Author: Nalbandian Eduard

SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL CENTER OPENS IN DALARIK COMMUNITY, ARMAVIR PROVINCE

Armenpress
Sept 27 2006

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS: By the co-financing of the Children
of Armenia Fund (COAF) and UNICEF a social-psychological center is
functioning in the Dalarik community of the Armenian province of
Armavir. The services of the center are also available for the people
of Argina, Lernagog, Myasnikian, Shenik and Karakert communities
which are included in the COAF’s program of "Model Villages".

The center will help children with special needs and their families
to integrate into society.

During the opening ceremony of the center a representative of the
UNICEF Sheldon Yett said that the cooperation of teachers, parents,
doctors and community is very important for carrying out an effective
work.

Naira Avetisian, the head of the children’s rights protection programs
at the UNICEF Armenian Office, said that the most important thing is
the increase of the awareness of the public about children’s rights.

The Executive Director of COAF Arpi Balian said that the cooperation
with different organizations is very important for the implementation
of the COAF’s all-embracing program directed towards the development
of Armenian rural areas.

DUTCH PARTIES EXPEL TURKISH CANDIDATES FOR NOT ACCEPTING ARMENIAN CLAIMS

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Sept 27 2006

Three Turkish candidates have been expelled from their parties in the
Netherlands due to their refusal to accept Armenian claims regarding
1915 Events, which the Armenians claimed the Ottomans committed
so-called ‘genocide’ during the World War One (WWI).

Ahead of general elections to be held in the Netherlands on Nov. 22,
on Tuesday two separate Dutch parties removed three Turkish-origin
politicians from their lists of candidates to run for a seat in
the parliament.

The Christian Democrat Appeal (CDA) officials decided to expel Ayhan
Tonca and Osman Elmaci from the party because they do not accept the
existence of the so-called Armenian genocide. The Labor Party of the
Netherlands also expelled Erdinc Sacan for the same reason.

More than 450.000 Turkish people live in Netherlands and Turkish people
in this country mostly believe that the recent expels are vivid example
of discrimination against Turkish and Muslim people of Netherlands.

CDA candidates Tonca and Elmaci are expected to hold a press conference
about the issue on Wednesday.

UN JOURNALISTE ARMENIEN DE TURQUIE A NOUVEAU POURSUIVI POUR SES DECLARATIONS

Agence France Presse
25 septembre 2006 lundi 2:48 PM GMT

Un tribunal d’Istanbul a decide de juger le journaliste armenien de
Turquie Hrant Dink pour "denigrement de l’identite turque" après que
celui-ci eut qualifie de "genocide" les massacres d’Armeniens commis
en 1915-17, a affirme lundi Fethiye Cetin, l’avocate de M. Dink.

Le directeur de la publication de l’hebdomadaire bilingue
turc-armenien Agos, qui encourt dans cette affaire jusqu’a trois ans
d’emprisonnement, pourrait, s’il est reconnu coupable, voir s’ajouter
a cette peine six mois de prison supplementaires auxquels il a ete
condamne avec sursis l’an dernier.

"Hrant a accorde en juillet un entretien a une agence de presse
etrangère sur les evenements de 1915, dans lequel il a utilise certains
mots", a explique a l’AFP Me Cetin.

"C’est la reproduction de certains passages de l’entretien par Agos
qui a entraîne l’ouverture d’une enquete et a present de poursuites",
a-t-elle poursuivi, indiquant ne pas encore connaître la date
d’ouverture du procès.

Interroge sur la nature des massacres d’Armeniens commis en Anatolie
lors de la Première guerre mondiale, M. Dink affirme dans l’entretien:
"Bien sûr je dis que c’est un genocide. Parce que le resultat identifie
ce que c’est et lui donne un nom. Vous pouvez voir qu’un peuple qui
a vecu sur ces terres pendant 4.000 ans a disparu."

Le journaliste est poursuivi au titre de l’article 301 du code penal,
qui a servi de base a des procedures judiciaires contre de nombreux
intellectuels critiques de la thèse officielle sur la question
armenienne.

La question armenienne est particulièrement sensible en Turquie,
qui rejette l’emploi du terme "genocide" pour qualifier les evenements.

Le Premier ministre Recep Tayyip Erdogan a laisse entendre la
semaine dernière que l’article 301, très critique par l’Union
europeenne a laquelle la Turquie aspire a adherer, pourrait etre
amende prochainement.

M. Dink a ete condamne en octobre 2005 a six mois de prison avec
sursis pour avoir appele dans un article d’Agos les Armeniens a
"se tourner maintenant vers le sang neuf de l’Armenie independante",
seule capable de les liberer du poids de la Diaspora.

Cette condamnation avait ete confirmee en appel en juillet.

–Boundary_(ID_2HZcJWHAwRb7SBABp8pK9Q)–

ARMENIA HEADING ROAD OF FREE MARKET AND FAIR COMPETITION

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Sept 21 2006

YEREVAN, September 21. /ARKA/. Armenian authorities have taken the
road of free market, fair competition and effective administration,
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan said Wednesday at the second
economic forum held as part of Independence Day celebration in Armenia.

In his opinion, this road leads to nation prosperity and stable
economic development.

The premier said that some government-led programs focused on the
country’s economic development would lay favorable ground for faster
economic development.

As an example of these programs, the PM singled out poverty reduction
program.

RESOLUTION SHOULD BE SOUGHT FOR IN TALKS
Laura Grigorian

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
Sept 21 2006

On September 18 the PACE reporter on the missing Leo Platvoet and
the secretary of the PACE Committee of Migration, Refugees and
Population, Marc Neville visited the office of the NKR Society of
the Missing Soldiers. The guests first watched the museum of the
missing soldiers, got acquainted with the work of the organization and
afterwards met with the relatives of the missing soldiers. In July,
the representatives of the Council of Europe visited Baku, Yerevan
and Tbilisi, and this time they are visiting Nagorno Karabakh and
Abkhazia. The guests were interested in any information about the
missing soldiers and their place, as well as cooperation between the
society and their Azerbaijani counterparts. The chair of the society
Vera Grigorian, as well as the relatives of the missing soldiers
informed referring to the facts they have at hand that there are
still Armenian prisoners in Baku prisons, but the Baku authorities
deny this. The mothers asked the representatives of the CoE to report
their voice to the international organizations to help find out the
fate of 239 missing people. "The unpalatable truth is better for
us than the reassuring lie," they said. The representatives of the
CoE were also interested to know about the relations of this NGO and
the NKR government, their assistance to the society. Vera Grigorian,
the chair of the society said the families of the missing people are
constantly in the focus of attention of the government. She also
said they met with their Azerbaijani counterparts in Tbilisi and
several cities in Russia but these meetings produced no results. The
representatives of the CoE promised to report the problem to relevant
organizations. "We cannot go and search for the missing. This is not
our objective. We see the settlement of the problem in the talks of
the parties," said Leo Platvoet.

NOVELIST CLEARED OF "INSULTING TURKISHNESS"

RTE.ie, Ireland
22 September 2006

Bestselling Turkish novelist Elif Shafak was yesterday acquitted
of the charges of "insulting Turkishness" brought against her under
Article 301 of Turkish law.

The charges were dropped at the prosecutor’s request on the first
day of her trial.

Shafak was accused of denigrating the national identity in her novel,
‘The Bastard of Istanbul’.

The charges stem from a part of the book in which a character who
is an ethnic Armenian says that "Turkish butchers" massacred his
ancestors in a 1915 "genocide".

Shafak, who gave birth on Saturday did not attend the trial.

She could have received a three-year jail sentence as a result in a
case that was being monitored by the European Union as a benchmark
for Turkey’s human rights record.

After the decision, EU spokeswoman Krisztina Nagy warned: "The fact
remains that [Turkey’s courts] established a restrictive interpretation
of article 301 of the penal code which is not in line with the European
Court of Human Rights and European standards of freedom of expression."

A report on Turkey’s progress toward membership is due to be published
on 8 November.

Number of U.S. Politicians Stand Against Hoagland’s Nomination

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.09.2006 14:35 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
thinks that Senator Robert Menendez’s position will be endorsed by
the other Senate members, ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian
told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words, not only the Senate
but also other U.S. politicians stand against Hoagland’s nomination
for U.S. Ambassador to Armenia.

"Although it’s the President who takes the decision, he cannot appoint
a new Ambassador without the Senate’s approval. If the Senators
determine to freeze the process of appointment several questions will
arouse. The first and the most important question is whether President
Bush intends to recognize the Armenian Genocide and to what extent the
candidate is appropriate for the post. Richard Hoagland himself should
voice his position on the Armenian Genocide and finally, the President
Administration should comment on the concern of the Turkish government
and its role in the Genocide recognition issue and appointment of
Ambassador to Armenia," the ANCA Executive Director underscored.

Russia to sell 100% of its shares in Sochi airport in 2006

RIA Novosti
14:37 | 20/ 09/ 2006

MOSCOW, September 20 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian government plans
to sell 100% of its shares in Sochi International Airport, on the
country’s Black Sea coast, during 2006, the Cabinet press office
said Wednesday.

Sochi has been short-listed as a host city for the 2014 Olympic
Winter Games, along with Austria’s Salzburg and South Korea’s
PyeongChang. The city bid for the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics,
but was rejected largely due to its poor-quality Soviet infrastructure.

Sochi International Airport received unwelcome publicity in May as
the destination of an Armenian airliner that crashed into the Black
Sea in stormy weather, killing all 113 passengers and crew on board.

Following a government order passed on July 3, 2006, the airport was
included on a list of federal unitary companies to be privatized in
2006. The airport has since been converted into a joint-stock company,
with 100% state ownership.

The government’s privatization plan for 2006, announced last year,
listed 885 federal unitary companies and 383 joint-stock companies.

Sochi International Airport has air links to 120 cities in Russia
and abroad. During the first eight months of 2006, the airport served
975,570 passengers.

ELIF SHAFAK, UNE APôTRE DU COSMOPOLITISME QUI DERANGE LES NATIONALISTES

Agence France Presse
19 septembre 2006 mardi 3:05 PM GMT

Au nom du cosmopolitisme et du droit de se reconnaître dans des
identites multiples, la romancière turque Elif Shafak s’est attaquee
a nombre de tabous de la societe turque, s’exposant a l’ire des
nationalistes a l’origine du procès devant s’ouvrir contre elle jeudi.

Non contente de depeindre dans ses romans des personnages deracines,
qui changent de nationalite comme de religion, voire de sexe
-une attitude deja suspecte aux yeux des defenseurs de l’identite
nationale-, la jeune femme s’en est prise a l’intouchable heritage
d’Ataturk, fondateur de la Turquie moderne.

Aux partisans de la revolution kemaliste, qui a accouche en 1923
d’une Republique turque laïque et resolument tournee vers l’Occident,
la femme de lettres reproche d’avoir rejete le passe multiculturel
de l’empire ottoman pour lui substituer une vision monolithique et
appauvrie de l’identite et de la culture turques.

Petite-fille de militaire et fille d’une diplomate, deux institutions
faisant figure de fiefs de l’elite laïque, Shafak s’est en outre
illustree en publiant des chroniques dans le quotidien islamiste
modere Zaman et en epousant un des ses anciens chroniqueurs.

Plus grave, l’intellectuelle, auteur a 35 ans de plusieurs best-sellers
et enseignante a l’universite d’Arizona (Etats-Unis), prône une
reflexion collective de la societe turque sur les massacres d’Armeniens
commis sous l’empire ottoman, que l’Etat turc se refuse a qualifier de
"genocide".

C’est pour les propos des personnages armeniens de son dernier roman,
"Baba ve Pic" ("Le Père et le Bâtard", 2006), que la romancière doit
comparaître jeudi pour "denigrement de l’identite turque", sur la
base d’une plainte d’une association de juristes nationalistes.

Le roman suit les peregrinations de quatre generations de femmes
entre les Etats-Unis et la Turquie pour raconter l’histoire d’une
famille armenienne et des descendants d’un de ses enfants, abandonne
en Turquie lors des massacres d’Armeniens de 1915-1917, qui s’est
converti a l’islam et a vecu comme un Turc.

Des peregrinations, Shafak en a connues aux côtes de sa mère diplomate,
de la France de sa naissance en 1971 a sa jeunesse en Espagne, en
passant par la Jordanie, qui ont instille en elle ses convictions
multi culturalistes.

"J’ai des racines, mais mes racines ne sont pas en un seul endroit
(…) Je suis connecte a differentes cultures, et c’est en partie la
raison pour laquelle je pense qu’il est possible d’etre multiculturel,
multilingue et multifoi", expliquait-elle a l’ete 2005 dans le New
Perspectives Quarterly.

La jeune femme a publie en 1998 son premier roman, Pinhan, racontant
l’histoire d’une mystique musulman hermaphrodite.

Ont suivi Sehrin Aynalari (Les Miroirs de la Ville), sur la vie
a Istanbul de juifs sepharades convertis, Mahrem (Confidentiel),
evoquant a travers les siècles la quete d’autonomie des femmes, et
Bit Palas (Le Palais du Pou) sur la degradation morale et physique
des habitants d’un immeuble stambouliote.

The Saint of incipient insanities (Le Saint des Insanites Naissantes),
ecrit en anglais et publie en 2004, raconte la quete sans fin
d’accomplissement d’une vingtaine d’amis, etrangers vivant aux
Etats-Unis.

–Boundary_(ID_nmhCewlIJPyHK7PwTX ioGw)–

DIASPORA MUST ASK FINANCIAL REPORTING AGAINST INVESTMENT, FORUM PARTICIPANT SAYS

Panorama.am
17:25 19/09/06

"Armenia cannot help the Diaspora. Under present conditions,
the Diaspora must help Armenia and without preconditions. The only
precondition must be financial reporting against the investment made,"
Gevorg Bardakchyan, the head of Armenian Studies at the Michigan
University, told the Third Armenia-Diaspora Forum today. In his words,
until today the cooperation between Armenia and Diaspora has been
"satisfactory" because only 25% of Diaspora Armenians have made
any investment in Armenia. Concurrently, in USA there are many high
rank officials and excellent experts who refuse to make investment
in Armenia for different reasons, he said. The speaker thinks all
possible means must be used to attract their potential, including
media and embassies.