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08/02/2004
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) Armenian Church Among Five Bombed over Weekend in Iraq 2) Judge Approves $20M Armenian Settlement Against New York Life 3) Karabagh Armenian Army to Hold Annual Maneuvers 4) Weekend Gunfire Leaves Casualties 1) Armenian Church Among Five Bombed over Weekend in Iraq BAGHDAD (Combined Sources)--The Armenian Apostolic Church condemned on Monday the weekend wave of bomb attacks on an Armenian Catholic church and four other Christian worship sites in Iraq that left 11 people dead and more than 50 others wounded. The series of coordinated explosions rocked five churches across Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul on Sunday, killing at least 11 people and injuring dozens more in the first attacks targeting the country's Christian minority since the 15-month violent insurgency here began. The attacks began just after 18:00 local time, when an attack parked a vehicle packed with explosives and mortar bombs in front of an Armenian church in the Karada neighborhood of Baghdad. The blast, just 15 minutes into the evening service, blew out windows and damaged cars and nearby houses. Some 20 minutes later, as survivors gathered in the streets and rescue workers streamed to the scene, a second blast occurred in front of the Assyrian Catholic church only 500 meters away. There was no word on whether there were any Armenians among the dead. "I saw injured women and children and men, the church's glass shattered everywhere," Juliette Agob, a woman who was inside the Armenian church during the first explosion, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. The church's governing Mother See in Etchmiadzin, said although none of its churches and other property in Iraq was targeted in the apparently coordinated series of explosions on Sunday, it is deeply saddened by the loss of life. "The Armenian Apostolic Holy Church expresses her sympathies to the families of the victims and all Iraqi people, and wishes complete recovery to the wounded and injured," the office of Catholicos Garegin II said in a statement. "We pray that the centuries of friendship and peaceful co-existence among Christian and Muslim peoples in the East will not be endangered by similar condemnable violence; for peace to be re-established in the region; and that the Iraqi people continue with the creation of their safe and progressing lives." "I saw wounded women and children and men, the church's glass shattered everywhere. There's glass all over the floor," said Juliette Agob, who was inside the Armenian church during the first explosion. After the second bombing, Iraqi police rushed to search other churches in the city. The sweeps turned up a sixth bomb, which was neutralized by American sappers. However, as police hunted for more bombs, two more explosions occurred, one outside the Chaldean Patriarchate in the southern district of Dora and the other in New Baghdad in the eastern part of the city. The attack on the Chaldean Patriarchate occurred as worshippers began arriving for Mass around sunset. Five people were killed, including a child. The LA Times quoted witnesses who described seeing two men pull up in separate cars, park them near the church, then casually walk away. Minutes later, the vehicles exploded, hurling shrapnel in all directions and leaving gaping craters in the road. The apparent target of the attack in New Baghdad was St. Elya's Chaldean Church. However, a nearby Shiite mosque bore the brunt of the blast. Both the mosque and the church were holding funerals at the time of the attacks. In the Mosul attack, insurgents parked a white Toyota Supra packed with explosives and mortar shells outside a Catholic church. The assailants first launched a rocket toward the building and then detonated the car bomb, according to a US military statement. The blast killed a passing motorist and wounded four other people. The church office was badly damaged, but there was little damage to the church itself. Police said the toll could have been higher if all the mortar shells in the car had detonated. The attacks all used similar modus operandi; carbombs filled with explosives and crude bombs made of mortar shells were parked in front of the churches. The drivers left the vehicles and detonated the explosives by remote control. None of the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers. The methods and materials used were a departure from the high-profile attacks on Shiite targets earlier this year, leading some experts to believe they were carried out by a different group. Numbering some 750,000, the minority Christians were already concerned about the growing tide of Islamic fundamentalism, so long repressed under Saddam Hussein. The majority of the Christians are Chaldean Roman Catholic, the rest Syrian Catholic, Syrian Orthodox and Assyrian. Most live in Baghdad and its outskirts and some dwell further to the north. Islamic radicals have warned Christians running liquor stores to shut down their businesses, and have turned their sights on fashion stores and beauty salons. The increasing attention on this minority community has many within looking for a way out. Many are in neighboring Jordan and Syria waiting for the security situation to settle, while others have applied to leave the country. 2) Judge Approves $20M Armenian Settlement Against New York Life LOS ANGELES (AP)--A judge Friday formally approved a $20 million settlement in a class action lawsuit between New York Life Insurance Co. and the descendants of Armenians killed nearly 90 years ago in the Turkish Ottoman Empire. The landmark legal agreement approved by US District Court Judge Christina A. Snyder is believed to be the first ever in connection to the Armenian genocide. Snyder granted preliminary approval for the unpaid death benefits earlier this year. "As lawyers and descendants of victims of the genocide, we were able to bring to court a lawsuit that brings some recognition of the genocide,'' said attorney Brian S. Kabateck, who, like co-counsel Mark Geragos, is Armenian-American. One of the plaintiffs, 89-year-old Martin Marootian, will receive $250,000 stemming from his efforts to bring about the lawsuit. His mother first sought benefits in 1923 for Marootian's uncle, who bought a policy in 1910 and was killed in 1915. "What it really is an insurance case and not an Armenian genocide case, but the two are interwoven together,'' Marootian said Friday. New York Life sold about 8,000 policies in the Ottoman Empire beginning in the 1880s, with less than half of those bought by Armenians. It stopped selling insurance there in 1915. Many of the policies languished because remaining heirs could not be found, the firm said. The company has located about one-third of the policyholders' descendants to pay benefits. About $11 million will be set aside for potential claims by heirs of some 2,400 policyholders, $3 million will go to Armenian charities and the rest will pay attorneys' fees and administrative costs. 3) Karabagh Armenian Army to Hold Annual Maneuvers YEREVAN (RFE-RL)--Mountainous Karabagh's armed forces will start on Tuesday annual exercises which the leadership of the Armenian-populated disputed region says are aimed at testing and improving their strength. In a statement on Monday, the Defense Ministry of Mountainous Karabagh Republic said the ten-day war games will take place to "review the combat readiness of the Defense Army when it is brought to a state of highest alert." They are also meant to improve "the process of troops' inter-operability during defensive and counter-offensive operations," the statement said. The Karabagh military also said that the exercises are part of its regular training plan for this year. Officials in Stepanakert said the exercises would be attended by army reservists and involve the use of live ammunition by light and heavy weapons. The precise venue of the drills was not specified. 4) Weekend Gunfire Leaves Casualties (Messenger)--Six Ossetian paramilitaries were killed and two Georgian policemen were wounded as a result of shooting in the conflict zone early on August 1, according to Georgia's Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the ministry, gunmen opened fire against the Georgian village Tamarasheni around 5:00 AM Sunday morning from territory controlled by the de-facto republic of South Ossetia. "The attack started in the morning and we decided to respond," said the head of the press office of Ministry of Internal Affairs Guram Donadze. He stressed the units that attacked the Georgian village were formed by hired paramilitaries of a variety of nationalities. During his visit to Moscow last week, the leader of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoiti told the Russian press that although illegally armed formations were withdrawn from the territory of South Ossetia, the separatist government still pinned substantial hopes on their support and would use it whenever needed. Also on Sunday, former residents of Ossetia living in Moscow led a protest in front of the Russian Federation's Duma demanding that Russia annex the region. As reported by Rustavi-2, the protesters carried posters stating, "The so-called Georgia is fiction and her territorial integrity is nonsense." Shortly before the shootings, representatives of the four-member Joint Control Commission (JCC) had taken measures to curtail the sporadic gunfights that have erupted in the region recently. According to the Georgian government, separatists used mortars, grenade launchers and machine guns in an early morning attack on Tamarasheni Friday, although the South Ossetian officials blamed Georgian troops for starting attacks. On Saturday members of the JCC met in Tskhinvali bringing together the Georgian, South Ossetian, Russian and North Ossetian sides. State Minister Goga Khaindrava and Minister of Internal Affairs Irakli Okruashvili represented the position of the Georgian government. According to reports, the sides decided to set up a joint checkpoint near Tskhinvali to avoid any future attacks. It is unclear if Georgian or Russian troops were stationed at the checkpoint at the time of Sunday's shooting. In Georgia's latest bid to gain diplomatic support, Minister of Foreign Affairs Salome Zurabishvili addressed the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday July 29 and asked the organization to increase its activity in the region and even set up a joint check point at the Roki tunnel into Russia. Her appeal was welcomed by the US Ambassador to the OSCE Stephan Minikes who said his government "noted with great interest the proposal of the Foreign Minister which was made today to expand the mandate of the OSCE Mission to Georgia." "We stand willing to work with the Government of Georgia and other key interested parties and participating States to come to agreement early this fall on how best to amend the mandate of the OSCE Mission in Georgia so as to promote greater stability in South Ossetia and a more rapid settlement of the conflict there that is fully in line with OSCE principles," he said in published remarks. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs rebuffed the proposal, saying, "Unbiased assessment of the situation is essential and not the increase of number of observers," as reported by Civil Georgia. The Russian government has frequently accused the OSCE of giving Georgia preferential treatment while carrying out its existing--limited--monitoring mission in South Ossetia. The Russian ministry added that overtures like Zurabishvili's "aim at switching attention from the major problem and hinder reaching decision that would really foster putting an end to escalation of tensions in the region." All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2004 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets.