ARMENIA COULD BE HURT BY RUSSIAN SANCTIONS TOO
By M. Alkhazashvili (Translated by Diana Dundua)
The Messenger, Georgia
Oct 17 2006
Russian sanctions targeted to hurt Georgia might also damage a
strategic partner of Russia- Armenia.
According to Armenian analysts, the Georgian-Russian confrontation
will create problems for the delivery of natural gas to Armenia. It’s
highly probable that as of January 2007, Russia will increase (some
analysts predict even double) the price of natural gas for Georgia.
It is likely Georgia will try to recuperate some of this money by
increasing the transit price of the gas to Armenia, leading to a
price increase for them as well.
The paper Rezonansi reports that Yerevan predicts that Georgia will
increase the transit price of 1000 cubic metres of gas from USD 30
to USD 75. The Georgian Energy Minister declines to discuss the issue.
Georgia increased the transit price to Armenia in 2006 from USD 10
to USD 30, when Russia increased the cost of natural gas to Georgia.
According to Armenian analysts, one of the biggest threats to the
country’s energy security is the Baku-Erzurum natural gas pipeline
(also known as the South Caucasus pipeline). If this pipeline becomes
fully operational, Armenia talks about the possibility of the pipeline
from Russian serving Georgia and then Armenia closing completely.
Some Armenian analysts believe that after receiving the Shah-Deniz
natural gas (through the South Caucasus pipeline) Georgia might not
need Russian natural gas any more. But this is highly unlikely in
the near future as the Baku-Erzurum natural gas pipeline will not
likely be able to satisfy Georgia’s needs right away, and furthermore,
Azerbaijan itself still relies on Russia for some four million cubic
meters of gas annually.
Yerevan optimistically awaits construction of the Iran-Armenia natural
gas pipeline which will be controlled by Russia’s Gazprom.
According to Russian analysts, after this pipeline comes on stream,
Armenia will no longer have natural gas problems. The pipeline should
come on stream within two years and its power will be 1.2 billion
cubic metres annually.
This pipeline worries some in Georgia, who point out that the gas
currently coming from Russia could be easily turned off without
affecting Armenia, making the possibility of ‘terrorist attacks’
of the kind that happened last winter much more likely.

DEBATE NEEDED
By Tulin Daloglu
Washington Times, DC
Oct 17 2006
Today’s Columnist
A few months ago, I came across an article in the Middle East Quarterly
entitled “Armenian Massacres: New Records Undercut Old Blame.” Its
author, Edward J. Erickson, a retired U.S. Army officer, categorically
dismissed the claims of genocide perpetrated against the Armenians
by the Ottomans during World War I. “In bitter internecine fighting,
many civilian Turks, Armenians, and other ethnic groups were massacred
indiscriminately,” Mr. Erickson wrote.
The claim of Armenian genocide is an incredibly emotional subject,
fraught with political and violent undertones. Only a small number
of scholars dare to question the notion that what happened was
genocide. When Stanford Shaw, a pioneer scholar and former UCLA
professor, disputed it in 1977, a bomb exploded in front of his house.
Recently, two researchers have debated the nature of World War I
Armenian massacres, Dr. Erickson wrote. The first, Vahakn Dadrian, is
director of genocide research at the Zoryan Institute for Contemporary
Armenian Research and Documentation. Mr. Dadrian wrote that Stange
(a Prussian artillery officer known in records only by his last name)
was the “highest-ranking German guerrilla commander operating in the
Turko-Russian border” area and the Ottoman government ordered him to
deport Armenians. Stange and his soldiers became principals in the
Armenian massacres, Mr. Dadrian found.
But last year, Guenter Lewy, a professor emeritus of political science
at the University of Massachusetts, challenged Mr. Dadrian’s claim,
concluding that Stange’s unit did not even operate in the area. “Tribal
Kurds or Circassians may have deported the Armenians in the spring
of 1915,” Mr. Erickson wrote.
The debate over the historical record goes on, and Turkey has finally
begun to allow its citizens to engage in controversial debates. This
makes one wonder what the members of the French Parliament were
thinking last week when they made it a crime to question the claim
of Armenian genocide. The lower house decided that the punishment
for denying the genocide would be one year in prison and a fine of
45,000 Euros. It would only take effect if it passed the upper house
and was agreed to by French President Jacques Chirac.
According to Turkish media reports, Mr. Chirac called Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and said he would do his best to keep
the legislation from becoming law.
Making it a crime to dispute the idea of an Armenian genocide is so
outrageous that senior European Union officials sided with Turkey.
“This is not the best way to contribute to something we think is
important,” said Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European
Commission. Oli Rehn, the EU commissioner for enlargement, agreed,
saying, “We don’t achieve real dialogue and real reconciliation by
ultimatums, but by dialogue. Therefore this law is counterproductive.”
Indeed it is. This law displays the aggressive tactics of the Armenian
diaspora to prevent any objective re-examination of history.
They demand that Turkey accept that what happened was genocide. But
is the goal to find the truth, or to make political arguments? Mr.
Erdogan offered to open the Turkish archives to study the matter,
and called for Armenians to do the same. They denied his request. The
other side can’t stand the idea of questioning whether what happened
was genocide.
Turks have done a poor job in dealing with the claims. They let one
narrative dominate the world’s understanding of the incident.
They did not write about the Armenian attacks on Muslim villages. But
now Turks are paying attention. They are angry. But they are not
hateful like the Armenians who killed almost four dozen Turkish
diplomats over “history.”
I sat down with Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy in Washington,
and asked him whether the French Parliament’s vote will make it
more difficult for him to deal with the resolutions likely to be
presented this year in the U.S. Congress, calling for recognition of
Armenian genocide. Sixteen countries have already passed legislation or
resolutions to recognize the Armenian genocide, he said. “The Congress
has never been affected by the decisions of the foreign parliaments,”
he said. “The U.S. knows to think independently in its own democracy,
and they know their own responsibilities.”
The French Parliament’s law is even more absurd than the section of
the Turkish penal code that calls for Turkish citizens to be punished
if they insult “Turkishness” — by accepting the genocide claims, for
example. Orhan Pamuk, this year’s Nobel Prize winner for literature,
was charged under that law. The charges were dropped, and no one has
been punished.
But even the existence of such a law is embarrassing to a country
wrestling with how to deal with freedom of expression. What Mr. Pamuk
said about the Armenian genocide claims is irrelevant. What’s important
is that he should feel free to say whatever he thinks. But historians
should have the definitive say on the issue — and they haven’t
written the final chapter yet.
Tulin Daloglu is a free-lance writer.

ARMENIA HAS NEW VOICE IN DEARBORN
By David Crumm – Free Press Religion Writer
Detroit Free Press, MI
Oct 17 2006
U-M research center appoints scholar as director
Ara Sanjian, 38, of Dearborn speaks at the University of
Michigan-Dearborn last week. His doctorate is in Middle Eastern
history. “Armenia has centuries of experience to share with the world,”
he says. (KATHLEEN GALLIGAN/Detroit Free Press) An internationally
influential center for Armenian studies in Dearborn is changing
the guard this week and installing only the second director in the
center’s nearly two decades of scholarship.
This week, the Armenian Research Center’s founder, Dennis Papazian,
officially retires as he welcomes Ara Sanjian, an Armenian
historian from Lebanon, to run the facility at the University of
Michigan-Dearborn.
“It’s wonderful that we’re finally making this move in a formal way,”
Papazian, 74, said last week. “My wife and I moved to New Jersey
two years ago and I’ve been running the center since then by e-mail,
telephone and frequent visits. But now I’m formally leaving it to this
first-class scholar who we actually searched around the world to find.”
Sanjian, 38, was born in the large Armenian community based in
Beirut. He studied in Lebanon and Armenia, then earned a doctorate in
Middle Eastern history from the University of London in England. He
moved to Dearborn from Beirut earlier this year. He is fluent in
English and also works professionally in Armenian, Arabic, Russian,
Turkish and French.
“In coming to the center, I do represent a kind of bridge in a number
of ways,” Sanjian said last week. He is settling into Dearborn,
the heart of Michigan’s Arab-Muslim community, already familiar with
Middle Eastern issues from his many years in Lebanon. Plus, he has
dedicated his scholarly life to bringing cross-cultural lessons from
Armenian-Christian history to the larger world.
“Armenia has centuries of experience to share with the world,” Sanjian
said. “Armenians have been around as an identity for more than 2,500
years, as a Christian nation for 1,700 years and as a written language
for 1,600 years.”
However, the future of Armenia was in doubt for much of the 20th
Century from the Turkish government’s massacre of Armenians in the
early part of the century, through decades of domination by the
Soviet Union.
Papazian recalled, “When I founded the center for Armenian research
in the late 1970s, I really was helping with the worldwide effort
to preserve Armenian heritage and prepare for the day when Armenia
could reemerge onto the stage of world history.
“Since 1991, Armenia has been an independent state. Now, Armenia’s
economy is growing. We’ve just built a new American embassy in Armenia
and it’s become a very pleasant place for tourists.”
Plus, Papazian said, Armenia will continue to play a small but crucial
role in global politics because “Armenia walks a tightrope between
the United States, Russia and Iran.”
The country, which is about the size of Vermont, is on the eastern
border of Turkey and the northern border of Iran. To the north of
Armenia are Georgia and Russia.
“We estimate there are about 1 million Armenians now living in the
United States, most of them concentrated in California,” Papazian
said. “No one has an exact count in the Detroit area, but we think
there are 30,000 Armenian Americans living there.”
More than 60 students have enrolled in history courses taught by
Sanjian, including general Middle East history classes. But the center
reaches scholars far beyond campus.
At this point, Sanjian said, the center’s nearly 40,000 books, maps,
articles and artifacts related to Armenia are drawn upon by people
around the world.
Showing a visitor through the rows of steel bookshelves in the center’s
archive, Sanjian said, “People do come here regularly to do research
in person. But constantly, we’re also getting e-mail inquiries, too.
“So, Armenia and our center now are an important part of the virtual
world, too.”
icle?AID=/20061017/NEWS05/610170399

FRENCH GENOCIDE LAW A ‘BAD MISTAKE’ SAYS FINNISH FM
Helena Spongenberg
EUobserver.com, Belgium
Oct 17 2006
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The French law criminalising the denial of
the Armenian genocide during the first world war is a “bad mistake”
says the Finnish foreign minister, explaining that historical truths
should not be up to politicians to decide.
“Legislators should never interfere with this kind of open and
introspective soul-searching and the debates it fosters,” Erkki
Tuomioja writes on his internet blog, as Finland currently holds the
rotating EU presidency.
“Unfortunately the French National Assembly has not respected this,”
he said.
The socialist-drafted law was passed by 106 votes to 19 in the lower
house last week and found favour on both sides of the political
divide although president Jacques Chirac’s conservative government
is against it.
The legislation – which must still go through France’s upper house
before it comes into force – follows on the heels of a 2001 National
Assembly resolution which recognised the massacre of Armenians by
the Ottoman Turks as genocide.
But the new bill proposes making Armenia genocide denial punishable
by up to one year in prison and a fine of ~@45,000.
“This legislation is a bad mistake and it should be quickly revoked,”
Mr Tuomioja wrote. “Parliaments and governments should not … ever
attempt to legislate on what historical truths are allowed and which
are declared illegal.”
“For the record I do not consider genocide an exaggerated description
for what happened, and I wish the Turks were more ready to recognise
this by now,” he added.
Orhan Pamuk The minister explained that the EU has repeatedly called
on Turkey to repeal the notorious article 301 of its criminal code,
which has been used to bring charges against Nobel-prize winner
Orhan Pamuk along with scores of less well-known Turks for expressing
opinions deemed insulting to the Turkish state.
“Now the conservative forces in Turkey can dismiss these calls and
question the right of the EU to demand this, as France has just
adopted comparable legislation,” the Finnish minister stressed.
Both Brussels and Ankara have condemned the law, saying the move
is likely to hinder open dialogue on Armenia in would-be EU member
state Turkey.
Mr Tuomioja is also against laws criminalising the denial of the
Jewish Holocaust during the Second World War, which many EU countries
put in place years ago.
“Such legislation is not defensible either. While Holocaust-denial is
almost exclusively associated with anti-Semitism, other laws on the
statute books criminalising racist incitement against and defaming
of any and all ethnic groups are sufficient to deal with this,”
he pointed out in his online diary.

NATO REPORT ON SOUTH CAUCASUS TO BE REVIEWED
Author: J.Shahverdiyev
TREND, Azerbaijan
Oct 17 2006
A delegation headed by the Chairman of the Sub-committee on
Future Security and Defense Opportunities of the Defense & Security
Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO, Vahid Erdem, met on
16 October with the Chairman of the Permanent Parliamentary Commission
on International Relationships and Inter-parliamentary Bond of the
Milli Majlis [Azerbaijani parliament] as well as the head of the
Azerbaijani delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe (PACE), MP Samed Såyidov, Trend reports.
Seyidov stressed that Azerbaijan is actively integrating into Europe
and the Euro-Atlantic area. “During his visit to Germany and at the
opening of the Autumn session of Milli Majlis, Azerbaijan President
Ilham Aliyev re-iterated the fact. Our integration into Europe is
one of the major steps taken with regards to our foreign policy,
our relationship with NATO is also developing and we are very keen
to pursue it,” Seyidov stressed.
The Chairman of the Permanent Parliamentary Commission noted that NATO
is developing a report on South Caucasus countries and it contains some
inaccurate data. The occupation of 20% of Azerbaijani territory by
Armenia, which resulted in the replacement of 1 million Azerbaijanis
from their native land, as well as the fact that Nagorno-Karabakh was
always part of Azerbaijan, was depicted wrongly in the document. These
facts were included in the resolution issued by the UN Security
Council, documents of the Council of Europe and OSCE. We hope that
after the visit, serious changes will be injected into the document.
The head of the delegation noted that the key objective of the visit
is to collect detailed information on the facts. “We will work on
the document to ensure that the details are precise,” he stated.
–Boundary_(ID_aLOePWx0BGB+auUfdmG7Kw)–

NATO PA PREPARES REPORT ON SOUTH CAUCASUS
PanARMENIAN.Net
18.10.2006 13:19 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ UN and NATO peacekeepers may be deployed in the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict region after conclusion of a peaceful
agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, head of the delegation of
the NATO PA defense planning subcommittee Vahid Erdem said. In his
words, the purpose of his visit to Azerbaijan is to meet with the
leadership, representatives of NGOs and media and to get familiarized
with the current situation on the way of integration into the NATO. His
conclusions will be presented in his resulting report titled “Role
of NATO in the South Caucasus”. He also remarked that the committee
will meet in Canada in the near future to discuss the report. As for
possible deployment of peacekeeping forces in the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict zone, Erdem considers that peacekeepers may be deployed in the
region after Armenia and Azerbaijan seal peace, reports Azeri Press.

GENOCIDE: TURKEY MAY HAVE HEADACHE IF DEMOCRATS SCORE VICTORY IN U.S. CONGRESS
PanARMENIAN.Net
18.10.2006 13:30 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey, frustrated by a French National Assembly vote
this week to criminalize denial of the Armenian Genocide, may have
a major headache on the same issue if the Democrats score a victory
in the U.S. Congress in next month’s elections. Last Thursday’s vote
in the French parliament was a victory for Armenian groups and their
supporters, but the top-prize country for the Armenians has always
been and will always be the United States, says Turkish Daily News.
The newspaper observer says that President George W. Bush’s
administration, like earlier administrations, so far has consistently
declined to use the term Genocide in official remarks in an effort
to avoid alienating Turkey. But Congress has always been Turkey’s
weaker side. With the Republican Party, which currently holds clear
majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives,
in shambles, political analysts agree it is highly likely that the
Democrats will win a majority in the House in November, for the first
time since the 1994 elections.
A Democratic triumph in the House or the Senate will mean major
problems for Turkey in its efforts to stop genocide recognition. In
the event of a Democratic victory in the House, pro-Armenian lawmakers
will definitely force legislation for the Armenian Genocide recognition
shortly after the new Congress takes office in January. U.S. Armenians
accuse the Republican Bush of failing to keep his earlier pledge for
Genocide recognition and backed Democratic presidential candidate
John Kerry, a strong supporter of the Armenian cause in the Senate,
in the 2004 elections.

FINNISH FM TOUMIOJA: FRENCH DECISION WAS “STUPID”
Hurriyet, Turkey
Oct 17 2006
Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, speaking about last week’s
approval in France of the bill calling for jail time and monetary
fines for people denying the so-called Armenian genocide, has called
the French Parliament’s decision “stupid.”
Finland is currently the term president of the EU. Tuomioja’s
comments were published on a Finnish web site; the Finnish FM also
noted in his comments that the French decision would serve to inflame
nationalistic circles within Turkey. Said Toumioja “My calling this
French decision ‘stupid,’ and my hope that the bill is immediately
withdrawn has nothing to do with actually happened to the Armenians
in Turkey. Personally, I do think that ‘genocide’ is the correct term
to describe what happened to Armenians in the past, and I wish that
Turkey would be ready to accept this.”

EUROPE, ARMENIAN GENOCIDE, AND TURKEY
RIA Novosti, Russia
Oct 17 2006
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Pyotr Romanov) – Armenian genocide
is in the news again. There are two reasons for this.
First, the Nobel Prize for literature was awarded this year to
brilliant Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, who had barely escaped prison
for publicly acknowledging the 1915Armenian genocide. This is qualified
as treason by Turkish law.
He was saved by international solidarity but the pressure exerted on
him by the Turkish government had its effect. Pamuk flatly refused to
talk on the subject when he arrived in Moscow for the presentation
of his book in Russian translation. On a human plane, this is easy
to understand – the author wanted to return home to Istanbul, the
main character of all his books.
To sum up, the Nobel Committee’s decision has caused mixed feelings
in Turkey – it is not often that it gives such a prestigious award
to someone who is guilty of “high treason” at home.
The law that has just been passed by the lower chamber of the French
Parliament has evoked an even bigger uproar. In a way, this is a mirror
image of the Turkish law on Armenian genocide – in Istanbul the crime
is to admit genocide, whereas in France it is illegal to refute it.
The adoption of this law in France was generated by domestic
pre-election considerations rather than international motives. It
is highly dubious that the upper chamber will approve this law,
and even less likely that the President will sign it. Moreover,
France officially acknowledged the Armenian genocide by passing a
relevant law in 2001. President Jacques Chirac was laying a wreath
to the monument to the victims of genocide at almost the same time
as the Parliament voted for the recent law.
Incidentally, the official date of the Armenian genocide – 1915 –
is largely a convention. There had been atrocious Armenian pogroms
much earlier than that. Thus, the Turkish theory of attributing the
events to the excesses of the war is not convincing. Moreover, the
Turks were also slaughtering Greeks, Serbs, and many other Christians.
The wave of indignation which has swept Turkey because of Europe’s
renewed attention to the genocide is remarkable. The recent protests
in Turkey suggest many questions. The main one is whether it is worth
admitting to the EU a country that does not want to acknowledge its
guilt for the heinous crimes of the past and repent them? Respect
for Germany only grew when it was honest about the Holocaust. What
prevents Turkey from telling the truth?
I think it would not be an exaggeration to say that the survival of
European civilization in the 21st century depends on what decision
the EU adopts on Turkey’s admission. The excessive flow of migrants
is already a heavy burden for Europe. The migrants may contribute to
its culture, but every year the Europeans lose much more, and their
identity is fading away amidst this carnival of newcomers. If Europe
cannot absorb the migrants it already has, what will happen when it
flings open its doors to Turkey? Fairy tale writers may hope that
Europe stands to gain from this, but others will have to face reality.
On top of it all, there is also the religious aspect, from which
Europe is trying to disassociate itself as much as possible.
Meanwhile, political correctness is only indispensable in everyday
life but very counterproductive when it comes to serious analysis.
Looking at life through rose-tinted glasses means deliberately
distorting reality, and making wrong decisions.
Speaking Aesopian language may help one avoid the “uncomfortable” word
– Islam. But if you want to survive in the real world, you had better
look through old newspapers, recall the names of terrorists, find out
who taught them, whom they prayed to, and who gave them money. Only
in this way will you be able to protect yourself and your children.
Why do Christians admit their old mistakes, repent, and ask for
forgiveness? And why are Muslims reluctant to do so? As Orthodox
Father Kurayev put it, instead of going into the future, rethinking
and reassessing its past, Islam goes into fits of hatred from time
to time under any excuse imaginable. On one occasion, it may be the
problem of hijab, on another, the cartoon scandal, and on still other,
a deliberate misinterpretation of an ancient quotation mentioned by
Pope Benedict XVI. Every fit of hatred is directed against Christians,
who are attacked and often murdered.
It is not surprising that German opera directors have recently decided
to cancel a performance with a Muslim motive for fear that Muslim
fanatics might go crazy. Angela Merkel made a statement against this
decision, but it did not help. Europe is already filled with fear.
It would not be correct to say that every Muslim likes these fits of
hatred. But the general goal of Islam is clear – to unite the Muslim
world along the obvious lines. Needless to say, not every believer
in Prophet Muhammad is a terrorist, but it is an indisputable fact
that in the 21st century the non-Muslim world has developed serious
problems with Islam.
Some people believe that these are growing pains rather than the
gist of the Muslim teaching. I’d like to hope this is so. But even in
this case, it is more sensible to wait until teenage aggressiveness
is over before inviting such a guest home.
Others attribute Islamic extremism to impudence towards Muslims on
behalf of people professing other religions. This also happens from
time to time. Impudence is evil, but it should not be mixed with
the right to tell Muslims the truth. In turn, they should learn to
appreciate freedom of speech, and respect the opinion of others. We
will get nowhere if Muslims can say and do whatever they like, and
we can do nothing. This is absurdity rather than political correctness.
Still others think that social inequality is the root of all evil.
This opinion is justified. We should eradicate social inequality by
all reasonable, and, let me stress, evolutionary methods.
What we should not do is to fling European doors wide open without
thinking about the consequences. The times have changed.

SPEAKER ARINC: CHIRAC’S APOLOGY WAS NOT GENUINE
Hurriyet, Turkey
Oct 17 2006
Bulent Arinc, the Speaker of the Turkish Parliament, has said that
he does not think President Jacques Chirac’s apologetic phone call
to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the wake of the French
Parliament’s acceptance of the “genocide denial” bill was “genuine.”
Arinc also asserted that it was no coincidence that the Armenian terror
group ASALA was most active in France. The Speaker’s comments came
yesterday at a parliamentary meeting in Ankara. Arinc also reserved
words for the upcoming 2007 presidential elections in Turkey:
“Do not listen to those who want to foment chaos and disorder in our
country as the presidential elections draw nearer. Don’t pay attention
to those who want to scare you by intoning ‘The country is being sold.’