NOVELIST IN TURKEY SAID TO BE CHARGED WITH INSULTING NATION
By Amberin Zaman, Los Angeles Times | September 1, 2005

Boston Globe, MA
Sept 1 2005

ANKARA, Turkey — Orhan Pamuk, one of Turkey’s best-known novelists,
has been charged with insulting the nation and its people by speaking
out against the mass deaths of Armenians during and after World War
I and the more recent killings of Kurds, his publisher said yesterday.

Pamuk will go on trial in December and could face three years in prison
under the country’s revised penal code, which deems denigrating Turks
and Turkey a punishable offense, the Iletisim Publishing House said
in its written statement.

Turkish officials declined to comment on the charges. Another law
prohibits Pamuk from commenting on his case while it is still pending.

Pamuk drew nationalist ire here and received anonymous death threats
after he told the Swiss daily Tagesanzeiger in an interview published
Feb. 6 that “30,000 Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed . . .
and nobody but me dares to talk about it.”

Turkey has long denied that more than 1 million members of its
once thriving Armenian community were the victims of systematic
annihilation, a campaign that Armenians and many others have labeled
genocide. The government position is that several hundred thousand died
as a result of exposure, famine, and disease as they journeyed to Syria
after being deported for collaborating with invading Russian forces.

Pamuk’s most recent best-selling novel, “Snow,” explores tensions
between Turkey’s secular elite and religious conservatives.

News of Pamuk’s case came a day before European Union foreign ministers
were to meet in Wales, primarily to discuss Turkey. The EU has long
cited Turkey’s checkered record on human rights as the chief obstacle
to its membership in the 25-nation bloc.

Turkey won a date to open membership talks after its parliament passed
numerous reforms that, among other steps, eased restrictions on the
language spoken by the country’s large Kurdish minority. The talks
are scheduled to begin Oct. 3. Several countries, including France,
are seeking to block Turkey’s entry amid mounting public opposition
to the inclusion of a large, poor, and predominantly Muslim country.

Other critics charge that Turkey’s new penal code, which came into
force in June, still falls short of EU standards by proscribing free
debate of the Armenian tragedy and criticism of Turkey’s 1974 invasion
of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TAJIK MINISTER OBSERVES CIS AIR DEFENCE DRILL IN RUSSIA

Asia-Plus news agency website
30 Aug 05

Dushanbe, 30 August: Today Tajik Defence Minister Sherali Khayrulloyev
is attending the final stage of the joint exercise of the CIS
Integrated Air Defence System called Combat Commonwealth-2005, which
is being held at the Russian Ashuluk military range, a source at the
Tajik Defence Ministry has told Asia-Plus.

It will be recalled that formations and units from the air defence
troops and air forces of the four CIS countries – Armenia, Belarus,
Russia and Tajikistan – are taking part in the exercise.

The surface-to-air missile battalion of the Tajik air defence forces
is representing Tajikistan in the exercise.

[Passage omitted: Known details of the exercise]

VOTING ON CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS DELAYED

A1+

| 20:10:52 | 30-08-2005 | Politics |

Due to the insufficient number of deputies present in the NA hall
today the voting on the first reading of constitutional amendments
that was scheduled for today was postponed till tomorrow.

ARMENIA SEEKS NATO’S HELP TO REFORM ARMY

Mediamax news agency
30 Aug 05

Yerevan, 30 August: Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan today
said in Yerevan that “the effective implementation of the Individual
Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) will bring our relations with NATO to
a new level”.

Speaking at a briefing in Yerevan today, the Armenian foreign minister
said that the IPAP’s presentation document submitted to the NATO
headquarters in mid-June “has received a high assessment”. Oskanyan
also said that “in the document, Armenia expressed its intention to
carry out permanent consultations with NATO on issues of foreign
policy and security, as well as modernize and reform our defence
system with the help of NATO members and on their example”.

Oskanyan said that for the next five-six months Armenia and NATO have
been planning to complete the elaboration of the IPAP outlining all
measures and terms of their fulfilment.

FATHER AND SON; PULL THEIR WEIGHT
Glenn Fisher

Knox News (Australia)
August 30, 2005 Tuesday

KNOX is set to be represented with a history-making combination at
the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Apart from Opals women’s basketball squad members Hollie Grima and
Samantha Richards, triple Olympian Russell Lavale and elite athlete
with a disability swimmer Rod Welsh, there are two other locals
desperately fighting for berths on the Australian team.

Rowville weightlifters Yurik and David Sarkisian are aiming to become
the first father and son combination to represent their country at
the same international competition.

Yurik is ranked number one in the country in the 62kg division and
number three in the 69kg division, while his 19-year-old son is ranked
number one in the 69kg division.

David has come a long way in a short time in the tough world of
weightlifting, winning last year’s Commonwealth Youth Games with an
overall total of 260kg, a total on which he improved by 15kg earlier
this year.

His 44-year-old father has won more than 600 medals in national and
international events, including a silver medal at the 1980 Moscow
Olympic Games when representing the former USSR.

After moving to Australia from Armenia in the early 1990s, Yurik has
gone on to represent his adopted country at the 1996 Atlanta and 2000
Sydney Olympics, as well as the 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Wantirna teenager Welsh last year had an ambition to make the Athens
Paralympic team and win gold and he did so in fine style in freestyle,
backstroke and medley events.

Grima and Richards are two of the youngest members of the Opals’ squad.

The 190cm Grima is an integral part of the Knox Raiders in the
South-East Australian Basketball League, and the Bulleen Melbourne
Boomers in the Women’s National Basketball League.

The 170cm Richards played as a guard in Dandenong Rangers’ WNBL
championship victories in the past two years.

Lavale has three Olympic team uniforms hanging in his Boronia wardrobe.

And, as the current Australian men’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles
table tennis champion, the 31-year-old is well on target to slam his
way into the Games team.

Melbourne 2006 chief executive John Harnden last week wished the
athletes the best in their quest to make the 400-strong Australian
team.

“August 27 marked 200 days to go until the spectacular opening ceremony
of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.

“This will be when the largest Australian team ever will march on to
the Melbourne Cricket Ground,” Mr Harnden told the Leader.

BORDER TRESPASSER DETAINED IN AZERBAIJAN

ANS TV, Baku
29 Aug 05

[Presenter] A border trespasser has been detained in the Samkir
section of the Georgian-Azerbaijani state border when trying to
penetrate Azerbaijan’s territory, the press service of the State Border
Service has reported. The trespasser had no ID card. A total of 9,000
Armenian drams [19 dollars], a piece of paper with the names of Ruslan
Basirli [who was arrested on charges of collaborating with Armenian
special services], Osman Alimuradov and Said Miriyev and their mobile
phone numbers, and Internet and e-mail addresses of the Yeni Fikir
[New Thought] youth organization were seized from the trespasser
who introduced himself as Georgian citizen (?Kurami Georgiyevich
Akhveldiani). The investigation established that he actually was
a resident of the Georgian town of Gori, (?Merabi Vakhtangovich
Dzhibutia), 49.

Dzhibutia said that he met Basirli and his interpreter Alimuradov in
Tbilisi on 28-29 July and then went to Armenia for a private business
trip, the State Border Service said in the report.

After returning from Armenia, he phoned home from Tbilisi and
his brother-in-law, (?Tamari Muxadze), told him that the Georgian
Prosecutor-General’s Office and the special services were searching for
him in connection with the guests from Azerbaijan. Dzhibutia was afraid
of being brought to book. He decided to come to Azerbaijan and meet
Basirli to clarify the issue. He crossed the state border illegally
with help of a person named (?Georgiy) who had been introduced to
him by his friend (?Andro Chelidze).

The investigation department of the State Border Service instituted
legal proceedings against Dzhibutia on charges of illegal crossing
the state border. The investigation into the case has already ended
and he was arrested on 29 August under a ruling of Baku’s Sabayil
district court.

SERIOUS ADVANCE IN ARMENIAN-ARGENTINEAN COOPERATION

A1+

| 14:59:16 | 30-08-2005 | Official |

Today Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan met with Minister
of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of Argentina
Rafael Bielsa.

When touching upon the current situation and prospects of the
Armenian-Argentenian relations the parties noted that the absence of
political disputes contributes to the efficient development of the
bilateral relations.

Andranik Margaryan and Rafael Bielsa expressed satisfaction
with the bilateral economic cooperation. In part, they noted the
agreements signed in December 2001 between the Armenian government
and America Corporation head Eduard Ernekyan on joint management of
the International Airport of Zvartnots as a serious step forward. In
Mr. Bielsa’s words, the present low index of commodity turnover in
Armenia can be increased taking into account the large-scale airport
development projects, which will give rise to economic interests not
only in Armenia but in the whole region.

The parties also expressed assurance that the friendly relations
between the two states and the existing legal filed will create
favorable conditions for efficient cooperation in various field
of economy.

#
Sunday, August 28, 2005
********************************
If you read a scholarly essay or book on human nature that begins with the words, “Experiments with laboratory rats have shown that…” you can be sure you are in good hands.
*
Armenians enjoy reading about Turks because they love to hate.
*
The nation that hates together stays together.
*
A man is not necessarily good if he lacks the means to do evil.
*
I’d rather be wrong as a human being than right as a dupe.
*
Free speech does not say “Shut-up because I know better,” or “because I am somebody and you are nobody!”
*
There are many known cures for dandruff, the guillotine is not one of them.
*
I write in the name of all those writers who were silenced or slaughtered by tyrants.
*
A woman may be a mystery to men, among them Freud, but to other women she is a cliché. Which may suggest that mysteries too, like so much else in life, are in the eye of the beholder.
*
“Too much reading will ruin him,” a parish priest kept warning my parents, and he was right because to him success meant being a bishop.
*
Freedom of the press does not mean the printing of agreeable lies but of disagreeable truths.
*
Poverty, real poverty is not life in the slums and dinners of macaroni and cheese, but the degradation one must suffer in order to obtain these luxuries.
*
If wisdom were a religion, fools and dupes could not be converted, which means there wouldn’t be enough converts even for a single congregation.
#
Monday, August 29, 2005
********************************
All our controversies amount to bickering while the barn is burning.
*
Armenians love to see their names in the paper. Which is why our weeklies drop names as profusely as a flock of pigeons on ex-lax.
*
The assertion “I am better than you” convinces no one. And yet, more often than not, that’s exactly what our so-called pundits do: they assert moral superiority. “Behold the Turk, the lowest scum on earth; and “Behold the Armenian, the noblest specimen of humanity!”
*
Lately there has been some talk about Armenian pimps and prostitutes from the Homeland operating in foreign countries. It is true that we in the diaspora don’t have that problem but not because we are morally superior but because we are not driven by unemployment, destitution, hunger, and a power structure so corrupt that it feels no responsibility towards its citizens.
*
A recent best seller in the United States is titled ON BULLSHIT. (*) We learn here that most of what politicians, salesmen, advertisers, and academics say or write fully qualifies as bullshit. Nothing new in that. Most of Plato’s dialogues say as much. If one were to write a history of bullshit, it would probably be the longest book in the world.
============================================
(*) ON BULLSHIT by Harry G. Frankfurt. See also, YOUR CALL IS IMPORTANT TO US: THE TRUTH ABOUT BULLSHIT by Laura Penny; and DEEPER INTO BULLSHIT by G.A. Cohen. It is to be noted that both Frankfurt and Cohen are noted contemporary philosophers.
#
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
***********************************
When I thought of myself as a good Armenian, I was no better than a bad Turk; and I know now that it was my own assessment of myself as a good Armenian that allowed me to behave like a bad Turk – minus the fez, shalvar, mustache, and yataghan.
*
At all times and everywhere our ignorance far exceeds our knowledge, and we have a tendency to overestimate the value of what we know and underestimate the value of what we don’t know.
*
Only fools assess themselves as smart, and only swine represent themselves as noble specimens of humanity.
*
All that talk about 20/20 vision is nonsense, humbug, and b.s. I don’t demand infallibility from our leaders; but I have every right to expect honesty. No matter how you slice it, a military defeat is not a moral victory, and not all tragedies are acts of god.
*
On a radio program on children’s poetry this morning, I overheard the following quotation: “There is some shit / I will not eat!” That’s what I call good poetry – rhythm, music, and words that once heard are never forgotten.
#
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
*************************************
Censorship promotes mediocrity and when the mediocre are in charge, excellence becomes their greatest enemy.
*
A Simenon characters remarks: “It’s a tough job to be a human being.” It’s tougher being an Armenian, and what makes it tougher is fellow Armenians.
*
When the dishonest fail to convert or brainwash the honest, they silence them.
*
Denis Donikian: “There are those among us today who have only one ear that hears only one voice: their own.”
*
The most unbearable prospect for an Armenians is to be proven wrong, as if his infallibility were such a universally acknowledged fact that no sane person who dare to question it. And we have infallible men because we have infallible institutions.
*
When two infallible men contradict each other, eiher one or both of them are bound to be wrong.
*
Intolerance means violating free speech. Violating free speech means killing ideas; and where ideas are killed, people will be massacred; and there is no such thing as the massacre of only the guilty. It is not in the nature of those who commit massacres to discriminate the innocent from the guilty.
#

PRESS RELEASE
Bible Society of Armenia
6/26 Zakiyan St.
Yerevan 375015, Armenia
Tel: (+374 -10) 58.55.09, 56.49.06
Fax: (+374 – 10) 54.24.39
E-mail: [email protected]

August 31, 2005

BRINGING THE BIBLE TO SCHOOLS, DIOCESE OF ARTSAKH

YEREVAN — Within its two-day trip August 29-30 to the Diocese of
Artsakh a delegation of the Bible Society Board members met with
234 school principals, teachers and students. This Diocese includes
seven regions. The project called “Bringing the Bibles to Schools”
was a part of the long run program, implemented in Armenia during
the years 2002-2004. This project has been implemented owing to the
generous support of the Diocese of Artsakh, the Armenian Evangelical
Church and the Armenian Catholic Church. Among the delegation were
Arshavir Kapoudjian, the BS Board Secretary; Fr. Hakop Hakopian,
Parish priest from the Diocese; Fr Grigor Mkrtcian, the representative
of the Armenian Catholic Church; Arsen Manasserian and Aram Mkrtchian,
representatives of the Armenian Evangelical Churches.

On Monday, August 29, 2005, the Bible Society delegation members
first met His Eminnence Archbishop Pargev Martirossian, the Primate
of the Diocese. The Archbishop warmly greeted the delegation and
expressed his joy and gratitude for such kind of initiative and the
generous support of the Bible Society of Armenia. In Stepanakert the
delegation was welcomed by Mr Kamo Atayan, the Minister of Education,
Culture and Sports. Mr Atayan expressed his thanks to the BS Armenia
for this unique support extended and for the gifts to be delivered
to the local schools.

The meeting was organized at the Cultural House in Stepanakert. At
the gathering also were present Mr Ashot Ghulian, the Speaker of the
National Assembly; General Seyran Ohanian, the Defence Minister;
the Minister of Education of Nagorno Karabagh; the Rector of the
University; Heads of Education Departments of all regions and
distinguished guests. The gathering was opened by the greetings of
Mr Ghulian and Mr Atayan. Afterwards the Minister invited Arshavir
Kapoudjian. In his keynote address the Board Secretary presented
the gathered people with the 200-year history of the United Bible
Societies, the 13-year history of the Bible Society of Armenia and
its mission in Armenia, and the sets of six books to be given to
schools (a Bible, 6 different volumes of Guides, Opening Up the Bible,
The Bible in the Armenian Tradition). Based on their witnesses, the
principals revealed that this is something very new which happens in
their life. Receiving their packages, a lot of principals invited
the BS members to their own villages and schools for such kind of
spiritual and uplifting meetings.

The Bible Society of Armenia was established in 1991 when the late
Catholicos Vazgen I and representatives of the United Bible Societies
signed a memorandum of understanding, regarding the translation,
publication and dissemination of the Holy Bible in Armenia. The Bible
Society of Armenia is committed to the widest possible meaningful and
effective distribution of the Holy Scriptures in languages and media
which meet the needs of people, at a price they can afford. The Board
of Trustees of The Bible Society of Armenia consists of representatives
of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Armenian Catholic Church and
the Union of Armenian Evangelical and Baptist Churches.

For further information on Bible Society of Armenia and its activities,

call (374-10) 58-55 09 or 56-49-06; fax (374-10) 54-24-39; e-mail
[email protected]

###

PRESS RELEASE
Bible Society of Armenia
6/26 Zakiyan St.
Yerevan 375015, Armenia
Tel: (+374 -10) 58.55.09, 56.49.06
Fax: (+374 – 10) 54.24.39
E-mail: [email protected]

August 31, 2005

THE DELEGATION OF CANADIAN CHURCH LEADERS VISITS THE BIBLE SOCIETY
OF ARMENIA

YEREVAN – On August 31, His Grace Bishop Yeznik Petrossian,
the Chairman of BS Board and Archdeacon Hratsch Sarkissian, the
General Secretary of BS received the delegation of Canadian Church
leaders visiting Armenia on the occasion of the 1600th Anniversary
of the Creation of the Armenian Alphabet. Among the delegation
were His Emminence Cardinal Brendan O~RBrien, President of the
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops; Archbishop Sotirios,
Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Canada; Archbishop Andrew
Hutchison, Primate of the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
“urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Anglican National
Church in Canada; Dr Richard Schneider, President of the Canadian
Council of Churches; His Grace Bishop Bagrat Galstanian, Primate of
the Armenian Diocese of Canada.

His Grace Petrossian and Archdeacon Sarkissian welcomed the guests to
the Bible Society of Armenia. The BS Chairman expressed his joy at
receiving a high ranking delegation from sister churches in Canada.
Discussions were focused on the current status of ecumenical life and
the role of the Bible. The General Secretary introduced the ongoing
translation, distribution projects of the Society. He stressed some
of the latest projects implemented by the BS Armenia, specially the
distribution of the Bibles and other biblical literature to all the
state schools in Armenia.

The Bible Society of Armenia was established in 1991, when the late
Catholicos Vazgen I and representatives of the United Bible Societies
signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the translation,
publication and dissemination of the Holy Bible in Armenia. The Bible
Society of Armenia is committed to the widest possible meaningful and
effective distribution of the Holy Scriptures in languages and media
which meet the needs of people, at a price they can afford. The Board
of Trustees of The Bible Society of Armenia consists of representatives
of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Armenian Catholic Church and
the Union of Armenian Evangelical and Baptist Churches.

For further information on Bible Society of Armenia and its activities,
call (37410) 58-55-09 or 56-49-06; fax (37410) 54-24-39; e-mail
[email protected]