OSKANIAN APPRECIATES EP’S DECISION ON CALLING ON TURKEY TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Noyan Tapan News Agency
Sept 29 2005
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 29, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. “We appreciate
the decision of the European Parliament, it’s quite a natural one:
if Turkey wants to become a member of the European Union it should be
like other EU countries that’s to accept and watch its past openly,”
Vartan Oskanian, the RA Foreign Minister stated at the September 29
press-conference commenting upon the September 28 resolution of the
European Parliament.
To recap, in the process of the enlarged session, the European
Parliament postponed studying of the issue on starting negotiations
on Turkey’s membership to the EU, instead of this, adopting a
resolution on calling on Ankara to recognize the Armenian Genocide
in Ottaman Turkey. The given proposeal was supported by the majority
of parliamentaries.

RA FM AND EU SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE DISCUSS CURRENT STATE AND PROSPECTS OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS
Noyan Tapan News Agency
Sept 29 2005
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 29, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On September 29,
Ambassador Heikki Talvitie, EU Special Representative to the South
Caucasus, was received by RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian.
As Noyan Tapan was informed by RA Foreign Ministry’s Press
and Information Department, the discussion mainly proceeded by 4
directions: EU-Armenia relations, Nagorno Karabakh settlement process,
Armenia-Turkey relations and constitutional reforms.
Touching upon working out of Armenian Action Plan within the
framework of the European Neighborhood policy, the sides confirmed
their readiness to take steps in this direction. In particular, it was
mentioned that within the framework of the program EU’s disagreements
with Azerbaijan mustn’t be an obstacle for Armenia’s progress.
V.Oskanian and H.Talvitie exchanged thoughts about the current state
and prospects of Nagorno Karabakh settlement.
Then RA Foreign Minister and EU Special Representative touched upon
the current state and prospects of Armenian-Turkish relations at the
bilateral level, as well as in the light of Turkey’s membership to EU.
The interlocutors attached importance to the constitutional amendments
in Armenia estimating them as a good opportunity for development of
democracy in Armenia.

ARMENIAN CULTURE MINISTER TO VISIT CYPRUS
Cyprus News Agency, Cyprus
Sept 29 2005
Nicosia, Sep 29 (CNA) – Armenian Culture and Youth Affairs Minister
Hovik Hoveyan arrives in Cyprus Friday for an official visit during
which he will hold meetings with Cypriot officials.
According to the official programme of the visit, Hovenyan will meet
with his Cypriot counterpart, Minister of Education and Culture Pefkios
Georgiades, House President Dimitris Christofias and Director of the
President’s Press Office Marios Karoyan.

EU DEADLOCK OVER TURKEY’S BID LINGERS
Islam Online, Qatar
Sept 29 2005
If accepted as an EU member Turkey would become the bloc’s first
majority-Muslim nation. (Reuters)
BRUSSELS, September 29, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) –
The EU on Thursday, September 29, called an emergency meeting of
foreign ministers to try to end an impasse over Turkey’s entry talks,
as Austria insisted Ankara be offered less than full EU membership.
“The Austrians maintain their reservations about the negotiating
framework,” one EU official told Agence France- Presse (AFP), on
condition of anonymity.
“Their demands involve an alternative or interim solution to membership
should the EU be unable to integrate Turkey or should Turkey not
fulfill all the criteria,” he added.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has warned that he will turn his back
on the talks if the negotiating framework contains “any formula or
suggestion other than full membership”.
The European Parliament asked Ankara, in its session on September 27,
2005, to officially recognize the massacres that took place against
the Christian Armenians during the First World War and to further
recognize the Republic of Greek Cyprus, in a one-year period, after
officially starting accession talks, concerning Turkey’s membership
to the European Union.
Bandwagon
The European Parliament votes on accession talks with Turkey.
(Reuters)
There are growing signs that Vienna wants to use the Turkey issue to
boost Croatia’s hopes of starting delayed talks.
Despite official denials, some diplomats believe that Austria’s stance
on Turkey could be linked to Croatia’s hopes of starting EU talks,
which depend on Zagreb’s cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal,
reported AFP.
“If we trust Turkey to make further progress we should trust Croatia
too,” Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel suggested in an interview
in Thursday’s Financial Times newspaper.
“It is in Europe’s interest to start negotiations with Croatia
immediately” he added.
According to AFP, Austria has been a strong supporter of Croatia’s
efforts to join the bloc and four out of five Austrians oppose
Turkey joining.
The EU official said a special EU task force would meet early Monday
with Carla Del Ponte, the head of the UN war crimes tribunal in The
Hague, to discuss Croatia’s candidature.
That meeting would “probably be followed by a global decision on
Turkey and Croatia during the morning,” he affirmed.
A spokeswoman for the EU’s executive commission said the two
candidacies were not linked from its point of view, but noted: “The
EU is ready to start accession negotiations with Croatia immediately
once it has been established that full cooperation (with the tribunal)
is there,” reported AFP.
European Union leaders and Turkey agreed December 17, 2004, on the
terms on which Ankara will start membership talks with the bloc the
coming October.
Turkey, an official candidate since 1999, has been waiting to join
the euro bloc for decades but its efforts have stumbled over its
civil rights record.
The European Commission on October 6, gave, 2004 gave Turkey a green
light to start talks to join the European Union, but set a series of
tough conditions warning there was no guarantee of success.

AZERI, ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS TO MEET EARLY DECEMBER
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Sept 29 2005
Baku, September 28, AssA-Irada
The next meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers
focusing on ways of peacefully settling the Upper Garabagh conflict
may be held in Slovenia early in December.
The Garabagh conflict is to be discussed at a meeting of the OSCE
council of foreign ministers in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana
December 5-6, deputy foreign minister and the President’s special envoy
on the Upper Garabagh conflict Araz Azimov said. The two countries’
foreign ministers are expected to hold a tete-a-tete meeting as part
of the event. Co-chairs of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group are due to
visit the region prior to the ministers’ meeting, Azimov said.
“The issue was discussed at the OSCE meeting yesterday. A final
decision was not made in this respect, but the co-chairs’ visit
is expected on the eve of the parliamentary elections”, the deputy
foreign minister said.
Azerbaijan’s legislative poll is due on November 6.*

EVENT ON SELF-PROCLAIMED REPUBLIC’S ANNIVERSARY HELD IN US CONGRESS
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Sept 29 2005
Baku, September 28, AssA-Irada
An event dedicated to the 14th ‘anniversary’ of the self-proclaimed
Upper Garabagh republic was held at the US House of Representatives
building in Washington on Wednesday, according to Radio Liberty.
Pro-Armenian Congressmen spoke at the meeting attended by Vice-speaker
of the British House of Lords Baroness Caroline Cox.
Commenting on the matter, a source from the US embassy in Baku said
that the United States supports Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity
and does not recognize the self-proclaimed republic.*

SERJ TANKIAN VISITS CONGRESS
artist: system of a down
date: 09/29/2005
category: general music news
Ultimate-Guitar.Com
Sept 29 2005
System Of A Down singer visits Congressman’s office to push Genocide
Bill, as he tries to push for more of a global object and takes a
brake from the tour. He goes on the political path to try and loby
for changes in the Genocide Bill.
Tankian promised his 97-year-old grandfather he would do his best to
convince Congressman Dennis Hastert to bring the Armenian Genocide
Resolution to a vote, an issue long close to System Of A Down. And
he did just that Tuesday outside the Speaker of the House’s Batavia,
Illinois, office.
Tankian joined members of the Armenian National Committee of America,
the Armenian Youth Federation and his own Axis Of Justice organization
in a rally and then read a heartfelt letter he delivered to Hastert’s
office in support of the pending legislation, which would officially
recognize Turkey’s slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915
and 1923.
With the resolution, which overwhelmingly passed the bipartisan
International Relations Committee, Hastert can either bring it to
the House of Representatives for a vote or let it expire.
“It’s all in his hands, he’s the man,” Tankian said of Hastert, who
spoke in support of recognizing the genocide on the House floor in
1994. “The thing is that a similar resolution was going around in
2000 as well and he was the speaker of the House then, but at the
time President Clinton had written a letter asking him not to bring
it up to vote, citing concerns that had to do with Turkey. In 2004
he also had the opportunity to bring another resolution to vote on …
and that didn’t happen either.
“I’m sure that there’s a lot of lobbying going on from the Bush
administration, from the military-industrial complex that sells a lot
of weapons to Turkey, and a whole host of corporate lobbyist firms
that don’t want this thing to pass, but the truth has to come out,
and more so in a democracy than anywhere else,” he continued. “So
we’re fighting the good fight.”

ARMENIAN CANDIDATE PLEDGES TO BRING A BREATH OF FRESH AIR TO THE HOUSE
Cyprus News Agency, Cyprus
Sept 29 2005
Nicosia, Sep 29 (CNA) – Candidate for the position of the Armenian
representative in the Cyprus House Antranig Ashdjian has pledged to
bring “a breath of fresh air” to the way the minority is represented
in the House of Representatives.
Speaking at a press conference, Ashdjian said that the change in
mentality and the way of thinking of the representative of the
Armenians will come with the election of a young person who had
absolutely no involvement in the decision making process the last
years.

TALVITIE ARRIVED IN ARMENIA
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Sept 29 2005
On September 28 the European Union special representative for the
South Caucasus Heikkie Talvitie arrived in Armenia.
According to the information De Facto got at the RA MFA press service,
in the course of the visit he is to meet RA President Robert Kocharyan,
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan, Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan,
as well as representatives of NGOs.
H. Talvitie is to leave Yerevan on September 30.

THE OSCE MG AND THE CE WILL SUPPLEMENT EACH OTHER, TIGRAN TOROSYAN BELIEVES
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Sept 29 2005
Commenting on the OSCE MG Russian Co – Chair Yuri Merzlyakov’s
statement concerning the fact that “the OSCE Minsk group can grant a
part of its authorities to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe” in the interview with Aravot newspaper (îò 28.09.05.) RA
Parliament vice speaker Tigran Torosyan said there should be strict
division between the OSCE MG and the CE missions.
Tigran Torosyan noted Minsk group was dealing with the settlement,
while the Council of Europe was preparing the atmosphere necessary
for the settlement.
Answering the question whether Merzlyakov’s statement could result
in the change of the situation around the Karabakh settlement Tigran
Torosyan stated, “The situation has not changed, just vice versa: the
OSCE mission should supplement the Minsk group mission. The settlement
process should go on within the frames of the Minsk group, while the
works on the realization of the resolution for establishment of the
atmosphere of tolerance, cease of propaganda of hatred, militarist
statements, ensuring the atmosphere of the problem settlement by
peaceful means should be carried out within the CE frames “. “It
is not less important than the search for the settlement formula”,
believes Tigran Torosyan.
RA Parliament vice speaker thinks the development of the issue is in
favor of the problem’s just settlement.
–Boundary_(ID_mAtwdzuI8D/uCCJvsBMYlQ)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress