CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP TO END
A1+
[11:51 am] 10 October, 2006
The Chess Championship under 20 is still continuing in the Chess
House after Tigran Petrosyan. Two tournaments will be held before
the end of the championship.
Armenian chess player Arman Pashikyan tied up with Ukrainian Yuri
Krivoruchko in the seventh tournament.
The Ukrainian representative leads the fixture table with six
points. Pashikyan is in the 5 – 12th places with his five points. He
will meet Indian chess player Chakravarti Dipan in the eighth round
who also has got five points.
Among Armenian women chess players only Tatevik Abrahamyan,
representing the U.S.A. has real chances to win. At present she is
in the 4 – 7th places with her five points.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKEY UPSET OVER PROPOSED FRENCH LAW
United Press International UPI
Oct 9 2006
ANKARA, Turkey, Oct. 9 (UPI) — Turkey’s prime minister is warning
French companies that a bill before their country’s parliament could
harm economic ties between Turkey and France.
The legislation would make it a crime to question claims of Armenian
genocide punishable by up to a year in prison and fines of up to
$57,000, The New Anatolian reports.
According to the newspaper, Turkey’s prime minister met with
representatives of French companies doing business in Turkey to gain
their help in blocking the controversial legislation.
“Such a law would result in great damage to bilateral relations in all
fields, fuel anti-Western and nationalistic ideas among the Turkish
public and seriously undermine Turkey’s reconciliation efforts with
Armenia,” say top Turkish officials in a statement.
If such a law is passed by the French Parliament, officials say it
would affect military ties since France is a NATO ally of Turkey.

DUTCH TURKISH COMMUNITY URGED TO VOTE
Malaysia Sun, Malaysia
Oct 10 2006
The Netherlands’ Turkish immigrant group wants its members to vote
in the November poll despite a dispute over Armenian mass killings
of the last century.
The dispute has resulted in the Labor PvdA and Christian Democrat
CDA parties dumping their Turkish candidates, reports the Expatica.
The Turkish lobby group IOT organized a meeting over the weekend
to agree on a course of action in response to the outrage among the
Turks over the dumping of their candidates. The leaders decided against
boycotting the national elections and urged members to withhold support
for the PvdA and CDA. They asked members to vote for the Democrat D66,
whose leader has rejected any discussion on the Armenian killings
which happened at the start of the 20th century.
Many Turks admit many deaths occurred under the Ottoman Empire during
World War I but deny committing genocide.

SIMMONS: “I REGRET FOR NO NOTABLE IMPROVEMENT IN THE SETTLEMENT OF NK CONFLICT”
Today, Azerbaijan
Oct 10 2006
Azerbaijani Defense Minister, general-colonel Safar Abiyev received
Robert Simon, NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for
the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Safar Abiyev said that Azerbaijan goes on cooperating with NATO and
delay of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict prevents successful development
of this cooperation, APA reports.
The Minister said that one of the main principles of NATO Partnership
for Peace (PP) is to respect territorial integrity of states, stating
that Armenia being the member of this program does not fulfil its
responsibility and UN Security Council four resolutions.
“The international organisations should exert pressure upon Armenia.
If the conflict is not solved peacefully Azerbaijan will restore its
territorial integrity by itself,” the Minister said.
Mr. Simmons said that NATO appreciates the successes of Azerbaijan
in fulfilling of PP, and follows it attentively.
“We regret for no notable improvement in the settlement of Nagorno
Karabakh conflict,” he said.
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NATO HOLDS UP TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF ALL COUNTRIES
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Oct 10 2006
Special representative of the Secretary General of NATO on Southern
Caucasus and Central Asia Robert Simmons being on a visit in Azerbaijan
has held press conference in the Euro-Atlantic Center. 9 October.
Noting that annually he some times visits region, Robert Simmons,
has informed, that the basic purpose of his visit is fulfillment of
the “Plan of activity of individual partnership” between Azerbaijan
and NATO, preparation of the corresponding report in this direction.
The Special Representative has informed, that has been accepted by
President Ilham Aliyev, besides, has lead meetings in the Ministries of
Defense, foreign affairs and national security. At meetings, discussed
were relations between Azerbaijan and NATO, situation in region.
Informing about the “Plan of activity of individual partnership”, R.
Simmons has expressed satisfaction with fulfillment of the plan and
has highly estimated the work done in this direction.
Clearing up the position of NATO concerning settlement of conflicts
on Southern Caucasus, the Special Representative has told, that
the North Atlantic Alliance supports territorial integrity of all
countries. Though the NATO does not accept direct participation in
the decision of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
it supports the negotiations conducted at intermediary of the OSCE
Minsk Group. We consider, Mr. Simons said, that the parties will
reach settlement of the conflict by peace talks.

TURKISH DIPLOMATS EXPECT FRENCH RESOLUTION ON SO-CALLED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO BE APPROVED
Anatolian Times, Turkey
Oct 9 2006
ANKARA – “We think that the French resolution, that considers as a
crime any denial of so-called Armenian genocide, would be approved
by the French parliament on Thursday, October 12th,” said high level
Turkish diplomats in Ankara today.
“Chances of the resolution getting accepted is high due to the upcoming
elections in France,” told diplomatic sources in Ankara.
According to Turkish sources, the resolution to be voted is against
Europe’s culture and freedom of thought and expression. “Turkey is
doing all it can in both political and economic fronts to defeat the
resolution,” noted Turkish diplomats.
“Once the resolution gets adopted at the lower chamber of the
parliament, it then goes to the Senate and will be submitted to the
President of France for signature. If the resolution gets adopted,
France will lose its special status in Turkey in many areas,” told
Turkish diplomatic sources which prefers not to be named.
“At a time when all obstacles in front of the freedom of expression
and thought are being lifted in Turkey and when Ankara has proposed
the establishment of a Joint Historical Commission to Armenia, the
resolution submitted to the French parliament is an immoral one,”
stressed Turkish diplomats.
Meanwhile, a draft law has been submitted to the Turkish Parliament
concerning France and its previous acts in Algeria.
“Even if the French resolution gets accepted in the French Parliament,
a French citizen can take this resolution to the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR) arguing that it violates freedom of speech and
expression. Thus, the ECHR may declare the resolution invalid,”
added Turkish sources.
“Turks living in Europe may also protest against the French Parliament
by using their democratic rights,” they added.

E.U. COMMISSIONER REHN WARNS FRANCE: DRAFT WOULD HARM TURKEY – E.U. RELATIONS
Anatolian Times, Turkey
Oct 9 2006
BRUSSELS – EU commissioner for enlargement Olli Rehn criticised
the draft legislation on the so called Armenian Genocide in French
Parliament and pointed out to the possible harm that will be caused
by steps taken to that end.
Expressing his views to the press, Rehn said “while the draft in
question was French parliament’s problem, it may however would lead
to serious problems in EU-Turkey relations”.
Rehn said he is worried about the possibility of adoption of the
draft legislation punishing those who didn’t acknowledge the so called
Armenian genocide, and said such a development would harm the dialogue
between Turkey and EU.
Rehn also warned that if the draft was to be put to vote it would
block all the debate about the Armenian issue and would jeopardise
the steps taken towards freedom of thought in Turkey.
Rehn, in his remarks, also referred to his recent visit to Turkey and
pointed out that the Turkish public believe what France was trying
to do was in complete opposition with France’s approach to freedom of
thought in Turkey and France itself was harming freedom of expression.
Rehn called on the French MPs to fulfill their responsibilities and
said “I’m asking French parliamentarians to consider the possible
consequences of this draft. Our aim is to deal with this problem within
a serious framework of discussion. I believe French parliamentarians
will act responsibly”.

MAKING DENIAL OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE A CRIME MEANS FRANCE GOES BACK TO MEDIAVAL AGES, HISARCIKLIOGLU
Turkish Press
Oct 9 2006
KAYSERI – “Making denial of the so-called Armenian genocide a crime
in France, means this country goes back to Medieval ages,” Turkish
Chambers & Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) President Rifat Hisarciklioglu
said on Monday.
Replying to questions of reporters on the issue, Hisarciklioglu said,
“France has pioneered freedoms since 1789. We have suggested resolving
this problem in a scientific platform by examining archives of Turkey
and Armenia. Armenia rejected our proposal.”
Asked what would be the reaction of business circles in case of
approval of the resolution, Hisarciklioglu said, “there are reactions
from all over Turkey. We hope French parliament will not adopt the
resolution.”
On the other hand Bulent Deniz, Chairman of the Turkish Consumers Union
released a written statement on Monday and said, “If the resolution
submitted to French parliament to make denial of so-called Armenian
genocide a crime is approved, we will start to boycott one French
product every week beginning, on October 12th.”
“Our boycott will continue until the law on so-called Armenian genocide
will get annulled,” noted Deniz.
Bulent Deniz added that Turkey must place a ban on all French firms
so that they cannot participate in tenders organized by Turkish
corporations.

SPEAKER MEETS WITH UNITED KINGDOM’S DELEGATION TO IPU
TREND, Azerbaijan
Oct 9 2006
Chairman of Azerbaijan’s Parliament Oqtay Asadov met October 9 with the
delegation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
to the Inter-Parliamentary Union – an international organization of
the Parliaments of sovereign States.
Mr. Asadov spoke of the history of Azerbaijan’s relationship with
Great Britain, and stressed the role of both countries’ leaders in
development of the bilateral ties.
Oqtay Asadov informed the guests about progress made by Azerbaijan
as well as the reforms conducted in the country.
The Speaker also spoke of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh, adding Azerbaijan highly appreciates Great Britain’s
stance on this dispute.
“We believe that as a permanent member of the United Nations Security
Council, Great Britain will seek implementation of UN resolutions”,
Mr. Asadov noted.
Head of the delegation Jenkins Brian said this is his first visit to
Azerbaijan, stressing he was impressed at what he saw in this country.
He said members of his delegation, who are representatives of various
political parties, are also pleased to be in Azerbaijan.
Oqtay Asadov and the guests also discussed a wide range of other
issues of mutual concern.

MERZLYAKOV: AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN FMS’ MOSCOW MEETING AROUSES OUR HOPE
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Oct 9 2006
“Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers’ Moscow meeting was
fruitful. We are very glad that both ministers have positive
expression about the meeting,” OSCE MG co-chair from Russia told the
APA.
He said could co-chairs resume negotiations after a pause.
“The ministers’ Paris meeting on October 24 shows the tempo of
negotiations has increased. The meeting is impossible without an
agreement on its details, because, all details are interrelated.
Moscow meeting aroused the co-chairs’ hopes. The meeting of
Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents will be discussed in the foreign
ministers’ Paris meeting,” he said.
Yuri Merzlyakov also said that they postponed the visit to Khankendi
because of bad weather.