FOREIGN GENOCIDE EXPERTS APPLY TO ERDOGAN
By Tatoul Hakobian
AZG Armenian Daily #177
04/10/2005
Armenian Genocide
The September 23 issue of the International Herald Tribune published
the letter by Israel Charni (Israel), Gregory Stanton and Steven
Jacobs (US), genocide experts, addressed to Recep Tayyip Erdogan
in reply to the latter’s claims to begin “unprejudiced researches
of the historians” over the fate of the Armenian people during the
World War I in the Ottoman Empire.
The experts emphasized in the letter that not only Armenians but also
scientists dealing with the genocide issue confirm the fact of the
Armenian genocide. They reminded in the letter that Rafael Lemkin
brought the Armenian genocide as an example when defined the term of
“genocide” in 1944.
The experts said that there can be many comments on the reasons of
the Armenian genocide but no one can deny that it took place.
The experts wrote in the end of the letter it is in the interests of
the Turkish people to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VERDI’S ‘LA TRAVIATA’ TO SIGNAL DAYS OF ARMENIAN-ITALIAN FRIENDSHIP
By Melania Badalian
AZG Armenian Daily #177
04/10/2005
Culture
“Song is more precious than bred”, people say in Italy, the country
of civilizations and arts. So there was a point in opening the Days of
Armenian-Italian friendship with Giuseppe Verdi’s famous “La Traviata”
at the National Opera and Ballet Theatre on 2 October.
RA deputy foreign minister Gegham Gharibjanian and Italian ambassador
to Armenia Marco Clemente opened the Armenia-Italian friendship days
that are officially to start on 5 October.
Mr. Gharibjanian presented in outline the role of the Italian culture
and Italy for Armenia, pointing out that Armenian-Italian relations
originate from ancient times.
One month of celebrations, initiated by the Armenian and Italian
governments and supported by the presidents of the states, is
an unprecedented event, Marco Clemente said, “as a foreign state
makes such efforts to present and to promote its culture to another
state. ‘La Traviata’ is the best start of these days”.
The applications for 36 arrangements of these days promise heaps of
surprises and wonderful moments as well as a unique atmosphere of
music, painting, theatre, architecture and cinema in Yerevan. For
the first time the National Gallery of Armenia will display the best
exhibits of the 300-year-long legacy of the Mkhitarist Congregation
of the St. Lazarus Island (valuable canvases, historic items, old
publications).

CIS INTERIOR MINISTERS TO DISCUSS FIGHTING WITH CORRUPTION
Kyrgyzstan Development Gateway, Kyrgyzstan
Oct 4 2005
Fighting with corruption and illegal migration will dominate the agenda
of a regular conference of the Council of CIS Interior Ministers that
will bring together the ministers from Armenia, Belarus, Georgia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine,
and Uzbekistan.
Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said upon arrival in
Yerevan the ministers were supposed to examine practical actions
under a joint plan for rebuffing terrorism.
Another issue on the agenda is an interstate databank that will be
created on the basis of Information and Analysis Center of the Russian
Interior Ministry.
“Besides, we’ll consider legal acts underlying our cooperation and
changes in the Regulations for Unified Procedures of Interstate
Search for Wanted People,” Nurgaliyev said. He believes the Council
of Interior Ministries is the most smoothly functioning executive
agency in the CIS.
“Its participants are making a good contribution to fighting with
trans-border crime and international terrorism,” Nurgaliyev said.
CIS Executive Secretary Vladimir Rushailo and the Interpol Secretary
General, Kenneth Noble has also come to Yerevan to attend the
conference. Participants in the meeting are expected to meet with
President Robert Kocharian and to visit the Holy Echmiadzin, the main
see of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

ARMENIAN ARCHITECTS CAN MAKE SURP KHACH CHURCH COMPLETE
By Ruzan Poghosian
AZG Armenian Daily #177
04/10/2005
Armenia-Turkey
Armenian architects, who by mediation of Armenia’s national committee
of the International Council on Monuments and Sites were in Turkey
to watch reconstruction works of Surp Khach church of Akhtamar
Island, shared with their impressions at a press conference on 1
October. Architect Ashot Hovsepian said that they failed to meet the
author of the church’s layout, a Turkish architect. The latter did
not come to the meeting for uncertain reasons. The layout fitting
required criteria in general, still has a number of inadequacies that
can be corrected before the end of the reconstruction.
“Those deficiencies are perhaps not a deterioration but the layout
would be more perfect if they were not there. We told 3 Turkish
architects working there about our observations asking to correct
visible deficiencies”, he said. The Turks turned down Armenian
specialists’ offer to mix cement with lime batch. The Armenian
architects think that the quality of the Turks’ work is not satisfying
but the overall impression is not despairing.
Gagik Gyurjian, minister of culture of Armenia, said that Armenian
and Turkish specialists will make visits in near future. The
Turk architects will have a chance to study Armenian architecture
scrupulously. Van-born academician Varazdat Harutyunian expressed
wish to celebrate his 97th anniversary in Van, hoping that Turkey will
open borders and improve relations with Armenia before his birthday.

HEIRS OF GENOCIDE VICTIMS TO GET COMPENSATION FROM A MAJOR INSURANCE COMPANY OF FRANCE
By Ruzan Poghosian
AZG Armenian Daily #177
04/10/2005
Armenian Genocide
As it transpired yesterday, famous Acsa insurance company of France
will recompense the heirs of the Armenian Genocide victims. The
company had a deal with a jural company of California that advocates
the rights of relatives of Genocide victims.
According to the insurance deal that Armenians made with Company in
early 20th century, the descendants and relatives Genocide victims
will get compensation of $17 million. The Union-B Company was devoured
by Acsa becoming a leading modern-day insurance company.
ITAR-TASS agency informs that in foreseeable future suchlike deals
will be signed with other European companies as well.

2ND INTERNATIONAL CHESS TOURNAMENT CONDUCTED IN NAGORNO KARABAKH
De Facto, Armenia
Oct 4 2005
The International chess tournament opened in Stepanakert. 20 sportsmen
from Armenia, Russia, the US, Germany, Nederland, China, Spain,
Finland, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia and Moldova are to participate in
the event.
According to De Facto correspondent in Stepanakert, a lot of famous
chess players are among the participants of the tournament: the US
champion Hikaru Nakamura, the second chess player of China Bu Ksangjy,
Alexei Dreev (Russia), Ivan Sokolov (Nederland), Yevgeny Sveshnikov
(Latvia), Levon Aronyan (Armenia) and others.
To note, it is the second international chess tournament conducted
in Stepanakert. The first one was dedicated to the 75 anniversary of
the 9th world champion Tigran Petrosyan.
On October 1, in the course of the ceremony of opening the NKR Minister
of Education, Culture and Sport Kamo Atayan welcomed the tournament’s
participants. “It is the second traditional tournament in the capital
of independent Nagorno Karabakh. We hope the interest to the ancient
and eternally young game will increase year by year: the number of
the tournament’s participants will grow, which will contribute to
the strengthening of sport and not only sport ties between Armenia
and the countries represented by the participants”, noted Kamo Atayan.
The tournament is conducted according to A and B schemes. By the
results of the toss – up, the following participants met in the A
scheme of the tournament: Ashot Anastasyan (Armenia) – Bartholomeo
Matcheya (Poland), Hikaru Nakamura (the US) – Karen Asryan (Armenia),
Victor Bologan (Moldova) – Levon Aronyan (Armenia), Ivan Sokolov
(Nederland) – Alexei Dreev (Russia), Vasily Ivanchuk ( Ukraine) –
Bu Ksangjy (China).
The B scheme tournament: Catherina Lagno (Ukraine) – Tigran Petrosyan
(Armenia), Yevgeny Sveshnikov (Latvia) – Lopes Martinez (Spain), Sergey
Grigoryants (Russia) – Ervin Lami (Nederland), Beniamin Galstyan
(Armenia) – Arthur Tchibukhchyan (Armenia) and Arsen Yeghiazaryan
(Armenia) – Raj Tishberek (Germany).

OSKANIAN-MAMMADYAROV MEETING LIKELY TO BE HELD DECEMBER 4-5 IN LJUBLJANA, AZERI SOURCES REPORT
Pan Armenian
03.10.2005 13:22
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The recurrent meeting of the Azerbaijani and
Armenian Foreign Ministers is likely to take place during the summit
of the OSCE Foreign Ministers to be held in Ljubljana December 3-4,
Azeri FM Elmar Mammadyarov stated. He also informed that OSCE Minsk
Group U.S. Co-Chairs Steven Mann will arrive in Baku late October to
hold meeting with the Azerbaijani leadership. Meanwhile, the Armenian
Foreign Ministry did not confirm the information on the terms of the
Oskanian-Mammadyarov meeting.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH SOCIETY SPLIT ON GENOCIDE, THE EU, AND MANY OTHER ISSUES
By Harut Sassounian; Publisher, The California Courier
AZG Armenian Daily #177
04/10/2005
Turkey-EU
For 90 years, Turkish officials have denied the reality of the
Armenian Genocide. During the past weekend, for the first time in
Turkish history, a conference was held in Istanbul during which Turkish
scholars challenged the revisionist position of their own government
on the Armenian Genocide. This was not an easy accomplishment. It
came about after the organizers struggled to overcome a series of
almost insurmountable legal obstacles and physical attacks.
The conference was originally planned for last May. However, Justice
Minister Cemil Cicek caused its cancellation at the last minute by
accusing the participating Turkish scholars of being “traitors” and
“stabbing Turkey in the back.”
Embarrassed by stinging criticism from many European officials,
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan quietly urged the organizers
to reschedule the conference for Sept. 23-25, just days before the
planned start of talks for Turkey’s EU membership. Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul even promised to deliver the opening remarks at this
unprecedented gathering of Turkish scholars.
However, just hours before the start of the conference, an Istanbul
court issued an order suspending the gathering. The judge gave the
organizers 30 days to respond to a series of bizarre questions on the
qualifications and selection of the scholars as well as the financing
of their travel and lodging expenses.
This eleventh-hour postponement of the conference stunned not only
the EU officials but also most of the Turkish public, including the
overwhelming majority of newspapers and TV stations in Turkey. Both
the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister saw the court order as an
attempt to derail Turkey’s EU membership drive. The judge, petitioned
by ultra-nationalists, clearly exceeded his jurisdiction by interfering
in the internal affairs of an academic institution.
The conference, titled “Ottoman Armenians During the Decline of
the Empire: Issues of Scientific Responsibility and Democracy,”
was finally held during the past weekend after changing its venue to
Bilgi University. The organizers either took or were allowed to take
advantage of a loophole in the court order that had specifically banned
two of the three co-sponsoring universities (Bogazici and Sabanci),
but not the third – Bilgi University.
Ultra-nationalist groups and retired military officers had urged all
“patriotic” Turks to converge on the conference site and disrupt the
proceedings. They called the participating Turkish scholars traitors.
Despite the presence of a strong police force to protect the university
from attacks by extremists, the protesters managed to pelt the
participants by eggs and rotten tomatoes. A few trouble-makers even
managed to sneak into the hall and attempt to disrupt the discussions.
Once they passed the gauntlet, scores of scholars presented their
papers over a two-day period. Most of them carefully avoided the
use of the word genocide, due to their fear of being hauled into
court and charged with “denigrating” the Turkish nation. Some of the
participants were also weary of being accused of siding with Armenians
on this emotionally charged issue.
The scholars made it clear, however, that Ottoman officials had
organized the mass deportations and the subsequent killings of hundreds
of thousands of Armenians.
Even though there were very few new revelations on the topic of
the Armenian Genocide during the course of the conference, the
significant aspect of the gathering was the fact that it took place
at all. This is the first time that a group of Turkish scholars,
facing the wrath of many of their radical compatriots and a legal
ban, had dared to challenge the official revisionist position of the
Turkish establishment on this issue.
Of course, the proximity of the date of the planned start of Turkey’s
EU membership talks on Oct. 3 played a considerable role in winning
the tacit and reluctant support of the Turkish government for this
conference. Neither Erdogan nor Gul were probably motivated by their
“deep seated beliefs” in academic freedom to support the holding of
such a conference in Turkey.
Turkish society still has a long and uphill battle in deciding
its future.
There are powerful conflicting forces within Turkey tearing the
country into two divergent directions: one looking to Europe and the
other to an ultra-nationalist, Islamist, and pan-Turkist orientation.
Before the Turks worry about whether the Europeans would allow them
to join the EU, they themselves would have to decide the direction
of their own society. When millions of Turks are still fanatically
clinging to their old authoritarian mentality, no matter which new
laws their government adopts and which agreements their leaders sign,
at the end of the day, these documents are meaningless pieces of
paper. Prime Minister Erdogan’s saying that his country should be a
part of Europe does not make it so. True reform must first take place
in the hearts and minds of the people, before it can be adopted as
a legal code. Such reforms cannot be imposed from outside.
They have to come from within Turkish society.
How long would it take to reform Turkish society is a question to
which no one knows the answer. When millions of Turks are still
adamantly opposed to the most basic values shared by Europeans,
it is clear that they are neither ready now nor would they be ready
anytime soon to join the EU.
Turkey should neither be rejected right away nor accepted into
the EU in the foreseeable future. Turkey should not be admitted
now because it’s not and would not be ready to join the ranks of
civilized European nations nor should it be rejected outright for
fear of setting completely loose a monster that would be a clear and
present danger to its immediate neighborhood!
From: Baghdasarian

TURKEY AGREED TO EU CONDITIONS ON MEMBERSHIP TALKS
By Hakob Chakrian
AZG Armenian Daily #177
04/10/2005
EU-Turkey
Austria Gave In to European Neighbors, Whereas the Latter Yielded to
Erdogan’s Government
On 2 October, foreign minister of the EU member states who gathered
in Luxemburg failed to come to a unanimous decision over the final
negotiation document with Turkey; the special meeting carried on
the next day. On 2 October, the International Monetary Fund spoke
out in favor of negotiations with Turkey and Javier Solana, EU High
Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, expressed
hope that the foreign minister’s meeting will have a positive outcome
reminding that “previous decisions concerning Turkey also were taken
at the last moment”.
That very day when EU foreign ministers were discussing the start
of EU-Turkey talks, Turks were marching in Istanbul and Ankara with
banners reading “No to EU”. The protest rally of Istanbul gathered
1.000 participants whereas the one in Ankara, organized by “grey
wolves” political organization and National Movement Party recruited
100.000. Holding forth before its party members, president of the
party, Devlet Bahcel, called October the 3d “not a beginning of
negotiations with the EU but an end of capitulation”. He posed a
question in his speech: “Is it possible that Turkey joins Europe
at the cost of denying the Cypriot Turks and giving in to Armenian
lies?” and appealed to Prime Minister Erdogan: “Dear Prime Minister,
our country has sunk into darkness because of your petitions. Do
not give cause for putting new demands before you and demand new
compromises from you. Accept that our country pays great price for
your love for the EU based on capitulation. Do not commit new sins,
turn down the negotiations”.
Turkey has not rejected negotiations. Meanwhile EU foreign ministers
yesterday reached a deal clearing the way for accession talks with
Turkey to begin.

OVER HALF OF PEOPLE SUPPORT MILITARY ACTION TO RESOLVE GARABAGH CONFLICT – SURVEY
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Oct 4 2005
Baku, October 3, AssA-Irada
51% of the Azerbaijani citizens believe settlement of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper Garabagh conflict is possible through military
action, while 32% through negotiations, according to a survey held
by the hard-line Garabagh Liberation Organization (GLO) among 2,102
respondents on Saturday.
According to the results of another poll conducted by the GLO in
September, 49% of people deemed resolution of the Garabagh conflict
through war possible, while 35% gave preference to peace.
54% of young men and 31% of women want the conflict to be settled
through military operations, while 29% and 49% respectively – by
peaceful means. Most of the elderly said they consider the conflict
settlement possible through military action.*