Author: Tadevosian Garnik

WORLD NEVER TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIA AS "AGGRESSOR" – ARMENIAN MINISTER

Arminfo
5 Sep 06

Yerevan, 5 September: Azerbaijan should not even dream of securing
the international recognition of Armenia as an aggressor, Foreign
Minister Vardan Oskanyan said at a meeting with a group of Armenian
writers today.

Oskanyan said no international document had so far named Armenia
an aggressor.

"It is true that some international documents use the phrase ‘occupied
territories’. However, none of them says that the territories have
been occupied by Armenia," Oskanyan said. He added that only Azerbaijan
and Turkey called Armenia an aggressor.

Oskanyan noted that Armenia had always tried to draw the attention of
the international community to the massacre of Armenians in Sumqayit
and Baku. Oskanyan also said that the Armenian side duly dismissed
Baku’s claims concerning the [1992] massacre of Azerbaijanis in Xocali
[a town in Nagornyy Karabakh].

LAWYER WHO’S TAKING ON THE EU (AND ANYONE WHO INSULTS TURKEY)
Benjamin Harvey In Istanbul

Scotsman, United Kingdom
Aug 6 2006

KEMAL Kerincsiz believes Turkey is one of the greatest, most free
countries in the world.

But insult it, and you could find yourself facing him in court.

To some of Turkey’s 70 million people, the ultra-nationalist lawyer
is the voice of a proud people against a patronising West. To others,
he is the voice of intolerance – a major embarrassment that could
derail Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.

As the ubiquitous, mustachioed leader of the Turkish Lawyers’ Union,
Mr Kerincsiz is the reason writers and intellectuals are regularly
put on trial in Turkey.

Mr Kerincsiz gained international notoriety this year for dragging
the celebrated novelist Orhan Pamuk to court for allegedly insulting
Turkishness. Mr Pamuk, often cited as a candidate for the Nobel prize
in literature, was acquitted.

But the lawyer has met with success in less high-profile cases, winning
a conviction against an Armenian-Turkish journalist for the same
offence. He has also opened dozens of other cases against journalists,
writers and intellectuals, including one set to go to court this
month against the Arizona-based Turkish novelist Elif Shafak.

Mr Kerincsiz and his organisation of some 700 nationalist lawyers
have exasperated not only EU officials – who have said the cases must
be stopped or Turkey will jeopardise its hopes of joining the EU –
but also Turkey’s intellectuals and its leadership.

The lawyer believes Turkey’s future is in the East and represents
a growing, powerful faction of Turkish society tired of being told
it must aspire to be more like the West. Recently, his view appears
to be gaining traction in the government, with Recep Tayyip Egdoga,
the prime minister, increasingly making foreign policy overtures to
the Middle East – and away from Europe.

"The easterner has to insult himself and degrade his own culture to
ingratiate himself with the West," Mr Kerincsiz said. "Our place is
in eastern culture, our real aim is finding allies among our own
people." By that he means primarily the Turkic peoples of Central
Asia, which he hopes to see included one day in the "Turkish Union"
led by Turkey.

He admits this is a far-off dream, but it is possible, he says,
especially when one looks at the mishmash of different cultures
joined together in the EU. Mr Kerincsiz makes no effort to hide his
view that the European Union is an enemy of Turkey.

In the year that has followed Turkey’s opening of EU negotiations
last October, it has become clear that even if they don’t entirely
share Mr Kerincsiz’s view, Turks are cooling in their enthusiasm for
accession, and he is tapping into the sources of their discontent.

The latest "Eurobarometer" survey found only 44 per cent of Turks
surveyed thought EU membership would be a good thing for Turkey,
compared to 55 per cent last autumn. Last spring, 66 per cent said
they supported EU membership.

EU URGES TURKEY TO FACE ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’

EUPolitix.com, Belgium
Aug 5 2006

Turkey must recognise the Armenian genocide as a precondition for EU
entry, senior MEPs have insisted.

In a vote on Monday evening, the European parliament’s foreign affairs
committee expressed regret that Turkey was not facing up to its past.

"The committee wants recognition of the Armenian genocide to be a
clear pre-condition for EU entry and this will now be put to the
plenary vote," parliamentary rapporteur Camiel Eurling said on Tuesday.

Hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed in Turkey between 1915
and 1917 – but the Ankara government rejects the genocide claim.

The report sparked a huge discussion in the prominent parliamentary
committee – with over 300 amendments filed.

Some MEPs fear Eurling’s report is serving to ignite anti-Turkish
sentiment.

"As far as the European parliament is concerned, there are still many
unhealthy prejudices about Turkey, with Turcophobes willing to seize
upon any pretext to block the accession process," UK Liberal Andrew
Duff said in a statement.

"I will be trying to strengthen the parliament’s appreciation of
Turkey’s potential contribution to the development of a common EU
foreign, security and defence policy."

This sentiment was echoed by Green MEPs. "The report adopted by the
foreign affairs committee has once again raised the bar for Turkey,
as regards the progress it has to make towards EU accession in a
number of areas," said a statement.

"If the demands on Turkey are made progressively tougher in every
annual report, it creates the impression in Turkey that the European
parliament is opposed to Turkey’s accession to the EU."

Freedom of expression

The Eurling report calls on Turkey to speed up key democratic reforms.

"We have seen a clear slow down in reforms and that is regrettable,"
Eurling declared.

"Freedom of expression is a vital issue. We have welcomed Turkey’s
modernisation of the penal code – in particular the decision to
abolish the death penalty. But other articles of the code continue
to be abused by judges."

The centre-right Dutch politician called on Ankara to remove or amend
articles that allowed judges to limit freedom of expression.

Cyprus

MEPs have also urged Turkey "to take concrete steps for the
normalization of bilateral relations" with Cyprus "as soon as
possible".

In July last year Turkey signed up to the Ankara agreement – extending
customs union to the ten new EU member states including Cyprus.

But Eurling warned that the protocol has still not been implemented.

"It is important for the credibility of EU institutions that if Turkey
signed the Ankara protocol that it is also implemented," he insisted.

"It must be implemented by the end of 2006 otherwise we fear serious
implications for the accession negotiations."

MEPs will vote on the amended report in a Strasbourg plenary session
in three weeks time.

The European commission has reserved comment until the final vote
but a spokesman, on Tuesday, described the report as a "valuable
contribution".

EUROPARLIAMENT: GENOCIDE RECOGNITION SHOULD BE PRECONDITION FOR TURKEY EU ACCESSION

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.09.2006 18:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs
(AFET) voted late last evening on the Eurlings report on "Turkey’s
progress towards accession" and its 343 amendments. This mostly
critical report of Turkey was adopted by 53 votes, with 6 against and 8
abstentions, reports the European Armenian Federation. With regard to
the question of the Armenian Genocide which was constantly discussed
during the debates, a majority of MEPs from the main political
groups (EPP, PSE, ALDE, GUE) adopted two similar amendments which
reiterate its call on Turkey to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide as
a precondition for its accession. In addition, the AFET "strongly
condemns the racist and xenophobic ‘Talaat Pasha committee’ for
gravely infringing European principles, and the demonstrations in
Lyon and Berlin, aimed to deny the Armenian Genocide". It calls on
Turkey to abolish this committee and end its activities. The European
Armenian Federation informs that the AFET also adopted a compromise
amendment disputed by many MEPs, which expresses a whole series of
obscure proposals such as the opening of the Turkish archives and
reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey. The AFET committee also
invites Turkey "to establish, without preconditions, good neighborly
relations with Armenia and to end the economic blockade and to open
the land border in order to fulfill the priorities of the Accession
Partnership and the obligations defined within the Negotiating
Framework".

PRO-TURKEY FORCES PRESS EURO PARLIAMENT TO RETREAT FROM ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ISSUE

Financial Mirror, Cyprus
Sept 4 2006

BRUSSELS – The European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs is
scheduled on Monday to consider a draft report on Turkey prepared by
Dutch MEP Camiel Eurlings (EPP). Over the past two months, pro-Turkish
forces with European institutions have sought to ignore or marginalize
more than 340 amendments, mostly critical of Turkey, that have been
offered to the measure.

The draft prepared by Eurling deals with the Armenian Genocide in a
vaguely worded paragraph that calls upon the Parliament to "takes
note of the proposal by Turkey to establish a bilateral committee
of experts in order to overcome the tragic experience of the past,
and the position of Armenia regarding that proposal" and "urges both
the Turkish government and the Armenian government to continue their
process of reconciliation leading to a mutually acceptable resolution.

"This formulation, which is patterned after the outright denial
position of the Turkish government, represents a retreat from the
Parliament’s traditional posture of calling on Turkey to properly
acknowledge this crime against humanity. This proposed dramatic shift
in position prompted a broad range of MEPs to offer amendments to
this measure," said the European Armenian Federation.

With regard to Turkey’s blockade of Armenia, the draft report "urges
Turkey to take the necessary steps, without any preconditions, to
establish diplomatic and good neighbourly relations with Armenia
and to open the land border at an early date, in accordance with the
resolutions adopted by Parliament between 1987 and 2005."

Rather than recognizing that the large number of amendments reflect
broad-based dissatisfaction with the draft’s pro-Turkey bias, the
Rapporteur and political party leaders chose to propose their own
set of proposed "compromise" changes, the Federation added.

These proposals largely ignore the vast majority of the amendments.

The managers of this process, in the place of allowing MEPs to weight
the merits of the amendments, have chosen instead to reduce these
concerns to a series of weak and basically ineffectual measures.

Collectively, the "compromise" proposals that have more in common
with Turkish government’s position than the standing policy of the
European Parliament.

"The draft and the changes being put forward by the Rapporteur don’t
represent a compromise, but rather a profound retreat from the European
Parliament’s principled position," declared the Chairperson of the
European Armenian Federation, Hilda Tchoboian.

The European Armenian Federation encourages Members of the Committee on
Foreign Affairs to exercise their right to vote on the duly offered
amendments urging Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide as a
precondition for joining the European Union. The Federation also
calls upon MEPs to vote for amendments calling upon the Commission
to include in the Ankara Roadmap framework the necessity that Turkey
recognizes the Armenian Genocide and lifts its blockade of Armenia.

"On these vital issues, Members of the European Parliament understand
that the false compromises being put forward would both undermine the
EU’s values as well as its security interests. A retreat from principle
will not encourage progress by Turkey, but rather be interpreted as
a sign of weakness that will only embolden the Turkish leadership
in its implementation of ultra-nationalistic policies," concluded
Hilda Tchoboian.

PROSECUTOR SUGGESTS Four AND HALF YEARS IN JAIL FOR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF JAMANAK YEREVAN NEWSPAPER

Panorama.am
18:56 04/09/06

District court of Nork Marash and Kentron communities listened to the
charge brought against editor-in-chief of Haikakan Jamanak newspaper,
Arman Babajanyan, which was ready out by prosecutor Janna Kotikyan. The
prosecutor referred to the testimonies of witnesses, which say that
Babajanyan has faked documents with the purpose of army evasion.

It should be mentioned that all witnesses, including two employees
of Shengavit community military commissariat, were interviewed
secretly and did not appear to court with an excuse of "being away
from Yerevan."

The prosecutor ruled out the claim of Babajanyan’s advocate, which
says, "unsigned letters cannot be a base for charge." Kotikyan
referred to article 180 according to which " information on crime
must be discussed and resolved immediately."

Finally, Kotikyan made a mediation to recognize Arman Babajanyan
guilty based on two articles of the Criminal Code suggesting 4 and
half years of imprisonment.

After the speech of Kotikyan, Robert Grigoryan, the advocate of Arman
Babajanyan, had his say. He re-uttered that Babajanyan admits his guilt
of faking document with the purpose of army evasion but does not accept
that he has stolen documents for the same purpose. "I will not feel
more secure if you charge Babajanyan for 4.5 years," Grigoryan said
adding that Babajanyan is in "psychologically terrible conditions."

Grigoryan released his mediation asking for punishment not related
to imprisonment based on Armenian Criminal Code.

The judge suggested the defendant to come up with his defense speech,
but Babajanyan mentioned that he needs time to get ready. The judge
set the time for the next hearing – September 8, at 3 p.m.

CONFERENCE ON BIO-ETHICS KICKS OFF IN YEREVAN

Panorama.am
14:05 04/09/06

An international conference on bio-ethical aspects of human rights
in the educational system has kicked off in Yerevan today, organized
by Armenian ombudsman office and National Institute of Bio-ethics
supported by Moscow office of UNESCO.

Armen Harutunyan, human right ombudsman, indicated that bio-ethical
issues have become significant in the light of developments in medical
and biological sciences. "The profession of a doctor is closely related
to ethical norms. All people should have medical treatment, in case
they need it, despite of the size of their purse," Tatul Hakobyan,
deputy minister of health, stated. The participants said higher
educational establishments should have a course on medical ethics.

Gayane Makaryan, one of the organizers of the conference,
said Azeri experts in bio-ethics did not respond to their
invitation.

THE FOURTH ARMMONO FESTIVAL WITHOUT A JURY AND WITH NO COMPETITION
By Hovannes Yeranian

Yerkir.am
September 01, 2006

The forth International Shakespeare Festival ArmMono will be launched
in Yerevan on September 12. This festival of mono performances has been
organized on Shakespeare themes for the second year. The Ministry of
Culture and Youth Affaires, the Union of Theater Actors of Armenia and
the Armenian National Center of the International Theater Institute
(UNESCO) do their best to make the festival a celebration of theater.

This is why there is no competition and no jury during the festival.

Directors of similar festivals from around the world will visit
Armenia which, the organizers believe, gives the Armenian actors an
opportunity to enter the international arena. Actors from Georgia,
Iran, Poland, Turkmenistan, Lithuania, England and Slovenia will
perform at the festival.

Hovhannes Hovhannissian, Levon Ivanian, Narineh Petrossian, Hasmik
Ter-Karapetian and Armen Santrossian from Armenia will also perform
at the festival.

The most interesting performance of the festival is the "… Lawful
Prison" international project. Actors from ten countries will perform
Shakespeare’s Hamlet in their languages. Two of the ten actors will
be Armenian. Mariam Ghazanchian will play Ofelia and Vardan Petrossian
will play Hamlet.

Director of ArmMono Festival Hakob Ghazanchian is the author and
director of this performance. The famous Polish director and theorist
Andzey Zurovski will be managing the festival. The famous Georgian
director Robert Sturua will be the guest of the festival.

The organizers of the festival believe the Shakespeare Festival
will be a good signal for the revival of Armenian theater rich in
Shakespeare traditions.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Matthew Bryza Offers `Road Map’ for Karabakh
01.09.2006 15:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The achievements in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement depend on the proposals by the Armenian and Azerbaijani
Presidents, OSCE Minsk Group U.S. Co-chair Matthew Bryza stated.

`I suppose the sides will compromise. It’s the only way of settlement
because the Karabakh problem cannot be resolved by force. The
principles proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs remain on the
bargaining table and this plan can be called a `road map’. These are
our best proposals,’ Bryza underscored, reported ANS TV channel.

ORPHANED BULGARIAN FC REPLACES NEW COACH

Sofia News Agency, Bulgaria
Aug. 31, 2006

Bulgaria’s former football champion Lokomotiv Plovdiv have replaced
yet another coach, it emerged Thursday, indicating that the club’s
crisis after their president was killed continues.

Loko confirmed sacking Ayan Sadakov, who took on coaching the team
just a year ago. His replacement in Thursday’s morning exercise was
manager Ivan Marinov.

Before Ayan Sadakov, Lokomotiv was coached by Eduard Aranosyan.

The ethnic Armenian had to part with the club after the assassination
of Georgi Iliev left Lokomotiv in a financial crisis, and the coach
quarreled with the management.