ASBAREZ Online [08-23-2006]

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08/23/2006
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP://WWW.ASBAREZ. COM 1. Lebanon ARF Meets with Defense Minister 2. Turkish Troop Presence in Lebanon Would Perpetuate Instability 3. Evans to Vacate Ambassadorial Post Early Next Month 4. Armenia's Population at 3,219,400 5. Azeri Foreign Minister Ready to Meet With Oskanian 6. Syria Warns Against Deployment of Troops 1. Lebanon ARF Meets with Defense Minister BEIRUT (Aztag)--A delegation representing the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Central Committee of Lebanon met Tuesday with Lebanese defense minister Elias Mur, who hosted the meeting at his residence. Hovig Mkhitarian and Hagop Pakradouni praised the defense minister and the Lebanese army for their resolute posturing during the Israeli attacks and expressed their condolences for the soldiers who were killed as a result of the war. The two sides also assessed the current security and defense issues of the country, emphasizing the important role the Army will play in protecting the borders and ensuring the national security of Lebanon. The delegation also expressed its support for the United Nations cease-fire resolution and conveyed the ARF's vehement opposition to the proposed participation of Turkey as part of the mandated peacekeeping force to be deployed in southern Lebanon. Mur told the delegation that he was very familiar with the ARF position and the concerns that the Armenian community has regarding the deployment of Turkish forces in Lebanon. He emphasized the need for popular Lebanese consent for any troop deployment in the country. 2. Turkish Troop Presence in Lebanon Would Perpetuate Instability The European-Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy welcomes the cease-fire that has put an end to the Israeli bombings of Lebanon and to the suffering of the people. The Federation also supports the International Community's current efforts aimed at the normalization of the region under the aegis of the United Nations. However, the European-Armenian Federation is gravely concerned about the possibility of Turkish troops participating in the peacekeeping force in this sensitive region. "Let's remember that Turkey is the old colonial power of the Near East with clear territorial ambitions vis-à-vis Arab countries. Turkey's record of genocide, torture and suffering is permanently inscribed in the collective memory of the Lebanese. Furthermore, Turkey's current abuse of its own ethnic minorities, including those of Arab nationality, is a well-known reality in the region," declared Hilda Tchoboian, chairwoman of the European-Armenian Federation. "The presence of Turkish troops in an international force would be a serious mistake with dire consequences for the peacekeeping operations. Turkey is not a peacemaker. Turkish forces will only aggravate the current delicate situation in South Lebanon by adding Turkey's own regional liabilities to the present complexities in Lebanon. After so much suffering, the Lebanese people deserve better,» added Hilda Tchoboian. The European-Armenian Federation also emphasizes that Turkish troops would be particularly ineffective and inappropriate due to the fundamental conflict of interest between their responsibility as credible and responsible peacekeepers and the higher national interests of Turkey anchored in the extensive requirements of its military and strategic alliance with Israel. The Federation therefore urges the International Community to make a more suitable choice for the makeup of the UN peacekeeping force. 3. Evans to Vacate Ambassadorial Post Early Next Month YEREVAN (Yerkir)--US Ambassador to Armenia John Evans told Arminfo news agency Tuesday that he will complete his tour of duty in Armenia and return to the US in early September At the same time, Evans refused to comment on the Senate's ongoing process to approve Richard Hoagland, the Administration's nominee to serve as the next ambassador to Armenia saying, "I do not comment on the activity of the Congress." The State Department, with the blessing of the White House, fired ambassador. Evans in response to his February 2005 statements at Armenian American community functions, during which he properly characterized the Armenian Genocide as "genocide." Following his statements, Ambassador. Evans was forced to issue a statement clarifying that his references to the Armenian Genocide were his personal views and did not represent a change in US policy. He subsequently issued a correction to this statement, replacing a reference to the genocide with the word "tragedy." The American Foreign Service Association, which had decided to honor Ambassador. Evans with the "Christian A. Herter Award," recognizing creative thinking and intellectual courage within the Foreign Service, reportedly rescinded the award following pressure from the State Department in the days leading up to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Washington, DC to meet with President Bush. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee delayed Hoagland's confirmation hearing, pending concrete answers by the candidate to questions by nine out of the 18 Senators on the committee regarding the US policy on the Armenian Genocide. 4. Armenia's Population at 3,219,400 YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)--As of July 1 of this year, there were 3,219,400 people residing in Armenia up from 3,215,800 at the same time last year, announced the Armenia's Census Bureau on Wednesday. According to the report, 64.6 percent of the population is between the ages of 18-65, while 12.7 percent are above the age and 22.7 percent are under that age bracket. From January to July the population increased by 3,144 people, down 12 percent from the same time last year. There were 17,513 births and 14,369 deaths during that period. During the same period last year there were 17,447 births and 13,873 deaths. 5. Azeri Foreign Minister Ready to Meet With Oskanian BAKU (Armenpress)--Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov Wednesday expressed readiness to meet with his Armenian counterpart Vartan Oskanian within the framework of "Prague process". According to Day.az, Mamedyarov said that at present the time and place of the meeting are being discussed. "Yesterday I was talking with the French co-chair of the Minsk Group. The co-chairs have forwarded several suggestions about the place and time of the meeting. Azerbaijan has already expressed its agreement," the foreign minister said.- In Stepanakert, President of Nagorno Karabakh Republic Arkady Ghoukassian Tuesday met with the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk who presented the results of the monitoring conducted on the same day on the Karabakh-Azeri border. Karabakh presidential press service told Armenpress that during the meeting the representative said that the monitoring was conducted according to the planned schedule and no violation of the cease fire had been registered. 6. Syria Warns Against Deployment of Troops BEIRUT (AP)--Israel's foreign minister said Wednesday the situation in Lebanon was "explosive" while Syria's president says the deployment of international troops along the Syria-Lebanon border would be a "hostile" act. The escalating rhetoric came as the 10-day cease-fire was shaken by the deaths of three Lebanese soldiers killed defusing a missile and an Israeli killed by a land mine in south Lebanon. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora urged the US to help end Israel's sea and air blockade, saying his country was making "every effort" to secure its borders. "Time is working against those who would like to see this resolution applied," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said after talks her French counterpart, Phillipe Douste-Blazy. "We are now in the most sensitive and explosive position." "We therefore need extremely quick action from the international community," she said. Syrian President Bashar Assad was quoted as saying he would consider such a deployment along the Lebanon-Syria border a "hostile" move toward his country. "First, this means creating a hostile condition between Syria and Lebanon," Assad told Dubai Television, according to excerpts released by the TV station ahead of the broadcast. "Second, it is a hostile move toward Syria and naturally it will create problems." Assad did not elaborate on that point in the excerpts. But Finland's foreign minister, after meeting with his Syrian counterpart, said Damascus threatened to close the frontier with Lebanon if UN peacekeepers were deployed there. "They will close their borders for all traffic in case UN troops will be deployed along the Lebanon-Syria border," Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said after meeting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem in Helsinki. Finland holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. "This closing of the border would certainly have negative consequences for the people living in the region," Tuomioja told reporters after his meeting with Moallem. An Aug. 11 UN resolution outlined a cease-fire agreement that called for a 15,000-member force of international peacekeepers and another 15,000 Lebanese army troops to deploy to southern Lebanon, as Israeli troops withdraw. But efforts to raise the force were moving slowly with the European Union nations expected to lead it reluctant to commit troops without safeguards to ensure they do not get sucked into the conflict. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would not lift its air and sea blockade until international peacekeepers were deployed at the Beirut international airport and along the Lebanese border with Syria. Hezbollah's vast arsenal of rockets and other weapons is believed to originate in Iran and reach the guerrillas across the Syrian border. "The United States can support us in putting real pressure on Israel to lift the siege," the Western-backed Saniora said Wednesday. His government has called the blockade a violation of the UN-brokered cease-fire, and has asked the international community to intervene. Olmert's tough stance on the blockade appeared to be an attempt to pressure the international community to speed the dispatch of a vanguard of the 15,000-strong force of international peacekeepers called for by the cease-fire agreement. Sporadic violence has marked the UN-brokered cease-fire that took hold Aug. 14 and ended 34 days of ferocious fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. But the truce has held thus far. The cease-fire was tested Wednesday when the Israeli army fired artillery into a disputed border region in response to what it said was an attack from inside Lebanon. Lebanese security and military officials said there had been no fire by either Hezbollah or the Lebanese army in the region. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk with reporters. Israel claimed there was a three-hour exchange of fire in the disputed Israeli-occupied Chebaa Farms area, where the borders of Lebanon, Syria and Israel meet. Lebanese security officials said Israeli military fired artillery into the village of Chebaa, which is controlled by Lebanon. The officials said the artillery fire landed near Lebanese army positions but no one was hurt. Lebanese troops entered the village of Chebaa last week for the first time in four decades as part of an eventual deployment of 15,000 troops in southern Lebanon under the cease-fire deal. Lebanon has demanded that Israel hand over maps of the mine emplacements in the region. Hezbollah guerrillas also have laid mines in the south before and during the recent fighting to stop the Israeli army's ground push. Three Lebanese soldiers were killed Wednesday near the village of Tibnine while they dismantled an unexploded missile in southern Lebanon, Lebanese security officials said. Earlier in the day, an Israeli soldier was killed and three others were wounded by a land mine Israel planted in southern Lebanon, Israeli officials said. The soldier was the second casualty since the truce. The Israeli military said it could not confirm the incident. Hundreds of Israeli troops have remained on the positions in southern Lebanon they occupied during the war as they wait for a UN peacekeeping force to move in and guarantee a buffer zone between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas. Diplomats said EU talks in Belgium on Wednesday were unlikely to produce a breakthrough, though there were expectations that nations may come forward with at least tentative offers of more troops ahead of a meeting scheduled Friday with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Saniora also said Wednesday his government would accept a $230 million aid package offered by President Bush, despite widespread criticism in Lebanon of US support for Israel. 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