Author: Jagharian Tania

THE TURKS ARE LEAVING FOR LEBANON WHILE THEIR CASE IS BEING HEARD IN STRASBOURG
A1+
[02:34 pm] 25 September, 2006
Despite the complaints of the Armenian community of Lebanon about
the allocation of the Turkish peace-keepers in the country, the
troupes will leave for Lebanon today. They will consist of a thousand
soldiers. 400 of them represent the naval forces, 500 are infantrymen
and the rest are civilians. By the way, Turkey intends to “use” the
self-proclaimed “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” for sending
soldiers to Lebanon.
By the way, today the plenary session of the European Parliament
starts in Strasbourg where the report of the Foreign Committee of
the Parliament about the reforms in Turkey will be discussed.
In this document the European legislators criticized severely the
Turkish authorities and especially their steps towards the improvement
of the free expression of opinions, and the improvement of relations
with religious and national minorities and Cyprus.
With the same document the members of the European Parliament called
on Turkey to open the border with Armenia and to recognize the Armenian
Genocide. Most probably the heated discussions will concern this point.
According to Hilda Choboyan, head of the Hay Dat European Office,
two political powers of the Parliament, the socialists, and the
liberalists, intend to exclude the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide from the list of commitments of Turkey, Radio station
“Azatutyun” reports.
The socialists are the second in the Parliament by the number of
deputies. The first place belongs to the Christian-democrats who,
according to Hilda Choboyan, defend the requirement of recognizing
the Armenian Genocide.

ETHIOPIA: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW ON IN ETHIOPIAN FILM INDUSTRY
By Arefaynie Fantahun
The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa)
Sept 25 2006
As many will agree, the cinema industry in Ethiopia is still in its
infant stage. In recent times, the country is seeing a good number
of new generations of filmmakers, in their majority amateurs, who
are making films that are enjoying a good run in various cinema houses.
On a not brighter note, however, the contemporary films “are not up
to the standard,” many in the industry admit. There just is much to
be desired as far as the development of films is concerned, they say.
But, ironically, cinema was introduced to this country only three
years after the world’s first film ever was projected in Paris in
December 28, 1895 by the Louis Lumière brothers. To get a sense of
how far this industry has come and why it failed to make the progress
it should, read on the following article by our regular contributor,
Arefaynie Fantahun.
In an article appeared in ‘Annales d’Ethiopie ‘(2003), a French
journal on Ethiopia, Dr. Berhanou Abebe, a renowned historian who has
published extensively on aspects of Ethiopian history and culture,
wrote that in 1898, a Frenchman from Algeria brought one of the first
cinematic artifacts to Ethiopia, and sold it to the Italian minister
Ciccodicola, who presented it to Emperor Menilek of Ethiopia as a gift.
It so happened that, Minilik, had heard about the invention and was
keen to get the cinematograph. It was said that he watched several
films after he owned the projector.
According to Dr. Berhanou, there was a film house called ‘Pate’
owned by MM. Baicovich Frères in 1909 -1910. People were stunned
by this magical invention for the first months but soon they turned
indifferent. A French historian, Merab, in his ‘Impressions d’Ethiopie
(1922), quoted by Dr. Berhanou, said, ‘people apparently didn’t like
to entertain themselves.’ Dr. Richard Pankhurst, a distinguished
historian with several publications and books to his credit, in his
widely-acclaimed book ‘Economic History of Ethiopia’ (1968) wrote
about another attempt made in 1909-10 by some Armenians, but the
project attracted only temporary interest, and was soon abandoned.
But despite such indifference, the newly established Addis Ababa was
undergoing changes and was on its way to becoming the center of the
country’s political and cultural life.
It was at this time the first European oriented school, staffed largely
by the French, was opened in Addis Ababa, and with these were imported
teachers who would promote western-style dramas, the theatres, and
films in the years to come.
According to, Encyclopedia Aethiopica, Vol. I (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz
Verlag, 2003), in the early days cinema, cinema houses were called
‘Ye Seytan Bet’, (House of Satan), a definition which well suited
the technological “devilry” of cinematographically combined images
and movement.
The first film known to be produced in Ethiopia was a short 16mm
black-and-white film, produced by a certain Tedla on the occasion of
Empress Zewditu’s coronation day in 1917.
To be continued.
–Boundary_(ID_aEzmde70iar/7KraKn9ePw) —

ARMENIAN DIASPORA IN UKRAINE TO BACK PM VIKTOR YANUKOVICH
Today, Azerbaijan
Sept 25 2006
Members of Armenian community in Ukraine held a meeting in Kyiv
organized by the Union of Ukrainian Armenians.
The meeting participants strongly criticized President Viktor
Yushchenko’s policy to expand integration into NATO, APA reports.
Never Mkhitaryan, who is involved in Ukrainian political life,
said Armenians should make their efforts to support Prime Minister
Viktor Yanukovich. He said there will be a chance during the expected
political crisis in Ukraine to remove “orange” supporters from power,
and Armenians should take an active part in this process.
Mkhitaryan brought attention to Yanukovich’s special attitude to
Armenia, his conferment “Restoration of Armenia” medal and finally,
his being supported by Russia.
The similar meeting was held in Simferopol by Armenian community of the
Crimea. The participants stressed that Ukrainian “orange” government
could not achieve progress in the country and also failed to care about
Armenians. They arrived at a common conclusion that the authorities
failing to be ally of Russia cannot meet Armenians’ demands.
The community chief Frunze Mardoyan expressed dissatisfaction with
Yushshenko’s support for Azerbaijan reminding Armenian parliament’s
vice-speaker Vagan Ovannisyan’s “Ukraine was presented with the Crimea
by Khrushov as Azerbaijan was presented with Nakhchivan and Garabagh
by Stalin. Yushchenko might turn out to consider even some parts of
Kazakhstan and Iran as Azerbaijani territories”.
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RA MINISTER OF TERRITORIAL ADMINISTRATION RECEIVED THE AMBASSADOR OF KUWAIT
Pablic Radio of Armenia
Sept 22 2006
Today in RA Government Minister of Territorial Administration Hovik
Abrahamyan received the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
of Kuwait Majdi Aldafiri (seat in Tehran).
Government’s Information and PR Department told “Armenpress” that
the parties turned to a number of issues of further development of
relations between the two countries. The interlocutors discussed issues
of Kuwait’s assistance to reconstruction of rural infrastructures in
Armenia, particularly water supply systems and community roads.

ARMENIAN PM THINKS COUNTRY ALREADY OVERCOME SHOCK OF TRANSITION
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Sept 22 2006
YEREVAN, September 22. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan thinks the country has already overcome the shock of
transition from socialism to free market.
He said Thursday in his interview with Kentron TV that 15 year ago
people were not prepared for that and the transition was very painful
for them.
The premier admitted that ordinary people had lost the social security
they enjoyed once, in soviet epoch. At the same time, he expressed
confidence that all the problems would be solved soon.
Margaryan stressed that the government does and will do whatever
necessary to solve social problems.
“The government’s all credit programs for last four years have been
focused on social situation improvement in the country”, he said in
his televised interview. M.V.-0–

CDA candidates recognize Armenian Genocide
ANP
22 September 2006
THE HAGUE (ANP) – CDA parliamentary members Ayhan Tonca and Osman
Elmaci recognize that Turkey committed a genocide against the Armenians
in 1915. In a statement, they said that they conform to the motion
of the ChristenUnie, in which the Armenian Genocide is addressed.
In December 2004, the Parliament, initiated by the ChristenUnie,
unanimously agreed that the Dutch government should continuously raise
the Armenian massacres in all of its negotiations with Turkey in the
framework of Turkey’s accession to the EU. According to the Armenian
community in the Netherlands, the two CDA candidates had, until now,
only expressed Turkey’s official view that an Armenian Genocide was
never committed.
This week, the Federation of Armenian Organizations in the Netherlands
(FAON) asked the CDA party administration about Tonca’s (35th place
on the concept-candidate list) and Elmaci’s (56) standpoint on the
genocide. The genocide has been recognized as fact by the United
Nations since 1985. In 1915, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians
perished.

“ON THE ROAD TO TRUTH AND RIGHT”
Raffi K. Hovannisian (Founder) Vardan Khachatrian (Chairman)
Panorama.am
16:40 21/09/06
The fifteen-year anniversary of Armenia’s independence is a fitting
occasion to reassess the watershed significance of sovereign
statehood. This opens before our nation vast horizons to live and
create in freedom and without shackles, to make the Republic prosper,
and to build a bright future for the generations next in line.
Armenia’s independence has other implications and lessons as well. This
liberty was achieved after a long-lasting intermission in statehood
and the sacrifice of thousands of patriots, thus further underscoring
its historic mission and modern meaning.
Real sovereignty and democracy, respect for human rights, and other
universally accepted values-which we certainly shall attain through
our united and devoted work-will turn Armenia into a cradle of civil
freedoms and equal protection, rule of law and due process, and a
country liberated from the parochial arbitrariness of ruling cliques
and extralegal permissiveness for the privileged.
The duty of building a new and strong Armenia has fallen to our
generation. We must place its cornerstone with a firmness of will,
a trueness of conscience, and a nobility of commitment so that the
preeminence of right, the letter and spirit of legal and ethical
benchmarks, and the expectation and conduct of a dignified life may
long endure.
Let us once again become the masters of our rich history and
civilizational heritage, adding our contemporary share to them and
faithfully passing them on to those yet to come. This is the paramount
order of the day.
On the occasion of this glorious anniversary for Armenia and the
entire Armenian nation, we extend our hearty best wishes to all
members and supporters of the Heritage Party and, more importantly,
to the children of Armenia the world over, whose might and mind,
in our deep conviction, will continue to discover ever-new avenues
toward the Homeland of our dreams.

ARMENIAN CEASEFIRE VIOLATION KILLS AZERBAIJANI SOLDIER
Azeri Press Agency
[ 22 Sen. 2006 10:48 ]
Armenian Armed Forces violated the ceasefire again killing Azerbaijani
Army soldier. APA’s Garabagh bureau reports Armenian Armed Forces
have broken the ceasefire more intensively recently in Agdam front.
The enemy from the positions in occupied villages of Gulchuluk and Bash
Garvand of Azerbaijani region of Agdam fired on opposite positions of
Azerbaijani Army at the night of September 20 to 21. Armenian forces
targeted Azerbaijani Army positions from the occupied Yusifganli
village of Agdam. As a result of the ceasefire violation, Azerbaijani
soldier Seyidaliyev Vusal died heroically while resisting the enemy’s
attack.
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry’s press service confirmed the report
on soldier’s death. It said Azerbaijani Army soldier was killed as
a result of Armenia’s violation of the ceasefire.

Karabakh Problem Priority Issue for Armenia
PanARMENIAN.Net
20.09.2006 16:26 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia should be ready for any developments in
Nagorno Karabakh, RA Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan told reporters
when commenting on Azerbaijan’s attempts to convey the discussion of
the Karabakh problem to the U.N. “We should be ready for any move,
since the Karabakh problem is a priority for us and is immediately
bound with our security and future,” the RA MOD head said, reports
newsarmenia.ru.

The Statesman, India
Thursday, 21 September 2006
Special Article
Affirmative action-I
Experiments In The Former Soviet Union, Japan &
America
By Dipak Basu
“If our political progress is to be real, the underdogs of our society
must be helped to become men” (Rabindranath Tagore, Letters from
Russia) The debate on affirmative action in India tends to drag and
isn’t always geared to the desired objective: creation of equality of
opportunity. As with secularism, the reservation system in India has
a different political aim ~ to make the system more unequal than what
it is. Secularism, far from making the state independent of religion,
is intended to provide special privileges to certain religious
groups. Similarly, the affirmative system is politically designed to
provide restricted, not equal, rights to some chosen people.
The policy was perhaps started in India by Lord Curzon in 1905 by
banning the employment of Hindu Bengalis in government services. The
official argument was that they were too advanced and others,
particularly Muslims, would be deprived of job opportunities. Later it
was extended to the military services by giving preferential treatment
to Muslims and Sikhs who were branded as martial races.
Divide population
Reservations in government jobs were introduced in 1918 in Mysore
in favour of a number of castes and communities that had little
representation in the administration. In 1909 and in 1919 the system
was introduced for the Muslims in British India. In 1935, political
reasons prompted the government to provide job reservation for the
backward castes.
The real idea was to divide the population of India into several
warring groups along religious, ethnic and caste lines by granting
special rights so that India of the future would be divided and weak. A
number of prominent politicians had acted as agents of the Raj to
implement that line of action. Among them was BR Ambedkar. Although
today he is regarded as a founding father of the nation, the writer
of the Constitution and the cult figure of the backward castes with
four universities named after him, he took no part in the freedom
movement. Instead, like EVR Periyarer of Tamil Nadu, CP Ramaswamy Aiyar
of Kerala, Jinnah and Mohammed Iqbal, he was a staunch loyalist of the
empire, hand-in-glove with the British to divide India along caste,
religion and tribal lines.
The followers of the same person today include the Communists who,
forgetting the essentials of the Marx-Lenin ideology, are supporting
job reservation along caste and religious lines.
Equality of opportunity is the basis of a true democracy and as such
affirmative action is required to equalise opportunities among people
who are endowed differently. Even in the USA, affirmative action
was promoted first by President Lyndon Johnson in 1974 to promote
American blacks, who were deprived of most opportunities. However,
it was not a success. The countries where it was most successful are
Japan, the former Soviet Union and other former socialist countries
of East Europe along with Cuba and Vietnam.
India should take a lesson from them to implement a proper policy on
affirmative action.
The success of the Soviet society regarding affirmative action was
observed by Rabindranath Tagore, who wrote: “Throughout the ages,
civilised communities have contained groups of nameless people.
They toil most, yet theirs is the largest measure of indignity. They
are deprived of everything that makes life worth living. I had often
thought about them, but came to the conclusion that there was no
help for them… In Russia at last. Whichever way I look I am filled
with wonder. From top to bottom they are rousing everyone up without
distinction”.
Immediately after the revolution, Lenin proclaimed the affirmative
action known as korenizatsiia to provide affirmative preferences
for non-Russians, backward ethnic groups and poor Russians. To gain
the support of the non-Russian, who were largely illiterate except in
Georgia and Armenia, a Sovietization in three phases was developed. In
the first phase, the respective cultures were promoted. This aroused
their national conscience. This eventually led to the second phase
which was rapprochement and finally to the third phase which was
merger. Non-Russians were awarded their own administrative territories
and accorded preference in educational and promotion policies. This
policy led to the creation of massive educational facilities in the
republics of the backward people, employment for the representatives
of the ethnic intelligentsia, foundation of republican academies of
science and research centres supporting ethnic unions of writers,
painters and film-makers. The policy was applied uniformly to create
elites, which, like their culture, would be national in form, but
with the same content in all units of the union.
However, there was no fixed quota in admissions to the educational
establishments or in jobs. Instead, education was made free at all
stages and compulsory up to certain ages depending on their ethnic
background. Every qualified student was entitled to scholarship to
cover his or her costs of maintenance.
Education was taken to the people where they lived.
Even mobile schools and libraries were established for the nomadic
populations of central Asia. A certain number of students from
the backward areas of the Soviet Union was taken to the very best
universities and institutes of higher learning. They got separate
training so that they could compete effectively with the more advanced
Russian students.
Due to this social engineering, within two decades the Soviet Union
had eradicated illiteracy and had the best educated population in
the world. It wasn’t a reservation system for the backward people,
but completely free education and massive extension of education. Both
the Soviet Union and Japan improved the lot of the totally uneducated
without any formal reservation or quota system but through compulsory
free education on a massive scale.
Japanese system
The guiding principle of the Japanese system of education is
uniformity, conformity and integration.
There is no room for special rights or reservations in that regimented
system, which is available equally for everyone.
In the USA, the term affirmative action was first used in the
Executive Order 11246, issued by President Johnson. The order called
on federal government contractors to “take affirmative action to
ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated
during employment, without regard to their race, creed, colour, or
national origin.” However, those who were already educated or advanced
financially among the blacks or Hispanics, equivalent to the creamy
layers in India, got the benefits. Thus, the affirmative action could
not change the basic nature of the most unequal society. There was
considerable opposition to the system in the days of Reagan. Today,
nearly 26 per cent of the population is functionally illiterate. Social
mobility is on the decline. There is widespread homelessness and
poverty among the blacks and Hispanics. In a word, affirmative action
hasn’t changed the characteristics of American society.
(To be concluded)
The author is Professor in International Economics, Nagasaki University