Rocky Mountain News, CO
Sept 30 2005
System of a Down plays heavy metal and politics
By David Milstead, Rocky Mountain News
September 30, 2005
There was a time – it wasn’t that long ago, was it? – when most
Americans equated heavy metal with Warrant’s Cherry Pie.
Knuckleheaded lyrics by knuckleheaded white guys.
Sure, there were exceptions. But those bands weren’t the era’s
platinum artists.
System of a Down is the band that shows how much metal, and America,
has changed since the 1980s. Four seemingly crazy, leftist Armenian-
Americans released an album called Toxicity just a week before the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The first track wasn’t about cars and girls – it was Prison Song, a
critique of the American criminal-justice system. “All research and
successful drug policy show / That treatment should be increased /
And law enforcement decreased / While abolishing mandatory minimum
sentences!” singer Serj Tankian screamed.
The album seemed poised to stiff, a victim of bad timing and a
political climate in which, in the words of Bush spokesman Ari
Fleischer, people “need to watch what they say.” Instead, it sold 5
million copies.
Was the band heartened that its album was accepted, even embraced, at
that time?
“Well, that’s more of a statement than a question, I think,” said
Tankian, speaking from the road on a tour that stops at the Pepsi
Center on Sunday. “We had some (radio) program directors dropping the
single (Chop Suey) because of our statements. It was just a strange
feeling.”
But the band was emboldened and followed with an outtakes disc called
Steal This Album.
Now, with May’s Mezmerize, to be followed by November’s Hypnotize,
the band is in the midst of releasing a potent two-disc set that
retains its leftist message. It also accomplishes the odd feat of
being more accessible yet even stranger, in some ways, than System of
a Down’s past work.
The first single, B.Y.O.B., asks the time-honored questions “Why
don’t presidents fight the war? Why do they always send the poor?”
The song alternates between juggernaut riffs and a loping, chunky
chorus with sweet-voiced backup singers extolling “coming to the
party” to have a “real good time.”
Other efforts, like Violent Pornography, with its sendup of media
culture, aren’t quotable.
While System of a Down’s lyrics are distinctive, it’s the music that
makes the band truly unusual. Tankian refuses to be pinned down when
asked what specific artists he and his band mates have listened to,
and he instead names virtually every genre in the record store:
metal, rock, punk, Armenian, Arabic, Caribbean. “A very, very large
mix of things.”
Radio/Video, on Mezmerize, illustrates that mix. “It’s kinda got a
polka beat in the middle. It’s an interesting song. I like the fact
there are tempo changes throughout the song, and in the bridge
section it goes faster and faster. It’s kind of operatic, too,”
Tankian said.
The band could probably have fit all of Mezmerize and Hypnotize onto
one CD. At just over 36 minutes, Mezmerize is tiny by modern CD
standards. But both albums in one package probably would have been an
awful lot to swallow, particularly for the first-time listener coming
late to the System of a Down party.
“It would be a bit much,” Tankian said. “It always worked out better
for us to have people digest the first part of the double album.”
Tankian says the band’s current live set list includes only one or
two songs from Hypnotize; the band will wait for the album’s release
before adding the bulk of the disc to the playlist.
The band, in Chicago this week for a concert, took time out to stop
at the Batavia, Ill., office of House Speaker Rep. Dennis Hastert to
ask him to hold a vote on Armenian Genocide legislation that the band
says “will officially recognize Turkey’s destruction of 1.5 million
Armenians between 1915 and 1923.”
When it comes to the band’s Sunday date in Denver, however, System of
a Down welcomes all fans, whether they embrace the political message
or not.
“Certain fans may not be antiwar activists,” Tankian said. “Music has
a stronger impact on our bodies, souls and spirits than on our minds.
When our minds get involved, the experience is even stronger.”

ORF.at, Austria
Sept 30 2005
Talking Turkey with Orhan Pamuk

by Jill Zobel
Orhan Pamuk: One of the most popular and controversial people in
Turkey today, the best-selling author of “My Name is Red” and “Snow”
is this year’s winner of the German Booksellers Federation’s Peace
Prize which will be presented on October 23rd at the Frankfurt Book
Fair. Born in Istanbul in 1952, Pamuk dreamed of being a poet but
went on to study architecture.
He started writing at the age of 22 and ever since he’s worked hard
to explain his vast country and the Turkish soul to his own people
and the world at-large. Aggressively pro-Europe, Pamuk passionately
believes that Turkey belongs in the EU. He also believes that those
against Turkey’s joining are anti-Turk and just a little bit racist
at heart. He knows his country isn’t perfect but publicly and in his
books challenges his nation to keep moving in the right direction.

Snow
A year ago I read a book called “Snow”. Still now I can’t get the
story out of my mind. Basically it’s a novel about a Turkish guy
living in Frankfurt, Germany for the past 12 years named Ka. He’s a
poet with writer’s block. He hasn’t been able to write anything in
years.
The novel opens with his return to Istanbul so as to attend his
mother’s funeral. While there he learns that an old girlfriend named
Ipek is now divorced so he decides to hang around for a while to get
to know his country again and, most importantly, to track down Ipek
who he’s told is living in a shabby hotel in Kars, a really poor
Anatolian town close to the Georgian border.
A newspaper friend just so happens to need a reporter to go to Kars
and find out about reports that school girls are committing suicide
because they’ve been forced by their schools to remove their
headscarves. So killing 2 birds with 1 stone – Ka travels to Kars in
a snowstorm, reports on the suicides, falls back in love with Ipek,
gets back in touch with her ex-husband who now is a prominent
Islamist politician very supportive of the school girl suicides and
gets involved with Kurdish nationalists, leftist securlar publishers
and actors, spies for the military police and common people all
suspicious of him if only because of his snazzy German overcoat. And,
it never stops snowing the whole time he’s there…in this poorest,
decaying remnant of the former Ottoman empire.

Orhan Pamuk

Essential reading
“When the book was published three years ago in Turkey I was
attacked. Some people were confused because I did not make hardline
statements about nationalists, political Islamists or military. In
fact the joy of writing this novel was to let everyone talk freely as
they are.”
Even before reading “Snow”, I’d read a New York Times book review
which said: “This seventh novel from Turkish writer Orhan Pamiuk is
not only an engrossing feat of tale-spinning, but essential reading
for our times.” Margaret Atwood, NYT, August 15,2004
Then I read it and wept when it was all over. It was/is the most
exciting, interesting, frustrating and stimulating book I’ve read in
years. But, it didn’t solve my dillemma: Was I for or against
Turkey’s joining the EU? What it did do for me was it sent me back to
the bookstore for more Pamuk books, it made me passionately want to
visit Turkey (especially Kars) and got me thinking that whichever way
it goes (Turkey in or out) I could live with it either way. But,
never did I dream after reading it that I would get to interview
Orhan Pamuk.

“They don’t like poor people”
Actually, I didn’t get to personally meet him but I did get to ask
all my questions and have them answered in full … like how does he
explain anti-Turkish feelings in the EU or those who don’t want his
country to join: “They don’t like Turks. They don’t like poor people.
They don’t like people with different cultural and religious
backgrounds and they don’t want their governments to treat Turks as
if they are equal human beings, unfortunately.”

You see, a couple of months after I finished “Snow” I was sitting
with a journalist friend named Radovan Grahovac who himself had just
finished the book. We started talking about it and Pamuk and he said:
I’m going to Turkey and do a Tönspuren program about him for Ö1. I
said “great and if you go promise you’ll interview him for me.” Well,
Radovan met Pamuk in Istanbul early September and asked him my big,
long list of questions.” His Tonspuren program, by the way, can be
heard tonight (Friday, September 30th and will be repeated on Sunday
night) on Ö1 at 22:15.
The same day Radovan was getting ready to leave I read on APA (the
Austrian press Agency wire service) that an Istanbul public
prosecutor ordered Pamuk to appear in court on December 16th. He was
charging him with insulting the Turkish national identity. If found
guilty, Orhan Pamuk could spend 3 years in a Turkish jail.
So, why would a nation that usually is very proud of ist famous
people charge someone like Pamuk with insulting the state. Well, in
February Pamuk gave an interview to a Swiss newspaper magazine about
the 90th anniversary of the mass killings of Armebnians and Kurds …
an event which despite the testimony of many historians the Turkish
government has always refused to take blame for. What Pamuk said in
the interview was: “30,000 Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed
in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it.”

Confused?
This is what he said to me (via Radovan) about the court case:
“This is a very controversial issue about which I tried to open up a
bit, talk a bit and then there’s this case opened up by the public
prosector of my neighbourhood in Istanbul saying I have insulted the
Turkish identity because lots of Armenians were killed 90 years ago
and since so much energy is spent to silence me of course I am not
going to shut up but at least the Turkish nation is starting to talk
about it a bit.”
Now, noone really believes the court in December will find Orhan
Pamuk guilty or send him to jail but for me it’s still so
unbelieveable that they would even take him to trial.
By the time the trial begins Turkey will have probably been
negotiating with the EU for two months. So, after all is said and
done…interview made, books read I’ve had plenty of time to think
about it. What do you think should happen? Shoudl Turkey be allowed
to join this mostly Christian club?
If you also are confused all I can say is read Orhan Pamuk’s books
or, even better, listen to this Saturday’s Reality Check, october 1st
at 12 noon with Steve Crilley.

Inside Higher Ed, DC
Sept 30 2005
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 — ListProcessor(tm) by CREN
Freed Scholar Speaks Out
Four months ago, Yektan Turkyilmaz was a doctoral student in cultural
anthropology at Duke University, well-regarded but little known
outside his field. Then, on June 17, authorities at the airport in
Yerevan, Armenia ordered him off a plane and placed him under arrest,
confiscating nearly 100 books and CDs of research he had done as the
first Turkish scholar ever granted access to the National Archives of
Armenia.
Over the summer, Turkyilmaz became a cause célèbre among scholarly
groups that believed the smuggling charges against him (supporters
say he was the first person Armenia has ever charged with illegally
exporting books) to be a pretext for what they considered a crackdown
on a researcher studying a politically sensitive period in the
country’s tangled history with Turkey. Major scholarly associations
and human rights groups, as well as academic and political leaders in
the United States and throughout the world, urged Armenia to drop the
charges against him.
After a short trial last month, a court found Turkyilmaz guilty of
trying to take books out of the country illegally, but suspended his
two-year sentence and released him. He returned to Duke early this
month to get back to his studies and his research. In an e-mail
interview with Inside Higher Ed, he discusses his detainment, why he
thinks he was arrested, and the implications of his situation for his
career, his profession and beyond.
Q: In court, you apparently acknowledged breaking the Armenian law
unknowingly. Does that mean you believe your arrest was legitimate,or
did the government have another motive?
A. Yes I did acknowledge that I unknowingly broke a `law,’ an obscure
law which applies to the:
`Contraband of narcotic drugs, neurological, strong, poisonous,
poisoning, radioactive or explosive materials, weapons, explosive
devices, ammunition, fire-arms, except smoothbore long barrel hunting
guns, nuclear, chemical, biological or other mass destruction
weapons, or dual-use materials, devices, or technologies which can
also be used for the creation or use of mass destruction weapons or
missile delivery systems thereof, strategic raw materials orcultural
values.’
But I am convinced the book charges were just a pretext for my
arrest. KGB officials (Armenia’s police are now formally known as the
National Security Service, but everyone, including they themselves,
still call them the KGB) were certain that I was a spy. The first day
one of the KGB agents told me that their endeavor was to clarify –
given that Armenia’s ceasefire with Azerbaijan had ended very
recently – that I had not been involved in espionage on behalf of the
Turks (they do not differentiate between Azeris and Turks!). That is
why they arrested me.
The interrogators’ questioning in the initial few days of my arrest
was entirely devoted to my research, my political views and
connections with Turkish intelligence and state officials. The
concept of `scholar’ is meaningless to them. According to them, as
the investigator put it, `all scholars are spies.’ All my friends and
contacts in Yerevan (most of whom have nothing to do with the books
found in my suitcases) have not only been interrogated by the KGB but
were also harassed and threatened. They were all told that I was a
Turkish spy. My friends who were at the airport with me were
threatened not to let anyone, especially my family, know about my
arrest. (When my sister contacted them via phone they denied that
they were with me at the airport! For that reason my family did not
know about my situation for 15 hours.)
My case was a violation of academic freedom and the right to
research. Investigators went through every bit of my research
material. They looked one by one at almost 20 thousand images saved
on the CDs and on my laptop. I was asked to prove that I had
permission to reproduce every single image and also that they
contained no `state secrets’ even though I had official permission to
do research in the archives. They posed questions about my political
ideas, dissertation topic, why I had learned Armenian, if I
personally would have had enough time to read the material I had
reproduced at the libraries and the Archives, my relations with
Turkish military and intelligence, etc.
The staff at the libraries and archives where I was conducting
research were not merely questioned about their personal connection
with me, but also forced to testify against me. They asked one
librarian `how dare you take a non-Armenian guy to `our’ national
Archives?’ I am also informed that, they had been forced to confirm
that I got permissions to conduct research at their institutions not
through legal procedure (implying that I bribed them to get
permission to do research!).
It was only later, when the Armenian secret service could find no
basis for their claims, that the issue of legally purchased,
second-hand books in my possession came into the picture.
Q: Do you think you were detained for political reasons? If so, why?
A: I am convinced that not only my arrest but also my release were
political decisions taken by (few but) very high ranking Armenian
officials. I believe this Cold War-era conspiracy was organized, or
at least encouraged, by those who have no wish to see cooperation and
improved relations between Turkey and Armenia. KGB officials’
mentality – a mixture of the Soviet way of thinking and nationalism
with xenophobic overtones – played a crucial role in making the
decision to detain me. Unfortunately, in today’s Armenia (like many
other ex-Soviet republics), there isn’t adequate political control
over KGB. I should also underline that there is an ongoing fight
between pro-democracy advocates and pro-Russia Soviet-style rule. For
me, it is relieving to know that I have received a good deal of
support from the pro-democracy politicians and large segments of the
Armenian society, which is very important.
I think the basic reason why they targeted me is that they could not
put me in any of their nationalist, primordialist categories. I was
like a UFO to them: a citizen of Turkey of Kurdish origin, student in
the US, critical of the Turkish official stance on controversial
historical issues, an admirer of the Armenian culture, collector of
old Armenian books and records, speaker of the language, a researcher
who has visited Armenia several times without any worries and
concerns, a foreigner who is vocal about his ideas, etc. A story too
good to believe, because for them, the world can never be that
colorful. For the people who were interrogating me, you are either
Armenian-Armenian with the `full’ meaning of the word, or Turkish or
anything else. If I were a conventional `Turk,’ as they would have
rather preferred to see me as, I believe, I may not have had any
troubles. I think, my endeavor to cross boundaries was deemed as a
threat by the people who decided on my arrest and by those who
interrogated me.
Q: Is there reason, legitimate or otherwise, why the Armenian
government would view your scholarly work with alarm? Can it be
perceived as `anti-Armenian”?
A: My work is not only about the history of the region but also about
historiography. Therefore, I don’t think that it favors any
nationalist historiography including the Armenian version. In that
sense my work is critical not only of the Turkish nationalist
historiography but also of the Kurdish and Armenian counterparts.
Hence my work can neither be called pro- or anti Armenian. That
question itself is based on nationalist anxieties, which I try to
analyze and move beyond in my scholarship.
There are some Armenian circles that do not sympathize with the usage
of Armenian resources by the Turkish scholars. This, too, is a
nationalist (if not racist) stance that we as academics need to
challenge for a more nuanced and sophisticated understanding of the
past as well of today.
Q: Most scholars characterize the deaths of some 1.5 million
Armenians during World War I as a genocide, but relatively few
Turkish scholars do so. What is your take on what happened?
A: It is very clear that almost the entire Armenian population of
eastern Anatolia was subjected to forced migrations and massacres
beginning in the early months of 1915.
Q: Do you think your treatment by Armenian authorities will undercut
Turkish willingness to explore the treatment of Armenians under
Ottoman rule?
A: That may be the message people will likely take away. But I think
we should be stubborn and should not give up.
Q: Were you aware, while you were being held, of the breadth of the
effort on your behalf, both from other academics and from leaders in
the political world like Bob Dole?
A: To some extent I was. I knew that my friends would realize why I
could be detained and also that they would support me to the end. I
was getting some kind of information from the outside, but it was not
always very accurate.
Here, I would like to take the opportunity to thank especially my
colleagues, Turkish, Armenian and American, who have demonstrated an
exemplary and meaningful solidarity. One upshot of my case, I
believe, is that unprecedented number of scholars, intellectuals and
activists from both groups came together, united around a common
cause. It was really great. I am grateful to all of them who have
signed the open letter to [Armenia’s] President Kocharian and hope
that my case has opened up further space of dialogue and cooperation
between the critical intellectuals studying the controversial and
painful pages of the history of the region.
I would also like to present my gratitude to the entire Duke
community, especially to President Brodhead, to Provost Lange and, of
course, to my heroic adviser Orin Starn, and to the department of
cultural anthropology. I want to mention three other names who were
crucial in the process, Prof. Ayse Gul Altinay (who orchestrated the
`global’ campaign for my release) of Sabanci University,
Istanbul/Turkey; Prof. Charles Kurzman of UNC, and Prof. Richard
Hovannissian of UCLA. Their support was invaluable.
I am also extremely grateful to the American politicians who got
involved. Bob Dole’s intervention was really crucial. I thank him
very much.
Q: Did you ever consider yourself to be in true danger?
A: Yes I think I did, especially after the first week.
Q: Do you envision returning to Armenia to continue your research?
Can you complete your dissertation without going back?
A: This is really a very tough question. I should first underline the
fact that for me there is no difference between Istanbul and Yerevan.
I feel at home when I am in Yerevan. I love walking on the streets
(especially Mashtots) of the city, or sitting at the lovely cafes
around the opera building. I have very close friends over there.
However, there is also this bitter experience I have gone through. It
is very sad for me to know that there are people in Armenia who do
not want me to do research in the country. I know that those people
are a minority, yet they are powerful. They still keep their old
isolationist way of thinking which they have recently blended with a
xenophobic brand of `Armenian patriotism.’ Whoever it is behind the
provocation against me, there is no doubt that they have damaged the
image of Armenia in the international arena. As a scholar, I have
been deeply disheartened by this incident.
But there are also people like the director of the National Archives
of Armenia, Mr. Amatuni Virabian, who from the first day of my
arrest, understood what was happening behind the scene and diligently
supported me. I received considerable support from
pro-democratization Armenian intellectuals. I also know that majority
of the people in Armenia eventually understood that the officials
made a big mistake and also that I was not an enemy of the Armenian
people.
I don’t want those who have tried to intimidate independent
researchers through my own case to win over those who have been
seeking and struggling for improved relations and scholarly
cooperation between the two countries and communities. Therefore I
will definitely go back.
I think I have compiled enough material to finish my dissertation.
That is, it is not a must for me to go back to Armenia for my
dissertation fieldwork research.
Q: Should your case make scholars wary of studying contentious
subjects? Do you have advice for other researchers contemplating
exploring such a topic?
A: Caution, they have to be really very cautious. They should be very
careful about the laws and procedures especially about permissions
necessary for research. No signal of danger should be overlooked. It
might be a good idea not to be publicly very visible. I also
recommend them to always back-up their work and if possible to
download it to the internet.
Q: What are your career plans for after you have your doctorate? Do
you envision entering the academy, and if so, any idea in what
country?
A: I am willing to pursue an academic career in the U.S. where I can
attain a free environment necessary for my studies.
Finally, I want to emphasize that I am not angry or bitter. I want to
put everything aside and concentrate on my work. I am an academic not
a politician, notwithstanding the fact that I was caught in the
middle of a fight among hostile political actors.
– Doug Lederman

Cyprus Mail
Sept 30 2005
Let October 3 be a great day for Turkey
TURKEY should have been celebrating October 3 as one of the
milestones in its history – after decades in the waiting, at last the
start of full accession talks with the European Union.
No country that has ever started accession talks has failed to join
the EU. But the growing opposition to Ankara’s membership across the
continent suggests Turkey could well be the first to break the mould.
As Monday’s rendez-vous nears, the debate gets more strident by the
hour. Indeed, there is still no agreement on the negotiating
framework, without which talks cannot begin, with Austria holding out
for an explicit alternative to full membership to be written in.
Turkey has said it will walk away from talks if such a clause is
inserted.
The realisation that Turkey’s membership prospects are now for real
has suddenly reminded politicians across Europe of Turkey’s many
democratic shortcomings. People who’d barely heard about Cyprus are
now championing its cause; the European Parliament is suddenly
insisting that Turkey cannot join without acknowledging the Armenian
genocide; many point to the ill-treatment of religious minorities or
the charges laid against novelist Orhan Pamuk for comments on the
massacres of Armenians and Kurds.
They’re right of course. The `deep state’ is far from dead in Turkey,
for all the reforms of the past years, and the country still offers
its critics plenty of sticks with which to beat it. Turkey does
little to help itself with its blustering arrogance, and the
aggressive rhetoric it feels it has to offer its domestic audience to
offset the compromises it is making.
But is it helping anyone to raise all these issues at this stage and
start talks in such a negative climate? Turkey’s accession process is
a win-win for all. The kind of changes Ankara will have to undertake
will address precisely the kind of problems that so many are now
nagging about. This can only be a good thing, anchoring a potentially
unstable country in an institutional and economic framework that over
a decade will erode precisely those fears that many harbour about
Turkey.
If at the end of that process, the Austrian people – or whoever else
– are still implacably opposed to accession, then they will say no,
period. That’s when we can start thinking about special partnerships
and the like – and to have reached that stage, Turkey will in any
case have matured sufficiently not to slam the door and precipitate a
regional crisis.
So let Turkey enjoy its historic moment on Monday, and let’s have the
opportunity over the next decade, step by step, to try and bring the
country into the orbit of democratic values that the European Union
represents.

The Messenger, Georgia
Sept 30 2005
Minister: despite uncertainties, winter energy forecast good
“It is difficult to guarantee that there will be no accidents” warns
minister
By Christina Tashkevich
Minister Nika Gilauri
Minister of Energy Nika Gilauri predicts that the Georgian energy
system will be able to avoid accidents this coming winter.
Talking at the meeting of the Parliamentary Sectoral Economy
Committee on Wednesday, Minister Gilauri forecast the system may face
some breakdowns because it has been operating on such a heavy
schedule in recent years.
“We will have capacity so that there will not be a deficit in the
energy system, but it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no
accidents,” Minister Gilauri said.
According to Gilauri, the system may still face accidents even after
hydroelectric stations and thermoelectric stations are rehabilitated.
However, the minister thinks that due to the repairs of energy
infrastructure this summer and autumn which included the Tbilsresi
thermoelectric station in Gardabani, the system can work in a 24-hour
regime with a 1,800 megawatt capacity this year. As part of the
repairs, Gardabani is purchasing two gas turbines from the U.S.
company Pratt and Whitney (see related story, page 9).
Gilauri added that the bulk of the energy in the system would be
locally produced, while only 350 megawatts would be imported.
“We hope that the system will endure working in a 24-hour regime in
winter 2006,” news agencies report Gilauri saying on Wednesday.
Tbilisi electricity distribution company Telasi claims it can supply
the capital with 24-hour electricity without any disruptions granted
there are no “force majeur situations.”
The head of Telasi public relations department Valeri Pantsulaia told
The Messenger Wednesday that the reliable supply of electricity will
be ensured by energy produced by the ninth electricity bloc in
Gardabani, the Khrami hydroelectric station, and electricity imports
from Russia and Armenia.
The ninth power plant will start operation on October 1 after routine
repair works. Pantsulaia says it will work with a 200 megawatt
capacity in October and its capacity will rise to 250 megawatts in
November.
Negotiations with Russian gas company Gazprom was another issue
discussed at the meeting of the parliamentary committee on Wednesday.
Representative of Gazprom in Georgia David Morchiladze confirmed at
the meeting that Gazprom has already made its first offer to the
Georgian side about the cost of gas imports.
“The first offer by Gazprom at negotiations in Moscow was USD 110
[for 1000 cubic meters of gas instead of the previous USD 60],”
Morchiladze said. He added that Georgia plans to agree with Gazprom
on a contract for 10 years.
The Russian company also demands that the Tbilisi gas distribution
company Tbilgazi pay off its existing debts to Gazprom’s subsidiary
company Gazexport. Tbilgazi still has a USD 5.7 million debt to
cover.

A1+
| 18:32:37 | 30-09-2005 | Politics |
THE MEETING PLACE MUST NOT BE CHANGED
«I am glad that International Constitutional Legislative Conferences are
traditionally organized in Yerevan. Armenia is preparing for serious
Constitutional reforms. They must be harmonious with the social developments
and contribute to them», said the RA President Robert Kocharyan today during
the Conference organized in connection with the 10th anniversary of the
adoption of the Constitution and formation of the Constitutional court.
The CoE Venice Commission secretary, the heads of the Human Rights European
Court and the Constitutional Right International Association as well as
heads of the Constitutional Courts, lawyers and scientists of several CoE
member-countries have arrived in Armenia in order to participate in the
Conference.
By the way, this is the 10th time a suchlike conference has been organized
in Yerevan.

A1+
| 18:08:41 | 30-09-2005 | Politics |
NATIONALIST REFORMERS MAKE OFFERS
The party `One Nation’ and the Armenian Nationalist Union have decided to
take the legislative initiative and offer the Parliament to deprive the
deputies who have been inadequately absent from the Parliament for a month
of their mandate.
Mentioning the fact that in that case the opposition who has announced
political boycott will be deprived of the mandates first, the leader of the
party «One Nation» Gor Tamrazyan said that in any case they are against the
behavior of the opposition as they have received their mandate to represent
the interest of the people in the Parliament and to process and adopt laws.
As for the boycott, they simply hinder the work of the other fractions and
the legislative body is not able to do its work properly.
The head of the Armenian Nationalist Union Rouben Gevorgyan finds that the
opposition must continue the struggle from the Parliament although he
realizes that the struggle of the opposition is in vain as the «majority is
always right.
The other offer referred to the educational field; the nationalists consider
that the schools must have a general uniform. The also offered to teach the
«Theory of Nzhdeh» at school.
The spiritual field was not neglected either; an offer was made to give a
super status to the Church. By the way. On October 16 the party «One Nation»
is going to organize an anti-sect march and calls all the church workers to
join it.
And the last offer is about the enhancing of the security of borders. Rouben
Gevorgyan announced that the Parliament must think about the security of the
borders of the country and make the conditions favorable for organizing
business in the areas near the border.
By the way, the NA President Arthur Baghdasaryan liked the idea of the
Nationalists to offer legislative reforms and he said they must be
represented to the NA in a written form. They wiil meet soon.

The News Tribune, WA
Sept 30 2005
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 — ListProcessor(tm) by CREN
Systematic progress
ERNEST A. JASMIN;
Published: September 30th, 2005 12:01 AM

KARL WALTER/GETTY IMAGES
System of a Down singer Serj Tankian says the band’s upcoming album,
`Hypnotize,’ was recorded during the same sessions as last May’s
`Mezmerize.’

Two of the most progressive bands in hard rock will be on display
when System of a Down and The Mars Volta invade KeyArena on
Wednesday.
System, the show’s headliner, cemented its reputation as one of the
most off-the-wall bands in metal with the May release of `Mezmerize.’
Song titles such as `Violent Pornography’ and `This Cocaine Makes Me
Feel Like I’m on This Song’ give even the uninitiated an idea of how
out there the band’s progressive sound can be.
`Hypnotize,’ the band’s next album, is due in record stores in
November. It was recorded during the same sessions that spawned
`Mezmerize.’ And during a recent phone interview, singer Serj Tankian
said fans could expect a similar vibe from the new songs.
`It’s a double record, so it’s kind of a continuity of the story,’
Tankian said. `The departure isn’t that much off. … In some ways I
think it’s a little more progressive than `Mezmerize.”
The track listing had not yet been finalized, Tankian said on Sept.
15. But he read the names of several tracks that might wind up on the
album from a demo copy he had with him. Among the ones he read were
`Attack,’ `Dreaming,’ `Stealing Society,’ `Tentative,’ `Holy
Mountains,’ `Vicinity,’ `She’s Like Heroin’ and `Soldier’s Side,’
that last one a sequel to the brief ballad that opens the `Mezmerize’
album.
System has already begun playing a couple of other new songs – `Kill
Rock ‘N’ Roll’ and `Hezze’ – on the first leg of the tour. MTV
described the latter as an instrumental.
`I’m not sure that’s going to be on `Hypnotize’ yet,’ he said, adding
that it might be released on some kind of limited-edition bonus disc.
System – also guitarist Daron Malakian, bassist Shavo Odadjian and
drummer John Dolmayan – crafts an intellectual brand of metal that is
both affecting and thought-provoking.
Among the social and political themes the band has explored since its
self-titled debut hit record stores in 1998 are the relationship
between global conglomerates and the waging of war (`Boom!’);
privatization of American prisons (`Prison Song’); and Armenian
genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turkey in 1915. (Members of the band
are of Armenian heritage, and the event remains contentious, as the
Turkish government does not acknowledge it happened.)
True to form, `B.Y.O.B.’ and `Cigaro,’ the first singles released
from `Mezmerize,’ tackle weighty issues. The former is an enraged
indictment of the war in Iraq. `Why do they always send the poor?’
Malakian shrieks as the song begins.
The latter attacks the political powers-that-be in broader strokes.
`We’re the regulators that deregulate,’ Tankian screams during the
song’s refrain. `We’re the propagators of all genocide/Burning
through the world’s resources, then we run and hide.’
Another track, `Sad Statue,’ decries the growing rift between
so-called red states and blue states and the impact it might have on
democracy.
However, Tankian suggested that the new album would be lighter on
political themes.
“Attack’ might have a little politics in it,’ he said after giving
it a moment’s thought. `Lyrically, it was more
stream-of-consciousness kind of stuff. … Daron wrote a good part of
the lyrics as well.’
Tankian also founded political activist group Axis of Justice
() – with Audioslave guitarist Tom Morrello.
`It’s hard to be fully active. We’re both on tour, but we have huge
breaks,’ he said. `To me I do what’s in my heart. … The concepts of
justice and injustice are what happen to be important to me.’
The singer is also involved with some non-System musical projects. He
contributes to the forthcoming Buckethead album `Enter the Chicken’ –
due Oct. 25 from Tankian’s Serjical Strike Records – and also
recently remixed Notorious B.I.G.’s `Who Shot Ya’ for a video game
project.
Regarding his penchant for keeping so many plates spinning, Tankian
said, `I know I can handle a lot, so I put myself under a lot of
stuff.’
Ernest Jasmin: 253-274-7389
[email protected]
What: System of a Down, with The Mars Volta
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
Where: KeyArena, Seattle
Tickets: $31.50 to $44
Information: Ticketmaster (253-627-8497 in Tacoma, 206-628-0888 in
Seattle or )

EUobserver.com, Belgium
Sept 30 2005
[Comment] Why we should delay opening accession negotiations with
Turkey
30.09.2005 – 11:02 CET | By Peter Sain ley Berry EUOBSERVER / COMMENT
– The British Presidency, we are told, has been working very hard to
ensure that the negotiations to allow Turkey to accede to the
European Union will begin, as scheduled, on 3rd October – that is
next week. They may indeed begin. Or on the other hand they may not.
If they begin they may be broken off, perhaps indefinitely. If they
are postponed now they may never start. The situation is not a happy
state of affairs for anybody. This may be the 21st century but
diplomacy remains an artisanal craft.
The immediate reason why the talks may not commence is that Austria
is reportedly still not happy with the UK Presidency’s negotiating
framework. The only intended outcome this envisages is full EU
membership for Turkey. Austria would prefer to see reference to a
‘privileged partnership,’ as an alternative. Turkey has countered by
indicating that it would not enter negotiations on this basis.
Regardless of this there are at least seven other good reasons why
the talks should not commence next Monday, despite that being the
desire of the British Presidency, the European Commission, the
European Parliament, at least 23 of the EU’s 25 member states and, of
course, Turkey itself. These reasons, moreover, have nothing to do
with the merits, or otherwise, of Turkey’s case for Union membership
sometime around 2015. Nor do they have anything to do with Turkey
being predominantly poor, predominantly Muslim or predominantly in
Asia.
EU cannot negotiate honestly
The first is that the Turkish negotiations are already in a big hole
before they have even started. And the first thing you should do when
you are in a hole is to stop digging, or as the early pilots were
instructed should they find themselves in a tailspin: ‘centre all
controls and pray like hell.’ Pursuing the negotiations now is likely
to harm both parties: both Turkey’s prospect of eventual membership
and Europe’s own necessary constitutional reform process.
The second reason to postpone the talks is that the EU is simply not
in a position itself to negotiate honestly with Turkey at this time.
It is currently deeply divided on Turkish membership. There is major
– if not majority – opposition in all the EU’s institutions and in
national parliaments. A substantial part of the European Parliament
is opposed, as are an even wider section of the European electorate.
This absence of full-hearted consent will hamper the negotiations.
The persistence of such a split will damage coherence within the EU,
making constitutional and economic reforms far more difficult to
achieve.
This split in European opinion can be attributed to several factors –
several of which can be addressed. If they are – and Turkey does
certain things and Europe does others – public opinion may well
become more favourable.
Not recognising Cyprus is ridiculous
It is ridiculous, for instance, that Turkey does not currently
recognise one of the states of the Union it is seeking to join. As
its delegates sit down to negotiate Turkey will still be banning
certain EU ships and aircraft (namely those from Cyprus) from its
ports and airports.
It is also ridiculous that Turkey should be still prosecuting
writers, like the respected novelist Orhan Pamuk, for expressing
non-violent opinions and that it should keep active on the statute
book laws that make it a crime to ‘denigrate Turkish identity.’ This
is the third reason why talks should not start now. Turkey should
address such fundamental un-Europeanism before embarking on accession
negotiations: not during those negotiations.
But Europe also needs to do certain things if it is to bring its own
citizens ‘on-side.’
It needs to have, for instance, an overall enlargement policy – not
just for Turkey, but for the Ukraine, for the Balkans, for the
Caucasus states, for Belarus and Moldova. How large should the Union
become? How should it be managed at that size? How financed? In other
words, where are we going? Many, especially in France and the
Netherlands, would like to know.
EU needs overall enlargement policy
Until we ourselves have formed an opinion on these matters how can we
negotiate with Turkey? That is the fourth reason for delay. We need
to be able to fit Turkey into a wider enlargement framework before we
open talks.
Part of this framework would be the institutions we might need to
manage an expanded Europe. The late lamented European constitutional
treaty proposed institutional change to accommodate 25 member states,
not 35. In any case it was rejected and we are left with the existing
‘stretched’ version of a system designed for 15. We can’t honestly
embark on discussions about further European enlargement before we
put our own constitutional house in order – for what is adding new
member states but changing the fundamental nature of the Union? This
is the fifth reason why the accession talks should not begin now.
Then we have the problem of Northern Cyprus. Of course, with
hindsight, we should not have allowed Cyprus to join the Union before
reunification of the island. The Turkish Cypriots loyally voted for
the UN backed reunification settlement. The Greek Cypriots, knowing
they had nothing to lose, did not. The result is an unresolved mess
and a state of bitterness and non-recognition between Turkey and the
Cypriot government. This festering sore needs to be healed before the
Turkish accession talks commence. This is the sixth reason to delay.
A seventh reason is the events – I don’t want to be prejudicial – of
1915. So many Turkish diplomats have been killed and still are killed
by those who hold them, even today, responsible for tragedies that
occurred ninety years before, that this is also unfinished business
that risks clouding a new political future. What happened to Turkey’s
Armenian population – and to indigenous Turks in Turkish Armenia –
should, three generations later, surely be a matter for independent
historians. That also requires action by Turkey, but not only by
Turkey.
Turkey’s hinterland
These then are the reasons for delay. But postponing the talks by a
few years need not delay eventual Turkish accession. Both sides have
problems to sort out. Once these are resolved, the accession
negotiations will proceed more speedily and still could conclude by
2015.
In the meanwhile, Turkey and the EU should talk about the economic,
military and political future of the eastern Mediterranean and its
large hinterland. Turkey is not an island: it is rather the centre of
a region, one of the reasons that a hundred years ago it had a large
empire. The future of the region as a whole should not be divorced
from Turkey’s bid for EU membership. And that provides yet another
reason, if one were needed, for not rushing into talks which, on
present omens, look destined to end in tears. The enemy of diplomacy
is rush. ‘N’ayez pas trop de zèle,’ as Talleyrand used to say.
The author is editor of EuropaWorld

Pravda, Russia
Sept 30 2005

Armenian church leader in Turkey urged EU to support Turkish EU bid
The leader of the Armenian church in Turkey urged European leaders to
support Turkey’s bid to join the European Union, saying postponing
Turkish membership would harm regional stability.
Pressure to delay Turkish membership “will be a blow not only to
Turkey and Europe but to reconciliation between East and West,”
Mesrob II wrote in a letter to the 25 EU foreign ministers, who will
hold an emergency meeting Sunday aimed at overcoming Austrian
objections to starting entry talks with Turkey.
Vienna insists that Turkey be offered the option of a lesser
partnership rather than full membership in negotiations. All 25 EU
nations have to agree on a negotiating mandate before talks can begin
with Ankara as scheduled on Monday, reports the AP.
I.L.