Author: Chakhmakhchian Vatche

WAGING A CULTURAL REVOLUTIONARY WAR
By Irfan Yusuf
On Line opinion, Australia
Sept 11 2006
September 11, 2001 is seen as the beginning of a new (and very heated)
Cold War. Writing in The Australian on August 11, Dr Tanveer Ahmed
described politicised Islamic extremism as the new Marxism, an
apparently monolithic force at war with an allegedly monolithic West.
Ahmed’s description of politicised Islamic extremism has been broadened
by more jaundiced commentators. Addressing a dinner hosted by Quadrant
magazine, former “Joh-for-PM” campaigner John Stone referred to
“Australia’s Muslim problem” and “the Islamic cancer in our body
politic”.
Perhaps more subtly, Canadian theatre critic Mark Steyn warned
Sydney-siders in August of the dangers of “resurgent Islam”. He
even suggested that the best antidote to conversion was convincing
potential converts that it’s better to be Australian or American or
British “or even French” than to be Muslim. As if being Western and
Muslim were mutually exclusive categories.
More than September 11, it was last years July 7 London bombings that
brought home the real possibility of terrorist threats from home-grown
sources. Sadly, such security threats are still used as an excuse
to wage a cultural revolutionary war which seeks to replace decades
of liberal democratic multi-cultural consensus with an illiberal,
almost Soviet-style government-enforced mono-cultural experiment.
All this raises a number of questions. Does the existence of multiple
cultures affect national security? If so, to what extent? If
integration is an ideal, how should it be implemented? Should
governments implement culture? Will the complete integration of all
minority groups ensure security risks are minimised?
For the likes of Steyn and Stone, any multiculturalism involving
nominally Muslim migrants necessarily represents a security risk.
Their generally crude analysis seeks to identify common features
allegedly forming an essential part of a monolithic Muslim culture.
Such simplistic formulations are not supported by even anecdotal
evidence. In January I witnessed Indonesian Muslim artists perform
the Ramayana ballet to a largely Muslim audience in an ancient
Hindu temple complex located in the city of Yogyakarta, the cultural
heartland of Javanese Islam. Such a performance by Muslims would be
deemed sacrilegious in the Indian sub-Continent.
To speak of a single monolithic Muslim culture, whether in Australia
or elsewhere, is as absurd as to speak of a single Christian culture.
Brazilian Catholics have more in common with Brazilian Muslims than
with Lithuanian Catholics. Lebanese Muslims have more in common with
Lebanese Maronites than with South African Muslims.
If culture and terror were related, security officials should keep
close watch on a range of communities. Writing in the Canberra Times
on September 9, ANU Researcher Clive Williams provides a litany of
terrorist incidents going back to 1868 when a Victorian Irishman
belonging to a predecessor organisation to the IRA shot the visiting
Duke of Edinburgh.
Recent incidents include the 1980 assassination of the Turkish
Consul-General and his bodyguard by Armenian extremists believed to
be protected by local Armenians. The same group struck again about
six years later in Melbourne.
Other groups believed to be responsible for terrorist attacks include
the Ananda Marga sect and the Croatian Revolutionary Brotherhood.
Muslim involvement in terrorist incidents includes deportation of
Mohammad Hassanein in 1996 for attempting to attack local Jewish
community targets.
Terrorism is hardly a mono-cultural affair, either in Australia or
elsewhere. Hence, simplistic remarks by the Prime Minister about
some Muslims refusing to integrate display a profound ignorance of
the history, politics and motivations of terrorist groups.
Howard has rarely shown much sophistication in his understanding
of Australia’s non-Western cultures. One of his former staffers,
conservative columnist Gerard Henderson, commented on this in
the Melbourne Age on May 25, 2004. Henderson wrote of “the one
significant blot on [Howard’s] record in public life … a certain
lack of empathy in dealing with individuals with whom he does not
identify at a personal level: for example, Asian Australians in the
late 1980s and asylum seekers in the early 21st century”.
Howard has repeatedly claimed Muslim migrants to be a new wave of
migration, separate from Asian and European migration waves of the mid
to late 20th centuries. This is historical revisionism at its worst,
and most unbecoming of a leader so intent on our school children
being taught “accurate” history.
One needn’t be a professor of history or demography to know that
Muslims have been represented in all major waves of migration during
the 20th century. For instance, post-war European migration included
significant numbers of Yugoslav, Albanian, Turkish, Cypriot and Middle
Eastern Muslim migrants.
The first book on Islamic theology published in Australia was authored
by Imam Imamovic, a Brisbane-based writer from the former Yugoslavia
who wrote his book in the early part of the 20th century.
The first mosque built in Sydney, known as the Sydney Mosque, was
established by Turks in the Inner-Western suburb of Erskenville during
the 1950’s.
On ABC TV’s Four-Corners aired to coincide with the September 11
attacks, Howard repeats his claim that a small section of Muslim
communities refuses to integrate. He goes further, saying: “And I
would like the rest of the Islamic community to join the rest of the
Australian community in making sure that the views and attitudes of
that small minority do not have adverse consequences.”
Howard’s ambiguous reference to “adverse consequences” is most
unhelpful. His inability to identify precisely what these consequences
are means he cannot identify exactly how “the rest of the Australian
community” have been working.
Presuming adverse consequences means security threats, Howard’s
comments reflect a profound and fundamental ignorance of efforts
made by Muslim communities to combat extremism, including individual
Muslims reporting suspicious behaviour to authorities. Howard’s views
contrast with those expressed by law enforcement officials (including
Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty) that Muslim efforts have
been crucial in catching suspects and averting terrorist attacks.
Perhaps the real problem is that Howard insists putting ordinary
Muslims in a lose-lose situation. He has hand-picked a small number
of Muslims to advise him as part of a “Muslim Community Reference
Group”. His choice of Muslims is dominated by men of his own generation
who are generally as out-of-touch with mainstream Muslims as he is.
Howard’s choice of Muslim advisers is reflective of his choice of
Muslim “leaders” joining him for a summit in August 2005. Howard’s
leaders were dominated by first generation migrant males of Howard’s
age group, men who routinely exclude and alienate women and youth
from community management roles.
It seems Howard wants to have the right to select which Muslims he
talks to, and then reserves the right to criticise all Muslims should
his chosen Muslims say the wrong things. If Howard were genuine
about involving Muslim communities in decision-making on combating
extremism, he might appoint mainstream Muslims who have made their
mark on mainstream Australia, even if it means appointing people who
will effectively challenge his views on culture and security.
If Howard were serious about national security, he might also consider
following the lead of his Deputy. Peter Costello has shown a far more
sophisticated understanding of the relationship between culture and
national security. Costello understands it isn’t the wrong culture
that presents a security threat. Rather, it is the absence of genuinely
Islamic culture which is the problem.
In his February address to the Sydney Institute, Costello spoke of
young Muslims in “a twilight zone where the values of their parents’
old country have been lost but the values of the new country not
fully embraced”.
Further Costello has emphasised on the need for Muslim religious
leaders to provide a greater degree of pastoral care to converts,
saying leaders should “make it clear to would-be converts that when
you join this religion you do not join a radical political ideology”.
Costello’s remarks, though crude and inaccurate in some senses,
display a more sophisticated understanding of how the relative
ignorance and zeal of young people and converts can be trapped by
fringe extremists. Costello doesn’t see Islam itself as a problem,
nor does he make any claims about Muslim cultures. He is more concerned
with ensuring ordinary sincere Australian Muslims are not manipulated
by foreign extremists.
Of course, it is easy for Muslim leaders to blame politicians for
their woes. I believe Muslim leaders should be selective in how they
respond, particularly to Howard’s ill-considered remarks. Muslim
leaders should display more political sophistication, and appreciate
that Howard’s rhetoric is probably more determined by interest rates
and the unpopularity of his industrial relations laws than by any
concern for the nation’s cultural health or security.
Muslim leaders should seize upon Howard’s admission that at least 99
per cent of Muslim Australians are fully integrated. It is difficult
to fund similar endorsement of any other ethnic or faith community
in Australia. It certainly flies in the face of infantile commentary
often found in metropolitan tabloids.
Muslim leaders of Mr Howard’s generation should heed the lesson that
Mr Howard refuses to heed. They should step down when alternative
and effective leadership is available. Muslim organisations are in
desperate need of generational change. Younger Muslims, including
and especially women, must form part of this change.
Articulate Muslim women are far more capable of effecting positive
change for Muslim women than neurotic feminists and cultural
chauvinists that congregate on the op-ed pages of allegedly Australian
newspapers. Muslim women need to come forward and take their rightful
place as leaders of Muslim Australia. Their voices need to be heard,
and they need to take control of decision making on issues affecting
them and all women.
Further, Muslims need to ensure that a diversity of Muslim voices
are heard from across the cultural, sectarian, gender and political
divide. There is no reason why debates within the Muslim community
cannot be discussed in the public arena where followers of other
traditions can share their experiences.
In this respect, Muslim leaders must continue to strengthen their ties
with their Jewish brethren. Australian Jews share profound cultural
and religious similarities with Australian Muslims, who can learn
much from Jewish experience in terms of community structure and
infrastructure development.
Finally, Muslims need to invest a good amount of time and money
in decent PR. They need to ensure that Australians are made aware
of Muslim values to the extent that irrelevant middle-aged male
politicians are no longer able to claim that Muslims should ensure
their women are treated with as much disdain as Mr Howard’s faction
of the NSW Liberal Party treats female preselection candidates.
Ordinary Australians do have legitimate fears about security. They have
even greater fears about rising home loan interest rates, conservative
opposition to life-saving scientific research and workplace relations
policies that remove job security. One way we can address these real
issues is if Muslims allay Australian fears about Islam. In doing
so, we can ensure governments cannot shirk their responsibilities by
hiding behind the sound of dog whistles.

Inner City Press, NY
Sept 7 2006
The UN and Nagorno-Karabakh: Flurries of Activity Leave Frozen
Conflicts Unchanged; Updates on Gaza, Gavels and Gbagbo
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee at the UN
UNITED NATIONS, September 7 — The UN General Assembly met past 6
p.m. Thursday to approve by consensus a resolution entitled “The
situation in the occupied territories”… of Azerbaijan. Armenia
disassociated itself from the consensus, expressing its displeasure
at the title and at the notion of its dispute with Azerbaijan being
considered in the UN. Other self-declared stakeholders in this frozen
conflict by proxy spoke before the resolution passed. The United
States, which considers itself an interested party with respect to
every disagreement and territory, spoke in favor of the resolution.
So did Ukraine, on behalf of “the GUAM states” — Georgia, Ukraine,
Azerbaijan and Moldova. Turkey spoke in favor, as did Pakistan on
behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
All this diplomatic firepower was brought to bear on a
final resolution consisting of five paragraphs, primarily directing
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to assess
fires in the affected territories, to involve the UN Environment
Program in rehabilitation and to report back to the UN General
Assembly by April 30, 2007.
Still waiting, per WFP
What were the two days of negotiations about? asked an
observer in the General Assembly’s cheap seats, where few of the
headphones are working.
Armenia does not want to the issue before the UN, and
objects to the phrase “occupied territories of Azerbaijan” when
referring to Nagorno-Karabakh and environs.
If the UN is involved in the Palestinian occupied
territories, about which an UN agency gave a briefing on Thursday,
and in similar issues in Abkhazia, why has it not been involved in
Nagorno – Karabakh? What is the UN’s involvement in Nagorno –
Karabakh?
The UN Security Council passed four resolutions on
Nagorno – Karabakh between April and November of 1993. Resolution 822
called for a cessation of hostilities. Resolutions 853, 874 and 884
continued in that vein. The ceasefire, such as it was and is, was
negotiated by Russia in May 1994. Since then the main venue of
action, or inaction, has been the 11-nation Minsk Group of the OSCE,
with Russia, France and the U.S. as co-chairs. Since all three are
members of the UN Security Council’s Permanent Five, with veto
rights, one might wonder why they prefer this other venue. To assess
UN involvement in the territories in 2006, Inner City Press on
Wednesday asked the UN Spokesman’s Office. The oral answer was that
even the UN Development Program has no operations in Nagorno –
Karabakh, only the World Food Program. Then on Thursday the following
was provided:
The Joint UNEP / OCHA Environment Unit has been working in close
collaboration with colleagues in UNEP, who have been in direct
contact with representatives from Azerbaijan and Armenia and the
OSCE, which sent a mission to the region in July of this year. The
Joint Unit, through our relationship with the Global Fire Monitoring
Centre, which is our partner on forest fire-related matters,
identified experts last month who could, potentially, go on an
assessment mission. The OSCE has been requested to undertake another
mission and is considering it. It sought UNEP’s advice on experts,
which in turn contacted the Joint Unit. We have, therefore, brokered
a relationship between the Global Fire Monitoring Centre and the
OSCE. So our identified experts are speaking with staff from OSCE.
The Joint Unit will continue to support all those involved in this
issue.
There are areas in the world which the UN does not impact
via Security Council resolutions, but in which it is a major
humanitarian player. Nagorno-Karabakh, like for another example
Casamance in Senegal, is not one of those regions. It is sometimes
said that if you live in a region in the clutches of one of the
Permanent Five members of the Security Council, you’re out of luck at
the UN. But the list of those out of luck at the UN is longer than
that. And Nagorno – Karabakh… is on that list.
In the General Assembly chamber, the scaffolding is now
done, so the meeting was held there. The first part of the meeting,
headlined by Jan Eliasson and Mark Malloch Brown, concerned conflict
prevention. Sitting in the lower audience seats, few of the
headphones worked or provided sound. Sitting behind the S’s, one
could see that among those nations not attending the GA session on
conflict prevention was… Sierra Leone, regarding which
Secretary-General Kofi Annan recently issued a report, S/2006/695,
stating in part that “the continued border dispute between Sierra
Leone and Guinea remains a source of serious concern.” While the
report does not name it, the dispute surrounds the diamond-rich town
of Yenga. As usual, follow the money.
Regarding another, higher profile occupied territory,
Thursday at noon the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) briefing on Gaza revealed among
other things that while the U.S. Overseas Private Investment
Corporation says it will pay on its insurance policy on the Gaza
power station, rebuilding will take 18 months and power is for now
sporadic.
At UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric’s noon briefing, Inner
City Press asked three questions, one of which, concerning housing
subsidies by governments to UN employees, was summarily preempted
with the statement that an answer will come in the near future. On
Cote D’Ivoire, where a toxic dumping has resulted in the disbanding
of the cabinet, the UN Spokesman responded that the Ivorian prime
minister called the UN’s head of peacekeeping and, as usually,
everyone should stay calm. The benefits of this chaos to
still-in-power Laurent Gbagbo are apparent to some. On whether the
UN’s envoy on extra-judicial killings will as requested visit Nigeria
as well as Lebanon, a response one supposes will come.
Mr. Dujarric’s sometimes-fellow briefer at noon, Pragati Pascale,
gave a preview of the afternoon’s General Assembly action including
on Nagorno – Karabakh, then fielded following her statement about a
gavel passing, fielded a strange but concrete question about whether
it was the same unique gavel, with wood looking like flame, used when
the budget cap was lifted. Even before 5 p.m. she responded: ”
President Eliasson will, indeed, pass the fancy ceremonial gavel to
the incoming President. This was a gift to the General Assembly from
Iceland. President Eliasson did receive a copy of the gavel from the
Secretary-General at the end of the main part of the session last
December, so he can take that home as a remembrance of his time
here.” Speak, memory! So to their detriment say those of Karabakh…
Feedback: editorial [at] innercitypress.com
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At the UN, Micro-States Simmer Under the Assembly’s Surface, While
Incoming Council President Dodges Most Questions
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee at the UN
UNITED NATIONS, September 5 — Nagorno Karabakh, one of the world
most frozen and forgotten conflicts, surfaced at the UN on Tuesday,
if only for ten minutes. The General Assembly was scheduled to vote
on a resolution concerning fires in the occupied territories of
Azerbaijan. The diplomats assembled, or began to assemble, at 4 p.m..
At 4:15 it was announced that in light of ongoing negotiations, the
meeting was cancelled, perhaps to reconvene Wednesday at 11:30.
Sources close to the negotiations told Inner City Press
that the rub is paragraph 4 of the draft resolution, which requests
that the Secretary-General report to the UN General Assembly on the
conflict. Armenia wants the matter to remain before the Minsk Group
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which has
presided over the problem for more than a decade. Leading the OSCE’s
Minsk Group are Russia, France and the United States, members of the
veto-wielding Permanent Five on the UN Security Council, nations
which Azerbaijan claims have ignored its sovereignty as well as
blocking Security Council action, as for example Russia has on
Chechnya.
Of the fires, Azerbaijan has characterized them as
Armenian arson, and has asked for international pressure to allow it
to reach the disputed territories where the fires have been.
Nagorno-Karabakh, per WFP
At a July 13, 2006 briefing on the BTC pipeline, Inner
City Press asked the Ambassador of Azerbaijan Yashar Aliyev about the
pipeline’s avoidance of Armenia. We cannot deal with them until they
stop occupying our territory, Ambassador Aliyev said. “You mean
Nagorno – Karabakh?” Not only that, Amb. Aliyev answered. That’s only
four percent. Few people know this, but Armenia has occupied twenty
percent of our territory.
Both Amenia’s Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian and UN
Ambassador Armen Martirosian have said publicly in the past month
that if Azerbaijan continues pushing the issue before the United
Nations, the existing peace talks will stop. Armenian sources
privately speak more darkly of an alliance of Georgia, Ukraine,
Azerbaijan and Moldova, collectively intent on involving the UN in
reigning in their breakaway regions including South Ossetia,
Nagorno-Karabakh and Transdniestria — examples of what some call the
micro-states. Armenia is concerned that in the UN as opposed to OSCE,
Azerbaijan might be able to rally Islamic nations to its side.
It is not only to predominantly Muslim nations that the
Azeri’s are reaching out. The nation’s foreign minister Elmar
Mammadyarov met recently with this Swedish counterpart Jan Eliasson,
the outgoing president of the General Assembly.
Following Tuesday’s General Assembly postponement, Inner
City Press asked Mr. Eliasson if, in light of his involvement in
reaching the 1994 cease-fire, he thinks the GA might have more luck
solving the Nagorno-Karabakh than the OSCE has.
“I hope so,” he said. “I’m in favor of an active General
Assembly.” He recounted his shuttle diplomacy to Baku in the early
90s. And then he was gone.
Elsewhere in the UN at Tuesday, the income president of
the Security Council, Greek Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis held a
press conference on the Council’s plan of work for September. Inner
City Press asked when the Council will get the long-awaited briefing
on violations of the arms embargo on Somalia. Amb. Vassilakis
responded about a meeting on September 25, at Kenya’s request, on the
idea of the IGAD force in Somalia. Inner City Press asked what has
happened with the resolution on the Lord’s Resistance Army of which
the UK has spoken so much. It will be up to them to introduce the
motion,” Amb. Vassilakis replied. He did not reply on the issue of
the outstanding International Criminal Court indictments against LRA
leaders including Joseph Kony and Vincent Otti.
Inner City Press asked why, on Ivory Coast, the
long-delayed report by the Secretary-General’s expert on the
prevention of genocide has not been released. In this response, Amb.
Vassilakis grew animated, saying that one has to choose between
justice and peace. This implies that the finished report identifies
alleged perpetrators, as pertains to genocide, but is being withheld
either to facilitate peace, which has not come, or as negotiating
leverage over some of the perpetrators. To be continued, throughout
the month.
Rare UN Sunshine From If Not In Chad While Blind on Somalia and
Zimbabwe, UNDP With Shell in its Ear on Nigeria
BYLINE: Matthew Russell Lee at the UN
UNITED NATIONS, August 29 — In Chad there are ninety political
parties and over seventy rebel groups, with a focus on overthrowing
Idriss Deby. Meanwhile Deby last Friday ordered Chevron and Petronas
out of the country, for failure to pay taxes.
Chad is the fifth poorest country in the world, with countries in
turmoil or trouble along at least half of its perimeter. To the west,
Niger and to the east, on the other side of camps housing over
200,000 refugees from Darfur, lies Sudan. To the south, the Central
African Republic with its own rebel groups. In the tri-border area
of the Sudan, Chad and the CAR is a lawless zone of mercenaries for
hire, and area none of the three governments control.
Tuesday the head of the UN’s operations in Chad, Kingsley
Amaning, provided reporters a lengthy and well-received briefing. He
began by sketching how the situation in Darfur is further
destabilizing Chad, spreading ethnic conflict and banditry across
borders. Mr. Amaning said that alongside 90 political parties, the
roster of rebel groups has grown from 47 to 72. Inner City Press
asked, as even invited political parties have, why the rebels are
excluded from Deby’s new national dialogue. There are a dozen refugee
camps in eastern Chad, each with fifteen to twenty thousand
residents, in a region where the average town size is only three
thousand. In fact, Mr. Amaning said, right now “the quality of life
of the refugees is higher than the quality of life of the local
population.”
Mr. Amaning, originally from Ghana and having previously
served the UN in Guinea, has been in Chad for a year and a half.
During that time, rebels marching on the capital N’djamena were
stopped only by a bomb dropped by the French air force. A colleague
of Mr. Amaning, OCHA Chad desk officer Aurelien Buffler, noted in an
interview that the official description of the French bomb was a
“warming shot.” He added that Chad is not even on the agenda of the
Security Council and that raising funds for development is difficult,
since donors don’t know where the money goes. Later this week 25
donors led by Canada will meet with Mr. Amaning in UN Headquarters.
The dichotomy seems to be that while emergency humanitarian funds can
be raised, long-term funds for development are more difficult. Mr.
Amaning said, “Humanitarians get resources, but we don’t follow up
political solutions with development so that people have jobs.”
Refugees in Chad per UNHCR
Inner City Press interviewed Mr. Amaning after the
briefing, and asked him first about specific vulnerable refugee camps
near the border with Darfur, Am Nabak and Ouve Casson. Mr. Amaning
confirmed that these camps will be moved, belated, to a lot north of
Biltine, now that it’s thought there is underground water on the
government-owned site.
Turning to history, the UN Security Council, history and
one of its veto-wielding Permanent Five, Inner City Press asked about
France’s involvement. Mr. Amaning said that the UN principles are to
oppose violent takeovers and to encourage dialogue. “I tell the
French Ambassador that instead of trying to explain what type of
intervention that was,” Mr. Amaning said, referring to France’s
bomb-drop in support of Idriss Deby, “they should say they did it on
behalf of the international community, so there would be no violent
overthrow.”
Speaking more generally, or regionally, Mr. Amaning said,
“If we do not stabilize Darfur,” weapons will continue to spread
throughout the region. “It’s a line that’s going to join up… from
DRC through Central Africa to the northern part of Uganda, to Chad
and the Sudan — where are we going?” At least Mr. Amaning is
asking.
For weeks Inner City Press has asked all and sundry in UN
Headquarters to confirm or deny that Ethiopian troops are present in
Somalia. Kofi Annan’s representative for Somalia, Francois Lonseny
Fall, skirted the issue despite six questions from Inner City Press
last time he was in New York. Mr. Fall’s spokesman has told Inner
City Press to look elsewhere, since his office does not have a
monitoring mandate in Somalia. In a stakeout interview, the head of
the UN’s Department of Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari responded
with generalities. An email followed, that DPA relies for information
on Mr. Fall’s office — which has not monitoring mandate.
Kofi Annan’s spokesman’s office suggested that Inner City
Press contact the members of the group monitoring the UN’s Somalia
arms embargo. Group member Joel Salek confirmed receipt of Inner City
Press’ request, but said he would “give floor to Bruno [Schiemsky],
the Chairman of our Group, to answer your questions.” Time passed,
Inner City Press sent a second request. Mr. Schiemsky responded,
“Sorry, at this stage I have no comments. I need first to brief the
Sanctions Committee” of the Security Council.
Tuesday at the Security Council stakeout, Inner City
Press asked UK Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry who in the UN can speak
regarding Somalia. Amb. Jones Parry responded that the UK is working
on a resolution. Video here.
But when Inner City Press five minutes later asked the President
of the Council, Ghana’s Nana Effah-Apenteng, about Amb. Jones Parry’s
resolution, the Ghanaian Ambassador said no resolution has been
introduced. Video here. Meanwhile the Horn of Africa slides toward
regional war.
Earlier this year at the African Union summit in Banjul,
Kofi Annal pulled back from involvement in Zimbabwe, saying he was
deferring to the new mediator Ben Mkapa. Now documents from the AU
submit show that Mkapa never accepted the role of mediator. Tuesday
Inner City Press asked Kofi Annan’s spokesman if this now means that
the Secretary-General will re-engage. Video here, at Minute 21:50.
The spokesman said he will respond; this has not taken place by 6
p.m. deadline.
Nor as the spokesman answered Inner City Press’ question
of Monday, about why UNDP took funding from Shell Petroleum to write
a report on human development in the Niger Delta, where Shell has a
long record of violating human rights. I will get you an answer, the
spokesman said. We’re still waiting…
At the UN, from Casamance to Transdniestria, Kosovans to Lezgines,
Micro-States as Powerful’s Playthings
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee at the UN
UNITED NATIONS, August 25 — Because they are so often forgotten,
today’s report is micro-states. The thread ran through UN
Headquarters on Friday, from noon briefing to stakeout to UNCA Club
upstairs. Kofi Annan’s spokesman on his way to the podium stopped to
tell Inner City Press not to ask certain questions. Some involved the
housing subsidy story below, one involved the Casamance region of
Senegal, where fighting is raging and refugees flee.
Thursday Inner City Press had asked who in the UN, other than the
refugee agency UNHCR, was addressing Casamance. Friday the spokesman
whispered, “On Casamance I don’t have anything more than when UNHCR
has said.” So instead Inner City Press asked about a seminal
micro-state, Kosovo. At a press conference hours earlier in Pristina,
the UN’s mediator Martii Ahtisaari had announced that no package will
be put before the Security Council in September. Inner City Press
asked, but what of the postponed municipal elections? Video here, at
Minute 29.
The spokesman’s office arranged a conference call to
UNMIK in Pristina, where the acting press chief said no elections can
be held in the winter anyway. The OSCE, he said, estimates that to
schedule elections takes at least six months. So much for local
democracy, even in areas run by the UN. Kofi Annan’s incoming envoy
to Kosovo should have a better answer. We’ll see. Other data the
spokesman belated provided on Friday is being analyzed.
The micro-states theory is that if Kosovo becomes fully
independent, the same will happen — or be called for by Russia — in
Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in Transdniestria and even Ajara in
Georgia. From this list we can drill down even keeper. Inner City
Press asked Kazakh Ambassador Yerzhan Kazykhanov about a civil
disturbance earlier in the week in Aktau on the Caspian coast,
involving attacks on immigrants from the striving micro-state of
Chechnya, on Azeris and the little-known Lezgines, who come from
Dagestan.
“There are many groups,” the Kazakh Ambassador said, adding that
his recent flight from Almaty to Aqtobe took nearly four hours. On
the map he pointed at Oral and noted that World War II passed
through. In his prepared remarks, Kazakhstan’s Ambassador stressed,
not without reason, that the “closure of the Semipalatinsk testing
site was one of the most significant events in the field of nuclear
disarmament.” Asked about Kazakhstan’s joint anti-terror operations
with China in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, like Chechnya
another potential micro-state blocked by one of the Permanent Five on
the UN Security Council, the Kazakh Ambassador assured that the
fighting of terror has nothing to do with refugees. We’ll see.
Slovakian limbo per UNHCR
But back to the micro-state of Casamance, which was part
of what’s now Guinea-Bissau until France took it. The civil strife
dates back at least to 1982, and yet the UN and Security Council do
nothing about it. At a stakeout interview on Friday afternoon, Inner
City Press asked the Council’s president Nana Effah-Apenteng if
Casamance is on his radar. No, the Ghanaian Ambassador replied.
“Maybe you are more up-to-date on this issue than I am.” Video here,
at Minute 8:47. A well placed source upstairs at the UN noted that
Senegal keeps it quiet. As Chechnya is to Russia, in a sense,
Casamance is to Senegal. Ah, the micro-states…
At deadline in Conference Room 3 in the basement, the disability
rights convention was being endlessly discussed. Ten days ago the
chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Convention, Don MacKay, said
that if current efforts to block the creation of a treaty monitoring
body are successful, the Convention may well not be enacted. “And
that would be shabby treatment,” Mr. MacKay said, citing a long
history of societies’ discrimination against the disabled.
Click here for video and here for the text of the draft Convention.
Inner City Press asked if the United States is among the
countries opposing any monitoring of countries’ performance under the
Convention, similar to the approach the U.S. took in derailing the
Small Arms meeting at the UN earlier this year. Mr. MacKay
acknowledged that the U.S. is among six or seven countries raising
such concerns, but stated that the U.S. position does not seem
“doctrinal” or doctrinaire.
The afternoon the conference would wrap up, the UN briefer Thomas
Schindlmayr resisted naming the countries opposed for example to the
reference to countries’ occupation. One journalist loudly left the
room. Later this list became clear, including the U.S., Australia,
Israel. And at 7:52 p.m., amid applause, the report was adopted.
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AP INTERVIEW: CELEBRATED TURKISH NOVELIST RECOUNTS STRUGGLE WITH ULTRANATIONALISTS
Suzan Fraser
AP Worldstream
Sep 07, 2006
For best-selling Turkish author Elif Shafak, September promises to
be a month of joy and tribulation.
Nine-months pregnant, the University of Arizona literature professor
is set to give birth to her first child. Another important date looms:
the start of her trial on charges of “insulting Turkishness” in her
novel that deals with the waning years of the Ottoman Empire.
In a quiet cafe in the backstreets of Istanbul’s historic Beyoglu
district _ where Turks, Armenians, and Jews once lived in harmony _
Shafak reflected on the peculiarities of a case in which it is nothing
she said herself that is being put on trial, but words she gave to
a fictitious Armenian character.
“I think my case is very bizarre because for the first time they are
trying fictional characters,” Shafak, a striking woman with unruly
locks of blond hair, told The Associated Press.
If convicted Shafak, who divides her time between Tucson, Arizona,
and Istanbul, could face three years in prison. Turkey has refused
her request to delay the Sept. 21 trial because of her pregnancy.
The case will be closely watched by the European Union, which has
repeatedly insisted that Turkey abolish laws that limit freedom of
expression if it is to fulfill its dream of joining the elite club
of nations _ which sees itself both as an economic bloc and a beacon
of liberal, democratic values.
Shafak said the law on insulting Turkishness “has been used as a
weapon to silence many people. … My case is perhaps just another
step in this long chain.”
That chain includes Turkey’s best known novelist Orhan Pamuk _ a
perennial candidate for the Nobel Prize in literature _ and dozens of
other writers and intellectuals forced to defend themselves against
charges of “insulting Turkishness.”
Shafak says he has received hate mail from nationalists calling her a
“pawn of the enemies of Turkey.”
Although most of the cases have been dropped for technical reasons _
such as the case involving Pamuk _ and no one has ended up in prison,
the trials have raised serious questions about whether Turkey is
ready to embrace European values.
To Shafak, the trials, brought forward by a coalition of
ultranationalist lawyers, are an attempt to resist EU-inspired changes
toward a more democratic and pluralistic Turkey that some see as
a threat to the powerful central state, which has strong ties to
the military.
Yet Shafak sees reason for hope: The surge in nationalism, she
says, is a clear sign that Turkey is truly undergoing a momentous
transformation.
“This ultranationalist movement is taking place not because nothing
is changing in Turkey, but just the opposite, because things are
changing,” said Shafak. “The bigger the transformation, the bigger
their panic.”
Shafak’s novel, “The Bastard of Istanbul,” touches upon the massacres
of Armenians during the final years of the Ottoman Empire, telling
the tale of a Turkish and an American-Armenian family whose lives
become intertwined.
The book also deals with other taboos _ domestic violence and
incestuous rape _ which are rarely discussed in this conservative,
predominantly Muslim country.
But it was the fictional Armenian-American characters in the book who
are sending Shafak to court. In one passage, a character is deeply
concerned about the prospect of his niece being brought up by a
Turkish stepfather.
“What will that innocent lamb tell her friends when she grows up?” the
man asks. “(That) I am the grandchild of genocide survivors who
lost all their relatives to the hands of Turkish butchers in 1915,
but I myself have been brainwashed to deny the genocide because I
was raised by some Turk named Mustapha!”
Later, a radical Armenian-American blogger who goes by the name of
Lady Peacock/Siramark writes: “Do you think (the Turks) are going
to say: Oh yeah, we are sorry we massacred and deported you guys,
and then contentedly denied it all.”
Turkey insists that the mass evacuation and deaths of up to 1.5 million
Armenians during World War I was not a planned genocide. Labeling
it as such can be considered a criminal offense. The book has sold
60,000 copies since it was published _ considered a big hit in Turkey
where readership is low.
The daughter of a female diplomat who raised Shafak alone _ her father
left when she was young _ the novelist said she first became aware of
the Armenian issue after Armenian militants killed dozens of Turkish
diplomats in the 1970s and 1980s.
“My very first acquaintance with the word Armenian was so negative,
it just meant someone who wanted to kill my mother,” Shafak said. “I
then started to ask questions, ‘why so much hatred against Turkish
diplomats? What is behind this?'”
She does not take sides on the genocide debate, but criticizes Turkey
for what she calls a “collective amnesia” of the atrocities.
“Turks and Armenians are not speaking the same language,” she
explained.
“For the Turks all the past is gone, erased from our memories. That’s
the way we Westernized: by being future-oriented… The grandchildren
of the 1915 survivors tend to be very, very past-oriented.”
The English version of “The Bastard of Istanbul” is to be published
next year.

MUFTI HASSOUN DISCUSSES WITH ARMENIAN OFFICIALS BILATERAL TIES
A.Zeitoun / Zahra
SANA – Syrian Arab News Agency, Syria
Aug 5 2006
YEREVAN, (SANA) – Grand Mufti of the Republic in Syria Dr. Ahmed
Badr al-Din Hassoun and the accompanying delegation discussed with
President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Tigran
Torosyan the bilateral relations between the two countries and ways
of developing them.
Mr. Torosyan underlined the spiritual importance of Hassoun’s visit
to Armenia, asking him to convey great respect and sincere feelings
to President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian people.
The Armenian Apostolic Catholicos Karekin II who attended the overnight
meeting thanked Dr. Hassoun for their visit, describing the visit to
the Armenian National Assembly as a great honor.
His Holiness handed Mufti Hassoun a letter from the Armenian friendly
people to President al-Assad and the Syrian people.
Dr. Hassoun, in turn, stressed Syria’s relentless seek to enhance
dialogue among religions.

ARMENIAN FM TO MEET WITH WORKERS OF CULTURE
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Sept 4 2006
YEREVAN, September 4. /ARKA/. Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan
is to meet with Armenian workers of culture on September 5 to discuss
issues related to the upcoming 3rd Armenia-Diaspora forum, the press
and information department, RA Foreign Office, reports.

TIGRAN TOROSIAN: EXISTENCE OF THE SECOND ARMENIAN REPUBLIC IS AN UNQUESTIONABLE FACT ANY LONGER, PROCESS OF THE ARTSAKH HISTORY IS AN IRREVERSIBLE REALITY
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Sept 04 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Proclamation
of the Nagorno Karabakh independence is the brightest display of the
Armenian people’s dignity and striving for freedom in the period of
time of the newest history,” is said in RA National Assembly Speaker
Tigran Torosian’s congratulating message on the occasion of the 15th
anniversary of the NKR independence.
“Existence of the second Armenian Republic is an unquestionable
fact any longer, process of the Artsakh history is an irreversible
reality. The Artsakh heroic people’s unbending will and numerous
Armenian sons’ entire devotion became those firm basis on which the
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh rose. Today it becomes more powerful and
firmer day by day, as a free and democratic country what is the most
important guarantee for development and international recognition,”
Tigran Torosian writes in his message. “Bowing our heads to our whole
people’s stauchness and inflexible soul, to the memory of thousands
of martyrs died in the name of freedom of the Fatherland, we are
obliged to do our best in the name of stable development, security
and peace of Nagorno Karabakh,” is said in the message submitted to
Noyan Tapan by the NA Public Relations Department.

Mine explosion kills man loading hay in Armenia
AP Worldstream; Sep 01, 2006

A man loading hay was killed when a mine exploded Friday, police said.

The explosion took place in a mountain pasture in eastern region of Lake
Sevan, police said.

One man was killed, and his co-worker was injured in the blast, police said.

Eastern Armenia was littered with an estimated 100,000 land mines in the
early 1990s in connection with the war over Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly
ethnic Armenian region of Azerbaijan.

In August, fires caused scores of mines to detonate in two parts of the
country, though no injuries were reported in those blasts.

NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan received the South Ossetian delegation

ArmRadio.am
01.09.2006 15:38
September 1 NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan received members of the
delegation of the Republic of South Ossetia Deputy Foreign Minister
Alan Pliev and the Deputy Minister of Defense and Emergency Situations
Ibrahim Gassiev, who arrived in Stepanakert yesterday to participate
in the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic.
The guest conveyed to the Arkady Ghukasyan the congratulations of the
President of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoite addressed to Artsakhi
authorities and people on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of NKR
independence.
The participants of the meeting dwelt on the issue of peaceful
resolution of the conflicts in the South Caucasus. Reference was made
to the state-legal processes in the unrecognized republics, as well as
a number of questions related to post-war restoration and
socio-economic development.

NO AGREEMENT ON THE MEETING OF THE PRESIDENTS OF ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN
ArmRadio.am
30.08.2006 15:40
No agreement has been reached on the meeting of the Presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan Robert Kocharyn and Ilham Aliev. However,
the opportunity of such a meeting is not ruled out, President’s Press
Secretary Viktor Soghomonyan said.
In his words, today it is untimely to say whether “the window
of opportunity” for the settlement of the Karabakh conflict has
been closed or not, since the year is not over. In this regard, he
reminded the statement by Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian, according
to which Armenia stands for the constructive dialogue coming from
today’s reality.

AZERBAIJAN ATTACHES GREAT IMPORTANCE TO DEVELOPMENT OF RELATIONS WITH SLOVENIA – AZERI PRESIDENT
Author: S.Aliyev
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Aug. 28, 2006
The President of Slovenia Yeniz Drnovshik announced at the join
press-conference with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that he
supports the peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
He expressed his regret that the conflict has being continuing for
many years, Trend reports with reference to ITV. However, he voiced
his confidence that Azerbaijan, together with European Union, will
find the ways of resolving the conflict.
Touching on the bilateral relations, Slovenian president stressed
that both countries have regained their independence at same time.
And at the moment, each of the countries are developing and
participating in the formation of Europe. Saying that at the moment,
Europen Union attaches a great importance to the relations with
Azerbaijan, the Slovenian president spelled out that his country
satisfactorily approach Azerbaijan’s future membership to this
organization.
Ilham Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan attaches a great significance
to the development of realltions with Slovenia. He noted that this
visit will server further development of bilateral relations.
Official Ljubljana, as a member of European Union, is an important
partner.
Besides, Aliyev spelled out that during the bilateral talks, a
special attention was paid to the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. He once again remembered that the position of Azerbaijan
remains unchanged. The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan has been
violated, a large number of Azerbaijanis have become victims of
the ethical cleansing implemented by Armenians. The president also
rememnered that UNO have adopted four resolutions on unconditional
withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from Azerbaijan’s occupied
territories. Besides, the Council of Europe has officially confirmed
that Azerbaijani territories have been occupied by Armenians.
Azerbaijan requires that this conflict should be resolved within
international norms.
Aliyev spelled out that the negiotiations are being held within Prague
format. This variant is available. Armenian side should demonstrate
a constructive position and stop the occupant policy.
Non-settlement of the conflict is a danger for all region, Azerbaijani
president said.
Also. He touched on the existing Azerbaijani-Slovenian economical
relations. The sides are not satisfied with the results obtained
by present. The mutual visits of officials and business people will
change this situation.
Touching on the energy cooperation between Azerbaijan and European
Union, Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan turns into a large oil and gas
supplying country. The gas that will be obtained from “Shah Deniz”
field will be directeded mainly to Europe.
Also, the president of Azerbaijan met with the special representatives
of active chairman of OSCE Peer Shevale, the president of European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development Jane Limer and American
co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group Mathew Bryza.