THE CHAIRMAN OF YOK (HIGHER EDUCATION COUNCIL) TEZIC RETURNS HIS MEDAL
Sabah, Turkey
Oct 17 2006
The chairman of YOK (Higher Education Council), Tezic, returned his
merit medal to France in order to protest the Armenian bill.
Erdoðan Tezic wrote, in a letter enclosed with the returned medal:
“Although the Armenian bill has not yet become a law, I can not bear
this medal as this issue has become governmental policy of France.”
The chairman of YOK (Higher Education Council) Tezic returns his medal
The chairman of YOK (Higher Education Council) Prof. Dr. Erdoðan Tezic
returned his Commandeur merit medal, which was given with the approval
of the president Jacques Chirac to France. Tezic sent back the medal
with a letter saying: “even though the bill which renders the denial of
Armenian genocide a crime has not yet been made a law, I can not bear
this medal as this issue has become French government’s policy.” With
this decision of Tezic, the Commendaur de la Legion d’Honneur,
France’s highest ranking medal was returned for the first time.
–Boundary_(ID_2ppw68QSwteUPMRWs7DpuQ)–

TURKEY MAY WAIT DECADES TO JOIN EU
United Press International
Oct 16 2006
BRUSSELS, Oct. 16 (UPI) — Turkey may have to wait for as long as 20
years to join the European Union.
One of the big stumbling blocks is Cyprus, the EU Observer said.
Turkey has refused to lift a blockade against the Cypriot government,
an EU member, while other countries refuse to recognize the Turkish
part of Cyprus.
Jose Manuel Barroso, head of the European Commission, warned that
the admissions process is likely to slow down, The Times of London
reported. Barroso said that Turkey’s move to reform in human rights
has stalled.
Last week, the lower house of the French parliament approved a bill
that would make denying the Armenian genocide a crime. While that
bill is unlikely to become law, it has strained relations between
France and Turkey, where nationals who write about the genocide can
face criminal prosecution.
In an interview with the BBC, Barroso said that Turkish admission
“would be great” if the country met the EU criteria.
“This is not yet the case,” he said. “It is a country that comes
from a different tradition. There are efforts in the right direction
but nowadays there is news that is not encouraging in terms of them
coming closer to us.”

PAMUK’S PRIZE
Maria Margaronis
The Nation, NY
Oct 16 2006
“Pamuk’s Nobel: Deciphering the Code of Silence in Ankara,” read the
headline in the Turkish tabloid Hurriyet–a title that could refer
equally to a postmodernist reading of Orhan Pamuk’s work, an account
of intrigues among Ottoman pashas or a news story about the Turkish
president’s failure to congratulate the laureate. Since the Turkish
novelist won the Nobel Prize for Literature, life has strangely come
to resemble one of his fictions. On the day the prize was announced
the French national assembly passed a bill making it an offense to
deny the Armenian genocide, so that a person can now be prosecuted
in France for denying something that it is a crime to assert in Turkey.
In Snow, Pamuk’s most recent novel, a woman tells the hero about a
museum in the eastern town of Kars meant to commemorate “the Armenian
massacre”: “Naturally, she said, some tourists came expecting to learn
of a Turkish massacre of Armenians, so it was always a jolt for them
to discover that in this museum the story was the other way around.”
Pamuk was indicted in Turkey last year for telling a Swiss newspaper
that “thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in
these lands,” and although the charges were dropped, he is seen by many
Turkish nationalists as an opportunistic traitor who has sold out his
country to win the Nobel Prize. The indictment was part of a broader,
ongoing crackdown on writers, intellectuals and political activists,
which is itself related to the right’s reaction against Turkey’s
bid to join the European Union. By attacking an internationally
known writer, Turkish conservatives hoped to score a double victory:
to frighten dissenters at home and to undermine the accession talks
by offending Europe’s liberal elite. Unfortunately, the new French
law–which also reflects France’s failure to integrate its large
Muslim minority–plays directly into their hands.
And so, like one of the heroes of his intricate novels, Pamuk finds
himself caught up in events whose causes lie mysteriously both outside
and inside his own work. Applauded in Europe for the way his work
combines “Eastern” and “Western” culture, reviled by some in Turkey
for using Western literary forms, he seems impaled on the horns of a
dilemma whose very existence his books question and undermine. Pamuk
has been praised for exploring “the clash of civilizations,” for
building in his novels a bridge between East and West. But he describes
his work differently. In his memoir Istanbul, he writes about four
older Turkish writers “who drew their strength from the tensions
between the past and the present, or between what Westerners like to
call the East and the West.” It’s a subtle distinction but an important
one: the interpenetrating layers of history lived from within, warped
and curved like the strata of sedimentary rock, against the stand-off
of geography as seen from the outside.

NO ARMENIAN FLAG ON ARARAT
A1+
[03:52 pm] 18 October, 2006
>From now on the authorization of the Turkish special service is needed
in order to climb Mount Ararat. The Turkish authorities introduced the
requirement after Armenian students from the USA raised the Armenian
flag on top of the Mountain.
According to newspaper “Marmara”, the protocol about Ararat has been
signed by the Turkish Ministry of Culture, Internal affairs and the
Turkish secret services. According to the protocol, those who want to
climb the mountain must send an application two months before; in case
of foreigners, the secret service must approve of their application.
Those who want to climb the mountain, must refrain from scientific
investigations. Their only aim must be tourism. Their equipment must
also be checked.

AZERI GROUP PICKETS FRENCH EMBASSY
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Oct 16 2006
The hard-line Garabagh Liberation Organization (GLO) picketed the
embassy of France in Azerbaijan on Monday against Thursday’s decision
of the country’s National Assembly to enforce criminal prosecution
for denying the so-called “genocide of Armenians”.
Armenians say Ottoman Turks killed 1.5 million people in 1915,
a claim strongly denied by Turkey.
After submitting a resolution to the embassy, the protesters started to
throw eggs, tomatoes and eggplants at the building in protest at the
decision of the French parliament’s lower chamber. 18 picketers were
detained and taken to a police precinct. All but three protesters
were released shortly afterwards. Two of the picket participants
were injured.
The protesters demanded to immediately repeal the “genocide” law, to
close down the French embassy and to estrange France from brokering
settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagrono) Garabagh conflict
within the OSCE Minsk Group (MG) also co-chaired by Russia and the
United States.

ARMENIAN ALPHABET EXHIBIT AT MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY
Monmouth University News & Events, NJ
Oct 16 2006
Program Celebrates the 1,600th Anniversary of the Armenian Alphabet and
Will Feature Multiple Armenian Alphabet Artifacts Monmouth University,
in conjunction with the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America
(Eastern), will host an Armenian Alphabet Exhibit, November 6 to 9, 11
a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, in historic Wilson Hall, located on the Monmouth
University campus. The program celebrates the 1,600th anniversary
of the Armenian Alphabet and will feature multiple Armenian Alphabet
artifacts. In addition, on November 8 at 7 p.m., Mr. Aram Arkun will
give a keynote address about the history of the Armenian Alphabet in
Wilson Hall Auditorium.
Mr. Arkun, a specialist in Armenian history serves as the coordinator
of the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center of the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of America (Eastern). He is editor of the periodical
Ararat, chairman of the Armenian Student Association Arthur H. Dadian
Armenian Heritage Award committee, and secretary of the board of
directors of the Armenian Center at Columbia University.
Mr. Arkun is a doctoral candidate in Armenian history (C.Phil.) at
UCLA, for which he is completing his dissertation on the Armenians
of northern Cilicia after World War I.
The exhibit and keynote address are free and open to the public.
Local schools and large groups are asked to please contact the
Office of Public Affairs at 732-571-3526 to schedule a time to view
the exhibit.
Media Contact: Val Manzo 732-571-3526/[email protected]

IGOR MURADIAN CONSIDERS THAT RA LEADERSHIP TRIES TO CONCEAL JAVAKHK PROBLEM TO PLEASE WESTERN COMMUNITY
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 17 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN. “NATO, expert community of Europe
and U.S. very throughly study the situation in Samtskhe-Javakheti. A
task has been set – not to permit problem’s internationalization and
to suppress it. And Armenia has some commitments towards the western
community, which strives for considering the events to please the
Georgian authorities.” Political scientist Igor Muradian declared
this at the October 17 press conference at the National Press Club
organized within the framework of the program titled “Actual Subject,”
commenting upon the situation formed currently in Samtskhe-Javakheti.
In the political scientist’s opinion, the Armenian leadership tries to
conceal the problems in this Georgian region populated with Armenians,
to please the western community. Announcing that he has no document
about possible Armenian-Georgian secret agreement, I.Muradian meanwhile
said that it would not take much time to reach such kind of agreement,
as this could also be an oral one.
As for the issue, what steps can yield good results, I.Muradian said
that we should not permit to conceal the Javakhk problem. Whereas,
in his words, currently the Armenian authorities have a single goal,
to hold “on the surface,” as power crisis, in fact, emerged in Armenia.
As regards real possibility of Georgia’s joining NATO in the near
future, in I.Muradian’s words, the events between Russia and Georgia
delayed the prospect of Georgia’s joining NATO for even more.
Besides, in his words, this issue will not be solved, until the
problem of Ukraine’s joining NATO is solved and the issue of the
Black Sea is determined.
Returning to the subject of the recent local self-government elections
in Samtskhe-Javakheti, I.Muradian declared that there is no doubt that
the United Javakhk won the elections. As for the arrest of Vahagn
Chakhalian, member of Board of the United Javakhk democratic bloc
by Armenian law enforcement bodies, I.Muradian declared that the
initiators of this force pressure are intimidated and do not know
how to come out of the formed situation. He called for releasing
V.Chakhalian.

ARMENIA ACCOUNTS FOR 1% OF FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN CIS COUNTRIES
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 17 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the UN annual report on
foreign investments worldwide, the flow of foreign investments into
Armenia is quite small and made about 220 million dollars in 2005,
whereas the total amount of foreign investments in CIS countries
made 27 billion dollars last year. Thus Armenia accounts for only 1%
of these investments.
According to Radio Liberty, the UN report published on October 16
not only observes the latest developments in this sphere but also
indicates the countries which are most attractive for investors.
According to a research, last year foreign businessmen invested about
14 bln USD in Russia, 7 bln USD in Ukaraine and 1.7 bln in Azerbaijan.
“Along with Georgia and Belarus, Armenia is in one of the last
positions on this list,” Carman Calutay, one of the research authors,
said.
According to him, foreign investors are attracted first of all by
natural resources, then – by consumer goods and the food sector
of CIS countries. Although Armenia lacks natural resources and a
big consumer market, according to the research authors, it has a
considerable potential for attracting foreign investors.
By another mechanism of calculation which shows how much interest
foreign investors have in the infrastructures, human potential and
educational level of the given country, Armenia is in 77-79 places
among 141 countries. It means that Armenia is in a middle position
in the world in terms of its potential.
The report authors also indicate that last year a considerable decline
was registered in the foreign invsetments in three CIS countries –
Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. In 2004, 3.6 billion dollars was
invested in Azerbaijan, while in 2005 this index almost halved.
“The fact is that foreign investments are mainly made in Azerbaijan’s
gas and oil sectors, and as in 2005 the investors made huge profits
in these sectors, there was no need to invest new sums there,”
Vitali Kramarenko, Director of the International Monetary Fund’s
(IMF) Azerbaijani branch, explaines. According to him, this tendency
will continue in the coming years. “These programs will mainly be
completed in 2007. They include the operation of a gas pipeline and
an oil pipeline and extraction of huge resources in this sector. So,
there will mostly be a decline in foreign investments in Azerbaijan
in the next 1-2 years,” V. Kramarenko said.

MONUMENT DEDICATED TO MEMORY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS DEFILED IN FRANCE
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 17 2006
CHAVILLE, OCTOBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The monument
dedicated to memory of the Armenian Genocide victims was defiled by
vandals on early October 14, in Chaville, suburb of Paris. As Marmara
states quoting monk Grigor Khachatrian, the spiritual pastor of the
Saint Gregory the Illuminator church of Chaville, they stole the
bronze cross placed in the center of the monument.
The monument, erected on October 5, 2002, with resources of the
community members, symbolizes with its twelve columns 12 old Armenian
colonies, as well as both Masises, and the pivotal part makes a binding
of bronze letters that looks like a cross in the central part, what
was, factually, stolen.
The local authorities as well as police representatives believe that
the monument was stolen for its metal value, thus, the police does not
see a political motive in it, but Armenians consider interesting that
it was stolen in almost two days after the votion for the French draft
(fixing punishment for denial of the Armenian Genocide).
After the liturgy celebrated at the Saint Gregory the Illuminator
Church of Chaville on October 15, those present directed towards the
monument to condemn the mentioned deed. Deputy Jean-Jacques Guillet,
Mayor Jean Levain, representatives of the Mayor’s Office and regional
administration as well as the population of Chaville were present.
The Mayor and the Deputy not only condemned at the monument the
happened, but also promised in a short time to restore in the same
way the monument valueable for Armenians in the symbolic sense,
using resources of the Mayor’s Office and the Regional Council General.
The Turkish press stated touching upon that theme that the Police
continues examination but was not able to check any trace.

TWO EARTHQUAKES OCCURED IN ARMENIA
Public Radio, Armenia
Oct 17 2006
At 14:57 and 15:15 local time two 2.5 and 3 magnitude earthquakes
occurred in Armenia 10 km away from Lake Sevan. The strength
of underground quakes in epicenters reached 4 and 5 points
correspondingly. The quakes were felt in a number of settlements
of Armenia, particularly Sevan and Tsovaghyugh, Dilijan, Ijevan and
Yerevan, the Armenian National Survey for Seismic Protection reports.