Author: Emil Lazarian

Pope denounces use of religion as tool of violence
Catholic News, Australia (cathnews.com)
Nov 22 2004
Greeting a delegation of Muslim, Orthodox and Jewish religious
representatives from Azerbaijan, Pope John Paul II has insisted that
no one has the right to use religion as an instrument of intolerance
or violence.
The delegation was in Rome to return the Holy Father’s visit in 2002
to their Caucasus country, which has only about 300 Catholics.
“No one has the right to present or use religions as instrument of
intolerance, as a means of aggression, violence or death,” he stressed
in his address, which he delivered in Russian.
“On the contrary, their reciprocal friendship and esteem, if supported
also by the government leaders’ commitment to tolerance, constitutes
a rich resource of authentic progress and peace,” the Pope said.
“Together – Muslims, Jews, Christians – we wish to address in the name
of God and of civilization an appeal to humanity to halt murderous
violence and undertake the path of love and justice for all,” the
Holy Father continued.
He highlighted the fact that “this is the path of religions” and
expressed the hope “that God will help us to go forward on this path
with perseverance and patience.”
John Paul II also referred to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh,
an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijani territory, which triggered a war
between both states in 1991 and ended with the cease-fire of 1994
and Armenia’s annexation, not only of the disputed territory, but of
other Azerbaijani lands as well.
The Pope expressed his heartfelt hope that “Azerbaijan will return
to the fullness of peace.” He said that this conflict, “as all other
disputes, must be addressed with good will, in the mutual search
for reciprocal openings of understanding and in a spirit of genuine
reconciliation.”
In a statement published after the meeting, Vatican spokesman
Joaquín Navarro Valls revealed that “during the audience the religious
leaders confirmed to the Pope their constant commitment to collaborate
with peace and to promote peaceful coexistence among the different
religions.”
The republic of Azerbaijan, which became independent after the
collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, has 7.8 million inhabitants,
mostly Muslims.
The Catholic community in Azerbaijan virtually disappeared during
Stalin’s persecutions, and the Catholic church in Baku was destroyed.
On the occasion of the Pope’s visit, then President Heider Aliev made
available a plot of land in the center of Baku to build a Catholic
church.
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11,000 REFUGEES FROM AZERBAIJAN DON’T HAVE PERMANENT HOUSING
YEREVAN, November 19 (Noyan Tapan). In accordance with the 2005 draft
state budget, financial support to four long-term programs implemented
by the Department on Issues of Migration and Refugees, as well as to
the maintenance costs of the Department staff is expected. Two of
these programs concern the resolution of the problems of refugees
from Azerbaijan. 13 mln drams are foreseen for the resolution of
their social problems and 9.6 mln drams for filing and application of
computer data of refugees and their families. Another two programs
concern the work carried out with those applying to the Armenian
authorities for asylum. Such people are lodged in special dwellings
before decision making. Expenditures of 6 mln drams are foreseen for
their maintenance. 300,000 drams (10,000 drams for each) are foreseen
for the lump sum allowance for those applying for the receiving of
the refugee status.
Gagik Yeghanian, the Chief of the Department on Issues of Migration
and Refugees, said during the November 17 joint sitting of the
Standing Commissions of the RA National Assembly that 11,000
families of refugees from Azerbaijan haven’t had permanent housing
up to now. According to the governmental decision of June 2004, it is
expected that the housing problem of 3,470 vulnerable families will be
solved first of all. The problem should be resolved owing to allocation
of certificates for the purchase of housing to the families. The total
cost of the program makes 18 mln dollars, and the Intergovernmental
Commission is established for the search of these funds.

Global Need for a Universal-Minded Russia
By Emmanuel Todd | Monday, November 22, 2004
The Globalist
Nov 22 2004
President Putin’s recent turn toward authoritarianism seems
heavy-handed. Yet, Russia has a traditionally egalitarian approach to
international relations. Emmanuel Todd, author of “After the Empire,”
argues that — if the country can avoid the pitfalls of anarchy and
authoritarianism — this universalist tradition could help Russia to
become a much-needed global balancing power.
Russia’s temperament is universalist. Equality was inscribed in the
heart of the Russian peasant family structure by a rule of
inheritance that was absolutely symmetrical.
Egalitarian social structures
Under Peter the Great, the Russian nobles rejected primogeniture —
the rule of inheritance that favors the eldest son to the detriment
of the other siblings.
A liberal Russian economy will never be an individualist Anglo-Saxon
style capitalism. It will keep communitarian features.
Like the French peasants who had become literate before the French
Revolution, the Russian peasants who became literate in the 20th
century spontaneously considered all men equal.
Communism spread as a universalist doctrine offered to the world with
— I admit — tragic and disappointing results.
However, the underlying universalist approach allowed for the
transformation of the Russian empire into the Soviet Union.
Bolshevism’s appeal
Bolshevism drew the Russian empire’s minorities into its circles of
power — Baltics, Jews, Georgians and Armenians. Like France, Russia’s
seductiveness flowed from its capacity to treat all men as equals.
Communism eventually fell apart. And today, we find that the
anthropological base of the former Soviet sphere is changing slowly.
Anticipating Russia’s future
And yet, despite these changes, the new Russian democracy — if it
succeeds — will retain certain basic characteristics. We should keep
them in mind if we want to anticipate its likely future behavior on
the international scene.
Unlike Americans, Russians do not go around thinking there is a
prefiguerd borderline separating real men from everyone else —
Indians, blacks and Arabs.
For starters, a liberal Russian economy will never be an
individualist Anglo-Saxon style capitalism. Instead, it will keep
communitarian features, creating horizontal associative forms that it
is too early to define more precisely.
Similarly, the political system is unlikely to function along the
lines of the alternating two-party English and American model.
Russia’s long communitarian tradition
Anyone who wants to speculate about the future shape of Russia ought
to read the classic study by Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu, “L’Empire des
tsars et les russes” (1897-1898).
It contains a comprehensive description of the behaviors and
institutions marked by Russia’s communitarian sensibility 20 to 40
years before the triumph of communism.
American and Russian sensibilities
Russia’s universalist approach to international politics will trigger
reflexes and instinctive reactions close to those of France —
evidenced, for example, by the way France irritates the United States
by its “egalitarian” approach to the Israeli-Palestinian question.
Russia’s temperament is universalist. Equality was inscribed in the
heart of the Russian peasant family structure.
Unlike some Americans, Russians do not go around thinking there is an
a priori borderline separating real men from everyone else — Indians,
blacks and Arabs.
They have also not exterminated Indians, at least since the conquest
of Siberia in the 17th century.
Yearning for a universalist temperament
The survival of Bashkirs, Ostiaks, Maris, Samoyeds, Buryats, Tungus,
Yakuts, Yukaghirs and Chukchees testifies to the complex structure of
the Russian Federation.
In my view, the Russian universalist temperament is cruelly lacking
in international politics today.
A place for a strong Russia
The dissolution of the Soviet Union — and with it a certain
egalitarian angle on international relations — explains in part the
unleashing of differentialist tendencies among Americans, Israelis
and others.
The dissolution of the Soviety Union explains in part the unleashing
of differentialist tendencies among Americans, Israelis and others.
The theme of France’s little universalist music is faint indeed
without the power of Russia as amplifier. The return of Russia within
the international balance of power can only help the United Nations.
If Russia can avoid the pitfalls of anarchy and authoritarianism, it
could become a fundamental balancing force in the world — a strong,
non-hegemonic nation expressing an egalitarian understanding of the
relations between peoples.
This attitude will be all the easier to maintain since — unlike the
United States — Russia does not rely on asymmetrical levies
throughout the world for its raw materials, finished goods, capital
or oil.
Adapted from “After the Empire” by Emmanuel Todd. Copyright © 2002
Editions Gallimard. Translation copyright © 2003 by Columbia
University Press. Used by arrangement with Columbia University Press
and Editions Gallimard. All rights reserved.
–Boundary_(ID_KMRjGaMA7AyIvBWSMBZu2A)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FrontPageMagazine.com, CA
Nov 22 2004
Turkey’s Dark Past
By Gamaliel Isaac
FrontPageMagazine.com | November 22, 2004
On November 16, 2004, Frontpage magazine posted an article from the
New Europe Review, by Mustafa Akyol, titled “European Muslims and the
Quest for the Soul of Islam.” In the article Akyol argued that a new
more tolerant interpretation of Islam should be constructed and that
“A great deal of shariah laws — like killing of apostates, stoning of
adulterers, seclusion of women, compulsory prayer, required dress
code, punishments for drinking or even possessing alcohol — have
simply no basis in the Qur’an.” He wrote that Turkey has an Islamic
heritage free of anti-Westernism and anti-Semitism and argued that it
will benefit the West if Turkey is admitted into the European Union.
Does Turkey have an Islamic Heritage Free of anti-Westernism and
anti-Semitism?
The statement of Mr Akyol that Turkey has an Islamic Heritage free of
anti-westernism and anti-semitism is inaccurate. We need only look at
Turkey’s long history of conquest of Western countries and
persecution of conquered westerners.
In the 14th century Turkey conquered Hungary, Bulgaria, Macedonia,
and Romania. Turkey was stopped only as it lay seige to Vienna. For
hundreds of years thereafter Turks oppressed and engaged in periodic
slaughters of their Christian subjects. In his history of Islam, The
Sword and The Prophet, Serge Trifkovic wrote about the history of the
Turkish oppression of the Armenian Christians as follows:
“The Ottomans lurched from outrage to outrage. Regular slaughters of
Armenians in Bayazid (1877), Alashgurd (1879), Sassun (1894),
Constantinople (1896), Adana (1909) and Armenia itself (1895-96)
claimed a total of two hundred thousand lives, but they were only
rehearsals for the genocide of 1915. The slaughter of Christians in
Alexandria in 1881 was only a rehearsal for the artificial famine
induced by the Turks in 1915-16 that killed over a hundred thousand
Maronite Christians in Lebanon and Syria. So imminent and
ever-present was the peril, and so fresh the memory of these events
in the minds of the non-Moslems, that illiterate Christian mothers
dated events as so many years before or after “such and such a
massacre.” Across the Middle East, the bloodshed of 1915-1922 finally
destroyed ancient Christian communities and cultures that had
survived since Roman times-groups like the Jacobites (Syrian
Orthodox), Nestorians (Iraqi Orthodox), and Chaldaeans (Iraqi
Catholic)…
The burning of the Greek city of Smyrna and the massacre and
scattering of its three hundred thousand Christian inhabitants is one
of the most poignant – if not, after the vast outrages of the 20th
century, the bloodiest – crimes in all history. It marked the end of
the Greek community in Asia Minor. On the eve of its destruction,
Smyrna was a bustling port and commercial center. It was a genuinely
civilized, in the old-world sense, place. An American consul-general
later remembered a busy social life that included teas, dances,
musical afternoons, games of tennis and bridge, and soirees given in
the salons of the highly cultured Armenian and Greek bourgeoisie.
Sic gloria transit: sporadic killings of Christians, mostly
Armenians, started as soon as the Turks overran it on September 9,
1922. Within days, they escalated to mass slaughter. It did not “get
out of hand,” however, in the sense of an uncontrolled chaos
perpetrated by an uncommanded military rabble. The Turkish military
authorities deliberately escalated it. The Greek Orthodox Bishop
Chrysostomos remained with his flock. “It is the tradition of the
Greek Church and the duty of the priest to stay with his
congregation,” he replied to those begging him to flee. The Moslem
mob fell upon him, uprooted his eyes and, as he was bleeding, dragged
him by his beard through the streets of the Turkish quarter, beating
and kicking him. Every now and then, when he had the strength to do
so, he would raise his right hand and blessed his persecutors. A Turk
got so furious at this gesture that he cut off his hand with his
sword. He fell to the ground, and was hacked to pieces by the angry
mob. The carnage culminated in the burning of Smyrna, which started
on September 13 when the Turks put the Armenian quarter to torch and
the conflagration engulfed the city. The remaining inhabitants were
trapped at the seafront, from which there was no escaping the flames
on one side, or Turkish bayonets on the other. This was the end of
Christianity in Asia Minor, whose history goes back to events
recorded in the New Testament itself.”
Marjorie Housepian in her book The Smyrna Affair, quoted a missionary
eyewitness who said the Turkish Muslims actually enjoyed massacring
the Armenian Christians. He said:
“The slaughter of the Armenians was a joy to the Turks, a massacre
was heralded by the blowing of trumpets and concluded by a
procession. Accompanied by the prayers of the mullahs and muezzins,
who from the minarets implored the blessings of Allah, the slaughter
was accomplished in admirable order according to a well arranged
plan. The crowd, supplied with arms by the authorities, joined most
amicably with the soldiers and the Kurdish Hamidieh on these festive
occasions. The Turkish women stimulated their heroes by raising a
gutteral shriek of their war cry, the Zilghit, and deafening the
hopeless despair of their victims by singing their nuptial songs. A
kind of wild cannibal humour seized the crowd…the savage crew did
not even spare the children.”
The Turks have committed atrocities against other minorities as well,
The Tower of skulls of Chele Kula shown below, is a monument to the
Turkish savagery against the Serbs in the early 1800s
Lest we think “Well that was ancient history”, as recently as 1974
Turkey invaded Cyprus. Just as the Romans renamed Israel, Palestine
in order to erase the memory of the Jewish State, the Turks have
renamed all the cities and towns in Cyprus. They have also destroyed
concrete evidence of the Christian and Greek history of the area of
Cyprus under their control. According to an article in the Guardian
(‘The Rape of northern Cyprus’, 5.6.1976)
“…The vandalism and desecration are so methodical and so widespread
that they amount to institutionalized obliteration of everything
sacred to a Greek […] In some instances, an entire graveyard of 50
or more tombs had been reduced to pieces or rubble no larger than a
matchbox…we found the chapel of Ayios Demetrios at Ardhana empty
but for the remains of the altar plinth, and that was fouled with
human excrement[…] At Syngrasis […] the broken crucifix was
drenched in urine.. At Lefkoniko […the interior of Gaidhouras
church…] was overlooked by an armless Christ on a smashed
crucifix.. Tombs gaped open wherever we went… crosses bearing the
pictures of those buried beneath […] had been flattened and
destroyed.”
Cypriots who oppose the Turks are treated severely; in 1996 the Greek
Cypriot demonstrator, Anastasios (Tasos) Isaak, was beaten to death
by the Turkish occupation forces. According to the Greek Cypriot
Magazine Selides. August, 1996, one thousand six hundred and nineteen
Greek Cypriots and Greeks who were taken as prisoners of war during
the Turkish invasion of Cyprus are still missing.
The Turkish Heritage of Anti-Semitism
Although there have indeed been periods when Turkey has been more
tolerant of Jews than Christian Europe, Mustapha Akyol’s claim that
Turkey has an Islamic heritage free of anti-semitism is false. Andrew
Bostom, in his article Turkish “Tolerance of Jews”, A Sobering
Historical Assessment” quotes Professor Maoz who wrote that:
“Like their Christian fellow subjects, the Jews were inferior
citizens in the Muslim-Ottoman state which was based on the principle
of Muslim superiority. They were regarded as state protégés (dhimmis)
and had to pay a special poll tax (jizya) for that protection and as
a sign of their inferior status. Their testimony was not accepted in
the courts of justice, and in cases of the murder of a Jew or
Christian by a Muslim, the latter was usually not condemned to death.
In addition, Jews as well as Christians were normally not acceptable
for appointments to the highest administrative posts; they were
forbidden to carry arms (thus, to serve in the army), to ride horses
in towns or to wear Muslim dress. They were also not usually allowed
to build or repair places of worship and were often subjected to
oppression, extortion and violence by both the local authorities and
the Muslim population.”
Professor Tudor Parfitt in his comprehensive study of the Jews of
Palestine during the 19th century wrote about the Turkish oppression
of the Jews of Palestine as follows:
“…Inside the towns, Jews and other dhimmis were frequently attacked,
wounded, and even killed by local Muslims and Turkish soldiers. Such
attacks were frequently for trivial reasons: Wilson [in British
Foreign Office correspondence] recalled having met a Jew who had been
badly wounded by a Turkish soldier for not having instantly
dismounted when ordered to give up his donkey to a soldier of the
Sultan. Many Jews were killed for less. On occasion the authorities
attempted to get some form of redress but this was by no means always
the case: the Turkish authorities themselves were sometimes
responsible for beating Jews to death for some unproven charge. After
one such occasion [British Consul] Young remarked: ‘I must say I am
sorry and surprised that the Governor could have acted so savage a
part- for certainly what I have seen of him I should have thought him
superior to such wanton inhumanity- but it was a Jew- without friends
or protection- it serves to show well that it is not without reason
that the poor Jew, even in the nineteenth century, lives from day to
day in terror of his life’.”
During World War I in Palestine, the embattled Young Turk government
actually began deporting the Jews of Tel Aviv in the spring of 1917 –
an ominous parallel to the genocidal deportations of the Armenian
dhimmi communities throughout Anatolia. A Reuters press release
regarding the deportation states that:
” on April 1 [1917] an order was given to deport all the Jews from
Tel Aviv, including citizens of the Central Powers, within
forty-eight hours. A week before, three hundred Jews were expelled
from Jerusalem: Jamal Pasha [one of the triumvirate of Young Turk
supreme leaders, Minister of the Navy, and commander of the Fourth
Army in the Levant] declared that their fate would be that of the
Armenians; eight thousand deportees from Tel Aviv were not allowed to
take any provisions with them, and after the expulsion their houses
were looted by Bedouin mobs; two Yemenite Jews who tried to oppose
the looting were hung at the entrance to Tel Aviv so that all might
see, and other Jews were found dead in the Dunes around Tel Aviv.”
It was not clear why the slaughter did not occur. One hypothesis put
forth by the British Zionist movement suggested that the advance of
the British army (from immediately adjacent Egypt) and its potential
willingness “..to hold the military and Turkish authorities directly
responsible for a policy of slaughter and destruction of the Jews”
may have averted this disaster.
Turkish hostility to the Jews during World War II led them to refuse
to allow Jews to flee Hitler into Turkey. In one instance 769 Jews
packed an old, dilapidated cattle boat called the Struma and made it
to the shores of Turkey. The Turks denied them entry and eventually
towed them out to sea where they sank.
The Pro-Western Leanings of Turkey
Although it is wrong to say, as Mustapha Akyol did, that Turkey has a
pro-Western heritage, the fact that Turkey has been a member of the
NATO alliance since 1952 and has a democratic government suggests
that there are influential people with pro-Western and pro-democratic
sentiments in Turkey. Unfortunately the influence of Turkey’s great
Westernizing leader Kemal Ataturk is waning, and there is growing
pro-fundamentalist Islamic sentiment in Turkey. The Pew Research
Center’s Global Attitudes Survey from March this year noted that “in
Turkey “as many as 31 percent say that suicide attacks against
Americans and other Westerners in Iraq are justifiable.” The growing
pro-Islamist sentiment in Turkey is the reason why the Turkish army
has been forced more than once to overthrow democratically elected
Islamic leaders who might have turned Turkey back into a Shariah
state. The recent election of Mr. Erdogan as Prime Minister of Turkey
raises such concerns again. Before his election, Mr. Erdogan was
convicted of inciting religious hatred because of a speech he gave at
a political rally in 1998. Under Erdogan’s leadership Turkey is
trading with Iran despite U.S. calls to isolate Iran. It is possible
that Turkey’s membership in the NATO alliance has less to do with
pro-Western sentiment than with fear of Russia and eagerness to
benefit from the generous military and economic aid from the United
States that comes with being an American ally. Likewise the desire of
Turkey to join the European Union is based on hopes that such a move
would help the Turkish economy.
The Missing Step Toward Islamic Tolerance
In his article, Mr. Akyol outlined a series of steps for Muslims and
the West to take to reduce Islamic militance and to encourage
tolerance among Muslims. One of those steps was for France to allow
Muslim girls to wear head scarves in French public schools. This
suggestion ignores the reason France had to impose this rule to begin
with. Muslims were intimidating both Muslim and non-Muslim girls into
wearing head scarves against their will. Although Mr. Akyol may be
right that further Muslim militance may result from the French law,
the French law was made necessary by Muslim militance to begin with.
Mr. Akyol outlined a series of steps for Muslims to take to reduce
Islamic militance but he left out the most important step which is
that Muslims should acknowledge that the attacks on infidels that
they have committed in the name of Islam are wrong. U.S. ambassador
James Gerald wrote that “The principles of Justice are more important
than oil or the railroads” and that “the Turks should not be accepted
into the society of decent nations until they show sincere repentance
for their crimes.”
Another step Mustapha Akyol listed was to replace Shariah with a new
interpretation of Islam. He wrote, “A great deal of shariah laws —
like killing of apostates, .. have simply no basis in the Qur’an.”
While reform of Islam is indeed essential, the killing of apostates
has a basis in the Koran. The command to “Slay the idolaters wherever
you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in
wait for them in every ambush. ” is from the Koran ( 9:5). So is the
command: “Smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger tips
of them. (8:12)”. This command is undoubtedly treated as religious
grounds by those who commit the many recent beheadings in Iraq.
Should Turkey be Admitted into the European Union?
There is one overriding reason to be concerned about admitting Turkey
into the European Union, and that is the potential effect of Turkish
membership on the Muslim population of European countries which are
already having serious problems as a result of their large Islamic
populations. If Turkey joins the EU, a significant percentage of
Turkey’s over 60 million Muslims may enter Europe. Furthermore, many
millions of Muslims from other Islamic countries are likely to use
Turkey as their gateway to Europe. Once they attain legal status in
Turkey, these Muslims from other Islamic countries will be free to go
anywhere in Europe.
Bat Yeor in an article in frontpagemagazine (Arafat’s Legacy for
Europe 11/16/04) wrote that
“Islamist terror from within and without is overwhelming Europe.
Today it is not uncommon to hear Europeans express their disgust for
Europe and their wish to emigrate. Europe, they say, is dead and has
no future.”
It may be that it is already too late for Europe. The countries of
Europe are slowly becoming subjugated to hostile rapidly growing
Muslim populations. Bat Yeor in an article in frontpagemagazine
(Arafat’s Legacy for Europe 11/16/04) wrote that
“Islamist terror from within and without is overwhelming Europe.
Today it is not uncommon to hear Europeans express their disgust for
Europe and their wish to emigrate. Europe, they say, is dead and has
no future.”
In its jealousy of American power and determination to create a
counter-power, France, with support from Germany, has looked to ally
itself with Islamic countries in order to help create that
counterweight to the United States. On October 26, 2004, France and
Germany stood behind Turkey’s campaign to join the European Union.
Admitting the Turkish Trojan Horse may give them the power to counter
the United States but the price they will pay will be further
subjugation to a growing hostile European Muslim population.
–Boundary_(ID_x3+h0Kcph/FkbrYLvLbegg)–

Blacks Demand Equal Justice From New York Life Insurance Company
Emediawire (press release), WA
Nov 22 2004
Outraged over what they call a Jim Crow standard for justice,”
Black descendants of enslaved Africans launched an online campaign
against New York Life Insurance Company entitled, “Justice 4 One –
Justice 4 All”. The campaign raises questions about why, on January
26, 2004, New York Life forced Black descendants of African slavery
victims out of court with a class action lawsuit for restitution, and
three (3) days later settled a similar case for $20 million with
White descendants of Armenian genocide victims. The website is
located at:
New York, NY (PRWEB) November 22, 2004 — Outraged over what they
call a “Jim Crow standard for justice,” Black descendants of African
slavery victims launched an online campaign against New York Life
Insurance Company entitled, “Justice 4 One – Justice 4 All” – at
The campaign raises questions about
why, on January 26, 2004, New York Life forced Blacks out of court
with a class action lawsuit for slavery restitution, and three days
later settled a similar case for $20 million with White descendants
of Armenian genocide victims.
The slavery case was filed against New York Life in May of 2002, and
is entitled, In Re: African-American Slave Descendants,
CV-02-7764(CRN) (United States District Court, Northern District of
Illinois, Eastern Division). Black plaintiffs claimed that New York
Life committed a crime against humanity via its early company that
wrote life insurance policies enslaving their African ancestors in
mid-1800. Slave owners were the beneficiaries.
Over one third of New York Life’s first revenue came from writing
slave policies. This practice encouraged the employment of enslaved
people in ultra-hazardous capacities, like coal mining or
constructing railroads, which sometimes resulted in burning and
drowning deaths. The website contains a copy of a company policy
enslaving an African named Robert Moody who was employed in a
Virginia coal pit.
The Armenian genocide case, Marootian v. New York Life Insurance
Company, CV-99-12073(CAS),(United States District Court, Central
District of California), was filed in November of 1999. The
plaintiffs claimed that New York Life wrongfully failed to pay
benefits under life insurance policies they issued as far back as the
1870s in the Turkish Ottoman Empire on the lives of their Armenian
ancestors. New York Life denies any wrongdoing.
Slave descendants say critical factors in the cases were identical
and should have resulted in the same outcome:
– Both cases involved insurance policies from the 19th century;
– Both involved descendants making claims on behalf of
themselves and their ancestors; and
– Both cases resulted from some of the worst crimes committed
against humans in world history — the enslavement of Africans, and
the genocide of Armenians.
“Race is the key difference in these cases. This looks like
discrimination against African-Americans,” said Deadria Farmer-
Paellmann, Executive Director of the Restitution Study Group — the
New York non-profit sponsoring the campaign.
The slavery case was amended in the Northern District Federal Court
in Chicago, Illinois on April 5, 2004. A decision is pending.
Contact:
Deadria Farmer-Paellmann
Phone: 917-365-3007
–Boundary_(ID_Y05TPXSn7u3vUCxyqLm/kQ)–

LRAPER Church Bulletin 22/11/2004
Armenian Patriarchate
TR-34130 Kumkapi, Ýstanbul
Licensee: The Revd. Fr. Drtad Uzunyan
Editors: The Revd.Dr.Krikor Damatyan,
Deacon Vagharshag Seropyan
Press Spokesperson: Attorney Luiz Bakar
T: +90 (212) 517-0970
F: +90 (212) 516-4833
E-mail: [email protected]
Advent Begins For Armenians
On 20 November the fifty-day Advent season began for Armenians at sunset on
Saturday with solemn vespers in the Holy Mother-of-God Patriarchal Church in
Kumkapi, Istanbul.
His Beatitude Mesrob II, Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul and All Turkey,
presided over the ceremony, with the hieromonks of the Patriarchal See and
the parishioners of Kumkapi attending. The Patriarch explained that the
seven-week pre-Christmas season in the Armenian Church is called Hisnag,
meaning “the lesser fifty days of fasting and preparation,” as a comparison
to the more solemn and strict Great Lent, also fifty days, before Easter.
“During the Advent season,” explained the Patriarch, “we remember the
enduring faith of a remnant of the People of God who never failed in their
steadfastness as they waited for the coming of the Messiah, who, in the
fullness of time, was indeed born in Bethlehem. We learn perseverance from
them and are encouraged by their example as we wait for the Second Coming of
the Lord Jesus to complete the process of the salvation of mankind. The
words of the Prophet Isaiah, ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord’ (40:3) and
Saint John the Seer, ‘Amen. Come , Lord Jesus!’ (Rev. 22:20) are the two
Biblical key verses to Advent spirituality.”
On a more practical level, the Patriarch said, Advent is a season when the
faithful prepare for the Feast of the Holy Nativity and Theophany, commonly
called Christmas, which as an ancient tradition the Armenians still
celebrate on 5/6 January.
Following vespers, the Patriarch lit the first of the seven candles which
symbolize the seven weeks of spiritual renewal and preparation. According to
the Armenian Church tradition, the first, fourth and seventh weeks of Advent
are days of fasting or abstinence. During the Advent season children’s and
youth choirs will have weekly lessons of Christmas hymns and especially
following the Median of Advent, Christmas trees and decorations will be put
up in church halls and homes.
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< LRAPER Church Bulletin 22/11/2004 Armenian Patriarchate TR-34130 Kumkapi, Ýstanbul Licensee: The Revd. Fr. Drtad Uzunyan Editors: The Revd.Dr.Krikor Damatyan, Deacon Vagharshag Seropyan Press Spokesperson: Attorney Luiz Bakar T: +90 (212) 517-0970 F: +90 (212) 516-4833 E-mail: [email protected] > <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< --Boundary_(ID_yQXKr/7fET5+OTmbdTWVDA)-- From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Intl conference Vision of Europe opens in Berlin
By Vladimir Smelov
ITAR-TASS News Agency
November 19, 2004 Friday
BERLIN, November 19 — Partakers in the international conference
“Vision of Europe” that opened here on Friday will discuss the
wide range of issues of the EU development and the cooperation of
the EU with Russia and other CIS states. Outstanding politicians,
representatives of business and scientific circles, diplomats and
journalists gathered for the two-day forum that is organised by the
Herbert Quandt Foundation.
Presidents of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan Robert Kocharyan and Askar Akayev
are taking part in the meeting. Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir
Chizhov represents Russia.
According to him, the CIS-EU cooperation and cooperation among the
CIS states “is not a subject for competition.” The diplomat told
Itar-Tass that “interesting processes are going on at various paces
and in various formats in the CIS, they do not contradict each other
and do not lead to confrontation.”
The EU that exists already for 50 years accumulated the big experience
and the CIS as an organisation and the countries that are incorporated
in the commonwealth can use this experience in their integration,
the deputy foreign minister pointed out.
Speaking about the upcoming EU-Russia summit in the Hague he noted
that the implementation of previous agreements reached by both sides
will be discussed at the summit. Rights of ethnic minorities in the
Baltic states will also be discussed at the summit.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Paper reports details of Azeri, Armenian foreign ministers’ Berlin talks
Source: Ekspress, Baku
20 Nov 04
The Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers held a meeting in Berlin
yesterday [19 November]. The sides discussed options for the settlement
of the Karabakh conflict and the break in the peace process [after
the Astana meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents
in September 2004].
The talks were held with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen in
attendance. It was [Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar] Mammadyarov’s
fifth meeting with his Armenian counterpart. Their last meeting took
place in Prague on 30 August [2004].
A 15-minute meeting
The Berlin meeting lasted for just 15 minutes. The one-to-one talks
started at 1130 Baku time [0730 gmt] and continued at 1140 [0740 gmt]
with the co-chairmen in attendance. Following that, the sides ended
the meeting with no public statements.
A press release by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s press centre
simply says that “the sides exchanged views on the issues that topped
the agenda of the Prague talks”.
Following the talks, Minister Mammadyarov left Berlin for New York
to attend the 23 November discussions of point No 163 on the agenda
of the UN General Assembly session entitled “On the situation on
Azerbaijan’s occupied territories”.
[Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan] Oskanyan is accompanying
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan who is on a working visit to
Germany. Briefing the Berlin media, Oskanyan said that during the
meeting with Mammadyarov, the sides made “a number of successful
and objective decisions” to continue the dialogue “based on existing
realities”.
“Specific issues were spoken about and discussed during the talks,”
Oskanyan told the journalists in Berlin commenting on his talks with
Mammadyarov (ArcNews). “We decided that we can continue the Prague
process again,” he added.
The meeting touched upon the upcoming discussion of the Karabakh
issue at the UN General Assembly as well. Oskanyan said that the
“possible impact” of this issue on the peace talks “should be taken
into account” and made a number of proposals, Ekspress newspaper
learnt from diplomatic sources. These proposals included “initiatives”
like setting the date for the next meeting of the heads of state and
rejection of the UN discussions.
In addition, in Berlin Oskanyan admitted for the first time that
during their meeting in Prague, the ministers discussed the return
of a number of Azerbaijan’s [occupied] districts: “It was simply
impossible to arrive at a common conclusion because of the variety
of scenarios. In addition, our talks have not fully ended yet and
discussions in this direction may continue”.
The meeting also discussed the recent tension on the front line
and the so-called youth forum held by separatists in Karabakh. The
Azerbaijani side expressed its protest to Yerevan on both issues.
“It was decided to take these issues seriously and to take into account
their impact on the talks. I hope that cases of this kind will stop,”
the French co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Henry Jacolin, said
after the meeting.
The dialogue is resuming
In his interview with A-Info news agency before the meeting with
Mammadyarov, Oskanyan said that the conflicting sides were “close”
to settling the problem several times, but there were disagreements
on the status of Nagornyy Karabakh.
[Passage omitted: details of Oskanyan’s interview with A-Info]
Henry Jacolin’s office reported that during the Berlin meeting, “the
co-chairmen received a signal on the continuation of the dialogue”
between Mammadyarov and Oskanyan. Presumably, the ministers’ next
meeting may be held within the framework of the OSCE foreign ministers’
meeting in Sofia on 7 December.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

President Receives New Turkish Ambassador
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 20 2004
President Ilham Aliyev, receiving credentials from the newly-appointed
Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan Turan Morali, said Turkey has
supported Azerbaijan on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
“Ankara has regularly supported Azerbaijan on the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict resolution.”
Aliyev said that Azerbaijan aspires for a settlement based on
international legal norms and principles.
Touching upon economic relations, the President said Turkey and
Azerbaijan are connected within regional cooperation projects. He added
that the two countries’ collaboration within the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum projects should serve as an example for
other states.

Reporter, Greece
Nov 19 2004
Greece: OTE Secures settlement agreement regarding Armentel
19 November 2004 – The major shareholders of Armentel, OTE and the
Armenian state, have reached a settlement agreement following a year
of litigation, which is expected to be sealed by next week.
Armentel will retain exclusive rights for the provision of basic
telecommunication services and international data exchange channels
by 2009, but will not be a monopolist on GSM market. In addition,
parties have agreed on the gradual adjustment of tariffs. OTE has
disclosed no official announcement on the issue yet.
Note that call tariffs, the monopoly status and competition from IP
telecom providers were the main disputing issues between the
government and Armentel with both parties filing claims during the
previous year. Meanwhile, Armenia has also reportedly granted a 2nd
GSM license to Karabakh Telecom.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress