ASBAREZ Online [02-23-2005]

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02/23/2005
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) Regional ANC Office to Be Established in Middle East 2) Wall Street Journal Article about Turkey Causes Waves of Shock 3) Georgia and Russia at Impasse Says New Premier 4) Senior Official Arrested on Corruption Charges 1) Regional ANC Office to Be Established in Middle East YEREVAN (Yerkir)--The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau has decided to establish a regional Armenian National Committee office in the Middle East to meet the challenges of ensuring continuity and success of efforts commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. A fundraising banquet will be held on February 26 in Paris, chaired by Catholicos Aram I, where upcoming projects will be presented. Public figures and dignitaries from Armenia, Russia, Europe, and the Middle East have been invited to attend. 2) Wall Street Journal Article about Turkey Causes Waves of Shock ISTANBUL (Armenpress)--As the Turkish Daily "Zaman" reported recently, Robert L. Pollock's article titled "The Sick Man of Europe--Again," which appeared in the February 16 issue of the Wall Street Journal, has sent shock waves throughout the Republic of Turkey. Given the Journal's friendly stance towards Turkey during the past five decades, and its senior editorial page writer's personal attitude about the country--Pollock described himself as a friend of Turkey during an interview--the Turkish newspaper speculates that the article can only indicate a major shift in American sentiment toward the republic. In the article, Pollock states that during a recent visit to Turkey he discovered "a poisonous atmosphere--one in which just about every politician and media outlet (secular and religious) preaches an extreme combination of America- and Jew-hatred that...voluntarily goes far further than anything found in most of the Arab world's state-controlled press. If I hesitate to call it Nazi-like, that's only because Goebbels would probably have rejected much of it as too crude." Pollock fills his American audience in on the various rumors spread by Turkish newspapers regarding US's presence in Iraq. "Yeni Safak," which Pollock states is Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's favorite, has unveiled a number of "scoops," including reports detailing the rape and murder of Iraqi women and children by US forces, the deployment of 1000 Israeli troops in Iraq, and the harvesting of the innards of dead Iraqis for the eventual sale on the US "organ market." Referring to US Ambassador Eric Edelman's difficulties in light of such attitudes, Pollock notes, "Never in an ostensibly friendly country have I had the impression of embassy staff so besieged. Erdogan's office recently forbade Turkish officials from attending a reception at the ambassador's residence in honor of the 'Ecumenical ' Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, who resides in Istanbul. Why? Because 'ecumenical' means universal, which somehow makes it all part of a plot to carve up Turkey." After describing several other such examples, Pollock ends his article with an ominous warning: "Turkey could easily become just another second-rate country: small-minded, paranoid, marginal and--how could it be otherwise?--friendless in America and unwelcome in Europe!" According to "Zaman," Armenian- and Greek-Americans have provided significant support to Robert L. Pollock, in response to his views on Turkey. A Greek-American organization, according to "Zaman," has also distributed copies of Pollock's article to members of Congress. Among the many postings on the Wall Street Journal's website, was one by a reader named David Govett, who wrote: "Turkey cannot be the sick man of Europe because it has never been a part of Europe. Ataturk's initiatives to modernize Turkey were as successful as Crazy Peter's Westernization attempts on Russia." 3) Georgia and Russia at Impasse Says New Premier By Arkady Ostrovsky TBILISI--Relations between Russia and Georgia have reached a stalemate that jeopardizes Georgia's efforts to restore stability and its territorial integrity, Zurab Nogaideli, the country's new prime minister, has told the Financial Times. Georgia's 15-month-old government, installed after a popular uprising ousted president Eduard Schevardnadze, is struggling to regain control over the break-away regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia--both backed by Russia. US President Bush told European leaders this week that Georgia was one of the countries that needed assistance in developing democracy. But Russia, which still has military bases in Georgia, has strongly opposed Tbilisi's efforts to establish control over South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Moscow has also used combative language in relation to Georgia, accusing it of harboring terrorists from neighboring Chechnya. In his first interview since taking office, Nogaideli said a recent visit by Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, had failed to achieve a breakthrough in the relationship between the two countries, which has turned increasingly sour during the past year. Nogaideli, former finance minister in the government of Zurab Zhvania, who died of carbon monoxide poisoning this month, had said: "For us the most important problem in the relationship with Russia is the resolution of conflicts on our territory. We want to solve the issue of territorial integrity peacefully. But everyone understands that without Russia's good will, it will be impossible." Lavrov's visit was overshadowed by a diplomatic spat after the Russian foreign minister declined an invitation to lay flowers at the memorial for Georgian soldiers who died in a military conflict with Abkhazia in the early 1990s. However, in an interview on Russian television last weekend, Lavrov indicated that Russia no longer considered Georgia to be under his country's hegemony. Both Ukraine and Georgia, he said, were "absolutely sovereign, absolutely equal states in the new geopolitical architecture." Georgian politicians said there was a risk that Russia would test its strength against Georgia to compensate for its failings in Ukraine. One senior official said: "There is a real danger that Georgia will become a foreign-policy Yukos for Russia, designed to demonstrate its strength." Russia suffered a humiliating defeat when it failed to influence the outcome of Ukrainian elections last year and its tough stance towards Georgia is seen as part of the Kremlin's efforts to prove its influence in the former Soviet space. However, while the official relationship with Moscow has been difficult, Georgia has managed to attract Russian investment. "We find talking to Russian investors easier than talking to the Russian government," Nogaideli said. 4) Senior Official Arrested on Corruption Charges YEREVAN (RFE/RL)--A former high-ranking official at the Armenian Finance Ministry who was in charge of overseeing the use of public funds by various government agencies has been arrested on corruption charges, state prosecutors announced on Wednesday. The spokesman for the Prosecutor-General's Office, Gurgen Ambarian, said that Levon Shahinian, who headed the ministry's financial oversight department, was charged the previous night with large-scale fraud that allegedly allowed him to pocket about 40 million drams ($85,000). He said the money was meant to be paid to two private auditing firms. Under Armenia's Criminal Code the accusations carry between four and eight years' imprisonment. Ambarian alleged that Shahinian forged "financial agreements, reports and other documents" to defraud the auditors, but refused to detail the accusations. It was also unclear if the suspect has pleaded guilty to the charges. Shahinian, who headed the Finance Ministry department since 2001, was relieved of his duties a week ago "at his own request," according to a ministry spokesman. The department inspects ministries and other government agencies that are financed through the state budget. 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