FEDERATION EURO-ARMENIENNE
pour la Justice et la Démocratie
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COMMUNIQUE DE PRESSE
02 décembre 2004
Contact: Talline Tachdjian
Tel.: +32 (0)2 732 70 27

TURQUIE : LA COMMISSION DES AFFAIRES ETRANGERES CONTRE LE PARLEMENT EUROPEEN

Bruxelles, Belgique – La Commission des Affaires étrangères du Parlement
européen (AFET) a adopté le 30 novembre dernier une proposition de
résolution sur le «rapport régulier 2004 et recommandation de la Commission
européenne concernant les progrès réalisés par la Turquie sur la voie de
l’adhésion », présentée par le député Chrétien-Démocrate hollandais Camiel
Eurlings, avec 50 voix pour, 18 contre et 6 abstentions.

Le texte résultant du vote de la Commission demande l’abrogation de
l’article 305 du nouveau code pénal turc. Il s’agit de l’article qui
criminalise les publications censées mettre en danger les “intérêts
fondamentaux” de la Turquie, avec les exemples explicites de l’affirmation
du génocide des Arméniens et de l’occupation militaire de Chypre.

Il demande en outre au gouvernement turc de considérer l’inscription des
monuments appartenant au patrimoine culturel des minorités, tels que
Hasankankeyf, Ani, Zeugma ou Aghtamar au patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO.

Deux amendements adoptés font référence au génocide des Arméniens sans le
nommer : l’un d’eux renvoie la question à la responsabilité des
gouvernements arménien et turc, prétendant qu’il existe un processus de
réconciliation entre eux, avant de demander au gouvernement turc de rouvrir
les frontières.

Le deuxième, déposé par le socialiste français Michel Rocard, se réjouit de
la réouverture d’un prétendu “Mausolée national arménien d’Anatolie du
Nord”, de la suppression de l’interdiction pesant sur l’usage des langues
minoritaires dont l’arménien, du travail remarquable des historiens turcs
sur le génocide et de la renaissance des rapports entre la Turquie et
l’Arménie.

La Fédération Euro-Arménienne note que l’adoption de ces amendements
contestables sur le génocide a résulté d’un vote très serré opposant des
forces sensiblement égales; “la commission était scindée en deux et les
amendements ont été adoptés à une très faible majorité” a déclaré Laurent
Leylekian, Directeur de la Fédération Euro- Arménienne.

La Fédération souligne qu’un nombre réduit de députés tente de parler au nom
de groupes politiques entiers. Elle réfute toute une série d’affirmations
mensongères qui figurent dans le rapport : “Le mausolée arménien du nord de
l’Anatolie est un mystère pour le monde et pour les Arméniens eux mêmes ;
nous connaissons les milliers d’églises et de monastères détruits pour
effacer la trace des Arméniens de leurs terres ancestrales. Les prétendus
rapports de la Turquie avec l’Etat arménien sont aussi une vue de l’esprit.
Quant au “remarquable travail” des historiens turcs sur le génocide, il est
le fait d’un seul sociologue actuellement en exil en raison du danger
qu’il encourt en cas de retour au pays”. La Fédération dénonce les
historiens officiels du gouvernement d’Ankara pour leur complicité avec les
purges des archives nationales turques sur la période du génocide.

Globalement, la Fédération considère que ce vote dresse la Commission des
Affaires étrangères contre les positions du Parlement européen. “Le 14
décembre prochain, lors du vote final à Strasbourg, le Parlement européen
doit réaffirmer ses principes, ceux du 18 juin 1987, réitérés en novembre
2000, en mars 2002, en février et en mai 2004” a conclu le directeur de la
Fédération.

#####

Annexes : EXTRAITS DU RAPPORT ADOPTE PAR LA COMMISSION AFET :

– « se félicite en particulier de la réforme de la procédure pénale, qui
renforce les droits de la défense; considère toutefois que l’article 305 du
nouveau code pénal turc qui sanctionne de supposées “menaces à l’encontre
des intérêts nationaux fondamentaux” et son exposé des motifs qui cible la
liberté d’expression, relative en particulier aux questions chypriotes et
arméniennes, est incompatible avec la Convention pour la Protection des
Droits de l’homme et des libertés fondamentales de 1950, et demande donc son
abrogation »

– « croit que les gouvernements de Turquie et d’Arménie doivent poursuivre
leur processus de réconciliation, éventuellement avec l’assistance d’un
comité bilatéral d’experts indépendants, afin de surmonter explicitement
l’expérience tragique du passé et demande au gouvernement turc de rouvrir
les frontières avec l’Arménie le plus rapidement possible ».

– « invite la Turquie à améliorer considérablement sa perception des
minorités ethniques ou religieuses, par exemple en soulignant leurs
contributions au patrimoine culturel du pays; demande en particulier aux
autorités turques de tenir certaines de ces contributions spécifiques,
telles Hasankeyf, Ani, Zeugma ou Aghtamar, pour dignes d’être inscrites au
patrimoine mondial par l’Organisation des Nations unies pour l’éducation, la
science et la culture (Unesco)».

– «considérant que la réouverture du Mausolée national arménien d’Anatolie
du nord aux pèlerinages, la suppression de l’interdiction d’usage des
langues minoritaires dont le kurde et l’arménien, ainsi que le remarquable
travail des historiens turcs sur le génocide et la renaissance des rapports
d’État à État avec la République arménienne sont des pas en avant essentiels
mais qu’il reste nécessaire d’aller jusqu’au bout de cette démarche
notamment en rouvrant les frontières entre la Turquie et l’Arménie »

Interfax
Dec 2 2004

Georgia starts preparations for NATO exercise

Tbilisi. (Interfax-AVN) – Seven officers of the U.S. European Command
left for the Georgian region of Ajaria on Thursday to discuss details
of the upcoming Rescuer/Medceur command post and military medical
exercise with local administrations.

The military medical part of the NATO-sponsored exercise scheduled
for September 2005 will take place in the Ajarian autonomous
republic, “and it is time to determine the facilities that will be
involved in it,” Omar Begoidze, chief of the Partnership for Peace
coordination headquarters in the Georgian General Staff, told
Interfax-Military News Agency.

Tbilisi will host the planning conference of the exercise from
December 6 to 9, he said. In addition to Ajaria, the exercise will be
hosted by the locality of Vaziani not far from Tbilisi.
Georgia hosted previous exercises of this type in 2000 and 2003.

The conference will involve 73 officers representing the U.S.,
Georgia, Albania, Armenia, Moldova, Latvia, Germany, Ukraine,
Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia, Begoidze said.

“All these countries will send their servicemen for the exercise in
2005, and Ukraine and Croatia have displayed special interest in the
event,” he said.
“Unfortunately, Russia does not send its representatives,” Begoidze
added.

Daily Pennsylvanian, PA
Dec 2 2004

Exchange program brings modern nurses to Eurasia
By carly weinreb

Penn Nursing professor and researcher Linda Aiken recently finished
directing a three-year program aimed at bringing four Eurasian
hospitals up to Western standards of health care and nursing.
The Nursing Quality Improvement Program was designed to improve the
quality of nursing and health care in former Soviet Union and
Armenian hospitals and sought to elevate the status of nurses — who
are often viewed more like janitors than professionals — in the
targeted hospitals.

After the program was completed, the hospitals were awarded the newly
created Journey to Excellence Award, which identifies them as
superior health care institutions.

The program is part of the Nursing School’s overall directive to
research and improve health care both in the United States and around
the world.

“If you don’t have good nursing, you can’t have good quality of care
in hospitals,” Aiken said.

The three-year program, which was mainly funded by the Population
Studies Center at Penn and the U.S. Agency for International
Development, paired four hospitals in the former Soviet Union and
Armenia with four U.S. hospitals of “magnet status” — some of the
best hospitals in the United States.

The program was run like a “nurse-exchange program,” sending American
and Eurasian nurses back and forth between the paired hospitals.

The American nurses found they had a lot to address with their
Eurasian counterparts. According to Aiken, many of the Russian and
Armenian hospitals did not have a code of medical ethics. For
example, nurses were still using leather restraints to handle
distressed patients — a practice now known to produce more injuries
than it prevents.

Many of the hospitals did not have updated equipment and medical
supplies and lacked a closed, sterile environment. According to
Aiken, some nurses were using plastic Coke bottles, which were not
necessarily sterilized, for drainage.

“It was like going back 50 years in time,” Associate Executive
Director for North Shore University Hospital Margarita Baggett said.

Baggett was the team leader of her hospital for the program and said
that, at Erebouni Medical Center in Armenia, there were no privacy
curtains or screens, flies swarmed everywhere and the plaster walls
were falling down.

In order to improve the quality of care at these hospitals, the
program set up an intercom system to enable better communication
between nurses and doctors and established a code of medical ethics
and a patients’ bill of rights.

American nurses introduced evidence-based practice — nursing based
on scientific principles — to their Eurasian counterparts. They also
taught them how to read an electrocardiogram, put together a plan of
care and maintain a daily flow sheet.

And to address the lack of privacy curtains, the Armenian and Russian
nurses sewed some themselves.

“There’s a great deal of interest in helping to empower nurses in
economically developing countries to deliver more professional
nursing care,” post-doctoral fellow in the Center for Health Outcomes
and Policy Research Mary Powell said. “Nurses are indeed
professionals that make a difference.”

After the program concluded, each of the Eurasian hospitals was
evaluated and determined to have achieved the 14 standards of magnet
accreditation, thus marking the program a success.

“It was one of the most thrilling things I’ve ever seen. The
rapidness of the change there was so impressive,” Aiken said.

The Journey to Excellence Award ceremonies were highly publicized and
were attended by politicians and dignitaries.

“It was the first time these nurses were on TV,” Aiken said. “Nurses
are kind of invisible there.”

Baggett was similarly enthusiastic about the experience.

The Armenian nurses “touched us so deeply. It was so great to share
the great practice of nursing,” she said.

Plans are in the works to continue the program in other economically
developing countries, and Aiken is in the process of talking to
potential donors.

And one of the researchers, first-year Penn Nursing graduate student
Lusine Poghosyan — who helped collect data for the project while she
was getting her master’s degree in Armenia — will soon be the first
person in Armenia to earn a Ph.D. in nursing. After her earning this
degree, Poghosyan plans to return home and become involved in
expanding nursing education.

RIA Novosti, Russia
Dec 2 2004

NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT WORRIES AZERBAIJANIS

BAKU, December 2 (RIA Novosti) – According to a recent poll conducted
by the International Foundation of Election Systems funded by the US
Agency for International Development, 69% of Azerbaijanis said the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which has made hundreds of thousands of
people refugees in their own country, was the biggest problem facing
Azerbaijan. The poll was conducted June 21-July 21, 2004 with 1,620
people polled in Baku and six other urban centers.

During a meeting with International Committee of the Red Cross Baku
representative Mary Werntz, Eldar Makhmudov, chairman of the
Azerbaijani State Commission on POWs, missing persons and hostages
and a national security minister, said 1,357 Azerbaijanis were freed
from Armenian captivity in 1998-2004. He also claimed that Azerbaijan
had testimony about another 783 people being held captive in Armenia.

He noted that 4,852 Azerbaijanis had been missing since the beginning
of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, an
Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan that Baku lost control over in the
late 1980s and early 1990s.

According to the survey 40% of the respondents cited unemployment,
13% cited low standards of living, 6% cited imperfect social
protection and 6 % cited economic problems as the largest problem
facing Azerbaijan.

Fifty-four percent of the respondents described the current economic
situation as good or very good, 48% expected it to improve next year
and only 7% expected it to get worse.

According to the poll, 46% of respondents think that democracy had
been established in the country, 20% did not think Azerbaijan had a
democracy and only 37% were aware of their civil rights.

Forty percent of the respondents said the ruling party, Eni
Azerbaijan, reflected the interests of citizens more completely than
other political parties.

Sixty percent of the respondents said the Azerbaijani judicial system
was no impartial. According to the respondents the most corrupt
aspects of society were medicine and education. Interestingly,
Russian surveys produce the same results. This is a common problem
for all newly independent post-Soviet states.

Twenty-five percent of the respondents said they would vote in the
municipal elections on December 17, while 33% said they might vote.

According to the respondents, the main source of information in the
county is television. In terms of popularity, 51% of the respondents
watched Russian television channels and 49% watched Turkish stations.
The most popular newspapers, the opposition newspaper Eni Musavat and
the Russian newspaper Zerkalo were each read by 7% of the
respondents.

The poll also showed that young people, 18-25, were inadequately
informed about politics and economics.

Newropeans Magazine, France
Dec 2 2004

December 17th 2004: the day the European Council lost the EU people’s
confidence ?
– 2nd Part –

by Franck Biancheri

Summarizing bluntly the situation, to give people of the European
Union and of Turkey a signal that Turkey may be member of the EU in
the coming two decades would a dramatic political mistake for the EU
as well as for Turkey. First because it will be a lie (whatever
political scenario is adopted there is no way a majority of EU
citizens will accept such a membership in the next 20 years; all
trends are going in the opposite direction); second because it would
prevent the EU to push EU-Turkey relations into the only available
constructive option for decades to come: to integrate Turkey within
the new EU Neighbourhood policy.

So, our leaders’ main preoccupation on December 17th should be to
keep open this option for the short term future (in 4/5 years it will
obviously become THE only possible way to move forward for EU/turkey
relations)* because they have to deal with a huge backlog of lies
from our side (essentially the last 40 years of EU leaders and
institutions declarations); and because at this stage, Turkish
leadership and elites have still not yet understood what the EU
really is.

For having done many conferences in Turkey in the past twelve years,
I have noticed that essentially the Turkish positions have not
changed a bit, while in the meantime the EU has drastically changed.
For instance, they keep on believing that there will be genuine
`negotiations’ between them and the EU for the accession; while
everybody in the EU knows that there will be nothing close to that:
Turkey will have to adopt the `acquis communautaire’ and will be
obliged to comply `in practice’ (not just in theory) with all EU
legal, political, social constraints. Full stop. So rather than
playing the negative process** such as `let’s the Turks discover the
`hard way’ that they do not want to get in the EU because they are
not ready to change up to the extent the EU will require’, our
leaders should really make clear from the conditions before
negotiations even start that the path will be extremely tough. For
instance, in no ways should it be allowed for Turkey to even think
starting negotiations without having beforehand recognized Cyprus
(one of the current 25 EU members); neither without having `cleaned’
his own past and recognized the Armenian genocide. Beyond Turkey, our
leaders must also know that the lack of such pre-conditions will just
increase EU voters’ feeling that they should oppose our leaders’
vision of Europe’s future. Such a feeling will drastically increase
the abstention and No votes in the referenda on the EU constitution.

Speaking of referenda, our leaders will also be wise to acknowledge
the fact that most probably a large number of EU Member states would
in the end generate referenda on any possible Turkish membership***;
most probably under public opinion pressure, and with support of the
political forces opposed to the accession of Turkey (both will
largely dominate the EU political scene of the coming years).

To conclude, if the Council is not able to decide in a way that
answers Turkish leaders’ call for recognition as being a full partner
(and the possibility to be a partner is part of that request; much
more than the candid will to become a true member of the EU) while
clearly indicating the minimum pre-negotiations necessary steps
(Cyprus, Armenian genocide) and indicating the way for the
alternative of relation anchored within EU neighbourhood policy, then
the Council will lose its credibility as embodying the EU’s general
interest.

The Commission already lost it on October 6th; the Parliament never
had it. For the sake of EU’s future Constitution, let’s hope that our
national leaders will be aware that their collective ability to
resist Ankara’s pressure will definitely determine EU’s political
future.

Not because Turkey will join or not. It will not. But because the
xenophobic, populist and extremist political forces will find new
strengths if our leaders are not up to the challenge; and in the
process will help defeat the Constitution project.

* The fact that the European Parliament’s Commission on Foreign
affairs just recommended the contrary is another proof that this is
the only correct choice. The Parliament is run by a coalition of
parties (PSE and EPP) which together did not even represent 30% of
European voters (as from EU elections of June 2004) and where
decisions are not made following voters expectations but through
lobbying and internal compromises. At least it cannot loose public
credibility, because it never got it.
** I suspect that a large number of our current political leaders and
Eurocrats are betting that Turkey will be obliged to stop on its way
to accession because of the impossible challenge it will represent to
its structure and culture.
*** France is far from being the only country which will go this way.
As soon as France will officially go for it, it is certain that many
other countries will find entitled to do so.

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Dec 2 2004

OSCE expert group may be set up to disclose Armenians’ illegal
settlement

Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and his Deputy Araz Azimov held a
private meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Steven Mann, Yuri
Merzlyakov and Henry Jacolin in New York last Wednesday.

The present-day situation with the talks on the settlement of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper Garabagh was in focus of the
meeting.
The Azerbaijani side expressed concerns over the settlement of
Armenians in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan. 13,000 Armenians have
been settled in the Lachin District alone, Minister Mammadyarov said.

“Armenia is violating relevant resolutions adopted by the UN Security
Council and international humanitarian laws and jeopardizes the
OSCE-mediated peace talks.”
The Minister said that an independent expert group should be set up
within the OSCE to disclose the facts related to Armenia’s policy of
settlement in the occupied Azeri lands.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Dec 2 2004

OSCE report on Garabagh conflict discussed in Baku

Goran Lennmarker, the special envoy of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly (PA) on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, visited Baku last
week.

The OSCE PA special envoy told journalists at the airport that he has
arrived in Baku from Armenia where he held talks over seeking ways
for settling the conflict.
It is possible for the conflicting sides to find ways for a positive
resolution of the conflict, Lennmarker added.
During his visit, the OSCE envoy discussed the report he had prepared
on the Upper Garabagh conflict with the Azerbaijani government. The
parties also considered the disputed provisions, indicated by Baku
earlier.

President Ilham Aliyev receiving the OSCE envoy, stated that despite
the ongoing peace talks between the two countries, no results have
been achieved thus far. Armenia is failing to take serious steps at
resolving the problem and is again trying to postpone the process of
negotiations, he said.
Aliyev regarded as positive the close involvement of the Council of
Europe and other international organizations in the conflict
resolution process.
Lennmarker said after the meetings he had with people from Upper
Garabagh and other Azerbaijani regions under occupation, he has made
a conclusion that the conflict must be resolved soon.
“The people suffering from the conflict, including refugees and
displaced persons, are in urgent need of assistance and long for
returning home.”
Lennmarker added that it was important that international
organizations step up their attention to a peaceful resolution of the
conflict.

The Messenger, Georgia
Dec 2 2004

Sandra Roelofs visits Armenia

Georgian First Lady Sandra Roelofs traveled to Armenia for a four day
visit on Wednesday.
According to Prime News, she will meet wife of the Armenian president
Bella Kocharyan, and will visit the National Oncological Center of
Armenia and the Red Cross Center.
The first lady of Georgia will also meet with workers and students of
Yerevan State University, as well as visit the Armenian Genocide
Memorial.

Interfax
Dec 2 2004

Latvian experts to discuss military cooperation in Azerbaijan

Vilnius. (Interfax-AVN) – An expert delegation of the Lithuanian
Defense Ministry will hold a series of meetings in the Azerbaijani
Defense Ministry and General Staff from December 3 to 6, the
Lithuanian ministry’s press service told Interfax-Military News
Agency.

The meetings will address bilateral military cooperation, regional
security in Transcaucasia, training of Azerbaijani military in the
Lithuanian Military Academy and the Baltic Defense College, and
participation in international operations, a press service official
said. In particular, the parties will finalize the bilateral military
cooperation plan for 2005.

Lithuania believes that the visit will be an additional means of
assessing details of Azerbaijan’s integration into NATO.

Lithuanian military experts took part in military-political
consultations with Georgia, Armenia and Ukraine this autumn. The
parties agreed to continue cooperation in military personnel training
and to hold more consultations on NATO integration. The Defense
Ministry of

Lithuania, which joined NATO in March this year, decided to continue
financial assistance to the training of Armenian and Ukrainian
officers in the Lithuanian Military Academy and the Baltic Defense
College in 2005.

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Dec 2 2004

Italy opposes Turkey’s EU admission

Italy opposes admission of Turkey to the European Union (EU) and the
latter may get the EU membership only in 2014, Italian Deputy Foreign
Minister Margherita Boniver said in a meeting with Armenian Foreign
Minister Vardan Oskanian last Tuesday. The Italian diplomat wished
Turkey to open its borders with Armenia, which entered the EU New
Neighborhood

program this June, so that the former could be admitted to the EU.
Turkey has repeatedly stated that it will not open its borders with
Armenia unless the latter withdraws its armed forces from the
occupied lands of Azerbaijan.
The New Neighborhood program rejects the territorial claims by the EU
member states against their neighbors.

The Italian official seems not to have taken this into account and
her country intends to create artificial obstacles for the admission
of Turkey to the EU.
With regard to including the issue on the occupied lands of
Azerbaijan into the agenda of the UN General Assembly session,
Boniver said she backs settlement of the Upper Garabagh conflict
within the OSCE Minsk Group. The Italian diplomat stressed, however,
that her country will abstain from voting on any decision at the UN.
Former Italian Foreign Minister Mario Rafaelli was the first chairman
of the OSCE Minsk Group in 1992-1993. Several discussions were held
with the separatist regime of the Upper Garabagh in Rome in this
period.
The Italian deputy foreign minister’s “warm attitude” towards Armenia
may be explained by the increasing economic and trade relations
between the two countries.
The trade turnover between Italy and Armenia made up $49 million in
2002 and $59 million in 2003.

Disapproval
Prime Minister Artur Rasizada, in a meeting with Boniver on Thursday,
said he disapproves of her statement made in Yerevan that Italy would
abstain from the mentioned UN vote.
Boniver visited Baku as part of her tour of the South Caucasus
region.
Rasizada stated that Azerbaijan, unlike Armenia, has been subject to
aggression, and that Azeri civilians have been ousted from their
homes and the country’s territories occupied. These facts should be
taken into account when discussing the issue, the Azeri Prime
Minister said.
Touching upon economic relations, Rasizada said prospects exist for
developing such cooperation. Italy is a leading country in terms of
the turnover of goods with Azerbaijan, but most of the trade occurs
on oil, he said. The Prime Minister pointed out that Italy’s
investments in Azerbaijan are insignificant and emphasized that Baku
is interested in drawing Italian investors and this country’s
involvement in global transport projects.
Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Boniver said that the documents
signed during the current visit on establishing the Italy-Azerbaijan
Economic Council and the joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry will
serve strengthening of economic ties. She added that Italy can assist
Azerbaijan in developing small and medium enterprise in the country,
as her country possesses extensive experience in this area.