Month: June 2005

AGBU Press Office
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PRESS RELEASE
Friday, June 10, 2005
AGBU PARIS CO-SPONSORS CONFERENCE ON FRENCH EU CONSTITUTION VOTE
Paris France – On May 24, 2005, with the support of Le Conseil de
Coordination des Organisations Arméniennes de France (CCAF), AGBU
Paris and French publication Nouvelles d’Arménie co-sponsored a
conference delineating the pros and cons of the pending ratification
of the European Constitutional Treaty and the consequences of the
French referendum on the matter.
Two guest speakers, Sylvie Goulard, teacher and author of “Le Grand
Turc et la République de Venise” (The Great Turk and the Republic of
Venice), and Catherine Kessedjian, professor of European and
international law, debated topical issues including the impact of the
Constitutional changes on the building of a true, political European
Union (EU) and the admission of Turkey to the EU. Both Goulard and
Kassedjian advised that to prevail on the Turkish question, Armenians
must take an active political role in Europe, notably in Germany, and
in the upcoming 2005 French Presidential elections.
All 25 member states of the EU must unanimously approve the European
Constitutional Treaty prior to its taking effect. On May 29, 2005, 55%
of French voters rejected the Treaty.
AGBU Paris is dedicated to preserving and promoting the Armenian
heritage and culture through humanitarian, educational and cultural
programs in France and Armenia. For more information on AGBU Paris,
please visit , e-mail [email protected] or call (33) (1)
45-20-03-18.
For more information on AGBU and its worldwide chapters, please visit

Pressbox.co.uk (press release), UK
June 10 2005
Winning A Peace From Global Perspectives
By Kamala Sarup
I see the many recent wars in many countries around the globe as the
inevitable clash between the different political cultures and
ideologies. Radical terrorists are attempting to preserve their
culture from contamination by the non-radical cultures, but the
pervasiveness of worldwide media make this objective impossible, in
my opinion.
It is a case of the rich, irreverent, profane, and materialistic
versus the poor, devotional, fervent, ascetic, and theocratic.
Ultimately, it must be resolved, as are all past wars, but it will
likely take many years because of the large populations involved.
But the majority people in favor on Peace, and they want technology.
I believe the technology will prevail, ultimately, to preserve the
economic interests too. In my opinion, the U.S. and its coalition
partners temporarily will quiet Iraq and then leave, but I have
little confidence that there will be continued peace there and in
Afghanistan because of the many internal ethnic, religious, and clan
differences.
Suffering of civilians in war is increases substantially during any
kind of war. Because of the bloody war, many countries are strewn
with landmines, which kill thousands of people every year. Most of
the abuses against children, including sexual assaults on girls, take
place. Children often suffer alone, afraid of speaking out or being
punished.
The cold war ended with the collapse of communism, but on the other
hand, radical forces bent on spreading fundamentalist ideologies have
arisen. In the past several years, the fighting for power has
continued not only in Nepal but in Sierra Leone, Burundi, Angola,
Nigeria, Sudan, Liberia, Guinea, Zimbabwe, Congo. Several years after
mass killings in Bosnia, Somalia, and Rwanda, there are at least six
major cases of genocide. The mass killings of Armenians by Turks,
Jews by Hitler, Cambodians by the Khamer Rouge, Kurds of the northern
Iraq by Saddam Hussein, Tutsi of Rwanda by the Hutu and of Croats,
Muslims and the Albanians of Kosovo by the Serbs.
Recently, UN Secretary-General Annan has also said a number of
countries underscored proliferation as a grave danger, while others
argued that existing nuclear arsenals imperil us. He also points out
that since the review conference last met in 2000, North Korea has
announced its withdrawal from the treaty and declared itself in
possession of nuclear weapons. Libya has admitted that it worked for
years on a clandestine nuclear weapons program. And the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has found undeclared uranium enrichment
activity in Iran.
The 1972 BTWC prohibits the development, production; stockpiling,
retention or acquisition of biological weapons is a unique class of
weapons. Today, 143 States are parties to the Convention. Security
Council Resolution 1325, adopted in October 2000, specifically
mentions the need to consider the different needs of ex-combatants
and their dependents in DDR (disarmament, demobilization and
rehabilitation).
Even this year had been a significant year in disarmament and arms
control. The Moscow Treaty was a major bilateral achievement. A group
of countries, the G-8, also took an important initiative to prevent
the proliferation of sensitive technology and material related to
weapons of mass destruction and reduction of conventional weapons.
Recently, the secretary-general issued the report of his Policy
Working Group on the United Nations, which contained 31
recommendations for action against this global threat, including
several relating to disarmament. Recommendation 18, for example,
urges the consideration of the establishment of a mechanism in the
Department for Disarmament.
As a general principle, all disarmament obligations should indeed be
rigorously enforced – compliance is an absolutely vital issue for the
effectiveness and credibility of disarmament activities.
non-governmental organizations, media organizations and peace and
human rights organizations could play in promoting and implementing
missile control and disarmament.
So, there are plenty of problems and plenty of reasons why any
governments, and International organizations, have an enormous role
to play. Any International organizations and governments of the war
torn countries must help to bringing peace. So toward eliminating the
condition that sustain terrorism and violence, International
organizations should work between the government and rebels and
support a negotiated settlement.
It is not easy to bring peace in the conflict areas. International
organizations and governments must expand its role and program in the
troubled countries including Nepal.
It is Universal truth, People want peace. “Having to fight, having to
pay the costs of wars from their own resources, having painfully to
repair the devastation war leaves behind, and, to fill up the measure
of evils, load themselves with a heavy national debt that would
embitter peace itself and that can never be liquidated on account of
constant wars in the future”. Immanuel Kant said. To promote peace
promotes a deeper and more durable peace because it promotes a social
field, cross-pressures, and political responsibility; it promotes
pluralism, diversity, and groups that have a stake in peace.

Kamala Sarup is editor of )

Zaman, Turkey
June 10 2005
Voice of Spiritual Leaders: Religion Rejects Terrorism
By Erkan Acar
Published: Friday 10, 2005
zaman.com
Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate President Professor Ali
Bardakoglu has said that religions are never the source of terror,
violence, and brutality. The President made his speech as part of the
ongoing “Istanbul Conference on Democracy and Security”.
The priority of religious clerics should be the prevention of
misrepresentation of religions as approving of terror, violence, and
injustice. All religions should stand against any kind of
misperceptions that terror, violence and savagery stem from
religions, stressed the Director. Terror is a crime against humanity,
whomever it comes from, Bardakoglu said: “We should explain and teach
religion in a true way. Religious clerics and theologians should be
as courageous as those who support terrorism and stand against
terror, violence and every kind of injustice in an open hearted and
frank way.” Turkish Armenian Patriarch Meshrob II also made a speech
on the issue of religion and terror with excerpts of holy books.
Noting that events that terrify, injure, and kill people are crimes
against humanity, Meshrob II said: “Whatever its goal, terror should
be damned by all believers ethically. Those, who commit acts of
terrorism, cannot be accepted as martyrs. This is against the law of
God.” The Chief Rabbi of Jews in Istanbul, Isak Haleva, on the other
side, said that it has been claimed that many acts of terrorism in
history were committed in the name of religions, but that religions
do not approve wars and destructions. Vatican’s Turkey representative
George Marovitch noted that the main reason for humanity’s problems
are insufficient justice, spiritualism and morality.

U.S. State Department Briefing
June 9, 2005
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack briefed the press on
the following issues: Rice/ElBaradei meeting, U.S. cooperation with
IAEA, democracy, Henrietta Holsman Fore/nomination, Iran, North
Korea, Uzbekistan, Serbia, Mexico, Ethiopia.
Following is the transcript of the State Department briefing:
(begin transcript)
U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing Index
Thursday, June 9, 2005
1:10 p.m. EDT
Briefer: Sean McCormack, Spokesman
DEPARTMENT
— Secretary Rice’s Meeting with Director General Dr. Mohamed
ElBaradei/Nonproliferation Treaty Compliance/Additional Protocols for
Verification
— U.S. Cooperation with IAEA/Consensus on ElBaradei Continuing as
Director General
— Spread of Democracy/Struggle of a Generation
— Support for Henrietta Holsman Fore as Nominee for Assistant
Secretary of Management
[parts deleted]
QUESTION: Did you see the story about the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia
concerning his remarks on genocide in Armenia and the fallout from
that?
MR. MCCORMACK: Is this the Washington Post story?
QUESTION: Yeah.
MR. MCCORMACK: I did see the news story. The story centered on an
award that was going to be given by the American Foreign Service
Association, which is an entity independent of the State Department.
And I understand that, based on their own assessments, their own
evaluation of the facts against the criteria that they used to decide
on granting this award, they decided not to issue the award.
That’s just my reading. That’s my reading of the news stories. I
would refer you over to AFSA for any further description of why they
took the action that they did.
QUESTION: But does the State Department have a position on what
happened in 1915? Did it constitute genocide or not?
MR. MCCORMACK: George, let me put that out for you after the
briefing.

RIA Novosti, Russia
June 10 2005
Russia unable to pull out military bases from Georgia before 2008 –
Russian lawmaker
14:44
MOSCOW, June 10 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will not be able to complete
the pullout of its military bases from Georgia until 2008, as is
stipulated in a joint statement of both countries’ foreign ministers,
signed in Moscow on May 30, a prominent Russian lawmaker told
reporters on Friday.
Russia will meet the 2008 deadline only “with half the vehicles
discarded and people not accommodated after the pullout,” said
Gennady Gudkov, a member of the Security Committee in the lower house
of the Russian parliament, after a Duma visit to the bases, part of
which he was.
“We will need 3.5 to 4 years to withdraw heavy combat vehicles alone.
While it is possible in Batumi (Adzharia), because the sea is close,
it is unclear how to pull out [vehicles] from Akhalkalaki (on the
Armenian border),” Gudkov said.
“From Akhalkalaki, the vehicles will not get to the sea because the
bridges will collapse. Between Akhalkalaki and Batumi, only six
bridges out of 16 will not collapse under battle tanks,” he said.
Gudkov added that approaches to most military sites are
mine-infested, and a demining effort will take at least two years.
Some vehicles and munitions stored there are subject to destruction,
rather than withdrawal, but the Russian-Georgian statement does not
stipulate how it will be done.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had said
previously, “The pullout of Russian military bases from Georgia will
be completed in 2008.”
According to the minister, the Russian-Georgian statement divides the
pullout into three stages: pullout of heavy combat vehicles, pullout
of the personnel, and handover to the Georgians.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Messenger, Georgia
June 10 2005
Economic Analysis – Russian economic levers: a serious threat?
Russian paper says Russia does in fact need Georgia economically
By M. Alkhazashvili
Georgian-Russian relations have long been defined by one unspoken
law: economic trade with Russia is directly related to playing
Moscow’s political games. However, recently a Russian newspaper,
Moskovskaya Pravda, took a hard look at the reality of economic
sanctions and they came to a startling conclusion: good relations
might be just as crucial for Moscow as they are for Tbilisi.
Russia is an economic heavy weight among former Soviet republics;
even the Baltic countries – despite membership in EU and NATO – can
be influenced if Moscow tightens the screws. But countries like
Georgia in an even more fragile position.
In the first three weeks of 2005 alone, Russia imported an estimated
USD 27 million in products from Georgia, over half of which were food
products such as wine and citrus fruit. However, Georgia’s food
imports to Russia make up less than 1 percent of their over all food
imports. During the same time period, Georgia received an estimated
USD 78 million worth of imports from Russia, including a crucial
wheat shipments.
In addition to other imports, Georgia has historically been overly
dependent on Russia for energy. Not long ago, Russian Vladimir Putin
threatened to charge Georgia market prices for Russian energy
supplies; currently Georgia receives Russian natural gas at prices
2.5 times lower than European countries, albeit considerably higher
than other CIS countries.
However, although oil and natural gas imports from Russia are vital
for Georgia now, that is quickly changing. Currently, Georgia
receives a mere 20 percent of its oil supply from Russia, and now
that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is up and running Tbilisi will
be able to receive Caspian oil for cheaper prices than Russia can
offer. There are also plans for new natural gas pipelines in the
Caucasus which will further help Georgia free itself from Russian
energy reserves.
Moscow has also realized the days of using energy embargos to
influence Georgia are numbered; Moskovskaya Pravda noted that if
Russia turns off the taps they will be adversely affecting their
allies as well. “But if we adopt full-scale economic sanctions
against Georgia, it will cause energetic problems for Armenia, as
energy supplies are transited there via Georgia,” the newspaper
noted.
It also added that since negotiations regarding the transfer of
Russian military out of Georgia are still fragile, any sudden
overtures from Moscow could risk the chances of getting equipment to
Armenia.
While the threat still exists, Moscow would be wise to refrain from
implementing any radical, large scale economic embargo against
Georgia in reaction to Tbilisi’s new, western political orientation.
It is true that for now Russia can still wreak havoc on the country
if it turns off the oil and gas supply or its citrus and wine
imports; however that will not be true for long. What will always
remain is Georgia’s strategic location.
Not only will any actions against Tbilisi inadvertently adversely
affect Yerevan, but by risking good relations with Georgia to achieve
short term political goals, Moscow jeopardizes the long term benefits
of having a strong ally in the Black Sea region and the strategically
viable South Caucasus.

Baku Today
June 10 2005
Pressure Group Urges to Oust Former Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE
Minsk Group
Former Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group [mediating the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh] Vladimir
Kazimirov’s attending a seminar on the geo-strategic importance of
Azerbaijan in Baku on Wednesday was condemned by the participating
representatives of the Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO).
KLO deputy chairman Firudin Mammadov demanded that Kazimirov leave
the seminar and the country “as he does not recognize Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity.”
“Kazimirov has always acted on Armenians’ behest and his
participation at the event sparked protests among those driven out of
Karabakh, and the entire Azerbaijani people.”
Former state foreign policy advisor Vafa Guluzada tried to ease the
tensions. He said that he was one of the people who regularly
criticized Kazimirov.
“Kazimirov is not an important person. He does not currently hold a
post and is only an independent political analyst. He may say
whatever he thinks and get a response. Let him speak,” said Guluzada.
The KLO representatives urged the former Russian diplomat to state at
the beginning of his speech that “he recognizes Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity.”
Dennis Samut, head of the British `Links’ organization, co-organizer
of the seminar, requested the protesters to give opportunities for
the event participants to express their opinions.
The KLO members, who calmed down for a while, heated up the tensions
again. They disturbed the seminar, even using foul language against
Kazimirov, and subsequently walked out of the hall.

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
June 10 2005
SPEAKER MEETS WITH OSCE DELEGATION
[June 10, 2005, 11:24:03]
Speaker of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan Murtuz Alasgrov received
visiting Baku delegation of OSCE led by Head of the Election
Department of the Office for Democratic Institutes and Human Rights
Gerald Mitchell to exchange views on the preparation for the upcoming
parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan.
`Council of Europe Venice Commission recommendations relating to the
Election Code will be brought up for discussion in the Milli Majlis,
and I am sure the forthcoming parliamentary elections will be
democratic and transparent,’ the Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov said.
Speaking of the OSCE activities, he noted the organization should be
seriously engaged in tackling the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict,
frankly express its attitude towards Armenia’s settling the occupied
territories, illegal elections conducted by unrecognized separatist
regime in Nagorno-Karabakh, and frequent violation of cease fire
regime by the Armenian armed forces.
Head of the Election Department of the Office for OSCE Democratic
Institutes and Human Rights Gerald Mitchell noted for his part that
the goals of the delegation’s visit was to become familiar with the
course of preparation for the elections. According to him, over a
week, the mission has estimated existing demands, and has held a
number of meetings whose results will be reflected in the report they
are to prepare.

Journal of Turkish Weekly
June 10 2005
Belgian Senate Rejects Armenian Allegations
Armenian lobby holds ‘first-class funeral ceremony’ for failed bill
The New Anatolian / Brussels – The Belgian Senate Justice
Commission’s rejection on Tuesday of a proposed bill that aims to
criminalize denying claims of an Armenian “genocide” has provoked
anger among the Armenian lobby and its supporters.
A staunch supporter of the bill, Nathalie de T’Serclaes, member of
the Valon Liberal Party (MR), said that after the rejection a
“first-class funeral ceremony” was held for the death of the Armenian
file.
The MR Party members favoring the bill which aims to punish those who
deny the Armenian claims of “genocide” also accused other Belgian
parties of lacking resolve.
Belgian press: Armenian supporters lose battle
The rejection of the so-called Armenian genocide claims bill had
repercussions in the Belgian press. The mass media characterized the
rejection as

Journal of Turkish Weekly
June 10 2005
20 Armenian journalists coming to Turkey
source: Hurriyet
The Turkish Journalist Union is going to host a group of 20 Armenian
journalists for 4 days in Istanbul, Ankara, Antalya and Urgup-Goreme.
The project, supported by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, will have
the 20 Armenian journalists spending one night in Istanbul, two
nights in Ankara, and one night in Antalya and Urgup-Goreme. Meetings
that take place with the group will attempt to focus on the theme
that any pain from 1915 should not be allowed to be transmitted to
future generations of the two countries.
A visit planned to the Armenian Patriarchate
Head of the Turkish Journalists’ Union, Turgut Dedeoglu, said that as
members of the press, they wanted to take action to help increasing
tensions on the Armenian claims of genocide.
Dedeoglu said that after visiting the Dogan and Sabah media groups,
the 20 journalists would also tour the Armenian Patriarchate.
Dedeoglu said also that there would be meetings bringing the visitors
together with Turkish journalists.
The Armenian journalist group has also indicated a desire to speak
with high placed members of the Turkish government, including Turkish
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. Regarding the dialogue that he his
hoping will be sparked by the visit, Dedeoglu said “We will try to
explain that any pain from 1915 should not be passed on to future
generations.” He also stressed that his group’s stance is that, since
there was no government policy at the time, there was no genocide
that took place either.
Archives may be opened to journalist group
The visit of the Armenian journlists will be an opportunity to have
the Turkish History Foundation open its archives to Armenia, said
Dedeoglu. Though the opening of the archives to the visiting group
has not been confirmed, Dedeoglu says that the Turkish Journalists
Union is working to make it happen. He also assered that the Foreign
Ministry looked warmly on the upcoming visit, which is scheduled for
July.