YEREVAN SHOULD DISCUSS ASALA TERROR:
Turkish Daily News
Sept 27 2005
Turkish press yesterday
The controversial Armenian conference on the alleged massacre of
Armenians in the last century during the rule of the Ottoman Empire
ended on Sunday at Bilgi University. Views on the issue were freely
discussed, Hurriyet reported.
The paper noted that two Hurriyet readers asked the following question:
“What about our 32 diplomats, victims of the Armenian Secret Army for
the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), and the innocent Turks massacred
by Armenians? Will Yerevan hold a conference for our martyrs?”
ASALA is an Armenian group that was established with the stated
intention of compelling the Turkish government to publicly acknowledge
its alleged responsibility for the deaths of, according to ASALA,
1.5 million Armenians in 1915, and also for the Turkish government
to pay reparations and cede territory to Armenia.
Armenian terrorists killed Turkish diplomats in the 1970s. The
first victim in the series of terrorist attacks was Mehmet Baydar,
then Turkish consul general in Los Angeles, and his deputy Bahadýr
Demir. This individual action turned into organized Armenian terror
in 1975 and peaked in 1979. A total of 32 Turkish diplomats and four
foreign nationals were assassinated in these attacks, while 15 Turks
and 66 foreign nationals were wounded.
Here is an excerpt of a letter written to Hurriyet by Professor Cengiz
Kuday and businessman Cengiz Solakoðlu. The two Hurriyet readers said
they were pleased that the Armenian conference was held.
“We looked at what was discussed at the conference, yet this question
occupied our minds. Armenians always keep the events of 90 years ago
on the agenda; however, our 32 diplomat victims of ASALA and Turks
massacred by the Armenians are forgotten,” they said in the letter.
Milliyet reported that the second day of the twice-canceled conference
was quieter than the first. Participants easily entered the conference
hall since the protestors arrived late. Sessions were usually quiet,
but Hrant Dink’s story about an elderly Armenian woman in Sivas evoked
some tears.
In the meantime, Professor Ýlhan Cuhadaroðlu quit the conference
after accusing the participants of being one-sided.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal
claimed that the conference was held to accustom the public to
Armenian theses.
Cumhuriyet quoted Baykal as saying that the court decision to ban
the conference was incorrect.
An Istanbul court had suspended the Armenian conference but the
organizers decided to hold it at Bilgi University instead of the
state-run Boðazici University.
“The end of a taboo,” headlined Yeni Þafak, commenting that Turkey
managed to confront its past and show the world that it has broken
one more taboo.
Professor Baskýn Oran said the Armenian question was the last unbroken
taboo in Turkey and added that the conference was an indicator of
the last taboo being broken.
–Boundary_(ID_sa/vexJnGY8ZEsx073aM2A)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

POLITICAL ANALYSIS: SURVEY OF ANALYSTS ON ARMENIAN ISSUES
By M. Alkhazashvili
The Messenger, Georgia
Sept 27 2005
The non-profit group Armenian Assembly of America recently conducted
a survey in which 24 American and Western European experts, former
statesmen and analysts took part. An analysis of the survey shows
that in the opinion of these specialists, the situation in the frozen
Azeri-Armenian conflict may undergo a tidal shift to the benefit of
Azerbaijan in the coming years.
Since 2004, the Armenian Assembly’s Office of Research & Information
has conducted an annual survey in an effort to gauge analysts’
opinions of how Armenian issues are perceived in the United States
and Western Europe.According to the paper AZG Armenian Daily, the
survey was conducted by Tim Manook at St. Andrews University, UK,
and supervised by Emil Sanamyan at the Armenian Assembly.
When asked “which state of the near east would have positive or
negative influence on Armenia?” the answers were, as reported by
Akhali Taoba: 45 percent Azerbaijan, 16 percent Turkey, 11 percent
Russia and 9 percent Georgia.
Forty two percent of those questioned stated that if war takes place
in the next decade Armenia would win, though 29 percent stated that
conflict would result in a stalemate. The remainder did not answer.
But the situation changes after 2015. Thirty-three percent of
respondents believe that Azerbaijan will gain a military victory
over Armenia if war breaks at that time and only four percent predict
victory for Armenia in such a case.
As for the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, 62 percent of specialists
polled think that a change in the status quo of the region is not to
be expected in the near future.
Analysts pessimistically evaluate the prospects of U.S. relations
with Russia and Iran. At the same time they expect that U.S.
influence in the Caucasus region will increase.
As for Turkey’s integration into the European Union, the respondents
stated that this is unlikely to happen before 2020-2025 because,
according to their prognosis, Ankara will not recognize the Ottoman
Turks’ massacre of Armenians and will seek to deepen its relations
with Washington instead.
However, some of the analysts predicted that the U.S. itself would
recognize the Armenian genocide within the next five years. A
significant step toward such a recognition occurred on September
15, when the U.S. House of Representatives’ International Relations
committee approved a resolution to recognize the events as genocide by
a vote of 40-7. The government of Turkey has maintained that the events
in question were not caused by a state intention to eliminate Armenians
and that fewer people were killed then claimed by the Armenian side.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KOCHARIAN LOYALIST WINS KEY ELECTION IN YEREVAN
By Shakeh Avoyan
Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep.
Sept 27 2005
A businessman close to President Robert Kocharian was declared on
Monday the winner of Sunday’s local election in Yerevan’s central
administrative district, but his opposition challenger refused to
conceder defeat, alleging serious fraud.
Preliminary official results of the vote showed Gagik Beglarian,
the incumbent prefect of the Kentron district, winning 86 percent of
the vote. Ruzan Khachatrian, the opposition candidate representing
the Artarutyun (Justice), alliance had only 12 percent, according to
the local election commission.
`The election in Kentron proceeded peacefully and there were no
serious incidents,’ its chairman, Yeghishe Terterian, told RFE/RL.
The election was monitored by representatives of the Council of Europe.
They said they visited 50 polling stations and witnessed no serious
irregularities. Still, their preliminary statement stopped short of
calling the vote free and fair.
Khachatrian, for her part, accused the authorities of rigging the
ballot by inflating voter lists and allowing Beglarian supporters to
vote more than once. `My proxies and commission members insist that
there were people who went to polling stations and voted for four or
even five times,’ she told RFE/RL. `They couldn’t do anything because
they were not allowed to check passports and write down their numbers.’
The opposition candidate earlier accused Beglarian of attempting
to bribe her proxies and the few election officials representing
Artarutyun. The prefect’s campaign chief denied the claims.
The vote in Kentron, Armenia’s biggest and wealthiest community,
was the most politicized of local elections that are being held
across the country. Artarutyun has not fielded any candidates
in other constituencies, highlighting the lack of opposition
interest in the polls. Its leaders avoided direct participation in
Khachatrian’s campaign and are now preparing for another showdown
with the government during the upcoming referendum on Kocharian’s
constitutional amendments.
Khachatrian claimed that the authorities tested in Kentron `new
mechanisms for electoral fraud which will be used during the
referendum.’ `It’s now harder to resort to ballot box stuffing,
but there are other pitfalls in this electoral code,’ she said,
adding that multiple voting will be the main vote rigging technique
at the referendum.
Sunday also saw an election in Yerevan’s second largest district,
Arabkir. Its acting prefect, Hovannes Shahinian, held off a challenge
from another pro-establishment candidate and won 70 percent of the
vote. Less than one third of Arabkir’s 87,960 eligible voters cast
their ballots. The voter turnout in Kentron was 43 percent, according
to official figures.

THE PROBLEMS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC MONITORING, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTREPRENEURSHIP DISCUSSED
National Assembly of RA, Armenia
Sept 27 2005
On September 26, NA Speaker Artur Baghdasaryan received Consuelo Vidal,
UNDP Resident Representative in Armenia.
During the meeting the issues of deepening the cooperation of NA and
UN were discussed in the atmosphere of mutual understanding. Both
sides expressed readiness for the fulfillment of joint programs.
NA Speaker Artur Baghdasaryan highlighted the fulfillment of the
regional programs in Armenia with the emphasis of the development
of the marzes, the organization of the consultative assistance for
the development of the small and medium entrepreneurship and the
fulfillment of the aid projects to the poor families. During the
meeting an agreement was reached to continue the dialog on the public
monitoring and fulfillment of the corruption fighting projects. The
peoples’ awareness about their rights and the organization of the
consultative service, as well as the UN assistance to the electoral
processes: in training the electoral committee members, proxies and
local observers were highlighted.
During the meeting other issues were also discussed.

JAZZY START TO PRESIDENT HALONEN’S VISIT TO ARMENIA
Helsingin Sanomat, Finland
Sept 27 2005
Finnish President Tarja Halonen began her week-long visit to the
Caucasus region on Monday in Yerevan, Armenia, where the arrival
day’s informal programme included a visit to an art museum and an
evening in a jazz club.
The official part of the first-ever visit of a Finnish head of
state to Armenia only begins today, Tuesday. Even so, Halonen and
her husband Pentti Arajarvi already spent Monday evening with the
Armenian President Robert Kotsarian, first dining and then visiting
a local jazz cafe.
The choice venue for the dinner with the Finnish President was a
museum dedicated to works of film director and artist Sergei Parajanov
(1924-1990). The focal point of the view from the museum’s windows
was the 5,165-metre peak of Mount Ararat on the Turkish side.
“Magnificent views”, Halonen remarked when entering the museum.
President Halonen, an amateur artist herself, praised Parajanov’s
collage art with phrases like “amazingly modern” and “genuinely
skilful”. In his works, Parajanov used various materials from pieces
of bottles to the wings of birds. One of the museum’s glass cabinets
was filled with hats.
“I have one of those”, Halonen said when she spotted an old Singer
sewing machine. “Maybe I should send it to a museum.”
The topics of today’s official discussions in Yerevan will include
the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis, as well as Armenia’s relationships with
the EU, Turkey, and Russia.
Halonen’s host, President Kotsarian, was born in the Nagorno-Karabakh
region, the possession of which is a subject of an ongoing dispute
between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Halonen will be visiting Azerbaijan
later in the week, along with Georgia.

US-ARMENIA TASK FORCE ON ECONOMIC COOPERATION MET IN WASHINGTON
Pan Armenian News
27.09.2005 05:49
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ September 26 the US-Armenia Intergovernmental Task
Force on Economic Cooperation met in Washington, reported the Armenian
MFA Press Service. Armenian Minister of Finance and Economy Vardan
Khachatryan, President’s Advisor on Economic Affairs V. Nersisyants,
Minister of Trade and Economic Development Karen Chshmarityan,
Agriculture Minister Davit Lokyan, Deputy FM A. Kirakosyan,
Armenian Ambassador to the US Tatul Margaryan, Deputy Minister of
Finance and Economy Tigran Khachatryan represented Armenia at the
meeting. The parties discussed a wide range of economic cooperation
issues, including democratic reforms that promote economic growth in
Armenia, economic policy and long-term development of the country,
current state of Armenia’s programs within the framework of the
Millennium Challenges Account, matters of development of energy and
infrastructures in Armenia, improvement of the judicial system of
Armenia and US assistance in that field, as well as in agriculture and
other questions. The same day a reception was organized for meeting
participants at the Armenian Embassy in the US. US top officials,
representatives of US Departments of Agriculture, Finance and Trade,
as well as UNDP and Millenium Challenges Corporation were present at
the event.

AZERBAIJAN NOT TO TAKE PART IN NATO PA ROSE-ROTH SEMINARS IN YEREVAN
Pan Armenian News
27.09.2005 03:37
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Representatives of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan
will not participate in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (PA) Rose-Roth
seminar of the scheduled in Yerevan October 6-9, Press Secretary of the
Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan Ramiz Melikov stated. “We do not have
information about the NATO meeting in Armenia yet. If the meeting is
held nevertheless, representatives of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan
will not participate in it,” R. Melikov said. Meanwhile, Chairman of
the Armenian Standing Parliamentary Commission on Defense, National
Security and Internal Affairs Mher Shahgeldyan stated last week that
60 MPs from 22 countries had agreed to participate in the Rose-Roth
seminar. Nagorno Karabakh settlement, regional cooperation, army and
police reforms are matters to be discussed in the course of the event.
Armenia is ready to receive Azeri representatives at that ensuring
their security, M. Shahgeldyan also remarked, reported RFE/RL.

PREPARING FOR THE VISIT
A1+
| 14:22:29 | 27-09-2005 | Official |
Today Secretary of the National Security Council at the RA President,
Defense Minister Serge Sarsyan received Belarusian Ambassador to
Armenia Marina Dolgopolova.
During the meeting the parties discussed the details of the
forthcoming visit of Belarusian State Secretary of Security Council
Gennady Neviglas to Armenia as well as a number of issues of mutual
interest. They also touched upon the events scheduled for September
30 within the framework of the Days of Belarus in Armenia.

FINLAND NOTICED ARMENIA
A1+
| 13:40:43 | 27-09-2005 | Official |
By invitation of Robert Kocharian Finnish President Tarja Halonen
arrived in Armenia on a two-day visit.
During today’s meeting the Presidents discussed the Armenian-Finnish
relations, EU-Armenia and exchanged views on number of regional and
international problems.
Mrs. Halonen welcomed the inclusion of Armenia in the New Neighborhood
program and noted that Finland attaches importance to the relations
with the Transcaucasian states, especially taking into account the fact
that next year Finland is assuming presidency in the European Union.
Later the Armenian-Finnish talks were continued in an expanded
composition. The parties discussed the priority lines of economic
cooperation and the possibilities of their activation.

THE PROPOSALS OF THE ARMENIAN SIDE ACCEPTED
National Assembly of RA, Armenia
Sept 27 2005
Gagik Minasyan, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on
Financial-Credit, Budgetary and Economic Affairs, the head of the
Armenian delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization
of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) on September 21-22
participated in the works of PABSEC. At the 25th meeting of Economic,
Commercial, Technological and Environmental Affairs Committee report
of 18 pages on the development of the transport substructures in
the region was presented. The head of the delegation detailed the
journalists on the report provisions and the proposals of the Armenian
side at September 26 press conference.
The Armenian delegation succeeded to pass four proposals in the
committee. The Armenian MPs expressed concern in connection with
opening the railway avoiding Armenia, which will cause unfavourable
conditions for our country and the region. The Armenian side
brought arguments in favour of the effectiveness of re-operating
the Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi-Baku railway, proposing to make it TRASECA
corridor. He pointed out, in particular, that in the event of
re-operating this railway, the problems of economic integration
will be solved in four countries of the region, ensuring sustainable
development. And what is the most important, a big investment won’t
be required and millions of tons of freight will be provided.
According to report publication, Rules of Procedure of Assembly,
assignments directed to the authorities of BSEC member countries.
After this meeting the adoption of the drafts related to transport
substructures was proposed to support to the national parliaments
and governments, by which the interests of the region and the very
country will be taken into account.
In the future the report should be approved on November 21-22 in
Tirana, where Armenia will chair.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress