Xinhua, China
The People’s Daily, China
Oct 1 2005
Turkey expects EU to fulfill duties: FM

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Turkey had fulfilled its
responsibilities on the road to the European Union membership,
expecting the EU to do the same and conclude Turkey’s entry process
positively.
Gul made the statements as Britain, which currently holds the
six-month rotating EU presidency, has called an emergency meeting of
EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Sunday in a bid to end the
bickering over the guiding principles of Turkey’s accession talks.
“I cannot say anything definite about whether negotiations will be
opened in a few days. They may or may not be launched,” Gul told
reporters late Friday.
Turkey’s entry talks are scheduled to start on Oct. 3. EU foreign
ministers must agree on a negotiating mandate for Turkey to begin
talks at the Sunday emergency meeting, less than 24 hours away from
the scheduled negotiation date.
EU member state Austria insists that the ministerial talks aim for a
“privileged partnership” with Turkey instead of full membership.
Ankara rejects any second-class treatment. Gul warned that the
Turkish government did not think Turkey should join the EU in this
case.
“A partnership between the EU and Turkey would not be established if
the EU did not keep its promises, if leaders of the EU member states
forgot they had signed several documents or neglected their
signatures due to some reasons, and if they brought forward new
conditions which could never be accepted by Turkey,” said Gul.
“We want to start negotiations, and we are working for this but
within the framework of the realities,” Gul added.
The foreign minister also said Turkey had held meetings with leaders
of several EU member states, including Britain.
“I hope that this honest attitude of Turkey will be responded in the
similar way. And the entry process will go in the right track in the
end,” he concluded.
EU leaders agreed last December that Turkey had carried out necessary
reforms on human rights, society and economy, which qualify Ankara
for official EU membership talks.
But strains flared anew after Ankara reaffirmed in July its refusal
to recognize the Greek Cypriot government, which joined the EU on
behalf of the whole island. Ankara recognized the breakaway Turkish
Cypriot in the north.
Turkey has also come under pressure to recognize what Armenians call
a genocide against their people by the Ottoman Empire during and at
the end of World War I — an event that remains highly sensitive for
Turks.

Kathimerini, Greece
Oct 1 2005
At Turkey’s heart, a major paradox
A letter by Turkish Ambassador to Paris Uluc Ozulker that was
published yesterday in the French daily Le Figaro in which he
portrayed Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios, who is
based in Istanbul, as a local religious leader is one more piece of
evidence that our eastern neighbor is far from ready to come under
the European Union roof. Turkey has a long path to tread before
reaching the EU’s political and institutional standards. European
political culture is even further away.
The letter by the Turkish envoy pales in comparison to the legal suit
against acclaimed novelist Orhan Pamuk (after his comments about
Turkey’s killing of Armenians and Kurds) and the court decision
halting a conference on the Armenian massacre under Ottoman rule. But
the political origins of the incidents are common – they are all
products of Ankara’s state ideology. Although clouds are gathering
over Turkey’s EU ambitions, Ankara continues to provoke people’s
democratic sensitivities. Sure, Turkey is not trying to put
additional obstacles in its path; its reaction is in keeping with its
character – and it is not willing to change mentality and practices.
True, the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken significant
steps in introducing EU-minded legal reforms. But their
implementation has been sorely lacking. Moreover, Ankara seems more
interested in formalities than in real implementation. It all seems
to boil down to the big paradox at the heart of the Turkish
establishment: Ankara is, on the one hand, in favor of EU membership,
but, on the other, it fears that European principles could also
unmake Turkey.
Caught up in this internal contradiction, Ankara wants membership
without having to adapt. Above all, it insists on seeing itself as a
fortress state. Its diplomatic maneuvering underscores a desire to
join the bloc on its own terms. In short, Turkey wants the rights
without the responsibilities, which demonstrates that the candidate
country is a complete stranger to European political norms.
There is no such thing as Europe a la carte. As time goes by, Turkey
will be faced with an inescapable dilemma. It will either launch the
process that will transform it for good or the enterprise of full
membership will degenerate into a special partnership. Turkey has no
place in the European house unless it remakes itself.

IranMania, Iran
Oct 1 2005
Iran, Algeria, Sri Lanka, Armenia to expand trade
Saturday, October 01, 2005 – ©2005 IranMania.com

LONDON, October 1 (IranMania) – Iran is to expand its trade ties with
Algeria, Sri Lanka and Armenia in a move to promote joint investment
in various economic sectors, the Economic Affairs and Finance
Minister Danesh-Jafari emphasized in three separate meetings held
last week with his counterparts from the said countries.
According to MNA, Algeria and Iran are members of the same group in
the World Bank (WB) and IMF. In 2004, Algeria headed the group in WB
while Iran kept the same group position at the IMF. So it is of
paramount importance to develop further the role of effective
investment in both countries, said Jafari.
Iran may benefit a lot from Sri Lanka?s know-how in tea industry by
applying the proven techniques in order to promote its tea
production.
Encouraging Sri Lanka to invest in this sector was another matter
that was jointly discussed, the minister stated.
Jafari?s counterpart also expressed his appreciation for the credit
facilities given to his country by Iran to purchase oil in return.
The finance minister also kept a meeting with his Armenian
counterpart Karen Chshmaritian in the office branch of Iran at the WB
headquarters in another occasion and asked for a joint economic
session in the near future and solving the minor problems standing on
the way of investments by the Iranian companies in Armenia.
He emphasized on mutual assistance for further development in various
economic fields, particularly in transportation sector at the
conclusion of their talk.

Los Angeles Daily News
Oct 1 2005
State trade office to open in Armenia
By Alex Dobuzinskis, Staff Writer

California’s trade office in Armenia will open Monday, thanks to the
$75,000 raised by local members of the Armenian community to create
trade partnerships between the Golden State and the former Soviet
republic.
The office will be in temporary quarters in Yerevan, Armenia’s
capital, in a government building there. An English-speaking Armenian
was appointed to run the office, which will link importers and
exporters between California and the landlocked nation east of Turkey
and north of Iran.
Because the money was raised privately, the state was able to open
the office in Armenia even though California’s other foreign trade
offices were closed recently because of state budget woes. That could
be a model for the state if it opens other foreign trade offices,
officials said.
“The Armenian officials that I met with are very excited about it
because they recognize that one of the ways as a developing country
they’re going to progress is to count on the expertise and the
products that would come from a place like California,” said Sen.
Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, who was in Armenia from Sept. 19-23.
Officials expect that the office will facilitate in the export of
information technology and health products going into Armenia and
help Armenian businesses export foodstuffs and other products to
California.
There is nearly $50 million in trade between Armenia and the United
States, most of it with California, said Berdj Karapetian, chairman
of the Glendale-based Foundation for Economic Development, which
helped create the trade office.

“There are quite a few individual business owners, midsize business
owners – not the multimillion dollar ones or the small mom-and-pop
entities – midsize businesses that are looking for business
opportunities in Armenia that are developing, but they’re not sure
the exact ways to go about it,” said Karapetian, who works in
marketing.
The office will facilitate that work that they need, he said.
No public money has gone into creating the trade office, and there
could be a need for additional fundraising in the future to keep the
office operating.
“I’d like to see it grow,” said Annette Vartanian, executive director
of the Glendale-based Armenian American Chamber of Commerce.
“Obviously, it’s going to start out small, but I’d like to see in the
next couple of years for the office to expand and to see a team of
people working.”
The office is overseen by the California Business, Transportation &
Housing Agency.

Kathimerini, Greece
Oct 1 2005
An EU stretched too far
By Petros Papaconstantinou
The looming collapse of Turkey’s EU talks before they have even
started confirms that, for European governments, Ankara’s refusal to
recognize Cyprus was merely a pretext used to revise their
wrongheaded strategy. Vienna is once again halting the Sultan at the
gates of Europe – a role that Athens and Nicosia could not afford to
play. But the loose-tongued Austrians do not speak only for
themselves. The recent setback in the European Parliament and French
calls for a `clearly controlled’ application process for Turkey
indicate the change of mood.
For how can one explain the shift of big states which – after
pressuring Athens for years to lift its Turkey veto – have now, at
the 11th hour, unearthed the problem of Cyprus, the Kurdish issue,
the Armenian killings, even the cases of torture in Turkey’s
psychiatric clinics. In Turkish eyes, that can only be a sign of
growing reluctance to let Ankara hop on the EU train.
What the expanding alliance of Turkey-skeptics fail to see is that
the rushed expansion of the bloc was a blunder of mammoth
proportions. Enlargement was decided in the wake of German
reunification as Berlin reckoned that its unmatched economic leverage
would turn the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe into
satellites. Britain wanted the same thing for different reasons.
Eastward enlargement, it was believed, would put European plans for
political and military emancipation from the US on the back burner
and take the dismantling of Europe’s social state a step further.
In the end, it was London, not Berlin, who smiled. In this context,
the clamor over Turkish membership has catapulted onto center stage
the concerns over Europe’s geographical stretch, which threatens to
unravel its social and political cohesion.

AsiaNews, Italy
Oct 1 2005
Armenians, Hebrews and Christians urge the EU: hasten Turkey’s entry
negotiations
by Mavi Zambak

The Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II has written to Shroeder, Merkel and
all European parliamentarians: Turkey’s entry is the way to
reinforcing East-West dialogue and to building peace against
terrorism.

Ankara (AsiaNews) – The Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II, spiritual
leader of Turkey’s largest non-Muslim community, has written an
anxious letter for help and intercession to Gerhard Schroeder and
Angela Merkel, asking them to hasten the process for Turkey’s entry
into the European Union. The letter was also addressed to 732
European members of parliament and to ministers of European nations.
The patriarch’s letter was prompted by the absence of reasonable
agreement between EU foreign affairs ministers and Turkey two days
before negotiations are set to start. Austria – up against the
unanimous consensus of 24 member states – is opposed to giving the
green light for negotiations, which have been stalled for some time
now on its demand not to offer Turkey more than privileged
partnership.
To find a solution to satisfy Vienna’s reluctance, an emergency
meeting of foreign affairs ministers of the 25 was called Sunday in
Luxembourg.
Meanwhile, all national newspapers in Turkey are talking about
sabotage and high treason.
`A Damocles sword’, which appears never to go on forever, creating
tensions and aversion with regard to Europe. Running titles in red
letters, many newspapers – fearful that Europe is backtracking –
claim events show the `European Christian club’ is not to be trusted;
the club which does not keep its promises and stabs you in the back.
The nationalists, who until a few days ago, had not hesitated to slam
Prime Minister Erdogan for being too friendly with the Europeans and
of selling Turkey and leading it to suicide, seem to be the only ones
to rejoice about the situation.
Christian Turks fear a refusal to start the entry process of Turkey
into Europe could lead to negative repercussions for them.
The Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II wrote his letter, which was made
public today, even before he got to know about the verdict of the 25
European ambassadors. In the letter, he claims to speak in the name
of the Armenians as well as the Hebrews, Syrians, Greeks, Chaldeans
and Protestants, who strongly desire that Turkey becomes a member of
Europe for the following reasons.
`At this important juncture of the history of mankind,’ writes the
Patriarch, `we believe this decision is important not only for
European policy, but that it has global implications too.
`In these days, when we hear talk about clashes between the
civilizations of East and West, between Christians and Muslims, when
we see how terrorism is destroying peace among civilizations, we
think that the most basic objective of the European Union should be
that of seeking to cultivate a `reconciliation between civilizations’
and a multi-cultural society, as we – especially Christians of the
East – ardently desire.
`We Christians of the East, who for centuries have lived in a Muslim
word, can testify to this endeavour, and fortified by long
experience, we can affirm that this event could be significantly
enriching for Christians in the West who have started to live with
Muslims and to experiment a multi-ethnic lifestyle only recently.
`Our experience tells that the entry of Turkey – which has a majority
Muslim population – in the European Union, is a vital step towards a
world of peace. Turkey’s aspiration to be part of Europe is an
opportunity – not for Turks alone, or for Europeans, but for world
peace – which we should certainly not allow to pass us by.
`We are aware Turkey must yet face difficult trials in entry
negotiations, but we know they are indispensable and necessary for
world peace.
`And you, as one who works for western peace, must help us.
`The pressure recently exerted to postpone Turkey’s entry
negotiations worries us and we fear that those who oppose it and who
nurture attitudes of suspicion, may disrupt the road to democracy,
making Turkey turn in on itself.
`We pray for the success of the process of civilization and peace in
the European Union and so that Turkey and the Armenian Christians,
who make up the country’s largest non-Muslim community, may find
their right place in it.’

Mobile Register, AL
Oct 1 2005
Symphony welcomes guest violinist
Saturday, October 01, 2005
By THOMAS B. HARRISON
Arts Editor
Achange of seasons brings a change of venue for Mobile Symphony
Orchestra, and seldom has a concert more aptly fit the space.
Call it kismet, serendipity, a lucky break or a happy accident, but
next weekend the orchestra and its audience will be precisely where
they should be when the MSO presents an intimate evening highlighted
by Antonio Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.” (See information box.)
Not that it was designed this way. Hardly that.
As it does every October, BayFest takes over downtown Mobile for the
weekend, so Mobile Symphony was compelled to leave the friendly
confines of the Saenger Theatre for Midtown.
Thus, one Saturday evening concert will become a Saturday-Sunday dual
performance in the auditorium of the Alabama School of Mathematics
and Science at 1255 Dauphin St.
The intimate setting and tranquil melodies of Vaughan Williams,
Handel and Vivaldi should offer a respite from the madding crowds and
relentless noise of downtown’s high-decibel bacchanal.
The space seats fewer than half the Saenger’s 1,900 capacity, but the
acoustics are excellent and the theater should accommodate Vivaldi as
well as the other two selections on the program: Handel’s Concerto
Grosso in F Major, Op. 3, No. 4; and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ lovely
“Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis.”
Under the direction of Scott Speck, the orchestra will be joined by
violin soloist Ida Kavafian, known for her intensity, exemplary
musicianship and experience playing chamber music.
Born in Istanbul of Armenian parents, Kavafian is an active chamber
musician and has played chamber festivals and series worldwide. She
has toured and recorded as violist with the Guarneri String Quartet
and is an active participant with the Chamber Music Society of
Lincoln Center, of which she is an artist member.
Christina Littlejohn, executive director (and cellist) for Mobile
Symphony, says the program offers the sort of challenge a growing
orchestra requires.
It’s important for the orchestra to play different styles of music,”
she says. “As we grow, it is important for us not to play just
Tchaikovsky.
“The nice thing about Vivaldi is you have to listen really hard, and
it forces you to remain focused. With the other music, the melodies
just capture you and send you away, but with Vivaldi and chamber
music your ears have to be wide open. It’s so intimate you’re really
working as a team.”
Littlejohn cannot recall the last time the orchestra performed
Vivaldi — certainly not in the past decade since Mobile Symphony was
reconstituted. Same with Handel’s Concerto Grosso.
The last performance of Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia” likely came
during the hurricane-delayed 1998-99 season under then-interim
conductor Jerome Shannon.
Because of the move and the Sunday matinee performance, there will be
no open dress rehearsal for the “Four Seasons” concert, says
Littlejohn.
Next week also brings the first of the orchestra’s three composers in
residence. Kenji Bunch, the talented violist, composer and teacher,
will be in Mobile throughout the week for a series of educational
outreach programs and performances at area schools and libraries.
Mobile Symphony received a $150,000 grant from “Music Alive,” created
in 1999, a joint program of Meet the Composer and the American
Symphony Orchestra League. Funds allow a three-year residency
project, beginning this season, with Bunch, Mason Bates and Kevin
Puts.
The residency offers each an opportunity to create a new symphonic
work and to interact with the orchestra on educational activities.
Mobilians are quite fond of Bunch, who enjoyed a two-week residency
in 2003 and returned for concerts in Fairhope and the University of
South Alabama, where he performed “A Bunch of PDQ Bach.”
For Mobile Symphony the composer will produce a commissioned work,
“The Face of Mobile,” to be performed during the orchestra’s 10th
anniversary season, 2007-08.
Littlejohn says Bunch might join the orchestra next weekend during
Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia.”
Speck describes Bunch as “a phenom,” and superlatives seem to follow
the young composer wherever he goes. A superb violist, Bunch has
played with Yo-Yo Ma, and he has developed quite a following for his
bluegrass career.
Bunch will bring the “citified” sound of his group Citigrass to town
in June 2006 for the season-ending pops concert, “A Bunch of
Bluegrass.”
“I don’t know anything he hasn’t been able to do,” says Speck.
Bunch might well add to his list of accomplishments during BayFest,
where he hopes to take the stage and perform at least one tune with a
group he admires: Widespread Panic.

WAM – Emirates News Agency, United Arab Emirates
Oct 1 2005
Armenian FM visits Zayed’s tomb
Oct 1, 2005 – 12:36 –
Abu Dhabi, 01 Oct. 05 (WAM)–Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanian has paid a visit to late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan’s
tomb.
“We bow our heads in honour and respect for your leadership, which
was abounded with great achievements in the best interest of your
country and towards enhancement of friendship and cooperation with
various countries of the world,” Oskanian, who arrived here Friday
night for a visit to the UAE, wrote in the register.

A1+
| 17:02:37 | 29-09-2005 | Politics |
RE-ELECTION WILL NOT BE HELD
>From today Araik Kotanjyan is the prefect of Kanaker-Zeytun community. The
decision was taken by the Court of First Instance of Arabkir and
Kanaker-Zeytun community in accord with the suit brought by Araik Kotanjyan
himself.
To remind, the election of the head of Kanaker-Zeytun community was held on
September 18. Taking into account the minor difference between the number of
the votes garnered by the two candidates the Local Election Committee (LEC)
declared the election invalid and set a re-election for October 2.
By today’s decree the court nullified the above mentioned decision of the
LEC. The decree that came into force at the moment of its announcement
cannot be appealed.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Kevorkian to campaign for assisted suicide
If paroled from prison, which could be as soon as 2007, doctor would
plan legal fight
The Michigan Daily
September 30, 2005
LAPEER, Mich. (AP) — If released from prison, Jack Kevorkian plans to
use the legal system to campaign for changes to assisted-suicide laws,
the former doctor said in an interview from prison.
Kevorkian spoke with MSNBC’s Rita Cosby during a televised interview
that was scheduled to air on the network at 9 p.m. yesterday.
In excerpts from the interview released to the media in advance of its
airing, the 77-year-old said that if he is granted parole in 2007, his
earliest possible release date, he plans to travel and visit family as
well as resume his efforts to legalize assisted suicide.
But Kevorkian emphasized that he would not help those who want to die by
breaking the law again, or encourage other doctors to do so until it’s
legal.
“I have said publicly and officially that I will not perform that act
again when I get out,” he said. “What I’ll do is what I should have done
earlier, is pursue this from a legal standpoint by campaigning to get
the laws changed.”
When asked by Cosby if he regretted the actions that put him in prison,
Kevorkian replied: “Well, I do a little.”
“It was disappointing because what I did turned out to be in vain, even
though I know it could possibly end that way,” Kevorkian said. “And my
only regret was not having done it through the legal system, through
legislation, possibly.”
Kevorkian, who is being held at the Thumb Correctional Facility in
Lapeer, is serving a 10- to 25-year sentence for second-degree murder
after being convicted of giving a fatal injection of drugs to a Lou
Gehrig’s disease patient in 1998.
Kevorkian has said he assisted in at least 130 deaths, and Gov. Jennifer
Granholm has said she won’t consider pardoning him.
During the interview, Kevorkian also discussed the case of Terri
Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman whose feeding tube was removed
after her husband won a court order to do so.
Kevorkian said that had the woman’s situation come up 10 years ago, he
would have considered taking her on as a patient because her husband was
her legal next-of-kin and because medical officials had determined that
nothing could be done to help her.
Kevorkian has signed off on a book and a movie about his life, both of
which are expected to be released sometime next year. Producers have
mentioned Ben Kingsley as a possible choice to play Kevorkian.
“He’s a great actor,” Kevorkian said. “And beside that, he carries the
implication of Gandhi, which is OK with me also.”
PHOTO CAPTION: Jack Kevorkian is shown in this Feb. 9, l996, file photo.
If released from prison, Kevorkian plans to use the legal system to
campaign for changes to assisted-suicide laws, the former doctor said in
an interview from prison. (AP PHOTO)