AZERBAIJAN BEST, FRANCE WORST FOR TURKS
Angus Reid Global Scan, Canada
Oct 25 2006
– Few adults in Turkey express positive feelings on two European
nations, according to a poll by A&G published in Milliyet. Only 2.8
per cent of respondents trust France, and 3.2 per cent feel the same
way about Britain.
The United States was next on the list with 3.6 per cent, followed
by Greece with 4.2 per cent and Russia with 17.7 per cent. The three
most trusted countries are Azerbaijan with 71.4 per cent, Pakistan
with 47.3 per cent, and Iran with 29 per cent.
On Oct. 12, France’s National Assembly approved a bill that makes
it a crime to deny that the state-sponsored deportation campaign
undertaken by the Turkish government from 1915 to 1917-which targeted
the Armenian population-actually constituted a genocide.
Some Turkish consumer organizations have called for a ban on French
products. On Oct. 22, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
pleaded for calm, saying, “What do we have to win or lose by
boycotting? We should consider that with a great deal of caution.”
Polling Data
Do you trust the following countries?
Yes No Not sure
France 2.8% 76.1% 21.1%
Britain 3.2% 73.2% 23.5%
United States 3.6% 78.5% 17.9%
Greece 4.2% 78.1% 17.7%
Russia 8.7% 64.8% 26.5%
Germany 17.7% 56.9% 25.3%
Iran 29.0% 43.1% 28.0%
Pakistan 47.3% 24.3% 28.4%
Azerbaijan 71.4% 11.1% 17.5%
Source: A&G / Milliyet Methodology: Interviews with 2,408 Turk adults,
conducted in late September 2006. No margin of error was provided.

POLL SHOWS PUBLIC’S SUPPORT FOR EU WANING IN TURKEY
Ethan Mcnern
Scotsman, United Kingdom
Oct 25 2006
FEWER than a third of Turks think their country must enter the European
Union, a poll showed yesterday, as Ankara comes under increasing
pressure to make concessions before it can join.
The survey, published in the newspaper Milliyet, showed 32.2 per cent
thought Turkey “must certainly enter the EU”, a sharp decline on the
57.4 per cent figure last year and 67.5 per cent in 2004.
The poll, which shows a more dramatic decline in EU support than
other recent surveys, comes as Brussels is urging Turkey to step up
reforms and make concessions over the divided island of Cyprus if it
is to avoid a possible freeze in membership talks later this year.
The survey may make it harder for Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister,
who faces elections next year, to push through unpopular measures
demanded by the EU.
Of the 2,408 people polled, 25.6 per cent said Turkey “should certainly
not enter the EU” – only 10.3 per cent felt that way last year.
The survey was carried out in late September, and since then
nationalism and anti-EU feeling have been fuelled further by a law
passed in the French parliament making it a crime to deny – as Ankara
does – that Ottoman Turks carried out genocide against Armenians
in 1915.
The poll also showed that only 7.2 per cent trust the EU. Many Turks,
including the government, complain that Brussels is changing the
rules over Cyprus as it goes along.
The EU is due to present a report on Turkey’s progress on 8 November,
which will probably criticise Ankara for a lack of reform on issues
such as minority and religious rights and freedom of speech –
prosecutors have continued to take journalists and writers to court
over insulting “Turkishness”.
Meanwhile, Turkey still refuses to open its ports and airports to
Greek Cypriot planes and vessels. Ankara supports a breakaway Cyprus
in the north, refusing to recognise the EU-member Cypriot government
in the south.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PAMUK WINS, TURKEY LOSES
Washington Post,DC
Oct 25 2006
Istanbul, Turkey – The most important story in Turkey over the past
two weeks was Orhan Pamuk winning the Nobel Prize for literature. The
announcement came an hour after the French National Assembly passed
a resolution making it a criminal offence punishable by five years
in jail to deny that a genocide against the Armenians of the Ottoman
Empire was committed during World War I.
Pamuk himself was once tried for defaming “Turkness” because he said
“a million Armenians and thirty thousand Kurds have been killed in this
land” in the course of an interview he gave to a Swiss newspaper. Many
of his detractors viciously linked the two developments. They argued
that the prize was given to Pamuk not because of his literary
accomplishments, his recognition as a master of the novel who
transformed this literary form and raised substantive questions
about East and West and their relations in his work but because of
his political stance. The public in general was unable to rejoice in
the accomplishment of one of its own.
This peculiar and rather unhealthy reaction is a reflection of
the growing self-absorption of the public in Turkey and a growing
mistrust of the West. Such a mood of xenophobic nationalism ill-suits
Turkey’s current trajectory and undermines its future projects. The
deterioration of Turkey’s relations with the West and the rise of an
anti-Western orientation will harm Turkey’s long-term interests.
Beyond that such a development will exacerbate the West’s legitimacy
problems, further fuel anti-Western rage in the Middle East and
beyond and seriously undermine pro-Western and/or secular forces in
the region as well as assisting in Iran’s ascent.

SENATE GROUP HEAD: “WE WILL NOT APPROVE IT”
Sabah, Turkey
Oct 25 2006
The dominant name of French senate guaranteed: “Armenian bill is a
mistake, we will prevent it.”
Senate Group Head of the ruling party UMP Josselin Rohan said:
“If the Armenian bill comes to the senate, we will reject it.”
Our relationship of ages can not and should not be taken in pawn
Senate Group Head of the ruling party UMP Josselin Rohan said: “If
the Armenian bill comes to the senate, we will object to it with all
our might. Our relationship with Turkey can not be taken in pawn.”
New reactions against the denial bill are growing from all Europe
including France. Senate Group Head of the ruling party UMP Josselin
Rohan said: “The bill has not come to the Senate yet. However, if it
happens, we will do our best to reject it as a group. Considering our
a hundred year friendship with Turkey, this draft is a diplomatic
mistake. It is really depressing and sad. It does not have any use
to anybody, but it is harmful in many aspects.”

US AZERBAIJANIS WORK TO KEEP TRADITIONS ALIVE
By Mike O’Sullivan
Voice of America
Oct 24 2006
The modern state of Azerbaijan is just 15 years old, but the country,
a part of the former Soviet Union, has maintained its distinctive
traditions. Azerbaijani Americans are working to keep alive their
culture and help others understand the nation’s problems and
potential. Mike O’Sullivan spoke with Azerbaijani Americans who
attended a recent conference in Los Angeles.
Asmar Eyvazova (l) and Nazrin Baghirova
Nazrin Baghirova is studying educational administration at the
University of Utah. She tells people about her country and its ancient
capital, Baku, and often get quizzical looks, but says it is a great
way to start a conversation.
“It is always exciting for me to give them information [about] where
I’m from and showing them the location of Azerbaijan on the map,
and seeing their reaction – oh, wow,” she said.
Her friend, Asmar Eyvazova, works at center for distance education at
the University of Texas, Arlington. When Asmar talks about Azerbaijan,
reactions range from blank stares to limited recognition.
Some people know, for example, that Azerbaijan has abundant oil
supplies. A few realize that its population is mostly Turkic-speaking
and Muslim. On occasion, she meets people who have traveled to
Azerbaijan.
“Those who have been to our country, they just really express it
immediately that, oh, you are very hospitable,” she said. “People
are really nice and they like having guests and offer the best things
that they have in their houses.”
Azerbaijan borders the Caspian Sea and Iran, Georgia, Armenia, Russia
and Turkey. The region was in the news in the late 1980s and early
1990s, and the news for Azerbaijan was mostly bad.
A separatist movement of ethnic Armenians declared independence in
the Azerbaijani enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, where they formed the
dominant group. Fighting erupted and Azerbaijan lost 16-percent of
its territory to Armenia. The dispute is unresolved, despite a 1994
cease-fire, and Azerbaijan is now coping with more than half a million
displaced people.
Elin Suleymanov Other Azerbaijanis are scattered around the world,
and many have come to the United States to settle or study. Elin
Suleymanov is consul general for Azerbaijan in Los Angeles. He
estimates there are from 200,000 to 500,000 Azerbaijani Americans,
a figure that includes ethnic Azeris from Iran.
“They share the language and the culture, and attitude, and cuisine and
everything else,” he said. “And increasingly they share the identity.”
He says Azerbaijanis come from a difficult neighborhood, and part
of the reason for holding this Los Angeles meeting is to get Azeri
Americans to tell their story. He urged his countrymen to get involved
in U.S. civic life and make sure their congressional representatives
get to know them.
One participant at the conference is not from Azerbaijan, but is
helping educate the world about the Caucasus nation.
Betty Blair Betty Blair edits a quarterly publication called Azerbaijan
International. She and her husband, an Azerbaijani, started the
magazine in 1993 to answer questions like this one she has encountered.
“Is this in Africa? Where is it? What is it,” she said.
She says when she and her husband started the magazine, fighting was
raging with Armenia, and Americans often heard the Armenian side.
“That other side of the story was not being presented,” she said.
“And we just started very simply, 16 pages.”
Traditional Azerbaijani dancing Now, each issue the glossy magazine
has 100 pages of articles and pictures on Azerbaijani history,
literature, and culture. The couple also runs what is billed as the
world’s largest website about Azerbaijan, called
Blair says that over the years, Azerbaijan has been under the rule of
czars, shahs, caliphs and khans, and now, is coping with the problems
of independence.
The country has been called an authoritarian democracy. Critics say
its oil wealth remains largely undeveloped and that the nation is
mismanaged and plagued with corruption.
But Azerbaijani Americans say their ties with their homeland are still
strong, and that they hope to play a role in the country’s development.

TWO MINISTERS MET IN PARIS UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE OSCE MINSK GROUP
ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
Oct 24 2006
PARIS, October 24 (Itar-Tass) — The Paris negotiations on the Karabakh
settlement are aimed at the elaboration of “main principles of the
drafting of a peace treaty acceptable for the both sides,” French
Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei told commenting on
meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers.
The two ministers met in Paris under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk
Group.
The diplomat stressed that the principles should be “balanced, fair
and workable.”
Mattei reaffirmed that the October 6 meeting between the Armenian and
Azerbaijani foreign ministers in Moscow, which also was held under
the OSCE auspices, gave the start to the present-day round of talks.
France, jointly with Russia and the United States, is one of the
countries co-chairing the Minsk Group, created by the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to promote progress in
the resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

ARMENIAN-BELORUSSIAN MEMORANDUM ON LEGAL COOPERATION TO BE OF FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE FOR ACTIVITY OF TWO COUNTRIES’ JUDICIAL SYSTEMS
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 24 2006
YEREVAN, October 24. /ARKA/. The Armenian-Belorussian memorandum on
legal cooperation will be of fundamental importance for the joint
activity of the two countries’ judicial systems, chairman of the
Armenian court of appeal Hovhannes Manukyan reported today in Yerevan.
“The memorandum gives a new start to the relations between the courts
of general jurisdiction of the two countries and will be of fundamental
importance for the cooperation of the judicial systems, synchronization
of the activity of judicial bodies and legislation,” he said At the
same time, the chairman of the court of appeal of Armenia pointed out
that the memorandum regulates the joint activity of judicial bodies and
the list of activities, necessary for establishing contacts, exchange
of information and conduction of various activities, particularly,
scientific and scientific-practical conferences.
“The memorandum will have big impact not only on the legal cooperation
between Armenia and Belarus, but also on the general level of the
bilateral relations,” Manukyan said.
Memoranda on cooperation and exchange of legal information were
signed between the court of appeal of Armenia and the Supreme Court
of Belarus, and between the former and the High Economic court of
Belarus.

FRENCH AMBASSADOR: TURKEY WILL LOSE ITS CONTROL ON ITS BORDERS
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Oct 24 2006
Henri Cuny, Ambassador of France to Armenia, argued when meeting with
Armenian students in Armenia that once Turkey joins the EU, the issue
of its borders will be decided not by itself but by the central EU
headquarters in Brussels. “This is the order. And entering the EU
suggests open borders. The question is, when this is to happen”,
says Cuny.
Dr. Sedat Laciner from Ankara-based Turkish think tank USAK says Mr.
Cuny’s remarks are not wise. “All countries have their own control
on their own borders. This kind of claims badly affect Turkish public
opinion and undermine the credibility of the EU and France in Turkey.
Most of the people now in Turkey consider France as hostile country and
see the French support for the Armenians as the religious solidarity”
Dr. Laciner added.
Similarly Dr. Mehmet Ozcan, another Turkish expert, told the JTW that
“Turkey sincerely seeks to develop good relations with Armenia and
air borders have been open between Turkey and Armenia.”. According
to Mr. Ozcan Armenia does not want to develop relations with Turkey:
“Armenia aims to increase the tension to get the Western support
against Turkey. They do not recognize Turkey’s national borders and
they do expect open borders. If Turkey does not recognize France’s
national borders and occupies an EU member state, will France keep
its borders with Turkey open?”
Turkey-Armenian borders have been closed since Armenia attacked
and occupied neighboring Azerbaijan’s territories. Armenia does not
recognize Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s national borders and makes great
efforts to undermine Turkey’s national interests everywhere.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FINNISH FM TUOMIOJA: THE FRENCH PARLIAMENT MADE A BAD MISTAKE
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Oct 24 2006
Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja yesterday criticized a bill
criminalizing rejecting of Armenian historical claims passed by the
French Parliament last week, saying that it made a bad mistake and
should quickly rectify the situation.
Saying that all countries had dark chapters in their pasts, Tuomioja
added that these chapters were usually met with silence, amnesia,
and denial.
“I think that ‘genocide’ is an exaggerated term for that time,”
he added.
Turkey has never accepted the Armenian claims of genocide. Turkish
Government says about 2 million Muslim Ottoman citizens were
massacred by the Armenian armed groups during the collapse of the
Ottoman Empire. Armenia does not recognise Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s
national borders.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH BUSINESS DELEGATION IN FRANCE
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Oct 24 2006
PARIS – A delegation headed by Union of Turkish Chambers & Commodity
Exchanges (TOBB) Chairman Rifat Hisarciklioglu arrived in French
capital of Paris on Tuesday to lobby against the resolution, which
criminalizes rejecting of so-called Armenian genocide claims.
TOBB delegation held talks with leading French businessmen including
members of the Paris Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the Union of
European Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Eurochambers) and the MEDEF
International after their arrival.
They stressed that enactment of the resolution would play havoc with
the bilateral relations between Turkey and France.
The delegation is expected to return to Turkey tomorrow.
Turkish business circles believe in that the Armenian issue may damage
Turkish-French economic relations a lot.