“ZERKALO”: “WE WILL CONTINUE TO ENDEAVOR TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF PRESS”
M. Mamadov
Ïðaâî Âûaîða, Azerbaijan
Democratic Azerbaijan
Nov 7 2006
Participants of “round table” made such statement November 3,
“round table” dedicated to pressure now being actively made on
independent press was held on initiative of political parties’ bloc
“Azadlig”. Human right defenders also joined the event.
Ali Kerimli, chairman of Popular Front Party, opened the event. He
declared that attacks against independent press in Azerbaijan always
took place. “However, today we faced the pressure of invincible force
and scale. Today it is of systematic nature, realized accordingly to
several directions. Intention of authorities to destroy independent
press is felt”, party leader said.
In turn, director of the Institute of Peace and Democracy, Leyla Yunus,
noted that activity of authorities is directed to eliminate freedom
of press from social life by 2008, when Presidential elections will
be held in Azerbaijan. With the purpose of protection of independent
press, she proposed to unite efforts of everyone – politicians,
mass media representatives, human right defenders.
Editor-in-chief of “Yeni Musavat”, Rauf Arifoglu, is convinced that
authorities made a list of over 50 journalists who will be made
pressure on with the help of close relations working in different
organizations. “I worry about life of my colleagues that is why
I introduced internal censorship in newspaper – I dismissed some
journalists from making sharp publications”, he underlined.
Present campaign of pressure on press R. Arifoglu connects with the
wish of authorities to remove resistance centers, to compromise in
connection with Garabagh issue and to give permission for creation of
the second Armenian state on Azerbaijani territories. “Achievement
of goal in defending of freedom of press is possible if opposition
unites. “If there is no unity of opposition, our activity to protect
democratic institutions of society will fail”, he explained.
Pressure on “Azadlig” newspaper, ANS, “Turan” information agency,
advocate, Aslan Ismailov, evaluated as aggression against symbols of
independence of Azerbaijan.
“The time has come when citizens should express their position. As
for “authority-opposition” relation the balance is violated. It may
lead to destruction of society. A war not a fight is waged between
authority and opposition. If authorities start resistance, opposition
follows it”, he underlined and called opposition press to be correct
with regard to representative of intellectuals. “If someone is not
near it does not mean that he is enemy. Society should have as many
independent persons as possible”, A. Ismailov underlined.
Accordingly to deputy chairman of Popular Front Party, Fuad Mustafayev,
not only “Azadlig” is targeted by authorities. “Today fights proceeds
against people not thinking like authorities do. It is necessary to
protect independent press, freedom of activity, freedom of assembly. We
do not duly partake in this work. It is necessary to coordinate
actions at least within the frames of what we can do. Azerbaijani
society is craving for changes; it votes against authorities during
elections, it is ready to support democracy. The action proved it (the
matter concerns unapproved meeting at “Baki Soveti” subway station,
November 2)”, but people cannot resist armed attacks of authorities,
– he answered.
Chairman of Citizens’ Party and development, Ali Aliyev, advocated
necessity of realization of actions. “Azerbaijani authorities are
weak, they have no force, they have only money. They hope for people,
however not trusting them. International structures should be also
informed that not everything is sold and bought in Azerbaijan. To
support press is the case of all conscientious citizens”, he declared.
Deputy chairman of Democratic party of Azerbaijan, Sardar Jalaloglu,
called to resort to all ways to support freedom of press. Current
attack against press he takes as demonstration of weakness of
authorities. At the same time he blamed journalists for being not
active in defending their freedom. Leader of Movement of National
Unity, Lala Shavket, declared that free press is the fundament of
democracy. “Authorities are striving for improvement of democracy in
the country and to establish dictatorship. We should fight with all
our might to prevent it. Only weak authority sets hopes upon force”,
she underlined. L. Shovket called opposition not to pay attention to
authorities only, but also to itself. “Sometimes we fight with one
another more cruelly that with authorities”, she underlined.
While making conclusions, A. Kerimli declared about intention of
“Azadlig” bloc to continue fight to protect freedom of press. “We
will go out for meeting if necessary”, he said.
–Boundary_(ID_Dpp9Un0v2aknqmYvfaIJag)–

GREECE’S OTE KEPT AT ‘HOLD’ BY CITIGROUP AFTER ARMENIAN EXIT
AFX International Focus
November 6, 2006 Monday 9:13 AM GMT
ATHENS (AFX) – Shares in Greek telecom incumbent Hellenic Telecomms
(OTE) were higher after Citigroup kept the stock at hold after
OTE’s announcement that it had agreed to sell its Armenian unit,
dealers said.
At 10.45 am OTE was up 0.7 pct to 20.94 eur, and the ASE general
index was 0.3 pct higher at 4,188.3 points.
OTE said late on Friday that it has reached an agreement to sell its
90 pct stake in Armentel for 342 mln eur to Vimpel Communications.
Citigroup said the deal makes sense because Armenia has always been a
tough market for OTE for political reasons and had a lack of synergies
with other assets, partly due to distance.
The broker noted that this was an opportunity for OTE to pay off some
debt. Assuming about a 5 pct tax on foreign capital gains, OTE should
net about 325 mln eur in the fourth quarter.
Citigroup said they now expect OTE will be busy with the integration
of mobile and tech retailer Germanos, union negotiations and broadband
roll-out. It might possibly expand in Serbia, where it already owns
20 pct of Telecom Serbia, the broker added.

MERKEL TELLS TURKEY TO GET WITH PROGRAM
Malaysia Sun, Malaysia
Big News Network
Nov 7 2006
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned Turkey that it cannot
continue to delay a settlement with Cyprus if it wants to join the
European Union.
We need the implementation of the Ankara protocol on the freedom of
movement of goods also with Cyprus. Otherwise, a very, very serious
situation arises regarding the continuation of the accession talks,
Merkel said in an interview published Monday in the Sueddeutsche
Zeitung.
A European Commission report expected to be released Wednesday could
recommend a partial freeze in talks between Turkey and the union,
the EU Observer reported. Merkel has said she would support a hold
on negotiations if Turkey remains intransigent.
Cyprus is a member of the union. European leaders are also critical
of Turkey’s human rights situation and its curbs on free speech which
have included prosecutions for insulting Turkishness for writers who
discuss the massacre of Armenians in World War I.

ARMENIA’S MILITARY BUDGET SUFFICIENT FOR ENSURING COUNTRY’S DEFENSE
TREND, Azerbaijan
Nov 7 2006
(ARKA) Armenia’s military budget is sufficient for making the country’s
armed forces strong, Armenian Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan told
journalists on Monday after presenting draft state budget for 2007
to lawmakers.
He said that Azerbaijan’s $1-billion military budget can’t be compared
with Armenian $300 million, but this amount will be enough if spent
reasonably.
The minister also said that greater budget spending is planned for
military purposed, just like for other sector’s needs, reports Trend.
In his words, military expenditures will make 3.5% of GDP every year.
“That’s why the faster economic growth is the greater are expenses
for defense”, Sargsyan said.
He said some 48% of the amount will be earmarked for salaries and
similar expenses. Armenian officers’ salaries are planned to reach
AMD 165 thousand (about $435) in 2007.
Sargsyan also said that Armenia intends to acquire new kinds of
armament and ammunition.
The 2007 state budget envisages AMD 100.4 billion (about $263 million)
for defense.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKEY AND THE EU DRIFT APART OVER MEMBERSHIP BID
By Benjamin Harvey, Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
November 5, 2006 Sunday 9:19 PM GMT
The cautious courtship between Turkey and the European Union looks
like it might be headed for a messy and acrimonious breakup.
They were a mismatched couple from the beginning: one wealthy, mostly
Christian and liberal, the other far poorer, overwhelmingly Muslim and
largely conservative. Perhaps it’s no surprise the initial optimism
over Turkey’s bid to join the bloc has deteriorated into mutual
recriminations and a seemingly hopeless inability to communicate.
The mood is likely to worsen after Wednesday when the EU releases
a progress report on Turkey’s bid which says Ankara is dragging its
feet on reform and failing to meet minimum human rights standards,
according to a draft copy viewed by The Associated Press.
The consequences of worsening relations between Turkey and the EU
could be dramatic and far-reaching: At stake is an ambitious vision
of bringing a Muslim nation into European society, proving that a
clash of civilizations between the West and Islam is not inevitable.
Many analysts say that is why negotiations are likely to continue
for the foreseeable future, with neither side committing to a clean
split that would send the message to Muslims everywhere that the West
is not prepared to deal with them on equal footing.
“Of course I support the EU (bid),” said Bayram Kapici, a 38-year-old
security guard in Istanbul. “But the question is, what will our place
in the EU be? I mean, we’re Muslims. Are we barbarians? How will they
see us?”
For the moment, enthusiasm toward Turkey’s bid has cooled dramatically
on both sides, and Turkish leaders’ passionate claims it could
bridge the gap between Europe and the Muslim world are starting to
ring hollow.
Turkish public support for membership has fallen below 50 percent,
and many believe that perceived insults from the EU in the form of
frequent criticism and seemingly endless demands for reform play
directly into the hands of nationalists and Islamists who are largely
opposed to the bid.
Europeans, meanwhile, have a litany of complaints about Turkey,
including its poor record on human rights, intolerance to free speech
and hardline attitudes toward adultery and homosexuality.
Many Europeans also say Turkey has refused to look objectively at its
past, notably the massacre of Armenians after World War I that many
historians call a genocide. Turkey acknowledges that large numbers
of Armenians died, but says the overall figure is inflated and that
the deaths occurred in the civil unrest during the collapse of the
Ottoman Empire.
Many Turks fault the country’s old rivals Greece and Cyprus for the
growing acrimony, claiming they are lobbying the EU to take a hard
line over Turkey’s refusal to open its ports to planes and ships
from the Greek-speaking part of Cyprus. Turkey does not recognize
the Cypriot government and props up the internationally unrecognized
administration in the north of the island.
A last-ditch meeting last week to settle the Cyprus issue was canceled,
leaving the Turks with very little time to negotiate before the EU’s
year-end deadline to concede or see talks suspended.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in remarks released Sunday that
the standoff over Cyprus was “very serious.” Asked if the talks
would be frozen, she said: “The EU cannot simply carry on. Turkey
must understand that there will be no simple ‘carry on’ if there is
no movement” on Cyprus.
If talks collapse, the symbolic value of having an overwhelmingly
Muslim, democratic nation firmly integrated into the West would be
lost. Turkey’s 71 million citizens, taught to look to Europe for
inspiration since the secular Turkish state was founded in the 1920s,
might look elsewhere for positive reinforcement.
The Islamic countries of the Middle East, Central Asia and North
Africa, with which Turkey’s Islamic-rooted government has been forging
increasingly close ties, could be natural surrogates.
“Nationalists are benefiting from this, there’s no question about it,”
said pollster and political science professor Hakan Yilmaz.
But many Turks feel that a complete breakup with the EU is out of
the question.
Yilmaz said many EU leaders were just playing to the crowd by publicly
belittling Turkey.
“Some in the European Union public love this humiliation particularly
in France,” he said, alluding to a proposed French law that would
make it a crime to deny the Turkish genocide of Armenians.
Meanwhile, some leading politicians on both sides are trying to
make the relationship so miserable that Turkey will just walk away
on its own, said Ilter Turan, a political analyst at Istanbul Bilgi
University.
Turan said, however, the government would be excoriated by the Turkish
public if it walked away from the EU, despite the current anti-EU
mood in the country.
The key question appears to be how to persuade Turkey to reform
without damaging national pride.
“There is one thing where the Turkish public seems to be rather
adamant,” Turan said. “If there is to be a union, it is to be on
equal grounds.”
Associated Press Writer Stephen Graham contributed to this report
from Berlin.

ARMENIA AND KAZAKHSTAN SIGNED SEVERAL BILATERAL DOCUMENTS
TREND, Azerbaijan
Nov 7 2006
(gazeta.kz) – A number of bilateral agreements were inked as a result
of the closed and open talks that took place Monday, November 6,
in Astana between Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan, and
Robert Kocharyan, President of Armenia, Kazakhstan Today correspondent
reports.
In particular, an intergovernmental agreement was inked on mutual
travels of citizens. Kassymzhomart Tokayev, Foreign Minister of
Kazakhstan, inked the document from Kazakhstan and Gegam Garibadjanyan,
Foreign Minister of Armenia, from Armenia.
Also a Convention on avoidance of double taxation and prevention
of evasion from payments of income and property taxes was inked
as a result of the talks. Natalia Korzhova, Minister of Finance
of Kazakhstan, initialed the document from Kazakhstan and Karen
Chshmarityan, Minister of Commerce and Economic Development of Armenia,
from Armenia, reports Trend.
An intergovernmental agreement on international road communication was
signed by Serik Akhmetov, Minister of Transport and Communications
of Kazakhstan, from Kazakhstan and Karen Chshmarityan, Minister of
Commerce and Economic Development of Armenia, from Armenia.
Vladimir Shkolnik, Minister of Industry and Commerce of RK, and
Karen Chshmarityan, Minister of Commerce and Economic Development of
Armenia, initialed an intergovernmental agreement on promotion and
mutual protection of investments.
An agreement on co-operation in culture was inked by Yermukhamet
Yertysbayev, Minister of Culture and Information, and Asmik Pogosyan,
Minister of Culture and Youth Affairs of Armenia.

SENATE SPEAKER STARTS VISIT TO ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN
PAP Polish Press Agency
November 5, 2006 Sunday
Senate Speaker Bogdan Borusewicz started Sunday a six-day visit to
Armenia and Azerbaijan to discuss diversification of energy supplies,
transit connections and bilateral relations.
The visit will have a parliamentary and political nature but it will
include economic talks, Borusewicz told PAP. He recalled that in
January 2006 he paid a visit to Kazakhstan and added that in late
November or early December he will go to Georgia.
While in Armenia Borusewicz will meet with Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan and chairman of the National Assembly Tigran Torosyan.
Planned is also a meeting with Catholicos Garegin II.
While in Azerbaijan Borusewicz will meet with President Ilham Aliyev,
Prime Minister Artur Rasi-Zade, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammmadiarov
and Economic development Minister Geydar Babayev. The senate speaker
will also meet Chairman of Parliament Ogtay Asadov.
He will also attend the opening of a BAKU 2006 Polish National
Exhibition and of a Polish culture and Polish language centre.

FM CONFIRMS YEREVAN READINESS FOR NORMALIZATION TALKS WITH TURKEY
by Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
November 5, 2006 Sunday 09:19 AM EST
Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan has once again confirmed
the readiness of his country to start a normalization dialogue with
neighboring Turkey.
The day before, the Armenian Foreign Ministry’s Press and Information
Department posted the minister’s comments on the statement by Turkish
counterpart Abdullah Gul in an interview with Radio Liberty.
The minister recalled that last year the Turkish and Armenian
presidents exchanged statements on the settlement between the two
countries, which have no diplomatic relations so far.
Turkey set forward a proposal to Yerevan to create a joint commission
of historians for discussing the issue of Armenians genocide in the
Ottoman Empire in 1915, which is the stumbling stone in normalization.
The Armenian side offered, in turn, to establish an intergovernmental
commission for exchanging opinions on a broad range of issues and
supported normalization without preconditions.
Oskanyan criticized Gul for saying that regular flights between the
two countries and the presence of Armenian citizens in Turkey evidenced
the openness of borders. Oskanyan described the statement as “untrue.”
The minister said that “while the Turkish Criminal Code still
contains the article 301 envisaging criminal punishment even for the
discussion of genocide issues, the claims of open borders cannot be
taken seriously.”
Oskanyan also reaffirmed that “historians from Armenia, Turkey and
other countries have studied the genocide issue outside Turkey and
drew independent conclusions confirming the fact of genocide, which
affected 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

ARMENIAN RESIDENT WOUNDED BY AZERI SNIPER – TV SAYS
Public Television, Armenia
Nov 4 2006
A 28-year-old resident of the village of Aygepar [northeastern
Armenia], Maksim Pogosyan, was wounded by an Azerbaijani sniper on
3 November.
The incident happened on the Aygepar-Movses road at 1350 [0950 gmt]
yesterday, the press secretary of the Armenian Defence Ministry,
Col Seyran Shakhsuvaryan, told “Aylur” news programme.
Pogosyan was taken to hospital of the town of Berd.

BEAT OFFICIAL SNOOPERS THE EASY WAY – JUST LIE THROUGH YOUR TEETH
by Rod Liddle
Sunday Times (London)
November 5, 2006, Sunday
You are being watched, right now. I don’t mean by your spouse,
either. She, or he, through the complex transactions of love, has
acquired the right to be privy to your most private and repulsive
moments, for which good luck. I mean by shadowy others, people who
will not have your best interests at heart, who will not give you
the benefit of the doubt. By which I don’t mean the neighbours.
We are the most spied on people in the western world, apparently.
According to the watchdog Privacy International, among the few that
suffer worse intrusion in their lives are the Russians and the Chinese
and -one might argue cruelly -they’re used to it.
Three hundred CCTV cameras, on average, were witness to whatever
dark, dubious stuff you were up to yesterday, for example. They
caught that moment you picked your nose in the traffic jam and swore
under your breath at the driver of the BMW who cut you up at the
intersection. Cross your fingers he wasn’t a black bloke.
They noticed you gazing longingly at that young Polish cleaner emerging
from an office block at 7.30am. They got it all down.
According to Richard Thomas, the UK information commissioner, we are
“waking up to a surveillance society”. (Why, incidentally, do we have
a UK information commissioner? What’s the point of that? And when
was the job advertised?) Our authorities -be they the government,
local councils with their weird gizmos in our waste bins to make sure
we’ve put the right stuff in the right bag, the filth, the taxman,
the credit card companies, our employers and our banks have become
drunk on the idea of complete control. The notion that they will
be able to make important judgments about us without our conscious
involvement, without caveat, is hugely agreeable to them. They have
our lives mapped out before them.
As the appalling Howard Kirk had it in Malcolm Bradbury’s The History
Man, privacy is a redundant, bourgeois concept.
The only recourse left is subtle civil disobedience. It’s no use
torching speed cameras because you’ll invariably be caught doing so
by another, better hidden, camera nearby. Far better that we organise
a mass campaign of lying.
The next time you are asked for superfluous, private, information
on some official form, lie through your teeth. When you break your
arm punching a council official and attend the outpatient department
of your local hospital, put down on the ludicrous “nationalities”
form that you’re an Armenian. Unless you’re Armenian – in which case,
swallow your pride and tell them you’re Azerbaijani.
When the census forms arrive, insist you are the worshipper of a new
cult based around David Miliband. Give them the wrong address, tell
them you’re gay, or transgendered, or dead. Tell them you speak only
Swahili or Gaelic. Lie to them all, the banks, building societies,
your employers if they inquire whether or not you smoke, or how fat
you are. Lie always and for ever.
Refuse to shop in malls festooned with CCTV, or wear a Stone Island
hoodie. Undo their machinations with a surfeit of wholly false
information, the more baroque in its imagining the better. Let them
know that there is one private area to which they do not have access,
or domain.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress