Author: Nahapetian Lilit

ARMENIAN-GERMAN RELATIONS DEVELOP ACTIVELY IN ALL SPHERES, ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR STATES

Noyan Tapan
Feb 21 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. The German Minister of Justice has
worked out an all-European bill, by which denial of genocide, as well
as manifestations of xenophobia against ethnic groups are considered
as blameable and punishable. However, as Karine Ghazinian, Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Armenia to Germany, reported at
the February 21 press conference, she is not aware yet, whether the
Armenian Genocide is mentioned in the above mentioned bill or not.

Nevertheless, in K. Ghazinian’s words, the resolution adopted by
Bundestag in 2005, which called Turkey for recognizing its past,
is already a great step. In the Ambassador’s words, though the word
"genocide" was not used in the resolution, the word "extermination"
was used instead. "That resolution was adopted in a country, which
has no influential Armenian community, but has a 3-million influential
Turkish community," K. Ghazinian emphasized.

In the Ambassador’s words, currently the small states are in the
center of Germany’s attention. In K. Ghazinian’s words, the New
Neighborhood program is of great importance for Germany having assumed
EU chairmanship in the coming six months. The goal of the program is,
in particular, to provide assistance to the South Caucasian states
as far as possible.

It was also mentioned that Armenian-German relations develop actively
in all spheres. The Ambassador reported that a Festival of Armenian
Cinema will be held this year in Germany and Days of Armenian Culture
will be held at the end of the year.

FOLLOWING OLMERT’S VISIT TO ANKARA
By Hanna Begelman Sevsay

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 22 2007

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan announced a few days ago
that a delegation led by Ankara’s ambassador to Israel would visit
the site of the Mugrabi ascent in the near future.

The delegation aims to investigate whether the walkway is causing
damage to the foundations of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy sites on
the Temple Mount.

At a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert,
Erdoðan said that the visiting Israeli leader had presented him with a
"detailed picture of the area," but that "the pictures do not convince
me 100 percent." Erdoðan explained that sending a delegation was
necessary, because it was impossible to accept the Israeli position
"only on the basis of the photographs."

The Israeli press and the entire society were rather shocked by the
softness of the Israeli prime minister, blamed him for selling out
the national interests and even for being a deceiver. According to
the latest polls, only 25 percent of the Israelis support Olmert’s
policy and there is a common compromise in seeing Olmert as the most
fledgling prime minister since the state’s establishment.

Olmert’s statement — "We have nothing to hide, we would be happy to
show, to cooperate with anyone" — has been interpreted as a brutal
and cowardly step toward the state’s demolishment. Thus, Olmert’s
legitimization has faced critical challenge both among citizens
and Knesset members. If so, why was the answer of the Israeli Prime
Minister so Turkey oriented? What stood behind the prompt readiness
to accept Erdoðan’s criticism and his immediate intentness to accept
the delegation offered by the Turkish premier?

It seems clear that Israel is keen on keeping stable relations with
its only so-called friend in the region. Even though the links between
these countries turned into a difficult affair to manage due to the
war in Iraq, growing anti-Americanism in Turkey and the latest Israeli
operation in Lebanon, both Israel and Turkey carry on having bilateral
business and academic exchanges, military and strategic cooperation .

The impressive November 2002 victory of the AK Party, a party
with Islamic roots, has reshaped Turkish foreign policy by getting
closer to the Middle East, continuing its reentrance to the Islamic
world in 1996-97. Building bridges with Syria and Iran and Turkey’s
alienation from the US might not seem as the most desired developments
for Israel. Nevertheless, the AK Party is the most-desired party in
official Jerusalem at the moment. As we approach the fall elections,
Israel needs the AK Party to stay the ruling party due to the
following reasons.

The first and the utmost is the fear of rising leftist nationalism
in Turkey, which may turn into the Turkish version of BAAS in its
aftermath. The second reason relies on the strengthening power of
Turkey in the region and its improved relations with Israel’s vital
enemies, which have reached their highest levels during Erdoðan’s era,
can serve Israeli interests in Ankara’s attempt to mediate between
Damascus and Jerusalem. Israel needs a strong Turkey in the region. The
AK Party’s model of "Soft Islam" is expected to be spread throughout
the Middle East. Legally elected "Soft Islamist" parties like the AK
Party, which support liberal economics and democracy, are likely to
be the last chance to bring stabilization in the region. In fact,
the Middle East built upon the AK Party model is the main fragment
of the Greater Middle East Project.

On the other hand, Erdoðan’s distrust of the state’s leader coming
with an official visit to his country, representing the state that
has full diplomatic relations with his homeland, was an ill-mannered
act in political and diplomatic means. Did the Turkish prime minister
not know that the ascent that is being built and current excavations
have nothing to do with holy Muslim sites? Was he not informed that
the bridge’s construction is not going to touch any place that is
sensitive to Islam? Was that the right time to show his mistrust
based on nothing? These days, when major US Jewish organizations
in Washington are working to prevent Congress from adopting the
"Armenian Genocide" resolution, Turkey needs the Jewish lobby and
Israel’s support more than ever. The only explanation of Erdoðan’s
"misbehavior" can be found in the attempt to attract potential voters
from the farthest right wings of the political map in Turkey.

Elections are coming, you know.

Erdoðan criticized Israel for its actions during last summer’s war in
Lebanon more harshly than most of the Arab leaders. However, Olmert
has never talked back in spite of Erdoðan’s tough criticism. The
higher the voice has been in Ankara, the more voiceless Jerusalem
has been. Despite being aware that he would be "castigated" at home,
Olmert had no choice but to swallow the Turkish delight.

–Boundary_(ID_EZG0qLwUlDhBvBq5n2l3fg)–

EU TO INCREASE INVESTMENT TO SOUTH CAUCASUS – GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER

Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS General Newswire
February 20, 2007 Tuesday

The European Union (EU) is interested in developing cooperation
with the countries of the South Caucasus under the New Neighborhood
program, said the German Foreign Minister Frank- Walter Steinmeier,
whose country currently holds the EU presidency.

The EU wants to increase its investment in the region and help the
South Caucasus countries achieve democracy, Steinmeier told a press
conference in Yerevan on Tuesday.

He noted that Armenia, for example, has many steps yet to make,
regardless of the outcome of the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Steinmeier said that Germany and the EU are ready to provide all
assistance to Armenia in conducting democratic parliamentary elections,
for which purpose 300 international observers will be sent to the
country.

Steinmeier rejected the idea that Europe is interested in Azerbaijan
for its energy resources and in Georgia for its NATO ambitions.

He said the South Caucasus nations are the EU’s neighbors, and that
Europe needs the region to be stable, quite apart from the issue of
which country joins which military or other bloc in future.

L’IMPOSSIBLE INHUMATION D’UN SANS-PAPIERS D’ARMENIE
Casiniere Nicolas De La Nantes Correspondance

Liberation, France
20 fevrier 2007 mardi

Un imbroglio bloque les obsèques d’Ashot Ghazarian, suicide en prison
sous un faux nom.

Le deuil de celui qui fut un sans-papiers armenien butte sur un
inextricable imbroglio de papiers francais. Mort le 29 janvier sous
le faux nom qui lui a servi a faire regulariser sa situation d’exile
en France, Ashot Ghazarian ne peut toujours pas etre porte en terre.

Procedures judiciaires, logique administrative des services de l’etat
civil et du consulat, tout s’oppose a laisser sortir cet Armenien de
la morgue et de France.

Pour l’administration penitentiaire, le corps retrouve etrangle par
un drap accroche a la television est celui d’Artur Grigorian, 31 ans,
detenu depuis le 19 novembre dernier. Pour qu’il soit inhume dignement,
sous son vrai nom, Anna a revele sa veritable identite, presentant
son vrai passeport et le certificat de naissance. "C’etait notre
secret. Il m’avait demande de ne rien dire, par securite pour nos
vies", dit-elle. Arrive a Nantes en 2001, le couple a deux enfants,
qui ont aujourd’hui onze et neuf ans et sont scolarises.

Mais lui est armenien et elle azerie, de surcroît mineure il y
a douze ans aux premiers temps de vie commune. Anna explique a
demi-mot que cette double appartenance est jugee insupportable par les
nationalistes armeniens, dans un pays où les tensions sont vives avec
l’Azerbaïdjan voisin. Se sentant "menaces par des militaires qui ont
fait la guerre", ils ont fui en passant par la Russie, pour arriver
en France en 2001. Sous le nom de Grigorian, il obtient un titre de
sejour, travaille comme peintre, taille la vigne… Jusqu’a ce qu’il
soit arrete en novembre pour une histoire de racket envers d’autres
ressortissants armeniens, ce qu’il a toujours nie.

Comparaisons. Chargee de verifier que les causes de la mort relèvent
bien d’un suicide dans une cellule de la maison d’arret de Rennes,
une juge d’instruction a ensuite voulu s’assurer de la veritable
identite de cet Armenien. Après l’autopsie, des prelèvements d’ADN ont
ete realises, mais pas encore recoupes avec les empreintes genetiques
des parents demeurant en Armenie. La procedure de comparaison d’ADN
impose un accord des autorites armeniennes, avant que les prelèvements
soient effectues, adresses en France, et analyses en labo. Ce qui
risque de prendre des semaines. Le plus simple serait d’autoriser
les parents a venir en France pour les obsèques, ce qui permettrait
d’accelerer les comparaisons. Mais le consulat de France a Erevan ne
leur delivre pas de visa, pour une raison administrative implacable :
pas d’acte de decès, pas d’autorisation d’aller en France. A Rennes,
le blocage est aussi simple : pas d’identite assuree, pas d’acte de
decès. Le corps reste en chambre froide.

Pour debloquer la situation, la mairie de Rennes a insiste auprès du
consul de France a Erevan, alors que le Quai d’Orsay a ete interpelle
par le consulat d’Armenie a Paris. Sans resultat. Vendredi, la juge
d’instruction rennaise a fait une demi-avancee, delivrant un permis
d’inhumer, mais sous le nom d’emprunt d’Artur Grigorian, le vrai nom
n’etant mentionne qu’a titre d’alias. Avec ce document, les parents
n’auront sans doute pas l’autorisation de faire le voyage en France.

Ils y croyaient pourtant, et avaient deja reserve un billet d’avion.

Le rapatriement est donc aussi impensable que l’enterrement
impossible. Depuis trois semaines, Anna attend qu’on lui rende le
corps de son compagnon, en tenant a ce que les parents le voient une
dernière fois. "Je ne voudrais pas qu’on ferme le cercueil avant",
dit la jeune femme.

Recoupement. Procureure adjoint de Rennes, Catherine Denis evoquait
jeudi dernier une possible "inhumation provisoire" en France, en
attendant les resultats de "l’analyse des papiers officiels, en
cours par recoupement d’empreintes digitales ou genetiques. C’est
l’obstacle a lever pour pouvoir delivrer un acte de decès. Ce n’est
pas de la mauvaise volonte de la justice. Sans certitude sur l’etat
civil, il peut y avoir prejudice d’ayant droit". Interpol et les
autorites armeniennes ont aussi ete interroges. "Donnez-moi son
corps. Il ne va pas revivre. Il est deja mort", dit Anna, epuisee par
tant de demarches encombrant un deuil impossible. Dans son pavillon a
l’interieur depouille, hormis des fleurs au sol et une bougie allumee,
Anna guette le moindre coup de telephone, face un portrait d’Ashot. Un
tableau realise par un peintre au lendemain de la mort.

D’après une petite photo d’identite.

–Boundary_(ID_vXMczQfvm57q61LwYH23eg )–

ANDRANIK MARGARYAN: IN 2008 ARMENIA WILL IMPORT GAS FROM IRAN AS MUCH AS FROM RUSSIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.02.2007 16:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "I hope in 2008 Armenia will import gas from Iran
as much as from Russia," stated Armenian Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan in an interview with Jane’s Research Center. Experts of
the center claim that two gas pipelines will be constructed from
Iran to Armenia this year, one of which will be put in commission in
2007, and the other in 2008. A. Margaryan also underlined Armenia is
conducting an integration policy to the international community. But
Jane’s experts put a question, "Will Armenia reach this goal if we
take into account Yerevan’s dependence from Moscow?", RFE/RL reports.

TURKISH PM SAYS GENOCIDE BILL MAY CAST SHADOW OVER TURKEY-US PARTNERSHIP

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
Feb 17 2007

Istanbul, 17 February: "We don’t expect a negative decision to be
adopted regarding the draft on so-called Armenian genocide at US
House of Representatives in April. However, I am concerned that a
contrary decision may overshadow our strategical partnership," said
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who attended the dinner
of the American Business Forum in Turkey (ABFT) at Istanbul Hilton
Hotel on Saturday [17 February].

"We are getting close to a very sensitive period. April is closing and
so-called Armenian genocide allegations will be brought onto agenda
again. We are tired of it. But, Armenian diaspora is not. We say that
this is historians’ job. I wrote a letter to Armenian prime minister. I
proposed this issue to be examined by historians, political scientists,
lawyers, archeologists and art historians.

Then, we – politicians – shall assess the reports on these
examinations. Turkey opened its archives. More than 1 million documents
have been examined so far. If you (Armenia) have archives too, you
shall open them. If third countries have archives, they shall open
and we examine. But we cannot accept to be stained without making
these examinations," Erdogan said.

He noted, "currently, there are nearly 40-50,000 Armenians who
living as illegal migrants in Turkey. But, we don’t send them back to
Armenia. Why these Armenians are living in Turkey? Because they do not
have the appropriate living conditions in Armenia. They came Turkey,
and we do not send them away."

Noting that Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as well as Turkish
Chief of General Staff Gen Yasar Buyukanit held meetings in the United
States regarding the draft on so-called Armenian genocide, Erdogan
called on businessmen to exert efforts too. He expressed belief that
economic, political, military, commercial and cultural solidarity
between Turkey and the United States will continue from now on too.

"It is very meaningful that the economic and commercial relations
with the United States are developing in parallel with comprehensive
cooperation on political and security areas," said Erdogan and added:
"This development will have important contributions to all dimensions
of strategic partnership."

"We attach importance to evaluate the existing potential in economic
relations on maximum level. It is pleasing that the bilateral trade
volume between Turkey and the United States nearly reached 12bn US
dollars by the end of 2006. But this is not enough. Last year, US
investments in Turkey was 5bn US dollars. But these figures do not
reflect the real potential," noted Erdogan.

Noting that Turkey is the country which fulfilled the highest number
of privatization in Europe last year, Erdogan said that direct
international investment worth of 20bn US dollars was made in Turkey
in 2006.

Erdogan said that Turkey is the 19th biggest economy of the world,
and it has become an attraction centre for international investments
with its 200bn US dollars of foreign trade.

Erdogan noted that Turkish contracting companies have completed
projects worth of 100bn US dollars abroad so far. "We wish these
companies to make more cooperation with US private sector. This
cooperation will yield very successful results especially in
reconstruction projects in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon," he added.

MSNBC, US
Feb 16 2007

As death increases, compassion recedes
Study finds mass death fails to spur emotion the way one tragedy can

By Sara Goudarzi
Staff Writer

Updated: 11:56 a.m. ET Feb. 16, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO – While a person’s accidental death reported on the
evening news can bring viewers to tears, mass killings reported as
statistics fail to tickle human emotions, a new study finds.

The Internet and other modern communications bring atrocities such as
killings in Darfur, Sudan into homes and office cubicles. But
knowledge of these events fails to motivate most to take action, said
Paul Slovic, a University of Oregon researcher.

People typically react very strongly to one death but their emotions
fade as the number of victims increase, Slovic reported here
yesterday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science.

"We go all out to save a single identified victim, be it a person or
an animal, but as the numbers increase, we level off," Slovic said.
"We don’t feel any different to say 88 people dying than we do to 87.
This is a disturbing model, because it means that lives are not
equal, and that as problems become bigger we become insensitive to
the prospect of additional deaths."

Human insensitivity to large-scale human suffering has been observed
in the past century with genocides in Armenia, the Ukraine, Nazi
Germany and Rwanda, among others.

"We have to understand what it is in our makeup – psychologically,
socially, politically and institutionally – that has allowed genocide
to go unabated for a century," Slovic said. "If we don’t answer that
question and use the answer to change things, we will see another
century of horrible atrocities around the world."

Slovic previously studied this phenomenon by presenting photographs
to a group of subjects. In the first photograph eight children needed
$300,000 to receive medical attention in order to save their lives.
In the next photograph, one child needed $300,000 for medical bills.

Most subjects were willing to donate to the one and not the group of
children.

In his latest research, Slovic and colleagues showed three photos to
participants: a starving African girl, a starving African boy and a
photo of both of them together.

Participants felt equivalent amounts of sympathy for each child when
viewed separately, but compassion levels declined when the children
were viewed together.

"The studies … suggest a disturbing psychological tendency," Slovic
said. "Our capacity to feel is limited. Even at two, people start to
lose it.’

L.A. WANTS GOV’T TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

CBS 2, CA
Feb 14 2007

(CBS) LOS ANGELES The Los Angeles City Council went on record Wednesday
in support of a proposed federal resolution asking the U.S. government
to recognize the Armenian genocide, which resulted in deaths of 1.5
million people in 1915.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, introduced HR 195 on Jan. 30, asking
President Bush to recognize the killings committed by Turkey’s Ottoman
Empire during World War I.

"This crime against humanity succeeded in the elimination of 3,000
years of cultural history in Ottoman, Turkey, and it was something
(Adolf) Hitler cited when he began the Holocaust of the Jews,"
Councilman Eric Garcetti said just before the council unanimously
voted to support the resolution. "He said, `After all, who remembers
the Armenians?"’

Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that about 300,000
Armenians, and at least as many Turks, died during civil strife
in 1915.

The deaths occurred when Armenians in eastern Anatolia fought for
independence and sided with Russian troops invading the crumbling
Ottoman Empire during World War I.

"These atrocities occurred a long time ago, and we’re still fighting
for the first condition of justice, the recognition of the gravity
of the evil done," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said during a news
conference in front of City Hall. "It is time we honored the Armenian
people by taking the first step toward justice."

In other action, the City Council’s Arts, Parks, Health and Aging
Committee agreed that Los Angeles should adopt Yerevan as a sister
city.

Yerevan, with a population of 1.2 million, is located in eastern
Armenia.

ORHAN PAMUK MAY HAVE EMIGRATED FROM TURKEY

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.02.2007 17:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Nobel Prize winner in literature, Turkish writer
Orhan Pamuk may have emigrated from Turkey. Two weeks after Hrant
Dink’s assassination Pamuk departed for New York, where he was going
to deliver a lecture at the Columbia University. Here Pamuk from time
to time delivers lectures. But his relatives deny information that
he has decided to emigrate from Turkey after receiving threats. "He
has not fled from Turkey and there is nothing strange in his absence,
he will return," stated one of his colleagues. Like Hrant Dink, Pamuk
was being prosecuted for "insulting the Turkish nation", particularly
for his statement in a Swiss newspaper that 1.5 million Armenians
were killed in the Ottoman Empire. Most recently one of suspects of
the Dink assassination advised Pamuk to "think it over" RFE/RL reports.

EXPERTS OF JANE’S CENTER OFFER TURKEY TO OPEN BORDER WITH ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.02.2007 14:07 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The most efficient way to resist challenges in front
of Turkey is economic development of districts populated by Kurds, say
experts of Jane’s Analytical Center. As a recipe they offer Turkey to
open border with Armenia. Experts think that the simultaneously acting
"shadow cabinet" of Turkey – the army, currently is seriously concerned
by the instability in Iraq and calls upon the U.S. to launch military
actions against Kurdish separatists on the North of Iraq. "Intelligence
services and military potentials of Turkey consider hypothetical
Kurdish government as a serious threat to security and stability of
Turkey," say Jane’s experts. In case of opening the Armenian-Turkish
border from border trade, first of all, will benefit Kurdish districts
on the East of Turkey. "Since currently the Turkish army examines the
opening of Armenian-Turkish border not as threat but as achieving their
goals in Eastern Turkey, most probably even conservative circles will
give their preferences to the opening of Armenian-Turkish border,"
say the experts of Jane’s center, RFE RL reports.