Author: Boshkezenian Garik

Turkish Press
Jan 20 2007

Killing Of Hrant Dink – Witnesses Say They Heard Three Gunshots
Published: 1/20/2007

ISTANBUL – Witnesses said they heard three gunshots where Turkish
journalist of Armenian descent Hrant Dink, editor-in-chief of
bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, was shot dead today.
Witnesses also noted they saw a 25-30 year-old man (1.65 meters tall)
running to a cross street of Halaskargazi Street.

Board member of Agos weekly Serkis Seropyan said Dink was called
outside the building by someone after lunch.

"Someone had shot him in the head three times," he said.

Meanwhile, Governor of Istanbul Muammer Guler arrived at the crime
scene.

An ambulance to carry Dink’s body also arrived at Agos’s building.

Hrant Dink was sentenced to six months in prison for "insulting
Turkishness" in one of his articles.

Meanwhile, Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is going to make a statement on the incident.

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ARMENIANS OF IRAQ RETURN
[04:44 pm] 18 January, 2007

The Armenians of Iraq go on returning to their Homeland. Some of them
live in rented houses, others have already bought flats. «Those who
managed to sell their property in Iraq have bought flats in Armenia
and live perfectly».

«There are people who are currently looking for temporary dwelling
places. Many of them study in the Yerevan Medical University. They
live comparatively in better conditions. The Migration agency gives
temporary dwelling places to the citizens seeking asylums», says Nune
Asatryan, representative of the Red Cross Organisation in Armenian. By
the way, the organisation is unaware of the number of Armenians
immigrating to Armenia because of the Iraqi war. They are only aware
of their applicants.

No country is bound to provide refugees with flats. Armenia is not an
exception in this respect.

The Danish Council of refugees is implementing a program in Armenia
aimed at assisting the refugees. The Armenian Red Cross, «Mission to
Armenia» NGO and Armenian Sociological Association have got the right
to realise the program.

According to the 2006 statistic data, they have already rendered
assistance to 286 applicants, among them people seeking shelters,
people having the status of temporary refuge.

The refugees from Iraq are classified as people having the status of
temporary refuge as according to the international and local
legislation, in case of mass migration people are granted temporary
status.

By the way, the Armenian Red Cross will render the Iraqi refugees
financial and material assistance depending on the number of family
members and the family needs. They will also give them medicine in
case of chronic diseases. The above mentioned organisation also holds
trainings, excursions aimed at integrating refugees’ children to the
society.

City of Los Angeles
OFFICE OF CITY COUNCILMEMBER
WENDY GREUEL

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Ben Golombek
(213) 473-7002

January 19, 2007

Statement by Councilmember Wendy Greuel in Response to Assassination
of Hrant Dink

LOS ANGELES – `The assassination of Hrant Dink, the editor of the Agos
Armenian Daily newspaper in Turkey, is a blow to liberty and democracy
not only in Turkey, but around the world. My thoughts and prayers go
out to Mr. Dink’s family and friends in this solemn hour.

As George Bernard Shaw said `Assassination is the extreme form of
censorship,’ and the assassination of Mr. Dink was an attempt to
censor the honesty with which he spoke. It is important to remember
what Hrant Dink stood for, what he fought for and what he achieved.

I urge those of us committed to freedom to continue to carry the flame
of Mr. Dink, in the name of truth and justice around the world.’

###

Areen Ibranossian
Policy Analyst
Office of Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa

[email protected]
(213) 922-9781

PanARMENIAN.Net

Hrant Dink Had Presentiment about His Death?
19.01.2007 19:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `The first that comes to mind is my
conversations with Hrant Dink. He used to say he is in
danger. One should have big courage to speak in the
Turkish public of topics Dink dared to speak,’
Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the
RA Academy of Sciences Ruben Safrastyan told a
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words, Dink’s
assassination has become a logical and tragic result
of the current situation in Turkey. `The wide-scale
Armenian Genocide denial campaign launched by the
Turkish authorities has created an atmosphere of
anti-Armenian psychosis. Hrant Dink fell the first
victim to this policy,’ Safrastayn underscored.

YOU HAD BETTER PRESENT GILDED CELLAR PHONES

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[12:18 pm] 18 January, 2007

Nowadays, gold jewellery is changing its shape and utilization. Today,
water pipes, lavatory pans, door handles and even mobile phones can
be made of gold.

The adherents of the "fashion" assume that their belongings should
not completely be made of gold as it will require with great sums
and will be extra luxury.

They merely have their things gilded to make a deep impression on
their surrounding.

Quite frequently they overlay their water pipes with high-quality
gold – with "tchervonets".

This "art" doesn’t seem to be innovation in Armenia as there are
already services offering gilding. They claim that they have already
had enough customers and have never spoiled their belongings.

They also maintain that via their services they prolong the durability
of the product.

Customers are to pay 60 thousand AMD in case they want their gilded
cellar phone to serve for two years and have a one-year guarantee.

It turns out that the gold plated phones have their advantages as
well; they serve the owner longer as the antennas of the gilded phones
begin working better.

What factors is this phenomenon determined by? Nobody can answer for
sure. Maybe the glided phones deem themselves elitist like the owners?

BECAUSE OF INCONSEQUENT POLICY, ARMENIA IS GRADUALLY TURNED INTO MARSHLAND, CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT UNION CHAIRMAN STATES

Noyan Tapan
Jan 18 2007

YEREVAN, JANUARY 18, NOYAN TAPAN. Because of inconsequent policy of the
RA authorities, Armenia is gradually being turned into a marshland,
remained out of the geopolitical developments. Hayk Babukhanian,
the Chairman of the Constitutional Right Union party expressed such
a confidence at the January 18 meeting with journalists.

In his words, neighboring Azerbaijan gradually gets bigger role and
weight in the international policy, and Armenia is just "obliged to
reply Baku-Jeyhan," the one that Azerbaijan became for the West the
main player in the region.

In H.Babukhanian’s words, the CRU worked out a program in the basis of
which the new, Iran-Armenia-Russia, way of transfer of power-generating
materials is put. He expressed a hope that the program will allow
Armenia to get serious geopolitical weight. H.Babukhanian stated that
according to another initiative of the CRU, the problem of opening of
roads must be solved. In his words, until Georgia decides to open or
not the Abkhazian part of the railway, Armenia can undertake opening
of the Astrakhan-Iran-Armenia road with its strategic partner Russia.

In H.Babukhanian’s words, the authorities of Armenia do not do
enough work in the direction of the Karabakh conflict settlement as
well. According to his observation, the Armenian yeilds in the sense
of both propaganda and lobbying being implemented abroad.

DOMESTIC PROBLEMS SOLUTION TO HAVE GREATER IMPACT ON ECONOMIC GROWTH THAN ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER OPENING

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Jan 15 2007

YEREVAN, January 15. /ARKA/. Domestic problems solution will have
greater impact on economic growth than Armenian-Turkish border opening,
Kiro Manoyan, director ARF Dashnaktsutyun’s Hay Dat, said Saturday
in Yerevan at a two-day conference focused on economic and social
consequences of possible Armenian-Turkish border opening.

"Corruption elimination and shadow economy reduction will be rather
effective for economic growth than Armenian-Turkish border opening",
he said.

Manoyan said that Armenia has sufficient capacity to ensure economic
achievements. That is why he finds it wrong to put great emphasis on
border opening.

Besides, he said, there is no need to persuade Armenia to open the
border. "It seems the conference organizers aimed to convince Armenia
of the use of solving this problem. Turkey, not Armenia should be
persuaded", he said.

The conference was organized by Armenian International Policy Research
Group – AIPRG – and sponsored by USAID, Eurasia Foundation and British
Embassy in Armenia.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993.

RETURN OF ARMENIANS TO BAKU IMPOSSIBLE

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.01.2007 18:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Suggestions that Armenian refugees should return to
Baku are criminal, rector of the Yerevan State Linguistic University
Suren Zolyan told a news conference in Yerevan. In his words, those
who make such calls are criminals. "Return of Armenians to Baku is
impossible. This subject is beyond discussion," he said.

As for the return of Azeri refugees, Suren Zolyan laid the blame
on the Azeri authorities noting that "this republic forced innocent
people abandon their homes."

"Armenian refugees did not receive from the Azeri authorities any
compensation for the lost property.

However, the Armenian government has fulfilled all property commitments
to the Azeri refugees," Zolyan said, reports newsarmenia.ru.

According to the data furnished by public organizations, presently
the number of refugees from Azerbaijan makes 235 thousand.

PanARMENIAN.Net

EU not Ready to Accept Turkey as Full Member
11.01.2007 15:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Joseph Daul, whose group has 277 seats in the
732-seat EU assembly, said he is against Turkey’s membership, further
undermining Ankara’s bid to join the 27-nation bloc. Joseph Daul, a
French farmer-turned-politician, was narrowly elected chairman of the
conservative European People’s Party on Tuesday, replacing German
lawmaker Hans-Gert Poettering, who becomes president of the European
Parliament next week.

Joseph Daul said Turkey is not ready to join the EU, and the European
Union itself is not ready to accept Turkey. "I’m in favor of a
privileged partnership on a very high level. If this, in the future,
leads to full membership, why not, but at present I’m against Turkey
in the European Union," Daul told reporters.

Panorama.am

19:50 11/01/2007

OPPOSITION IS ONLY DREAMING, HHK THINKS

`Any political force may become an opposition. We
should not speak about the opposition with disgust,’
Galust Sahakyan, Armenian Republican Party (HHK)
parliamentary block leader, said.

In his words, both the opposition and authorities have
great role in any country but here the opposition is
only dreaming without engaging in political activity,
he said.

He also said all he had heard from the opposition were
calls to oust the government and come to power. He is
sure no single opposition force can gather masses on
its own efforts alone.

Sahakyan wished the opposition were a balanced force
whereas he thinks Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnakcutiun) is, in fact, balanced.

Source: Panorama.am