Problems of Armenian Education Discussed at Pan-Diaspora Conference

PROBLEMS OF ARMENIAN EDUCATION DISCUSSED AT PAN-DIASPORA CONFERENCE
HELD IN ANTELIAS

YEREVAN, August 13 (Noyan Tapan). Over 70 delegates from 18 hubs of
the Diaspora participated in the Pan-Diaspora Conference on Armenian
Education held in Antelias on August 5-7. The Pan-Diaspora Conference
was held under the patronage of His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the
Great Cilician House. Hranush Hakobian, Chairwoman of the RA NA
Commission on Education, Science, Culture and Youth Affairs, and Levon
Ananian, Chairman of the Armenian Writers’ Union (AWU), represented
Armenia at the conference. The AWU Chairman told NT’s correspondent
that reports entitled “Current Situation of Armenian Education by
Statistic Data and Estimation of Results of Armenian Education”,
“Prospects of Armenian Education”, “Role of Children’s-Junior
Literature in Armenian Education”, as well as other reports were heard
during the conference.

According to Levon Ananian, “the conference showed that the primary
problems in the educational-cultural sphere are put before the
Diaspora”. That’s why participants of the conference considered that
it is necessary to pay special attention to the development of the
children’s-junior literature, because the aesthetic education should
start from childhood. Levon Ananian mentioned that the work should be
carried out in order that the children’s books should be published in
Armenia both in Western Armenian and Eastern Armenian. The problem of
the closing of the Melgonian Gymnasia of Cyprus was also touched upon
during the conference.

According to Levon Ananian, this anti-national policies should be
stopped. “Our national structures and foundations resolve their
problems in narrow circles, meanwhile problems agitating the Armenian
people should be submitted for open discussion,” said the Chairman of
the Armenian Writers’ Union. Levon Ananian said that the problem was
arisen during the conference to establish the Pan-Armenian Educational
Center in Beirut and the Open University in Aleppo. “This conference
is a fine simulus, which should contribute to the Pan-Armenian forum
to be held in Tsaghkadzor on August 27-29, because if there is the
Armenian school, there is the Armenian nation, if there is no Armenian
school, it means there is no Armenian nation. And the school in the
Diaspora is the stronghold of the Armenian preservation,” Levon
Ananian concluded.

Athens: Nazarian aims for third gold in third weight class

Athens Olympics official website
Aug 13 2004

NAZARIAN aims for third gold in third weight class

ATHENS, 5 August – Two-time Olympic champion Armen NAZARIAN of
Bulgaria will be attempting to become the second Greco-Roman wrestler
in Olympic history to claim a title in three different weight
classes.

NAZARIAN, 30, won gold at the 1996 Olympic Games at 52 kg, when he
competed for his birth country, Armenia. At Sydney, he took gold at
58 kg. At the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, he will compete at 60 kg.

Sweden’s Carl Westergren is the only Greco-Roman wrestler who has won
gold medals in three different weight classes.

Cuban Filiberto AGUILERA AZCUY won Greco-Roman gold at 74kg at the
1996 Games, moved down to 69 kg to take gold in Sydney, and has now
returned to 74kg.

Hamza YERLIKAYA, 28, of Turkey won Greco-Roman gold at 82 kg in 1996
and at 85 kg in 2000, and has returned to 84 kg for Athens.

Only four Olympic wrestlers have won three gold medals, only two
achieving the feat in consecutive Olympic Games.

BAKU: Azeri paper accuses Khatami of “Persian chauvinism”

Azeri paper accuses Khatami of “Persian chauvinism”

Ayna, Baku
10 Aug 04

The Azerbaijani newspaper Ayna has accused Iranian President Mohammad
Khatami of promoting Persian chauvinism under the guise of
democracy. Talking about his trip to Ganca while on a visit to
Azerbaijan, Ayna said the fact that Khatami described Azerbaijani poet
Nizami as being Persian shows that Iran’s policy is to assimilate and
trample upon the rights of ethnic minorities residing in that country,
including Azeris. The following is the text of Sadraddin’s report by
Azerbaijani newspaper Ayna on 10 August headlined “President Khatami
behaved as a Persian chauvinist” and subheaded “Thus, showing which
ideology he belongs to”:

Iranian President Mohammed Khatami’s visit to our country ended with a
trip to great Azerbaijani poet and philosopher Nizami Gancavi’s
mausoleum in Ganca . It was there that he made the greatest mistake
not befitting a statesman during his three-day visit.

We have heard more than once representatives of the Tehran regime
paying lip service to the recognition of the territorial integrity of
our country, Karabakh’s recognition as an integral part of Azerbaijan
and consent to the opening of Azerbaijan’s consulate-general in
Tabriz. From this viewpoint, those who describe Khatami’s visit to
Baku and Ganca as a new stage of relations between Iran and Azerbaijan
are in some way mistaken in their analyses. Nor do they need to
exaggerate the Iranian president’s tour of our republic into a great
diplomatic success. Khatami simply paid the visit he should have paid
two years ago. The Tehran regime has never openly objected to the
opening of an Azerbaijani consulate in Tabriz. Both the Azerbaijani
envoy in Tehran and the Iranian ambassador to our country have been
promising the public of North the Azerbaijani Republic and South
Azerbaijan northern Iran for several years that this diplomatic
mission will be opened soon. But, the consulate won’t open. This time,
the promise has been made at the level of the Iranian president,
Mohammad Khatami. Although we do not believe in a positive result, in
any case we hope that this issue which is sensitive for the ordinary
people of both Azerbaijans North and South will find its
resolution… ellipses as given

Now, let us have a brief look at Khatami’s mistake. While on a trip to
Ganca, he wrote down his words and wishes in the visitors’ book at the
world’s renowned thinker Nizami Gancavi’s mausoleum. There he called
Nizami a poet of “Persian literature”.

We have always boasted our hospitality. This national value has always
been a feature distinguishing Azerbaijani Turks from others. Our ills
have often resulted from this feature. With his remarks Khatami proved
that he was a representative of the chauvinist Persian ideology masked
under the cover of democracy. Had he not called Nizami Gancavi a poet
of the Islamic world for eulogizing God and the Muslim prophet, he
would have shown his devotion to Islam which is his country’s official
ideology.

As is known, Persian chauvinists in Iran are trying to tout the great
Azerbaijani poet, Nizami Gancavi, as being Persian. In his wishes
Khatami was a little bit “ashamed” to call him in the same way as in
Iran. Shortly before that, the Iranian president said in an address in
Iran that the national unity factor is the Persian language and
culture. The bearer of this opinion could have never expressed a
different view on Nizami Gancavi. This is the nature of the reformism
Khatami represents. He is a Persian chauvinist pretending to be
wearing the robe of democracy. The supporters of this ideology do not
accept the existence of ethnicities other than Persians in Iran and
believe those who are not Persians are bits and pieces. In other words
they preach the idea that all other ethnic groups in Iran originated
from the Persians, thus attempting to assimilate other ethnic groups.

As we wrote in a previous issue of Ayna, Mohammad Khatami did not meet
the press. The media in his country are silenced because they are
feared. While in our country he hid for fear of confronting questions
on real problems. Because an attempt to seem candid to the local
public by reciting ethnic Azerbaijani poet of Iran Mahammadhuseyn
Sahriyar’s poetry misfired. When in trouble they know how to find ways
to the hearts of our countrymen in South Azerbaijan by saying a couple
of words in Azerbaijani. He failed to rise in the eyes of Azerbaijani
Turks by reciting Sahriyar in Azerbaijani after calling Nizami Gancavi
“a poet of Persian literature”.

Persian is a compulsory language in Iran. Thus, a policy of
Persianization is being pursued in the country. This remark by Khatami
illustrates that everybody, from the supreme spiritual leader of Iran
Ayatollah Khamene’i to ordinary citizens, serves the Persian language
and culture. This clearly shows that the rights of Turks, Kurds, Arabs
and other ethnic groups in the country are being trampled upon.

In recent years an Armenian journalist visited Baku. He made a
fearless statement in Baku that Karabakh belongs to the
Armenians. Khatami’s remark is equal to this. We gave way to the
Persian language and secretaries at our palaces, as we did to
Armenians in our country. That is why part of our country is under
Armenian occupation, while in another part Persian chauvinism is
striving to destroy our ethnic identity.

But no official from Baku that visited Iran has ever said “this
belongs to Azerbaijani Turks”, although they are in majority in the
neighbouring country. There is a Turkic signature under every
historical monument or manuscript in Iran.

Symphony Concert

Cape Times – South Africa
Aug 11 2004

Symphony Concert

By Deon Irish

Thursday, August 5, City Hall; CPO conducted by Leslie B Dunner,
soloists Suren Bagratuni, Beverley Chiat; Dvorak: Cello Concerto in B
minor, Op 104; Mahler: Symphony No 4 in G major.

Even the miserable winter conditions did not prevent a pleasantly
full – even if not packed – house for a neatly balanced programme of
symphonic masterpieces, sponsored by Cape Gate on the occasion of its
75th anniversary.

Dvorak’s glorious concerto was written in the last months of his
three-year stay in New York, a period which also produced the popular
symphony From the New World to be featured in this week’s concert.

It is the work of a composer at the height of his creative powers
and, more pertinently, self-confidence. In the case of the finale,
for example, he was unmoved in withstanding the pressures of his
technical adviser, the cellist Hans Wihan, and of his publisher,
neither of whom cared for the relatively quiet concluding measures of
the work.

A concluding cadenza was suggested – even written out by Wihan – but
the composer was adamant: “I will give you my work only if you
promise not to allow anyone to make changes – friend Wihan not
excepted…”

Dvorak’s judgment has stood the test of time and in this performance,
the Armenian-born cellist, Suren Bagratuni, demonstrated just why the
work retains its prime status in the cello repertoire.

It does require a neat partnership between soloist and conductor for
the orchestration, cunningly tailored to the soloist’s needs, has
nevertheless the potential to overwhelm. On this occasion, orchestral
climaxes were repeatedly too brass-dominated in scale, resulting in a
somewhat unbalanced overall architecture.

The soloist displayed considerable artistry on his instrument, with
an admirable purposefulness which ensured that the solo line remained
consistently focused. Bowing was many-faceted and intonation secure.

But the greater pleasure came from personal touches which, through
subtle alterations of tempo and the infusion of a rhapsodic element,
gave individual personality to a well-known score.

Accompaniment featured many good things – including some fine horn
solos and finely controlled soft trumpet chords – but there was some
indifferent ensemble – not least in the final crescendo, which only
just held together.

The visiting American conductor, Leslie B Dunner, then took centre
stage for the Mahler 4th Symphony and demonstrated a facility with
the score which proved ingratiating. The work is Mahler’s shortest
and happiest symphony; and has as its genesis a rejected seventh
movement for his already monumental third symphony!

The movement was to be called What the Child tells me and, in this
symphony, it becomes the final revelation of all that goes before, a
song in which the soprano replicates the
innocent joy of a child’s vision of heaven, presenting an uncannily
contemporary obsession with culinary ingredients.

Beverley Chiat sang with musicality and a joyful intent, in most part
capturing the composer’s direction to replicate a childlike
brilliance.

This is a work in which the self-gnawing angst which beset the
composer was, for a brief while, operating at only fractional
strength.

But the morbidities are there; the acerbic tunes and neurotic
accompaniments abound and, even if it does culminate in a child-like
vision, we are constrained to admit that it is a very odd child.

Dunner led the orchestra in a generally assured and frequently
insightful account of the score; but, such anguish as there was
seemed (perhaps understandably) that of a rather different oppression
from that understood by the composer. The same old story, but told
with a somewhat different accent.

Author serves up tasty satire; Fiction: Restaurant critic turns

The News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington)
August 8, 2004, Sunday

Author serves up tasty satire; Fiction: Restaurant critic turns
novelist with savory results

SAM MCMANIS, The News Tribune

If there is anything worse than a restaurant critic gone bad – and,
believe me, we know all about that at The News Tribune – it’s a
restaurant critic gone soft.

In Jay Rayner’s scorching satire about the culture of apologia and
full disclosure in public, “Eating Crow,” the hero is Marc Basset, a
London newspaper restaurant critic who has lost his bite. One of his
excoriating reviews, pitiless in its rude comments about the cuisine
and its chef, has pushed the chef to suicide. Struck by his dormant
conscience, of all things, Basset decides to – gasp – apologize to
the chef’s widow.

This stretches credulity, of course. No one has ever known a
restaurant critic to apologize for anything. But since this is satire
– broad satire, at that – we can suspend our disbelief and go along
with Basset’s purging of his guilt.

A funny thing happens, though: Basset gets off on the way it feels to
say “I’m sorry.” So much so, in fact, that he becomes addicted to
apologizing. It gives him a chemical rush of endorphins and, soon,
Basset is looking up old girlfriends, former co-workers and casual
acquaintances to whom to feed his “sorry” addiction. All react in a
positive manner to his unburdening of himself, shocked that this
formerly callous man would do so. Basset finds an emotional
vulnerability and empathy he didn’t know he had.

If the story were to end there, the reader would be left with a
pretty funny, if forgettable, short story that sends up our Oprahized
compulsion for public confession. But Rayner, who is an award-winning
restaurant critic for The London Observer, expands Basset’s burden to
the global stage and turns “Eating Crow” into a political statement
of style over substance, rhetoric over sincerity, with a side dish of
cynicism.

Through coincidences, as hilarious as they are implausible, Basset
soon leaves his restaurant critic job after he refuses to criticize
restaurants any longer and becomes the chief spokesman for the newly
formed United Nations’ Office of Apology.

As a U.N. headhunter tells Basset when offering him the job – at a
substantial raise, naturally, from his meager newspaper salary – “the
conduct of calm international relations is being stymied by the
enormous weight of emotional baggage that world history has given us.
There are too many countries, too many peoples … with unresolved
grievances. If we could resolve the issues of the past, then the
conduct of world affairs in the present would be that much smoother.”

In other words, if Israel and Palestine could just say, “sorry, my
bad” to each other, then peace in the Middle East is possible. Plus,
the U.N.’s research showed that the amount of financial reparations
countries would have to pay to the oppressed would be less if an
apology first were proffered.

OK, so it’s implausible, but there it is. The reason the U.N. has
tapped Basset is because of his ancestry. It’s essential that the
apologizer have some personal responsibility somewhere in his past to
make the “penitential engagement” seem sincere. It just so happens
that Basset’s ancestors on his mother’s side (the Welton-Smiths,
English aristocrats) had been involved in every act of
oppressiveness, from slavery to colonialism to apartheid, in the
Western world.

So that gives Basset the “plausible apologibility” so needed for the
job.

At the start of his new duties, Basset apologizes for slavery, for
England’s occupation of India, for the Turks’ genocide of the
Armenians. He comes across as sincere, tearing up at every occasion.
He becomes something of an unlikely media celebrity, making the cover
of Time magazine. The reader, however, might miss the old snarky
Basset, the restaurant critic who throws out such bon mots as “the
food would taste better coming back up than it did going down.”

Not to worry, though, eventually Basset loses that earnest, do-gooder
persona as the apologizer-in-chief and starts to get a puffed-up
sense of importance. He appears on stage with Bono and the rest of
U2, making men cheer wildly and women swoon just by uttering, “I’m
sooorrrrryyyy!” He rents high-rent apartments in New York and Geneva
and can bed any woman he wants. He even has a threesome with
groupies/waitresses from Des Moines, Iowa.

The reader knows what’s coming, though, and Basset’s descent off the
pedestal is a delightful free-fall for the reader. Along the way,
Basset becomes an unknowing catalyst for a war in the Balkans and
loses both his job and credibility in the process.

“Eating Crow” is an example of British droll comedy and biting
satire. But there’s an added dimension. Rayner sends something of a
cautionary message that it’s unwise to delve too deeply into the
past, to dredge up long buried hurts for the sake of catharsis.

As Basset’s well-adjusted brother, Luke, tells him early on, “It’s
called personal history. You can’t rewrite that.” Basset replies,
“No, you can’t. But you can reassess it. … Why can’t people revise
their own histories?” Later, his estranged best friend, Stefan, tells
Basset, “I live with my past; you live off it.”

Apology, Rayner seems to be saying, is a form of selfishness. We
might think it’s about making amends with those we have harmed in
some way, but it’s really just to make ourselves feel better. Plus,
spoken too often, an apology loses all impact and is not believable.

Which brings me to the first sentence of “Eating Crow,” wildly funny
but not at all true.

That opening line: “I’m sorry you bought this book.”

No worries. Rayner has nothing to apologize for.

– – –

Sam McManis: 253-274-7380

[email protected]

– – –

EATING CROW

Jay Rayner

Simon & Schuster;

292 pages; $ 23

Armenian Identity Crisis

Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Aug 4 2004

ARMENIAN IDENTITY CRISIS

Fearing politicians and hellfire, protestors force delay in law on
identity cards.

By Naira Melkumyan in Yerevan

Armenia’s government has postponed plans to introduce identity cards
for the country’s approximately three million residents, following
protests from many who feared for the safety of their civil liberties
– or their souls.

Because of street protests, complaints and public renunciation of the
documents, the scheme will now be introduced only at the start of
2005, not July 1 this year as had been intended. Just 900,000 people
have received the cards to date.

The plan is to give all residents – Armenian and foreign nationals,
refugees and those without status – a card showing a 10-figure
identity number, date of birth, sex and passport number. The plan is
to store the data for 400 years.

The United States government’s development agency USAID has donated
1.3 million dollars worth of technical aid to launch the system, while
government costs have so far reached about 200,000 dollars.

Social services minister Agvan Vardanyan told IWPR that the new system
will help the government ensure that pensions and social security
benefits are paid, and cut fraud.

About 40 political and public associations have formed an umbrella
group called Against the Numbering of People, to campaign what they
call “numbering and coding of people to remove their individuality”.

Some protestors see a spiritual dimension to the threat to their
rights.

Khachik Stamboltsyan, chairman of the charity Mkhitarich, said the law
is the work “of the devil and foreign secret-service agents”.

He said that identity numbers were linked to dark forces, and noted
that some of the 10-digit codes were bound to include the number 666,
the Biblical mark of Satan.

The Armenian Apostolic Church, which dominates religious life in the
country, also had reservations, but gave its blessing after the
government promised to change any number that featured 666.

The General Episcopal Council and other leading Apostolic Church
bodies tried to assuage fears among believers, saying that the
identity system “does not pose any threat to the salvation of the
human soul, because relations between man and God are not material”.

Vardanyan told IWPR that the government had secured backing from the
head of the church, Catholicos Garegin II, and that several priests
had already been issued with cards.

But Armen Avetisyan, a spokesman for the group Against the Numbering
of People and leader of the Armenian Arian Order, said that the
centuries-long lifespan of the cards proved there was scope for
misuse.

“Putting citizens’ data together in one centre is dangerous from the
point of view of national security, and I am sure that this is all
being done by outside forces,” he said.

There is considerable support for these views. “I am not convinced by
the arguments made by state officials. To them we’re just laboratory
mice they are trying to turn into zombies, with the aim of making us
easier to control,” said Nune, a 45-year-old hairdresser. “First they
assign personal numbers, then they start implanting microchips under
your skin.”

Officials disagree. “There is no threat here to national security.
The year, month and day of birth is not the kind of information that
could harm our security; it constitutes data on citizens that can be
presented within the bounds of international accords,” said Smbat
Saiyan, head of the social insurance department at the Social Security
Ministry, told IWPR.

State ombudsman Larisa Alaverdyan said the protestors should be
listened to, even if they only constituted a minority.

So far about 1,000 people have returned their cards and more are
expected to follow. Against the Numbering of People says it has
collected 150,000 protest signatures and is also gathering support
among members of parliament to call for a hearing at the
Constitutional Court.

Avetisyan said that his organisation had received complaints from
employees in the state health and education sectors, as well as from
within the police, about being pressured to accept the card, even
though until July it was meant to be a voluntary scheme. The Institute
for Human Rights said it had received 100 complaints.

But the social security ministry insisted there was no substance to
such complaints. “When you start to investigate them, it becomes clear
that there are no facts,” said Saiyan.

Opponents of the scheme, as well as the ombudsman, are proposing a
year’s delay, but the government says its new deadline will hold. A
previous attempt to introduce personal identity codes was abandoned
two years ago.

“We are ready to listen to them, but the government does not currently
see any need to make changes to the law,” said minister Vardanyan.

Naira Melkumyan is an independent journalist based in Yerevan.

BAKU: Azeri, Armenian Leaders to Meet in September Summit of CIS

AZERI, ARMENIAN LEADERS TO MEET IN SEPTEMBER SUMMIT OF CIS

Bilik Dunyasi news agency
3 Aug 04

BAKU

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will meet Armenian President Robert
Kocharyan in the Kazakh capital, Astana. The meeting will be joined by
Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, the meeting will be
part of the CIS summit due in September.

Political circles in Azerbaijan explain Putin’s participation in the
meeting by Russia’s desire not to lag behind Turkey in resolving the
Karabakh conflict.

The main topic on the agenda of the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian
presidents’ meeting will be regional stability. In addition to that,
the sides are expected to discuss new recommendations of the OSCE
Minsk Group.

Steering Committee Formed for Institute of Armenian Studies at USC

July 23, 2004

PRESS RELEASE
R. Hrair Dekmejian
Professor of Political Science
University of Southern California
(213) 740-3619

Steering Committee Formed for Institute of Armenian Studies at USC

The long-held dream of the Armenian community of Southern California,
as well as thousands of USC Armenian Alumni to establish an Institute
of Armenian Studies is well on its way to realization.

A group of prominent community leaders, meeting at the Bistro Gardens
on July 14, responded enthusiastically to the establishment of an
institute that would strengthen and perpetuate the century-long
partnership between the Armenian community and the University of
Southern California.

At the dinner hosted by noted community leader, Charles Ghailian, the
attendees became acquainted with the institute’s unique mission as a
multidisciplinary center of Armenian studies, covering a variety of
fields — law, business, religion, politics, music, film, media, the
arts and sciences. Speaking passionately about the bright future of
the institute, Charles Ghailian welcomed the opportunity to establish
a world-class think-tank that would promote learning and scholarship
about the Armenian-American community, the global Armenian Diaspora,
and the Armenian Republic.

The attendees were: Dr. Mihran & Eliz Agbabian, Alex Baroian, John
Berberian, Sylva Bezdikian, Albert Boyajian, Mark Chenian,
Dr. R. Hrair Dekmejian, Charles Ghailian, Armen Janian, Esq., Onnik
Mehrabian, Varant Melkonian, Gerald Papazian, Esq., Harut Sassounian,
Hagop & Mina Shirvanian, Sinan Sinanian, The Honorable Dikran
Tevrizian, Ralf & Savey Tufenkian, Arda Yemenidjian, and Edward
Zohrabian.

After a lively discussion, the assembled guests unanimously resolved
to commit themselves to bringing the vision of the institute into
reality. By forming a Steering Committee, the members plan to raise
“seed money” and make plans for fund raising and other activities
involving many additional members in the Armenian community.

Since its founding over a century ago, USC has educated thousands of
Armenian-Americans who have gone on to distinguished careers in
business, government and the professions. It is only fitting that USC
serves as the home of an unprecedented venture in multidisciplinary
Armenian studies – the first of its kind in the United States and the
larger Diaspora.

Karabakh: Int’l experts weigh settlement chances

RIA Novosti, Russia
July 25 2004

KARABAKH: INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS WEIGH SETTLEMENT CHANCES

YEREVAN, July 25 (RIA Novosti) – Stepanakert, capital of the
unrecognized Armenian-populated Karabakh Republic in Azerbaijan,
hosted an international expert team today, who were discussing
prospects for peaceful Armenian-Azeri conflict settlement, announced
the Central Information Board under the Karabakh president.

The visitors held a conference with the republican top to blueprint
measures the conflicting parties should take to pace up settlement.
They called to enhance international involvement in the cause. The
experts also reported their impressions of contacts with Karabakh
authorities and NGO spokesmen.

Leading the delegation is Bruce Jackson, NATO committee head in the
U.S. Senate, in charge of Project Transitional Democracies. The other
delegates are Daniel Twining, director for foreign politics, German
branch of the U.S.-based Marshall Foundation; Ronald Asmus, head
expert of the Marshall Foundation trans-Atlantic relations board;
Randy Scheuneman, Orion strategic center president; Istvan Gyarmati,
Hungary, board chair of the Center for Euro-Atlantic Integration and
Democracy; and Robert Cotrell, European branch editor of the UK-based
journal, The Economist.

A truce was made on Karabakh more than ten years ago. Painstaking
international mediation by the OSCE Minsk group has not brought
settlement a step closer since that day. Occasional skirmishes are
lately reported from the conflict zone day in, day out, the
belligerents shifting the blame on each other.

Azeri authorities are willing to grant extensive autonomy to what
they regard as a rebellious province, but are set on Azerbaijan
retaining it for the sake of territorial integrity. Baku also insists
on regaining long-established Azeri areas bordering on Karabakh and
seized in the warfare, and on Azeri refugees returning home. The
latter demand is a worthy reason for negotiations, agree Armenian and
Karabakh leaders. They, however, would not listen about Karabakh ever
getting back under the Azeri wing.

La France et la Turquie se =?UNKNOWN?Q?f=E9licitent_de?= leurs=?UNKN

Le Monde, France
22 juillet 2004

La France et la Turquie se félicitent de leurs échanges économiques
LE MONDE

A l’issue de sa visite en France, le premier ministre turc, Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, a parrainé démonstrativement, avec le président
Chirac, mercredi 21 juillet, dans un salon du palais de l’Elysée, la
signature par Airbus et Turkish Airlines d’un protocole d’accord sur
la vente de 36 avions.

La visite du chef du gouvernement turc, venu plaider pour l’entrée de
son pays dans l’Union européenne, a ainsi été l’occasion d’insister
de part et d’autre sur la bonne santé des relations économiques entre
les deux pays et les avantages que la France en retire. Parlant d’une
“explosion” des échanges, le directeur de la mission économique
française en Turquie a indiqué mercredi à Istanbul qu’ils avaient
atteint en 2003 un niveau record de 6,1 milliards d’euros,
poursuivant leur progression en 2004.

Le soutien de Jacques Chirac à la Turquie reste cependant contesté en
France. Le président de l’UDF, François Bayrou, reçu mercredi par M.
Erdogan, avait réitéré la veille son opposition à une adhésion
turque. “Le moins que l’on puisse dire, c’est que la Turquie n’est
pas une société européenne”, avait-il dit. Les responsables UMP
François Baroin et Alain Juppé, dont le parti défend un “partenariat
privilégié” avec la Turquie au lieu d’une adhésion à l’UE, se sont
montrés en revanche discrets sur la discussion qu’ils ont eue.

François Hollande, premier secrétaire du Parti socialiste a indiqué,
après avoir rencontré à son tour M. Erdogan, ne pas avoir
“d’hostilité à l’adhésion de la Turquie en tant que telle”, mais
qu’elle devait être “conditionnée à des progrès plus grands en
matière de droits de l’homme, de démocratie politique, de garanties
en matière de laïcité” ainsi qu'”à la reconnaissance du génocide
arménien”. Pour M. Hollande, “nous devons utiliser au mieux les
négociations sur l’adhésion pour que nos valeurs et nos principes
soient respectés”.

Le premier secrétaire du PS qui sait son parti divisé, façonne une
sorte de ligne d’équilibre : contre une entrée immédiate, sans
l’exclure à plus long terme dans une dynamique de négociations. “Je
ne comprends pas très bien la position du parti là-dessus”,
s’irritait mardi Henri Emmanuelli, en mettant notamment en avant “le
niveau des salaires en Turquie” et le problème des “délocalisations”.
“Je regrette que le PS ne soit pas plus attentif à l’opinion de son
électorat”, ajoutait-il, en affirmant que ce dernier est
majoritairement opposé à une telle adhésion.