AL-JAZEERA AIRS PROGRAMMES ON SEPARATIST KARABAKH – AZERI TV
ANS TV, Baku, in Azeri
19 Sep 06
[Doha-based] Al-Jazeera TV channel has prepared a series of programmes
on the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the separatist regime
on occupied Azerbaijani territories. The TV channel has broadcast a
broad interview with Armenian President Robert Kocharyan. The interview
touched on the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, relations
between Armenia and the Arab world and other regional issues. An
Al-Jazeera correspondent also visited Nagornyy Karabakh and had an
interview with the head of the separatist regime, Arkadiy Gukasyan.
[Video showed Al-Jazeera studio, scenes of Karabakh, Kocharyan’s
library pictures]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURK WRITER SAYS SHE LOOKS FORWARD TO START OF TRIAL
by Susanne Fowler
The International Herald Tribune
September 19, 2006 Tuesday
Elif Shafak, the Turkish author, is awaiting clearance from a doctor
to attend her trial that starts in Istanbul this week. She is being
prosecuted on charges she insulted “Turkishness” because characters in
her book, “The Bastard of Istanbul,” refer to the deaths of Armenians
in 1915 as genocide.
“Of course the court will not be postponing this trial,” Shafak said
Monday by telephone from the Istanbul hospital where she gave birth to
a daughter by Caesarean section on Saturday. “I am planning to attend,
hoping to attend.”
Shafak said a decision would be made Tuesday.
The case is seen as a test of Turkey’s commitment to freedom of
expression as it negotiates to join the European Union.
“It’s no longer an Elif Shafak case, not a private case,” said the
French-born Shafak, 34. “It should be turned into a trial against
Article 301,” the section of the Turkish Criminal Code under which
she is being prosecuted.
The nationalists who sued her are rallying their supporters by
circulating statements urging a strong turnout.
Among those planning to appear in support of Shafak are envoys from
International PEN, the worldwide association of writers that is based
in London. Eugene Schoulgin, a PEN board member in Istanbul, said
Monday: “What will most likely happen in Shafak’s case is that there
will be one or two hearings and the case will either be dismissed or
she will be acquitted. But what is unacceptable is that Turkey opens
these kinds of trials in the first place.”
Meanwhile, Shafak and her husband, Eyup Can, were welcoming their
daughter, Shehrazade Zelda, named for the storyteller of “The 1,001
Arabian Nights” and the wife of another novelist, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

OSCE MINSK GROUP BEST WAY OF KARABAKH SETTLEMENT – ARMENIA
Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 19, 2006 Tuesday 01:20 PM EST
The OSCE Minsk Group is the acceptable and today’s best way of settling
the Karabakh conflict for Armenia, Foreign Ministry representative
Vladimir Karapetian said on Tuesday.
“If the issue is referred to other agencies, including the UN,
Karabakh will have to take part in the negotiations,” he said.
“Azerbaijan is playing a dangerous game, as it is trying to receive
dividends at other organizations, whose member countries do not have
profound information or knowledge of Karabakh.”
“Armenia is very thorough about the negotiations, and expects
Azerbaijan to do the same,” he said. “We have several times voiced
our positive attitude to the latest proposals by the OSCE Minsk Group
cochairmen, and we still hope to continue the negotiations.”

NOVELIST ON TRIAL FOR THE ‘CRIMES’ OF HER CHARACTERS
by Suna Erdem
The Times (London)
September 19, 2006, Tuesday
Elif Shafak is the latest writer to be charged with “insulting
Turkishness”. They want to control art, she tells Suna Erdem.
UNCLE DIKRAN, Grandma Shushan and Auntie Zeliha may be figments of
the novelist Elif Shafak’s imagination but they will all be in the
dock this week in a bizarre trial that has become a test for Turkey’s
European ambitions and commitment to freedom of speech.
Mrs Shafak, 34, has been charged under Article 301 of the penal code
with “insulting Turkishness” through the fictional dialogue in her
bestselling novel The Bastard of Istanbul, about the intertwined
history of a Turkish and an Armenian-American family.
The European Union, with which Turkey began accession talks last
year, has been a strong critic of the law and is expected to condemn
curbs on freedom of expression in a report on October 24. Turkey’s
parliament is holding an emergency meeting this week on further
EU-related legal reform, but the Government has so far failed to
act on Article 301 -which was also used to put Orhan Pamuk, the
country’s most famous novelist, on trial -pointing out that cases
end in acquittal anyway. That is not the point, Mrs Shafak says.
“I think the biggest worry regarding Article 301 is not that it puts
people in prison but it silences them.” Even the briefest of Article
301 court cases has proved a platform for harassment of top writers
but for Mrs Shafak it is even worse. She gave birth to a baby girl
last Saturday and, since the court refused her request for the hearing
to be postponed, she must now either excuse herself through a medical
report or leave a five-day-old baby to go to court on Thursday.
Charging fictional characters “is a new step”, Mrs Shafak said. “It
means they are now trying to control art, and this is very alarming
because in Turkey -a country that witnessed three military takeovers
-art and literature had always been autonomous.”
The crime committed by her characters is to refer to the taboo subject
of mass Armenian killings in Ottoman Turkey in 1915. The Armenians
call it genocide, Turks say large-scale wartime deaths. The fictional
Uncle Dikran speaks of “Turkish butchers”, others talk about being
“slaughtered like sheep” and claim all Turks are either nationalist
or ignorant. More absurdly, some Turkish characters are charged over
routine gripes about the country.
The accusations demonstrate a wilful misreading of the book, in which
the families are so mixed up that it is hard to take sides. Mrs Shafak,
describing how many contemporary Turks are descended from minorities
in a multicultural Ottoman Empire, is critical both of Turks’ amnesia
regarding events before the country became a republic in 1923 and of
the Armenian diaspora’s apparent obsession with history.
This trial is not just about her book, she says. The case is part
of a political effort by extreme nationalists to hamper Turkey’s EU
aspiration by demonstrating how un-European it is.
As Turkey has undergone almost unprecedented reform over the past few
years, including a curbing of the powers of the military, it has also
witnessed rising nationalism. It is surely no coincidence, Mrs Shafak
says, that early next month Ipek Calislar, a respected journalist,
will go on trial for “insulting Ataturk”, Turkey’s revered founder,
in a book that shared the bestseller spot with The Bastard of Istanbul.
“We are seeing a clash between those who wholeheartedly support the EU
process, and others who want to turn this society into a xenophobic,
isolationist country,” she said.
Kemal Kerincsiz, the lawyer who brought the case against Mrs Shafak,
is behind several other such cases. He insists that EU membership
would be a disaster for Turkey, and has claimed that it was not Mrs
Shafak but some shady imperialists who penned her novel as part of
a plot to destroy Turkey.
Mrs Shafak says that many Turkish officials are embarrassed about the
present situation. She does not believe that she will go to jail and
is certain that Article 301 will be reformed. But that does not mean
that Mr Kerincsiz is harmless. Nor does this exonerate the political
elite, which is responsible for creating an environment in which he
can operate.
THE ARMENIAN QUESTION
* Turkey has long refused to call the events of 1915 to 1917 a
genocide. It maintains that the Armenians died in the context of
the First World War and that the State had no role in planning mass
extermination
* Turkey condemned efforts last week by the Cordoban regional
government in Argentina to instate April 24 as a day to commemorate the
Armenian genocide of 1915, reaffirming its insistence that allegations
of a so-called genocide were baseless
* Established a year ago, Article 301 makes it illegal to publish
material that “denigrates Turkishness” and the institutions of the
State -the Government, the judiciary, the military or the state
security apparatus. Under the law, doing so from outside Turkey is
sanctioned more severely, increasing one’s jail sentence by a third
* About 60 publishers, journalists and writers are being prosecuted
currently under the law, which has raised considerable controversy
as Turkey negotiates membership of the European Union

ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES RESPONSIBLE FOR KARABAKH
PanARMENIAN.Net
20.09.2006 13:02 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
demands time to let Armenia determine the notion of security for
the people of RA and NKR, said Hilda Tchoboian, the chairperson
of the European Armenian Federation (EAFJD) in an interview with
PanARMENAIN.Net. In her words, Armenia’s position should be tough and
fundamental. “The settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict demands
time to let Armenia determine the notion of security for the people
of RA and NKR and understand what we can expect if we return just
a single region that forms the NKR security belt. In this view the
responsibility lies on the Armenian authorities, who should realize
every step undertaken for the conflict settlement,” she underscored.

EUROPE – LINK FOR ARMENIA’S COMMUNICATION WITH WORLD
PanARMENIAN.Net
20.09.2006 13:18 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The visit of French President Jacques Chirac to
Armenia is a friendly and political step though not quite mediate,
said Hilda Tchoboian, the chairperson of the European Armenian
Federation (EAFJD) in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net. In her words,
the conduction of the Year of Armenia in France is a significant
event. “The task of the Armenian community of France is to convey
the importance of the Armenian Genocide recognition to the French
society via historians and public figures. Moreover we suppose that
the French parliament will discuss the bill providing for criminal
punishment for the Armenian Genocide denial,” Ms. Tchoboian emphasized.
At that she remarked that Chirac’s visit is also important for the
further development of the Armenian-French relations and expansion
of activities of the Armenian community.
As for the Armenia-EU program, Ms. Tchoboian is convinced in the
efficiency of its realization.
“Europe is a link for Armenia’s communication with the
world. Successfully cooperating with Russia and the United States,
Armenia can gain one more partner. It’s very important, especially if
the European model is applied to the Armenian economy, civic society,
human rights protection and culture,” she said.

EAFJD: ARMENIA SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT DIASPORA ISN’T IN DEBT TO ANYONE
PanARMENIAN.Net
20.09.2006 13:37 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The programs for agriculture development proposed
at the Third Armenia-Diaspora Forum should be understandable for
Diaspora, which must be sure that the funds allocated will be properly
spent, said Hilda Tchoboian, the chairperson of the European Armenian
Federation (EAFJD), in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net. In her words,
absolute trust should be achieved between Armenia and Diaspora. “This
is very important. Moreover, Armenia should understand that Diaspora
isn’t in debt to anyone and all we need is to work jointly. Armenian
entrepreneurs should invest in the development of their country,
especially in the rural areas. Otherwise, the Forum will not justify
the hopes of the initiators and Diaspora,” she said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

INDEPENDENCE – GREATEST DREAM AND GREATEST RESPONSIBILITY
PanARMENIAN.Net
20.09.2006 13:44 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 15 years of Armenia’s independence were hard
and full of losses but it was also the time of great victories and
achievements, self-affirmation and renaissance of national values,
says the congratulatory address of Armenian National Assembly Speaker
Tigran Torosian on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of Armenia’s
independence. “Thanks to the unlimited strength of our people we
could counteract the ordeals. Today we have two Armenian states
and our borders are well secured. Armenia has an efficient army
and state system,” the message says. Tigran Torosian underscored
that the Armenian people still face challenges and problems. “These
are the international recognition of the NKR, creation of proper
living conditions for the people, who experienced the hardships of
independence formation, and worthy representation of a strong state
within the international community. Independence is a great dream and
great responsibility at the same time. I congratulate the Armenian
people with the 15th anniversary of independence and wish happiness,
prosperity and every success,” the RA Parliament Speaker said,
reported the RA NA press office.

RUSSIA’S PROSECUTOR GENERAL ARRIVING IN ARMENIA SEPTEMBER 21
PanARMENIAN.Net
20.09.2006 13:54 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia’s Prosecutor General Yuri Chayka will arrive
in Armenia September 21, Sona Truzyan, the Spokesperson of the RA
Office of Prosecutor General told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In her
words, Yuri Chayka will arrive in Yerevan by invitation of his Armenian
counterpart Aghvan Hovsepyan. A sitting of the Russian-Armenian joint
board and signing of an agreement on cooperation is scheduled during
the visit.

TWO ROOM FLAT COSTS $80,000 IN ELITE COMMUNITY
Panorama.am
13:56 20/09/06
“Real estate will not go up in prices because the supply of newly
built buildings is high,” Vruyr Penesyan, director of a real estate
agency, told reporters today. He also said the pre-election campaign
also affects the prices. “Many citizens plan to buy real estate after
elections,” he said.
The director is sure that the prices of apartments in newly built
buildings will go up after elections. He also indicated that some
customers prefer houses willing to be far from the noise of the city,
particularly in Vahagn community.
Penesyan said two-room flat costs $80,000 in elite communities. He
also said some owners have revised the prices setting them in euro
because of the devaluation of dollar.