FESTIVAL OF AMERICAN AND ARMENIAN MUSIC IS HELD IN YEREVAN
Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 6 2006
US composer Laura Kaminsky, Armenian composer-pianist Artur Avanesov,
and Armenian pianist Margarit Sargsyan are presenting three concerts
in Armenia in cooperation with Komitas State Conservatory of Music.
This celebration of contemporary American and Armenian music was
supported by a grant from CEC ArtsLink. The first concert will be
held at Naregatsi Art Institute on November 6, and the second two
will be held at Komitas Chamber Music Hall on November 7 and 8.
Laura Kaminsky has a longstanding connection to Armenia dating back
to 1996 when she worked with two talented young Armenian musicians in
Poland and throughout central Europe. In 2002, Ms. Kaminsky visited
Yerevan for the first time to perform a concert at the invitation of
the Society of Composers and Musicologists. Ms. Kaminsky’s relationship
with Armenian composers endured, and led to her organizing this
November’s concert series with her Armenian colleagues.
Laura Kaminsky is Dean of the Conservatory of Music at Purchase
College/SUNY. Previously, she served as Chair of the Department of
Music at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington. She is
also co-founder and Artistic Director of Musicians Accord, a new music
collective based in New York and dedicated to 20th and 21st century
chamber music. Composer Laura Kaminsky’s works have been performed
throughout the United States and abroad, including in Eastern Europe,
Latin America, and West Africa.
From: Baghdasarian

TURKISH PRIME MINISTER ACCUSES THE EU OF CREATING ADDITIONAL OBSTACLES
Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 6 2006
Turkish Prime Minister Rejeb Tayyib Erdogan ha accused the European
Union of “creating additional obstacles on the way of Turkey’s
accession into the united Europe.” This was the reaction of the Prime
Minister to the draft report of the European Commission to be issued
next week, “Trend” agency reports.
The document questions Ankara’s accession to the EU. According to the
document, the pace of reforms in the country has considerably slowed
down. Besides, it is noted that Turkey’s has registered no progress
in normalization of relations with Cyprus, the Southern part of which
is already in the EU, while the Northern one is still under Turkish
blockade. Turkey has not opened its ports and air space for Cyprus.
Finland, which is currently presiding over the European Union,
continues searching for ways out of the “Cyprus deadlock,” which is
one of the main obstacles on Turkey’s way to the European Union.

ARMENIAN AND FRENCH WEBSITES ATTACKED BY HACKERS
Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 6 2006
After having attacked many French websites (approximately 900), hackers
of Turkish origin pirated the symbolic website
to protest against the positive vote of the member of the French
Parliament penalizing the negation of Armenian Genocide. The hacker,
called “Ejder” modified the site in question to place there the
picture of the father founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk,
on bottom of the Turkish flag and the national anthem. Besides,
a banner on which is written in French: “Turkey never made genocide
on its history” was placed on the Guide of Istanbul online.

KOCHARIAN STARTS KAZAKHSTAN VISIT
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Nov 6 2006
Armenia and Kazakhstan are aspiring to build deeper relations in
the trade and economic spheres, the two nations’ leaders said after
negotiations on Monday.
Armenia’s President Robert Kocharian, who is on a two-day official
visit to Kazakhstan at the invitation of the country’s President
Nursultan Nazarbayev, and his Kazakh counterpart gave a press
conference in Astana after their meeting earlier today.
Kocharian emphasized the positive dynamics in bilateral relations,
the high level of political dialogue existing between the two countries
and good cooperation within international organizations.
He regretted Armenia’s insignificant amount of trade and economic
cooperation with Kazakhstan, a country that he called ‘an undoubted
leader of the Central Asian region’.
“The economic component is the weakest in our cooperation despite
the advanced reforms we have both in Kazakhstan and Armenia and
their consonance, which is a good basis first of all for economic
cooperation,” Kocharian underscored.
The Armenian leader expressed a hope that the agreements signed
in Astana will help both counties’ business elites to develop more
active cooperation.
Kocharian welcomed the closer attention of Kazakhstan’s business
circles to Armenia and their serious presence in the South Caucasus.
He hoped that in the time to come this presence will have a greater
impact on Armenia than it does today.
For his part, Nazarbayev expressed his satisfaction with the
negotiations he had with his Armenian counterpart.
“We have confirmed the aspiration of our states to further deepen our
relations through increasing trade and raising our relations to a new
level. These relations will also be promoted by increased trade and
closer economic links allowing Kazakhstani companies and capital to
work in Armenia without fear,” Nazarbayev stressed.
During their meeting the sides also discussed contacts in the
humanitarian sphere and exchanged information on the ongoing reforms
in their countries.
Kocharian briefed Nazarbayev on the situation around the
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement. “I want to reiterate our commitment
to a peaceful settlement of this conflict,” Kocharian said at the
news conference.
He invited Nazarbayev to pay a return official visit to Armenia next
year ‘in order to summarize the results of the annual work of the
Armenian-Kazakhstani intergovernmental commission.’

BREAKDOWN OVER THE BOSPHORUS
Ian Traynor
The Guardian, UK
Nov 6 2006
To bring Turkey in would be a heroic move by Europe. To reject it
could be construed as a concession to fear and pessimism.
About Webfeeds November 6, 2006 05:42 PM | Printable version To let
Turkey into the European Union? One helluva problem, no doubt about
it. And keeping the Turks out? An even bigger problem, perhaps?
Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
The bad-tempered sparring that has characterised the EU’s negotiations
with Ankara since Brussels gave the go-ahead for membership talks
last year is shifting into a more perilous phase, propelled by quite
separate dynamics on both sides.
In Europe a panoply of diffuse factors are combining to wreck Turkey’s
chances. Islamophobia, European dilemmas over how to integrate or
exclude the growing Muslim minorities in their societies, paralysis
and indecision among EU political elites about how to revive the
European project, “expansion fatigue” as the EU grows to encompass 27
countries. There is a broad mood of drift, clueless and helpless. At
a time like this, who needs or wants Turkey?
On the other side of the Bosphorus, the grievances are great and
growing. A big proud nation is being antagonised and humiliated on
an almost weekly basis. Prickly to a fault, Turkey is less inclined
to do the EU’s bidding the more it is ordered to.
This week the European Commission will take Ankara to task on a whole
host of issues. A couple of weeks ago it was the French parliament
sitting in judgment of Turkish history, seeking to criminalise denial
of the Turks “genocide” of the Armenians in 1915.
The Brussels report card on Wednesday goes much further than a
ticking off or “could do much better”. The class teacher in Brussels
is severely reprimanding the Turks for lagging behind on everything
from military interference in politics to free speech curbs to
women’s rights to corruption and police brutality. And then there’s
Cyprus. Turkey? Not very European at all, concludes the report card.
When the report goes to the head teacher at an EU summit in December,
the pupil, if not expelled from school, may find himself suspended
from class. And if that happens, the damage could be immense.
Turkey is already in an election season. A new president has to be
voted on by next May and parliamentary elections held by the end of
next year. Nationalism, militant secularism, and moderate Islamism are
all forces on the rise and being played out as the prime minister,
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, struggles to keep Turkey’s European vocation
alive.
The constant hectoring tone from the EU hardly helps him.
Recalcitrance in response to the routine criticisms, particularly from
France, Germany, and Austria, also make it difficult and politically
risky for Mr Erdogan to equate Turkey’s modernisation with its
“Europeanisation.” Both sides are digging in their heels.
There is no denying the scale of the problem, the dilemma, or the
opportunity. Although it cannot happen for at least a decade, for
the EU to let Turkey join would be a mammoth step. The country of
more than 70 million would be bigger than Germany by the time of
entry, meaning that a Muslim country would instantly become the EU’s
biggest. For the Vatican and for the Christian democrats of Europe
(and not a few social democrats as well) this is a leap too far,
hence the current unsuccessful attempt by centre-right governments in
Europe to try to get the EU commission to define the EU’s “absorption
capacity” – in plain English, Europe’s territorial limits.
Furthermore, under the new voting system likely to be revived at
some stage despite the moribund condition of the EU’s constitution,
Germany’s status as the EU’s biggest member is recognised by giving
it enhanced voting clout. If fairness were to prevail, Turkey would
automatically have the biggest say in EU councils. And, with the
biggest Nato army this side of the Atlantic, Turkey would also
instantly become Europe’s foremost military.
Again, if fairness were to prevail, Turkey’s size and relative poverty
would entitle it to a huge share of EU funds such as to make current
squabbling over budgets and farm subsidies seem paltry. A great unsung
success of the EU over the years has been the smooth redistribution of
wealth to, say, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and now to eastern
and central Europe. Will the generosity extend to Turkey?
If these are just a few of the major problems of letting Turkey in,
what about keeping it out? Europe would willy-nilly be confirmed as
a Christian bastion of anti-Muslim prejudice. It would demonstrate
it is not up to seizing the grand, historic, strategic opportunity
of integrating and consolidating a large Muslim democracy.
There would inevitably be hell to pay. Geographically and historically,
Turkey is a pivotal power, straddling and connecting Europe and the
Middle East. Rejection would tip Turkey towards the Middle East,
push Turkey away from the west and towards authoritarian historical
enemies such as Russia and Iran, vindicate “clash of civilisation”
pessimists, strengthen anti-democratic Islamists and nationalists. To
bring Turkey in would be an uncharacteristically heroic move by Europe,
ringing with promise, opportunity, and optimism. To reject it could
be construed as cowardice, a concession to fear and pessimism. Either
way, the choices, still a long way off, are damnably hard.
But if not dishonest, there is something fundamentally depressing
about the Turkey-EU negotiations which, only a year after the formal
go-ahead for the talks, have degenerated into a dialogue of the deaf
and look to be heading towards breakdown.
The Turks have an uncanny aptitude for shooting themselves in the
foot, arming their critics and opponents whether by putting their most
celebrated writer (as well as many others) on trial for speaking his
mind or charging dozens of ethnic Kurdish mayors with offences for
asking Denmark to keep a Kurdish TV station on the air. And in Europe,
governments and leading politicians repeatedly state that Turkey will
never join. They then devise mechanisms to ensure that Turkey is kept
out just after those same governments and leaders at a European summit
have launched negotiations designed to bring Turkey in.
Rather than a courtship that is looking forward to a happy wedding,
the relationship over the past year has been more like grumpy divorce
proceedings, with the estranged partners making peremptory demands
of one another and always looking to blame the other. It is a strange
way to prepare for a marriage.
_traynor/2006/11/breakdown_over_the_bosphorus.html

ANNUAL DEFENSE EXPENSES TO MAKE UP 3.5% OF ARMENIA’S GDP
Regnum News Agency, Russia
Nov 6 2006
“The budgetary allocations for defense are enough to keep our army
efficient,” Armenian Defense Minister Serzh Sargsyan told journalists
after the Nov 6 budgetary hearings in the parliament. The annual
defense expenses will make up 3.5% of the GDP, i.e. the defense
expenses will directly depend on the economic growth.
Sargsyan said that 48% of the defense allocations will be spent on
the wages. He said that next year the average salary of an Armenian
officer will be 165,000 AMD (almost $450).
Commenting on the Azerbaijani authorities’ statement that Azerbaijan’s
defense budget is much bigger than Armenia’s one, Sargsyan said that
$1bln cannot be compared with $300mln, “but if we spend the money
effectively, we will attain a lot.” Sargsyan said that next year the
Government will buy new equipment for the army.
To note, the draft budget 2007 allocates over 100.4bln AMD for defense,
of which 97bln AMD for military needs. 27mln AMD will be spent on
the organization of the alternative service.

SERZH SARGSYAN: RUSSIA HAS NEVER MISUSED ITS ECONOMIC LEVERS
Regnum, Russia
Nov 6 2006
The Armenian Government will approve the deal between OTE (Greece)
and VympelCom (Russia) for the sale of 90% of the shares of ArmenTel
telecom company, Armenian Defense Minister, National Security
Secretary and Co-chair of the Armenian-Russian Inter-Governmental
Economic Commission Serzh Sargsyan said on Nov 6.
REGNUM reports Sargsyan to say: “We should familiarize ourselves
with the terms of the deal and the sale price.” Commenting on the
wide-spread opinion that the sale of a big number of Armenian strategic
facilities to Russia is dangerous for the country, Sargsyan said that
there is no danger in the growing Russian capital in Armenia as Russia
has never misused its economic levers.
To remind, on Nov 3 VympelCom announced that it had signed a contract
with Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (OTE) on the purchase
of 90% of the shares of ArmenTel, a telecom operator in Armenia. The
cost of the stake is 341.9mln EUR + almost 40mln EUR as ArmenTel’s
net debts and liabilities. The deal will be finalized by the end of
this year.
OTE bought the 90% stake in 1997 for $142.47mln. The remaining 10%
belong to the Armenian Government. This year OTE offered its stake for
tender. 16 companies took part in the tender but only 4 qualified for
the second round: Vympelcom, MTS (both Russia), ETISALAT (Emirates
Telecommunications Corporation/Istithmar ETV/-Emergent Telecom
Ventures) and VTEL Holdings/Knightsbridge Associates.
ArmenTel had enjoyed GSM monopoly till Nov 4 2004, when it renounced it
in exchange for monopoly in IP-telephony. As a result, K-Telecom with
its Viva Cell trade mark became the second GSM operator in Armenia.

MINISTER OSKANIAN’S RESPONSE TO ABDULLAH GUL
Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 6 2006
RA Foreign Minister commented on some remarks of his Turkish
counterpart Abdullah Gul made in an interview with Radio Liberty.
Minister Oskanian said in particular:
We remain amazed that a letter sent by President Kocharyan to Prime
Minister Erdogan in April 2005 remains ignored, simply because the
Turkish authorities did not like the response contained therein,
and do not wish to broaden the scope of discussion beyond history.
President Kocharyan clearly said to Prime Minister Erdogan that the
“suggestion to address the past cannot be effective if it deflects
from addressing the present and the future. In order to engage in
a useful dialog, we need to create the appropriate and conducive
political environment. It is the responsibility of governments to
develop bilateral relations and we do not have the right to delegate
that responsibility to historians. That is why we have proposed
and propose again that, without pre-conditions, we establish normal
relations between our two countries.”
In that context, President Kocharyan said, “an intergovernmental
commission can meet to discuss any and all outstanding issues between
our two nations, with the aim of resolving them and coming to an
understanding.”
Foreign Minister Gul’s recent comments to Radio Liberty, insisting that
the existence of flights between Armenia and Turkey, and of Armenian
citizens in Turkey, is evidence that ‘the borders are essentially open’
is disingenuous. First, the number of Armenians from Armenia living
and working in Turkey do not approach the numbers he claims. Second,
open borders assume direct contacts between peoples, unobstructed
relations across the border and a functioning transport infrastructure.
We stand by our response, which we consider to be a positive one and
we wonder whether the Turkish insistence on a historical commission
is genuine. After all, we have in fact agreed to discussions on all
issues, in the context of open borders.
Further, so long as Article 301, which criminalizes mere discussion
of the genocide topic, remains on the books in Turkey, an invitation
to open dialogue cannot be taken seriously. Finally, outside Turkey,
scholars – Armenians, Turks and others – have studied these issues
and have reached their own independent conclusions. The most notable
among these is the May 2006 letter to Prime Minister Erdogan by the
International Assn of Genocide Scholars wherein they collectively and
unanimously affirmed the fact of the Genocide and called on the Turkish
government to acknowledge the responsibility of a previous government.
In light of these complex realities, we can only repeat our readiness
to enter into dialogue and normal relations with our neighbor.

ONE OF LEADERS OF “ONE JAVAKHK” VAHAGN CHAKHALYAN DISPROVES ALL ACCUSATIONS AGAINST HIM
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Nov 6 2006
YEREVAN. November 6. /ARKA/. “All the accusations against me do
not correspond to the reality,” one of the leaders of “One Javakhk”
democratic alliance Vahagn Chakhalyan reported at a press conference
Thursday. “The accusations against me are false,” he said.
Chakhalyan pointed out that he has not violated the current Armenian
legislation. However, he has a hard time explaining what induced the
country’s authorities to take him into custody.
Chakhalyan was released from custody on October 31, 2006. Previously,
on October 2006, three Armenian MPs Tatul Manaseryan, Grigor Harutunyan
and Hmayak Hovhannisyan submitted a petition to the court of appeal
for criminal cases for changing the measures against Chakhalyan. They
vouched for Chakhalyan that he will not hide himself from investigating
agencies and impede the prejudicial proceeding.
On October 13, the investigating agency of Armenia brought an
accusation against Vahagn Chakhalyan for crossing the frontier of the
Republic of Armenia without proper documents and permission.

LET THEM SPEAK, SERGE SARGSYAN SAYS
Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 6 2006
Today in the National Assembly RA Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan
responded to a number of questions about some rumors.
The journalists tried to clarify the Minister’s opinion about the
statement of “Orinats Yerkir” President Arthur Baghdasaryan that the
next President of Armenia should be from Armenia. Serge Sargssayn’s
response was as follows: “I repeat once again. The Armenian President
cannot be a Mexican. Of course, he must come from Armenia.”
In response to the question about Aram Karapetyan’s accusations
that Serge Sargsyan orders and organizes a black PR against him,
the Minister said, “Some people have an exaggerated opinion about
themselves. As if I do not have other affairs, other topics of
investigation. Why do I need it? What kind of danger does he
comprise? Everyone considers it his duty to accuse me of something.
Let them speak. It was 7-10 years ago that one’s eye could be plucked
out for speaking. But now, let them speak if they want.”
As for the 2007 budget, of its being pre-election, Minister Sargsyan
said that pre-elective means social, since expenses increase.
Furthermore, the Minister said he would like all the budgets to
be pre-election.
Was there a quarrel in the crashed A-320 jet? Was there fighting and
shooting in the plane? Serge Sargsyan said this information has already
been refuted. Besides, the results of the crash are being investigated
not only by our specialists, but also by Russians and French.
“Specialists form Russia and France are participating in the
investigation. Do you believe they would not tell the whole world if
there was the slightest suspicion of it? There must be at least some
logic in any gossip,” Serge Sargsyan noted.