COE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS SESSION’S AGENDA ANNOUNCED
Today, Azerbaijan
May 11 2006
Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and
Vardan Oskanyan will attend the 116th session of the Council of
Europe Committee of Foreign Ministers scheduled for 18 and 19 May
in Strasbourg.
Human rights and cooperation between the Council of Europe and the
European Union will be priority on the agenda. The Russian Federation
will take over the presidency of the Committee of Ministers from
Romania, for a period of six months.
At the invitation of Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis,
the Ministers will hold an informal meeting with Martti Ahtisaari,
the United Nations Special Envoy for the future status of Kosovo.
The Ministers will also discuss other major priorities resulting
from the Council of Europe’s Third Summit in Warsaw, namely: the
reinforcement of the Council’s action in support of democracy and
good governance, the development of intercultural dialogue and the
Organisations process of internal reform.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will present the priorities
for his presidency at the end of the session.
Within the session, Elmar Mammadyarov and Vardan Oskanyan will hold
next round of negotiating process for the settlement of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict in the framework of the Prague process.
The Ministers will exchange views on new opinions OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs presented to the conflicting sides in early May. It will be
determined after the meeting of the two Ministers whether there will
be a need for the meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents,
APA reports.
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HERE COMES PETER COTTONTAIL, HOPPING DOWN THE INFORMATION TRAIL
By J. D. Biersdorfer
New York Times
May 11 2006
The term “rabbit ears” may bring to mind television in the B.C.
(before cable) era, but a brand-new electronic bunny adjusts its
own ears. Arriving this month from the French company Violet, the
Nabaztag Wi-Fi Smart Rabbit is a nine-inch talking pet that hops onto
your home network to read the news, weather, text messages and more.
It can even signal by moving its ears.
“The idea was to create a new generation of stuff completely
independent of the PC,” said Rafi Haladjian, a founder of
Violet. So why a bunny? “The best object is one that has nothing
to do with technology, and the rabbit seemed good,” Mr. Haladjian
said. Nabaztag – Armenian for rabbit – will be available next week
from for $150.
Nabaztag needs just a wireless network and a power outlet. Owners can
set up its actions at Other free Nabaztag services
include wake-up calls and alerts about e-mail messages. A subscription
($15 for three months) lets the bunny handle things like R.S.S. feeds.

A CULTURAL VANGUARD BRINGS PARIS TO THE ISRAELI SPRINGTIME
By Goel Pinto
Ha’aretz, Israel
May 11 2006
PARIS – During a visit to Israel six months ago, Olivier Poivre d’Arvor
decided to hold a French cultural season in Israel. The decision was
certainly not taken thoughtlessly. For the most part, the personal
ideology of someone who believes that culture mirrors everything in
life lies behind the idea to hold a “French spring” in Israel.
Poivre d’Arvor heads the French Association for Artistic Action
(AFAA), which has been operating for over 80 years to create cultural
cooperation between France and the rest of the world. The association’s
headquarters is located in the 7th Arondissement in Paris, between
the Austrian consulate and the military museum, Les Invalides. In the
entrance hangs a picture of the Eiffel Tower painted red, a one-time
gesture by the AFAA to mark the Year of China in France, in 2004.
Each year, France announces it will focus on a different country,
and during that year, the best of that country’s culture is presented
to the French audience. Last year was the Year of Brazil and next
year will be the Year of Armenia, during which a huge concert by the
world’s most famous Armenian, singer Charles Aznavour, will be held.
The Year of Israel took place eight years ago.
Poivre D’Arvor, a man with a dry sense of humor, sometimes – perhaps
deliberately – forgets his diplomatic role. The initiative for a
season of French culture, to kick off next week in Israel, he says,
was not conceived as a gesture of mutuality in the wake of the Year
of Israel in France.
“I still have not received the letter of invitation,” he says with
slight sarcasm.
A few months ago, Israel refused to sign the “Convention for the
Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions”
initiated by UNESCO, and its refusal was what led to the decision.
“We are not all the same,” and “do not all have the same culture,”
states the convention, which is based on a consensus that every
country has the right to promote its culture. It was signed by 148
countries, four abstained and two were opposed: the United States,
which felt that it was an activity directed against the American
culture dominating the world, and Israel, which followed suit.
“Today, everyone’s fantasy is to be American,” says Poivre d’Arvor.
“In another 20 years everyone will want to be Chinese, and in another
50 years we will all be citizens of Dubai or Brazil or India. The
UNESCO document states that differences exist. I don’t understand why
Israel was so quick to refuse to sign the document, since it of all
countries has to protect its very fragile culture, the Hebrew language,
which is spoken by so few people. The founders of the State of Israel
were dreamers, but in order to dream you need culture.
Enough with watching American television all day long,” he says,
raising his voice.
“Halas,” he adds, and for a moment it seems as though he is returning
to the late 1980s, when he served as the director of the French
Institute in Alexandria, Egypt and as his country’s cultural attache
at the embassy. “There is more than that to life. To open a book,
to take an interest in the cultures of others, and then one day the
Israelis will take an interest not only in the sounds of explosions,
but in culture as well.”
We will help the Palestinians
The French season in Israel, which has the charming name “Voila!” –
with a logo that emphasizes the letters “IL” to represent Israel –
will begin on May 16 with a pyrotechnics extravaganza, a performance
and fireworks display by the “F Group.” The group will light up the
skies of Tel Aviv with a cacophony of color, just as it did at the
Athens 2004 Olympics, the Winter Olympics in Torino and the Millenium
festivities on the Eiffel Tower. Poivre d’Arvor says that he chose
this show as the opening shot, because “anyone who has been in Tel Aviv
and does not see that you like craziness, is either stupid or blind.”
Aside from the opening evening, there will be, among other things,
the “Dialogues” fashion show by Christian Lacroix, in the Reading
power station building in Tel Aviv (May 17-June 15), and at the
Jerusalem Film Festival there will be a retrospective of the films
of Isabelle Huppert.
Surprisingly, the season of French culture will take place only in
Israel, and will not spill over to the Palestinian Authority areas.
“I respect Israel,” he says, “because it respects its culture and it
has the means to display important works of art, and cinematheques
in which to present films. In Palestine there are not even minimal
conditions. In the coming years we will help the Palestinians construct
such buildings, so that in the future we will be able to have a season
of French culture there.”
Poivre d’Arvor believes with all his heart that culture can change
situations, even a serious conflict such as that between Israel and
the Palestinians. “I am very familiar with the situation in the Middle
East, I come to Israel often, my partner is Israeli, and I don’t hear,
from any direction, that culture can change the situation between the
Israelis and the Palestinians. It sounds absurd to people, a statement
by Don Quixote on his donkey. But I believe in it. The Jews, like
the Muslims, are a nation with a glorious cultural past. Why are we
connected to the Jewish people? Because of its culture, not because
of the prime ministers, who are replaceable.”
Poivre d’Arvor believes that if Israel were to build a cultural
institution in other countries, it would gain sympathy. “You only
have to look around,” he says. “The British have the British Council,
the Germans have the Goethe Institute and the French have the French
Institute. The goal of all these groups is to connect to countries on
the cultural level. With a relatively modest budget, Israel should also
establish an Israeli cultural institution in countries it considers
important to gain international public opinion. Artists like Daniel
Barenboim contribute to the improvement of Israel’s image in a way
that no foreign ministry can. Nobody can accuse cultural figures of
defending government policy, and that can change everything.”
Poivre d’Arvor, 48, began his career as a journalist at Le Matin de
Paris and afterwards directed a theater group in Lyon. Over the past
20 years, he has served as a cultural attache at French missions in
Alexandria, Prague and London. He is a writer who has written many
novels, some with his brother Patrick, who is 11 years his senior
and one of the most famous journalists in France.
Inferiority complex
Poivre d’Arvor believes that the French connection to Israeli culture,
and vice versa, is no coincidence. “Which country welcomes Israeli
culture more than any other country?” he asks. “I know that the Jewish
community in France, and Israelis in general, have a great deal of
criticism about France’s attitude towards them, but the fact is that
not a day goes by when one opens a newspaper – Le Monde, La Figaro,
Liberation – and doesn’t find an article in it about a new Israeli
book that has been translated, or about an Israeli film.
France has many shortcomings, but in one area, culture, there is a
genuine consensus that culture must be supported. We believe that
the world does not consist only of numbers and economics, but also,
and mainly, of emotions and an exchange of opinions. We have also
been enriched by importing culture and artists. All the great French
artists of the last century were foreigners: Picasso, Chagall, Dali.”
However, even Poivre d’Arvor admits that French culture has declined
in recent years. “It’s true, and it’s a good thing,” he says.
“Culture that consistently remains on a high level becomes arrogant.
Today, nobody has any right to dominate the world. It is important
that we received some blows, that the French language is no longer
spoken and admired, that our cinema does not sweep the world off its
feet, and that our writers are not the greatest writers in the world.
When I read Israeli writers I have an inferiority complex. It was
hard to accept that, and in France there are doubts and questions
regarding this matter. We are trying to change it, not in order to
dominate the world again, but in order to better understand it.”

GARABAGH MEDIATOR EXPECTS NO BREAKTHROUGH AT MINISTERS’ MEETING
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
May 11 2006
Baku, May 10, AssA-Irada
The OSCE mediators brokering settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan
Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict will discuss new proposals with the
foreign ministers of the two countries in Strasbourg on May 18-19,
the Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuri Merzlyakov, said.
“We will learn the reaction of the two sides,” he told ANS TV
channel. Merzlyakov said the French mediator Bernard Fassier had
informed him of the outcomes of his recent visit to Azerbaijan and
Armenia. Fassier said the conflicting sides took the new proposals
seriously and expressed interest in them.
“Some of the proposals are new, while others were built up based on
the previous ones. I hope the parties will finally agree maximally
on the conflict resolution principles.
“However, I am not expecting much from the upcoming discussions, as
this will be a regular working meeting. But what I can say is that
official Baku and Yerevan are studying our proposals.”
Merzlyakov noted that if the proposals are not fully accepted by
either party, the intermediaries will wait for further suggestions
from the sides.
The Russian co-chair said a private meeting of the Azeri and Armenian
foreign ministers will be held in Strasbourg as well. “I think the
sides should discuss our new proposals on their own,” he added.
The parties failed to agree upon the issues of principle during the
latest talks held by Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharian in
Rambouillet, France in February, which was followed by mutual threats.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRODDING TURKEY
Alberni Valley Times (British Columbia)
May 11, 2006 Thursday
Final Edition
When Prime Minister Stephen Harper in April acknowledged the Armenian
genocide, his statement was an affirmation of history and an advance
in Canada’s commitment to human rights. It also damaged relations
with Turkey, a longtime friend and NATO ally the Turkish government
was so angry that it has recalled its ambassador.
In the first years of the 20th century, more than one million Armenians
died in an ethnic cleansing conducted by Turkey. It was the first
genocide of the 20th century, and the Armenians passionately have
sought international acknowledgment of that fact ever since.
The Turks have been equally passionate in their denial, claiming that
the number of deaths has been greatly exaggerated and that whatever
deaths there were resulted from civil war and strife rather than any
policy of ethnic cleansing.
Until recently, this was an argument that Turks seemed to be winning,
not because they are right there was an Armenian genocide but simply
because in the international scheme of things Turkey matters a great
deal more politically, economically and militarily than Armenia does.
The wind appears to be shifting, however. Mr. Harper chose to risk a
row with Ankara by recognizing the truth of the situation last month,
and sure enough, a diplomatic fight broke out. In France, a bill now
before the National Assembly would make denial of the Armenian genocide
a crime, in the same way as Holocaust denial is in many places.
Turkish diplomats are in Paris this week furiously fighting to prevent
the bill from becoming law. Turkey is hardly unique in its denial
of its 20th century history. Russia is reluctant to confess to the
Ukrainian Famine; Japan refuses to admit a long series of pre-war and
war-time crimes, including the 1937 Rape of Nanking; China refuses
to admit that under Mao Tse-tung as many as 30 million people may
have been murdered.
Mr. Harper is unlikely to bring up the Chinese slaughter China is way
more important than Turkey but even so, he may have done the Turks
a favour. Ankara is looking for a new future within the European Union.
To have such a future, it will need to acknowledge its past. Mr.
Harper may have helped Turkey to see the inevitability of that.

TURKEY CAN’T HIDE FROM ITS PAST
Harry Sterling, Citizen Special
Ottawa Citizen
May 11, 2006 Thursday
Final Edition
‘The Armenian claims are a direct attack on our identity, on Turkey’s
history.”
With these words Turkish embassy counsellor Yonet Tezel explained his
government’s decision to recall its ambassador to Canada, Aydemir
Erman, for “consultations.” The move followed recent remarks by
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper associating his government with
Canadian parliamentary resolutions describing the deaths of 1.5 million
Armenians in Turkey during the First World War as an act of genocide.
Turkey has made a similar move against the French government for
contemplating a proposed law making denial of the Armenian genocide
a crime.
As a further indication of its displeasure, Turkey has announced
it is cancelling participation of Turkish fighter aircraft in an
international military air exercise May 17 to June 24 in Cold Lake,
Alta.
Despite its actions directed at Ottawa and Paris, Turkish authorities
stressed the recalls were only “… for a short time for consultations
over the latest developments about the baseless allegations of
Armenian genocide.”
While the statement by the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan was essentially pro-forma, for many it was indicative of
Turkey’s inability to confront an issue that is never going to go
away until the Turks come to terms with it.
Turkish governments have always maintained that the large-scale
deaths of Armenians during the First World War and after occurred
when the then-Ottoman government was trying to put down Armenian
nationalists aligned with invading Russian forces and was not an act
of premeditated genocide. They also insist the figure of 1.5 million
deaths is inflated and that during that turbulent period hundreds of
thousands of Turks in eastern Turkey also died.
While these explanations are widely shared by the Turkish population,
some Turks have called for a more open-minded approach to the issue,
including Turkey’s internationally recognized author Orhan Pamuk.
He was subjected to widespread criticism and physical threats for
commenting during an interview about the Armenian genocide and
repression of the country’s Kurdish minority, both considered taboo
subjects, especially by Turkish nationalists. He was charged with
denigrating the nation and faced a stiff prison sentence. However,
as a result of international pressure, particularly from the European
Union — which Turkey wants to join — the government dropped the
charges on technical grounds.
A number of Turkish academics have also voiced support for examining
the genocide issue with more of an open mind. One way to do this would
be to open up Ottoman-era archives and other documentary sources,
including Russian military reports that might shed light on what took
place during fighting in the region.
Investigations carried out by German and U.S. analysts concerning the
deaths concluded that the catastrophic defeat of Turkish troops engaged
against Russian forces during the early stages of the First World
War, and the Turkish army’s claim it had been stabbed in the back by
Armenian nationalists, resulted in the Turkish military disarming and
executing countless Armenian men as traitors, regardless of whether
they were engaged in an anti-Turkish insurgency.
The Turkish army purportedly then rounded up Armenian women and
children, ordering their deportation via the Syrian Desert, resulting
in massive deaths.
Turkish authorities dispute such findings, maintaining there was
no official policy to exterminate Armenians and that most deaths
were caused during the deportation to Syria due to lack of adequate
provisions at a chaotic time in eastern Anatolia.
Notwithstanding contradictory views on what transpired nine decades
ago, what is incomprehensible to many outside Turkey is why current-day
Turks are unable to look back on those horrific developments in a
more balanced fashion, instead of insisting Armenian claims have
absolutely no foundation in truth.
One reason that has been cited concerns the Turkish military, seen as
the true power in Turkey. The modern-day Turkish military founded by
Kemal Ataturk has always seen itself as the defender not just of the
country’s independence, but also of its national honour and dignity.
The Turkish officer caste takes its role in society extremely
seriously, even executing a prime minister for allegedly endangering
the stability of the state. Anything that could raise doubts or
undermine the military’s ability to present itself as guardian of
Turkey’s national honour and territorial integrity, or which portrays
Turks behaving in a barbaric fashion, is unacceptable.
This, some claim, is why it’s near impossible to confront the realities
behind the tragic fate of Turkey’s Armenian population 90 years ago
— or Turkey’s treatment of its Kurdish population — since it could
undermine Turkey’s own idealized perception of itself as a modern,
liberal society.
But like Germany, Turkey must confront the realities of the past if
it expects to be accepted as a nation capable of dealing open-mindedly
with its own history, however disagreeable that might be.
Harry Sterling, a former diplomat, is an Ottawa-based commentator. He
served in Turkey.

PARLIAMENT DELEGATION TO TRAVEL TO FRANCE TO WORK AGAINST ARMENIAN BILL
Anatolian Times, Turkey
May 9 2006
Press Review
Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc said yesterday that a delegation of
four parliamentarians is planning to travel to France tomorrow.
Speaking to reporters, Arinc, currently paying an official visit
to Sweden, stated that France’s Parliament is set to debate a bill
concerning the so-called Armenian genocide on May 18, adding that
the Turkish parliamentarians will hold a series of talks with their
France counterparts to convince them not to pass the bill. Regarding
the issue, Arinc also sent a message to France Parliament Speaker
Jean-Louis Debre last month.

TURKEY’S PARIS, OTTAWA ENVOYS RETURN TO POSTS IN GENOCIDE ROW
Agence France Presse — English
May 11, 2006 Thursday 1:56 PM GMT
Turkey’s ambassadors to Canada and France have returned to their
posts after being been recalled over disagreements on whether the
massacres of Armenians during World War I constitute genocide,
a Turkish diplomat said Thursday.
Ambassador to Paris Osman Koruturk and Aydemir Erman, the ambassador
to Ottawa, “have returned” to their posts after talks with Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and foreign ministry officials,
the diplomat told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The foreign ministry said Monday that the two had been summoned to
Ankara “for a short time” for consultations.
Turkey has warned Paris that bilateral ties will suffer if the French
National Assembly adopts a bill that would make it a punishable
offence to “deny the existence of the 1915 Armenian genocide”.
A first reading of the bill, proposed by the opposition Socialist
Party, is scheduled for May 18.
“I believe the French parliament will probably not introduce the
so-called Armenian genocide like a virus between two countries that
have such important ties. I believe common sense will prevail,”
Erdogan told reporters Wednesday.
If approved, the bill, which follows a 2001 French law officially
recognising the Armenian massacres as genocide, would provide for
five years in jail and a 45,000-euro (57,000-dollar) fine for any
person who denies that the 1915-1917 massacres constitute genocide.
Turkey was also angered when Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
referred to the “Armenian genocide” as fact in a statement during
commemorations of the 91st anniversary of the killings on April 24.
The foreign ministry said at the time that Harper’s words were
“appalling” and would “negatively affect” bilateral ties.
In protest, Turkey withdrew from a planned multi-nation military
exercise to be held in Canada, officials in Ottawa said Wednesday.
In 2002, the Canadian Senate recognised the massacres as the first
genocide of the 20th century and the House of Commons followed suit
two years later.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in
orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917, as the Ottoman Empire,
modern Turkey’s predecessor, was falling apart.
Turkey rejects the claim, saying 300,000 Armenians and at least
as many Turks died in civil strife when the Armenians took up arms
for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with Russian troops
invading Ottoman soil.

RESCUERS REFINE DATA ON COORDINATES OF ARMENIAN JET’S BLACK BOXES
by Dmitry Nezdorovin
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 11, 2006 Thursday 04:37 PM EST
Rescuers working in the area of last week’s crash of the Armenian
Airlines A-320 jet’s that occurred off the shores of Russian Black
Sea beach city of Sochi have refined the data on coordinates of the
airliner’s flight recorders that are lying on the seabed about 500
meters deep and roughly six kilometers away from the coast.
“We can say now with a big degree of confidence the flight recorders
of the A-20 jet that crashed May 3 are indeed lying on the seabed,”
a source at the operative staff coordinating support to the rescue
operation said.
An additional telemetric research has been scheduled for Friday.
Early data indicates the flight recorders are found at the depth
of 496 meters and the distance between them is about five meters,
the source said.

TURKISH AMBASSADORS TO FRANCE, CANADA RETURN TO POSTS
Xinhua News Agency
May 11, 2006 Thursday 10:30 AM EST
Turkish ambassadors to France and Canada returned to their posts on
Thursday after consultations in Ankara regarding Armenian genocide
allegations, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.
The two ambassadors have been recalled to Ankara early this week for
consultations over recent Armenian genocide allegations in France
and Canada.
Turkey is exerting efforts in diplomatic, political and economic
channels against a bill to be voted by the French parliament on May
18, which will criminalize any denial of the Armenian genocide at
the hands of the Turkish Ottoman Empire last century.
The bill, proposed by the main opposition Socialist Party in France,
will bring a fine of 45,000 Euros (57,000 U.S. dollars) and a prison
sentence to those who deny the Armenian genocide.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that he
believed a common sense would eventually win out as French- Turkish
relations were not “ordinary bilateral relations.”
Erdogan’s remarks came as a French parliamentary commission rejected
the bill on the same day. However, the possibility of adoption still
seems high, the Turkish Daily News reported Thursday.
On April 24, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper referred to the
“Armenian genocide” as a fact in a statement, which exasperated Turkey.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said that Harper’s words were ” appalling”
and would “negatively affect” bilateral ties.
In 2001, Turkey cancelled millions of dollars worth of defense deals
with France companies after French lawmakers recognized such an
killing as genocide.
Armenians claim that as many as 1.5 million of their kin were
slaughtered in orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917, a claim
rejected by Turkey.
The Turkish government has called for forming a joint research
commission of Turkish and Armenian historians to investigate the issue.