ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER ENDS VISIT TO GREECE
Armenpress
Oct 05 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS: Armenian defense ministry said
minister Serzh Sarkisian and other senior army officers who were
visiting Greece, attended on October 3 the official opening ceremony
of the 14-th Defender International exhibition.
A spokesman for Armenian defense ministry, Seyran Shahsuvarian, said
Sarkisian visited the pavilion of the joint Armenian-Greek company
LT Pirakla, which is a subsidiary of Greek EBO-Pirakla company and
spoke to its chief executives.
On the same the Armenian delegation visited the Hellenic Land Force
Academy and met with Armenian cadets studying there. The delegation
also visited Greece’s National Military Museum. An arrangement was
reached to hold in it in 2007 an exhibition devoted to Armenian
armed forces.
On October 4 Serzh Sarkisian was received by his Greek counterpart
Evangelos Meimarakis. Both men discussed a wide scope of bilateral
relations and reached arrangements on expansion of bilateral
cooperation in military education and peace-keeping operations areas.
The Armenian minister was also welcomed by the Armenian embassy in
Athens and met with members of the Greek Armenian community. The
Armenian minister awarded Hrant Basmajian, chairman of the Union of
Friends of Armenia and Karabakh the Armenian military medal. At the
end of the visit Sarkisian met with local journalists for a news
conference.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

JAVAKHQ FACES A DILEMMA
A1+
[12:38 pm] 05 October, 2006
“Armenia must do its utmost to facilitate the tension existing between
the Russian-Georgian relations. All Armenians must unite and announce
that they are adherents of stability and their support neither side.
This is driven from our natural interests and is necessary for
Javakhq and Armenia”, claims Shirak Torosyan, head of “Javakhq”
Patriotic Union.
The tension between the Russian-Georgian relations has its negative
outcome on the Armenian residents of Javakhq. After the cessation
of transportation and postal relations between Russia and Georgia,
a lot of Javakhq residents who left for Russia in search of proper
work conditions, are unable to return to their homes. It is already a
few days Sedrak Berikyan and his father (residents of Bavra village,
Akhalqalaq region) have been unable to send money to their people at
home. “It is impossible”, say the bank clerks each time they turn to
them with the same request.
The Moscow-Tbilisi flights have been stopped. The terms Berikyans’
visas will soon expire and they might be “deported” lest they leave
Moscow in time. They can seize their last opportunity to get home
via Armenia.
Another problem Javakhq faces today is connecting with Armenians living
in the territory. The point is that Armenians of Javakhq abandon the
territory. “If this situation lasts for a long time all the Javakhq
residents will strive to get Armenian or Russian citizenship even at
the cost of their last property.
In this case Javakkq will gradually become deprived of Armenians and
the Armenian lands will be given to the local self-government bodies,”
urges Shirak Torosyan.
The main reason Armeni³ns abandon Javakhq is conditioned by
social-economic problems. The main source of the residents’ income
is the oversea work.
In this respect, Shirak Torosyan, claims that Armenians face a dilemma
as in case they support this or that conflicting side, they will
appear in economic and geopolitical blockade.
–Boundary_(ID_v4obh6X6SxiAaMiek53rIQ)- –

ENCROACHMENT ON MAJOR GENERAL IN THE CENTRE OF YEREVAN
A1+
[02:34 pm] 05 October, 2006
On October 4 the Central department of the police forces was informed
that an unknown person shot at Aram Zaqaryan, police major general and
head of the State Security Board of the RA police forces. Mr. Zaqaryan
was parking his car in the garage the moment he was shot. He was
wounded in the chest.
Aram Zaqaryan was immediately taken to hospital and examined by
doctors. After receiving the corresponding medical assistance he was
taken home.
Two bullets were found on the scene. The investigation is under way.

AZERIS ARE DESTROYING ARMENIAN FORESTS
A1+
[02:36 pm] 05 October, 2006
On October 5, OSCE monitoring group, started the environmental
assessment of the territories adjacent to the Azerbaijan-Karabakh
borderline.
“We regret that the OSCE did not create the necessary conditions
for the inclusion of the NKR representatives in the group of the
OSCE Mission on the assessment of the ecological situation on the
territories suffered from the fires. However, it does not exclude
the possibility of the participation of Karabakh experts in the
realization of the monitoring, especially when in connection with
the necessity of joining of NKR representatives to the Mission its
conducting is postponed for a day”. NKR Minister of Foreign Affairs
Georgy Petrossian stated answering the question of journalists on the
actions of the official Stepanakert in connection with the departure
of the OSCE expert group from Baku to the fire zone.
Georgy Petrossian also informed that the NKR MFA had sent a note to
the OSCE in which the position of the republic’s leadership on the
issue of the participation of experts from the NKR in the monitoring
was expressed. “One part of the territories on which the assessment
is to be conducted, is under the jurisdiction of the NKR and it is
a serious argument for our participation in the monitoring realized
by the Mission on the opposite side”, the Minister stressed.
According to the information of the NKR authorities, an alarming
ecological situation is formed on the territories occupied by
Azerbaijan: a mass cutting down of wood in the Shahoumian region
is carried out, the ecological balance is seriously affected in the
eastern part of the Martouni region where the structure of soil and
micro flora are injured.

OYP AGAINST ARMENTEL
A1+
[03:19 pm] 05 October, 2006
Today a group of members of Orinats Yerkir Party organised a rally
opposite the government premises against the increase of telephone
tariffs by “ArmenTel”.
They condemn “AmenTel” for violating human rights and qualify their
decision as groundless. The participants of the rally claim that the
Greece operator “which provides low-quality connection” hasn’t got the
right to increase the telephone tariffs for a number of reasons. First
of all, they breech the provisions of License 60 and don’t provide
many remote dwelling places with telephone. Besides, the quality of
the connection doesn’t meet the lowest criteria existing all over
the world.
The quality of the Internet connection “seriously hinders the
development of informative technologies” whereas the Internet tariff
in Armenia are the highest in the region. The strikers call on the
government to prevent “ArmenTel” from implementing its subsequent
whim and turn down their decision to increase the tariffs. Otherwise,
they claim to involve large masses into the rally of protest.

SWISS JUSTICE MINISTER’S COMMENTS DURING VISIT TO TURKEY CAUSE OUTCRY AT HOME
International Herald Tribune, France
The Associated Press
Oct 5 2006
GENEVA The Swiss justice minister’s comments during an official trip
to Turkey have caused an outcry at home after he appeared to criticize
the Alpine country’s anti-racism laws.
According to Turkey’s state-owned Anatolia news agency, Christoph
Blocher told his counterpart, Cemil Cicek, on Wednesday that a law
under which a Turkish historian is being prosecuted in Switzerland
for saying “the Armenian genocide did not take place” was “a headache.”
Blocher then went on to say that he had invited Cicek to visit
Switzerland. When Cicek asked whether he would get into trouble if
he repeated the historian’s comments, Blocher replied: “Nothing will
happen. But if it does, I’ll go to prison with him.”
A billionaire industrialist, Blocher has regularly rocked the boat
of unity in the coalition government with his outspoken positions
since he joined the seven-member Cabinet in 2003 after years on the
outside. As a leader of the nationalist Swiss People’s Party, he
has taken strong positions against asylum seekers and Switzerland’s
membership in the U.N. and other international bodies.
President Moritz Leuenberger, a Social Democrat, expressed surprised at
Blocher’s remarks Thursday, while Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin, a
center-right Radical Democrat, said it was wrong for a justice minister
to complain about his own country’s laws while on a foreign visit.
Blocher, who was in Ankara to mark the 80th anniversary of Turkey
adopting Swiss laws as a basis for its own penal code, said he would
hold a news conference on his arrival at Zurich airport Friday morning.
Anatolia reported that Blocher had expressed support for a Turkish
proposal to draw up a commission made up of historians to research
the Armenian issue.
“In countries like Switzerland … freedom of expression is necessary
for democracy to exist. No matter how much we say that freedom of
expression is important, the legislation which was adopted in 1994,
unfortunately, is an obstacle to this,” Anatolia quoted the minister
as saying.
“This law was in fact one that was passed with the punishment of
those who deny the World War II genocide against Jews in mind. No one
thought at the time that it would be used against a professor from
Turkey for remarks he made during a speech to Turks in Switzerland.”
“But this law does exist and it is a headache for us.”
“My ministry will examine what can be done independently of the case
against Halacoglu and Perincek.”
Turkish historian Yusuf Halacoglu is being investigated by Swiss
prosecutors for comments he made during a speech in Winterthur, near
Zurich, in 2004. Prosecutors said this week that they have not been
able to interview Halacoglu in person. Another case, brought against
the Turkish left-wing politician Dogu Perincek, will be decided in
March 2007.
Perincek had made similar comments about Armenians during a speaking
tour of Switzerland in 2005.
Under Switzerland’s 1994 anti-racism law, which was originally
intended to prevent Holocaust denial, it is to illegal to “deny,
minimize or justify genocide or other crimes against humanity.” At
the time, Blocher voted for the legislation.
Armenians say that as many as 1.5 million of their ancestors were
killed in 1915-1923 in an organized campaign and have pushed for
recognition around the world of the killings as genocide. Turkey
rejects the claim that a mass evacuation and related deaths of
Armenians was genocide and says the death toll is inflated.
GENEVA The Swiss justice minister’s comments during an official trip
to Turkey have caused an outcry at home after he appeared to criticize
the Alpine country’s anti-racism laws.
According to Turkey’s state-owned Anatolia news agency, Christoph
Blocher told his counterpart, Cemil Cicek, on Wednesday that a law
under which a Turkish historian is being prosecuted in Switzerland
for saying “the Armenian genocide did not take place” was “a headache.”
Blocher then went on to say that he had invited Cicek to visit
Switzerland. When Cicek asked whether he would get into trouble if
he repeated the historian’s comments, Blocher replied: “Nothing will
happen. But if it does, I’ll go to prison with him.”
A billionaire industrialist, Blocher has regularly rocked the boat
of unity in the coalition government with his outspoken positions
since he joined the seven-member Cabinet in 2003 after years on the
outside. As a leader of the nationalist Swiss People’s Party, he
has taken strong positions against asylum seekers and Switzerland’s
membership in the U.N. and other international bodies.
President Moritz Leuenberger, a Social Democrat, expressed surprised at
Blocher’s remarks Thursday, while Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin, a
center-right Radical Democrat, said it was wrong for a justice minister
to complain about his own country’s laws while on a foreign visit.
Blocher, who was in Ankara to mark the 80th anniversary of Turkey
adopting Swiss laws as a basis for its own penal code, said he would
hold a news conference on his arrival at Zurich airport Friday morning.
Anatolia reported that Blocher had expressed support for a Turkish
proposal to draw up a commission made up of historians to research
the Armenian issue.
“In countries like Switzerland … freedom of expression is necessary
for democracy to exist. No matter how much we say that freedom of
expression is important, the legislation which was adopted in 1994,
unfortunately, is an obstacle to this,” Anatolia quoted the minister
as saying.
“This law was in fact one that was passed with the punishment of
those who deny the World War II genocide against Jews in mind. No one
thought at the time that it would be used against a professor from
Turkey for remarks he made during a speech to Turks in Switzerland.”
“But this law does exist and it is a headache for us.”
“My ministry will examine what can be done independently of the case
against Halacoglu and Perincek.”
Turkish historian Yusuf Halacoglu is being investigated by Swiss
prosecutors for comments he made during a speech in Winterthur, near
Zurich, in 2004. Prosecutors said this week that they have not been
able to interview Halacoglu in person. Another case, brought against
the Turkish left-wing politician Dogu Perincek, will be decided in
March 2007.
Perincek had made similar comments about Armenians during a speaking
tour of Switzerland in 2005.
Under Switzerland’s 1994 anti-racism law, which was originally
intended to prevent Holocaust denial, it is to illegal to “deny,
minimize or justify genocide or other crimes against humanity.” At
the time, Blocher voted for the legislation.
Armenians say that as many as 1.5 million of their ancestors were
killed in 1915-1923 in an organized campaign and have pushed for
recognition around the world of the killings as genocide. Turkey
rejects the claim that a mass evacuation and related deaths of
Armenians was genocide and says the death toll is inflated.

ANOTHER TURKISH AUTHOR TRIED FOR INSULTING NATIONAL IDENTITY
Katerina Ossenova
JURIST, Univ. of Pittsburgh, School of Law
Oct 5 2006
[JURIST] Another Turkish author went on trial Thursday on charges
[AP report] that he “insulted the Turkish identity” in violation of
Article 301 [Amnesty backgrounder] of the country’s penal code. Ipek
Calislar wrote that the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk, once left his palace disguised as a woman to evade an
assassination attempt. Calislar faces 4.5 years in prison if convicted.
Turkey [JURIST news archive; CIA backgrounder] is seeking membership
to the European Union (EU) [official website], which has urged that
Article 301 be abolished [JURIST report] because it infringes upon the
freedom of expression. Despite revising portions of the penal code
[JURIST report] last year, Turkish leaders have no immediate plans
to make further changes to the law. Turkish novelists Elif Shafak
[personal website], Hrant Dink and Orhan Pamuk [JURIST news archive]
have all been charged under Article 301 for discussing the alleged
Armenian genocide. Shafak was acquitted and Pamuk’s charges were
dismissed [JURIST reports], while Dink faces a retrial [JURIST report].

THESE BOOKS ARE THE BEST OF THE BEST
By Holly E. Newton
Columbia Daily Tribune, MO
Oct 5 2006
September began my eighth year of reviewing children’s books –
including seven years for the Tribune. I thought it would be
appropriate to go back over my many reviews and select my favorites.
This was difficult, as I only pick the best books to review anyway.
However, after much deliberation, I came up with a good mix of genres.
“Dolphin Adventure” by Wayne Grover is a small chapter book about
an exciting adventure that actually happened to the author. After
deep-sea diving, Grover encounters a family of dolphins. What awaits
him will take your breath away.
“Lincoln – A Photobiography” by Jim Murphy takes you through President
Abrham Lincoln’s life, especially during his presidency.
The photos throughout are amazing, especially the pictures showing
the stress on the president’s face during the Civil War.
All of the “Harry Potter” books by J.K. Rowling. Rarely have I come
across a writer better able to weave a mystery inside a fantasy that
is also rich in language for all to enjoy.
“Seedfolks” by Paul Fleischman begins with one child planting a seed
in an overgrown and dumpy area in a city. What you soon discover
is that each chapter, even though they are about different tenants,
become intertwined, like the seeds they plant.
“Holes” by Louis Sacchar is such an outstanding mystery. Too bad they
made a movie based on it because now many won’t want to read it.
“Insectlopedia,” written and illustrated by Douglas Florian, is an
ingenious poetry book where many of the poems become the shape of
the insect.
“A Picnic in October” by Eve Bunting is a beautiful picture book
about a family coming to Ellis Island each October to commemorate
their ancestors’ arrival to America.
“Forgotten Fire” by Adam Bagdasarian is about the author’s relatives
and his struggle with a little-known chapter of history, the
extermination of the Armenians in Turkey during World War II.
“Guts” by Gary Paulsen is an autobiographical account of this famous
adventurer/author and his incredible experiences, of which he wrote
about in many of his books.
“Shipwreck At the Bottom of the World” by Jennifer Armstrong is
a non-fiction account of Ernest Shackleton in 1914, and the ship
Endurance, and how he and his crew barely survived while trying to
be the first to circumnavigate the South Pole.
“Inkheart” by Cornelia Funk is another mystery fantasy by an author
comparable with Rowling. This story not only celebrates reading, but
it also has the characters come to life as well as main characters
falling inside the pages.
“The Water Hole” by Graeme Base is an extraordinary picture book that
begins with a large African pool of water that’s cut out in the book.
Each page has animals from different environments drinking, and the
hole becomes smaller and smaller as you read the book.
“Rocks in His Head” by Carol Ois Hurst is based on her father’s life.
This is an inspiring picture book about how a man who lost
everything during the Great Depression rose above and beyond anyone’s
expectations.
“Hachiko Waits” by Leslea Newman tells the true story of a dog who
waits for seven years in a train station for his owner to return –
even after the owner dies.
“Dinosaur – Encyclopedia Prehistorica” by Robert Sabuda and Matthew
Reinhart is one of the best pop-out books ever published. There are
more pop-outs and information on every page than you can imagine.
Holly E. Newton, M.A., has taught kindergarten through seventh
grades. She has five children and is working on reading every great
book for kids. See her Web site at

ARMENIAN PRISON CONDITIONS AGAIN DEEMED INADEQUATE
By Ruzanna Stepanian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 5 2006
Conditions in most Armenian prisons remain harsh and in some cases
“inhumane” despite having somewhat improved since Armenia’s accession
to the Council of Europe, civil society representatives that regularly
inspect them said on Thursday.
Presenting its latest report, a monitoring team comprising
representatives of a dozen non-governmental organizations and the
Armenian Apostolic Church said the country’s four largest prisons
do not meet international standards and must be relocated to new
buildings. The detailed report, based on the team’s annual inspection
of the Armenian penitentiary facilities also concludes that most
inmates are poorly fed and not provided with adequate healthcare.
Officials from Armenian Justice Ministry department running the
prisons disagreed with that assertion, insisting that the prison
population has free access to doctors and medicine and does not suffer
from malnutrition.
Members of the monitoring team painted a similarly bleak picture
in their previous report released last year. It urged the Armenian
authorities to do more to improve the plight of the convicts. Justice
Ministry officials accepted much of the criticism at the time, but
blamed the problem on a lack of funds.
Armenia’s penitentiary system was transferred from the police to
the Justice Ministry jurisdiction in 2002 under pressure from the
Council of Europe. The measure was followed by the passage of a new,
more lenient Armenian Criminal Code that led to the early release of
most of the country’s 3,600-strong prison population.
In a July 2004 report, the European Committee for the Prevention of
Torture (CPT), a Council of Europe watchdog agency, said that although
the Armenian prison conditions have since improved they still fall
short of European standards.
According to the Armenian prison monitors, mistreatment of prisoners
is another serious problem. “While the police resort to violence to
extract confessions from suspects [kept in pre-trial detention], in
prisons violence is used as a punishment for disobedience and escape
attempts,” said Avetik Ishkhanian, a human rights campaigner and
member of the monitoring group. “Sometimes beatings are very brutal.”
The group’s latest report refers in particular to the alleged beating
of five inmates of a maximum-security jail in the southern town of
Goris where a riot broke out last April. Citing eyewitness accounts,
the report says the riot was quashed by a special police unit sent from
Yerevan. Security forces are also said to have also demonstratively
burned the belongings of all prisoners’ in retaliation for the protest.
Also, recent reports in the Armenian press said that four men serving
life sentences at Yerevan’s Nubarashen prison were tortured and held
in inhuman conditions following their unsuccessful attempt to break
free last July. The men reportedly tried to kill themselves after
being caught by prison guards. The prison chief denied the reports.
“I’m not saying that such cases are numerous,” Ishkhanian told
reporters. “But they do happen and seem to have been frequent of late.”
Vaghinak Kocharian, deputy head of the Justice Ministry’s prison
department, admitted that prison guards “use force” against inmates,
but said they do so only “in cases of emergency.” “We have legally
defined sanctions against unruly convicts,” he said. “So have to use
and will use force if necessary.”

ROMANIAN LEADER RULES OUT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION
Irina Hovannisian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 5 2006
Romania will not join France and other Western states in officially
accepting the massacres of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey as genocide,
Romanian President Traian Basescu said on Tuesday.
He explained that his country does not want to risk spoiling its
relations with Turkey, which strongly denies that the 1915-1918 mass
killings and deportations constituted a genocide.
Basescu made the comments at a meeting with Yerevan State University
students on the second day of his official visit to Armenia. Asked
by a student whether he is ready to follow French President Jacques
Chirac’s example and urge Ankara to recognize the genocide, he said,
“We will not do anything affecting our neutrality in our relations
with all the countries of the Black Sea region.”
Visiting Yerevan last week, Chirac indicated that genocide recognition
should be a precondition for Turkey’s membership in the European
Union. “Each country grows by acknowledging its dramas and errors of
the past,” he said.
Basescu claimed, however, that it is Armenia that complicates its
integration into European structures by raising the genocide issue on
the international stage. “Keep history on the history books and in the
memory of the peoples, and rebuild the future,” he said. “If history
constantly stands in the way of the future as a bone of contention,
you won’t achieve success in European integration.”
Basescu argued that Romania laid to rest its historical disputes with
neighbors for the sake of membership in NATO and the EU. “Romania
is one of the countries which at any moment can have disputes with
neighbors regarding the border, history and so on. So is Armenia and
so is Turkey,” he said.
The Armenian genocide has been officially recognized by the governments
and parliaments of about two dozen nations, including France, Italy,
Canada and Russia.