FM OSKANYAN: AZERBAIJAN WON’T INTIMIDATE ARMENIA WITH ITS MILITARY MIGHT
Source: TURAN news agency (Baku), March 11, 2006
Translated by A. Ignatkin

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
March 15, 2006 Wednesday

Shant TV-channel (Yerevan) quoted Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanjan as saying that Azerbaijan is not going to risk a war with
Armenia. Azerbaijan will not intimidate Armenia with its military
might, and neither is it ready for a war, Oskanjan said.

As far as Oskanjan is concerned, Azerbaijan’s losses in another war
will be even greater than in the former conflict. Moreover, Baku
will not go against the international community that objects to the
use of military strength. Neither will the West permit Azerbaijan
to endanger the billions worth of investments in this country,
Oskanjan said. Speaking of the deterioration of the situation on the
Azerbaijani-Armenian front, the minister expressed the hope that it
did not have anything to do with political processes. The call from
chairmen to prepare the peoples of Armenia and Azerbaijan for peace
is addressed to Baku, Oskanjan said.

Armenian diplomat is convinced that President Ilham Aliyev’s
belligerent rhetoric creates an atmosphere that does not facilitate
conflict settlement. Unless the situation ameliorated, Armenia will
change its tactic and put Azerbaijan on the defensive. “We cannot
wait for Azerbaijan to boost its military might and attack Armenia,”
Oskanjan said. “We may take certain measures in the matter of our
own defense that Azerbaijan is certain not to find to its liking.”

Commenting on the outcome of the meeting in France, Oskanjan said
that Armenia does not consider the process a failure. The issue on
the agenda was fairly difficult and there can be no progress without
readiness for compromises on the part of Azerbaijan, Oskanjan said.

The minister added as well that Azerbaijan should forget about the
principle of territorial integrity. As far as Oskanjan is concerned,
the negotiations are centered around Nagorno-Karabakh’s right for
self-determination and Baku should reconcile itself to it.

Oskanjan is convinced that Armenia has done its part by way of
compromises and concessions. The diplomat did not elaborate. “What we
have already agreed with is the final line Armenia will never retreat
beyond,” Oskanjan said.

ANATOLIA FACTS

Malay Mail, Malaysia
March 14, 2006 Tuesday

ANATOLIA (Turkish: Anadolu) is a region of Southwest Asia which
corresponds today to the Asian portion of Turkey, as opposed to the
European portion, Rumelia.

It means ‘rising of the sun’ or ‘East’.

The Turkish word Anadolu derives from the original Greek version.

It is also often called by its Latin name – Asia Minor.

Because of its strategic location at the intersection of Asia and
Europe, Anatolia has been a cradle for several civilizations since
prehistoric ages.

Major civilizations and peoples that have settled in or conquered
Anatolia include the Colchians, Hattians, Luwians, Hittites,
Phrygians, Cimmerians, Lydians, Persians, Celts, Tabals, Meshechs,
Greeks, Pelasgians, Armenians, Romans, Goths, Kurds, Byzantines,
Seljuk Turks, and Ottomans.

These peoples belonged to many varied ethnic and linguistic traditions.

Through recorded history, Anatolians have spoken both Indo-European and
Semitic languages, as well as many languages of uncertain affiliation.

Today the inhabitants of Anatolia are mostly native speakers of the
Turkish language, which was introduced with the conquest of Anatolia by
Turkic peoples and the rise of the Seljuk Empire in the 11th century.

However, Anatolia remained multi-ethnic until the early 20th century.

The Turks in Thrace were forced to leave their homes and settle in
Anatolia during the Balkan Wars.

The last population exchange, as result of the Treaty of Lausanne,
between Turkey and Greece eliminated the majority of Turks in Greece
and Greeks in Turkey.

A significant Kurdish ethnic and linguistic minority exists in the
south eastern regions, while Armenians, whose numbers were greatly
reduced during the Armenian Genocide, have a waning presence in the
northeast and in cities.

TURKISH, FOREIGN ACADEMICS HOLD RARE TALKS ON ARMENIAN MASSACRES

Agence France Presse — English
March 15, 2006 Wednesday 4:54 PM GMT

Turkish academics who deny the massacres of Armenians during World
War I amounted to genocide offered a rare olive branch on Wednesday
by inviting foreign opponents to Istanbul to discuss the largely
taboo subject.

Only a dozen or so foreign academics attended the first day of the
conference at Istanbul’s state university, alongside around 60 Turkish
historians and officials who defend Ankara’s official position on
the 1915-17 killings.

But Ara Sarafian, a British historian of Armenian origin, said the
three-day event was “an important first step”, even if genuine dialogue
was conspicuous by its absence.

“We established that despite all our differences, which are extreme
on this subject, we’re able to come under the same roof and voice
our opinions. That’s a fundamental shift, rather than staying outside
and shouting at each other,” Sarafian told AFP.

Turkey categorically denies that Armenian subjects under its
predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, were victims of a genocide but
acknowledges that at least 300,000 Armenians and as many Turks died
in civil strife during the last years of the empire.

Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in
orchestrated killings.

The conference was only a timid step towards real debate and involved
hardly any of the Turkish intellectuals opposed to the official line
who took part in a ground-breaking conference on the massacres in
September 2005.

That meeting, which Turkish nationalists tried to have banned, was
an attempt not to determine whether the killings amounted to genocide
but rather to openly study and understand them.

But Turkey is under pressure to allow more freedom of speech to
achieve its cherished dream of joining the European Union.

And, in that sense, this week’s event was a watershed, according to
both Sarafian and Edhem Eldem, a Turkish academic who attended the
September forum.

For the first time, books presenting the Armenian view of the killings
were on display, alongside abundant literature upholding the official
Turkish view.

Despite the fact there had been “no real dialogue on the basis of
these papers”, the conference was an important opportunity to let
the Turkish authorities start a debate, Sarafian said.

“For me, it’s also an opportunity to show the books that we
published. It’s the first time these books appear in Turkey like this,”
he added.

Turkish academic Mehmet Saray used the conference to rebuff Armenian
“propaganda” about the massacres and blamed them on “the imperialist
Russian, French and British states, who wanted to carve up the Ottoman
empire and encouraged Armenian nationalism”.

But Yair Auron, an Israel researching the archives of the Jewish
community in Palestine under Ottoman rule, was permitted to openly
use the term “genocide” and appeal to Turks to question their past.

Every civil society has to deal with its past, including the black
pages of this past,” Auron said.

Eldem said many of the intellectuals who took part in the September
2005 conference had been loathe to attend this week’s meeting because
the organisers had not told them until Tuesday what its aims were.

“People were quite reticent to say yes. (They) didn’t want to be used
in the hands of the nationalist establishment,” he explained.

But he praised them for the initiative.

“The fact they invited people who don’t share their opinion is
important. They’ve realised they can’t play this game alone any more,”
Eldem said.

GENOCIDE OR NOT: TURKISH, FOREIGN ACADEMICS DEBATE WWI ARMENIAN MASSACRES

Agence France Presse — English
March 15, 2006 Wednesday 12:01 PM GMT

Some 70 Turkish and foreign academics gathered here on Wednesday for
a three-day conference to discuss whether the controversial massacres
of Armenians during World War I amounted to genocide or not.

In a rare move, the gathering, organised by the Istanbul state
university, offered the floor to academics of all convictions even
though it was largely dominated by historians and officials who defend
Turkey’s official position on the 1915-1917 killings.

Turkey categorically denies that Armenian subjects under its
predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, were victims of a genocide, but
acknowledges that at least 300,000 Armenians and as many Turks died
in civil strife during the last years of the empire.

Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in
orchestrated killings.

In the first session of the conference, Yair Auron, an Israeli
researcher of Jewish archives from Ottoman times, openly used the term
“genocide” and appealed on Turks to question their past.

“Every civil society has to deal with its past, including the black
pages of this past,” Auron said.

Books detailing the Armenian claims were also available at the entrance
to the conference hall in a rare move.

Turkey has only recently begun to openly discuss the taboo subject
of the Armenian massacres, which many countries have recognized
as genocide.

In September last year, a private Istanbul university hosted a
landmark conference organised by intellectuals disputing Ankara’s
official line on the mass killings, despite a court order to block it.

AZERBAIJAN READY FOR STABLE RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA – ALIYEV

Central Asia General Newswire
March 15, 2006 Wednesday 8:59 PM MSK

Yerevan’s pullout from occupied Azeri territories would help a return
to good neighborly relations with Armenia, Azeri President Ilham
Aliyev said.

“We don’t need anything extraordinary. We only want our land to be
freed from occupation and Armenian troops to leave, after which we
could live like good neighbors,” Aliyev told a Turkish delegation
attending the 2nd world congress of Azeris in Baku.

“If the Armenian leadership drops its claims against Turkey and
attempts to get the genocide of Armenians recognized, Armenian-Turkish
relations would return to normal, as well,” he said, “We live in this
region, we are neighbors and we are bound to live on together, but on
condition that separatism would be done away with, the aftermath of the
ethnic purges cleared, Azeri citizens would return to their historical
homeland and an end would be put to all territorial claims,” he said.

RUSSIAN SERVICEMEN NOT INVOLVED IN GEORGIAN RALLIES – COMMANDER

Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Military Newswire
March 15, 2006 Wednesday 1:08 PM MSK

Georgian claims that Russian servicemen participated in Akhalkalaki
rallies demanding a more effective probe into the March 8 murder
of a village resident of Armenian origin are groundless, Colonel
Igor Luzhnikov, deputy commander of the Russian 62nd base, told
Interfax-Military News Agency by phone on Wednesday.

“Servicemen of the 62nd base stationed in Akhalkalaki do not take
part in any rallies. All accusations made by Georgian officials are
unfounded,” he said.

The entire personnel of the base are engaged in planned training and
preparation of hardware and materiel for the upcoming withdrawal from
Georgia, Luzhnikov said.

“Taking into account the deterioration of the political situation
in the region, I was instructed to personally make sure that our
servicemen stay out of politics. Let me say with full responsibility
that there were no cases of their participation in rallies,”
he stressed.

Gigorgi Khachidze, Georgian presidential envoy to the Samtskhe-
Javakheti region, said earlier this week that local residents serving
at the 62nd Russian base have taken part in protest rallies.

Locals have been rallying in Akhalkalaki daily since March 11. They
demand a more efficient investigation into the March 8 murder of a
village resident of Armenian origin.

STATE DEPARTMENT REGULAR NEWS BRIEFING RE: AMB. EVANS

Congressional Quarterly
March 14, 2006 Tuesday

Speaker: J. Adam Ereli, State Department Deputy Spokesman

[parts omitted]

QUESTION: Mr. Ereli, on the DOS Web site, regarding yesterday’s
taken question about U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans’ status,
you have put quote, “genocide,” unquote, in quotes.

I’m wondering why, if you can say so.

ERELI: I think because it was referring to remarks that somebody made.

QUESTION: Do you know whether John Evans was recalled or whether he’s
been recalled due to his speech on Armenian genocide?

ERELI: I think the question was answered in the — that was answered
in the question posted.

QUESTION: Should DOS employees have been advised not to use the term,
quote, “genocide,” unquote, when discussing the extermination of the
(inaudible)?

ERELI: No, I think our guidance on that is the same. And we posted
that guidance last week.

QUESTION: Is it not true that Mr. Evans’ 35-year diplomatic career will
be shortened because of the remarks he made, saying that Armenians
were the victims of genocide, since the U.S. government or the State
Department doesn’t believe what happened was genocide? It doesn’t
fit the definition of genocide?

ERELI: I really don’t have anything more to add to what we posted.

QUESTION: Well, what you posted yesterday was a bit of a dodge.

ERELI: No. I think it’s the situation as it is.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: There is very strong reason to believe, in Congress and
elsewhere, that this man is going to lose out; he’s going to be
brought home early because of what he said.

ERELI: Look, I’d like to be able to — Ambassador Evans is our
ambassador and he continues to exercise that honor and privilege. And
he takes it seriously; we take it seriously. And I really don’t have
any more to add to that.

L’ECOLE DES SABLONS SE MOBILISE POUR ARTEN ET LEVON
par Emilie Rive

L’Humanite, France
15 mars 2006

Expulsion . Refusant d’examiner une demande d’asile, les autorites
retiennent en retention depuis sept jours une famille avec deux
enfants.

“Bonjour, vous nous manquez beaucoup. C’est difficile pour vous et
nous de ne plus vous voir. On est triste. On vous a soutenus toute
la semaine, pour que vous restiez en France, que vous reveniez a
l’ecole. Pour les droits de l’enfant, des peuples… ” La voix d’Axel
tremble en lisant ce message, hier midi, pour Arten (9 ans) et Levon
(7 ans), les deux enfants en retention depuis sept jours et qui en
etaient, hier matin, avec leurs parents, a deux refus d’embarquement.

Mohammed, avec son echarpe tricolore pour marquer sa qualite de
delegue des enfants, Romuald, Damien, Lena, Steven, Antony, Sandy,
Romain et Cathy, la plus petite, qui me tire par la manche, sont très
sombres. Samedi, ils ont dessine pour Arten et Levon. Lundi soir,
pendant une heure, dans le froid, ils ont hurle sans interruption
devant la prefecture du Rhône : ” Pas d’enfants en prison ! ” ” Quand
les parents sont sortis de la prefecture, ils etaient tout tristes,
racontent-ils. Et nous aussi. Il faut qu’Arten et Levon finissent
leur annee scolaire avec nous. En Russie, ils ne peuvent pas aller
a l’ecole. ” Les deux enfants ont une dizaine d’annees et sont
elèves de l’ecole des Sablons, a Decines. Cependant la prefecture
du Rhône ne partage pas leur emoi. Leur mère est Russe. Leur père,
qui est Armenien, n’a jamais obtenu de papiers en Russie. Ils ont ete
persecutes. Levon n’a pas pu terminer une annee scolaire, et il en
porte les stigmates : une cicatrice sur le front due a une bousculade
dans la cour, par racisme. Ils sont arrives en Europe par la Suède,
où ils ont fait une demande d’asile – qui leur a ete refusee.

” On nous dit que les lois sont les memes partout, explique Cecile
Dubois, de l’association des parents d’elèves. C’est faux. La Suède
a refuse leur dossier sans jamais les entendre. Ils ne sont jamais
passes devant un juge. C’est pour cela qu’ils sont venus ici. Ils ne
peuvent faire une demande d’asile en France qu’au bout d’un certain
temps. Et la prefecture joue la montre, elle veut les expulser avant
qu’ils puissent le faire, avant la fin de l’annee scolaire. Donc
elle ne respecte pas la circulaire qui doit proteger les enfants
scolarises. ” Une nouvelle expulsion etait programmee hier soir, vers
Goteborg, a 20 h 45. Les enfants s’organisaient dans l’après-midi
pour faire de nouveaux messages de sympathie, tandis que parents,
enseignants et elus se tenaient de nouveau prets a convaincre les
passagers de l’inhumanite de ce renvoi.

–Boundary_(ID_hXGh1O6Rqcdhjf55HVYd1A)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISCHE NATIONALISTEN DURFEN DOCH IN BERLIN MARSCHIEREN

Agence France Presse — German
Mittwoch, 15. Marz 2006

Turkische Nationalisten durfen in Berlin doch gegen den Vorwurf
des Volkermordes an den Armeniern demonstrieren. Das Berliner
Verwaltungsgericht gab dem Eilantrag der Organisatoren gegen
das von der Polizei verhangte Demonstrationsverbot statt, wie ein
Gerichtssprecher am Mittwoch mitteilte. Die Berliner Polizei kundigte
an, Rechtsmittel gegen die Entscheidung des Verwaltungsgerichts
einzulegen, um die Kundgebungen doch noch zu verhindern. Sie hatte
die fur Mittwoch und Samstag geplanten Demonstrationen mit der
Begrundung verboten, dass es dabei zur Verunglimpfung des Gedenkens
von Verstorbenen kommen konnte. Dass dieser Tatbestand erfullt ist,
daran hatte das Verwaltungsgericht erhebliche Zweifel, weshalb es
dem Eilantrag statt gab.

1915/1916 wurden im untergehenden osmanischen Reich tausende Armenier
massakriert. Armenien wirft den Turken vor, 1,5 Millionen Armenier bei
Vertreibungen gezielt ermordet zu haben und fordert die Anerkennung
als Volkermord. Die Turkei hat bisher lediglich eingeraumt, dass
damals mindestens 300.000 Armenier ermordet wurden.

Den Vorwurf des Volkermords weisen die Turken aber strikt zuruck. Die
Veranstalter vom “Verband der Vereine zur Forderung der Ideen Ataturks”
erwarteten zu der Kundgebung am Mittwoch etwa hundert Teilnehmer,
fur Samstag etwa 2000.

ERSTE DEMONSTRATION TURKISCHER NATIONALISTEN VERLAUFT FRIEDLICH

Agence France Presse — German
Mittwoch, 15. Marz 2006

Turkische Nationalisten haben am Mittwoch in Berlin die erste ihrer
umstrittenen Demonstrationen gegen den Vorwurf des Volkermordes
an den Armeniern abgehalten. Etwa 30 bis 40 Demonstranten hatten
sich versammelt, teilte ein Polizeisprecher mit. Zugleich hatten
etwa 30 Menschen dagegen protestiert. “Alles verlief friedlich”,
sagte der Sprecher weiter. Die großere Demonstration mit etwa 2000
Teilnehmern soll am Samstag in Berlin sein. Die Polizei wollte die
Aufmarsche verbieten, doch gab das Berliner Verwaltungsgericht dem
Eilantrag der Organisatoren gegen das Verbot statt. Ein Beschluss
des Oberverwaltungsgericht uber den Widerspruch stand noch aus.

Die Polizei hatte beide Demonstrationen mit der Begrundung verboten,
dass es dabei zur Verunglimpfung des Gedenkens von Verstorbenen
kommen konnte. Dass dieser Tatbestand erfullt ist, daran hatte das
Verwaltungsgericht erhebliche Zweifel, weshalb es dem Eilantrag der
Organisatoren statt gab.

Die Veranstalter vom “Verband der Vereine zur Forderung der
Ideen Ataturks” nehmen das Attentat auf den einstigen osmanischen
Innenminister Talaat Pascha zum Anlass fur die Demonstrationen, der
am 15. Marz 1921 in Berlin von einem Armenier erschossen worden war.

Grunen-Chefin Claudia Roth erklarte dazu: “Die in der Turkei aus dem
Boden gestampfte ‘Talaat-Pascha-Bewegung’ ruft in einer inakzeptablen
martialischen Sprache zu Protestaktionen in verschiedenen Stadten
Europas darunter auch in Berlin auf.” Sie sprach von einem
“Sammelsurium von ultranationalistischen, antieuropaischen und
rechtsextremistischen Kraften”, die eine EU-Annaherung der Turkei
verhindern wollten. Ziel sei auch die Revision der Beschlusse in
einigen europaischen Parlamenten.

Der Bundestag hatte am 16. Juni 2005 mit den Stimmen aller Fraktionen
eine Entschließung zum Gedenken an die turkischen Massaker an den
Armeniern verabschiedet. In der Resolution selbst ist nicht von
“Volkermord” die Rede, wohl aber in der Antragsbegrundung. Die
turkische Regierung hatte den Beschluss scharf kritisiert.

1915/1916 wurden im untergehenden osmanischen Reich tausende Armenier
massakriert. Armenien wirft den Turken vor, 1,5 Millionen Armenier bei
Vertreibungen gezielt ermordet zu haben und fordert die Anerkennung
als Volkermord. Die Turkei hat bisher lediglich eingeraumt, dass
damals mindestens 300.000 Armenier ermordet wurden.

Den Vorwurf des Volkermords weisen die Turken aber strikt zuruck.

–Boundary_(ID_sHuE/uKIKfkqiaX7IRnc+w)–