Author: Frangulian Shushan

WORKING MEETING BETWEEN CO-CHAIRMEN OF ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN
INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMISSION ON ECONOMIC COOPERATION TO TAKE PLACE
ON JUNE 21
YEREVAN, JUNE 17, NOYAN TAPAN. A working meeting between the RA
and RF Co-Chairmen of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic
Cooperation, the RA Minister of Defence, the Secretary of RA National
Security Council Serge Sargsian and the RF Minister of Transport
Igor Levitin will take place on June 21 in Moscow. According to
the press secretary of RA Ministery of Defence Seyran Shahsuvarian,
issues of operating the RA enterprises transferred as property to the
Russian Federation, as well as other issues of mututal interest will
be discussed at the meeting.

Bundesregierung weist türkische Kritik an Armenien-Beschluss zurück
Agence France Presse — Deutsche
Freitag, 17. Juni 2005
Berlin. 17. Juni
Die Bundesregierung hat die Kritik des türkischen Ministerpräsidenten
Recep Tayyip Erdogan am Armenien-Beschluss des Bundestages
zurückgewiesen. Die Behauptung Erdogans, der Beschluss sei “falsch
und hässlich”, sei “unzutreffend”, sagte der stellvertretende
Regierungssprecher Thomas Steg dem Berliner “Tagesspiegel”
(Samstagsausgabe): “Es ist eine ausgewogene Resolution.”
Steg wies auch die Behauptung Erdogans zurück, Bundeskanzler Gerhard
Schröder (SPD) habe sich vor dem Bundestagsbeschluss zunächst der
türkischen Haltung in der Armenienfrage angeschlossen gehabt.
Schröder habe immer seine eigene Position deutlich gemacht, sagte der
Sprecher. “Insofern ist die Enttäuschung über diese Resolution
unverständlich.”
Gerade die Deutschen wüssten, dass die Aufarbeitung historischer
Schuld und die Bereitschaft zur Versöhnung und zum Verzeihen
unverzichtbar seien, betonte Steg. Dies sei die Voraussetzung, “um
eine gute und friedliche Zukunft der Völker zu gestalten”. Vor der
deutschen Botschaft in Ankara protestierten am Freitag zwischen 50
und 100 Mitglieder einer nationalistisch geprägten Gewerkschaft gegen
die Bundestagsresolution.
In der am Donnerstag verabschiedeten Resolution fordert der Bundestag
die Bundesregierung auf, “dabei mitzuhelfen, dass zwischen Türken und
Armeniern ein Ausgleich durch Aufarbeitung, Versöhnen und Verzeihen
historischer Schuld erreicht wird”. Bei den zwischen 1915 und 1917
verübten Massakern und durch Todesmärsche starben zwischen 300.000
und 1,5 Millionen Menschen. Ein Großteil der internationalen
Öffentlichkeit stuft die Verbrechen als Völkermord ein. Aus Sicht der
Türkei handelte es sich bei den Ereignissen dagegen um die tragischen
Folgen einer Zwangsumsiedlung, die wegen des Krieges erforderlich
gewesen sei.
–Boundary_(ID_gcUcR0aec0ipRtzvuCeWuA)–

Die Welt
18 juni 2005
Graffiti-Sprayern droht erstmals Gefängnis
Bundestag erweitert Strafgesetz – Fuhrerschein mit 17 auf dem Weg –
Turkei kritisiert Armenien-Beschluß
Graffiti-Kunst in Heidelberg
Foto: dpa
Berlin – Graffiti-Sprayer konnen kunftig leichter strafrechtlich
verfolgt werden. Nach jahrelangen Kontroversen haben in “großer
Koalition” SPD und Union sowie die Mehrheit der Grunen im Bundestag
eine Verschärfung des Tatbestands der Sachbeschädigung beschlossen.
Es kommt kunftig nicht mehr darauf an, daß durch Schmiererei auch die
Gebäudesubstanz wie etwa der Putz geschädigt wird, weil sich das
Graffiti nur so entfernen läßt. Schon die Schmiererei selbst kann
strafbar sein. Grune und SPD hatten sich in dieser Frage seit 1998
gegenseitig blockiert. Nach Schätzungen belaufen sich die Kosten
infolge von Graffiti-Schäden jährlich auf 200 bis 500 Millionen Euro.
Die Union wollte ursprunglich deutlichere Formulierungen im Gesetz.
CDU und CSU stimmten aber zu, um im Wahlkampf den Eindruck zu
vermeiden, sie wurden sich einem härteren Vorgehen gegen Graffiti
verweigern. Im Bundesrat werden nach die unionsgefuhrten Länder das
Gesetz ebenfalls passieren lassen, so daß es noch vor dem
voraussichtlich vorzeitigen Ende der Wahlperiode endgultig
verabschiedet werden kann. Die FDP sah das Gesetz als unzureichend
an.
Die CSU-Rechtspolitikerin Daniela Raab meinte, mit dem Gesetz wurden
zwar nicht mehr Sprayer gefaßt. Es konnten die gestellten Täter aber
“endlich angemessen” zur Rechenschaft gezogen werden. Bislang war die
Verfolgung von Farbschmierereien nur schwer moglich. Nach der
Rechtsprechung des Bundesgerichtshofs konnte ein Sprayer nur dann
verfolgt werden, wenn durch die Schmiererei “die Substanz einer Sache
erheblich verletzt” war.
In Strafprozessen mußte daher oft ein Gutachter klären, ob das
Entfernen des Graffito etwa den Putz oder das Mauerwerks eines Hauses
beschädigt hat. Allein die Veränderung des äußeren Erscheinungsbildes
eines Gebäudes reichte fur die Bestrafung nicht aus. Nun wird das
Strafgesetzbuch durch eine weitere Tathandlung ergänzt. Strafbar ist
nun auch “die unbefugte nicht nur unerhebliche und nicht nur
vorubergehende Veränderung des Erscheinungsbildes einer Sache”.
Zudem hat die rot-grune Koalition das umstrittene Gesetz zum Schutz
vor Diskriminierung verabschiedet. Die Regelung sieht vor, daß im
Geschäftsverkehr niemand wegen Rasse, ethnischer Herkunft,
Geschlecht, Behinderung, Alter, sexueller Orientierung, Religion und
Weltanschauung benachteiligt werden darf. Zu der Regelung, mit der
mehrere EU-Richtlinien umgesetzt werden sollen, gehoren eine Reihe
arbeitsrechtlicher Vorschriften. Die Union machte umgehend deutlich,
daß sie das Gesetz uber den Bundesrat zu Fall zu bringen will. Uber
das Antidiskriminierungsgesetz ist seit der ersten Lesung vor funf
Monaten heftig gestritten worden. Die Kanzlerkandidatin der Union,
Angela Merkel, hatte bereits angekundigt, das Gesetz spätestens nach
einem Machtwechsel zuruckzunehmen. CDU/CSU und FDP argumentierten,
sie seien zwar fur den Schutz vor Diskriminierung, aber das Gesetz
gehe weit uber die von der EU festgelegte Richtlinie hinaus und
schaffe neue burokratische Hurden. Die Mißrauchsanfälligkeit werde
dramatisch erhoht. Richterbund, Juristenverbände und die IG Chemie
hatten das Gesetz bereits als Abkehr vom Grundprinzip der
Vertragsfreiheit kritisiert. Der unionsdominierte Bundesrat wird zu
dem Gesetz vermutlich den Vermittlungsausschuß anrufen.
Weitere Beschlusse sind der Fuhrerschein mit 17, der fortan in
bestimmten Bundesländern erworben werden kann, wenn dort
Modellversuche zum “Begleiteten Fahren” angeboten werden.
Minderjährige Fahranfänger durfen dann das Fahrzeug nur in Begleitung
einer “namentlich benannten” Person fuhren. Verstoße fuhren zum
sofortigen Widerruf der Fahrerlaubnis.
Indes hat die turkische Regierung heftig auf den Bundestagsbeschluß
zur Armenierfrage reagiert. Ministerpräsident Recep Tayyip Erdogan
sprach von einem “häßlichen” Beschluß und warf Kanzler Gerhard
Schroder (SPD) vor, nicht zu seinen fruheren Äußerungen in der Frage
der turkischen Massaker an den Armeniern 1915 zu stehen. Der
Bundestag hatte einem Antrag aller Fraktionen zugestimmt, der an die
Vertreibung und das Massaker an den Armeniern im Osmanischen Reich
erinnert. Demonstranten schimpften vor der deutschen Botschaft in
Ankara uber “Hitlers Bastarde”. Ring
–Boundary_(ID_/SAPR0vPAjTTapPz9tHgdw)–

CIS DISCONTENT WITH OSCE STATE OF AFFAIRS
Pan Armenian News
17.06.2005 06:42
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The CIS member-states expressed dissatisfaction with
the state of affairs of the OSCE, participants of the consultations
on interaction of the CIS member-states within the Organization held
today in the CIS Executive Committee in Minsk declared. Representatives
of the Foreign Ministries of Belarus, Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine are taking part
in the talks. As Director of the Department of Political and
Humanitarian Cooperation of the CIS Executive Committee Rudolf
Alexeyev said, a number of crisis tendencies have appeared in the
OSCE. “With its present appearance the Organization does not serve
the purpose of establishing equal dialogue and cooperation for 35
member-states. Sometimes the dialogue is replaced by instruction
and equal cooperation yields to political pressure”, he said. Many
member-states spoke out for reformation of the structure. The same
position is expressed in the statement by 8 Presidents of the CIS
states to OSCE partners issued on July 3, 2004, Belarusskie Novosti
reported.

US ASSISTANCE TO ARMENIA TO MAKE $67.6 IN 2006
Pan Armenian News
17.06.2005 06:06
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The House Appropriations Subcommittee has maintained
robust aid levels to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh despite ongoing
overall reductions to former Soviet states, the Armenian Assembly
of America reported. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 Foreign Operations
Appropriations Bill, which lawmakers passed by voice vote, calls for
$67.5 million for Armenia, up to $5 million for Nagorno Karabakh and
maintains military assistance parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan
with $5.75 million allocated to each country. The level of funding
for Armenia is $12.5 million above the Bush Administration’s request
submitted to Congress earlier this year. The overall request level is
part of a continued trend that reflects a serious drop in US assistance
to the former Soviet states – specifically from $555 million in FY 2005
to $477 million for FY 2006. Today’s action also allocated $5 million
in Foreign Military Financing and $750,000 for International Military
Education and Training to both Armenia and Azerbaijan, as requested
by the Bush Administration. These funds will improve inter-operability
between Armenia’s military and its Western partners, upgrade Armenia’s
communication systems and better its personnel training. The bill will
next be considered by the full House Appropriations Committee. Once the
full House and Senate complete action on their version of the bill, a
joint House-Senate Conference Committee will reconcile the differences.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

History as paranoia: Iran and the game of nations
BY MATEIN KHALID (AT HOME)
Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates
June 16 2005
FEW societies on earth are as conscious of their past as modern Iran.
The philosophic poetry of the medieval poets, Hafiz and Saadi continues
to enchant Iranians centuries after their death and their marble
tombs in Shiraz are as much a pilgrimage to Persian nationalism as
the desert ruins of ancient Persepolis.
The last Pahlavi Shah gave his parvenu dynasty a touch of badly
needed class by linking it to the Achaemenid empire that was once
the superpower of the ancient world. Celebrating the 2,500 years of
Persian monarchy amid the ruins of Persepolis, in an extravaganza
created by Maxims of Paris and ornamented by Lanvin and Baccarat,
the Shah declared “Sleep, Cyrus, for we are awake!”
Even Ayatollah Khomeini, while he expunged Iran’s pre-Islamic past
from the rhetoric of revolution, evoked the poet Firdousi and scholars
of Qom to boost Persian nationalist passions in the war with Iraq. Yet
Iranian diplomacy has been the modern Bermuda Triangle of international
relations, a black hole of inexplicable web of treachery, U-turns
and paranoia. Persian history, in its third millennium, underpins
Iran’s role on the global stage, its existential choices in the game
of nations.
It is ironic that Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian who chronicled
Alexander the Great’s rampage across the Persian Empire, declared
Iranians to be the most open of people to foreign customs.
Yet the Islamic republic, after all, was born amid xenophobia and
extreme nationalism, the world’s first theocratic state rejected the
bulldozer Westernisation of the Pahlavi regime. The Persian concept of
Garbzedeghi is as difficult for Westerners to understand as pronounce
but it refers to the sort of “West-intoxication embodied by the last
Shah and Empress of Iran, a cultural surrender that outraged all the
enemies of the Peacock Throne, from the clerics of Qom to the Marxist
Leninists of the communist Tudeh Party to the pious merchants of the
Teheran bazaar.
Few societies in the Middle East have evolved as exquisite a mass
conviction of victimhood as modern Iran. Derived from the Shia belief
that history is all about suffering and injustice, an incessant
struggle between good and evil, an ethos whose roots lay in the
ancient Sassanian theology and fire temples of Zoroaster, Iran has
been the geopolitical football of the Great Powers in modern times.
The Ottoman Turks waged war against Safavid Persia for centuries for
control of the Levant and the Gulf. The British Empire dealt with the
Qajar Shahs as puppets and vassals. Iran was a sideshow in its quest to
protect the sealanes to its Indian Raj, a pawn in its Great Game with
Tsarist Russia, its tobacco monopolies and the Abandon refineries of
BP once the Royal Navy warships shifted from coal to oil. The United
States replaced Britain as the puppeteer of the Peacock Throne after
World War Two.
Washington threatened Stalin with nuclear war to force the Soviet Union
out of Azerbaijan, unleashed the CIA in a countercoup to overthrow
the nationalist Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh in the notorious
Operation Ajax, assisted the Shah’s repressive Savak secret police
and the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces to act as the gendarmes of the
West in civil wars everywhere from Iraqi Kurdistan to Dhofar, Lebanon,
Afghanistan and Baluchistan.
Even the Shah’s hawkishness in Opec was viewed by most Iranians
as Kissinger’s Machiavellian scheme to bankroll a servile, pro-US
client regime with billions of petrodollars to reshape the politics of
the Middle East. It was therefore no coincidence that hatred of the
United States, symbol and protector of the megalomaniac, repressive
Shah, defined the cataclysmic passions of the Iranian Revolution. The
1979-80 hostage crisis was the climax of the pathological historical
experience between the US and Iran.
Its toxic images, the blindfolded diplomats, the “Death to America”
chants, Ayatollah Khomeni’s threats to export his revolution to
US allies in the Gulf, the truck bombers who massacred the Marines
and CIA spooks in Beirut, the gutted Delta Force helicopters in the
Dasht-e-Kavir, still poison the prisms of American foreign policy
towards Iran.
History is quicksand for the international relations of Iran. The
mass slaughter on the Shatt-al-Arab, inaugurated by Saddam Hussein’s
invasion in September 1980, was Iran’s most traumatic military invasion
since the medieval Mongol holocausts of Halagu Khan and Taimur. Yet
Iran fought the bloodiest war in Islamic history.
Saddam Hussein was financed and supported by friends near and far.
The United States “tilted” to Baghdad after the epic Iranian
victorious in Fao and Khorramshahr, delivered satellite intelligence,
clandestine bank loans, Exocet missiles and Etenard fighters, even
chemical weapons (via Paris and Berlin)to Saddam. The historic Persian
sense of victimhood is not misplaced. After all, as Kissinger once
observed “even paranoids have real enemies”. The Islamic Republic,
with good reason, sees itself encircled by the friends of its sworn
enemy, the Great Satan” which continues to demonise, isolate and
wage economic war (via blocked IMF/World Bank loans, and sanctions)
against Iran. American military bases and American dollars buttress
everyone in Iran’s neighbourhood, from Karzai in Kabul, to Musharraf
in Islamabad to Jaafari and Talabani in Baghdad to the post-Soviet
republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
The tragedies of Persian history shape the violent, intrigue driven
politics of Iran. The ayatollahs were not the original architect of
Iran’s nuclear programme, the Shah built a nuclear reactor in Bushehr
with German assistance decades before the Kremlin ever got involved.
So the language of neocon imperialism in Washington, sanctions and
preemptive strikes and ultimatums, evokes Iran’s historic sense of
outrage and victimhood. History, the paranoia of the past, chokes
Iran in the new axis of crisis in the Middle East.
Matein Khalid is a Dubai based investment banker

Turkey Calls for Concrete Steps from US on PKK
Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
June 16 2005
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara was confident
over Armenian allegations as one million Ottoman documents studied
in the Turkish archives prove the claims are totaly wrong.
Erdogan also said that Ankara Turkey to see the US taking concrete
steps to halt the infiltration of members of the terrorist organisation
the PKK, which has bases in Northern Iraq, into Turkey.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Turkish television station
NTV, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the US, which has
troops on the ground in the region, needed to do more to combat the
terrorist group.
“If we are going to fight against terrorism jointly, we shall expect
concrete steps from our friends. The number of martyrs we have lost
in the last four months is in very clear,” Erdogan said.
When asked to asses his recent visit to the US, the Prime Minister
said he was content with the outcome.
“I never said that we got what we wanted, I was I was content. These
are two different things,” he said.
On the issue of relations with the US, Prime Minister denied there
were any problems, adding that Turkey and US were strategic partners.
Turkey was with US in NATO and in Afghanistan, Erdogan said,
rejecting suggestions that ties between the two countries had been
damaged by Ankara’s refusal to allow US forces to use Turkey as a
base to launch an invasion into Iraq. Coalition forces were getting
logistical support from Turkey, he added.
Ankara is expecting to see what steps will be taken by the US on the
Cyprus issue, the Prime Minister said, adding that it was pleasing
that members of the US Congress had visited the Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus.
In respect to another concern in the Turkey-American relations,
Erdogan praised the Ankara’s betterment of relations with Syria,
saying this had not been achieved in the last 40 years. “A new era
has started with the rule of Esad,” he said. “We are also holding
talks on the issues of terrorism and human rights,” he said.
Turning to domestic issues, Erdogan stressed that the structure of
presidential election were set out by the constitution and said there
were laws covering the issue of what the wife of the president can be.

FORMER SOVIET STATES MIGHT JOIN OPEN SKIES TREATY AT ANY TIME
A1plus
| 20:57:43 | 14-06-2005 | Politics |
New nations are welcome to join the 2002 Open Skies Treaty — a
confidence-building agreement involving unarmed aerial observation
flights over the territories of its participants, according to an
updated State Department fact sheet.
The Open Skies Treaty, to which 34 nations are parties, ~Sis of
unlimited duration and open to accession by other states.~T Any
nation that signs the treaty agrees to open all of its territory
to overflights by other signatories. Nations who have most
recently joined the effort designed to promote the openness and
transparency of military activities include Finland, Sweden,
Latvia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Estonia and
Lithuania. Kyrgyzstan has signed but not yet ratified the treaty.
States of the former Soviet Union who have yet to do so may accede at
any time, while other interested parties may apply to the Open Skies
Consultative Commission, based in Vienna, Austria, for a consensus
decision. An application by Cyprus is now before the commission.
Applications from other interested States are subject to a consensus
decision by the Open Skies Consultative Commission (OSCC), the
Vienna-based organization charged with facilitating implementation
of the Treaty, to which all States Parties belong.
The Open Skies regime covers the territory over which the State Party
exercises sovereignty, including — land, islands, and internal and
territorial waters. The Treaty specifies that the entire territory
of a State Party is open to observation. Observation flights may
only be restricted for reasons of flight safety; not for reasons of
national security.

WB VICE-PRESIDENT: COOPERATION WITH ARMENIA EFFICIENT
Pan Armenian News
14.06.2005 07:58
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian met with
World Bank Vice-President Shigeo Katsu and WB Yerevan Office head Roger
Robinson, reported the Press Service of the Armenian leader. Having
emphasized the successful implementation of programs in Armenia
by the WB, Shigeo Katsu qualified the cooperation with Armenia as
efficient. He also noted certain progress in economic development
of Armenia. Having expressed confidence that the cooperation will
further be efficient, R. Kocharian said, “We hold reforms being sure
that we are those who needs them first of all and our goal is to pass
the transition period as soon as possible.” In the course of the
meeting the parties discussed questions referring to perfection of
the tax and customs administration, enhancement of efficiency of the
activities of industrial infrastructures. In R. Kocharian’s words
these were announced a priority task and the Armenian party will
be consistent in working over it. “Administration, transparency,
publicity are the main aspects we have to actively work over,” the
Armenian President remarked. The interlocutors also concerned problems
of education system and health protection, as well as reforms of local
self-government bodies. Having mentioned the rate of education and
health reform is slow, R. Kocharian added a timetable of reforming
the system of higher education institutions and the scientific sphere
is already worked out. In the President’s words, decentralization is
the main policy line in the self-government reform. Having noted that
notable work has been done within the past two years, R. Kocharian
stated, “Our goal is to commission as much power as possible to local
self-government bodies, specifically in everyday matters.” Within the
context of the territorial policy the Armenian leader remarked the
importance of development of border settlements and poverty reduction.

US daily editors, Turkish PM discuss unpublished advert on Armenian issue
NTV Television, Istanbul
11 June 05
[Announcer] It has emerged that New York Times [NYT] [daily] refused
to publish an advertisement by 36 Turkish nongovernmental organizations
[NGOs] which reject the allegations regarding the Armenian genocide.
The NYT advertisement section wrote a letter to the said Turkish NGOs,
stating: We believe that the Armenian genocide took place. Therefore
we do not find it right to publish your advertisement.
At a meeting with the editorial council of the NYT, Prime Minister
Erdogan expressed his displeasure regarding this issue.
On the last day of his contacts in the United States, Erdogan
held a meeting with the NYT editorial council. At the meeting, the
NYT officials criticized the cancellation of the planned Armenian
conference that was to be held at Bogazici University. Prime Minister
Erdogan said that Justice Minister Cemil Cicek’s remarks on the issue
were his personal views and that there was no legal barrier to hold
the conference.
At this point, Erdogan raised the issue of the NYT’s refusal to
publish the advertisement last April, and criticized the paper for the
decision. Erdogan pointed out that by showing its goodwill Turkey has
opened its archives. Anyone can come and learn the truth from these
official archives, he said.
Given this situation, Erdogan went on, the fact that the NYT refused to
publish the Turkish NGOs advertisement by claiming that it believed in
the Armenian genocide showed that it had had certain ulterior motives.
Akif Beki, the prime minister’s spokesman, related how the NYT editors
responded to the prime minister’s remarks:
[Beki] They merely listened. Then they said that they would study
the said advertisement as well as the refusal by the head of the
advertisement section, and that they would inform us of the results
of their evaluation.