EP REPORT: “ANKARA’S NEGOTIATIONS MAY COME TO A HALT”
Press Review
Turkish Press
Aug 5 2006
A new report prepared by European Parliament Turkey Rapporteur Camiel
Eurlings harshly criticizes Turkey, claiming that it isn’t ready for
the European Union membership. A warning that Ankara’s negotiations
could slow down or even stop if Turkey doesn’t open its ports and
harbors to Greek Cyprus is the most important part of the report. The
report also states that improvements in freedom of expression have not
been satisfactory, and it adds that neighborly diplomatic relations
should be opened with Armenia without any preconditions.
Meanwhile, EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Commission Co-Chair Joost
Lagendijk criticized the report’s language and that the EU should
fulfill its commitments to the Turkish Cypriots.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BRUSSELS STALLS ON CYPRUS TO KEEP TURKEY TALKS
MSNBC
Aug 5 2006
All Financial Times NewsBrussels is seeking to prevent a complete
breakdown in Turkey’s 43-year-quest to join the European Union by
deferring one of the most explosive issues until after the country’s
elections next year.
Officials fear that with the pace of reform slowing in Turkey and
worries continuing within the EU about further enlargement, Turkey’s
membership talks might never start again if they were to stop now.
But a dispute with Cyprus, which is an EU member state but is not
recognised by Turkey, threatens to bring the whole process to a halt.
“We need a plan B to limit the damage and avoid a complete suspension
of negotiations, because that would kill the momentum,” said a senior
Commission official. “We have to find ways and means to muddle through
until after the Turkish elections.”
The EU has given Ankara a deadline of the end of this year to open
up its ports and airports to Cyprus. But Turkey has declared it has
no intention of doing so, because of the EU’s failure to end the
isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community in the north of the island.
President Jacques Chirac of France has warned Turkey that membership
talks will be jeopardised if Ankara fails to comply with the EU’s
demand. Although the Commission hopes that only talks on related
issues will be affected, Cyprus has made clear its plans to veto all
further stages of the negotiations unless Turkey opens up its ports.
As concern mounts within the EU that the suspension of Ankara’s
negotiations could prove disastrous for the country’s ties with the
west, Olli Rehn, the EU’s enlargement commissioner, is seeking to
persuade both Turkey and Cyprus to hand the ports case to the European
Court of Justice.
That way, the Commission believes, the issue could be put on ice
until after Turkey’s parliamentary elections next year, when both
sides Turkey would have more scope to negotiate.
Officials in Ankara had no immediate comment on the Commission’s
initiative. But diplomats said Turkey would be reluctant to refer the
case to the courts. EU officials add that it is overwhelmingly likely
to lose any case. Cyprus is also resisting such a course of action,
since it would water down the EU’s demand that Turkey act this year.
The Commission hopes that pressure from the EU’s three big powers –
France, Germany and the UK – will push both sides to agree to scale
down the dispute.
Other attempts to defuse the tension, notably EU-sponsored talks
between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, have failed. Greek Cypriot
objections have also prevented the EU’s fulfilling a promise to allow
northern Cyprus to trade directly with the rest of the EU.
YesterdayAnkara rejected a demand by the European parliament that it
recognise the mass killings of Armenians during the first world war
as genocide. Turkey rejects the charge. Recep Tayyip Erdo­gan, the
prime minister, said: “Our position regarding the so-called Armenian
genocide is very clear, and nobody should expect us to change it.”
–Boundary_(ID_hNlsjGAcpsygC7r8X1Wq6g)- –

LEMKIN’S HOUSE TO HOLD TALKBACKS IN SEPT. AND OCT.
Broadway World, NY
Aug 5 2006
Tuesday, September 5, 2006; Posted: 12:55 PM – by BWW News Desk A
series of talkbacks will follow select performances of Catherine
Filloux’s award-winning play Lemkin’s House. Jean Randich directs
the return engagement of the show, which will play through September
13-October 8 at the McGinn-Cazale Theatre (2162 Broadway)
Presented by Body Politic Theater and Vital Theatre Company, the
show’s official press opening is set for September 17.
Talkback participants will include former Manhattan Borough President
Ruth Messinger; Human Rights activist Dr. William Korey; film-maker
Kavery Kaul (The Long Way from Home); and others.
Lemkin’s House is billed as “a thought-provoking drama about the
horrors of genocide,” according to press notes. “Winner of the 2006
Peace Writing Award from the OMNI Center for Peace, the play centers
on Raphael Lemkin, the Polish lawyer who invented the word “genocide”
and dedicated his life to having it declared an international crime.
In Ms. Filloux’s play, Lemkin is bombarded by people bursting into
his home with complaints of more recent genocides in Rwanda and
Bosnia. Lemkin must recognize that even his law is not enough to
change the world. He weighs his ethical accomplishments against his
guilt for deserting his own doomed family, ultimately seeking not only
justice but also forgiveness. In Lemkin’s House it is the living who
haunt the dead.”
Lemkin’s House had its U.S. premiere at the 78th Street Theatre Lab
in February, 2006, opening to strong critical and audience response.
John Daggett returns as Raphael Lemkin. He is joined by original cast
members Christopher Edwards, Laura Flanagan, Christopher McHale, and
Connie Winston. The production also reunites its original design team:
Sue Rees (set design); Matthew Adelson (lighting design); Camille Assaf
(costume design); Robert Murphy (sound design).
The talkbacks are as follows (additional talkbacks and panelists TBA):
Wednesday, September 13: Panel on Darfur Former Manhattan Borough
President, Ruth Messinger, President of American Jewish World Service
which is currently involved in seeking justice for the Darfur genocide;
John Prendergast, Senior Advisor of International Crisis Group;
and Jayne E. Fleming, California Lawyer of the Year for Pro Bono
Representation of Women victimized through violence.
Thursday, September 14: A Peaceful Tomorrow Panel: Genocide and
Reconciliation H.E Widhya Chem, Ambassador, Permanent Representative
of the Kingdom of Cambodia to the United Nations; Jean Baptiste
Ntakirutimana, Country Director of Orphans of Rwanda, Inc.; Father
Michael Lapsley, Institute for Healing of Memories, South Africa;
and moderator Adele Welty, Steering Committee, Peaceful Tomorrows.
Friday, September 15: Panel in conjunction with 9/17 “Save
Darfur” Rally Jim Fussell, Executive Director of Prevent Genocide
International; and Mohamed Adam Yahya, Chairman, Damanga: Coalition
for Freedom and Democracy.
Saturday, September 16: Women’s Commission on Refugees and Children:
Darfur Megan McKenna, Senior Coordinator, Media and Communications
(Education in Emergencies); Sarah Chynoweth, Program Manager in
the Reproductive Health Program; and moderator Carolyn Makinson,
Executive Director of Women’s Commission.
Wednesday, September 20: Understanding the Perpetrator: Genocidal
Mania — The Psychology of Mass Hatred and Treating the Victims Gerald
Martone, Director of Humanitarian Affairs at the International Rescue
Committee; and Ruth Rogers, “Easing the Impact of Trauma through
Integrative Medicine.”
Thursday, September 21: What Have We Learned?
David Scheffer, Former US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues;
Juan E. Mendez, President, ICTJ. Special Advisor to the Secretary
General (UN) on the Prevention of Genocide; Justice Richard Goldstone
Chancellor, University of the Witwatersrand and Former Justice,
Constitutional Court of South Africa; Dr. William A. Korey, Human
Rights scholar and activist; Roger S. Clark, Board of Governors
Professor, Rutgers School of Law; Moderated by Dr. Yael Danieli,
Co-President, International Network of Holocaust and Genocide Survivors
and Their Friends.
Sunday, September 24: Detering Future Genocides: The Importance of
International Criminal Court to Raphael Lemkin’s Legacy Dr. Roy
S. Lee, Special Senior Fellow, the United Nations Institute for
Training and Research, and former Executive Secretary to the
International Criminal Court Conference; John Washburn, Convenor,
American NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court (AMICC);
Richard Nsanzabaganwa. Outreach Liasion for Africa, Coalition for
the International Criminal Court (CICC).
Wednesday, September 27: Professor Sheri Rosenberg and Dr. Jack Saul
Professor Sheri Rosenberg, Director, Human Rights and Genocide Clinic
and Program in Holocaust and Human Rights Studies, Cardozo School of
Law; Dr. Jack Saul, Director, International Trauma Studies Program,
Columbia University; Moderated by Kenneth Jacobson, Senior Associate
National Director, Anti-Defamation League.
Thursday, September 28: Religious Perspectives on Genocide Rabbi
Daniel S. Brenner, Director, Center for Multifaith Education, Auburn
Theological Seminary; Other panelists TBA.
Friday, September 29: For the Prevention of Genocide and Crimes
against Humanity: A United Nations Emergency Peace Service Panelists:
TBA; moderated by Waverly de Bruijn; Coordinator, Global Action to
Prevent War; Sponsoring Organizations: Global Action to Prevent War,
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, World Federalist Movement.
Saturday, September 30: Audience Conversation with Dr. Yael Danieli and
Lemkin’s House artists Dr. Yael Danieli, Co-President, International
Network of Holocaust and Genocide Survivors and Their Friends, the
cast and creators of Lemkin’s House
Sunday, October 1: Hidden Genocide in Uganda Presentation by Daniella
Boston, co-founder and executive director of uNight: for the Children
of Uganda; Panelists: TBA.
Wednesday, October 4: Violence or Empowerment Arn Chorn-Pond and John
Burt, Cambodian Living Arts; Kavery Kaul, Filmmaker and Producer,
The Long Way From Home; and Michele Tayler, Women Against Violence
Everywhere.
Saturday,October 7: The Armenian Genocide Professor Henry Theriault,
Professor of Philosophy at Worcester State College, Armenian National
Committee.
Filloux’s other plays include The Beauty Inside, Eyes of the Heart,
Silence of God and Mary and Myra.
The show runs: Wednesdays-Saturdays at 8pm; Sundays at 7pm. Talkbacks
directly follow select performances. Tickets are $25 (group
discounts are available). For reservations, call 212-352-3101 or
visit
ewcolumn.cfm?colid=11970

ARMENIAN PROFESSOR DECLARES WAR TO TURKISH, GEORGIAN, TURKMEN, UKRAINIAN AND AZERBAIJANI HISTORIANS
Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 5 2006
Artyom Khachaturyan, professor of the Yerevan Slavic University called
Turkmenistan’s President Saparmurat Niyazov “successor of barbarians.”
Armenian professor states in his article published in Russian
“Political class” journal Saparmurat Niyazov did not stand against
one’s interest by calling Seljuk Turkish Empire Turkmen state.
“No state protests against Niyazov’s position. Because, no one wants
to be the successor of the ‘barbaric Empire’,” Khachaturyan underlined,
APA informs.
The Armenian researcher attempted to distort the histories of turkey,
Georgia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Azerbaijan as well. Accusing
Ukrainian historians of appropriating Russian history, Khachaturyan
said the claims that Ukraine is the first Slavic state and the Kyiv
Russian State belonged to Ukrainians are groundless.
He also introduced poet Azerbaijani poet Nizami as Persian. He said
Nizami never wrote in Azerbaijani but in Persian.
The Armenian professor also raised claims against Turkey related to
its denial of the so-called “Armenian genocide”.
Ukrainian and Turkmen historians have not yet reacted to Khachaturyan’s
article written by the order of Russian and Armenian political circles.
Artem Khachataryan is holding an active campaign in the forum section
of the countries.ru website for introducing Azerbaijani poets Nizami
Ganjavi and Khagani Shirvani as Persian. He also called it nonsense
that Armenians killed many Jews in Guba, Azerbaijan saying that the
world community is fed up with Jews trying to create an image of
suffering nation.
URL:

TURKISH PM: “IT IS A DAYDREAM TO EXPECT TURKEY TO RECOGNIZE THE ALLEGED ‘ARMENIAN GENOCIDE'”
Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 5 2006
It is a daydream to expect Turkey to recognize the so-called Armenian
genocide.
“We’ll not change our position regarding the alleged ‘Armenian
genocide’. Let no one expect us to change our position,” Turkey’s Prime
Minister Rajab Tayyib Erdogan said while commenting on the European
Parliament’s today’s decision urging Turkey to recognize the alleged
‘Armenian genocide’.
APA’s Turkey bureau reports said there are some initiatives for
normalizing the relations between Turkey and Armenia, and the Foreign
Ministry controls this process.
“The European Parliament’s decision is not compulsory. So, there
is no need to exaggerate the appeals addressed from Strasbourg,”
the Premier underlined.
Prior to that, the European Parliament twice (in 1987 and 2005)
appealed to Turkey for recognizing the alleged ‘Armenian genocide’.
Turkish Prime Minister wrote to Armenian President Robert Kocharian
offering to set up a joint commission to solve the problems between
the two countries, including the so-called ‘Armenian genocide’.
However, Armenia’s response was negative.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul concretely voiced Ankara’s stance
regarding this issue in his address to the parliament on 13 April.
“Turkey will not obey any pressure and will not recognize the
fabricated ‘Armenian genocide’. The Copenhagen principles-main document
on Turkey’s EU membership discussions do not mention the necessity
of recognition of the so-called genocide.”
URL:

EU DRAFT REPORT ON TURKEY OBLIGES ANKARA TO OPEN BORDERS WITH ARMENIA
Regnum, Russia
Aug 5 2006
Turkey should “take all necessary measures without pre-conditions
to establish diplomatic and neighborly relations with Armenia, as
well as open its border as soon as possible according to resolutions
of the European Parliament of 1987-2005.” The request is included
in a draft report on Turkey, discussed and approved by the European
Parliamentary Commission on Foreign Relations on September 4, European
Hai Dat (Armenian question) Bureau of Dashnaktsutyun ARF informs,
stressing that 343 amendments were put into the draft report from
July to beginning of September.
According to the source, the problem of Armenian Genocide in 1915
is mentioned in passing; the Armenian and Turkish governments are
called upon “to continue the process of their reconciliation in order
to adopt a mutually acceptable proposal.” As European Hai Dat Bureau
Chairwoman Hilda Choboyan stresses, such formulation bears the stamp of
negation and pressure provided by Turkey and it is aimed at weakening
the European Parliament’s positions. “For Turkey, which is on its
way to join the EU, collision with its own history is inevitable,”
it is stressed in the report; Azg newspaper informs.
It is worth reminding, ahead of restoration of diplomatic relations
between Armenia and Turkey, Ankara sets up several claims, including
rejection of activity, fulfilled by official Yerevan and aimed at
international recognizing of the Armenian Genocide in 1915, as well
as recognition of Karabakh to be an inalienable part of Azerbaijan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARRESTED RUSSIAN DENIES SPYING FOR AZERBAIJAN
By Karine Kalantarian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug 5 2006
A Russian man who was arrested in Armenia late last year for allegedly
spying for Azerbaijan protested his innocence and claimed to have been
“brutally” mistreated in custody as he went on trial on Tuesday.
Rustem Valiakhmetov, 48, is accused of systematically collecting
Armenian “state secrets” and passing them on to Azerbaijani
intelligence. Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) and state
prosecutors have so far declined to detail the charges leveled against
him, promising to substantiate them during the trial.
News of the mysterious espionage case was first announced by the
NSS about two weeks ago, at least eight months after Valiakhmetov’s
arrest, which the Armenian successor to the Soviet KGB says was made
on December 28.
However, Valiakhmetov claimed during the opening court hearing that he
was detained on November 21. It also emerged that the retired Russian
army officer had served in the Armenian army during the 1992-1994
war with Azerbaijan. He is understood to have regularly traveled to
Armenia from Moscow, his place of permanent residence, in recent years.
“Armenia is my second motherland,” Valiakhmetov told a court of first
instance in Gavar, the administrative center of the northeastern
Gegharkunik region. “I spilled blood for it and fought well.”
“What [the law-enforcement authorities] now say really hurts me,”
he said, adding that he hopes to prove that the accusations are
unfounded during further court proceedings.
The defendant spoke after the presiding judge, Aghvan Petrosian,
agreed to adjourn the trial until September 18 in order to enable him
to hire a defense lawyer. The two trial prosecutors are expected to
read out their indictment during that session. They on Tuesday refused
to disclose details of the case until then, telling RFE/RL only that
Valiakhmetov confessed to the charges shortly after his arrested but
subsequently retracted the testimony.
Valiakhmetov claimed that the confession was extracted under duress,
saying that his body still bears traces of torture. “I was tortured
horribly and brutally,” he said. “I will definitely describe during
the trial how they extracted testimony from me.”
An ethnic Tatar, Valiakhmetov is not the first person accused of
spying for Azerbaijan and standing trial in Armenia. In June last
year, a Russian-born Armenian citizen, Andrey Maziev, was convicted
of high treason and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Maziev pleaded
guilty to the charges, unlike four other ethnic Russians who were
given lengthy jail sentences on similar charges in January 2004.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GRAND MUFTI IN YEREVAN
SANA – Syrian Arab News Agency, Syria
Aug 5 2006
In the Armenian capital of Yerevan , Grand Mufti discussed yesterday
with Chairman of Armenian National Assembly Arthur Bagasarian Bilateral
relations between the two countries and means of boosting them.
Chairman of Armenian National Association emphasized the importance of
Dr. Hassoun’s visit and its political and spiritual benefit, conveying
members of Hassoun ‘s delegation the Armenian people’s regards and
big respect to the President Bashar al-Assad and he Syrian people.
Armenian Catholics Karekin II underlined the significence of Mufti’s
visit to Armenia and the cooperation between the two sides in the
frame work of religions dialogue, hialing the national unity that
the Syrian people enjoy with all different spectrums.
Dr. Hassoun stressed Syria’s durable keenness to enhancing dialogue
among religions in the world.
Armenian Catholics Karekin II underlined the significence of Mufti’s
visit to Armenia and the cooperation between the two sides in the
frame work of religions dialogue, hialing the national unity that
the Syrian people enjoy with all different spectrums.
Dr. Hassoun stressed Syria’s durable keenness to enhancing dialogue
among religions in the world.

TURKEY: GOVERNMENT REJECTS MEP CHARGES OVER REFORM
AKI, Italy
Aug 5 2006
Ankara, 5 Sept. (AKI) – Turkey’s foreign ministry on Tuesday strongly
rejected a newly released draft report by a European Parliament
committee which warned the government that its continuing refusal to
allow Greek Cypriot ships and planes to enter its ports and airspace
implement reforms could stall its membership negotiations with the
European Union. Foreign ministry spokesman, Namik Tan, quoted by
Turkey’s Chihan news agency said the report lacked “commonsense and
objectivity,” and would not improve Turkey-EU ties.
The European parliament report – compiled by Conservative Dutch
legislator Camiel Eurlings and adopted by the European parliament’s
influential foreign affairs committee on Monday – harshly criticised
Turkey for its slow pace of reform on rights, freedom of expression,
the role of the security forces and relations with EU member-state,
Cyprus.
“Turkey was deeply saddened by the stance of the European parliament
regarding the so-called Armenian genocide claims,” Cihan quoted Tan
as saying. He was referring to a section of the report report that
levelled criticism at the Turkish government’s refusal to recognise
the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during and after World War I.
The report recommended making such recognition a prerequisite for
Turkey’s membership of the EU. But Cihan quoted Turkish prime minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying it would be a “impossible daydream” to
expect recognition by Turkey of the killing of Armenians as genocide.
Tan called for MEPs to amend the report, which charges that the pace
of the reforms have slowed since Turkey began accession negotiations
with the EU in October 2005 and implementation of the reforms still
remains patchy.
Eurlings’ report urges Turkey to “reinvigorate” the reform process,
underlining that significant further efforts are required, especially
in the areas of freedom of expression, women’s rights, religious
freedom, trade union rights, torture and ill-treatment of prisoners.
The report will be debated by the full 732-member parliament in
late September.
After protracted negotiations, Turkey began accession talks with the
EU last October. The talks do not lead automatically to membership,
which in any event is not expected before 2015.

TURKEY CALLED TO RECOGNISE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Financial Mirror, Cyprus
Aug 5 2006
Strasbourg, September 5 – The European Parliament Committee on Foreign
Affairs (AFET) voted late last evening on the Eurlings report on
“Turkey’s progress towards accession” and its 343 amendments. This
mostly critical report of Turkey was adopted by 53 votes, with 6
against and 8 abstentions.
With regard to the question of the Armenian Genocide which was
constantly discussed during the debates, a majority of MEPs from
the main political groups (EPP, PSE, ALDE, GUE) adopted two similar
amendments which reiterates its call on Turkey to acknowledge the
Armenian Genocide as a precondition for its accession.
In addition, the AFET “strongly condemns the racist and xenophobic
‘Talaat Pasha committee’ [.] for gravely infringing European
principles, and the denialist demonstrations in Lyon and Berlin”
organised by those same organisations. It calls on Turkey to abolish
this committee and end its activities.
The European Armenian Federation informs that the AFET also adopted
a compromise amendment disputed by many MEPs, which expresses a whole
series of obscure proposals such as the opening of the Turkish archives
and reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey.
The AFET committee also invites Turkey “to establish, without
preconditions, good neighbourly relations with Armenia and to end
the economic blockade and to open the land border [.] in order to
fulfill the priorities of the Accession Partnership and the obligations
defined within the Negotiating Framework”.
“It is a victory for the Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET) which
confirms that it can resist the pressures of Ankara. We congratulate
the rapporteur and the many members of Parliament who reaffirmed
the political line of the Parliament, which consists in making the
recognition of the Genocide into a prerequisite for accession,”
declared Hilda Tchoboian, the chairperson of the European Armenian
Federation.
“However, we regret the amendment called the ‘compromise amendment’,
which in fact only copied the position of some isolated MEPs who still
support Ankara in its attempt to deny the Genocide and to escape the
political problem that it constitutes,” continued Hilda Tchoboian.
The European Armenian Federation will continue its consultations with
all the MEPs before the vote in the plenary session of the European
Parliament, which will take place at the end of September.