Author: Ani Tigranian

`Grant Her Your Spirit’
America (americamagazine.org)
Vol. 192, No. 4
February 7, 2005
By Phyllis Zagano
The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Greece voted in Athens on Oct.
8, 2004, to restore the female diaconate. All the members of the Holy
Synod – 125 metropolitans and bishops and Archbishop Christodoulos, the
head of the church of Greece – had considered the topic. The decision does
not directly affect the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, which is
an eparchy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Greek
ecclesiastical provinces of the Ecumenical Patriarchate received their
independence from Constantinople in 1850 and were proclaimed the
Autocephalous Church of Greece.
While women deacons had virtually disappeared by the ninth century, the
facts of their existence were well known, and discussion of the
restoration of the female diaconate in Orthodoxy began in the latter
half of the 20th century. Two books on the topic by Evangelos Theodorou,
Heroines of Love: Deaconesses Through the Ages (1949) and The
`Ordination’ or `Appointment’ of Deaconesses (1954), documented the
sacramental ordination of women in the early church. His work was
complemented in the Catholic Church by an article published by Cipriano
Vagaggini, a Camaldolese monk, in Orientalia Christiana Periodica in
1974. The most significant scholarship on the topic agrees that women
were sacramentally ordained to the diaconate, inside the iconostasis at
the altar, by bishops in the early church. Women deacons received the
diaconal stole and Communion at their ordinations, which shared the same
Pentecostal quality as the ordination of a bishop, priest or male deacon.
Despite the decline of the order of deaconesses in the early Middle
Ages, Orthodoxy never prohibited it. In 1907 a Russian Orthodox Church
commission reported the presence of deaconesses in every Georgian
parish; the popular 20th-century Orthodox saint Nektarios (1846-1920)
ordained two women deacons in 1911; and up to the 1950’s a few Greek
Orthodox nuns became monastic deaconesses. In 1986 Christodoulos, then
metropolitan of Demetrias and now archbishop of Athens and all of
Greece, ordained a woman deacon according to the `ritual of St.
Nektarios’ – the ancient Byzantine text St. Nektarios used.
Multiple inter-Orthodox conferences called for the restoration of the
order, including the Interorthodox Symposium at Rhodes, Greece, in 1988,
which plainly stated, `The apostolic order of deaconess should be
revived.’ The symposium noted that `the revival of this ancient order
should be envisaged on the basis of the ancient prototypes testified to
in many sources and with the prayers found in the Apostolic
Constitutions and the ancient Byzantine liturgical books.’
At the Holy Synod meeting in Athens in 2004, Metropolitan Chrysostom of
Chalkidos initiated discussion on the subject of the role of women in
the Church of Greece and the rejuvenation of the order of female
deacons. In the ensuing discussion, some older bishops apparently
disagreed with the complete restoration of the order. Anthimos, bishop
of Thessaloniki, later remarked to the Kathimerini English Daily, `As
far as I know, the induction of women into the police and the army was a
failure, and we want to return to this old matter?’
While the social-service aspect of the female diaconate is well known,
the Holy Synod decided that women could be promoted to the diaconate
only in remote monasteries and at the discretion of individual bishops.
The limiting decision to restore only the monastic female diaconate did
not please some synod members. The Athens News Agency reported that
Chrysostomos, bishop of Peristeri, said, `The role of female deacons
must be in society and not in the monasteries.’ Other members of the
Holy Synod agreed and stressed that the role of deaconesses should be
social – for example, the conferring of last rites on the sick.
The vote of the Holy Synod to restore the female diaconate under limited
circumstances may be the most progressive idea the Orthodox Church can
bring to the world. The document does not use the word ordination, but
specifically allows bishops to consecrate (kathosiosi) senior nuns in
monasteries of their eparchies. But bishops who choose to promote women
to the diaconate have only the ancient Byzantine liturgy that performs
the same cheirotonia, laying on of hands, for deaconesses as in each
major order: bishop, priest and deacon. Even so, some (mostly Western)
scholars have argued that the historical ordination of women deacons was
not a cheirotonia, or ordination to major orders, but a cheirothesia, a
blessing that signifies installation to a minor order. The confusion is
understandable, since the two terms were sometimes used interchangeably,
but other scholars are equally convinced that women were ordained to the
major order of the diaconate. The proof will be in the liturgy the
bishops actually use. At present there is only one liturgy and one
tradition by which to create a woman deacon in the Byzantine rite, and
it is demonstrably a ritual of ordination for the `servant who is to be
ordained to the office of a deaconess.’
Even the document on the diaconate issued by the Vatican’s International
Theological Commission in 2002 admits that `Canon 15 of the Council of
Chalcedon (451) seems to confirm the fact that deaconesses really were
`ordained’ by the imposition of hands (cheirotonia).’ Despite the
pejorative use of quotation marks here and elsewhere in the document
when historical ordinations of women deacons are mentioned, this Vatican
commission seems unwilling to deny the history to which the Church of
Greece has now newly returned. Further, the Vatican document points out
that the practice of ordaining women deacons according to the Byzantine
liturgy lasted at least into the eighth century. It does not review
Orthodox practice after 1054.
The rejuvenation of the order of deaconess in the Church of Greece is
expected to begin during the winter of 2004-5. The contemporary
ordination (cheirotonia) of women provides even more evidence and
support for the restoration of the female diaconate in the Catholic
Church, which has acknowledged the validity of Orthodox sacraments and
orders. Despite the distinction in Canon 1024 – `A baptized male alone
receives sacred ordination validly’ – one can presume the possibility of a
derogation from the law, as suggested by the Canon Law Society of
America in 1995, to allow for diaconal ordination of women. (The history
of Canon 1024 is clearly one of attempts to restrict women from
priesthood, not from the diaconate.)
In fact, the Catholic Church has already indirectly acknowledged valid
ordinations of women by the Armenian Apostolic Church, one of the
churches of the East that ordains women deacons. There are two recent
declarations of unity – agreements of mutual recognition of the validity
of sacraments and of orders – between Rome and the Armenian Church, one
signed by Paul VI and Catholicos Vasken I in 1970, another between John
Paul II and Catholicos Karekin I in 1996.
These agreements are significant, for the Armenian Apostolic Church has
retained the female diaconate into modern times. The Armenian
Catholicossate of Cilicia has at least four ordained women. One, Sister
Hrip’sime, who lives in Istanbul, is listed in the official church
calendar published by the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey as follows:
`Mother Hrip’sime Proto-deacon Sasunian, born in Soghukoluk, Antioch, in
1928; became a nun in 1953; Proto-deacon in 1984; Mother Superior in
1998. Member of the Kalfayian Order.’ Mother Hrip’sime has worked to
restore the female diaconate as an active social ministry, and for many
years was the general director of Bird’s Nest, a combined orphanage,
school and social service center near Beiruit, Lebanon. Her diaconate,
and that of the three other women deacons, is far from monastic.
The future Catholic response to the documented past and the changing
present promises to be interesting. The tone of the International
Theological Commission document reveals an attempt to rule out women
deacons, but the question is left remarkably open: `It pertains to the
ministry of discernment which the Lord established in his church to
pronounce authoritatively on this question.’
It is becoming increasingly clear that despite the Catholic Church’s
unwillingness to say yes to the restoration of the female diaconate as
an ordained ministry of the Catholic Church, it cannot say no.
Prayer for the Ordination of a Woman Deacon
O Eternal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of man
and of woman, who replenished with the Spirit Miriam, and Deborah, and
Anna, and Huldah; who did not disdain that your only-begotten Son should
be born of a woman; who also in the tabernacle of the testimony, and in
the temple, did ordain women to be keepers of your holy gates – look down
now upon this your servant who is to be ordained to the office of a
deaconess, and grant her your Holy Spirit, that she may worthily
discharge the work which is committed to her to your glory, and the
praise of your Christ, with whom glory and adoration be to you and the
Holy Spirit for ever. Amen.’
– Apostolic Constitutions, No. 8 (late fourth century)
Phyllis Zagano is adjunct associate professor of philosophy and
religious studies at Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y., and author of
Holy Saturday: An Argument for the Restoration of the Female Diaconate
in the Catholic Church (Crossroad, 2000).
For information about America, go to
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Anadolu Agency
Jan 29 2005
Aslan: According To Official Figures, About Ten Thousand Turkish
People Had Been Massacred By Armenians In Erzurum
Anadolu Agency: 1/29/2005
ERZURUM (AA) – Documents about massacres committed by the Armenians
against Turkish people in eastern city of Erzurum and adjacent areas
between the years of 1918 and 1920 were compiled by Assistant Prof.
Betul Aslan of Ataturk University in a book entitled ”Armenian
Events in Erzurum”.
The book includes a brief history of Armenians in Anatolia,
documents about massacres committed by Armenians, results of
excavations in the city, testimonies of those who witnessed the
massacres, and recollections of Russian, German and American
officials in the region such as Russian officer Tverdo Khlebov,
Russian nurse Tatyana Karameli, German journalist Paul Wietz and
former Council of Germany in Erzurum Edgar Andres.
In an interview with the A.A, Aslan said, ”Armenians have been
doing everything in their power to keep their baseless allegations
high on world’s agenda. There was not any single document proving
their allegations about such a genocide.”
”But, Armenian gangs committed massacres in Erzurum after
Russian soldiers withdrew from the city. According to official
figures, about 10 thousand Turkish people were killed by Armenians in
Erzurum. However, unofficial figures gave the number of slain people
as 50 thousand,” she added.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Transitions Online, Czech Republic
Jan 24 2005
Unwanted Brotherly Aid

by Anna Hakobyan, TOL correspondent
Armenia bucks the trend and sends troops to Iraq, to the chagrin of
Iraq’s Armenian community.
YEREVAN, Armenia–Other countries may be pulling their troops out or
thinking of doing so, but there is one country–Armenia–that is
doing the reverse: On 18 January, Armenia sent troops to Iraq for the
first time.
Yerevan’s small contingent of 46 noncombat servicemen will operate in
the Shiite city of Karbala and the nearby town of al-Hila in a
multinational division headed by Poland–which is itself cutting its
number of troops in Iraq and thinking of pulling them out entirely.
Most of the Armenian servicemen will drive military trucks, while 10
sappers will bring experience gained from de-mining Armenia’s border
with Azerbaijan after the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, a former
part of Soviet Azerbaijan that is now controlled by ethnic Armenians.
The unit may be small, the mission strictly “humanitarian,” and the
deployment long in the offing (Yerevan promised Washington a year ago
that it would deploy troops), but the decision has spurred
significant controversy in a country that is not only close to the
conflict, but also has a sizable diaspora within Iraq.
The results of a Vox Populi opinion poll published on 12 January
showed that 60 percent of Armenians are against sending troops to
Iraq, and only 6 percent are in favor.
Those divisions were reflected in the parliament when, on 24
December, it voted in favor of the deployment. The leading opposition
alliance, Artarutyun, broke a 10-month boycott of the parliament to
vote and found that it was joined in opposition by a member of the
three-party ruling coalition, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Party (Dashnaktstyun). The motion was carried by 91 votes to 23.
Even the deputy defense minister, Yuri Khachaturov, afterwards went
on record as saying, “I am not delighted with the decision to send
our troops there or with the war in general.”
“If Armenian servicemen were sent to Karabakh to protect their home
country, I would understand this,” said one of the leaders of the
Artarutyun bloc, Aram Sargssian, “but I cannot understand seeing off
Armenian servicemen with fanfare to a country that is in a war for
its independence, its own interests.”
While that that statement highlights deeper questions about the
United States’ campaign in Iraq, the main concern for Artarutyun and
Khachaturov–and for much of the public–is the possible threat to
the community of 20,000 to 28,000 Armenians living in Iraq.
In August, an Armenian church was one of five churches bombed in a
wave of attacks on Iraq’s Christian community. Two Armenian churches
were among the targets in subsequent attacks in October, November,
and December. At the same time the Armenian troops were deployed, the
dangers for Christians were highlighted by the 17 January abduction
of Basile Georges Casmoussa, the Roman Catholic archbishop in Mosul.
(He has since been released.)
The fear is that the deployment will add fuel to the flames. Iraq’s
Armenian community itself has been urging the Armenian government not
to send troops to Iraq, believing it will immediately result in
attacks on Iraqi Armenians. Artarutyun’s Sargssian believes the
effects of the deployment are already apparent. “In the United Arab
Emirates, Lebanon, and Syria, anti-Armenian sentiment is already
emerging,” he told the daily Aravot on 21 January.
Similar concerns were factors in Yerevan’s initial decision to remain
on the sidelines after the 2003 invasion. The government came out
neither in explicit support of nor opposition to the U.S.-led war.
WHY THE CHANGE?
Ministers have been quite open in explaining why the government has
changed its position. After the parliamentary vote, Prime Minister
Andranik Margarian told the newspaper Haiastani Hanrapetutiun that
“Armenia’s presence is primarily symbolic and for political
purposes.” The major supporter of the move, Defense Minister Serzh
Sargssian, has argued that the deployment is needed if Armenia is to
develop its military cooperation with the United States.
It is also a preventative measure designed to avoid isolation, as
Azerbaijan and Georgia already have troops in Iraq.
While seeking to maximize the geopolitical benefits, the government
has sought to reassure the Armenian public, stressing repeatedly that
the deployment is “humanitarian” in character.
Washington-based security analyst Richard Giragosian believes the
government’s calculations are accurate and that the deployment
“offers significant geopolitical gains for Armenia.”
“One lesson for tiny Armenia from [11 September 2001] was the need to
seize the new opportunities while minimizing the risks from such a
dynamic shift in international security. In the wake of 9/11, for
example, Azerbaijan was able to exploit and exaggerate its role or
entry in the war on terrorism to a much greater and more effective
degree than Armenia.”
The situation was the same prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
“Armenia was portrayed as a reluctant or even resistant nation,”
Giragosian says. “In U.S. eyes at that time, the misperceptions of
Armenian policy and the rather inaccurate image of Azerbaijan as the
new loyal ally were only strengthened by the twin perceptions of
Armenia as little more than a Russian vassal or garrison state, or as
a weak, isolated state thoroughly controlled by its Russian ‘ally.'”
“Given the participation of its neighbors, Armenia cannot afford to
abstain from strategic engagement” such as involvement in Iraq,
Giragosian believes.
However, Armenia’s contingent will remain the smallest from the
Caucasus. Azerbaijan has 150 troops in Iraq, and Georgia plans to
increase its force to 850. The Armenian contingent’s tour of service
is six months. It is unclear whether the mission would continue after
that.
Though primarily a gesture in relations with the United States, the
deployment “conforms to the overall trajectory of Armenian military
strategy” and to Armenia’s broader balancing act, Giragosian argues.
“Armenia has both participated in Russian-led war games and training
simulations within the Collective Security Treaty Organization as
well as with the U.S. and other Western states within the NATO
Partnership for Peace program,” says Giragosian.
Armenia’s borders continue to be patrolled by Russian troops, and it
retains very close political, economic, and military ties with
Moscow.
More generally, Giragosian argues that Armenia’s engagement with both
Russia and NATO and its deployment of troops to Kosovo, for example,
fits within a concerted drive to professionalize its army.
WHAT NOW FOR THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY?
But are the Armenian Iraqis being made sacrificial lambs in Armenia’s
broader geopolitical interests? Giragosian believes that the
deployment “poses no real or new risk to the Armenians in Iraq.”
He contends that the Armenian community “has already been living in a
state of insecurity and vulnerability, which will be neither
exacerbated nor extinguished by this deployment.” He sees “the record
of attacks, violence and intimidation [as] all part of a broader
campaign by insurgents against the ethnic Christian minorities of
Iraq” and that “the deployment is both far too small and much too
marginal to result in any serious or specific anti-Armenian strategy
by the insurgents.”
In recent decades, Armenians have found themselves in the crossfire
of another civil war in a heavily Muslim country, Lebanon. There, the
Armenian minority’s pursuit and policy of neutrality generally
protected it, Giragosian says. But the situation in Iraq is nothing
like the civil war in Lebanon, he believes.
“The Armenians of Iraq, like much of the ordinary Iraqi population,
face a reality marked by a faceless insurgency, with no choice or
option of abstaining from the conflict,” Giragosian says.
Nor is the longer-term outlook good for the Armenian community. “The
future of Iraq stands between becoming a state under siege or a
failed state, neither of which offers much hope for a non-Arab,
non-Muslim minority,” Giragosian says.
;IdPublication=4&NrIssue=99&NrSection=1&NrArticle=13374
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian president raises pensions of disabled servicemen
Arminfo
17 Jan 05

YEREVAN
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan signed a decree on 15 January on
making changes to the law on social security of servicemen and their
families, the Armenian president’s press service has told Arminfo.
The decree envisages a 20-per-cent rise in pensions of the servicemen
who incurred different degrees of disability while defending the
borders of the republic and of the families of killed servicemen.
The decree also suggests that the compensation paid to disabled
servicemen for public utilities be raised from 3,000 drams [6 dollars]
to 5,000 drams [10 dollars] starting from 1 January 2005 and funeral
expenses be covered by the state should they die. In connection with
the rise in servicemen’s social security payments, it is planned to
allocate another 350m drams [700,000 dollars] from the state budget.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Calgary Sun (Alberta)
January 12, 2005 Wednesday
FINAL EDITION
POLITICAL DIVA;
IRON LADY YULIA TYMOSHENKO DRIVING ORANGE REVOLUTION
BY PAUL STANWAY, CALGARY SUN
She is the Belinda Stronach of Ukrainian politics, and then some.
Blond, beautiful, wealthy, and a staunch defender of free-market
economics.
But the comparisons end there.
Yulia Tymoshenko’s past is as clouded as Stronach’s is untroubled.
Dubbed the “Joan of Arc of the Orange Revolution,” the fiery
Tymoshenko is either loved or hated, depending on your political
outlook.
As Ukrainian politician and journalist Yuri Boldyrev recently put it:
“She doesn’t do middle-of-the-road. She is an iron lady.”
Even her background has become a matter for debate. Officially,
Tymoshenko was born in 1960, in the eastern industrial city of
Dnipropetrovsk, a Russian-speaking arsenal of Soviet totalitarianism
amid a sea of Ukrainian farming villages.
It was once the power base of Leonid Brezhnev, and after independence
served the same purpose for pro-Russian Ukrainian president Leonid
Kuchma.
Depending on who you talk to, Tymoshenko may have been born into
privilege or into poverty. She is either of solid Ukrainian stock, or
maybe half-Armenian.
What is not in question is that she owed her education and her rise
through the government bureaucracy to the old Communist party.
A Ph.D-level economist, by the early 1990s she was running United
Energy Systems of Ukraine, one of several monopolies set up by the
Kyiv government to import energy.
Along the way, Tymoshenko amassed a fortune that has been variously
estimated at between $4 billion and $11 billion.
According to author Matthew Brzezinski, whose 2001 book on the
economic pillage of the former Soviet empire, Casino Moscow, devotes
an entire chapter to Tymoshenko, there is evidence of kickbacks from
United Energy to the Kyiv government.
Making a vast fortune when the average Ukrainian was struggling to
make ends meet doesn’t seem like a good way to endear yourself to the
masses.
And it didn’t. As head of United Energy, she was reportedly protected
by an entire platoon of former Soviet special forces bodyguards.
Tymoshenko was elected to the Ukrainian parliament in 1996, but it
wasn’t until 2000, as a member of Viktor Yushchenko’s short-lived
administration, that the blond bombshell began to develop a
reputation as an economic reformer.
Knowing where all the bodies were buried, she stuck it to her former
colleagues in government and the monopoly industries (recovering $2
billion in “misdirected” funds), and developed a reputation as an
anti-corruption crusader.
When she was briefly arrested on charges of smuggling natural gas
(while head of United Energy), it was widely believed to be a
political move designed to discredit her.
Her husband was also arrested on charges of defrauding the state, and
there was a suspicious car accident in which she was nearly killed.
Discrediting or bumping off critics had become a trademark of
President Kuchma’s increasingly unpopular regime (Yushchenko’s
poisoning being the most infamous), and being a target did wonders
for Tymoshenko’s street cred.
By the time of last year’s disputed presidential election, it was the
fiery Tymoshenko who led street protests against the widespread vote
fraud.
Many in Ukraine’s independent media credit her with being the
backbone of the revolution.
In one of the more memorable moments of that confrontation, she
placed carnations on the shields of riot police and urged them to “be
on the side of the citizens of Ukraine.”
It was Tymoshenko who was subsequently allowed through police lines
to negotiate a peaceful stand-off.
As a result of all this, she has been widely tipped as Ukraine’s next
prime minister, but her strident opposition to the country’s vested
interests and still-powerful bureaucracy might be a problem if
Yushchenko’s first priority is national unity.
And there’s also the question of that colourful business history.
Whether she’s for real or just for herself is, so far, anyone’s
guess.
But if she’s the real deal, this political diva could be the driving
force behind any pro-market, pro-Western economic reforms undertaken
by Ukraine’s new government.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
01/11/2005
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1. Armenia Demands Corrections to Atkinson Report on Karabagh Conflict 2. Russia Ready to Act as Intermediary in South Caucasus Conflicts 3. Oskanian, Mammadyarov Meeting in Prague 4. Armenia Hails New Russian-Georgian Ferry Link 1. Armenia Demands Corrections to Atkinson Report on Karabagh Conflict In a letter to the President and Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, (PACE), Armenia has requested that several corrections be made to the January 26 PACE report on the Mountainous Karabagh conflict, reports the Trend news agency. In their letter to PACE president Peter Schieder and secretary general Terry Davis, Armenia's parliamentary leadership accuses the European Commission of one-sidedly supporting Azerbaijan's position [in the conflict], and demands the removal of the term "separatist forces," among others. Armenia also expresses serious concern that the report fails to reflect issues tied to the regions of Ketashen and Shahumian. Overall, the Armenian side requests changes in 14 articles of the report that deal with the status of Mountainous Karabagh, format of negotiations, and the history of that conflict. Authored by PACE rapporteur David Atkinson, the report will be reviewed on January 22 PACE's Political Committee during a Council of Europe leadership summit. 2. Russia Ready to Act as Intermediary in South Caucasus Conflicts MOSCOW (Combined Sources)--Russian president Vladimir Putin affirmed his readiness to act only as an intermediary in the settlement of the Karabagh conflict. "Russia will do everything possible to settle the conflicts remaining on post-Soviet space, including the long-lasting Karabagh conflict," Putin announced. "However, we will do it only as an intermediary and guarantor of agreements which are going to be reached by conflicting sides." Meeting with Turkish businessmen in Moscow, Putin said that although the Karabagh conflict was not discussed specifically, general issues of relations between countries in the region were on the agenda. Both sides, he stated, expressed the desire to establish friendly relations among neighbors. Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan again ruled out an unconditional reopening of his country's border with Armenia, saying that official Yerevan should first take unspecified "positive" steps. Putin, meanwhile, pledged to assist in the normalization of relations between the two historical foes. "If we see positive approaches from Armenia's government, we will open the border. But we don't see such approaches now," Erdogan said at a joint news conference with Putin during an official visit to Moscow. He did not elaborate. The Turkish premier's stance contrasted with Putin's positive assessment of the Armenian leadership's efforts to improve relations with Turkey. Putin said Moscow is holding "constant consultations" with Ankara on the normalization of Turkish-Armenian ties. "Armenia is looking for ways of improving relations with Turkey," he said. "Russia will assist in this process as much as possible." Putin was also pleased with the current state of Russian-Turkish relations, pointing in particular to the booming trade between the two nations seen as longtime geopolitical rivals. "Our most optimistic forecasts about economic cooperation have come true," he told Erdogan. According to Putin, Russia and Turkey need to "continue developing an effective infrastructure of bilateral trade." Erdogan, in his turn, promised to support Russia's admission to the World Trade Organization. "Turkey is expected to demonstrate its full support for Russia's membership in the WTO at a meeting of the working group on Russia's admission to the WTO in Geneva on January 24," he said. He highly commended the high level of trade and economic relations between the two countries. "We couldn't even dream about this 10-15 years ago," Erdogan said. Ways to broaden cooperation will be discussed by the Business Council on Wednesday, which will be attended by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. Putin thanked the Turkish businessmen for their concrete proposals, assuring them that "all those proposals will be thoroughly studied by Russian experts and ministry officials." 3. Oskanian, Mammadyarov Meeting in Prague PRAGUE (RFE/RL)--After three-hour talks with his Azeri counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian revealed that no specific agreement for a resolution to the Mountainous Karabagh conflict had been reached. "I wish I could say that there is a full agreement on the principles [of the settlement]," he said. "But we are still not there. There is a general framework of issues [discussed by the parties], but as this meeting showed, they need to be further consolidated." The meeting took place in Prague on Tuesday, in the presence of French, Russian, and US mediators; it marked the start of the second stage of "the Prague process." Oskanian refused to go into details of the discussions, saying that much remains to be done for hammering out a compromise agreement acceptable to both parties. "This is a fairly difficult and complex process and it will continue to be like this during further meetings," he said. "On the whole, I consider the overall mood and the atmosphere positive. "It is still too early too disclose any details. Once we have agreements on concrete issues, I think we will be able to talk about them little by little." Asked about chances of a breakthrough in the peace process this year, Oskanian said, "We are working toward achieving that goal. But it is still too early to make definite statements to that effect." 4. Armenia Hails New Russian-Georgian Ferry Link YEREVAN (RFE/RL--Armenian government officials and businessmen said on Monday that they are looking forward to the impending launch of a Russian-Georgian ferry link that will effectively restore Armenia's rail communication with Russia disrupted more than a decade ago. A relevant agreement was due to be signed in Tbilisi by Russia's Transport Minister Igor Levitin and Georgia's Minister of Economic Development Alexi Alexishvili. The planned regular service between the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti and Russia's Port Kavkaz is designed for cargos shipped in train cars. It is expected to become operational by the end of this month. Senior officials from Armenia and Azerbaijan were also in the Georgian capital to discuss final preparations for the launch of the service. Transport and Communications Minister Andranik Manukian, who headed the Armenian delegation, was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as welcoming the Russian-Georgian agreement. Armenian businessmen involved in external trade were also confident about its positive impact on landlocked Armenia's economy. "It will have considerable effects on the cost of goods shipped from Armenia to Russia and vice versa," said Arsen Ghazarian, chairman of the Armenian Union of Entrepreneurs and Industrialists. He said the high transportation costs in Russian-Armenian trade could go down by 30 percent as a result. Ferries capable of carrying heavy train cars have until now operated between Poti and Ukrainian and Bulgarian ports. Armenia has relied on them heavily in its commercial exchange with the rest of the world. The Armenian government has long been pushing for the opening of the Poti-Kavkaz service and has financially contributed to the scheme. Among the costs involved was the purchase of a ferryboat that can carry up to 28 rails during a single journey. The service is expected to operate twice a week. "The volume of our cargo turnover [with Russia] is great," said Vladimir Badalian, co-chairman of the Armenian-Georgian Business Association. "According to our calculations, we need four or even more ferries." But Ghazarian disagreed. "I don't think there is a need for a second ferry right now," he said. "What we need is that the existing ferry operates at full capacity in both directions so that we have a reasonable transportation cost." Levitin's trip to Tbilisi, the second in two months, is also likely to have involved discussions on ways of reopening direct rail communication between Russia and Georgia that used to run through the breakaway region of Abkhazia. Speaking to reporters in Moscow on December 28, Levitin sounded upbeat about the possibility of doing that as early as this year. He said he believes that it is now possible to restore the rail link, once vital for the Armenian economy, before a full resolution of the Abkhaz conflict. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2005 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets. From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Edicom, Suisse
mardi 14 décembre 2004
Les Européens s’apprêtent à entrouvrir leur porte à la Turquie

par Emmanuel Georges-Picot
BRUXELLES (AP) – Les Vingt-cinq devraient dire «oui» à l’ouverture en
2005 de négociations avec la Turquie en vue de son adhésion à l’Union
européenne lors de leur sommet de fin d’année, jeudi et vendredi à
Bruxelles.
Les chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement devraient cependant entourer ce
feu vert de garanties pour rassurer leurs opinions publiques
récalcitrantes. Ils devraient préciser pour la première fois dans
l’histoire des élargissements que le résultat des négociations, d’une
durée prévisible de 10 à 15 ans, restera «ouvert».
La décision que s’apprête à prendre le conseil européen, réuni à
partir de jeudi soir, est historique. La Turquie, pays de 71,3
millions d’habitants, musulman à 98%, serait le premier Etat-membre
de l’UE dont l’essentiel du territoire (97%) se trouve en Asie.
Le feu vert des 25, qui devraient suivre la recommandation faite le 6
octobre dernier par la Commission, marquera une étape décisive dans
les relations complexes qu’entretiennent depuis toujours l’Europe et
la Turquie. Depuis Mustapha Kemal, père de la Turquie moderne,
Ankara, dotée d’un statut d’association depuis 1963 et candidate
depuis 1987, a constamment aspiré à s’arrimer à l’Occident.
L’ouverture des négociations constituerait un succès pour le Premier
ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan, qui a construit toute sa
politique sur l’adhésion à l’UE et attendra le verdict dans les
couloirs du btiment du conseil européen.
Mais ce désir d’intégration rencontre l’hostilité d’une partie de
l’opinion publique européenne. Selon un sondage Ifop publié lundi par
«Le Figaro», 67% des Français et 55% des Allemands sont opposés à
l’entrée de la Turquie, en raison de la situation des droits de
l’homme, des différences religieuses et culturelles ou du risque de
développement d’activités criminelles en Europe.
A l’inverse, 65% des Espagnols, 49% des Italiens et 41% des
Britanniques y sont favorables du fait des efforts engagés par la
Turquie pour se moderniser, de l’intérêt géopolitique de cet
élargissement et du risque d’une dérive islamiste en cas de refus.
Obligés de tenir compte de ces réticences, les Européens devraient
assortir leur feu vert de plusieurs garanties. Le projet de
conclusions rédigé par la présidence néerlandaise et soumis en début
de semaine aux ministres des Affaires étrangères stipule que »les
négociations d’adhésion sont un processus ouvert dont l’aboutissement
ne peut être garanti à l’avance».
A tout moment, un membre de l’UE pourra interrompre les discussions.
Il sera également possible de suspendre les négociations par un vote
à la majorité qualifiée du conseil européen.
A la différence des élargissements précédents, l’UE va contrôler sur
le terrain l’application des réformes votées par le Parlement turc
pour se mettre en conformité avec les 80.000 pages de l’acquis
communautaire.
Le dossier de Chypre, île divisée depuis 1974 entre le sud pro-grec
et le nord pro-turc, devra également être résolu. Les Européens
devraient exiger vendredi un engagement de M. Erdogan de signer le
protocole étendant l’union douanière aux 10 nouveaux membres de l’UE,
ce qui constituerait une reconnaissance de facto du gouvernement
chypriote grec.
La France, soutenue par l’Autriche, le Danemark et la Slovaquie,
souhaite aller plus loin. Jacques Chirac, personnellement favorable à
l’adhésion turque mais en porte-à-faux avec son opinion publique et
ses propres amis politiques, demande que soit mentionné la
possibilité d’un «lien fort» entre l’UE et la Turquie s’il apparaît
pendant les négociations qu’Ankara n’est pas en mesure de remplir les
critères d’adhésion. La grande majorité des délégations, dont
l’Allemagne, refusent que cette alternative figure dans le texte.
Paris demande en outre que les négociations ne débutent pas avant le
deuxième semestre 2005. Mais la Turquie ne veut pas en entendre
parler, et exige que les pourparlers s’ouvrent «sans délai», selon la
promesse faite par les Européens en décembre 2002 à Copenhague.
La France a également ressorti lundi la question de la
non-reconnaissance par Ankara du génocide arménien de 1915. Le
ministre des Affaires étrangères Michel Barnier a cependant précisé
mardi qu’il ne s’agissait pas d’une «condition» à l’ouverture des
négociations mais d’une «question» à résoudre au cours du processus.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian veterans’ union ready to defend Karabakh
Arminfo
11 Dec 04
YEREVAN
The peaceful settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict is the job
of diplomats, but if it is necessary to defend Nagornyy Karabakh with
weapons in our hands, the Yerkrapa Union of Volunteers will do so
without any hesitation, Lt-Gen Manvel Grigoryan, chairman of Yerkrapa
and Armenian deputy defence minister, said in his address to the 6th
congress of the union in Yerevan.
Grigoryan said that they never leave any task unfinished. He also said
that social-economic problems should not cause a split in the
union. “The Yerkrapa Union of Volunteers must not split to please its
internal and external enemies,” Grigoryan said.
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan congratulated the participants in
the congress. In his congratulatory letter which was read out by the
Armenian deputy defence minister and the chief of the general staff of
the armed forces, Mikael Arutyunyan, the president wished them
effective work and “the green light”. The defence minister of the
Nagornyy Karabakh republic, Lt-Gen Seyran Oganyan, a representative of
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutyun, Levon
Lazarian, a representative of the Orinats Yerkir [Law-Governed
Country] Party, Mger Shakhgeldyan, the leader of the Union of
Constitutional Law, Grant Khachatryan, and representatives of other
political parties also sent their congratulations to the participants
in the congress.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN DELEGATION’S MOST PROPOSALS ACCEPTED AT SESSIONS OF CIS
INTER-PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY COMMISSIONS
SAINT PETERSBURG, December 6 (Noyan Tapan). On December 3, the CIS
Inter-Parliamentary Assembly’s commissions continued their work
within the framework of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (IPA)
session in Tavrichesky Palace of Saint Petersburg. At the session
of the political and international cooperation commission Victor
Stepanov presented the CIS observers’ conclusion regarding the House
of Representatives of the Belarusian National Assembly, and Vadim
Gustov – regarding the presidential elections in Ukraine. According
to the RA National Assembly Vice Chairman Vahan Hovhannissian,
over 10 isiues were on the agenda of the commision. “Another issue
related to us was discussed by the commission: the RF delegation
presented the monitiring group report on Kosovo and Metokhio. This
allowed me to reaffirm the Armenian delegation’s proposal, which
was put forward by the Armenian delegation at the Yerevan session,
to send similar groups to the CIS conflict areas. Quite often we
hear Azerbaijan’s unfounded accusations that nuclear waste is dumped,
human and drug trafficking takes place, terrorist groups are trained,
etc. in Nagorno Karabakh and areas adjacent to it. These allegations
may have dangerous consequences in international organizations. The
best solution is to ascertain the situation on the spot by means of
inviting an international monitoring group. I am convinced that we will
win in case of fair reports. The commission accepted our proposal,
the fact of conducting studies in Nagorno Karabakh will be added in
the resolution concerning Kosovo, the NA Vice Chairman noted. Hrayr
Karapetian from the Armenian delegation participated in the defence
and security coopeartion commission’s session. According to him,
a number of draft model laws were discussed. Special importance
was attached to the law on antiterrorism, the law against nuclear
substances proliferation, and the law on financing antiterrorism
measures that relate to the fight against terrorist acts in various
countries. During the discussions on the law on fight against terrorism
Azerbaijan’s representatives made an attempt to include in the law the
notions of separatism and extremism. “My speech highlighted the fact
that these notions should not be confused with each other: it is not
always that separatism is accompanied by terrorism and is related to
extremism. This is the case not only in Nagorno Karabakh but also in
Quebec, Italy, Belgium where various separatist movements exist but
they are not associated with the notion of terrorism. Our objective
is to formulate the fight agianst terrorism in the model law and not
to distort the law by various notions,” Hrayr Karapetian noted. The
Armenian delegation’s proposal was accepted. According to the RA
National Assembly’s PR Department, Gurgen Arsenian participated in
the session of the commission on legal issues. According to him,
one of the most important issues discussed was a new edition of the
regulations concerning international observers. The Armenian delegation
submitted a package of 56 proposals, which were reviewed and most
of them accepted. The draft model law on freedom of conscience,
on religious beliefs, which had been sent to parliaments of the CIS
member states in order to receive their proposals, was also dicussed.
–Boundary_(ID_bFRKotVsosgWmaa5KNXdnA)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SLOVAKIAN PARLIAMENT RECOGNIZES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
BRATISLAVA, December 1 (Noyan Tapan). On November 30, the National
Assembly of Slovakia recognized the Armenian Genocide with the
overwhelming majority of votes. This information was provided by NT’s
correspondent in Bratislava.
According to the approved resolution, the National Assembly of
Slovakia recognizes and condemns the 1915 Armenian Genocide in Ottoman
Turkey, whose victims were “hundreds of thousands” of Armenians, as
the crime againt humanity.
The Slovakian parliament also touched upon the issue of Turkey’s
membership in the European Union, giving assurance that it is possible
only in case of Turkey’s fulfillment of the following preliminary
conditions: the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, lifting of
blockade on Armenia, the removal of the article from the Criminal Code
of the country, which foresees criminal punishment for statements
about the Armenian Genocide and the necessity of the withdrawal of the
Turkish troops from Cyprus; respect for the rights of the national
minorities in the country.
The Slovakian parliament faced strong obstacles of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of the country for the approval of the decision on the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress