Thursday, May 31, 2007

CIS: Is South Caucasus 'Region' An Artificial Construct?

Wednesday, May 30, 2007
RFE/RL
By Salome Asatiani


May 30, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia are commonly grouped together under a common label -- the "South Caucasus." But evidence of such unity is hard to find on the streets of the nations' capitals.

In Tbilisi, one man, asked whether he considered Georgia part of a regional bloc, said simply, "No, I don't. Georgia is Georgia." Asked if Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan had anything in common, he said, "Absolutely nothing."

In Baku, the sentiment is similar, with a local resident saying: "I don't want Azerbaijan to be in only the South Caucasus -- it should also be in stronger blocs."

And in the Armenian capital, one woman spoke nostalgically of a time when the three countries had a greater sense of unity. "We used to have many things in common," she said. "We were similar in our temperament, lifestyle, and human relationships; similar in almost everything. I never felt like an outsider in either in either Baku or Tbilisi."

And now? "I think that all these things have changed a lot, and they've gotten worse -- in religious matters, and in other ways as well."

What's changed over the years?

Not much, according to regional analysts. To them, the notion of a "South Caucasus" or a "Transcaucasus" has always been an artificial construct imposed from outside.

"Russian people -- or, let's say, the Russian Empire -- logically gave the name ‘Transcaucasus’ to that part of its empire located beyond the Caucasus mountain range as seen from the north," says Alexander Iskandarian, the director of the Yerevan-based Caucasus Media Institute.

"People who lived in the South Caucasus did not understand this unity, because it hadn't existed before. Prior to this, inhabitants of the South Caucasus had identified themselves as part of wider communities -- as citizens or subjects of the Persian Empire, the Ottoman Empire. Or they identified themselves in more local terms."

Periods Of Union

There are a few examples of the three nations briefly coming together into a single political unit. There was a short-lived federation established in 1918, prior to Sovietization. Later, there was the Transcaucasian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic, which existed within the Soviet Union between 1922-36.

Literature and popular culture played their own role in highlighting the link between the three nations.

"For a foreign expert who comes and spends three days in Tbilisi, Baku, and Yerevan, it's difficult to comprehend that in reality he is dealing with different countries, different languages, different religions, and that even historically we have never been particularly great friends." Kurban Said's novel "Ali and Nino," first published in the 1930s, was one such example. The novel, set around the time of the Russian Revolution, chronicles the tragic love story between an Azerbaijani man and a Georgian woman.

Soviet audiences, for their part, loved Giorgi Danelia's 1977 film "Mimino," which tells the story of a friendship between a Georgian and an Armenian stranded in Moscow.

And then there are the innumerable jokes about "a Georgian, an Azerbaijani, and Armenian" that abounded during the Soviet era, all based on the general stereotype of Caucasians as hospitable, eccentric, dark-haired, and -- in the case of the men -- thickly mustached.

Also perpetuating the image of South Causasus unity were Soviet-era melodies like the 1950s "Caucasus Table Song," in which three "brothers" -- the cities of Tbilisi, Baku, and Yerevan -- sing a toast to their friendship and future progress.

Tbilisi-based psychologist Gaga Nizharadze claims that such cultural representations and stereotypes -- despite being the result of a kind of artificial homogenization -- ultimately fostered some genuine unity between Armenians, Azerbaijanis, and Georgians.

"We have carried out several research projects to determine whether there has ever been such a thing as a general 'Caucasian identity,'" Nizharadze says. "We found that it does exist, although it is very weakly felt. I can speak from my own experience that, when meeting in Moscow for example, people from the Caucasus have some commonalties, be it in subjective terms, or even in terms of looks and appearance -- 'You are all Caucasian.'"

Diverging Identities

But it is also clear that in the post-Soviet years, the three countries have proved more different than alike.

Nation-building efforts that followed the breakup of the Soviet Union led to increased emphasis on religious identities. This exposed differences among the three states, with Azerbaijan a primarily Muslim country, and Armenia and Georgia adhering to different branches of Christianity.

Likewise, newfound nationalism led to intellectual disputes over cultural heritage.

Ultimately, despite their geographic proximity, the three countries have generally fared poorly at interstate cooperation. Azerbaijan and Georgia have forged some energy transport deals, and Baku provided much-needed energy supplies to Tbilisi during its standoff with Russia. But otherwise, relations in the neighborhood have not always been neighborly.

This is due in large part to their markedly different foreign-policy perspectives. While Georgia grows more oriented toward the West, Armenia is seen as more tied to Moscow. Azerbaijan, rich in oil and gas resources, has the luxury of straddling the fence, and even seeking an individual role on the international level.

And then there is Nagorno-Karabakh, the ethnic Armenian exclave based on Azerbaijani territory. Armenia and Azerbaijan fought over the disputed region in a bloody war that lasted from 1988-94, and tensions over the exclave remain extremely heated.

Archil Gegeshidze, a political scientist based in Tbilisi, says the unresolved "frozen conflict" remains the biggest hurdle to regional unity.

"The issue of the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the main problem, entailing differing foreign-policy orientations and different systems of security," Gegeshidze says. "When two countries are at war, it is of course out of place to speak about any regional unity."

Grouped For Convenience?

Despite all the friction, however, the concept of a unified South Caucasus region is still widely held in international politics.

NATO and the European Union, for example, use a single representative in dealing with all three countries as a whole. The EU launched its Neighborhood Policy action plans simultaneously in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, despite the countries' varying records on reform.

While Georgia grows more oriented toward the West, Armenia is seen as increasingly pro-Russian. Azerbaijan, rich in oil and gas resources, has the luxury of straddling the fence. And there are numerous examples of efforts to promote regional integration -- the Eurasia Foundation's South Caucasus Cooperation Program and the Council of Europe's 2006 Stability Pact for the South Caucasus, to name just two.

Many analysts cite the states' smallness and minimal global influence as reasons they are often bunched together. Another, according to psychologist Gaga Nizharadze, is that taking a regional approach significantly simplifies things for outsiders.

"It is easier to carry out policies in relation to regions," Nizharadze says. "And for a foreign expert who comes and spends three days in Tbilisi, Baku, and Yerevan, it is difficult to comprehend that in reality he is dealing with different countries, different languages, different religions, and that even historically we have never been particularly great friends. But when seen from London or New York, for instance, this is one geographical area, and it is much easier to deal with it as one."

Baku-based political scientist Rasim Musabekov agrees. However, he believes a regional approach does not necessarily have to ignore the three nations' individual characteristics.

"From outside, for Europe, the South Caucasus is seen as a region. However, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia are each clearly distinguished within it, because their policies are far from identical," Musabekov says. "I think this is how Russia sees it as well. Turkey and Iran are behaving in similar ways. Therefore, in this sense, the 'region' exists only for outside players."

International actors may very well continue the practice of lumping Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia together, leading the three states to set aside their differences temporarily when on the global stage.

But another possibility is that "South Caucasus" may gradually outlive its usefulness, eventually serving only as an example of a failed attempt to paint the three nations with one brush.

(RFE/RL's Azerbaijani, Armenian, and Georgian services contributed to this report.)


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Strong Dram ‘Good For Armenian Growth’

30 May 2007
Armenialiberty.org, Armenia
By Hovannes Shoghikian and Emil Danielyan

The dramatic strengthening of the Armenian dram has been a major factor behind Armenia’s double-digit economic growth recorded in recent years, a senior economist from the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.

The national currency has gained more than 50 percent in nominal value against the U.S. dollar since the start of its appreciation in late 2003. The process slowed down in the first few months of this year but seems to be again gaining momentum.

The Armenian government and Central Bank have attributed the exchange rate fluctuation to a surge in hard currency remittances sent home by hundreds of thousands of Armenians living and working abroad. They also point to the dollar’s overall weakening against other major world currencies.

Local manufacturers and economists critical of the government have expressed serious concern at the trend, criticizing the authorities in Yerevan for their refusal to heavily intervene in the foreign-exchange market. They say the stronger dram has hurt Armenian exports and widened the country’s huge trade deficit. Some of the critics have gone as far as to accuse the authorities of “artificially” strengthening the dram to benefit government-connected importers of fuel and other basic commodities.

But both the IMF and the World Bank have dismissed the criticism, voicing support for monetary policies pursued by the Armenian Central Bank. David Owen, a senior advisor in the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, insisted on Wednesday that the strong dram has actually contributed to Armenian growth by suppressing inflation.

“We think that the relatively flexible approach to the exchange rate -- allowing more appreciation than elsewhere -- combined with tight fiscal policy have contributed to the very good performance on inflation and to the high growth rate that has been achieved in Armenia,” he told reporters in Yerevan.

Owen argued that Armenian exports have grown by an average of 20 percent in the last few years even if they were largely flat in 2006. He said the authorities should help to boost them by implementing more economic reforms and strengthening business competition.

According to government data for the first quarter of this year, the exports were up by 25 percent from the same period in 2006, totaling $231 million. But they continued to pale in comparison with imports that jumped by 52 percent to $645 million.

The first-quarter official figures also show the Armenian economy growing by 11 percent year on year, putting it on track to expand at a double-digit rate for a sixth consecutive year.


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Armenia not going to enrich uranium on its territory

30.05.2007
PanARMENIAN.Net

Works will be carried out jointly with Rosatom in southern Armenia to confirm forecasts about uranium resources in the near future, RA President Robert Kocharian said at May 30 sitting of the security council on atomic energy.

Armenia is not going to enrich uranium on its territory. “We prefer to join the idea of formation of international centers on providing services of nuclear fuel cycle under IAEA. Agreement with the Russian federation has been already achieved,” the RA leader said.

During his recent visit to Yerevan Rostatom head Sergey Kiriyenko said uranium resources in Armenia can reach 60 thousand tons. Armenia itself needs 400 tons of nuclear fuel. The republic is supposed to enrich fuel in the international nuclear center in Angarsk. The founders of the center are Russia and Kazakhstan, IA Regnum reports.

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Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Turkish media: Cargo train derailed by HPG was transporting rockets from Iran to Syria

NEWSDESK, May 30 (DozaMe.org) - The Turkish cargo train with serial number 55555, which was attacked and derailed by HPG forces (PKK’s armed wing) on May 25, was transporting 300 rockets from Iran to Syria, reports Turkey’s biggest newspaper Hurriyet today.

The derailed train turned out to be transporting containers filled with rockets. The containers carrying the rockets had been filed as transporting construction materials and were rolled into Turkey at the border point in Van. The containers were then transported to Lake Van and from there with ferry boats to Tatvan in Bitlis province where they were loaded onto train 55555. The train was then to be transported to Malatya and then to Islahiye before transported into Syria at the Yolbasi border point in Gaziantep province.

HPG had derailed the Turkish cargo train 55555 close to Suveren in the Genc district of Bingol province of northern Kurdistan (southeastern Turkey) on May 25 at 08:00 (8.00 a.m.) EEST. The train was derailed with a remote-controlled bomb placed on the tracks.

HPG said in a statement relating to the derailing that they had had intelligence on the cargo train transporting weapons, but didn’t indicate whether they had collected this intelligence themselves or been given it by someone else.

Turkish intelligence service MIT is now investigating the matter. The final destination of the rockets is believed to have been the Lebanese Hezbollah or Palestinian organizations according to Turkish media.

It was also reported that an Iranian cargo plane flying to Syria was forced down to the Turkish military airbase in Diyarbakir by Turkish authorities. The plane was claimed to have been searched by Turkish police and then allowed to continue the flight to Syria when nothing was found.

DozaMe.org reported in August 18 last year that Turkey was helping Iran smuggle weapons to Syria and the Lebanese Hezbollah through its Red Crescent organization.

Related articles:

Syrian Red Crescent official: Turkey helped arming Hezbollah


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WFP welcomes US$2 million donation from Russia to Armenia

30 May 2007
Reuters AlertNet, UK
Source: WFP
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
Location: Yerevan

WFP today warmly welcomed the delivery of 3,375 metric tons of wheat flour and 195 metric tons of vegetable oil, valued at US$2 million, donated by the Russian Federation to support WFP’s operation to assist some 110,000 beneficiaries in Armenia.

“This donation to Armenia is very timely and has enabled us to continue assisting the poorest communities,” said WFP Armenia Country Director Muzaffar Choudhery.

“We are extremely grateful for Russia’s ongoing commitment to our efforts to help those in need,” he added.

Operation

Currently, WFP’s operation includes relief food distributions, food-for-work, food-for-training and food-for-education in the provinces of Gegharkunik, Lori, Shirak and Tavoush, as well as the capital city of Yerevan.

The food donated by Russia has already arrived in Armenia and will be immediately distributed in all four of WFP’s programme activities.

Food rations absorb the bulk of WFP assistance and reach beneficiaries who are targeted through the Government’s vulnerability assessment system, PAROS.

"Confident"

“In the current phase of WFP’s assistance to Armenia, such donor support makes us feel confident that we will be able to continue and conclude our mission in this country in a responsible manner,” said Choudhery.

The country still faces major challenges in reducing poverty, redistributing gains from economic development as well as ending corruption and improving corporate governance.

High unemployment, occasional informal jobs and self-employment characterize the present situation.

WFP has been providing food aid to Armenia since 1994, first to the refugees from Azerbaijan and later to Armenia’s own vulnerable population. To date, WFP’s food assistance totals US$79 million.

Contact us
Liana Kharatian
WFP/Armenia
Tel: +374-10- 580538, 564904 ext. 2024
Mob. +374-91-407834


Tatyana Chubrikova
WFP/Moscow
Tel. +7-095-2323011
Mob. +74 9591610 65774


Mia Turner
WFP/Cairo
Tel. +20-2-5281730
Mob. +20-122455769


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IMF forecasts Armenian GDP will grow more than 10% in 2007

May 30 2007
Interfax Russia, Russia

YEREVAN. May 30 (Interfax) - The International Monetary Fund is predicting that the Armenian economy will grow more than 10% in 2007 compared to the budget target of 9%, David Owen, IMF senior advisor for the Middle East and Central Asia, said at a Wednesday press conference in Yerevan.

GDP growth for the first quarter of 2007 points in favor that the economy could grow more than the budget forecasts, he said. Large foreign transfers are also largely contributing to GDP growth. Construction remains the fastest growing sector of the economy, where the real growth in production was 37% in 2006.

Armenia's economy has grown by an average of 13% over the past four years, Owen said. Inflation will be 4% in 2007 compared to an average forecast of 11% for Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries.

The Armenian economy grew 13.4% in 2006. rm

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OPIC won’t support Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway construction

30.05.2007
PanARMENIAN.Net

The Armenian Assembly of America commended Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) for securing an assurance on May 25 from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) that the agency would not support a proposed railroad linking Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan while bypassing Armenia. OPIC helps U.S. businesses invest overseas.

"It is important that OPIC not repeat the mistake of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline," Sherman said in a press statement. "Taxpayer funds should not go for projects that deliberately seek to isolate a friend of the United States, and I appreciate the commitment not to get involved in the railroad project."

The proposed railway, estimated to cost upwards of $600 million, excludes Armenia from economic and regional transportation corridors. Armenian government officials have repeatedly said that a new costly Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway is unnecessary given that a railroad linking Armenia, Georgia and Turkey already exists.

Last June, the House Financial Services Committee unanimously approved a provision sponsored by Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY), along with Sherman and Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), prohibiting the Export-Import Bank from supporting the rail link project. That provision was adopted and is now a law.

"The Assembly thanks Congressman Sherman for his leadership on this issue," said Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. "The proposed project, sponsored by the Turkish and Azeri governments, runs counter to U.S. policy goals which seek to foster regional cooperation and economic integration, and includes open borders and transport and communication corridors. OPIC’s assurance helps ensure that the U.S. will not be party to the flawed policies of Armenia’s neighbors," the AAA reports.

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Tuesday, May 29, 2007

The wannabe nation of Nagorno-Karabakh

May 29, 2007
Christian Science Monitor, MA
By Nicole Itano - Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

With a flag, parliament, and prime minister, this 'country' is all dressed up but has nowhere to go.

Stepanakert, self-declared republic of Nagorno-Karabakh - Anoushavan Danielyan's office is resplendent with the signs of his high post. A red, blue, and orange flag adorns a corner. A large seal depicts a regal bird, above whose head floats a crown. Plastic flowers sit in a vase.

Outside, in a grim corridor that has seen better days, a sign indicates this is the office of the prime minister of the Nagorno-Karabakh republic.

Never heard of it? Don't worry. That's because it doesn't officially exist.

[...]

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ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS WON'T CHANGE IRRESPECTIVE OF FACT WHAT POLITICAL FORCE WILL WIN TURKISH PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

May 25 2007
Noyan Tapan

YEREVAN, MAY 25, NOYAN TAPAN. Expressing any position connected with Turkey-European Union relations is very premature for Armenia: involving Turkey into EU, after all, is an issue to be decided by Europe. Armen Ayvazian, Director of Ararat strategic center, expressed such opinion at the May 25 discussion.

As he affirmed, the forecast of Armenian politicians that becoming EU member, Turkey will change its attitude to Armenia, is wrong. A. Ayvazian said that if even that country becomes a member of European family, which, in political scientist's words, is improbable, it will use all possibilities given to it within the framework of that union to exert greater pressure upon Armenia.

Touching upon the elections to be held in summer in Turkey, A. Ayvazian said that irrespective of the fact whether the Islamists or secular political forces will win the elections, Armenian-Turkish relations will not change.

Ruben Safrastian, Director of Institute of Oriental Studies of National Academy of Sciences, reminded that as early as before the previous elections the representatives of Justice and Development Party made sensational statements that in case of coming to power they will cooperate with Armenia purely from considerations of economic contacts. Their promises of the kind, naturally, were not fulfilled.

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Foreigners are shocked by Azerbaijan

May 25, 2007
Yerkir, Armenia
By Gayane MOVSESSIAN

They cannot understand how one can say something but do something completely different.

Another drama between the Azeri government and the media is underway in Azerbaijan. The Azeri National Security Service and the Ministry of Emergency Situations searched the offices of the opposition newspapers “Realni Azerbaijan” and “Gundeliq Azerbaijan” and confiscated the equipment. The apartment of the chief editor of Realni Azerbaijan newspaper Eynuli Fatulayev was also searched, the editor was arrested with charges of calls for terrorism.

The Azeri journalists are asking – how can it happen that in their country that is a member of the Council of Europe and has undertaken commitments for democratic development and freedom of speech journalists are arrested, bitten and even shot in front of the eyes of foreign diplomats, international organizations and law enforcemene agencies?

The media in Azerbaijan are writing that the Azeri authorities are completely ignoring the opinions of any international organizations. And this happens in all spheres, not only with the media, leader of the public forum For Azerbaijan, one of the opposition leaders Eldar Namazov says. “We can observe the same situation in our economic policies when the government is trying to convince us that the economy is developing only at the expense of the oil industry.

Meanwhile, the existing oil processing contracts show that the oil industry is going to decline in 2011. Linking the country’s economy only to the oil industry is a suicide for any country. We have stagnation, if not a regress in many other sectors. There is not a single sector in Azerbaijan where the situation would be positive.

Corruption is eroding the entire public administration system. The judicial system is fully controlled by the government. We have political prisoners. Media are constantly under pressure from the government. I do not think it will be possible to achieve any positive results by improving the situation in any particular sector.

The government does not need independent media because they do not need fair trials and free elections. They do not want public control of the state because that would eliminate corruption. This is a government crisis,” Namazov says.

He believes the Azeri government is violating both its international commitments and treaties and the Azeri legislation. Europe is not happy with this situation. The international organizations do not have a clue that the Azeri government deserves sanctions. At the same time Strasburg is worried that the Azeri authorities “are trying to get rid of the Council of Europe monitoring which will result in greater pressure and more violence against the independent media and the political opposition.”

Namazov points out that the Azeri government is making the most unexpected, sometimes even ridiculous decisions right before the CoE Parliamentary Assembly sessions as if trying to push this organizations to apply sanctions against Azerbaijan.

“The same thing happened on the eve of the last Parliamentary Assembly session and the other international events where the issue of Azerbaijan was discussed. This is the Azeri authorities’ strategy which causes serious concerns in the West.”

The Azeri authorities are trying to build their relations with other countries based on oil – we give you oil, you give us a carte blanche for repressive domestic policies. And they succeed in this. “The government is saying that it is fulfilling its Council of Europe commitments while the situation is completely the opposite,” Namazov says.

The international and European organizations have been ignoring the arbitrary actions in Baku’s domestic and foreign policy front for the sake of oil. Namazov says he is aware of dozens of cases when representatives of authoritative international organizations have stated that an issue has been settled and agreed with the Azeri government while in a couple of days the government did something completely opposite. “It was a pain for me to look at these foreigners faces. They simply could not understand how one can say one thing but do something completely different”.

Meanwhile, the same foreigners are trying to convince us, Armenia and the Republic of Nagorno Karabagh, to come to an agreement with the government of Azerbaijan that has been cheating the international community for so long. Moreover, they are trying to convince us of the Azeri government’s “peace loving” nature and its “goodwill”. Let us remind our respected European colleagues that we, the Armenians have already passed through this as opposed to Europe.

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Young Russian nationalist confesses to killing 37

May 28, 2007
RIA Novosti, Russia

MOSCOW, May 28 (RIA Novosti) - A young nationalist suspected of killing an Armenian businessman confessed to killing 37 people together with his friend, a popular Russian daily said Monday.

Vremya Novostei reported that Artur Ryno, a student at an icon painting school, detained in mid-April on suspicion of killing Karen Abramyan, an Armenian, told investigators that he has "since school hated people from the Caucasus who come to Moscow, unite and oppress Russians," and added that he suddenly realized "the city needed to be cleaned."

Ryno said he and his friend Pavel Skachevsky, both aged 18, attacked and killed dark-skinned people in Moscow's suburbs. They did not confess to the Armenian's murder until a videotape from surveillance cameras installed at the building's entrance where Abramyan lived was shown to them.

Prosecutors said Ryno and Skachevsky were detained after an eyewitness called the police and said the two people who stabbed Abramyan 20 times escaped in a streetcar. Police stopped the streetcar and arrested the two students whose clothes and a knife found on them were covered in blood.

A police source said: "At first we doubted whether what Ryno said was true - he mentioned too many details and boasted about what he had done, but at the same time the dates and crime scenes named were not precise. But the investigations we have carried out confirm that everything he says is true." However, Ryno's accomplice, Skachevsky has denied attacking anyone.

Vremya Novostei wrote that the teenagers carried out their first killing August 21, 2006, which coincided with an explosion carried out by skinheads at Moscow's Cherkizovsky market, where many traders from the North Caucasus region, former Central Asian Soviet republics, as well as Vietnam and China worked. The explosion left 11 people dead and at least 49 injured.

Ryno said when they were attacking people, bystanders did not interfere, preferring to leave the crime scene as quickly as possible.

Routine attacks by skinheads and young gangs on foreigners and people with non-Slavic features have been reported across Russia in recent years. But authorities have been generally reluctant to treat the attacks as race-hate crimes, portraying them instead as acts of hooliganism.

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Monday, May 28, 2007

May 28: Day of First Republic of Armenia

28.05.2007
PanARMENIAN.Net

On May 28 Armenia marks the Day of the First Republic.

Having defeated the Turkish army in Sardarapat May 26 the Armenian troops succeeded in stopping the Turkish intervention in the Transcaucasus and rescue Armenia from complete elimination. The Armenian Republic was proclaimed the Armenian National Council May 28, 1918 in Tiflis after the decline of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic.

May 29 the western and eastern bureaus of ARF Dashnaktsutyun appointed Hovhannes Kajaznuni the first-ever Prime Minister of independent Armenia with Yerevan as capital. The last Prime Minister was Simon Vratsyan.

The Republic of Armenia had existed for two years in all. December 2, 1920, the troops of the 11th Red Army entered Yerevan and the republic became soviet.

In 1991 the Armenian SSR proclaimed independence and the parliament announced May 28 a legal holiday.

A monument to Sardarapat battle heroes was inaugurated in 1968.

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Saturday, May 26, 2007

New terminal opened in Zvartnots airport

26.05.2007
PanARMENIAN.Net

From June 1 the passengers of Zvartnots International Airport will be offered services in a new waiting room. The solemn opening ceremony took place May 25 with participation of President Robert Kocharian, Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II, Argentinean Armenian entrepreneur, owner of Corporation America, president of Zvartnots-Armenia International Airports Eduardo Ernekyan, government members, MPs, businessmen and diplomats.

“Today we are putting into operation the best passenger terminal in the region,” Mr Eknekyan said adding that it’s the initial $100-million part of the general investment program. $100 million will be additionally invested in the airport till 2010.

When addressing the audience President Kocharian said this construction will perfectly correspond to the image of developed and competitive Armenia. He also thanked Mr Ernekyan for the work done and wished him every success in the implementation of the second stage of the investment program.

The ERDB and the German Investment Development Company have granted a $30 million credit for a 7-year term for modernization of Zvartnots airport.

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Gyumri Mayor’s Son Charged In High-Profile Shootout

Friday 25, May 2007
Armenialiberty.org, Armenia
By Satenik Vantsian in Gyumri

Prosecutors announced on Friday a nationwide hunt for a son of Gyumri Mayor Vartan Ghukasian after identifying him as a key participant of the weekend shootout in Armenia’s second largest city that left at least one person wounded.

Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General officially confirmed reports that the gunfight involved two groups of young men led by Spartak Ghukasian and Rustam Sargsian, son of a prominent local businessman. It said police have been instructed to take “all necessary measures” to find and arrest both men already charged under relevant articles of the Armenian Criminal Code.

“Nobody has been arrested in connection with this case so far,” the spokeswoman for the law-enforcement agency, Sona Truzian, told RFE/RL, denying rumors about dozens of arrests circulating in Gyumri. But she said the investigators have already found two expensive cars, two assault rifles, and two pistols used in the shootout.

The investigators also questioned on Thursday Mayor Ghukasian in connection with the incident. In a televised interview broadcast earlier this week, he vehemently denied his son’s involvement. He also accused the media and his rivals of discrediting his family which was widely linked with other instances of violence reported in Gyumri in recent years.

The flamboyant mayor, who is a senior member of the governing Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), was seriously wounded in a mysterious drive-by shooting that killed three of his bodyguards about two months ago. Ghukasian has linked the apparent assassination attempt to his membership in the HHK.

There were suggestions that the latest shootout may have also been politically motivated as the fugitive Sargsian’s father is a local leader of the pro-presidential Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), one of the HHK’s main rivals in the May 12 parliamentary elections. But according to the prosecutors, the shootout was sparked by a violent dispute between Sargsian and a friend of Spartak Ghukasian’s that broke out in a Gyumri restaurant earlier on Sunday. Truzian said the man, Norayr Soloyan, picked a fight with Sargsian before being shot and wounded in the leg.

Soloyan was taken to a Gyumri hospital and is being treated there under police guard. A statement by the prosecutors said he will be arrested and prosecuted after recovering from the wound.

Truzian insisted that only one person, an elderly woman, suffered a minor injury in the shootout itself when a stray bullet hit her in the arm. She also said the investigators see no link between the incident and the disappearance of a 12-year-boy in Gyumri on Sunday. The boy, identified as Robert Simonian, reportedly went missing at around the same time.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

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OSCE Tones Down Armenian Election Praise

Friday 25, May 2007
Armenia Liberty
By Emil Danielyan

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe effectively completed its two-month vote monitoring in Armenia on Friday after releasing a fresh report that raised more questions about the freedom and fairness of the May 12 parliamentary elections.

The content of the post-election interim report issued by the OSCE’s observer mission in Yerevan contrasted with its earlier, overwhelmingly positive assessment of the Armenian authorities’ handling of the vote. It emphasized and elaborated on Western election observers’ preliminary conclusion that counting of ballots in a large number of polling stations and their subsequent tabulation by district election commissions (TECs) was deeply flawed.

“During these last stages of the election process, the [OSCE mission] observed certain inconsistencies with established regulations and departures from best electoral practice which do not contribute to strengthening public confidence in the election process,” the report said. It said OSCE monitors found “discrepancies, some of them significant” between vote results reported by precinct commissions and the higher-level TECs.

The mission head, Boris Frlec, handed a copy of the report to Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian at a meeting on Thursday. Few of the meeting’s details were reported by the Foreign Ministry’s press service. It quoted Frlec as saying that the vote was “on the whole” an improvement over the previous Armenian elections.

Oskanian was reported to have thanked the OSCE observers for their “objective” assessment of the election conduct. He also told Frlec that next year’s presidential election will be “another important step in strengthening democracy in Armenia.”

In a serious boost to the Armenian government’s international reputation, the preliminary report jointly released by nearly 400 observers representing the OSCE, the European Union and the Council of Europe on May 13 concluded that the elections largely met democratic standards. The OSCE mission’s follow-up report painted a less rosy picture.

“In 35 percent of the [108] polling stations where counting was observed, the PEC (precinct election commission) members had difficulties completing the results protocols,” it said, adding that many of those protocols were “filled out incompletely or incorrectly.”

The mission, deployed by the OSCE’s Warsaw-based Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), said this contributed to “disorganization” at higher-level TECs that tabulated the results in their respective electoral districts. It said Western observers found the tabulation process to be “bad or very bad” in more than a third of Armenia’s 41 TECs. Fourteen of those commissions were observed making changes in the PEC vote protocols in violation of the Armenian Election Code, the mission added.

The code stipulates that the protocols must be delivered to the TECs in special bags sealed by precinct-level election officials. But according to the OSCE’s post-election report, in at least seven district commissions ballot bags were “unsealed, or had clearly been sealed and reopened.” In one of them, it said, observers “saw unsealed bags of ballot papers being taken downstairs to a campaign office of the [governing] Republican Party and then brought back up to the TEC premises sealed.”

The official vote results, reaffirmed by the Central Election Commission (CEC) at the weekend, gave the Republican Party (HHK) a landslide victory in the polls. Armenia’s leading opposition parties have refused to recognize its legitimacy, alleging widespread voter intimidation, vote buying, and other irregularities. Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian and other HHK leaders have strongly denied the allegations.

The OSCE mission also expressed serious concern at a major delay in the publication by the CEC of a precinct-by-precinct breakdown of election results in Yerevan, which is home to more than a third of the country’s population. Its report said the delay “cannot be explained by the slow rate of the counting and tabulation” and constitutes a “significant lapse in the promised transparency of recording election results.” The report did not specify whether these and other reported problems could have affected the overall election outcome.

The Armenian authorities seem worried about its possible impact on the OSCE’s final election verdict which is expected to be delivered by the end of next month. Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian promptly sent a letter to Frlec later on Thursday, asking him to provide “concrete information about those electoral precincts where the mentioned violations were recorded.” That information would enable Armenian prosecutors to investigate the reported fraud and “bring guilty individuals to account,” Hovsepian said in the letter posted on the website of the Prosecutor-General’s Office.

The CEC chairman, Garegin Azarian, also responded to the OSCE criticism in a separate letter sent to Frlec on Friday. Both the OSCE and the CEC refused to publicize it.

The OSCE mission, which has mainly consisted of long-term observers and other ODIHR experts since polling day, wrapped up its two-month activities in Armenia later in the day. A spokesman told RFE/RL that its members will continue to work on the text of their final election report at the ODIHR headquarters and in their respective countries.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

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Krasnodar City Duma called on all civilized nations to condemn Armenian Genocide

25.05.2007
PanARMENIAN.Net

In March of 2007 Armenian newspaper of Russia “Yerkramas” and Pashkov society of Krasnodar organized collection of signatures among representatives of the Armenian community for turning to lawmakers of the City Duma. Krasnodar voters call on their elected representatives appear with statement condemning the Armenian Genocide in Turkey between 1915-1922. Armenian “Yerkramas” of Russia reports that totally 2000 signatures were gathered.

Just the other day the community received the statement of the City Duma undersigned by Speaker Nikolai Kotlyarov, which reads as follows, “Deputies of Krasnodar Duma express their deep sympathy to sister Armenian nation and condemn the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by Ottoman Turkey between 1915-1922, which is one of the grave crimes against humanity. Principles of humanism and tribute of respect to innocent victims demand condemnation of the Armenian Genocide. Only corresponding moral evaluation given by the Supreme Legislative body of the state and adoption of a standard legal act that condemns the Genocide, can become a base for prevailing the historical truth towards the Armenian nation. It will serve as an example for strengthening the real trust and mutual understanding between people of Armenia and the Russian Federation in generally.

As it is known, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted two resolutions, which condemn annihilation of the Armenian nation between 1915-1922 and recognizes April 24 as Remembrance Day for Genocide victims.

We express hope that the above mentioned issue concerning restoration of the historical truth towards long-suffering Armenian nation, will find understanding by all civilized countries through adopting corresponding acts”.

Editor-in-chief of “Yerkramas” Armenian newspaper Tigran Tavadyan informed, the statement of the City Duma has great moral importance for Armenians of Krasnodar, the collective voice of which was heard by parliamentarians of capital of Kuban. It is worth of special mentioning that Krasnodar like the whole Krasnodar Territory has occurred under the rapt attention of Turkey, which invests rather huge financial means in regional projects, and that’s why the noble move of Krasnodar deputies must be appreciated properly by the Armenian community.

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Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

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BEWARE OF NATO!

25 May, 2007
A1+

“Since the collapse of the USSR it has become impossible to understand the role of the NATO,” said Jirair Liparityan, the Adviser to the RoA First President on economic issues, during the discussion “NATO and South Caucasus”, initiated by the “Agreement” Center.

According to Jirair Liparityan, the NATO is rather a tool for the United States than a military-political structure. The political elite of the United States is in uncertainty over its vision of the world: hegemony of the United States or a multi-pole world. “The United States does not know what relations it will have with Russia, China, India, Iran, the Near East and Europe. Today the USA faces serious problems as Russia, China and India change their roles. The USA is a stimulus for the NATO,” Jirair Liparityan says.

The USA locates anti-missile equipment in Poland and in the Czech Republic without the NATO. “This means that the USA neglects the NATO.”

“The USA faces a dilemma; to support democratic values or dictatorship in security issues? The discord around Iraq comes to prove that the country is unable to face future challenges and solve its further problems.”

After recalling the conflict between Turkey and Greece when Turkey united with Cyprus and the NATO was unable to solve the conflict, Liparityan raised a question, “Is the NATO capable of solving South Caucasian and Armenian issues? The NATO is a pill and like any medicine it is only useful for some organisms,” Liparityan said.

David Shahnazaryan, the Director of the Agreement Centre partially shared Liparityan's opinion. South Caucasus conflicts are determined by the fact that the regional countries are polarized. Georgia strives to be engaged in the NATO and intensify its relations with the NATO. Azerbaijan has also declared about its intention to affiliate to the NATO, Shahnazaryan says.

Jirair Liparityan says today Armenia is isolated, and is of no international interest. And according to Jirair Liparityan, the reason is that the Armenian state has become weaker and has lost all the alternatives. The reason for weakening is, according to Liparityan, that the country today does not solve the important issues it has with its neighbors and inside the country. And not going to NATO is not a way out, Jirair Liparityan says.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

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Friday, May 25, 2007

Opening of Cyprus-Armenia embassies “on next priority”

25/05/2007
Financial Mirror, Cyprus

Marios Garoyian, the young and dynamic leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Cyprus (DIKO) sees the upgrade of relations with Armenia as next on the Cyprus government’s agenda.

In a meeting with the President of the Armenian Journalists Association, Asdghig Kevorkyan, the chief editor of Azg daily, Hagop Avedikian, and the President of the Cyprus Union of Journalists, Andreas Kannaouros, Garoyian showed great interest to find ways to improve ties with Armenia, “as we are both victims of a common enemy, Turkey.”

Garoyian added that through the strengthening of the relations between the two nations a lot can be achieved, and this could begin through the cooperation between the journalists associations, especially as the Cyprus Union of Journalists enjoys great respect and has the full cooperation of the state.

As regards the upgrade of diplomatic relations, to which Avedikian commented that he was not satisfied by the present level and that “more could be achieved”, Garoyian revealed that once the present round of the expansion of Cyprus’ diplomatic service has been completed to include all members of the 27-nation enlarged European Union, “I have been told by the Foreign Ministry that Armenia is high on their agenda. It is our next priority.”

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

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Cyprus Attorney General takes on AGBU in Melkonian case

25/05/2007
Financial Mirror, Cyprus

Cyprus Attorney General Petros Clerides, as the legal representative of the Republic of Cyprus, is expected to take court action against the AGBU within the next two or three weeks in an effort to resume the campaign to save the Melkonian school in Nicosia and aim for its earliest operation.

Some 50 members of the Armenian community, Representative Vartkes Mahdessian and Melkonian alumni who gathered in Nicosia this week heard lawyers Costas Velaris and Christina Sarris say that the Attorney General, who has received several hundred letters, e-mails and pressure, will take action on behalf of the Armenian community of Cyprus.

Attorney General Clerides, in turn, will appoint Velaris, Sarris and former Attorney General Alecos Markides to undertake the case in his name as the three have nearly two years’ worth of preparatory work and documentation. They had in the past represented Armenian Patriarch Mutafyan of Turkey in the Cyprus cases against the AGBU.

Velaris appealed to the members of the community or anybody else in the world to come forward with information or documentation that could help the case.

He added that there would be transparency in the communication of information and progress reports, while Christina Sarris said any information would be posted on any website of the community’s choice.

Velaris was also caustic about some of the obstacles that the case has faced, adding that no one or any organization had contacted the three lawyers with a compromise deal or offer and neither were there any threats or suggestions.

“Unfortunately the government of Armenia has sided with the AGBU in this matter,” he said, while he also expressed his dismay at the decision of some judges in Cyprus courts, such as the case of the overturning of the first preservation order on the Melkonian estate.

The preservation order has since been reinstated by the authority of Interior Minister Neoklis Sylikiotis.

As regards the future structure of the Melkonian, Christina Sarris said that as the Attorney General has undertaken the case, he also has the authority to appoint the trustees of the school and its estate in the future.

Sarris also mentioned that “as far as I know the Melkonian will be used by the nearby Aghlandjia state school” that had structural problem and two construction workers were killed, and that the move would be “from the new school year, in September.”

-- Marios Garoyian: “We must all work to reopen the Melkonian”

Marios Garoyian, the Armenian-born leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Cyprus (DIKO) has pledged support to the campaign to save and reopen the historic Melkonian school in Nicosia.

He told the visiting President of the Armenian Journalists Association, Asdghig Kevorkyan and the chief editor of Azg daily, Hagop Avedikian, that the historic school with a legacy of 80 years was an inseparable part of modern Cyprus history and should be preserved in order for it to reopen as a school

Azg’s Avedikian, who has been at the forefront of the media campaign in Yerevan to save the Melkonian, told Garoyian that it was a shame that Cyprus “did not utilize the large network of Melkoian graduates around the world, who are probably the best ambassadors Cyprus could ever have.”

During their visit on the invitation of the Cyprus Union of Journalists, the Armenian journalists visited the Nareg school in Nicosia and the deserted grounds of the Melkonian Education Institute and also attended the briefing of the lawyers in the Melkonian court case in Cyprus.

-- Parliament speaker: “I will raise the issue of Melkonian once again”

During a separate meeting, Azg’s editor asked House President and communist AKEL party Secretary General Demetris Christofias about efforts to help save and reopen the Melkonian, which Avedikian described as not only a Cyprus issue but one that concerns all the Diaspora.

Christophias praised the important role the 80-year-old school played in Cyprus society and culture.

“Melkonian has been a tremendous contributing factor. The school is part of the culture of Cyprus and we are proud that Cyprus has been a host to such an establishment.

“This is a multi-faceted issue and we know that the key (to its solution) lies in the U.S.,” Christophias said, as the matter is in the hands of the New York-based AGBU corporation that has ignored previous Cyprus parliamentary calls to reopen the school.

“Unfortunately, some of your Armenians who have gone to America have become more American and forgotten their roots in the name of money and wealth,” the outspoken Cypriot politician stated.

“I promise you I will put the matter once again to the President of Cyprus,” Christophias said, adding that, “I am sure that the authorities and the government in Armenia share our views.”

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

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LALISH FOR YEZIDS

2007-05-24
DeFacto

A temple for Yezids will be built in the Republic of Armenia. It will be called ‘’Lalish’’, by analogy with the Ezid temple complex situated in the north of Iraq.

RA leadership has granted consent to the construction of Lalish, leader of the World Yezdi Union Aziz Tamoyan told IAA DE FACTO. The temple will be built in the suburb of Zovuni village, near Yerevan.

"Lalish is our sacred object. Each Yezid should have the opportunity to serve our religious ceremonies and pray to our gods. Armenia is a tolerant country, where Yezids have been granted the opportunities to preserve ethnical originality and develop national culture", Aziz Tamoyan said. "We are grateful to RA government for positive response to our request", he added.

Tamoyan noted over 500,000 Yezids had been killed in Turkey in 1915-1918, while thousands of Yezids living in Armenia had lost their relatives during the Genocide.
An account has been opened at Ardshininvestbank. The account’s number is 247010004692/0001. Contact line in Yerevan is 091413855.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

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Armenian Genocide issue – subject of active discussions in Bulgarian society

23.05.2007
PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenian Genocide issue is a subject of active discussions in the Bulgarian society, Bulgarian Ambassador to Armenia Stefan Dimitrov stated to journalists. “Resolution of this issue is useful not only for Armenia, but also for the humanity in general,” the diplomat stated. He said though the bill on the Armenian Genocide was not approved by the Bulgarian Parliament in 2006, however the process of realizing the importance of this issue began to develop much more active. Dimitrov noticed the Bulgarian Parliament paid tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide, and of course realizes the necessity to resolve the Armenian Genocide issue as soon as possible. “As a historian I believe in the history and I am sure it will sort things out,” Dimitrov said.

A number of events were held in connection with the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire on April 24, 2007 – the Remembrance Day of the Genocide victims, in Bulgaria, particularly in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas.

The next day by Bulgarian Parliament Speaker Georgi Pirinski’s offer at the beginning of the ordinary session of the parliament lawmakers honored the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims with a minute of silence. Then one of deputies introduced a declaration worked out by “Bulgarian People’s Union” faction. The document recognizes and condemns the Genocide. Currently a process of gathering signatures is on the way in the Bulgarian National Assembly. By doing that initiators want to include the declaration in the agenda of the parliament.

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Thursday, May 24, 2007

Dashnaks Offered To Stay In Government

Wednesday 23, May 2007
Armenia Liberty
By Irina Hovannisian

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) said on Wednesday that it has been offered senior positions in a new government to be formed by Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian and is currently weighing up its options.

Sarkisian appears willing to share power with Dashnaktsutyun and other parties loyal to President Robert Kocharian, even though his Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) won an outright majority in parliament in this month’s general elections. Observers believe he is thereby trying to broaden political support for his bid to succeed Kocharian early next year.

Meeting with Western election observers on Tuesday, Sarkisian said the HHK is ready to “engage able parliamentary and extra-parliamentary forces into both the government and the National Assembly” in order to maximize popular trust in his new cabinet. A government statement cited him as saying that “negotiations are already being conducted in that direction.”

Armen Rustamian, a top Dashnaktsutyun leader, confirmed that the nationalist party, which is represented in Sarkisian’s outgoing cabinet, is involved in those talks but refused to give details. “We are holding discussions right now and I wouldn’t like to make any comments now,” he told RFE/RL.

“There have been various kinds of offers, but we can not say anything concrete at the moment,” Rustamian said, adding that a decision will be made “very soon.”

Another Dashnaktsutyun leader, Education Minister Levon Mkrtchian, said he hopes his party will choose to stay in government and allow him to retain his job. “I have a desire to work because we have just launched a program [of education reforms] and can see its first results,” he told RFE/RL.

“It all depends on the party’s decision,” added Mkrtchian. “That is, if Dashnaktsutyun decides to be part [of the new government] I will keep working. If it decides otherwise, I will comply with that decision.”

Rustamian has repeatedly stated before that Dashnaktsutyun will not serve as a “fifth wheel” in a coalition government not dependent on its parliamentary backing. Nonetheless, the influential party seems ready, in principle, to remain in government, despite the fact that the HHK will be able to single-handedly control the parliament.

During the election campaign Dashnaktsutyun leaders implicitly laid claim to the posts of defense and education ministers. Newspaper reports have said that they are also demanding the post of parliament speaker. It is not clear if they are ready to endorse Sarkisian’s presidential bid in return.

The Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) of businessman Gagik Tsarukian, which came in a distant second in the elections, is also presumably involved in the ongoing talks. Despite winning 25 parliament seats, the pro-Kocharian party is hardly in a position to dictate to the HHK, though.

Neither Tsarukian, nor other BHK leaders have commented on their party’s performance in the polls so far. This is construed by commentators as a sign that the election outcome did not live up to their expectations.

Under the Armenian constitution, Kocharian has to appoint a prime minister nominated by the parliament majority within ten days from the first session of the newly elected National Assembly expected on June 7. The new premier will have 20 days to form his cabinet.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Armenian Memory conference to be held in Lyon

23.05.2007
PanARMENIAN.Net

A European scientific conference titled Armenian Memory will be held in Lyon under the aegis of the French Ministry of Education and Science May 25-26.

Hilda Tchoboian, the chairperson of the European Armenian Federation (EAFJD) told a PanARMENIAN.Net that scientists, historians and experts from France, Armenia and other states will attend the conference.

The conference will result in establishment of the Center of Armenian Memory for creation of a network of similar centers throughout France and other European states.

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Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Escape or Torture?: Police under spotlight as death of witness raises questions

May 22, 2007
ArmeniaNow.com, Armenia
By Vahan Ishkhanyan
ArmeniaNow reporter

Human rights activists have joined the number of family members and media who want to see a thorough and independent investigation into the death last Saturday (May 12) of Levon Gulyan, who died in police custody, where he was summoned as a witness to a murder.
Police claim the 30 year old husband and father of two died after falling out a second-floor window while trying to escape from police questioning.

His family and agencies that include the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) are suspicious of the police account of events.

On Thursday Aaron Rhodes, chairman of IHF, sent a letter to the chief of Police Service, encouraging a full investigation, citing a “past record of suspicious cases of death in police custody in Armenia and the fact that torture and ill-treatment by the police remain serious problems”.

Gulyan’s family believe their loved-one was beaten to death by police.

Whatever the cause, his death is linked to May 9, when Stepan Vardanyan, was shot dead near a restaurant owned by Gulyan in the Shengavit district of Yerevan.

Vardanyan was the son of Gagik Vardanyan, who owns a sauna near Gulyan’s restaurant. He was killed about 10 p.m. in what might be gang-related violence, as two other killings have taken place between Vardanyan’s and another clan.

According to restaurant staff, shortly before the killing, Gulyan had asked rival clan members to leave the neighborhood, and had told his staff to stay inside. Gulyan witnessed the murder, but told police he could not identify the killer.

A few hours after the killing, police took Gulyan from his home at about 3 a.m. and held him until about 10:30 p.m., demanding that he return the next day (May 11).

Gulyan returned to police at 10 a.m. the next day (May 11) and was held for 24 hours until he was released, so that he could go to vote in the parliamentary election. He was told to return in two hours.

Gulyan returned as appointed. By 6 p.m. his body was in a city morgue.

In the time after his release for questioning, Gulyan told his family that he had been repeatedly beaten while investigators demanded that he name the killer. According to relatives, Gulyan told police he wanted an attorney present. He claimed he was told by police that if he brought a lawyer, the lawyer would also be beaten. Family members, including an uncle, Hovik Papazyan, say Gulyan told them he had been beaten by Hovik Soghomonyan, deputy head of the Shengavit police department.

The family says that on the day of his death, Gulyan was picked up by Hovik Tamamyan, deputy head of criminal division in the deputy’s own car to be taken to the police department. Sayat Shirinyan, head of the police information and public relations department says Tamamyan is not connected with the case.

Tamamyan has a reputation for cruelty. Two murders are connected with his name. He gained renown in 2004 as the head of the Kentron police department, who harshly squared accounts with the participants of the April rallies, particularly as he allegedly ordered the beating of Mher Ghalachyan, a journalist of the Chorrord Ishkanutyun newspaper. There is information that Tamamyan is a friend of the Vardanyan family and wanted to immediately find the killer.

A statement by the police said: “Gulyan asked one of the department representatives for some water in one of the offices and, taking advantage of the officer’s absence, made an attempt to escape through the window, but, slipping, fell down from the first floor and died immediately of injuries received in the fall.”

Jemma Gulyan was among those protesting her husband’s death

The Gulyans maintain that he was beaten to death and was then thrown from the window.

“Why should my brother try to escape, when he twice went to the police on his own. He wouldn’t go, if he were going to run away,” says he sister Armine.

May 15th Larisa Alaverdyan, the first ombudswoman of Armenia, and director of the non-governmental organization Against Violation of Law, told a press conference summoned on the occasion of Levon Gulyan’s death that the Republic of Armenia Police must take responsibility for Gulyan’s death.

Even if the police explanation that Gulyan slipped while trying to escape were true, what conditions exist to make a cooperative witness try to escape from police questioning?

“This is a harshest violation of the basic right for life. A healthy man enters a state structure, but relatives get back his corpse,” Alaverdyan said.

Another sister, Lilit, said the family will not bury Gulyan until an autopsy has been performed by an outside authority.

Upon the request of the family, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has invited specialists from Denmark and Germany to do a forensic investigation.

The preliminary forensic medical examination states Gulyan’s death was the result of fatal injuries that included fractures of the skull, thorax, spine and ribs.

(The family hired three attorneys, but on May 15, all three withdrew from the case for unknown reasons.)

Police showed journalists the scene of Gulyan’s death, saying that he had fallen while trying to jump to grab a pipe some two meters from the window.

It could be argued, however, that someone attempting to flee through the window could more simply escape by jumping directly to the tin roof of the basement under the window. It also appears that someone who would have fallen reaching for the pipe, would have landed on the roof, rather than the asphalt. However, no marks appeared on the roof indicating such a fall.

The Gulyan family was accepted by deputy heads of the police Ararat Mahtesyan and Armen Yeritsyan, who promised to hold an unbiased investigation and to reveal all its findings.

However, both press and rights activists are skeptical about the possibility the guilty is found. As a rule murders committed inside the police are not disclosed. In the rare cases available, police officers are tried for alleged abuse of power and not murders.

A year ago ArmeniaNow published an article on the case of Armen Ghambaryan, who suffered a ruptured spleen while in police custody (see Accused Accusers).Neither Ghambaryan’s nor his lawyer’s protests to find the person responsible came to any result, while Ghambaryan, despite his bad health, is still in the isolation cell.

A press conference has been scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday, during which preliminary findings of forensic specialists from Denmark and Germany will be released.

A site has been launched in connection with Gulyan’s case www.levon-gulyan.info .

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

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Political scientist believes that the Armenian electors “for the first time voted rationally”

22-05-2007
Mediamax News Agency, Armenia

Yerevan, May 22. /Mediamax/. Political scientist, Director of the Caucasian Media Institute Aleksandr Iskandarian stated today that from the point of view of the international community, the parliamentary elections in Armenia were “a serious step in the direction of electoral development”.

Mediamax reports that the political scientist noted that the international observers gave a quite high assessment to the elections in Armenia, and this is of serious importance for the formation of a positive image of the country. Aleksandr Iskandarian noted that the given assessment was “especially jealously perceived by Azerbaijan”.

According to the political scientist, “it would be possible to cheat the international observers if they were assessing the political culture of Armenia, but they were assessing the technologies of the electoral process, and they were not cheated from this point of view”.

Aleksandr Iskandarian also stressed that “a serious step in the direction of development of the political system became the fact that the voting process of Armenian electors for the first time was not of mass emotional character, but a rational one”.--0--

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Ancient Armenian books tell a story not written in their pagesAds

May 22, 2007
Hindustan Times, India
Agence France-Presse, PTI
Yerevan
First Published: 3/1/2007

Over a meter wide when opened and weighing 32 kilograms, the Homilies of Mush is the largest ancient Armenian book to be rescued from eastern Anatolia during anti-Armenian massacres in Ottoman Turkey almost a century ago.

Archivists say the story of how the manuscript and many others like it were saved could be more telling of the plight of the Armenian people then what the intricate Armenian lettering describes within the pages.

Armenia marks the 90th {92nd} anniversary on Sunday of mass killings by the Ottoman Turks, a slaughter that is among the most painful episodes of Armenia's history, the costs of which Armenians measure not only in lost lives but also a destroyed cultural heritage.

Some 9,000 rare manuscripts are estimated to have been destroyed as Armenians were driven from their homeland in World War I, but about 30 books currently on display in Armenia's Archive of Ancient Manuscripts are believed to have been rescued by fleeing peasants.

One of these texts are the Mush Homilies. In 1915 when Ottoman forces attacked Mush, an illiterate peasant woman is said to have found the massive book in the courtyard of a church.

Too heavy to carry whole, she cut the 800-year-old book in half and took one half, according to the director of the Archive, Sem Arevshatyan.

The unnamed woman initially brought the text to the seat of Armenia's Gregorian Apostolic church in Echmitzin where it was later to be joined by the other half, discovered by a retreating Russian colonel named Nikolai de Roberti.

"Many of these books were brought by illiterate, unread people, who nevertheless understood that these texts were immensely important," Areshatyan said.

"Instead of taking their personal belongings they carried these books."

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen perished in orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire executed a genocidal plan to wipe Armenians and their culture off of the map.

Ankara counters that 300,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were killed in "civil strife" during World War I when the Armenians rose against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.

Either way, little today is left of the numerous Armenian settlements that once characterized Eastern Anatolia, known as Western Armenia to Armenians.

Many churches have since been converted to mosques or taken apart so their stones could be used to build homes, and the some 40,000 Armenians that remain in Turkey rarely speak the language outdoors.

According to Arevshatyan not all of the attacking Turks were willing to follow through completely on the alleged plan.

"Many books were destroyed but some were sold to collectors in Europe by Turkish officers who understood that they had value," Arevshatyan said.

A slow trickle of antique texts continues to fill the archive's shelves to this day as more Armenian works pillaged in Anatolia are discovered by collectors around the world and donated to the repository.

Earlier this week a Diaspora Armenian from Paris was able to convince the sister of a collector who recently passed away to donate a page from a lost tenth century bible to the archive.

"Hopefully when she sees that it is good hands she will be willing to donate more works from the collection," said Claude Mutafrian, a 62-year-old historian on medieval Armenia who carried the sheepskin sheet to Yerevan from Paris.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

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Who was Hrant Dink?

May 22, 2007
Reporters without borders (press release), France
The article below says:"The victim of his struggle against the Turkish state’s revisionism, Dink was one of the figureheads of the battle of Turkey’s Armenians for recognition of the 1915 massacres. His murder highlights a disturbing situation in Turkey in which rampant nationalism continues to contaminate the younger generations. Dink’s murder has been a rude awakening for the political and civic consciousness, and many are now pressing for reform of article 301."
“We have killed a man whose ideas we couldn’t accept” - Orhan Pamuk

Turkey’s journalists are mourning the death of Hrant Dink, 52, a newspaper editor of Armenian origin who was gunned down on 19 January. The barbaric action of Ogün Samast, a 17-year-old Turkish ultra-nationalist, silenced an advocate of peace and democracy. Throughout his career, Dink fought passionately for acknowledgement of the Armenian genocide, and was awarded the Henri Nannen Press Freedom Prize in recognition of his efforts. His death has exacerbated the divisions between nationalists and the more progressive sectors of Turkish society. Tirelessly committed and always controversial, Dink never lost faith in the possibility of national reconciliation.

“I have the right to die in the country where I was born”

Born on 15 September 1954, Dink grew up with his two brothers in a Protestant Armenian orphanage in Istanbul. A zoology and philosophy graduate, he founded Agos, the country’s first bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly, in 1996. Endowed with a bold and acerbic style of writing, he waged an unflagging battle for better relations between Turks and the Armenian minority. He regarded Agos as “a bridge between the Turkish and Armenian communities (...) The only way to combat the deep-seated prejudices in Turkish society.”

Dink was subjected to administrative harassment and judicial intimidation throughout his career. In October 2005, he was convicted under article 301 of the criminal code, which protects Turkish identity. There have been serious violations of free expression since this article’s adoption in June 2005, and around 65 writers and journalists have been prosecuted. This law, which Reporters Without Borders has repeatedly condemned, allows the Turkish authorities to maintain their harassment of the media, journalists and intellectuals. The targets have included Nobel literature laureate Orhan Pamuk, journalist Umur Hozatli and of course Dink.

Dink’s comments about the Armenian genocide were called an “offence to Turkey.” In 2005, he received a six-month suspended sentence for “humiliating Turkish identity.” He was prosecuted again in September 2006 over an interview he gave to Reuters in which he referred to the massacres in Anatolia during the First World War as “genocide,” and he had been facing a possible three-year prison sentence.

Regarded by nationalists as a traitor, Dink became a target of groups on Turkey’s far-right. Despite all the threats and accusations, he always refused to leave Turkey. In his last interview he said: “It is here that I want to pursue this struggle. Because it is not just my struggle, it is the struggle of all those want the democratisation of Turkey. If I surrender and leave the country, it will be a disgrace for everyone. My ancestors lived in this country, it is here that I have my roots and I have the right to die in the country where I was born.”

In his last column, which appeared in the 19 January issue of Agos, on the day he died, he expressed his feelings about the prosecutions that had been brought against him. He spoke movingly about a man who was afraid: “I see myself like a scared pigeon but I know that in this country, the people do not attack pigeons (...) Pigeons can live in the cities, even in crowds. Nervous, certainly, but free.” Dink’s young murderer confessed to shooting him in order to put an end to what he considered to be insults to Turks.

Dink is survived by his widow, Rakel, and their three children. As she stood beside his coffin, covered by yellow and red carnations, his widow told a silent crowd of 100,000 mourners: “We say a finally goodbye to my beloved, the patriarch of our family and the half of my body.” She also described the passion that burned in her husband, for whom “there were no taboos and nothing was untouchable.”

A life of struggle

The victim of his struggle against the Turkish state’s revisionism, Dink was one of the figureheads of the battle of Turkey’s Armenians for recognition of the 1915 massacres. His murder highlights a disturbing situation in Turkey in which rampant nationalism continues to contaminate the younger generations. Dink’s murder has been a rude awakening for the political and civic consciousness, and many are now pressing for reform of article 301.

The presence of senior Armenian and Turkish officials at Dink’s funeral has been seen as a sign of improvement in relations between the two countries. Although it recognised Armenia when it obtained independence in 1991, Turkey has never accepted its responsibility for the 1915 genocide.

The silent procession of around 100,000 people on 23 January is evidence that a significant part of the Turkish population is committed to the defence of freedoms. All the communities taking part shared in brandishing banners that said: “We are all Armenians. We are all Hrant Dink.” The slogan was all the more surprising in a country where “Armenian”is still sometimes used as an insult. Dink today rests in Istanbul’s Armenian cemetery, but his struggle goes on.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

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Poll Says Passage Of Armenian Resolution Will Worsen Turks' Opinion About The U.S.

5/21/2007
Turkish Press
The article below says:"According to the survey, 78 percent of Turks opposed any U.S. Congressional resolution and almost four-fifths of Turkish citizens favored strong action by the Turkish government if a resolution was adopted, including of suspension of diplomatic relations with the U.S. Of the Turks surveyed, 83 percent would oppose Turkey assisting the U.S. in neighboring Iraq should a resolution pass."
...
"After all, if the parliament of Turkey, or for that matter, Russia or France, were to pass a resolution condemning the United States for the genocide of American Indians in the 19th century, would that lead to acceptance and reconciliation in the US, or merely condemnation of the foreign government which judged American history?" Ken Ballen, leader of Terror Free Tomorrow (which conducted nationwide public opinion survey recently )said.

Mr. Ken Ballen is wrong. What Turkey's survey reflects is the lack of education within Turkey of the reality of the Armenian genocide. In contrast to Turkey USA citizens are fully aware of their history therefore any resolution in foreign parliaments will only confirm what they already know. Therefore my question to Mr. Ken Ballen is: Who has commissioned the survey and what political purpose does it serve? Why is he so eager to interpret the survey in a manner to please Turkey?
WASHINGTON - According to a new nationwide public opinion survey recently conducted by Terror Free Tomorrow, a nonprofit organization, the adoption of a resolution on the so-called Armenian genocide allegations by the American congress would worsen Turks' opinion on the United States, hurting U.S. interests, and deal a major blow on efforts towards reaching a compromise between Turkey and Armenia.
"The passage of the resolution would set back cause it purports to achieve and harden the Turkish public view of Armenians," Ken Ballen, leader of Terror Free Tomorrow said in the poll report.

According to the survey, 78 percent of Turks opposed any U.S. Congressional resolution and almost four-fifths of Turkish citizens favored strong action by the Turkish government if a resolution was adopted, including of suspension of diplomatic relations with the U.S.

Of the Turks surveyed, 83 percent would oppose Turkey assisting the U.S. in neighboring Iraq should a resolution pass.

A plurality of Turks indicated that they would boycott American products with 84 percent of those --who now have a very favorable opinion of the United States-- responded that their opinion would deteriorate if the resolution passes.

73 percent of Turks said a resolution would have the opposite effect and actually worsen relations between Turkey and Armenia rather than promoting reconciliation between the two countries.

"The task of the Congress should be to help promote a neutral, independent and credible mechanism. That neutral forum should not only include expert historians, legal scholars and political leaders from both Turkey and Armenia, but similar representatives from other countries, as well," Ballen said.

"After all, if the parliament of Turkey, or for that matter, Russia or France, were to pass a resolution condemning the United States for the genocide of American Indians in the 19th century, would that lead to acceptance and reconciliation in the US, or merely condemnation of the foreign government which judged American history?" he asked.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

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Two Wounded In Gyumri Shootout

Monday 21, May 2007
Armenia Liberty
By Satenik Vantsian in Gyumri
The article below is a typical case of imbalance in the distribution of wealth in Armenia. An interesting quote from the article below is: “If they earned a living like ordinary people do, there would never be such shootings. They’ve got everything and, unlike us, have time to shoot each other”
At least two people were wounded in a weekend gunfight in Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri that allegedly involved a son of its controversial Mayor Vartan Ghukasian.

Law-enforcement authorities promptly launched a criminal investigation into the shootout that broke out on a street intersection in the city center on Sunday evening. Prosecutors said two groups of “unknown individuals” exchanged fire in still uncertain circumstances. “All necessary measures are being taken to clarify circumstances of the incident and identify individuals who committed the crime,” the spokeswoman for the Prosecutor-General’s Office, Sona Truzian, told RFE/RL on Monday.

According to unconfirmed reports, they were led by Ghukasian’s son Spartak and Rustam Sargsian, the son of a local businessman and a local leader of the pro-presidential Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK).

Later on Sunday, police found an expensive SUV which is known to have been used by Spartak Ghukasian and was apparently involved in the high-profile incident. The black Hummer was riddled with bullet holes.

Truzian said the car is formally owned by a certain Artyom Ghukasian but would not specify whether the man is related to the mayor. She also said that an innocent passerby as well as a 28-year-old man were wounded in the shootout.

The man, identified as Norayr Aloyan, underwent surgery in a local hospital and remained in intensive care there on Monday. Members of the Ghukasian clan could be seen waiting outside the hospital on Sunday night, suggesting that he might be connected to them.

There were rumors that Sargsian was also injured in the gunfight. However, the hospital administration insisted that he was not treated there.

The two families have business interests in Gyumri but have no history of commercial disputes. Spartak Ghukasian, whose father heads the regional branch of Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK), is said to have quarreled with Sargsian in a Gyumri restaurant earlier this week, allegedly blasting the latter for his family’s ties with the rival BHK.

Ghukasian is no stranger to controversy, having been repeatedly implicated in violent incidents periodically reported from Gyumri. A newspaper last year accused him of bullying and beating a well-known critic of his equally controversial father. The latter has earned notoriety for his flamboyant behavior that has occasionally turned violent.

Less than two months ago Mayor Ghukasian survived an apparent attempt on his life when unknown gunmen opened fire on his motorcade, killing three of his bodyguards. Ghukasian is still recovering from a serious wound sustained in the attack. Nobody has been arrested in connection with the brazen shooting so far.

The latest incident only added to a widespread sense of insecurity among residents of Gyumri. One middle-aged woman was at the scene of the gunfight when it broke out but was too scared to divulge any details to RFE/RL. “I have a son and don’t want to get him in trouble,” she explained.

“Law is not enforced here,” said another, male resident. “I’m now scared of going out.”

“If they earned a living like ordinary people do, there would never be such shootings. They’ve got everything and, unlike us, have time to shoot each other,” he added with sarcasm.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

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Defeated Candidate Ends Hunger Strike

Monday 21, May 2007
Armenia Liberty

By Astghik Bedevian

A former world boxing champion who unsuccessfully ran for Armenia’s parliament ended a five-day hunger strike on Monday after Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian promised to look into his allegations of vote rigging.

Israel Hakobkokhian, who had successfully represented the Soviet Union in amateur boxing competitions throughout the 1980s, stood as an independent in a single-member constituency in Yerevan’s southern Shengavit suburb. The election there was controversially won by Grigor Markarian, a businessman backed by Sarkisian’s governing Republican Party of Armenia (HHK).

Both Hakobkokhian and Markarian’s main challenger, Heghine Bisharian of the opposition Orinats Yerkir Party, refused to concede defeat, alleging widespread vote buying and other violations. Bisharian reportedly plans to dispute the official results and demand their annulment in the court.

Hakobkokhian, who finished a distant third in the race, went on a hunger strike outside the Central Election Commission building with the same demands last Wednesday. He refused to end the protest despite CEC Chairman Garegin Azarian’s arguments that only Armenian courts have the authority to annul election results in majoritarian districts.

The boxer-turned-politician, known for his straightforward and eccentric rhetoric, warned that he will starve himself to death unless he is visited by Sarkisian. He claimed that local government and police officials in Shengavit allegedly involved in vote rigging told him that they acted on the Armenian premier’s orders.

Sarkisian paid a surprise visit to an exhausted but defiant Hakobkokhian early in the afternoon, embracing the ex-champion and asking him to end the hunger strike. The HHK leader declined a comment as he left the scene several minutes later.

“He said he will sit down and talk with me after I take some rest,” Hakobkokhian told RFE/RL. “I’m grateful to him for not putting my life at risk.”

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

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Monday, May 21, 2007

"An astonishing irony" in Turkey!

May 21, 2007
TPMCafe, NY
By Yasemin Congar | bio

As much as I appreciate Steven Cook's four points that summarize the basic messages of RBNG, I find the book's analysis especially valuable in the passages that deal with the EU reforms in Turkey. The desire to become a full member of the EU not only has resulted in a major --albeit incomplete-- uprooting of authoritarian laws and structures in the country, but also serves as a catalyst for the world to see who/what is modern in Turkey now. As Cook told me in a recent interview, "This is not your grandfather's Turkey." In an irony of history, the forces that are in the forefront of Westernization in today's Turkey come from among the religious masses of Anatolia, while many among the Western-looking secularist elite of the big cities are nostalgic for the modernism of 1920s and not ready to accept what it means to be modern and Western today.

I am just back from a trip to Istanbul where I had the chance to chat with politicians, candidates for parliament and journalists, with different takes on the Ak Party government. Some of them blamed AK for the crisis over the election of the new president: "The Prime Minister," they said, "overplayed his hand. He should have sought consensus, nominated a benign figure and avoided confrontation with the military." Others pointed out that the thousands of people demonstrating against AK had genuine fears that a headscarved First Lady would be a major step in what they perceived as the gradual Islamization of Turkey: "Whether these fears are unfounded or not is beside the point. It is up to AK to erase these fears." Others, still, believed the developments to be the inevitable stages of the power struggle in the country: "Turkey is a sick man that is slowly getting better," said an astute democrat, "Every now and then there is a relapse, but the overall prognosis remains good."

Yet, it was striking how very few people were overtly supportive of what the military had done on April 27, namely the issuing of an e-memorandum that included a thinly-veiled coup threat. Within Turkey's political classes, more and more people seemed to realize what Cook calls "the astonishing irony" -- that the Turkish military no more seemed to be the vanguard of modernization and Westernization in Turkey.

Ak Party has been the locomotive of the EU reforms for over four years. Under EU's guidance, the leaders of AK did more to limit the military's role in the political system than any other elected government in the country's history. The military, on the other hand, has been alternatingly acquiescent and resistant to the reforms. Lately, Turkey's top generals have become more vocal in their criticism of the EU's positions vis a vis the civil-military relations and the Kurdish question in Turkey. Also, they never accepted to remain fully outside the political discourse and decision-making process. The generals continued to speak on a wide range of issues including Northern Iraq, Cyprus, Armenia, genocide resolutions, secularism, Orhan Pamuk, etc.

When the military issued its e-memorandum on April 27, the leaders of AK became the first-ever Turkish politicians to reject such a move and publicly remind the military that the Chief of Staff worked for and was accountable to the Prime Minister. The EU, for its part, was quick to criticize the military.

Even among the secularists who protested against AK in several mass rallies recently, voices were heard against a military intervention. The overwhelming message, however, was not a democratic one, as the official speakers of those rallies, for the most part, supported the military's role in politics. They also criticized the ties with the EU, the US, and globalization in general. Although many in the eclectic crowd might have disagreed, the message from the microphone was one of an inward-looking, nationalistic, and even militaristic mindset.

As the cameras captured a sea of red--of Turkish flags and red t-shirts--thousands of secular Turkish women expressed their fear that some day the Islamists might tell them to cover their heads. The fact that, at that very moment, there were millions of Turkish women whose right to higher education was denied because they donned headscarves did not seem to matter. The demonstrators believed themselves to be, in the words of one speaker who took the microphone at several rallies, "the modern, civilized face of Turkey." The implicit dehumanization of the other--the pious, the headscarved--did not bother the crowd. Neither the democratic and pluralistic nature of modern politics nor the freedoms that are the base of today's Western society and the rule of law that protects those freedoms seemed to register with the speakers at the rallies. For them being modern and Western seemed to be merely a lifestyle and a dresscode. An authoritarian regime could be modern and Western as long as it remained untainted by Islam.

But the subscribers of this ideology are diminishing in number in Turkey. In the Anatolian cities and among the newly-urbanized segments of society, more and more people welcome and participate in the economic boost resulting from globalization and the EU process. Pious Turkish women are no longer low-profile, stay-at home types, but have become politically and socially active under the AK government. While their visibility is perceived as a threat by narrow-minded secularists, that visibility is the result of a modern --and Western-- demand to participate. The headscarf, while it remains a symbol of "backwardness" for those secularists who do not think beyond the official definitions of 1920s, is in fact an item of modernity for it enables the woman to go out of her house and socialize.

In RBNG, in the chapter entitled "Turkish Paradox," Cook provides an astute analysis of the political superstructure that has been slowly but surely transforming against a background of social change in Turkey.

"For the Islamists," Cook writes, "to supplant the officers as the perceived agents of Westernization would not only represent an astonishing irony but also risk a breach with the majority of Turks who overwhelmingly support the political reforms Europe demands. The result would be a significant diminution of the prestige of the officer corps, which would simultaneously enhance that of the civilian leadership, rendering it more difficult for the officers to act autonomously, influence the political arena, or defend the political order."

I could not agree more.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

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