Month: November 2006

WAR DEAD REMEMBERED
Emirates News Agency
November 12, 2006 Sunday 11:55 AM EST
ABU DHABI, 12th November 2006 (WAM): Those who have died in the wars
of the last hundred years were remembered this evening at the annual
Remembrance Day service held at St. Andrew’s Church in Abu Dhabi.
The service was attended by Sheikh Ali Al Hashimi, Religious Adviser at
th Presidential Affairs Ministry, ambassadors and heads of diplomatic
missions from over thirty five countries and a large congregation.
In an address, the Vicar of St. Andrews, the Reverend Clive Windebank,
told the congregation: “we are here to remember and to mourn those
cut down in the wars of the 20th Century and the early years of the
21st Century.” “Bloodshed continues, and war takes on new and fearful
forms,” he said, “and we mourn for all humanity.”
“Over the last century, there has been a calamitous catalogue of
carnage of human loves,” he said, “and that carnage continues.”
“Ultimately, however,” he added, “God will triumph overall, because
he is all-loving.” Readings during the service were delivered by
the British Ambassador, edward Oakden, and the American Ambassador,
Michelle Sison.
The annual Remembrance Day service was first initiated at the end of
the First World War, and is held on the Sunday closest to the 11th
November, the day on which the ceasefire at the end of that war came
into effect.
Besides the United Arab Emirates, Britain and the United States,
, other countries represented at the service included Canada, the
member states of the European Union, Russia, Australia, South Africa,
, Brazil, Argentina, Armenia and several Muslim and Arab countries,
including Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, Bosnia,
Iran, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE
by Michael Bleby
Business Day (South Africa)
November 11, 2006
Weekend Section Edition
FROM THE HOLY MOUNTAIN: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium
William Dalrymple
Flamingo
TEN years ago, William Dalrymple wrote a travel story that was 1400
years old. His own part in it is quite short – lasting only a couple
of years or so – but he updated the tale and brought it to the present.
In AD578, a travelling monk named John Moschos set out from Jerusalem
through the eastern Byzantine empire, through what are now Egypt,
Jordan, Israel, Syria and Turkey. Moschos travelled through the
Greek-based Christian empire (as distinct from the Roman-based Latin
church), documenting the decline of Christianity in the land of its
birth that was simultaneous with the rise of Islam.
Moschos was a contemporary of the Prophet Mohammed and Islam was just
beginning an ascendancy in the Middle East that finally brought an end
to the Byzantine empire with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
“In popular imagination, the Levant passes from a classical past to
an Islamic present with hardly a break,” Dalrymple says. “It is easy
to forget that for over 300 years – from the age of Constantine in
the early fourth century to the rise of Islam in the early seventh
century – the Eastern Mediterranean was almost entirely Christian.”
While this was happening, he points out, in what is now Britain the
Angles and Saxons were still sacrificing to Thor and Woden on the
banks of the Thames.
The encroachment on eastern Christianity that Moschos describes was
“the first act” in a process that is reaching its final stage now,
with an increasing exodus of Christians from the Middle East,
Dalrymple writes.
Dalrymple sets out to follow Moschos’s route, visiting the same
Christian communities Moschos had before it is too late and they
are driven to extinction – before the monasteries all become empty
buildings and the communities emigrate to places such as the US,
Australia and the UK. In Johannesburg, the Maronite congregations at
Woodmead and Liefde-en-Vrede and Coptic congregation in Parkview are
part of that exodus.
Starting at the Holy Mountain of Orthodox Christianity, Mt Athos in
Greece, Dalrymple visits Armenian Christian communities in eastern
Turkey, churches in Syria that stick to Aramaic (the language of
Jesus Christ), and Copts in Egypt. He meets Palestinian Christians
and discusses Christian politics in the Lebanese civil war.
His stories reveal layers within the Middle East that are routinely
overlooked by news and current affairs coverage. The theme is over
1000 years old, but it remains profoundly relevant.
With a vague plan to spend some time in the Middle East, I started
reading Dalrymple’s book one day some years ago in London. I was
sitting on a bench outside my office in Finsbury Square. I became
more and more excited as I read about the different communities
colouring a region widely regarded as a monochromatic Muslim green,
and the surprising level of interaction between different faiths. I
excitedly returned to the office – to find that the World Trade Centre
was burning.
The best travel writing inspires and informs your own travels, and
allows the reader to continue the journey the author began. A year
later, I found myself at one of the sites Dalrymple had written about,
the Our Lady of Saidnaya convent in Syria. This convent, once the
second most important site of pilgrimage for crusaders after Jerusalem,
contains an image of the Virgin Mary supposedly painted by the gospel
writer Luke, and is much visited by women praying for fertility. As
Dalrymple explains, however, as many Muslim women visit the site as
Christians. They pray, bring gifts and spend the night in front of
the icon.
“(T)his was something quite different: a degree of tolerance …
unimaginable today almost anywhere else in the Near East. Yet it was,
of course, the old way: the Eastern Christians have lived side by side
for nearly one-and-a-half millennia, and have only been able to do so
due to a degree of mutual tolerance and shared customs unimaginable
in the solidly Christian West.”
Saidnaya was also – as I discovered upon visiting it in 2002, to
see Muslims praying alongside Christians – home to a large number
of Iraqi Assyrian Christians who had fled Saddam Hussein. Members of
the Assyrian Democratic Movement were not welcome in Ba’athist Iraq
and those who fled were hoping to find a way into their chosen land
of the US or Australia. I visited the town one Friday afternoon with
my girlfriend Marina. As it was late, we asked to stay the night.
“You want to stay?” Sister Stephanie asked my girlfriend. “Is he
your husband?”
“No, we’re friends,” Marina replied.
“Friends who want to stay in the same room?”
Separate rooms are okay, she hastily replied, but was cut off.
“Follow him.”
We were led by a silent youth to a room resembling a Victorian
hospital ward with high white walls. It had three beds and a simple
table. The one window that opened to the outside was barred. It was
clearly the room for unmarried couples – above the largest bed was
a vivid painting of God, draped in a bright pink robe, banishing a
weeping Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden.
Dalrymple describes what he calls the gradual disappearance of
Christianity from the Middle East. At a time of conflict between
eastern and western cultures, it is tempting to believe it will
disappear completely.
It may be so, or it may not. Encouraging people to know the subtleties
of a region all too often written off in generalisations is one way
to prevent what Moschos predicted in the sixth century.

__________________________________________________ __________________________
Armenia Fund, Inc., 111 North Jackson Street, Suite 205, Glendale,
CA 91206
ph: (818) 243-6222 ~U fax: (818) 243-7222 ~U toll free:
(800)888-8897
e-mail: [email protected] ~U
______________________ __________________________________________________ ____
November 13, 2006
Armenia Fund Welcomes NKR President to Los Angeles
H.E. Arkady Ghoukasian to Speak at LA World Affairs Council
H.E. Arkady Ghoukasian, President, Nagorno Karabakh Republic
Los Angeles, CA – Armenia Fund U.S. Western Region welcomes H.E.
Arkady Ghoukasian, President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic as he
arrives to Los Angeles today. The President arrives from Detroit after
completing his visit to the East Coast communities, rallying support
for the upcoming Armenia Fund’s 9th Annual International Telethon.
President Arkady Ghoukasian is scheduled to speak at the Los Angeles
World Affairs Council’s dinner reception at the Westin Bonaventure
Hotel on Thursday, November 16, 2006 at 7:30pm. Individuals
and organizations interested in attending the event may contact
the Los Angeles World Affairs Council at (213) 628-2333 or visit
to register for the event. The
Council hosts heads of states and high ranking government officials
to speak to its members. This past summer, the Council hosted Her
Majesty’s Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kindgom and H.E.
Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
President Ghoukasian will use this opportunity to share his views
on the future of Karabakh, its relations with neighboring countries,
its place in the international community and the prospects for greater
US-NKR engagement.
The President is the Guest of Honor at Armenia Fund’s Annual Gala
which will take place on November 19 at the Omni Los Angeles Hotel at
the California Plaza. The event will highlight the 15th anniversary
of independent Republics of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh and as well
as celebrate Armenia Fund’s mission of rebuilding the homeland since
independence. Armenian jazz singer Datevik Hovanesian and her quartet
will perform live during the gala. The premier sold out event is set
to welcome Armenia Fund’s long time donors and supporters as well as
heads of major Armenian-American organizations and churches.
In Los Angeles President Ghoukasian is scheduled to meet with select
Armenia Fund donors and supporters, as well as with the leaders of
major Armenian-American organizations. The President is to appear
live during Armenia Fund’s 9th Annual International Telethon. The
live 12 hour television program will be held on Thanksgiving Day,
November 23, 8:00AM-8:00PM PST. Proceeds from the event will benefit
the Hadrut Regional Development project which, among other projects,
includes the reconstruction of a regional hospital and the purchase of
5 new ambulances, the construction of new local schools, agricultural
development programs, as well as the construction of drinking water
and irrigation networks.
Armenia Fund, Inc., is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation
established in 1994 to facilitate large-scale humanitarian
and infrastructure development assistance to Armenia and Nagorno
Karabakh. Since 1991, Armenia Fund has rendered more than $160 million
in development aid to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. Armenia Fund,
Inc. is the U.S. Western Region affiliate of “Hayastan” All-Armenian
Fund. Tax ID# 95-4485698

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian Forests NGO
38 Moskovian St., apt. 10
Phone: (374 10) 54-15-29
Fax: (374 10) 58-20-39
E-mail: [email protected]
E nvironmental Efforts: Sustainable Work Yields Results
News Bulletin
This bulletin is an update of the actions carried out in the period of
May-August 2006 by the Environmental Action Groups of the communities
selected within the USAID-funded “Community Environmental Action
Groups” project that is implemented by Armenian Forests NGO.
This summer characterized itself with hot and dry climate – a direct
challenge for newly planted trees and bushes. With certain difficultly,
our Environmental Action Groups managed to achieve normal survival
rates for the parks- the first in its kind environmental project for
Armenia’s communities.
They even went further to lobby local inert mentality to discard
plastic use through extensive work with local self-management bodies,
creation of films and TV broadcasts. Environmental education was
extended to more than 500 schoolchildren, and forest preservation
works continued with higher pace. Local authorities in several
communities receive decisive demands to work with national government
to receive funds for allocation of waste disposal sites, where waste
separation will be practiced. Details are presented in the news
bulletin below.
Tavush marz
1. Sarigyugh village
The active group takes care and waters the newly grown seedlings from
the seeds sown in early spring. The schoolchildren of the village
have been instructed how to take care of the old yew trees in the
forest – they clean up the soil in the bottom of trees from leaves
and branches, creating better conditions for natural regeneration.
A tour to nearby forests has been organized to acquaint the youth
with forest situation and types of trees growing there. The kids and
adults in the village are being encouraged not to cut trees to use as
fuel for winter, but stick to alternative sources as is cattle manure
or burn dry branches and stumps- which is good both for forest and
villagers.
2. Ijevan town
Local coordinator participated in two round tables at Ijevan Aarhus
center on general environmental issues and forests situation. On July
21 an eco-tour from Ijevan to Achajur and Makaravank monastery took
place, during which young environmentalists cleaned the monastery
area from plastic waste, dry branches and leaves. During tours the
activists hold to strict eco-tourism principles, using no plastic
bottles or throw-away plates and forks for lunch.
>From July 24 to August 13 the Ijevan coordinator and couple of
activists participated in a camp organized by World Vision Armenia
near Dilijan town, during which they held several seminars on
environmental issues for participating schoolchildren aged 10 to 12
and organized tours into nearby forests, explaining the harm of tree
felling and importance of care towards nature. During the visits the
youngsters collected dry branches to be used for camp fire.
3. Gosh village
During the summer the youth group here concentrated on keeping the
Gosh lake area clean, thus supporting the eco-tourism in the area.
The works included weekly cleanings of the area from garbage and
sanitary care of nearby forested area.
The youth patrol groups also controlled the cleanness of the
Goshavank monastery, which had such celebrity guests as singer
Charles Aznavour and president Robert Kocharian this summer. The yew
trees in the nearby forest have also been taken care of, and
irrigation of terraced and planted hill slopes of Goshavank monastery
have been carried out.
Lori marz
4. Lejan village
The local coordinator works with local self-management bodies for
allocating an area for waste disposal of the village, a reasonable
alternative to local habit of throwing garbage into the river gorge.
The local mayor promised to raise the issue at regional authorities’
meetings. The active group organized an environmental tour to nearby
picnic area.
Coppicing of the nearby forest were carried out in May. Evergreen
trees and bushes were planted in the surroundings of the local school
and post office. Poplar trees were planted alongside the road
entering the village. For this purpose AFNGO purchased 200 trees (150
poplar, 50 pine trees) and 2500 bushes. The activists continue the
care and irrigation of greened areas near village school and the post
office.
The team also carried out cleaning and repair works of several
popular picnic areas in the outskirts of the village, repairing the
holding posts of the iron tents there.
5. Stepanavan town
The irrigation and care of the new park has been regularly performed,
and the survival rate of trees and bushes is 90%. The activists had
meetings with municipality representatives to discuss possibilities
of electric lamps location in the park, the decision will be made by
October.
The activists also organized a cleaning of the river gorge of the
town, cleaning the area from plastic bags and bottles.
6. Vanadzor town
The local municipality organized yard camps throughout the town,
during which, among other activities, the Environmental Action Group
members delivered seminars on environmental basic principles to
schoolchildren. Seminars aimed to warn kids from committing
“environmental crimes”- throwing garbage in streets and green areas,
polluting water basins, harmfulness of plastics etc. Overall an
estimated 645 kids participated in these yard-camps from July to
August, some 200 of which participated in environmental classes.
The active group also organized eco-tours for several groups of
schoolchildren to nearby forests, showing them in-situ situation and
problems of forests. The camping areas were cleaned and garbage taken
to city waste disposal.
Kotayk marz
7. Tsakhkadzor town
The activists regularly water the planted trees in community adjacent
forested area with help of a water-truck and a 50m hose – mainly in
those areas that are steep and hard for the truck to enter.
The Kecharis monastery area was cleaned from garbage and plastic bags
by the action group members and local schoolchildren, as were several
other sites in the town. The coordinator now negotiates with the
municipality for allocation of an area to establish a small park near
the Writer’s Union resort house.
Gegharkunik marz
8. Sevan town
In May the rehabilitation works of two city parks were finished, and
watering and care works started. Yet, due to hot and dry summer and
lack of funds for allocating water-truck by the municipality, the
survival rate of the seedlings is 50%. For improving the situation
and avoiding more loss, the active group worked to involve funds for
constructing a fence and irrigation channel for restored parks. The
municipality has agreed to allocate funds for fence construction and
for having a guard at the site, yet the irrigation funds issue still
lingers.
With support of Peace Corps environmental volunteer appointed to
AFNGO’s partner organization, the activists work with municipality
for allocation of waste separation disposal site for city and nearby
villages. The mayor promised to apply to government for the matter.
As part of anti-plastic campaign leaflets informing about the harm of
polyethylene are being prepared to be distributed throughout the
town.
9. Martuni town
The active group was awarded with one computer by the Save the
Children Armenia office. The restored park was watered and taken care
of, yet due to hot summer the survival rate is 60%.
The local “Zangak” TV channel has prepared and broadcast for several
times a 7 minute film on the negative impact of plastics on
environment and people. The creation and airing of the film was
financed by the project (AFNGO has the recorded tape).
Vayots Dzor marz
10. Jermuk town
Although the municipality didn’t allocate the promised 1 ha area for
establishment of a new park, AFNGO specialists and local activists
achieved the permit to restore one part of the city’s big park, and
carried out restoration works in June. In three days, with direct
participation of AFNGO staff and director, more than 500 rose bushes
have been planted in two major alleys of central park, with tourists
and local residents participating in the works.
The local action group takes an intensive care of the restored area
of city park – watering the bushes and flowers with buckets (due to
no irrigation system), which has yielded good survival rates by
end-August. Local schoolchildren also take active part in the care
works.
For questions and more information please contact Mher Sharoyan,
Assistant Project Coordinator, at (374 10) 54-15-29 or e-mail at
[email protected]

le/2006/11/09/AR200611
0901770.html?referrer=email article
Thirty years after Edward Said’s groundbreaking “Orientalism,” a British
scholar responds.
By Michael Dirda
Sunday, November 12, 2006; BW15
DANGEROUS KNOWLEDGE
Orientalism and Its Discontents
By Robert Irwin
Overlook. 409 pp. $35
Nearly 30 years ago, the late Edward Said brought out his most famous
book, Orientalism (1978). Till then, Orientalism had been regarded as
simply the branch of European scholarship focusing on the Middle East,
North Africa and South Asia. But Said argued that it was, in fact, a
highly politicized concept, the umbrella term for a kind of intellectual
— fostering racism, justifying Western interference in largely Muslim
nations, and generally controlling how the West perceived the Middle
East. It was, to use the now familiar academic catchphrase, a hegemonic
discourse, reducing rich and vital cultures, peoples and religions to a
set of patronizing stereotypes. As a scholarly discipline, Orientalism
was rotten with bad faith or its students were the naive tools of a
colonialist ideology.
The book proved wildly successful and made the young Said a star of the
academy and of what has come to be called cultural studies. Indeed,
Orientalism supported the central theoretical premise of many
intellectuals at the time — that the prejudices of dead white European
males had utterly distorted and warped their scholarship, art, politics
and human sympathies.
Robert Irwin, himself an Oxford-trained Arabist, doesn’t buy this. He
asserts in his introduction and argues in his penultimate chapter that
Said’s book, thinking and evidence are shoddy, unreliable and
mean-spirited. The Columbia literary critic’s attack on Orientalism,
Irwin argues, maligns the lifework of admirable and deeply learned
people, mocks a long, honorable tradition of scholarship, and plays fast
and loose with the facts. Dangerous Knowledge is in part, then, Robert
Irwin’s riposte to Edward Said.
I say in part, because the bulk of this exhaustive, and somewhat
exhausting, book consists of a solid history of Middle East scholarship
from antiquity to the present. In format, it recalls Sandys’s History of
Classical Scholarship , being made up of a series of short biographies
augmented by interpretive summaries of important research. Happily,
Irwin’s clean, clear prose — he is a novelist as well as the Middle
East editor for the Times Literary Supplement — keeps the pages
enjoyable as well as brisk. He explains the relevance of major textual
discoveries and translations, lingers affectionately over the
eccentrics, madmen and giants of the field, points out everyone’s
ideological or religious affiliations, and deploys with ease and grace a
vast amount of reading and research. Irwin has, to use his own highest
accolade, tried to get things right.
Dangerous Knowledge is appropriately full of knowledge, carefully
presented. In antiquity, for instance, the culture of the Middle East
wasn’t regarded by outsiders as a wholly alien “Other”: Aeschylus’ “The
Persians” sympathetically portrays the empire that only seven years
previous had tried to conquer Greece; the Roman emperor Philip was an
Arab; Islam was often regarded as just a variant of the Arian heresy
(which denied the divinity of Christ). During the Middle Ages, Arabic
texts introduced Euclid’s mathematics to the West. Avicenna and Averroes
were major interpreters of Aristotle. Moorish Spain was a center of
unrivalled learning. As for the Crusades, well, the sultan of Egypt
sarcastically observed that he was surprised “that Christian Crusaders
should seek to imitate the violent ways of Muhammad, rather than the
peaceful preaching of Christ and his Apostles.”
Irwin doesn’t fudge harsh truths. In Europe during the Middle Ages, an
interest in the Koran could get you branded as a crypto-Muslim and earn
you a prison sentence. European travel tales really did portray the East
as a land of marvels and romance and magic and sensuality. At first,
Europeans studied Arabic just to better understand the cultural
background of the Bible. Between the Renaissance and the 19th century,
European classical scholarship and Biblical studies usually provided the
structural model for Orientalist research. While westerners often
respected Arabs for their culture and science, they frequently thought
Turks to be “the barbarous descendants of the Scythians.”
We learn that Guillaume Postel (1510-81) was the first true Orientalist,
as well a “complete lunatic.” (For one thing, he believed a woman he met
in Venice was the mystical Shekhinah, or divine presence, of the
Kabbalah, as well as the New Eve.) Barth?l?my d’Herbelot (1625-95),
compiler of the Biblioth?que orientale , and Antoine Galland
(1646-1715), translator of The Thousand and One Nights , were “the first
Orientalists to take a serious interest in the secular literature of the
Middle East.” Edward Gibbon wanted to study Arabic at Oxford, but no one
there could teach it to him. Ibn Khaldun’s 14th-century
historico-philosophical masterwork, The Muqaddimah , speculated about
the cyclical rise and fall of civilizations in ways that anticipate or
influenced Gibbon, Giambattista Vico, Oswald Spengler and Arnold
Toynbee.
Nearly every page of Dangerous Knowledge casually points out what seems
to most of us, with our feeble French or Spanish, truly awesome
linguistic erudition. In the 17th century, Thomas Hyde knew Turkish,
Malaysian, Armenian and Chinese; worked on the Persian, Arabic and
Syriac texts of a polyglot Bible; and at Oxford was the Librarian of the
Bodleian, Laudian Professor of Arabic, and Regius Professor of Hebrew.
William Jones, famous for his discovery of the Indo-Aryan roots of
Latin, Greek and Sanskrit, “mastered thirteen languages and dabbled in
twenty-eight.” Silvestre de Sacy learned Arabic, Syriac, Chaldaean,
Ethiopian, Persian, Turkish, Hebrew, Aramaic and Mandaean “and the usual
number of European languages that any self-respecting nineteenth-century
academic would expect to be at home in.” Sacy, says Irwin, was the first
European to really understand the meter of Arabic poetry.
Edward Said portrays Ernest Renan and the Count de Gobineau as
arch-villains, but Irwin takes pains to show that the former’s romantic
generalities — about, say, the desert as the land of monotheism — were
dismissed by true scholars, while the latter’s racism was far different
from what Said describes. (Irwin suggests that Said never actually read
Gobineau.) Moreover, the 19th century was legitimately exploring the
whole issue of race, with some people arguing, like Renan, that mixing
ethnicities avoided softness and decadence, while others, like Gobineau,
maintained that such mongrelization led to degeneracy (colonization,
was, therefore, an “appetizing dish, but one which poisons those who
consume it”). Even England’s greatest Orientalist, William Robertson
Smith, the editor of the Encyclopaedia Britannica , was a racist: He
thought the Arabs were superior to the Europeans.
Dangerous Knowledge is, in fact, really too packed a book for any easy
summary. It ranges from the Indiana Jones-like career of the doomed
Edward Palmer (“polyglot, spy and poet”) to Arminius Vambery, who one
evening after dinner talked about Balkan superstitions with Bram Stoker
and thus provoked the nightmare that inspired Dracula. Irwin tells us of
the spiritually anguished French scholar Louis Massignon and A.J.
Arberry, whose translation of the Koran remains the truest and most
poetical. He speaks admiringly of the brilliant American Marshall
Hodgson who, before his early death at 47, shook up Middle East studies
with his three-volume The Venture of Islam , which emphasized the
importance of geography and the contributions of Persians, Turks and
Indians to the rise of Islam. He reminds us, time and again, that Jews
have consistently been the greatest Arabic scholars, from the Hungarian
Ignaz Goldziher (1850-1921), “the uncontested master of Islamic
studies,” to our contemporary Bernard Lewis. Above all, Irwin emphasizes
what the late Albert Hourani (author of the bestselling A History of the
Arab Peoples ) learned from his teacher Richard Walzer: “the importance
of scholarly traditions: the way in which scholarship was passed from
one generation to another by a kind of apostolic succession, a chain of
witnesses (a silsila to give it its Arabic name).”
Dangerous Knowledge is, obviously, a history of that apostolic
succession. It ends, though, with Muslim critiques of Western
Orientalism and a chapter about Edward Said titled “An Enquiry into the
Nature of a Certain Twentieth-Century Polemic.” This is an allusion to
John Carter and Graham Pollard’s quietly devastating 1934 Enquiry into
Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets , which exposed Thomas J. Wise,
England’s foremost book collector, as a forger, cheat and liar. Irwin
forthrightly maintains that “Said libelled generations of scholars who
were for the most part good and honourable men and he was not prepared
to acknowledge that some of them at least might have written in good
faith.”
Is Irwin right about Said? He certainly makes a cogent case. And yet.
Said too was admired, even revered, by many good and honorable men and
women, many of them first-rate thinkers and theorists. Haven’t we, after
all, persistently tended to view the Middle East through prejudices and
distorting lenses of one sort or another? There’s no doubt, then, that
Dangerous Knowledge will be hotly argued about in departments of
literature and Middle Eastern studies for some time to come. Still, like
Irwin, I strongly believe that most scholars work hard to discover and
tell us the truth. Dangerous Knowledge is a paean to that noble purpose.
?
Michael Dirda’s e-mail address is [email protected]. He conducts a weekly
book discussion on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. at washingtonpost.com.
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California Courier Online, November 16, 2006
1 – Commentary
Turks and Azeris Are in Frenzy
Following Democrats’ Victory
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
2 – AEUNA Ordains Aren Balabanian
To Pastoral Ministry in Fresno
3 – Prof. Hovannisian’s Presentation
Draws SRO Crowd in Glendale
4 – ‘A Photographic History of Armenians’
Hosted Nov. 19 at Ararat-Eskijian Museum
5- Textbook Battle Winners Will Write History
6 – Nearly $8 Million in NY Life Checks
Sent to More than 2,500 Victims’ Heirs
7 – 2nd Int’l Medical Congress of Armenia
Will Take Place in Yerevan in June
8 – Pres. Ghoukasian to Speak at L.A.
World Affairs Council Program
9 – Southland’s Cabraloff, Gabriel, and Kazarian Families Honor
Grandfather’s Memory by Renovating Ancestral Village School
******************************************* ***********************
1 – Commentary
Turks and Azeris Are in Frenzy
Following Democrats’ Victory
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
The takeover by the Democratic Party of not just the House of
Representatives, but the Senate as well, stunned the world, particularly Turkey and
Azerbaijan.
The neo-cons in control of the White House finally lost many of their
partners in the U.S. Congress. This means that they can no longer call all the shots
and will have to compromise their extreme positions on both foreign and
domestic policy.
The Armenian American community, indeed the Armenian Diaspora, along with the
American public and the rest of the world, are elated by this change in
power, as they have suffered enough at the hands of the neo-cons in the past six
years.
The Armenian appetite was whetted ever since Cong. Nancy Pelosi (Dem-CA)
issued a statement to this writer right before the November 7 elections saying: “I
have supported legislation … that would properly acknowledge the Armenian
genocide. It is imperative that the United States recognize this atrocity and
move to renew our commitment to eliminate genocide whenever and wherever it
exists. This effort enjoys strong bipartisan support in the House, and I will
continue to support these efforts in the 110th Congress,” Pelosi said.
This is the first time a member of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian
Issues is slated to become the Speaker of the House, ousting Cong. Dennis Hastert
(Rep.-Illinois) who has been dead set on blocking the Armenian Genocide
resolution pending in the House in various permutations over the past six years. Of
course, there are no guaranties in politics. Armenians have been disappointed
many times before when pledges made in the heat of a campaign have evaporated
under pressure from cold realities of the political world.
There are many twists and turns to overcome before the expected passage of a
congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide. The resolution has to be
submitted to the House International Relations Committee all over again. Should
it make it through that committee, it is expected that the Speaker Pelosi will
bring it to the House floor for a vote, in which case it would pass with the
overwhelming majority of the votes.
Given many previous disappointments, it may be wise for Armenian Americans
and Armenians worldwide to approach this issue with some caution, particularly
since the eventual passage of this resolution would add nothing new to the
Armenian Cause. As I have mentioned on many occasions before, the U.S. House of
Representatives has passed a similar resolution on the Armenian Genocide both in
1975 and 1984. Furthermore, Pres. Ronald Reagan issued a Presidential
Proclamation back in 1981 make a reference to the Armenian Genocide.
The only merit to its passage would be the fact that it would settle scores
with Speaker Hastert and Pres. Bush who had promised to recognize the Armenian
Genocide before being elected to his first term in office. Another possible
benefit would be to drive Turkish and Azeri leaders out of their minds, as they
have been in an absolute frenzy ever since Cong. Pelosi made her pledge on the
Armenian Genocide resolution. There have been dozens of articles in the
Turkish and Azeri press lamenting the fact that pro-Armenian members of Congress
have been elected to leadership positions in various committees. Since the
Democrats control both Houses of Congress, they will be the committee chairmen and
set the agenda. As such, they would have the power to hold special hearings on
many neo-con shenanigans, from the war in Iraq to accusations of Turkish
circles bribing Speaker Hastert.
The other major success on November 7 was the re-election of Sen. Robert
Menendez (Dem.-N.J.) who won in a very tight race. The Armenian voters in that
State played a key role in his victory by campaigning and voting for him in large
numbers. The State Dept. would have loved to see him defeated in order to
release the hold he had placed on Richard Hoagland, the Ambassador Designate for
Armenia.
Finally, the overwhelming majority of the House Armenian Caucus members were
reelected, including the two co-chairs, Cong. Frank Pallone (Dem.-N.J.) and
Joe Knollenberg (Rep.-Michigan). Armenian lobbying groups should continue their
admirable effort to increase the number of Armenian Caucus members to 218 —
the majority of House members.
***************************************** *********************************
2 – AEUNA Ordains Aren Balabanian
To Pastoral Ministry in Fresno
FRESNO – The Armenian Evangelical Union of North America has ordained a
longtime Silicon Valley resident to the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament and
installed him as Associate Pastor of California’s oldest Armenian Church.
The AEUNA ordained Aren Balabanian to his sacred office during divine
services on Sunday afternoon, October 22, 2006, at the First Armenian Presbyterian
Church of Fresno. The Evangelical Union, an ecclesiastical confederation of
churches, missions, and fellowships in the United States and Canada, also
installed Balabanian as Associate Pastor of the historic Fresno congregation.
Reverend Balabanian was born in Aleppo, Syria on August 12, 1980 to Rafi
Balabanian, D.D.S., and the former Nora Nazarian, M.D. The family immigrated to
the United States in 1989 and settled in Santa Clara County, where Balabanian’s
sister, Jenny, was born.
Balabanian received his early education at Anderson Elementary School,
Joaquin Miller Middle School, and Lynbrook High School, all in San Jose. He
completed his undergraduate education at the University of California at Los Angeles,
earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science in 2002.
After preparing for a career in law, Balabanian received a call to ministry
and enrolled at the Talbot School of Theology, a graduate school of Biola
University in La Mirada. He completed the three-year program in May 2005, earned a
Masters Degree in Divinity, and received the Dean’s Award for showing
“excellence in academic studies, faithfulness in Christian Service, and in whose life
the love of Jesus is reflected.”
An active member of Calvary Armenian Congregational Church of San Francisco,
Balabanian served as Youth Director of Immanuel Armenian Congregational Church
of Downey (Fall 2002-December 2003) and College/Career Director of the
Armenian Evangelical Brethren Church of Los Angeles (February 2005-May 2005).
>From 2004 to 2006, Balabanian served as National Youth Representative to the
AEUNA Board of Directors. In July 2006 he was elected member-at-large of the
Board of Directors. Engaged to marry Miss Alina Melkonian of Fresno, the new
Associate Pastor has interests ranging from public policy and government to
theology to professional sports.
More than 400 members and friends of the Fresno congregation witnessed the
new Associate Pastor’s service of ordination and installation and shared in a
fellowship reception that concluded the afternoon.
A dozen active and retired ministers attended to the laying on of hands.
Officiants at the service included Shant Abajian, Pastoral Intern of the Armenian
Christian Fellowship of Orange County; Reverend Karl V. Avakian, Immediate
Past Minister to the AEUNA; and the Ordinand’s uncle, Reverend Nerses Balabanian
of the Calvary Armenian Congregational Church of San Francisco.
Other officiants included Reverend Bernard Guekguezian, Pastor Emeritus of
the host congregation; Reverend Jason Matossian, Pastor of Christian Education
at the United Armenian Congregational Church of Los Angeles; Reverend Joseph
Matossian, current Minister to the AEUNA; Reverend Mgrdich Melkonian, Senior
Pastor of the host congregation; Reverend Steven D. Muncherian, Senior Pastor of
the Evangelical Free Church of Merced; and Reverend Ronald Tovmassian,
Moderator of the AEUNA.
Lay Elders Steven Vartabedian and Edward Saliba participated on behalf of the
FAPC Session and Membership. Jane S. Bedrosian, Director of Music
Ministries, and Marilyn Mitchell, Organist, led the worship team at the special service.
************************************************** ***********************
3 – Prof. Hovannisian’s Presentation
Draws SRO Crowd in Glendale
GLENDALE – On the evening of November 1, an extraordinary lecture event took
place in the Glendale Central Library, organized by the Armenian Educational
Foundation. The evening was exceptional, since even before the announced hour
for the lecture, the auditorium was filled to capacity and people were standing
along the walls, while many others remained outside trying to get permission
to enter, which unfortunately was denied by the fire marshal. The evening was
also exceptional, because the people had come not simply for a lecture (as is
known lectures at present do not draw such crowds), but rather, filled with
longing, to become a companion of the speaker as he walked in the footsteps of
his forebears.
The lecturer was Professor Richard Hovannisian, the A.E.F Chair Holder in
Modern Armenian History at UCLA. His subject was “The Vanishing Landscape of
Historic Western Armenia.” He was introduced by former president and present
executive board member of the A.E.F, Nora Sahagian.
Thereafter in a spellbinding and absorbing presentation, the lecturer spoke
in Armenian and English for 90 minutes with projected illustrations, leading
the riveted audience from Trebizond to Gumushkhane, Bayburt (Baberd) Erzerum
(Garin), Kemakh, Agn, and Kharpert and further to Palu, Mush, Bitlis, and Van.
Having studied for many years the towns and villages, the mountains and plains
of Western Armenia, the scholar for the first time felt under his feet and saw
with his eyes the imagined unimaginable-the ruined homeland and the vanishing
traces of thousands of years of Armenian history. He met the Turk still
fearful of relinquishing his confiscated possessions to Armenians, and he met the
Kurd, who expressed sorrow and remorse for the massacres. And finally he met
the converted (“tardzats”) Armenian, who is reclaiming his ethnic identity but
who knows no Armenian and remains a devout Muslim.
Professor Hovannisian undertook this journey-or pilgrimage-with his wife,
Vartiter, and with Professor Fatma Muge Gocek, who is among the Turkish scholars
who reject the official Turkish state narrative of what occurred in 1915. That
in itself was an extraordinary thing for the professor, who for the first
time was stepping foot in the homeland in the company of a Turkish colleague and
a Turkified half-Armenian guide (along with two members of the Turkish
Armenian newspaper Agos).
Both with deep emotion and a strong command of history, the illustrated
presentation, sometimes sad, sometimes inspiring, was followed by a torrent of
questions and comments from the impassioned audience.
To the last question from a student about what would be the professor’s
single most important bidding, Richard Hovannisian replied that it is essential for
our generations to study and learn how it was that, despite the numerous
calamities, massacres, and deportations down through the centuries, the Armenian
people were able to survive through it all. It is essential to discover and
cling to the “national secret” for the sake of the future.
************************************************** ************************
4 – ‘A Photographic History of Armenians’
Hosted Nov. 19 at Ararat-Eskijian Museum
MISSION HILLS, CA – The illustrated and interactive program “A PHOTOGRAPHIC
HISTORY OF ARMENIANS: From Empires to Diaspora” will take place at the
Ararat-Eskijian Museum on Nov. 19, at 4 pm. Founder and Executive Director of
Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, Ruth Thomasian will discuss this rare
archival treasure and its methods, as well as present a dynamic illustrated
lecture about Armenians. The program will also include a Photographs Road Show
with audience participation. A reception will immediately follow the program.
The slide presentation will include 19th-early 20th century images of
families and towns in historic Armenia during the Ottoman, Russian, and Persian
empires. More recent images of Armenians in America and throughout the Diaspora
will also be shown. To understand the historical value of these photographs as
well as Project SAVE’s critical mission, Thomasian will discuss collecting and
documenting photographs, archival methods, oral documentation procedures,
dating of images, and the issue of originals vs. copies.
Another exciting part of the program will be the Photographs Road Show.
Thomasian invites the audience to bring family photographs for her to examine and
identify their historical significance. One of the most gratifying aspects of
Thomasian’s work is the dialogue initiated by these treasured photographs, in
other words, “seeing and hearing history unfold in front of you as a photo
donor shares a family photograph and the stories that go with it.”
Located in Watertown, MA, Project SAVE was founded in 1975 by Thomasian.
While pursuing a career as a theatrical costume designer in New York City,
she became aware that there was scarcely any visual material available to
research costumes for Armenian plays set in historic Armenia within the 19th and
early 20th centuries. Project SAVE collects and documents photographs of Armenian
people and places.
According to Thomasian, “Project SAVE fills the human need to have knowledge
of ones ancestors and an understanding of where they have come from and how
they have lived their lives-in a way so that we can live our lives in harmony
with that heritage.” From its modest beginnings, Project SAVE is now a
privately held but publicly accessible archive of approximately 25,000 images that
represent the heritage of Armenians not only in “the old country” but also in the
United States and the worldwide Armenian Diaspora.
Thomasian received a B.A. in History and Education from Albion College in
Michigan, and an M.S. in Communications Management from Simmons College, Boston.
Her work with Project SAVE has earned her numerous awards, including Haig
Garabed Sarafian Award (Armenian Students’ Association, 1984), Jack H. Kolligian
Award (National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, 1985),
Community Folklore Scholar (Smithsonian Institution, 1989), Smithsonian Delegate
(International Folklore Conference, 1990), and Woman of Achievement Award (Armenian
International Women’s Association, 1994). She is a former President of the
Photographic Historical Society of New England and currently the co-editor of
the society’s New England Journal of Photographic History. She is also a
member of the New England Archivists and the Society of American Archivists.
Project SAVE is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization entirely funded by
generous individuals, foundations, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Project SAVE appreciates receiving original photographs as a donation or on
loan, and welcomes volunteers to assist with archival and administrative tasks.
For more information: (617) 923-4542; [email protected];
; P.O. Box 236, Watertown, MA 02471-0236.
The Ararat-Eskijian Museum is located on the grounds of the Ararat Home of
Los Angeles at 15105 Mission Hills Road, Mission Hills, CA 91345.
For more information, call AEM (818) 838-4862 or visit
Free admission and parking.
********’******************************** *********************************
5 – Textbook Battle Winners Will Write History
By Michael Doyle
Fresno Bee
WASHINGTON – A textbook battle is pitting Americans of Armenian and Turkish
descent against one another in a federal courtroom.
The winner will write history.
And though the fight may seem far away, it’s captivating California’s
politically vocal Armenian-American community.
“Most people who are interested in Armenian politics know about it,” said
Hygo Ohannessian, chairwoman of the Fresno-based Central California chapter of
the Armenian National Committee of America.
Ohannessian and her allies are waiting on US. District Judge Mark Wolf in
Boston. For the past year, Wolf has overseen a lawsuit challenging the way
Massachusetts high school study guides handle the horrific events of 1915-23.
Genocide, Armenians and many historians call it. By some counts, upward of
1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Turks and
Armenians have disputed how to characterize the tragic events.
“If the Turks win this, they are going to challenge textbooks in other
states,” predicted Ohannes Boghossian, chairman of the Armenian National Committee’s
Sacramento chapter.
But in its lawsuit filed last October, the Assembly of Turkish American
Associations claims Massachusetts capitulated to Armenian-American pressure and
“purged” the state’s study guides of any material challenging Armenian claims.
“This case is not about whether there was or was not an Armenian genocide,”
attorney Harvey Silverglate said in an interview this week, “but rather, about
whether teachers and students are going to be able to study and discuss the
question without undue political interference.”
Undeniably, Armenian-Americans wield political clout, particularly in areas
such as the San Joaquin Valley, with large ethnic populations.
The leading Republican author of a commemorative Armenian genocide resolution
offered this Congress is Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa.
But Turkey, too, flexes political muscle. While Radanovich’s current Armenian
genocide resolution has 159 House co-sponsors, similar resolutions have been
consistently blocked by presidents of both parties.
With lifetime tenure and 21 years on the federal bench, Wolf is shielded from
overt pressure. Still, his next decision remains closely watched, as he
considers whether to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Silverglate on behalf of the
Turkish American associations.
In 1999, an initial version of the Massachusetts study guide cited reference
materials that reflected Turkish views challenging the genocide argument.
These were optional references, not required to be taught.
“These viewpoints contend … that the fate of the Ottoman Armenians was the
result of a number of factors, including the Ottoman government’s response to
an Armenian revolt in alliance with Russia, a tragically flawed deportation
policy and mutual wartime massacres, which brought great suffering and death to
both Ottoman Armenians and Muslims,” the lawsuit argues.
But after a Massachusetts state senator complained and the Armenian-American
community mobilized, the state’s education commissioner changed course. The
state subsequently deleted study guide references to Turkish sites, including
Georgetown University’s Institute of Turkish Studies.
“It’s fine for governments to help make history, but not to write it,”
Silverglate said. “The First Amendment is meant to provide a free marketplace of
ideas to determine truth, and history.”
The Armenian National Committee and the Los Angeles-based Armenian Bar
Association have both urged Wolf in an amicus brief to toss out the case. They argue
that Massachusetts acted reasonably in omitting the Turkish perspective.
“It would be like having the Nazi Party coming in and forcing its views of
the Holocaust,” Ohannessian said Tuesday.
The Armenian-Americans have strong U.S. Supreme Court precedent on their
side, which may fatally undercut Silverglate’s lawsuit. The court has ruled
repeatedly, as the Armenian groups put it, that “the First Amendment places no
restraints” on the messages a government conveys.
“Courts,” Massachusetts added in its own legal filing, “have no authority
either to control government speech or to second-guess curriculum decisions made
by the responsible public officials.”
Armenian-Americans cite, as well, the 37 states – including California –
whose legislatures have recognized the Armenian genocide. The study guide, the
groups say, should be appreciated “in the context of this widespread official
acknowledgment” of the tragedy.
In California, Ohannessian noted, textbooks refer to the Armenian genocide –
but she and other Armenian-American activists enhance this with yearly
seminars offered to Fresno and Clovis high school students seeking extra credit.
****************************************** ********************************
6 – Nearly $8 Million in NY Life Checks
Sent to More than 2,500 Victims’ Heirs
LOS ANGELES, CALIF.–Settlement checks totaling $7,954,362.24
will be distributed this week to more than 2,500 Armenian descendants of victims
massacred in the 1915 Armenian Genocide. The checks are a share of a
multi-million dollar settlement in a class action lawsuit brought against New York Life
Insurance Company for unpaid life insurance benefits. In addition, $3 million
has been already distributed to various Armenian charitable organizations
(Martin Marootian, et al. v. New York Life Insurance Company).
The board reviewed thousands of claims and found that 2,515
claims could be traced to Armenians who had purchased life insurance policies from
New York Life prior to 1915.
“We are thrilled that thousands of Armenians will finally get the
insurance compensation they deserve,” says Brian Kabateck, partner with
Kabateck Brown Kellner, LLP and one of the lead attorneys who represented the
Armenian heirs. “Armenians don’t give up easily and this settlement is a testament
to that.”
“Although compensation is about 90 years late, we’re still
pleased that Armenians are receiving some of what is owed them,” says Mark Geragos,
partner with Geragos & Geragos, another of the lead attorneys in the case. In
addition to Kabateck and Geragos, Vartkes Yeghiayan of Yeghiayan & Associates
represented the plaintiffs in the case. All are of Armenian decent.
Letters will be mailed to all claimants. Checks will be included
to claimants awarded compensation. Of the nearly $8 million in settlement
checks, Armenians in Armenia will receive the most ($3.4 million) followed by
Armenians in the United States ($2.6 million) and Armenians in France ($656,413).
In all, Armenians in 26 countries will receive compensation.
For questions about the settlement, contact the settlement board
at 213-327-0740.
************************************************** ************************
7 – 2nd Int’l Medical Congress of Armenia
Will Take Place in Yerevan in June
The Organizing Committee of the Second International Medical Congress of
Armenia is pleased to announce that the Congress will be held from the 28th to the
30th of June 2007. The venue of the Congress will be at the historic Armenia
Marriott Hotel on Republic Square in downtown Yerevan. We anticipate the
participation of Armenian medical doctors, dentists, pharmacists and nurses from
all over the world.
Satellite Symposia will be held during the Congress with the aim of creating
international partnership programs and providing up-to-date information to
regional doctors (marz) who will be invited separately to participate without
requiring registration. Symposia will take place in Urology, Neuroscience,
Anesthesiology, Ophthalmology, Osteoporosis, and Nursing.
Besides developing medical science in Armenia the international partnership
program is an excellent opportunity to present and discuss general
collaboration projects. Chosen sections are as follows Neurology and Mental Health,
Mother and Child Health, Public Health /Tobacco Control, Medical Education, FMF,
HIV/AIDS, Nursing, Dentistry, Oncology, Primary Health Care, Health Policy,
Internal Medicine, Surgery, Disability/ Rehabilitation, Basic Science, and
Pharmacology.
There will be a focus on medical education and the session will be lead by
the newly elected Rector (Dean) of the Medical School, Professor Gohar Kalyan
and the Chairman of the Scientific Committee, Dean of the National Institute of
Health, Dr. Derenik Doumanyan.
The third day of the conference is entirely dedicated to Diaspora-Armenia
projects and strategy of future collaboration.
An outstanding social program will be offered to participants and attendants.
The official languages of the Congress will be Armenian and English.
The deadline for the abstract submission is March 31st, 2007. Abstracts can
be submitted to [email protected]. The online abstract submission form can be
found at
For any additional information please visit the web site: or
correspond with the Organizing Committee of the Congress at the above mentioned
address.
**************************************** ***********************************
8 – Pres. Ghoukasian to Speak at L.A.
World Affairs Council Program
LOS ANGELES – Nagorno-Karabagh President Arkady Ghoukasian will be the
keynote speaker at the Nov. 16 dinner program hosted by the Los Angeles World
Affairs Council at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
The World Affairs Council program regularly features world leaders such as
Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
presidents of foreign countries, major philanthropists, religious leaders and
best-selling authors.
President Ghoukasian plans to speak about Artsakh’s efforts to gain
international recognition of its right to live in freedom, develop democratic
institutions and a full-fledged market economy.
Ghoukasian will also use this opportunity to share his views on the future of
Karabagh, its relations with neighboring countries, its place in the
international community and the prospects for greater US-NKR engagement.
“We encourage our Armenian American compatriots residing in the Greater Los
Angeles area to attend this unique event, thus showing your interest and
support for Artsakh, as well as your appreciation for the L.A. World Affairs Council
for hosting Artsakh’s President,” said Vardan Barseghian, Representative of
the NKR in Washington, DC.
The dinner program will begin at 7:30 p.m., at the Westin Bonaventure, 404 S.
Figueroa St., Los Angeles.
To register for the event, visit
************ ************************************************** **********
9 – Southland’s Cabraloff, Gabriel, and Kazarian Families Honor
Grandfather’s Memory by Renovating Ancestral Village School
LOS ANGELES – In 1910, brothers Atabek and Artash Gabrielian traveled to
America leaving their home in Isahakyan Village, formally Ghazarabad, in northern
Armenia. But, even after they came to Southern California, they kept the
village alive through their children and grandchildren.
In 2004, Al Cabraloff visited his grandfather Artash’s village, where Al
found a number of his relatives. During the visit, Al and his friend, Stepan
Altounian, of Whittier, Calif., were moved when they saw the dismal conditions of
the Isahakyan Village School. Returning to the United States, Al contacted
the Armenian Educational Foundation (AEF) in Glendale, and asked what it would
take to renovate the school. AEF representatives estimated the cost to be
$105,000 to renovate two of the three wings of the school. Without hesitation, Al
gave the AEF the go ahead to start the necessary construction. Al and Diane
Cabraloff, of Whititer, Calif., along with cousins Ronald Gabriel, Richard
Gabriel, Arthur and Dennis Kazarian donated all the funds needed to complete the
renovations.
In July 2006, Al, Diane, their children, Al’s parents and uncle, along with
70 relatives, friends and AEF members and supporters attended the opening of
the newly renovated Isahakyan Village School.
The ceremony was extremely moving, especially with students presenting the
Cabraloffs with bouquet of flowers and recitations. Welcoming remarks were
delivered by Shirak Region Marzbed (Governor) Romik Manoukyan, and the school
principal. Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Education Bagrat Assatouryan thanked the
Cabraloffs for their generous donation and the AEF for the renovation of the
school.
Al gave a memorable speech, translated into Armenian by AEF Board Member Mina
Shirvanian. Al thanked the AEF, his family and friends and gave words of
encouragement to the students and families of the Village. AEF Vice President,
Alec Baghdasaryan thanked the Cabraloffs for their generosity and noted that it
is because of individuals like Al and Diane that the AEF has renovated 150
schools in Artsakh, Javakhk and the border villages of Armenia. Village
residents were overjoyed that the children and grandchildren of their village had
returned with such amazing generosity and that Isahakyan’s children were the
beneficiaries.
The AEF hosted a lunch for the guests, school administration, teachers and
village leaders in the school’s newly renovated main auditorium.
As the group started to depart, the haunting view of historical Armenian
lands just a few miles away was a reminder of how precious and important Isahakyan
and other border villages are to the well being of the independent Armenia.
AEF President Vahe Hacopian wished that “the blessings these young
benefactors have brought to this village be multiplied throughout our nation and may Al
and Diane Cabraloff serve as role models for all of our younger generation.”
Since 1950, the Armenian Educational Foundation, Inc. (AEF) has been the
backbone of the Armenian educational movement worldwide. It has lent a helping
hand to thousands of students and to hundreds of schools throughout the world.
During its 56 years of giving, the AEF has proven to be one of the most enduring
and productive educational organizations in the Diaspora.
For further information, contact the AEF office in Glendale at (818) 242-4154
or
********************************** ****************************************
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RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
_________________________________________ ____________________
RFE/RL Iran Report
Vol. 9, No. 42, 13 November 2006
A Review of Developments in Iran Prepared by the Regional Specialists
of RFE/RL’s Newsline Team
******************************************** ****************
HEADLINES:
* GOVERNMENT SHAKEUP HITS MANY LEVELS
* CANDIDATES ASSESSED FOR ASSEMBLY ELECTION
* SUPREME LEADER DEFENDS NUCLEAR STANCE, DISCUSSES ELECTIONS
* EXECUTIVE BRANCH PLANS TO MOVE TEHRAN UNIVERSITIES
* CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATION RATES CORRUPTION IN IRAN
* MILITIAMEN AMBUSHED, AS INSURGENTS EXECUTED
* IRAN STILL DESIGNATED BY RSF AS ‘ENEMY’ OF INTERNET
* IRAN OFFERS ADVICE TO NEW UN SECRETARY-GENERAL
* IRANIANS REFLECT ON 1979-81 HOSTAGE CRISIS
* TEHRAN CONSIDERS, AGAIN, DISCUSSING IRAQ WITH U.S
* IRANIANS WELCOME HUSSEIN DEATH VERDICT
* BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT MEETS IRANIAN OFFICIALS
* IRAN THREATENS NORWAY OVER MEETING WITH MUJAHEDIN KHALQ LEADER
* FORMER IRANIAN OPPOSITIONISTS COMPLAIN OF CONDITIONS IN IRAQ
* ARGENTINA ISSUES INTERNATIONAL WARRANTS FOR HASHEMI-RAFSANJANI
AND OTHER OFFICIALS
* IRANIANS TRAVEL TO BUDAPEST TO DISCUSS DRUG ABUSE
******************************************** ****************
GOVERNMENT SHAKEUP HITS MANY LEVELS. Iran’s executive branch is
undergoing a major shakeup in what could be an effort by President
Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s administration to realign its economic
policy. The president has replaced two cabinet ministers, others are
facing parliamentary scrutiny, and a score of top officials have
quit. But the tremors could also reflect officials’
dissatisfaction with policy or presidential frustration over unmet
goals.
Iranian lawmakers gave a vote of confidence to
Ahmadinejad’s choice to be the new cooperatives minister on
November 5. Mohammad Abbasi, a legislator from Gorgan, is a former
university chancellor (of a branch of the Islamic Azad University)
and deputy governor-general for planning affairs in the northern
Mazandaran Province. He holds a doctorate in strategic management, a
degree often given to military personnel.
Abbasi told reporters that strengthening the cooperative-run
business sector is an important step in the realization of the
country’s fifth five-year plan, which began in 2005.
Abbasi succeeds Mohammad Nazemi-Ardakani, who, the president
said, will serve in another position. Nazemi-Ardakani was given the
portfolio when the president’s initial nominee failed to win
approval. Nepotism may have a part in Nazemi-Ardakani’s job
security. He is related by marriage to Masud Zaribafan, secretary of
the presidential cabinet and a Tehran municipal council member.
Another Minister Replaced
The same day that Abbasi was introduced to the legislature
(October 29), lawmakers approved Abdul Reza Mesri as the new minister
of welfare and social security. A parliamentary representative from
the western Kermanshah Province, Mesri succeeded Parviz Kazemi.
Ahmadinejad’s first nominee for the Welfare Ministry
portfolio failed to win approval when he came to power in 2005, and
lawmakers criticized Kazemi’s inexperience during the
parliamentary debate around his appointment. Kazemi had reportedly
suggested in his curriculum vitae that he was “reluctant” to discuss
his accomplishments, “Mardom Salari” reported on November 5, 2005.
An anonymous ministry official reportedly said when Kazemi
resigned on September 25 that he was being replaced because he
allowed subordinates to simultaneously hold leadership positions in
businesses, according to the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA). The
source claimed Kazemi hired incompetents and the ministry did not
report on its activities satisfactorily.
There also were reports that Kazemi’s resignation was
connected with his failure to exercise sufficient control over the
Social Security Organization. Indeed, that organization’s chief,
Davud Madadi, resigned some two weeks after Kazemi did. He blamed
“present circumstances,” and said “it is not possible for me to
cooperate with the government,” the Islamic Republic News Agency
(IRNA) reported on October 8.
Disgruntled Economic Team
At the top tier of government, the appointments of
Cooperatives Minister Abbasi and Welfare and Social Security Minister
Mesri are only the most conspicuous changes.
Aftab news agency quoted an anonymous source on September 26
as saying the president has reviewed the one-year performance of each
cabinet member. The source claimed Ahmadinejad has warned Roads and
Transport Minister Mohammad Rahmati and Commerce Minister Parviz
Mir-Kazemi that they are in danger of being replaced. Aftab reported
that the ministers facing dismissal have reformist tendencies or have
failed to fulfill their promises to the president.
Other personnel changes have taken place below the cabinet
level. About 20 mid-level officials, including deputy ministers, have
either been forced to resign or have been dismissed, “Ayandeh-yi No”
reported on October 17. These changes mostly affect the economy.
In the Management and Planning Organization, three deputy
chiefs quit in mid-October — Deputy Chief of Production Affairs
Farhad Dezhpasand, Deputy Chief of Economic Affairs Ali Tayebnia, and
Deputy Chief for Fundamental Affairs Mehdi Rahmati. Two other
managers — identified as Yarmand and Daryani — were dismissed.
There were other personnel changes within the Economy and Finance
Ministry, the Petroleum Ministry, the Commerce Ministry, and at the
central bank.
Legislative Scrutiny
The president is not the only one who is unhappy with cabinet
members’ efforts. Parliamentarians have voiced dissatisfaction
about some ministers, and acted accordingly. Lawmakers will question
Interior Minister Mustafa Pur-Mohammadi, Energy Minister Seyyed
Parviz Fattah, and Transport Minister Mohammad Rahmati in the coming
week, Fars News Agency reported on October 28.
When Iranian media reported in mid-September that assessments
of the ministers’ performance had been prepared, legislator Said
Abutaleb argued that those “evaluations must certainly lead to some
changes in the cabinet,” “Mardom Salari” reported on September 16.
Abutaleb referred to the Welfare and Commerce ministries
specifically, saying the legislature would like to dissolve the
Commerce Ministry. He warned that if the president did not implement
changes, then the parliament was ready to step in by questioning and
giving no-confidence motions to the ministers.
But another legislator, Hussein Afarideh from Shirvan, called
the prospective replacements worse than the sitting ministers,
“Mardom Salari” reported on September 16.
Meanwhile, in early October, more than 50 legislators signed
a petition for the interpellation of Agriculture Jihad Minister
Mohammad Reza Eskandari.
One legislator, Dariush Qanbari, charged that Iranian
“agriculture is on the verge of collapse,” Mehr News Agency reported
on October 9. He said “farmers’ crops [were] piling up in
storehouses” while the country imports fruit from Pakistan. Qanbari
also questioned the announcement of self-sufficiency in wheat
production when “at the same time we are importing 2 million tons of
wheat every year.” He described the Agriculture Jihad Ministry as the
most inefficient and uncooperative of ministries.
But fundamentalist legislators blocked the interpellation
motion.
In mid-October, signatures were being gathered for the
interpellation of Education Minister Qodratullah Farshidi. One
legislator said there was “no doubt that the Education Minister has
had a weak performance,” but added that other cabinet members have
performed poorly and should face questioning, “Aftab-i Yazd” reported
on October 16.
Governmental obscurity and a censored media ensure that it
will be some time before the real reasons for the ministerial
resignations and dismissals emerge. But it appears that the
presidential administration’s grappling with difficult economic
issues will continue to cause turmoil in the state apparatus —
particularly if the populist president persists in efforts to fulfill
his campaign promises.
The possible imposition of economic sanctions by the UN
Security Council stemming from the nuclear controversy could only add
to President Ahmadinejad’s troubles. (Bill Samii)
CANDIDATES ASSESSED FOR ASSEMBLY ELECTION. Akbar Karami, a political
analyst in Qom, told Radio Farda on November 5 that the Guardians
Council interprets its power of approbatory supervision as a
political filter that allow only clerics who are compatible with it
to compete in elections.
Guardians Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodai announced on
November 4 that 204 of the almost 500 prospective candidates for the
December 15 Assembly of Experts election have been invited for
examinations on their ability to interpret religious law, state radio
reported. Thirty-seven people refused to be examined, and two women
took the exam.
Kadkhodai said incumbent Majid Ansari’s qualifications
could not be confirmed, but Ansari refused to participate in the
exam. An anonymous “informed source” told Fars News Agency on
November 5 that Ansari’s candidacy will be approved nevertheless.
Fars added that several incumbents — including
Urumiyeh’s Gholam Reza Hassani; the reformist Hadi Khamenei, who
is the supreme leader’s brother; and several highly experienced
seminarians who were invited for the exam — withdrew their
candidacies.
Exam results will be announced on November 13, and Assembly
of Experts candidates will have three days to appeal. The Guardians
Council will assess the appeals over a 20-day period. (Bill Samii)
SUPREME LEADER DEFENDS NUCLEAR STANCE, DISCUSSES ELECTIONS. Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei is visiting the northeastern city of Semnan, “Iran”
newspaper reported on November 9. He told tens of thousands of people
at the Takhti Stadium that mastering nuclear technology is their
right, and the international community does not oppose this. He cited
the Nonaligned Movement’s backing of Iran’s development of
nuclear energy for peaceful purposes as proof of this, and said it is
only the United States that opposes Iran’s pursuits, even though
Washington has said several times that it is not against Iran’s
development of nuclear technology strictly to produce energy for
peaceful uses. Khamenei also urged local residents to vote in the
December 15 elections for the Assembly of Experts and municipal
councils, state television reported on November 8. (Bill Samii)
EXECUTIVE BRANCH PLANS TO MOVE TEHRAN UNIVERSITIES. President
Ahmadinejad said on state television on 6 November that the
government will move some of the universities in the capital, Tehran,
to the suburbs. It is not yet decided whether they will be moved to
the east or the west of the city, he said. Khajeh Nasr-i Din Tusi
University has several campuses, he said, and this causes problems
for faculty, students who must commute, and contributes to the
city’s traffic problems. Allameh Tabatabai University also has
campuses in different parts of Tehran, he said, and Azad University
has south, central, and north branches in the capital. Each branch,
he continued, has faculties and buildings in different parts of the
city.
At the end of the November 5 cabinet meeting, Ahmadinejad
said two sessions were dedicated to problems of the capital and half
the time of three other cabinet sessions dealt with Tehran, state
television reported on November 6. (Bill Samii)
CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATION RATES CORRUPTION IN IRAN. Iran has a
rating of 2.7 in Transparency International’s Corruption
Perceptions Index 2006, which the civil society organization released
on November 6. Ten indicates a low level of perceived corruption and
zero a high level. The number is based on “expert opinion surveys.”
Finland, Iceland, and New Zealand were in first place with the
highest ratings (9.6), and the U.S. was in 20th place with a rating
of 7.3. Iran shared 105th place with Bolivia, Libya, Macedonia,
Malawi, and Uganda. Haiti ranked at the bottom — 163rd place — with
a rating of 1.8. (Bill Samii)
MILITIAMEN AMBUSHED, AS INSURGENTS EXECUTED. Khodabakhsh Baghbani,
who was taken hostage by the Jundullah insurgent group in March, was
released November 1 after payment of an 800 million rial
(approximately $90,000) ransom, “Kayhan” reported on November 2. Five
other hostages were released earlier, and one of them, Reza Laczai,
is writing his memoirs.
Jundullah is a Sunni group, and population in the
southeastern Sistan va Baluchistan is predominantly Sunni. A local
security official, identified only as Nikunam, denies that there is
anti-Sunni discrimination. “With consideration of our performance in
the region, even the elders among the Sunnis have announced
repeatedly that I make no difference between Shia and Sunnis,”
Nikunam said. “Proof of this is that there were both Shia and Sunnis
among those who were executed yesterday for plundering and disturbing
social peace.”
It was around the same time that six members of Abdulmalik
Rigi’s Sunni insurgent gang were hanged in Iran, dpa reported on
November 6, citing “Etemad.” The gang reportedly killed four people,
including a policeman, when they attacked a police car. Moreover,
they allegedly kidnapped two Germans and an Irishman near the
southeastern city of Zahedan in December 2003. The Europeans were
released after a month.
Three members of the Basij militia were killed in a November
6 ambush in Kerman Province, Reuters reported, citing the Iranian
Students News Agency (ISNA). They reportedly had just freed a
hostage, arrested seven of his kidnappers, and seized a ton of
narcotics. (Bill Samii)
IRAN STILL DESIGNATED BY RSF AS ‘ENEMY’ OF INTERNET.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced on November 7 that Iran is
among what it describes as enemies of the Internet. RSF said Internet
filtering in Iran has increased over the last year, although
repression of bloggers appears to have decreased, and Iran now claims
to filter 10 million sites. Pornography, politics, and religion are
the traditional targets, and women’s rights is getting attention
lately, RSF claimed. A recent ban on broadband connections could
reflect a desire to prevent downloading of Western movies and music,
RSF speculated. (Bill Samii)
IRAN OFFERS ADVICE TO NEW UN SECRETARY-GENERAL. Inspectors from the
UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visited Iranian nuclear
facilities at Natanz and Isfahan on November 5, IRNA reported. On the
same day in Tehran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Husseini
said the next secretary-general of the UN, South Korean Foreign
Minister Ban Ki-moon, should resolve the crisis over Iran’s
nuclear program, IRNA reported. Ban should head off some
countries’ interference in the process, Husseini added. Ban takes
office at the UN on January 1.
Russia and China are interfering by trying to remove
references to military action from the UN Security Council resolution
that is being discussed in New York, “The Washington Post” reported
on November 5. France, Germany, and the United Kingdom reportedly
back China and Russia. Patrick Clawson, deputy director for research
at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said elimination of
the military option greatly reduces the resolution’s credibility.
(Bill Samii)
IRANIANS REFLECT ON 1979-81 HOSTAGE CRISIS. The anniversary of the
November 4, 1979, seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by militants
and their holding of U.S. diplomats as hostages for 444 days was
commemorated in Iran over the weekend. Reflecting on the incident,
Mujahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization Secretary-General
Mohammad Salamati said on November 5 that the action was appropriate
at the time because the revolution’s survival was at stake,
“Aftab” reported. Circumstances have changed, he continued, and in
the interest of regional stability and security, and in light of the
controversy over Iran’s nuclear program, now it is possible to
hold talks with the United States.
A former hostage taker, Massumeh Ebtekar, said her colleagues
thought the incident would end quickly because the revolutionary
government would oppose it, “Etemad” reported on November 4. Popular
support and the backing of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini led to the incident’s duration.
Another student leader, Ibrahim Asgharzadeh, said current
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad preferred attacking the Soviet Embassy
at the time, “The New York Times” reported on November 5. Asgharzadeh
said he is willing to meet now with former President Jimmy Carter and
apologize for the hostage crisis if that would reduce Iran-U.S.
tensions. (Bill Samii)
TEHRAN CONSIDERS, AGAIN, DISCUSSING IRAQ WITH U.S. Iranian Foreign
Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Husseini said on November 5 that Iran
is willing to consider direct talks with the United States regarding
Iraqi affairs, “If we receive an official request,” state television
reported. Washington made this request in October 2005, and Tehran
agreed to hold such talks in March 2006. Tehran subsequently ruled
out taking part in such talks. (Bill Samii)
IRANIANS WELCOME HUSSEIN DEATH VERDICT. The death sentence announced
on November 5 for former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been
welcomed in Iran. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Husseini
described this as the minimum penalty, IRNA reported. Speaking at his
weekly press briefing, Husseini said the Iraqi dictator’s other
crimes, including the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, should not be forgotten.
Iranian state radio interviewed members of the public in
Tehran, and one woman said she felt “happiness” about the death
sentence. She added: “He should not be killed only once. They should
really torture him.” A man said, “I hope they will drag the leaders
of America and Britain to the same court.” A third man said, “The
interesting point is that he is being executed by the very people who
once supported him against the Iranian people.”
Families of Iranians killed in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War have
asked for representation at Hussein’s hanging, ISNA reported on
November 7. They said representatives of Iranian, Iraqi, Kurdish, and
Kuwaiti families should put the rope around the ex-president’s
neck together.
The Saddam Hussein case is affecting Iranians who want to
visit Shia holy sites in Iraq. Mohammad Ali Delaram, director-general
of Khuzestan Province’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization,
announced on November 7 that the border crossing with Iraq is open to
those who would like to see the holy sites there, Ahvaz television
reported. He said 114 people left the province that day to visit
Karbala.
The same day, Iranian Border Guards Commander Behnam
Shariati-Far announced that Iraq has closed the Mehran border
crossing for three days, Fars News Agency reported. He referred to a
state of alert in Iraq following the death sentence passed on former
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein the previous day. Shariati-Far said
the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization will be advised accordingly, and
he speculated that the border will reopen next week. (Bill Samii)
BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT MEETS IRANIAN OFFICIALS. Iranian Supreme Leader
Ali Khamenei said in a November 6 meeting in Tehran with visiting
Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka that Iran is hostile
towards no one and is only looking after its own interests, Mehr News
Agency reported. Khamenei said “independent countries” have to have
more contact so they can withstand the plots of “the global
arrogance.” Some countries find it difficult to do this, he said,
because their governments lack popular support. Khamenei said Iran
and Belarus can expand relations in the trade sector. Lukashenka
called for stronger Minsk-Tehran times, and he concurred on the need
for strong relations between “independent states.”
Lukashenka also met with President Mahmud Ahmadinejad on
November 6. Ahmadinejad said, “We would like to see mutual
cooperation expand rapidly in different technological, scientific,
and economic fields,” IRNA reported. Lukashenka said Belarus is
interested in investing in Iran’s energy exploration sector, and
he invited Ahmadinejad to Belarus. Moscow’s Interfax news agency
quoted Lukashenka as saying, “We should exceed this target of $1
billion of our trade turnover.” Lukashenka acknowledged some
difficulties in banking and trade, although these were not specified,
and he voiced confidence that they will be resolved “within the next
few months.”
Lukashenka headed home on November 7, IRNA reported. RFE/RL
reported that the two sides signed eight agreements, some of which
involved the oil sector and the car and tractor industries. IRNA
described only a memorandum of understanding regarding expanded
bilateral cooperation. Lukashenka also visited the tomb of Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini, father of the Islamic Revolution. (Bill Samii)
IRAN THREATENS NORWAY OVER MEETING WITH MUJAHEDIN KHALQ LEADER.
Members of the Norwegian legislature, the Storting, met on November 7
with the leader of an Iranian opposition group that the United
States, Canada, and the EU regard as a terrorist organization, dpa
reported. Mujahedin Khalq Organization leader Maryam Rajavi, the
self-styled president-elect of Iran, told the Norwegians that the
Iranian regime is a threat to “all humanity.”
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry reacted angrily to Iranian
Ambassador Abdul Reza Faraji-Rad’s threat on November 3 that a
meeting with Rajavi would hurt Oslo-Tehran relations, “Aftenposten”
reported on November 4. Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Raymond
Johansen described the ambassador’s action as “unacceptable.”
Johansen added: “The threat is that this meeting could be significant
for our relations. Our present relations with Iran are not warm and
friendly…. I cannot see that this has any significance at all.”
(Bill Samii)
FORMER IRANIAN OPPOSITIONISTS COMPLAIN OF CONDITIONS IN IRAQ. More
than 200 former members of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MEK) who
are living in an Iraqi facility guarded by the U.S. military say that
it has been more than three years since they claimed refugee status
with the United Nations, Radio Farda reported on November 8. The MEK,
which uses many cover names, is considered a terrorist organization
by the U.S., Canada, and the EU. These people want to live in
countries where they can be free and secure, Radio Farda reported,
but they are living in tents instead.
One of them, Dariush Afarinandeh, told Radio Farda by
telephone that 40 members of the group began a hunger strike on
November 7 to protest their uncertain status and living conditions.
He said neither the United States — which is protecting the group
from the Iraqi people and the Iranian regime — nor the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees has provided any answers regarding their
future. Afarinandeh told Radio Farda that he and his friends wish
they were at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
because the Red Cross, human rights organizations, and the media go
there to interview the prisoners. “Here, unfortunately, no
international or human rights organization or the Red Cross has set
foot.” (Bill Samii)
ARGENTINA ISSUES INTERNATIONAL WARRANTS FOR HASHEMI-RAFSANJANI AND
OTHER OFFICIALS. A judge in Argentina has issued international arrest
warrants for an Iranian ex-president and eight other officials over a
deadly bombing more than a decade ago.
The attack, on a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in
1994, killed 85 people and injured hundreds more.
The arrest order came two weeks after Argentinian prosecutors
formally charged a number of former Iranian officials — including
ex-President Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani — for their alleged roles
in the bombing. ‘
Prosecutors say Hashemi-Rafsanjani and other senior officials
commissioned the attack. They say that while it was carried out by
the Lebanese Hizballah militia, the decision to target the Jewish
center came from the “highest authorities” within the Iranian
government.
Argentinian federal Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral issued the
arrest order for what he called “crimes against humanity” and asked
Interpol to capture the suspects.
“We activate the arrest warrant, on the one hand, with a
request to Interpol requesting the capture of certain people — and
with an international exhortation that would be transmitted by the
chancellory at the right time, soliciting that they proceed with the
detention,” Canicoba Corral said.
Hashemi-Rafsanjani, who served two presidential terms that
spanned much of the 1990s (1989-97), currently heads the Expediency
Council, an appointed body that among other things mediates between
parliament and the Guardians Council.
Judge Canicoba Corral has also requested the arrest of a
former minister of intelligence and security, Ali-Akbar
Fallahian-Khuzestani, and of foreign affairs, Ali-Akbar Velayati, as
well as onetime commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps
Mohsen Rezai and other ex-officials.
Tehran Shrugs Off Charges
Tehran has repeatedly denied any involvement the deadliest
terrorist attack ever on Argentinian soil.
On November 9, Iran’s charge d’affaires in Argentina,
Mohsen Baharvand, dismissed the investigation as politically
motivated.
“Because of the shortcomings of Argentina to find the real
perpetrators of this act and as a result of the seeds of
‘Iranophobia’ and ‘Islamophobia’ disseminated
throughout the world by the United States and Israel, again, this
[Argentinian] judicial system has accused Iran and Hizballah [of]
something which has been done 12 years ago,” Baharvand said.
Baharvand also said Iran will urge Interpol not to act on the
warrants.’
But observer Dr. Abdolkarim Lahidji, deputy head of the
Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights, said that
Interpol acts based on judicial orders and not political appeals.
“Interpol cannot go to Iran and arrest them,” Baharvand said.
“But if any of these officials whose names are on the arrest warrant
are seen in a country and the police in that country have a copy of
the arrest order, then they can be arrested — then it would be up to
that country to extradite the arrested person to Argentine for
questioning.”
Justice Served?
The arrest order might have largely symbolic significance for
the victims of the attack and their relatives, since it is highly
unlikely that Tehran would place those former officials at risk of
arrest.
Lahidji told RFE/RL that the arrest warrant suggests a body
of evidence implicating those former officials.
“If there were no such evidence, then an arrest order would
not have been issued,” Lahidji said. “Therefore [the arrest order]
demonstrates that, despite what Iranian officials have said, the
dossier is not empty.”
No one has been convicted in connection with the July 18,
1994, bombing, which reduced the seven-story Argentine-Israeli Mutual
Association (AMIA) to rubble.
Local Jewish groups and some officials have long accused Iran
and the Lebanese Hizballah of being behind the attack.
Officials Implicated
Iranian officials have been targeted by international
authorities before over alleged roles in attacks in Europe on
opposition members. In 1997, a German court issued a warrant for
former Intelligence and Security Minister Ali Fallahian in connection
with the 1992 murder of Iranian Kurdish opposition leaders at the
Mykonos restaurant in Berlin. The court said the so-called Mykonos
murders were carried out with the knowledge of Iran’s supreme
leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and former President
Hashemi-Rafsanjani. Fallahian is among those targeted in the
Argentinian warrants.
Lahidji noted that the warrants will limit travel options
open to Iranian officials.
“Since the issuing of the court order in the case known as
‘Mykonos,’ senior Iranian officials have not traveled to
European countries, and, as far as I can remember, Rafsanjani has had
several trips to Saudi Arabia and maybe to Syria,” Lahidji said. “So
merely the fact that the traveling [options] for the officials of a
country are limited is like sanctions — like the measures against
senior Iranian officials that could be put in place regarding
Iran’s nuclear case.”
In 2003, Iran’s former ambassador to Buenos Aires, Hadi
Suleimanpur, was jailed in London at Argentina’s request but
later freed for lack of evidence.
Alleged Motive
Prosecutors allege that Argentina’s decision not to
provide Iran with nuclear technology was the motive of the 1994
bombing.
Tehran has described the charges as a “Zionist plot” aimed at
diverting attention from crimes it says Israel has committed against
women and children in Palestine.
The attack on the Jewish community center in 1994 followed a
bombing two years prior that destroyed the Israeli Embassy in Buenos
Aires and killed 29 people. That case remains unsolved.
Argentina’s 300,000-strong Jewish community is South
America’s largest. (Golnaz Esfandiari)
IRANIANS TRAVEL TO BUDAPEST TO DISCUSS DRUG ABUSE. The head of
Iran’s Olympic weightlifting organization will travel to Budapest
in the coming days to meet with International Weightlifting
Federation President Tamas Ajan, IRNA reported on November 9. Nine
out of 11 Iranian athletes tested positive for using banned
substances prior to September’s World Weightlifting Championships
in the Dominican Republic. The athletes were banned from the meet,
Iran was fined $400,000, and Iran’s trainer, Bulgarian national
Georgi Ivanov, received a lifetime ban. Iran’s future in the
sport will be discussed in Budapest, as will payment of the fine.
(Bill Samii)
****************************************** ***************
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RAD IO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian Assembly of America
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    
November 13, 2006  
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
E-mail: [email protected]
ASSEMBLY CONGRATULATES ARMENIAN CAUCUS CO-CHAIRS ON THEIR ELECTION VICTORIES
Plan To Introduce Armenian Genocide Resolution Next Congress
Washington, DC – The Armenian Assembly today congratulated Congressmen
Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), Co-Chairs of
the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, on winning re-election
to the House of Representatives and welcomed their confirmation to
introduce an Armenian Genocide resolution in the next Congress.
“We will be preparing to introduce an Armenian Genocide resolution with
our colleagues Congressmen Adam Schiff (D-CA) and George Radanovich
(R-CA) next Congress,” said Pallone and Knollenberg. “With this
legislation we hope to once and for all reaffirm the historical truth
that the Ottoman Empire carried out a campaign of race extermination
against Armenians from 1915-1923. Proper recognition of this horrific
event is the first step in preventing future crimes and gives meaning
to the phrase Never Again.”
The Congressmen have also informed the Assembly of their intention
to spearhead a special Capitol Hill event commemorating the 92nd
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in April, which they have also
done in the past. During the 90th anniversary, the co-chairs organized
a pan-Armenian commemoration.
“The Assembly congratulates Congressmen Pallone and Knollenberg
on their success and thanks them for their sustained leadership,”
said Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. “We look forward to
working with them and the entire Armenian-American community and all
supporters of genocide prevention to secure passage of an Armenian
Genocide resolution in the House.”
Ardouny also noted that over 90 percent of Armenian Caucus Members
who stood for re-election on November 7, retained their seats.
Their bipartisan support will be necessary to advance a resolution on
the Armenian Genocide, as well as other Armenia-specific legislation.
“We are pleased that the majority of Members on the Armenian Caucus
were re-elected and look forward to working with them to strengthen
relations between the U.S. and Armenia, prevent attempts by Turkey
and Azerbaijan to isolate her, and once and for all reaffirm the
U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide,” said Pallone and Knollenberg.
The Armenian Assembly is the largest Washington-based nationwide
organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian
issue. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.
####
NR#2006-099
Editor’s Note: Photographs available on the Assembly’s Web site at the following links:
9/2006-099-1.JPG
Caption: Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI), right, and Executive Director Bryan Ardouny.
099/2006-099-2.jpg
Caption: Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) flanked by Board of Trustees Executive Committee Member Annie Totah and Executive Director Bryan Ardouny.
–Boundary_(ID_drCMQk5RvKWqrfjEq8ev8A)- –

ARMENIAN LOBBY IN U.S. STEPS UP PRESSURE ON BUSH
By Cihan News Agency
Zaman, Turkey
Nov 13 2006
The Armenian lobby in the United States has urged the American
administration to withdraw Richard Hoagland, appointed Ambassador to
the Armenian capital Yerevan.
Hoagland’s appointment is not welcomed by the Armenian lobby because
of his denial of the so-called Armenian genocide.
After the Democrats swept away the Republicans in last week’s elections
to take the majority in the House of Representatives and Senate, the
Armenian lobby has stepped up pressure on the U.S. administration of
George W. Bush.
If the lobby succeeds in preventing Hoagland from being ambassador in
Yerevan, it would prove that Armenian lobby has the power and political
clout to influence the U.S. president, a diplomatic source said.
This is seen as a “rehearsal” step before new draft bills on the
genocide are brought onto Congress’s agenda.
Even if the Senate blocked Hoagland’s appointment, President Bush
could appoint the ambassador bypassing the Senate.
The Armenian lobby disapproved of Hoagland because he had not referred
to an Armenian genocide in a speech given to the Senate in the past.

ANALYSIS: 99-PERCENT VOTE NOT QUITE SO CLEAR-CUT (SOUTH OSSETIA)
By Tony Halpin of The Times
The Times, UK
Nov 13 2006
The Times Moscow Correspondent examines the implications of the South
Ossetian vote for independence from Georgia
The 99-per cent vote in favour of independence for South Ossetia,
almost Soviet in the scale of its declared certainty, deepens the
bitter rift in relations between Georgia and Russia.
The breakaway region of Georgia openly declares that independence
is only a stepping stone to unification with Russia, an ambition
the Kremlin has quietly encouraged by issuing passports to South
Ossetian residents.
Moscow says that the popular mood reflected in the vote should be
respected, even if it will not break ranks with the international
community by recognising the result of the referendum.
However, the poll of 55,000 eligible voters was not as clear-cut as
South Ossetia’s pro-Moscow leadership would have the world believe.
Villages inhabited by 14,000 ethnic Georgians were effectively
denied the vote because only those with South Ossetian passports
could participate.
They want to restore ties with Georgia, severed after a separatist
war in 1992. Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili accuses Moscow
of trying to annexe part of his country and has vowed to reclaim
South Ossetia.
South Ossetia is one of several so-called “frozen conflicts” in the
former Soviet Union whose fate now appears tied up in a much larger
game of diplomatic chess over Kosovo. The UN protectorate is expected
to be offered independence from Serbia when a deadline for settling
its status expires next month.
Russia supports its Slav ally Serbia in opposing independence.
President Putin warned in September that Russia would veto any
solution that treated Kosovo differently from South Ossetia and
Georgia’s other breakaway region of Abkhazia.
Yesterday’s vote strengthens Russia’s case by underlining the UN’s
difficulty in giving precedence to the principle of self-determination
over the territorial integrity of member states.
Similar disputes are simmering in Moldova, where the pro-Moscow
Transdniester region held an independence referendum last month,
and in Nagorno-Karabakh, where the ethnic Armenian majority have
asserted their independence from Azerbaijan.
South Ossetia’s referendum comes as relations between Georgia and
Russia are already at their lowest ebb since the break-up of the
Soviet Union. Moscow has cut all transport links, imposed a trade
embargo, and refused to issue any new visas to Georgians after Tbilisi
arrested, then expelled, four Russian military officers as alleged
spies in September.