The Independent (London)
September 30, 2005, Friday
LEADING ARTICLE: ACCESSION TALKS MUST GO AHEAD;
TURKEY
It didn’t rate a mention in his speech to the Labour Party
conference, although it did produce an impassioned plea from his
Foreign Secretary in Brighton. But Turkey’s application for
membership of the European Union is likely to be the first major test
of Tony Blair’s presidency of the EU. And a crucial challenge to his
and Jack Straw’s powers of persuasion.
The UK has always been strongly in favour of accession talks with
Turkey, and rightly so. If the Union is to keep expanding to its
geographic and historic shape, if it is to act as a catalyst for
democratic change in the surrounding regions, and if it is to prove a
means of bringing Islam into cohabitation with the Christian West,
then there could be no better candidate for inclusion than Turkey. It
straddles the straits between East and West, it has a strong secular
and pro-Western tradition dating from the time of Kemal Ataturk, it
has been a stalwart member of Nato alongside the Western European
countries, and it has made a clear policy decision and started on the
steps necessary to join the Union.
A year ago the road seemed fairly straight and even. The Commission
was in favour, most of the member states had expressed approval and,
with a final meeting of the EU foreign ministers next Monday, a start
to negotiations (expected to last 10 years, it should be added) would
be under way.
All that has now been jeopardised by growing dissension in the
European Parliament, the open opposition of Angela Merkel in Germany
and Nicolas Sarkozy in France, and now the Austrian refusal to go
along with a vote in favour at the meeting of permanent
representatives of the member states this week. An emergency meeting
of foreign ministers has been called in Luxembourg on Sunday in a
last-ditch effort to save the talks.
Agreement will be far from easy. Quite aside from the thorny issues
of Turkish responsibility for the Armenian massacres and its refusal
to recognise Cyprus, there is Austria’s last-minute demand that
Turkey be offered partnership rather than full membership ” a
suggestion which Turkey indignantly and understandably refuses as
changing the rules of the game at the last moment.
The real worry is that time is slipping away from these talks.
Opposition to Turkish membership is building in the Union, while
nationalist antagonism to Europe’s prevarications and changes of mind
is rising in Turkey. If negotiations are to proceed, then the
timetable has to be kept. If ever there was a time for Tony Blair to
exercise his undoubted skills of charm and persuasion, it is now.
Otherwise an historic opportunity may be lost, with incalculable
effect on future relations with the Muslim world.

RIA Novosti, Russia
September 30, 2005
More than 1,300 foreigners deported from Russia in 2005
YEREVAN, September 30 (RIA Novosti) – More than 1,300 foreigners have
been deported from Russia since the beginning of 2005, Interior
Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said Friday.
“Russia has deported 1,360 foreign citizens [this year],” the
minister said after a meeting of the CIS Council of Interior
Ministers in Armenia.
Nurgaliyev said the ministry had carried out a special operation this
summer to stop illegal migration and prevent the counterfeiting of
passports, migration cards and other documents.
The police also inspected 34,500 companies and organizations that
employ foreign workers and tourist firms and organizations that
provide foreign work placement services for Russians, he said.
“We suspended the activities at six such firms following the
investigation,” the Nurgaliyev said.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
September 30, 2005 Friday 2:40 PM Eastern Time
Belarus culture festival opens in Armenia
By Tigran Liloyan
YEREVAN
The Belarussian cultural festival in Armenia opened with a large
concern of Belarussian masters of the arts in Yerevan Opera House on
Friday. This is the first such festival from the time the two
countries became independent.
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan addressed a message of greetings
to the participants in the festival, describing it as “a remarkable
event in the cultural life of the two countries.” “Belarussian
culture evokes response in Armenian people,” the message of greetings
says. The president is also confident that “Armenian art is known and
liked in Belarus.”
Pointing out that “Armenian-Belarussian ties have a long history,”
the Armenian president expressed the confidence that “friendship and
spiritual closeness of our peoples accumulated over many years have
good prospects.”
“This remarkable fete presents vast achievements of masters of
Belarussian culture and offers Armenian people an excellent
opportunity to familiarize themselves with the richness of
Belarussian culture,” says the message of Belarussian President
Alexander Lukashenko that was read out by the republic’s Culture
Minister Leonid Gulyako.
“The peoples of Belarus and Armenia are linked by lasting sincere
friendship and fruitful cooperation,” Lukashenko noted. He is
convinced that “no distances and borders can affect the strength of
spiritual unity of the fraternal countries.” The Belarussian
president is sure that “the present cultural forum will promote the
growing closeness of the peoples” of Armenia and Belarus.
The Armenian president received Belarussian culture minister. They
came out for the stepping up of bilateral ties in the area of
culture.

Mediamax news agency, Armenia
Sept 30 05
ARMENIAN-US DEFENCE CONSULTATIONS DISCUSS COOPERATION PLAN FOR 2006
Yerevan, 30 September: Annual Armenian-US defence consultations were
held in Yerevan on 28-29 September, the press service of the US
embassy told Mediamax today.
The US delegation is led by Principal Director for Eurasia in the
Office of the Secretary of Defence, Scott Schless, while the Armenian
delegation is led by Deputy Defence Minister Lt-Gen Artur Agabekyan.
Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan and the US ambassador to
Armenia, John Evans, also attended the consultations.
The purpose of the consultations was to review the results of last
year’s bilateral military cooperation and agree a cooperation plan
for 2006.
The consultations also discussed a wide range of issues connected
with national security, defence reforms, peacekeeping operations,
military training and education.

DAILY MAIL (London)
September 30, 2005
EU REBELLION COULD SLAM DOOR ON TURKS
by BENEDICT BROGAN. POLITICAL EDITOR
TONY Blair’s European presidency was under strain last night after
Britain was forced to call an eleventh-hour crisis summit on Turkey’s
entry to the EU.
Austria yesterday threatened to scupper the whole process by holding
out for Turkey to be offered an alternative to full membership,
something rejected by Ankara as ‘second class’.
It forced Britain to call a meeting of EU foreign ministers in
Luxembourg on Sunday to try and break the deadlock.
Landmark accession talks with Turkey are due to begin the following
day.
Mr Blair has championed Turkey’s entry as an example of the West’s
positive engagement with the Muslim world at a time of heightened
tension, and the failure of talks to get off the ground would be a
devastating blow to his presidency.
Mounting grassroots opposition to Turkish membership in several
countries has jeopardised the whole accession process, which would
see the EU expand beyond Europe’s historical frontiers.
Polls show 80 per cent of the Austrian electorate opposes the move.
In France the public is overwhelmingly opposed, causing President
Jacques Chirac to pledge a referendum on the issue. Likely German
chancellor Angela Merkel is firmly against Turkey joining.
Public opposition was fuelled this week by accusations that mental
health patients in Turkey have been subjected to serious abuses,
including the use of electric shock treatment without anaesthesia.
Several countries have also been pushing Turkey to recognise EU
member Cyprus, and the European Parliament this week called on it to
recognise the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks at the beginning
of the 20th century as genocide.
Yesterday, ambassadors were unable to agree even a negotiating
framework for the accession talks – which themselves are expected to
take ten years.
Turkey’s foreign minister Abdullah Gul said that his country will not
send its delegation to Luxembourg for talks on Monday unless his
officials have seen the details of the EU’s negotiating positions.
‘Of course there is a possibility that negotiations will not start,’
he said.

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
September 30, 2005, Friday
“LET THE ENEMY KNOW”
SOURCE: Voyenno-Promyshlenny Kurier, No 36, September 28 – October 4,
2005, p. 3
by Aleksei Matveev
KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT IS DELAYED
Attention of the international community is once again centered on
Nagorno-Karabakh, one of the self-declared states in the post-Soviet
zone denied international recognition. President of Armenia and
Azerbaijan, Robert Kocharjan and Ilham Aliyev, met in Kazan
(Tatarstan, Russia) in late April and discussed conflict settlement
with nothing to show for it. Even official press releases indicate
that the failure did not become a breakthrough. As a matter of fact,
many analysts predicted it. The dialogue has been under way for a
long time now without, however, a single accomplishment in over a
decade. Practically all meetings of the leaders of Armenia,
Azerbaijan, and Nagorno-Karabakh result in vague declarations on how
negotiations continue and how progress is made towards peace and
stability when in fact absolutely no progress worth mentioning is
ever made.
In the meantime, Nagorno-Karabakh exists as a de facto republic. The
Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh celebrated its 14th anniversary of
independence on September 2. Kocharjan attended the festivities.
Kocharjan mentioned in his speech that the negotiations had “positive
tendencies” and said that he had never implied that “Armenia might
change its stand on the matter of Nagorno-Karabakh settlement.” In
fact, the Armenian president was refuting himself. What positive
trends are possible when Armenia would not even hear of a compromise?
Ditto Azerbaijan, for that matter.
Aliyev of Azerbaijan is criticizing Nagorno-Karabakh openly. “Let the
enemy know that the Azerbaijani national army can liberate our lands
at any moment,” he was quoted as saying not long ago (at the opening
of a monument to former president Heydar Aliyev in Lenkoran on
September 8). Aliyev had arguments to substantiate his threats. “Arms
spending amounted to $175 million in 2004, and to $300 million in
2005. They will amount to $600 million next year,” he said. Stripped
of diplomatic finesse, it means that Azerbaijan will stop at nothing
to accomplish its goals.
The president of Azerbaijan may be understood. A six-day joint
exercise of the Russian Army Group in the Caucasus and Armenian Armed
Forces began in Armenia the day before, on September 7. Aliyev could
not let it go without comments. There are no doubts that the
maneuvers were planned, but official Baku took them for
muscle-flexing on the part of Yerevan backed by a foreign power.
Indeed, the legend of the exercise was really something. An enemy
makes a forced march 15-20 kilometers into Armenia across the border
with Turkey. Armenian and Russian servicemen check the enemy advance
and use artillery and aviation to force the enemy to fall back. Sure,
no implications with regard to Azerbaijan were intended, but in the
light of the situation with Nagorno-Karabakh the ambivalence is
certainly undeniable. Aliyev could not help condemning the exercise.
He did so obliquely – speaking about combat readiness and increased
arms spending as a certain counterweight to Armenia’s military
preparations. It is a different matter altogether that Baku was
fairly rude and openly resorted to threats…
Azerbaijani leaders are critical of Russia too. Conference Parallel
CIS: Abkhazia, Trans-Dniester, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh As
Realities Of The Post-Soviet Zone in Moscow on September 14-15 (here
CIS stood for the Commonwealth of Ignored States), was taken in
Azerbaijan as a provocation. Addressing the Nagorno-Karabakh
Provisional Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly in Paris the
other day, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov announced
that his country had waged a war on two foreign powers at once –
Russia and Armenia. Azimov also said that Russia had transferred a
great deal of weapons to Armenia. Shavarsh Kocharjan of the Armenian
delegation in return cited chapter and verse on what weapons and
ordnance Armenia had received from Russia before 1993. He said that
all arms deals were then suspended in honor of the Tashkent Accord
(May 1992). Kocharjan added that even according to official reports
Azerbaijan had received twice as many tanks from Russia, 2.5 times
more armored personnel carriers, 1.5 times more artillery pieces, and
twice as many helicopters. Armenia did not receive a single aircraft
from Russia while Azerbaijan received 53. “Armenia has more reasons
to begrudge Russian military assistance to Azerbaijan,” Kocharjan
said. “And yet, Armenia recognizes the role Russia has been playing
in connection with the truce made in 1994, because there would have
been no truce without Russia.”
In any case, Russia finds itself between the frying pan and the fire
in the Azerbaijani-Armenian dispute. Generally speaking, settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is delayed…

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
September 30, 2005, Friday
ARMENIA IS INTERESTED IN A RUSSIAN MILITARY BASE ON ITS TERRITORY
Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, September 28, 2005, p. 5
On September 27, at a joint press conference with Tarya Halonen, the
president of Finland, Robert Kocharyan, the president of Armenia,
said Armenia is interested in the location of Russian military base
on its territory. “The presence of a Russian military base in Armenia
is meant for security and is part of the Armenian security program,”
Kocharyan said. He denied the information that Russia imposes its
military presence on Armenia. “Armenia is interested in the location
of a Russian military base on its territory, because the country is
situated in a troublesome region where conflicts are not rare. Russia
and Armenia have a mutual agreement on the subject, which is recorded
in a treaty,” noted President Kocharyan. However, he said at present
there would be no further strengthening of Russian military presence
in Armenia.

Edmonton Journal (Alberta)
September 30, 2005 Friday
Final Edition
System of a Down shows music as a way to speak the truth: Band’s
intense message connects with real people
by Chanel Carson, The Edmonton Journal
Welcome to the Soldier side, where there’s no one here but me … or
should I say 12,000 fans flicking on lighters, swaying in time to the
strumming of an acoustic guitar, watching the black, curtain-covered
stage as Serj Tankian’s singing silhouette is illuminated from a
spotlight behind.
Then, the curtain drops, and guitarist Daron Malakian screams out his
long-awaited question “Why do they always send the poor?!”
I am talking, of course, about System of a Down. Performing at Rexall
Place last week with opening guests Hella and the Mars Volta, SOAD
was a blast of fresh air after a somewhat uneventful summer for the
Edmonton concert scene.
I admit that even after seeing acts like David Bowie and Aerosmith,
it is safe to say that this was the best and most enjoyable concert
I’ve ever attended.
The lights went down half an hour before the concert was scheduled to
start, and an already confused audience got even more confused with
the band Hella, not knowing whether the group was just warming up, or
actually playing songs.
Confusion turned to psychedelia as the Mars Volta took the stage,
Mexican entourage and all. One in tight jeans, the other sporting an
even tighter pin-striped suit, singer Cedric Bixler Zavala and
guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez shimmied out the famous 32-minute-
long Cassandra Gemini, followed by The Widow.
Throwing in some improvising to go along with Cedric’s screaming and
dancing, the Mars Volta completed their nearly hour-long set to a
standing ovation, unplugged and took down the Mexican flag draped
over the keyboard.
It was then that System of a Down took their place onstage. They
plowed through 26 of their hits, joked with the audience, and made up
their own words to Dire Straits’ Sultans of Swing, with Malakian
singing at the chorus, “We are the System of a Down.”
Since forming in 1993, SOAD has recorded four studio albums: System
of a Down (June 1998); Toxicity (September 2001); Steal This Album!
(November 2002); and most recently their two-part album
Mezmerize/Hypnotize. Mezmerize was released in May; Hypnotize will be
available in November.
SOAD are widely known for their controversial songs about the
American government, the American economy and the destructive
lifestyles of people living in Los Angeles. But the messages they try
to get across on their albums don’t end when they leave the studio.
Tankian, along with guitarist Malakian, bassist Shavo Odadjian and
drummer John Dolmayan are lobbying the U.S. government to officially
recognize the genocide that occurred in Turkey between 1915 and 1923,
acknowledging the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians.
When politicians block the road to justice, SOAD turns to music to
get the truth out.
As I watch Malakian’s eyes bulge as he screams insanely into the
microphone, or Tankian twirl childlike in the middle of the stage, it
dawns on me that these guys are cool. Like, really cool. There is
something in their performances, the way they interact with their
fans, the things they sing about, and the way they live their lives.
They don’t try and pretend to be badass rock stars, because what they
really are is themselves. They are real, fighting for real people,
speaking out and defending the real people that can’t defend
themselves. System of a Down is the voice of the people.
Chanel Carson is in Grade 12 at Harry Ainlay high school
GRAPHIC:
Photo: Larry Wong, the Journal; Vocalist Serj Tankian of System of a
Down in concert at Rexall Place
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Associated Press
September 30, 2005, Friday, BC cycle
Armenian patriarch says Turkish EU bid critical for Muslim-Christian
understanding
By LOUIS MEIXLER, Associated Press Writer
ANKARA, Turkey
The head of the Armenian church in Turkey warned European leaders
that postponing Turkey’s bid for EU membership could undermine
efforts to bring together the Muslim East and the Christian West.
Turkey has worked hard to implement criteria required by the European
Union and has “been steered toward real change on the democratic
road,” the leader of the largest non-Muslim group in Turkey,
Patriarch Mesrob II of the Armenian church, wrote in a letter
released Friday.
“However, because of oppositionist and suspicious attitudes directed
toward Turkey, it seems as though it is being forced to take backward
steps and turn in on itself,” he wrote.
The Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the world’s 200 million
Orthodox Christians also released a statement in support of Turkey’s
bid to join the 25-nation European Union amid growing frustration
over delays in membership talks.
Turkish nationalists planned a rally in Ankara on Sunday, the same
day EU foreign ministers were to hold an emergency meeting in
Luxembourg aimed at overcoming Austrian objections to starting entry
talks with the poor, predominantly Muslim nation.
Austria’s insistence that Turkey be offered the option of a lesser
partnership with the EU have thrown plans to begin formal entry
negotiations on Monday into disarray.
Turkey has threatened not to attend the talks unless it is satisfied
the EU will offer nothing less than full membership.
Minorities in Turkey have strongly supported the country’s EU bid in
the hopes it will lead to greater democratic reforms and freedoms.
Turkey already has enacted sweeping changes aimed at gaining EU
membership, such as abolishing the death penalty and passing laws
that improve democracy.
Mesrob urged EU leaders not to postpone Turkey’s quest for
membership. There are fears that if the EU bid collapses, nationalism
in Turkey will rise.
“Such undesired developments will be a blow not only to Turkey and
Europe but to reconciliation between East and West,” he wrote in the
letter, which was sent to EU foreign ministers ahead of their Sunday
meeting.
Armenian Christians, numbering 70,000, belong to the remnants of a
community largely destroyed by deportations and massacres at the time
of World War I.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of Orthodox
Christianity, said in his statement that “Turkey definitely has the
right to be part of this union.”
The patriarchate dates back to the Orthodox Greek Byzantine Empire,
which ruled the region from Constantinople, now called Istanbul.
European opposition to Turkey’s membership bid is increasingly
leading Turks to question their decades-long dream of being the only
predominantly Muslim country to enter the union.
“Some circles in the EU are anxious to anger and humiliate Turkey as
much as possible so that the indignant Turkish nation simply forces
its government to scrap the EU dream,” chief columnist Ilnur Cevik
wrote in The New Anatolian.
Columnist Hasan Cemal was more blunt.
“There is no end to the dynamite being thrown” on the EU path, he
wrote in the Milliyet newspaper. “They think that Turkish public
opinion is a stone of patience. It isn’t.”

ANS TV, Azerbaijan
Sept 29 2005
AZERI, FINNISH PRESIDENTS DISCUSS KARABAKH, INTEGRATION INTO EUROPE
[Presenter] As a country that will chair the OSCE from 2007, Finland
will help Azerbaijan resolve the Nagornyy Karabakh problem, visiting
Finnish President Tarja Halonen has said.
[Correspondent over video of the ceremony to welcome the Finnish
president ] Opportunities for developing bilateral relations between
Finland and Azerbaijan should be expanded. This issue topped the
agenda of the one-to-one and expanded talks Halonen held as part of
her two-day visit to Baku.
The presidents held a news conference after an agreement on avoiding
double taxation and preventing tax evasion and a memorandum of
understanding were signed by the foreign ministers. They expressed
their satisfaction with the level of the political dialogue in
relations between the two countries. [Azerbaijani] President Ilham
Aliyev said that the state will support the common interests of
private companies in tomorrow’s business forum. Aliyev said that
stability is the main condition for investing in Azerbaijan and that
conflicts like the Nagornyy Karabakh problem prevent development.
[Aliyev speaking in English at the news conference with Azeri
voice-over] The South Caucasus region has common problems. The
settlement of the conflict and the implementation of political,
economic and social reforms are priorities of our policy. We attach
great importance to integration into Europe. The EU’s New
Neighbourhood Policy can make a great contribution to this issue.
Integration into Europe is the main direction of our policy and we
have been actively working on this sphere.
[Correspondent] Finnish President Halonen said that they are
interested not only in Azerbaijan’s rich economic potential, but also
in political processes. She said that Finland was closely watching
the November parliamentary election and hopes that the Council of
Europe principles would be observed. Halonen supported the peaceful
settlement of the Karabakh issue and pledged that as a country that
will chair the OSCE from 2007, Finland would make more efforts to
solve the issue.
[Halonen, speaking in English with Azeri voice-over] We all know that
a good condition for one country may not be regarded as good for
another. Therefore, one of the sides does not always agree with
compromises. I think that both sides should be satisfied with the
agreement. You can discuss the issue together with Armenia in the
Council of Europe, the OSCE and the European Union. As the president
of the country that will chair the EU and the OSCE, I can say that we
will do everything we can to contribute to the resolution of the
conflict. We will try to ensure people’s security.
[Correspondent] Halonen said that Azerbaijan had great prospects for
integrating into Europe and that Azerbaijan would benefit from the
EU’s New Neighbourhood Policy. The key to stability in the South
Caucasus is in the hands of peoples living there, end quote.
Zamina Aliyeva, Emil Babaxanov, ANS.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress