MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS TO INFORM NEXT OSCE CHAIRMAN-IN-OFFICE ON ESSENCE OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT
Author: E.Huseynov

TREND, Azerbaijan
Dec 6 2006

Elmar Mammadyraov, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, stated
during his interview for the local daily Zerkalo that the OSCE
Minsk Group Co-chairs intend to visit Madrid to inform the next
Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, the Spanish Foreign Minister, on
the situation regarding the resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. He was commenting on the meeting with
the Minsk Group co-chairs in Brussels.

During the discussions they sounded a proposal on the organization
of a next meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers,
though the format of talks is still to be defined. With respect to
reasons of non-conduct of talks with the Armenian Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanian in Brussels, the Minister said that earlier he had
meeting with his Armenian counterpart in Minsk. "The Armenians have
asked for a break in talks to fully comprehend the situation before
deciding the direction in which the talks should continue. As far as
I understood there has been no response and no meeting.

Mammadyarov announced that only a few items now remained to be
discussed to co-ordinate the positions and in this context we
understand the responsibility specified for a negotiator who is
responsible for promoting the talks with the purpose of liberating
the areas and reputation of the refugees. He also commented on the
existence of the two hypotheses in the talks. These are the terms of
referendum on the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh of which Armenia
insists to be 5 years, but we agree a conduct of referendum after
15 years. The second is linked with the return of Lachin District
of Azerbaijan.

Mr. Mammadyarov approached the statement, in a positive manner,
made by the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, who called
the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Ilham Aliyev and Robert
Kocharian, on behalf of the OSCE Minsk Group chairs, to co-ordinate
basic principles of the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

In the current stage of negotiations, it is necessary to achieve
more international community attention. The attention that we have
drawn over the past two years is obvious. For the first time the NATO
Summit in Riga determined exactly the position of the member-states
which should be taken as a basis for the resolution of the conflict
in the South Caucasus and Moldova.

So, all NATO countries support the principles of territorial integrity
and sovereignty of South Caucasus countries and Moldova. It provides
strict boundaries for the resolution of conflicts. Along with NATO
member-countries, the resolution adopted at the Council of Europe,
as well as bilateral documents with the EU, consolidates a new action
plan, he emphasized.

SLAVERY AND JUSTICE REPORT MISLEADS ON ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’
by Ozge Can Ozcanli, Cengiz Pehlevan and Mert Akdere

The Brown Daily Herald, RI
Dec 6 2006

PrintEmail Article Tools Page 1 of 1 For centuries – longer than
the lifetime of the United States – the Christian and the Muslim
population of the Ottoman Empire had lived peacefully in Anatolia.

However, with the decline of Ottoman rule, nationalistic movements
began to tear the empire apart. In the 19th and early 20th century,
the Balkan nations gained independence, and with considerable help
from European and Russian interventions, relations between Muslims and
Christian Armenians in modern-day eastern Turkey began to degenerate.

Many aspects of this history still need to be illuminated through
objective studies; however, many historians agree that, during
World War I, the Armenian population in Eastern Anatolia rose in an
armed revolt in alliance with Russia, the enemy of the Ottomans. This
revolt was viewed as a security threat and the empire ordered a forced
relocation of Armenians from the region. During the relocation process,
hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed by famine, epidemics
or by attacks from Muslim gangs and some corrupt policemen.

The Turkish government, together with many international historians,
refuses the contention that these unfortunate events represented an
organized, one-sided "genocide" such as what took place recently in
Rwanda. The debate around this issue – whether the word "genocide"
should be used to describe the killings – is very sensitive for both
ethnic Turks and Armenians.

An observant mind can recognize an interesting connection between the
debate surrounding these killings, the recent visit of Nobel Prize
recipient Orhan Pamuk’s visit to Brown and the October report of the
University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. The middle
section of the report proposes the killings of Armenians during
World War I as an undeniable example of genocide; Pamuk, meanwhile,
had recently talked about these killings in an interview and, as
emphasized many times by the press, he "faced potential jail time"
in Turkey as a result.

This contributed to his image as a repressed writer, making him seem
like a perfect participant at the Freedom to Write Literary Festival
at Brown. However, unlike the festival’s other participants, none of
Pamuk’s books have been banned, nor has he ever been imprisoned. On
the contrary, he has been one of the best-selling authors in Turkey.

As for "potential jail time," Pamuk was indeed charged under the
controversial Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, but his trial
never started; the court dropped it under a technicality (undoubtedly
a result of popular opposition).

Turkey’s Article 301, which is also mentioned in the slavery and
sustice report, is often misrepresented or misunderstood. The
article does not specifically forbid talking about the Armenian
killings or terming them genocide. It forbids "public denigration
of Turkishness," and since it is vaguely worded, it is often misused
by zealous prosecutors in cases such as Pamuk’s. Criticisms of such
misuses and the anti-democratic nature of the article have followed
deservedly from both Turkish and international society.

However, it should be clarified that no one in Turkey has been put into
prison for terming Armenian killings a "genocide" based on Article
301. On the contrary, despite Pamuk’s claims that no one except him
talks about the killings, the genocide claim is being debated among
Turkish scholars just like it is in other countries.

Ironically, some exemplary democracies such as Switzerland and France
are passing legislation specifically to ban the freedom to say that the
Armenian killings were not genocide. Other countries, like Canada and
Belgium, have passed resolutions to recognize the events officially as
"genocide."

This political campaign is absurd given the fact that there is
no consensus among historians regarding the issue. Distinguished
scholars of Ottoman history like Roderic Davison, J.C. Hurewitz,
Bernard Lewis and Guenter Lewy, among many others, have rejected the
genocide label for the atrocities committed in Eastern Anatolia during
World War I. Moreover, in the United States, historical scholars
mobilized in 1985 against a similar Armenian Genocide Resolution
proposed by politicians in the House of Representatives.

Over 60 American academicians who specialize in Turkish, Ottoman and
Middle Eastern studies from prominent universities such as Princeton,
Columbia and University of California – Los Angeles wrote a letter
to the House, which was simultaneously published in the New York Times:

"… As for the charge of ‘genocide’ no signatory of this statement
wishes to minimize the scope of Armenian suffering… throughout
the years in question, the (Eastern Anatolian) region was the scene
of more or less continuous warfare, not unlike the tragedy which has
gone on in Lebanon for the past decade. The resulting death toll among
both Muslim and Christian communities of the region was immense. But
much more remains to be discovered before historians will be able to
sort out precisely… the (nature of) the events which resulted in the
death or removal of large numbers of the eastern Anatolian population,
Christian and Muslim alike."

One of the authors of this letter, Stanford Shaw, was threatened by
a bomb attack to his house in 1977 by an Armenian terrorist group.

Armenian fanatics did not hesitate to use terror during the 1970s and
1980s in an attempt to force Turkey to accept the term "genocide"
and agree to land reparations. Unfortunately, a total of 41 people
lost their lives in over 200 terrorist attacks in 20 countries as a
direct result of this campaign.

It is na’ve to think that proponents of the genocide theory are
engaged in a mere quest for truth, given that historical debate is
being stifled and Turkey’s attempts to engage in this debate are
being turned down. As recently as March 2005, Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan invited the Armenian government to establish a
joint commission of Turkish, Armenian and international historians
to investigate archives of all related countries and sort out the
true nature of the events that transpired. The offer was rejected –
by Armenia.

Ironically, the slavery and justice report dedicates a good portion of
its volume to such "Truth Commissions" and counts them as a rubric of
reparative justice. However, for some reason the report never mentions
Turkey’s invitations but claims the country is in constant denial.

It is rather disappointing that in a report prepared by academics
at Brown in the name of truth and justice, the debate surrounding
this issue – and Turkey’s attempts to investigate it objectively –
has been ignored completely.

Ozge Can Ozcanli GS, Cengiz Pehlevan GS and Mert Akdere GS are members
of the Brown Turkish Cultural Society.

orage/paper472/news/2006/12/06/Columns/Ozge-Can.Oz canli.Gs.Cengiz.Pehlevan.Gs.And.Mert.Akdere.Gs.Sla very.And.Justice.Re-2524602.shtml?norewrite2006120 61624&sourcedomain=

SYSTEM OF A DOWN HELPS DOCUMENT 1915 ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN "SCREAMERS," OPENING DEC. 8

Starpulse.com, CT
Dec 6 2006

Imagine if your life, your very being, was threatened each day simply
because of the color of your hair, your skin or where you lived. Yet
genocide, the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national,
racial or cultural group goes on outside our very windows every day.

It would seem unfathomable that such mass murder could happen in the
21st century, yet far too many still get away with it.

The evils and ugliness of genocide have long been reported in the
world press to great indifference. The message is significant but its
communication is stodgy. Today’s world demands relevance, attention
to detail and delivered in a way that is both understandable and
connected. Nowadays, music delivers the message.

The vastly popular, hugely influential, 16 million selling, Grammy
Award winning band System Of A Down have lent their voice, music, and
support to a ground-breaking new film called "Screamers." Directed
by the award-winning humanitarian filmmaker Carla Garapedian,
"Screamers" is an internationally produced documentary that covers
the history of modern-day genocide and genocide denial, beginning
with the Armenian Genocide in 1915, and how the world’s inactions
lead to other massacres. "Screamers", which recently won the Audience
Award at the AFI Film Festival, is distributed by Maya Releasing and
opens in Los Angeles and Orange County on December 8th at the Mann
Marketplace in Glendale, the Mann Chinese 6 in Hollywood, the Mann
Criterion in Santa Monica and AMC’s The Block in Orange.

System Of A Down have always worked to spread the message about
official Armenian Genocide Recognition within the U.S. and other
countries where they have yet to formally acknowledge that it took
place. (Most incredibly, a lot of the band’s fans in their teens and
twenties have learned about genocide not through school or the media
but directly through the band’s music, actions and statements.) The
band felt compelled to work with this unique project that hauntingly
illustrates how the denial of those crimes lead to more genocides of
the 20th Century – from the Holocaust to Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda…and
all the way to present-day Darfur.

In the film, there are personal stories of genocide survivors,
policy critics and whistleblowers – the "screamers" as they have
become known. When it comes to genocide, America’s interest has
always been to stay neutral, no matter how wide-scale the carnage,
with successive Presidents conspiring to turn a blind eye to genocides
as they are happening. After the Holocaust, we may say ‘never again’
— but we don’t mean it.

Using SOAD’s music as the backdrop to historical footage and current
accounts from genocide survivors – including lead singer Serj Tankian’s
grandfather, one of the few remaining eyewitnesses of the genocide in
Turkey, "Screamers" presents some of the great questions of our time:
Can we stop genocide? Do we really mean ‘never again’?

And how can we take action to prevent atrocities of this magnitude
from happening in the future?

"Screamers" is directed by Carla Garapedian, conceived by Peter
McAlevey and Carla Garapedian and produced by Nick de Grunwald,
Tim Swain, Carla Garapedian and Peter McAlevey. The film features
System Of A Down vocalist Serj Tankian, guitarist Daron Malakian,
bassist Shavo Odadjian and drummer John Dolmayan.

Interesting highlights of "Screamers":

*It’s a documentary about genocide.

*Though the emphasis is on the Armenian genocide, the same thing is
going on now in Darfur.

* It features the uber popular System Of A Down.

* The band members are all of Armenian descent.

*A lot of their music and concert footage appear in the film.

* Heretofore ignorant, a lot of their fans in their teens and twenties
have learned about genocide directly through the band’s music and
statements.

* Movie features newly named Nobel Prize winner for literature
Orhan Pamuk.

* France sought to calm an uproar in Turkey and the EU after its
Parliament voted that’s it’s a crime for anyone to deny the massacres
of Armenians in Turkey were anything but genocide.

* Filmmaker Carla Garapedian was a high profile journalist. She was
the first American to anchor the BBC News.

6/12/05/system_of_a_down_helps_document_1915_arm_8

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

UST’S GENOCIDE INTERVENTION NETWORK CHAPTER RECEIVES GRANT

UST Bulletin Today, MN
University of St. Thomas, Minnesota USA
Dec 6 2006

The St. Thomas chapter of the Genocide Intervention Network has
received a $5,000 grant from the Minneapolis Foundation. The funds
will help support the chapter’s spring-semester work in education
about genocide, particularly about the situation in Darfur, Sudan.

GI-Net plans to bring three major speakers this spring about genocides
of the 20th century: Armenia in 1915, the Holocaust, and Rwanda
in 1994.

The chapter also will organize and sponsor a mini-conference in
February for students, faculty and community leaders from throughout
the Twin Cities to work collaboratively for genocide education,
divestment of funds from businesses supporting the Sudanese government,
and advocacy for nonviolent resolution to the genocide in Darfur.

The Genocide Intervention Network is a national organization that
envisions a world in which the international community is willing and
able to protect civilians from genocide and mass atrocities. GI-Net
has more than 600 chapters around the world; members educate their
communities, advocate for action by their elected officials, and
raise funds directly for civilian protection and human security.

Learn more about the national Genocide Intervention Network. To learn
about the St. Thomas chapter, contact Sarah Hogan, student president,
or Dr. Ellen Kennedy, faculty adviser.

0649/Wednesday/Genocide12_6_06.cfm

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MEHRIBAN ALIYEVA ON WORKING VISIT TO US

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 6 2006

First lady of Azerbaijan, chairperson of the working group on
Azerbaijan-US inter-parliamentary relations, UNESCO goodwill ambassador
Mehriban Aliyeva is on working visit to the US, APA reports quoting
to Azertac.

Within her visit Mehriban Aliyeva met with co-chairs of the working
group on Azerbaijan, congressman democrat Solomon Ortiz, republican
Bill Shuster and members of the working group Edd Winfield, Vicente
Fox.

Mehriban Aliyeva stressed the successful development of relations
between Azerbaijan and the US. Discussions on the settlement of Nagorno
Karabakh conflict, lift of Section 907 to the Freedom Support Act,
geostrategical position of Azerbaijan were held at the meeting.

Later Mehriban Aliyeva met with Robert Wexler, congressman who is about
to take up his duties of Executive Director of Subcommittee on Europe
and Emerging Threats and invited him to Azerbaijan. The first lady was
accompanied by a group of Azerbaijani parliamentarians. The president
of Heydar Aliyev Foundation also met with George Bush Presidential
Library Foundation President, ex-councillor on US National Security
issues Brent Scowcroft. First lady also met with the representatives
of famous universities of Washington. Famous U.S.

scientists and statesmen, as well as Susan Eisenhower, Frederick
Star, Svante Cornell, Anjela Stand, James Baker, Rob Sobhani, Roald
Sagdeev, Ariel Cohen participated in the meeting. Mehriban Aliyeva
also visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Weaving Museum in
Washington. In the Azerbaijan Trade and Cultural Center (ATCC) founded
by US-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce of Washington first lady met with
American art figures and Azerbaijani art figures living and working
in the US. Mehriban Aliyeva’s working visit to the US continues.

OSCE, EU URGE FURTHER PROGRESS ON KARABAKH
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Dec 5 2006

Europe’s two leading security organizations have commended Armenia and
Azerbaijan for moving closer to ending the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
and urged both nations to build on the progress "as soon as possible."

In separate statements, the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe and the European Union highlighted fresh hopes for a speedy
solution to the Karabakh conflict that have been raised by the latest
meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents.

"We are encouraged that negotiations in 2006, facilitated by the
Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and supported by the OSCE Chairman
in Office, have brought the sides closer to agreement on the basic
principles for the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,"
the foreign ministers of OSCE member states said at the end of a
two-day meeting in Brussels.

The statement urged Presidents Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan and Robert
Kocharian of Armenia to "redouble their efforts in the coming year
to finalize these basic principles as soon as possible." Its content
was agreed with and signed by the foreign ministers of the two South
Caucasus states. OSCE ministers failed to reach a similar agreement
on other "frozen conflicts" in the former Soviet Union.

"The EU is encouraged by the active dialogue between Armenia and
Azerbaijan to find a settlement to the conflict," Finland’s Foreign
Minister Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the EU’s rotating
presidency, said in a statement issued on behalf of the bloc late
on Monday. "We call on both parties to seize the opportunity to make
progress without delay," he added.

Aliev and Kocharian held face-to-face talks for a third time in less
than a year on the sidelines of last week’s summit of former Soviet
republics in Minsk, Belarus. They indicated afterwards that they made
further progress towards a compromise peace accord.

Belgian Foreign Minister Karen De Gucht, the OSCE chairman-in-office
who attended the opening session of the Minsk talks, was reported to
say that a solution is in sight for Karabakh in the next year. "There
is a very good chance that we can (resolve) this conflict in the
course of next year," he told a news briefing in Brussels. "We have
made really substantial progress, if not a breakthrough."

But speaking to RFE/RL on Monday, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanian cautioned against excessive expectations from the next
round of Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations. He indicated that the
conflicting parties have yet to fully agree on the main point of the
existing international peace plan: a referendum on Karabakh’s status.

"We’ve got to be very careful about appearing too optimistic,"
Oskanian told Reuters news agency in a separate interview.

He said although there has been progress on the basic principles of
a Karabakh settlement, working out its details could prove even more
difficult. "That’s where the positions are inching closer, but we
are not there yet. Once we conclude the document, we have to go into
a second layer where we may face fresh problems because discussing
details sometimes could prove more problematic than the principles."

Oskanian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov were due
to discuss their next steps on the fringes of the OSCE conference.

But they avoided any face-to-face meetings in the Belgian capital,
opting instead for "proximity talks" through the French, Russian and
U.S. mediators.

Agreement on Karabakh is further complicated by the forthcoming
Armenian parliamentary elections as well as presidential ballots due
in both Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2008. Analysts doubt that Aliev
and Kocharian will risk a domestic nationalist backlash and announce
unpopular peace deals ahead of the polls.

AZERBAIJAN’S FM: STICKING POINTS REMAIN ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH

International Herald Tribune, France
The Associated Press
Dec 5 2006

BRUSSELS, Belgium: Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
said Tuesday a number of sticking points remain for the conflict in
the Nagorno-Karabakh region to be resolved.

Mammadyarov said Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed on the basic
principles of the status of the mountainous region in Azerbaijan that
has been under control of Armenian and ethnic Armenian Karabakh forces
since the 1994 end of a separatist war, but differences remained over
the speed of the pullout of Armenian troops from the province.

"Displaced people cannot go back when Armenian forces are still there,"
Mammadyarov said on the margins of a security meeting. About 30,000
people were killed in the 1994 war and 1 million displaced from
their homes.

Mammadyarov added that the two sides have agreed on the need for
the presence of international peacekeepers and quick rebuilding of
infrastructure in the region.

But he condemned Armenian plans for a constitutional referendum in
Nagorno-Karabakh on Dec. 10, saying Azerbaijan is still not convinced
Armenia is sincere about its determination to resolve the conflict.

The draft constitution says that Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, also
called the Republic of Artsakh, is a sovereign democratic nation.

On Monday, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oksanian told the
conference of foreign ministers from the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe’s member states that hopes are high for a
lasting solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Oksanian said last week’s meeting of presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan "gives hope that agreement is possible even on the most
problematic issues on which we don’t see eye to eye."

Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said there is a "clear
engagement to come to an agreement in the course of next year."

HOUSE REBUFFS U.S. FINANCING FOR CAUCASUS RAILWAY
The Associated Press

International Herald Tribune, France
Dec 6 2006

WASHINGTON: The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved an
amendment to bar the U.S. Export-Import bank from financing a railway
corridor that links Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Rep. Joseph Crowley, a Democrat, said the 258-kilometer project did
not warrant U.S. support because it bypasses Armenia and effectively
continues "an illegal economic blockade against the Caucasus nation."

As designed, the project is "an effort to hurt the Armenian people
and can only result in greater regional instability," Crowley said.

He credited Armenia with having "made great strides in democratic and
economic reforms in spite of its neighbors’ demonstrated hostility."

The amendment was approved without opposition.

A press release issued by Crowley’s office predicted Senate passage
of a simlar amendment. It said the amendment is expected to become
law before the end of the month.

RUSSIAN COMPANIES ARE INTERESTED IN ENERGY MARKET OF KARABAKH

Lragir, Armenia
Dec 6 2006

We have learned that the representatives of some Russian companies
have visited Karabakh to study the local energy sector. The minister
of territorial management and development of infrastructures Armo
Tsatryan told the Karabakh Open that there are Russian companies
which are conducting a survey of the energy sector of Karabakh to
make investments in small water power plants, because the Karabakh
party is interested in negotiating over this.

"But there have been no definite proposals from any company and there
are no arrangements," said the minister. According to the minister,
after the privatization of the Distribution Networks of Armenia last
year the companies initiated a visit to Karabakh, and during the
recent visit besides the territories they also conducted a survey
of Artsakhenergo.

It is notable that at the moment Azerbaijan is making efforts to
reject the Russian gas and seek for alternative sources. Will the
Russian companies appear in Karabakh? After all, the energy generated
in Karabakh can be sold in Iran.

ARMENIA WITHOUT AN ANTHEM

Yerevan, December 6. ArmInfo. Armenia will be without a state anthem
from 7 December 2006. The final deadline on ratification of the
law on anthem expires in 24 hours. According to amendments to the
Constitution, a law on state anthem had to be adopted within a year
after the amendments were entered. Unfortunately, the law hasn’t been
ratified yet. Armenia will remain without anthem for some time till
a special governmental sitting on the issue is held.

Andranik Margaryan, Armenian Premier and Leader of Republican Party,
said that, de jure, Armenia will be without the state anthem for
some time.

The draft law on anthem was not adopted due to acute disputes between
parliamentary parties and the government.