Author: Nargizian David

450,000 TURKS IN FRANCE: WILL YOU IMPRISON US ALL?
By Ali Ihsan Aydin, Paris

Zaman, Turkey
May 16 2006

The bill, punishing those who deny the Armenian genocide due for
discussion in the French Parliament on Thursday, is worrying the
450,000 Turks living in France.

If the bill is enacted, tens of thousands of Turkish expatriates will
become potential offenders.

Turkish-French citizens say the denial bill cannot be enforced say,
“Will you put in prison tens of thousands deniers of the genocide?”

Turkish expatriates have been reacting against the Socialist Party
(PS), which prepared the bill, and will organize protests on May 18
before the French Assembly.

They will send their message to the French parliamentarians by chaining
themselves and taping their mouths.

Turkish-origin head of the PS’s Strasbourg-Neuhof town regional office
Saban Kiper, protests his party’s attempt and said, “I find it really
unnecessary.” Kiper has been conducting negotiations for three weeks
with the party’s regional office and headquarters, as well as evoking
Turkish-French citizens to protest the bill.

“Tens of thousands of Turkish-French citizens like me want to be proud
of this country. However, how can you feel proud of it; it calls your
ancestors murderers,” said Kiper, PS’s only Turkish origin regional
branch president.

Saban, also a member of the French Joint Culture Youth Council, says
tens of thousands of Turks in France may be imprisoned, if the bill
is enacted.

Cojep President Ali Gedikoglu said they protested the motion with
the slogan, “Don’t restrict freedoms, don’t keep the truth in the
dark,” and thousands of Turks sent letters of protest to the French
authorities.

Gedikoglu announced they will protest outside the French Parliament
while the motion is being discussed on May 18; sending their message
to parliamentarians by chaining themselves to the gates and tapping
their mouths shut.

The Cojep president indicated they were able to make contact with
leading figures from the Socialist Party and may possibly meet with
party leader Francois Hollande.

Paris Anatolia Cultural Center Chairman Dr. Demir Onger thinks the
motion is “a result of the effective lobbying activities the Armenian
Diaspora in France has been conducing for 80 years,” and says, “This
attempt is a shame for France that pretends to be the champion of
freedom of expression.”

“France, which refers the past to the historians when the issue is
its own history, passes a law on the history of another country and
displays a paradoxical attitude,” cardiologist Dr. Onger defends,
accusing France of “playing with the fire.”

Demir Onger noted they established the “Union for Freedom of
Expression” in order to protest the motion and sent thousands of
protest letters to the French authorities.

Onger criticized Turkey’s ineffective lobbying, describing it as
“a vertical lobbying” conducted by top level bureaucrats or company
bosses. Onger stated the Armenians follow a policy from the bottom
up and said Turkey must initiate activities in an effort to persuade
the French people in the long term.

Yuksel Bilici, an expatriate graduate student on “Turks’ political
participation in France” living in the capital Paris, termed the
proposal as an “election present” for the Armenian Diaspora asking,
“Will they put 500,000 Turks in Jail?”.

Suleyman Toppeker, an official translator, said, “If 15,000 people
sign a petition claiming ‘We do not believe in the genocide’, they
will be immediately jailed”.

Marc Semo, an expert on Turkey from the leftist French paper,
Liberation, advocating that the draft, which will cause problems over
freedoms, concerns France a great deal and emphasizes the difficulty
in the implementation of such a law.

There is no political integrity in France prior to the election due
in 2007, Semo revealed, and added French President Jacques Chirac,
favoring Turkey, will not be able to do anything because the law
could be acceded in parliament on May 18.

The notice of motion leads to some concerns among expatriates, while
several Turkish foundations and institutions in France have noticeably
remained silent.

Some other foundations referring to Zaman’s view avoided sharing
their assessments on the issue. Few pay attention to the case except
for a number of foundations in France, where nearly 450,000 Turkish
people reside.

KARAPETYAN REJECTED THE OFFER TO OCCUPY THE POST OF THE NA PRESIDENT

A1+
[09:00 pm] 15 May, 2006

After Arthur Baghdasaryan announced about his resignation Ambassadors
of several Western countries expressed desire to meet head of the
NA “Democratic Delegate” faction Karen Karapetyan. According to
our sources, the meetings have taken place, but we failed to find
out the theme of conversation with the Ambassadors. We checked the
information in the secretariat of the faction, but we again we were
not given information about the theme.

We also managed to find out that Karen Karapetyan has been offered
the post of the NA President which he turned down. The coalition
decided to elect Karapetyan at least as deputy President of the NA
but this offer was turned down too. According to our information,
the negotiations with Karapetyan are still continuing.

“If the offer to join the coalition were made 1-2 years ago, it
would be accepted. But as far as there is only a year left until
the new elections, joining the coalition now would mean to take
responsibility for the whole period. It is a matter of calculation”,
NA deputy Shavarsh Kocharyan told “A1+”.

According to head of the Republican Party faction Galoust Sahakyan,
“the problem is not the time but the character and principles of the
people.” He confessed that he would like Karen Karapetyan to become
President of the NA.

And still, Shavarsh Kocharyan is content with the fact that the
political powers think about their future, “By now the authorities
were sure that they will decide the fate of the future Parliament
but now they have doubts. This is a positive change.”

Let us remind you that the faction “Democratic Delegate” is the second
power in the Parliament after the Republican Party. De jure it has
16 deputies, whereas de facto it has 17.

RETRIEVAL OF BLACK SEA PLANE WRECK RECORDERS TO START MAY 16 – MINISTER

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 13, 2006

MOSCOW, May 13 (RIA Novosti) – The retrieval of flight recorders
from the Armenian Airbus airliner that crashed off Russia’s Black Sea
coast last week, killing all 113 people on board, will start May 16,
Russia’s transport minister said Saturday.

Igor Levitin said special equipment, which is currently in the port of
Novorossiisk, would be delivered to the scene shortly. The equipment
will be ready for the effort Monday, he said.

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS TO VISIT THE REGION LATE IN MAY

ArmRadio.am
15.05.2006 14:05

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs will visit the Karabakh conflict region in
late in May, Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Yuri Merzlyakov
told “Arminfo”.

In his words, he cannot note more precise dates, since the
schedules of the mediators can change. In response to the question
whether the Co-Chairs intend to visit Nagorno-Karabakh, the Russian
mediator noted that the Co-Chairs intend to meet NKR President Arkadi
Ghukasyan. However, they will hardly be able to visit Nagorno-Karabakh,
since they will stay in the region for three days only.

Zaman, Turkey
May 13 2006

Chirac to Erdogan: We’ll Consider Your Concerns
By Cihan News Agency, Anadolu News Agency (aa), Vienna
Published: Saturday, May 13, 2006
zaman.com

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met French President
Jacques Chirac during the Latin America-European Union (EU) Summit in
Austria’s capital Vienna. The main topic of the meeting was the draft
bill that would carry a fine of imprisonment for those who deny the
so-called Armenian Genocide.

Erdogan reacted to the regulation, which will be discussed at the
French National Parliament on May 18, and demanded the bill’s
cancellation.

Chirac said they will show the necessary sensitivity to Turkey’s
concerns about the issue.

Erdogan also met his Greek counterpart Kostas Karamanlis and German
Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Reportedly, dual relations were discussed during the meetings in
addition to Turkey’s accession to the European Union.

A unique protest took place during the `family photo’ taken at the
Vienna Congress Center. After the leaders took their places on the
platform, Evvangelina Carrozzo, an accredited journalist for the El
Diario newspaper in Argentina, walked towards the leaders half naked
sporting a banner. The Greenpeace member and Uruguay national was
protesting environmental pollution.

After drawing surprised laughter from the leaders, she was escorted
out of the hall and detained.

Following his participation in the football match organized in the
frame of the EU-Latin America summit upon the invitation of Austrian
Prime Minister Wolfgang Schussel, Erdogan also participated in the
opening session of the summit as the “Special Guest of Schussel.”

Erdogan spoke with United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan
about developments in the Middle East and the political process in
Iraq during an official dinner for the leaders.

Turkish Prime Minister left for Bali after the meeting to attend the
D-8 summit.

The echoes of the football match, in which Erdogan scored two goals,
still resound. The British Financial Times commented on the game with
jokes and wrote Prime Minister Tony Blair rejected Schussel’s
invitation, but he established a team of all-stars including the
Turkish PM.

U.S. air bases in Persian Gulf to eventually replace those in Iraq, senior
general says

AP Worldstream; May 14, 2006
JIM KRANE

The U.S. military is preparing for the day when air power from bases
along the Persian Gulf will help ensure that friendly governments in
Iraq and Afghanistan survive without American ground troops, a senior
U.S. general said.

“We’ll be in the region for the foreseeable future,” said U.S. Air
Force Maj. Gen. Allen G. Peck, deputy air commander of U.S. Central
Command, which oversees the region. “Our intention would be to stay as
long as the host nations will have us.”

Agreements have been struck recently with Qatar, Kuwait and the United
Arab Emirates for long-term use of their bases. Already home to
U.S. and allied fighter, transport and observation planes, the bases
will become more critical if plans proceed to gradually withdraw
ground forces from Iraq.

A capable Iraqi air force is years away and Iraqi infantry need the
back-up and surveillance provided by U.S. warplanes, Peck said. The
bases also could help rush soldiers into Iraq in a crisis. The
Pentagon has been keeping thousands of troops in reserve in Kuwait, on
Iraq’s southern border.

Not everyone is convinced.

The Bush administration declines to say it won’t seek to keep bases in
Iraq and Afghanistan, and the U.S. military is spending almost US$1
billion (A770 million) this year for base construction in Iraq
alone. For example, the base at Balad, north of Baghdad, has been
expanded to host F-16 fighter and C-130 transport squadrons.

A former Iraq intelligence chief for the State Department, Wayne
White, said he believes one of the administration’s unstated
pre-invasion goals was to secure permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq
after overseeing the installation of a pro-American government.

Peck, however, said he knew of no current U.S. plans to maintain
permanent air bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Because of the Iraqi insurgency, experts say bases in the Persian Gulf
nations are a better option given the long relationships Washington
has had with them.

But there are risks even in those countries, where many people harbor
suspicions of U.S. policy. Osama bin Laden and other Islamic radicals
agitate against the U.S. military presence in the Muslim world. A huge
U.S. air base and headquarters in Saudi Arabia was closed before the
invasion of Iraq because of fundamentalists’ pressure on the Saudi
government.

Indeed, American diplomats and some military officers interviewed for
this article agreed to discuss the matter only on condition of
anonymity, because Arab governments have asked the U.S. military not
to publicize their presence.

The Air Force operates refueling, cargo and surveillance flights from
large bases in Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, while
maintaining runway access and warehoused supplies in Oman and Saudi
Arabia.

The plan Peck described would have the Air Force eventually
consolidate most of its Iraq operations in the Persian Gulf bases.

Afghanistan’s military also could be backed up from Manas Air Base in
Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic where U.S. officials are
negotiating a long-term agreement. The Kyrgyz government has requested
a doubling of the base rental, Peck said.

The U.S. base at Incirlik, Turkey, could also enter into the
equation. For now, the Turkish government, a NATO ally, allows the
U.S. military to operate only cargo, refueling and passenger flights
to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the U.S. has based
fighter jets there in the past.

Peck and others caution that the shift would take years. The top U.S.

officer in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, recently said plans to begin
reducing the U.S.

presence this year are still on track. But U.S. President George
W. Bush also has said the counterinsurgency mission in Iraq will
continue at least through the end of his term in January 2009.

“The idea that we can envision a time when air power in places like
the UAE becomes our main way of watching over Iraq is still a bit
ahead of its time _ to put it gently,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a
military analyst at the Brookings Institution.

Either way, the Pentagon is planning for the time when U.S. forces
pull out of Iraq, or in case Iraq’s government asks them to leave. The
idea of a long-term U.S. military presence is deeply unpopular in
Iraq, polls say.

White and others say the United States could eventually turn over its
bases to the Iraqi military and still back up the Iraqi government
with small numbers of U.S. special forces troops, along with warplanes
based in nearby countries.

“If we do not support the Iraqi army with reconnaissance and airstrike
capabi lities, which we now rely on so heavily against the insurgents,
they’re not going to stand a chance,” said White, now an Iraq analyst
at the Middle East Institute.

O’Hanlon said the Gulf bases are safer than almost anywhere in
Iraq. “And everything in the region is close enough together that for
most purposes the bases along the gulf should suffice.”

The air bases expected to host U.S. air operations after an Iraq
pullout are Al-Udeid in Qatar, Ali Al Salem in Kuwait and Al-Dhafra in
the UAE. The three bases also lie just across the Persian Gulf from
Iran, which the Bush administration and other nations suspect is
pursuing nuclear arms.

Visits to U.S. bases in Kuwait and Qatar found signs of heavy
construction of permanent housing and operations buildings.

At Al-Udeid, forward headquarters for the U.S. Central Command,
construction is under way on a concrete bunker that will house a
command center where American and coalition teams will direct and
monitor air operations over Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere in the
region. The current center is housed in a temporary building on the
base.

Construction of the new operations center is being funded by the
Qatari government, a U.S. military official said on condition of
anonymity, because of the sensitivity of the topic.

The change is inevitable, some experts say.

“We will not be able to retain bases in Iraq. That will simply not be
possible,” White said.

WHY SPEAKER OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CHOSE TO RESIGN

Lragir.am
12 May 06

`I could stay, raise the question of my confidence, put it to vote,
but I think that my resignation was the dignified way,’ said Arthur
Baghdasaryan on May 2, announcing about his resignation and answering
the question why he resigned and did not offer the question to vote.

`Today different members of parliament came to see me, suggested
putting the question to vote, but I considered resignation to be the
dignified way,=80=9D said Arthur Baghdasaryan. He will inform the
parliament about his resignation at the four-day session of the
parliament on May 22. Then, in accordance with the law, Arthur
Baghdasaryan will confirm his resignation within five days.

Tigran Torosyan is viewed as a likely candidate of speaker of the
parliament. The majority will nominate him. Arthur Baghdasaryan said
he approved the candidacy of Tigran Torosyan, for he is a very decent
person. However, Arthur Baghdasaryan declined to say how the Orinats
Yerkir would vote to Tigran Torosyan, saying that it is a matter of
political decision.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
May 12, 2006 Friday

Armenian speaker calls for North Atlantic integration

by Tigran Liloyan.

The Orinats Yerkir (country of law) party headed by Artur
Bagdasaryan, who announced his resignation from the post of the
Armenian parliamentary speaker, comes out for deeper North Atlantic
integration.

“Armenia’s European integration is the prospect that has no
alternative,” Bagdasaryan declared, outlining a political position
of his party that declared on Thursday that it quit the ruling
coalition and was joining the opposition.

“Our political team has unanimously decided to quit the ruling
coalition, and we shall resign from all the posts, including the
ministerial posts,” Bagdasaryan said.

The Armenian speaker attaches importance to the development and
persistent deepening of Armenia’s North Atlantic integration,
simultaneously upholding the development of friendly relations with
Russia.”We should not seek to have the Russian values opposed to the
Western values,” Bagdasaryan said.

“Tomorrow, Armenia should be in the European Union and be Russia’s
friend. We should go ahead and deepen our relations with NATO,” the
speaker said.

Bagdasaryan has been Speaker of the Armenian parliament since June
12, 2003. The Chairman of the National Assembly announced his
decision to quit his post at a press conference in Yerevan on Friday.
“Staying on in this post is unacceptable,” the Speaker said.

Bagdasaryan heads the Centre-Right Coalition “Orinats Yerkir”
translated from the Armenian as the Country of Law. The resolution
made by this coalition actually means the disintegration of the
ruling pro-presidential coalition that exists in Armenia since 2003.

Nonetheless, observers believe that Bagdasaryan will not abandon the
political arena, but will seek to become leader of the opposition and
even run for presidency.

LOCATION OF A-320 FLIGHT RECORDERS DETERMINED WITHIN 5 METERS

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.05.2006 17:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Specialists have determined the location of airborne
recorders of A-320 airbus within 5 meters, reported a person in charge
of search at the site of wreckage. “Two measurements were done by means
of French system of high-frequency direction finding, confirmed by
Russian Kalmar deep-water device. The location of airborne recorders
is determined within 5 meters,” the rescuer said. The data will be
mathematically processed now. “Kalmar device, via which specialists
hope to get exact confirmation on the location of airborne recorders,
is planned to be plunged May 12,” he added, reports RIA Novosti.

We remind that A-320 plane of Armavia air company, flying from
Yerevan to Sochi, crashed on the night of May 3 about 6 km away
of the coastline when landing at Adler airport. This resulted in
death of all 113 persons aboard, including 8 crew members and 5
children. Undercarriage and tail of the airplane are found during
investigation and search in the Black Sea. According to data available,
the most fuselage is in depth and special deep-water equipment will
be necessary for lifting it.

SPEAKER * PARTY * RESIGNATION

Mediamax
Armenian Independent News Agency

May 11 2006

ALERT! Armenian parliamentary speaker Artur Baghdassarian decided
to resign and his Orinats Yerkir Party will leave the ruling
coalition-11.05.06

Yerevan, May 11. /Mediamax/. Armenian National Assembly speaker Artur
Baghdassarian decided to resign and his Orinats Yerkir Party will
leave the ruling coalition.

Member of Orinats Yerkir parliamentary faction Hovhannes Margarian
said this a few minutes ago on the air of the Shant TV channel,
Mediamax reports. The MP said that the decision on the speaker’s
resignation and leaving the ruling coalition was taken this evening
at the enlarged session of the Orinats Yerkir Political Board.

Hovhannes Margarian said that Artur Baghdassarian will officially
announce about his resignation at a news conference tomorrow at 14:00.

Orinats Yerkir, Republican Party of Armenia and Dashnaktsutyun
Party signed a memorandum on creating a coalition after the 2003
parliamentary elections.