Zaman Online, Turkey
Oct 13 2006
Armenian Bill’s Passage Depends on Government
By Ali Ihsan Aydin, Paris
Friday, October 13, 2006
zaman.com

Although the French parliament has approved a bill making it a crime
to deny the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey during World War I,
the Senate will also have to ratify it before the bill becomes law.
But for it to become an item on the agenda of the Senate, the bill
must be approved by the government, which seems very unlikely as
President Jacques Chirac does not look favorably on the bill.
If the present government refuses to endorse the bill, Francois
Holland, secretary-general of the opposition Socialist Party, has
vowed to make the bill a law in 2007 if they are in power.
Meanwhile, Armenians are pressing for the bill to make it to the
Senate before the legislative period ends.
There are three ways a bill that has passed in the French parliament
can appear on the agenda of the Senate.
The first is if the government approves and sends it to the Senate.
The second is if the Presidential Board of the Senate calls for a
motion.
First Opportunity on Nov.8
The Socialist Party will make a request for the bill to be on the
agenda of the Nov.8 meeting of the board.
But since the party in power occupies the majority of the chairs in
the Senate Board, the government must also endorse the bill.
The third way to make a bill an agenda item is by demanding an
emergency debate.
This demand can only be made by the Commission of Legal Affairs,
which is at the receiving end of the bill.
Parallel to the majority arithmetic of the Senate, the government
party has the final say in commissions, making it a difficult task
for the bill to become an agenda item in the upcoming term.
Armenians Focus on Elections
Patrik Devedjian, an Armenian-origin deputy who spoke to Zaman, said
that it was difficult for the bill to become law during the present
legislative period and could be postponed until next year.
The French Assembly will finish its work early in February because of
the presidential and general elections to be held in the spring.
Alexis Govdjian, president of the Council of Armenian Associations,
noted that they would make attempts in the upcoming days to put the
bill on the agenda of the Senate before the elections.
Referring to the genocide law passed in 2001, he promised to exert as
much effort on this bill.
The bill needs to be endorsed by the Senate without any amendments.
If a motion for a change regarding the text is made, it will be sent
back to the parliament.
The president, the final authority, can send the bill to the
Constitutional Court or the parliament if necessary.
After the endorsement by the Senate, the president of the parliament,
along with 60 senators apart from the president, can submit the bill
to the Constitutional Court.

GrandPrix, NY
Oct 13 2006
The politics of Turkey and the F1 world
Mehmet Ali Talat, the man who caused the ongoing F1 Podium Crisis in
Turkey, has told the Associated Press that the FIA’s fine was “very
unfair, really very unfair and not acceptable”. Talat said that he
was watching the race and was asked if he could hand over the
winner’s trophy. He was introduced as “the President of the Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus”, an entity which the United Nations says
is “legally invalid”.
“It was just a very innocent act,” Talat said.
Others do not agree.
A spokesman for the government of Cyprus called the gesture an
“unacceptable and provocative theatrical performance organised by
Ankara” and said that the Turks had “deceived the FIA and tried to
exploit for political purposes a purely sporting event, through
provocative manoeuvres and absurd propaganda methods.”
The FIA reacted by saying that “political neutrality is fundamental
to the FIA’s role as the governing body of international motor sport.
No compromise or violation of this neutrality is acceptable” but then
the FIA World Council decided to fine the Turks $5m rather than take
stronger action.
Talat’s remarks are unlikely to have much effect on the FIA
International Court of Appeal which must now decide whether the fine
is fair or not. If the Turks are allowed to get away with such a
provocative gesture, it is entirely possible that other nations will
decide to use Grands Prix as propaganda tools. If the fine is
confirmed the race may end up being threatened and that will have an
economic impact on the Formula One group. That is not a long-term
problem as there are plenty of other races that could step in,
although the Turkish track is a real challenge and it will be a shame
if it is lost.
The question is of key importance to the FIA as it will give a clear
sign as to whether the federation will allow its premier championship
to be used as a propaganda tool or whether it stands by its founding
principles and demands political neutrality at races.
While the FIA needs to consider the implications of its decisions
very carefully, Turkey itself needs to decide whether or not it
really wants to have a Grand Prix. The idea of the race was to
attract more tourists to the country. In addition to the immediate
financial gain, there is no question that the event was also about
giving Turkey a better international image which would, perhaps,
soften attitudes in Europe about Turkey’s desire to be a member of
the European Union.
Turkey has been trying to join Europe since 1959 but actual
negotiations did not begin until the end of last year. Europeans in
favour of the idea argue that Turkey’s vibrant economy and its move
to modernise is a big opportunity for Europe, that Turkey has been a
strong ally in NATO and that turning it into a stable secular
democracy would be a good example for Middle Eastern countries.
Those opposed to the idea argue that a big Muslim country – located
largely in Asia – has no place in Europe. The Turks have not helped
matters with their attitude to Cyprus, not to mention questions over
religious and ethnic discrimination and human rights. Public opinion
in Europe is largely against the idea with less than 40% of EU
citizens in favour. In order for the Turks to become part of Europe
all member states must agree. Several countries have already made it
clear that they would have referendums. France – up to now one of
Turkey’s biggest supporters – yesterday approved a bill which makes
it a crime to deny that Armenians were the victims of genocide
between 1915-1918 when it is claimed 1.5m Armenians were killed. Even
pro-Turkish French President Jacques Chirac says that Turkey must
recognise the Armenian genocide as a pre-condition of EU membership.
There is also a report due from the European Commission which is
expected to highlight the fact that Turkey is not doing enough in
terms of reform. Faced with Europe’s attitude, Turkish nationalists
have adopted a harder line in recent times and against this backdrop
the events on the podium in Istanbul are significant.
Ironically, if nationalism increases and the idea of EU membership
fades, there is less reason to have a Grand Prix.

PanARMENIAN.Net
French Bill on Armenian Genocide Being Widely Commented in World Media
13.10.2006 18:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The adoption of the French bill on the Armenian
Genocide is being commented in various media throughout the globe. The
New York Times reports that Chirac’s government standing against the
bill expressed wish to continue dialogue with Turkey. `We are willing
to carry on our dialogue, strong cooperation and friendship with
Turkey,’ the newspaper quotes the French MFA Spokesman.
The complex relationship between Turkey and Europe played out Thursday
in two European capitals, as Turkey’s leading novelist was awarded the
2006 Nobel Prize in literature in Stockholm and French lawmakers here
passed a bill that would make it a crime to deny that Ottoman Turkey
committed genocide against Armenians during and after World War I,
reports the Washington Post.
The Guardian says, `Ataturk, one of whose adopted daughters was an
Armenian survivor of the forced death marches, should have – but never
could – bring himself to face the truth, possibly because of his shame
at what his brother army officers had ordered while he was in
Gallipoli fighting off the British,’ reports RFE/RL.

Reuters, UK
Oct 13 2006
Nobel laureate Pamuk chronicles Ottoman past
Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:27 AM BST

By Gareth Jones
ANKARA (Reuters) – Orhan Pamuk, who on Thursday became the first Turk
to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, shot to fame with novels that
explore Turkey’s complex identity through its rich imperial past.
But his criticism of modern Turkey’s failure to confront darker
episodes of that past has also turned Pamuk more recently into a
symbol of free thought both for the literary world and for the
European Union, which Ankara wants to join.
The bespectacled, boyish-looking Pamuk, 54, went on trial last year
on charges of insulting Turkish national identity under a
controversial article of the country’s penal code strongly criticised
by the EU.
Pamuk had upset nationalists by telling a Swiss newspaper that a
million Armenians had died in Turkey during World War One and 30,000
Kurds had perished in recent decades.
Though the court dismissed the charges against Pamuk on a
technicality, other writers and journalists are still being
prosecuted under the article and could face a jail sentence of up to
three years.
In a curious twist of irony, the Swedish Academy declared Pamuk
winner of the 2006 literature prize on a day when, to Turkey’s fury,
the French lower house of parliament approved a bill making it a
crime to deny the Armenian genocide.
Ankara says there was no genocide but that large numbers of both
Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks died in a partisan conflict
raging at that time as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.
The Pamuk trial was a big embarrassment for Turkey’s pro-Western
government, which has introduced a flurry of human rights reforms and
last year finally began EU accession talks.
At the height of the nationalist hysteria over his comments, one
provincial official called for Pamuk’s books to be burnt.
SPEAKING TRUTH
“What I said is not an insult, it is the truth. But what if it is
wrong? Right or wrong, do people not have the right to express their
ideas peacefully,” Pamuk asked during the trial.
His work has been translated into many languages and has earned him a
growing fan club in Europe, America and beyond.
In his novels, Pamuk chronicles the clash between past and present,
East and West, secularism and Islamism, often against the colourful
backdrop of his native Istanbul, a city which straddles Europe and
Asia.
In “The White Castle”, he explores the complex relationship between a
17th century Ottoman Muslim master and his Italian Christian slave.
“Snow”, his most political work to date, Pamuk tells the tale of a
poet-journalist who returns from exile in Germany and travels to the
eastern Turkish city of Kars to investigate the suicides of a number
of pious, young headscarved women.
It is critical of both Westerners and Islamists in Turkey.
His most recent work, “Istanbul: Memories of a City”, intersperses
personal reminiscences of childhood and youth with reflections on the
city’s Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman past.
“Istanbul’s fate is my fate. I am attached to this city because it
has made me who I am,” he says.
Pamuk was born into a wealthy, Westernised family in Istanbul in
1952. He speaks fluent English and spent several years as a Columbia
University scholar in the United States.
He has pioneered a style of writing that combines traditional
story-telling with experimental devices and a very modern
preoccupation with identity and fears of a “clash of civilisations”.

PanARMENIAN.Net
Every Week Turkey Will Include a French Company in Black-List
13.10.2006 18:22 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Turkish Union of Consumers declared a limited
boycott on French products today. A non-governmental organization
engaged in examination of problems and protection of consumers’ rights
said the boycott will first of all refer to Total French oil
company. The NGO representatives also said that in case of adoption of
the bill every week the union will include a French company in the
black-list.
`We will explain our reaction to France in a language it will
understand. The boycott will remain in force until the bill is
cancelled,’ the union chairman said, reports Trend news agency.

TREND, Azerbaijan
Oct 13 2006
Baku calls on French Senate Not To Adopt Legislation Make Denial of
So-called `Armenian Genocide’ Illegal in France

Source: Trend
Author: E.Huseynov

13.10.2006

`It is with great surprise and concern that we followed the
development of the French Parliament’s lower house and the ensuing
vote regarding the legislation to make denial of the so-called
`Armenian genocide’ illegal in France,’ a statement issued by the
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reads.
Unfortunately, Armenia and its Diaspora continue to play a very
destructive role in the ongoing developments in the region, instead
of contributing to peace and stability With full understanding that
this initiative needs to be yet ratified by the Senate, we urge the
French Parliament to apply a more careful, impartial, and balanced
approach, the document states.
Taking note of the French Government’s position of disagreement with
this legislative act, we are hopeful that the French Senate will
obstruct this negative development in full compliance with
international community’s proclaimed interest in re-establishment of
security, stability and mutual confidence climate in this
strategically important region of Europe, the statement stressed.

Armenian Assembly of America
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:
PRESS RELEASE
October 13, 2006
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
E-mail: [email protected]
ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY APPLAUDS FRANCE FOR STRONGLY AFFIRMING THE ARMENIAN
GENOCIDE
Washington, DC – The Armenian Assembly welcomes the continued commitment
by the French parliament to keep the history of the Armenian Genocide
inviolable despite calls from Turkey to drop an Armenian Genocide bill
or risk damaging bilateral ties.
Yesterday, the French National Assembly voted 106 to 19 to approve
legislation that would penalize Armenian Genocide denial with fines and
a jail term. The bill must still be approved by France’s upper house of
parliament and signed by President Jacques Chirac, who called on Turkey
to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide during a recent state visit to
Armenia.
According to The Associated Press, Chirac asked, “Should Turkey
recognize the genocide of Armenia to join the European Union? Honestly,
I believe so. Each country grows by acknowledging its dramas and errors
of the past.”
In the week leading up to the vote, the Turkish government warned France
that bilateral relations would suffer if lawmakers approved the bill. A
statement issued by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, criticized the vote
saying, “French-Turkish relations….have been dealt a severe blow today
as a result of the irresponsible false claims of French politicians who
do not see the political consequences of their actions.”
The Armenian government, for its part, called the vote a “natural
continuation of France’s principled and consistent defenses of human and
historic rights and values.”
The statement from Foreign Affairs Minister Vartan Oskanian also said,
“To adopt such a decision is the French Parliament’s sovereign right and
is understandable. What we don’t understand is the Turkish government’s
instigation of extremist public relations, especially while Turkey
itself has a law that does exactly the same thing and punishes those who
even use the term genocide or venture to discuss those events.”
ORHAN PAMUK AWARDED NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE; ASSEMBLY INTERVIEW WITH
HRANT DINK
While the passage of the French bill was making international headlines,
news broke that Turkey’s best-known writer Orhan Pamuk was awarded the
Nobel Prize for Literature. Last year, Pamuk was prosecuted under
Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code and charged with “insulting
Turkishness” for telling a Swiss newspaper that “30,000 Kurds and one
million Armenians were killed in these lands, and nobody but me dares
talk about it.” The charges have since been dropped.
The Armenian Assembly spoke with Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink,
from his home in Istanbul, on these latest developments, including new
“denigration” charges filed against him for acknowledging the Armenian
Genocide.
Reflecting on the passage of the French bill, Dink added “I do see some
positive results coming out of this….The Armenian and Turkish
governments, both states, should see there is no alternative to
dialogue. There is no alternative to good neighborliness. There is no
alternative to opening the borders and joint action.”
Dink also welcomed Orhan Pamuk’s award, saying “for those of us
struggling for democracy in Turkey, it is a great honor and great joy
that our beloved friend…has made so many great contributions to the
pursuit of democracy, has ascended to the world’s highest pedestal of
the Nobel Prize in Literature.”
“It is not just the people living in this country today that his prize
belongs to,” Dink continued. “It also belongs to the people who for
centuries populated this land and created this culture. And today, the
culture that Orhan Pamuk presented to the world, in the form of
literature, is the culture of all those people who lived and created on
this land, including the Armenians.”
The interview concluded with Dink’s thoughts on his pending trial. “In
March 2007 I will be tried for having stated ‘yes what happened was
genocide’ in an interview with Reuters,” he explained. “What else can
we call it if my people who lived there for 4,000 years, disappeared
without a trace, and its culture disappeared? This was my message and
this is why I’m being indicted.”
Earlier this month, Dink was awarded the prestigious Bjornson Prize for
Literature for his publications on the Armenian Genocide. He will
accept the award, along with a cash prize, during a ceremony in Molde,
Norway on November 24.
The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of
Armenian issues. It is a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt membership organization.
NR#2006-094
Editor’s Note: Photograph available on the Assembly Web site at the
following link:
/2006-094-1.jpg
Caption: Hrant Dink

PanARMENIAN.Net
EU Not Going to Interfere in Russian-Georgian Conflict
13.10.2006 18:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The European Union `does not wish to interfere in
the conflict between Russia and Georgia,’ EU Envoy for the South
Caucasus Peter Semneby said in the Belgian capital city. According to
him, the EU fears that the conflict may `spread throughout the
region.’ Mr Semneby also criticized the Georgian leadership `for
failing to come to consent with Abkhazia and South Ossetia and making
inciting statements,’ reports ITAR-TASS.

Hürriyet, Turkey
Oct 13 2006
French Parliament deaf to advance warnings
Yesterday’s newspapers in France were filled with warnings of the
result of an approval vote in the Parliament for the so-called
“genocide denial” bill. EU Commissioner for Expansion, Olli Rehn, had
written a letter printed in the “Liberation” newspaper warning “don’t
kill off dialogue with Turkey.”
In the end though, it appeared that the members of the French
Parliament had blocked their ears to these warnings. Following the
vote, which overwhelming approved the controversial bill, the EU
Commission issued clear criticisms of France.
Speaking after the vote, spokesperson for the EU Commission on
Expansion, Khristina Nagy, said “Unfortunately, this decision will
make EU harmonizing reforms in Turkey more difficult. And if the
approved bill goes into implementation, it will mean a deadend for
Armenian-Turkish relations.”
Olli Rehn: This bill puts millions of Turks into position of being
suspect
In a letter to the “Liberation” newspaper, EU Commissioner Olli Rehn
warned “This bill, with its historical opinion it is trying to
impose, puts millions of Turks and their country into the position of
being suspect.”
European Parliament MP Duff: Dark day for freedom in France
Another voice condemning the French vote came from European
Parliament member Andrew Duff, who said “The French Parliament has
rejected freedom of thought and expression. It is a dark day in
France for freedom.” Duff added “How can France insist to Turkey that
it develop its own freedoms and laws when it finds itself in the
exact opposite situation?”
Le Figaro warns: Don’t make mistake
And finally, yesterday’s Le Figaro printed a warning yesterday to the
members of the French Parliament not to “make a mistake.” Calling the
“genocide denial” bill an “opportunistic” initiative, Le Figaro urged
MPs not to push France into a situation of absurdity with an approval
vote.

Hürriyet, Turkey
Oct 13 2006
Ankara readies itself for response to French decision
Sources in Ankara are reporting that the Turkish response to the
French Parliament’s approval of the controversial “Armenian genocide
denial” bill will be swift and strong.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has announced that the Turkish
Parliament will hold a special session on France on Tuesday, and that
on the agenda will be a number of possibilities, including a freezing
of all bilateral relations with France, putting all French firms
wishing to bid on contracts in Turkey on a “red list,” and even
freezing for the time being relations between the Turkish Armed
Forces and their French counterparts.
Terse statement from Prime Ministerial offices
The Prime Ministerial buildings in Ankara yesterday issued the
following stern statement in the wake of news from Paris: “There are
some narrow minded politicians in France who have caused their
country to live with this shame, and who should think about what will
come following this decision.”
In Ankara, French Ambassador Paul Poudade said he thought
French-Turkish relations would suffer for a few weeks, and then get
back on track. In a statement to NTV news last night, Ambassador
Poudade said he thought the comments issued from the Turkish Foreign
Ministry were “a little painful, a little sad, but all in all,
measured.”