Georgia will tame Ajaria, wants strong Ukraine, security chief says
Den, Kiev
17 Mar 04
Georgia will force Ajaria to respect Georgian laws, Vano Merabishvili,
the Georgian security chief, has said, speaking in an interview. There
is a perception in Georgia that the situation in the country would
improve if Ukrainian peacekeepers replaced the Russian soldiers in
Abkhazia, Merabishvili said, adding that Georgia did not think that
Russia supported the Ajarian separatists, although there is a Russian
military base in the area. Agreement had, he said, been reached with
Russia on joint patrolling of the Chechen section of their common
border. Merabishvili also spelt out the Georgian position on NATO and
the Single Economic Space. The following is the text of the interview
by Serhiy Solodkyy, entitled “Vano Merabishvili: It is in Georgia’s
interests for Ukraine’s role to be enhanced” and published in the
Ukrainian newspaper Den on 17 March; subheadings have been inserted
editorially:
One of the electoral promises that Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili made was to reintegrate the state by resolving the
Abkhazian and South Ossetian conflicts. The issue involves the
interests of Russia and the USA. But Tbilisi the Georgian capital is
also looking to Ukraine’s participation as a mediator. The first
serious crisis in Georgia following the “pink revolution” occurred
last weekend, when the president’s motorcade was not allowed into the
Ajarian autonomous area. Saakashvili responded by issuing an
ultimatum, which led many experts to talk about the risk of a new
civil war. At the moment, the country’s central leadership is
promising to confine itself to an economic blockade of the
recalcitrant area.
The secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council, Vano
Merabishvili, has been visiting Ukraine. In an exclusive interview
with Den, he said that it was probably no coincidence that his first
foreign visit as secretary of the Georgian Security Council was to
Kiev. “Your country is Georgia’s biggest partner in terms of military
cooperation – both in training new personnel and in repairing military
hardware. We should like to expand and improve our cooperation, while
retaining all the achievements gained previously. We think that
Ukraine is a very influential state,” Mr Merabishvili emphasized.
“Ajarian question will be resolved shortly”
Solodkyy Your visit has occurred at a difficult time for Tbilisi
because of the Ajaria situation. There are different views on what is
happening in that autonomous area. Some maintain that Tbilisi intends
to transfer its power change scenario to Batumi the Ajarian capital ,
while others say that, in this way, the new leadership is carrying out
its plans to reintegrate the country. Which version do you incline
towards?
Merabishvili First of all, I should like to stress that Ajaria is just
as much a part of Georgia as any other Georgian district or town,
whether it be Kutaisi in central Georgia or Tbilisi. The regime of
Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze has now been in existence for 13
years. The forces that have no interest in reform or in unifying the
state will, naturally, try by any means to hinder the central
authorities’ efforts to see that the Georgian constitution operates
throughout the country. A state cannot be regarded as successful
unless everyone in that state is following its constitutional
guidelines. Accordingly, the central authorities of Georgia will do
everything they can to see that the constitution is in force
throughout the country. The fact that the leader of the autonomous
area has presented claims regarding freedom of movement to the
president speaks for itself. But I think that the Ajarian question
will be resolved shortly. Legality will reign throughout Georgia,
especially since parliamentary elections will be taking place soon, on
28 March. Free elections cannot be expected in Ajaria if even the
country’s president, let alone opposition representatives, is unable
to meet the public. It is probably no secret to you that several dozen
members of the opposition have been arrested or expelled from
Ajaria. Such things must not and cannot happen in Europe in 2004.
Solodkyy To what extreme measures may Tbilisi resort in order to
resolve the Ajarian question?
Merabishvili I don’t think that any very serious measures are needed
to see that the constitution is in force throughout Georgia, including
Ajaria. We have every opportunity to do that.
Solodkyy Do you mean talking to Aslan Abashidze or removing him?
Merabishvili The actual question of removing Abashidze is not on the
agenda. But by various means we shall force the authorities in Ajaria
to carry out the laws of Georgia.
Ukraine as a mediator; relations with Russia
Solodkyy Do the new authorities in Georgia see Ukraine as a mediator
in resolving conflicts with the authorities in its autonomous areas?
Merabishvili In Georgian society there is a perception that, if the
Russian peacekeepers who are now in Abkhazia were to be replaced by
Ukrainian soldiers, no problems would arise at all. It is hard for me
to comment on that view at the moment, but it does exist. It is a
question of neutral peacekeeping forces that will not violate the
obligations they have assumed, and guarantee a resolution of the
Abkhazian and South Ossetian problems. Ukraine’s participation could
change a great deal both in Abkhazia and in South Ossetia. As for
Ajaria, the problem there is quite different. I think that Ukraine
will make its political view known on that issue too.
Solodkyy At the moment, though, Russia’s view carries more
weight… ellipsis as published .
Merabishvili We are trying to make the peacekeeping mandate in Georgia
as internationalist as possible. Let us honestly admit that Moscow
alone is not responsible for the conflicts and problems between
Georgia and Russia. Georgia’s former leadership did not have a clear,
precise policy on the development of relations with Russia. That
policy changed very frequently. Sometimes Russia was considered to be
Georgia’s sworn enemy. At other times, it was the most important
partner. These “lines” might change three times a month. The Georgian
leadership would violate some accords, but the same can be said of
Russian policy too. During the two months in which President
Saakashvili has been in power, the Russian and Georgian leaderships
have proved to one another that points of contact can be found, and we
have found them.
Solodkyy Can Tbilisi’s current policy towards Russia be called clear
and precise?
Merabishvili We shall honour all the commitments we have
undertaken. For example, several understandings were reached during
the Georgian president’s visit to Moscow – particularly on the
question of the joint patrolling of the Georgian-Russian border in the
Chechen sector. The Georgian leadership rejected joint patrolling for
many years. What was more, Tbilisi used to declare that there were no
Chechen fighters in the Pankisi Gorge, but time has proved that,
unfortunately, the Georgian leadership paid insufficient attention to
the question and that terrorists could move about freely. The question
has now been virtually solved. Russia’s trust in Georgia will grow
when there is joint patrolling of the border between Georgia and
Chechnya. It will then be impossible to accuse Tbilisi of helping
foreign citizens to infiltrate into Chechnya.
Another point of cooperation concerns Russia’s entry to the WTO World
Trade Organization . Previously the Georgian parliament decided to
link Georgia’s consent to Russia’s entry to the WTO to other political
issues. Three weeks ago, at the request of President Mikheil
Saakashvili, the Georgian parliament altered that decision and
consented to assist Russian entry to the WTO, since it was in
Tbilisi’s interests. If Russia joins the WTO, new markets will open up
for Georgian goods, and Russia will not introduce any artificial
restrictions. I have quoted just two instances for you, but there are
far more. The main thing is to prove to each other that we shall
honour all the commitments undertaken.
Russian bases not seen as threat
Solodkyy But why doesn’t Russia honour its commitments to remove its
bases from Georgian territory?
Merabishvili We appreciate that it is virtually impossible to resolve
these matters quickly. But, in many of the actions undertaken by the
Russian president, we have seen that not only this problem, but others
too can be resolved very simply. The main thing is that there is no
longer a threat to Georgia from these military bases. There is a
Russian base in Ajaria too, and, during the last conflict, there was
no serious reaction from the Russian military. That is highly
indicative. Previously the slightest panicking by Aslan Abashidze
would lead to tanks emerging from the Russian base and taking up
position on Ajaria’s administrative border.
Solodkyy Are you sure that the Russian leadership will not support
Aslan Abashidze?
Merabishvili We take the view that the Russians are not at the moment
supporting the separatist movement in Ajaria. This is probably the
first time over the past 10 years. I hope that the phrase “at the
moment” does not imply that this is a short-term Russian policy. We
shall count on the Russians’ understanding. We think that it is also
in Moscow’s interests to have a stable neighbour that will take
account of Russian interests. A strong Georgia is of benefit to Russia
because a weak neighbouring state is an additional factor for
destabilization.
Georgia and international organizations
Solodkyy Georgia and Ukraine used to cooperate actively within the
GUUAM association a loose alliance of Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan,
Azerbaijan and Moldova so as to carry out various projects. Since the
“pink revolution”, cooperation in that direction has slowed down
somewhat. Has the country’s new leadership lost interest in GUUAM?
Merabishvili The Georgian government, which was formed only two weeks
ago, needs a certain amount of time in which to carry out its policies
steadily. I consider that serious progress will be made on the GUUAM
issue, since all of the new president’s steps are proving
successful. I think that here too Tbilisi will help to enhance the
role of all the international organizations in which Georgia has
participated and will participate.
Solodkyy Ukraine and Georgia are seeking to join NATO. Was the
question of Euro-Atlantic integration discussed at your meeting with
Ukrainian Defence Minister Yevhen Marchuk?
Merabishvili Ukraine and Georgia are two twins who are knocking on the
NATO door together. I think that we must come to be a kind of tandem
facilitating the resolution of internal problems. NATO’s Istanbul
summit in June will be very important for both Ukraine and
Georgia. During the meeting with the Ukrainian defence minister, we
agreed to coordinate our actions in that field.
Solodkyy How does Georgia view Kiev’s official intention to integrate
with the SES Single Economic Space ?
Merabishvili We think that Georgia should not reject any kind of
cooperation. Economic cooperation is in the interests of any state. A
viable, free economy helps to resolve many issues, including political
ones.
Solodkyy Some experts in Ukraine are rather wary in their view of the
SES… ellipsis as published .
Merabishvili The SES accords do not pose a threat in themselves if the
leaders of the states abide by the principle of equality and honour
the commitments they have assumed. Unfortunately, in Russia there are
certain sentiments that put politics above economics and free
trade. Needless to say, that prevents Russia itself from resolving its
own problems, since such policies come with too high a “price
tag”. The economy loses out, the state loses out, people lose out and,
all in all, politics lose out too. I think that all the states –
Russia, Ukraine and Georgia – must realize that free trade will open
up fresh opportunities for businessmen and help their countries’
interests to really draw closer together, and this, in turn, will help
to solve the political problems.
Solodkyy Does this mean that Georgia is prepared to join the SES?
Merabishvili That question has yet to be discussed seriously by the
new government. We think that Russia’s entry to the WTO will remove
the need to set up economic coalitions of any kind, since all the
obligations that a WTO member country undertakes will enable
businessmen to operate effectively. If joining some new economic
formation will help Georgia, Tbilisi will not say no. But Georgia does
not currently see that as a topical matter.
Saakashvili to visit Ukraine shortly
Solodkyy Is it known when the Georgian president will visit Ukraine?
Merabishvili It has so happened that, during the two months of his
presidency, Mikhail Saakashvili was obliged, for various reasons, to
visit Russia, the USA, Azerbaijan and Armenia. I think that one of the
president’s next visits will certainly be to Kiev. Ukraine is one of
Georgia’s most important partners. The fact that Saakashvili studied
in Ukraine is highly indicative. In Georgia, people often say,
jokingly: the “Ukrainian clan” now runs Georgia, since the president,
the defence minister and many other officials were educated in Kiev.
Solodkyy Why is it that the visit hasn’t taken place yet? Is it
because the president’s schedule is overloaded, or is there something
else?
Merabishvili He’s got a heavy schedule. I think that, when the Ajarian
“conflict”, as it were, is resolved and the elections that will take
place on 28 March are over, that will enable a visit to Kiev by our
president to be organized over the next few weeks. Ukraine is one of
the great states that is very close to Georgia. It is in Georgia’s
interests for Ukraine’s role to be enhanced. If Ukraine’s role is
boosted, there will be no more of the problems that there have been in
Georgia – the Abkhazian, South Ossetian and Ajarian conflicts.

Azeri ex-premier says his imprisonment was illegitimate
ANS TV, Baku
18 Mar 04
Former Azerbaijani Prime Minister Surat Huseynov, who has been
released from prison under a presidential amnesty decree, has said
that he was sentenced illegally and has described the accusations of a
coup attempt in 1993 as completely “illogical”. In a live interview
with ANS TV, he said that he had never had conflicts with former
Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev and that certain people in the
president’s entourage wanted to sully his reputation by making
negative remarks about him. Touching on ways of resolving the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict, Huseynov said Azerbaijan has always had a strong
army, and added that a military solution required the approval of the
international community. The former prime minister also spoke about
the war with Armenia prior to the cease-fire and accused Russia of
helping Armenia to occupy Azerbaijani lands. The Azerbaijani army was
not defeated on the battlefield, but was destroyed from within, he
added. The following is the text of report by Azerbaijani TV station
ANS on 18 March. Subheadings have been inserted editorially:
Presenter The Azerbaijani president released 129 people from prison
yesterday 17 March . Among those freed was former Prime Minister Surat
Huseynov. He is the guest of our studio today. Welcome, Surat bay form
of address and please accept our congratulations on your release. Did
the news come as a surprise or were you expecting to be released?
Huseynov Thank you very much. It was rather unexpected. I heard the
news from ANS radio that the president had signed an amnesty decree
and that former Prime Minister Surat Huseynov is among those
pardoned. But prior to the radio report I had no information about
that.
Presenter And were you released immediately after the news was
announced or did you have to undergo certain procedures?
Huseynov It took them one day to release me. I came out this morning.
Presenter Were you expecting the release deep in your heart? Were you
hoping that this year or this month you could be freed? Prisoners
always cherish hopes, don’t they?
Huseynov Prisoners always live with hope, that’s right. And I was
hoping too that sometime I would be pardoned. I had this hope too.
Life in prison
Presenter Over these years did you keep in touch with your friends and
relatives?
Huseynov Yes, I was in touch with my relatives and through them with
my friends.
Presenter What was the situation like in prison?
Huseynov It was not too bad. It is prison and one has to adjust to
prison conditions while there. I spent seven years in prison, in
solitary confinement. But maybe because I was the prime minister or
maybe because of my other qualities everyone respected me. They held
me in high esteem as an elder. I have no complaints about that.
Presenter What was it like to be alone in a cell?
Huseynov I got used to it. I can’t say anything about that, but I
spent seven years alone.
Presenter When people are alone, they usually communicate with someone
inside them. People even communicate with their enemies. Who did you
communicate with?
Huseynov That is true, it is difficult to be alone all the time. I was
reading a lot. No-one in the prison read as much as I did in the seven
years.
Presenter What kind of books?
Huseynov Foreign and Azerbaijani classics, scientific and medical
literature.
Presenter Did you read medical books because you did not feel very
well or because prisoners have this survival instinct and have to take
care of themselves?
Huseynov You know, when someone is ill, they want to know what their
problem is. And to know that, they have to read about it from
books. Therefore, I have thoroughly studied medical literature and
cured myself of all health problems I had. I have got rid of all my
maladies and am a healthy man now.
Goodwill decree
Presenter It has been said that initially your name was not on the
list of those pardoned and that it was the president’s initiative to
include you on it. Do you know anything about that?
Huseynov I do have this information.
Presenter Why do you think you have been released?
Huseynov What can I say? First of all, I would like to take this
opportunity to express my condolences to the family of the late former
Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev. I also thank Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev for having signed the goodwill decree. I think
the more such decrees, the better for our country. Because there are
still people behind bars who are described as political prisoners. I
hope the esteemed president will take further steps in this direction
to free these people too so that they could rejoin their families.
Presenter What do you think about the fact that starting from December
of the last year people like former Interior Minister Isgandar Hamidov
and others, who may be not as popular but are also described by the
Council of Europe as political prisoners, have been released from
prison? Do you think that this may alleviate tension in society or
whip it up even more?
Huseynov I don’t think that goodwill gestures can ever foment tension
in the republic. This can certainly reduce tension. This is the only
assessment I can give to this. I think this is the right step.
Presenter Did you watch TV or read newspapers in prison?
Huseynov I read newspapers. I also listened to the radio.
Presenter Could you follow the developments in the republic?
Huseynov Yes I could, thanks to the radio. I listened to the news.
“Illogical sentence”
Presenter But you were never described as a political prisoner. You
must have heard this from the radio, human rights champions, the
Council of Europe and other organizations. Why was their attitude to
you different? And did you complain to the Council of Europe or to the
OSCE?
Huseynov You know, I have never complained in my life. When my
sentence was pronounced, I silently went to prison and spent seven
years there, no matter whether the sentence was fair or not. I served
my sentence. All I complained about was the fact that I thought that
my sentence was illegitimate. Because it said that Prime Minister
Surat Huseynov attempted to stage a coup d’etat in Ganca. This is
completely illogical. How can the prime minister stage a coup in a
city 360km away from Baku? The prime minister’s office, the Cabinet of
Ministers, is in the same courtyard as the presidential
administration. There was no logic in the sentence. To understand
this, one doesn’t have to be an expert in law. One can ask a secondary
school pupil whether there is any logic in this accusation. There is
no logic at all.
The prosecutor’s office and courts have proven so incompetent that
there is hardly anything I can say to them. I don’t know whether they
should be sent to secondary schools again or whether they should study
their profession again and receive their diplomas anew. I don’t know.
Presenter Is this a matter of the past for you?
Huseynov It is a matter of the past, but since I have been freed, the
issue of my rehabilitation has come on the agenda. I know that the
president has started reforming the judiciary and at some point, I
will appeal to him for rehabilitation. Because I think I was arrested
illegally and spent seven years in prison. Therefore, I have to be
rehabilitated.
Heydar Aliyev
Presenter As soon as you left the prison, you visited Heydar Aliyev’s
grave. But you were said to be implacable enemies. Did you want to
acknowledge anything by visiting Heydar Aliyev’s grave?
Huseynov You know, there has never been a conflict between me and
Heydar Aliyev. I am the kind of man who always remembers who he has
broken bread with. People may say different things about us. People
may say different things about why I visited Heydar Aliyev’s grave. We
have broken bread together. I paid my tribute and respect to him, to
his wife and then to all our martyrs.
Presenter What are your recollections of the two years that you spent
working with Heydar Aliyev?
Huseynov I worked with Heydar Aliyev for 16 months. And I think there
were many people who wanted to undermine our relations. But let that
be judged by God. Let no-one think that I am blaming someone for
having been imprisoned. I think it was my fate to be put behind bars
and I don’t think it was because of Heydar Aliyev or anyone
else. Therefore, I bear no grudges against anyone.
No place to live
Presenter Surat bay, you have returned after seven years. Do you have
a place to live in?
Huseynov I had a house but a former employee of the prosecutor’s
office, someone who used to deal with civil affairs, is living there
now. I have nowhere to live at the moment. I hope the law-enforcement
bodies will deal with the issue?
Presenter But how could someone move in your house? Is it officially
yours?
Huseynov It is mine. When I was the prime minister, Heydar Aliyev
personally gave it to me. But after that, this woman occupied it. She
worked at the Prosecutor-General’s Office then. She must have liked
it.
Presenter But where have your family been living since then?
Huseynov At our relatives’ home.
Presenter So what do you intend to do?
Huseynov We will see. I will probably ask the law-enforcement bodies
for help. What else can I do?
Politics, Karabakh, war
Presenter What is your assessment of the political situation in the
country? How have Baku and Azerbaijan in general changed over these
years? Is there any change at all?
Huseynov I think there are changes for the better. And if it goes on
like this, the republic will see reforms and democratic changes, and
that will inevitably lead to better living standards. There must also
be changes in the economy.
Presenter You have a favourite topic for discussion – the Karabakh
issue. Many years have elapsed since then but the issue has yet to be
resolved. Hasn’t your attitude towards the issue changed? What was
done right and what was done wrong?
Huseynov You know, the international situation has shaped in such a
way that all the countries keep such conflicts in focus. Therefore, I
believe we should pursue the path of negotiations. If the negotiations
prove ineffective, we may have to start thinking about other
alternatives.
Presenter Do you think Azerbaijan is capable of that?
Huseynov I think it is and it has always been. The point is that the
military option requires the approval of international
organizations. And I don’t believe international organizations will
ever allow a war to flare up in any part of the world.
Russia’s role
Presenter What was the role of Russia in those developments and how
strong was Moscow’s influence on the developments?
Huseynov It was obvious then that Russia was on the Armenians’
side. This is an undeniable fact. Many politicians may certainly deny
or conceal any knowledge of this in order not to set anyone against
themselves. But I can say openly as someone who took part in the war,
as someone who used to hold an official post, that Russia was directly
involved in the war on the side of Armenia and in the occupation of
our districts. This is a fact.
Presenter But it is said that Russia was helping both sides in order
to stir things up. It is also said that you maintained contact with
Russia. With whom?
Huseynov This was made up by the then activists and members of the
People’s Front. Let me say that my great grandparents provided a lot
of help, both financial and material, in the establishment of the
Azerbaijani Democratic Republic in 1918. The Russians killed three of
my great grandfathers and two of my great grandmothers. How could I be
the Russians’ man? They have killed my ancestors. When the Azerbaijani
Democratic Republic was destroyed in 1920, they were killed. I
actually paid my money to the Russians and they worked for my country
as mercenaries, which is practised in all wars. I am trying to say
that those were all rumours about me. They hoped to tarnish my
reputation by saying that I was the Russians’ man. I am the son of the
Azerbaijani people and I am the servant of my nation. And no-one in
Azerbaijan has helped the poor as much as I have. Let anyone come here
and say that they have helped the destitute as much as Surat Huseynov
has. God has given me something and I have always passed it on.
Presenter When you were on the run in Russia, did anyone help you?
Huseynov No, I was using another passport and living in different
regions of Russia for two months each. I was thus hiding from the
Russians and Azerbaijanis. I was not arrested in Moscow, I was
arrested in Tula Region. I did not ask anyone for political asylum. I
only wanted to go to the West from there, but it didn’t work, I was
arrested and brought back to Azerbaijan.
Presenter Is there anything in the 1993 developments that has not been
uncovered yet?
Huseynov Yes.
Presenter Will that ever be uncovered?
Huseynov I think it will. But that can only happen when those
currently in prison are released so that we can all sit at a table and
let the nation know what happened in 1993, when the war was in full
swing. That will be uncovered and the people will know that the
Azerbaijani army has never been defeated. The Azerbaijani army was
destroyed from within. When people understand that, they will know who
is who.
Presenter What are you up to now?
Huseynov I want to take some time to restore my health, to put things
into perspective. Then we will see.
Presenter Thank you very much for coming to our
studio. Congratulations again and all the best to you.
Huseynov Thank you.
From: Baghdasarian

Karabakh Premier Slams Azeri “Rumpus” About Chess Tournament
Mediamax news agency
18 Mar 04
YEREVAN
The prime minister of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic (NKR), Anushavan
Daniyelyan, said today that “all the actions of Azerbaijan resemble
the times of the medieval Inquisition”.
According to our Mediamax correspondent, the prime minister said this
while commenting on the reaction of the Azerbaijani authorities to the
international chess tournament that came to an end in Stepanakert on
17 March.
“Azerbaijan has shown its true colours to the world again. The
authorities of this republic, protecting their serviceman who hacked
to death a sleeping Armenian officer with Stone Age brutality, have
now turned all the might of their state propaganda machine to an
innocent sporting and cultural event, causing a rumpus about the chess
tournament in Stepanakert.
In connection with the aforesaid, there is a question – how can one
talk with a state whose actions resemble the times of the Inquisition?
The further we move, the more Azerbaijan antagonizes us, irrevocably
distancing itself from us. Although we are de facto destined to live
side by side with Azerbaijan, we are morally very far from each
other,” Daniyelyan said.
From: Baghdasarian

Azeri leader wins “duel” with Armenian minister at EU conference – TV
ANS TV, Baku
19 Mar 04
Presenter Qanira Atasova Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has
addressed the international conference “Towards a Wider Europe: The
New Agenda” in Bratislava. The “Xabarci” programme has ANS’s special
correspondent Zaur Hasanov on the line. Hello, Zaur.
Hasanov on the phone Hello, Qanira.
Atasova Zaur, what were the key points in the president’s speech?
Hasanov President Ilham Aliyev mostly spoke about two issues. He first
touched on Azerbaijan’s economic achievements. He said that the
Azerbaijani economy has been successfully developing since 1996. On
average, our GDP grows by 10 per cent every year while inflation
accounts for two per cent. The share of the private sector in GDP has
been constantly growing and has reached 74 per cent now. Our budget is
socially-oriented and 70-80 per cent of budget funds are allocated for
social needs.
In his address, the president attached major importance to the
Nagornyy Karabakh issue. According to him, the unresolved status of
this problem poses a very serious threat to the whole of the Caucasus,
including to oil and gas projects being implemented by Azerbaijan and
Georgia. He said that there are 1m refugees in Azerbaijan, i.e. its
every eighth citizen is a refugee. Their life is full of suffering and
their patience has run out. Saying that their patience has run out,
Ilham Aliyev pointed out that the patience of the entire Azerbaijani
people has run out.
I would like to note that Ilham Aliyev appreciated the activity of the
OSCE and other mediators. But he also said that it was useless. Ilham
Aliyev spoke about the expectations that the EU would support a
settlement to this problem.
I want to say that Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan is
addressing the conference now. Speaking about the Nagornyy Karabakh
problem, he said that there was neither a winner nor a loser in this
conflict. Like Azerbaijan, Armenia regards itself as a defeated
party. According to him, if Azerbaijan says it has 1m refugees, we can
say that 400,000 Armenians lived on Azerbaijani territory before the
start of the war. If they are not refugees, who are they?
This was a very interesting picture. When Ilham Aliyev was speaking,
Oskanyan was shaking his head. When the latter was speaking, the
Azerbaijani president was laughing. Many people, in fact, regarded
Oskanyan’s arguments as ridiculous. For example, Oskanyan spoke about
the Nagornyy Karabakh Armenians’ right to self-determination because
they want to be near their friends, i.e. the Armenians. But the
Azerbaijani president said that it was impossible for one nation to
have two states. In this case, let the Armenians living in many
countries exercise their right to self-determination. He appealed to
the world community, saying that if the Armenians take this step in
many countries, what kind of trouble and crisis this step will
cause. So, this was a kind of duel, and I can say that we won this
duel.
Atasova Thank you, Zaur.

PRESS RELEASE
March 18, 2004
Embassy of the Republic of Armenia
2225 R Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20008
Tel: 202-319-1976, x. 348; Fax: 202-319-2982
Email: [email protected]; Web:
First pan-Armenian Educational Conference to Convene in Yerevan on August
27-29, 2004
A pan-Armenian educational conference will be held in Yerevan for the first
time on August 27-29, 2004 under the auspices of the Armenian Ministry of
Education of Science, in line with the decisions of the Armenia-Diaspora
Conference. The objectives of the conference are to discuss the current
state of Armenian educational facilities in Armenia and the Diaspora and
find ways of collaboration between the Armenian educational and training
institutions worldwide to face common challenges.
The agenda will include issues relating to national education, teaching
methodologies, educational exchanges, teacher training, development of
common educational information network and curricula, preparation of
textbooks. The conference is open to participation by the representatives of
the school boards and Diocesan councils, community leaders and education
officials, Diasporan organizations that carry out activities in the field of
national education, principals and teachers of the Armenian schools, and
education specialists. The agenda will be finalized in June, and is open to
suggestions from prospective participants.
The Ministry of Education and Science will cover room and board expenses for
the participants of the conference in Yerevan. The participants are expected
to make their own arrangements for travel to/from Armenia.
The deadline for applications is June 1, 2004. For detailed inquiries,
program of the conference, and application forms, please contact the Embassy
of Armenia, or the Ministry of Education and Science, Government House 3,
Yerevan, 375010, Armenia, Tel. (+374-1) 525207, Fax. (+374-1) 581391, email:
[email protected], Web:

Louisville Courier Journal, KY
March 19 2004
Orchestra’s stirring ‘Triptych’ is a fusion of color and sound
By ANDREW ADLER – March 19, 2004
[email protected]
The Courier-Journal
In a program note meant to accompany his “New England Triptych,”
William Schuman writes of how his 1956 work forges a “fusion of
styles and musical languages” with 18th-century composer William
Billings.
It’s not too much of a leap to make a similar comparison of Aram
Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto, except here the fusion is not with a
single composer, but with an entire tradition of Armenian folk music.
Both pieces, however, speak powerfully in purely symphonic terms, and
they made for an exceptionally engaging first half of yesterday’s
U.S. Bank Coffee Concert at the Kentucky Center. If you crave a
molten swirl of instrumental color and texture, this was definitely
the kind of stuff to get your blood boiling. Whatever the ethnic
context, music director Uriel Segal made what could have been an odd
stylistic transition seem like the most sensible thing in the world.
Schuman is a bedrock composer of 20th-century America, and his “New
England Triptych” has long been among his most successful creations.
No wonder – the music has immediate, undeniable appeal as it moves
through a trio of Billings’ hymn treatments. The score has the sure
hand of a composer who understands how to bend commonplace elements
to uncommon benefit.
Few would describe the “Triptych” as especially demanding of
listeners – yet it speaks with freshness hearkening back to early
American musical practice, and reaching forward toward a universally
embraceable contemporary idiom.
The work’s second and third movements are particularly fine.
Yesterday’s account was at its strongest in these portions. Billings
took the hymn “When Jesus Wept” as one departure point refashioned by
Schuman in the work’s central essay. The music is achingly beautiful,
and the Louisville Orchestra’s strings played with a hushed,
sustained intensity that proved deeply affecting. Later on, during
the third-movement “Chester” hymn, Segal urged the full orchestra
forward in a blaze of crackling dynamics.
Khachaturian wrote quite a bit of orchestral literature. The appeal
of his best works, such as the big ballets “Spartacus” and “Gayane,”
have not diminished over the decades. The Violin Concerto doesn’t
rise quite to that level, coming off rather self-consciously as
appealing to the populist aesthetic sentiments of the Stalinist
regime. Still, the concerto knows how to push the right expressive
buttons.
In violinist Silvia Marcovici, the orchestra had a guest soloist able
to take all that the concerto threw at her and find the elemental
worth of every page.
The concerto sometimes can seem tumultuous for its own sake, yet
Marcovici remained unfazed by Khachaturian’s frenetic surfaces. My
only real reservation was that – in playing from a score – in the
third movement she directed her attentions more toward her music
stand than toward her Whitney Hall listeners, which compromised both
the focus of her tone and the sense of connecting with listeners.
The orchestra itself played with laudable discipline, which carried
over to at least the first three movements of Beethoven’s Symphony
No. 5. Segal led this piece with brisk tempos and lean proportions,
emphasizing clarity of attack and careful sectional balances.
His argument and the orchestra’s response was laudable through the
scherzo but weakened in a final movement that resisted taking shape.
Here, the brass playing didn’t have quite the crispness heard earlier
on, and in general the phrasing broadened so that momentum – which in
the Fifth should be inexorable – was merely indefinite.

Chessbase News, Germany
March 19 2004
Boy meets Beast in Reykjavik
19.03.2004 It was a dream pairing for the organizers. 13-year-old
Norwegian Magnus Carlsen faced legend Garry Kasparov in the first
round of this Icelandic rapid knock-out event. The result was
predictable but it was closer than you’d think. Most of the other
favorites also advanced to the second round. Report and games.
It’s been over a decade since Garry Kasparov, Nigel Short, and
Anatoly Karpov played each other in the same tournament. Now they are
reunited for four days in Iceland where they are the top attractions
at the Reykjavik Rapid. That is, the top attractions other than
13-year-old Norwegian cherub Magnus Carlsen, who is fresh-faced and
fresh off two Grandmaster norm results in two months at Corus and
Aeroflot.
Carlsen had the chance of a lifetime after the blitz tournament
pairing method left him in 15th position, meaning he had second seed
Garry Kasparov in the first round of the tournament proper! We don’t
recall another event using a tournament to determine the pairings for
a tournament, but it’s certainly more interesting than picking
ice-cubes out of a hat. Armenia’s Lev Aronian dominated the blitz,
including a win over Kasparov. Carlsen made the papers by beating
Karpov.
That was pretty much the end of the good news for the Scandinavian
participants. Denmark’s Nielsen was the only one to survive to the
second round. Carlsen pressed Kasparov with white but was held to a
draw and then smashed in the second game. The four local participants
were swept from the field, including top Icelander and former world
championship candidate Johann Hjartson, who lost to Timman. That was
the only rating upset of day one, and not much of an upset
considering Timman’s credentials.
Round one results – Thu. March 18
(Player on left has white in first game. Player in bold advances. Tie
matches go to sudden death blitz.)
Helgi Olafsson Levon Aronian 0-1 0-1
Magnus Carlsen Garry Kasparov ½-½ 0-1
Igor-Alexander Nataf Emil Sutovsky 0-1 ½-½
Margeir Petursson Alexey Dreev 0-1 ½-½
Hannes Stefansson Anatoly Karpov 1-0 0-1
Vladimir Epishin Peter Heine Nielsen 0-1 0-1
Johann Hjartarson Jan Timman 0-1 ½-½
Nigel Short Stefan Kristjansson ½-½ 1-0
Round two pairings – Fri. March 19
Nigel Short Levon Aronian
Jan Timman Garry Kasparov
Peter Heine Nielsen Emil Sutovsky
Anatoly Karpov Alexei Dreev
Karpov got through in a blitz tiebreaker but he could have ended
things earlier. The games are played with 25 minutes and a five
second increment. That is supposed to eliminate the worse of the
blunders, but then how to explain this?
Stefansson – Karpov, game 1 after 47…Qb8
48.Rc2 or 48.Qb1 would have provided the back-rank protection White
needs before winning with his passed pawns. Instead, Stefansson
blundered with 48.Rb1?? which should have allowed Karpov to escape
with a draw after 48…Rd1+ 49.Re1 Rxb1 50.Rxb1 Qd8!.
Karpov missed the draw with 48…R3d5?? and now White should give up
the a-pawn to consolidate with 49.Qc2 Rxa5 50.Ree1! and the b-pawn
should still be decisive.
But Stefansson saw and raised Karpov’s blunder with 49.Qc3??. Now
Black should actually win after 49…Rd1+ 50.Re1 Rxb1 51.Rxb1 Rd1+!
52.Rxd1 Qxb7+ 53.Kg1 Qg2 mate.
Instead, Karpov made the final blunder with 49…Rd3?? and resigned
after 50.Qc8, when there is no defense.

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
March 19 2004
Kosovo: Violence Raises Questions About Media Responsibility
By Jeremy Bransten

This week’s deadly interethnic clashes in Kosovo have raised many
questions about why the violence spread so quickly and easily across
the province. One spark seems to have come from the way local media
reported on a particular incident in the divided town of Kosovska
Mitrovica. Should the media follow special guidelines when reporting
from an ethnically charged region, and do they bear a special
responsibility for maintaining stability?
Prague, 19 March 2004 (RFE/RL) — Tensions had been simmering in
Kosovo for some time. This week, ethnic Albanians demonstrated in
several of the province’s cities over the imprisonment of a former
rebel commander, union members announced a picket over privatization
plans, and Serbs protested against the shooting and wounding on 15
March of a teenager in an incident of ethnic violence.
In this context, Kosovo television’s 16 March nighttime broadcast of
an interview with an ethnic Albanian boy was the last straw. The boy
said he had barely survived an attack by local Serbs that left at
least two other children dead. Violence between the Albanian and
Serbian communities soon flared across the province, in the worst set
of clashes since 1999.
The boy — identified as 13-year-old Fitim Veseli — said he had been
playing along the river that divides the town of Kosovska Mitrovica
into ethnic Albanian and Serbian parts on 16 March with his brother
and two friends. Veseli told Kosovo television that when two Serbs
unleashed their dogs on the group, the boys jumped into the river in
an attempt to escape and swim to the other side.
“I think it’s all a matter of tone and a matter of context. If you
only screen the boy’s story, then that becomes the whole narrative.
If you screen the boy’s story but then you also screen other people
saying that this was an isolated incident, or people calling for
peace or people giving a fuller version of the story, then you can
put it in context.”Veseli said he was the only one who managed to
ford the swift current. The bodies of his drowned brother and another
boy were later found by the authorities. The fourth boy remains
missing and is presumed dead. Veseli’s harrowing account was
broadcast repeatedly by Kosovo television, fanning outrage in the
community and helping to ignite mass violence, which has now claimed
31 lives.
UN authorities today said they are continuing to investigate the
incident. There is no doubt two children were killed, but the
circumstances in which they died still remain unclear. The UN says it
has not been able to confirm Veseli’s story.
The question therefore arises — did Kosovo television act
improperly? Should the television station have withheld its interview
with the boy — aware that its report could fuel more violence —
since it was not able to confirm all the details? Or did it act
ethically, as a purveyor of available information, nothing more and
nothing less?
Robert Gillette is the temporary media commissioner for Kosovo for
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The
body is responsible for licensing and overseeing local media.
Gillette met with the heads of Kosovo’s three television channels
today and asked them to provide videotapes of their broadcasts over
the past two days for detailed analysis.
Gillette told RFE/RL today from Pristina that he does not want to
pre-judge the stations’ coverage before seeing the tapes. But he said
that if the tapes reveal that the broadcasters — through their
coverage — helped to ignite interethnic violence, sanctions could be
taken against them.
Regardless of what the OSCE concludes, the larger question remains.
What responsibility does the media bare when reporting from an
ethnically charged or religiously divided region? Thomas De Waal, of
the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), told
RFE/RL that the media — when broadcasting to such regions — do have
a special duty because lives are often at stake.
“The media should be extra super vigilant in a time of crisis, and
they should apply their professional standards even more carefully,”
he said. “Even a big organization like the BBC has indirectly — not
intentionally, obviously — caused deaths. For example, in India,
when they broadcast archive footage of ethnic violence which had
happened months before between Hindus and Muslims. And people
watching it in India thought that the footage was from the same day
and went and retaliated. And people died as a result of that.”
Sometimes, local media outlets are all too aware of what is at stake,
and they fan the flames of ethnic hatred intentionally. The
best-known case in recent times was that of Rwanda’s Radio-Television
Libre des Milles Collines (Free Radio Television of the Thousand
Hills), whose broadcasters in 1994 incited ethnic Hutus to slaughter
their fellow Tutsi countrymen.
Rwanda quickly turned into a gigantic killing field, with an
estimated 800,000 people losing their lives before the carnage was
halted. Almost a decade later, in December of last year, the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda convicted the radio
station director and sentenced him to life in prison for his role in
inciting the massacre. Two newspaper editors were also sentenced to
life and 35 years in prison, respectively. They were the first
convictions of media workers by an international court in more than
50 years.
The Rwanda case most powerfully illustrates the potential influence
of the media when it is operating in an ethnically divided
environment. In the case of Kosovo and Fitim Veseli’s testimony, what
should local television have done?
The IWPR’s De Waal said, “I think it’s all a matter of tone and a
matter of context. If you only screen the boy’s story, then that
becomes the whole narrative. If you screen the boy’s story but then
you also screen other people saying that this was an isolated
incident, or people calling for peace or people giving a fuller
version of the story, then you can put it in context.”
Dramatic personal accounts attract big audiences. Ordinary people
relate best to such stories. But De Waal says the failure of local
broadcasters to put their stories into proper context often leads to
one-sided reporting. “What often happens in these ethnic conflicts —
and one sees this in the Caucasus, particularly in Azerbaijan and
Armenia — is that one side mythologizes personal stories,” he said.
“They fill the news, and there’s absolutely no political context to
it. And I think [the importance of not doing this] has to be
inculcated into the news reporters who are reporting on things like
this.”
Aly Colon teaches ethics at the respected Poynter Institute for
journalists in the United States. He echoed De Waal’s comments. “You
can gather the information — in other words, you can take
information from witnesses who were on the scene. But I also think
it’s best to make sure that you know all the information you possibly
can gather at that time so that you can put it in some sort of
context — so that people can see it from a variety of perspectives,
to have a fuller picture of what’s going on. Just one source is only
one piece of the story — not an unimportant one, not necessarily one
that’s not factual, but you need as much detail as you can so that
people can see this in perspective,” Colon said.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer yesterday called on the
news media in Kosovo to exercise caution in their reporting, to avoid
fanning further hatred. “I have called on the media, as well, to show
restraint in reporting because this [violence] should stop,” he said.
NATO has increased its peacekeeping presence in the province. Despite
isolated incidents today, the situation appears to be calming down.

Winston Salem Journal, NC
March 19 2004
Clouds Lifted: Writer’s mother, 94, was a little girl lost in a
political upheaval
By Janice Gaston
JOURNAL REPORTER

A Long Search: Writer Thea Halo is shown at right with her mother,
Sano Halo, who was one of thousands of ethnic Greeks exiled from
their homes in Turkey in 1920. (Journal Illust. by Nicholas Weir)

Thea Halo grew up knowing that her mother’s life had been filled with
tragedy. By the time she was 10, the girl who would become known as
Sano Halo had lost everything that mattered to her.
Sano Halo, now 94, was one of thousands of ethnic Greeks driven from
their homes in Turkey in 1920. Marched through mountains and deserts
with ever-dwindling supplies, many of Halo’s fellow Greeks died. Some
dropped dead in their tracks. Her baby sister died in her arms.
By the time Sano Halo was 15, her mother and sisters were dead, and
her father and brother had disappeared. She was married off to a
45-year-old man she didn’t know.
She arrived in the United States in 1925, a teen-age bride, with
nothing left of her Greek heritage, not even the name that her
parents had given her.
Thea Halo tells her mother’s poignant story in her book, Not Even My
Name. Thea Halo, accompanied by her mother, will speak Saturday at an
Agape Celebration Luncheon at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church
Hellenic Center here. Proceeds from the luncheon, which begins at 11
a.m., will benefit youth programs.
When Thea Halo was growing up in New York, she could never explain
her heritage. Her parents were born in Turkey, but neither was
Turkish.
Her mother was a Pontic Greek, an ethnic group that had lived in
Turkey near the Pontic Mountains for 3,000 years. Her father was
Assyrian, a descendant of ancient people thought to be no longer in
existence. Her brothers took on the identity of Turks. Her older
sister told people that they were Egyptian and urged their mother to
do the same. She complied.
In her book, Halo wrote, “It had never occurred to any of us that in
our struggle to have an identity of our own, we had negated hers.”
Sano Halo, then known as Themia, was born in a tiny mountain village
in northern Turkey, near the Black Sea. She doesn’t remember her
family name. When she was not quite 10, soldiers came to her home and
rousted her family. In her book, Halo described what they said:
“You are to leave this place. Take with you only what you can carry.”
They marched the Greeks toward the Syrian desert, Thea Halo said by
telephone from her home in New York.
The march took place within the context of years of conflict between
the Greeks and the Turks.
“The whole history of this thing is so complicated, you could spend
your life on it,” said Bruce Kuniholm, a professor of history and
public-policy studies at Duke University. After World War I, the
Ottoman Empire, which ruled over Greece for centuries, was being
dismembered. An independence movement in the 19th century extracted
Greece from the Empire, but Greek minorities had continued to live
there.
The Treaty of Sevres, imposed on the Ottoman sultan by the Allies in
1920, awarded Greece portions of the empire in the West. But when
Greek forces invaded Turkey to take what had been awarded to them,
Kunhihom said, Turkish nationals, who opposed the sultan and the
treaty, drove the Greeks out. They also drove out the Russians,
Italians, French and eventually the British.
People like the Pontic Greeks, Kunihom said, were caught in the
complicated dynamic of a disintegrating empire, an emerging
nationalist movement and ethnic conflict between the Greeks and the
Turks.
After Sano Halo’s family passed through a town called Karabahce, her
daughter said, “they decided to run away. Two of their children had
already died on the road.”
Destitute, the family scrounged for food. Thea Halo’s grandmother,
realizing that her daughter might starve, gave her to a woman who
asked to take her in. The girl became a virtual slave to the woman,
who changed her name from Themia to a Kurdish name, Sano.
“She stayed with that woman about two years,” Thea Halo said. The
woman was so abusive that Sano Halo finally ran away. “An Armenian
family took her in,” her daughter said. “When they fled Turkey on
pain of death, they brought her with them as their daughter to
Syria.” There, her fate collided with that of Abraham Halo, who had
fled Turkey in 1905, “on pain of death,” his daughter said. He came
to the United States, married and fathered a child. The marriage
ended unhappily, and he gained custody of his son.
In 1925, he went to Aleppo, Syria, to look for a wife. One of his
relatives had a solution.
“Why don’t you marry that young girl upstairs?” the relative asked.
The decision was sealed.
On her wedding day, Sano Halo was still a child. She had not yet
begun to menstruate, and her breasts had not yet developed. The
bodice of the borrowed wedding dress that she wore sagged against her
flat chest.
When Sano Halo arrived in her new home in New York, she became an
instant stepmother to a boy of 10, a role she was ill-equipped to
play. But she quickly learned about motherhood when she began to bear
children of her own, 10 in all. She forgot the languages of her youth
and spoke nothing but English. When an injury forced her husband to
quit working when he was in his 60s, she got a job and supported the
family.
While her children were growing up, Sano Halo told them about the
tragedies of her early life, but they didn’t truly sink in.
“Parents tell their story,” Thea Halo said. “Especially when you’re
young, you have your own lives to live. You want to go
roller-skating. You hear basically the same stories over and over.”
But she realized that she needed to really hear the stories when she
decided to write a book about her mother’s past.
The idea for a book came after Thea Halo had taken her mother back to
Turkey, after nearly 70 years of exile, to look for her ancestral
home. Sano Halo had never been able to find her village on a map. In
Turkey, she found out why. The name that she remembered, Iondone, was
in dialect. The village was actually named Ayios Antonios.
Emotions ran high for both of them when they finally arrived at the
spot where Sano Halo had lived as a child.
Where 250 houses had once stood, they found nothing but a wooden
shack and empty green hills. A rectangle of wildflowers marked the
spot where the family home had been.
In her book, Thea Halo described what happened then.
“I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes for something lost,”
she wrote. “Or maybe for something found. I had a family at last,
just long enough to know they were gone.”
Thea Halo had spent most of her adult life making a living as an
artist. By telling her mother’s story, she became a writer. She has
put aside her painting and has more books in the works.
Not Even My Name, she said, has taken on a life of its own.
She started getting e-mails from people around the world. “This is
our story,” people told her. She began giving lectures and readings.
She started connecting with people who share her ethnicity.
“I was raised an American,” she said. “I had never been part of a
Greek community, an Assyrian community, an Armenian community,” she
said. “One of the things it did is bring me into the communities of
my heritage.
“It’s been a wonderful experience.”

Lubbock On line
March 19 2004
Literature symposium deals with genocide
By RAY WESTBROOK
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
4042.shtml
The 37th annual Comparative Literature Symposium, scheduled Thursday
through March 27 at Texas Tech, will offer sessions for the general
public.
A theme of “Memory and History: Cultural Representations of Genocide
and Displacement,” will deal with atrocities of the 20th century.
“This is the first time for this topic and the first time that we’ve
had public events specifically designed to go along with the more
academic events,” co-director Ingrid Fry said.

For the academic side, more than 60 presenters from around the world
– including Canada, Israel, France, Germany and the United States –
will discuss topics ranging from the Holocaust and displacement of
people in Europe during World War II, to the African and Armenian
genocides.
Details of the academic program are available on the symposium’s Web
site,
Events will be free, except for theater productions, which will cost
$2.
A highlight for the public will be exhibit of the paintings of Samuel
Bak that will be introduced formally at 10 a.m. March 27 in the third
floor conference room of the main library at Tech. It will open with
a lecture by Lawrence L. Langer, widely known scholar of Holocaust
representation.
The exhibit, titled “Landscapes of Jewish Experience,” will be in
place Thursday through April 13. Display hours will be 9 a.m. to 8
p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends.
Bak’s paintings in the exhibit depict symbols of people amid ruins,
inanimate objects in a tragic world.
“Probably religious groups – synagogues and churches – would be
interested in seeing this exhibit and going to the main lecture,” Fry
said.
A public reading will be presented at 5 p.m. Thursday in Room 1 of
the English building by Stephen Graham Jones, English professor at
Tech. And at 7 p.m., a theater production of “America Shows Her
Colors” will be in the International Cultural Center.
Fry plans to introduce a session at 2 p.m. Friday called
“Representing a Vanished People: Samuel Bak’s Landscapes of Jewish
Experience” by Langer in English building Room 1.
A repeat of “America Shows Her Colors” will be at 7 p.m. Friday in
the International Cultural Center.
Fry said the symposium’s purpose is an exchange of ideas.
“It’s important for us to reflect upon our own world and the way we
interact with the world.”
Literature symposium
Thursday – 5 p.m., English building Room 1, public reading by Stephen
Graham Jones. Free. 742-0564.
– 7 p.m., International Cultural Center, “America Shows Her Colors.”
$2. 742-0564.
– Friday – 2 p.m., English Building Room 1, “Representing a Vanished
People: Samuel Bak’s Landscapes of Jewish Experience.” Free.
742-0564. 3:15 p.m., English building Room 1, excerpts from the drama
“Anne Frank.” Free. 742-0564. 7 p.m., International Cultural Center,
“America Shows Her Colors.” $2. 742-0564.
– Saturday – 10 a.m., Texas Tech Library Gallery, opening of Samuel
Bak Exhibition. Free. 742-0564.
[email protected] 766-8711