The Scotsman, UK
September 16, 2006, Saturday
Critique Edition
Burning Questions
WHY SHOULD SCOTLAND CARE ABOUT CENSORSHIP IN TURKEY?
THESE are tough times for freedom of speech in Turkey. Next week Elif
Shafak comes before the courts for writing a novel in which one
character makes a passing mention of Turkey’s role in the Armenian
massacres. A fortnight further on, and another best-selling Turkish
woman writer, Ipek Calislar, goes on trial for claiming that the
country’s founder, Mustafa Kamal Ataturk, dressed up as a woman.
Well, that’s fair enough, isn’t it? You’d expect people to be a bit
upset if it turns out that he was a secret Eddie Izzard.
Don’t be stupid. And anyway, he wasn’t. All Ataturk did was escape a
besieged house by wearing a woman’s chador. It meant that he avoided
being assassinated in 1923. And all Mrs Calislar did was mention the
episode in her biography of Ataturk’s wife. The story came from an
eyewitness to Ataturk’s escape who told it to someone she
interviewed.
I don’t see what the problem is. It’s just like Bonnie Prince Charlie
dressing up as a woman to foil the redcoats. In any case, ingenuity,
resourcefulness and cunning are what you’d want to find in a leader,
aren’t they?
Turks don’t see it like that. They’ve been gradually shaving off bits
of their laws that Europe doesn’t like, but they’ve still got this
catch-all law banning anyone from “insulting Turkishness” –
everything from saying Turks massacred Armenians to insulting the
army, the judges, or Ataturk himself. Which is why there are 45
writers and journalists facing those kinds of trials right now.
I still don’t get it. If Turkey wants to join the European Union –
and I know most Turks do – all of this is going to be used as
evidence that it’s still not fit to do so. So who benefits from all
these cases?
Now you’re on to something. Suppose you are a Turkish nationalist
lawyer. The last thing you’d want would be to link up with Brussels,
lose your currency, standardise the laws, lose sovereignty to
Brussels – all the usual stuff. And you know just how badly putting a
heavily pregnant novelist like Elif Shafak on trial, or threatening a
historian with jail just for writing up historical evidence, will
play with the EU.
I’m starting to understand this. It’s like they’re using something
good to smash something they hate. They know how much Europe needs a
secular modern Muslim state right now, the kind of country in which
women writers aren’t silent and submissive but just as actively
involved in culture, politics and debate as they are here, and
they’ll do what they can to prevent it. And putting bestselling
writers – like Orhan Pamuk, earlier this year – on trial fits the
bill perfectly. They’ll probably argue that no-one gets hurt because
the verdict is usually a suspended sentence and thedemonstrations
outside and inside the courtroom make great propaganda. And they’ll
forget all about the stress it puts on the writers, and how Turkey’s
creative life is slowly being stifled in the process.
Got it in one. Cynical bastards, aren’t they?

Sunday Telegraph (Australia)
September 17, 2006 Sunday
Inside Entertainment Edition
Hotel a gem of colonial elegance
MATP
by LEAH CREIGHTON
There aren’t many places that make you feel like landed gentry in
shorts and thongs. The Eastern and Oriental Hotel, in Georgetown,
Penang, is one of those rare places.
It’s also an undisturbed portal back to a time of British colonial
elegance.
Built in 1885 by the Armenian Sarkies brothers, of Raffles Singapore
fame, the E&O quickly became one of the British Empire’s finest
hotels.
It boasted Moorish minarets, a spacious, domed lobby and ”the
longest seafront in the world”.
By 1927, the E&O was being advertised as ”The Premier Hotel East of
the Suez” — with more than a hundred rooms and hot and cold running
water.
Its guests included Noel Coward, Douglas Fairbanks and Hermann Hesse.
Rudyard Kipling and Somerset Maugham are also reported to have
written extensively there.
Today’s Georgetown — sinking slowly into charming decrepitation —
is a strange
setting for the opulence of the Eastern and Oriental.
In its steaming, streaming streets, scores of hawkers, as sun-dried
as their wares, call out for custom.
Kerbside eateries hum with diners, and the aromas of roasted meats,
nuts and sweet ices curl into the humid and heavy air.
Gradually, like the intermittent rain that drenches you by degrees,
you feel a strength and pride in these people who have experienced
colonial rule and lived to tell the tale — in their own language,
and with their own leadership.
The Eastern and Oriental is one of the few reminders of this period
in Penang’s history. Like a slightly aloof matriarch, its imposing
white colonial facade stands just outside the bustling city centre.
Ushered inside by porters dressed in period safari suits and pith
helmets, you instantly morph into the era.
In a ballroom-sized reception hall, the immaculate customer manager
greets guests with a chilled martini glass of the fresh-fruitiest
cocktail that liquor never graced. (This, after all, is a Muslim
country, where drinking isn’t the norm.)
In the long, white-and-wooden hallways, etched with the heel marks of
a thousand guests, ornate ashtrays hold grey sand stamped with the
hotel’s initials. It’s meticulously restored after every extinguished
butt.
There’s soft music emanating from the pool area, and fresh violet
orchids are scattered around my waterfront room.
It’s filled with the sound of soft-slapping waves on the low-walled
walkway, where a lone antique cannon sits as a reminder of less
peaceful times.
There’s a parlour-sized bathroom with his-and-her areas and a
bacchanalian bath. This place feels six-star, without even having a
flat-screen TV.
A solid armoire from the 19th century dominates the bedroom. Behind
its thick doors, you can imagine lace petticoats beneath
whalebone-fortified skirts and pressed safari suits, redolent with
the smell of lavender, cigars and mothballs.
There are five eateries in the hotel, the most famous being Sarkies
Corner.
Each morning, Sarkies is decked in bone-white china and steaming
trays of Malaysian nasi goreng, Chinese yum cha, fried American
morsels, English teas and lots of Japanese delicacies.
* The writer was a guest of the Eastern and Oriental Hotel.
THE Eastern and Oriental Hotel isat 10 Lebuh Farquhar, Georgetown,
Penang, Malaysia;
Prices range from about $300 (850ringgits) a night for a doubledeluxe
suite up to $4200(12,000 ringgits) for theultimate E&Osuite.
Malaysian Airlines flies from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur twice aday, with
10 flights a day from Kuala Lumpur to Penang.

Les Echos , France
14 septembre 2006
L’Année de l’Arménie en France
Cinq cents manifestations mettant en valeur le patrimoine mais aussi
«la vitalité de la scène artistique contemporaine» arménienne, seront
organisées à Paris et en province dans le cadre de l’Année de
l’Arménie en France, du 21 septembre prochain au 14 juillet 2007.
Symboliquement, «Arménie mon amie» s’ouvrira le jour de la fête
nationale arménienne et s’achèvera celui de la fête nationale
française. Parmi les temps forts, le patrimoine sera à l’honneur,
avec l’exposition «Armenia sacra» au musée du Louvre, consacrée à
l’art chrétien des Arméniens, depuis leur conversion au début du IVe
siècle jusqu’au XIXe. Autre exposition, «Les douze capitales
d’Arménie», à la Conciergerie à Paris, sera articulée autour des
douze villes qui ont jalonné 3.000 ans d’histoire de l’Arménie. Une
exposition au musée Jean-Moulin à Paris rendra hommage à Missak
Manouchian, chef du groupe FTP (francs-tireurs partisans) de
l’«affiche rouge», exécuté en février 1944 par les nazis avec 22
autres résistants. D’autres expositions seront présentées à Marseille
(«Arménie, la magie de l’écrit»), Lyon («Ors et trésors d’Arménie»),
Faymoreau, en Vendée («Trésors d’Arménie») ou Strasbourg («30 livres
précieux de la bibliothèque nationale d’Erevan»).

Public Radio of Armenia
Sept 17 2006
Vardan Oskanian: The Co-Chairs are aspiring to revive the Karabakh
settlement process
17.09.2006 16:24
During today’s meeting Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian and
heads of Armenian diplomatic corps discussed issues of countering the
new challenges our country faces, as well as questions of economy,
politics and transport. Reference was made to the GUAM initiative to
transfer the issue of frozen conflicts to UN General Assembly agenda.
In Vardan Oskanian’s words, inclusion of the question in the UN
agenda demands active diplomatic work from us.
`Azerbaijan’s efforts to transfer the Karabakh issue to the UN agenda
pursue the aim of diverting the attention from the Minsk Group
process,’ the Foreign Minister said. In his opinion, there are
positive prospects of achieving progress the OSCE framework.
`The Co-Chairs are aspiring to revive the document put on the table,
the principles of which are acceptable to us, RA Foreign Minister
stated.
Vardan Oskanian confirmed once again that in case Azerbaijan
transfers the Karabakh settlement process to the UN, Armenia will
stay evolved in the process but only together with Nagorno Karabakh.
Nevertheless, the Minister noted that the UN is not entitled to take
any decision.

Public Radio of Armenia
Sept 15 2006
The US does not threaten, it just warns Armenia
15.09.2006 12:43
`We are actively working with RA Government and civil society to have
the upcoming elections be free and fair as possible,’ US Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State on Europe and Eurasia Matthew Bryza told
MEDIAMAX agency.
`I’m not about to come forth with any threats connected with the
Millennium Challenge Fund. However, the reality is that we take as a
basis the evaluations of the World Bank and the Freedom House. It is
theoretically possible that these evaluations will change if the
elections are too problematic and Armenia will no more correspond to
the Fund’s criteria. In this case we’ll be ready to suspend the
program. This is not a threat, I’m just establishing the fact. Out
objective is to do everything to avoid the slightest possibility of
this kind of scenario,’ Matthew Bryza said.

Public Radio of Armenia
Sept 15 2006
The Karabakh conflict has no military solution, US Co-Chair of the
OSCE Minsk Group is confident
15.09.2006 12:20
US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza said in an
interview to MEDIAMAX agency that, `The statements in the region
should not include hatred or a threat of applying force, since the
Karabakh conflict has no military solution. This kind of solution
does not exist today. It will not exist in 10, 15, 30 or 50 years.’
Commenting on the mediators’ suggestion to hold a referendum in
Nagorno Karabakh, Matthew Bryza noted that the document including the
main principles includes the following terminology: referendum or
popular vote.
`Azerbaijan says that it means a popular vote and not a referendum,
referring to its Constitution, which says that all the citizens of
the country must participate in the referendum. In my opinion, the
Armenian side is not satisfied with this version, in case of which
the whole population of Azerbaijan will participate in the voting.
Thus, we must find a clever way and organize the voting process so
that it corresponds to the interests of both Armenia and Azerbaijan,
the US mediator said.

Public Radio of Armenia
Sept 15 2006
Jacques Chirac to arrive in Armenia on an official visit
16.09.2006 12:34
September 29 The President of France Jacques Chirac will arrive in
Armenia on an official visit.
RA President’s Press Secretary Viktor Soghomonyan informed that
during the visit Presidents of Armenia and France Robert Kocharyan
and Jacques Chirac will have a meeting, following which the leaders
of the two countries will give a joint press conference. The
Presidents will participate the festive ceremony of opening the
Square of the French Republic in Yerevan and will attend Charles
Aznavour’s concert at the Republic Square.
In the framework of the visit Jacques Chirac will attend the Mother
See of Holy Echmiadzin and will have a meeting with the Catholicos of
All Armenians Garegin II. The French President will lay a wreath of
flowers at the memorial to the Armenian Genocide victims. The visit
will be completed on October 1.

Noyan Tapan News Agency
Sept 15 2006
ARMEN RUSTAMIAN: ISOLATION BY NEIGHBOR COUNTRIES IS THREAT NUMBER ONE
FACED BY ARMENIA
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Development of
democracy, solution to the Nagorno Karabakh problem and
neutralization of foreign threats are the three main challenges faced
by Armenia. Armen Rustamian, Chairman of RA NA Standing Committee on
Foreign Relations, representative of ARF Dashnaktsutiun Armenian
Supreme Body, expressed such an opinion at the September 15 press
conference.
In his words, there are foreign threats not only before Armenia, but
also all other countries making part of the former Soviet Union. “All
countries had a problem of strengthening of independence, a problem
of independent creation of guarantees. But Armenia has its peculiar
challenges conditioned by its geographical position and relations
with its neighbors,” Rustamian said.
In the speaker’s words, threat number one is the neighbor countries’
policy aimed at Armenia’s isolation. In his words, when Armenia was
member of different international organizations and signed
multi-lateral agreements, Azerbaijan’s reservations pursuing the goal
to isolate Armenia were striking. Today also, in Rustamian’s
affirmation, relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan remind of a
“cold war” and relations with Turkey are rather complicated. “It will
be possible to contribute to establishment of regional security only
in case of normalization of these relations,” the parliamentary
committee chairman is convinced.
Another challenges, as Armen Rustamian said, are connected with the
so-called “Iranian dossier:” it can become a serious threat for
Armenia if the issue connected with the Iranian nuclear programs is
solved through force. “God forbid if a civil war breaks out in Iran.
We have a single completely operating land border with Iran and this
border can be endangered,” the speaker emphasized.

Noyan Tapan News Agency
Sept 15 2006
TO RA OMBUDSMAN, 4 YEARS’ IMPRISONMENT IS SEVERE PUNISHMENT FOR
EDITOR OF “ZHAMANAK YEREVAN” NEWSPAPER
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 15, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Ombudsman Office will
conduct studies in the European Court of Human Rights (Strasbourg) in
order to fund out if the sentence passed on Arman Babajanian,
editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Zhamanak Yerevan”, was in line with
European precedent law on fair trial. The RA Ombudsman Armen
Harutyunian stated at the September 14 press conference that the
European precedent law related to other spheres will be studied as
well.
In his opinion, 4 years’ imprisonment was a severe punishment. A.
Harutyunian said that after returning from Strasbourg, he will make a
statement about the editor’s case. To recap, the above mentioned
court ruling was made based on charges of military service evasion
and document forgery.
The RA Ombudsman noted that the in the past 5-6 months, acts of
violence against reporters seem to have become a system.”
Nevertheless, these instances of violence, as well as the cases when
innocent citizens became victims of street settlement of old scores
should not make one arrive at the conclusion that the society and the
freedom of speech are not protected. He expressed an opinion that
such cases are indicative that the protection of the society and
citizens shows “dangerous tendencies” to decline.

Azat Artsakh, NKR
Sept 15 2006
A. GHUKASSIAN: WE KEEP THE WINDOW OPEN
In his recent visit to the region of Hadrut Arkady Ghukassian
answered the questions of journalists. The president made some
interesting statements with regard to the question of sending an OSCE
monitoring group to study the fires. Does the head of NKR share
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian’s opinion that if
Azerbaijan is willing to cooperate over extinguishing fires at the
front line, it should turn to the NKR government? Was there any
invitation from the monitoring group, and does the president of NKR
consider the possibility of cooperation with Azerbaijan realistic?
Arkady Ghukassian: `First, I would like to note that it was our
proposal when Azerbaijan started all that fuss about fires. It is
clear that it was caused artificially because they are the author of
both fires and propaganda. The problem is that we have invited
international organizations for a number of times to conduct a
monitoring, because we also want the international community to have
a clear picture of the situation in Nagorno Karabakh, namely at the
border. And since the OSCE mission is likely to arrive, naturally
they must cooperate with the Nagorno-Karabakh government. There has
been no official information yet, but as soon as it is there, we are
ready to accept them. I believe that this mission will make an
unbiased conclusion on the situation in Karabakh. And the purpose of
Azerbaijan is the same.’ Mr. President, what do Bryza’s controversial
statements prompt, is the window of settlement shut this year?
Besides, you said in a recent radio interview that the international
recognition is the settlement. Is it so? Arkady Ghukassian: `The
international recognition was always a variant, this idea is not new
because we believe that the future of Karabakh is the de jure
international recognition of its status. As to the window, we have
never closed the window, on the contrary, we always keep the window
open, and I am hopeful that the window is not closed, and we are
ready to start a constructive dialogue with Azerbaijan.’ What is you
opinion on reporting the problem to the UN? Arkady Ghukassian: `I
think this is a destructive approach because it is clear that the
OSCE Minsk Group has attended to this problem over these years and
the attempts to involve other international organizations will result
in a disorder, which is not favorable for the conflict parties.
Unfortunately, Nagorno Karabakh is not represented to these
international organizations, and Armenia expressed its opinion
clearly that it is against that any international organization starts
attending to the issues, which are dealt with by the OSCE. I think
the right instrument is the diplomatic instrument, and I think the
Armenian diplomacy should be more active. Unfortunately, a situation
has occurred today when the diplomatic corps of Azerbaijan constantly
attacks, and we have to be on the defensive. I think it is high time
that we attack.’
AA.
15-09-2006