Author: admin

ANSA Notiziario Generale in Italiano
mercoledì il 19 gennaio 2005

PAPA: INAUGURA STATUA S.GREGORIO ARMENO A SAN PIETRO

CITTA’ DEL VATICANO

(ANSA) – CITTA’ DEL VATICANO, 19 GEN – Giovanni Paolo II ha
inaugurato questa mattina la statua di San Gregorio Armeno,
l’Illuminatore, sulla fiancata destra della basilica vaticana,
nella strada interna alla Citta’ del Vaticano, che prende il
nome di via delle Fondamenta. Il papa ha benedetto la statua di
marmo bianco di Carrara, commissionata dal collegio Armeno di
Roma, ed opera dello sculture armeno Kazan Khatechik. (ANSA).

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE “BLACK JANUARY” OF 1990

Pogroms of Armenian Population in Multinational Baku

Azg/arm
19 Jan 05

These days 15 years ago, on January 13-19 of 1990, when Azerbaijan was
still soviet, the People’s Front nationalistic party instigated
pogroms of Armenians in multinational Baku. The Armenian population
numbering 200 thousand was massacred, persecuted and send out of the
country by the admission of Mikhail Garbachov and the soviet army.

But this fact was no obstacle to give Garbachov a Nobel Prize for
Peace few months later. Few years later the first and the last
president of the USSR confessed that the fact that he declared
emergency and sent troops to Baku was the most serious mistake in his
political biography. This was, in fact, an apology to Azeris who had
taken few tolls on January 19-20 in Baku. But Garbachov never repented
for the death of dozens of Armenians killed by the Azeri throng on
January 13-19. Instead, he hailed the pogroms of Sumgait as
hooliganism.

Tom de Waal, British journalist and eyewitness of the events, wrote in
his “The Black Garden” that the Armenian borough of Baku and Sumgait
turned into a slaughterhouse. Armenians were thrown down from their
flats of many-storied buildings; the throng was beating Armenians to
death. Thousands of Armenians found refuge at the police stations or
the “Shafag” cinema; thousands of terrorized and tortured Armenians
reached Krasnovodsk harbor of Turkmenistan. Some of them died aboard
ships on the Caspian Sea or at Yerevan hospitals.

Rufat Ahmedov, an Azeri journalist wrote: “There is no doubt that the
Armenians underwent massacres. Few dozens out of the 200 thousand
Armeniansof Baku were killed, others fled. Many of them hid at the
Azeris’ homes. All in all, the soviet inner forces billeted on Baku
and numbering more than 11 thousand were able to prevent the pogroms”.

Undoubtedly, the pogroms were carried out by a direct order from Azeri
authorities. Let’s turn to the chronicle. Neymed Panahov and Rahim
Ghaziev from the People’s Front stated in a televised appearance on
January 12 that Baku is full of homeless refugees whereas there are
still thousands of Armenians inthe town. Abdurahman Vezirov, leader of
Azerbaijan appealed to the nation to take active measures against the
Armenians. “We hold he Center (Moscow) in our hands”, he said.

According to Zardusht Alizade, a famous Azeri political analyst, the
posters on the People’s Front office were indicating to the homes of
Armenians. According to Arif Yunusov, an independent analyst, the
death toll of Armenians was 86.

Interestingly, Yevgeny Primakov and Dmitri Yazov were in Baku when the
pogroms were carrying out. Only on January 19, when the massacres
stopped as there was no Armenian left, the soviet inner forces took to
task of settling the Azeris down. At least 130 Azeris died and
hundreds got wounded. There were innocent victims as well. The soviet
forces took a toll of 21 dead during the two-day “operation”.

Heydar Aliyev held a press conference at the Azeri diplomatic
representatives on January 20 of 1990 and condemned the “Azeri” part
of Baku pogroms. The “black January” of 1990 was the start of Aliyev’s
new political activity. Ayaz Mutalibov changed Vezirov as the head of
the country on January the 20th.

By Tatoul Hakobian

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Kurdistan Observer, MI
Jan 19 2005

Fethullah Gulen: Turkey, Terror, and Racism

By: Amed Demirhan

Jan 19, 2005

Mr. Fethullah Gulen is a very interesting and powerful personality in
Turkey. He has about five-six million followers and commands billions
of dollars in Turkey and abroad. His followers’ control major news
media, as well as schools and universities in many countries,
including in the USA. However, in last few years the Turkish military
has become uncomfortable with his growing power especially with his
influence in the police force and police intelligence organizations,
therefore he had to move to the USA in unofficial exile. Mr. Gulen
has been presented as a tolerant, moderate, enlightened religious
leader and involved in interfaith dialog, and a peaceful person.
Nevertheless, his recent speeches are totally contradictory of this
image, and one wonders if Mr. Gulen is showing his true face with his
new remarks: racism, Xenophobia and anti-Semitism? If it is so, it’s
very disappointing, but he is not alone with this type of remarks.

In November 18, 2004 Mr. Gulen warned Turkey that “some foreign
Intelligence organizations are preparing to turn Turkey in to a
bloodbath. ‘From now on mystery killings could occur.'”[1] This so
called “mystery killing in Turkey”, in 1990s about 20,000 citizens of
Turkey, predominantly Kurds and some high ranking Turks and well
known intellectuals, lost their lives and the murderer went free. Mr.
Gulen went on claiming, `In last 300 years some secret organizations
have been controlling this nation.” This is clearly a reference to
“Shabbetai sect.” The followers of Shabbetai Zevi (1625 – 1676) who
were converted to Islam, by force of Sultan, from Judaism in late
1600s. However, some anti-Semitic groups claim this sect still
practices Judaism in secret and never became Turk and Muslim and they
are controlling the Turkish state and they have been the source of
Turkish problem in last 300 years. In last two years Shabbetains
become the target of many political groups in Turkey from old school
Marxist to variety of Islamist, because of their Jewish ancestry.

Mr. Gulen not only warned the nation against foreign conspiracy and
their fifth column in Turkey; he claimed: “If Turkish Intelligent
Service (MIT), Police Force, and JITEM (Turkish Gendarmeries
Intelligence Service) collaborates together they will over come these
plots against Turkey.” (HaberX 11/18/2004). It is very interesting
that he names Gendarmeries Intelligence Service (JITEM) because this
organization had been premier responsible for not so mysterious
“mystery killing” in Turkey and protector and trainer of the Turkish
Hizbullah which had been responsible for major terrorist attacks
against Kurds, bombing Jewish and British targets in Istanbul, and
many more.

I am not the only one who says JITEM has been primarily responsible
for the mystery killings and founder and supporter terrorist Turkish
Hizbullah organization, among many others the well known

Turkish journalist, writer, and politician Ms. Nazli Ilicak[2] has
been writing about that for many years like me. In addition, many
international observers, organizations, and the USA state
department’s human right reports have pointed out these
relationships. It is a well-known fact by observers and researchers
about Turkey.

Mr. Gulen in a later interview with Turkish Daily Milliyet, and
later published in his own web page, made some racist remarks about
Kurdish intellectuals and politicians and demanded Ms. Leyla Zana,
long time jailed Kurdish parliamentarian, apologize to the state for
“making a mistake by signing a declaration for Kurdish human rights”
(1/14/05).[3] In the same interview he claimed, “The trouble makers
are not more than 500 people in South East” (Meaning Kurdistan). A
euphemism for Kurdish patriots and human right activists, but most
observers of Turkey could easily testify that Mr. Gulens’ statements
are baseless. The pro-Kurdish parties, despite all restrictions and
government threats, get more than one million votes and it is the
dominant party in Kurdistan area. One wonders why such knowledgeable
and well informed person is making these kinds of statements? Mr.
Gulen had been a student of a Kurdish thinker and philosopher
Said-eKurdi (Later called Said-e Nursi) for years, but still this
doesn’t hinder him from racism.

Recently Dogu Perincek in his weekly journal “Aydinlik” claimed that
the Worker Party of Kurdistan (PKK)/Kurdish Peoples Congress (Kongra
Gel) will create provocations and terror on behalf of the USA[4].
Interestingly, Mr. Perincek used to closely cooperate with PKK during
the most intense civil war in Turkey in 1991 – 1993. Later he claimed
he was with PKK on behalf of Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and he is
closely related to TAF, even though he was a Maoist and now a
Kemalist. The head of Nationalist Movement Party (NMP- in Turkish
MHP) and former Vice Prime Minister, Mr. Devlet, Bahceli in 1/15/05
issued a warning to Greek and Armenia Orthodox Christians in
Istanbul, if they continue practice certain religious traditions,
they will be target of the nationalist (Ulkucu). Mr. Bahceli’s party
is infamous for its terrorist past in Turkey, and even by many Turks
it’s considered a fascist party, but this

movement, too, has been related to TAF. At least one Turkish
Journalist Mr. Ismet Berkan in daily newspaper `Radikal’ reacted to
Mr. Bahceli’s treat. Mr. Berkan stated: `Is Bahceli want terror?’ And
he thinks Mr. Bahceli want terror.[5]

What make these peoples statements important? On the surface they are
representing different ideologies, but all three of them, Mr. Gulen,
Mr. Perincek, and Mr. Bahceli, are connected with different branches
of the military and police, and their targets are Kurds, Armenians,
Jews, Greeks, and of course foreign conspirators (America and
Israel). Clearly they are preparing the ground for terror, especially
with Mr. Gulen calling JITEM for duty, this is a call for civil war
and not so mysterious “mystery killings”.

Why do they want to create terror in Turkey if they are related to
the state? Historically, whenever civilian government and civil
society gets strong in Turkey, terrorism and anarchy increases. Guess
what? Then people need liberators to protect them from the terror and
TAF is ready to take over directly or indirectly in order to protect
the “nation”. Therefore, this author has been saying time and again
that everyone who believes and want to transform Turkey into a
pluralistic Federal Western style democracy should strongly and
unconditionally be opposed to every kind of violence and terror in
Turkey.

Amed Demirhan

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian leader appoints new envoy to Bulgaria

Mediamax news agency
18 Jan 05

YEREVAN

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has relieved Sevda Sevan of the
position of Armenian ambassador to Bulgaria and appointed Sergey
Manaseryan to this post, the presidential press service reported
today.

Until recently Sergey Manaseryan has been the Armenian ambassador to
Egypt.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Baku Sun, Azerbaijan
Jan 18 2005

PACE notes violations

by Zulfugar Agayev

BAKU – Andreas Gross, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe’s (PACE) rapporteur on Azerbaijan, said at the meeting of the
high European body’s Monitoring Committee on Wednesday that the
Azerbaijani authorities have failed to check up on the election
violations fixed during the country’s last presidential vote, ANS
reported.

Bakhtiyar Aliyev, an MP and a member of the Azerbaijani delegation at
the PACE, told the local TV Company that the rapporteur mentioned
violations noted by observers in 600 polling stations.

Gross reportedly said that it was mandatory for the Azerbaijani
government to check up on the election irregularities so that no
citizens remain skeptical about the legitimacy of the new President
Ilham Aliyev.

The PACE Monitoring Committee also heard from the other
co-rapporteurs regarding Azerbaijan, such as from Martinez Casan,
Daniel Goulet and Malcolm Bruce.

MP Aliyev said that as the reports were prepared before 19 December
2003, they didn’t consider the recent laws adopted by the Azerbaijani
parliament, ratified conventions and the latest presidential decree
of pardon.

A total of 160 prisoners, including former interior minister Iskender
Hamidov, former head of Interpol’s Baku office Ilgar Safikhanov, and
also former members of the Special Police Force (OPON), were freed
from jail in President Aliyev’s amnesty decree signed on 30 December.

The decree also reduced the sentence terms of four other prisoners.

MP Aliyev noted that the Monitoring Group’s meeting didn’t criticise
the results of Azerbaijan’s 15 October presidential vote and that
Gross stressed Aliyev’s absolute victory in the election.

The rapporteurs also stressed the country’s failure to meet all the
commitments it took before joining the Council of Europe (CE) in
2001, Aliyev said.

However, Murtuz Aleskerov, speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament,
said the country has fulfilled `99 percent’ of all its obligations.
Aleskerov added the other commitments would be fulfilled soon.

Debates on Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia’s honouring of the CE
obligations are planned for the winter session of the Assembly on 26
January.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Baku Sun, Azerbaijan
Jan 18 2005

New talks for Karabakh

by Mammad Bagirov

Eldar Namazov, former Presidential aide
for Heydar Aliyev is skeptical
about movements to resolve
the Nagorno (Daghlig) Karabakh
conflict in 2004. His concern
lies with a lack of
basis.. (Sun Photo by Samir Aliyev)

A new stage in settling the conflict in the Nagorno (Daghlig)Karabakh
region of Azerbaijan may begin this year, Ilham Aliyev, the
Azerbaijani president said in his New Year’s address to the nation,
RFE/RL reported.

Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan is ready to resume talks on the issue.

At the same time, he added that there has been no any change in
Azerbaijan’s stance: the conflict must be settled without violating
the territorial integrity of the country.

Conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia around the mainly Armenian
populated Nagorno Karabakh region started in 1988. During the
conflict, Azerbaijan lost control over 20% of its territory,
including the Nagorno (Daghlig) Karabakh region. A ceasefire was
reached in 1994, but the situation has yet to be resolved on a
permanent basis.

Aliyev said he hopes international mediators such as OSCE’s Minsk
Group will play a more active role in solving the problem.

For his part, Vardan Oskanyan, Armenia’s minister of foreign affairs,
in an interview with Russia’s Interfax news agency said that last
year saw positive movements towards the process of the conflict’s
settlement. He elaborated by saying that last year was remarkable if
not only for the resumption of the dialogue, after a long break,
between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

`It provided some clarity to our plans for the next year, and I think
in 2004, this dialogue will continue,’ Oskanyan said.

The presidents of the two conflicting nations met in Geneva last
December and agreed to continue with the negotiations. It was the
first meeting of Azerbaijan’s new leader Ilham Aliyev with his
Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharyan.

Earlier last month, co-chairmen of OSCE’s Minsk Group paid a visit to
the region and met with the two leaders. Although there had been
hopes that the international mediators would present new ideas for
the settlement of the conflict, no such ideas were offered.

Oskanyan, Armenia’s foreign minister said that during this last visit
of OSCE’s Minsk Group’ co-chairmen, they `didn’t present new
approaches’, although he admitted that there were such `expectations’
in Armenia. `Our expectations were based on the co-chairmen’s
statements made before their visit to the region,’ Oskanyan added.
`They probably considered that it’s not an ideal time for the
advancement of new ideas, especially in Azerbaijan,’ he said.In
regards to the expectations of Armenian leadership for the 2004 year,
Oskanyan said `we hope that all agreements that were reached during
the talks with former Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev won’t be
lost and will serve as a basis for the continuation of negotiations.’

Commenting on Ilham Aliyev’s New Year’s address, Azerbaijani
political scientist Rasim Musabekov told Baku Sun that this could
mean `some efforts’ may be taken to intensify the process of the
settlement this year.

`It’s obvious that after solving all the issues related to the
presidential elections that took place in both countries last year,
both sides will renew the talks on Nagorno (Daghlig) Karabakh
problem,’ said Musabekov, adding that the main question is how
productive this dialogue would be. The political scientist added that
he isn’t optimistic on the results of future talks.

`I don’t see any grounds to consider that both sides are ready for
compromise,’ he added.

Musabekov went on to say that limit of compromises on Azerbaijan’s
side had been practically exhausted and new compromises would lead to
the loss of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over its territories.

Another local political expert, former president’s aide, Eldar
Namazov, is also skeptical about productivity of negotiations. `What
we (representatives of the Azerbaijani community) have seen to date
isn’t enough to predict that radical changes could take place by the
end of 2004,’ he said in an interview with Baku Sun.

The political expert agrees with Musabekov, stressing that Azerbaijan
has made all possible concessions to Armenia during negotiations.

“Azerbaijan proposed the highest level of of autonomy to Nagorno
(Daghlig) Karabakh region and further compromises would lead to
independence, which isn’t acceptable,’ said Namazov.

Namazov also pointed out that there had been no serious changes in
the stance of Armenia’s leadership, which continues to demand either
independence for Nagorno (Daghlig) Karabakh region from Azerbaijan or
its annexation to Armenia. Namazov added that there is nothing new in
the activities of OSCE’s Minsk group. `The co-chairmen continue to
say that both sides should reach an agreement on their own, and that
the mediators have no intentions to pressure either side,’ he said.

In regards to statements from Armenian foreign minister about his
nation’s `hopes’ to renew talks on the basis of previous agreements
reached with former Azerbaijan president Heydar Aliyev, Namazov said
that Armenian officials `repeatedly’ claimed that such Agreements had
been reached in Paris (France) and Key West (U.S.).

Meanwhile, Russian news agency Rosbalt reported that Arkadi Gukasyan,
head of the self-proclaimed Nagorno Karabakh Republic, said in his
New Year’s speech that the main tasks for leadership of this
unrecognized territory in 2004 will be to continue the struggle for
independence and international recognition.

`All of our foreign policy activity in the New Year will be aimed on
solving these crucial tasks,’ Gukasyan said.

The former Azerbaijani leader and his Armenian counterpart met in
France and the U.S. in 2001 to discuss prospects of conflict
settlement around Nagorno (Daghlig) Karabakh region. Azerbaijani
officials claimed that during these negotiations no outcomes were
reached while their Armenian counterparts claim that the presidents
agreed on the `principles’ of a settlement.

`There is such a rule in diplomacy – either all or nothing, which
means that when the talks are still ongoing and no mutual consent has
been reached on all issues, in reality, there is no agreement,’
elaborated Namazov. `Suppose that such an agreement exists and
consists of ten items. Even if both sides agreed on nine of these
items, but there is no consent on the tenth it is considered in
diplomacy, that there is still no agreement,’ he added.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANSA Notiziario Generale in Italiano
Martedì, Il 18 Gennaio 2005

PAPA: DOMANI INAUGURA NUOVA STATUA SUL LATO ESTERNO S.PIETRO

CITTA’ DEL VATICANO

(ANSA) – CITTA’ DEL VATICANO, 18 GEN – Domani, prima
dell’udienza generale, Giovanni Paolo II inaugurera’ una nuova
statua, che rappresenta San Gregorio l’Illuminatore, collocata
in una delle nicchie di sinistra della basilica vaticana. Il
papa, come di consueto, benedira’ la statua, commissionata dal
collegio Armeno di Roma: e’ di marmo bianco di Carrara, alta
5,64 metri e pesa circa 20 tonnellate. E’ opera dello scultore
armeno Kazan Khatechik

Gregorio l’Illuminatore e’ l’apostolo degli Armeni, nazione
che si converti’ al cristianesimo nel 301. Nato nel 260 circa,
sopravvisse ad una strage della sua famiglia e venne educato
alla fede cristiana dalla nutrice.

Vicino al re Tridate, si rifiuto’ di sacrificare agli dei
pagani, come richiesto dal sovrano. Per questo fu imprigionato,
ma rilasciato in un secondo tempo dallo stesso Tridate ammalato.
La sua liberazione coincise con la guarigione del re: da questo
episodio deriva l’origine cristiana degli armeni, un popolo che
anche recentemente ha molto sofferto in persecuzioni e stragi, a
causa della fede.

Alcune reliquie del santo sono nella chiesa di San Gregorio
Armeno a Napoli, altre a Nardo’ e Costantinopoli. La piu
importante e’ il braccio destro, con cui in Armenia si benedice
il nuovo Katholikos. (ANSA).

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANSA Notiziario Generale in Italiano
Martedì, Il 18 Gennaio 2005

IRAQ: 46 SOLDATI ARMENI IN MISSIONE ‘UMANITARIA’

(ANSA-AFP) – EREVAN, 18 GEN – Un gruppo di 46 militari armeni
ha lasciato oggi Erevan per il Kuwait, da dove proseguira’ per
una missione a carattere “umanitario” in Iraq, sotto il
comando del contingente polacco.

“E’ un giorno molto importante per le forze armate armene.
Non possiamo restare fuori dal processo internazionale per la
stabilita’ e la pace nella nostra regione e in particolare in
Iraq”, ha detto il ministro armeno Serge Sarkissian.

Il contingente armeno comprende anche tre medici e un’unita
per la bonifica dalle mine e sara’ di stanza a Kerbala e Hilla.

Il parlamento armeno aveva approvato a fine dicembre la
decisione del governo di inviare per la prima volta dei
militari, non combattenti, in Iraq.

L’opposizione e le organizzazioni della gioventu’ armena
hanno protestato contro questa decisione, preoccupati che la
diaspora armena in Iraq, circa 20.000 persone, venga esposta
alle vendette della guerriglia irachena.(ANSA-AFP)

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OPPOSITION HUMAN RIGHTS-DEMOCRACY PARTY INDIGNANT AT BIOGRAPHY OF MANY
GOVERNMENT MEMBERS IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, JANUARY 18. ARMINFO. The Opposition Human Rights-Democracy
Party distributed a statement, Tuesday, wherein it named the officials
who violated the RA Law On Conscription, in the opinion of the
party-members.

In the statement, the party’s Leader Ruben Torosyan expresses
indignation at the new appointment of Gegham Gharibjanyan to the post
of Deputy Foreign Minister of the country and Vazgen Khachikyan to the
post of Chairman of the National Fund of Social Welfare as they did
not serve in the army. The list includes in it Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan, Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan, Justice Minister David
Haroutiunyan, Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan, Minister for Education
and Science Sergo Yeritsyan, Health Minister Norayr Davtyan,
Agricultural Minister David Lokyan, Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan,
Minister for Culture and Youth Affairs Hovik Hoveyan, Minister for
Labor and Social Affairs Aghvan Vardanyan, Minister for Finance and
Economy Vardan Khachatryan, as well as Head of the Presidential Staff
Artashes Tumanyan and CB Chairman Tigran Sargsyan. The statement also
says that 65% of politicians in Armenia evaded army.

Ruben Torosyan calls the authorities to take into account this
circumstance and observe the letter of the law. At the same time, he
refers to the positive experience of the neighboring country, which he
does not name, where the authorities made officials to go to army.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Imperative of day
Editorial

Yerkir/arm
January 14, 2005

People often ask why foreigners try to fake up our history and we only
try to protest against it. We should realize that in many foreign
countries branches like culture, education and science are adjusted to
governmental needs and policies.

It is these policies and foundations but not individuals that act
against us. These institutions shape not only their knowledge of
history but also arrange foreign countries in the niches they find
appropriate to their interests.

Our neighbors, having unsettled territorial disputes with us, develop
anti-Armenian science projects and relevant policies. Namely, our two
neighbors, Turkey and Azerbaijan develop scenarios denying the right
of Armenians for existence on our lands and on the map that today’s
Armenian republic covers.

In terms of informational globalization, the false images of Armenia
appear in international instances and undermine our international
position. Thus, the imperative of the day is to use our cultural,
scientific and informational facilities for strategic response to
those mutilations.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress