Author: Basmajian Ani

ARMENIE : LE PS S’ETONNE D’APPRENDRE LA POSITION DE CHIRAC PAR UN RESPONSABLE D’UN AUTRE ETAT

Agence France Presse
16 octobre 2006 lundi

Le PS s’est etonne lundi que le president Jacques Chirac ait fait
connaître par telephone au Premier ministre turc sa position sur le
vote d’une proposition de loi sur la penalisation de la negation du
genocide armenien, au lieu de le faire savoir aux citoyens francais.

"Nous souhaiterions que le president de la Republique s’exprime
directement, plutôt que d’apprendre sa position par le detour d’un
propos rapporte par le responsable d’un autre Etat", a declare Julien
Dray, porte-parole, lors du point de presse hebdomadaire du parti.

"Le Parlement est souverain, nous ne voyons pas comment le president
de la Republique peut se targuer, dans des entretiens, d’empecher
le Parlement de travailler", a dit encore M. Dray, estimant que si
c’etait le cas "il y aurait la un acte grave d’ingerence dans la vie
parlementaire et un precedent extremement regrettable".

Il a note aussi qu’aucun membre du gouvernement ne s’est exprime sur
la proposition de loi presentee par le Parti socialiste, votee jeudi
en première lecture et qui doit etre soumise au Senat.

Le Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan a indique samedi
soir avoir recu un appel telephonique du president Jacques Chirac
lui exprimant ses "regrets" au sujet de ce vote, et affirmant qu’il
donnait "raison" a la Turquie pour sa forte reaction. M. Erdogan a
indique avoir demande a Jacques Chirac de faire annuler la loi.

Selon l’Elysee, M. Chirac se serait borne a rappeler au Premier
ministre turc sa position sur le genocide armenien. Lors de son
recent voyage en Armenie, Jacques Chirac avait rappele que la France
avait "officiellement reconnu" le genocide. "Le reste relève plus,
aujourd’hui, de la polemique que de la realite juridique", avait-il
ajoute.

–Boundary_(ID_Ip2vFbA7wrcCZQK4W N0ISg)–

TURKEY ANGERED BY FRENCH BILL ON ARMENIANS

United Press International
Oct 16 2006

The French parliament’s decision to make it a crime to deny that
Armenians were victims of genocide by Turkey during World War I has
deeply upset Turks.

The parliament approved the measure last week. The bill now goes to
the Senate.

The Turkish resentment is so strong, says the International Herald
Tribune, it has dampened enthusiasm over the awarding of the Nobel
Prize for Literature to Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk.

Pamuk himself had gone on trial before the case was dismissed on
charges of "insulting Turkishness" for reportedly saying 1 million
Armenians died in Turkey during World War I.

Turkey accepts many Armenians died during the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire but rejects the genocide accusation.

The Nobel award comes at a time when most Turks would rather forget
the Armenian killings. Turkey is also currently involved in delicate
negotiations over its membership in the European Union, for which
there is already much opposition in France.

"The EU wants any excuse to keep out Muslim Turkey and the Armenia
issue is just the latest example," a social worker who took part
in a weekend protest in Istanbul against the French bill told the
Herald Tribune.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Germany
October 12, 2006 Thursday

Pamuk "honoured over genocide stance" – Armenia

DPA POLITICS Sweden Nobel Literature EXTRA: Pamuk "honoured over
genocide stance" – Armenia Yerevan
The awarding of the Nobel Prize for Literature to
Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk has been welcomed in Armenia, where

commentators said the novelist had been honoured for his outspoken
stance on Turkey’s alleged "genocide" of thousands of Armenians.

Chairman of the Armenian Writers’ Federation David Muradyan
welcomed the Swedish Academy’s decision to honour Pamuk. Author and
filmmaker Muradyan said the award "linked the literature prize with
morality."

Pamuk had stated in an interview that "1 million Armenians and
30,000 Kurds" were killed in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire.
The comments provoked outrage among Turkish nationalists who accused
the writer of "insulting Turkishness."

A controversial trial against Pamuk was however dropped by the
Turkish Justice Ministry following international criticism.

Armenian historians claim that as many as 1.5 million Christian
Armenians were killed during and after the First World War and that
the massacres were a clear genocide.

Turkey counters that Armenians sided with invading Russian forces
and that the numbers of Armenians killed was around 300,000. Ankara
has also refused to term the events as genocide.
Oct 1206 1256 GMT

Birmingham Post, UK
October 13, 2006, Friday
First Edition

Armenia genocide bill approved

French politicians yesterday approved a bill making it a crime to
deny that mass killings of Armenians in Turkey during and after the
First World War amounted to genocide.

Deputies in the National Assembly voted 106-19 for the bill, which
has prompted out-rage in Turkey and

embarrassed the French government.

The bill, which was introduced by the opposition Socialists, must
still be passed by the Senate and be signed by President Jacques
Chirac.

The French bill would recognise the killings of up to 1.5 million
Armenians from 1915 to 1919 as genocide, and those

who contest a genocide would risk up to a year in prison and fines of
up to 45,000 euros (pounds 30,400).

Armenia accuses Turkey of massacring Armenians during the First World
War, when Armenia was under the Ottoman Empire. Turkey says Armenians
were killed in civil unrest.

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 13 2006

NEWLY ELECTED DEPUTY OF AKHLTSKHA REGIONAL ASSEMBLY TURNS DOWN HIS
MANDATE

AKHALKALAK, OCTOBER 13, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Yura
Melkonian, elected the deputy of the Akhalkalak Regional Assembly on
October 5 from the rural community of Tsghalkbila, turned down the
deputy’s mandate under pressure of the village population.

According to A-Info, Yura Melkonian won his rival Sergey Babajanian
only with privilege of 150 votes, falsifying about 300 votes:
cooperating with disctrict electoral commission members, he fixed in
his favour votes of people not living in Tsghaltbila.

To all probability, the Akhaltskha regional electoral commission will
soon give the mandate of the regional sakrebulo to Segey Babajanian.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Kommersant Daily: France May Be Expelled from CoE for Armenian Genocide Bill
13.10.2006 17:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ If the bill penalizing the Armenian Genocide denial
is finally adopted France runs a risk to receive a suit from the
European Court of Human Rights, which can force Paris to cancel the
disputable law, reports Kommersant daily. Besides, if the Council of
Europe Committee of Ministers, which is empowered to consider the
verdicts drawn by Strasbourg, also rates France’s moves as illegal,
the state may be expelled from the CoE. Anyway, the date for the next
voting in the upper house of parliament has not been fixed yet and the
French senators have enough time to weigh `for’ and `against’.

Regnum
12:37 12.10.2006
Permanent news address:

Viktor Yakubyan: Tbilisi is preparing double strike against Moscow and
Yerevan

The Russian-Armenian inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation
met in Moscow a few days ago. The same day the press reported the sides to have
agreed on how to alleviate the impact Russia’s economic sanctions against
Georgia is having on Armenia. To remind, the sanctions were imposed after the
arrest and release of Russian officers in Georgia and, particularly, concern
the sphere of transport, particularly, motor and rail transportation. This
measure has put Armenia in as hard a situation as Georgia.
`The transit of cargoes from Armenia via Georgia to Russia and viceversa
will not be stopped,’ the Secretary of the National Security Council of Armenia,
Defense Minister _Serzh Sargsyan_
( ;q=3DSargsyan+&sitesearch=3Dw ww.regnum.ru&client=3Dpub-1466744838047082&amp ;forid=3D1&ie=3DISO-8859-1&oe=3DISO-8859-1 &cof=3DGALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:336699;VLC:663399 ;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:33) said after the Moscow meeting. His colleague,
the Russian co-chair of the commission, Russian Transport Minister _Igor
Levitin_
( ;q=3DIgor+Levitin+&sitesearch =3D;client=3Dpub-1466744838047082 &forid=3D1&ie=3DISO-8859-1&oe=3DISO-88 59-1&cof=3DGALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:336699;VLC:66 3399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC)
appeared with quite a sensational statement. He said that `the cargoes from
Russia to Armenia and vice versa will be transported via the port of Samsun
(Turkey), from there to the port of Kavkaz (Russia) and then to Poti (Georgia).’
The ministers assured that two train ferries will be launched between
Kavkaz and Poti by the end of this year. Sargsyan said that, presently, there is
one train ferry between the ports that can carry 20 cars.
All they said implies that the Kavkaz-Poti-Armenia route will not be used
hereinafter. Russia has stopped almost all cargo operations with Georgia and is
now forced to search for quite original ways to communicate with Armenia. It
should be noted that the direct transport communication between Armenia and
Turkey was stopped the moment Armenia proclaimed independence and will hardly
be resumed in the near future.
Thus, Russia is planning to send its cargoes from Kavkaz to Samsun and then
almost back to Batumi or Poti and only then to Armenia. Thus, Turkey is
becoming the second go-between (Georgia remains one in any case) in
Armenian-Russian commodity turnover.
We should take this project with certain skepticism as the point here is not
even in political or technical difficulty but in the lack of any sense and
logic. Such a long way round will be by far more expensive for Russian and
Armenian companies than the long-trodden Poti-Ilichevsk (Ukraine) route andthey
will hardly give the latter up. Even without Samsum, Kavkaz-Poti is no rival
to the Ukrainian route due to its low capacity. Presently, its train ferry
can carry only 18 cars at one go.
However, the point is even not that the Russian and Armenian authorities have
`felt’ some `original’ way out the presentsituation. In fact, by offering
a Turkish transit route to Armenia, the Russian authorities make it clear
that their sanctions against Georgia will last for long. And it seems thatthe
other possible way-out for Armenia – via the Caspian Sea and Iran- is not
being considered.
In Moscow Armenian DM Serzh Sargsyan had a number of meetings, particularly,
with the leadership of the Russian Foreign Ministry. The Russian sources
report that the sides discussed the aggravation of Georgian-Russian relations and
the ways for Armenia to come out of the present deadlock.
Naturally, under the current economic pressure, the Georgian authorities are
also considering certain scenarios. Some sources say that Georgia is actively
consulting with the US, Azerbaijan and Turkey about its further actions.
First of all, the Georgian leadership is getting ready for a rise in the Russian
gas price. The sources say that starting from Jan 1 2007 the price will be
raised to $250 per 1,000 c m. Georgia will respond in a counter-ultimatum:the
transit tariff of Russian gas to Armenia will be raised from $30 to $75 per
1,000 c m (after the first rise of the gas tariff for Georgia from $55 to
$110, Tbilisi raised the transit tariff for Armenia from $15 to $30). Certainly,
Gazprom will reject Georgia’s proposal, but the Georgian authorities will
not be `surprised’ and will start the practice of illegal`siphoning’ of the
gas meant for Armenia.
Meanwhile, as early as Jan 20 Georgia is planning to get the first gas from
Azerbaijan via Baku-Erzurum pipeline. This will mark the beginning of the
plan, reportedly, approved by Washington: Turkey will give its share of the Azeri
gas to Georgia, and this will allow Tbilisi to say that it no longer needs
the Trans-Caucasian gas pipeline, which supplies gas from Russia to Armenia
via Georgia. This will put an end to _Gazprom_
( ;q=3DGazprom&sitesearch=3Dwww .regnum.ru&client=3Dpub-1466744838047082&f orid=3D1&ie=3DISO-8859-1&oe=3DISO-8859-1&a mp;cof=3DGALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:336699;VLC:663399;A H:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:3366) ‘s plans to privatize the pipeline – the plans that the US strongly objects to.
Thus, the winter 2006 will mark the introduction of new game rules in the
South Caucasus. It will be a kind of test not only for Georgia, who has become a
target for Russia’s economic sanctions, but also for Armenia, who has become
an involuntary hostage to the Russian-Georgian contradictions. Yerevan=80=99s
only hope is the Iran-Armenian gas pipeline, to be launched by the end of this
year.
_Viktor Yakubyan_
( ;q=3DViktor+Yakubyan+&sitesea rch=3D;client=3Dpub-1466744838047 082&forid=3D1&ie=3DISO-8859-1&oe=3DISO -8859-1&cof=3DGALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:336699;VLC :663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LB) , expert on South Caucasus

© 1999-2006 REGNUM News Agency

French MPs Back Armenia Genocide Bill, Turkey Angry

By REUTERS
Published: October 12, 2006
Filed at 1:31 p.m. ET

PARIS (Reuters) – France’s lower house of parliament approved a bill
on Thursday making it a crime to deny Armenians suffered genocide at
the hands of Ottoman Turks, provoking anger in Turkey and raising
fresh doubts about its EU ambitions.

Ankara said the vote would damage ties between the two NATO allies and
French firms operating in Turkey feared they would suffer an immediate
backlash.

“This will be an unforgettable shame on France. France can never
describe itself as a country of freedoms again,” said Turkish Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul.

Turkey denies accusations some 1.5 million Armenians were massacred
during the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in World War One,
arguing that Armenian deaths were a part of general partisan fighting
in which both sides suffered.

The French government distanced itself from Thursday’s bill, calling
it “unnecessary and untimely,” and indicated that it might never
become law as it still needs to be ratified by both the upper house
Senate and French president.

But Turkish officials, fearing a nationalist backlash that could put
the pro-European Ankara government on the defensive, said the damage
had already been done.

The legislation calls for a one-year prison term and 45,000 euro
($56,570) fine for anyone denying the 1915 genocide — the same
sanction as for denying the Nazi genocide of Jews.

“Does a genocide committed in World War One have less value than a
genocide committed in World War Two? Obviously not,” Philippe
Pomezec, a parliamentarian with the ruling Union for a Popular
Movement (UMP), said during the debate.

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan hailed the vote as a
“natural continuation of France’s principled and consistent defense
of human and historic rights and values.”

HOSTAGE TO POLITICS

However, analysts saw the move more as a play for Armenian diaspora
votes in next year’s presidential election and said it highlighted how
easily Turkey’s EU candidacy can become a hostage to domestic politics
in EU member states.

“It is the intention of those French politicians who backed this bill
to antagonize Turkey, to push it to the limit and force it to throw in
the towel,” said Cengiz Candar, an EU expert at Istanbul’s Bahcesehir
University.

Some 60 protesters carried a black wreath down Istanbul’s main
commercial street on Thursday and laid it in front of the French
consulate.

Most French people oppose Turkey joining the 25-nation bloc and fear
over its potential membership was one of the reasons why France voted
last year to reject the EU constitution.

Anti-Turkish feeling was palpable as lawmakers left parliament on
Thursday. Influential UMP politician Patrick Devedjian, himself of
Armenian descent, said Muslim Turkey was not a democratic country and
did not deserve EU membership.

“It is like they are asking to enter a club but have already smashed
its windows,” he told Reuters television.

The European Commission warned France that its bill could hinder
efforts to end decades of dispute over the killings and noted that
criteria for talks on Turkey’s possible EU entry did not include
recognition of the Armenian killings as genocide.

An hour after the vote, Turkey’s best-known novelist, Orhan Pamuk, won
the Nobel prize for Literature.

Pamuk recently went on trial for insulting “Turkishness” after
telling a Swiss newspaper nobody in Turkey dared mention the Armenian
massacres. The court eventually dropped charges.

French businesses fear trade will suffer because of the row, with
French exports to Turkey worth 4.66 billion euros in 2005.

“Time will show. But I cannot say it will not have any
consequences,” Turkish Economics Minister Ali Babacan told reporters
in Brussels.

RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN DAYS WILL BE HELD IN KRASNOYARSK EVERY YEAR

Siberian News Online, Russia
Oct 10 2006

Russian-Armenian days may be held in Krasnoyarsk every year, as
Sarkis Muradyan, director of International Exhibition Business Center
"Siberia", stated.

‘Russia and Armenia have always had warm relations, and we hope that
goods of high quality only made in Armenia will be sold in Krasnoyarsk
thanks to such exhibitions in Krasnoyarsk Territory. We plan to hold
Russian-Armenian exhibitions at least once a year,’ he said.

It is worth reminding that Armenian businessmen are going to have
meetings with the regional businessmen, participate in a panel
discussion with members of Central Siberian Commerce and Industrial
Chamber, The Union of Industrialists and Businessmen of Krasnoyarsk
Territory and the Union of Commodity Manufacturers and Consumers.

Apart from that, Krasnoyarsk audience will enjoy a cultural program
prepared by the guests from Armenia. Famous Armenian singers and
musicians will give two concerts, one in IEBS Siberia, the second one –
in the Big Concert Hall of the philharmonic society.

FIRST TURKISH TROOPS ARRIVE IN LEBANON

Al-Jazeera, Qatar
Oct 10 2006

The vanguard of Turkey’s ground forces have arrived to take part
in peacekeeping in south Lebanon, becoming the first troops from a
Muslim country to deploy in the UN operation.

The seven officers are the first of 237 Turkish soldiers who will be
part of an engineering company that will deploy near Tyre to help
rebuild bridges and roads damaged during the 34-day war between
Hezbollah and Israel.

Cemil Cicek, the Turkish government spokesman, said on Tuesday that
the total number of Turkish personnel would ultimately reach 681,
including sailors as well as the members of the engineer company.

Turkey has already sent a frigate to help an international naval
force monitor the Lebanese coast, and plans to send other ships.

Turkey is a predominantly Muslim country with close ties with Israel
and Arab states.

Its contribution to the peacekeeping force was met with opposition
in the Turkish parliament for fear of Turkish troops being drawn into
fighting with fellow Muslims to protect Israel.

Lebanon’s ethnic Armenians community also has protested the dispatching
of Turkish troops, invoking memories of Ottoman rule of Arab countries
and the 1915 mass deaths that Armenians contend was genocide by Turkey.