CONTRADICTORY ‘GENOCIDE’ DEFENSE FROM DUTCH PM
By Basri Dogan, Amsterdam
Zaman, Turkey
Oct 3 2006
The Turkey report adopted by the European Parliament, the removal of
three Turkish candidates from the elections list in the Netherlands
and the statements of French President Jacques Chirac in Armenia have
brought the debate over the alleged Armenian genocide to the fore.
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkanende made contradictory statements
on the issue. Balkenende, who expressed his support for the Turkish
proposal to form a joint commission of historians, also affirmed the
expulsion of Turkish candidates from their parties simply because
they refused to openly accept the Armenian allegations.
Prime Minister Balkenende, also president of the Christian Democrat
Party (CDA), made statements on the expulsion of the three Turkish
politicians from the election lists of their parties as a result of
the Armenian lobby’s pressure. Balkenende, who first noted that the
notion “genocide” should be used as it was defined under international
legal documents, also said that the alleged Armenian genocide issue
was a sensitive and important one. The Dutch prime minister supported
Turkey’s proposal to appoint a joint commission of historians charged
with investigating the 1915 incidents.
With regard to the Turkish candidates’ removal from their parties;
however, Balkenende recalled the parliament’s 2004 advisory decision
that urged the recognition of the alleged Armenian genocide. The
prime minister, noting that all political parties had incorporated
this decision into their statutes, asserted that the removal was
justified under the respective parties’ rules and regulations.
Meanwhile, the Christian Democratic Party nominated the current CDA
deputy Nihat Eski as candidate in the elections in lieu of expelled
candidates Osman Elmaci and Ayhan Tonca.

EU AID COMMISSIONER MICHEL REACTS TO CHIRAC
By Cihan News Agency
Zaman, Turkey
Oct 3 2006
European Commissioner Louis Michel responded to French President
Jacques Chirac, who said during a visit to Armenia that Turkey should
recognize the so-called Armenian genocide to become a European Union
(EU) member.
Belgian Commissioner Michel stated on Sunday that the EU could not
produce new political criteria regarding Turkey’s EU membership.
Commissioner Michel stressed that some people are trying to change the
rules after the game has begun. “We have to understand the importance
of Turkey,” he stressed. Michel added that Turkey was important for
the bloc and it played a key role in the region, citing that one
must merely look at the crossroads of energy pipelines to see how
important Turkey was.
“Turkey needs the EU, but the EU needs Turkey more,” Michel
highlighted.
When asked whether Turkey should recognize the “genocide” to join
the European Union, Chirac said: “Honestly, I believe it should. Each
country grows by acknowledging its dramas and mistakes of the past”
during a visit to the Armenian capital Yerevan.

ALIYEV RECEIVED OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS; KLO REQUESTS TO STOP THE CO-CHAIRS’ ACTIVITY
Regnum, Russia
Oct 3 2006
On October 2, Ilham Aliyev received OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in
Baku. According to Azerbaijani presidential press office, exchange
of views on current situation and prospects of talks, held in
connection with settlements of Armenian-Azerbaijani and Nagorno
Karabakh conflicts, took place during the meeting.
In its turn, Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) released its
statement, condemning visit of the OSCE MG co-chairs into the region:
“Biased attitude of OSCE MG co-chairs continues. Once more they go
into the region not from Azerbaijan but from Armenia; we condemn
visit to aggressive Armenia,” it is said in the statement. It is
stressed in the statement; last proposal of the MG co-chairs fully
corresponds with Armenia’s interests. The KLO believes; fulfillment
of such variant means loss of Nagorno Karabakh and Lachin.
The KLO requests to stop visit of the OSCE MG co-chairs into the
region, as well as their activity.

EU SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE SOUTH CAUCASUS: OSCE MG SHOULD SETTLE NK CONFLICT
Regnum, Russia
Oct 3 2006
“I would not like to comment on Azerbaijani initiative on putting on
the UN General Assembly’s agenda Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement,”
EU special representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby stated
to the press in Yerevan.
“From the direction of the EU I may say; OSCE Minsk Group should
settle Nagorno Karabakh conflict. We fully support efforts of OSCE
MG co-chairs,” Peter Semneby stated.
It is worth stressing; international mediators stay in frames of
their regional visit in Baku; on October 3, the OSCE MG co-chairs
will arrive in Yerevan.

IT WOULD BE ILLOGICAL TO IMPOSE SANCTIONS ON IRAN: ANALYST
Mehr News Agency, Iran
Oct 3 2006
TEHRAN, Oct. 3 (MNA) — Political analyst Barin Kayaoglu, a Turkish
national attending the University of Virginia, says it would be naive
for the international community to expect to impose sanctions on Iran
without a response from Tehran that would cause oil and natural gas
prices to go up.
In view of global energy prices, there is no sensible reason for
pushing for sanctions against Tehran, he told the Mehr News Agency
in an interview on September 30.
Following is the text of the interview.
Q: What could cause the U.S. efforts to fail?
A: Well, given the fact that there are still no UN-endorsed sanctions,
other countries won’t follow the example of the U.S. With the economic
boom of the 1990s cooling in the past couple of years, no country
can really afford to shut out any market, especially one that is as
promising as the Iranian market.
Q: Do you think that the U.S. is in a position to move on sanctions,
and do you think that it will be effective?
A: Well, I am not sure what effect it is going to have for the U.S.
to single-handedly implement more sanctions on Iran. As far as
American companies’ prospects of doing business with Iran, it will
obviously not be possible for them to enter the Iranian market given
the present state of things.
As for extending these sanctions to shutting out the American
market to international companies doing business with Iran, that’s
a possibility. On the other hand, modern business practices have
perfect ease in circumventing such rules. Hypothetically, if a U.S.
company wanted to sell something to an Iranian company, it could do
that through third parties, say, through a company in Turkey, Armenia,
or more sensibly, Dubai.
Q: How far will Russia and China go in backing Iran, and do you think
that the sanctions will produce regional backlashes?
A: I think the Iranians should rely on Russia and China only so much.
They will stand alongside Iran, because both countries are unhappy
with the U.S. presence in the Middle East. The Chinese, meanwhile,
because of their own unique and historical reasons, feel evermore
threatened by the U.S. military presence in East Asia. And recently
they are voicing these concerns in rather undiplomatic language.
The U.S. military, as you may recall, has recently had to abandon its
bases in Uzbekistan because of the Bush administration’s criticism
of that country’s domestic politics. This will certainly help the
Russian Federation increase its leverage in Central Asia. In this
regard, they will probably support Iran to the extent that it serves
Russian interests.
But Iranians should keep in mind that Russia and China will support
Iran in line with their own interests, NOT those of Iran.
As for regional backlashes, for the reasons I’ve stated (in response)
to your first question, I do not believe that other countries will
follow suit without a UN Security Council Resolution nor could the
U.S. implement similar sanctions against another Middle Eastern
country.
Q: Do you foresee major differences between the U.S. and the EU on
one hand and China and Russia on the other in regard to sanctions?
A: The U.S.-EU bit of that question will be determined by how the
Europeans want to engage Iran. They are paranoid about the perceived
“Islamic threat” emanating from the Middle East. We Turks are probably
witnessing this in our dealings with them more than any other Muslim
country.
So, the answer is, if they look at the question as “Muslims with
bombs” instead of a dilemma that can be solved by diplomacy, they
will probably join the U.S. That is still a moot point.
If Iran, on the other hand, fails to make a convincing case that its
nuclear program is strictly peaceful and remind (the human memory is
truly elusive, don’t you think?) others that it is still a party to
the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), then there is always the risk
that Russia and China might not protest possible sanctions against
Iran. What Iran needs to do at this stage is to juxtapose its adherence
to the NPT regime with Israel’s, Pakistan’s, and India’s possession
of nuclear weapons.
Of course, all of these points may or may not be valid when we think of
Iran’s importance for global energy. Can the international community
expect to impose sanctions on Iran without a response from Iran that
would cause oil and natural gas prices to go up? It would be naive
to think so. With global energy prices at such exorbitant rates,
I do not believe that there is a sensible reason for pushing this
sanction business too far.
On the human side, sanctions do not work against governments, they
work against the people. Following the First Persian Gulf War, UN
sanctions did not work against Saddam Hussein’s regime, they worked
against the Iraqi people. Saddam enjoyed “la dolce vita” until the
Americans showed up at his doorstep in April 2003.
Q: As you know, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican, is
behind the new sanctions bill. Given her record, how do you view the
Zionist lobby’s influence on the bill, given the fact that its approval
was applauded by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)?
A: The reason why Israel and pro-Israel Americans are concerned with
Iran’s nuclear program is that they draw a weird connection between
the Holocaust and what might happen if Israel ever lost a war. David
Ben-Gurion once said, “Israel can never gain legitimacy in the eyes
of its Arab neighbors even if it won a hundred wars. But it cannot
lose a single war; if it does, everything is over.” That mindset is
precisely why they embarked on their nuclear program and now possess
nuclear weapons. You may know that they actually deployed their
nuclear arsenal during the October 1973 war, in case the front broke.
Just as Western countries perceive Islam as a threat, whether that
perception is true or not (I believe it isn’t true), Israel, when
looking around the region, sees countries that are bent on repeating
the Holocaust, whether that is true or not. I believe that that
perception is also false.
On the other hand, to be perfectly honest with you, I do not understand
why President Ahmadinejad is mocking this central concern of Israelis
and world Jewry. I understand that Iranians question the fundamental
relationship between the Holocaust and the Israeli mindset, but
the way that they are doing it is unwise. I think you are also doing
research on this topic too, but denying the existence of the Holocaust
is neither helping Iran’s security nor its prosperity. I think what
the Iranian government should be saying is something along these
lines: “We do not deny that Jews suffered a tragedy at the hands
of the West. It is not our intention to make them suffer. But how
justified is it for the Palestinians to suffer in similar conditions
at the hands of Israelis?” I know that your government is saying a
good deal of this. But by mocking the Holocaust, it is not serving
Iranian interests.
To make my long answer short, it is only sensible for AIPAC to applaud
yesterday’s (September 29) vote, given their perception of Israel,
Islam, and Iran.
Barin Kayaoglu is a Ph.D. student at the Corcoran Department of
History of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GEORGIA ESTABLISHES SPECIAL DISCOUNTS FOR STUDENTS FROM JAVAKHK
Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 3 2006
According to Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli’s decree, Javakhk
students studying in higher educational establishments of Georgia
will enjoy special discounts at the expense of the state budget.
A-Info reports that the size of the discount will depend on the grades
received when entering the higher educational establishment.
According to the competition announced, 19 first-year students of
the Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi State Medical University,
Batumi Satate University and Akhalskha and Akhalkalak branches of
the Tbilisi State University will benefit from the discounts.

ARKADY GHUKASYAN: WE CAN SPEAK WITH AZERBAIJAN BOTH WITH AND WITHOUT ARMENIA
Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 3 2006
“We can speak with Azerbaijan both with and without Armenia,” declared
NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan in an interview with El Paris newspaper
and “Regnum” agency.
“Nagorno Karabakh should participate in the negotiation process by
all means. Since Armenia is also a party to the conflict, it would
be probably more logical if it also participated in the talks. Of
course, Armenia is a party involved in the conflict, but the main
sides are Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan. And Baku’s aspiration to
speak only with Armenia means that it does not intend to settle the
conflict and is only engaged in propaganda activity,” Arkady Ghukasyan
declared. Turning to Armenia’s agreement to hold negotiations with
Azerbaijan, NKR President noted that since Azerbaijan categorically
refuses to talk with Nagorno Karabakh, Armenia, most probably, proceeds
from the understanding that bad talks are better that the complete
lack of these. “War is the alternative to negotiations. By the way,
I think that everyone understands that Armenia cannot undertake the
functions of Karabakh.
That means hat there are questions, the resolution of which is
practically impossible without Nagorno Karabakh, and today everyone
understands that earlier or later Karabakh will return to the
negotiation process. By the way, Azerbaijan does not refute this,
either, insisting that it agrees on some kind of resolution with
Armenia, Karabakh will get involved. However, this is an illogical
position: what if we don’t like the resolution even if they agree upon
it. Therefore, we come from the fact that if we want the conflict to
be resolved, we must have a realistic format of negotiations,” NKR
President underlined. In his words, the absurdness of the situation
is that attempts are made to cure the disease without diagnosis. “Up
to now there is no exact comprehension what the core of the conflict
is. Is it a self-determination question, a conflict between authorities
in Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, or a conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan? Thus, the attempt to mend the disease without the diagnosis
is evident. This is an extremely absurd situation. Azerbaijan has
put a target to blackmail the international community and distort
the attention from what is happening in the region in reality,”
Arkady Ghukasyan considers.
He reminded that Nagorno Karabakh has been recognized as a conflict
party and as such it has been always participating in the talks.
“There is no negotiation process today. From 1992 an active
negotiation process was underway in the framework of the OSCE Minsk
Group. Nagorno Karabakh was participating in all the talks. From 1998
the negotiation process was actually impeded. Today the OSCE Minks
Group Co-Chairs arrive in the region and consult with the conflicting
sides. Nevertheless, there is no process as such. Representatives
of Armenia and Azerbaijan meet outside this process. Why aren’t we
involved in the talks? This is the fancy of Baku, which demanded at a
certain point that talks be held only with Armenia. Why does Azerbaijan
behave this way? It aspires to present Armenia as an aggressor, to
show that all its problems are connected with Armenia rather than
Karabakh and that sanctions should be executed against it. To cut
short, Azerbaijan is engaged in propaganda, Arkady Ghukasyan noted. In
his words, for resuming the negotiation process Nagorno Karabakh’s
involvement is a must. “I have the impression that Baku does not want
to resolve the conflict. Azerbaijan hopes that time works for its favor
and cherishes the illusion that it has oil and will get rich tomorrow,
will strengthen its army and will destroy Nagorno Karabakh. That
‘s way Azerbaijan does not intend to have practical participation in
the negotiation process. This is the question today, since settlement
always includes risk; it is impossible to achieve 100 percent of the
dreams. The leadership of Azerbaijan is not ready to take risks. As
for the economic potential, I think it is the decisive precondition
of victory in a war. But economic potential alone will not resolve
anything. When Azerbaijan was starting war against Nagorno Karabakh,
it had considerably greater economic potential, but the results of
the war are known to you,” Ghukasyan underlined.

MERZLYAKOV: ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN WILL BE PRESENTED “MODIFIED VERSION” OF THE BUCHAREST DOCUMENT
Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 3 2006
Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Yuri Merzlyakov told the
journalists that in case an agreement is reached on holding a recurrent
round of negotiations, Armenia and Azerbaijan will be presented the
“modified version” of the Bucharest document, Day.az reports. “In
the forthcoming talks the parties will be suggested to discuss a
document, which the Presidents were presented in Ramboulliet and
which was later reedited in Bucharest, and now with some amendments
it should be presented at the next meeting,” he noted. The Russian
diplomat said that the new ideas are based on the clarification of
the document presented to the sides in May 2006 by the mission on
the level of Foreign Ministers of the Co-Chair countries.

PRESIDENT OF ROMANIA TO ARRIVE ON TWO-DAY OFFICIAL VISIT IN ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 3 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. By RA President
Robert Kocharian’s invitation, President of Romania Traian Basescu will
arrive on an official visit in Armenia on October 4-5. The main goal of
the visit is to strengthen interstate ties, to plan primary tasks and
directions of the economic cooperation between the two countries, to
stimulate development of the scientific-educational and cultural ties.
The official ceremony of meeting the President of Romania will take
place at the RA President’s residence on October 4. The ceremony
will be followed by a private conversation of Presidents Robert
Kocharian and Traian Basescu. Then the meeting with enlarged staff of
the official delegations will take place, after what joint documents
will be signed between the two countries’ governments. The Presidens
of Armenia and Romania will hold a joint press conference.
During the Armenian visit, Traian Basescu will also visit the Armenian
Genocide memorial complex, lay a wreath to the monument to victims,
will visit the Armenian Genocide Museum, plant a tree in the Memory
park.
The President of Romania will meet on Octoner 5 with Prime Minister
Andranik Margarian. His Holiness Karekin II Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians will receive the President on the same
day. Traian Basescu will have a meeting with the professors’ and
lecturers’ staff and students of the Yerevan State University.
The delegation headed by the President of Romania will leave Yerevan
on the same day.
According to the information submitted to Noyan Tapan by the RA
President’s Press Office, Romania is one of the first countries
recognized the independence of Armenia and established diplomatic
relations with the RA. The Armenian-Romanian mutual relations have
always been friendly ones which are assisted by the Romanian Armenian
community having centuries-old history. About 20 thousand Armenians
found refuge in Romania during the years followed the Armenian
Genocide.
Relations between Armenia and Romania are dinamically being developed
at present. The political dialogue is especially active. 35 agreements
and legal documents were signed between the two countries.
Appreciating the present level of bilateral relations, our country
is aimed to more strengthen the cooperation.
RA President Robert Kocharian’s state visit paid to Romania on November
16-18, 2003, greatly assisted guarantee of continuous character
and development of the bilateral relations. The two countries’
heads attached primary importance to development of the economic
cooperation. The Armenian-Romanian first business forum and opening
of the exhibition of production of Armenian enterprises took place
during the visit days.
RA President Robert Kocharian participated on June 5, 2006,
in Bucharest in works of the summit of the Black Sea Forun for
Partnership and Dialogue organized by Romania.
In the affair of development of the Armenian-Romanian relations,
the Armenian side especially attached importance to bilateral
contacts, guarantee of the continuous character of the high-ranking
mutual visits, necessity of close cooperation of the two countries’
representatives both in European structures and other international
organizations.
Armenia welcame efforts of Romania aimed to the EU membership and is
full of hopes that the year of 2007 will become a historic year for
the Romanian people. Armenia expects that Romania’s EU membership
will have a positive influence on deepening of the Armenian-Romanian
relations as well.
Unlike approaches of activization of the political dialogue,
commercial-economic relations between the two countries develop
slowly. Particularly, indexes of export from Armenia are low compared
with ones of import. However, the trade circulation between Armenia
and Russia grew in 2005 nearly twice, making 75 mln 537.9 thousand
U.S. dollars, instead of 34 mln 260.6. thousand U.S. dollars of 2004.
A number of important steps were taken during 2005 in the sphere of
the bilateral economic cooperation. Particularly, constant sale of
Armenian jewelry production was organized in Bucharest (the Yerevan
Jewelry Factory LTD signed an agreement with the Romanian ELDORADO
jewelry firm on exporting Armenian jewelry goods to Romania), a
lot of Armenian brandy samples was given to a Romanian interested
structure to study future possibilities of importing, an agreement on
exporting Cigarone cigarrettes to Romania was reached (the Romanian
DOCNET company was interested in cooperation with the Cigarone LTD),
works are continued in the direction of going on importing Romanian
furniture (the World of Furniture LTD imports Romanian furniture to
Armenia), medicine (an agreement on exporting medicine from Romania
to Armenia was signed in 2005 between the Romanian ROMFARMACHIM and
Armenian LAMBRON FARMIMPEX companies) and other goods in Armenia. The
Romanian DELTAYEL company is interested in cooperation in the sphere
of telecommunication (some specialists of the company were sent on
mission to Armenia in 2005).
A beneficial legal field exists for the economic cooperation between
Armenia and Romania, corresponding bilateral agreements are signed.
As of Novemner 30, 2005, 37 Armenian-Romanian joint enterprises were
registered in Romania, which made investment of 3 mln 538.1 thousand
U.S. dollars in the economy of Romania.
The Armenian-Romanian intergovernmental commission for
commercial-economic and scientific-technical cooperation, the second
sitting of which will take place in Yerevan on October 4, is of
important role in the sense of activization of the commercial-economic
relations. It will outline primary directions of development of the
economic cooperation. Activity of the Armenian-Romanian Trade and
Industrial Chamber founded in Bucharest in 2004 is also significant
in the sense of deepening the economic relations.
1780 people live in Romania. The community having almost millenial
history is fully involved in the public life of Romania.
The eparchic residence of the Romanian and Bulgarian Diocese of
the Armenian Apostolic Church is Bucharest. A church built in 1915
functions here. Armenian Apostolic churches function in Costanza,
Suceava, Pitesti, Braila Galatz, Iasi. Armenian Catholic churches
function in the city of Gerla, Transilvania, the community of which
is mainly formed of Hungarians of the Armenian origin.
The Romanian Armenian community organizes numerous community events,
the bilingual, Armenian and Romanian, “New Life” and Romanian “Ararat”
newspapers are published. The “Ararat” publishing house of the
Romanian-Armenian union periodically publishes Armenian and Romanian
authors’ works on Armenian themes, mainly in the Romanian language. 102
titles of books were published in 1994-2005, 10 of which in 2005.
The Grigor Zambakhchian gallery belonging to the Romanian state and
famous in the country functions in Bucharest. The Museum of Collections
opened after the reconstruction in December 2005, in the center of
Bucharest, where rich collections of Hurmuz Aznavourian, Professor
Karapet Avagian, Beatrice and Hrant Avagian occupy significant places.

CHESS WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP STARTS IN YEREVAN
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 3 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN. Solemn opening ceremony of the world
chess championship of chess-players below 20 took place on October 3
at the Central Chess House after Tigran Petrosian. Grand master Smbat
Lputian, Vice-Chairman of the Armenian Chess Federation, champion
of world olympiad, Mikael Ispirian, Vice-Chairman of RA State Sport
Committee, Gagik Hovhannisian, Secretary General of the Armenian Chess
Federation, and Ashot Vardapetian, principal coach of the championship,
made greeting speeches addressed to the championship participants.
Before this the championship participants laid wreaths to the monument
to 9th world champion T.Petrosian.
Armen Hambartsumian, head of the U.S. delegation, Armenian deserved
coach, Tatev Abrahamian, former pupil of Yerevan Chess School,
Hamlet Tumanian representing Iran are among the guests who have
arrived in Armenia.
To recap, the championship organizers have a great experience of
holding such tournaments. World championship of chess-players below
20 was held in Yerevan in 1999 and in 2000.