CABINET MAINTAINS LINE OVER ANTI-RACISM LAW
Swissinfo, Switzerland
Oct 18 2006
The cabinet does not think the Swiss anti-racism law should be changed
– despite comments by the justice minister, Christoph Blocher, to
the contrary.
Blocher caused a storm of protest while on a trip to Turkey earlier
this month when he said he was intent on revising the legislation. On
Wednesday the cabinet said it regretted the incident.
“The cabinet remains opposed to a pure and simple abolition of the
anti-racism law,” said Swiss President Moritz Leuenberger. “This text
will remain in force and will continue to be used.”
He said it was legitimate to propose making modifications, but said
the cabinet regretted that the discussion had been started during a
visit abroad.
This gave the impression that Switzerland could be pressured into
changing its laws depending on certain circumstances, Leuenberger said.
Blocher, a leading light of the rightwing Swiss People’s Party, had
remarked during his Turkish trip that part of the anti-racism law –
which was adopted in 1994 and includes sections aimed at preventing
revisionist views about the Holocaust – gave him a “headache”.
The law has led to investigations in Switzerland against two Turks,
including one historian, for allegedly denying the 1915 Armenian
massacre.
Armenians say around 1.8 million of their people died as a result of
a forced mass evacuation by the Turkish government during the Ottoman
Empire. Turkey puts the figure closer to 200,000. Under Swiss law any
act of denying, belittling or justifying genocide is a violation of
the country’s anti-racism legislation.
However, Blocher said at the time that it was ultimately up to the
government, parliament and possibly the population, to decide on
any changes.
Under scrutiny
According to Leuenberger, Blocher has told his cabinet colleagues
that a working group at his ministry was already re-examining the law,
in particular article 261bis, the cause of Blocher’s headache.
The justice minister was ready to include a member of the Federal
Commission Against Racism in this work, Leuenberger added, refusing
to any further questions on the matter – which caused a media and
political outcry in Switzerland – saying the content of cabinet
meetings was confidential.
For his part, Blocher, speaking at a different media conference
earlier in the day, said he was simply waiting for the feedback from
his working group by the end of the year.
“It’s about making the anti-racism law clearer, more secure and
unambiguous,” he said.
swissinfo with agencies
KEY FACTS
Swiss anti-racism legislation was adopted in 1994, among other things
to prevent revisionist views about the Holocaust. In 2005, Swiss
authorities launched criminal investigations against the historian
Yusuf Halacoglu, the president of the Turkish History Organisation,
and the politician Dogu Perincek for allegedly making comments in
Switzerland denying the 1915 Armenian massacre. Armenians say around
1.8 million of their people were killed. Turkey disputes this, putting
the figure closer to 200,000. Under Swiss law any act of denying,
belittling or justifying genocide is a violation of the country’s
anti-racism legislation.

ARMENTEL INSTRUCTED TO RESUME PROVISION OF SERVICES TO 134 ORGANIZATIONS AND PERSONS
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 18 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 18, NOYAN TAPAN. By the October 18 decision of
the RA Public Services Regulatory Commission, ArmenTel company
was instructed to resume temporarily the provision of telephone
services to 134 organizations and persons. The provision of services
was suspended on September 7. According to ArmenTel, the indicated
organizations and persons received voice services via the Internet,
which represented a violation of ArmenTel’s monopoly right.
NT correspondent was informed from the RA Public Services Regulatory
Commission that administrative procedure was initiated in connection
with violation of ArmenTel’s exclusive rights. A respective decision
will be taken based on the procedure results. ArmenTel was instructed
to present facts and evidence that the indicated organizations and
persons violated the exclusive right reserved to the company by its
licence no.60.

TURKISH SUPERMARKET CHAINS BOYCOTT FRENCH GOODS
FreshPlaza, Netherlands
Oct 17 2006
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan declared that he did not support
any boycott against the French goods, yet some Turkish supermarket
chains started economic boycott against the French goods.
The passing of the controversial Armenian genocide denial bill in the
French parliament has prompted strong reactions in Turkish business
circles. Kiler and Afra, two big Turkish market chains, yesterday
declared that they will never sell French goods. Many French products
were removed from these market shelves.
Carrefour, French-Turkish market company, has also been one of the
boycott targets after the French Armenian bill. The number of customers
visited Carrefour has radically decreased in last two days.
The parking areas of the market mostly empty yesterday.
Some of the Turkish political parties list the names of the
French products not to buy. Turkish Labour Party (Isci Partisi),
leftist-nationalist, called all Turks inside and abroad not to buy
French goods and services.
Some of the Turkish citizens, who were in holiday in Paris, cut short
their holidays to protest France’s attitude in Armenian issue. Gulben
Ergen, Turkish famous singer, was one of these protesters. Ergen
arrived Istanbul yesterday and said that the reason is the French
Armenian bill. Many more Turkish tourists postponed their France
visits.

PUBLIC PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE OF ARMENIA HAS BROUGHT A CHARGE AGAINST HAKOP HAKOPYAN
Regnum, Russia
Oct 18 2006
The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Armenia has filed a charge against
MP Hakop Hakopyan. Hakopyan is charged with forming a group and
committing an act of hooliganism with the use of firearms (point 4,
article 38-258 of Armenia’s Criminal Code). He is also charged with
tax avoidance (point 2, article 214 and article 205), complicity in
the deliberate destruction or damage of property (point 2, article
34-214, point 1, article 38-185) and some other misdeeds.
To remind, on October 8, Hakop Hakopyan was caught trying to penetrate
the territory of the ArmRosgazprom gas-distributing station in the
village of Hayanist and began a squabble with the members of the Full
Contact Fighting Federation who guarded the territory. The sides used
firearms. As a result, the president of the federation, a coach and
Hakopyan’s driver were taken to hospital with injuries. The police
found a Winchester gun on the scene.
On October 11, Hakopyan was released from the Yerevan-Center
penitentiary because of the expiry of the 72-hour period of custody.
On Oct 13 the Armenian Parliament granted the petition of Public
Prosecutor Agvan Hovsepyan for depriving Hakopyan of his deputy
immunity. During the meeting, Hakopyan said that he did not regret what
he had done as his voters were there and he just wanted to stop the
fight. “You shouldn’t talk about this incident as if it is a crime of
the century,” he said and noted that 90% of the charges were groundless
and he was ready to disprove all of them alone if the justice was fair.

ERDOGAN CALLS ON TURKS TO EMBRACE DISSIDENT NOBEL WINNER
Anatolian Times, Turkey
Oct 18 2006
ANKARA – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on his
compatriots to wholeheartedly embrace 2006 Nobel literature laureate
Orhan Pamuk and “put aside” the controversies he has stirred up in
the past, in remarks published Monday.
“Let’s put aside the polemics. The prize is a first for a son of Turkey
and it will be wrong for us to underestimate it,” Erdogan said in a
television interview to be aired late Monday, excerpts of which were
published in the best-selling newspaper Hurriyet.
“We must congratulate him,” he said. “It would be wrong to mix what
Pamuk has said in the past and the fact that he has won this award.”
The 54-year-old Pamuk, who has long had bad blood with the state,
landed himself in court on charges of “insulting Turkishness” and won
the reputation of a “traitor” among nationalist circles when he told
a Swiss magazine last year that “one million Armenians and 30,000
Kurds were killed in these lands.”
His remarks were widely seen as an acknowledgement that the Ottoman
Turks committed genocide against Armenians during World War I,
a label that Ankara fiercely rejects.
Ironically, Thursday’s announcement of his Nobel prize came shortly
after the lower house of the French parliament voted a bill that
would make it a crime to deny that the killings were genocide,
infuriating Ankara.
The celebration of Pamuk’s award at home was overshadowed by skeptics
who argued that the author won the favors of the West not for his
literary skills but for his vocal criticism of his country
The divisions plagued even the highest state echelons: while Erdogan
personally called Pamuk, currently in New York, to congratulate him,
President Ahmet Necdet has remained mum, contrary to his tradition
of issuing congratulations to international achievements by Turks.
On Friday, Pamuk joined the chorus of criticism of the French bill,
saying that it flouted France’s “tradition of liberal and critical
thinking.”
The court case against Pamuk, in which he risked up to three years
in jail, was dropped on a technicality in January.
The writer first drew the ire of the state in the mid-1990s when he
denounced heavy-handed policies against the Kurdish minority.
The state extended an olive branch in 1998, offering him the accolade
of “State Artist,” but Pamuk declined.

FRENCH CROONER CHARLES AZNAVOUR TAPS CUBAN RHYTHMS
Reuters, UK
Oct 18 2006
HAVANA (Reuters) – At the age of 82, French crooner Charles Aznavour
is still looking for new ways to capture an audience and has turned
to the hot rhythms of Cuban music to convey his songs.
Aznavour teamed up with Latin jazz piano virtuoso Chucho Valdes to
record 11 songs, Aznavour said on Tuesday before heading home after
eight days in a Havana studio.
His new offerings include songs about environmental degradation and
last year’s race riots in France.
“To have Cuban music with such lyrics will draw us closer to the
public. It’s not a question of selling records but of conveying ideas
to people, not political but important human ideas,” he said at a
news conference.
It is not Aznavour’s first encounter with Cuban musicians. In 1999,
he recorded the song “Morir de amor” (Dying of Love) with the late
Compay Segundo of Buena Vista Social Club fame.
“That was a marvelous experience. Between smiles, cigars and music
we managed a duet,” said the blazer-clad singer.
Born in Paris of Armenian immigrants, the raspy-voiced Aznavour was
discovered by Edith Piaf in the 1940s. His breakthrough in America was
not on the stage but on the screen in Francois Truffaut’s 1960 film,
“Shoot the piano Player.”
Ray Charles, Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby sang songs written by
Aznavour.
“Songs are a powerful weapon. Important statements disappear from
the newspaper the next day, but songs remain. They penetrate walls
and keep important ideas alive in the human spirit,” he said.
Aznavour’s new record, scheduled for release by EMI early next year,
was recorded in Havana’s Abdala studio with Chucho Valdes and musicians
from his Iraquere band.

LAUNCH OF SYSTEM OF CONTROL OVER MEDICAL SERVICES QUALITY UNDER WAY IN ARMENIA
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 18 2006
YEREVAN, October 17. /ARKA/. Launch of a system of control over the
quality of medical services is under way in Armenia, Deputy Minister of
Healthcare of Armenia Tatul Hakobyan reported during the discussions
on the topic “Issues of Provision of Quality of Healthcare Services
and Economic Availability of Medicaments”.
He said that international standards are being elaborated within the
frameworks of creation of this system, and also works on establishing
internal committees of control over the quality are under way.
Hakobyan also pointed out that this process is currently at the
stage of formation of relevant plans of action, standards, as well
as flexible and proper mechanisms meeting the requirements.
Public discussions are organized by the ministry of finances and
economy under the strategic poverty reduction program of Armenia.
Participating in the activity were representatives of the healthcare
sector, state governing bodies, NGOs, and also independent experts
from relevant international organizations.

HIGGS: DO YOU KNOW YOUR CITY PARKS?
By Norma Higgs
Niagara Gazette, NY
Oct 18 2006
During the summer I heard a lot about Hyde Park as the Niagara
Beautification Commission did a project in conjunction with the city
near the golf course. I learned this is a 580 acre park with many
activities for people of all ages. I also learned that there are 25
other parks in the city of Niagara Falls with nearly 135 acres of
green space. Some of these I never heard of and I wondered how many
you are aware of.
Let’s start in the LaSalle section with Caravelle Drive Park (0.5
acres) near Marine Memorial Drive which has a playground area. Then
on to Griffon Park, (20 acres) on River Road and 95th Street near
the boat docks. Moving over to Bollier Avenue and 82nd Street we find
Hennepin Park, (7 acres) another natural habitat area.
We all know of Jayne Park (22 acres) on Cayuga Island, which is a
full service park. LaSalle Park (6 acres) is also a full service park
and is located at Frontier Avenue and 91st Street. How about Perry
Park? (5 acres)
Also in LaSalle adjacent to 60th Street School is 70th Street Park
also known as Kies (5 acres).^PIt has two Little League diamonds
and is at Girard and 70th Street. 63rd Street Park at the corner of
Stephenson (1.3 acres) is really nothing more than a vacant lot but
it is kept up by the Parks Department. Further along Stephenson is,
well, Stephenson Park (1.39 acres), which has a playground, with a
sandbox and basketball courts. Finally we have Black Creek Park at
96th and Colvin Boulevard which was established at the urging of the
Black Creek Block Club.
So now we have determined that at least half of the city parks are
in LaSalle and we travel to the west side of Hyde Park where there
are also parks that I did not know about. Jerauld Park (2.5 acres)
on Jerauld Avenue and 29th Street which is actually owned by the
Niagara Falls School District but given to the city to maintain,
has a softball diamond, a small playground and basketball court in
need of repair. Lafayette Park (0.4 acres) is not more than a vacant
lot which is mowed and maintained by the Parks Department.
D’Amelio Park (15 acres) on Center Avenue and 15th Street next to the
Community Center in the Highland Avenue area is a full service park.
DiFranco Park (2 acres) on Main and Second streets is in a prime
development area downtown near the Howard Johnson Hotel. This facility
is being used temporarily as a construction storage site for the
Department of Transportation road improvement project in that area.
Gill Creek Park (7 acres) is on Niagara Street near 31st Street
and is in the process of renewal. A new gazebo and nature walk,
along with a picnic shelter, playground and comfort station will be
dedicated on Oct. 28. Robert Kostoff and the late Frances Scarfone
of the Niagara Street Business Association had a lot to do with the
updating of this park. Gluck Park (1.3 acres) is situated like one
of the squares of Savannah surrounded by 15th and 16th streets and
South and Weston avenues.
We head to Liberty Park (0.56 acres) at Elmwood Avenue and 19th
Street where we find a playground used extensively by children in
the area. The city recreation program is held here during the summer
months with supervised activities and free lunches. Over on the east
side we find a mystery park which is virtually unused and currently
under study for the future.
There is a house adjacent where once stood Moon’s Saloon, rumored
to have been a favorite hangout of the Buffalo Sabres. Also in this
area are two parks on Orleans Avenue (1.15 acres each) surrounded by
homes built after World War II on 24th Street and 25th Street.
The reincarnation of vacant land at North and Lockport (1.95 acres)
is a dream of the North End Block Club. This was once a busy city park
with a playground and sports activities. This neighborhood club is
currently attempting to raise interest and funds to bring this back
to what it once was and more. Their vision includes ball diamonds,
playground, basketball courts and handicap accessibility which would
be the only park with this advantage. Anyone interested in helping
in this goal can contact member Candace Corsaro at 284-2177.
Another historical park is Porter Park (4 acres) on Buffalo Avenue at
Ninth Street. It is believed that the Small Fort of the Portage was
situated nearby at the Niagara River. This structure was destroyed
by the French during the French and Indian War. At one point in
history the home of John Stedman of Goat Island fame was here as was
a local tavern, but today only the chimney believed to be from the
Fort remains. During the construction of the Robert Moses Parkway,
the chimney was moved at the urging of the Niagara Beautification
Commission to its present location to save it, thus establishing
the park.
Staying in the downtown area we find the Statue of Liberty Park (0.5
acres) sitting between the Rainbow Bridge and the Twist of the Mist.
The NBC arranged to have the Statue of Liberty moved here from Hyde
Park some years ago and there is also a civic monument placed here.
The last stop is on Main and Pine where we find Wright’s Park aka
Cenotaph Park and who some call Veteran’s Park. A triangle shape
dividing the streets, this is used for services and commemorations
on Memorial Day, Flag Day and Veterans Day. There is also a monument
recognizing the Armenian population lost during genocide from a
Turkish uprising in the 1900s.
As you can see, we have lots of parks to enjoy in all areas of the
city. We are very fortunate aren’t we? These small parks are a lot
of work for only five members of the Parks Department assigned to
“small parks” who must also keep up vacant lots owned by the city. I
acknowledge and thank the city Parks Department for some of the
factual information you read here.
Norma Higgs serves with the Niagara Beautification Commission and
Niagara Falls Block Club Council. Her columns appear Wednesday’s in
the Gazette.

DIAMANDA GALAS: THE OTHERWORDLY DIVA TACKLES ARMENIA
By Nicole Gluckstern
San Francisco Bay Guardian, CA
Oct 18 2006
Leave it to the Germans to invent one multisyllabic word for something
we English speakers can only express in full sentences.
Dubbing the multilingual, three-and-a-half-octave vocal acrobatics of
Diamanda Galas Schreioper (shriek opera), they’ve captured both the
technical virtuosity and the theatrical quality of her performances.
Something akin to a one-woman force of nature, the classically trained
musical extremist has long turned to the dark side for inspiration,
revealing demonic sympathies with her 1982 Litanies of Satan and
creating pieces on the AIDS epidemic for a trilogy of mid-’80s
recordings.
p?entry_id=1899&catid=85&volume_id=254&amp ;issue_id=257&volume_num=41&issue_num=03

HEROES OF THE VISA WAR
Olga Allenova
Kommersant, Russia
Oct 18 2006
Crowds Meet Deported Georgians in Tbilisi
A Russian Emergencies Ministry plane arrived in Tbilisi yesterday
carrying 150 Georgian citizens who were being deported from Russia.
They were given a hero’s welcome. That flight, which was supposed to
have brought to Tbilisi a Georgian citizen named Tengiz Togonidze who
died in Moscow on the way to the airport, delivered a crushing blow
to the remnants of Russia’s authority in the region. Kommersant’s
special correspondent Olga Allenova has the details.
That day, the Tbilisi airport was particularly crowded: besides
the usual crowds accompanying and meeting travelers, there were also
journalists and representatives of the Russian embassy and the Georgian
authorities. Even several additional fast food restaurants had opened
in the departure hall. The Emergencies Ministry (MChS) flight, which
was expected at 16:00, was delayed until 18:00: a Georgian citizen
named Tengiz Togonidze, who was supposed to be on the flight, died on
Moscow on the road to Domodedovo airport. As soon as the news reached
Georgia, it was clear that a turning point had been reached in the
cold war between Moscow and Tbilisi. The two sides will have to come
to an agreement now or never. Judging by the scene in the airport,
those in Georgia have cast their vote in favor of the latter.
The approximately one hundred Russian citizens who were preparing
to leave Georgia on the same MChS plane were reluctant to speak with
journalists. Only one woman responded, when asked why she was leaving,
“since it’s possible, I’m going.” Airport workers said that those who
are leaving are mainly Armenians and some Georgians who have succeeded
in obtaining Russian citizenship. “Why are they leaving?” parroted a
security services official at the airport, his voice heavy with irony
– “because it’s free!” A little while later, the same man explained
with dignity to journalists that President Saakashvili has forbidden
cargo planes from the Russian MChS to fly into Georgia so that Russia
has been forced to send an Il-62 passenger plane instead of stuffing
people into cargo planes like cattle. Valery Vasiliev, the Russian
consul in Georgia, told me that this will probably be the last plane
that will take Russian citizens out of Georgia: all of those who wanted
to leave Georgia, around 500 people, have already left. In reply to
the question of how it came about that a person being deported by
Russia died on the road to the airport, the consul answered, “it is
a very sad event, there will be an investigation,” but said nothing
more concrete. That was provided by Georgian ombudsman Sozar Subari:
“It is run-of-the-mill fascism,” he said. “It’s Nazism. I approached
the Russian ombudsman with a request that he intervene in this outrage,
if in Russian some kind of positive forces still exist. Out of the
150 people deported today, more than half have normal documents and
the right to live in Russia!”
When the people from the MChS plane cleared passport control and
began to trickle into the arrival hall, they were surrounded by a
wall of journalists so solid that it was difficult to push through
it. Those who arrived did not want to comment. Someone shielded his
face with his hands, and another covered his head with his coat as he
pushed through the throng. The men, frowning, haphazardly attired and
with unshaven cheeks, were irritated and embittered, and the women
were distraught. One of them, who was carrying a child in her arms,
stopped as a microphone was thrust at her. “Why did they arrest you?”
she was asked. “My visa was not in order,” said the woman. “What will
you do now?” “I don’t know! I have no idea what to do!” The following
dialogue was had with another man:
“How long did they hold you in the isolation unit?”
“Ten days.”
“Ten days?!! How did they treat you?”
“Badly.”
“Why did they arrest you?”
“Because I’m a Georgian.”
Many explained their arrest in similar terms. Someone said something
in Georgian about Russian Nazism; someone showed his passport, which
had a Russian visa, and said that they had no right to kick him out.
Someone mentioned a week of incarceration in an isolation unit,
where it was even forbidden to wash. Someone simply broke down in
tears of humiliation.
I glanced at the ombudsman, Mr. Subari, whose eyes were aflame. I
think he was feeling these people’s humiliation as keenly as they
themselves were. And I felt burning shame for my country.
A young woman from the Georgian Education Ministry stopped children
and teenagers and pressed into their hands a booklet that had “Welcome
Home!” written across it. On the other side of the booklet, a notice
from the Education Ministry explained that all schoolchildren who had
been forced to leave Russia would now be attending Georgian schools
and that they should call such-and-such a number so that they would be
accepted into school. The children hid the booklets in their pockets,
and their mothers cried.
The Russian Federal Migration Service stated that day that all of
the deportees had overstayed their visas or did not have visas at all.
The service also said that the Russian budget allocates about 27,000
rubles for the deportation of a migrant, which includes expenditures
for tickets, detention in a special holding area, medicine, and food.
But in the case of the deported Georgians, the budget was economized
by half: the deportation of a single Georgian was managed by the
government for only 13,000 rubles. Maybe that’s why Tengiz Togonidze,
an asthmatic, died when he wasn’t given medication in time.
In Georgia yesterday thousands of people saw on their television
screens their compatriots and their visas, both overstayed and valid.
Thousands of people heard the story of Tengiz Togonidze. Thousands of
people in Georgia asked each other for the third time – this was the
third MChS plane from Russia – why it was necessary to so thoroughly
humiliate the Georgians, who were once desired guests in Russia. I
am certain that these people will never forget what they have seen.
“Russia shown has its face once again,” Georgian Minister for Refugees
Georgy Kheviashvili told me. “Russia has shown that it is impossible
to live with it in peace. Russia has done everything to push Georgia
as far away as possible. Well, thanks for the gift. I don’t doubt
that we will be able to use what has happened in our own interests.”
I also have no doubt.
_Georgians_Tbilisi/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress