Author: Emil Lazarian

Ethnic Azeris stage demo in Moscow over Armenian aggression
ANS TV, Baku
25 Sep 04
[Presenter Natavan Babayeva] The Azerbaijanis living in Russia have
staged a rally against Armenia’s aggressive policy in the vicinity
of the Russian State Duma in Moscow.
[Correspondent, over video of rally] Our compatriots staged
the authorized rally today at the initiative of the Movement for
Azerbaijan. The action was staged in protest at Armenia’s aggression
against Azerbaijan. It was staged on Teatralnaya Ploshchad [Theatre
Square] near the Russian State Duma. Ilqar Qasimov, chairman of
the Movement for Azerbaijan, said that along with the Azerbaijanis,
Russians as well as representatives of other nationalities had joined
their protest against Armenia’s aggressive policy. [Passage omitted:
Russian TV channels filmed the rally]
[Qasimov, on the telephone] The Azerbaijanis living in other regions
addressed the rally as well. We adopted two appeals to Russian
President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. We
decided to stage a picket outside the Armenian embassy [in Moscow]
on the occasion of Zangilan’s occupation on 28 September. We are
also going to stage another rally here on Teatralnaya Ploshchad on
29 September.
[Passage omitted: security beefed up on the rally venue today]
[Correspondent] The rally passed off peacefully, Qasimov added.
Mahir Mammadli for ANS.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Saakashvili thanks Turkish PM
The Messenger, Georgia (messenger.com.ge)
Sept 27 2004
Citing unnamed sources, AFP reports President Mikheil Saakashvili
telephoned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday to
thank him for conveying some problems of Georgia to European Commission
President Romano Prodi.
Saakashvili said this approach of Turkey would have a positive impact
on commercial relations between Turkey and Georgia. The president
expressed readiness to improve relations.
Saakashvili also mentioned problems in the Caucasus and stated that
one of the most important problems was Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict.
According to reports, he said the occupation of Upper Karabakh
should end.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RIA Novosti, Russia
Sept 26 2004
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT STOPS IN DUSHANBE ON HIS WAY TO CHINA
DUSHANBE, September 26 (RIA Novosti) – The Presidents of Tajikistan
and Armenia Emomali Rakhmonov and Robert Kocharyan discussed on
Sunday in Dushanbe the issues of bilateral cooperation, said the
press secretary of the Tajik president, Abdufattokh Sharipov.
Mr. Kocharyan made a short stop in the Tajik capital on his way to
China, where he is going on a state visit.
In Mr. Sharipov’s words, at the meeting Mr. Rakhmonov and Mr.
Kocharyan voiced the necessity to continue work over the improvement
of the contractual-legal base of bilateral relations in different
spheres (both countries along with Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and
Kyrgyzstan are members of the Organization of the Collective Security
Treaty. Armenia along with Ukraine and Moldova have the status of
observers under the Eurasian Economic Community, whose members are
Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan).
The Tajik president, in the words of the press secretary, noted the
necessity to accelerate work on the adoption of a regular package of
bilateral documents, which are now under consideration.
“Tajikistan is ready to continue political dialogue at different
levels, encourage the ties of business, scientific, cultural circles,
contacts between citizens,” the press secretary quoted Mr. Rakhmonov
as saying.
Mr. Kocharyan in his turn said that after the visit of the Tajik
president to Yerevan, the first session of the intergovernmental
commission on economic cooperation and a business forum took place,
said Mr. Sharipov.
“This is a good tendency, which is to provide a result. As the sides
are getting ready, Tajikistan organizes a second session of the
commission so that it could start implementing mutually beneficial
specific projects,” said Mr. Rakhmonov.
After the meeting with Mr. Rakhmonov, Mr. Kocharyan flew to Beijing.

PanArmenian News
Sept 25 2004
CEREMONY IN MEMORY OF ARMENIAN OFFICER KILLED DURING NATO COURSE IN
BUDAPEST TO TAKE PLACE IN YEREVAN PANTHEON TOMORROW
25.09.2004 13:59
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ September 26 – on the birthday of Gurgen Margarian
– the ceremony in commemoration of the Armenian officer will take
place in Yerablur Pantheon in Yerevan. To remind, lieutenant Gurgen
Margarian, born in 1978, who was attending English courses organized
within the frames of Partnership for Peace NATO Program in Budapest,
was brutally killed with an axe on February 19. The murderer, Azeri
senior lieutenant Ramil Safarov, who was also participating in the
course, had been arrested by Hungarian Police.

Le Figaro, France
24 septembre 2004
En France, la droite est contre, le PS a quelques réserves;
UNION EUROPÉENNE
– ILS SONT CONTRE L’OUVERTURE DE NÉGOCIATIONS :
L’UMP, en contradiction avec le président de la République, s’est
prononcée contre l’adhésion de la Turquie à l’UE. Le 7 avril,
l’ancien président du parti, Alain Juppé a souhaité, au nom de sa
formation, « qu’on n’engage pas de discussion avec la Turquie à la
fin de l’année ».
L’UDF est opposée à l’adhésion de la Turquie. La semaine dernière,
son président François Bayrou a demandé « que cette décision capitale
pour notre avenir soit précédée d’un débat et d’un vote au Parlement
».
Les souverainistes utiliseront leur hostilité à la candidature turque
pour leur campagne contre la Constitution européenne. Philippe de
Villiers, président du MPF, a dénoncé « la théophobie qui éconduit
Dieu pour faire entrer Allah ».
A l’extrême droite, le président du FN, Jean-Marie Le Pen, estime que
la Turquie « n’est pas un pays européen » pour des raisons «
historiques, géographiques, politiques, morales et religieuses ».
Pour lui, la Turquie est « un pays d’Asie (…) en voie de
réislamisation » .
– ILS Y SONT PLUTÔT FAVORABLES :
Le Parti socialiste s’est déclaré « favorable » à l’ouverture des
négociations avec la Turquie, à condition que celle-ci respecte « les
critères dits de Copenhague, droits de l’homme, statut des personnes
dont les femmes, des minorités, des langues ». Le PS insiste
notamment sur la reconnaissance du génocide arménien. Plus réservé,
le numéro deux du parti, Laurent Fabius, a estimé au printemps qu’il
ne fallait « certainement pas se presser » de faire entrer la Turquie
dans l’UE. Le 9 septembre, il a expliqué que la Turquie avait
vocation à appartenir à « l’Europe associée, qui accueillera les pays
du pourtour oriental et méditerranéen ».
Pour les Verts, l’entrée de la Turquie dans l’UE « est des plus
souhaitables » pour « réduire la fracture entre un monde occidental à
majorité chrétienne et un monde oriental à majorité musulmane ».
A l’extrême gauche, la porte-parole de LO Arlette Laguiller est
favorable à l’adhésion turque : « Les travailleurs turcs sont là
depuis longtemps en Europe. »
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESIDENT TO SETTLE CONFLICT OVER BALLET SCHOOL
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22. ARMINFO. RA President has promised to settle
the conflict over Yerevan Choreographic School in the favor of the
school, Gevorg Mheryan, a member of the Presidential Supervisory
Service, told the collective and parents’ committee, who are
discontent with the personnel decisions made by the RA Minister of
Culture Hovik Hoveyan.
Mheryan pointed out that the President is well-informed of the problem
and expects the Minister’s return from Germany. We would remind you
that the students’ parents held a picket in front of the presidential
residence to get an answer to their letter addressed to the President
requesting his interference. On September 10, a scandal took place at
the school: the school personnel were discontented by Minister Hovik
Hoveyan’s decree relieving Director Norair Mehrabyan and appointing
Karen Gevorgyan, and drove the Minister and his body-guards out. No
classes have been conducted for 12 days at the only ballet school in
Armenia that has worked for 80 years.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
September 23, 2004
American University of Armenia Corporation
300 Lakeside Drive, 4th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
Telephone: (510) 987-9452
Fax: (510) 208-3576
Contact: Gohar Momjian
E-mail: [email protected]
New Generation of Armenian Lawyers Speaks Out Against Corruption
YEREVAN – The AUA Department of Law and its Shitak Student Law Club hosted a
three-hour conference, `The New Generation of Armenian Lawyers Against
Corruption,’ on September 18, 2004. Members of Armenia’s courts system and
civil service spoke out against corruption and criticized what one of them
called a `culture’ of tolerance for corruption.
The panelists, some of them from the top levels of the Armenian government,
spoke out about their efforts to curb corruption. More than 75 members of
the community attended. The significant community interest in the event was
echoed by the interest from the news media. The event was broadcast on seven
local television stations and on National State Radio.
Speakers discussed their battle against corruption in the judiciary, the
role of civil servants in the anti-corruption struggle, and the
anti-corruption struggle of Armenia’s prosecutors, which is known locally as
the Procuracy. The program concluded with a premiere showing of the
25-minute documentary film `Corruption: from Cradle to Grave,’ which was
produced in Yerevan by Bars Media with the assistance of the AUA Law
Department.
Matthew Karanian, Associate Dean of the Law Department at AUA, introduced
the panelists and told attendees that corruption is a problem worldwide, and
that Armenia has taken great strides to eliminate it. `Armenia’s situation
is not unique.’ Karanian, a trial lawyer from the US, noted that corruption
in American courts is kept in check partly by strong local and state bar
associations. `The lawyers are vigilant,’ he said.
AUA law student Mariam Badalyan served as moderator. Top-level government
officials who spoke included Davit Khachaturyan, the Advisor to the Council
of Court Chairmen; Armen Boshnaghyan, the Senior Prosecutor of the
Department of the Protection of Accusation in Courts, RA General Procuracy;
Bagrat Yesayan, a Member of the State Council on Anti-Corruption; and Ara
Nazaryan, a Member of the Republic of Armenia Council of Civil Service.
Stephen R. Barnett, the Dean of the Law Department at AUA, noted that
`corruption is a critical problem that must be overcome in building
Armenia’s future.’ According to Barnett, `the problem won’t be overcome
unless it is frankly and openly discussed. The students of AUA’s Shitak Law
Club therefore have made a vital contribution in organizing the panel
discussion.’ Speakers were all engaged together in `examining the problem
of corruption and seeking solutions that work. The AUA Law Department is
proud to sponsor this event.’
The panel discussion was intended to encourage public participation in the
anti-corruption struggle in Armenia, as well as to raise public awareness on
its developments. This was one of a series of conferences that AUA sponsors
throughout the year.
—————————————
The American University of Armenia is registered as a non-profit educational
organization in both Armenia and the United States and is affiliated with
the Regents of the University of California. Receiving major support from
the AGBU, AUA offers instruction leading to the Masters Degree in eight
graduate programs. For more information about AUA, visit
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agence France Presse
21 septembre 2004 mardi 12:58 PM GMT
La Turquie divise les Français, au plus haut niveau (PAPIER D’ANGLE)
PARIS
Le débat sur l’entrée de la Turquie dans l’Union européenne est
particulièrement vif en France, rare pays en Europe où le parti au
pouvoir et le gouvernement s’opposent sur cette question sensible.
Plusieurs Etats membres ont des réticences à l’égard de l’adhésion
d’Ankara à l’UE, comme l’Autriche ou les Pays-Bas, mais rares sont
ceux où le débat est à ce point passionnel et où il oppose
gouvernement et majorité.
Le président français Jacques Chirac s’est à plusieurs reprises
prononcé en faveur de l’entrée de la Turquie dans l’Europe, même s’il
souligne que cette perspective est encore lointaine. Aussi lointaine
soit-elle, celle-ci est encore trop menaçante pour son propre parti,
l’UMP, qui s’est prononcé en avril dernier contre l’entrée de la
Turquie dans l’Union.
Le président de l’UMP, Alain Juppé, avait alors expliqué que “les
pays proches” de l’Union européenne, y compris la Turquie, n’avaient
“pas vocation à y entrer sous peine de la dénaturer”.
L’autre parti de la majorité, l’UDF, partage ce point de vue en
estimant que la Turquie dans l’Union signerait l’arrêt de mort du
projet européen, comme l’a affirmé son fondateur, l’ancien président
français Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, il y a deux ans.
En rejetant ainsi la Turquie hors de l’Europe, l’ancien président
français a dit tout haut ce que beaucoup d’hommes politiques français
pensaient tout bas.
“Il fallait bien que quelqu’un mette un jour les pieds dans le plat.
Beaucoup de responsables, Français ou autres, disent en privé que la
Turquie ne rentrera jamais dans l’Union européenne”, relevait ainsi
le sénateur français Hubert Haenel, membre de la Convention sur
l’avenir de l’Europe que présidait M. Giscard d’Estaing.
Le pavé dans la mare jeté par l’ancien président français a libéré le
débat en France, note à ce propos Deniz Akagül, spécialiste des
relations entre la Turquie et l’UE auprès de l’Institut des relations
internationales et stratégiques (IRIS) à Paris.
Le débat est particulièrement vif en France en raison de la
popularité du concept d’Europe puissance dans les milieux politiques.
Or celle-ci, soutiennent les détracteurs d’Ankara, ne sera jamais
réalité si la Turquie rejoint l’UE.
Pierre Lequiller, député UMP et président de la délégation pour l’UE
de l’assemblée nationale française, est de cet avis, et son récent
séjour en Turquie à la tête d’une mission d’information parlementaire
ne l’a pas fait changer d’avis.
“La Turquie n’a pas vocation à entrer dans l’UE”, a-t-il affirmé à
l’AFP ce week-end à son retour d’Ankara.
Ces questions posées sur les conséquences d’une adhésion éventuelle
de la Turquie à l’UE sur le contenu du projet européen ne se posent
guère dans les autres pays européens, a expliqué M. Akagül à l’AFP.
Elles cachent aussi certains “soucis électoralistes”, a-t-il ajouté.
“Le débat est surtout motivé par l’opinion publique, car les sondages
montrent que celle-ci en France est majoritairement contre une
adhésion de la Turquie”, a expliqué ce chercheur.
La Turquie est ainsi devenu l’un des principauux sujets pendant la
campagne des élections européennes de juin et certains redoutent
qu’elle ne vienne perturber la campagne pour le référendum de
ratification de la Constitution de l’UE.
“Les Français ont peur. Il faut qu’on leur promette que ce sont eux,
et non l’Elysée, qui décideront de l’entrée de tout nouveau pays”,
estime ainsi le député européen Alain Lamassoure (UMP), hostile à
l’adhésion d’Ankara.
A gauche, le Parti socialiste est officiellement en faveur de cette
adhésion, mais il est en réalité divisée. Il a ajouté récemment une
condition supplémentaire à cette adhésion en réclamant des autorités
turques qu’elles reconnaissent le génocide arménien, sous la
pression, selon la presse française, de la communauté arménienne
particulièrement bien implantée dans plusieurs circonscriptions en
région parisienne et à Marseille (sud).
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
Sept 22 2004
Expert to lecture on Armenian Christianity
The place of Armenian Christianity within the larger context of world
Christianity will be the subject of a lecture by Dr. Ara Dostourian
on Thursday, Sept. 30, at 8 p.m. at the Center and Headquarters of
the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR),
395 Concord Ave., Belmont.

Dostourian, a retired professor of history at West Georgia State
University and former research fellow in Armenian Studies at Harvard
University, has spent decades studying the development and
characteristics of Christianity as practiced historically by the
Armenian people.

Frequently, when Armenian Christianity is analyzed, it is viewed
without reference to world Christianity and other Christian
traditions. Moreover, the national or ethnic character of Armenian
Christianity is emphasized rather than its position within a larger
Christian context.

Dostourian will present an overview of basic Christianity and
its relationship to the other Abrahamic faiths (Judaism and Islam) as
well as the two major non-Abrahamic world religions (Hinduism and
Buddhism) and place Armenian Christianity within the context of the
three major Christian traditions: Orthodoxy, Catholicism and
Protestantism.

A special emphasis will be placed on Armenian Christianity’s
relationship with Orthodox Christianity, as the Armenian tradition is
part of the Oriental Orthodox family of churches (with Syriac,
Coptic, Ethiopian and Indian). Armenian Orthodoxy will be compared
with that of the Eastern Orthodox family (Greek, Russian, Ukrainian,
Serbian, Bulgarian, etc.). Finally, the uniqueness of Armenian
Christianity as a faith that took root in a particular place and
historical context – political, economic and cultural – will be
discussed.

Dostourian received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history from Rutgers
University, having earlier received a master of arts degree in
medieval history from Fordham University and a master of divinity
degree from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge. He is the
author of numerous articles on Armenian history and religion, and is
the translator and editor of “Armenia and the Crusades, 10th to 12th
Centuries: The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa.”

Admission to the event is free (donations appreciated). The
NAASR bookstore will open at 7:30 p.m. Ample parking is available
around the building and in adjacent areas.

For more information call 617-489-1610, or e-mail [email protected].
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

News24, South Africa
Sept 22 2004
On this day
Highlights in history on this date:
1992 – Azerbaijani-armed forces mount an offensive against the
disputed enclave Nagorno-Karabakh.
2001 – Pope John Paul II visits Kazakhstan and Armenia and cautions
against allowing September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States
to create divisions between Muslims and Christians.
1499 – Turks ravage Vicenza in Italy.
1550 – Holy Roman Empire fleet captures vessel Port of Africa at
Mehedia in Tunis, naval headquarters of Turkish corsair Dragut.
1609 – The king of Spain orders the deportation of the baptised
former Muslims known as Moriscos.
1711 – Rio de Janeiro is captured by the French.
1792 – French Republic is proclaimed and revolutionary calendar goes
into effect.
1862 – US President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation
Proclamation, declaring all slaves in the Confederate States free as
of January 1, 1863.
1914 – A German submarine sinks three British cruisers in one hour
off the Dutch coast; The German cruiser Emden shells Madras in India.
1927 – Slavery is abolished in Sierra Leone in Africa.
1940 – The Vichy French governor-general concludes an agreement that
makes Indochina the largest Japanese military staging ground in
southeast Asia.
1943 – The German battleship Tirpitz is disabled by British midget
submarines in a Norwegian fjord.
1949 – The Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb.
1955 – Hurricane Janet, the most violent Caribbean hurricane of the
season, causes almost 600 deaths around the islands.
1960 – A US Marine Corps DC-6 plane en route from Japan to the
Philippines crashes in the ocean 290km south of Okinawa. All 29
passengers are killed.
1965 – A cease-fire is declared in the war between India and
Pakistan, but both sides subsequently violate it.
1970 – Arab chiefs of state send envoys to meet with King Hussein and
Yasser Arafat to persuade them to find a way to contain the fighting
between the Jordanian Army and Palestinian guerrillas.
1974 – Official death toll in hurricane that swept Honduras is put at
5 000.
1975 – Sara Jane Moore fails in an attempt to shoot US President
Gerald Ford outside a San Francisco hotel.
1980 – Iraqi tanks enter Iran, marking the beginning of the Iran-Iraq
War as a full-scale conflict.
1986 – Two hijackers seize Soviet airliner at Ural Mountains airport
and kill two passengers before security agents recapture plane and
shoot the hijackers.
1988 – The government of Canada apologises for the World War 2
internment of Japanese-Canadians and promises compensation.
1989 – FW De Klerk takes over as president of South Africa.
1990 – Jordan’s King Hussein appeals to United States in televised
message to withdraw its troops from Saudi Arabia to avert “death,
destruction and misery.”
1991 – Armed opponents of Georgia’s president seize the republic’s
broadcasting studios and try to forge an anti-government coalition.
1992 – Azerbaijani-armed forces mount an offensive against the
disputed enclave Nagorno-Karabakh.
1993 – Abkhazian rebels in Georgia shoot down second passenger plane
in two days, killing 80.
1994 – Nato aircraft strike at Serbian targets near Sarajevo after UN
troops patrolling the city came under machine-gun and rocket fire.
1995 – America’s Time Warner Inc and Turner Broadcasting System Inc
announce a merger with Time Warner purchasing TBS in a deal valued at
$7.5 billion, creating the world’s largest media company.
1996 – Typhoon Violet veers into the North Pacific after killing
seven and setting off landslides that paralysed transportation in
Japan.
1997 – US President Bill Clinton, speaking at the United Nations,
announces he will submit to the Senate a treaty banning all nuclear
explosions.
1998 – Troops from South Africa and Botswana cross into Lesotho and
storm the royal palace, touching off a gunbattle with protesters.
2000 – The Court of Appeals in London rules to separate conjoined
twin girls against the wishes of their Roman Catholic parents. The
operation is certain to cause the death of one of the girls, and is
therefore forbidden by their religion.
2001 – Pope John Paul II visits Kazakhstan and Armenia and cautions
against allowing September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States
to create divisions between Muslims and Christians.
2002 – An appeals court in the Hubei province of China overturns
death sentences imposed on five members of a banned Christian sect in
December 2001, and orders a retrial.
2003 – The UN and UNAIDS, its Aids programme, issues a progress
report on how member nations were adhering to commitments made during
a June 2001 UN special session on HIV/Aids. It finds that the goals
set by the UN will not be met in many countries unless there is a
significant increase in global commitment