Zaman, Turkey
Oct 14 2006
Armenians Protest Turkish Troops
By Fatih Artun – Cihan News Agency, Beirut
zaman.com
About 5,000 Armenians protested the arrival of Turkish troops in
southern Lebanon to join the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Waving Armenian and Tashnak flags, the crowd chanted anti-Turkish
slogans, carried placards protesting Turkey’s cooperation with Israel
and accused and shouted accusations of the purported Armenian
genocide.

Associated Press
Oct 14 2006
EU slams French bill on Armenian deaths
MATTI HUUHTANEN
Associated Press
HELSINKI, Finland – The European Union on Friday condemned a French
bill making it a crime to deny that the World War I-era killing of
Armenians in Turkey was genocide, calling it unhelpful at a critical
stage in the Muslim country’s EU entry talks.
The bill was approved by lawmakers in France’s lower house Thursday,
but still needs approval by the French Senate and President Jacques
Chirac to become law. Turkey has said the decision would harm
relations with France.
Chirac’s government is thought to be unlikely to forward the bill for
passage by the Senate.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said “we don’t
think this decision at this moment is helpful in the context of the
European Union’s relations with Turkey.”
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said the bill came at a bad
time as the 25-member bloc was trying to avoid “a train crash” in
negotiations with Turkey.
“This law is counterproductive,” he told reporters.
France, which is home to hundreds of thousands of people whose
families came from Armenia, has already recognized the 1915-1919
killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians as genocide. Under the bill,
those who contest it was genocide would risk up to a year in prison
and fines of up to $56,000.
Armenia accuses Turkey of massacring Armenians during World War I,
when Armenia was under the Ottoman Empire. Turkey says Armenians were
killed in civil unrest during the collapse of the empire.

IFEX, Canada
Oct 14 2006
National Assembly passes draft law criminalising the denial of
Armenian genocide

Français: L’Assemblée nationale adopte un projet de loi pénalisant la
négation du génocide arménien
Country/Topic: France
Date: 13 October 2006
Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Person(s):
Target(s):
Type(s) of violation(s): censored
Urgency: Threat
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF strongly regrets the first reading passage of a law
that would make it a crime punishable by prison sentence to deny the
1915 Armenian genocide. The organisation notes that memorial laws are
part of the creation of an official historical truth – a practice
typical of totalitarian regimes – and expressed the hope that
senators, who are to examine the draft law shortly, will have the
wisdom to reject it.
The French National Assembly passed the draft law on 12 October 2006.
The law would make denial of the Armenian genocide a crime punishable
by five years in jail and a 45,000-euro fine.
The law complements a 19 January 2001 law which publicly recognised
the genocide.
“There is obviously no question of going back on the recognition of
the Armenian genocide, but legislating on it will expose anyone
denying it to harsh judicial penalties set out by the 18 July 1881
law on press freedom (Article 24a). Memorial laws contribute to the
creation of an official historical truth. This practice, typical of
totalitarian regimes, is incompatible with France’s fundamental
values, starting with freedom of expression,” said the organisation.
“Not only is it absurd that free expression – however contestable,
and that is not the question – should be subjected to a constraint
which is, in addition, a threat, but it seems to us that this
legalistic concept of history will be much more likely to stoke up
antagonism than to promote debate.
“It is particularly symbolic that this vote should have been held on
the same day of the awarding of the Nobel Prize for literature to
Orhan Pamuk, who was himself taken to court by the Turkish
authorities for having raised the issue of this genocide,” RSF
stressed.
RSF hopes that senators due to examine the law on second reading will
pay less attention to upcoming elections and have the wisdom to
reject it. If not, it could have incalculable consequences for all
historians as well as for press freedom.
MORE INFORMATION:
For further information, contact Zuzana Loubet del Bayle at RSF, 5,
rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 67, fax:
+33 1 45 23 11 51, e-mail: [email protected], Internet:

Duke University, NC
Oct 14 2006
French Bill Harms Understanding of Armenian Massacre, Says Duke
Scholar Arrested for His Research on Killings
Note to Editors: Yektan Turkyilmaz can be reached for additional
comment at [email protected].
Durham, NC — A bill passed Thursday by the French National Assembly
that labels the World War I massacre of Armenians as `genocide’ hurts
the cause of those trying to educate Turkish citizens about the
tragedy, says a Duke University graduate student.
The Strange Case of Yektan Turkyilmaz: An International Incident
International
The student, Yektan Turkyilmaz, was detained in an Armenian KGB
detention center for several weeks without charges being filed in
2005 while studying the conflict’s history. Turkyilmaz was released
after several American leaders, including former U.S. Senate Majority
Leader Bob Dole and Senator Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, as well as Duke President Richard
Brodhead, urged Armenian officials to intervene in the matter.
`I would like to see the entire world community, including Turkey,
recognize what happened to the people in Armenia,’ said Turkyilmaz, a
graduate student in cultural anthropology at Duke. `But decisions
like this [by the French parliament] only fuel reactionaries in
Turkey, who use this as an example of Western animosity. It doesn’t
encourage discussion at all.’
Turkyilmaz, a Turkish citizen of Kurdish decent, said some Turkish
scholars are already seeking to shed light on the Ottoman killing of
Armenians, as evidenced by a conference last September on the topic.
`”People do this despite this infamous code in Turkey that penalizes
`insulting Turkishness,” he said. `We can call what happened to the
Armenians `genocide,’ `tragedy’ or `massacre;’ the point is we need
to learn what happened and educate people about it.’
The French bill `jeopardizes the position of progressive people in
Turkey,’ he said.
`I would totally understand it if it were a principled decision about
genocide everywhere, but this is more about disturbing Turkey than
learning about the Armenian tragedy,’ he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Sabah, Turkey
Oct 14 2006
Armenian flag at Aðrý
Armenian students are turned out to erect an Armenian flag to the
peak of Aðrý Mountain at the end of their climbing activity in
August.
Armenian flag erected in Aðrý Mountain
Armenian students who climbed to Aðrý Mountain on August 27 erected
an Armenian flag to the peak and took a photo.
Armenian students who climbed to Aðrý Mountain on August 27 erected
an Armenian flag to the peak. Armenian Diaspora announced the event
with the title of: “our flag is on the Peak of Aðrý Mountain.” The
students named Haroutune Armenian, Sona Armenian, Arsen Grigoryan,
Arthur Melkonyan, Varduhi Petrosian and Ara Tekian came to
Doðubeyazýt in Aðrý for the 15. anniversary of Amenia’s independence.

Sabah, Turkey
Oct 14 2006
Pamuk postpones Armenian conference
After learning he won a Nobel Prize, Pamuk’s first act was to
postpone his conference about the so-called Armenian genocide.
Pamuk postpones Armenian genocide conference after winning a Nobel
Prize
The conference which was supposed to be held on October 16 by Orhan
Pamuk at Minnesota University has been postponed to an uncertain
date. It was claimed that it was Pamuk who postponed the conference
after learning he won a Nobel Prize.
Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk’s conference on Armenain genocide has
been postponed to an uncertain date. The conference which was
supposed to be held on Monday, October 16 at Minnesota University was
about Armenian genocide claims. Minnesota University has announced
the postponement from its official website and said the conference
was postponed due to bad reputation around Pamuk’s winning
announcement. However, according to some sources it was Pamuk himself
who wanted to postpone the conference.

Journal of Turkish Weekly
Oct 14 2006
EU: The French Armenian Bill Would Prohibit Dialogue
Saturday , 14 October 2006
* The EU says the French Armenian bill would damage the relations
between Turkey and Armenia and Turkey and EU
The European Union said French parliament approval on Thursday of a
bill making it a crime to reject the Armenian accusations against the
Turkish people about the 1915 communal clashes could harm efforts to
end decades of dispute over the killings. Armenians name the 1915
Events `genocide’ while the Turks accuse the Armenians of massacring
520,000 Turkish civilian people.
A European Commission spokeswoman noted the bill still needed upper
house approval and said EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn had
repeatedly warned in recent days it would damage efforts in Turkey
and Armenia to resolve the dispute. Turkish prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan had called Armenia to set up a joint commission to
solve the historical disputes. Yet Yerevan Government rejected the
offer claiming there was nothing to be discussed.
“Should this law enter into force … it would prohibit dialogue
which is necessary for reconciliation on the issue,” spokeswoman
Krisztina Nagy told a regular news conference.
Asked whether the bill could add a stumbling block to difficult
accession talks with Ankara opened just over a year ago, she noted
recognition of the 1915 killings as a `genocide’ was not a
precondition for accession.
“It is not up to law to write history. Historians need to have
debate,” she said.

Xinhua , China
Oct 14 2006
Turkish consumers union starts to boycott French goods

The Turkish Consumers Union announced Friday that it has started to
boycott goods and services of French origin in protest against a bill
passed by French lawmakers, the semi-official Anatolia news agency
reported.
“As of today, we are going to boycott one French product every week
and show our reaction” against a bill criminalizing any denial of the
alleged massacres of Armenians during World War I, Bulent Deniz,
chairman of the union, was quoted as saying.
“We will not purchase fuel oil, lube oil, and LPG (Liquefied
Petroleum Gas) from the Total Company. France will be the party that
loses unless this unfortunate process ends,” Deniz said.
“The Turkish Consumers Union considered boycott as the last
alternative,” said Deniz, adding that the boycott will continue
increasingly until the French bill gets annulled.
French lawmakers on Thursday voted 106-19 for a draft bill, which
calls for up to a year in prison and fines of up to 56,000 U. S.
dollars for anyone who denies the alleged Armenian genocide during
World War I. The bill must be passed by the Senate and signed by
French President Jacques Chirac.
Turkey, a secular Muslim country which is seeking EU membership, has
vowed to impose economic sanctions on France if the bill is passed in
the French parliament.
Turkey has always denied that up to 1.5 million Armenians were
subject to genocide in the period between 1915 and 1923.
However, it does acknowledge that up to 300,000 Armenians died during
fighting and efforts to relocate populations away from the war zone
in eastern Turkey.
According to the Zaman daily, Turkey is the fifth largest customer of
French goods outside the EU. France’s export to Turkey values at 5.9
billion dollars while its import from Turkey remains at 3.8 billion
dollars.

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Oct 14 2006
Next Meeting of BSEC Assembly General to Take Place in Baku on
November 22

Source: Trend
Author: J.Shahverdiyev

13.10.2006

The next meeting of the Assembly General of the Black Sea Economic
Co-operation (BSEC) will take place in Baku on November 22, the
member of Azerbaijani delegation in the BSEC Parliamentary Assembly,
MP Asef Hajiyev told, Trend reports.
Hajiyev stressed that the last meeting of the organization was held
in Yerevan. After six month the meeting will be held in Bulgaria.
`This meeting will focus on election of the Vice President of the
Organization and other questions,’ he stressed. In addition, Hajiyev
emphasized that initiated by the ex-Turkish President Suleyman
Demrel, BSEC PA was created 15 years ago. `The International
Secretariat of the Organization is located in Turkey,’ Hajiyev
stressed.
Touching on the participation of Armenians at the meeting of the
Assembly General in Baku, he said `I cannot say anything about this.
But as a rule, invitations are forwarded to all members of the
organization. The meeting held 6 years ago in Baku was attended by
Armenians. But now I cannot say anything about their participation’.

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Oct 14 2006
`Our Azerbaijan’ Political Block to Hold Picket in Front of French
Embassy in Azerbaijan

Source: Trend
Author: J.Shahverdiyev

13.10.2006

On October 19, `Our Azerbaijan’ Political Block will hold a picket in
front of the French Embassy in Azerbaijan, the Secretary of the Block
Yusif Muganli told Trend.
He stressed that the decision to hold picket was made on 13 October
in the meeting of the Executive Board.
The picket is linked with French Parliament’s adopting the law
penalizing the denial of so-called `Armenian genocide’.
The Block considers that taking such steps, France demonstrates
disrespect towards its democratic values. The Block decided to appeal
to the Head of Azerbaijan and other international organizations to
debar France from the co-chairmanship in OSCE Minsk Group. It was
state that if France demonstrates such disrespect towards Turkic
world, it will demonstrate the same position with regard to
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Initiated by the Chairman of `Musavat’ Party Isa Gambar, `Our
Azerbaijan’ Block was created in 2003 and presently brings together
nearly 10 political parties.