Author: Emil Lazarian

Pan Armenian News
ONE CAN SPEAK OF FINAL RESULTS WHEN NKR TAKES PART IN TALKS
26.05.2005 07:21
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `I consider speaking of the 7 territories or moving troops
today meaningless,’ Nagorno Karabakh Foreign Minister Arman Melikian stated.
In his words, there are no agreements either over that issue or principles.
`Thus, I suppose Mr. Merzlyakov shows certain optimism in his statements.
However, we should be realists. There is no progress made over issue in
question – the talks. I will return to the problem again: Azerbaijan and
Armenia, as well as the OSCE MG Co-Chairs take part in the talks still.
Nagorno Karabakh is not included in the negotiations directly. `One will be
able to speak of final decisions, when the Nagorno Karabakh Republic takes
part in the talks and presents its stand to the public, the mediators and
the interested parties,’ the NKR FM stated, Regnum news agency.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeris unhappy with possible Russian pullout from Georgia to Armenia – daily
Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Moscow
25 May 05

Text of report by Vladimir Bogdanov in Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya
Gazeta on 25 May headlined “Baku says no to Russia. But yes to
America?”
Petr Burdykin, Russian charge d’affaires in Azerbaijan, has been
summoned to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry to be handed a diplomatic
note in connection with reports of a possible transfer of Russian
military bases from Georgia to Armenia.
Remember a recent statement by Gen Yuriy Baluyevskiy, chief of
Russia’s General Staff: “The military bases will definitely be
withdrawn from Georgia to Russian territory. It is quite possible that
some of the inventory and military equipment will be withdrawn to
Armenia.” The general said that this would enable the timetable for
the withdrawal of the bases to be reduced from 10-11 years to four.
Right now there are up to 5,000 Russian servicemen together with 115
tanks, 220 infantry fighting vehicles and armoured personnel carriers,
and 170 artillery systems [in Georgia]. It is that part of the
armament that could be temporarily deployed at the base in Gyumri
[Armenia]. And this is what caused the negative reaction from Baku,
which is still in a state of undeclared war with Yerevan over Nagornyy
Karabakh. The belief in the Azerbaijani capital is that, in reaching
agreement with Armenian President Robert Kocharyan on redeploying
military equipment, Moscow has ignored Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev’s view on the issue.
It looks as though any reinforcement of Russia’s military grouping in
Armenia is unacceptable to Azerbaijan. In fact, Baku plans to be
quartering US servicemen by the end of this year.
According to experts from the American-Israeli Stratfor strategic
forecasting centre, the US forces in Azerbaijan will be called
“temporarily deployed mobile forces.” Stratfor’s information is that
the first American units will arrive here in the next few weeks. “If
this information accords with reality, this will constitute a major
strengthening of American military control over the energy resources
and the priorities of the Caspian region,” the centre experts believe.
Under the agreement, American forces will be deployed at three former
Soviet bases in central districts of Azerbaijan: Kurdamir (the main
base), Nasosnaya [Tagiyev village] and Yevlax. The landing strips have
already been upgraded to meet American military requirements. Hangars
for the US air force and barracks for the special forces have also
been erected there.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri authorities have “difficult decisions” to make – NKR official
Arminfo, Yerevan
26 May 05
STEPANAKERT
The foreign minister of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic [Arman
Melikyan] believes that Azerbaijan will have to make a difficult
decision regarding Kashatag [Lacin] District. He said this in an
interview with the public TV and radio company of Nagornyy Karabakh.
Kashatag District and other territories have always been of vital
importance to the Nagornyy Karabakh republic, Melikyan said.
“I believe that this will be so in the future, too. I do not know what
Mr [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev meant, but I am sure he is
aware that Azerbaijan has to make difficult decisions regarding this
issue,” he said.
Asked whether Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov had any
grounds to say that “Armenia is preparing to withdraw from the seven
districts [outside Nagornyy Karabakh]”, Melikyan said: “I would say
that the only reason for Mammadyarov’s statement is the practical
policy carried out by Azerbaijan and intended to create the impression
that it is Armenia that has complete control of the territories in
question.”
It is obvious that this is not the case and Azerbaijan’s efforts have
purely political considerations, Melikyan said. Control of the
territories is in the remit of the Nagornyy Karabakh authorities and
decisions regarding them cannot be taken without the consent of the
people of Nagornyy Karabakh. And this consent must be clearly
expressed. Therefore, any vociferous calls and statements by the
Azerbaijani side about the territories and withdrawal of the Armenian
forces from them are nothing other than wishful thinking, the minister
said.
Commenting on Azerbaijani media reports quoting the Russian
co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuriy Merzlyakov, as saying that
the “Armenian troops must pull out from the territories adjacent to
Nagornyy Karabakh, but there is no final agreement to that effect
yet”, Melikyan said that any talk about the territories and troop
movements was meaningless at the current stage.
“There are no agreements on the issue and there are no agreements on
principles. Hence, Mr Merzlyakov seems to be somewhat optimistic in
his judgments. But we have to be realistic. This issue is the subject
of negotiations and there is no progress on it so far,” Melikyan said.
“Nagornyy Karabakh is not directly involved in the talks. It will be
possible to speak about final decisions only when the Nagornyy
Karabakh republic takes part in the talks and has the opportunity to
express its position to the public, mediators and interested parties,”
he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Frankfurter Allgemaine Zeitung German
25 Mai 2005
Konferenz über Mord an Armeniern verschoben

25. Mai 2005 Die Universität von Istanbul hat dem Druck der
türkischen Regierung nachgegeben und eine geplante
Historiker-Konferenz über die Ermordung von etwa 1,5 Millionen
Armeniern im Ersten Weltkrieg verschoben.
Das nach einem EU-Beitritt strebende muslimische Land bestreitet bis
heute, daß es vor 90 Jahren einen Völkermord an den christlichen
Armeniern gegeben hat. Die Bosporus-Universität hatte ursprünglich ab
Mittwoch zu der Konferenz geladen, bei der auch Kritiker der
offiziellen türkischen Darstellung sprechen sollten.
„Wissenschaftliche Freiheit gefährdet’
Nun teilte die Hochschule mit, die Veranstaltung wegen des in der
Türkei vorherrschenden Klimas in der Armenier-Frage vorerst nicht
abzuhalten. „Als staatliche Universität fürchten wir, daß die
wissenschaftliche Freiheit wegen der Vorurteile über eine Konferenz,
die noch gar nicht stattgefunden hat, in Mitleidenschaft gezogen
werden könnte.’
Die Türkei steht unter internationalem Druck, den Völkermord an den
Armeniern anzuerkennen, was sie bis heute ablehnt. Die derzeitige
pro-europäische Regierung signalisierte zuletzt aber zumindest die
Bereitschaft, unterschiedliche Sichtweisen mit den Armeniern zu
diskutieren.
„Dolchstoß in den Rücken des türkischen Volkes’
Die Türkei erkennt zwar offiziell die Ermordung Hunderttausender
Armenier durch das damalige Osmanische Reich an. Gleichzeitig rechnet
sie aber vor, es seien bei den Partisanenkämpfen nach dem
Zusammenbruch des Reiches noch viel mehr Türken ums Leben gekommen.
Justizminister Cemil Cicek war am Dienstag im Parlament in die
Rhetorik der Vergangenheit zurückgefallen. Die geplante Konferenz
hatte er als „Dolchstoß in den Rücken des türkischen Volkes’
bezeichnet. „Wir müssen diesen Verrat und die Verbreitung der
Propaganda gegen die Türkei durch Menschen, die diesem Land
angehören, beenden.’
Ein EU-Diplomat bewertete die Äußerungen als unglaublich. Diese
machten nicht nur die Politik der Türkei in dieser Frage zunichte.
Sie würden auch die Ambitionen des Landes, in die Europäische Union
(EU) einzutreten, zunichte machen. Die EU hat die Türkei dazu
aufgefordert, vor Beginn der Beitrittsverhandlungen am 3. Oktober
ihre Beziehungen zum Nachbarland Armenien zu verbessern. Einige
EU-Vertreter verlangen sogar ein Schuldeingeständnis vor den
Verhandlungen.
Wie Deutschland haben zahlreiche EU-Länder in Resolutionen den
damaligen Völkermord der Türken an den Armeniern anerkannt. Die
Türkei wirft der EU dagegen vor, sie bringe die Armenier-Frage vor,
um einen Beitritt zu verhindern.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkish Press
May 26 2005
Error In The Equation

BY OKTAY EKSI
HURRIYET- The conference on `Ottoman Armenians During the Fall of the
Empire,’ which had been scheduled for this week at Bogazici
University, was a misguided attempt, because it was made without
taking into consideration the context in Turkey.
It would be wrong to hold this conference to disprove the views of
those who argue that the Armenian genocide never took place.
Moreover, the subject should be handled in an objective manner and
though scholarly discussions. For example, those who represent the
opposing view should also be represented there equally. That this
wasn’t done was probably the biggest mistake.
However these were not the only mistakes made… Justice Minister
Cemil Cicek accused those who planned the conference of `stabbing
Turkey in the back’ and after that made statements a good democrat
should never make: He accused them of treason. This was the biggest
mistake of all.
I don’t find the government’s reaction democratic, but in fact very
wrong, as I wrote above.
I wish that the conference had been held and we could find the answer
to these two questions:
1. Could you hold the opposite version of this conference -which
could not be held because Turkey is not democratic enough – in
Armenia? For example, could a conference on `The Armenian Genocide
Allegations Are Based on Lies’ be held in Armenia?
2. Those who say that the Armenian genocide is real, when in some
European countries laws were passed making denying the allegations a
crime, did you oppose this with even a single breath?
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian foreign minister slams Turkey, expects EU to pressure Turkey
to open ties, border
AP Worldstream
May 26, 2005

The Armenian foreign minister said Thursday the European Union should
put more pressure on Turkey to open its border with Armenia.
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan called on the EU to be more assertive
and make Ankara open “the last closed border in Europe.”
“It’s the Turkish side that keeps it closed which we do not understand,
and we expect that the EU be more assertive on this matter, asking
Turkey to open the border with Armenia,” he said during a visit to
Helsinki.
The two countries sharply disagree over the mass killings of Armenians
by Ottoman Turks during World War I, which Armenians say was genocide.
Turkey has indicated the countries might establish political ties if
Armenia agreed to join a joint commission to investigate the killings.
Oskanyan, who met with his Finnish counterpart, Erkki Tuomioja, called
Turkey’s preconditions “unacceptable.”
“We have to follow the example of other European countries _ there are
hardly any two countries in Europe or anywhere else that do not have
differences in the interpretation of their past. But those things do
not stop them from having normal ties and having diplomatic relations,
trade relations, and communication as neighbors,” Oskanyan said.
Armenia has previously insisted Turkey should not become an EU member
until it acknowledges genocide. Turkey is scheduled to start
membership negotiations with the European Union in October.

Pan Armenian News
NKR FM: SPEAKING OF SENDING PEACEKEEPERS TO KARABAKH PREMATURE
26.05.2005 02:26
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ «According to the resolution of the OSCE Budapest Summit
in 1994, the sending of international forces to sustain peace to the zone of
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is conditioned by the signing of an agreement
between all parties to conflict,» stated Deputy Foreign Minister of the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic Masis Mailian, when commenting on the reports of a
number of media that Ukraine is ready to send its peacekeeping contingent to
the zone of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, reported the Press Service of the
NKR Foreign Ministry. At that the Deputy FM noted that under the conditions
of absence of a peace treaty discussion of the details of the peacekeeping
operation, specifically, the possible composition of the peacekeeping forces
is premature. In his words, all parties to conflict, including the NKR
leaders, should come to an agreement over the matter. Masis Mailian noted
that the cease-fire at the Azeri-Karabakh front has lasted 11 years only due
to the balance of power between the parties.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Pan Armenian News
INTERPOL DETAINED ARMENIAN PUBLICIST BY MISTAKE
26.05.2005 04:45
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Interpol released Armenian publicist Zori Balayan with
the assistance of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Press Secretary of the
Ministry Hamlet Gasparian told PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words, the
Armenian party intervened at once to smooth the incident. As noted by H.
Gasparian, the incident is misunderstanding at the least, as in 2001 the
former Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Foreign Ministry of Armenia had
done their best to prove Azerbaijan’s accusations of Z. Balayan are absurd
and to leave him out of the Interpol lists. It should be noted that Z.
Balayan was detained by the Interpol on the basis of an address of the Azeri
Government in Bridnisi port in south of Italy, where he was along with his
son Karen Balayan on board of Cilicia ship, that was making the second stage
of the voyage in «seven seas.» They were released after being kept in the
Italian police for 5 hours.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Amnesty Takes Aim at ‘Gulag’ in Guantanamo
By PAISLEY DODDS
.c The Associated Press
LONDON (AP) – Amnesty International castigated the U.S. prison camp in
Guantanamo Bay as a failure Wednesday, calling it “the gulag of our
time” in the human rights group’s harshest rebuke yet of American
detention policies.
Amnesty urged Washington to shut down the prison at the U.S. Navy’s
base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where some 540 men are held on suspicion
of links to Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban regime or the al-Qaida terror
network. Some have been jailed for more than three years without
charge.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Amnesty’s complaints were
“ridiculous and unsupported by the facts.” He said allegations of
prisoner mistreatment are investigated.
“We hold people accountable when there’s abuse. We take steps to
prevent it from happening again. And we do so in a very public way for
the world to see that we lead by example and that we do have values
that we hold very dearly and believe in,” McClellan told reporters.
In its annual report, Amnesty accused governments around the world of
abandoning human rights protections. It said Sudan failed to protect
its people from one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and
charged Haiti promoted human rights abusers.
But one of the biggest disappointments in the human rights arena was
with the United States, Amnesty said, “after evidence came to light
that the U.S. administration had sanctioned interrogation techniques
that violated the U.N. Convention against Torture.”
“Guantanamo has become the gulag of our time,” Amnesty Secretary
General Irene Khan said as the London-based group issued a 308-page
annual report that accused the United States of shirking its
responsibility to set the bar for human rights protections.
The use of the term gulag refers to the extensive system of prison
camps in the former Soviet Union, many in remote regions of Siberia
and specifically designed to hold political prisoners. The Soviets
took over the system from the czarist government and expanded it after
the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Untold thousands of prisoners of the
so-called gulags died from hunger, cold, harsh treatment and overwork.
The prison camp at Guantanamo has been in the spotlight over the past
year since the FBI cited cases of aggressive interrogation techniques
and detainee mistreatment. The U.S. government has also been
criticized for not charging or trying prisoners who are classified as
enemy combatants, a vague distinction with fewer legal protections
than prisoners of war get under the Geneva Conventions.
Some prisoners have challenged their detentions in U.S. courts but
their cases are stalled by appeals filed by the U.S. government and
subsequent arguments.
“Not a single case from some 500 men has reached the courts,” Khan
said.
In a statement, the Defense Department said that “the detention of
enemy combatants is not criminal in nature, but to prevent them from
continuing to fight against the United States in the War on
Terrorism.”
It also said that it continued to evaluate whether detainees should be
sent home and that review tribunals “provided an appropriate venue
for detainees to meaningfully challenge their enemy combatant
designation.”
“This is an unprecedented level of process being provided to our
enemies in a time of war,” the statement said.
The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, which has
also been critical of practices at Guantanamo, is the only independent
group to have access to the detainees. Amnesty has been refused access
to the prison, although it was allowed to watch pretrial hearings for
15 detainees who have been charged.
Amnesty has frequently criticized U.S. detention policies instituted
after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, but its latest report takes a
harsher tone. It accuses Washington of trying to “sanitize” abuse of
detainees and failing to give prisoners legal recourse to challenge
their detentions.
The report also takes aim at recent abuse allegations that have
surfaced in FBI documents as well as prisoner testimonies, echoing
concerns from the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The Red Cross said last week it had told U.S. authorities of detainee
allegations that Qurans had been desecrated. It also offered a rare
public rebuke in late 2003, calling the prisoners’ prolonged
detentions “worrying.”
Declassified FBI records released Wednesday showed that prisoners at
Guantanamo Bay told U.S. interrogators as early as April 2002, just
four months after the first detainees arrived from Afghanistan, that
U.S. military guards abused them and desecrated the Quran.
Another detainee stated he had been beaten unconscious at Guantanamo
Bay early in 2002, a period in which U.S. interrogators were pressing
hard for information on al-Qaida.
Amnesty singled out Sudan as one of the worst violators of human
rights last year for the devastation caused by conflict in its Darfur
region. At least 180,000 people have died – many from hunger and
disease – and about 2 million have fled their homes to escape fighting
among rebels, militias and government troops.
Sudan’s government not only turned its back on its people, but the
United Nations and African Union took too long to try to help those
suffering in Darfur, Amnesty said.
Amnesty also criticized the African Union and the international
community for not taking action on Zimbabwe, where President Robert
Mugabe’s party has been accused of rigging elections, repressing
opponents and driving agriculture to the brink of collapse.
In Haiti, human rights violators who led the rebellion that ousted
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide last year were able to retake key
positions, while the government struggled to maintain control from
armed groups, Amnesty said.
The group accused Israeli soldiers of operating outside international
law by using torture, destroying property and obstructing medical
assistance in the West Bank and Gaza. It also condemned the deliberate
targeting of Israeli civilians by Palestinian militants.
In Asia, people were jailed indefinitely without trial in Malaysia and
Singapore, religious minorities were persecuted in China and Vietnam
and security forces committed extra-judicial killings in Nepal,
Thailand and Indonesia, Amnesty said.
On the Net:
Amnesty International:
Defense Department:
05/25/05 20:23 EDT
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Edicom, Suisse
25 Mai 2005
Turquie: report d’une conférence sur le génocide arménien après des
pressions gouvernementales
ANKARA (AP) – Trois universités turques ont reporté sine die une
conférence sur le génocide arménien, à la suite de déclarations du
ministre de la justice accusant pratiquement les organisateurs d’être
des traîtres.
Cette réunion, qui devait se tenir de mercredi à vendredi, avait pour
cadre l’Université du Bosphore à Istanbul en association avec deux
autres établissements. Elle devait permettre de débattre de la
position officielle turque selon laquelle il n’y a pas eu de génocide
en 1915 mais seulement des massacres dans le contexte de la première
guerre mondiale, les victimes étant aussi bien arméniennes que
turques.
Mardi devant le Parlement, le ministre de la justice Cemil Cicek
avait critiqué très durement cette initiative en soulignant qu’elle
allait à l’encontre des efforts du gouvernement de contrer la
campagne des Arméniens visant à faire reconnaître ces tueries comme
un génocide. Certains «disent qu’il n’y a pas de liberté; eh bien, il
y a la liberté de poignarder les gens dans le dos et de proférer des
mensonges (…) Nous devons mettre un terme à cette phase de
propagande (…) de trahison», a dit le ministre.
Le massacre des Arméniens aurait fait jusqu’à 1,5 million de morts
entre 1915 et 1923, Ankara avançant le chiffre de 300.000 morts. Ces
événements sont rarement évoqués dans l’enseignement local et il
devait s’agir du premier débat remettant en question la version
officielle de l’histoire turque. Plusieurs centaines de participants,
dont des universitaires venus de l’étranger, étaient attendus à cette
conférence organisée par les universités du Bosphore, de Bilgi et de
Sabanci.
Muge Gocek, professeure de sociologie à l’université du Michigan qui
avait fait le voyage des Etats-Unis pour l’occasion, n’a pas caché sa
«tristesse et (sa) déception»: «Ca aurait été un forum montrant que
la démocratie fonctionnait en Turquie et que des voix différentes
pouvaient être entendues».