HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY ON THIS DATE:
News24, South Africa
Friday, September 22
Today is Friday, September 22, the 265th day of 2006.
There are 100 days left in the year.
Highlights in history on this date:
1499 – Turks ravage Vicenza in Italy.
1550 – Holy Roman Empire fleet captures vessel Port of Africa at
Mehedia in Tunis, naval headquarters of Turkish corsair Dragut.
1609 – The king of Spain orders the deportation of the baptised former
Muslims known as Moriscos.
1711 – Rio de Janeiro is captured by the French.
1792 – French Republic is proclaimed and revolutionary calendar goes
into effect.
1862 – United States President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation
Proclamation, declaring all slaves in the Confederate States free as
of January 01 1863.
1914 – A German submarine sinks three British cruisers in one hour
off the Dutch coast; The German cruiser Emden shells Madras in India.
1927 – Slavery is abolished in Sierra Leone in Africa.
1940 – The Vichy French governor-general concludes an agreement
that makes Indochina the largest Japanese military staging ground in
southeast Asia.
1949 – The Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb.
1955 – Hurricane Janet, the most violent Caribbean hurricane of the
season, causes almost 600 deaths around the islands.
1960 – A US Marine Corps DC-6 plane en route from Japan to the
Philippines crashes in the ocean 290km south of Okinawa. All 29
passengers are killed.
1965 – A cease-fire is declared in the war between India and Pakistan,
but both sides subsequently violate it.
1970 – Arab chiefs of state send envoys to meet with King Hussein and
Yasser Arafat to persuade them to find a way to contain the fighting
between the Jordanian Army and Palestinian guerrillas.
1974 – Official death toll in hurricane that swept Honduras is put
at 5 000.
1975 – Sara Jane Moore fails in an attempt to shoot US President
Gerald Ford outside a San Francisco hotel.
1980 – Iraqi tanks enter Iran, marking the beginning of the Iran-Iraq
War as a full-scale conflict.
1986 – Two hijackers seize Soviet airliner at Ural Mountains Airport
and kill two passengers before security agents recapture plane and
shoot the hijackers.
1988 – The government of Canada apologises for the World War 2
internment of Japanese-Canadians and promises compensation.
1989 – FW De Klerk takes over as president of South Africa.
1990 – Jordan’s King Hussein appeals to the US in a televised message
to withdraw its troops from Saudi Arabia to avert “death, destruction
and misery”.
1992 – Azerbaijani-armed forces mount an offensive against the disputed
enclave Nagorno-Karabakh.
1993 – Abkhazian rebels in Georgia shoot down second passenger plane
in two days, killing 80.
1994 – North Atlantic Treaty Organisation aircraft strikes at Serbian
targets near Sarajevo after UN troops patrolling the city came under
machine-gun and rocket fire.
1995 – America’s Time Warner Inc and Turner Broadcasting System Inc
announce a merger with Time Warner purchasing TBS in a deal valued
at $7.5bn, creating the world’s largest media company.
1996 – Typhoon Violet veers into the North Pacific after killing seven
and setting off landslides that paralysed transportation in Japan.
1997 – US President Bill Clinton, speaking at the United Nations,
announces that he will submit to the senate a treaty banning all
nuclear explosions.
1998 – Troops from South Africa and Botswana cross into Lesotho and
storm the royal palace, touching off a gunbattle with protesters.
1999 – Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes is killed and two others
assaulted in separate attacks in East Timor blamed on anti-independence
militiamen.
2001 – Pope John Paul II visits Kazakhstan and Armenia and cautions
against allowing September 11 terrorist attacks on the US to create
divisions between Muslims and Christians.
2004 – The US military drops an espionage charge against a Muslim
interpreter accused of spying at the camp for terror detainees at the
US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It is the third Guantanamo
spy case of the year to fall apart.
2005 – Bosnia’s top international official orders the Bosnian Serb
finance minister to identify the origins of illegal payments made to
the Serb Democratic Party after the party’s bank accounts were frozen
because of fraud.
Today’s Birthdays: Michael Faraday, British physicist (1791-1862);
Caroline Astor, US aristocrat of New York high society (1830-1908);
Erich von Stroheim, German director and actor (1885-1957); Louis
Botha, South African soldier-statesman (1862-1919); John Houseman,
US stage/radio actor (1902-1988); Fay Weldon, British writer (1931);
Joan Jett, US rock singer (1960).
Thought For Today: The autumn always gets me badly, as it breaks
into colours. I want to go south, where there is no autumn, where the
cold doesn’t crouch over one like a snow-leopard waiting to pounce –
DH Lawrence, English author (1885-1930).

RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT SEEKS $3BLN FOR CIVIL PLANES AFTER CRASHES
RIA Novosti
13:23 | 22/ 09/ 2006
MOSCOW, September 22 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s lower house of parliament
intends to demand $3 billion to buy new airplanes for the country’s
civil fleet, the speaker of the State Duma said Friday.
Hundreds of people have died in the last six months in three major
air crashes, and Speaker Boris Gryzlov said MPs would discuss a draft
address to the country’s leadership about the need to allocate the
money when civil aviation was discussed at a meeting October 11.
A deputy from the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, Alexei
Mitrofanov, said the money should be allocated in the wake of many
air crashes that have blighted the country recently.
“It would be right to demand up to $3 billion to buy new planes
because our planes crash one after another,” he said.
At least 170 people were killed, including 45 children, in August
when a Russian-made Tu-154 jet en route from a Black Sea resort to
St. Petersburg came down in stormy weather in eastern Ukraine. In July,
124 passengers and crew lost their lives when an Airbus crashed upon
landing making a domestic flight in Siberia.
Another 113 people died on May 3, when an Armenian Airlines plane
flying to Russia also crashed into the Black Sea.
Pilots have also been forced to make a number of emergency
landings. The latest involved a Tu-154, which was forced to touch down
in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia earlier this month after an engine failure.

EU PRESSURES TURKEY ON FREE SPEECH AND CYPRUS
By Lucia Kubosova
EUobserver.com, Belgium
22.09.2006 – 09:56 CET
The European Commission has praised a Turkish court verdict clearing
a top novelist but repeated that Ankara’s laws limiting freedom of
expression should be scrapped altogether, with commission chief Jose
Manuel Barroso saying Brussels is “not encouraged” by the latest
signals from Ankara.
Elif Shafak, one of the best-selling Turkish authors, was declared
innocent by a court in Istanbul on Thursday (21 September) after
having been charged with insulting “Turkishness” over comments on
the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 made by characters in her novel.
A commission spokeswoman welcomed the judgement as “obviously good
news” but added that the legal restrictions which sparked the court
case “aren’t in line with EU rules on human rights and freedom of
expression.”
She referred to article 301 of Turkey’s penal code which has
been criticised by Brussels a number of times and is likely to be
highlighted in a major report on Ankara’s progress in its EU accession
negotiations – scheduled for 8 November.
Following the court decision, the novelist herself said “I’m very
happy with the outcome but only on a personal basis. As long as 301
is out there and interpreted or misinterpreted like that there’ll be
many other cases like this,” she told Reuters.
Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signalled that
the government would consider changing the controversial article,
suggesting “The ruling party and the opposition can sit down together
again to discuss this issue as laws are not eternal,” according to
Anatolia news agency.
However, both Brussels and Ankara are less optimistic about the
resolution of another major problem – Turkey’s relations with EU
member state Cyprus – which could eventually cause a suspension of
its negotiations this autumn.
Mr Barroso told Euronews on Thursday “At the moment, we are not
particularly encouraged by the information which we are receiving.”
“I think Turkey needs to understand that it has to comply with its
promises and obligations. Among them are the obligations of the
Ankara protocol: that is, guaranteeing the access of Cypriot ships
into Turkish ports, these are vessels of a member state.”
Mr Barroso added the November report by his team evaluating the
country’s progress “will be honest, objective and rigorous.”
According to the European Voice, EU diplomats are currently trying
hard to avoid a “train crash” at the end of this year – as mooted
by the enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn earlier this year due to
a looming impatience by Cyprus.
The Brussels-based weekly reported that the commission would in its
report identify a list of legislation chapters not linked to customs
union issues on which Ankara could keep negotiating despite missing
the December deadline for opening up to Cypriot vessels and planes.
While Cyprus is expected to oppose this solution, France – usually
a harsh critic of Turkey – could back it, according to a French
government spokesman.
“We support all efforts to avoid this ‘train crash’ and which permit
negotiations to go ahead on the basis of good faith,” he said.

NUMBER OF ADOPTED CHILDREN DOWN FROM A YEAR AGO
Armenpress
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 20, ARMENPRESS: Twenty-seven children were adopted
in Armenia in the first half of the year. Eighteen children were
adopted by Armenian parents and nine by foreigners.
Nelly Baghdasarian from the national statistical committee, said the
number of adopted children was significantly down from 43 adopted
children in the first six months of 2005. Last year 26 children were
adopted by Armenian parents and 17 by foreigners.
Hasmik Khachatrian from labor and social affairs ministry said Armenian
parents are not observed while foreigners are observed by Armenian
embassies and consulates whose officials visit adopting families to
see how the adopted children are doing.

CAFESJIAN CENTER TO SCREEN DIGITIZED VERSION OF POPULAR FILM
Armenpress
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 20, ARMENPRESS: As part of festive events marking
the 15-th anniversary of Armenia’s independence from the former Soviet
Union, residents of Yerevan can watch today evening the digitized
version of a popular film shot in late 1970-s called ‘Men”
The screening will be performed by Cafesjian Art Center that will
install a big screen in a downtown site known as Cascade. The film
will be shown at 9. pm local time.
Cafesjian Foundation said the film was restored and digitized by CS
Films, the new owner of ArmenFilm Studio.

DIASPORA ARMENIANS INVEST LESS THAN EXPECTED
Armenpress
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 20, ARMENPRESS: Manuk Hergnyan, an expert from
an economic think-tank, called Economy and Values, told the third
Armenia-Diaspora Conference in Yerevan yesterday that the share of
Armenian Diaspora investments in Armenia’s economy between 1994-2004
made only 25 percent or only $260 million in terms of money.
Hergnyan said Armenian authorities managed to attract the bulk of
investments, about 40 percent, through infrastructure development
programs. He said these investments were made by non-Armenians.
But along with this Diaspora Armenians make 70 percent of all direct
foreign investors. So, in terms of numbers, Diaspora Armenians exceed
all other investors. Hergnyan said an average investment made here
by a Diaspora Armenian businessmen is between $150,000-$200,000. This
means, the expert said, that Diaspora Armenians do not invest heavily
in the ancestors’ land.

AZG Armenian Daily #180, 21/09/2006
Culture
“GEGHARD” REPRESENTS ARMENIAN DANCE IN FESTIVAL IN
GREECE
On August 21-28, the Ninth International Dance
Festival took place in Agrinion, Greece. Various folk
dance groups from dozens of countries arrive in Greece
every summer to participate in the festival. Agrinion
becomes a capital of culture where representatives of
different cultures have the chance to cooperate.
This year, dance groups from Armenia, Greece, Moldova,
Poland, Russia, Georgia, Italy, Czech Republic and
from other countries perform their folk dances at the
festival. Armenia is represented by “Geghard” folk
dance group at the festival. The dance group is well
known in Syria, Jordan, France, Egypt, Bulgaria, Iraq
and elsewhere. The dance group was established 25
years ago and managed to win many prizes and diplomas.
The Armenian dancers were perfectly prepared for the
festival and won the hearts of the foreign art lovers.
They performed “kochari,” “shalakho,” “shatakhin and
other Armenian dances at the festival.
Albert Kizirian, the founder and the leader of
“Geghard,” emphasized the importance of participating
in such festivals from the viewpoints of cultural
cooperation and the international recognition of the
Armenian culture.
By Gayane Khachatrian

AZG Armenian Daily #180, 21/09/2006
Foreign Developments
TURKEY OBJECTS PUBLISHING LAND RECORD DOCUMENTS OF
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
The Internet version of “Huriet” touched upon the limitations
for the publications of the land record documents of the Ottoman
Empire. In particular, Turkey’s National Security council objects the
translation of the abovementioned documents from the Ottoman Turkish
into the modern Turkish language. They condition their position by
the concern that the documents may be used for political or ethnic
goals, including the claims concerning the Armenian genocide.
Turkey’s National Security Council sent a special letter to the
relevant land administration bodies of the country urging them to
keep them the documents in secret without letting anyone publish them.
By Aghavni Haroutiunian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZG Armenian Daily #180, 21/09/2006
Foreign Developments
NATO TO CONTRIBUTE TO NEGOTIATIONS FOR GEORGIA’S
MEMBERSHIP TO THIS ORGANIZATION
The 26 NATO member states agreed to deepen the
dialogue for the issue of Georgia’s membership to this
organization. France Press agency informed about this,
referring to diplomatic sources. All the member states
are for negotiating with Georgia, but the decision
will officially be ratified On September 21, within
the framework of the UN Congress during the meeting of
the NATO Foreign Ministers.
Georgia has been stated for several times that the
issue of its membership to NATO is already settled and
the country will join NATO in 2007.
RF Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned in June, that
“a huge geopolitical shift” might take place, if
Ukraine and Georgia join NATO. He said that Russia
will take into account the results of such a step from
the viewpoint of its own economic interests, as well
as from the viewpoint of the interests of its partner
countries.
By Petros Keshishian

AZG Armenian Daily #180, 21/09/2006
Article
THE POPE AND ISLAM
On a scale of one to ten, Pope Benedict XVI’s first
attempt at an apology was barely a 3. He said nothing
himself, but on Saturday Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone
told the world that “The Holy Father is very sorry
that some passages of his speech may have sounded
offensive to the sensibilities of Muslim believers.”
That didn’t stop the protests that have been building
in the Muslim world since the Pope gave the speech on
12 September to an academic audience in Germany, so on
Sunday he tried again. Speaking from his summer
residence at Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, he said:
“I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries
to a few passages of my address at the University of
Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the
sensibility of Muslims.”
That won’t stop the protests either, because he really
isn’t sorry for what he said. He’s sorry for “the
reactions in some countries” to his remarks, but he
implicitly stands by what he said in Regensburg. So is
the new pope really anti-Muslim? After the 9/11
attacks five years ago, the former Cardinal Ratzinger
told Vatican Radio that “it is important not to
attribute simplistically what happened to Islam” —
but then he added that “the history of Islam also
contains a tendency to violence.” True enough, but
Christianity has its own history of violence: the
Crusades, the Inquisition, the religious wars that
devastated Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, and
several other detours from the path of peace and
tolerance.
Just before he became pope last year, Benedict
declared that Turkey should not be allowed into the
European Union because its Islamic culture is
incompatible with the “Christian” culture of Europe.
But the real case for the prosecution rests on his
invitation to Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci to
visit him at Castel Gandolfo last September.
It certainly wasn’t a religious visit, since Fallaci
(who died last week) was an atheist, and her fame as a
war correspondent and interviewer was decades behind
her. But she carved out a second career as the most
extreme anti-Muslim writer in Europe, producing two
best-selling books since 2002 that vilified Muslims as
dirty sub-humans who multiply “like rats,” and
portraying Islam as an irrational religion that breeds
hatred. The title of her second-last book, the one
that presumably inspired the Pope’s invitation, was
“The Force of Reason,” whose core argument was that
the West is rational and reasonable, whereas Muslims
aren’t. And there was Benedict in Germany last week,
saying exactly the same thing. What a coincidence.
In his speech, Benedict quoted from the 14th century
Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who told a
Persian visitor that “spreading the faith through
violence is something unreasonable…God is not
pleased by blood.” So far, so good — but then Manuel
asked his Muslim visitor: “Show me just what Muhammad
brought that was new and there you will find things
only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread
by the sword the faith he preached.” Benedict quoted
that, too, without any further comment.
He ended his speech, four and a half pages later, by
quoting the emperor again: ” ‘not to act reasonably,
not to act with logos, is contrary to the nature of
God,’ said Manuel II, according to his Christian
understanding of God….It is to this great logos, to
this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in
the dialogue of cultures.” in other words, you Muslims
are unreasonable people, but if you do it our way,
then we’ll finally get somewhere.
So now we know that the new pope is a parochial and
intolerant man — but anybody who paid attention to
Cardinal Ratzinger’s previous career knew that
already. “God’s Rottweiler” was the late Pope John
Paul II’s favourite hit-man, reducing Karol Wojtyla’s
critics in the Catholic hierarchy to a sullen silence
or driving them out of the Church altogether. Now he
is in a position to do much more damage.
Pakistan’s parliament has unanimously passed a
resolution condemning the Pope’s speech. Seven
Christian churches in the occupied Palestinian
territories have been bombed, set ablaze or shot at. A
Catholic nun has been shot to death in Somalia. Most
Muslims are well aware that violence is an
inappropriate way to protest against accusations that
Islam is a violent faith, but why do they even care
what the Pope says?
Benedict need a few lessons in manners, but the real
reason for the uproar is that so many Muslims feel
under attack by the West. Two Muslim countries have
been invaded by the United States and its allies since
9/11, and another, Lebanon, has been bombed to ruins
by Israel with full support from the US and Britain.
At least twenty times as many Muslims have died in
these brutal wars as the number of Americans who died
in the 9/11 attacks, and almost none of them had
anything to do with that terrorist atrocity. So the
suspicion grows among Muslims that all this is not
really about 9/11 at all, and almost any minor insult
to Islam from the West — cartoons in a provincial
Danish newspaper, a foolish quote by an arrogant pope
— is enough to trigger outrage from Morocco to
Indonesia.
We haven’t achieved a full-scale “clash of
civilisations” yet, but we’re making progress.
By Gwynne Dyer