Genocide scholars again met with barrage of protests in Turkey

Associated Press Worldstream
September 25, 2005 Sunday 7:23 AM Eastern Time

Genocide scholars again met with barrage of protests in Turkey

by BENJAMIN HARVEY; Associated Press Writer

ISTANBUL, Turkey

Demonstrators throwing rotten tomatoes and eggs and shouting protests
again greeted scholars debating the killings of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks early in the 20th Century on the second day of their conference
on Sunday.

The passionately opposed conference is the first public discussion in
Turkey about the massacre of Armenians, and the European Union said
it would be seen as a test of freedom of expression in Turkey, which
is a candidate for EU membership.

The group of about 20 protesters outside the conference venue was
smaller than the hundreds who showed up on Saturday, and organizers
of the conference say Turks have been surprisingly supportive of
their efforts, despite some panelists suggesting that Ottoman Turks
committed the first genocide of the 20th Century.

Discussing the mass killings of Armenians has long been taboo in
Turkey, and scholars who use the word genocide can be prosecuted
under a clause in the Turkish penal code on insulting the national
character.

The academic conference had been canceled twice, once in May after
the justice minister said organizers were “stabbing the people in the
back,” and again on Thursday when an Istanbul court ordered the
conference closed and demanded to know the academic qualifications of
the speakers.

“This is a fight of ‘can we discuss this thing, or can we not discuss
this thing?”‘ Murat Belge, a member of the organizing committee, said
at the conference opening. “This is something that’s directly related
to the question of what kind of country Turkey is going to be.”

The Armenian issue stirs deep passions among Turks, who are being
pushed by many in the international community to say that their
fathers and grandfathers carried out the first genocide of the 20th
century.

“There are so many documents in hand with respect to the destruction
of Armenians,” said Taner Akcay, a Turkish-born professor at the
University of Minnesota, and author of books on the subject
including, “A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of
Turkish Responsibility.”

On Saturday dozens of officers in riot gear kept hundreds of shouting
protesters at bay. Some protesters pelted arriving panelists with
eggs and rotten tomatoes.

Inside, the audience of more than 300 people was restrained, as only
those invited by the organizing committee and preapproved members of
the media were allowed past security.

The issue has been a taboo for many years in Turkey, with those who
speak out against the killings risking prosecution by a Turkish
court. But an increasing number of Turkish academics have called for
a review of the killings in a country where many see the Ottoman
Empire as a symbol of Turkish greatness.

Several governments around the world have recognized the killings of
as many as 1.5 million Armenians in the late Ottoman Empire as
genocide.

Turkey vehemently denies the charge, admitting that many Armenians
were killed, but saying the death toll is inflated and that Armenians
were killed along with Turks in civil unrest and intercommunal
fighting as the Ottoman Empire collapsed between 1915 and 1923.

After the conference was shut down Thursday, Turkey drew condemnation
from the European Commission.

Organizers skirted the court order by changing the venue of the
conference.

The court-ordered cancellation Thursday was an embarrassment for the
country’s leaders, who are set to begin EU negotiations on Oct. 3.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul lamented that “there’s no one better at
hurting themselves than us,” and sent a letter wishing the organizers
a successful conference. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also
condemned the court’s decision, saying it did not befit a democratic
country.

The participants were all Turkish speakers and included members of
Turkey’s Armenian minority like Hrant Dink, the editor in chief of
Agos, a weekly Armenian newspaper in Istanbul. There are some 70,000
Armenians living in Istanbul.

RAO UES to give up management of Armenia nuclear power plant

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
September 24, 2005 Saturday 5:57 PM Eastern Time

RAO UES to give up management of Armenia nuclear power plant

By Tigran Liloyan

YEREVAN

Russia’s RAO UES electric monopoly announced its intention to give up
the financial management of the Armenian nuclear power plant, saying
it has fulfilled its task.

The Russian company informed the Armenian government that it had
completed the plant’s anti-crisis program and financial
normalization, Armenian Energy Minster Armen Movsesyan told Itar-Tass
on Saturday.

Earlier, a RAO official stated that after two years’ management of
the plant’s financial flows, it accumulated a sufficient floating
capital and paid its debts for the nuclear fuels and large bank
loans.

Movsesyan said in the event the plant is shut down, the real source
of the alternative energy would be either the construction of a new
facility, or the production of gas-generated electricity.

The option to build a new nuclear power plant seems to be most
advantageous, but the project requires 800 million dollars which
Armenia presently lacks.

Nevertheless, Movsesyan is confident that his country will have no
problems with the international public opinion regarding the
construction of a new nuclear facility.

The European Union has been urging Yerevan to close its only nuclear
power plant, but it stated that its shutdown is only possible if
alternative sources of energy are found.

The Armenian nuclear power plant, commissioned in 1979, was shut down
in 1989 after a devastating earthquake.

In 1996, Russia helped Armenian demothball the plant and restart its
second reactor. The plant accounts for 40 percent of all electricity
produced in Armenia.

Court ruling could harm Turkey’s bid to join EU

The Irish Times
September 24, 2005

Court ruling could harm Turkey’s bid to join EU

Nicholas Birch in Istanbul

TURKEY: In a decision widely seen as an attempt to sabotage Turkey’s
European Union hopes, an Istanbul court yesterday forced a major
state university to suspend a three-day conference on the fate of the
Ottoman Empire’s Armenians, for the second time.

Another university has said it would try to host the event.

Due to start today, the meeting would have been the first in the
country’s history to question official claims that it was
inter-ethnic war, not a deliberate state policy of mass murder, that
led to the deaths of up to one million in 1915.

The conference had been planned for this May, but was postponed after
Turkey’s justice minister accused organisers of “stabbing the country
in the back”. “If only I had not dispensed with my right to take them
to trial,” Cemil Cicek added.

Mr Cicek’s message was not lost on the judges of Istanbul’s 4th
Administrative Court.

Late on Thursday they informed Bosporus University the meeting
represented a potential breach of the peace and gave organisers 30
days to provide details about participants, speeches and funding,
information that has been known for months.

The writ is disingenuous, analysts say, and probably
unconstitutional.

Late on Thursday prime minister Tayyip Erdogan angrily described the
court’s decision as “incompatible with democracy, freedom and
modernity.”

With Turkey looking likely to start EU accession proceedings on
October 3rd, analysts describe the court’s involvement as evidence of
the depth of opposition to democratisation in bureaucratic and
judicial circles.

“It’s a copybook example of Turkey’s old political ideology”, said
political analyst Dogu Ergil. “Rather than accepting that the state
serves citizens, some still think everything citizens do must be
permitted by the state.”

Nowhere is the mentality that national interests supersede individual
freedoms clearer than in attitudes towards history.

Outside the gates of Bosporus University on Friday morning a group
opposed to the conference distributed leaflets describing
participants as “agents of imperialism . . . working to destroy the
country’s unity.”

“Turkey has the maturity and will to discuss 1915 democratically,”
said Bedri Baykam, opposition deputy and leader of the Patriotic
Movement. “Unfortunately, the other side has neither the courage nor
the brains.” Another protester dismisses conference participants as
agents of the Armenian genocide lobby.

It is a claim historian Aykut Kansu fiercely denies. His speech, he
points out, was due to be about Turks who saved Armenians.

“History in Turkey is too often seen as a matter of public policy,
adhering to ideology rather than free debate,” he says. “The taboo on
1915 is just an extreme version of that.” He knows all about the
political pressures on Turkish universities.

In July he was sacked from his history chair at a well-respected
private university for openly questioning near-hagiographical
official accounts of Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

The conference decision comes less than a month after another court
charged Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s best-known novelist, with “slandering
Turkey’s name.”

Pamuk could face up to three years in prison for telling a Swiss
newspaper this February that “one million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds”
had been killed in Turkey.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EU rebuke for Turkey after judges ban conference

The Independent (London)
September 24, 2005, Saturday

EU REBUKE FOR TURKEY AFTER JUDGES BAN CONFERENCE

BY STEPHEN CASTLE IN BRUSSELS

Turkey received a direct rebuke from the European Commission
yesterday after a Turkish court ordered the cancellation of a
conference of historians to discuss the massacre of Armenians early
in the last century.

Coming just 10 days before Ankara is due to open EU membership
negotiations, the court order prompted an unusually blunt
condemnation from the Commission, which described it as ‘yet another
provocation’.

Last night efforts were under way to salvage the conference and
bypass the legal ruling by holding it today at a new location.

But the court order, which was condemned by the Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, is a reminder of how far Turkey still needs to travel
to guarantee freedom of expression.

Evidence of the power of the conservatives in Turkish society is
likely to embolden critics of the country’s EU membership bid.
However Ankara’s supporters say that internal reforms will only
continue if Turkey is given the prospect of joining the bloc.

The row is unlikely to derail plans to start EU membership
negotiations on 3 October in Luxembourg. The two leading sceptics
over Turkey’s EU membership, France and Cyprus, have been placated by
language in a declaration stating that Ankara must recognise Cyprus
before it joins the EU. Austria is isolated in its efforts to inject
a new pledge that the negotiations could lead to a ‘privileged
partnership’ instead of full membership.

But the European Commission’s spokeswoman for enlargement, Krisztina
Nagy, said: ‘We strongly deplore this new attempt to prevent Turkish
society from freely discussing its history. The timing of this
decision the day before the opening of the conference looks like yet
another provocation.’ She said the court order ‘illustrates the
difficulties of Turkey, and in particular of the judiciary, to ensure
effective and uniform implementation of the reforms’.

The killing of Armenians during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire
remains a sensitive issue. A number of countries have recognised the
massacres as genocide though that description is flatly rejected by
Turkey.

The furore comes after one of Turkey’s most acclaimed writers, Orhan
Pamuk, was charged with insulting the country’s national character.
The charges, arising out of comments made on Turkey’s killing of
Armenians and Kurds, could lead to a prison sentence of up to three
years.

The conference, which had already been postponed once, was scheduled
to be held at Bogazici University. Aydin Ugur, president of Istanbul
Bilgi University, said the gathering would take place this morning at
Bilgi. He said the court’s order was directed at two other
universities, and had ‘nothing to do with Bilgi’. But Laurent
Leylekian, executive director of the European Armenian Federation,
said: ‘We would be surprised if this kind of conference takes place
in Turkey. There is no will in the government to open the Armenian
file because this issue is deeply linked with the founding of the
Turkish republic.’

One EU diplomat described the court order as ‘stupid’ but added: ‘It
is not going to cause a problem between now and 3 October. The EU has
been very ready to criticise but not so ready to come through with
its commitments.’

The Commission said it would note the issue in its annual report on
candidate countries which is used as a yardstick of the membership
preparation.

48 hours in Tehran

The Independent (London)
September 24, 2005, Saturday

48 HOURS IN TEHRAN;
IT MIGHT NOT BE AN OBVIOUS DESTINATION, BUT THE IRANIAN CAPITAL IS

BY ANDREW BURKE

Night market: vibrant red pomegranates in a bazaar (above); workers
on the Imam Khomeini grand mosque EPA; Reuters

WHY GO NOW?

Tehran is the big, buzzing, beating heart of one of the world’s
friendliest, most beautiful and misunderstood nations. Autumn weather
is ideal for exploring Iran’s dynamic capital.

TOUCH DOWN

British Mediterranean flies daily from Heathrow to Tehran on behalf
of British Airways (0870 850 9850; ). Iran Air (020-7409
0971; ) also offers non-stop flights three times a
week from Heathrow. From Birmingham, you can fly twice a week on
Mahan Air (0121 554 1555; ). Connections are
available in a wide range of cities, including Amsterdam, Istanbul
and Dubai. Emirates (0870 243 2222; ) flies via the
latter from Gatwick, Heathrow, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow.

Flights coming from or via the Gulf states land at the new Imam
Khomeini International Airport (Ikia), 35km south of Tehran; a taxi
into town costs about IR90,000 (£5.50). Flights from Europe arrive at
Mehrabad Airport and taxis from here cost about IR40,000 (£2.50).
>From October 2 all international flights are supposed to land at
Ikia, but you should check with your airline before you leave. Recent
liberalisation of immigration means that many travellers can get a
seven-day visa on arrival ” but unfortunately this does not include
British passport holders, who should check www.iran- embassy.org.uk
for details of red tape. Women are required to wear a headscarf in
any public place, including the airport.

GET YOUR BEARINGS

Tehran sprawls across the southern slopes of the Alborz Mountains and
follows a loose north-south grid. Southern Tehran is older and
poorer, but is also home to many of the sights and hotels. Valiasr
Avenue runs 17km from the train station in the south to the clearer
air of Tajrish in the north. It’s lined by shops virtually the whole
way, with brand- laden boutiques more prevalent the further north you
go. The slowly expanding Tehran Metro () is
useful, though taxis are cheap and easier. Incredibly for a city of
14 million, there is no tourist information office.

CHECK IN

The Laleh International Hotel (1) on Dr Hossein Fatemi Avenue (00 98
21 8896 5021; www.lalehhotel. com) overlooks central Laleh Park and
has doubles for $ 152 (£85). More fun is the Hotel Naderi (2) on
Jomhuri-ye Eslami Avenue (00 98 21 6670 1872), where for $ 30 (£18) a
large double room comes complete with bakelite telephones and
1950s-era furniture. Light sleepers should get a room at the back,
however. Downstairs, the Cafe Naderi is a meeting place of artists
and intellectuals. For budget travellers, the welcoming Firouzeh
Hotel (3) on Dolat Abadi Alley, just off Amir Kabir Street (00 98 21
311 3508; www.firouzeh hotel.com), is the best choice with spotless
doubles for IR120,000 (£7).

TAKE A HIKE

Begin at Tajrish Square (4) and walk up to Darband, a village on the
side of the mountain that has in recent years been swallowed by the
spread of the city. Tehranis love the teahouses and trails that
spread out from Darband, and hiking for a couple of hours on a Friday
afternoon before stopping for tea and qalyan (water pipe) is the
quintessential Tehran experience.

TAKE A RIDE

Take the Tehran Metro to Behesht-e Zahra (5), the vast cemetery where
tens of thousands of soldiers ‘martyred’ in the Iran-Iraq War are
buried. Wandering through the graves, each topped with a glass box
containing photos and mementoes, is quite sobering. From here, walk
over to the gargantuan Holy Shrine of Imam Khomeini (6), which is
still under construction 16 years after the ayatollah died.

WINDOW SHOPPING

Tehran Bazaar is the largest market in Iran and while there aren’t
many windows, the 10km of covered alleys are home to just about every
consumer item you can imagine. The various commodities are grouped
together, with alleys dedicated to spices, goldsmiths, cobblers,
tailors, tobacconists and, of course, Persian carpet merchants.
Forget about navigating, just walk through the main entrance (7) at
15 Khordad Avenue and wander. If it’s carpets you seek, never fear ”
the vendors will find you.

LUNCH ON THE RUN

For a quick meal it’s hard to beat dizi, a delicious soup-stew
combination of lamb, chickpeas and flat bread cooked and served in a
stone jar. You’ll find it in any chaykhuneh (teahouse), though the
Azari Traditional Restaurant (8) on Valiasr Avenue (00 98 21 5537
6702) and Agha Bozorg (9) at 28 Keshavarz Blvd (00 98 21 8890 0522)
are good options.

CULTURAL AFTERNOON

Start at the National Museum of Iran (10) on Si Tir Street (00 98 21
6670 2061) where remarkable exhibits from the ancient Persian capital
of Persepolis include a bull-headed stone capital, a cuneiform
inscription immodestly describing Xerxes closeness to the gods, and a
magnificent frieze of glazed tiles from the Apadana Palace. It’s open
9am-4.45pm daily except Monday, admission IR10,000 (60p). From the
museum, head south a couple of blocks to the Golestan Palace (11),
just off Ark Square. The numerous palaces were built by the Qajar
shahs (1779-1926), who helped pay for these and other excesses by
selling state assets. The palace (00 98 21 3311 3335;
) opens 9am-3pm daily except Sunday and
Thursday, admission IR4,000 (25p) per building.

AN APERITIF

Alcohol is not entirely banned in Iran. If you must have a drink,
then head to the Armenian Club (12) at 68 Khark Street (00 98 21 6670
0521). In this somewhat surreal place, Tehran’s Armenian Christian
community and non-Muslim visitors are permitted to drink (in
moderation, of course) with their meals ” and, if you are a woman,
you may take off your headscarf.

DINING WITH THE LOCALS

Khayyam Traditional Restaurant (13) on Khayyam Street (00 98 21 5580
0760) in southern Tehran serves a good range of Persian classics in a
wonderfully restored, 300-year-old building. More local is Khoshbin
Restaurant (14) on Sa’di Street (00 98 21 3390 2194), which
specialises in mouthwatering Caspian cuisine and the heavenly mirza
ghasemi. There’s no sign in English; look for fish in the window.

SUNDAY MORNING: GO TO CHURCH

The Armenian Christian community attends mass at Sarkis Cathedral
(15) on Karim Khan-e Zand Street. The 1960s cathedral is no Notre
Dame, but worshippers are welcome on Sundays.

OUT TO BRUNCH

Jaam-e Jam Food Court (16) on the corner of Valiasr Avenue and Taheri
Street doesn’t sound that exciting, but Iran’s first food court is
ideal for people-watching. Sit with coffee and pastry and watch
heavily made- up women make eyes at eligible young men.

A WALK IN THE PARK

With no pubs, Tehranis love hanging out in parks in the afternoons
and evenings. One of the busiest is Mellat Park (17), off Valiasr
Avenue, where young couples hone their flirting skills over tea,
ice-cream and, for the more energetic, paddleboats.

ICING ON THE CAKE

If you like the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London, you’re going to
love the National Jewels Museum (18) on Ferdosi Street (00 98 21 6446
3785). Here in an underground vault are displayed the pick of the
diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls and gold amassed by various
dynasties of Persian rulers. Highlights include the 182-carat Sea of
Light diamond; the 34kg Globe of Jewels, with its 51,366 precious
stones; and the Peacock Throne (though it’s not the one stolen from
India). The museum keeps short hours ” 2-4.30pm Saturday to Tuesday,
admission IR30,000 (£2) ” so time your run.

www.ba.com
www.iranair.com
www.mahanairlines.com
www.emirates.com
www.tehranmetro.com
www.golestanpalace.org

Turkish academics grasp nettle on Armenians

Financial Times (London, England)
September 23, 2005 Friday
London Edition 1

Turkish academics grasp nettle on Armenians: Bosphorus University is
hoping to avoid trouble this weekend when it finally holds a
controversial conference,

By VINCENT BOLAND

There is no moresensitive issue in Turkey’s 20thcentury history. The
country’s most celebrated writer faces jail for mentioning it. But
this weekend Bosphorus University plans to go ahead with a
conference, on the fate of Turkish Armenians at the end of the
Ottoman empire, that has been delayed for months after a government
minister accused the university of treason.

The meeting will be the first to discuss the issue outside official
control and will be closely watched for any hint that Turkey’s
democratic credentials fail to meet the standards expected of a
candidate for European Union membership.

As it prepares to begin the long process of joining the EU, Ankara
seems ready to address many contentious issues, such as Cyprus or the
plight of the country’s ethnic Kurds. But it appears paralysed on the
question of the Armenians.

Armenia claims that 1.5m Armenians died as a result of genocide by
Ottoman troops beginning in 1915, before the republic of Turkey was
created. Turkey maintains the death toll was much lower and that the
deaths were caused by deportation, war and hunger. Many historians
and some governments take Armenia’s side.

Two recent events highlight the sensitivity of the issue and what
could be at stake in this weekend’s conference, which will be
attended and addressed solely by Turkish historians. When the
university announced the gathering, to be held originally in late
May, there were fierce protests by republican and nationalist
politicians and academics at other universities and a government
minister accused the institution of “stabbing the country in the
back”.

The university capitulated, worried that hundreds of students from
universities in Anatolia, which are far more nationalist than
Bosphorus, would descend on the conference and disrupt the
proceedings. It rescheduled the conference for this weekend, with far
less publicity and a heightened sense of security.

The second event, which has given the conference proceedings added
significance, is the prosecution of Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s most
celebrated writer. Earlier this year he told a foreign magazine that
“30,000 Kurds and 1m Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody
but me dares to talk about it”. He has now been charged with the
“public denigration of Turkish identity” for this statement, and
faces up to three years in jail if convicted in a trial set for
December.

The fact that this weekend’s conference is going ahead is a small
victory for civil rights in Turkey, while Mr Pamuk’s prosecution is a
large setback.

It is possible to discuss Armenia today in a way that was not
possible five years ago, some commentators say, but only on certain
terms. Ragip Duran, a journalist and communications lecturer at
Galatasaray University who has been jailed for his work, says: “It is
OK to talk about sensitive issues (such as Armenia), but only in a
certain national context. The Orhan Pamuk case is the best example of
the breaking of this taboo.”

The conference is not adopting Mr Pamuk’s provocative stance. Ayhan
Aktar, a professor at Marmara University who will attend, says it is
not aimed specifically at discussing or endorsing the genocide claim,
as some of its critics alleged in May, although participants may
choose to do so. The title of the proceedings – Ottoman Armenians
during the era of Ottoman decline – is neutral.

Still, it is significant that the conference is going ahead before
October 3, when Turkey begins its EU accession process.

The controversy in May rattled the government, despite the
contribution to the affair of Cemil Cicek, the justice minister, who
made the “treason” allegation against Bosphorus University.

Several participating academics say the government, which likes to
trumpet its pluralist instincts, urged the university to reschedule
the event for this weekend.

Nonetheless, ministers are being careful not to be identified too
closely with the event and the publicity it is sure to generate.
According to the university, there will be no official presence.

That is unlikely to affect the quality of the debate. But whether it
affects the public perception of the conference and its findings
remains to be seen.

Azerbaijan police crack down on protest over activist

Agence France Presse — English
September 23, 2005 Friday 2:57 PM GMT

Azerbaijan police crack down on protest over activist

BAKU

Police in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan violently
disbanded a demonstration Friday where protesters demanded the
release from custody of a youth activist.

Some 40 police officers charged a group of 15 peaceful demonstrators
as they unraveled signs that read “Free Said Nuri,” a leader of the
Yeni Fikir (New Idea) youth protest movement who was arrested and
hospitalized after being questioned earlier this month.

Police were seen punching demonstrators in the chest before the
protestors fled while one man who appeared to be a plain-clothes
security official was seen hitting Razi Nurullayev, a candidate in
upcoming parliamentary elections.

“We tried to use the Georgian method and protest peacefully but they
just charged us” one of the demonstrators, Murad Gassanly said in
reference to the popular revolt that toppled a regime in neighboring
Georgia in 2003.

Demonstrators included members of three protest movements — Yeni
Fikir, Magam and Yokh — which have modeled themselves on groups that
played a lead role in peaceful revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine.

The crackdown comes just before this strategically important oil-rich
nation — sandwiched between Russia and the Middle East — holds
parliamentary elections in November.

“This is very bad for Azeri society because they came for a peaceful
protest,” said Nurullayev, who leads the Yokh opposition youth
movement.

Police who broke up the demonstration refused to identify themselves
or explain their reasons for acting against protestors while Interior
Ministry officials left phones unanswered on Friday.

Nuri was arrested earlier this month for questioning in connection
with alleged plot hatched by the protest movement to overthrow the
Azeri regime.

Two other Yeni Fikir activists have been arrested for anti-government
activity which the authorities allege was backed by Azerbaijan’s foe
Armenia and the Washington-based National Democratic Institute.

Both Armenia — with which Azerbaijan fought a war in the early
1990’s — and the US democracy advocacy group have denied the
allegations.

Nuri was hospitalized two days after his arrest with acute liver
failure in what the opposition said might be a case of police
brutality.

After his hospitalization became public, prosecutors announced they
were not pressing charges against him.

Nevertheless access to the 20-year-old continues to be blocked by a
police detachment over 10 days after his detention.

Azerbaijani law allows for suspects to be held for a maximum of 48
hours without charge.

TBILISI: Armenians living in Georgia demand autonomy for Javakheti

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
September 24, 2005 Saturday

Armenians living in Georgia demand autonomy for Javakheti district

By Tengiz Pachkoria

TBILISI

Organizations of ethnic Armenians living in southern Georgia have
asked the country’s leadership to consider “a federal structure for
Georgia” and to provide “the status of an autonomous territory” for
Javakheti district.

The appeal was issued at a congress of Armenian organizations of the
Samtskhe-Javakheti region that was held in the town of Akhalkalaki
Saturday.

Ethnic Armenians make up the majority of population in two of the
region’s five districts – Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda, although they
all also live in other parts of the Samtskhe-Javakheti territory.

The congress brought together about 300 activists of the
organizations Virk, Javakh and Young People’s Union, who discussed a
bill wherein the Georgian parliament proposed self-government for
various parts of the country.

The ethnic Armenian activists also asked the Georgian government to
speed up the scrutiny of job-placement opportunities for local
population, since many people are going to lose jobs after Russia
closes a military base in Akhalkalaki.

“Georgian authorities have taken a range of important steps recently
to solve social and economic problems of this territory and to
rehabilitate roads, but they solved far from all the problems,
including jobs for the people,” participants in the forum said.

“The situation with jobs may aggravate after the pullout of the
Russian military base [Russia is due to close its bases in Batumi and
Akhalkalaki in 2008 – Itar-Tass] where thousands of local residents
are working now,” one of the speakers said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Loophole allows Armenian genocide conference to go ahead in Turkey

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
September 23, 2005, Friday
14:47:17 Central European Time

Loophole allows Armenian genocide conference to go ahead in Turkey

ANKARA

An academic conference in Istanbul looking into the events of 1915
during which hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed is set to
go ahead despite a court injunction, after organizers discovered a
legal loophole in the court order on Friday.

The injunction bans the conference venue but not the meeting itself,
which is now to take place Saturday at a new location.

The events of more than 90 years ago are still a sore topic in
Turkey. Armenian historians claim that as many as 1.5 million
Armenians were killed when they rose up in revolt against the
crumbling Ottoman Empire during the First World War and that the
massacres constituted genocide. The official Turkish line is that
while many Armenians may have died in the struggle it was not
genocide.

More than a dozen European countries have passed resolutions
specifically stating that the events of 1915 did constitute a
genocide and that Turkey should accept this and make appropriate
apologies.

In a decision blasted by the Turkish government and E.U. officials,
the Istanbul 4th Administrative Court, acting on a request from a
nationalist group called the Lawyers Union Foundation, ordered that
the conference be cancelled.

But it emerged on Friday that the order only applied to Istanbul’s
Bogazici and Sabanci universities where the conference was to take
place and not other universities in Turkey.

Bilgi University, also in Istanbul, later announced it would allow
the conference to take place on its campus on Saturday, a day later
than originally planned.

“The court decision has not only trampled upon academic and
university autonomy as it is universally understood but also
trespassed very strongly on freedom of expression … as well as the
Turkish constitution itself,” Halil Berktay, a member of the
organizing committee told reporters Friday.

This week’s postponement is the second delay to hit the conference.
Organizers cancelled the original May 25 date after Justice Minister
Cemil Cicek described the gathering as a “stab in the back”.

Cicek has since tempered his comments and on Friday said that the
conference could go ahead but told NTV television that he didn’t
regard the timing as appropriate.

The controversy comes two weeks after prosecutors filed charges
against Turkey’s internationally famous author Orhan Pamuk for
“denigrating the country” when he told a Swiss news magazine that “a
million Armenians were killed”. Pamuk faces up to three years
imprisonment if found guilty.

The conference organisers expect protests from ultra-nationalists and
the gathering is likely to take place under tight security. dpa cw sr

Russian experience may be useful for Armenian pension reform – pres

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
September 23, 2005 Friday

Russian experience may be useful for Armenian pension reform – pres

By Tigran Liloyan

YEREVAN

Russian experience may be useful for the pension reform in Armenia,
President Robert Kocharyan told Russian Pension Fund head Gennady
Batanov on Friday, the presidential press service said.

Russia is ready for more active cooperation with Armenia, and an
agreement to be signed on Saturday will be a part of it, Batanov
said.