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07/20/2006
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1. Lebanese Consulate in LA Calls for Community Assistance
2. Bryza Will Visit Karabakh During Tour
3. CIS Summit Begins Today
4. Turkish Lawyer Puts Patriotism Before Free Speech, EU
1. Lebanese Consulate in LA Calls for Community Assistance
LOS ANGELES–The Lebanese Consul General in Los Angeles Charbel Wehbe
issued an
appeal to all Los Angeles residents of Lebanese descent to assist the
government as Israeli attacks on Lebanon continue.
The announcement addresses the damages caused by the nine-day old attack on
the country, which has been categorized as a "disaster zone" by the Lebanese
Prime Minister.
The announcement asks the public to donate money, food, clothing and
medicine,
as well as safety and other equipment.
The Consulate appeal urges the community to donate powdered milk, canned
goods, baby food, diapers, rice, sugar, blankets, generators and other goods.
For financial donations, the consulate asks that the contributions be made to
the following address:
US dollars
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Bic Code FRNYUS33 Routing Number: 021084694
Favor: Banque du Liban Account number 02 700 362123
Lebanese lira
Banque du Liban Account number 02 700 362123
The Consular announcement urges the community to immediately heed this urgent
call and through contributions ensure that the people of Lebanon receive the
basic needs during this crisis.
In a related matter, Western Prelate Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian spoke
with Consul General Wehbe Tuesday, expressing his sympathy and that of the
entire Armenian community for the casualties the country has suffered, wishing
for unity and solidarity to prevail in Lebanon and among the Lebanese people.
The Consul General spoke of the situation in Lebanon, and on behalf of the
government requested that the Armenian community offer any humanitarian
assistance within their means to the civilian victims. The Consulate is
planning to designate a special committee to coordinate the humanitarian
efforts.
On Sunday July 23, a special prayer will be said in all Prelacy churches for
the lives lost in the fighting. The Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic
Church urges all community members to attend and pray for the peace.
In Lebanon, efforts of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Central
Committee
of Lebanon to assist with displaced and affected Lebanese continued in
Armenian-populated neighborhoods, as institutions and organizations have all
put forth their resources to aid the victims of the attacks.
An ARF delegation, accompanied by parliament member Hagop Pakradouni
Wednesday
visited refugee centers in Bourdj Hammoud to gain first-hand knowledge of the
situation.
Pakradouni praised the resilience of the people of southern Lebanon and
pledged the Armenian community’s continued efforts to provide necessary relief
and humanitarian assistance to the victims of the attacks.
2. Bryza Will Visit Karabakh During Tour
YEREVAN (Lrakir)–The US co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza,
who
is scheduled to visit Armenia on July 29, will also go to Stepanakert, the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic press service announced Thursday.
The press service reported that Bryza will meet with Karabakh President
Arkady
Ghoukassian.
Bryza’s visit to Stepanakert marks a turning point in the OSCE Minsk Group
peace process, since during past several years, visiting co-chairmen have
side-stepped visiting Karabakh.
"One should not place big hopes OSCE Minsk Group’s US Co-chair Matthew
Bryza’s visit to the region," Russia’s charge d’affaires in Azerbaijan Peter
Burdikin said.
He said Bryza’s visit to the region may be useful only from the standpoint of
assessing the situation by the new appointee.
"It would not be unlikely that a new meeting between the Armenian and Azeri
foreign ministers be organized upon completion of the visit," he said.
3. CIS Summit Begins Today
YEREVAN (Yerkir)A two-day summit of CIS leaders was scheduled to convene in
Moscow Friday.
The agenda of the summit includes two principal issues–the assessment of
global developments and the CIS reformation.
"Being the CIS chairman the Russian President invited his counterparts to
arrive in Moscow for an informal summit without a precisely outlined agenda
and
discuss the ways of CIS reformation," said assistant to the Russian leader
Sergey Prikhodko.
Presidents of Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan
and Kyrgyzstan are expected to attend the summit.
Armenia’s presidential spokesman Viktor Soghmonyan told reporters Thursday
that a meeting between presidents Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliyev of
Azerbaijan was not scheduled during the CIS summit.
4. Turkish Lawyer Puts Patriotism Before Free Speech, EU
ISTANBUL (Reuters)–A lawyer instrumental in trials of writers who challenge
Turkey’s limits on freedom of speech vowed on Wednesday to advance a
nationalist campaign which has put Ankara at odds with the European Union.
Bitter EU critic Kemal Kerincsiz has come to prominence this year through his
involvement in bringing charges against internationally renowned novelist
Orhan
Pamuk and other writers for comments on the Armenian issue and insulting
"Turkishness". The EU, which Turkey wants to join, is pushing Ankara to
improve
freedom of expression as a condition for membership, but nationalist lawyers
and the judiciary are undermining the drive. This week he filed a complaint to
prosecutors about comments made by Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink,
prompting a fresh probe of the writer just a week after a previous
conviction.
"You cannot view what writers like Hrant Dink and Orhan Pamuk have said as
freedom of expression. They are provoking the situation under the Armenian
Diaspora’s influence," Kerincsiz told Reuters in his office in an Istanbul
apartment block. "We will not allow insults and abuse of Turkishness in the
name of freedom of expression. We will continue to defend Turkishness and the
rights of Turks from Central Asia to Western Thrace (in eastern Greece)," he
said.
Kerincsiz heads the Grand Lawyers’ Association which claims 800 members in
Istanbul and devotes itself to nationalist causes. As he spoke, his colleagues
prepared placards for a pro-Turkish Cypriot demonstration they were staging in
Istanbul. The latest target of his campaign was an interview which Dink
gave to
Reuters on July 14 in which he said Armenians suffered genocide at the
hands of
Ottoman forces during World War One.
"Dink has sealed his own fate with this comment. He has convicted himself. It
is now impossible from him to escape his suspended sentence and a new
conviction," said Kerincsiz.
The European Parliament has called on Turkey to recognize the Armenian
massacres as a genocide before it joins the bloc.
The High Court of Appeals last week confirmed a six-month suspended jail
sentence for Dink under a controversial article of Turkey’s penal code which
outlaws insults to "Turkishness". The EU has urged Turkey to scrap Article
301,
which carries a jail sentence of up to three years, arguing it restricts
freedom of expression. The government says the revised penal code, introduced
last year, needs more time to be tested.
"Nobody will have the strength to abolish 301, neither the political
powers or
the European Union," Kerincsiz. "If you get rid of it your are recognizing the
Armenian genocide allegations."
Cases against Pamuk and four columnists collapsed on a legal technicality,
but
only after drawing a sharp rebuke from the EU, which Turkey aims to join, and
from human rights groups. Ankara began EU membership talks last October but is
not expected to join the wealthy bloc for many years. Kerincsiz wants
Turkey to
halt those talks immediately, annul its customs union with the bloc and review
its NATO and US relations.
"The European Union means slavery and a prisoner’s chains for Turkey," he
said.
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