‘PRO-ARMENIAN LAW’ IN FRANCE DROPPED FOR NOW
Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
May 19 2006
The legislative bill penalizing those who deny the so-called Armenian
genocide in France has been postponed indefinitely.
The motion discussed in yesterday’s morning session of the French
Parliament was dropped as the allotted time ran out.
Parliamentary Speaker Jean-Louis Debre had to twice pause the tense
session to reestablish order.
Deputies and Armenians supporting the motion accused Debre of extending
other discussions deliberately to drop the motion.
Armenians angered by the result caused a commotion in the parliament’s
audience gallery.
Foreign Minister Philippe Doust-Blazy, speaking on behalf of the
government, objected to the motion and appealed to French deputies
to not to inscribe history with laws.
The Socialist Party (PS), which made the legislative proposal, placed
the genocide bill as a second item on the agenda although it had the
right to arrange it anyway it wanted.
While talks on the first item on the agenda continued, some socialist
parliamentarians reacted saying talks were extended deliberately.
Since the proposal would automatically fail if it were not voted
at the first section where PS had the right to arrange the agenda,
parliamentarians wanted to start the genocide proposal sooner.
President of the parliament Jean-Louis Debre, upset with the protests,
reminded that it was not himself who formulated the agenda but the
socialists.
When the socialist parliamentarians rebelled again, tension increased
in the parliament.
Members of PS accused Debre of his attempts to fail the proposal
since Tuesday.
Members of UMP, who support the proposal, said, “Do not fall into
their trap, they want to deceive you”.
Upon the increase of the tension Debre gave two breaks.
Many parliamentarians, who wanted to discuss the first item on the
agenda, did not make their speech to proceed to the genocide proposal.
It took an hour to proceed to the proposal, but Debre ended the
section after a few talks because of the time constraint. Thus,
the proposal was dropped out of the agenda.
PS Group Leader Jean Marc Ayroult held the government and Debre
accountable for the cancellation of the bill.
Ayroult said UMP did its best to postpone the bill and accused UMD
of playing small tricks to reach its goal.
Armenian Originated French politician Patrik Deveciyan, who was angry
after the session, said the postponement of the bill is a result of
the lobby activities Turkey launched in all areas.
The Armenians who came to the parliament to watch the session created
chaos after the bill was postponed.
The crowd sang the French National Anthem and did not leave the
building.
PS Secretary-General Francois Hollande approached them requesting
them to remain calm.
The Armenians organized demonstrations near the parliament and
protested the decision.
The Turks, on the other hand, chained themselves and taped their
mouths. Some held banners in their hands saying “Do not restrict our
freedom,” and “Do not prevent the realities from being revealed.”
French Government Opposes Genocide Bill
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, representing the
government in the parliamentary session yesterday, said if the bill
is enacted the French Parliament will have interfered in history and
cited his opposition to the proposal.
The minister, who recalled the agreement on “leaving the history to
the historians” invoked in the parliamentary discussion regarding the
law of colonialism said, “The French Parliament is again attempting
to interfere in written history.”
The foreign minister said enactment of the bill will harm long-standing
Turkish-French affairs and the dialogue process between Turkey and
Armenia.
Douste-Blazy reminded that more than 300,000 Turkish people lived
together with people of Armenian origins in France, and said the bill
will affect “human relations.”
Armenians name 1915 Events as genocide while Turks accuse the Armenians
of committing massacres against the Muslim population of the Ottoman
Empire during the First World War. “More than 500,000 Muslims were
massacred” according to the Ottoman archives.
While French deal with so-called ‘Armenian genocide’, Algerians urge
France to recognise Algerian genocide committed by the French.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA’S TRAFFIC POLICE ‘MORE EUROPEAN THAN GEORGIA’S’
By Astghik Bedevian and Emil Danielyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 19 2006
The chief of Armenia’s notoriously corrupt traffic police claimed
on Friday that his officers are doing a much better job of ensuring
road safety than the famously reformed police service of neighboring
Georgia.
Colonel Ishkhan Ishkhanian, head of the State Automobile Inspectorate
(SAI), insisted that traffic in Georgia is even more chaotic than
in Armenia despite a radical police reform carried out by Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili two years ago. He said he arrived at
such conclusion during a recent visit to Tbilisi.
“Compared to Georgia, we are Europe,” Ishkhanian told a news
conference. “They wanted to attain European standards in Georgia,
but it is clear that they have failed.”
The claims are in sharp contrast to media reports, witness accounts
and the dominant opinion of Armenian motorists about the results of
the Georgian reform. Shortly after sweeping to power in the November
2003 “rose revolution,” Saakashvili disbanded his country’s entire
traffic police and formed a Western-style patrol service manned by
well-paid and mainly young officers.
The drastic change seems to have all but eradicated rampant bribery
among Georgian road policemen, a problem that had turned Georgia into
a virtual no-go zone for cars with Armenian license plates. Armenians
have since had little difficulty driving through Georgian territory.
Scores of them traveled to Georgia’s Black Sea resorts by car last
year.
By contrast, bribing a traffic policeman remains the norm in Armenia,
with kickbacks for avoiding legal punishment for an alleged or proven
violation of traffic rules starting from 1,000 drams ($2.3). Officers
patrolling streets or highways are allegedly obliged to transfer a
large part of that money to their superiors.
Many of the high-ranking traffic policemen are wealthy individuals
with extensive business interests. Ishkhanian, for example, is believed
to own a major taxi service.
That traffic police corruption is a serious problem was admitted on
Tuesday by Major-General Ararat Mahtesian, deputy chief of Armenia’s
Police Service. Mahtesian referred to SAI as the “vulnerable spot”
and the “pain” of the Armenian police. He said the Armenian government
will soon embark on a reform of SAI to be financed by the World Bank,
but gave no details.
Ishkhanian also acknowledged the problem, saying that 66 of his
subordinates were subjected to “disciplinary action” last year. But
he would not say how many of them were fired and whether there were
any senior officers among them. He spoke instead of the need to create
unspecified “conditions” that would discourage police bribery.
The SAI chief also said that President Robert Kocharian has formed a
“working group” tasked with making proposals on how to improve road
safety in Armenia.
According to police data, 58 people were killed and 446 others injured
in 317 accidents that were officially registered across Armenia during
the first four months of this year. The official death toll for the
whole of last year stood at 310.
The deeply entrenched corruption hardly bodes well for the success
of the stated police efforts to reduce the number of deadly road
accidents. The increasingly heavy traffic in Armenia and Yerevan in
particular is disorderly and dangerous not least because of wealthy
government-connected drivers that routinely ignore traffic rules.
The road police rarely dare to flag down their luxury cars that usually
carry license plates with repeating numbers, a badge of prestige among
the local rich. The “fanciest” of the easy-to-remember plates may be
worth as much as $2,000 in the police black market.
Reports of ordinary citizens dying as a result of negligent driving
have not been uncommon in the Armenian press. The “Aravot” daily said
this week that a plush Mercedes driven by a son of Seyran Saroyan,
a feared army general, ran over two boys in a village in southern
Armenia, killing one of them and critically injuring the other. The
paper alleged that eyewitnesses of the accident have been bullied
into not testifying against the young man and that a village mayor has
“confessed” to the crime instead.
“I have no such information at this point,” Mahtesian told RFE/RL,
referring to the case. “I am ready to look into those reports and
tell you whether they correspond to reality.”
In another infamous incident, a U.S.-made Hummer rammed into a taxi in
Yerevan at an enormous speed in January 2005, killing a 30-year-old
woman and wounding her infant daughter. An unemployed man was
subsequently identified by the police as the expensive SUV’s driver
before being given a short prison sentence. The man was reportedly
released from jail a few months later.
(Photolur photo: An expensive car ignoring red light at a busy
intersection in Yerevan.)
port/report/en/2006/05/C0468856-15D3-4C49-9370-C82 D712BA71A.ASP

NO AGREEMENT YET ON KEY ARMENIAN-AZERI SUMMIT
By Harry Tamrazian in Prague
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 19 2006
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said on Friday that he and his
Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov failed to set a date
for the next, potentially decisive Armenian-Azerbaijani summit on
Nagorno-Karabakh during talks in Strasbourg the previous night.
The two men met in the presence of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs
on the sidelines of a regular session of the Council of Europe’s
decision-making Committee of Ministers. The American, French and
Russian mediators hope than another face-to-face meeting between
Presidents Ilham Aliev and Robert Kocharian will yield a breakthrough
in the Karabakh peace process.
A Kocharian spokesman said earlier this month that the meeting’s venue
and exact date is likely to be agreed by Mammadyarov and Oskanian
at Strasbourg. However, this clearly did not happen, with Oskanian
explaining that Baku and Yerevan have not yet laid the groundwork
for the crucial summit.
“Discussions focused on the proposals and ideas that have been on
the table,” he told RFE/RL by phone, referring to the Strasbourg talks.
“Overall, it was not a bad meeting. However, there are still many
issues that have not yet been agreed on.”
Oskanian went on to indicate that the Aliev-Kocharian encounter might
therefore not take place at all. “While not ruling out the possibility
of such a meeting at this point, I can’t say for certain that it will
take place because a lot depends on the co-chairs’ high-level visit
to the region.”
In a further sign of the seriousness of their intentions, the co-chairs
will begin the visit on May 25 together with more high-ranking
diplomats, including U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried
and Russian Deputy Foreign Minster Grigory Karasin. The mediators
will discuss with the conflicting parties their new unpublicized
peace proposals put forward following the collapse of the last
Aliev-Kocharian meeting that took place in Rambouillet, France in
February.
“The co-chairs see a new momentum after Rambouillet and they believe
that by raising the level [of their diplomacy] they can attract more
attention and will try during their visit to create a situation that
will convince the parties to agree to a meeting of the presidents,”
said Oskanian.

PRISHTINA’S STANCE ON KOSOVO IS UNCONSTRUCTIVE – RUSSIAN FM
RIA Novosti, Russia
May 19 2006
STRASBOURG, May 19 (RIA Novosti) – The Kosovan leadership’s
intransigent attitude is delaying a solution over the status of the
troubled Balkan territory, Russia’s foreign minister said Friday.
Sergei Lavrov, speaking at a news conference in Strasbourg, said:
“The position of Prishtina’s leadership, which is insisting on the
unequivocal independence of Kosovo, is very unconstructive.”
Lavrov said a unilateral approach should not be taken to talks on
Kosovo, and that negotiations must be held through the UN and the
Contact Group.
Talks on the UN-administered territory’s status should be concluded by
the end of the year, a view that is shared by the six-nation Contact
Group – the U.S., Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy –
Lavrov said.
Earlier, some Russian politicians expressed concern that independence
for Kosovo would create a precedent for recognition of breakaway
regions in the former Soviet Union.
Moldova is dealing with a separatist regime in Transdnestr, while
Georgia has two breakaway regions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Nagorny Karabakh, a largely ethnic Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan,
has long been a source of friction between the two Caucasus states.
Formally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been a UN protectorate since
1999, following a NATO military campaign to drive out Yugoslav forces
accused of atrocities against Albanian civilians.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NATO SECRETARY GENERAL’S SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE TO SOUTH CAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA TO COME TO ARMENIA ON MAY 22
Author: A. Mammadov
TREND, Azerbaijan
May 19 2006
On May 22 NATO Secretary General`s Special Representative to South
Caucasus and Central Asia Robert Simmons to pay a two-day visit
to Armenia.
As “APKA” Agency was informed at the Press and Information Department
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia today,
meetings with Armenia`s President Robert Kocharyan and Prime Minister
Adranik Markaryan, the Armenian Parliament Vice Speaker Tigran
Torosyan, Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosyan and other ones
are envisaged during the visit.

EGYPTIAN PRESIDENTIAL AIDE: OFFICIAL CAIRO FULLY SUPPORTS AZERBAIJAN’S EFFORTS TO PUBLICIZE INVASION FACT IN THE WORLD
Azeri Press Agency
May 19 2006
“The Arab Republic of Egypt has broad knowledge of the Nagorno Garabagh
conflict and Cairo fully supports Azerbaijan’s efforts to publicize
the occupation fact to the international community,” said Usae Ilbaz,
political aide to Egypt’s President Hosnu Mubarak at a meeting with
Azerbaijani delegation at Egyptian Foreign Ministry (APA).
Mr.Ilbaz said that official Cairo is ready to deploy different
delegations to Azerbaijan to promote raising much more awareness in
Egyptian public on the Nagorno Garabagh conflict.
“Do not feel offended for our parliamentarians lacking broad
information on the conflict during the meeting at Egyptian
parliament. Most of our parliamentarians are interested in the problems
that concern Arab world mainly. We can deploy different delegations to
Baku to familiarize with Azerbaijan’s stance and have much knowledge of
the truths on its problems. Everybody knows that there is instability
in the world, systems are changing and problems are emerging. After
the September 11 events, the international community has thought of
Islam religion as a threat to the world.
This opinion is absolutely wrong,” the presidential aide noted.
Mr.Ilbaz also aid he gained large impressions about our country by
his short-term visit to Baku.
“I have been to Azerbaijan recently, got chance to familiarize with
your country. My 48-hour stay in Baku was enough to get acquainted
with your culture. I was deeply impressed by your rich culture and
hospitability,” Ilbaz stressed.
The presidential aide also reported that Egyptian large delegation
will visit Azerbaijan soon. This visit will be important from the
aspect of drawing up a wide report o Azerbaijan and problems it
faces. Stating that the official Cairo supports the settlement of
the Nagorno Garabagh, Usame Ilbaz stressed that no conflict has ever
brought dividend to the parties.
“I assure you that no parties to a conflict win anything. Egypt is
ready to take steps in level of international organizations for the
settlement of the Nagorno Garabagh conflict, and supports Azerbaijan’s
efforts in this field,” Mr.Ilbaz concluded.

ETHNOGRAPHIC INVESTIGATION OF ALL ANCIENT AZERBAIJANI TERRITORIES WILL BE HELD
Azeri Press Agency
May 19 2006
“It is high time that Azerbaijan to lose in information war. Our not
responding to their propaganda has led to hard results. How long will
we pursue a policy on responding Armenians attacks?
It is already time that we begin to wage on war against their attacks
and be the side that attacks”, Director of History Institute of
Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, parliamentarian Yagub
Mahmudov has told a press conference held today.(APA) Saying the
former leadership of the institute was not busy with this work
quite enough, Yagub Mahmudov said the institute will do its utmost
to expose Armenians real face to world community. “Of course, world
community will not believe to our opinions at first as we are late in
this matter. But we have to do it. We put theory of lost territories
forward.” According to scientist, recently Armenian State Committee
for Real Property, Manuk Vardanian has made a statement that the first
national atlas of Armenia will be published. In that atlas 40 thousand
geographical names will be registered, 7-8 thousand geographical names
characteristic to different nations will be changed and be substituted
in Armenian names. “7-8 thousand geographical names mentioned by
Vardanian, belong to Azerbaijan who were deported from the mentioned
territories. It is known to science that Armenians are not aborigine
population of South Caucasus, they have come there. Tribes considered
to be ancestors of Armenians approximately appeared in the middle I
millennium of BC in upper parts of Efrat river. They have moved here
from Balkan Peninsula. ” Yagub Mammadov said that “Garabagh History”
book which was published some months ago will be translated into
German and French languages.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERBAIJAN’S YOUTH AND SPORT MINISTER HOLDS NEWS CONFERENCE ON HIS 100TH WORKING DAY
Azeri Press Agency
May 19 2006
Azerbaijan’s Youth and Sport Minister Azad Rahimov held a press
conference on the occasion of the 100th day of his appointment to
this post today (APA). The minister reported on measures and youth
and sport events held in the country during his activity.
Mr.Rahimov said that the state-funded Mortgage interest will be
reconsidered soon and declined to rule out decrease of costs.
Stressing that building of apartments for new couples is being
reviewed too.
Minister Rahimov also informed about the three-sided meeting between
Azerbaijani, Armenian Football Federation heads and UEFA special
commission in Nyon, Switzerland, for determination of a venue for
the match between Azerbaijani and Armenian football teams.
“We informed the UEFA representatives about our bad relations with
Armenians. There is skirmish on the frontline everyday We told them
that Armenians killed nearly ten Azerbaijani soldiers and officers
on the frontline in the past five months. So, it is impossible to
receive Armenian team in Baku. I think the members of UEFA special
commission for this problem understood us. Though they said they will
review this issue, no specific date was shown,” The Minister reported.
Commenting on Armenian Football Federation president Ruben Ayrapetyan’s
statement “UEFA has decided the match venue and ordered the federation
heads not to publicize it”, Rahimov called this nonsense. He said if
it were true, the Azerbaijani side would have known this too.
“It is true, UEFA officials ordered us not to inform the media about
the three-sided meeting held in Switzerland. But I don’t think there
is anything wrong in making it public. As coming to Ayrapetyan’s
statements, they are false,” he said.
The Minister also stressed importance of making our Olympic Games
champions Igor Ponomaryov, Kamandar Majidov, who are abroad, to return
home country to reinforce development of our sport.
“I think, relevant sports federations in the country should deal with
this. I have been recently informed that there is our compatriot in
Munich in Germany, who can play football very well, and her mother
works in Indian embassy. We invited him to Baku to evaluate him,”
the Minster noted.
Rahimov also admitted a number of shortfalls in the activity of the
Ministry. He said it is the Ministry’s fault that Azerbaijani bronze
medal winners of the recent European Greco-Roman Wrestling championship
in Moscow, Rovshan Bayramov and Fuad Aliyev wore uniforms of their
clubs not that of Azerbaijani national team while wrestling.
“The Wrestling Federation was to inform us about the lack of uniforms,”
Rahimov noted.

BLACK SEA CRASH PLANE BLACK BOXES MAY NOT BE FOUND – MINISTER
RIA Novosti, Russia
May 19 2006
MOSCOW, May 19 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s transport minister admitted
Friday that the flight recorders from an Armenian airliner that
crashed May 3 off Russia’s Black Sea coast may never be found.
“In crashes like this there is the probability that the black boxes
will not be found,” Igor Levitin said.
Levitin said experts with deep-sea equipment were combing an area of
20 square meters where signals from the radio beacons on the black
boxes had been detected, but admitted that the beacons could have
become detached on impact.
All 113 people on board died when an Airbus A-320 operated by Armenia’s
Armavia flying from the Armenian capital, Yerevan, came down in stormy
weather six kilometers (3.7 miles) from Adler airport, which services
the popular Russian resort of Sochi.

AYATOLLAH KASHANI CALLS ON INT’L BODIES NOT TO GIVE IN TO US, ZIONISTS DEMANDS
Fars News Agency, Iran
May 19 2006
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Tehran’s interim Friday prayers leader,
Ayatollah Emami Kashani, called on the International organizations
not to lose their reputation by giving in to the illegitimate demands
of the US and the Zionist regime.
Addressing worshippers in Tehran University campus on Friday, Ayatollah
Kashani condemned the terrorist attack in Iran’s southern city of Bam,
in which 12 defenseless citizens were martyred, adding, “The US, the
Zionist regime and their mercenaries can not do anything whatsoever,
even by causing insecurity along Iranian borders.”
He also stressed that the enemies of Islam attempt at sowing the seed
of sedition between Shiites and Sunnis by causing insecurity along
Iran’s borders.
Tehran’s interim Friday prayer leader pointed that Iran is a country
that even Christians and Armenians have MPs at the Parliament, saying,
“The ignorant enemies have not understood the common culture between
the Shiites and the Sunnites in the path towards maintaining Islam
and the Holy Quran, and that all Iranians are united in defending
their soil against enemies, no matter what religion they have.”
Ayatollah Kashani reiterated that Iran’s peaceful nuclear program
does not seek military purposes, adding, “Once again we announce that
Tehran is ready to defend its nuclear achievements and would by no
means forgo even an iota of its legitimate rights to gain access to
peaceful nuclear technology.”
Ayatollah Kashani stressed that all of Iran’s nuclear activities
follow peaceful purposes and have been under the supervision of IAEA
inspectors. He concluded, “International organizations should not
lose their reputation by giving in to the illegitimate demands of
the US and the Zionist regime.”