Azeri court sentences three servicemen for Armenian conspiracy in October 2005
Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
18 Mar 06
[Presenter] Counter-intelligence measures have established that a
junior warrant officer of a military unit of the Azerbaijani Defence
Ministry, Ruslan Bakirov, 21, who was in Armenian captivity from 15
February to 7 May last year, was involved in secret collaboration
with Armenia’s special services. It was also identified that Bakirov,
a conscript from the Samkir District conscription office, received
instructions from Armenia to commit terrorist acts, the public
relations department of the Azerbaijani National Security Ministry
has said.
[Correspondent, over video of Bakirov, archive footage] Ruslan
Bakirov was deceived by the Armenians together with his subordinate
privates, Xayal Abdullayev, 20, and Hikmat Tagiyev, 23, into
committing high treason by deserting into the enemy side while
standing on duty. Immediately after being released with the help of
the International Committee of the Red Cross, Ruslan Bakirov admitted
that he had been involved in secret collaboration with the Armenians.
However, measures later proved that his confession was part of the plan
prepared by the Armenian special services. The serviceman voluntarily
unveiled the truth following counter-intelligence measures.
It became known that the Armenian special services worked purposefully
to collaborate with Ruslan Bakirov, Xayal Abdullayev and Hikmat
Tagiyev. Seven meetings were held with Ruslan Bakirov, who confirmed
his secret collaboration in writing and on a video recording. They
gave him the nickname Ramin, agreed on communication methods and
promised to give him a reward of 3,000-4,000 dollars for carrying out
every assignment. An employee of the Armenian special services, who
introduced himself as Rudik, briefed Ruslan Bakirov on his activities
after returning to Azerbaijan. One of Bakirov’s main targets would
be the Azerbaijani president.
[Ruslan Bakirov] They told me to go and check along which route the
presidential motorcade moves, mine the road and explode it.
[Correspondent] Bakirov would also carry out explosions on the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline [carrying Caspian oil to world
markets], gas pipes, at Heydar Aliyev International Airport, photograph
different strategic installations and send the images to Armenia.
The prosecution has proven all the charges. The Military Court on
Grave Crimes on 7 October 2005 ruled to sentence Ruslan Bakirov and
Xayal Abdullayev to 12 years and Hikmat Tagiyev to 11 years in prison.
Irada Mammadova for “Son Xabar” [programme].

Daniel Fried turns to the Armenian Gencide issue in Ankara
ArmRadio
18.03.2006 14:16
“The issue of acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide is a complex
question, which should be daringly discussed by the two parties,”
Assistant to the US Secretary of State Daniel Fried said during his
visit to Ankara.
Following the meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs Daniel Fried declared that it is necessary to evaluate the
tragedies of the past years, since the people should think about
their future. The American diplomat underlined that “the position of
the Unites States on this issue is known. US President George Bush
will most probably make a traditional annual statement on the issue
in April.”
Daniel Fried added that the issue of Washington’s demand to open the
border with Armenia was addressed during the discussions in Ankara.

Turkish nationalists protest in Berlin over resolution on Armenians
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 18, 2006, Saturday
13:05:49 Central European Time
Berlin
More than 2,000 Turkish nationalists demonstrated in Berlin on Saturday
in support of denials that a genocide of Armenians took place under
the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
The protestors demanded among other things the repeal of a resolution
passed by a unanimous vote in the German parliament last year that
called on Turkey to hold an open dialogue on the Armenian massacre.
The resolution has contributed to a rift between Germany and Turkey.
According to independent estimates, more than a million Armenians
were killed in the massacre.
A Berlin court on Friday allowed the demonstration to take place under
strict conditions, included not characterizing the Armenian massacre
as a lie in either speech or on placards.
The march had originally been banned by the police. dpa fse bk mga cb

Destructive power of the architecture of war
Canberra Times (Australia)
March 18, 2006 Saturday
Final Edition
ROBERT BEVAN appraises “the power of the built form”, architecture,
but from one peculiar, critical angle only. The Destruction of Memory
examines how monumental, venerable buildings can contribute to our
national sense of ourselves, and, conversely, how their destruction
in war constitutes “ethnic cleansing or genocide by other means”.
Bevan assesses our lamentable war-time record of destroying buildings,
monuments, even whole cities, as a way of wrecking our enemies’
morale and rooting out their national memory. As he notes, “There is a
bestial carousel quality to the past century’s destructive acts.” Bevan
concentrates on “enforced forgetting”, through “destruction of cultural
artefacts of an enemy people or nation as a means of dominating,
terrorising, dividing or eradicating it altogether”.
His review of our destructiveness covers much familiar ground: the
demolition of 6000 monasteries in Tibet; the fire-bombing of Dresden;
9/11; the blowing up of the Bamiyan Buddhas; the architectural
dimension of the Armenian genocide; and, particularly, the wholesale
devastation in the recent Balkans wars.
Bevan graduated from being an “architecturally obsessed child”
to editing the British architectural magazine, Building Design. His
fascination with his subject sometimes tempts him into academic jargon
(“commodification” or “the physicality of politics”) or esoteric
digressions (Lacanian mirror theory lost me). There is, though,
a lot of robust common sense in this book.
He is especially good on the conquistadors’ assaults on the New World,
“the world’s largest-ever cultural and human genocide”. He is thorough
and interesting on wanton destruction of mosques, libraries and bridges
in Bosnia. He is well read and acute in a commentary on the burning of
Anglo-Irish “big houses” during the Irish civil war, as well as on the
attentiveness of factions in Islam to sacred spaces and geometry. He
even complains about the deleterious impact of helicopter movements
at a current United States base on the site of ancient Babylon.
That selection of examples demonstrates the eclectic charms in The
Destruction of Memory. The text is complemented by grainy but poignant
black-and-white photographs, before-and-after shots which show what
we have lost. Sometimes we have lost what we had never known. I had
never heard of the five Armenian churches clustered among mountains
at Khitzhonk, but, on the basis of these pictures, am prepared to
mourn their passing.
Bevan invites a few quarrels. I would argue with his account of
Jerusalem, especially the eccentric suggestion that the city’s streets
are now “viscous with local people and lifeless lacunae”. Generally,
though, allowing for the abundance of jargon at the start, this book
makes its case admirably. Bevan’s hero seems to be the German general,
von Choltitz, the man who defied the Fuhrer’s orders to blow up Paris,
saving for all of us what may still be the most beautiful city in
the world.
Another book (or a second one by Bevan) might explain why some sites
which have been utterly destroyed (such as Troy, or Carthage) remain
so evocative. That book could remark on our occasional restraint,
perhaps using the American reluctance to bomb Japan’s ancient capital,
Kyoto, as an example.
Other scholars could also hazard a guess on why Australians seem
so little attached to our built environment. We would lament the
destruction of the MCG, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, but
that is about the sum of our list of architectural icons. We need to
understand more about where our idea of the past actually resides;
Pierre Ryckmans has done absorbing work on that subject in relation
to China. Where past and present intersect, in a building as in a
song or a myth, we obtain a clearer insight into those lies which we
collectively agree to tell to each other about ourselves.
Mark Thomas is a Canberra reviewer.

Lyon: rassemblement houleux contre la construction d’un memorial armenien
Agence France Presse
18 mars 2006 samedi 2:37 PM GMT
Un rassemblement d’associations franco-turques contre la construction
d’un memorial du genocide armenien s’est tenu, samedi après-midi dans
le centre de Lyon, sous les huees de centaines de personnes, dont
certains manifestants anti-CPE, a constate un journaliste de l’AFP.
Plus d’un millier de manifestants franco-turcs ont investi la place
Bellecour, arborant drapeaux et pancartes indiquant: “non au memorial
d’un pretendu genocide” ou “il n’y a jamais eu de genocide armenien”,
et entonnant des chants nationaux.
Aucun chiffre sur le nombre de manifestants n’a ete fourni par
la police.
Des etudiants et lyceens qui venaient de participer a la manifestation
anti-CPE, qui a reuni en matinee de 10.000 a 25.000 personnes, ainsi
que des passants, ont hue et invective le cortège.
Sur la place Bellecour, un cordon de policiers s’est aussitôt mis
en place entre les deux groupes, separes egalement par le service
d’ordre des associations franco-turques.
Des gendarmes mobiles ont ensuite fait usage de gaz lacrymogènes pour
disperser les etudiants, qui commencaient a jeter des bouteilles en
direction des forces de l’ordre. Ces dernières ont elargi le perimètre
de securite separant les deux camps.
Annoncee en avril 2003, par le senateur-maire PS de Lyon, Gerard
Collomb, la construction du memorial du genocide armenien est suspendue
a un avis de la commission regionale des sites.
Les massacres et deportations d’Armeniens sous l’empire Ottoman,
de 1915 a 1917, ont fait 1,5 million de morts, selon les Armeniens,
entre 300.000 et 500.000, selon Ankara qui rejette categoriquement
la qualification de genocide.
La France a reconnu le genocide armenien en 2001.
–Boundary_(ID_bNJI7NiquoIJPH0Zk0Pnrg)–

Genocide armenien: plus de 2.000 nationalistes turcs manifestent a Berlin
Agence France Presse
18 mars 2006 samedi 1:29 PM GMT
Plus de 2.000 nationalistes turcs ont manifeste samedi a Berlin
pour protester contre les accusations de genocide a l’encontre de
la Turquie concernant le massacre d’Armeniens entre 1915 et 1917,
selon les organisateurs.
Les manifestants ont reclame le retrait d’une resolution du Bundestag
(chambre basse du parlement) appelant l’an dernier au dialogue sur
les massacres massifs des Armeniens sous l’empire Ottoman en 1915/1916.
Ce texte avait suscite a l’epoque des tensions dans les relations
germano-turques.
Les massacres et deportations d’Armeniens sous l’empire Ottoman,
de 1915 a 1917, ont fait 1,5 million de morts, selon les Armeniens,
entre 300.000 et 500.000, selon Ankara qui rejette categoriquement
la qualification de genocide.
La manifestation prevue initiamement mercredi avait ete interdite
par la police lundi a Berlin avant d’etre autorisee vendredi par la
Haute Cour administrative de Berlin sous conditions.
Toutes les affiches et banderoles ont dû etre montrees a la police
au cours de cette manifestation où il etait interdit de qualifier le
genocide armenien de mensonge.
A Francfort (ouest), plusieurs milliers de Kurdes se sont rassembles
samedi a l’occasion du Newroz, la fete du nouvel an kurde du 21 mars,
pour reclamer la reconnaissance de leur culture et de leur langue
par Ankara et protester contre l’oppression dont ils font l’objet
en Turquie.
Ils ont egalement demande la liberation du chef separatiste kurde
Abdullah Ocalan, arrete le 15 fevrier 1999 au Kenya et incarcere a
vie sur l’île-prison d’Imrali, dans le nord-ouest de la Turquie.
–Boundary_(ID_Y3HKloOlJjIp7rM0XuYSew)–

IS THERE PRESSURE ON ORINATS YERKIR?
Iragir/am
18/03/06
“I do not know about attempts of pressing the Orinats Yerkir Party, and
I have no information on this,” stated the chairman of the Committee
of Defense, Internal Affairs and Security, deputy chairman of the
Orinats Yerkir Party, Mher Shahgeldyan on March 18.
He actually denied that the government presses those members of
the party who run or used to run businesses to hamper the political
aspirations of the Orinats Yerkir Party. He declined to comment on
the police search in the house of Member of Parliament Gagik Avetyan,
saying that the member of parliament himself, as well as the leaders
and members of the political party have made relevant statements.
Mher Shahgeldyan thinks it is useless to try to influence the decisions
of the Orinats Yerkir, because the party has considerable potential
for making independent decisions on its further political activities.
“We make our plans ourselves. The Orinats Yerkir Party is the biggest
political force in Armenia. The Orinats Yerkir has considerable
potential and has an important role in both internal and external
affairs. The leader of the party also has a considerable importance
and authority in internal and external policies. This potential
and importance is so big that we decide on our plans,” says Mher
Shahgeldyan.
With regard to specific plans he is even less wordy. Mher Shahgeldyan
is reluctant to state how and with who the political party will run
for the parliament in 2007. He only says that the Orinats Yerkir
Party will do what it will find adequate, which is a matter of time.
The relation with the coalition is, according to Mher Shahgeldyan,
also a matter of time. Only the period before the election, more
exactly the pre-election period, is definite. It has been set down
in a memorandum which marks the solidarity of the opposition over
this period, says the member of parliament.
However, even the memorandum and even over this period will not
guarantee peace for the coalition. And the next thunder may happen
during the upcoming four-day meeting on March 20. The government is
going to raise again the question of amendments to the law on energy
directed at diversification of nuclear energy. The bill was introduced
during the previous four-day meeting, and underwent strictures on
behalf of the Orinats Yerkir in particular. The political party
thinks that private capital cannot be given a deciding role in the
sphere. Therefore, the vote to the project was put off, but the
government does not seem to be likely to change their initiative
essentially. On March 18 Mher Shahgeldyan announced that the standpoint
of their party was unchanged either. “We think that the state should
have a deciding role in the sphere of nuclear energy. We think it is
absolute that the state must be the main shareholder of this nuclear
plant or the nuclear plant that will be built,” says Mher Shahgeldyan.

NKR CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION SUMMONED A SITTING AT LAST
Iragir/am
18/03/06
NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan conducted the recurrent sitting o the
NKR Constitutional Commission, during which the first two chapters
of the draft constitution of NKR were discussed.
After the address of the head of the working group Armenia Zalinyan,
who is member of the Constitutional Commission, a debate among
the representatives of the political forces of NKR, including the
leaders and high officials of the government and the opposition in
the commission followed. The press secretary of the NKR president
informed us about this.
The president emphasized the importance of compliance of the
constitution to the adopted with the international standards. Arkady
Ghukasyan said the final draft of the constitution will be presented
not only to the political forces and public in NKR but also the
authoritative experts of Armenia and the world.
The president instructed the working group to prepare the schedule
of further activity of the Constitutional Commission.
By the way, the constitution has been worked out for the past several
years. This fact has even given rise to doubts. Some people say the
Constitution will be adopted on the eve of presidential election.
Analysts have noticed that President Ghukasyan gave the instruction
of working out the schedule of adoption of the constitution after his
“argument” with President Kocharyan. He might have felt the necessity
to strengthen his position.

ELECTION 2007 TO OPEN AN IMPORTANT WINDOW FOR ARMENIA
Iragir/am
18/03/06
In the modern world democratization is a global mechanism of security,
underlying the strategy of the national security of Armenia too,
said Mher Shahgeldyan, the chairman of the Committee of Defense,
Internal Affairs and National Security, during the news conference
at the Azdak Club on March 18.
Mher Shahgeldyan thinks that the elections in 2007 and 2008 may be
a window of democratization for Armenia. The member of parliament
views the statement of the US State Department Official that the
United States uses its resource to build upward democracy in Armenia
in this context.
“Democracy, in fact, is an upward process. By saying upward democracy
I understand activity of citizens, adoption of laws directed at
establishing civil institutes within the National Assembly, legislative
improvement of electoral mechanisms. Today, for instance, a peculiar
situation has emerged at the National Assembly when all the political
forces have come to an agreement on changes in the Electoral Code,”
says Mher Shahgeldyan, adding that it will greatly favor democratic,
transparent elections.
“For Armenia the parliamentary election 2007 will be deciding. As
to the promotion of democracy, I think this assistance is a normal
thing,” says Mher Shahgeldyan with regard to the intention of the
United States.

AMBASSADOR OF IRAN THREATENS AZERBAIJAN
Iragir/am
18/03/06
“We’ll see what the result of such statements for Azerbaijan will
be. Though I am the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran
to Azerbaijan, I am one of the Azerbaijanis of Iran. Both Iran and
Azerbaijan are my Homeland. Some people can hardly earn their living,
but they make claims, interfere with the internal affairs of Iran.
Naturally this will not benefit Azerbaijan,” stated Afshar Suleymani,
the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Azerbaijan on
March 17.
The ambassador is dissatisfied with the statements of Javad Derehteyi,
the president of the World Congress of Azerbaijanis, during the second
congress of the Azerbaijanis of the world on the problem of the 35
million Azerbaijanis living in Iran.
The Ambassador of Iran assessed the address of Javad Derehteyi as an
interference with the internal affairs of Iran. The Iranian diplomat
thinks there are a number of Azerbaijanis in Iran who could have an
important role in establishing the Azerbaijani lobby in the world.
“There are a number of political parties and organizations in Iran,
which are trying to take certain actions in the country. We do not
create favorable conditions for them. In the meantime, such statements
may give rise to serious problems in the future. It is necessary to
put an end to this kind of speculations. The state should not allow
anyone to damage the interests of another state during an official
meeting. Such people do not benefit Azerbaijan,” the Iranian ambassador
Afshar Suleymani told the Azerbaijani journalists.
He said he knew what is hiding under such statements. “They want to
unite and create one Azerbaijan. But let them not even dream of this,”
said the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Azerbaijan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress