Lebanon seeks Armenia’s support for mine clearing operations
Arminfo
11 Jul 06
Yerevan, 11 July: Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Sallukh, who is on
an official visit in Armenia, has requested Armenian Prime Minister
Andranik Markaryan to help with mine clearing in areas south of
Lebanon.
The Lebanese foreign minister said that Armenia both has rich
experience in mine clearing and professional specialists, the press
service of the Armenian government reported.
Andranik Markaryan assured Sallukh of consulting the heads of relevant
bodies over the request.

BBC Monitoring quotes from the Turkish press 12 Jul 06
BBC Monitoring Service – United Kingdom;
Jul 12, 2006
Turkey and USA
Hurriyet (centre-right) “Northern Iraq is totally under the control
of the USA. The PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] is flourishing there;
totally under the protection of the USA. And then every day in Turkey
we see funeral ceremonies for martyrs [people killed by PKK members
infiltrating across the border].” (Commentary by Emin Colasan)
Radikal (centre-left) “The USA is now making preparations for its own
Kurdish state that will be used to guard vitally important energy
resources and their transport routes.” (Commentary by M. Ali Kislali)
Anti-Western feeling in Turkey
Hurriyet “In Turkey, enmity against the West and Christianity has
increased to a level not seen in other countries. In enmity against
the West, those who declare themselves secular and Ataturkist are
walking arm in arm with the most open opponents of secularism. Any
step that will divide Turkey from the West will prove fatal. We will
be stuck either with the religious quagmire of the Middle East or
military coups d’etats.” (Commentary by Ertugrul Ozkok)
Problems with reforms
Milliyet (centrist) “In Turkey, reforms always have a caesarean
birth. It is not public welfare that decides which law is made and
which is not. It is the interests of small groups. In such an
atmosphere, no reforms are made without arm-twisting.” (Commentary by
Metin Munir)
Sentence on Armenian writer Dink
Radikal “The term of [Armenian intellectual] Hrant Dink’s sentence
has been fixed. For the first time, the crime of ‘denigrating
Turkishness’ has been punished. I expect parliament will convene
before its normal opening date, 1 October, and it will debate and
pass nine EU reform packages into law. Changing Article 301 [of the
new Turkish Penal Code, cited in Dink’s punishment] must be included
in these packages as a matter of urgency.” (Commentary by Ismet
Berkan)
Israelis and Palestinians
Zaman (moderate, pro-Islamic) “It is clear that Arab regimes are not
sincere about the Palestinian issue… Sincerely or not, it is only
Iran which has put this issue in the top of its agenda. Iran gains
big advantages from this issue.” (Commentary by Ali Bulac)
Yeni Safak (liberal, pro-Islamic) “Apart from shame, what does the
Israeli state bring the Jews with the massacres it has been carrying
out? Why is it trying to settle in Israel the successors of Jews who
have shown the world the ugly face of fascism? Is it to show them the
dismembered bodies of Palestinian children? Is this the sight that
the people who experienced the ‘Great Fire’ [Holocaust] present to
their children?” (Commentary by Salih Tuna)

Peninsula On-line, Qatar
July 13 2006
EU warns Turkey on freedom of expression
Web posted at: 7/13/2006 4:31:5
Source ::: REUTERS
BRUSSELS ~U The European Commission told Turkey yesterday it will
have to rewrite its penal code again to meet EU standards after the
country’s highest court confirmed a sentence against an editor for
insulting “Turkishness”.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said the High Court of Appeals
ruling in the case of Hrant Dink, editor-in-chief of the bilingual
Turkish and Armenian weekly Agos, showed Turkey’s reformed penal code
still restricted freedom of expression.
“I am disappointed by this judgment, which limits the exercise of
freedom of expression in Turkey,” Rehn said in a statement. The ruling
would set a binding precedent for other pending human rights cases,
he said.
“I would therefore urge the Turkish authorities to amend Article 301
and other vaguely formulated articles in order to guarantee freedom of
expression in Turkey,” Rehn said, noting that this was a key political
criterion for EU accession.
He said the Commission would review the situation in the light of the
EU’s political criteria in its upcoming progress report in Turkey in
late October or early November.
Dink, a Turkish-born Armenian, was given a six-month suspended prison
sentence last year for an article criticising Article 301, which
allows prosecutors to pursue cases against writers and scholars for
“insulting Turkish identity”.
The top court’s sentencing board on Tuesday upheld the suspended
jail sentence.
Dink voiced dismay in a statement sent to Reuters and said he would
make a final appeal to the European Court of Human Rights since his
legal recourse in Turkey had been exhausted.
“I am of course deeply upset by the verdict of Penal Council of Supreme
Court concerning my case but the verdict itself did not surprise me,”
Dink said.
“The verdict of the Supreme Court concerning myself reveals that
Article 301 and the other similar ones can never suit a democratic
Turkey and should be immediately abolished,” he said.
The executive European Commission can recommend suspending negotiations
with Turkey in cases of a serious and persistent breach of human rights
or democracy. The Ankara government has repeatedly said writers have
not served time in prison under laws related to freedom of expression.
But Dink and other intellectuals have faced prosecution under Article
301 for calling into question the official Turkish version of what
happened to the Armenians in Ottoman Turkey and EU officials say
the proceedings are themselves an unacceptable form of intimidation
restricting freedom of speech.

Int’l Freedom of Expression eXpress – IFEX, Canada
Committee to Protect Journalists – CPJ Press Freedom Online, NY
July 12 2006
Appeals court upholds suspended prison sentence against Hrant Dink
Francais: La Cour de cassation confirme la condamnation de Hrant Dink
a la prison avec sursis
Country/Topic: Turkey
Date: 12 July 2006
Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Person(s): Hrant Dink
Target(s): editor(s)
Type(s) of violation(s): sentenced
Urgency: Flash
(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders said it was baffled by an
appeals court decision to uphold a six-month suspended prison
sentence against Hrant Dink, managing editor of the weekly “Agos”,
for referring to the 1915 genocide against the Armenians.
On 12 July 2006, Dink was sentenced on appeal in connection with a 13
February 2004 column in “Agos”, for which he was found guilty of
“insulting Turkish identity” under Article 301 of the Criminal Code.
The ethnic Armenian had called on Armenians to “now turn their
attention to the new life offered by an independent Armenia”.
“We are surprised by this conviction which is particularly shocking
for the entire profession,” said the press freedom organisation.
“This ruling will strengthen the climate of self-censorship on
subjects which are seen as sensitive by the Turkish state.”
“Turkey’s criminal law is among Europe’s most repressive towards
freedom of expression. It is unacceptable that criticism of
institutions or offences of opinion should be liable to prison
sentences. The Criminal Code, particularly Articles 301 and 125,
should be urgently amended to conform to European standards,” it
added. “Turkey has been condemned at least five times by the European
Court of Human Rights since the start of 2006, for its failure to
respect free expression.”
One of the journalist’s lawyers, Fethiye Cetin, told Reporters
Without Borders that she was waiting to formally receive the court’s
decision so that she could appeal to the European Court of Human
Rights.
Dink is facing up to three years in prison in connection with another
trial in which he is accused of “trying to influence the course of
justice”.

Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
The Age, Australia
July 13 2006
Anxious wait for flyweight Darchinyan
July 13, 2006 – 8:14AM
Australia’s world flyweight boxing champion Vic Darchinyan is
unlikely to make his next title defence until October.
After stopping previously undefeated Mexican Luis Maldonado in Las
Vegas last month, it was reported Darchinyan could be back in action
on another big US card as early as next month.
One of Darchinyan’s trainers, Billy Hussein, said on Wednesday a
unification fight with Argentina’s World Boxing Organisation champion
Omar Narvaez was still a possibility.
But he added Darchinyan’s next bout was likely to be on the undercard
of the next Diego Corrales fight, which wasn’t expected until
October.
Hussein said Darchinyan had yet to resume training after returning
last week from a holiday in Armenia, where he was born.
“Until we find out what’s going on, then we won’t go training again.
He’ll have at least 10 weeks to prepare,” Hussein said.
Darchinyan has made four defences of the International Boxing
Federation title and three of the less established and recognised
International Boxing Organisation championship in the same division.
Long time friend and stablemate Hussein Hussein, who is the fifth
ranked contender for Darchinyan’s IBF title, is looking to fight
Mexico’s former light IBF flyweight world champion Victor Burgos.
If the fight with Burgos doesn’t come off, another option is for
Hussein to challenge Japan’s new Oriental and Pacific Boxing
Federation flyweight champion Daisuke Nailo, who at number six, is
ranked two places higher in the World Boxing Council rankings.
The other Hussein brother, WBC seventh ranked featherweight Nedal, is
poised to challenge Japan’s OPBF champion Hiroyuki Enoki on September
16 in Tokyo.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Leonardo Zappavigna, who has won
his first two pro bouts in quick time, will fight on a Billy Hussein
promotion at Sydney’s Ninevah club on Friday week.
On the same night in Wollongong, multiple world title contender
Shannan Taylor will fight Canadian Ian MacKillop for the IBF and IBO
regional middleweight titles.
Former rugby league star John Hopoate will have his second
professional fight on August 4 against New Zealander Alex Mene at the
Gold Coast Turf Club in Bundall.
Hopoate took less than a minute to win his first paid bout on the
undercard of the Anthony Mundine-Danny Green bout.
Mundine is again being chased for a rematch by Sam Soliman, who lost
a contentious points decision to The Man in 2001.

Washington File, DC
July 12 2006
U.S. Envoy to Armenia Describes Central Role of U.S. Constitution
John Evans says Constitution provides framework for “great” national
debate
By Carolee Walker
Washington File Staff Writer
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans (State Department photo)
Washington — The struggle to build democratic institutions and
establish democratic practices must be faced anew by every
generation, says U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John M. Evans.
“Building democracy is a never-ending challenge,” Evans told students
and faculty members at the American University in Yerevan, Armenia,
July 10. “Surely this is as true for my country, which has just
celebrated its two hundred and thirtieth birthday, as it is for
countries just starting to build democratic institutions.”
He illustrated what that meant by describing how the U.S.
Constitution came to be amended 27 times since it took effect in
1789.
“One can truly say that the Constitution provides Americans with a
framework for a great national discussion, often as not characterized
by a clash of opposing philosophies,” Evans said. “Certainly in a
society as diverse as ours, the differences of opinion are many and
at times have been deep.”
The U.S. Constitution is a dynamic document, he said, in part because
the document the framers signed in Philadelphia at the Constitutional
Convention “contained within it the seeds of many future
controversies that continue to the present day.”
Almost immediately after ratification – within six months, said Evans
– 10 amendments were proposed that relate to limiting the power of
the federal government. These amendments, known as the Bill of
Rights, “are cited, in some context or another, every day of our
national life,” he said. They provide for freedom of speech, press,
religion, assembly, trial by jury and other rights. Although the
process of amending the Constitution is difficult, 17 more amendments
also have been added.
Beyond the amendments, there have been many interpretations of the
language of the Constitution by the courts. The Supreme Court has
“the last word in saying precisely what the Constitution really
means,” Evans said.
Yet even the best-written constitution, by itself, does not create a
democracy, the ambassador said.
“There are customs, methods and procedures, in short, habits of
democracy, that put democratic flesh on the bones provided by the
basic provisions of the fundamental law. A democracy may function
minimally without these habits, but for it to flourish fully requires
that everyone play his or her part,” Evans said.
Crucial habits of democracy, according to Evans, are tolerance,
honesty and responsibility.
“Participants in a democracy must show a basic level of mutual
respect for each other,” he said. “Only when a citizen is willing to
listen to the opinions of others, and to entertain the possibility
that what others say will influence his thinking, does he himself
earn the right also to be heard.”
Responsibility means “accepting that everyone in a democracy bears a
degree of accountability for the overall outcome, especially of his
or her own actions,” including elected and appointed officials and
citizens.
Citizens are “responsible before the law, as well as bearing an
overall responsibility to inform themselves about the issues of the
day, to choose good leaders, through free and fair elections, and to
stand up for their own rights if and when they are challenged,” Evans
said.
The United States Constitution is the oldest written federal
constitution in the world, and the shortest.
Evans’ speech about the Constitution builds on his speech in 2005 at
American University about the U.S. Declaration of Independence and
the ideas of freedom and democracy that it embodies. (See related
article.)
The full text of the ambassador’s July 10 remarks is available on the
Web site of the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan.
For additional information, see U.S. Constitution.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
)

Today, Azerbaijan
July 12 2006
Matthew Bryza: “Talks still have not run out of potential”
13 July 2006 [02:07] – Today.Az
“OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are looking forward to initiative of the
conflicting sides,” said OSCE MG American co-chair Matthew Bryza.
He exclusively told APA correspondent in Turkey that he didn’t
make public the elements of negotiations by not agreeing with the
conflicting side on his own initiative. “It was the decision of
co-chairs.”
He said he presented to public discussion only some of the elements:
“We expect the reaction of the Presidents. But I state that Talks
still have not run out of potential.
We expect directions from the Presidents, they should show us in what
direction we should work.”
American co-chair did not exclude the discussion of Azerbaijan-Armenia,
Nagorno Karabakh problem in the summit of G-8 to be held in Sankt
Petersburg.
He stressed that the time of Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents
meeting has not been defined yet.
URL:

Kerkorian’s GM Shares Profit on Renault Alliance Plan (Update3)
Bloomberg
July 12 2006
July 12 (Bloomberg) — Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian turned a money-losing
stake in General Motors Corp. into a profitable investment by proposing
the world’s largest automaker join an alliance with Renault SA and
Nissan Motor Co.
Since Kerkorian unveiled his plan June 30, GM’s stock has risen 7.9
percent. His 56 million shares have added $122 million in value since
June 29.
Directors of GM on July 7 authorized Chief Executive Officer Rick
Wagoner to study the proposal. Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corp., which called
for a review by an independent board committee, is pushing to have
GM work with Carlos Ghosn, the CEO who has led Nissan to six straight
years of record profits. Kerkorian, listed by Forbes Magazine as the
19th richest American at $10 billion, made his fortune pressuring
companies to boost stock prices.
“Kerkorian is sending a public message to Rick Wagoner,” said Brian
Bruce, who helps manage $18 billion at PanAgora Asset Management in
Boston, including shares of Detroit-based GM. “He’s trying to force
Wagoner to move quickly and act more like Carlos Ghosn in order to
save his job.”
The 89-year-old financier has a net investment of about $1.52 billion
in GM shares since April 2005, according to U.S. regulatory filings
and data compiled by Bloomberg.
His transactions included selling 12 million shares in December for
$252 million to show a loss for tax purposes and then buying the same
number in January for $263 million. Assuming he sold his highest-priced
shares for the tax loss, his GM investment is profitable when the
stock is above about $27.14, according to Bloomberg data.
At today’s close of $29.62 at 4:19 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange
composite trading, his stake has gained $139 million to about $1.66
billion. GM shares rose 12 cents today.
Dow’s Biggest Gainer
The shares closed above $27.14 on June 30 and in each of the seven
trading days since. The price topped $27.14 only five other times
between October and June 30. GM shares have gained 53 percent this
year, the most in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, after losing 52
percent of their value in 2005 as GM posted a $10.6 billion loss.
Carrie Bloom, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles-based Tracinda, declined to
comment on the value of Kerkorian’s shares. He is GM’s fourth-largest
investor, with a 9.9 percent stake.
Kerkorian wants Wagoner to speed up his plan to revive GM, a person
familiar with Kerkorian’s strategy said last week. Wagoner, 53, is
cutting 30,000 union jobs and closing factories in North America to
reduce annual costs by $8 billion this year.
Kerkorian said in the June 30 letter that Nissan and Renault are
receptive to buying “a significant minority interest” in GM.
In an interview on CNBC yesterday, Wagoner said: “We’re looking
forward to sitting down. Our minds are completely open.”
`In It for Kirk’
The billionaire investor “is in it entirely for Kirk, to drag his
stock value up,” said New York-based Burnham Securities Inc. analyst
David Healy, who has covered the auto industry for more than 40
years. “This deal is like a mackerel that’s been out in the sun too
long. It’s shiny, but it smells when you get too close.”
Southeastern Asset Management Inc. President Staley Cates said in
a May speech to investors that he expects GM shares to gain value,
in part because of Kerkorian. Cates said Kerkorian “has one of the
best investment records in American history.”
The Memphis, Tennessee-based fund, along with Los Angeles- based
Capital Research & Management Co. and Brandes Investment Partners LP
in San Diego increased their GM stakes and now own more than a third
of the automaker’s shares.
Those funds’ GM holdings added $1.9 billion in value this year,
according to Bloomberg data. Brandes spokesman Dan Hilley, Southeastern
spokeswoman Lee Harper and Capital spokesman Chuck Freadhoff wouldn’t
comment on the proposed alliance.
Bonds Rise
GM’s 8.375 percent note due in July 2033 fell 0.6 cent today to 79.69
cents on the dollar. The note yielded 10.7 percent, according to Trace,
the NASD’s bond-price reporting service.
It’s getting cheaper to insure GM debt against default. The price
to protect $10 million of bonds for five years using so- called
credit-default swaps has fallen to $823,500 from $942,000 at the end
of June, according to prices on Bloomberg.
Kerkorian, as part of his unsuccessful bid to take over Chrysler
Corp. a decade ago, won representation on the Chrysler board and
later supported Daimler-Benz AG’s $36 billion purchase of the U.S.
automaker in 1998. He later unsuccessfully sued DaimlerChrysler over
the details of the combination.
DaimlerChrysler lawyers estimated in 2003 that Kerkorian made $2.7
billion on his Chrysler investment.
Military Aircraft
The billionaire is the son of an Armenian immigrant rancher in
California’s San Joaquin Valley. He began by brokering the sale
of surplus military aircraft after World War II. He later created
Trans International Airways, which he bought and sold several times,
eventually selling to Transamerica Corp. for $149 million.
In April 2005, Sony Corp. and other investors bought Kerkorian’s
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. film studio for $2.9 billion. It was the third
time Kerkorian sold MGM, which he last bought in 1996 for $1.3 billion.
“This is a bigger game than I’ve ever seen Kerkorian play,” said
Ken Londoner, 39, who followed his strategy as an investor in
Chrysler. “This is a three-dimensional game of poker that I really
can’t figure out. But you never bet against Kirk.”

Spain Detains 2 in Governor’s Killing
By Nabi Abdullaev
Staff Writer
The Moscow Times, Russia
July 13 2006
Spanish police have detained two men suspected of killing Magadan
Governor Valentin Tsvetkov in 2002. Alexander Zakharov, a native of
the Far Eastern Primorye region, and Martin Babakehyan, a native of
Armenia, were arrested at the seaside resort of Marbella on July 7,
Spanish police announced Wednesday.
Zakharov, 36, and Babakehyan, 35, are the prime suspects in the murder
of Tsvetkov, who was gunned down in broad daylight on Moscow’s busy
Novy Arbat in October 2002. They were placed on Interpol’s wanted
list in 2003 at the request of the Moscow police.
Russian authorities said Wednesday that they would send an extradition
request to Spanish authorities in the next few days.
Spanish police said the two suspects were carrying fake passports at
the time of their arrest, although their real passports were discovered
during a raid of their homes, The Associated Press reported.
Zakharov and Babakehyan will soon be transferred to Madrid, where
they will appear before a judge.
Tsvetkov, governor of the gold-rich Magadan region in the Far East,
was shot in the head with a pistol around 9 a.m. as he was walking
to his office in central Moscow. It was the first assassination of a
governor in post-Soviet Russia. President Vladimir Putin called the
murder a “crime against the state.”
The first suspect in Tsvetkov’s murder, Artur Anisimov, was arrested
in July 2003. Anisimov was convicted the following year on an unrelated
fraud charge and sentenced to three years in prison. The murder charge
against him has not been dropped, however.
Moscow police proceeded to issue international warrants for another
five suspects in 2003, a police spokesman said Wednesday.
The second suspect, Azeri native Masis Ahunts, was arrested in
Vladivostok in December 2004. He remains in detention awaiting trial.
With the arrest of Zakharov and Babakehyan, only two of the six
suspects now remain at large. A spokesman for the Prosecutor General’s
Office declined to name the two outstanding suspects pending the
outcome of an ongoing investigation. But the list released by Moscow
police contains the suspects’ names: Yury Rashkin and Konstantin
Korshunov.
In 2003, then-Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov, who oversaw the
investigation, said that the murder was related to Tsvetkov’s
distribution of fishing quotas among competing companies in the
region. Investigators have also suggested that the murder might have
resulted from Tsvetkov’s attempts to force gold-mining companies
in the region to repay a multimillion-dollar loan provided by the
federal government in 1995.
Although the names of the men who pulled the trigger in the Tsvetkov
case were released to the press a few months after the investigation
began and were subsequently confirmed on numerous occasions by law
enforcement officials, the identity of the person who ordered the
hit has never been made public.

Zaman, Turkey
July 12 2006
Rep. Perplexed by Fall in Turkish Support for EU
By Cihan News Agency
Published: Wednesday, July 12, 2006
zaman.com
Hans Jorg Kretschmer, head of the European Commission Delegatino to
Turkey, said on Wednesday that he was perplexed over the fall in
Turkish public support for joining the European Union.
The Eurobarometer poll, which was carried out in April and based on
1000 responses, found that only 43 percent of Turks had a positive
image of the EU. The recent figure showed that there had been a
plunge in Turkish support for the EU from 60 percent over a six-month
period.
Kretschmer, whose four-year tenure will end in October, said at a
press conference that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)
had initiated a historical transformation process in Turkey. “I
personally believe that this prime minister and this government could
succeed in the EU membership process. There is no other alternative.”
Representative Kretschmer said that Turkey should not get stuck on
the issue of ports and harbors, recommending that the country open
its ports to Greek Cypriot traffic. “The EU has kept its pledge, now
it is time for Turkey.”
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has blamed some European leaders for
the plunge in Turkish public support for the EU.
Most Turkish people are unhappy with the EU stance on Cyprus, PKK
terrorism, the so-called Armenian Genocide issue and the Greek
Orthodox Patriarchy. High numbers of Turks believe that the EU
intends to divide up Turkey.
The EU demands from the Turkish government and increasing pressure
over Cyprus are seen as the main reasons why Turkish people have
begun to turn their backs on the EU. Apparently, the more EU leaders
criticize Turkey, the more nationalist sentiment has gained ground in
Turkey.
Turkey commenced its de facto accession talks with the EU in
mid-June, following an eight-month screening process.
Turkey’s EU accession process is expected to be long, arduous and
susceptible to crises, especially on the Cyprus issue. Optimistic
analysts predict that Turkey, with its large population, could enter
the wealthy bloc by 2014 at the earliest.