Author: Chmshkian Vicken

Iran seeks to re-open Tabriz-Julfa-Nakhchivan-Iran railway
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Dec 21 2004
Iran is interested in reopening the Tabriz-Julfa-Nakhchivan-Iran
railway, Iranian Deputy Transport Minister Mohammad Seyidnejat told
the Iran News agency last week.
The closure of the railway as a result of the Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict over Upper Garabagh, which broke out in 1990, caused damage
worth $2 billion to regional countries, he noted.
Seyidnejat said that 3 million tons of cargo had been transported
through the railway by the time it was closed.
“Iran is carrying out certain activities to reopen the railway,
but this is impossible due to the inaction of regional states.”
The Tabriz-Julfa-Nakhchivan-Iran railway was destroyed by Armenia
late in 1989-early in 1990.*

PRIMATE PERFORMS OPENING PRAYER FOR BURBANK CITY COUNCIL MEETING
BURBANK, CALIFORNIA, December 17 (Noyan Tapan). Upon the invitation of
Council Member Stacey Murphy His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian,
Primate of the Armenian Church of North America Western Diocese,
offered the opening prayer for the Burbank City Council meeting held
on December 14, 2004. According to the Press Office of the Diocese,
the meeting was presided over by the Honorable Mayor Marsha Ramos.
His Eminence prayed, “Tonight, we pray especially for Mayor Ramos
and City Council Members Borght, Campbell, Golinski and Murphy
who work diligently for the City of Burbank and the members of the
community. Give them the strength to steadfastly serve and protect
the citizens of this blessed country for the glory of God’s Holy name”.
“It is important that we become proactive in further developing the
church’s good relationship with the City of Burbank. The Diocesan
Cathedral, soon to begin construction, will be the first and only
Cathedral in the city of Burbank. We will work closely with city
officials to ensure that as the Diocese grows, so too will our
friendship with the City of Burbank,’ stated the Archbishop.

IranMania News, Iran
Dec 15 2004
Iran sports news in brief
LONDON, Dec 15 (IranMania)
– Farhad Kazemi, head coach of Iran’s Sepahan Club banned the players
belonging to the ethnic Armenian minority in Iran from going on
Christmas vacation. Sepahan is to represent Iran in the Asian Clubs
contests which will kick off in December.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ZANGEZOUR COPPER-MOLYBDENUM GROUP TO BE SOLD FOR $132 MLN
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 14. ARMINFO. A contract to sell for $132 mln 100%
shares of Zangezour Copper-Molybdenum Group was signed in Yerevan
today.
Armenia’s Trade and Economic Development Minister Karen Tchshmarityan
says that 60% stake has been given to Cronimet Mining (Germany), 15%
Pure Iron Plant (Yerevan), 12.5% to Armenian Molybdenum Production and
12.5% to Zangezour Mining. The shareholders will set up a joint
managing company. The first $45 mln payment will be made by Jan 1
2005, the rest till Dec 31 2005. The contract is financed by Deutsche
Bank and Creditten Stadt Bank.
$250-350 mln is to be invested in the group by 2012 under preliminary
agreement with the final amount to be specified by feasibility report
in 2005.
The project is expected to pay off in 6-7 years, says
Tchshmarityan. Jan 1 2005 Armenia is stopping to export molybdenum
concentrate to process it fully at home. In 2005-2008 the group will
deepen its molybdenum processing activities to receive a maximally
finished product. In 2008-2012 it will launch a rolled copper. The
investments will allow the group to redouble its ore production, says
Tchshmarityan.
Cronimet Mining President Hunter Pilarsky says that his company is an
international trade group covering 4 continents. It owns 51% of Pure
Iron Plant, an enterprise processing 50% of Zangezour molybdenum
concentrate. Pilarsky says that international molybdenum prices are
high today which is normal even considering high transportation costs
from Armenia. The company exports its production to Europe via Iran
and Georgia.
In 2003 Zangezour Copper Molybdenum Group registered a $20 mln balance
sheet profit. In Jan-June 2004 its output totalled 24.8 bln AMD – 2.1%
less than in Jan-June 2003. In 2003 the group mined and processed 8.1
mln tons of ore producing 6,300 tons of molybdenum concentrate and
11,000 tons of copper in copper concentrate. Zangezour has the biggest
molybdenum reserves in the whole former USSR.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARF Bureau representative meets with Cyprus president
14.12.2004 17:29
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau
representative Hrant Margarian met on December 14 with Cyprus
President Tasos Papadopulos in Nicosia.
Cyprus claims Turkey should recognize the European Union’s 25 member
states, including Cyprus, if it wants the accession talks to
begin. Turkey refuses to recognize the Republic of Cyprus since its
1974 invasion of the northern part of the island, which it recognizes
as Turkish Republic of Cyprus.
The ARF delegation was comprised of the ARF Western Europe Central
Committee (CC) representative Murad Papazian, ARF Greece CC
representative Grigor Erjenian, European Armenian Federation
Chairwoman Hilda Choboian, ARF Cyprus organization representative
Vahan Ainejian, and Armenian National Committeeof Cyprus Chairman
Andranik Ashjian.
Margarian briefed the Cyprus president on the ARF’s position in
Turkey’s bid to join the EU and conveyed his party’s backing to
Cyprus’ stance in the issue. He also pointed out that the pressures on
Cyprus should be overcome.
The Cyprus president explained his country’s position and possible
moves concerning Turkey’s aspiration to join the EU.
Later, the ARF delegation met with Ianakis Omiru, president of the
Cyprus Socialist Party (EDEK) and other officials.

AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV LIKELY TO DISCUSS SETTLEMENT OF
KARABAKH CONFLICT IN GREAT BRITAIN
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13. ARMINFO. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will
discuss the problem of settlement of Karabakh conflict in Great
Britain.
According to Day. Az, Azerbaijani leader left for Great Britain
Sunday. According to non-official source, the main goal of the visit
is discussion of prospects of expansion of bilateral economic
cooperation. Besides, the issue of the situation in the South Caucasus
is expected to be discussed. Ilham Aliyev is expected to meet British
Prime Minister Tony Blair and the key members of the Cabinet. The
president will hold talks in the parliament and will receive the heads
of a number of British leading companies. Ilham Aliyev is expected to
speak at a conference for development of oil sector of Azerbaijan in
London. The visit will be completed on December 15.

Colorado Daily, CO
Dec 13 2004
Free for now
The Associated Press
DENVER – An Armenian family held in an immigration detention center
in Denver for nearly five weeks has been unexpectedly released.
“I’m shaking. It happened so fast. It’s incredible. I feel like I’m
in a dream,” said Gevorg Sargsyan, moments after he, his sister Meri,
brother Hayk and father Ruben walked out of the center Thursday.
The Sargsyan family was taken into custody while their attorney was
trying to obtain visas for them, based on their contention they were
victims of a con man who trafficked in fraudulent visas. That battle
is not over.
The family has lived and worked in the western Colorado town of
Ridgway for more than six years.

Gevorg was on the dean’s list at the University of Colorado, where he
was studying chemical engineering. Hayk is a senior honor student at
Ridgway High School. Meri was well known for playing piano in local
churches. Ruben, a space-optics scientist in Armenia, had been
working multiple jobs to provide for his family.
His wife, Susan, and their daughter Nvart, who both work in Ouray and
Ridgway, were not taken into custody because their immigration cases
were being heard separately.
Ouray County residents have raised more than $30,000 for their legal
defense, written hundreds of letters and e-mails and asked officials
from regional immigration officials to President Bush to take another
look at the case and allow the family to stay.

Global Politician, NY
Dec 13 2004
Turkey’s Self-Emasculation
12/14/2004
By Antero Leitzinger

Under the new Islamist government, Turkey’s foreign policy has been a
complete disaster, unrivalled in the country’s long and proud
history. Few other countries in the world have ever managed to depart
from their traditional foreign policies so rapidly while voluntarily
missing so obvious chances for achieving great victories. Instead of
participating in the liberation of Iraq, to which Turkey was invited
by the USA, its closest ally, Turkey prostrated to France – to the
very same country that just recently condemned Turkey for the
Armenian genocide, and opposed NATO guarantees for Turkey’s security.
Instead of having the Turkish Army parading in Kirkuk as the
protector of Iraqi Turks and Kurds, Turkey not only choose to side
with the Arab Socialist Baath Party dictatorship of Saddam Hussein,
but even went on expressing publicly concerns on Kirkuk’s security on
April 10th, the very day its inhabitants were celebrating their
liberation by Kurdish freedom-fighters.
Turkey’s disastrous choices and perverted image campaign in order to
appeal to traditionally anti-Turkish left-wing peace activists and
Arabic radicals, can no more be explained by the lack of experience
of its new government, leading AK Party, and foreign minister
Abdullah Gül. The only rational explanation must lie in Turkey’s
political self-emasculation. Apparently, it will present its
application for EU membership as a political eunuch for Europe – as a
harmless country without real military capabilities (not even a show
of force beyond Cyprus, for over 80 years), and without an
independent agenda to integrate its Kurdish minority. Instead of
having a grateful Kurdish protectorate, or a friendly Iraqi
government as its south-eastern neighbour, Turkey will be bordered by
independent-minded Kurds who will have a leading role in shaping the
foreign policy of Free Iraq.
The consequences of Turkish total failure in spring 2003 will be
studied and regretted by scholars of military strategy and diplomacy
for decades to come. The frustration felt in the Turkish Army and
intelligence services, will boil for a long time. When the media will
realize, that Turkey lost a unique chance to secure a role in forming
future Iraqi policy, and to present its military force as the
guarantor of peace and prosperity for the whole Kurdish people, added
with the realization of being betrayed by the French and the
disappointment of being left outside the EU anyway, the popularity of
the current AK Party administration will fall to low bottom. How much
humiliation can a government take? Since the party has a majority in
the parliament, a crisis of Turkish democracy will be inevitable. A
military coup would not be the worst possible result.
Just when Turkey was on the brink of becoming the leading country of
the region, and a trusted pillar of the Free World, Turkish
politicians and journalists failed to follow the example of Kemal
Atatürk, who had led his country with convincing strength and vision.
Instead of winning the top prize in the three weeks. war, Turkey
became the worst casualty of the whole process, irresponsibly
degenerating into a third-class power, and a destabilizing factor in
the Middle East. The contrast can not be exaggerated. Consequences
will be felt also in the Caucasus and Cyprus, where Turkey lost
critical credibility and authority.
Imagine the Turkish Army having returned from a glorious march
through Mosul and Kirkuk to Baghdad. There would have been many
military decorations and promotions, valuable experience, some
martyrs to be commemorated, and plenty of deserved self-assurance.
The Turkish people as a whole would have felt a new sense of unity
and pride. Turkey as the main Muslim member of the international
coalition would have been remembered and loved in the USA, in
Britain, and in several other courageous EU member states. The
economy would have gained both through immediate US aid and Iraqi
contracts. The Greek, Armenians, Syrians, and Iranians, would have
respected Turkish concerns and taken Turkey’s requests into account.
But this all did not materialize. The sole responsibility lies on the
Turkish government, and all attempts to make any late recovery by
attempts to bully the Kurds, to occupy Northern Iraq, or to act as an
interested party to the reconstruction of Iraq, are vain, will be
ridiculed, and only serve to emphasize Turkish confusion. It is sad,
but the heavy work of generations of skilled Turkish diplomats,
analysts, public relations officers, and private friends of Turkey,
was wasted in a few weeks. Honour is hard to earn, shame even harder
to loose.
Some years ago, foreign policy analysts wondered “Who lost Russia”.
Today, the question is, “How did Turkey lose itself?”
The article was originally written in April 2003.
Antero Leitzinger is a political historian and a researcher for the
Finnish Directorate of Immigration. He wrote several books on Turkey,
the Middle East and the Caucasus.

Lexington Herald Leader, KY
Dec 13 2004
Church mulls taking up arms to defend itself
Today’s topic: Christianity in Iraq
By David George
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Leaders of the ever-dwindling Christian population in
Iraq say bombings of their churches and attacks against their
communities may force them to take up guns.
Two more churches were bombed in Mosul last week, the latest attacks,
and some Christians say extremist Muslims are terrorizing them with
the intent of ousting them and seizing their houses and belongings.
Iraq is home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world,
made up largely of ethnic Assyrians, an ancient people who speak a
modern form of Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. But as the turmoil
increases, hundreds of Christian families are leaving each week for
exile in Syria and Turkey.
Some Christians have called for the establishment of a “safe haven”
in Iraq’s north, where they would be protected by special Iraqi army
units. Others are threatening to add a Christian militia to Iraq’s
already militarized society.
“Assyrians need security, so we need a legal army within the Iraqi
army to protect ourselves,” said Michael Benjamin, a leader of the
Assyrian Democratic Movement.
Said another Assyrian leader, Yonadem Kanna, “We do not want to
transform our movement into a militia, but if we need to we can arm
more than 10,000 people.”
Christians are only a sliver of Iraq’s population, but their leaders
argue that driving them from Iraq would make it unlikely Iraq could
ever develop into a nation that values religious pluralism and
tolerance. Estimates of how many Christians have left Iraq in recent
months range from 10,000 to 40,000 people.
Christians have lived in the region nearly since the dawn of
Christianity. They are believed to number about 800,000, or about
three percent of Iraq’s population.
Many Christians have collaborated with U.S. forces, hoping that Iraq
will become a democratic and free secular state. Their links to
Americans, often as translators, have put them under threat. Some
anti-U.S. Sunni Muslims said that anyone aiding the Americans should
be killed, or even beheaded.
“The Christians have no future here,” said Athnaiel Isaac, a
23-year-old deacon in Baghdad. “We may be under the same pressures
that made the Jews leave Iraq (following World War II).”
Isaac said he will leave soon for Syria and that his al-Wehda
district of Baghdad is emptying of Christians.
“I know about 100 families that have left the al-Wehda neighborhood
in the last three months,” Isaac said.
Other Christians said the nation’s turmoil leaves them vulnerable.
“The extremist Muslims are attacking us because the coalition forces
are not controlling the country,” said Hayraw Bedros, an Armenian
Christian.
Many of Iraq’s churches have thrown up protective walls or placed
perimeter barrels filled with cement to protect against car bombs.
Some services have been cancelled after coordinated church bombings
in Baghdad and Mosul Aug. 1, in which 11 people died, and subsequent
bombings Oct. 16, Nov. 8 and again last Tuesday.
In last week’s attacks, insurgents bombed an Armenian-Catholic church
and the Chaldean bishop’s palace in Mosul.
Christians say they have had to find new places for worship.
“I used to go before to Saint George Church but now it’s destroyed,”
said Lilia Hermez, a 70-year-old Baghdad resident.

Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia
Advertiser, Australia
The Mercury, Australia
Dec 7 2004
On this day: 07dec04
1988 – Huge earthquake in Soviet Armenia claims at least 25,000
lives.
1815 – France’s Marshal Ney is shot after a treason trial for aiding
Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo.
1841 – Edward John Eyre arrives in Albany, Western Australia, after
first crossing of the Nullarbor Plain.
1858 – French and Spanish announce blockade of Cochin, China.
1889 – Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera The Gondoliers premieres in
London.
1895 – Ethiopians defeat Italians at Ambia Alagi, Abyssinia.
1901 – England and Italy agree on settling Sudan frontier.
1907 – Commonwealth and South Australia agree on the transfer of
Northern Territory to the Commonwealth.
1921 – Austria and United States resume diplomatic relations.
1922 – Northern Ireland votes for nonalignment in Irish Free State.
1940 – The British attack larger Italian forces in Libya by surprise,
capturing 40,000 prisoners in three days.
1941 – Japanese planes attack the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, destroying many aircraft and ships and precipitating the US
declaration of war on Japan.
1949 – Nationalist government of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek,
fleeing the Communist takeover of mainland China, establishes its
seat of government in Taiwan.
1952 – Riots break out in French Morocco.
1953 – David Ben-Gurion resigns as premier of Israel.
1965 – Pope Paul VI and ecumenical patriarch Athenagoras I of
Istanbul abolish the mutual excommunications of 1054 that split
Christianity into Catholic and Orthodox.
1970 – East Pakistan-based Awami League wins a majority government in
Pakistan’s general elections. In response, President Agha Mohammed
Yahya Khan suspends the government, triggering widespread rioting in
East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. Deep divisions between East and West
Pakistan lead to civil war.
1971 – Unmanned Soviet space capsule sends back radio and television
signals from planet Mars.
1972 – Imelda Marcos, wife of Philippines’ President Ferdinand
Marcos, is slashed during public ceremony in Manila by man who is
killed at the scene.
1974 – Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus after five months in
exile, and says he will pardon those who plotted his overthrow.
1975 – Indonesia invades East Timor.
1988 – Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, at United Nations,
announces unilateral reduction of his country’s troops, tanks, combat
aircraft and artillery; Huge earthquake in Soviet Armenia claims at
least 25,000 lives.
1989 – Republic of Lithuania abolishes constitutional guarantee of
communist supremacy and legalises multiparty system.
1990 – GATT talks among 107 nations are suspended after failure to
end impasse between US and EC over reductions in farm subsidies.
1992 – The Indian Government announces a ban on fundamentalist groups
after more than 200 Muslim and Hindus are killed and a Muslim shrine
in Ayodhya is demolished.
1993 – Ivory Coast President Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Africa’s
longest-serving ruler, dies.
1994 – PLO chairman Yasser Arafat pledges to protect Israelis from
militant Islamic terrorists and insists that all Palestinians on the
West Bank and in Gaza respect his authority as “the law.”
1994 – President Sam Nujoma’s ruling South-West Africa People’s
Organisation wins more than two-thirds of the vote in Namibian
national elections.
1995 – Australian Federal Court finds Aboriginal Affairs Minister
Robert Tickner failed to follow due process in placing a 25-year ban
on the Hindmarsh Island Bridge.
1995 – A probe from the Galileo spacecraft enters the gases of
Jupiter’s atmosphere and sends back 75 minutes of data before it
disintegrates.
1996 – After nearly 18 days aloft, Columbia and its astronauts return
to Earth, ending the longest space shuttle flight ever.
1997 – One Austrian and two American skydivers are killed when their
parachutes fail to open over the South Pole.
1998 – President Boris Yeltsin rouses himself from his sickbed for
three hours, fires several of his top aides and then returns to a
Kremlin hospital where he is recuperating from pneumonia.
1999 – A teenage student apparently bent on revenge opens fire inside
a high school in the Netherlands, wounding a teacher and four
students in the first school shooting in Dutch history.
2000 – Activists protesting near a European Union summit in Nice,
France, set fire to a bank and attack fire services when they arrive
to put out the blaze. Many arriving leaders wipe tears from their
eyes after officials sprayed tear gas at protesters.
2001 – A consortium of philanthropic foundations announces an
initiative to provide treatment for an estimated 2.5 million pregnant
women infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.
2001 – Americans hold services on the 60th anniversary of the Pearl
Harbor attack.
2002 – Iraq turns over to United Nations weapons inspectors a
document detailing its weapons of mass destruction programs and
industries with military applications, as required by a November UN
Security Council resolution.
2002 – Miss Turkey, Azra Akin, wins the Miss World competition
relocated to London from Nigeria. This followed the death of more
than 200 people in violence between Nigerian Christians and Muslims,
sparked by a newspaper article viewed by many Muslims as blasphemous.
2003 – Commonwealth leaders uphold their 18-month suspension of
Zimbabwe after tense debate that threatens to split Western and
developing-world members – and Zimbabwe, snubbed, withdraws from the
bloc of Britain and its former colonies. Commonwealth heads of state
declare Mugabe’s outcast status would stand until he made demanded
human rights and democratic reforms in his increasingly troubled
southern African nation.
–Boundary_(ID_sVlWsWdhg2UMPq3K8Bz18Q)–