Author: Hovhannisian John

Schools ‘fail’ in ex-Soviet bloc

BBC
2007/09/20
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian <[email protected]>
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Millions of children in the ex-Soviet bloc have suffered a
"catastrophic decline" in access to education since communism
collapsed, the UN has warned. More than 14m children in the region
reach adulthood each year with little or no formal schooling, a report
by the UN children’s fund (Unicef) says. Education policy in many
countries is inadequate and can reinforce social and economic
divisions, it says. Georgia, Tajikistan and Moldova are among the
worst-affected nations. Much of Central Asia and eastern and Central
Europe had attained universal access to education under communism,
Unicef said. But despite the transition to democracy, economic growth
and an increase in education spending in many countries, access to
education has fallen, the report said. Racial inequalities Some 12m
youngsters do not make it to secondary school, and 2.5m do not even
attend primary school. The report, Education for Some More than
Others?, found that inequality between rich and poor families was
particularly marked. Co-author Phillipe Testot-Ferry said: "Families
with higher incomes get disproportionate access to pre-school.

"[They] ensure good basic education for their children [and] hire the
best private tutors, all paving the way to higher education and better
jobs." In contrast, children from poorer families tended to stay away
from school or drop out early because they did not expect to reap the
benefits of a good education. Racial inequality was also a problem in
countries including Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, where a large
proportion of Roma (Gypsy) children received no schooling at all.
Unicef regional director Maria Calivis called the area’s progress a
"story of increased disparities". She said the problem would
"undermine the capacity of governments to develop globally competitive
economies based on skilled labour rather than cheap labour". Unicef
found that in the region’s poorest countries – Armenia, Georgia,
Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Tajikistan – less than 50% of children were in
secondary education. And the report warned that the former Soviet
republics of Georgia, Moldova and Tajikistan are not on track to
achieve the Millennium Development Goal that all children are able to
complete primary school by 2015. The report, which also covered
Turkey, called for an increase in education spending to at least 6% of
their Gross Domestic Product – the regional average is currently about
3%.

Story from BBC NEWS:
/7005446.stm

Published: 2007/09/20 18:00:29 GMT

Babacan: PKK, Armenian resolution pose danger to US ties

Today’s Zaman
22.09.2007

Turkey’s strategic relations with the United States are facing risks
from the terrorist threat posed by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK) in Iraq and resolutions pending in the US Congress on
Armenian genocide claims, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan has said.

Babacan, on a visit to the United States, said it was not possible to
explain to the Turkish people why the PKK still launches attacks on
Turkey from its Iraqi bases. "We expect the United States and the
Iraqi government to take urgent and concrete steps in handing over the
PKK terrorists to justice," he said in a speech to the Chicago Council
on Global Affairs on Thursday, according to excerpts published by the
Anatolia news agency.

Ankara has long been pressing the United States to take action to
eliminate the PKK presence in Iraq and the lack of steps so far
despite Turkish appeals is straining the two countries’ decades-old
alliance. The situation is further complicated by two resolutions
pending in the US Congress that urge the US administration to
recognize Armenian claims of genocide at the hands of the Ottoman
Turks in the beginning of the last century, claims strictly rejected
by Turkey.

Babacan said a third party should not play the judge in a dispute like
this and reminded that Armenian allegations have never been confirmed
legally or historically. "Slanders targeting Turkey have always showed
up in the political arena," he said in his speech. "We want the US
Congress to not take any side in historical matters like this and we
want common sense to win in the end. This is a matter between Turks
and Armenians and can be resolved by frank and sincere dialogue
between the two sides."

Turkey’s hopes that the resolutions will be blocked in the Congress
received a major blow last month when an influential US Jewish group,
the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), revised its long-standing stance and
said the World War I events amounted to genocide. Other Jewish groups
still stick to their position of not supporting the genocide charges.

In Chicago, Babacan met with representatives of US Jewish groups
including the ADL and the American Jewish Federation. In the meeting,
Babacan reiterated that passage of the resolutions would harm both
Turkish-US relations and Turkish-Israeli relations. Representatives of
the Jewish groups, including those of the ADL, insisted at the meeting
that they were against the resolutions in the Congress. They also
raised concerns over Iran’s nuclear program, while Turkey said its
recent energy deal with Iran should be considered as part of its
policy of diversification of energy sources. In his speech at the
Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Babacan said Turkey has been urging
Iran to be transparent about its nuclear program and said Ankara could
play a role in passing the international community’s messages to Iran
as well as Syria, emphasizing that isolating these two countries would
be wrong.

The foreign minister also gave assurances that Turkey would continue
its efforts to become a member of the European Union, saying Turkish
membership will prove the clash of civilizations thesis to be wrong.
He also said Turkey was in a process of fast transition, emphasizing
that it is seeking to become the tenth biggest economy of the world by
2023 and that people are already speaking of Turkey as "Europe’s
China."

22.09.2007
Today’s Zaman Ýstanbul

Source: =detay&link=122847

EFFECTIVE REFORMS ONLY RIGHT PATH OF DEVELOPMENT FOR ARMENIA

ARKA
19/09/2007 21:46

Effective reforms are the only right path of development for Armenia,
Armenian president Robert Kocharian said at his meeting with the
Deputy Director of the Department for East and Central Asia of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Lorenzo Peres and the Head of IMF
Armenian mission Martha Castello-Branko.

The President pointed out the effective cooperation between IMF and
Armenia and expressed his gratitude for the assistance made by the
Fund in the process of large-scale reforms. "We are strongly determined
to continue the reforms," he said.

Armenia’s main task now is the transfer to the new level of the reforms
where economic competition and attraction of new investments is to be
ensured, Peres said. He attached importance to efficient management
and increasing the tax collection level.

The Armenian president reported the works on toughening the tax
administration.

The sides also discussed the development of the capital market and
support to small and medium businesses.

NUMBER OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION COSPONSORS STEADILY GROWING

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.09.2007 13:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In a sign of the growing momentum toward the adoption
of Congressional legislation recognizing the Armenian Genocide,
Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and newly elected Representative Laura
Richardson (D-CA), this week, added their names as cosponsors of this
human rights legislation, reported the Armenian National Committee
of America (ANCA).

"Armenians in Washington, California and around the nation are
encouraged to see Senator Murray and Representative Richardson –
both first-time supporters of federal legislation commemorating
the Armenian Genocide – join the growing Congressional majority in
support of the recognition of this crime against humanity," said
Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "We look forward for
Members of Congress – at long last – to have the opportunity to steer
America back to the right side of this fundamental issue of justice
and basic human rights."

The House version of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.106, was
introduced on January 30th by lead author Rep. Adam Schiff, along with
Rep. George Radanovich (R-CA), Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs
Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), Rep. Anna Eshoo
(D-CA), Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI).

With Rep. Richardson’s support, the legislation now has 226 cosponsors.

A similar resolution in the Senate (S.Res.106), introduced by
Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. John Ensign
(R-NV) currently now has 32 cosponsors, including Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton
(D-NY). Both resolutions call upon the President to ensure that the
foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding
and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic
cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating
to the Armenian Genocide.

The Armenian Genocide has been officially recognized, through
legislation or proclamation, by 40 U.S.

states. It is also supported by the Genocide Intervention Network,
National Council of Churches, American Values, Jewish groups including
the Zionist Organization of America and Americans for Peace Now, as
well as by a diverse coalition that includes organizations representing
the Ukrainian, Greek, Filipino, Polish, Hungarian, Arab, Bulgarian,
Latvian, Romanian, Lithuanian, Slovakian, and other communities.

DASHNAKTSUTYUN’S WAITING FOR LEVON TER-PETROSYAN

Lragir.am
19-09-2007 15:25:33

Armen Rustamyan, representative of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun Supreme
Body, stated September 19 at the Friday Club Dashnaktsutyun has a
normal attitude toward the nomination of Levon Ter-Petrosyan to the
presidential election of 2008. "In addition, it will be better if he
is nominated," Armen Rustamyan says. According to him, the nomination
of the first president will be helpful to the presidential election
in terms of politics and ideology. "I think, knowing him, that for
ten years we haven’t heard Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s thoughts fully,
the changes that happened, nevertheless, I know that when we were
opposition, there were two ideologies in the Armenian reality: one
was nationalistic, the other was cosmopolitan, internationalist,"
Armen Rustamyan says, stressing that if Levon Ter-Petrosyan runs in
the race, the race will have much more ideology.

"At least we, in order to recheck our ideas, to reassert, to argue, as
I have said, a real subject of debate will occur. And I am sure that
it will help others make up their mind. After all, they need to ask
themselves on which side of the watershed they are. Formal attitudes
will disappear, they will stop stressing the form," Armen Rustamyan
says. It is important what a person says and not how a person says.

RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY SUPPORTS PRESIDENT’S DECISION TO SUSPEND THE CFE TREATY

REGNUM
September 19, 2007

The Russian Defense Ministry backs the decision of the Russian
president to suspend the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty,
spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry Head Directorate for
International Military Cooperation, Maj.-Gen. Vladimir Nikishin is
quoted as saying by a REGNUM correspondent at parliamentary hearings
at the Russian State Duma.

Nikishin noted that, in accordance with the acting CFE
Treaty. Successors of the USSR – CIS member-countries – can have
13,150 battle tanks, while the allowed level for groups of countries
is 20,000. "Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Czechia and Slovakia have
taken the quota of 6,850 tanks with them to the NATO lap," Nikishin
said. According to the treaty, Russia can have 6,350 tanks. According
to the military official, Russia together with CSTO member-countries
(Armenia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan) can use the quota of 8,420
tanks. "The same situation is with all the five categories of weapons
mentioned in the treaty," the Defense Ministry’s spokesman said.

Speaking on exceeding group limits by NATO, Nikishin noted that it
totals 5,999 battle tanks, 9,822 armored carriers, 5,111 artillery
systems, 1,497 war planes, 531 attack helicopters.

He also noted that exceeding flank limits is also
substantial. According to Nikishin, conditions necessary to restore
the viability of the CFE Treaty include returning Latvia, Lithuania
and Estonia into the sphere of the treaty, decreasing the sum of
permitted levels restricted by a treaty on arms and equipment of NATO
member-countries in order to make up for the potential acquired by the
alliance during the process of its enlargement. Besides, according to
Nikishin, it is important to pass a decision to cancel flank limits
in the Russian territory.

ARMEN NAZARYAN GAINS BEIJING LICENSE

armradio.am
17.09.2007 17:13

Armenian judoist, European Under 23 Champion Armen Nazryan (66kg)
achieved a license for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, occupying
the 5th place in the World Judo Championship held in Rio de Janeiro.

Armen Nazaryan is the third Armenian sportsman after Norayr Bakhtamyan
and Hovhannes Davtyan to gain a Beijing license.

One female four male and Armenian judoists participated in the World
Championship this year. The chief coach of the Armenian team is
Gagik Aghamalyan.

FEATURED BOOK REVIEW: THE KNOCK AT THE DOOR BY MARGARET AJEMIAN AHNERT
By Jessica Schneider

Monsters and Critics.com, UK
Sep 14, 2007, 15:01 GMT

Books Features

For anyone who has ever wanted an introduction to the Armenian
Genocide, reading Margaret Ajemian Ahnert’s memoir, The Knock at the
Door, would be a good place to start. The book deals with Ahnert’s
mother, Ester, and how at the ages of fifteen through nineteen,
the Armenian girl has to endure starvation, beatings, and rape-yet
manages to survive. This story, based on the stories that Ester
relayed to Ahnert, talks about how the Armenians were forced out
of their houses, ordered to march for weeks through the desert with
little food or water, undergo regular beatings and killings by the
Turkish soldiers, and how anyone worshipping the Christian religion
or speaking Armenian would result in torture and death.

In an interesting online interview with the author, Ahnert has much to
say regarding the Genocide and the public’s denial of it. In Turkey,
it is against the law to speak of it, and on May 1, 2007, Ahnert was
giving a reading at a New York Barnes & Noble when she had several
Turkish men in the audience stand up and begin to pass out flyers,
claiming she was a liar.

That story hit the news, and it was upon reading about that incident,
that prompted me to purchase the book.

Throughout the story, after having survived the brutal walk through the
desert and being left for dead, Ester is rescued by a woman and then
eventually shuffled through several homes. In one house she acts as a
maid, and upon overhearing some Turkish men bragging about the brutal
ways in which they killed the Armenians, becomes so overwhelmed with
fear that she falls down the stairs and eventually informs the woman
of the house that she must leave. The woman, who at first said she
was willing to treat Ester as a daughter, only allows her husband to
rape Ester that same night. Then, as Ester is sent to an orphanage,
where she is forced to strip down and undergo ‘lice treatment’ as
well as molestation by one of the women, there she meets a Turkish
man who takes her by force, marries her, yet regards her as nothing
more than a slave. Ahnert talks about how during these years, Turks
were allowed to marry Armenians or kill them, but they could not,
under any circumstances, hide them. So because this Turkish man is
willing to marry Ester, she is relatively safe for a while (albeit
still undergoing regular beatings and abuse from her husband).

Several years pass, and then Ester believes she sees her brother on
a wagon passing by. Running out to greet him, he helps her to escape
by informing her of a place to stay. Ester escapes her husband and
goes to this house that dwells one of the few Armenian families
whose lives were spared because they are blacksmiths. The family
takes her in, despite their constant worry of getting caught. Ester
is forced to sleep in the moldy basement with vermin crawling all
over her. Fearing the family would be ready to throw her out, she
does not complain. Eventually, she is able to get to America after
being given a third class passenger ticket and a false passport. But
the insides of the steerage are no better. Larded with roaches and
disease, people are crowded together and must suffer through the
filth until they can arrive at Ellis Island. The book skips back and
forth between Ahnert visiting her mother in a nursing home in 1998,
and her mother’s experiences in 1915 through 1920. Ahnert also has
a scene where she encounters a Turkish cab driver and fears to tell
him that she is Armenian.

This book is one woman’s story-well two actually, and it provides a
personal account of what happened during those years. Through Ester’s
tale, readers will be given an introduction to the Armenian Genocide,
and what those brutal times were like. Similar to that of the Jews,
Ahnert speaks about the famous quote by Hitler in the Holocaust museum
in Washington D.C., where he mentions that no one remembers what
happened to the Armenians (implying that no one will remember what
happened to the Jews either). The Knock at the Door is a memoir more
in line with Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes, where both stories serve
to personalize the history, as opposed to viewing it only as dates and
numbers. Angela’s Ashes is the more artful of the two books, while The
Knock at the Door is more straightforward in its spare narrative style.

Worthy of your readership, it is a story that will certainly pique
your interest in wanting to know more.

And if Ester herself were alive to know that, indeed she would
be pleased.

ARIEL COHEN: AZERBAIJAN’S PARTICIPATION IN GLOBAL MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM WILL CONTRIBUTE TO SOLUTION OF NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT

Azeri Press Agency
[ 13 Sep 2007 15:30 ]

Interview of Ariel Cohen, Ph.D. Senior Research Fellow for Russia
and Eurasia of Heritage Foundation to APA

– Mr. Cohen, deputy assistant secretary of state John Hood stated
that official Washington agrees to involve the facilities which are
under Russians’ control in missile defense system. Is joint use of
Gabala radar by Russia and the US, which have different positions on
the content and structure of this system, possible?

– I think that, Gabala radar has great potential from geopolitical
and geopolitical aspect and this facility will be interesting for
the US. But Gabala radar means technologies used 30 years ago. Gabala
radar can watch the missile launched from the area it controls. But
this warning does not ensure intercepting the object after certain
limit. The US needs a system that will ensure striking the missile even
in the air. The system that Washington intends to deploy in Europe is
designed for such cases, i.e. intercepting missiles in space. That’s
why the US is seeking alternatives so that to watch the missile the
moment it is launched by deploying its radars in Gabala and eliminate
the danger through objects deployed in Europe.

Implementation of these ideas fully depends on Russia.

Official Moscow will prove with its steps either it wants to be closer
to the US and West, or aims to increase tension. As far as I know,
America does not intend to give up plans in Europe using only Gabala.

Official Washington wants to use both missile defense system that
will be deployed in Europe and Gabala radar station.

– You must have known that Iran severely reacts to any project that
could beat its interests in the region.

Which threat does US usage of Gabala Radar pose for Azerbaijan?

– I do not think that Iran will be able to interfere with Azerbaijan’s
local situation. Most of Azerbaijanis are faithful to their state
and president and know Iranian government’s shortcomings very well.

Why must Iranians be concerned about the US plans on Gabala radar? Only
spiteful people can be against this plan.

– If US and Russian interests meet on Gabala Radar issue as in oil
issue, will there be more possibility to solve the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict in favor of Azerbaijan?

– I assume that Azerbaijan must be interested in keeping warm relations
with all forces of the region.

I would include Moscow, Tehran and Washington firstly.

Deploying missile defense system in Gabala radar is not only the US’s
but only the entire world’s interest. The participation of Azerbaijan
in the global missile defense system project will contribute to the
solution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict as well.

OIL MONEY TO FUND NGOS AND OPPOSITION PARTIES IN AZERBAIJAN
By Fariz Ismailzade

Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Different groups in Azerbaijan are clamoring for their share of
the massive flow of oil revenue generated by the completion of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.

Lobbying from the ministries for additional financial resources to
complete new, massive projects is leading to a new era in Azerbaijani
politics. Among the public works projects under consideration are
refugee settlements, bridges and underpasses in Baku, subways and
railways, roads, and schools.

Political parties and NGOs alike have entered the competition for oil
revenues. Until only recently the more hard-line opposition parties and
NGOs refused to sit down with the authorities at the government-owned
negotiating table, preferring a neutral forum instead.

Now they have openly expressed a desire to claim their part of the pie.

The government has responded positively, as funding NGOs and political
parties will create additional tools to control them, especially prior
to the presidential elections next year. On July 27 President Ilham
Aliyev issued a decree calling on the government to "adopt a concept of
state support for the non-governmental organization" (AzTV, July 27).

According to the decree, the president’s office has two months to
prepare suggestions regarding the establishment of a Fund to Support
NGOs and to formulate procedures for the state to work with NGOs
(Trend News Agency, July 27).

The decree established priority areas for NGO projects, such as
advancing Azerbaijani positions regarding the Karabakh conflict in the
international arena, protecting the rights of internally displaced
persons and refugees, assisting disabled citizens and war veterans,
encouraging the idea of "Azerbaijanism," cooperating with foreign NGOs,
encouraging human rights, and promoting the rights and freedoms of
individuals, including the right to free speech and expression (Echo,
August 2).

NGO leaders welcomed the government’s long-awaited decision. In recent
years, NGOs have largely relied on international donors and foundations
for project funds, but as the foundation monies have dried up, many
local NGOs have found themselves on the brink of bankruptcy.

Azay Guliyev, president of the Azerbaijani NGO Forum and a member
of parliament, assessed the decree positively. "It will contribute
to the development of national NGOs and serve as a new stage in
the dialogue between the state and civil society," Guliyev to Echo
newspaper on August 2. The Azerbaijani NGO Forum has also initiated a
roundtable discussion with dozens of local NGOs to give feedback on the
presidential decree and develop suggestions on concrete ways to support
the third sector. Arastun Orujov, director of the presidential staff,
hinted that the NGOs will be provided the "financial, informational
and other kinds of assistance, as well as conditions to hold events,
conferences, forums, and trainings" (Echo, August 2).

Speaking to Azertaj news agency, Parliamentary Speaker Bahar Muradova
indicated that the law on political parties would be amended during
the fall session of the parliament (Zerkalo, September 4). Muradova
did not specify which aspects of the law will be discussed, but
noted that the current law, adopted in 1992, is not suitable for the
contemporary political environment and that the relations between
the parties and society, as well as political party funding, will
be re-worked, taking into consideration the representation of the
political parties in parliament and the geographic scope of their
activities in the country. The issue of state financial support is
of special interest to the political parties, as they have long been
accused of being sponsored from abroad.

Although these amendments to the law on political parties have
been on the table for nearly two years, there has been no formal
document presented to members of parliament. Opposition MP Panah
Huseyn told media representatives on September 3 that he had not seen
any such draft and that perhaps it was still under development in
the president’s office. Huseyn added that the experience of other
countries should be taken into account when developing financial
and other conditions for Azerbaijan’s political parties, including
such acts as simplifying the registration process for parties and
establishing financial quotas for them.

Fazil Gazanfaroglu, chairman of the "Great Revival" opposition
party and a member of parliament, also welcomed the idea of the new
amendments, noting the need to support secular parties. Indeed, in
the past several years, secular parties have stagnated, leading to
the growth of Islamic tendencies in the country.

According to Gazanfaroglu and other experts, it is exactly this factor
that drives the government to support political parties.

Although both initiatives are positive in nature, they are likely
to provide extra financial resources for the leaders of NGOs and
parties, but they are unlikely to change the democratic atmosphere
in the country significantly.