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09/19/2005
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1) EU Approves Turkey Declaration
2) Turk Politician Again Charged in Switzerland for Denying Armenian Genocide
3) Turkey Slights Passage of Armenian Genocide Resolutions
4) Baroness Caroline Cox Awarded ‘Mkhitar Gosh’ Medal
5) ARF at Women’s Socialist International Conference
6) Computer Science and Information Technology Conference in Yerevan
1) EU Approves Turkey Declaration
(Bloomberg)–European Union governments resolved differences over Turkey’s
refusal to recognize Cyprus, keeping alive plans to start Turkish membership
talks on Oct. 3.
Representatives from the EU’s 25 nations approved a common response to
Turkey’s diplomatic boycott of Cyprus, which joined the bloc last year. The
dispute distracted EU attention from a negotiating plan for Turkey that needs
the backing of all member nations.
The declaration urges Turkey to ensure free trade with Cyprus while moving
toward normal political ties “as soon as possible,” according to a copy
released today in Brussels by the British government, current holder of the
EU’s rotating presidency. The bloc will review progress in 2006, the statement
said.
The Turkish government in July said its signature of a protocol extending a
European trade accord to Cyprus didn’t amount to recognizing the Mediterranean
island, whose northern tier Turkey has occupied since 1974. Signing the
protocol was a condition the EU set in December for starting decade-long
membership talks.
“Turkey must apply the protocol fully to all EU member states,” the statement
said. “Recognition of all member states is a necessary component of the
accession process. Accordingly, the EU underlines the importance it
attaches to
the normalization of relations between Turkey and all EU member states, as
soon
as possible.”
Cyprus joined the EU without the Turkish-speaking north because voters in the
Greek-speaking southern republic rejected a United Nations-backed unification
plan.
CYPRUS PROBLEM
The declaration said EU member states support UN efforts to reach a
“comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem” and will review this issue
and
Turkey’s respect for the trade pact in 2006.
Monday’s accord follows four failed attempts this month to agree on the
wording of the declaration. EU ministers are due to endorse it in routine
procedure tomorrow, Jonathan Allen, a British government spokesman, said by
telephone in Brussels.
The dispute interfered with EU preparations for entry negotiations with
Turkey. European governments still must approve a plan covering 35 areas from
customs and public procurement to energy and fisheries where Turkey would have
to meet the bloc’s regulatory standards.
Turkey, a nation of 72 million people, is counting on the accession talks to
attract record foreign investment to its $300 billion economy. It would be one
of the two most populous EU nations along with Germany, and become the bloc’s
first mainly Muslim member as well as widen the EU’s borders to Iraq.
This prospect has some politicians in nations including France and Germany
urging nothing more than a “privileged partnership.” The demand may complicate
approval of the negotiating plan, which EU diplomats are due to discuss on
Sept. 21.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm in Brussels, pressed last
week
for the start of membership talks with Turkey.
Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said national governments would have
dozens
of veto chances later and entry negotiations would encourage a settlement of
the Cyprus problem as well as economic reforms in Turkey.
2) Turk Politician Again Charged in Switzerland for Denying Armenian Genocide
(AP)–Swiss authorities brought a third charge against a Turkish politician
for
breaking Switzerland’s racial discrimination laws by denying that the killings
of Armenians around the time of World War I was a genocide, police said
Monday.
Dogu Perincek, the leader of the Turkey’s Workers’ Party, made the remarks
Sunday in a speech in central Switzerland, Bern cantonal police said in a
statement. He already had been charged twice by Swiss authorities for two
previous, similar incidents.
Denying that the Holocaust or other cases of genocide took place is regarded
as racial discrimination under Swiss law, and can be punished by up to three
years in prison and an unspecified fine.
“Based on the fact that, in the course of his address, Dogu Perincek denied
the Armenian genocide and expressed prejudices against the western world, the
Bern cantonal police have put down a complaint because of suspicion of racial
discrimination,” the police statement said.
Perincek will be questioned Tuesday by police in neighboring Vaud canton,
where he is already under investigation for similar remarks made in May, Bern
police spokeswoman Anastasia Falkner said. Swiss authorities launched a second
investigation into Perincek in July for making similar remarks in northern
Switzerland, and Perincek was briefly detained after that speech. Turkey
called
the Swiss ambassador to the Foreign Ministry to protest Perincek’s detention
and investigation.
Similar disputes have erupted in the past between Turkey and Switzerland. In
June, a Turkish Cabinet minister postponed a visit to Switzerland to
protest an
investigation of a Turkish historian who denied in a separate speech that the
killings were genocide. In July, Turkey canceled a proposed visit by Swiss
Economics Minister Joseph Deiss because of “schedule clashes,” Deiss’s
spokesman said.
3) Turkey Slights Passage of Armenian Genocide Resolutions
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said Friday it “greeted with sadness” the passage by
a US congressional committee of two resolutions that denounce the deaths of
Armenians early last century as genocide, and hoped US legislators would not
allow the resolutions out of committee.
“In the period ahead, we believe that members of the US Congress will act
with
a responsibility befitting the Turkish-American relationship, and strongly
hope
that the resolutions will stay in the committee and not be carried to the
floor,” the statement said.
Turkey’s response came after September 15 when the House International
Relations Committee voted in favor of two measures calling for proper US
recognition of the Armenian Genocide and urging Turkey to end its decades long
denial of this crime against humanity.
HRes316, which was introduced by Representatives George Radanovich (R-CA),
Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone
(D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), calls upon the President to ensure US
foreign policy reflects appropriate understanding of the Armenian Genocide,
while HConRes195 calls on Turkey to abandon its ongoing campaign of Armenian
Genocide denial and to work with Armenia to come to terms with its tragic
history.
Representative Knollenberg commented that “this legislation will show the
world that America is not going to forget this horrible crime. The victims of
the Genocide and their families deserve to have the crime recognized for the
atrocity that it was. The committee’s action today–and hopefully the approval
of the full House soon–will help make sure that this terrible offense is
never
forgotten.”
4) Baroness Caroline Cox Awarded ‘Mkhitar Gosh’ Medal
YEREVAN (Arka)Armenian President Robert Kocharian awarded Baroness Caroline
Cox
his country’s “Mkitar Gosh” Medal for her efforts in developing
Armenian-British relations, and for her humanitarian undertakings,
specifically
her consistent work in Mountainous Karabagh Republic.
Cox, who has served as the Deputy Speaker of House of Lords of British
Parliament since 1985, has visited Karabagh 60 times since 1989. Her most
recent visit just this month was a pilgrimage there with a delegation that
included 20 representatives from various Christian organizations throughout
Great Britain.
Karabagh Parliament Speaker Ashot Ghulian recently praised Baroness Cox,
saying that she “had always been with the people of Karabagh–during the
hardest war, during heavy post-war years, and today.”
In a 1997 article in “Contemporary Review,” Baroness Cox wrote: “The
Armenians
of Karabakh can never again submit to Azeri sovereignty, given all they have
suffered at the hands of Azerbaijan. They will fight to the death to preserve
their freedom and their historic land… One option is quite definitely not
open;
namely, any attempt to declare Nagorno Karabakh to be part of Azerbaijan. That
would be to reward those who indulged in aggression and invasion of a
neighboring independent state, as well as to cause gross violations of human
rights in total defiance of treaty obligations .We should remember the
statement made by President Elchibey in June 1992, when, after opening full
hostilities against Karabakh, he said that if there were any Armenians left in
Karabakh by October they could hang him in the central square of Baku. It is a
pity they did not! No amount of oil-lubricated waffle or diplomatic flannel in
the West can excuse this clear statement of intent by a head of state. It has
the underlying unequivocal ring of statements made by Genghis Khan, and we all
know what his intentions were.”
The Baroness is a consistent defender of human rights in the House of Lords,
primarily involved in helping people in Myanmar, Sudan, Indonesia and
Mountainous Karabagh Republic.
5) ARF at Women’s Socialist International Conference
LIMASSOL(CNA/Yerkir)–A regional conference “Women for Peace” was organized in
Limassol, Cyprus on September 18 by the Women’s Socialist International.
Representatives from 25 Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and South Caucasus
countries attend the conference. Armenia was represented by Armenian
Revolutionary Federation member Maria Titizian.
Prospects for a Cyprus settlement and the role of Cypriot women, the
situation
in the Middle East, and women’s role in political, economic, and social
development were discussed.
Speaking at the conference, Pia Locateli, Women’s Socialist International
President and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) said the
participation of
Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot women at the conference was a particularly
important step. She noted the participation of women from Palestine and Israel
at the conference
Regarding the Cyprus problem, she said the the referendum on the Annan
plan in
April 2004 proved that people did not trust this plan for a Cyprus settlement.
“People must feel safe and we must try to create the preconditions for this
human security,” she said.
Keynote speakers included Marcia Alexaki, SIW Vice-President and member of
the
Movement of Social Democrats EDEK, and Mirjana Feric-Vac from Croatia, and
Wafa
Abed, president of the Union of Progressive Women in Lebanon.
6) Computer Science and Information Technology Conference in Yerevan
YEREVAN (ARKA/CSIT)The fifth international computer sciences and information
technology conference kicked off in Armenia on September 19. According to the
Vice-President of Armenia’s National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Yuri
Shukuryan,
the conference will promote the exchange of information and help establish
contacts between scientists and information technology specialists.
The first such conference in 1997, explained Shukuryan, helped Armenia to
advance significantly in the IT sector, with the introduction of an
experimental high productive system.
“After the first conference we did a lot, and we learn from our colleagues,
that include well-known scientists,” he said.
Participants this year include representatives from the Scientific and
Research Institute of Informatics of Tuluza, Institute of High Productive
Computing and Database of Saint Petersburg, Institute of System Programming
and
Computing Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ukrainian Institute of
Cybernetics, Tehran University and of other scientific institutions
participate
in the conference.
The conference is organized with the support of the International
Scientific-Technical Center, National Fund of Sciences and Advanced
Technologies, Incubator Enterprises Foundation, Arminco Company, Unicomp,
Haylin, and others.
Participants include over 35 specialists from 12 countries including the US,
Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, France, India and Iran.
This year’s conference features 135 reports, including 40 from young
Armenians. Theoretical research is based on what is currently being developed
in Armenia, and serves as the basis for applied work: theory of algorithms,
machines and mathematical logic, discrete math and theory of combinations,
artificial intellect, recognition of samples and processing of images, theory
of information and coding.
Special attention is paid to the development of a high productive system for
scientific calculations in Armenia, based on “Armclaster,” a highly productive
computing system developed by the International Scientific and Technical
Center
of IPIA, and its software development based on theoretical research and
technology of parallel programming.
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