ROBERT KOCHARIAN TO DEPART FOR MOSCOW MAY 7
Pan Armenian News
06.05.2005 07:36
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ May 7 Armenian President Robert Kocharian will
depart for Moscow on a working visit, RA President’s press service
reported. In the Russian capital Robert Kocharian will take part in
the events dedicated to the 60-th anniversary of the victory in the
Great Patriotic War. The delegation headed by the RA President will
return to Armenia on May 9.
TURKISH PRESIDENT CRITICIZED GERMANY’S POSITION ON ARMENIAN ISSUE
06.05.2005 06:25
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish President Ahmed Necdet Sezer criticized German’s
position on the Armenian issue. In his words, the resolution on the Armenian
Genocide considered in Bundestag is incompatible with the Turkish-German
friendship.”If Ahmed Necdet Sezer had a conversation with Gerhard Schroeder
he would make him worr”, Milliyet Turkish newspaper writes.
TALVITIE: THREE SOUTH CAUCASIAN COUNTRIES OF EQUAL SIGNIFICANCE TO EU
Pan Armenian News
05.05.2005 07:24
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The three South Caucasian countries are of equal
significance to the EU, EU Special Representative for the South
Caucasus Heikki Talvitie stated at a joint press conference with
Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian today. In his words,
after “the rose revolution” in Georgia the EU paid more attention
to that country to restore the infrastructure and democracy. The EU
Special Representative stated that the program of actions aimed at
intensification of the relations between Armenia and the EU within the
Wider Europe: New Neighbors Program should be worked out before the end
of 2005. As noted by Talvitie, after all the three South Caucasian
countries present the programs, as well as within the framework
of direct implementation of the program, an individual approach
will be applied to each of those countries. Answering a question
whether Armenia’s participation in the EU program may develop into
accession to the EU, Talvitie noted that Neighborhood program does
not provide for accession of the South Caucasian states to the EU,
however it does not deny this opportunity. Talvitie informed that
after the plan of actions is ready Armenia and the EU will sign an
agreement that will start implementation of the European policy of
New Neighborhood. In his turn, Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian noted
that the Neighborhood policy «is not a promise to enter the EU but
a prospect.» Talvitie also appreciated the level of democracy in
Armenia, as well as positively evaluated the process of reforms of
the Constitution and the Electoral Code.
–Boundary_(ID_Q3O85Kt+91QhrIhwVB8yQA)–
Turkish Press
May 5 2005
Press Review
MILLIYET
GERMAN CHANCELLOR SCHROEDER ASSURES TURKEY OVER EU TALKS DATE
On his second day in Turkey yesterday, German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey
must continue with key reforms demanded by the European Union before
accession negotiations can begin as scheduled on Oct 3, Schroeder said
at a joint press conference with Erdogan in Ankara. “Our job from
now on won’t be easy,” Erdogan responded. “There are many things to
be done in terms of implementation. Turkey has embarked on a path
and it will continue with decisiveness on this path.” The German
chancellor urged Ankara to sign the protocol extending its Customs
Union to 10 new EU members including Greek Cyprus. He also assured
Turkish officials that the EU was determined to start talks with
Ankara on Oct. 3. “The EU won’t postpone accession talks because such
a strategic decision can’t be swayed by changing opinion polls or a
possible French rejection of the EU Constitution,” he stressed. He
also announced that he backed Erdogan’s proposal to create a joint
Turkish-Armenian commission to study the so-called Armenian genocide
allegations. Schroeder also reiterated Brussels’ demand that Turkey
expand the freedoms of its non-Muslim communities. “Religious freedom
is a main principle of the EU,” Schroeder said. “People should freely
practice their religions.” For his part, Erdogan said that there
had been no direct request from Schroeder to allow the reopening of
the Heybeliada Seminary. In addition, the German chancellor was also
received by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and met with Fener Patriarch
Bartholomeos and attended the Turkish-German Economic Congress.
/Milliyet/
HIDEKO UDAGAWA IN ARMENIA
A1plus
| 14:39:50 | 05-05-2005 | Culture |
Hideko Udagawa, the great-granddaughter of Japan’s historically most
influential prime ministers has come to Armenia to present her mastery.
As a protégée of Nathan Milstein, she has inherited the great Russian
romantic tradition of violin playing. Ms Udagawa made her orchestral
debut in London with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Charles
Mackerras, playing Bruch’s G minor concerto at the Barbican Hall. Her
performances have spanned thirty countries across Europe, North America
and Asia-Pacific. Armenia will be the 31st. In addition to live
performances, Ms Udagawa has made a number of recordings which draw on
her wide-ranging repertoire of over forty concerti. She is particularly
enthusiastic about discovering great unrecorded works. Her latest
CD, of works by Aram Khachaturian with the pianist Boris Berezovsky,
for Koch International, includes seven world premiere recordings.
May 6 the masterly violin player will give a concert together with
the State Phliharmonic Orchestra conducted by Eduard Topchyan in the
concert hall after Aram Khachaturyan.
She will perform Tchaikovsky’s Symphonic Fantasy «Francesca da
Rimini», Khachaturyan’s Concert Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra
and Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony.
–Boundary_(ID_kYWIwZlXFWK7fN1LzXnuow)–
Schroeder: Turkey Has Fulfilled Its Promises
Turkish Press
May 4 2005
ANKARA – “Turkey has fulfilled its promises to the EU so far. I
believe it will fulfill its promises until October 3rd as well,”
said German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted a dinner in honor of
Schroeder on Tuesday.
Schroeder conveyed his views to Erdogan about economic, political,
commercial and cultural relations between Turkey and Germany as well
as EU, Armenia and Cyprus issues.
Schroeder said, “we welcome Turkey’s steps regarding Cyprus issue. I
hope Turkey will sign Ankara Agreement Protocol before October 3rd.”
“We welcome the proposal which was presented to Armenian President
Robert Kocharian. We will support every step which will be taken to
develop relations between Turkey and Armenia. We support the proposal
of opening archives mutually and historians to be included in the
issue. Joint study of historians will be an important step,” he said.
Erdogan and Schroeder expressed pleasure over positive and dynamic
relations between Turkey and Germany.
Both leaders agreed to pursue relations in trade and investment areas
with further cooperation between two countries.
No need for inviting President to parliament – Speaker
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
May 4 2005
Baku, May 3, AssA-Irada — There is no need for inviting President
Ilham Aliyev to the Milli Majlis (parliament), said Parliament Speaker
Murtuz Alasgarov, commenting on a proposal to hold parliamentary
hearings on the Upper Garabagh conflict with the President’s
participation. Alasgarov noted that certain success has been achieved
in the peaceful settlement of the Garabagh conflict, mentioning that
Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents are expected to meet shortly.
“If any agreement is reached at the meeting, President Aliyev will
inform the deputies on its details,” the speaker added.*
INTERVIEW WITH ALBERT VOSKANIAN
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
04 May 05
Several days ago a seminar was held in London Royal Institute
of International Affairs on the topic “Political Development and
Calls for Security in South Caucasian Conflicts”. Representatives
of international and non-governmental organizations, politicians and
diplomats from different countries took part in the seminar. Nagorno
Karabakh was represented by the director of the Center for Civil
Undertakings Albert Voskanian who reported on the impact of “frozen”
conflicts on the development of democracy. According to Albert
Voskanian, the seminar was highly organized, the participants were
given an opportunity to present the current situation in their
countries, discuss different political developments and challenges
threatening the security of the region and express their viewpoints
on the ways of resolution of the conflicts. “In Nagorno Karabakh
we are highly conscious that the international community considers
the democratic state built on social justice to be the cornerstone
of the present world system of values,” said Mr. Voskanian in his
address. “In this respect we are highly conscious of the fact that
we shall attract the attention of the international community only
when we build a truly democratic society in our country. We are
also aware that we have not achieved this aim yet. At the same time
we are convinced that the rapid resolution of “frozen” conflicts
through peace talks with direct participation of the conflict
parties will greatly favour this process, for every nation has its
idea of its future. At the same time we recognize that being left
behind in the modern processes of development, particularly having
no opportunity of receiving aid from international organizations,
Nagorno Karabakh needs to rely on its own resources and the aid of
the Armenian Diaspora, as well as look for non-standard ways and
methods of using the potential of the region. The Diaspora and,
of course, Armenia help Karabakh to improve economic management,
efficiency of different governmental organizations and agencies,
develop democratic institutions and the mass media in the republic,
and other matters. However, we realize that at present these are merely
auxiliary factors for our republic.” Evika Babayan: “Mr. Voskanian,
would you tell about the human rights organization Center for Civil
Undertakings?” A.V.: “I would like to mention that the organization
contributes to the creation of a civil society, development of the
public sector and democratic institutions in Nagorno Karabakh. One
of the main directions in the activities of the organization is the
monitoring of the prisons of Nagorno Karabakh held since April 2003
with the permission of the authorities of the republic, which is an
unprecedented step in our region. Why unprecedented? It is the first
time that a non-governmental organization fulfills such an activity
on a regular basis in Karabakh. The motto of our organization in
this work is the phrase of Winston Churchill “prison is the mirror
of the society”. On the basis of the information and observations
gathered during the visits to the prisons the Center prepares reports
and extends them to the Council of Europe, OSCE, the UN Commissar on
Human Rights, Alert International, Amnesty International, Penal Reform
International, Committee Against Torture and other international
and human rights organizations, as well as the corresponding
organizations of Nagorno Karabakh. We report both the positive and
negative sides, gives instructions to the administrations of prisons
for the improvement of the situation. In practice we see that the
administrations of the prisons take into account our opinion. The
aforementioned organizations also respond to our reports. We got
a letter from the Council of Europe asking to inform them about
the activities of our organization. If necessary we give practical
advice to international and other organizations dealing with the same
problem. I would like to state not without pride that our activity
carried out on a charity basis has its contribution to the process
of democratization of the society in Karabakh. Our organization
consistently acts in favour of transferring the prisons of Nagorno
Karabakh from the Police under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of
Justice, for we think this will favour maintaining international
standards in this sphere more rapidly, as well as the effective and
many-sided solution of the current problems.” E.B.: “Mr. Voskanian, we
know that the human rights organization was among the first to respond
to the idea of abolishing capital punishment.” A.V.: “Yes, in fact,
we were among the first to propose abolition of capital punishment in
our republic too. By the way I would like to mention that in Nagorno
Karabakh capital punishment was abolished (de facto) in 1997, which
was included in the OSCE report. The last capital punishment in NKR
was executed before 1997. In Nagorno Karabakh capital punishment was
abolished since August 1, 2003 after the enactment of the corresponding
law. According to the law capital punishment as the ultimate form of
punishment is replaced by life imprisonment in Nagorno Karabakh.” A.V.:
“Presently more than a hundred non-governmental organizations are
registered in the republic of which only a small number operates due
to the lack of local and international donors. The humanitarian sphere
is politicized for the reason that the republic is not recognized,
which, actually, hinders setting up relationships abroad.” E.B.:
“Did the seminar correspond to your expectations?” E.B.: “On the
whole yes, especially that the discussion of the questions raised
at the seminar will resume in Tbilisi this July. The final document
containing instructions for the governments and the public sector will
be presented. The document will be aimed at establishing constant
dialogue between the government and the society, which will in the
long run have a positive impact on the regional processes.”
EVIKA BABAYAN. 04-05-2005
SITTING OF ARMENIAN-AMERICAN WORKING GROUP OF ECONOMIC COOPERATION HELD IN YEREVAN
Pan Armenian News
02.05.2005 08:45
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian-American Working Group of Economic
Cooperation is charged with the task to search ways for the activation
of economy development, contribution to the development of democracy
and the institute of human rights and attraction of foreign investments
to the republic. In the words of Armenian Minister of Economy and
Finance Vardan Khachatrian, the issues referring to the investment in
the Armenian economy, growth of agriculture, programs of territorial
administration, war on terror and many others were discussed during
the sitting held in Yerevan today.
Turkish Islamist party calls for constitution change to solve headscarf issue
Anatolia news agency
28 Apr 05
Ankara: Felicity Party [SP] Deputy Chairman Lutfu Esengun has said
that “the problem around the Islamic headscarf is not a problem that
can be resolved by the government”, adding: “The only way out is to
make constitutional amendments and hold a referendum on these
amendments.”
Holding a press conference at the SP General Headquarters, Esengun
assessed the political developments.
Esengun claimed that this year, important mistakes were made regarding
the Armenian genocide claims that have been on the agenda for
years. Noting that despite the fact that Turkey does not have
diplomatic ties with Armenia, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
wrote a letter to his Armenian counterpart and proposed to established
a joint commission to examine the genocide claims, Esengun underlined
that this is a mistake in itself. Esengun said: “Announcing the
Armenians’ treacherous acts and murders and ensuring that the
international public believes in these facts – this is the only answer
we can give to the Armenian claims.”
Noting that the TBMM [Turkish Grand National Assembly] and the
government officials constantly travel abroad, Esengun added that
these visits do not go beyond touristic trips.
Recalling that TBMM Speaker Bulent Arinc visited Poland a short time
ago, but that immediately after this visit Poland decided to recognize
the Armenian genocide claims, Esengun said: “The fact that Poland
reached such a decision immediately after the visit is very
disturbing. Why did the honourable Arinc go on this visit?”
Also levelling criticism against US President Bush who talked about a
“massacre” when referring to the genocide claims, Esengun stressed:
“The cooperative stand adopted by the government did not prevent the
United States from adopting a hostile stand against Turkey.”
Esengun also underlined that the decree that was prepared regarding
the Incirlik base should be announced to the public.
Lutfu Esengun claimed that Constitutional Court President Mustafa
Bumin’s remarks regarding the Islamic headgear “are unfortunate and
unacceptable remarks that deeply hurt the nation”.
Stating that such comments create tension among the society, Esengun
said the following:
“This is not a problem that can be resolved by the government. The
only way out is to make constitutional amendments and to hold a
referendum on these amendments. The decision that will be reached as a
result of the referendum will be the most relevant decision in terms
of everyone and everyone will respect that decision.
“To go to the nation is the only way out. We believe that the will of
the nation is the most superior will where this issue is
concerned. The decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
are not superior to the Constitution or the will of the nation. If
constitutional amendments are made, the ECHR cannot reach any decision
regarding this issue.”
Stating that if the constitutional amendment is accepted with more
than 330 votes, a referendum will be made on these amendments, Esengun
said: “It will be possible to resolve the Islamic headgear issue
primarily and many issues that are described as impassable in Turkey
and that are expected to be resolved through social consensus with the
votes of the nation.”
Noting that the AKP [ruling Justice and Development Party] which is
levying new taxes and increasing the prices every passing day has also
destroyed the hopes in the economic field, Esengun also claimed that
Turkey is on the eve of making preparations for the elections.