Turkish MFA: French Parliament “Wounded Souls of Turkish People”
PanARMENIAN.Net
20.10.2006 18:44 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Official Ankara is not going to recall Ambassador
from Paris. Turkish MFA Spokesman Namik Tan said the presence of
diplomatic mission is essential to bring Turkey’s position to the
notion of France. “We are adherents to cool and reasonable conduct
and we will proceed with this line,” he said.
Tan remarked that although Turkey has calmed down to hear French
government oppose the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial
but it doesn’t solve the problem. In his words, the decision taken by
the upper house of the parliament “wounded souls of Turkish people and
the mistake cannot be corrected by statements.” He also said that bill
is being condemned in Europe and the whole world, reports IA Regnum.

VARTAN OSKANIAN: WE DO NOT ENDEAVOR TO ABASE OR DRIVE TURKEY INTO A CORNER
AZG Armenian Daily #201, 21/10/2006
Meeting
Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian who is currently paying a
working visit to Canada met is Canadian counterpart Peter MacKay on
October 18.
According to a press release of the Armenian National Committee of
Canada, the sides emphasized the importance of Armenian-Canadian
relations and touched upon Armenian-Turkish relations.
Speaking about the recent bill adopted by the French Parliament
penalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide, Oskanian underscored that
Armenia always was for a dialogue and for establishment of diplomatic
relations between Armenia and Turkey without any precondition.
“We do not endeavor to abase or drive Turkey into a corner,” Vartan
Oskanian said.
Oskanian also met the members of Canada-Armenia parliamentary group
and spoke about issues of cooperation between the two countries.

AZG Armenian Daily #201, 21/10/2006
World press
THE HUMAN COST OF THE IRAQ WAR
The final indignity, if you are an Iraqi who was shot for accidentally
turning into the path of a US military convoy (they thought you might
be a terrorist), or blown apart by a car bomb or an air strike,
or tortured and murdered by kidnappers, or just for being a Sunni
or a Shia, is that President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony
Blair will deny that your death happened. The script they are working
from says (in Mr Bush’s words last December) that only “30,000, more
or less” have been killed in Iraq during and since the invasion in
March, 2003.
So they have a huge incentive to discredit the report in the British
medical journal “The Lancet” this week that an extra 655,000 Iraqis
have died since the invasion in excess of the natural death rate: 2.5
percent of the population. “I don’t consider it a credible report,”
said Mr Bush, without giving any reason why he didn’t. “It is a
fairly small sample they have taken and they have extrapolated it
across the country,” said a spokesman of the British Foreign Office,
as if that were an invalid methodology. But it’s not.
The study, led by Dr Les Roberts and a team of epidemiologists from
the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore, was based on a survey of 1,849 households, containing 12,801
people, at 47 different locations chosen at random in Iraq. Teams
of four Iraqi doctors — two men and two women — went from house
to house and asked the residents if anybody had died in their family
since January, 2002 (fifteen months before the invasion).
If anybody had, they then inquired when and how the person had
died. They asked for death certificates, and in 92 percent of cases
the families produced them.
Then the Johns Hopkins team of epidemiologists tabulated the statistics
and drew their conclusions.
The most striking thing in the study, in terms of credibility, is that
the pre-war death rate in Iraq for the period January 2002-March 2003,
as calculated from their evidence, was 5.5 per thousand per year.
That is virtually identical to the US government estimate of the death
rate in Iraq for the same period. Then, from the same evidence, they
calculate that the death rate since the invasion has been 13.3 per
thousand per year. The difference between the pre-war and post-war
death rates over a period of forty months is 655,000 deaths.
More precisely, the deaths reported by the 12,801 people surveyed,
when extrapolated to the entire country, indicates a range of between
426,369 and 793,663 excess deaths — but the sample is big enough
that there is a 95% certainty that the true figure is within that
range. What the Johns Hopkins team have done in Iraq is more rigorous
version of the technique that is used to calculate deaths in southern
Sudan and the eastern Congo. To reject it, you must either reject the
whole discipline of statistics, or you must question the professional
integrity of those doing the survey.
The study, which was largely financed by the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology’s Center for International Studies, has been reviewed
by four independent experts. One of them, Paul Bolton of Boston
University, called the methodology “excellent” and said it was
standard procedure in a wide range of studies he has worked on:
“You can’t be sure of the exact number, but you can be quite sure
that you are in the right ballpark.”
This is not a political smear job. Johns Hopkins University, Boston
University and MIT are not fly-by-night institutions, and people
who work there have academic reputations to protect. “The Lancet,”
founded 182 years ago, is one of the oldest and most respected medical
journals in the world. These numbers are real. So what do they mean?
Two-thirds of a million Iraqis have died since the invasion who
would almost all be alive if it had not happened. Human Rights Watch
has estimated that between 250,000 and 290,000 Iraqis were killed
during Saddam Hussein’s twenty-year rule, so perhaps 40,000 people
might have died between the invasion and now if he had stayed in
power. (Though probably not anything like that many, really, because
the great majority of Saddam’s killings happened during crises like
the Kurdish rebellion of the late 1980s and the Shia revolt after
the 1990-91 Gulf War.)
Of the 655,000 excess deaths since March, 2003, only about 50,000 can
be attributed to stress, malnutrition, the collapse of medical services
as doctors flee abroad, and other side-effects of the occupation. All
the rest are violent deaths, and 31 percent are directly due to the
actions of foreign “coalition” forces.
The most disturbing thing is the breakdown of the causes of death. Over
half the deaths — 56 percent — are due to gunshot wounds, but 13
percent are due to air strikes. No terrorists do air strikes. No
Iraqi government forces do air strikes, either, because they don’t
have combat aircraft. Air strikes are done by “coalition forces”
(i.e. Americans and British), and air strikes in Iraq have killed
over 75,000 people since the invasion.
Oscar Wilde once observed that “to lose one parent…may be regarded
as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.” To lose 75,000
Iraqis to air strikes looks like carelessness, too.
By Gwynne Dyer

‘THE SO-CALLED BLOCKADE AGAINST THE SO-CALLED GENOCIDE’
AZG Armenian Daily #201, 21/10/2006
Turkey
On the eve of the vote at the French Parliament for the bill
penalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide, when the Turkish press was
denouncing the French, an Istanbul-based Referans daily touched upon
Armenian-Turkish relations in an article titled “The So-Called Blockade
Against the So-Called Genocide: Result of Armenia’s Anti-Turkish
Stance”. This article published Oct 12 can well be considered a
peculiar look at Armenia from Turkey. Though its author Selma Simseq
could not shun exaggerations, her article is interesting particularly
for raising the issues of Kars-Akhalkalak-Tbilisi-Baku railway and
the blockade of Armenia.
Here is what she writes: “For the past 24 years 17 states defended
the Armenian thesis in the issue of genocide. Turkey, which constantly
adds ‘the so-called’ phrase to the Armenian genocide, has officially
imposed blockade on Armenia. Yet, thanks to the dialogue between the
two people the blockade has also turned into a ‘so-called’. Kars mayor
Naif Alibeyogli’s following words evidence it: ‘There are regular
flights from Istanbul to Yerevan. 70% of goods in Armenian markets is
Turkish. 70.000 Armenians work in Turkey. And we do not understand what
kind of blockade is this. Turkey has opened its doors before Armenia,
only the border of Kars is closed, as a result of which our town was
deprived of benefit and investments for years’.
“As Alibeyogli put it, the important thing for the resident of
Kars is not the railway project but the opening of Turkish-Armenian
border. Armenia is of the same opinion.
“It’s obvious once this project comes true, Armenia will be in a
difficult situation. Its border with Turkey is closed because of
genocide allegations and with Azerbaijan because of the occupation
of Nagorno Karabakh. Moreover, the Iranian border areas are inhabited
with Azeris thus putting Armenia in squeeze and isolation, in fact.
“Realizing that Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway will result in an even deeper
isolation, Armenia demands to open the Turkish-Armenian border as it
will enable Armenia to act as a transit corridor for transportation
of goods from the Caucasus to the Middle East and China.
“This project was turned down at the US Senate under the pressure
from Diaspora Armenians. As a result, the US Eximbank denounced its
credit of $400 million for the project.
“Since 1993 Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic relations. There is
no direct trade between the countries because of the blockade. Today,
Turkish goods enter Armenia via Georgia or Iran. The goods turnover
amounts to $100 million. Turkey exports mainly construction materials
and food and Armenia imports row materials. The Armenian import
amounts to $50 million.
“According to president of the Turkish-Armenian Business Union, Kaan
Soyaq, goods turnover between Turkey and Armenia can be raised up to
$500 million but Turkey has close the Kars border-gate and suffers
losses. ‘Only the residents of Kars pay for this mistake called
blockade, as Istanbul is open for Armenia. When the Armenia-Turkish
border was open trade between the two countries flourished. Now,
both Armenia and Turkey are losing. Turkish businessmen are forced to
go longer distances thus demanding higher price for goods. Armenia,
on its part, is forced to by spoiled goods for a high price. If the
border-gate is opened, both countries will gain access to the markets
in the Middle East and China. Turkey has missed the chance during
Ter-Petrosian’s tenure and is missing it today as Kocharian prepares
to leave the office. Though during Kocharian’s tenure relations have
aggravated a bit a more nationalist regime will change Kocharian’s.’
“Soyaq meanwhile pointed out that Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway can hardly
become a reality as the US and Russian interests keep spreading in
the region. Then he went on: ‘These two countries have not come to
terms. Without an agreement no railway project can be implemented. The
USA is against the project as it demand opening of the Armenian-Turkish
border. This project emerged as a result of the closed border. If it
were open the US would not be against a second railway line through
Georgia. But at present it does not want to lose Armenia.’
“Drawing attention to Russian-Georgian tensions, Soyaq assumes it
will speed up the opening of Turkish-Armenian border. He thinks if
Nagorno Karabakh issue is settled, and Turkey meets Armenia halfway
the border can be opened. As to the genocide, it’s not an issue that
can be solved in a split second.”
By Hakob Chakrian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZG Armenian Daily #201, 21/10/2006
World press
A BOLD MESSAGE, LOST ON TURKEY
Vartan Oskanian International Herald Tribune,
Published: October 19, 2006
YEREVAN, Armenia: Armenia should be rejoicing at the passage of a
bill last week by France’s National Assembly that would make it a
crime to deny the genocide of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in the
early 20th century.
The message from France is clear: So long as Turkey refuses to confront
its own history, others will feel impelled to do so. If, on the other
hand, Turkey embarks on the difficult road of acknowledgement and
reconciliation, then others will have reason to step aside and let
the process take its course.
Instead, we note with dismay that this very strong message is being
lost on Turkey. It continues to surround itself with myths, evade
the past, and thus elude the future.
As we observe the reactions in Turkey, we find it disingenuous for
a country that itself doesn’t allow free speech and criminalizes
even the exploration of certain areas of its own (and therefore our)
history to be so indignant over a law that criminalizes the rejection
and denial of that same history.
After all, the actual, difficult discourse must evolve in Turkey,
and not in France, or Switzerland. It is in Turkey that a free and
open dialogue is deeply needed, and sorely absent. Those who cry
“leave history to the historians” have gagged the historians.
At the same time, Turkey objects vehemently to the involvement of
third countries in a discussion that really must take place between
Turks and Armenians.
No one wants such a dialogue more than Armenia. Yet Turkey has made
such give-and-take between our peoples and our states impossible. In
addition to the restrictions on speech, our borders remain closed. Nor
are there diplomatic relations between our countries.
In other words, there are no opportunities for new experiences, new
memories, new interactions to build up alongside the old. Instead,
there is a lingering security concern about a neighbor that has not
repudiated such state violence.
As Turkey continues to corner itself, it handicaps the future of this
region and impacts the lives of its people and ours. Worse, those
extremists who understand the great risks and costs of tolerance,
openness and rapprochement, are emboldened.
We are not the only neighbors in the world who have a troubled
relationship. Yet it is exactly because we live right next door that
we must be willing and prepared to transcend the past.
France’s principled acknowledgement of the 20th century’s first
genocide offers the hundreds of thousands of French Armenians, all
descended from genocide survivors, the dignity that they have been
denied because of the Turkish government’s continuing insistence that
the atrocities they lived through are unproven myths.
There is no doubt that if the word “genocide” had existed in 1915,
every one of the hundreds of articles in newspapers around the world
would have used it.
Look how frequently the word is used today to describe events and
cases where the scale and depth of the carnage are even smaller.
When a government plans to do away with its own population to solve
a political problem, that’s genocide. The U.S. ambassador to Turkey
from 1913 to 1916, Henry Morgenthau Sr., called what he witnessed the
“Murder of a Nation.” Others called it “race murder.” They did so
because the term genocide did not exist yet.
Those who deposed the Ottoman rulers – the early leaders of modern
Turkey, including Kemal Ataturk – actually court-martialed those
who instigated these crimes. Today’s Republic of Turkey, which has
inherited the nationalism of its founders but not their memory,
spends untold amounts to convince the world they didn’t happen.
Not just money. Today, their continued insistence on rejecting and
rewriting history costs them credibility and time. Today’s Turks do
not bear the guilt of the perpetrators, unless they choose to defend
and identify with them.
It is a political reality that both Turkey and Armenia exist today
in the international community with their current borders. It is a
political reality that we are neighbors. It is a political reality
that Armenia is not a security threat to Turkey. Finally, it is a
reality that today’s Armenia calls for the establishment of diplomatic
relations with today’s Turkey.
Armenia has no preconditions for establishing diplomatic relations. Nor
is Armenia opposed to Turkey’s membership in the EU. We’d like to see
Turkey meet all European standards. We’d like to see Turkey become
an EU member so that our borders will be open and we can cooperate
to build a secure, prosperous region.
We can only assume that Europe will expect that a Turkey which is
serious about EU membership will come to terms with its past. A few
in Turkish society have begun that difficult process of introspection
and study. We can only welcome this process.
It is essential that the international community does not bend the
rules, does not turn a blind eye, does not lower its standards, but
instead consistently extends its hand, its example, its own history
of transcending, in order for Armenians and Turks, Europeans all,
to move on to making new history.

AZG Armenian Daily #201, 21/10/2006
Middle East
ISRAEL APPLIED NEW WEAPONS IN GAZA
The Palestinian physicians in Gaza have registered strange wounds
caused by the unknown weapon. The British “Guardian” informed that
according to the testimonies of the physicians, the new weapon causes
internal wounds and traumas. The wounds may frequently cause amputation
of legs and hands, or be fatal for the patients.
As compared with traditional weapons used during the attacks,
the new weapon leaves no broken pieces in the human body. The
physicians revealed particles resembling dust spread on the wounds
of the patients.
The new weapon disfigures the human bodies and cuts them in parts,
one of the Gaza physicians stated. He added that they have found that
the internal organs are burnt and has small particles on them.
According to the British newspaper, the particles found on the wounded
organs can’t be seen through X Ray, which makes it different to find
the wounds and treat them.
Some of the experts believe that such traumas may be caused by weapons
that contain metal explosives.
By Petros Keshishian

AZG Armenian Daily #201, 21/10/2006
Home
HENRY CUNY SAYS GOOD BYE TO ARMENIA
Henry Cuny, French Ambassador to Armenia, is going to complete his
diplomatic mission soon. He provided his farewell letter to the mass
media. In the letter, he called Armenia a country of the sun, labor,
culture and smartness. Leaving from Armenia, Mr. Cuny regrets that
the sides failed to make progress in the Nagorno Karabakh settlement
issue. He added that the unsettled issue has quite a negative impact
on both Armenia and the region.
He spoke with admiration about the culture, the language and the
art of Armenia and added that the cultural heritage of Armenia
will be represented in 100 French cities in the course of over 500
arrangements. “There can be no better completion of diplomatic mission
for an ambassador than the visit of his native country’s president. I
am glad that Mr.
Chirak appreciated each moment of his visit and the perfect
organization of the presidential visit from the Armenian authorities,”
he said.
He said that that will be difficult for him to leave from Armenia on
October 29, he promised that he will be back to Armenia with a series
of lectures.
By Marietta Khachatrian

AZG Armenian Daily #201, 21/10/2006
Home
SOLUTION #1 FOR HOLDING LEGITIMATE AND FAIR ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA
Hovhannes Hovhannisian, Chairman of the Liberal Progressive
Party, touched upon the rating of Armenia from the viewpoint of
the international community at yesterday’s press conference at
“Pastark” club. He believes that Armenia’s rating has considerably
decreased. Hovhannisian added that the only solution to the current
problems of Armenia is to hold legitimate and fair elections. He added
that the society has a brilliant opportunity to shape new authorities,
meaning the coming parliamentary and presidential elections. “In
case these elections are also violated, your generation will have to
struggle for independence,” he said.
Hovhannisian also said that his party has about 5500 members and they
are determined to participate in the coming elections.
As for the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh issue, Hovhannesian stated
that he expects certain progress to be fixed in the negotiation
process this year.
Moreover, he believes that the settlement may be achieved in the
course of the October 24 meeting of the Armenian and Azeri Foreign
Ministers in Paris.
By Gohar Gevorgian

AZG Armenian Daily #201, 21/10/2006
Bookshelf
NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA FOR ARMENIAN READERS
The presentation of the third volume of “The Family Encyclopedia”
took place at RA National Academy of Sciences, yesterday. The book was
published at “Armencyclopedia” publishing house. The experts elaborated
the third volume in about 10 years. The first volume is entitled
“House Wife,” the second one was “Popular Medical Encyclopedia.” The
second volume is dedicated to the flora and fauna of Armenia.
Hovhannes Ayvazian, editor-in-chief of the publishing house, the
collection is meant to be used in everyday life, at home, etc.
The third volume includes the description of not only Armenia’s nature
but also that of the Armenian Highland. The volume has been published
in 3000 copies. In total the program cost AMD 24 million. The book
will be sold at AMD 10000 in the book stores.
Hovhannes Ayvazian added that the encyclopedia help to get familiarized
with the nature of our country and with its environment. We are using
our herbal, animal, mineral and water resources very badly. Today,
we face the dnager of desertization,” H. Ayvazian said. He added that
the young generation needs to get ecological education and expressed
hope that the book will greatly help in that.
The encyclopedia includes the photos of Tigran Babayan made in the
Western Armenia.
By Tamar Minasian

ARMENIA MUST GRANT CITIZENSHIP TO THOSE WHO SURVIVED THE GENOCIDE
A1+
[04:07 pm] 20 October, 2006
The owners of Armenia are ordinary people
84-year-old Samvel Lazarian who is citizen of the USA is searching the
villages of Armenia for the sons and grandsons of his father’s uncle
who came to Armenia at the beginning of the previous century. Artin
of Mko’s house (that was the name of the uncle) is the pride of the
Lazarians from Sasoun who survived the Genocide. They say Artin
was so brave that even the Kurds of the village were afraid of him.
One day, as Samvel’s father told him, Gevorg Chaush came to their
house and took Artin away as a soldier. This is the only accurate
piece information they have; the rest are gossips that reached the
relatives of Artin and passed on to the other generations.
Samvel Lazarian was born in Tigranakert, and as he says with pride,
“I was born in historical Armenia”. Although he was born seven years
after the 1915 Genocide, he suffered the same feelings. He has been
to Syria, Lebanon, and has spent the last 17 years in the USA. He is
84 years old, but unusually hale and hearty for his age which is the
result of having played football for many years.
This is the first time 84-year-old Armenian writer Samvel Lazarian
has ever been to Armenia. “I have written exceptional articles about
the previous regime of the country”, he explained the reasons of his
not coming to Armenia during the Soviet years and opens the brackets,
“The structure which sponsored me knew that it was dangerous for me
to come here”. And the structure was the ARF Dashnaktsutyun.
During the 15 days spent in Armenia Samvel has realized that the ARF
is stronger abroad than in Armenia. Meeting different people he also
realized that it is not easy to live in Armenia.
“I have spoken to many people, learned different opinions, and
felt what they feel. That is why I can say that the first step the
Government has to take is to take care of the poor”, the 84-year-old
Armenian says. He is convinced that the owners of Armenia are the
ordinary people and not those who have power.