TWO MINISTERS MET IN PARIS UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE OSCE MINSK GROUP
ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
Oct 24 2006
PARIS, October 24 (Itar-Tass) — The Paris negotiations on the Karabakh
settlement are aimed at the elaboration of “main principles of the
drafting of a peace treaty acceptable for the both sides,” French
Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei told commenting on
meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers.
The two ministers met in Paris under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk
Group.
The diplomat stressed that the principles should be “balanced, fair
and workable.”
Mattei reaffirmed that the October 6 meeting between the Armenian and
Azerbaijani foreign ministers in Moscow, which also was held under
the OSCE auspices, gave the start to the present-day round of talks.
France, jointly with Russia and the United States, is one of the
countries co-chairing the Minsk Group, created by the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to promote progress in
the resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

ARMENIAN-BELORUSSIAN MEMORANDUM ON LEGAL COOPERATION TO BE OF FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE FOR ACTIVITY OF TWO COUNTRIES’ JUDICIAL SYSTEMS
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 24 2006
YEREVAN, October 24. /ARKA/. The Armenian-Belorussian memorandum on
legal cooperation will be of fundamental importance for the joint
activity of the two countries’ judicial systems, chairman of the
Armenian court of appeal Hovhannes Manukyan reported today in Yerevan.
“The memorandum gives a new start to the relations between the courts
of general jurisdiction of the two countries and will be of fundamental
importance for the cooperation of the judicial systems, synchronization
of the activity of judicial bodies and legislation,” he said At the
same time, the chairman of the court of appeal of Armenia pointed out
that the memorandum regulates the joint activity of judicial bodies and
the list of activities, necessary for establishing contacts, exchange
of information and conduction of various activities, particularly,
scientific and scientific-practical conferences.
“The memorandum will have big impact not only on the legal cooperation
between Armenia and Belarus, but also on the general level of the
bilateral relations,” Manukyan said.
Memoranda on cooperation and exchange of legal information were
signed between the court of appeal of Armenia and the Supreme Court
of Belarus, and between the former and the High Economic court of
Belarus.

FRENCH AMBASSADOR: TURKEY WILL LOSE ITS CONTROL ON ITS BORDERS
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Oct 24 2006
Henri Cuny, Ambassador of France to Armenia, argued when meeting with
Armenian students in Armenia that once Turkey joins the EU, the issue
of its borders will be decided not by itself but by the central EU
headquarters in Brussels. “This is the order. And entering the EU
suggests open borders. The question is, when this is to happen”,
says Cuny.
Dr. Sedat Laciner from Ankara-based Turkish think tank USAK says Mr.
Cuny’s remarks are not wise. “All countries have their own control
on their own borders. This kind of claims badly affect Turkish public
opinion and undermine the credibility of the EU and France in Turkey.
Most of the people now in Turkey consider France as hostile country and
see the French support for the Armenians as the religious solidarity”
Dr. Laciner added.
Similarly Dr. Mehmet Ozcan, another Turkish expert, told the JTW that
“Turkey sincerely seeks to develop good relations with Armenia and
air borders have been open between Turkey and Armenia.”. According
to Mr. Ozcan Armenia does not want to develop relations with Turkey:
“Armenia aims to increase the tension to get the Western support
against Turkey. They do not recognize Turkey’s national borders and
they do expect open borders. If Turkey does not recognize France’s
national borders and occupies an EU member state, will France keep
its borders with Turkey open?”
Turkey-Armenian borders have been closed since Armenia attacked
and occupied neighboring Azerbaijan’s territories. Armenia does not
recognize Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s national borders and makes great
efforts to undermine Turkey’s national interests everywhere.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FINNISH FM TUOMIOJA: THE FRENCH PARLIAMENT MADE A BAD MISTAKE
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Oct 24 2006
Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja yesterday criticized a bill
criminalizing rejecting of Armenian historical claims passed by the
French Parliament last week, saying that it made a bad mistake and
should quickly rectify the situation.
Saying that all countries had dark chapters in their pasts, Tuomioja
added that these chapters were usually met with silence, amnesia,
and denial.
“I think that ‘genocide’ is an exaggerated term for that time,”
he added.
Turkey has never accepted the Armenian claims of genocide. Turkish
Government says about 2 million Muslim Ottoman citizens were
massacred by the Armenian armed groups during the collapse of the
Ottoman Empire. Armenia does not recognise Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s
national borders.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH BUSINESS DELEGATION IN FRANCE
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Oct 24 2006
PARIS – A delegation headed by Union of Turkish Chambers & Commodity
Exchanges (TOBB) Chairman Rifat Hisarciklioglu arrived in French
capital of Paris on Tuesday to lobby against the resolution, which
criminalizes rejecting of so-called Armenian genocide claims.
TOBB delegation held talks with leading French businessmen including
members of the Paris Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the Union of
European Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Eurochambers) and the MEDEF
International after their arrival.
They stressed that enactment of the resolution would play havoc with
the bilateral relations between Turkey and France.
The delegation is expected to return to Turkey tomorrow.
Turkish business circles believe in that the Armenian issue may damage
Turkish-French economic relations a lot.

TURKEY’S ALLIES ARE COMMON SENSE AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
By Barin Kayaoglu
View: Barin Kayaoglu
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Oct 25 2006
Several bizarre reports exploded last week in reaction to the French
parliament’s vote two weeks ago. In a non-binding advisory note, the
Higher Council of Radio and Television (Radyo Televizyon Ust Kurulu –
RTUK) asked TV stations across the country to stop broadcasting French
films. Meanwhile, quoting the French journal Le Nouvel Observateur,
reports came in that France would open an official trade bureau in
Northern Iraq to compete with Turkish businesses operating there. The
news will likely draw a lot reaction from certain circles in the near
future. One should not be too surprised to see if the French legation
was to be blamed for being a backdoor initiative to create further
chaos and turmoil in Turkey’s southeast and Northern Iraq.
Turkey’s worst enemy is the volatility of its reactions. Some people
have already come up with weird ideas such as abandoning French
classes in schools, boycotting French tourists, or even boycotting
Turkish companies that are joint-ventures with the French. These are
not healthy indications. Turkey must realize that in the tumultuous
times ahead, its allies are nothing but common sense and freedom
of expression.
Exercising common sense means that Turkish people have to think and act
in a cool-headed manner. This might sound like a strange suggestion,
but they have to behave in such a way that they would advise their
kids to behave in stressful situations. “He who stands up in rage
sits down at a loss” is a common proverb that every Turk hears while
growing up. Everybody should adhere to this principle.
Everybody should see that the larger goal is to refute the claims
that what happened to the Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire in
the 1910s was not genocide by the definitions of international law,
but a massacre of another sort, which was reciprocated by the Armenian
side. Everybody should see the bigger picture that only by expressing
their views in a civilized manner can Turkish people expect to succeed.
Another way to disarm the claims of the French parliament and the
Armenian Diaspora is for Turkey to bring forward its other potential
super-ally, freedom of expression. The American founding father Thomas
Jefferson once said “it is error alone which needs the support of
government; truth can stand by itself.” In this light, Turkey must
realize that any laws that punish non-violent forms of speech hurt
Turkey more than its adversaries in the long run. Last week, the
Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan called Turkish reactions to
the French vote “hypocrisy” because Turkey still curbed discussions
on certain aspects of its past. As much as the Armenian government has
its own share of hypocrisy in this debate, Mr. Oskanyan has a point.
Putting intellectuals on trial for speaking their mind is unacceptable
and unbecoming of a country like Turkey. Only by granting opposing
voices an audience and nurturing meaningful discussion on the subject
can Turkey thwart the baseless allegations.
Indeed, this will comport with Ataturk’s legacy. It will be to the
point to bring a story that was discussed in this column a few weeks
ago: During the 1930s, President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and Prime
Minister Ýsmet Ýnonu assigned the eccentric apparatchik Recep Peker to
draft a report that would give a new sense of mission to Cumhuriyet
Halk Partisi (CHP-Republican Peoples’ Party). Peker’s 1936 report,
which proposed the reorganization of the RPP along the lines of the
Italian Fascist Party, met Ataturk’s bitter resentment.
Ataturk reportedly exclaimed “what the hell has Recep done again?”
and elucidated his vision for Turkey to his aide Hasan Rýza Soyak as
follows: “Should an anti-monarchical current take over the world in
the future, even those who demand a sultanate can form a party in this
country.” Today, I believe, even those who call the Armenian tragedy
“genocide” should be able to have their say.
Turkey must stop doing some of the things that it is doing right now.
It should stop racing the French to stupidity. It is a contest that
is hard to beat. Turkey should refrain from passing futile laws about
French imperialism in Algeria (that it was tantamount to genocide).
The point is debatable and precisely for that reason Turkey should
gather a conference of scholars from both sides in a posh location
in Istanbul or the Aegean coast in order to garner international
attention. The juxtaposition would be too hard to miss for anyone:
Whereas France forcefully curbs freedom of expression, Turkey is
promoting it. But in order to augment that overture, all laws in
the penal code that criminalize anything other than an open call to
violence must either be changed or stricken out. By taking that last
step, Turkey can go traverse vast distances.
Turkey’s strongest allies in its struggle against the senseless
and fruitless allegations by France and the Armenian Diaspora are
common sense and freedom of expression. At the moment, by behaving
the way that they are behaving, Turkish people are weakening these
two partners. If their problems are addressed forthwith, they will
help Turkey prevail.
+++
Barýn Kayaoðlu is a Ph.D. student in history at the University of
Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia and a regular contributor to
the Journal of Turkish Weekly.
E-mail: [email protected]
———- NOTES
(1) “RTUK: Fransýz filmlerini yayýnlamayýn” (RTUK: Do not broadcast
French films), ntvmsnbc.com, October 20, 2006; available from
(2) “Fransa Kuzey Irak’ta temsilcilik acýyor” (France to open legation
in Northern Iraq), ntvmsnbc.com, October 19, 2006; available from
(3) “Oskanyan: Tepkiler ikiyuzluluk” (Oskanyan: The reactions
are hyprocrisy), ntvmsnbc.com, October 21, 2006; available from
(4) See Barýn Kayaoðlu, “The Armenian Question Between Genocide,
Tragedy, and Hypocrisy,” Journal of Turkish Weekly, October 11, 2006;
available from
(5) Teoman Gul, Turk Siyasal Hayatýnda Recep Peker (Recep Peker in
Turkish Political Life) (Ankara: Kultur Bakanlýðý, 1998), 29.
–Boundary_(ID_/UmEhE8KMSDbP4VZqk4u9w)–

THE MORMONATOR: MITT ROMNEY’S BLINDING AMBITION. PLUS, THE INEXPLICABLE OPPOSITION TO AN ARMENIAN-GENOCIDE MEMORIAL
The Phoenix, MA
Oct 25 2006
Political dynasties are as American as apple pie. Since the Civil War,
witness the marks made – or still being made (for better or worse) –
by the Tafts of Ohio, the Stevensons of Illinois, the Roosevelts of New
York, the Bayhs of Indiana, the Bushes of Connecticut and Texas, the
Clintons of Arkansas and New York, and the Kennedys of Massachusetts,
New York, and Rhode Island.
Now comes Mitt Romney, son of George, who as governor of Michigan
in 1968 unsuccessfully sought to become the first Mormon elected
president. Son Mitt hopes to succeed where dad George failed. And
Mitt, the governor of Massachusetts, is not going to let anything
stand in his way. On the surface he is as smooth and as gentlemanly
as his dad. But in his heart Mitt is a sharpie, as cold as he is
ambitious. Like George Bush II, who saw his dad outflanked on the right
by Reagan, and on the left by Clinton, Mitt Romney is not going let the
failings of his paternity mess with his success. His will to power,
whatever the price, is straight out of Nietzsche. And his desire to
do his dad one better, whatever the cost, feels like pure Freud.
Armchair analysis aside, Mitt Romney’s dedication to his own success is
undebatable. With the help of Christy Mihos (a politically delicious
irony), he strong-armed Republican acting governor Jane Swift aside
to stake his claim to Beacon Hill. He shamelessly fudged his Utah
residency to get on the Massachusetts ballot. He cavalierly abandoned
Massachusetts’s voters after two years in order to launch his White
House run, and he held on to his office to use it as a convenient bully
pulpit. From that perch he morphed from a centrist to a right-winger,
flip-flopping on choice and suggesting – with a straight face – that
the sort of stem-cell research conducted at Children’s Hospital and
Harvard Medical School should be criminalized. Mitt Romney: what
an hombre.
In his latest exercise in duplicity, Romney secretly lobbied an
influential member of the Mormon church’s innermost ruling council
to leverage resources in the service of his White House campaign. The
scandal of this is that Romney has long sought to wrap himself in the
mantle of Roman Catholic John Kennedy, who in his 1960 presidential
run stressed that he would not be an ideological slave to the pope.
On the eve of that election American Protestants – especially the
evangelicals and fundamentalists whom Romney now courts so assiduously
– still feared Rome’s potential influence on the American Caesar. (What
a difference 50 or so years can make.)
91.aspx

VOSGANIAN GETS TO BE COMMISSIONER, FRUNZAVERDE DEFENCE MINISTER
Ziarul Financiar, Romania
Oct 25 2006
Premier Calin Popescu-Tariceanu yesterday announced he had chosen
liberal senator Varujan Vosganian (48, photo) as the European
commissioner from Romania. The “price” of this nomination was the
relinquishment of the Defence Ministry (with Teodor Atanasiu as
minister) by the Liberals. The ministry is now headed by Democrat
Sorin Frunzaverde, who is close to President Traian Basescu. ZIARUL
FINANCIAR had announced the appointment of Vosganian last Friday, who,
according to the rumour mill, stood the last chance in front of bigger
names like Foreign Minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu and Integration
Minister Anca Boagiu. He is known for being close to the Premier
and having stood by Tariceanu in the dispute with the PNL (National
Liberal Party) dissidents, Theodor Stolojan and Valeriu Stoica.
The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso,
is expected to announce the portfolio of the Romanian commissioner
today. Vosganian is Armenian, and started his political career as
a deputy of the Armenian minority in Romania. The Premier made the
announcement yesterday at noon before the Government session, after
having met with President Traian Basescu and PD (Democrat Party)
leaders. The Premier announced the appointment of the commissioner
after the PNL gave up the Defence Ministry. The suspended Defence
Minister Teodor Atanasiu had actually announced his resignation from
this position a little while before the commissioner was nominated.
an_gets_to_be_commissioner__frunzaverde_defence_mi nister.html

BABACAN MEETS EUROPEAN COMMISSION VICE PRESIDENT FRATTINI
Turkish Press
Oct 25 2006
BRUSSELS – Turkish State Minister & Chief Negotiator for EU talks
Ali Babacan met European Commission Vice President Franco Frattini
for Justice, Freedom and Security in Brussels on Thursday.
Speaking to Turkish reporters, Babacan said that French parliament’s
decision on adoption of a bill on criminalizing denial of so-called
Armenian genocide was a concerning development regarding the future
of the EU, noting that this decision would make a negative impact on
(Turkish people’s) senses on EU.
“It is not reasonable to respond to France’s mistakes by making
mistakes. We will keep fulfilling reforms,” Babacan stressed.
Replying to questions on Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK),
Babacan noted that technical works on this matter were under way. “We
will monitor its implementation. There can be amendments on any law.
However developments in France will make difficult initiatives on
the matter,” he said.
Responding to a question on Turkey’s attitude in regard to the decision
of France, Babacan said that the government has not made a decision
on the matter yet, underlining that this issue would be discussed in
the first meeting of the Council of Ministers.
Noting that European Commission’s reaction to the decision of France
was a very important development, he stressed, “we consider the
commission’s attitude positive and sound.”
“We are continuing legal arrangements on EU adjustment laws. Turkish
Parliamentary General Assembly will debate the law on foundations
next week,” Babacan said upon a question.
He noted, “now Turkey aims to be a full member of the EU.”
Stating that he held very fruitful meetings in Brussels, Babacan
indicated that there could be progress regarding visa procedure for
Turkish businessmen, students and academicians.
In regard to prominent Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, who won the 2006
Nobel Prize for literature, Babacan stated, “it is a very important
development.”

TURKISH PRIME MINISTRY CONDEMNS ADOPTION OF FRENCH RESOLUTION
Turkish Press
Oct 25 2006
ANKARA – “We regret and condemn adoption of the resolution that makes
denial of baseless Armenian genocide allegations a crime by the French
parliament,” announced Turkish Prime Ministry Press Center.
Releasing a statement, the Prime Ministry Press Center qualified
this decision as a “historical inconsistency”, and indicated that
this decision is a big shame when respect to scientific facts and
freedom of thought and expression are taken into consideration.
“Narrow-minded politicians, who have made France live with this shame,
should think about what will happen from now on. Because the French
parliament has contradicted its own allegations regarding the French
history, and trampled the fundamental values it is defending.
Even though this parliament decision is not enough for legalization
of the resolution, this is a grave and historic mistake. There is
a big reaction against this resolution in France, and history will
naturally try those who close their eyes to these reactions and insist
on this wrong step,” it noted.
“Unfortunately, it won’t be possible to control all the results of
this irresponsible attitude of some French politicians. We will
neither accept nor tolerate such an unjust decision. Our public,
including our Armenian citizens with whom we are living together
for centuries, are upset. Mr. Prime Minister (Recep Tayyip Erdogan)
is calling on our public, politicians and business circles to behave
with common sense when showing necessary reactions to this decision,”
the statement added.
-ARMENIAN PATRIARCH-
On the other hand, Mesrob II, the Patriarch of the Armenians in Turkey,
said that the resolution will strengthen the hands of not only Turkish
but also Armenian extreme nationalist and racist groups.
“The French, who have put several obstacles before Turkey on its road
to the EU, have hit a serious stroke on the very limited dialogue
between Turkey and Armenia. I think that this resolution, adopted by
the French parliament, is anti-democratic because it limits personal
freedom of expression,” he stated.
Mesrob II added that the Armenians in Turkey are monitoring the
developments with concern.