Author: Ekmekjian Janet

TURKEY REJECTS JOINING EASTERN PARTNERSHIP

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.02.2009 15:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey will not join the Eastern Partnership,
a Turkish official said.

"The talks with the EU are held for Turkey’s full-fledged membership
in the Union. So, we can’t accept an offer which conflicts with the EU
previous decisions," said Yasar Yakis, ex-Foreign Minister and chairman
of Turkey-EU parliamentary commission, Trend Azeri news agency reports.

The Eastern Partnership targets six of the EU’s immediate eastern
neighbors – Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and,
provisionally, Belarus.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, speaking for the current
EU presidency, said that Turkey may also be invited.

The final shape of the project will emerge at an EU summit on March
19-20.

IRAN SOUGHT TURKEY’S HELP TO MEND LINKS WITH US, SAYS ERDOGAN
Robert Tait in Mardin

guardian.co.uk
Tuesday 24 February 2009 17.45 GMT

Turkish prime minister tells Guardian of Tehran’s request for
intercession with Bush administration

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stormed out of a debate
with Israeli President Shimon Peres. Photograph: BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty
Images Photograph: BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images

Iran has asked Turkey to help it resolve its 30-year dispute with the
US as a possible prelude to re-establishing ties, the Turkish prime
minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has told the Guardian.

Iranian officials made the request while George Bush was in office,
Erdogan said, adding that he had passed the message to the White
House at the time.

He said he was considering raising the matter with Barack Obama,
who has said he wants to engage with Iran at a G20 summit in London
in April.

Speaking aboard his prime ministerial plane during a local election
campaign trip to the south-eastern city of Mardin, Erdogan also renewed
his criticism of Israel’s recent offensive in Gaza and challenged the
Israeli prime minister-designate, Binyamin Netanyahu, to recognise
Palestinians’ right to have their own state.

Asked if Turkey could play a mediating role in overcoming mistrust
between Washington and Tehran, Erdogan replied: "Iran does want Turkey
to play such a role. And if the United States also wants and asks=2 0us
to play this role, we are ready to do this. They [the Iranians] said
to us that if something like this [an opportunity for rapprochement]
would happen, they want Turkey to play a role. These were words that
were said openly. But I have told this to President Bush myself."

Erdogan’s remarks came as the US state department finally appointed
the veteran Clinton administration diplomat Dennis Ross as a special
envoy responsible for tackling the difficult Iran issue. Ross, whose
experience has been in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
has been given the title of special adviser to the Gulf and south-west
Asia. In an article published last September, Ross advocated that
the initial approach to Iran should be through a "direct, secret
back channel".

Iran and Turkey have drawn closer in recent years, helped by growing
trade links last year estimated at £5.5bn. Iran’s president, Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, met Erdogan and the Turkish president, Abdullah Gul,
in Istanbul last August, and several Turkish officials have also
visited Iran in recent months to boost economic ties. Turkey imports
one-third of its natural gas from Iran and has signed preliminary
agreements to invest heavily in the Iranian gas industry.

US officials have previously reacted sceptically to Turkish
proposals to mediate with Iran. However, the idea may be given fresh
consideration by the Obama administration, which has set up a sweeping
polic y review policy after the president promised to reach out if Iran
"unclenched its fist".

Turkey, a Nato member and close ally of the US, shares Washington’s
misgivings about Iran’s nuclear programme, which Tehran insists is
for peaceful purposes but which the west suspects is aimed at building
an atomic bomb.

Acting as a go-between for Iran would fit with the regional mediator
role Turkey has fashioned for itself under Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted
Justice and Development party (AKP) government. Last year, Ankara
brokered peace talks between Israel and Syria, using its western
alliance membership and status as a Muslim country to win the trust
of each side.

But Turkey’s ties with Israel were severely strained by Erdogan’s
fierce criticism of the recent bombardment of Gaza, which left more
than 1,300 Palestinians dead. Relations soured further after he
stormed out of a debate at the world economic forum in Davos after
clashing angrily with the Israeli president, Shimon Peres. The gesture
was widely acclaimed in Turkey and throughout the Muslim world but
was condemned in Israel, where Erdogan was seen as an apologist for
the Palestinian militant group Hamas, with which his government has
cultivated ties.

However, in comments likely to provoke further anger, Erdogan drew
parallels between Hamas’s failure to recognise Israel and the refusal
of Netanyahu, who has been asked to form the next Israeli government,
to endorse=2 0a Palestinian state. "We are always telling them
[Hamas)]to act differently, that we are for a two-state solution:
Palestine and Israel," he said. "They have to accept this, but Israel
also has to accept Palestine.

"Is Israel right now accepting Palestine? They are still not accepting
them.

But it is being expected of the Palestinian people to accept
Israel. Now go and ask Mr Netanyahu if he is accepting Palestine."

Netanyahu has pledged to pursue "economic peace" with the Palestinians
but has ruled out territorial concessions that would lead to statehood.

Erdogan said an Israeli-Palestinian settlement had to include Hamas,
which he called the party of "change and reform". He also condemned
Israel’s recent onslaught as disproportionate. "Hamas doesn’t have
any planes. Hamas doesn’t have any tanks or artillery, and with
the use of disproportionate force Gaza was being put under fire,"
he said. "One thousand, one hundred and 30people have died. We have
more than 5,500 injured. Who is going to ask: what has happened here
and who is going to pay the price for this?"

His walkout at Davos, when he also clashed with the debate moderator,
David Ignatius of the Washington Post, was inspired by his conscience,
he said, and a desire to "be the voice of the voiceless and the
protector of the people who cannot protect themselves".

Erdogan dismissed fears that the US pro-Israel lobby would retaliate
by lifting its oppos ition to a congressional resolution recognising
the Armenian genocide claims. During last year’s US presidential
election campaign, Obama and his vice-president, Joe Biden, voiced
support for the resolution.

But Erdogan said: "I believe the United States feels and knows the
importance of Turkey within the region more than some people who
do not understand this. The so-called Armenian genocide is not an
issue that can affect Turkey-American relations in a very strong
way. I don’t believe the US Congress would take a decision based on
emotions. It should be left to historians."

Allegations by the Armenian government and diaspora about the fate of
their people under the Ottoman empire have long been one of Turkish
society’s biggest taboos. Turkey vehemently disputes Armenian claims
that up to 1.5 million were deliberately killed in a programme
amounting to genocide.

Officials say the death toll was much lower and a result of
inter-ethnic clashes in which many Turks also died. Turkey has
called for a historical commission to examine the issue and has
recently pursued rapprochement with Armenia, with which it has no
diplomatic ties.

COURT SAYS "FEEL FREE TO INSULT THOSE APOLOGISING TO ARMENIANS"
Erol Onderoa~^Lu – [email protected]

BIA Magazine
Feb 24 2009
Turkey

An Istanbul court has decreed that journalist Can Ataklı’s claim
that some people have received money from the EU to sign an apology
campaign falls within the boundaries of freedom of thought. Lawyers
have accused the judges of subjectivity.

Vatan newspaper journalist Can Ataklı wrote an article entitled "What
did they get that money for?" on 31 December 2008. In the article he
claimed that there was a list circulating on the Internet which made
connections between individuals who had signed an apology campaign
for "the events of 1915" and money received from the EU. Ataklı also
put this claim forward.

Court sees no reason for refutation

Academics Ahmet Ä°nsel and Murat Belge and writer Adalet Agaoglu
sent letters of refutation to the Vatan newspaper, but they were not
printed. They then applied to the Istanbul 1st Criminal Court of Peace.

However, the court’s decision of 29 January 2009 seems more concerned
with the apology campaign than the journalist’s controversial claim.

In its decision, it said that those starting the campaign and demanding
a refutation had taken part in an "apparently innocent campaign which,
according to some, brings a great responsibility to the past and
history of the Turkish Nation, and may even hold the Turkish Nation and
the Turkish State legally responsible on the international platform –
a campaign which assumes that a crime was committed and that regret
was felt."

The court said that even if this campaign was organised within the
framework of the freedom of thought and expression, "and even if
it was presented like a moral and righteous act, and even if it was
accepted as such, there is no doubt that those who do not share this
opinion and their resistance in terms of history and thought are also
within their rights."

The court also said that parts of the letters of refutation made it
clear that it was no crime to accept money from the EU if certain
conditions were fulfilled, and that the journalist’s article was thus
within the right to freedom of the press.

No result with appeal

Haluk İnanıcı, the lawyer for İnsel, Belge and Agaoglu, criticised
the judge for writing a justification that was unrelated to their
complaint, saying, "I have been a lawyer for 25 years, and I have
demanded hundreds of refutations, and find this attitude strange."

Judge Cavit Marancı reacted angrily, saying that he had taken great
care in his 30-year career to differentiate between objective and
subjective information. He accused the lawyer of disrespect and of
personalising the issue.

Lawyer İnanıcı filed an appeal to the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court,
but the result did not change. Judge Sevim Efendiler decreed that
the prior decree was appropriate.

Prof. Dr. Baskın Oran, political scientist at Ankara University,
argued in this week’s supplement to the Radikal newspaper that the
court decree was debating the apology campaign rather than whether
a refutation was necessary.

The controversial article by Can Ataklı has also affected bianet’s
Ertugrul Kurkcu; he is general secretary of the IPS Communication
Foundation which received money from the EU Human Rights and Democracy
Programme from 2003 and 2006. The article implied that he personally
was given this money. A letter written to Tayfun Devecioglu, the
editor-in-chief of Vatan newspaper, was not published. Nadire Mater,
president of the foundation, and Ertugrul Kurkcu are also preparing
to go to court.

NUCLEAR POWER STATION WORKERS REFUSE TO WORK

A1+
[05:52 pm] 24 February, 2009

Nearly 200 workers of the Metsamor nuclear power station gathered
in front of the RA Energy Ministry building today demanding a 50%
salary increase. Five hundred on-duty workers are even ready to file
a complaint and leave their jobs if the demands are not met.

The nuclear power station administration has told workers that it is
not able to raise the salaries because the station is not receiving
any income.

"There is no such thing. They purchase energy from us for 6.2 drams
per kilowatt an hour and sell it for 25 drams. This means that they
are getting huge profits. The price for energy at the station ranges
from 9-10 drams. As far as I know, energy prices go up by 30 drams
during the day and 20 drams at night starting April 1. It turns out
that that is not going to have an impact on our salaries, but we will
be paying more for energy," says worker Ara Gevorgyan.

Worker Nerses Avetisyan stressed that people working in poor conditions
must be taken care of by the state and must receive high salaries,
but that is not the case.

Six workers formed a group today to try to meet with Energy Minister
Armen Movsisyan who met with them and held talks for nearly two hours.

Participants of the meeting informed that they came to an agreement
to discuss and solve the issue of raising salaries by 10-15 percent
by March 27. The station workers were disappointed because they were
demanding a 50% increase and decided to go to the Prime Minister as
well. Energy Minister Gagik Markosyan was trying to calm them down and
convince them to go home, but the workers went to the Prime Minister
anyway. But they were rejected there as well due to the fact that
the government shares the opinion of the ministry.

ANCA REFUTES ACCUSATIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.02.2009 13:05 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A high-profile ethics organization on Wednesday
asked federal agencies to investigate the Armenian National Committee
of America for alleged campaign-finance and lobbying violations.

In a seven-page complaint, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics
in Washington asserts that the Armenian-American group failed to
register either as a domestic lobbying group or as a foreign agent
despite its political work and its close ties to an Armenian political
party.

The Armenian National Committee of America is one of the country’s
most prominent ethnic organizations and has worked closely with
members of Congress on Armenian genocide commemorative resolutions.

"We’re not saying they should be out of business," said Melanie Sloan,
a former federal prosecutor who’s now the head of the private Citizens
for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "We’re saying there are
laws and they should be following them."

Sloan attached 161 pages worth of exhibits in support of the
allegations.

Armenian National Committee of America officials denounced the charges
as unfounded.

"We’ve taken a preliminary look at (the) allegations, and they are
without merit and full of inaccuracies and misrepresentations," said
Elizabeth Chouldjian, the Armenian National Committee’s communications
director.

Chouldjian declined to undertake a point-by-point rebuttal of the
complaint, but she said that "the real story is why this is being
brought up now." She noted that the complaint was filed about two
months before the annual Armenian Genocide commemoration on April 24;
she didn’t elaborate on a potential motive for the complaint’s timing.

The Armenian National Committee of America describes itself on its
Web site as "the largest and most influential Armenian-American
grass-roots political organization." It’s active in regions with
large Armenian-American populations, including New Jersey, Florida
and California.

Its allies are rallying renewed support for an Armenian genocide
resolution that collapsed in the last Congress. Under presidents of
both political parties, the Pentagon and State Department have opposed
the resolution as an insult to Turkey, which denies that mass deaths
from 1915 to 1923 amounted to genocide.

The genocide commemoration will pose a dilemma for President Barack
Obama. As a candidate, he voiced support for the resolution. As
president, he called Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Monday for
what the White House called a "warm and productive" chat.

The genocide resolution is also at the heart of the new complaint.

"Circumstantial evidence indicates that ANCA and its current or former
executive directors … have lobbied Congress and the executive branch
heavily with regard to perennial congressional Armenian genocide
resolutions," the complaint says.

The complaint cites interviews and news releases in which Armenian
National Committee of America leaders tout their efforts to sway
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., among others.

The committee hasn’t registered as a lobbyist with either the House
of Representatives or the Senate. Failure to register can be a felony
offense, though Sloan said potential problems often were resolved
simply by registering after the fact.

The Armenian Assembly of America, the nation’s other prominent
Armenian-American organization, is registered and reported spending
$182,000 on lobbying last year.

"These are the rules, and everybody has to follow them," Sloan said.

The multi-pronged complaint asks the Internal Revenue Service to
review potential tax violations and asks the Justice Department to
open a criminal probe. It also asks the House and Senate to open
"companion inquiries" into the lobbying allegations.

Citing news accounts, a U.S. Embassy study and the research of Heather
Gregg, an assistant professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in
Monterey, Calif., the complaint contends that the Armenian National
Committee of America is "an arm" of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation, a political party that’s part of Armenia’s ruling
coalition.

Agents of foreign political parties are required to register with
the Justice Department.

The Armenian National Committee of America can endorse political
candidates, as a 501(c)(4) organization. The affiliated Armenian
National Committee of America Western Region, based in Glendale,
Calif., cannot because it’s a 501(c)(3) organization. The complaint
alleges that the Western office nonetheless participated in the
national organization’s candidate endorsements, in part by sharing
a Web site.

Sloan said the complaint arose from "a tip" received late last year.

Sloan’s nonprofit, six-year-old ethics group claims no partisan
affiliation, and it previously has filed ethics complaints about
lawmakers of both parties.

WB TO ALLOCATE $1MLN TO ARMENIA FOR INTERNET ACCESS PROGRAM

ARKA
Feb 23, 2009

YEREVAN, February 23. /ARKA/. The World Bank (WB) will allocate $1mln
to Armenia for preparing an Internet access program.

Bagrat Yengibaryan, Director of the Enterprise Incubator Foundation
(EIF) reported that the RA Ministry of Economy and the WB are to
sign a relevant agreement within a week, with the EIF to elaborate
the program.

The core of the program is the approaches and models to be elaborated
in the country to ensure the cooperation between the government and
private sectors to improve Internet access, reduce prices and upgrade
the quality, Yengibaryan said.

He pointed out that, despite an essential fall in the cost and
much higher quality of Internet services, they are still at an
unsatisfactory level.

Among the causes are mismanagement and Armenia’s geographical
location, because of which very few cables can run through Armenia,
Yengibaryan said.

He pointed out that the RA Ministry of Economy is taking serious steps.

Specifically, it has elaborated an IT development strategy placing
emphasis not only on the IT development, but also on the development
of information community.

The concept provides for specific programs, including the ones of
Internet access improvement and computerization.

Hovik Musaelyan, CEO, Synopsys Armenia, pointed out unsatisfactory
Internet access in Armenia, which hinders the development of Armenian
IT comp anies especially amid the global crisis.

He pointed out that the major obstacle is the quality of Internet
services rather than their cost, which often endangers the
implementation of projects.

ABSENCE OF THE LAW ON FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE AND RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS WOULD LEAD TO DIVISIONS IN THE SOCIETY
Marianna Gyurjyan

"Radiolur"
24.02.2009 14:58

A number of discussions have been conductd after the draft law
on implementing amendments to RA Law on the Freedom of Conscience
and Religious Organizations proposed by the and National Assembly’s
Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Youth Affairs and
Sport was put into circulation.

During today’s discussion at "Hayeli" club Rev. Fr. Mesrop Parsamian,
Deputy Director of the "Karekin I" Theological and Armenological
Center of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin assured that the absence
of this law would lead to divisions among the nation and added that
the main problem is connected with "hunting for souls."

Rev. Fr. Mesrop Parsamian said the concerns of the representative of
the "Cooperation for Democracy" center Stepan Danielyan are ungrounded.

"The concerns that the law could be used against the Armenian Apostolic
Church are not grounded.

KARINE GHAZINIAN APPOINTED DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER OF ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan

F eb 23, 2009

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. By a February 20 presidential
decree, Karine Ghazinian was relieved of her post as Armenia’s
ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Germany.

NT was informed by the RA presidential press service that by Armenian
president Serzh Sargsyan’s another decree of the same day, K. Ghazinian
was appointed deputy foreign minister of Armenia.

TBILISI’S POLICY IN JAVAKHK OUTRAGEOUS

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.02.2009 16:26 GMT+04:00

The problem of Samtskhe Javakheti is an obstacle for the
Armenian-Georgian relations, head of Yerkir Union said.

"The situation is getting worse, specifically in the light of the
recent arrests of Armenian activists," Sevak Artsruni told journalists
in Yerevan. "Due to official Yerevan’s neglect of the problem, the
international community pretends not to notice the anti-Armenian
policy pursued by the Georgian authorities."

"We do not wait for the Armenian government to take action. We urge the
international community and Georgia to respect the rights of Armenians
in Samtskhe Javakheti and put an end to Georgia’s outrageous policy
in the region," Artsruni said.

President of Armenia, Georgia FM discuss issues related to regional
stability and security

armradio.am
21.02.2009 12:52

President Serzh Sargsyan received the delegation headed by the Minister
of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Grigol Vashadze, President’s Press
Office reported.

President Serzh Sargsyan stressed the high level of the
Armenian-Georgian relations which are based on strong historic
foundation and traditional friendship of the two nations. The President
of Armenia underscored the importance of intensive contacts and noted
that they promote further deepening of the mutually beneficial
cooperation.

The two sides spoke about the process of implementation of the
agreements reached during President Sargsyan’s September 2008 visit to
Georgia, particularly to the programs enhancing partnership in the
areas of transportation, customs, and others.

The President of Armenia and the Foreign Minister of Georgia spoke also
about the EU Eastern Partnership initiative and the possible
cooperation in the framework of that program. They also discussed
issues related to the stability and security in the region.

The parties exchanged views on the current global financial and
economic crisis and alleviating measures undertaken in the two states.