Author: Ekmekjian Janet

Le Figaro, France
19 juillet 2004

La visite à Paris du Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan, qui
débute aujourd’hui, relance le débat sur la candidature d’Ankara

La Turquie, une idée neuve pour l’Union

PAR DOMINIQUE REYNIÉ*

Le 7 mai dernier, le Parlement turc amendait la Constitution dans le
but de permettre l’ouverture des négociations avec l’Union européenne
: suppression des cours de sûreté de l’Etat, suppression de toute
référence à la peine de mort, pour en rendre le retour impossible
après son abolition en août 2002, proclamation de l’égalité entre les
sexes, adoption d’un nouveau Code civil, mise en place d’une nouvelle
formation pour les juges, reconnaissance de la prééminence des
traités internationaux sur la loi nationale. Des droits inédits ont
été accordés aux Kurdes, on commence à débattre très librement de la
question arménienne… Il se passe quelque chose en Turquie. Les
racines de cette transformation sont certes anciennes, mais ses
manifestations les plus spectaculaires sont présentes. L’ardent désir
d’intégrer notre Union est le moteur de cette accélération et ce ne
sera pas le moindre de nos mérites que d’en être la cause principale,
dans le droit-fil de l’esprit de réconciliation et de pacification
qui présidait à la naissance de l’Europe nouvelle, au lendemain de la
Seconde Guerre mondiale.

Aujourd’hui, quelques-uns contestent le destin européen de la Turquie
au nom de la géographie. L’argument, si souvent entendu, ou bien
n’est pas sérieux ou bien n’est pas honnête. Au nom de quelle règle
la proportion continentale du territoire turc (5%) est-elle jugée
insuffisante ? Quel est le seuil nécessaire ? Et pourquoi ne pas
retenir qu’un cinquième des Turcs vivent sur cette partie de leur
territoire ? Et pourquoi la Turquie serait-elle en Asie quand Chypre
vient d’entrer dans l’Union, tandis qu’elle est plus à l’Orient
qu’Ankara ? N’avons-nous pas une frontière commune avec la Turquie
depuis 1981, par la Grèce, et n’en aurons-nous pas une nouvelle en
2007, avec la Bulgarie ? Avec la Turquie dans l’Union, nous dit-on,
nous aurons des frontières avec l’Iran, comme si cela devait
souligner le caractère étrange de cette candidature. Lorsque les
Européens possédaient leurs empires coloniaux, ils savaient pourtant
voir plus grand et cela n’étonnait pas les Français d’avoir trois
départements en Algérie. Serait-ce de l’amnésie ? De même,
aujourd’hui, les Européens ne paraissent pas perturbés par cette
frontière commune avec le Brésil que nous devons à la Guyane, autre
département français. En fait, nul ne l’ignore, la géographie cache
mal la crainte inspirée par l’idée d’accueillir parmi nous un pays
musulman. Mais que ferons-nous des 12 millions d’Européens musulmans
? Quel sera l’avenir des Bosniaques, des Albanais et des Macédoniens
contre lesquels l’argument géographique ne pourra rien non plus. Au
fond, le problème de la Turquie n’est pas d’être un pays musulman,
mais d’être un «grand» pays musulman, ce qui n’est pas discutable,
même si, membre de l’Union, il ne représenterait pas plus de 15% de
la population totale.

C’est donc l’islam qui nous inquiète. Ce n’est pas sans raison. Il y
a aujourd’hui dans le monde un incontestable problème musulman. Trop
souvent, cette religion se montre sous un jour rétrograde,
oligarchique, tyrannique et violent. Mais nous savons pourtant que la
plupart des musulmans ne sont ni des fondamentalistes ni des
terroristes. Très simplement, dans leur grande majorité, ils aspirent
à la sécurité et à la prospérité. Nous savons aussi que le XXIe
siècle sera chaotique, voire catastrophique, si nous ne parvenons pas
à résoudre cette épineuse question. La Turquie est à ce jour une
pièce maîtresse de la solution, peut-être la seule, si bien que les
Européens ont en main la clé d’un monde stabilisé, pacifié et
progressiste. En effet, la Turquie est un pays musulman à proprement
parler incomparable. Seul pays musulman membre de l’Otan, depuis
1952, et membre fondateur de l’OCDE en 1961, la Turquie est installée
dans une laïcité originale depuis plus de quatre-vingts ans, dotée
d’institutions représentatives, habituée au multipartisme, où les
femmes votent depuis 1934, 10 ans avant les Françaises et 46 ans
avant les Portugaises. On y trouve une classe moyenne importante, un
patronat dynamique, des élites bien formées, des universités
prestigieuses, qui ne compensent cependant pas un grave déficit en
matière d’éducation, une société civile en voie d’émancipation et une
pratique originale de l’islam, multiple, privatisée et de plus en
plus souvent individualisée.

Maintenant que l’empire soviétique s’est effondré, pouvons-nous
oublier que, dès 1945, la Turquie s’est engagée, à nos côtés, dans la
lutte contre le communisme ? Membres de l’Otan dès 1952, les Turcs
ont ainsi payé le plus lourd tribut en vies humaines pendant la
guerre de Corée, après les Etats-Unis et la Grande-Bretagne.
Pouvons-nous oublier que la Turquie est l’un des plus fidèles alliés
d’Israël ? C’est en Turquie que trouveront refuge les juifs chassés
d’Espagne par Isabelle la Catholique. C’est en Turquie que trouveront
refuge des milliers de juifs européens fuyant le nazisme. En ce
domaine, l’Europe est débitrice et force est de constater qu’elle a
plus de leçons à recevoir qu’à donner. Dès 1948, la Turquie
reconnaîtra l’Etat d’Israël. C’est dans le ciel turc que peuvent
s’entraîner les pilotes israéliens. De même, les deux pays partagent
leurs équipements portuaires pour recevoir leurs marines de guerre.
L’eau, dont manque cruellement Israël, est fournie, chèrement, par la
Turquie, tandis que des entreprises israéliennes participent à
l’irrigation du sud-est de l’Anatolie, clé du développement de cette
région pauvre et donc, indirectement, l’une des clés du problème
kurde comme de l’islamisme radical qui sévit localement.

Pays exceptionnel encore lorsque, en 2002, la victoire du Parti de la
justice et du développement (AKP) nous offrait le premier exemple
historique d’un parti de culture musulmane accédant au pouvoir par la
voie démocratique. L’AKP a été soutenu par un électorat
qu’exaspéraient les dévaluations et les problèmes de corruption mais
aussi persuadé qu’il est le plus capable de réussir les profondes
réformes nécessaires à l’ouverture des négociations. Loin d’être un
«parti islamique» ou «islamiste», l’AKP est une sorte de parti
musulman-démocrate, qui fait songer à nos partis
chrétiens-démocrates, malgré quelques éléments radicaux comme l’on en
trouve dans toutes nos démocraties. L’AK est un parti libéral sur le
plan économique et franchement proeuropéen, à la différence des
islamistes du RP, ou Refah, parti fondé en 1983 et dissous en 1998
pour non-respect de la laïcité.

Au lendemain de la victoire de l’AK, Abdullah Gül, l’actuel ministre
des Affaires étrangères, déclarait : «Notre ambition est de montrer
au monde entier qu’un pays peuplé de musulmans peut aussi être
démocrate, transparent, moderne et peut aussi coopérer avec le reste
du monde.» Les partis musulmans-démocrates ne sont pas nombreux. Un
seul à ce jour a pu accéder au pouvoir par la voie électorale. Est-il
juste, est-il conforme à notre intérêt de compromettre les chances de
succès de cet islam moderne et pro-occidental unique au monde ?

Aujourd’hui, en Turquie, l’ouverture des négociations est une cause
partagée par la société civile tout entière. Elle dépasse les
clivages politiques internes. C’est toute la Turquie démocratique qui
place ses espoirs dans l’ouverture des négociations.

* Professeur des Universités à l’Institut d’études politiques de
Paris. Dernières publications : Les Européens en 2004, Paris, 2004,
Editions Odile Jacob/Fondation Robert Schuman et La Fracture
occidentale. Naissance d’une opinion européenne, Paris, 2004,
Editions de La Table Ronde.

demain, deuxième et dernier volet de cette tribune.

Allentown Morning Call, PA
July 18 2004

The transformation of Turkey
The moderate, modern Muslim country, if assimilated into the European
Union, would be an attractive role model for other countries

Eli Schwartz

In Victorian England, there was a common reference to “the
unspeakable Turks.” Much has changed. Today, Turkey is an
independent, modernized country of about 70 million inhabitants. It
is a charter member of NATO and is currently knocking on the door for
admission to the European Union.

In fact, columnist George F. Will noted last week, it is to this
country’s advantage to have Turkey in the EU. Its economy has a long
way to go, in comparison with others in Europe, but it is a nation
that is democratic, secular — and Muslim.

Turkey was not alway democratic and secular, of course, and I believe
that its story is helpful to us today, especially in light of
President Bush’s dream of seeing democracy spread throughout the
Middle East.

The modern history of Turkey starts from the defeat of the Turkish
Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I. In 1920, the victorious
allies sat down to dispose of the Arab territories and carve up Asia
Minor.

Of the Arab countries, the French were given a League of Nations
mandate over Lebanon and Syria; the British received mandates for
Mesopotamia (Iraq), Palestine, and some adjoining territories.
Turkey, in Asia Minor, was divided into Italian and French spheres of
influence, an autonomous Kurdish area, a section given to an Armenian
Republic in Causasia, and a Greek enclave starting out from the city
of Smyrna (now Izmir) on the Aegean Sea. A small area encompassing
the city of Constantinople and an oval on the Asiatic side enclosing
the sea of Marmora and the straits to the Black Sea was left to the
Sultan of Turkey. The whole was endorsed by the Treaty of Sevres,
signed by the Sultan in Constantinople.

In the meantime, a nationalist reform party lead by Mustafa Kemal
(later to become Kemal Ataturk) coalesced around the city of Ankara
in central Turkey. In 1920, the dissident assembly declared Turkey a
republic, and an army formed around Mustafa Kemal launched a series
of attacks on the Kurds, the Armenians, and on the Greek army
occupying the area coming out of Izmir. The campaigns were undeniably
victorious, marred by internecine warfare and by what is now
sardonically called “ethnic cleansing”; much of this has never been
clearly expiated to this day.

Suffice it to say, the war ended with the victorious Turkish Army
taking Smyrna in 1922. The abortive Sevres treaty was dropped and the
new treaty of Lausanne in 1923 assigned to the new republic of
Turkey, the territory it currently holds in Asia Minor, and in
Europe, the cosmopolitan city of Constantinople (now Istanbul) and
the strategic straits between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

No one reigns completely alone, but the foundation of modern Turkey
rests with Mustafa Kemal, given the honorific name Kemal Ataturk
(Noble Father of the Turks), who as president ruled with a hard hand
from 1923 until his death in 1938. Kemal’s main goal was to wrest
Turkey into the modern world.

One by one, the edicts came down. The Sultan and his family were
exiled, the Caliphate was abolished, the Sharia, Islamic law, was
replaced by the Swiss Code as the basic law of the state, and the
Italian Penal Code and the German Commerce Code were adopted. This
essentially made Turkey a secular state.

Kemal made the wearing of the fez (traditional male headdress)
illegal, and he discouraged the wearing of the female head scarf. The
Islamic clergy were paid a stipend by the government, but the weekly
sermon was set by the state. The call to prayer was changed from
Arabic to Turkish.

Perhaps Kemal’s most revolutionary move was to enforce a change from
the Arabic script to the Latin alphabet. All the citizens from six to
40 years old were made to attend school to learn the new letters.
After four years, it was made illegal to use the old Arabic script. A
consistent increase in literacy followed.

There was a massive importation of typewriters and, under the law of
unintended consequences, the increased demand for stenographers led
to the increased employment of women and helped in the emancipation
of Turkish womanhood.

Even those quite critical of his methods acknowledge that Ataturk
left a legacy that has served as an obstacle to the rise of
anti-Western Islamists in Turkey.

Kemal Ataturk succeeded in modernizing Turkey, whereas operating at
the Eastern end of the Golden Crescent, the Pahlavi family (the
Shahs) failed in the avowed task of modernizing Iran.

Now, 66 years after Kemal Ataturk’s death, comes perhaps the final
test of the Turkish transition. In December of this year, the Turks
hope to start negotiations on the entry to the European Union. Many
questions arise.

Turkey is a poor country. It is not an undeveloped country, but it
ranks in the bottom rung of the class of developed countries. The per
capita GDP is about one third of the average for the EU. On the other
hand, the recent real growth rate of 4 percent to 6 percent per annum
exceeds that of the EU, and a recent report by The Economist magazine
shows Turkey with an astounding increase of 15 percent in the last
quarter in manufacturing and mining output, well above any other
country listed.

Trade with the European Union has been growing; since 1996; the
amount of exports to the EU has more than doubled from $10 billion to
$25 billion and imports have gone from $20 billion to $32 billion.
One third of new television sets sold in the EU last year came from
Turkey.

The inflation rate which had been running at a double digit rate for
35 years finally fell to a single digit level this February. The
government deficit of 10 percent of the GDP far exceeds the EU target
of 3 percent. Be that as it may, the stated economic criteria for
admission to the European Union is not perfection but the existence
of a “functioning market economy.”

Some political and social sticking points remain. The average
literacy rate is 87 percent with a significantly higher rate of 94
percent for males as against only 88 percent for females. However,
elementary school education is now compulsory for children of both
sexes. Average life expectancy at birth of 72 years is only slightly
below the developed world average, but the rate of 42 infant deaths
per 1,000 live births is shamefully high.

Of course, the main problem is the unrest and unease among the
minority Kurds, who constitute 20 percent of the population. The
current administration has eased relations with the Kurds, allowing
the public use of the Kurdish language and the development of Kurdish
culture. At any rate, Turkey would not be the sole EU member with a
minority problem; Spain has the Basques, Slovakia has the Gypsies,
and Great Britain has the IRA of Northern Ireland. The social,
political criteria for entrance to the EU is phrased as a “union of
values.”

>From my readings and experience of visiting the Middle East and
Turkey, I believe the admission of Turkey to the European Union would
be a worthwhile accomplishment. Certainly, it would help the Turkish
economy. But perhaps, more importantly, the successful assimilation
of a moderate, modern Muslim country into a vital democratic,
economic society would provide an attractive role model for other
countries to follow.

Eli Schwartz of Allentown is professor emeritus of business and
economics at Lehigh University in Bethlehem.

,0,6258142.story?coll=all-newsopinion-hed

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wisconsin)
July 18, 2004 Sunday ALL EDITION

Midwest Passages

MIKE MAGNUSON AND JUDITH CLAIRE MITCHELL

Former Menomonee Falls resident Mike Magnuson (author of “Lummox”)
returns to the Milwaukee area this week to read from his new book,
“Heft on Wheels,” a memoir about a big man’s determination to turn
his life around.

Magnuson weighed 250 pounds a few years ago. Booze, cigarettes and a
rotten diet were his way. But he joined a biking club — and began
cycling slowly as part of a balanced diet-and-exercise routine.
Instead of being nuts on parties, he became nuts on cycling.

The man is 175 pounds today and cycles in tournaments. “Heft on
Wheels” is a humorous look at a makeover. Magnuson, now head of
Southwestern Illinois College’s creative writing department, has
arranged his book tour to Milwaukee to coincide with Saturday’s
Downer Avenue bike race. Yes, he plans to ride.

A few years ago, a friend gave University of Wisconsin-Madison
creative writing teacher Judith Claire Mitchell a stack of letters to
read.

They were written by the friend’s great aunt, who had been a YMCA
volunteer in France in 1919. One of the letters mentioned an Armenian
who lost his family during deportations.

Mitchell used that tiny thread to begin weaving her debut novel, “The
Last Day of the War.”

She reads on Wednesday from this love story between a Jewish girl
from St. Louis and an Armenian-American soldier in Paris at the end
of World War I.

IF YOU GO

What: Talk Who: Mike Magnuson When and where: 7 p.m. Tuesday at Harry
W. Schwartz Bookshops, 2559 N. Downer Ave.

What: Discussion, reading Who: Judith Claire Mitchell When and where:
7 p.m. Wednesday at Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops, 4093 N. Oakland
Ave., Shorewood.

ARMENIA 82-TH ACCORDING TO INDEX OF LIVING STANDARDS

16.07.2004 13:42

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Norway, Sweden and Australia are considered the most
prosperous states out of 177 countries included in the so-called Human
Development Index annually issued by the UN. The Index is determined
according to the income per head, quality of education and medical
care and lifetime. Armenia is the 82-th in this list. Other republics
of the former USSR occupy the following positions: Russia – 57-th,
Ukraine – 70-th, Azerbaijan – 91-th, Georgia – 97-th. The report
prepared by the UN Development Program is compiled due to the data of
2002.

RosBusinessConsulting Database
July 13, 2004 Tuesday

Armenia to continue upgrading its military forces

The first meeting of a joint Russian-Armenian intergovernmental
commission on cooperation in the military sphere will take place in
September to October 2004. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov
made a corresponding statement after negotiations with his Armenian
counterpart Andranik Markarian, who is on an official visit in
Moscow. According to Fradkov, this cooperation will continue within
the framework of modernization of Armenian military forces.

New Straits Times, Malaysia
July 10 2004

ENTERTAINMENT: Ballard revisits `Titanic’ wreck
Faridul Anwar Farinordin

IN the 1997 Academy Award-winning movie Titanic, directed by James
Cameron, a fictional underwater expedition led by Brock Lovett
(played by Bill Paxton) probed the wreck to look for a precious
pendant called the Heart of the Ocean.

Believe it or not, this actually reflects the situation today. Since
the wreck of the Titanic was first discovered by Dr Robert Ballard in
1985 after sinking 3,600 metres into the Atlantic Ocean in 1912, its
watery grave has been visited by people with questionable intentions.

“People have gone down and got married there. Treasure hunters have
been going there and tearing it apart with their equipment. They use
submersibles, land on the the wreck’s deck and bump things down. It’s
like a circus unfolding when it should be a memorial,” said Ballard
in a recent phone interview.

It has been estimated that as many as 8,000 artifacts may have been
ransacked from the liner – everything from porcelain and plates to a
part of its hull.

His increasing concern over the future of the wreck prompted Ballard
to make a bittersweet return to the Titanic – this time, to determine
the factors hastening the deterioration of the wreck and lobby for
international co-operation towards protecting the site from further
desecration.

A documentary of this 32-member expedition called Return To Titanic
will be aired on the National Geographic Channel (Astro Channel 52)
at 9pm tomorrow. There will be never-seen-before footage of the wreck
– inside the passenger cabins, suites and dining room.

“This time, we focus on the human aspect of the tragedy. We hope to
touch people’s hearts and raise awareness that this is a special ship
and deserves more respect. The footages are very moving – we show
where the bodies landed… but we didn’t touch anything,” he said.
The images, said Ballard, a professor of oceanography at the
University of Rhode Island in the United States and director of its
Institute for Archaeological Oceanography, tell many heart-wrenching
stories.

“We saw shoes which could have belonged to a mother and her daughter.
Next to them was a mirror and a comb. Immediately you can imagine
that the mother was probably combing her daughter’s hair when the
tragedy struck. The images are so powerful, as if the ship is
speaking to us.”

The expedition arrived at the site in June on board the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research ship Ronald H.
Brown. It was funded by the National Geographic Society, Mystic
Aquarium & Institute for Exploration (MA/IFE), NOAA, Partisan
Pictures, the JASON Foundation for Education and the University of
Rhode Island.

As the person who discovered the wreck, Ballard feels a strong sense
of responsibility towards its preservation. “Before 1985, I had no
attachment to the ship. I was an engineer and a scientist. Even when
I discovered the wreck, I saw it as a quest, a feat just like
reaching the peak of Mount Everest.

“It was only later that I became more attached to her (Titanic) and
feel that she is special in so many ways. She is to me what Everest
is to Edmund Hillary (the first man to conquer Mount Everest), who
urged people not to turn it into a junkyard,” he said.

An international treaty was recently signed by the US and Britain to
protect the site from further damage. “Hopefully France and Russia
will join in the future,” he said, adding “at the same time, we plan
to carry out preservation work on the ship using modern technology
such as underwater robots which can be employed to clean and repaint
the ship.” Born on June 30, 1942 in Wichita, Kansas, Ballard said he
grew up wanting to be Captain Nemo from the Jules Verne classic
fiction 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Naturally, this adventurer has been nicknamed anything from Nemo and
“oceanography’s answer to Indiana Jones” to “underwater cowboy” (“I
actually view the ocean as a Wide West!” he said with a laugh).

Ballard’s other discoveries include the underwater hydrothermal vents
which shed new light on the origins of life (1977), two ancient
Phoenician ships – the oldest ship wrecks ever found in deep water
(1999) – and four 1,500-year-old wooden ships in the Black Sea
(2000), which suggested evidence of a great flood and ultimately
supported the biblical story of Noah’s Ark. An Armenian newspaper
reported that Ballard is interested in locating Noah’s Ark on top of
Mount Ararat in Turkey, but he claimed it was just a rumour.

“I am more interested in finding evidence of civilisation before the
great flood.” Also an author of 18 best-selling books including The
Lost Ships of Guadalcanal, The Eternal Darkness, Graveyards of the
Pacific and an autobiography Explorations, he received the National
Geography Society’s prestigious Hubbard medal in 1996 for his
accomplishments in the world of underwater explorations.

With the Titanic, he said “she continues to fascinate me because she
is still there. She landed on the seabed in such a way that the mud
was pushed in front of her as if she’s still going to New York City.

“She is an amazingly frozen piece of history, like the pyramids of
the deep. Of course there are the mysteries, the grandeur of the
`unsinkable’ liner, the horror of the disaster and the human stories
of the passengers – the band members who kept playing as she was
sinking, the captain who chose to go down with her and a boy who
turned 17 and refused to board the life boat because he just turned
into a man.”

Will he visit the Titanic again soon? “Perhaps in another 20 years,”
he said.

Armen Press
July 7 2004

NO ROAD SURRENDERED TO AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIAN DEPUTY DM SAYS

YEREVAN, JULY 7, ARMENPRESS: Deputy defense minister Mikael
Harutunian denied on Tuesday allegation of some political figures
that a road connecting two Armenian towns of Ijevan and Noyemberian
was surrendered to the Azerbaijani side. “The road (built in Soviet
times) was working and will be working,” Mikaelian told a group of
journalists, whom the ministry took to the northern province of
Tavush, bordering with Azerbaijan and where a string of heavy
skirmishes between the two rival nations’ troops were reported last
month.
The road stretching along the border was the scene of surprise
attacks on Armenian vehicles, buses and local farmers. “We have taken
appropriate measures to ensure the road’s security,’ Mikaelian said.
The reporters were then driven along five Armenian villages, located
on the border, which are supplied with water from Jokhaz water
reservoir.
The latest skirmishes erupted after Azerbaijani troops tried to
occupy a hill near the regional town of Ijevan which overlooks the
water reservoir. Mikaelian said Armenian forces responded by moving
their positions forward in order to defend the water pumping facility
supplying irrigation water to five nearby villages. Mikaelian said
the location is being now reinforced, adding also that any such
attempt in future will be retaliated .

Paper reports high turnout in Azeri march in Iran

Vatandas Hamrayliyi, Baku
4 Jul 04

Text of Mansura Sattarova report by Azerbaijani newspaper Vatandas
Hamrayliyi on 4 July headlined “Our tricolour was raised over Fort
Bazz” and subheaded “Despite serious resistance by the Persian police,
200,000 of our compatriots managed to get into the fort”

“The march to Fort Bazz has been staged for eight years, but never
before has there been so much pressure and resistance against the
participants. Moreover, there were attempts to reduce the number of
demonstrators by changing the timing of the march. Despite this, the
march to Fort Bazz was successful,” said Ali Nicat, head of the
analytical-information centre of the Southern Azerbaijan Department of
the Congress of Azerbaijanis of the World CAW . In all, more than
500,000 Azeris took part in the march, he said.

It started on the evening of 30 June and became a mass rally on 1
July, Nicat said. The Iranian government resorted to some measures,
including pressure and intimidation, to prevent the march, and the
fort was surrounded by the police and the special forces, he
said. There were about 40,000 policemen and servicemen around it. In
addition, one of the two roads to the fort was closed. “Buses were
stopped on the road and forced to turn back. There were six
checkpoints on the 10-kilometre road between the fort and the town of
?Kalheydar . There were over 20 checkpoints on the road between the
fort and Tabriz. Hotels near the fort – ?Azadliq and Babak – were also
closed and entry into the nearby village was banned. The government
tried everything possible to dissuade the people from attending the
march. They even staged military exercises around the fort and
announced that this was a military zone.”

The activists of the National Liberation Movement NLM , including
members of Shams-e Tabriz, were officially banned in advance from
joining the march and placed under house arrest on 1 and 2 July, Nicat
said. “The police asked the people on 1 July to leave the fort, but
nobody took notice of it. The police did not allow the 400,000 Azeris
inside and outside the fort to come together. Some 200,000 managed to
get into the castle, but the rest could not cross the police
barriers. In order to show their unity, the people inside and outside
the fort shouted the slogan ‘Unity’. There had been several clashes
between the police and Azeris by 3 July. More than 200 demonstrators
were arrested, including well-known intellectuals and activists of the
NLM – Ali Suleymani, Seyid Calil Huseyni, Mansur Mahammadi and Huseyn
Abid all names untraced . On 2 July, the police and people in plain
clothes attempted to destroy the tents around the fort. They beat up
some demonstrators and injured 60 women.”

There were more than 300 bonfires in the area. While slogans such as
“Long live United Azerbaijan”, “Russians, Persians and Armenians are
enemies of Turks”, “Death to the enemies of Azerbaijan” and “Karabakh
or death” were chanted, the people around the bonfires sang various
songs in their mother tongue. On the night of 2-3 July, at about 0000
2030 gmt on 2 July , they sang the national anthem of Azerbaijan and
raised the tricolour in and around the fort, Nicat said.

Although the 3 July was the last day of the march, some people were
arrested and faced police resistance yesterday. “A person named ?Lavai
went to the top of the fort and spoke about the life of Babak Azeri
national hero who fought the Arabs in the 8th century , his actions
and the significance of the march. The police arrested Lavai and 30
others.”

The police did not allow filming outside the fort and all cameras were
broken.

There are seven CAW members among those arrested. There is no official
information as to where the detainees are kept. Reports from some
sources suggest that most of them are in Tabriz and others in Ardabil.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
June 29, 2004 Tuesday 7:38 AM Eastern Time

RCC approves introduction of digital broadcasting format in CIS

CHOLPON

ATA (Kyrgyzstan), June 29 – The Council of communications
administration heads of the Regional Commonwealth in the field of
Communications (RCC) has approved the introduction of digital
broadcasting format in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

“The recognition of the stance of CIS countries on the development of
digital radio broadcasting is an important step on the way to
promoting various broadcasting technologies in the territory of the
Commonwealth member states,” Russian Minister of Communications and
Information Technologies Leonid Reiman said at a meeting of the
Council of RCC communications administration heads held at the city
of Cholpon-Ata (Kyrgyzstan) on Tuesday, Prime Tass reports.

According to Deputy Communications Minister Andrei Beskorovainy,
technical fundamentals for the introduction of digital broadcasting
in the entire CIS territory have been approved.

Thus the list of the countries that are transferring to digital radio
broadcasting will include Central Asian states, Azerbaijan and
Armenia.

“We shall begin to introduce the digital radio broadcasting format on
equal terms with European countries,” Beskorovainy pointed out.

Director of the radio communication bureau of the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) Valery Timofeyev said the plan of
frequency distribution adopted at the Tuesday meeting of RCC council
is an important stage of digitalisation of CIS television and radio
broadcasting.

According to Timofeyev, Russia has introduced three zones of digital
radio broadcasting – in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod.

The system’s putting into operation will make it possible in the
future to provide not only radio broadcasting services, but also
access to the Internet, data transmission and telephony.

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY (AS PREPARED FOR
DELIVERY)

WhiteHouse.gov
June 29, 2004

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen: Laura and I are grateful for the
warm hospitality we have received these past three days in the Republic of
Turkey. I am honored to visit this beautiful country where two continents
meet – a nation that upholds great traditions, and faces the future with
confidence. And America is honored to call Turkey an ally and a friend.

Many Americans trace their heritage to Turkey, and Turks have contributed
greatly to our national life – including, most recently, a lot of baskets
for the Detroit Pistons from Mehmet Okur. I know youre proud that this son
of your country helped to win an NBA championship, and America is proud of
him as well.

I am grateful to Prime Minister Erdogan and President Sezer for hosting the
members of NATO in an historic time for our alliance. For most of its
history, NATO existed to deter aggression from a powerful army at the heart
of Europe. In this century, NATO looks outward to new threats that gather in
secret and bring sudden violence to peaceful cities. We face terrorist
networks that rejoice when parents bury their murdered children, or bound
men plead for their lives. We face outlaw regimes that give aid and shelter
to these killers, and seek weapons of mass murder. We face the challenges of
corruption and poverty and disease, which throw whole nations into chaos and
despair – the conditions in which terrorism can thrive.

Some on both sides of the Atlantic have questioned whether the NATO alliance
still has a great purpose. To find that purpose, they only need to open
their eyes. The dangers are in plain sight. The only question is whether we
will confront them, or look away and pay a terrible cost.

Over the last few years, NATO has made its decision. Our alliance is
restructuring to oppose threats that arise beyond the borders of Europe.
NATO is providing security in Afghanistan. NATO has agreed to help train the
security forces of a sovereign Iraq – a great advantage and crucial success
for the Iraqi people. And in Istanbul we have dedicated ourselves to the
advance of reform in the broader Middle East, because all people deserve a
just government, and because terror is not the tool of the free. Through
decades of the Cold War, our great alliance of liberty never failed in its
duties – and we are rising to our duties once again.

The Turkish people understand the terrorists, because you have seen their
work, even in the last few days. You have heard the sirens, and witnessed
the carnage, and mourned the dead. After the murders of Muslims, Christians,
and Jews in Istanbul last November, a resident of this city said of the
terrorists, “They do not have any religion … They are friends of evil.” In
one of the attacks, a Muslim woman lost her son Ahmet, her daughter-in-law
Berta, and her unborn grandchild. She said, “Today Im saying goodbye to my
son. Tomorrow Im saying farewell to my Berta. I dont know what [the killers]
wanted from my kids. Were they jealous of their happiness?”

The Turkish people have grieved, but your nation is also showing how
terrorist violence will be overcome – with courage, and with a firm resolve
to defend your just and tolerant society. This land has always been
important for its geography – here at the meeting place of Europe, Asia, and
the Middle East. Now Turkey has assumed even greater historical importance,
because of your character as a nation. Turkey is a strong, secular
democracy, a majority Muslim society, and a close ally of free nations. Your
country, with 150 years of democratic and social reform, stands as a model
to others, and as Europes bridge to the wider world. Your success is vital
to a future of progress and peace in Europe and in the broader Middle East –
and the Republic of Turkey can depend on the support and friendship of the
United States.

For decades, my country has supported greater unity in Europe – to secure
liberty, build prosperity, and remove sources of conflict on this continent.
Now the European Union is considering the admission of Turkey, and you are
moving rapidly to meet the criteria for membership. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
had a vision of Turkey as a strong nation among other European nations. That
dream can be realized by this generation of Turks. America believes that as
a European power, Turkey belongs in the European Union. Your membership
would also be a crucial advance in relations between the Muslim world and
the West, because you are part of both. Including Turkey in the EU would
prove that Europe is not the exclusive club of a single religion, and it
would expose the “clash of civilizations” as a passing myth of history.
Fifteen years ago, an artificial line that divided Europe — drawn at
Yalta – was erased. Now this continent has the opportunity to erase another
artificial division – by fully including Turkey in t

Turkey has found its place in the community of democracies by living out its
own principles. Muslims are called to seek justice – fairness to all, care
for the stranger, compassion for those in need. And you have learned that
democracy is the surest way to build a society of justice. The best way to
prevent corruption and abuse of power is to hold rulers accountable. The
best way to ensure fairness to all is to establish the rule of law. The best
way to honor human dignity is to protect human rights. Turkey has found what
nations of every culture and every region have found: If justice is the
goal, then democracy is the answer.

In some parts of the world, especially in the Middle East, there is wariness
toward democracy, often based on misunderstanding. Some people in Muslim
cultures identify democracy with the worst of Western popular culture, and
want no part of it. And I assure them, when I speak about the blessings of
liberty, coarse videos and crass commercialism are not what I have in mind.
There is nothing incompatible between democratic values and high standards
of decency. For the sake of their families and their culture, citizens of a
free society have every right to strive peacefully for a moral society.

Democratic values also do not require citizens to abandon their faith. No
democracy can allow religious people to impose their own view of perfection
on others, because this invites cruelty and arrogance that are foreign to
every faith. And all people in a democracy have the right to their own
religious beliefs. But all democracies are made stronger when religious
people teach and demonstrate upright conduct – family commitment, respect
for the law, and compassion for the weak. Democratic societies should
welcome, not fear, the participation of the faithful.

In addition, democracy does not involve automatic agreement with other
democracies. Free governments have a reputation for independence, which
Turkey has certainly earned. That is the way democracy works. We deal
honestly with each other, we make our own decisions – and yet, in the end,
the disagreements of the moment are far outweighed by the ideals we share.

Because representative governments reflect their people, every democracy has
its own structure, traditions, and opinions. There are, however, certain
commitments of free government that do not change from place to place. The
promise of democracy is fulfilled in freedom of speech, the rule of law,
limits on the power of the state, economic freedom, respect for women, and
religious tolerance. These are the values that honor the dignity of every
life, and set free the creative energies that lead to progress.

Achieving these commitments of democracy can require decades of effort and
reform. In my own country it took generations to throw off slavery, racial
segregation, and other practices that violated our ideals. So we do not
expect or demand that other societies be transformed in a day. But however
long the journey, there is only one destination worth striving for, and that
is a society of self-rule and freedom.

Democracy leads to justice within a nation – and the advance of democracy
leads to greater security among nations. The reason is clear: Free peoples
do not live in endless stagnation, and seethe in resentment, and lash out in
envy, rage, and violence. Free peoples do not cling to every grievance of
the past – they build and live for the future. This is the experience of
countries in the NATO alliance. Bitterness and hostility once divided France
and Germany… and Germany and Poland … and Romania and Hungary. But as
those nations grew in liberty, ancient disputes and hatreds have been left
to history. And because the people of Europe now live in hope, Europe no
longer produces armed ideologies that threaten the peace of the world.
Freedom in Europe has brought peace to Europe – and now freedom can bring
peace to the broader Middle East.

I believe that freedom is the future of the Middle East, because I believe
that freedom is the future of all humanity. And the historic achievement of
democracy in the broader Middle East will be a victory shared by all.
Millions who now live in oppression and want will finally have a chance to
provide for their families and lead hopeful lives. Nations in the region
will have greater stability because governments will have greater
legitimacy. And nations like Turkey and America will be safer, because a
hopeful Middle East will no longer produce ideologies and movements that
seek to kill our citizens. This transformation is one of the great and
difficult tasks of history. And by our own patience and hard effort, and
with confidence in the peoples of the Middle East, we will finish the work
that history has given us.

Democracy, by definition, must be chosen and defended by the people
themselves. The future of freedom in the Islamic world will be determined by
the citizens of Islamic nations, not by outsiders. And for citizens of the
broader Middle East, the alternatives could not be more clear. One
alternative is a political doctrine of tyranny, suicide, and murder that
goes against the standards of justice found in Islam and every other great
religion. The other alternative is a society of justice, where men and women
live peacefully and build better lives for themselves and their children.
That is the true cause of the people of the Middle East, and that cause can
never be served by the murder of the innocent.

This struggle between political extremism and civilized values is unfolding
in many places. We see the struggle in Iraq, where killers are attempting to
undermine and intimidate a free government. We see the struggle in Iran,
where tired and discredited autocrats are trying to hold back the democratic
will of a rising generation. We see that struggle in Turkey, where the PKK
has abandoned its ceasefire with the Turkish people and resumed violence. We
see it in the Holy Land, where terrorist murderers are setting back the good
cause of the Palestinian people, who deserve a reformed, peaceful, and
democratic state of their own.

The terrorists are ruthless and resourceful, but they will not prevail.
Already more than half of the worlds Muslims live under
democratically-constituted governments – from Indonesia to West Africa, from
Europe to North America. And the ideal of democracy is also powerful and
popular in the Middle East. Surveys in Arab nations reveal broad support for
representative government and individual liberty. We are seeing reform in
Kuwait, and Qatar, and Bahrain, and Yemen, and Jordan, and Morocco. And we
are seeing men and women of conscience and courage step forward to advocate
democracy and justice in the broader Middle East.

As we found in the Soviet Union, and behind the Iron Curtain, this kind of
moral conviction was more powerful than vast armies and prison walls and the
will of dictators. And this kind of moral conviction is also more powerful
than the whips of the Taliban, or the police state of Saddam Hussein, or the
cruel designs of terrorists. The way ahead is long and difficult, yet people
of conscience go forward with hope. The rule of fear did not survive in
Europe, and the rule of free peoples will come to the Middle East.

Leaders throughout that region, including some friends of the United States,
must recognize the direction of events. Any nation that compromises with
violent extremists only emboldens them, and invites future violence.
Suppressing dissent only increases radicalism. The long-term stability of
any government depends on being open to change, and responsive to citizens.
By learning these lessons, Turkey has become a great and stable democracy –
and America shares your hope that other nations will take this path.

Western nations, including my own, want to be helpful in the democratic
progress of the Middle East, yet we know there are suspicions, rooted in
centuries of conflict and colonialism. And in the last 60 years, many in the
West have added to this distrust by excusing tyranny in the region, hoping
to purchase stability at the price of liberty. But it did not serve the
people of the Middle East to betray their hope of freedom. And it has not
made Western nations more secure to ignore the cycle of dictatorship and
extremism. Instead we have seen the malice grow deeper, and the violence
spread, until both have appeared on the streets of our own cities. Some
types of hatred will never be appeased; they must be opposed and discredited
and defeated by a hopeful alternative – and that alternative is freedom.

Reformers in the broader Middle East are working to build freer and more
prosperous societies – and America, the G-8, the EU, Turkey, and NATO have
now agreed to support them. Many nations are helping the people of
Afghanistan to secure a free government. And NATO now leads a military
operation in Afghanistan, in the first action by the alliance outside
Europe. In Iraq, a broad coalition – including the military forces of many
NATO countries – is helping the people of that country to build a decent and
democratic government after decades of corrupt oppression. And NATO is
providing support to a Polish-led division.

The government of Iraq has now taken a crucial step forward. In a nation
that suffered for decades under brutal tyranny, we have witnessed the
transfer of sovereignty and the beginning of self-government. In just 15
months, the Iraqi people have left behind one of the worst regimes in the
Middle East, and their country is becoming the worlds newest democracy. The
world has seen a great event in the history of Iraq, in the history of the
Middle East, and in the history of liberty.

The rise of Iraqi democracy is bringing hope to reformers across the Middle
East, and sending a very different message to Teheran and Damascus. A free
and sovereign Iraq is also a decisive defeat for extremists and terrorists –
because their hateful ideology will lose its appeal in a free, tolerant,
successful country. The terrorists are doing everything they can to
undermine Iraqi democracy, by attacking all who stand for order and justice,
and committing terrible crimes to break the will of free nations. The
terrorists have the ability to cause suffering and grief, but they do not
have the power to alter the outcome in Iraq: The civilized world will keep
its resolve … the leaders of Iraq are strong and determined … and the
people of Iraq will live in freedom.

Iraq still faces hard challenges in the days and months ahead. Iraqs leaders
are eager to assume responsibility for their own security, and that is our
wish as well. So this week at our summit, NATO agreed to provide assistance
in training Iraqi security forces. I am grateful to Turkey and other NATO
allies for helping our friends in Iraq to build a nation that governs itself
and defends itself.

Our efforts to promote reform and democracy in the Middle East are moving
forward. At the NATO summit, we approved the Istanbul Cooperation
Initiative, offering to work together with nations of the broader Middle
East to fight terrorism, control their borders, and aid the victims of
disaster. And we are thankful for the important role that Turkey is playing
as a democratic partner in the Broader Middle East Initiative.

For all of our efforts to succeed, however, more is needed than plans and
policies. We must strengthen the ties of trust and good will between
ourselves and the peoples of the Middle East. And trust and good will come
more easily when men and women clear their minds, and their hearts, of
suspicion and prejudice and unreasoned fear. When some in my country speak
in an ill-informed and insulting manner about the Muslim faith, their words
are heard abroad, and do great harm to our cause in the Middle East. When
some in the Muslim world incite hatred and murder with conspiracy theories
and propaganda, their words are also heard – by a generation of young
Muslims who need truth and hope, not lies and anger. All such talk, in
America or in the Middle East, is dangerous and reckless and unworthy of any
religious tradition. Whatever our cultural differences may be, there should
be respect and peace in the House of Abraham.

The Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk has said that the finest view of Istanbul is
not from the shores of Europe, or from the shores of Asia, but from a bridge
that unites them, and lets you see both. His work has been a bridge between
cultures, and so is the Republic of Turkey. The people of this land
understand, as Pamuk has observed, that “What is important is not [a] clash
of parties, civilizations, cultures, East and West.” What is important, he
says, is to realize “that other peoples in other continents and
civilizations” are “exactly like you.”

Ladies and gentlemen, in their need for hope, in their desire for peace, in
their right to freedom, the peoples of the Middle East are exactly like you
and me. Their birthright of freedom has been denied for too long. And we
will do all in our power to help them find the blessings of liberty.

Thank you, and God bless the good people of Turkey.

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