ARMENIA AND THAILAND SIGNED JOINT PROGRAM OF ACTIONS
Pan Armenian News
08.09.2005 05:17
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The MFA of Armenia and Thailand today signed a
Joint Program of Actions. As Deputy FM of the Thai Kingdom Virachai
Virameteekul stated at a briefing after the signing of the document,
Thailand views Armenia as one of its best friends in the South
Caucasus. “I was glad to get to know there were Armenians among first
Europeans, who arrived in our country to trade. I am especially happy
as in 1773 Thailand took part in the publishing of the first Armenian
Constitution. Sustaining close relations is important and let me assure
you that Thailand considers these very important,” he stated. “I had
the honor to accompany Armenian PM Andranik Margaryan during his visit
to Thailand July 9-13. Today’s signing of the Joint Program of Actions
is an outcome of that visit,” Virachai Virameteekul added. He also
reported he met with FM V. Oskanian and the parties came to accord
after discussions. Then details of the program were discussed with
Deputy FM Armen Bayburtyan, which was followed by the signing of the
document for 2 years from 2005 to 2007. The document will be the main
instrument, stimulating relations between the two countries and the
MFA of Armenia and Thailand will coordinate and control the program
actions. The parties have agreed on cooperation in trade and economy,
science and technology, information and telecommunication, medicine,
education, agriculture, tourism and sport. “We consider agriculture
a priority. Here both countries have much experience. Armenia will
share its experience in growing grapes, winemaking, brandy production,
as well as growing plants in our climate. Thailand will share its
technologies in poultry farm development and agricultural tourism,”
Virachai Virameteekul noted. In his words, Thailand will present
its goods at Expo 2005 in Armenia. “We will also develop investment
directions. I hope for the document signed today to serve to more
strengthening of the relations between our countries,” the Thai Deputy
FM said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WAHRHEIT DURCH GERICHTSBESCHLUß?; DIE SCHWEIZ IN DER KLEMME: AN DEN TURKEN ZEIGT SICH DAS DILEMMA DER ANTIRASSISTISCHEN STAATSRASON
Jurg Altwegg
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
8. September 2005
GENF, 7. September
Seit Jahren sind die Beziehungen zwischen der Schweiz und der Turkei
schlecht. In der Schweiz laufen Untersuchungen der Staatsanwaltschaft
gegen den Prasidenten der Turkischen Historischen Gesellschaft, Yusuf
Halacoglu, wie gegen den Vorsitzenden der turkischen Arbeiterpartei,
Dogu Perincek: Beiden wird vorgeworfen, den Genozid an den Armeniern
zu leugnen. Verargert uber die Schweiz ist die Turkei auch Orhan
Pamuks wegen, der sich kaum zwei Monate nach der Verleihung des
Friedenspreises vor einem Gericht verantworten muß. Ihm droht eine
Gefangnisstrafe, weil er in einem Interview im Magazin des Zurcher
“Tages-Anzeigers” erklart hatte, in der Turkei seien 30 000 Kurden
und eine Million Armenier ermordet worden.
Pikant wird die Lage dadurch, daß in beiden Landern versucht wird,
offizielle Versionen der historischen “Wahrheit” mit der Gewalt
von Gerichtsbeschlussen durchzusetzen. Mit welchem Recht, darf
man sich in der Turkei fragen, erregt man sich in der Schweiz
uber das Verfahren gegen Pamuk, wenn man selbst spiegelverkehrte
Äußerungen zum Anlaß fur analoge Verfahren nimmt? Die Schweiz tut
sich schwer mit ihrem Antirassismusgesetz und ganz besonders mit
einem Artikel, der das Leugnen von “Volkermord und anderen Verbrechen
gegen die Menschlichkeit” unter Strafe stellt. Konnen oder mussen
die Strafverfahren die demokratischen Debatten und historische
Untersuchungen ersetzen?
Das Gesetz entstand zu Beginn der neunziger Jahre im Zug neuer
antisemitischer Äußerungen. Der jetzige Innenminister Christoph
Blocher wurde damals des Antisemitismus, sein journalistischer
Gegenspieler Frank A. Meyer noch kurzlich des Rassismus gegen den
Islam bezichtigt. Seit Jahren muß sich der Publizist Frank Lubke vor
wechselnden Gerichten fur einen offenen Brief verantworten, in dem er
Attentate “als Beispiel fur die islamistisch-arabisch-palastinensischen
Wahnsinnsschlachtereien gegen die judisch-israelische Zivilbevolkerung”
bezeichnete. Ob das Gesetz wirklich zum Schutz der Minderheiten
beitragt, erscheint ungewiß. Die vielen Affaren vergiften jedenfalls
das Klima.
Die Spannungen mit der Turkei dauern seit Jahren an. Staatsbesuche
wurden verschoben – und nachgeholt. Im Juni kam eine Delegation der
Außenpolitischen Kommission des turkischen Parlaments in die Schweiz.
Man konne von der Bevolkerung nicht erwarten, daß sie die Großvater
zu Kriminellen erklare, teilte man den Schweizern mit.
Ministerprasident Erdogan habe eine Historikerkommission eingesetzt,
welche ganz nach dem Beispiel von Jean-Francois Bergiers “Unabhangiger
Expertenkommission Schweiz Zweiter Weltkrieg” die Volkermord-Vorwurfe
abklaren werde. Die Große Kammer des Schweizer Parlaments hat – wie
Frankreich, wie der Europarat – die Massaker, deren Opfer die Armenier
waren, per Abstimmung vor zwei Jahren zum Genozid erklart. Es gibt
auch entsprechende Gerichtsurteile: In juristischer Hinsicht scheinen
die Falle Halacoglu und Perincek klar, die Äußerungen beider erfullen
offenkundig den Strafbestand.
Schweizer Politiker verweisen auf die Gewaltentrennung.
Nun wird auch das fragwurdige Gesetz wieder diskutiert. Die
“Auschwitz-Lugner”, schreibt der Historiker Georg Kreis in der
Zeitschrift “Tachles”, bestreiten nicht nur die Tatsache der sechs
Millionen Toten: “Sie werfen den Opfern und ihren Nachkommen auch vor,
mit der Fabrikation dieser ,Legende’ politischen und pekuniaren Gewinn
erzielen zu wollen.” Das sei Antisemitismus. Kreis erkennt an, “daß man
antirassistische Normen nicht als Schutz einzig fur Juden ernst nehmen
darf”, ein solches “Privileg” wurde auch von den Juden abgelehnt:
“Es gibt aber in den europaischen Gesellschaften aus Rucksicht auf die
historische Schuld die Neigung, gegenuber antijudischer Diffamierung
besonders sensibel zu sein. Die muslimische Minderheit etwa, der
gegenuber Europa nicht in dieser Weise schuldig geworden ist, kommt
nicht in gleichem Maß in den Genuß einer solchen Sensibilitat.”
Das Gesetz, mit dem sich die Schweiz ein gutes Gewissen verschaffen
wollte, hat Ungeister geweckt, die sie nicht mehr los wird. “Die
Leugnung des Genozids an den Armeniern ist wohl nicht ein taugliches
Objekt, um die Gleichbehandlung einzufordern und durchzuexerzieren”,
befindet der Historiker Kreis. Mit dieser Formulierung ist er nun
selbst unter Beschuß geraten. Denn zumindest vor dem Gesetz mußten
auch alle Genozide gleich sein.
–Boundary_(ID_XIl7b5ykPJHeB03ee4qE/w)–

ARMENIA ALLOCATES 200,000 DOLLARS FOR KATRINA VICTIMS IN USA
Mediamax news agency, Yerevan
8 Sep 05
Yerevan, 8 September: The Armenian government today made a decision
to allocate 200,000 dollars as humanitarian aid to the US population
hit by hurricane [Katrina].
The Armenian Foreign Ministry will organize the process of rendering
assistance, the government’s press service has told Mediamax.

SPEAKER DENIES ARMENIA DEPENDS ON RUSSIA
ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow
7 Sep 05
Washington, 7 September: The chairman of the Armenian National
Assembly, Artur Bagdasaryan, disagrees with the view of some American
experts that his country’s political, economic and military dependence
on Russia is very high. “Russia is a friend of Armenia,” Bagdasaryan
said in his address to the Washington Woodrow Wilson International
Centre on 6 September.
At the same time, he noted that there has really emerged an “imbalance”
in Armenia’s relations with other countries. Due to historical reasons
and the geopolitical situation of recent years, relations between
Yerevan and Moscow are incomparably wider than with Washington,
Paris or London.
The “potential” of mutually beneficial contacts between Armenia,
the USA and Europe is not being exploited in full,” Bagdasaryan said.
The speaker of the Armenian parliament said that his country needs
to develop relations with both NATO and the USA, including in the
military sphere. However, the key direction of Yerevan’s foreign
policy, the speaker said, must be integration into European political
and economic organizations.
In a conversation with a correspondent of ITAR-TASS, Bagdasaryan said
that he had discussed ways of further developing American-Armenian
relations with representatives of the administration and leaders of
the US congress.
On 6 September, the speaker of the Armenian National Assembly left
for New York to take part in the second UN conference of parliament
speakers.

OSCE MISSION MONITORS FRONT LINE IN KARABAKH
Mediamax news agency
8 Sep 05
Yerevan, 8 September: An OSCE mission today held a regular monitoring
on the contact line between the Nagornyy Karabakh and Azerbaijani
armed forces in the village of Levonarkh of Mardakert District of
the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR].
Andrzej Kasprzyk, personal representative of the OSCE
chairman-in-office and his field assistant, carried out the monitoring
from the positions of the NKR Defence Army, the press service of the
NKR Foreign Ministry reported today.
No cease-fire violations were registered during the monitoring.
However, unlike the Karabakh side, the Azerbaijani side did not take
the OSCE mission to its front-line positions.

AUSTRIAN, AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTERS DISCUSS ECONOMIC COOPERATION
Die Presse, Vienna
8 Sep 05
Text of report by “hd” entitled “Diplomacy before the match”, published
by Austrian newspaper Die Presse on 8 September
Vienna: “I am glad I came to Vienna on the day of the soccer
match between Austria and Azerbaijan (for the world championship
qualification in Baku – the editor) and not the day after”,
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov joked after working
talks with his Austrian counterpart Ursula Plassnik in Vienna on
Wednesday [7 September].
While bilateral relations were classified as “very good” by both
sides, as expected, Mammadyarov was “not quite satisfied with the
extent of economic cooperation”. He hopes, in particular, for an
increase in investments. “We are planning quite a few things in the
economic field”, Plassnik said, supporting him. The Austrian foreign
minister cited as an important issue of the talks the action plan
for Azerbaijan within the framework of European neighbourhood policy,
which is coordinated by EU Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
By “supporting smaller initiatives in the nongovernmental field”,
Austria wants to contribute to settling the conflict between Armenia
and Azerbaijan over Nagornyy Karabakh. The Armenian enclave seceded
from Baku in 1991, which has, however, not been recognized at the
international level. Despite some progress, it is still a long way
until the conflict can be settled, Mammadyarov said.

AZERI LEADER HAPPY WITH ELECTION CAMPAIGN START
Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
8 Sep 05
[Presenter] President Ilham Aliyev is visiting Astara [southern
Azerbaijan] today. Aliyev said the fact that over 2,000 people had been
nominated as parliamentary candidates showed the people’s interest
in the election. The initial stage of the election has successfully
finished, he said.
[Passage omitted: Aliyev attended a ceremony to unveil a bust of his
father Heydar Aliyev]
[Correspondent by phone] President Ilham Aliyev started the tour of
southern districts from Lankaran. Addressing a ceremony to unveil
a bust of Heydar Aliyev in a park outside the town administration
building, Aliyev said that the aim of the trip was to familiarize
himself with work done to implement the regional socio-economic
development programme.
He said 3,000 new jobs would be created throughout the country by the
end of the year. Measures had been taken to improve the population’s
social situation, Aliyev said, mentioning an increase in salaries
and pensions. He also said an a minimum salary would be increased to
150,000 manats [32 dollars] from 1 October.
As to the forthcoming parliamentary election, Aliyev said that the
initial stage of the election had successfully finished. The fact that
over 2,000 candidates have been registered shows people’s belief in
the democratic conduct of the election, he said.
Speaking about the Karabakh peace talks, Aliyev said that the talks
had yielded no result yet and Azerbaijan should constantly strengthen
its military potential. A total of 300m dollars were allocated to
military expenditures this year and the figure will total 600m dollars
the next year, Aliyev said. Azerbaijan is ahead of Armenia in terms
of military potential, he said.
[Passage omitted: Aliyev visits a medical centre in Lankaran]
[Bilik Dunyasi, in Russian 0841 gmt 8 Sep 05 quoted Aliyev as saying
that a 20-per-cent economic growth was registered in the country in
the past eight months]

AZERI OFFICIAL DECRIES ARMENIAN NGOS’ PROPOSAL TO MONITOR POLLS
Sarq, Baku
8 Sep 05
Text of APA report by Azerbaijani newspaper Sarq on 8 September
headlined “Armenian NGOs want to monitor the election”
Armenian NGOs want to observe the parliamentary election in Azerbaijan,
the secretary of the Central Electoral Commission [CEC], Vidadi
Mahmudlu, has told APA.
The CEC secretary said that the intention of the Armenian NGOs is
another provocation by Yerevan and that Azerbaijan will thwart such
efforts. Mahmudlu also said that international organizations have not
answered the CEC’s appeal for assistance in acquiring a list of voters
in the Xankandi constituency [Azerbaijani citizens of Armenian origin].
“The election will be held in the Xankandi constituency. This is
definite. However, it is still not clear if the Armenians will vote
in the election or not. Therefore, the election might fail in that
constituency,” he said.

SERVICEMAN KILLED IN ARMENIAN TRUCE VIOLATION – AZERI TV
ANS TV, Baku
8 Sep 05
A warrant officer of the Azerbaijani army has been killed on the
front line, Azerbaijani ANS TV said on 8 September.
The officer was wounded when Azerbaijan’s army positions in the
village of Borsunlu in Tartar District came under fire from the
Armenian armed forces at about 0700 gmt on 7 September, ANS reported.

BRITISH FM WARNS OF “TERRIBLE” CONSEQUENCES IF TURKEY TALKS FALTER
Agence France Presse — English
September 8, 2005 Thursday 3:42 PM GMT
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw warned Thursday of “terrible”
repercussions for co-existence with the Muslim world if the European
Union fails to follow through on the process for admitting Turkey to
the union.
“We cannot afford to get this wrong,” Straw said in a speech in which
he argued for Turkey to begin long-awaited accession talks on October
3 despite Ankara’s refusal to recognise the government of Cyprus.
“By welcoming Turkey we will demonstrate that Western and Islamic
cultures can thrive together as partners in the modern world. The
alternative is too terrible to contemplate,” he said.
Straw stressed that Turkey had met conditions for starting accession
talks that could take several years and praised “wide-ranging and
courageous” reforms in Turkey.
But Ankara still had some way to go in implementing reforms, he added,
pointing to the charges brought against world-famous Turkish novelist
Orhan Pamuk for commenting on killings of Kurds and Armenians.
“If and when Turkey does become a member, it will be after years
of structural reforms and with a long track record of sustained and
stable growth,” Straw said.
EU leaders last December gave Turkey the green light to start
membership talks, after Ankara first applied to join the union in 1987,
even though the country still refuses to to recognise the government
of Cyprus.
But last week foreign ministers of the 25-nation bloc failed to agree
on a response to Turkey’s reiteration of non-recognition.
EU members need to agree unanimously on a reponse and a negotiating
framework for Turkey before accession talks can officially begin.
Cyprus has been divided since the Turkish military occupied the
northern third of the territory in 1974 in response to a coup by
Greek Cypriots to unite the island with Greece.
“I would have preferred it if the government of Turkey had not felt
it necessary to issue its declaration… by doing so the process has
frankly been made more difficult,” Straw said.
“Normally, you get agreement in the end,” Straw said, adding that he
would call an EU meeting to discuss Turkish accession at the end of
September if that was necessary.
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin earlier opposed starting
accession talks with the Cyprus issue still unresolved and other
European politicians have expressed reservations.
German opposition leader Angela Merkel, who is favoured to win
parliamentary elections later this month, opposes Turkey’s membership
of the EU outright.
“The process of Turkish accession has turned into a lightning rod
for other discontent,” said Straw.
Turkish membership “has been the long-standing policy of successive
German governments up until now,” he continued.
In his speech, Straw emphasised the common history of Turkey and
western Europe and praised the democratic legacy of Kemal Ataturk,
who became leader of a secular Turkey after the collapse of the
Ottoman empire in World War I.
Turkish membership would help the EU compete with emerging economies
in Asia and tackle terrorism and drug trafficking, Straw said.
Membership would also encourage reforms in Turkey that have already
led to the abolition of the death penalty, progress on Kurdish issues
and moves towards European Council political standards, he said.
“Turkey will go through a major, continuing process of transformation
over a number of years before it joins the Union.”