Author: Emil Lazarian

UN asks if world can stop future genocide
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 24 (Reuters) – If the world had listened to the
horrors of the Nazi death camps, perhaps genocide in Cambodia, Bosnia
and Rwanda could have been prevented, speakers told the first-ever
U.N. General Assembly session on the Holocaust.
Both U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Nobel Laureate author Elie
Wiesel, a World War Two death camp survivor, questioned whether the
nations had the will to stop mass murder in the future.
“If the world had listened, we may have prevented Darfur, Cambodia,
Bosnia and naturally Rwanda,” Wiesel said.
“We know that for the dead it is too late. For them, abandoned by God
and betrayed by humanity, victory did come much too late,” Wiesel
said. “But it is not too late for today’s children, ours and yours. It
is for their sake alone that we bear witness.”
Annan told the assembly that at this moment, “terrible things are
happening today in Darfur, Sudan.” He asked the U.N. Security Council
to take action once it received a new report determining whether
genocide had occurred in Darfur and identifying gross human rights
abuses.
The special session, at which survivors and the foreign ministers of
Germany, France, Argentina, Armenia, Canada and Luxembourg spoke, is a
memorial to the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the
largest Nazi death camp.
The meeting was first called by the United States and backed by Annan,
who polled the 191-member assembly.
More than 150 nations agreed to the session, including Islamic
nations. But among Muslim nations, only Afghanistan and Jordan’s
U.N. ambassadors are scheduled to speak to the General Assembly, often
accused by Israel of being anti-Semitic.
BACH AND SCHILLER
The liberation of Auschwitz is to be observed this year as Holocaust
Memorial Day, with world leaders attending ceremonies in Poland on
Jan. 27, exactly 60 years after Soviet Red Army troops liberated the
camp.
Up to 1.5 million prisoners, most of them Jews, were killed in
Auschwitz alone, dying in gas chambers or of starvation and
disease. During the war, six million Jews overall were exterminated
and millions of others including Poles, homosexuals, Russians and
Gypsies were killed or used as slave labor, at several Nazi death
camps.
“How could intelligent, educated men, or simply law-abiding citizens,
ordinary men, fire machine guns at hundreds of children every day” and
read Schiller and listen to Bach in the evening,” Wiesel asked.
To warm applause, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called the
Holocaust “barbaric. “For my country it signifies the absolute moral
abomination, a denial of all things civilized without precedent or
parallel,” he said.
He assured Israel that it could “always rely” on support because “the
security of its citizens will forever remain nonnegotiable fixtures of
German foreign policy.”
U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who lost most of his
extended family in the Holocaust, said if there was one thing the
world had learned, it is that nations “cannot close their eyes and sit
idly by in the face of genocide.”
“We know that there have been far too many occasions in the six
decades since the liberation of the concentration camps when the world
ignored inconvenient truths so that it would not have to act or acted
too late,” Wolfowitz said.
And Israel’s foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, warned that “the brutal
extermination of a people began not with guns or tanks but with words
systematically portraying the Jews and others as not legitimate,
something less than human.”
He said one would never know if the United Nations, born from the
ashes of World War Two and instrumental in the founding of the State
of Israel, could have prevented the Holocaust. But he said each
U.N. member state needed “to rededicate ourselves to ensuring that it
will never happen again.”
Wiesel also drew attention to the indifference of the West during the
war to accept more refugees, allow more Jews to go to Israel, or bomb
the railway lines to the vast Auschwitz-Birkenau camp site.
“In those times those who were there felt not only tortured, murdered
by the enemy but also by what we considered to be the silence and
indifference of the world,” Wiesel said. “Now, 60 years later, the
world at least tries to listen.”
French Foreign minister Michel Barnier acknowledged that German
occupiers were helped by the Vichy government in deporting Jews but
that others resisted.
“When the first signs of persecution of the Jews announcing the Shoah
occurred, how many stood up? How many spoke out?,” Barnier asked.
01/24/05 14:37 ET
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SENATOR CHUCK POOCHIGIAN HONORED AT LOS ANGELES AREA DINNER FOR
CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL CAMPAIGN
LOS ANGELES, January 19 (Noyan Tapan). California State Senator Chuck
Poochigian (R-Fresno) was honored at a dinner in support of his
campaign for Attorney General held at Sheraton Universal Hotel in
Universal City on Thursday, January 13, 2005. The dinner program
featured California’s 35th Governor, George Deukmejian, who also
served as Attorney General. Dr. Joan Otomo-Corgel, a longtime
Poochigian family friend was the emcee for the event. Governor
Deukmejian was introduced by former California Congressman and
Assemblyman Steve Kuykendall. Governor Deukmejian offered remarks on
the history and importance of the office of Attorney General and
praised Poochigian and his wife, Debbie, for their work in government
and politics. He warmly introduced Senator Poochigian to approximately
500 enthusiastic dinner guests. Senator Poochigian spoke about his
preparation for the office beginning with his work as a member of the
senior staff to Governors Deukmejian and Pete Wilson. His
responsibilities had included considerable work in assisting in the
selection of members of the judiciary and seeking men and women for
appointment who were highly respected, hard-working, and committed to
the rule of law. He spoke of the importance of similar qualities in
the state’s chief law officer who, in the ideal, should judiciously
carry out the duties of the office. Senator Poochigian spoke about the
challenges of conducting a statewide race and the necessity of having
strong involvement of committed supporters throughout California. He
encouraged guests to actively participate in the campaign and to
encourage others to join in the effort. Entertainment was provided by
Fred Travalena, a renowned singer, impressionist, comedian and song
writer who has performed internationally on stage and screen. Jill
Simonian, who is a television host of World Entertainment Connections,
sang the National Anthem and closed the evening with a wonderful
rendition of America the Beautiful. First elected to the Legislature
in 1994, Chuck Poochigian has in the course of two Assembly and Senate
terms, represented Central California from Bakersfield to the
Sacramento county line. He has been in the leadership of the
Republican Caucus for his entire time in the Legislature – beginning
in his first term when he chaired the Appropriations Committee and was
named “Republican Rookie of the Year” (in a class of 22). He has had a
distinguished legislative career with many important legislative
accomplishments in the fields of education, business and law
enforcement. Most recently, he was the author of comprehensive
legislation sponsored by Governor Schwarzenegger to reform
California’s workers’ compensation system.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
January 23, 2005 Sunday 1:39 AM Eastern Time
Yushchenko-third and youngest Ukrainian president
KIEV
New Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko enters his presidential
office on Sunday. He is the third head of state in independent
Ukraine: Leonid Kravchuk was the first. Then, Leonid Kuchma was
elected two times, but Yushchenko is the youngest of them: a month
later, he will turn 51 on February 23. He had been born in the
village of Khoruzhevka, Sumy Region in 1954.
In 1976, Yushchenko graduated from the Ternopol financial and
economics institute. Then, he served in border troops of the Soviet
Army on the Soviet-Turkish border, not far from the then city of
Leninakan, Armenia.
Since 1976, he worked in the banking system at first as an economist
and then head of a branch of the State Bank of the USSR in the Sumy
Region. Between 1985 and 1999, he was moving up the ladder of the
banking career up to the head of the Ukrainian republican branch of
the State Bank of the USSR.
In 1984, he graduated from the post-graduate courses of the Ukrainian
research institute of economics and agriculture, receiving the degree
of Candidate of Economic Sciences. Since 1992, worked as first deputy
board chairman of the Ukraina commercial agro-industrial bank.
Chairman of the Ukrainian National Bank between January 1993 and
December 1999.
The republic carried out successfully a monetary reform under his
guidance. He established a state treasury and started setting up a
mint. In 1997, Yushchenko ranked among the six best bankers of the
world.
He was Ukrainian prime minister from December 1999 and to April 2001.
In January 2002, Yushchenko formed and headed the election bloc Our
Ukraine, incorporating ten center-right parties. The bloc received
the highest support among other parties and blocs at the
parliamentary election in March 2002 – 24.7 percent electors voted
for it. Yushchenko headed the Our Ukraine parliamentary faction,
numbering 101.
On December 26,2004, Yushchenko carried the elections, winning 51.99
percent of the electorate in the rerun of the second round of
elections.
He married the second time. Has five children: two sons and three
daughters as well as two grandsons.

PanArmenian News, Armenia
Jan 21 2005
DETAILS OF EVICTION OF ARMENIANS FROM RUSSIAN KRASNODAR REGION
21.01.2005 17:30
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Many of the Armenians who were on board the plane
were without money, in slippers, without belongings and tickets,”
witness of the events Serik Voskanian, who was among illegal Armenian
migrants repatriated to Armenia by force by the Krasnodar authorities
January 17, told Aravot newspaper. Her disabled husband and daughter
remained in Krasnodar – the family was not given the chance to leave
together. Virtually, in Voskanian’s opinion, they remained hostages.
Their family has lived in Krasnodar region since 2000. In the words
of the editors of the newspaper, other forced repatriates from
Krasnodar also address them, protesting against violation of their
dignity and property rights by the region authorities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TO HAVE A BEAUTIFUL TOWN
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
22 Jan 05
Did the work style of the City Hall department for architecture and
building change after the election to the municipalities? According to
the head of the department Nver Mikaelian, the order of providing land
on a competitive basis is a progressive step. Among the responsibilities
of the department, besides responding to the applications of the
people of Stepanakert, N. Mikaelian pointed out the repair of facades
of buildings of the town.
THE TOWN WILL HAVE A NEW RESIDENTIAL AREA
On the outskirts of Stepanakert near the village Khanatsakh a new
residential area will be established with 740 detached houses.
According to the City Hall department for architecture and building,
preparation works are going on for allotting lands. Presently, the
road is built. In allotting lands preference will be given to certain
groups of people, such as families of disabled or killed persons. The
order of allotting lands has not been decided yet. It will become
clear after the preparation works. `As the chief architect I consider
important the looks and beauty of the town, and all our efforts are
directed at this aim,’ said Nver Mikaelian.
STEPANAKERT WILL HAVE ITS EMBLEM
The head of the department for architecture and building Nver
Mikaelian said, the town has never had an emblem and now they want to
fill in this gap. For this aim the City Hall holds a competition for
the design of the coat of arms of Stepanakert. The projects are
submitted up to February 22 and then the special commission will make
a choice. The head of the department said the participants must study
the history of the town and only then decide to take part in the
contest. According to him, no works have been submitted yet but
several painters and sculptors are interested in it. A competition
cannot be without prizes. The first prize is 100 thousand drams, the
second 50 thousand dramsand the third prize is 25 thousand drams.
LION AN UNFLINCHING SYMBOL
Nothing is eternal in this world, like different statues once erected
with great enthusiasm. Aged inhabitants of Stepanakert must remember
that in the 1950-60s a statue with the image of a lion was put at the
northern gate of the town, which perhaps symbolized power. They also
say that there was another animal near the feet of the lion, but we do
not know and do not want to suppose what it symbolized. The question
is that recently the City Hall has discussed the question of having a
statue of a lion at one of the gates of the town. The department for
architecture and building informed that the leadership of the City
Hall approved the idea and mentioned that unlike the `lion’ created in
the Soviet times which was not a monumental statue, the new statue
will be a work of art created with good taste to be in tune with the
spirit of the people of Artsakh. This time the statue will indeed
become a symbol of power. According to the headof the department for
architecture and building Nver Mikaelian, as in all developed towns it
is desirable to have a splendid statue marking one of the gates of
Stepanakert, which is considered the most important one today.
N. Mikaelian said, 17 works have already been submitted for
competition and very soon the monument will be erected at one of the
gates of the town.
LAURA GRIGORIAN.
22-01-2005
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Ismail Besikçi and Ragip Zarakolu are honorary Member of the Kurdish PEN
KurdishMedia.com
21/01/2005
Ismail Besikçi becomes the Honorary Member of the Kurdish PEN Centre
Bremen, Germany, 20th January, 2005: The Kurdish PEN Centre is honoured
to announce its decision concerning the outstanding Turkish sociologist,
writer and human rights activist Mr. Ismail Besikçi. After receiving his
approval, at the Board meeting of the 9th January, 2005, Ismail Beºikçi
was unanimously chosen as the Honorary Member of the Kurdish PEN Centre.
Ismail Besikçi’s persistent support of the rights of the Kurds and his
numerous scholarly works revealing the need to modernise and democratise
the Kurdish society cost him years of imprisonment in Turkey.
Ismail Besikçi’s academic approach and personal courage are
characteristics of the open-minded and free intellectuals who are able
to inspire minds and hearts. He enjoys therefore a high respect amongst
the Kurds and their friends.
The Kurdish PEN Centre wishes to encourage further translations of
Ismail Besikçi’s books into Kurdish as well as other languages to make
his research finding widely available.
**********************************************************
Ragip Zarakolu becomes the Honorary Member of the Kurdish PEN Centre
Bremen, Germany, 12th January, 2005: The Kurdish PEN Centre being an
internationally recognised body supporting Kurdish literary and
linguistic rights is happy to name the outstanding Turkish writer and
publisher and the Turkish PEN Centre member Mr. Ragip Zarakolu its
Honorary Member.
In doing so, the Kurdish PEN Centre reflects its appreciation of Ragip
Zarakolu’s courageous support of the rights of the Kurdish people and
points out its disapproval of numerous trials against him as a writer
and publisher. We share Ragip Zarakolu’s view that Armenian, Greek,
Jewish, Kurdish, Turkish and other regional languages and literatures
are equally valuable for the mankind. In terms of cultural life there is
no and shall be no hierarchy – only diversity. Acting as a real promoter
of the Kurdish literature, Ragip Zarakolu’s publishing house publishes
books both about the Kurds and in Kurdish.
We are honoured to have amongst us a person whose life and peaceful
struggle pave a way for a brighter future for various literary
traditions and people belonging to them.
Dr. Zorab Aloian, Secretary
Navenda PENa Kurd, Dresdner Bank, Konto-Nr. 4 757 403 00, Blz.: 700 800 00
The Kurdish Centre of
INTERNATIONAL P E N
A World Association of Writers
NAVENDA PEN A KURD
Kurdisches PEN – Zentrum e. V.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian Defence Ministry to manage civil defence troops
Arminfo
20 Jan 05
YEREVAN
At its session today, the Armenian government authorized the Armenian
Defence Ministry to manage the troops of civil defence.
Under the government’s decision, the troops of civil defence of the
emergencies department under the Armenian government are subordinate
to the Armenian Defence Ministry, Arminfo learnt from the Armenian
government’s press service.
We should note that under the law on the troops of civil defence which
came into force in May 2004, the government set the structure and the
number of troops of civil defence. The troops have the right to carry
and use fire-guns. When defending the country, the troops are
equipped with weapons and uniforms of the Armenian armed forces. The
military use of the troops of civil defence is regulated by the army
internal regulations and the order set by this law. Interference in
the activity of the troops of civil defence is prosecuted by the
law. The troops of civil defence are funded from the state budget and
other sources not banned by the Armenian legislation.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Libération , France
vendredi 21 janvier 2005
L’Europe d’Ankara à Rabat
Méditerranéens authentiques, les Marocains, qui entretiennent des
liens privilégiés avec l’Espagne et la France, seraient le peuple du
Maghreb le plus à même de se joindre à l’UE.
Par Tahar BEN JELLOUN

Les Maghrébins suivent avec un intérêt particulier les débats qui
ont lieu en ce moment sur l’entrée de la Turquie dans l’Union
européenne. L’Empire ottoman n’a pas laissé que de bons souvenirs
dans le monde arabe. Seul le Maroc avait résisté à la domination
turque et il en tire une certaine fierté. Cela est oublié aujourd’hui
et les relations entre le Maghreb et la Turquie sont discrètes. Pas
beaucoup d’échanges. On s’ignore mutuellement avec courtoisie, ce qui
est regrettable. Les Maghrébins considèrent que la Turquie est loin,
pas seulement par la distance. Elle leur est étrangère par son
appartenance à la rive asiatique, par l’évolution de son histoire
récente et aussi par la différence des mentalités.
La révolution de Mustafa Kemal Atatürk qui, en 1923, a instauré dans
ce pays musulman la laïcité et qui a opté, cinq ans plus tard, pour
l’écriture en caractères latins à la place des caractères arabes, a
dérangé et déplu à certains nationalistes qui considéraient l’islam
comme une part inaliénable de l’identité maghrébine. Elle a été vécue
comme une rupture, un schisme dans «Dar al islam», la Maison de
l’islam. La Turquie quittait cette grande maison et se tournait vers
l’Occident. Elle compte aujourd’hui une population juive estimée à
environ 25 000 personnes et entretient des relations plutôt cordiales
avec Israël.
La société turque n’a pas renoncé à l’islam en tant que culture et
civilisation, elle a simplement tenu la religion en dehors du
politique. La pratique religieuse est devenue de l’ordre du privé, ce
qui n’a pas empêché l’édification de mosquées et même le
développement de mouvements islamistes, lesquels agissent dans le
cadre de la laïcité et n’encouragent pas le terrorisme. D’ailleurs,
Al-Qaeda n’a pas réussi à s’implanter dans ce pays.
En ce sens, la Turquie est en train d’entrer dans la modernité, étape
visée par les trois pays du Maghreb, le Maroc, l’Algérie et la
Tunisie, mais qui sont loin d’accepter ne serait-ce que le débat sur
le principe de laïcité. Nous assistons au contraire à un regain de
religiosité chez la jeunesse déçue par les idéologies dites
progressistes. Par modernité, il faut entendre la reconnaissance de
l’individu, l’Etat de droit et la culture de la démocratie qui
garantit l’égalité de droit entre l’homme et la femme. La Tunisie a
le code de la famille le plus équitable du monde arabe, l’Algérie et
le Maroc ont révisé le leur en accordant à la femme un peu plus de
droit qu’avant.
La perspective de voir la Turquie faire tôt ou tard partie de
l’Europe fait réfléchir une partie de l’élite maghrébine qui voudrait
bien profiter de cet élargissement particulier et exceptionnel pour
poser le «cas» de cette partie sud de la Méditerranée.
Lorsqu’au milieu des années quatre-vingt le roi Hassan II déposa la
candidature du Maroc à entrer un jour dans l’Union européenne, la
presse non marocaine s’est moquée de cette initiative et n’a même pas
examiné l’éventualité d’une telle appartenance. Mais Hassan II
n’était pas le genre de dirigeant à plaisanter, encore moins à faire
de la provocation gratuite. Il voyait loin, savait que l’avenir de
son pays ferait partie un jour ou l’autre du destin européen. Pour
les Marocains, ce geste avait une portée symbolique. Cela ne voulait
pas dire que le Maroc remplissait toutes les conditions et obéissait
aux nombreux critères pour devenir européen, cela signifiait que sa
situation géopolitique le désignait pour un partenariat particulier,
c’est-à-dire privilégié, en espérant davantage si affinités…
C’était l’époque où le Maroc avait du mal à trouver un terrain
d’entente avec l’Espagne à propos du problème de la pêche, où les
agrumes et autres produits marocains avaient des difficultés à
arriver sur les marchés des villes européennes, où son image était
ternie par la répression des opposants et par une politique
sécuritaire basée sur l’arbitraire et la peur. Les prisons étaient
pleines de détenus d’opinion et des villas étaient réservées à la
torture. Ces années de plomb sont révolues. Le Maroc nouveau est en
train d’émerger en misant sur la démocratisation de la vie politique
; mais les changements tardent à venir ou se font à dose
homéopathique.
La Tunisie, grce à Bourguiba, a toujours eu un penchant vers
l’Europe. L’actuel président a utilisé la répression pour mettre fin
à l’aventure islamiste ainsi qu’à toute tentative d’opposition. Parce
qu’il a de bons résultats économiques, certains pays européens, comme
la France et l’Italie, ferment les yeux sur la violation des droits
de l’homme. Quant à l’Algérie, minée par une guerre civile terrible,
il n’est pas dans ses projets connus de faire une démarche comme le
Maroc ou la Turquie. Mais si les trois pays parvenaient à vraiment
s’unir, en tant qu’entité géographique et économique, il serait
difficile à l’Europe de ne pas examiner une telle demande
d’intégration.
Au XIXe siècle, un grand penseur musulman à l’origine de la pensée
moderne arabe, Jamal Eddine Afghani (1838-1898), disait en pensant au
monde arabo- musulman : «L’Orient ne trouvera son salut qu’en se
réconciliant avec la Raison et la science.» Cette réconciliation n’a
pas eu lieu ; elle a été empêchée par la débcle du socialisme arabe
et par l’entrée sur la scène politique de l’islam en tant
qu’idéologie de combat. Le Maghreb n’y échappe pas. La Turquie semble
sur le chemin de cette révolution culturelle.
Demain, quand les portes de l’Europe s’ouvriront à elle, la
réconciliation avec la Raison et la science sera un fait, car devenir
européen, c’est accepter de participer à la culture de la modernité
sans pour autant renoncer aux valeurs qui fondent sa civilisation et
son identité, c’est souscrire à des valeurs fondamentales comme le
respect des droits de la personne sans pour autant abandonner ce qui
constitue ses traditions et son authenticité. C’est pour cela que la
Turquie ne pourra pas faire l’économie d’une petite révolution dans
sa manière de lire l’histoire, elle ne pourra plus s’offusquer chaque
fois qu’on lui parle du génocide arménien. Dans l’Etat criminel (1),
Yves Ternon apporte la preuve de l’existence, dès 1914, d’un plan de
suppression de la population arménienne de l’Empire ottoman par
l’Etat dirigé par les jeunes turcs. Le génocide des Arméniens est un
fait de l’histoire. Le reconnaître permettra à la Turquie
d’aujourd’hui de tourner définitivement cette page tragique, vieille
de plus de quatre-vingt-dix ans.
L’Europe ne perdra pas son me comme le disent les adversaires de
cette candidature, au contraire, elle pourra s’enrichir et se
renforcer au contact d’une culture où Occident et Orient se marient
sans heurts notables. Ce ne sera pas «le choc des civilisations» mais
le métissage des cultures, des couleurs et des épices. Même la Grèce,
qui n’entretenait pas des relations idylliques avec son voisin turc,
milite aujourd’hui pour son entrée dans la communauté européenne.
Après la Turquie, le Maghreb, parce que cette entité a une mémoire
commune, une mémoire parfois douloureuse, avec au moins trois pays
européens qui sont la France, l’Espagne et l’Italie. Ce lien se
poursuit aujourd’hui par une politique de coopération culturelle et
économique. Au Maroc, on parle français et espagnol, on lit la presse
européenne, on suit les émissions des télés européennes, on rêve
d’Europe, on se bat pour des visas d’entrée dans l’espace Schengen,
on cultive l’appartenance à l’aire méditerranéenne et surtout on
compte sur la consolidation de la modernité pour échapper à la vague
islamiste. En Algérie comme en Tunisie, le bilinguisme est une
réalité.
Alors que les pays arabes ont échoué à s’unir et à se constituer en
tant qu’entité forte, l’Europe va pouvoir utiliser cet échec pour
intégrer en son sein ceux de ces pays avec lesquels elle a eu des
liens par le passé. Un Maghrébin se trouve plus d’affinité avec un
Français ou un Italien qu’avec un habitant des pays du Golfe. La
différence de comportement et de mentalité est souvent masquée par le
fait du partage de la langue arabe (classique, parlée par l’élite) et
par l’islam sunnite.
S’il n’y avait qu’un seul pays du Maghreb à faire partie de l’Europe
selon des modalités à voir et à négocier plus tard, ce serait le
Maroc. Les raisons sont nombreuses :
– 14 km seulement séparent les côtes espagnoles de Tanger ;
d’ailleurs, par temps clair, on voit ces côtes et leurs lumières
assez distinctement. D’où le rêve de traverser le détroit de
Gibraltar au péril de sa vie ;
– deux villes marocaines, Ceuta et Melilla, occupées depuis cinq
siècles par l’Espagne, font de ce fait partie intégrante et étrange
de l’Europe. Quand on est à Ceuta, on passe de l’Afrique à l’Europe
en traversant une dizaine de mètres ! Si cette amorce européenne se
maintient, alors il n’y a pas de raison pour exclure de l’espace
européen M’Diq, le village qui jouxte la ville de Ceuta, à moins que
l’Espagne rétrocède ces deux présides au Maroc, leur propriétaire
naturel ;
– les Marocains sont d’authentiques Méditerranéens, dans le sens où
la Méditerranée est une culture, un état d’esprit, une conception du
temps et de la durée, et puis une relation affective et solidaire
entre les gens. Pour eux, la Méditerranée est une vision du monde
basée sur l’échange et la solidarité.
En intégrant ce pays, l’Europe corrige l’erreur coloniale et l’invite
à accélérer le rythme et l’audace des réformes qui lui ouvriront les
portes de la modernité. En même temps, elle règle sa dette avec la
rive sud de la Méditerranée qu’elle a négligée et qui souffre
aujourd’hui de pauvreté. Ce sera l’occasion pour créer une harmonie
entre le nord et le sud de la Méditerranée, le Nord étant sous-peuplé
et développé, le Sud surpeuplé et pas assez développé, faire enfin de
cette région où les conflits abondent un vrai lac de paix, d’entente
et de coopération. De là à tourner le regard vers une autre région
qui souffre depuis un demi-siècle, il n’y a qu’un pas qu’il faudra
bien franchir : en forçant à peine l’histoire et la géographie,
l’Europe pourra, en intégrant Israël et la Palestine, régler un des
conflits des plus sanglants et des plus longs de ces dernières
décennies et damer ainsi le pion à la puissance américaine, qui
décide du destin de ces populations.
Si l’Europe a assez d’audace de suivre certains de ses visionnaires
et intègre ces fameux «barbares», elle gagnera en puissance et en
humanité, renforcera ses valeurs humanistes et coupera l’herbe sous
les pieds de tous les extrémistes de toutes tendances.
(1) Le Seuil, 1995.
Par Tahar BEN JELLOUN, écrivain.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
Jan 20 2005
Analysis: Moscow Sheds Light On Karabakh Talks
By Liz Fuller
In order not to risk jeopardizing any rapprochement that has been
achieved, the participants in what has come to be known as the
“Prague process” of ministerial level talks under the aegis of the
OSCE Minsk Group on approaches to resolving the Karabakh conflict
have until now abided by a gentlemen’s agreement not to divulge to
the press the specific topics under discussion.
In line with that agreement, neither Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanian nor his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov have
divulged any details of their most recent talks in Prague on 10-11
January. But four days after those talks, the Russian Foreign
Ministry issued a press release
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listing specific issues under discussion, adding that on some of
those issues the two sides’ positions have become closer.
Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service after meeting with Mammadyarov
on 11 January, Oskanian characterized the mood of the talks as
“positive.” He said that “full agreement” has not yet been reached on
the principles of a settlement, but that “there is a general
framework of issues, but as this meeting showed, they need to be
consolidated.” He added that “it is still too early to disclose any
details.” Briefing journalists in Yerevan the following day, Oskanian
predicted that settlement talks this year will be “quite intensive,”
thus marking a qualitative shift to a new, more serious phase of
discussions. Noyan Tapan quoted him as saying that “all elements”
related to a peaceful solution of the conflict are on the table,
without listing those elements.
Oskanian further noted that Azerbaijani media frequently misrepresent
the nature and focus of the talks, and that “everyone” — presumably
meaning both Mammadyarov and the U.S., Russian, and French
co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group — agree that “officials should
be more circumspect when making statements.”
On 13 January, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov
similarly briefed journalists in Baku on the Prague talks. Azimov
said that while Baku insists that any solution to the conflict must
preserve Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, the restoration of
territorial integrity alone will not solve all problems: in that
context he mentioned specifically the future peaceful coexistence of
the Armenian population of Karabakh and those Azerbaijanis who fled
the region over a decade ago when the conflict first turned violent
and hope to return there.
Azimov also listed issues that could form part of a hypothetical
solution to the conflict. He said that if Armenian troops are
withdrawn from Azerbaijani territory, Azerbaijan would be ready to
restore economic and other relations with Armenia. He was quoted by
zerkalo.az as saying that “a little later, the question of the return
to the region of the Azerbaijani population and the coexistence of
the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities in Nagorno-Karabakh must be
addressed. Once interregional ties and ties between Nagorno-Karabakh
and Armenia [on the one hand] and the government of Azerbaijan are
established, it will be possible to achieve a normalization of the
situation and set about seeking a solution to other political
questions.” Whether Oskanian and Mammadyarov have discussed that
specific sequence of events is not clear, however.
Azimov dismissed as “speculation” reports that the liberation of
three of the seven districts of Azerbaijan currently under Armenian
control is under discussion: he said that “in the course of the
Prague process the question of liberating all seven districts
surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh at the first stage is being discussed.”
According to echo-az.com, Azimov likewise denied that the possibility
of holding a referendum in Nagorno-Karabakh on the region’s future
status was addressed in Prague, and he expressed regret that such
“unreliable information” finds its way into the press. In an article
published in “Le Figaro” last month, former Spanish Foreign Minister
Ana Palacio and Pierre Lellouche, who is NATO Parliamentary Assembly
president, argued that the Karabakh conflict differs fundamentally
from those in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transdniester, and that
“the Europeans, Americans, and Russians should jointly defend a
compromise [settlement] that would give Armenia temporary control of
Karabakh in exchange for the withdrawal of Armenian forces from
Azerbaijani territory, [with] the final status of Karabakh to be
decided by its inhabitants in a referendum in five or 10 years’
time.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry press release listed among the
“contentious issues” under discussion: the withdrawal of [Armenian]
troops, demilitarization of the previously occupied territories,
international security guarantees for the Armenian population of
Karabakh, and the unrecognized republic’s future status vis-a-vis
Azerbaijan. The press release reaffirmed Moscow’s readiness to
contribute, together with the other two Minsk Group co-chairs, to
“deepening the mutual understanding between Armenia and Azerbaijan”
with a view to bringing about a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Family dies of carbon monoxide poisoning in Armenia, latest in rash of
poisoning incidents
.c The Associated Press
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) – A 47-year-old man, his wife and his son died
of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a homemade stove Thursday,
emergency officials said, the latest in a rash of deaths in Armenia
caused by gas leaks and faulty heating stoves.
The Emergency Situations Ministry said the man was burning wood and
animal dung in a homemade stove that was poorly ventilated. Officials
found the family dead in their home in the village of Yeranos Thursday
morning.
The incident brings the number of such deaths in Armenia in the past
year to 25, 16 of which occurred in December alone, according to
emergency officials. The prosecutor general’s office, however, said
there had been 24 deaths in 2004 by natural gas poisoning alone.
Many people in the ex-Soviet republic use makeshift stoves and
homemade gas heaters, sometimes tapping illegally into gas lines,
because their homes lack heaters, which are expensive.
Rescuers have saved eight people from poisoning inicidents through the
country already this year, the ministry said, and doctors had
resuscitate two who had been overcome by gas.
01/20/05 09:59 EST
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress