they did
it in Holland or Singapore?
[Markaryan] We are developing leap by leap, and it is of no benefit to
us to have an 11, 12 or 13-per-cent growth in GDP every year. The
moment will come when we shall aspire to an 8-per-cent growth. We
still have resources (credits, incomes) and if they are used
correctly, we can go ahead, but tomorrow when the economy reaches a
certain level, a 12 or 13-per-cent growth will not be quite
normal. Developed European countries have a 3 or 4-per-cent growth
annually. In 2005, we shall reach the economic level of Soviet Armenia
of 1989. This is not bad. There are few countries among the
post-Soviet states that can boast the pace we predict for the next two
or three years.
[Passage omitted: Other details; A factory in Zangezur will start
operating soon]
There is a risk, but if we want to play by the generally accepted
rules… [ellipsis as given]
[Correspondent] What is the position of the Republican Party of
Armenia [RPA] on the issue of sending an Armenian military contingent
to Iraq? Will this mission not turn into a threat to our country?
[Markaryan] We think that we should interfere in the business of
superpowers as less as possible. But since we are a state and have
certain obligations, and what’s more, the point is about fighting
international terrorism and our state has always declared that it
supports this fight, the position of the state should not boil down
only to statements, it also suggests specific actions, i.e. we intend
to send only 50 doctors, drivers and sappers to Iraq. As for the
threat, there is always a threat. If you mean the interests of Iraq’s
Armenian community that might become a target for terrorists if an
Armenian military contingent goes to Iraq, that could have happened
when our country supported the American action in Iraq. Before this
support was declared and before we intended to send a contingent to
Iraq, Armenians also died in Iraq, Armenian houses and churches were
blown up. There is a risk, but if we want to play by the generally
accepted rules, we should take the risk. One should not forget that
the countries which have sent troops to Iraq, such as Poland, Spain
and others, and which are thinking of pulling them out now, had
fundamentally different tasks in Iraq. Their contingents took part in
the hostilities and suffered great casualties, which is why public
opinion in those countries is appropriate. In our country, this
problem has no such harsh nature.
[Passage omitted: Political parties are not that strong to affect the
economy]
The RPA will actively participate in the elections
[Correspondent] Are you going to run in the presidential elections?
And what will the RPA’s mission be in those elections?
[Markaryan] The RPA will take an active part in the local government,
parliamentary, as well as in the presidential elections. Certainly,
the level of participation in the presidential elections will depend
on the results gained by the party in the parliamentary
elections. Even if the RPA does not nominate its candidate, it will
nevertheless take an active part in the presidential elections, and
who is elected president will greatly depend on that.
[Passage omitted: Other details]
Personnel changes may always happen
[Correspondent] They are talking a lot about the personnel changes in
the government. How well-founded is this talk especially against the
background of ministers’ reports?
[Markaryan] Personnel changes may always happen, but I would not link
them to ministers’ reports. There is no programme on personnel changes
yet, but it may occur at any moment in connection with individuals
ministers. In this case, party affiliation plays no role. The recent
media rumours that I am allegedly firing my advisers under pressure
are not true. In this connection, I would like to recall that the
institute of the prime minister’s advisers does not depend on the
coalition, president or parliament. The prime minister chooses his
advisers independently. I have nine advisers, eight of them are
working and one of them, Vladimir Movsisyan, has changed his job. As
for the remaining advisers, they are all still working, but something
might change in January.