The Hill, DC
July 19 2004
Hastert slices Turkey bill
By Jonathan E. Kaplan

House GOP leaders are vowing to kill a controversial amendment that
chastises a key U.S. ally following a successful Democratic maneuver
to pass the bill late last week.
Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Appropriations Foreign
Operations Subcommittee, exasperated House leaders last Thursday when
he accepted a Democratic amendment, which would bar Turkey from
lobbying against a Republican-backed resolution that would call the
Ottoman Empire’s killings of 1.5 Armenians during World War I
`genocide.’

patrick g. ryan
Turkey would be barred from lobbying against a bill sponsored by Rep.
George Radanovich (Calif.) under a foreigh-operations amendment.
—————————————————————-

Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) amendment would deny Turkey the use of
U.S. foreign aid money to lobby against the Armenian genocide
resolution sponsored by GOP Rep. George Radanovich (Calif.). If
enacted, Radanovich’s resolution would be the first time Congress
formally marked the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and
1923.
But House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said he will not schedule
Radanovich’s bill for a vote this Congress even though the Judiciary
Committee has passed it.
Schiff, who represents one of the highest concentrations of Armenians
in the United States, said he used the appropriations process because
Hastert has not scheduled a vote. `Leadership understands the House
will vote overwhelmingly to recognize Armenian genocide. … They chose
wisely to let it be voice voted,’ he told The Hill.
Radanovich told The Hill: `I think [the amendment] was a good way to
keep Armenian genocide in front of people,’ adding that his bill will
never be passed because `of the force of the Turkish lobby.’
Turkey has tapped former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob
Livingston, a lobbying powerhouse, as its Washington representative.
Livingston’s associate referred calls to the Turkish Embassy,.
`There is a Turkish-American presence here. [But] the Turkish lobby
is not considered a very strong lobby,’ said Timur Soylemez, a
Turkish Embassy official. `We are not putting [this issue] at heart
of the Turkish American relationships. Some on the Hill are trying to
poison that relationship. I would very much doubt either the
Armenians or Turks would call it symbolic.’
Schiff had redrafted his original proposal, which could not have been
considered under the House rules. But his redrafted account caught
House leaders off guard. During the debate, Kolbe said that was the
first time he had seen the amendment and complained that the language
was not clear.
Republican sources told The Hill that they did not think the House
parliamentarian was going to make Schiff’s amendment `in order’ and
were surprised when the parliamentarian decided it was. With a few
minutes’ notice, appropriators and their aides chose to accept the
amendment. The alternative choice was to risk losing a roll call
vote.
In a harshly worded statement, Hastert, Majority Leader Tom DeLay
(R-Texas) and Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) acknowledged their
displeasure with Kolbe and the amendment.
`We are strongly opposed to the Schiff Amendment to the
foreign-operations appropriations bill, and we will insist that
conferees drop that provision in conference. We have also conveyed
our opposition to Chairman Kolbe, and he has assured us that he will
insist on it being dropped in the conference committee,’ Hastert
said.
Kolbe said, `I allowed this because I determined that the amendment
had no practical effect. … As the chair of pending conference
committee on the Foreign Operations bill, I will insist this
meaningless language be removed in conference.’
Armenian genocide has flummoxed Hastert and House Republicans over
the past several years. Many lawmakers want the House to acknowledge
the genocide even though Turkey, a longtime U.S. ally and NATO
member, objects to any such legislation.
In 2000, Hastert promised Schiff’s predecessor, then GOP Rep. Jim
Rogan, a vote on a resolution condemning the genocide. But the
Clinton administration lobbied against a vote and Hastert yanked the
bill minutes before its consideration.
Also that year, George W. Bush said that as president, he would
`ensure that our nation properly recognizes the tragic suffering of
the Armenian people.’
The White House was less involved this time, said John Feehery,
Hastert’s spokesman, simply because House leaders knew the
administration’s position.
Even if GOP leaders strip his amendment in a conference committee,
Schiff said:
`I think amendment succeeded in drawing out opposition into the open.
The battle has been joined.’
Debate over spending bills has grown increasingly bitter as lawmakers
push their own projects or gain political points. On the foreign aid
bill, lawmakers used the process to object to Bush administration
policies toward Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.) introduced an amendment that would bar the
government from using taxpayer money to have United Nations officials
monitor the 2004 elections.

The Scotsman, UK
July 20 2004
Living with the legacy of rape and genocide
JAMES SMITH
THEIR faces told the story. Three women with covered heads sitting on
a straw mat, eyes conveying a truth that words cannot express.
Nineteen days earlier, they had arrived in the tiny border village
riding donkeys, one with a two-year-old child.
I sat with the women and we looked across the border to the mountains
of Sudan, the country they had been forced to flee.
“They killed my husband when they raided the village,” 26-year-old
Fatima told me. “We could not count but it seemed like a thousand of
them came, riding horses and camels. They had guns and swords. The
government also came. They rode in cars and fired Dushka guns.”
Fatima fled to El Geneina, a large town in western Sudan.
“I went out of the town to find wood and was stopped by three Arabs
on horseback,” she said.
She was repeatedly raped before finding her way back to the shack
where she stayed with her two children – a girl, Najat, 7, and a boy,
Mohammed, 2.
Now five months pregnant as a result of the rape, she could no longer
bear the uncertain future: “It was risky travelling here to Chad, but
what would happen if I stayed in Sudan?”
She decided to leave.
The other women – a 48-year-old, also called Fatima, and Zenaib
Suleiman, 30, told similar stories. Fatima had eight children, all of
whom were killed with her husband as they ran during the raid.
“There is nothing left anymore. They burned the village to the
ground,” she said.
She, too, was gang-raped by the Janjaweed Arab militia on the
outskirts of El Geneina, having been bound and badly beaten.
Zenaib, like her younger companion, is also pregnant from rape.
The three women waited in El Geneina, fearing what would happen next.
Five months after arriving they found donkeys and rode west. Far from
the reach of international aid workers, they found hospitality in
their Chadian neighbours.
Further into Chad, people from western Sudan are gathering in
makeshift camps. Each has their own sad story. Many are widows and
fatherless children. During the past six months, a million people
have been forced to move to conditions that defy survival. Thousands
have been killed.
Aid agencies are battling appalling conditions to save hundreds of
thousands of lives. The World Food Programme is stepping up food
delivery before the roads are cut off by the rainy season that has
already started. I witnessed a food truck stranded in water on one
road.
“This river eats vehicles,” an Oxfam worker told me. Three others
broke down at the same spot during the past week.
Breidjing camp, in the centre of eastern Chad, has swollen from 5,000
to 30,000 people in the past six weeks. Saidi Kagaba of CARE
International, managing the camp, says that if they do not install
clean water and sanitation soon, epidemics are a high possibility. At
least 60 per cent of the refugees are children. They laugh, despite
their ordeals. It is hard to imagine them in a few months time on the
edge of death.
The immediate plight of the refugees overshadows the underlying
problem – a crime of huge proportions. Despite conflict between the
Sudanese government army and the rebel groups, black Darfurians are
not fleeing war or natural disaster. The refugees I met are victims
of plans to rid the region of its black population altogether.
Militias, trained and armed for the crime, had Sudanese government
support all the way. “The government and militia are the same,” every
refugee said when I tried to define the relationship between the two.
One question is asked in the West as if everything hinges on it: “Is
this ethnic cleansing or genocide?” The assumption is that if it is
genocide, international law obliges nations to intervene.
The term “genocide” was coined by Raphael Lemkin, a Jewish refugee
from Poland who lost his family in the Holocaust. He understood that
different methods are used to destroy groups of people. The Nazis
used guns, gas and even lethal injections to destroy the Jews. They
also used the environment, through starvation in ghettos and camps,
and through exposure and exhaustion during death marches.
Lemkin was also aware that the Turks had destroyed a million
Armenians a generation earlier by driving them into a wilderness to
die in what they called a famine. So he made it clear that intent to
destroy a group “in whole or in part” constitutes genocide, even if
cunning methods are employed.
This includes “deliberately inflicting on a group conditions of life
calculated to bring about its physical destruction”.
The definition was enshrined in international law when the United
Nations’ Convention to Punish and Prevent Genocide entered into force
in 1951. The difficulty of proving a government’s intent to commit
genocide is used as a reason to refrain from significant action.
However, the UN’s genocide convention was adopted both to punish and
prevent genocide. If nations are obliged to prevent genocide they
must act when the signs are present, not after it has happened. By
the time we know for sure, it will always be too late.
The convention is vague about the point at which nations should act.
However, if the legal obligation is ambiguous, the convention
reinforces the moral and political obligation – action must take
place when the indicators of genocide are present.
I have seen and heard first-hand reports of systematically burned
villages, expulsions and summary killings in Darfur. That is evidence
enough for referral to the Security Council and action.
Preventing genocide is no longer about international law, but about
political will.
An invasion of Sudan is not necessary at this stage. The UK
government is prudent to pursue a political solution, but the
perpetrators must know the international community has the resolve to
follow through. They may think twice if they know they will be
pursued through the International Criminal Court. Sadly, the nations
who sit on the council have historically dithered at times like this,
putting national interests above the security of the vulnerable they
are supposed to protect.
Meanwhile, Fatima sits with her friends on the border. Two things are
on her mind. What will she do with her unborn baby? “It is not easy,
but the child has not committed a crime and my community know I did
not do this to bring shame,” she says.
She looks out to the hills and plains of Sudan, wondering if they
will ever go back. “How can I go home? Masseleit and other [black
tribal groups] are not wanted anymore. We cannot go back until there
is justice and security.”
So far there is little sign of either. International effort is
focused on keeping the refugees alive, no referral has been made to
the ICC and the government responsible for these crimes is the one
asked to restore security. The architects of this genocidal crime are
content to know that, so far, they have got away with murder.
– James Smith is executive director of the UK-based genocide
prevention organisation, the Aegis Trust.
TALES OF HORROR
AMNESTY International yesterday accused Arab militias in Darfur of
gang-raping and abducting girls as young as eight and women as old as
80, systematically killing, torturing, or using them as sex slaves.
Cases of women and girls having their legs broken to stop them
running away have also been reported to the group.
In a report called Rape as a Weapon of War, Amnesty outlines the
sexual violence against women it says is happening on a massive
scale. It says Khartoum is actively violating its legal obligations
to protect civilians.
“Soldiers of the Sudan government army are present during attacks by
the Janjaweed and when rapes are committed, but the Sudan government
has done nothing so far to stop them,” Amnesty researcher Benedicte
Goderiaux said.
Darfur’s rebels accuse the government of arming the Arab Janjaweed to
loot and burn African villages in a campaign of ethnic cleansing.
Khartoum denies the charge.
The Amnesty report, launched in Beirut and Nairobi, details gang
rapes, public rapes, killings of those who resist rape and abductions
for sexual slavery.
It is based on hundreds of testimonies collected from refugees in
camps in Chad. Although the sample of victims was limited, Amnesty
said it pointed to widespread abuse.
The London-based group said rebels fighting the Janjaweed may also
have raped civilians, but facts were limited.
Efforts to end the crisis through negotiations are in tatters after
rebels stormed out of peace talks last week.
Amnesty called for an end to the conflict, better protection of
civilians, Janjaweed disarmament, trials for those carrying out the
attacks and an international commission of inquiry to examine war
crimes in Darfur.
– A Sudanese court sentenced ten Arab militiamen to amputation and
six years in jail yesterday in the first conviction of Janjaweed
fighters for looting and killing in the Darfur region, it was
reported yesterday.
The court in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, also said
proceedings would begin to try other Janjaweed militia accused of
burning a village.

Philippine Daily Inquirer
July 19, 2004
RAOLA KEEPS ARMENIAN GM WITHIN REACH
Standings after round 4:
4.0 pts.-GM Karen Movsziszian (Armenia); 3.5-NM Yves Raola
(Philippines), GM Aleksander Delchev (Bulgaria), GM Vladim Burmakin
(Russia), GM Mikhail Suba (Romania), IM Yuri Gonzales (Italy), IM
Fernando Braga (Italy), IM Ioan Cosma (Romania), IM Petr Velicha
(Czech Republic), IM Herman Van Riemsdijk (Brazil), IM Bernd
Kohlweyer (Germany); 3.0-GM Lazaro Bruzon (Cuba), IM Ronald Bancod
(RP), IM Jayson Gonzales (RP).
FILIPINO National Master Yves Raola outplayed Spain’s Jose Luis Ramon
Perez in the third round and then halved the point with Cuban
International Master Yuri Gonzales in the fourth to share second
place with 10 others yesterday in the Balaguer International Open
chess tournament in Spain.
Raola, the former national junior champion who is eyeing his third
and final IM norm in the event, pushed his output to 3.5 points, half
a point behind undefeated pacesetter Grandmaster Karen Movsziszian of
Armenia.
Raola shared second place with super GM Aleksander Delchev of
Bulgaria, GM Vladim Burmakin of Russia, GM Mihkail Suba of Romania,
IM Fernando Braga of Italy, Ioan Cosma of Romania, IM Petr Velicha of
Czech Republic, IM Herman Van Riemsdijk of Brazil and IM Bernd
Kohlweyer of Germany.
The bunch stood another half point in front of a big group that
includes Filipino IMs Jayson Gonzales, who drew his third- and
fourth-round matches, and Ronald Bancod, who lost his fourth-round
match to Delchev.
Filipina Winona Tan shared 56th place with 37 others at 2.0
points.Marlon Bernardino

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
July 19, 2004 Monday 5:18 AM Eastern Time
Armenian N-power plant can operate at least for 12 more years
By Tigran Liloyan
YEREVAN
The Armenian nuclear power station can operate at least for another
12 years provided financing is sufficient, said on Monday in Yerevan
deputy managing director of the Inter RAO EES and director of the
International Power Corporation Mikhail Mantrov.
In compliance with the Russian-Armenian intergovernmental agreement,
this subsidiary company of the Unified Energy Systems of Russia
corporation was granted the administration of the financial and
economic operations of the station.
According to Mantrov, there has not been a single emergency over the
eight years after the re-start of the nuclear station, which points
to a high level of the station’s reliability. “The Armenian nuclear
power station is now in a working condition in compliance with
requirements of the IAEA,” he emphasized.
A new batch of nuclear fuel will be soon delivered to the station.
The Russian side will bring fuel without a rise in the price, despite
higher prices for uranium on world markets by more than 40 percent,
Mantrov stressed.
Put into operation in 1979, the Armenian station was shut down in
1989 after the devastating earthquake. It was re-started in 1996 with
the participation of Russian specialists. The station generates some
40 percent of all electricity, produced in Armenia by power plants.
In the meantime, the European Union strives for closing down the
station. The Armenian authorities state that its shutdown is possible
only if there are alternative sources of electricity. On July 31, the
station will be stopped for routine repairs and loading with fuel,
said station managing director Gagik Markosyan. It will be re-started
again on October 4.

M2 Presswire
July 19, 2004
US STATE DEPARTMENT: Press Statement; Richard Boucher, Spokesman;
Washington, DC July 16, 2004; U.S. Opposes Schiff Amendment to FY 05
Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill
M2 PRESSWIRE-JULY 19, 2004-US STATE DEPARTMENT: Press Statement;
Richard Boucher, Spokesman; Washington, DC July 16, 2004; U.S.
Opposes Schiff Amendment to FY 05 Foreign Operations Appropriations
Bill ©1994-2004 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD
The Administration strongly opposes this amendment which seeks to
restrict U.S. assistance to Turkey.
It should not become law. The amendment is detrimental to the cause
we all seek: reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia in pursuit of
regional peace and economic cooperation. Turkey and Armenia have been
pursuing these goals through direct meetings.
Turkey, our key NATO ally, and Armenia, our close friend, are
partners in the Global War on Terror and in advancing democracy,
prosperity and stability in the Caucasus. Our goal is to bolster
cooperation between these two countries rather than to separate them.
We welcome the statement by House Speaker Hastert, Majority Leader
DeLay and Majority Whip Blunt citing their strong opposition to this
amendment and their commitment to insisting that the amendment be
dropped in conference. We welcome the Leadership’s recognition of the
important relationship with our reliable ally and friend Turkey and
of the need for continued close economic and security relations
between our countries.
((M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information
provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties.
Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at
on the world wide web. Inquiries to
[email protected])).

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
July 19, 2004, Monday
ARMENIAN SERVICEMEN WILL PARTICIPATE IN A NATO EXERCISE IN LITHUANIA
The Resceur-Medceur 2004 international military exercise organized
within the framework of the partnership for peace program will be
conducted in Lithuania from July 17 to August 4. Servicemen from
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Germany, Georgia, Latvia, Moldavia,
Poland, Romania, the US, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Croatia and Estonia
will be involved in the maneuvers.
Source: PanARMENIAN.Net, July 16, 2004, 13:39
Translated by Alexander Dubovoi
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Associated Press
July 19, 2004, Monday, BC cycle
Employee of Armenian magazine killed in Moscow
MOSCOW
An Armenian magazine employee died after being stabbed and beaten in
Moscow, the magazine’s chief said Monday.
The discovery of Pail Peloyan’s body on Saturday came eight days
after the killing of American Paul Klebnikov, editor of Forbes
magazine’s Russian edition, and raised additional concerns about
journalists’ safety in Russia.
The magazine for which Peloyan worked was much lower-visibility than
Forbes and covered topics less controversial than Klebnikov’s
reporting on Russia’s often-violent business sphere.
The Russian-language magazine, Armyanskii Pereulok (Armenian Lane),
focused on Armenian historical, cultural and religious issues, editor
Valentin Filoyan said. Peloyan was chief administrator for the
magazine and had written several articles, he said. The magazine’s
last issue appeared at the beginning of 2003.
Asked whether he believed the 37-year-old Peloyan’s death was
connected to the magazine’s work, Filoyan said, “I don’t think so.”
No other motive was known.
Peloyan’s body was found early Saturday on the edge of the expressway
that circles Moscow, near a pedestrian overpass, Russian news reports
said.
Filoyan said money and documents including Peloyan’s passport were
found on the body, an apparent indication that robbery was not the
motive.
Russia was rated by the Committee to Protect Journalists as one of
the world’s 10 most dangerous countries for journalists, with a
number of killings and beatings reported in recent years.
Klebnikov reportedly had been looking into the 1995 killing of a
prominent TV journalist and was interested in doing a series of
articles about journalist murders.

Associated Press Worldstream
July 19, 2004 Monday 2:58 PM Eastern Time
Nagorno-Karabakh hands over Azerbaijani serviceman
BAKU, Azerbaijan
Authorities in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave said Monday that they
handed over an Azerbaijani soldier who they said had been detained
when he crossed a cease-fire line last month.
The handover of the 19-year-old serviceman, detained June 30, was
carried out after consultaions with reprsentatives of the
International Committee of the Red Cross, a commission on prisoners
of war in Nagorno-Karabakh said. It said Azerbiajiani authorities
agreed to the handover.
Armenian-backed forces won control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a largely
ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, in a 1988-94 war that killed
some 30,000 people and drove a million from their homes.
Despite a cease-fire, the two countries continue to face off across a
heavily fortified no man’s land, and shooting occasionally erupts. No
final settlement has been reached, and the conflict continues to
aggravate economic troubles and threaten unrest in Armenia and
Azerbaijan.

Xinhua News Agency – French
July 19, 2004 Monday
Le Premier ministre turc entame une visite en France
ANKARA
Le Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan a quitte lundi Ankara
pour une visite a Paris pour essayer de convaincre les dirigeants
francais de soutenir les efforts de la Turquie de rejoindre l’Union
europeenne, a rapporte l’agence de presse turque Anatolie.
Le chef du gouvernement turc souhaite obtenir le feu vert de l’UE sur
l’ouverture des negociations avec la Turquie apres le sommet de l’UE
en decembre prochain.
La visite de M. Erdogan est destinee egalement a reparer les
relations entre Ankara et Paris, qui se sont refroidies apres que la
France eut reconnu le “genocide” en Armenie.
L’Armenie accuse les Turcs d’avoir tue 1,5 million d’Armeniens entre
1915 et 1923, alors que la Turquie a affirme que ces chiffres sont
exageres et que les victimes ont ete tuees dans des emeutes.
Selon le quotidien francais “Liberation”, Ankara considere la France
comme le plus grand obstacle a l’ouverture des negociationssur son
adhesion a l’UE.
L’Union europeenne appelle la Turquie a ameliorer la situation des
droits de l’Homme avant d’ouverture les pourparlers sur son adhesion
a l’union.

Xinhua News Agency – French
July 19, 2004 Monday
Le Parti socialiste francais “favorable” a l’entree de la Turquie
dans l’UE
PARIS
Le Parti socialiste de France a reaffirme lundi, premier jour de la
visite en France du Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan, qu’il
etait “favorable” a l’entree de la Turquie dans l’UE a condition que
les “criteres d’adhesion” soient respectes par Ankara.
“Nous sommes fideles aux engagements de la France qui remontenta tres
loin. Ce n’est pas l’entree de la Turquie qui fait l’actualite
d’aujourd’hui, c’est plutot la discussion sur les criteres
d’adhesion. Nous, nous y sommes favorables, a condition que ces
criteres soient respectes” par Ankara, a declare a la presse la
porte-parole du PS Annick Lepetit.
Elle a indique que le Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan
“sera recu a sa demande” mercredi (10h30) par le premier secretaire
du PS, Francois Hollande.
“Il faut saluer les efforts qui sont faits par la Turquie, memesi
tous ces criteres ne sont pas encore atteints. Je pense notamment a
la question des droits de l’Homme et a la reconnaissance du genocide
armenien”, a-t-elle poursuivi.
La porte-parole a souligne “l’embarras qui doit etre celui de Jacques
Chirac” sur ce dossier. “C’est quand meme le parti chiraquien, l’UMP,
qui n’a rien trouve de mieux pendant la campagne des europeennes que
de faire voter sa direction contre l’entree de la Turquie en Europe”,
a rappele Mme Lepetit.
Erdogan entame lundi une visite officielle de trois jours en France.
Il doit evoquer la candidature de son pays a l’UE avec lesplus hautes
autorites de la France et les dirigeants des principaux partis
politiques francais.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress