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10/07/2004
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1) Writer Paulo Coelho Receives Praise in Armenia
2) French Politicians Seek Debate, Vote on Turkey
3) Pallone Calls on Powell To Protest Turkish Law Criminalizing Discussion of
the Armenian Genocide
4) CIS Parliamentary Assembly to Review Armenian Genocide Recognition
5) ANCA Urges Legislators To Adopt Key Pro-Armenia Trade Measure Before
Congress Ends Session
1) Writer Paulo Coelho Receives Praise in Armenia
YEREVAN (Armenpress)–Prominent Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho met with
President Kocharian on October 7 to discuss the role of culture and literature
in educating the new generation.
Coelho, who is visiting Armenia at the invitation of the Hamazkayin cultural
organization, is well-known for his powerful storytelling technique and
profound spiritual insights.
The president remarked that Coelho’s works erode the boundary between reality
and fantasy in the best traditions of Latin American literary heritage. The
president also said the Armenian translation of one of his most acclaimed
works, The Alchemist, has become accessible to Armenian readers.
On October 5, the auditorium of the Armenian Writers’ Union was packed to
honor the author. Chairman of Armenian Writers’ Union Levon Ananyan, praised
The Alchemist as an outstanding piece of modern literature and presented a
membership card of honor to Coelho.
In his speech, Coelho spoke of the Armenia as a motherland which has children
around the world, who come back to their motherland and enrich its culture
with
the elements of different civilizations.
2) French Politicians Seek Debate, Vote on Turkey
PARIS (Reuters)–French politicians opposed to Turkey joining the European
Union called on Thursday for a debate and vote in parliament before a December
summit at which the EU will decide whether to start accession talks. The
demand
highlighted splits in France that could undermine Turkey’s entry bid and
increased pressure on President Jacques Chirac over the issue, one day after
the European Commission recommended Ankara be allowed to open entry talks.
Ignoring an appeal for calm by Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, about 50
deputies from Chirac’s conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party
and the center-right Union for the French Democracy (UDF) wrote to the
president seeking a meeting with him on Turkey.
They also demanded a debate before the EU’s December summit. Prominent
politicians seeking a vote in the 577-seat parliament, as well as a debate,
include Laurent Fabius, a Socialist former prime minister and possible
presidential candidate in 2007.
“No negotiations have ever started without them ending up in a ‘yes’,” Fabius
told reporters, reflecting the concerns of some French politicians that
Turkey’s entry is an accomplished and presumably irreversible fact and that
they will not be properly consulted.
UDF head Francois Bayrou said such an historic decision had to pass through
parliament as well as be put to a referendum “as an elementary rule of
democracy.”
Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the hard-right National Front, voiced his
concerns too. “Once negotiations start, there’ll be no turning back whatever
happens,” he said.
Parliamentary speaker Jean-Louis Debre, a Chirac ally, has said a
parliamentary debate on Turkey’s membership can be organized but not a vote.
Even a debate could embarrass Chirac because it would underline the divisions
over Turkey.
REASSURANCE BY RAFFARIN
Raffarin seemed determined to head off controversy by saying there was
nothing
immediate or definitive.
“Let’s talk straight. Turkey’s not going to be in a position to join the
European Union in the coming years but we can’t shut the door for eternity,”
Raffarin told Metro, a publication that is distributed free of charge in Paris
and other big cities.
“Let’s not allow partisan politics to draw the curtains on a matter that
needs
time,” he said, highlighting that Turkey would need big progress on reform
before joining the EU and that there was a clause allowing suspension of talks
after they opened.
The Commission says Turkey has made substantial progress in political reforms
but must improve implementation, notably in the fight against torture, and
expand freedom of expression and religion, and rights for women, trade unions,
and minorities.
Chirac announced last Friday that France would hold a referendum on entry if
the EU agrees to accession, despite the risk that France could block its
membership.
He made the move under pressure from his ruling Union for a Popular Movement
(UMP).
Although a referendum is unlikely for more than a decade, a recent opinion
poll showed 56 percent of French people oppose Turkey’s immediate entry
because
of fears over jobs and concerns about letting in a mainly Muslim country that
straddles the divide between Europe and Asia.
France, a predominantly Catholic country which is also home to Europe’s
biggest Jewish and Muslim communities, did not hold a referendum before the EU
expanded to 25 members in May.
French people are concerned that France’s influence in the EU has been
diluted
by enlargement and that the entry of a country of 71 million people will water
it down more.
3) Pallone Calls on Powell To Protest Turkish Law Criminalizing Discussion of
the Armenian Genocide
WASHINGTON, DC (ANCA)–Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Frank Pallone
(D-NJ) this week called on Secretary of State Colin Powell to formally protest
Turkey’s adoption of a new penal code that criminalizes even the discussion of
the Armenian genocide.
Section 306 of new Turkish penal code provides for prison sentences of
between
three and ten years for remarks concerning the facts of the Armenian genocide
or the withdrawal of Turkish occupation forces from Cyprus. In his letter,
Congressman Pallone noted that this action represents a “hardening [of
Turkey’s] anti-Armenian stance and undermines hopes for a reduction of
tensions
in the region.”
Commenting specifically on the Administration’s opposition to the Genocide
Resolution (H.Res.193 and S.Res.164), Rep. Pallone said, “We have been told,
recently and in the past, that the State Department and the Administration
have
fought so strenuously against this legislation, because its adoption would
somehow harm progress in the region toward the normalization of ties between
these two states. This line of reasoning is, in my view, deeply flawed.
However, if the State Department were to seriously rely on this argument
concerning improved Turkey-Armenia relations, it would stand to reason that
the
State Department should also publicly and privately condemn Turkey’s patently
hateful codification of its official campaign to deny the Armenian genocide.”
“Armenian Americans, having endured years of attacks on efforts to recognize
the Armenian genocide, remain profoundly troubled by the hypocrisy of a State
Department that never hesitates to openly protest–and strenuously work
against–legislation before Congress commemorating this crime, yet seems
perpetually unable to summon the will to utter even a single word of concern
regarding Turkey’s hateful and shameless campaign of genocide denial,” said
ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.
The full text of Congressman Pallone’s letter is provided below.
Dear Secretary Powell,
I write to you today to bring your attention to a recent troubling
development
in Turkey. Just this past week, Turkey adopted a new penal code that
represents a dramatic display of the Turkish government’s campaign to deny the
Armenian Genocide and further inhibit a resolution to the Turkish
occupation of
Northern Cyprus. This new criminal code not only hinders improved relations
between the Republic of Armenia and Turkey, but it is also an imprudent
step on
the part of a nation that is desperately trying to establish an image of
having
a free and democratic society.
Section 306 of this new criminal code would punish individual Turkish
citizens
or groups that confirm the fact of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey or
call for the end of the Turkish occupation of Northern Cyprus–with up to ten
years in prison. Far from coming to terms with the Genocide or reaching out to
Armenia-Turkey, in adopting Section 306 of its new penal code, is hardening
its
anti-Armenian stance and undermining hopes for a reduction of tensions in the
region.
I would like, for a moment, to discuss why I consider it important that the
State Department not remain silent in the face of this extremely troubling
restriction on freedom of expression mandated by a NATO ally. In the past,
when
the State Department has spoken out against an Armenian Genocide
Resolution, it
has argued that such legislation would not contribute to improved
Turkish-Armenian relations. We have been told, recently and in the past, that
the State Department and the Administration have fought so strenuously against
this legislation, because its adoption would somehow harm progress in the
region toward the normalization of ties between these two states.
This line of reasoning is, in my view, deeply flawed. However, if the State
Department were to seriously rely on this argument concerning improved
Turkey-Armenia relations, it would stand to reason that the State Department
should also publicly and privately condemn Turkey’s patently hateful
codification of its official campaign to deny the Armenian Genocide, the most
recent attempt being in the form of a repressive and unjustified new criminal
code.
Section 306 of the new criminal code does nothing to remove barriers to
bilateral cooperation and lower the level of distrust and tension in this
critically important region. I urge you and the State Department to condemn
this oppressive provision in the criminal code and do everything that is in
your power to ensure that the government of Turkey, our NATO ally-cease to
inhibit the rights of its citizens; remove its troops from Northern Cyprus;
come to terms with its own history; and finally start living up to the
expectations that the United States has of free and democratic nations.
4) CIS Parliamentary Assembly to Review Armenian Genocide Recognition
YEREVAN (Combined Sources)–The permanent defense and security commission of
the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Parliamentary Assembly decided on
Thursday to review recognition of the Armenian genocide during its 2005
session.
The proposal came from the Russian Federation’s Prosecutor General’s office,
and was approved by session participants.
Parliamentary representatives of CIS member countries, who were meeting in
Yerevan, Armenia, also reviewed a number of model legislative programs to
combat crime and trading of illegal substances, as well as military-technical
cooperation.
Absent from the session were representatives of Georgia, Azerbaijan,
Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
5) ANCA Urges Legislators To Adopt Key Pro-Armenia Trade Measure Before
Congress Ends Session
–Urges Adoption of Provision as Part of Larger Trade Measure
WASHINGTON, DC–With the 108th session of Congress coming to an end, the
Armenian National Committee of America is urging legislators to include a
pro-Armenia trade measure, spearheaded by Congressional Armenian Caucus
Co-Chairman Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), in the
final version of a larger trade bill set to be approved before the end of this
week.
The US House, last November, approved Permanent Normal Trade Relations Status
(PNTR) for Armenia, opening the door to expanded US-Armenia commercial
relations. The Senate version of this legislation, known as the Miscellaneous
Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004 (H.R.1047), did not include the
PNTR for Armenia provision. As a result, the Congressional leadership has
assigned a “conference committee” to reconcile the two different versions of
this legislation. The conferees include Ways and Means Committee Chairman,
Rep.
Bill Thomas (R-CA); Trade Subcommittee Chairman, Rep. Phil Crane (R-IL); Rep.
E. Clay Shaw (R-FL); Ways and Means Ranking Democrat, Rep. Charles Rangel
(D-NY); Trade Subcommittee Ranking Democrat, Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI); Senate
Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN); Finance Committee Chairman, Sen. Charles
Grassley (R-IA), and; Finance Committee Ranking Democrat, Sen. Max Baucus
(D-MT).
The ANCA has asked Armenian Americans to call on their Senators and
Representative to urge the conferees to include PNTR for Armenia in the final
version of the bill approved by Congress. The ANCA action alert can be found
at:
The sample letter for activists includes several reasons to support this
legislation, among them:
* Increased US-Armenia trade and investment advances US foreign policy by
strengthening Armenia’s free market economic development and integration into
the world economy.
* Expanded US-Armenia commercial relations will strengthen bilateral
relations
and reinforces the enduring friendship between the American and Armenian
peoples.
* Adoption of PNTR for Armenia will help offset– no cost to US
taxpayers–the
devastating impact of the dual Turkish and Azeri blockades, estimated by the
World Bank as costing Armenia up to a third of its entire GDP (as much as $720
million annually) and half of its exports.
The Trade Act of 1974 excluded all Soviet countries from having normal trade
relations (NTR) status with the United States. One particular provision of the
Act, known as the Jackson-Vanik amendment, required the President to deny NTR
to those countries
that restricted free emigration. The policy was adopted, in part, in response
to Communist government restrictions on the emigration of Jews. According to
the terms of the Jackson-Vanik amendment, when the President determines that
freedom of emigration rights have been reinstated in a country, normal trade
relations may be granted. To maintain NTR, the President must report to
Congress twice a year that Jackson-Vanik requirements have been met. While
successive Presidents have waived the Jackson-Vanik Amendment restrictions on
Armenia during the past decade, the passage of the Knollenberg bill would
grant
Armenia permanent normal trade relations status, without the need for
semi-yearly Presidential determinations.
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