EU-TURKEY NEGOTIATIONS ARE HEADING FOR A STALEMATE
EurActiv.com, Belgium
Oct 16 2006
In Short:
EU-Turkey negotiations have hit a wall. A solution for the Cyprus
issue appear to remain out of reach. Comments by Barroso have added
to the sombre mood around the upcoming progress report.
RELATED
EU-Turkey relations
Turkey accession and Cyprus
Background:
The EU launched accession negotiations with Turkey on 3 October 2005.
The Finnish presidency is currently stepping up its efforts to find
a compromise on the Cyprus issue, one of the main stumbling blocks
on Turkey’s way to accession, as the pace of negotiations slowed down.
Issues:
Greece and Greek Cyprus have blocked the opening of negotiations in
new policy areas, such as enterprise and industry, pressuring Turkey
to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot vessels.
Greek Cypriot spokesperson Christodoulos Pashiardis said on 12 October
2006, that their aim was “not to accept the opening of any of the
remaining 34 chapters concerning Turkey’s accession until 8 November
2006, when Turkey’s progress report is issued.”
Turkey refuses to open its ports to Greek Cypriots unless an
international embargo against the Turkish part of Cyprus is lifted.
The Finnish presidency is currently in search of a compromise to
unlock the Cyprus issue, which is currently blocking progress in
EU-Turkey membership negotiations.
Meanwhile, Turkish business and consumer groups threatened to boycott
French products, after a bill passed by the French parliament to
penalise denial of the Armenian genocide. Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “Because of certain narrow-minded deputies,
the France we know as a country of liberties is forced to live with
this shame”.
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso pronounced a very pessimistic
view of the progress of Turkey’s membership negotiations.
He said it could be up to 20 years before Turkey joined the EU and
highlighted a slowdown in reforms.
Positions:
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told the BBC: “We are
concerned about Turkey because the pace of reforms is rather slow
from our point of view. I believe it would be great to have Turkey if
Turkey respects all the economic and political criteria. This is not
yet the case. 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.”
Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Lillikas said: “Cyprus cannot
act as if nothing is happening in EU-Turkey relations at a time when
it refuses to meet its obligations towards the EU”.
Turkey’s Chief Negotiator Ali Babacan did not comment on the blockade,
but said that Turkey expected negotiations to be opened and closed
on a few chapters during Germany’s EU presidency in early 2007.

By Katia Peltekian
BEIRUT, LEBANON
Lebanese-Armenians Demonstrate
(© K. Peltekian)
“Martyrs’ square is a witness to Turkish inhumanity”; “A murderer
cannot become a peacekeeper”; “Turks have passed by here & left behind
death and destruction”; “Dear Lebanese: the Turkish dictionary does
not include the words ‘Justice’ and ‘peace'”; “Genocide, massacre,
deportation, annihilation: Turkish definition of peace”; “Turkey is
not welcome in Lebanon”. These were some of the banners written in
Arabic, Armenian and English carried by the Lebanese-Armenians who
converged at Martyrs’ Square in the center of Beirut. They came to
protest the deployment of Turkish troops as part of the
peace-enforcing UNIFIL troops in Lebanon.
Yesterday afternoon, thousands of Armenians, young and old, gathered
in downtown Beirut to express their rejection of the Turkish presence
in Lebanon. They came from all corners of Lebanon and met at the exact
spot where the Ottoman Turks hanged many Lebanese intellectuals in
1916. They came to remind both the Lebanese and Turkish governments
that there is an important community in Lebanon that will not forgot
the butchery that Turks committed not only to the Armenians but also
to the Lebanese.
Lebanese-Armenians Demonstrate
(© K. Peltekian)
The rally was organized by the Tashnak Party’s youth committee and the
ARF Zavarian Students’ Association. In addition to the school and
university students, there were delegates from Armenian organizations
from Ainjar, Zahle, Metn, Tripoli, and Bourj Hammoud. They carried
banners as well as the Armenian and Lebanese flags. Also present were
Bishop Kegham Khacherian, MPs Edgar Maalouf, Hagop Pakradouni, Saleem
Aoun, ex-ministers Sebouh Hovnanian, Hagop Joukhadarian, and Alain
Tabourian. However, with the exception of very few, the absence of
Lebanese public, officials and politicians was noticeable.
Speaking on behalf of the ARF Youth Committee, Khajag Balolian stated
that the Lebanese should not accept the military presence of a country
whose record shows numerous human rights violations and whose history
is full of massacres and hostility towards other nations. Turkish
forces are back on Lebanese soil desecrating the same land where they
had committed crimes against the Lebanese in 1916, he asserted, and
that no one could deny the fact that the Ottomans committed atrocities
against the freedom-loving Lebanese and that no one could deny the
Genocide of the Armenian people at the hands of the Turks starting
in 1915. Balolian stated that the Lebanese parliament recognized the
Armenian Genocide in 2000, yet the current government shows no respect
towards the feelings of the Armenians.
Lebanese-Armenians Demonstrate
(© K. Peltekian)
MP Hagop Pakradouni stated that this issue was not only an Armenian
issue. He said that although Turkey claims it is working towards
keeping peace between Lebanon and Israel, it does not believe in
peace. Turkey’s past and present are full of wars and hostility
towards the Armenians, the Kurds, the Cypriots, the Greeks and
Syria. He said that such a country could not act as a peacekeeper.
What is even more dangerous, according to Pakradouni, is that Turkey
has signed several military offensive and defensive cooperation
agreements with Israel, so it could not be considered a neutral party
in the conflict between Lebanon and Israel.
Lebanese-Armenians Demonstrate
(© K. Peltekian)
According to sources, Pakradouni stated that the Armenian community in
Lebanon will continue its peaceful demonstrations and declared the
Lebanese government responsible for not taking the Armenians’ opinion
into consideration. In an interview with the Lebanese An-Nahar
newspaper, Pakradouni said that although a number of cabinet ministers
also rejected the presence of Turkish troops in Lebanon, PM Fouad
Seniora ignored their views claiming that Moslem forces were needed in
the UNIFIL Peace-enforcing troops. Pakradouni also held the Lebanese
government responsible if a “third party commits a violent activity
against the Turkish troops.”
Lebanese-Armenians Demonstrate
(© K. Peltekian)
In addition to the Lebanese and Armenian flags, some carried the
French flag with banners saying “Merci, France” for voting on a bill
that criminalizes Genocide denial.
The rally was covered by local, regional and international TV stations
and news agencies, including the Turkish Cihan News Agency that has
been in Beirut for more than a week now to cover the Turkish
deployment in South Lebanon. Photos of the rally covered the front
pages of today’s Lebanese newspapers except for Al-Mustaqbal (The
Future), which is owned by the family of the late PM Rafiq al-
Hariri. The pro-government newspaper completely ignored the
demonstration in today’s edition.

HOVHANNISIAN SAYS SARKOZY’S OPINION REPRESENTS THAT OF FRENCH SOCIETY
Yerkir/am
October 13, 2006
The Turkish blackmailing is quite efficient for European countries,
even for such a strong country as France, said National Assembly Vice
speaker and ARF Bureau member Vahan Hovhannisian on Tuesday when
asked by the Yerkir reporter to comment on Turkish reaction to the
known bill.
Turkey is seeking to carry out the same policies it used in the 19th
century and the beginning of the 20th – to emphasize that it (Turkey)
is more important for Europe than Armenians are, Hovhannisian went
on saying.
“In a sense they are right, as Turkey is a large market, it controls
roads and leverage,” Hovhannisian continued. “Some even say Turkey
is a secular Muslim state and could be an example for changing
fundamentalist Muslim regimes, but Turkey represents more threat to
Europe than Armenia, Georgia, Croatia or Bulgaria.
He also said that if Turkey becomes a full-fledged player on the
European scene, will completely distort the basics the European Union
stands on, and this is why some European countries, including the
Netherlands and France, voted against a European constitution that
would ease Turkey’s entry into the EU.
Sarkozy’s preconditions, thus, are symbolic, Hovhannisian said,
and taking into account Sarkozy’s influence over the French society,
it indicates that his opinion represents that of the French society.
From: Baghdasarian

FRANCE CONDEMNS NEGATION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Yerkir/am
October 13, 2006
The French Parliament voted on Thursday in favor of the bill penalizing
the negation of the Armenian Genocide.
After 3 and half hours of debates to the platform of the National
Assembly, the deputies voted “YES” in majority (127 against 19)
for the law condemning the negation of the Armenian Genocide.
“It is with the heart that UDF group will vote on the bill” said André
Santini, great friend of the Armenian community of France. This law
condemns the contraveners to a maximum sorrow of 45,000 euros fine
and one year of prison.
Adoption of the bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide
was quite expected, Head of the Department of Turkey of the NAS of RA,
Doctor Ruben Safrastian told PanARMENIAN.Net.
In his words, the passage of the bill evidences that the public and
political forces of Europe understand that Turkey may become an EU
member only in case it opens the dark pages of its history. “The
country should find the courage to face the past and accept it
properly,” Safrastian said.
In his turn, Head of Hay Dat Office Kiro Manoyan underscored in a
conversation with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter that the adoption of
the Genocide bill is only the first step. “Ratification in the Senate
is the next, while the President has to sign it after that. I do not
think serious problems may arise in the Senate,” Manoyan remarked.
As for the threats by Turkey, the Head of Hay Dat Office underscored
that expected sanctions against France will hit as a boomerang upon
Turkey itself. ” I believe that statements of the Turkish party within
the past week are bluff. It is in its own interest to recognize
the Armenian Genocide if it really wants to become an EU member,”
Manoyan said.
–Boundary_(ID_sTJ3P/B2CV0C9vIxj4smsg)–

CAUCASIAN COUNTRIES DELIVER ANOTHER BLOW AT RUSSIAN IMPERIALISTS
Kavkaz Center, Turkey
Oct 15 2006
The 8-year-old Kars-Tbilisi-Baku Railroad Project moves up in the
agenda. The reason is that the Armenian lobby in the United States
has blocked loans to this project in the U.S. Senate. Immediately
afterwards, the fact that Russia, a neocolonial power and master
in Armenia, is about to impose an embargo on Georgia, also brings
another light to the project. This route will be Turkey’s cheapest and
shortest access to Central Asia. Also, Georgia, immersed in economic
troubles, will become a transit center of the region with the help
of this railroad, the Turkish English newspaper Daily News reported.
The Turkish Transportation Ministry sheds light to which phase the
project is at: “The technical project of the route will be completed
at the end of 2006. In 2007, a tender will be held. and the estimated
cost of the project is 0 million.”
The closure of the Turkish-Armenian border in Dogukapý in 1993 has
brought Kars economy to a standstill. Significant volumes of goods
were exported to Iraq and Syria through this gate .
The aim of the Kars-Tbilisi-Baku Railroad project is to expand
the trade volume among Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. This route
will bypass Dogukapý meaning Armenia, the country that has troubles
with Turkey and Azerbaijan, and end in Akhalkalaki, a small city in
Georgia’s southern region. From Akhalkalaki onwards to Tbilisi, the
existing railroad route will be connected to the network expanding
to the entire Caucasus.
For the Turkish and Azeri sides, this project is not only an economic
project but each has a political goal attached to it. While both
countries plan to have access to a huge market of 0 billion, at the
same time, they consider cornering Armenia on issues such as occupation
of Nagorno-Karabakh and the alleged “genocide”. Also, Georgia plans
to become a new transit route to the Caucasus just like Armenia.
Several Kars businessmen insist that the project of the century is
the Kars-Tbilisi-Baku Railroad, not the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
This project means an alternative route that would give them access
to the outside world.
–Boundary_(ID_Se5ZKmqMDC+Bl6Fu+5Kv/Q)–

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MONUMENT STOLEN IN FRANCE
By Foreign News Desk
Zaman Online, Turkey
Oct 15 2006
A bronze monument erected in 2002 in the village of Chaville near
Paris commemorating the Armenian genocide was stolen.
Stephane Topalian, a member of an Armenian church in the village,
said the bronze monument was probably stolen on Friday night.
It was notable that the incident happened just two days after the
French parliament approved a bill that penalizes denial of the
Armenian genocide.
“Police say it might have been stolen for the metal, but it seems
too much of a coincidence that this should have happened just after
parliament voted on the Armenia bill,” Topalian said.
Meanwhile, Socialist Party member and former French Culture Minister
Jack Lang opposed the approval of the bill.
Lang urged French and Turkish academics to organize a conference over
the issue.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders also protested the French
parliament for approving the bill.

WHAT CAUSED A CENTURY OF WAR?
By Edward Cuddihy – News Book Reviewer
Buffalo News, NY
Oct 15 2006
Nonfiction
At the dawn of the 20th century, the West enjoyed an economic and
social prosperity unequaled in 1,600 or 1,700 years. The industrial
revolution had fueled an economic powerhouse; empirical nationalism
had led to worldwide European domination. Western religions had long
ago learned to live in relative harmony, and the peoples of the West
had carved out their own megastates, often along ethnic lines. The
people of the European peninsula appeared on the verge of unimagined
greatness.
What followed was a century of barbaric bloodletting which began
as localized fratricide and mushroomed into an orgy of worldwide
indiscriminate killing. This debacle reached a pinnacle of madness
just before the midpoint of the century and then continued to bubble
on in a series of lethal aftershocks nearly to the century’s close,
leaving the West fragmented, economically emaciated and decidedly on
the descent.
This is the way best-selling author and historian Niall Ferguson
sees the 20th century as he attempts in his latest book to answer
the question: Why did such a thing happen?
Keep in mind that Ferguson is Tory to his roots, and despite ties to
Harvard and Stanford universities, he views the world from the banks
of the Thames. So to him, the capital and center of the West is London.
This massive work is the latest in Ferguson’s string of six volumes,
and perhaps represents his most ambitious work to date. And he’s still
in his mid-40s. In this volume, he attempts the task of analyzing
the events of the past 100 years in the context of the struggle to
dominate the West, and thus, the world.
As he did in earlier volumes, especially in “The Pity of War,” and
“The Cash Nexus,” Ferguson takes pleasure in debunking the rock-solid
premises of modern historians. And this debunking, often controversial
and sometimes politically incorrect, is backed by mountains of research
and copious statistics.
You can’t argue with his facts, though you might have misgivings about
some of his interpretations, because, as you know, facts seldom if
ever speak for themselves.
A sampling of his premises:
~U The Holocaust, as horrific and inexcusable as it was, was one of
a series of racial wars perpetrated throughout the world. He cites
as being racially motivated Stalin’s purges, Mao’s civil war, the
Armenian genocide at the hands of the Turks and the Japanese mass
murder of its mainland neighbors.
~U Hitler’s decision to attack the Soviets was an attack on “Jewish
Bolshevism,” a threat to the Third Reich.
~U He questions whether Adolf Schicklgruber, known to the world
as Hitler, or Iosif Dzhugashvili, better known as Stalin, was the
greater threat to humankind. On an objective scale of atrocities,
he awards a clear advantage to Stalin, describing Hitler as a “kind
of apprentice.” Yet, it is Stalin who is seen smiling like a cat
with Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt in 1940s newsreels,
while Hitler stood for all that is evil.
~U Ferguson continues to develop his theme from his earlier “The Pity
of War” that the British entry into World War I was a mistake of the
greatest magnitude. This was not a war of good versus evil. It was
a natural fallout of the disintegration of the Habsburg, Romanov,
Hohenzollern and Ottoman empires.
~U Appeasement didn’t lead to war. World War II began in 1937
with Japan’s invasion of China. War, he claims, led to attempts
at appeasement.
Some other Ferguson observations, accompanied by massive bodies of
fact, are that Russian, British and U.S. atrocities were on a par with
Germany’s and Japan’s, especially in the indiscriminate fire bombings
of civilian cities. Yet, the ultimate bomb, as atrocious as it might
appear 60 years later, was no more than the natural development of the
science of industrialized warfare, and in fact might be seen as “poetic
justice,” an achievement of Jewish scientists, refugees from the Nazis.
And if you think JFK stared down Nikita Khrushchev over Cuba, Ferguson
would disagree, claiming that both men swerved at the last moment in
an international game of chicken. Most of these concepts have surfaced
before. The value of this work is in its clear presentation of an
overwhelming body of facts to back up each assertion. This volume
contains vivid details of atrocities that will be thought-provoking
and sad reminders of man’s treatment of his fellow man. But don’t
look for battles or war heroes. Ferguson treats with the national
psychology and big-picture strategy of the war of the century, not
the invasions or triumphs of one military machine over another.
In fact, if you aren’t familiar with the military history of the
world wars and the ensuing Cold War, Ferguson will leave you lost.
This is a major work. It might tail off in the last quarter of the
century, hinting that the task Ferguson set up for himself was near
impossible – to analyze in great detail the bloodiest century in the
history of mankind. And the Cold War, a mere 50 pages in this 800-page
work, will likely be revisited in another Ferguson book.
This body of modern history, now well over 4,000 pages from the pen
of the prolific Niall Ferguson, just continues to grow in volume and
in depth.
Edward Cuddihy is a former News managing editor.

TURKEY CONTINUES BOYCOTT OF FRENCH GOODS
Isa Sezen, Yahya Cark, Ercan Baysal, Mehmet Guler, Besir Sozer, Omer Sari
Zaman, Turkey
Oct 15 2006
Turkish consumers are launching a boycott of French goods following
the French parliament’s decision to pass the Armenian bill, which
foresees punishment of those denying an Armenian genocide. Some Turkish
citizens are refusing to buy products upon learning they are French.
Consumers associations called on consumers to boycott French goods
while some chain stores are putting labels on French goods to inform
consumers of their French origin.
Kiler, a leading retailer, has decided not to sell French goods. Afra
Shopping Center, a supermarket chain operating in Konya, is putting
labels on approximately 100 French products that read, “This is a
French product.”
The French store Carrefour, a partnership in Turkey with Sabanci
Holdings, has been the most affected by the protests. The number of
cars parked at the shopping center has been declining daily. Fewer
customers are coming to the shopping center with every passing day.
There has been a 30 percent decrease in the sales of Total oil,
which is on top of the Consumers Association’s list.
French Goods Removed from Stores Kiler Retail Chain, which has 130
stores in Turkey, suspended sales of French products. The retailer
chain cancelled its contracts with Danone and French cosmetics
companies and also removed other French goods from their shelves.
Kiler, which means cellar in Turkish, will put posters criticizing the
bill approved by the French parliament on the shelves left empty by the
absent French products. Officials of the chain asserted that reactions
from their customers were highly influential in making this decision.
LC Waikiki: We are a Turkish Company
Clothing company LC Waikiki announced that it was not a French company
as presented to the public, but a Turkish company. The company issued
a full page announcement in daily newspapers in Turkey after its name
was mentioned on the list of products to be boycotted.
The company’s announcement asserted that they needed to explain
their origin after some Internet forums claimed they were French. The
announcement read, “LC Waikiki was purchased from French DDKA Company
by Tema Textile Corporation in 1997 and became a Turkish company.”
Carrefour Parking Lot Empty
The number of customers at the French Carrefour in Turkey has decreased
dramatically. Some executives suggested that the decrease in the number
of visitors could be due to Ramadan, in addition to the protests. An
official from the Istanbul center said: “Normally, on Saturdays it
was impossible to find empty places in the parking lot and parking
garage. Yesterday our parking garage was almost empty.”
Danone Products Returned
Onur Hypermarkets Beylikduzu location Manager Ekrem Yilmaz said that
people who bought Danone products were beginning to return them after
learning that Danone was a French company.
“There is no strong reaction yet. Some of our customers brought back
Danone products they had previously purchased. Some of them returned
them claiming the product had expired,” said Yilmaz.

TURKISH NATIONALISTS SUE NOBEL COMMITTEE OVER ORHAN PAMUK
Sofia News Agency, Bulgaria
Oct 15 2006
Turkish nationalists intend to sue the Nobel Committee for awarding the
Nobel Literature Prize to Orhan Pamuk, local Turkish media reported.
The initiator of the idea is one of the leaders of the Union of the
Lawyers in Turkey, Kemal Kerincsiz. He believes the Nobel Committee
awarded Pamuk the prize guided by political reasons.
This is not the first time when the controversial Turk author faces
lawsuit from the nationalists. In 2005 he was charged with “insulting
Turkishness”.
The charges relate to a Swiss magazine interview in which Orhan Pamuk
said 30,000 Kurds and one million Ottoman Armenians were killed in
Turkey and no-one dares talk about it.

FRENCH TRY TO END TURKS’ EU BID
By Kerstin Gehmlich
Gulf Times, Qatar
Oct 15 2006
PARIS: French deputies hailed a vote to make denial of the Armenian
genocide a crime as a triumph for human rights, but analysts said
Thursday’s vote had more to do with fears of Turkey’s EU entry and
an election next year.
Despite harsh criticism from Ankara and business fears of a Turkish
backlash, the lower house of parliament passed a law imposing prison
terms on anyone who denies Armenians suffered genocide in 1915 at
the hands of Ottoman Turks.
Parliamentarians celebrated the Socialist-sponsored bill, which
still needs Senate approval, as “immense progress…for the cause of
humanity” and a “proposal for civil peace”.
But analysts said the impulse for the initiative was more prosaic,
coming barely six months before parliamentary and presidential
elections and amid a climate of strong French voter opposition to
Turkey’s European Union entry.
“There is a very strong Armenian minority (in France) but there also
is the issue of bringing Turkey into the EU,” said Hall Gardner from
the American University of Paris.
“(The law) is meant to block Turkey’s entry into the EU. That’s the
strategy of some people,” he said.
Conservative presidential frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy has spoken out
strongly against Turkey’s EU entry.
Segolene Royal, his likely Socialist rival has not yet stated her
position on Turkey’s membership but said on Wednesday Ankara needed
to recognise the Armenia genocide to confirm its candidacy.
A recent survey showed some 60% of French opposed to Ankara entering
the bloc. Critics say Turkey is too big, too poor and too culturally
different to become a fully integrated member of the EU.
Concerns about Turkey’s possible EU membership was blamed in part
for French voters’ rejection of the EU constitution in a referendum
last year.
Turkey denies accusations of a genocide of some 1.5mn Armenians during
the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, arguing that
Armenian deaths were a part of general partisan fighting in which
both sides suffered.
France’s Armenian community, which is up to 500,000-strong and one
of the largest in Europe, had pushed hard for the bill and found
cross-party support in parliament.
“Several deputies with strong Armenian communities in their districts
told themselves to ensure re-election, they are standing by those
who demand punishment for denial of the genocide,” said political
scientist Didier Billion.
Turkey was quick to condemn the vote and its Foreign Ministry said it
had dealt a severe blow to French-Turkish ties. Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan this week told France to examine its own colonial past rather
than preach to Turkey.
Some French critics asked whether their own country had learnt anything
from its empire having ended in bloody wars in Indochina and Algeria.
A French law urging teachers to stress the “positive role” of the
French overseas presence sparked a heated national debate and large
protests earlier this year, forcing President Jacques Chirac to order
its repeal.
Analysts said the controversy over France’s colonial past made the
human rights rhetoric behind the Armenia bill less credible.
“For some deputies, there is a moral duty to say France, as the home
of human rights, must take a position on these issues,” said Billion
of the IRIS institute.
“But … rather than being proud about our universal message on human
rights, we have to address some problems linked to our own history,”
he said.