Author: Garo Vardanian

Schweizerische Depeschenagentur AG (SDA)
SDA – Service de base francais
3 septembre 2004
Développement Turquie La délégation du conseil des Etats impressionnée par les réformes
Istanbul (ats) La Commission de politique extérieure (CPE) du Conseil
des Etats, en visite en Turquie, s’est dite “très impressionnée” par
l’impulsion donnée aux réformes dans ce pays. Il s’agit maintenant de
les traduire dans les faits, a déclaré son président, Peter Briner
(PRD/SH).
“Nous avons remarqué ici une atmosphère de renouveau comme on n’en a
plus vu depuis longtemps en Europe occidentale”, a dit vendredi à
l’ats le conseiller aux Etats. Celui-ci s’exprimait à l’issue d’un
séjour de cinq jours en Turquie.
Les membres de la délégation de la CPE ont pu constater, lors de
leurs rencontres et leurs visites à Ankara, Erzurum (est) et
Istanbul, que “la société et les gens sont pleins d’optimisme”.
Sensible à l’intérêt profond manifesté dans les milieux les plus
divers en faveur d’une adhésion à l’UE, la délégation a aussi été
“impressionnée par l’ampleur des réformes législatives adoptées
jusqu’ici”.
Visite de Calmy-Rey
Avec la Suisse, les relations bilatérales se développent de façon
“très positive”, a affirmé le conseiller aux Etats. “Nous avons vécu
ici une hospitalité extraordinaire” et les entretiens ont été “très
ouverts”, a-t-il ajouté.
La délégation suisse a notamment rencontré plusieurs membres du
parlement turc, le ministre des affaires étrangères Abdullah Gül,
Leyla Zana, tête de proue de la lutte pacifique pour la
reconnaissance des droits des Kurdes récemment libérée, ainsi que des
responsables économiques.
La discussion avec M. Gül a “permis d’apaiser les tensions dues à la
question arménienne”, indiquent les Services du parlement dans un
communiqué.
Le ministre a renouvelé dans ce cadre l’invitation à l’adresse de son
homologue Micheline Calmy-Rey. Prévue initialement en septembre 2003,
la visite en Turquie de la conseillère fédérale avait été annulée par
Ankara après la décision du Grand conseil vaudois de reconnaître
comme génocide le massacre des Arméniens par l’Empire ottoman en
1915.
Exportations suisses
Les difficultés rencontrées à la frontière turque par les
exportations suisses, malgré leur certification en bonne et due
forme, ont également été mentionnées par la délégation suisse. Côté
turc, c’est notamment le déséquilibre de la balance commerciale en
faveur de la Suisse qui a été évoqué.
NOTE: dépêche entièrement remaniée

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
August 26, 2004 Thursday 8:31 AM Eastern Time
CIS states’ debts to Russia stand at over 3 billion dollars
MOSCOW, August 26
The debts of countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS) to Russia including interest stood at 3.33 billion dollars as
of January 1, 2004, the Prime-Tass news agency reported on Thursday
referring to documents of the Russian Finance Ministry.
Ukraine is the biggest debtor with its debt amounting to 1.681
billion dollars. Uzbekistan, with its debt of 646.996 million
dollars, is placed second on the list of Russia’s debtors. The debt
on unpaid interest makes up 146.385 million dollars.
Tajikistan’s debt stood at 299.67 million dollars as of January 1,
2004. Kyrgyzstan owes Russia 179.12 million dollars, Georgia – 156.91
million dollars. Belarussia’s debt stands at 135.89 million dollars,
while Moldova’s debt is estimated at 134.13 million dollars.
Armenia winds up the list of debtors with its 96.66 million dollars
of debt.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Daily Times, Pakistan
Aug 8 2004
Tehran’s diplomatic offensive to end isolation
The Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami, was in the trans-Caucasian
state of Azerbaijan two days ago, the first visit by an Iranian head
of state to Baku since 1993. The two sides have had strained
relations on a number of issues, not least access to oil in the
Caspian Sea. The Azeris are Shia Muslims and share the faith with
Iran but they are ethnic Turkic and are closer to Turkey on that
basis. As part of the Soviet Union until December 1991, they were the
most secular and westernised of all the Muslim states. They also have
a historic feud with Armenia, another Soviet republic which is now an
independent state. That dispute in the nineties spilled over into war
on the issue of the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan was
defeated. Turkey could not do much on the side of the Azeris because
of its own agreement with Moscow to stay out of the area. At the
time, Iran and Turkey were also vying with each other for influence
in the Central Asian republics.
Tehran finds itself increasingly besieged by the Americans. Mr
Khatami’s Baku visit therefore appears to be the beginning of a
diplomatic offensive in the region to re-establish good relations
with Iran’s neighbours. Pakistan-Iran relations have also been
nose-diving since the first gulf war, the struggle in Afghanistan and
Iran’s growing fondness for India. Recently, Iran, finding itself
hemmed in by America and the European Union on the nuclear issue,
implicated Pakistan in the clandestine nuclear programme it is
running. That created a major embarrassment for Islamabad. Therefore
Pakistan has reason to be suspicious of Iran. Even so, given the
contiguity and historical ties, there is every reason for the two
countries to have good relations. However, the onus of taking the
initiative to that end lies with Iran, not least because Tehran has
involved India into this equation and is also embarked on a nuclear
programme, which is a source of worry for the world and embarrassment
for Pakistan.
An additional problem with Iran is the internal struggle there
between the hard-liners and the reformers, with most Iranians sick of
the hard-liners for refusing to open up and disappointed with the
reformers for being unable to deliver. It is difficult to figure out
who Pakistan should talk to. Also, if Iran is trying to reach out now
to end its isolation and keep America at bay on the nuclear question,
then Pakistan may not have much to give Tehran because the latter’s
nuclear capability is a cause of concern for Pakistan too. *
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WorldNetDaily, OR
Aug 6 2004
It’s foreign policy, stupid!
Soon the American people will determine who will be their next
president based upon one central issue: foreign policy. Why is this
the Holy Grail of understanding? Because our domestic policies, as a
result of 9-11, are being held hostage by our foreign policies!
John Kerry and George Bush need to talk about the real reason America
was attacked. It was not because of our cultural heritage or our
democratic way of life. Europe was a much easier target, and has
plenty of both, but was not in the crosshairs.
The final report of the 9-11 commission was an eye opener. It stated
that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the man who conceived and directed the
9-11 terrorist attacks, was motivated by his strong opposition to
America’s support for Israel. Mohammed conceived the initial outline
of the attack six years before its execution and brought the plan to
al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, because he knew he did not have the
resources to carry it out on his own.
There was only one sheriff in town setting down foreign policy during
those six years. Precisely what was Bill Clinton’s policy on terrorism?
It was appeasement. Instead of fighting terrorism, he chose to feed
it. Like Neville Chamberlain, Clinton believed that, in doing so, the
terrorists would leave America alone.
A prime example of this deluded strategy was his attitude toward
Yasser Arafat. One of Clinton’s greatest hopes was to go down in
history as the man who finally resolved the Arab-Israeli conflict. In
order to do that, Arafat had to be transformed from a murderer into a
diplomat – from the arch terrorist who invented airplane hijacking
and who was behind the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich
Olympics in 1972, among countless other atrocities. As part of the
president’s effort to do so, Arafat became the most welcomed foreign
leader at the White House during the Clinton years.
Clinton’s Middle East initiative involved an extraordinarily
far-reaching offer that would give Arafat almost everything he said
he wanted: 98 percent of the territory of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza
Strip, all of east Jerusalem except for the Jewish and Armenian
quarters of the Old City, Palestinian sovereignty over the Temple
Mount (conceding only the right of Jews to pray there), and a
compensation fund of $30 billion.
Arafat instead turned down this offer of a peaceful settlement and
chose to declare a terrorist war, one that has resulted in the deaths
of thousands of Israelis and Palestinians over the past four years
and has made the Middle East even more unsafe than before. But is
America a safer place as a result of this strategy? Could America be
safer as a result of making such promises to the Arafats of the
world?
Still in the aftermath of 9-11, we seem to be on a fast track back to
Clinton’s worldview of moral relativism. Will terrorists now be
divided into good ones and bad ones based upon their declared
intentions? Will there be an amnesty policy that allows bad ones to
denounce terrorism – whether they mean it or not – as Arafat did in
his famous “I denounce terrorism” speech to the U.N. General Assembly
in 1988?
Nine years ago, the U.S. Congress voted in favor of moving the
American Embassy to Jerusalem. Why has the Jerusalem Embassy Act of
1995 been held up every six months by a presidential “national
security” waiver? Is it because we actually believe that recognizing
Jerusalem as Israel’s capital will somehow threaten our national
security? In light of 9-11, that makes about as much sense as giving
bin Laden family members frequent-flyer miles when they flew home on
chartered planes a few days after 9-11.
When a former U.S. attorney general and Democratic presidential
candidate was murdered in 1968, no one asked whether it could have
been over foreign policy. In fact, Robert Kennedy was the first
American politician murdered by a Middle Eastern terrorist, Sirhan
Sirhan. He was murdered on June 5, the same day he won the California
primary. It was also the first anniversary of the outbreak of the Six
Day War.
Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli chief of general staff during that war and
a future ambassador to America and prime minister, had been invited
to join Kennedy for a photo op to commemorate the outcome of the war.
He clearly recognized the connection between the two events, as he
wrote in his memoirs: “The American people was so dazed by what it
perceived as the senseless act of a madman, it could not begin to
fathom its political significance.”
Rabin’s words could indeed describe America’s present-day lingering
confusion over 9-11. For what was the political significance of
Robert Kennedy’s tragic assassination? According to a report by a
special counsel to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office,
Sirhan shot Kennedy because of his support for Israel, and had
planned the murder for months.
As Sirhan stated in an outburst at his trial: “I killed Robert
Kennedy, willfully, premeditatedly, and with 20 years of malice
aforethought.” (Twenty years referred to Israel’s declaration of
statehood in 1948. Kennedy, fresh out of Harvard in 1948, was a
reporter for the Boston Globe and, in fact, was in Israel when
statehood was declared.)
America must not allow itself to be held hostage any longer by
bigot-infested, oil-rich Arab regimes that consider Jews “pigs and
monkeys,” Christians “infidels,” and America “the great Satan.” The
war on terrorism cannot be won without a war on bigotry. Let’s hope
someone in the crowd can get the attention of the candidates with a
timely reminder that “It’s about our foreign policy, stupid.”
Ariel Sharon once said, “The Arab world may have the oil, but we have
the matches.” With Iran’s nuclear program on a fast track, those
matches are getting uncomfortably close to the oil.
Michael D. Evans is the author of “Beyond Iraq: The Next Move,” an
Amazon No. 2 and a New York Times best-seller, and founder of
America’s largest Christian coalition praying for the peace of
Jerusalem, Jerusalem Prayer Team.org. His latest book, “The American
Prophecies,” is slated to be released by Time Warner this month.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GIBRAHAYER
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http: //gibrahayer.cyprusnewsletter.com
ARMENIAN CITIZEN ARRESTED IN LIMASSOL FOR BRUTAL RAPE AND MURDER
* girl’s bruised naked body found on her bed in a pool of blood
* suspects apprehended had scratches on their bodies and streaks of blood of
the victim
By Katya Diogenous – Cyprus Mail – July 13
TWO men have been arrested on suspicion of murdering Lyudmila Zipir, 34 from
Ukraine, who was found dead in her apartment in Limassol on Sunday.Zipir was
found by police after her employer called concerned at her failure to turn up
for work on Saturday and Sunday.
Police yesterday arrested Armen Grigorian, 25 from Armenia, and Dionysis
Tokalides, 26 from Georgia, who lived next door to Zipir. They were taken to court
yesterday and given an eight-day remand.
Zipir’s employer told police the victim had repeatedly complained that the
two men used to harass her with sexual innuendoes. He had even visited the men
on several occasions to ask them to leave her alone.
When police arrested the two suspects, they appeared to have scratches on
their bodies as well as streaks of blood, believed to belong to the victim.Blood
was also found in the apartment building.
Police noticed there had been no forced entry into the apartment via the
front door, but that the balcony door connecting the victim’s apartment with that
of the suspects was closed but not locked.
The suspects deny any involvement in the murder, but cannot give a clear
story or confirm where they were at the time of the murder.
Zipir had lived in Cyprus for three years and worked in a bar in Limassol.
Pathologist Panicos Stavrianos, said the girl’s bruised naked body was found on
her bed in a pool of blood. He confirmed her death was criminal.
Turkish Cypriot teenager murdered in Limassol
In a separate incident a Turkish Cypriot teenager was stabbed to death by a
Greek Cypriot after a scuffle on the Limassol docks.
Turkish Cypriot newspapers in the occupied north rushed to characterise the
incident as “Barbaric”. Seven of the nine dailies carried the news on their
front page. Cyprus police characterised the killer as a man with deep
psychological problems eyed by the police in the past and believed to have committed the
crime under the influence of heavy drugs.
AZERBAIJANI POLITICAL ANALYST CONSIDERS IT NECESSARY TO PREPARE FOR WAR
AGAINST ARMENIA
“Armenia has no intention to return anything to us.
We must achieve justice by ourselves”
Parallels with Cyprus drawn
YEREVAN, 12.07.04. (Arminfo) Americans like West Europeans are absolutely
unaware of the Karabakh conflict, Ex-State Adviser, analyst Vafa Guluzade said in
his interview to the Zerkalo newspaper.
He said that the USA thinks that Azerbaijan can easily leave these
territories to Armenia and that we must do it. The USA must understand thatAzerbaijan
will never agree with unjust settlement-scheme, even if it satisfies the
interests of the White House in oil, the analyst added. He said that such an attempt
will destabilize the situation in the whole region and endanger America’s
interests.
Speaking of the “Cyprus settlement scheme,” the analyst said that its
application to the Karabakh conflict “would mean inclusion of Karabakh and Lachin
into Armenia’s territory and return of the Azerbaijani “minority,” which has
become such due to the Soviet authorities, to Nagorny Karabakh. That is, he
explained, Azerbaijanis will receive an autonomy as part of Karabakh and will be
included into Armenia. “There is no other understanding of the Cyprus
settlement-scheme,” he said. Guluzade pointed out that only liberation of the occupied
territories and return of Karabakh under sovereignty of Azerbaijan is possible.
Guluzade said that Azerbaijan must either restore its sovereignty or it will
loose Karabakh and Lachin forever for liberation of the six regions.
He pointed out that “if a country part of whose territory is occupied does
not prepare for war, it is a criminal country.” Azerbaijan must prepare forwar
even more than the country which occupies its territories, he said, adding
that he means Russia and not Armenia. “Armenia has no intention to return
anything to us. We must increase the public awareness of this idea, in order that
everyone understands that we must achieve justice by ourselves,” the analyst
said.
CYPRUS FM HOLDS MEETINGS REGARDING EU COMMISSION’S 260 MIL. EURO AID TO
TURKISH CYPRIOTS
by Nicos Bellos
Brussels, Jul 12 (CNA) – Cypriot Foreign Minister George Iacovou held here a
series of bilateral meetings with seven European counterparts, among them,
British Minister for Europe Denis MacShane, within the framework of the EU
General Affairs Council meeting.
Iacovou discussed among other issues, the European Commission’s package of
measures that include financial assistance of nearly 260 million euros to the
Turkish Cypriots, a regulation governing direct trade between Brussels and the
Turkish occupied part of Cyprus and rules on inter-island trade.
ARMENIA AT THE ATHENS OLYMPICS WITH 16 ATHLETES
Armenian tennis-player Sarkis Sarkisian has become the 16-th Armenian
qualifying for Olympic Games in Athens this summer. David Nalbandian from Argentina
and Magdalena Maleyeva-Berberian from Bulgaria, have also qualified for Athens
Games.
ACE IN THE HANDS OF ARMENIA
14 July 2004-Touching upon the statement made of RA Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian made in the U.S. recently, saying that Armenia canuse its
right of “veto” and prevent Turkey’s becoming a PACE presiding country in
2007, Haruth Sasunian, publisher of “Californian Courier” writes that “During the
conversation with the journalists RA Foreign Minister exploded a bomb, stating
for the first time that Armenia will use its right for veto, as Turkey is not
on the relevant level, height.”
“Turkey is the only candidate for that year. The presiding country has
certain privileges and rights that can be used against Armenia. Taking intoaccount
the policy conducted by them (the Turks) in the region in the course of the
past 12 years, that was too misbalanced and its support to Azerbaijan, Armenia
merely can’t stand Turkey as a presiding country for a year even if it wished,
” Vartan Oskanian said.
“It is a courageous decision and I think it’s a right one. Such decisions
can’ t please the American authorities, that will try to exert pressure and
demand to reconsider the decision, as well as, we should evade contradicting the
U.S., but I think, that notwithstanding all this, Armenia should make decisions
taking into consideration its own national interests and not the interest of a
foreign country (the U.S., Russia, France, China and Turkey),” Sasunian said.
The American -Armenian community should show resistance to the members of
Bush ‘ administration that will try to exert pressure on Armenia. Particularly,
in this year of elections, we should use all our force as an electors to resist
the people that will demand from us
to make favour to Turkey. We should undertake a firm position in this issue.
We hope that the Armenian authorities will not repeat the
mistake committed in 1999.
If the U. S. and Turkey really want the latter become a presiding country at
PACE, they should stop the blockade of Armenia or recognize the Genocide of
the Armenians. This is one of the rare cases, when the ace is in the hands of
Armenia. And Armenia should use it in the best way.
PYUNIK HAVE ONE FOOT IN THE SECOND ROUND AFTER 3-1 AWAY VICTORY IN F.Y.R.O.M.
() Armenian Football champions FC Pyunik have one foot in the
second qualifying round after a convincing 3-1 victory in Skopje on Tuesdaynight
against FK Pobeda of F.Y.R Macedonia.
Edgar Manucharyan was the hero for the visiting side, scoring twice and
making his side’s other goal for Zhora Hovhannisyan. All of this came in the first
half but the last action of note in the opening 45 minutes was the dismissal
of Pyunik’s Sargis Hovsepyan. Pobeda were able to pull one back in the second
half but their chances of progression after the return in Yerevan a week on
Wednesday look slim.
NEWS IN BRIEF
– Agricultural minister David Lokian said that Armenia is set to receive two
new credits in 2005 for agricultural development worth $10 million.
– Janez Potocnik, a junior EU commissioner ended a four-day tour of the of
Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia to talk about the EU’s “new neighborhood”
policy.
– Minister of Foreign Affairs Vartan Oskanian is on a two-day official visit
to Moscow. On the first day, the Minister met with Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov.
– Atom Egoyan’s “Ararat” won top prize at the Golden Apricot Film Festival of
works by Armenian directors. The festival included 57 movies by directors
from 20 countries.
g i b r a h a y c a l e n d a r
* THE TEKEYAN YOUTH MOVEMENT OF CYPRUS is organizing a unique excursion to
Armenia, 7-14 August. Participants will exclusively be Armenian youth (ages13
to 35) from all over the world. The one-week programme is specially organized
to include an optimum amount of sightseeing, led by expert guides. Trips to
Shushi, Stepanakert, Noravank, Gladzor, Lake Sevan, Dilidjan, Barz Lidj, Khor
Virab, St. Etchmiadzin, Zvartnots, Sartarabad, Garni, Keghart, Dzidzernagapert
are included in the meticulously prepared programme. Lodging will be at the
“Lousakert” Hotel, 20 kilometres North of Yerevan, ideally situated in an orchard.
The hotel rooms are fully equipped with all the necessary facilities. The
price of the WHOLE PACKAGE, including FULL BOARD, all the excursions, transfers
from and to the airport, return air fare from Cyprus and visa to Armenia is
only 335 Cyprus pounds. Those interested should immediately call 99747798 or
99929343, as availability is very limited.
* The Armenian Youth Federation is organising a youth gathering at Aktea
Beach in Ayia Napa for the weekend of 17-18 July. Participation is open for all.
Contact: Marie Louise Kouyoumdjian on 99889768, Ani Tavitian on 99749784 and
Jijo Sarkissian on 99445018. Join the weekend fun !
* CHANGE OF VENUE Khanasor and Lisbon 5 Expeditions commemoration at Troodos
Picnic site of “Loumada ton Aeton” (last year’s site and the site of
1981-1982 AYF Camps, one mile before the American Academy Camp site. As always follow
the tricolours) Sunday July 25, 2004, organised by AYMA, Dashnaktsoutiun
Cyprus Committee, The Armenian National Committee of Cyprus, AYF, Larnaca and
Limassol Armenian Clubs, Hamazkayin and ARS (HOM) Cyprus Chapters. Hayer hishek
nviragan ayn ore, Houlis amsoun ksanhinkin gadaretsek mer done. Commemorative
Programme begins at 12:00 noon.
* The Armenian Youth Federation is organising its Annual Summer Camp at the
Camp Site of Morphou Prelature from 9-15 August 2004. To receive more
information or to register please contact the following: Nareg Tavitian, Nora Sarian or
Simon Aynedjian.
* A Tour to Armenia is being organised by the Central Executive of Hamazkayin
from August 20-September 3, 2004 with the participation of members and
friends from Armenian diaspora communities. Trips to Karabagh are also scheduled. To
receive more info and to apply for the trip please contact the Cyprus
Hamazkayin committee members immediately.
* POSTPONED The Annual General Meeting of The Hamazkayin Cultural and
Educational Association “Oshakan” Cyprus Chapter has been postponed for Tuesday
September 14, 2004.
* Sakis Rouvas LIVE in Cyprus at Tsirion Stadium on July 23, 2004 at 9:00
p.m. If you are wondering why this ad has been included… vorovhedev Sakinhay e
!
The Armenian Prelature announces that the next permit for the Armenian
Cemetery visitation at Ayios Dhometios on the Green line, is scheduled for Sunday 26
July, 2004.
* Armenian Radio Hour on The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation can be heard via
real audio on . Broadcast times 17:00-18:00 local Cyprus time
(14:00-15:00 GMT) News bulletins at 17:15 local time on Sundays, Tuesdays,
Fridays. Armenian Cypriots can also tune in on the following radio frequencies
91.1 FM (Mount Olympus – for Nicosia listeners) 94.2 FM
(Paralimni/Protaras/Agia Napa) 92.4 FM (Larnaka) 96.5 FM (Pafos).
* FUNERAL: The Funeral Service of legendary football striker of AYMA Garabed
Kalfayan, who passed away on Monday July 12, 2004 in Nicosia, took place at
Sourp Asdvadzadzin Church in Nicosia on July 14, 2004 at 4:00 p.m. The deceased
was 76 years old. On behalf of his team-mates and AYMA Levon Sarian delivered
the last farwell. In his speech he said that the deceased carried two pictures
in his wallet. One of his family and one of his football team. May he rest in
peace.
By request of the family, pokhan dzaghgebsagi donations to AYMA.
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARKA News Agency
July 7 2004
EU Commissar Janosh Potoshnik to arrive in Armenia today
RA President Robert Kocharian studies the condition of Armenian
Diaspora in Komi

*********************************************************************
EU COMMISSAR JANOSH POTOSHNIK TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA TODAY
YEREVAN, July 7. /ARKA/. Janosh Potoshnik, the EU Commissar will
arrive today in Armenia with a two-day official visit in frames of
visiting the South Caucasus countries, according to the Yerevan
office of European Commission Delegation in Armenia and Georgia. In
the frames of the official visit, Potoshnik will have a number of
meetings with official persons, in particular with RA President and
Prime-Minister, representatives of opposition, society and business
circles, journalists and students. The presentation of EU financed
program `European Neighborhood Initiative’ will be presented, where
the EU Commissar will explain the importance of this initiative. `The
inclusion of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in this program is the
evidence of EU readiness to assist the countries of South Caucasus on
their way to the establishment of a stable society based on
democratic values’, he said. Potoshnik visited Georgia on July 5-6
and Azerbaijan on July 6-7.
It should be mentioned that the foreign ministers of 25 EU member
states made a decision to include Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan in
the European Neighborhood Initiative at the session in Luxemburg on
June 14. L.V –0–
*********************************************************************
RA PRESIDENT ROBERT KOCHARIAN STUDIES THE CONDITION OF ARMENIAN
DIASPORA IN KOMI
YEREVAN, July 7. /ARKA/. The RA President Robert Kocharian
familiarized himself with the condition of Armenians living in Komi
during his non-official visit to this Northern republic. As
Komiinform agency informs, referring to the Press Service Department
of Komi Government, during his meeting with Diaspora representative
in Syktivkar, Kocharian expressed interest concerning the condition
of Armenians in Komi, who are going to form a structural organization
soon.
According to Sargis Manasaryants, the Head of Trade and Industrial
Chamber of the republic, today the representatives of Armenian
Diaspora are involved in almost any sphere in Komi – educational,
medical, business, tourism. Vladimir Torlopov, the Head of the region
also took part in the meeting. L.V. –0 –
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Yemen Times, Yemen
June 15 2004
Accessing Yemen’s historical importance and possible future role –
past traits predestine future’s potentialities:
Yemen’s great past and future (Part 1/2)
By Prof. Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis For the Yemen Times
General View of Zabid showing old castle. (Hodeidah Gov)
It is certainly an auspicious event to see Yemen’s intellectuals
joining forces to face the various challenges of the future, and to
express their ideas about the possible ways the country will catch up
with the developed countries within our global world. The weight they
may exercise within the future politics of the country will certainly
determine the speed of the development, and the extent of the good
news anybody truly wishes to hear from the Great Old Land of the
Hadrami Frankincense and the Sabaean Wisdom. On this way towards fast
recovery, there is a need for criticism, when one needs an analysis
of what went wrong, but there is also a necessity for an overall
synthesis and better perception of the great historical past.
Geographical and Historical Determinism
Throughout world history, few factors have been so determining as the
geography of a land, and the basic traits of civilization that a
people developed at a certain historical moments. Egypt and Meroe in
today’s Sudan have been the Nile valley countries, flat and
delineated by the propinquity of the desert. Babylonia was the flat
land between two rivers (Mesopotamia, Beyn un Nahreyn); Assyria was
the land of Transtigritane, combining the vast Mesopotamian plains
and the surrounding mountains. Persia was the land of the plateau at
the east of Zagros series of mountains, and the Hittites felt at home
at the Anatolian plateau of Cappadocia that is demarcated by the
Taurus and the Pontus series of mountains. Greece is the land of
small plains among isolated mounts, and of little islands. In Lebanon
the phenomenon is very striking; at the coast, the Phoenicians of
Tyros, Sidon, Arad, Byblos, and other cities – states were turned to
long navigations and open seafaring, whereas 50 km inland Aramaeans
at the Bekaa valley, as well as further on in Damascus, Haleb, Homs,
were excelling in cattle-keeping, agriculture and land route trades
(as far as China!), being totally disinterested in the sea!
A unique turning point called Yemen
Where does Yemen stand in the ‘global’ world of the ancient Middle
East?
Land of the mountains and the small valleys among them, area of an
unprecedented Wadi-phenomenon at Hadramawt, focal point of land
routes and desert routes of trade, territory encompassing long and
rich coastal strips, turned to various seas, to the Red Sea and to
the Indian Ocean as we call these seas now, Yemen has long been the
most African part of …. Asia, or… the Asiatic part of Africa!
Undoubtedly, Yemen linked India with Egypt, East Africa with Assyria,
Persia with Sudan, Rome with China, all ways – land, desert and sea –
involved. But whenever a certain expansion of the many, various and
diversified Yemenite peoples, tribes and states took place in the
past, it was manifested in Africa. This is probably due to physical
delimitations, the Oman coastal strip being too limited a place for
expansion, the Hedjaz coastal strip being an uninviting place, the
greatest part of the peninsula being desert (Rub’ al Khali), and
other lands being simply … too far! What is closest to Yemen is
either the high seas or Africa…
Notwithstanding the great achievements of the Sabaean kingdom dating
back to the beginning of the first pre-Christian millennium, which
can be admired by modern visitors in several places of the Yemenite
North, and were hinted at within the Biblical texts (Books of Kings)
by ancient narrators, the first historical mention of the kingdom of
Sabaa goes back to the middle of the 8th century BCE. It is a
reference to tribute and gifts presented to the Assyrian emperor
Tiglat-Pileser (Tukulti – apil – Esharra) III (745 – 727) by Sabaa,
as well as by Arabs of the Hedjaz, and other countries. Despite the
Assyrian and the Babylonian expansion in the East and the North of
the peninsula (Yathribu was the summer residence of the Babylonian
Nabonid Kings in the 6th century BCE), Sabaa was too far for the
Sargonid Assyrian empire and the Nabonid Babylonian royal
pretensions.
Assurbanipal (669 – 625) ruled from Central Iran to Upper Egypt, and
from the eastern coast of the Persian Gulf to the western coast of
Turkey, but Yemen escaped his dominion by simply paying tribute.
Cambyses, the Achaemenid Shah of Iran, in the second half of the 6th
century, was ruling from Napata of Kush (today’s Karima in Sudan) to
Central Asia, but again Yemen was spared! Alexander the Great, at the
end of the 4th century, invaded all the lands between Macedonia and
India, but Pentapotamia (Pundjab), not Yemen, seemed closer to either
Pella (his first capital) or Babylon (his ultimately chosen capital)!
During all these long centuries, the peoples and the tribes of
ancient Yemen could not be kept united under the scepter of a
descendant of the famous Queen Balqis. Yet, writing was introduced as
early as the 6th century BCE, or to put it better, it was invented!
It would be essential at this point to stress the originality of the
event! At a moment the Assyrian – Babylonian cuneiform (‘al kitabeh
al mesmariyeh’ in Arabic), syllabogrammatic Writing (the term means
that the cuneiform characters were of syllabic phonetic value) was
diffused in Iran (introduction of the old Persian Ach
Shibam’s skyscrapers, in Hadrmout Gov.
aemenid cuneiform writing system that was in use for about 300 to 400
years), and the Phoenician and the Aramaic alphabetic writings were
diffused throughout the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East
(more precisely among Greeks, Israelites, Romans, and Persians), the
different peoples of Ancient Yemen, instead of adopting a foreign
writing system, developed their own syllabogrammatic writing, no less
than 1200 years before the arrival of Islam!
Through a historical overview of almost 1400 years of Yemenite
pre-Islamic history (based on Assyrian – Babylonian, Yemenite,
Persian, Ancient Greek, Latin and Aramaic sources), we can get a
clear diagram of several basic cultural characteristics. The
geographical divisions of the land of Yemen, many mountains and
plains, various coastal strips, all oriented differently to the outer
world, were probably the reason of the political disunion that mostly
characterized Yemen. Of course, this was repeated throughout Islamic
times, but it would be wrong for us to perceive disunion in terms of
enmity, fratricide or civil wars. We should rather see the various
ancient Yemenite states in terms of specific task assignments. The
war of Sabaa and Himyar against Qataban (around 115 BCE) is rather
due to Sabaean and Himyarite reactions to the Qatabanic performance
in respect of preserving the Yemenite thalassocracy and the complete
navigation control throughout the Red Sea at a moment of rise of
Ptolemaic Egyptian seafaring and sea trade in which Aramaeans seem
definitely involved. The different Yemenite states, Sabaa, Awsan,
Hadramawt, Main, Timna, Qataban, Raydhan and Himyar, were often in
agreement with regard to the role each one had to play in its own
domain with regard to a generally conceived Yemenite interest.
However, reunification considerations we attest only as late as the
end of the 2nd century CE, and it is the Himyarites, who seem to be
more conscious in this regard.
Yemenite expansion in Africa, in terms of population, language and
scripture.
Despite the lack of unity, or perhaps due to this phenomenon, many
waves of Yemenites have reportedly crossed the Bab el Mandeb straits,
and settled either in the African Red Sea shore opposite the Yemenite
coast, or further in the African inland.
What the famous Abyssinian legend and the great epic text Kebra
Negast (the Glory of the Kings) narrate is rather an extension to the
Biblical and the Quranic texts’ references to the legendary Queen of
Sheba – Balqis – Makeda, and to her contacts with Solomon, the King
of Israel. But it reflects perfectly well the reality of the
millennium-long, repeated Yemenite waves of Asiatic immigrants to the
Horn of Africa area. Menelik, as son to Solomon and Balqis – Makeda,
is an abstraction made for poetic reasons within the text, and it
concerns all the numerous Yemenites, who repeatedly and in successive
waves expressed their predilection for Africa.
It is not only literary sources and archaeological evidence that
testify to this event; full epigraphic and linguistic support is
offered for this assertion, since the ancient Abyssinian language and
scripture (dating back to the early Christian era) have derived from
the earlier attested ancient Yemenite semitic dialect and
syllabogrammatic writing. Gueze, as is called the ancient Abyssinian
language, is very important to Christianity, as one of the languages
and the scriptures of the Evangiles and the New Testament – along
with Aramaic – Syriac, Greek, Coptic, Latin, Armenian and Georgian.
Gueze is the ancestral linguistic form of modern Abyssinian languages
like Tigrinia, Tigre and Amharic (Amarinia) that are widely spoken in
Eritrea and Abyssinia.
The name itself of Abyssinia (‘-b-sh-t, Abashat) is mentioned in
Ancient Yemenite texts and epigraphic documentation as the name of a
… Yemenite tribe! This tribe, or at least a sizeable part of it,
migrated to Africa and transferred there its name that lasts until
now, as ultimate proof of the Yemenite origin of a large part of the
populations of Abyssinia and Eritrea.
‘Returning’ the compliment, Gueze – that was never lost, since it
still is the religious language and scripture of the Christians of
Ethiopia and Eritrea – helped a lot in the deciphering of the ancient
Yemenite epigraphic monuments. It was as useful as Coptic to
Champollion deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. Without Coptic,
Champollion would have failed; without Gueze the likes of Conti
Rossini and Rhodokanakes would have failed too.
Part 2 next issue
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress