Author: Jagharian Tania

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

TURKEY IS ONLY REAL ALLY OF AZERBAIJAN IN NK PROBLEM
ARMINFO News Agency
September 19, 2006 Tuesday
The only real ally of Azerbaijan in the Karabakh problem is Turkey,
says Mark Katz in his article “Azerbaijan’s Geo-Politics” in United
Press International.
Katz says that Azerbaijan’s enemies in the matter are Armenia, Russia
and Iran (because of Southern Azerbaijan). Struggling not to vex the
influential Armenian Diaspora and, at the same time, to get access to
the Azeri oil, the US and EU have been trying to solve the conflict
but in vain.
Azerbaijan hopes to use its oil revenues for increasing its military
capacity for taking back its territories from Armenia but it will
hardly succeed considering its geo-political disadvantage as compared
with Armenia.
Katz says that a change could come only if anti-US and Europe
Nationalist or Islamist forces come into power in Turkey. This may
well happen if Turkey’s is denied EU membership. Such Turkey may use
force against Armenia if it refuses to give back the territories. In
such a situation, Russia, the US and even Iran may support Armenia.
This may result in a regional war.
Thus, Azerbaijan’s geo-political situation is quite complex and may
get even more complicated.

UPPER LARS CHECK-POINT TO OPEN IN TWO WEEKS
PanARMENIAN.Net
18.09.2006 14:17 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Repair works at Upper Lars check-point will finish in
two weeks, Armenian Ambassador to Russia Armen Smbatyan reported. In
his words, Russian representatives convinced him that Repair works at
the check-point will finish in two weeks. The Russian party closed the
check-point, which is the only legal point at the Georgian-Russian
border, on July 8, naming the need for repair works there as the
cause for closing.

Regions.ru
September 12, 2006
“DOES ARMENIA FIND ITSELF ON THE VERGE OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER?”
While predatory deforestation is in full progress in the Republic, the
Minister of Environment is involved in big business.
/The former Minister of Environment Karine Danielyan claims that today
Yerevan, and Armenia as a whole, are on the verge of an environmental
disaster. According to her, during the last 10 years the incidence of
cases of bronchial asthma, upper respiratory tract and acute
intestinal infections has increased sharply. ?The ?lungs? of the
city, the green zones which were supposed to clean the city air, were
eliminated?, the former Minister noted. However it looks like the
acting head of the Republic?s environmental department does not share
the concern of his predecessor./
Armenia?s ecology today finds itself in the most pitiable condition in
the whole history of the country. This is being spoken out by
representatives of the various environmental and public organizations
of the Republic. Since the time when the former businessman and
politician Vardan Avazyan took the position of Armenia?s Minister of
Environment in 2001 the situation in the environment protection
department has practically gone out of control. Not having any
experience of environmental work, Avazyan preferred to be involved in
the issues which were more familiar to him, that is, to participate in
negotiations with potential investors forcing them to pay the
?environmental tributes?, and in other ?money matters?. As for the
nature, it was left to itself and at the disposal of the few
businessmen who managed to find understanding with the Minister.
The results of such a policy turned out to be predictable. The former
Minister Karine Danielyan who currently is Chairman of the public
organization ?In the Name of Stable Development? is willing to share
her negative estimate of the environmental situation in Armenia even
at the international community level. Currently the organization
together with the UN environment program is preparing a report on the
environmental situation in the country. Also ?In the Name of Stable
Development? has carried out a sociological poll, according to which
57% of respondents were not satisfied wit the condition of environment
in Yerevan, and 32.2% estimated it as disastrous. 84% of the
inhabitants are concerned about destruction of the ?green? areas of
the capital due to building up of permanent commercial establishments,
57% are extremely dissatisfied with the profuse insanitation in the
capital, and 51% consider the atmosphere over Yerevan to be extremely
polluted. 52% think that it is the environmental condition of the city
that causes the negative impact on the health of the city dwellers,
besides, 41.5% complained about the pollution of drinking water, 38%
complained about the noise, and 25% about the pollution of soil.
Judging by publications in the local mass media, deforestation in the
last five years has become disastrous over the whole territory of
Armenia. This, in particular, was recently reported by Susan
Yagoubyan-Klein, Regional director of the ?Planting Trees in Armenia?
Program. She noted that the tendency is ?terrifying?, as in the past
years the forest coverage of the Republic?s territory constituted 25%,
and in the 90?s around 20%. ?Never before was Armenia closer to the
environmental disaster?, S. Yagoubyan-Klein said. She emphasized that
if such a tendency is allowed to continue, in 20 years Armenia will be
facing a real threat of desertification.
S. Yagoubyan-Klein also noted that the unlawful cutting of trees
continues up to this day.
In the meantime the current Minister of Environment of RA Vardan
Aivazyan is still not inclined to overestimate the problems existing
in the Republic. Speaking at the recent hearing held in the Parliament
titled ?Environmental Problems in Yerevan?, Aivazyan, replying to the
criticism aimed at himself, joked, ?If we look at everything in
absolute terms, then we should prohibit playing the violin, as a wood
rosin emission takes place in the course of playing?.
The Minister?s relative tranquility is understandable, as he is busy
with issues which are rather distant from protection of green
plantations. As observed by the eyewitnesses, Aivazyan is a lot more
enthusiastic about conflicts and disputes with various ?economic
subjects?, and about other issues which are somehow or other connected
with the ?real cash?. The main ?enemies? of the Environment Minister
today are large ore and gold mining companies operating on the
territory of the Republic. Revision of old contracts, refusal to issue
mining licenses, laying down the additional conditions to the existing
agreements: all these worrisome but lucrative concerns steal away a
lot of Aivazyan?s time and strength.
As a result multi-billion projects agreed on and approved at the
highest government and even inter-government level are facing a threat
today ?thanks? to the restless and clearly irrelevant activity of one
single Minister. Therefore it is quite expectable that not only
independent ecologists, but also Aivazyan?s colleagues in the
government of Armenia are dissatisfied with his activities. For
several months now the local media has put new wind in the rumors of
possible resignation of Aivazyan. They say that the Minister?s ?lot?
will be decided on already in February.
It is characteristic that the Minister himself saw the reason for the
rumors of his possible resignation not in the evidently disastrous
environmental situation in Armenia, but in the ?intrigues of external
forces? which, in the official?s opinion, in his person are nearly
infringing the sovereignty of the entire Republic. As it often happens
in such cases, patriotism pushed into the foreground has become
Aivazyan?s last resort. Under the slogan of protecting the country
from foreign influence, he is trying as hard as he can to create for
himself an image of a fighter for the interests of Armenia. However,
thanks to Aivazyan?s efforts, the country is already left without
forests and tomorrow it may be left without foreign investors who are
already perplexed by the Minister?s behavior.
12.09.2006 Ruben Azaryan, Regions.ru

14 September 2006
Armenia ratified:
– the Additional Protocol to the Anti-Doping Convention (CETS No. 188
ulezVous.asp?NT=3D188&CM=3D1&CL=3DENG *
Belgium ratified:
– the Protocol No. 14 to the Convention for the Protection of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, amending the control system of the
Convention (CETS No. 194
< ueVoulezVous.asp?NT=3D194&CM=3D1&CL=3DENG& gt; )* .* * * Detailed information on the Council of Europe treaties (full text, chart of signatures and ratifications, reservations and declarations, summary, explanatory report) is available on the Treaty Office's web site --------------- ( *) CETS : Council of Europe Treaty Series Signatures et ratifications au Conseil de l'Europe Semaine du 11 au 15 septembre 2006 14 septembre 2006 L'Arménie a ratifié : - le Protocole additionnel à la Convention contre le dopage (STCE n° 188 < Commun/QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=3D188&CM=3D1&C L=3DFRE> )*
La Belgique a ratifié:
– le Protocole n° 14 à la Convention de sauvegarde des Droits de
l’Homme et des Libertés fondamentales, amendant le système de
contrôle de la Convention (STCE n° 194
< ueVoulezVous.asp?NT=3D194&CM=3D1&CL=3DFRE& gt; )* * * * Des informations détaillées relatives aux traités du Conseil de l'Europe (texte intégral, état des signatures et ratifications, réserves et déclarations, résumé, rapport explicatif) sont disponibles sur le site du Bureau des Traités --------- ------- (*) STCE : Série des Traités du Conseil de l'Europe Press Release Council of Europe Press Division Ref: 515b06 Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 25 60 Fax:+33 (0)3 88 41 39 11 [email protected] internet: 15.09.2006 A political organisation set up in 1949, the Council of Europe works to promote democracy and human rights continent-wide. It also develops common responses to social, cultural and legal challenges in its 46 member states.

ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES ARREST 2 SUSPECTS IN KILLING OF TOP TAX OFFICIAL
Today.Az
AP / International Herald Tribune
15 September 2006 [10:18] – Today.Az
Authorities in Armenia have detained two suspects accused
of involvement in the killing of a senior Armenian tax official,
officials said Thursday.
Shagen Ovasepian, head of the operations department of the State Tax
Service, was killed by a bomb that exploded as he was getting into
his car in the Armenian capital on Sept. 6.
Prosecutor General’s office spokeswoman Sona Truzian said Thursday
that the two suspects were detained late Wednesday. She said they
were Armenian citizens, but refused to name them while the probe
was ongoing.
Erkir-media television said citing sources in the prosecutor’s office
that both suspects were officials of the State Tax Service.
Organized crime is widespread in this poor, former Soviet republic,
and gang-related killings are common.
Armenian politics are also tense and occasionally violent. In 1999,
gunmen burst into parliament and killed the prime minister, parliament
speaker and six other officials and lawmakers.

APPOINTMENT OF A NEW AMBASSADOR IS POSTPONED
A1+
[04:38 pm] 13 September, 2006
A senator put a hold Tuesday on the nomination of Richard Hoagland to
be ambassador to Armenia to protest the Bush administration’s refusal
to classify the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide.
Last week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 13-5 to send
Hoagland’s nomination to the full Senate for a vote. Until Democratic
Sen. Robert Menendez lifts his hold, however, the Senate cannot vote
on Hoagland’s nomination. Under Senate rules, any senator can block
nominations or legislation.
Menendez said all Americans must recognize the atrocities committed
between 1915 to 1923 in Armenia, during the waning days of the Ottoman
Empire, amounted to genocide. The Bush administration and Turkey,
successor to the Ottoman state, admit many Armenians died but reject
the genocide classification.
“Mr. Hoagland has declined to acknowledge the mass killings of the
Armenians as genocide, and has said that if confirmed, he would work
to represent the president’s policy,” Menendez said. “I have great
concerns that Mr. Hoagland’s confirmation would be a step backward.”

Armenian Assembly of America
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:

PRESS RELEASE
September 13, 2006
CONTACT: Karoon Panosyan
E-mail: [email protected]
ARMENIAN CAUCUS LARGEST EVER AT 163 MEMBERS
Representative DeLauro Joins
WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian Assembly today welcomed the news that the
Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues now boasts 163 Members with the
addition of Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), making it the largest
Caucus to date in the 109th Congress.
“The Caucus plays an important role in helping to strengthen the
U.S.-Armenia relationship and we will continue our efforts to expand the
Caucus even further,” said Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. “We look
forward to working with Representative DeLauro and her staff on issues
facing Armenia and Armenian-Americans.”
DeLauro, who is currently serving her eighth term in office, has
co-sponsored legislation affirming the Armenian Genocide (H. Res. 316)
and has repeatedly signed congressional letters to the President urging
him to properly recognize the Armenian Genocide in his annual April 24th
statement. Additionally, DeLauro signed a congressional letter in 2004,
urging the President to publicly condemn the ongoing Azerbaijani war
rhetoric against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. DeLauro also supported
the amendment that retained Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act which
imposes restrictions on assistance to Azerbaijan until its government
ceases all blockades against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Armenian Caucus was formed in 1995 to provide a bipartisan forum for
legislators to discuss how the United States can better assist the
peoples of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. As a member of this
all-important body, DeLauro joins Connecticut Representatives Nancy L.
Johnson (R-CT), John B. Larson (D-CT), Robert R. Simmons (R-CT) and
Christopher Shays (R-CT) in supporting Armenian-American interests.
The Congresswoman serves on the House Appropriations Committee and the
House Budget Committee.
The Armenian Assembly is the largest Washington-based nationwide
organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian
issue. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.
###
NR#2006-080

E.P.’S DECISIONS ARE NOT BINDING, ERDOGAN
Turkish Press, MI
Sept 11 2006
ANKARA – “The resolutions adopted by the European Parliament (EP)
are not binding. We have not accepted anything about the so-called
Armenian genocide. Our stance on that issue is obvious,” said Turkish
PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan held a joint press conference with his Albanian counterpart
Sali Berisha after their bilateral meeting in Turkish capital of
Ankara.
Referring to the report on Turkey’s progress towards accession adopted
by the EP’s Committee on Foreign Affairs last night, Erdogan said,
“asking us to change our stance is nothing but a dream.”
-TURKEY DOES NOT HAVE PROBLEMS WITH CITIZENS OF ARMENIAN ORIGIN-
Emphasizing that Turkey does not have any problem with its citizens of
Armenian origin, Erdogan said, “we told them ‘to open their archives’
since we are opening ours. We also suggested that art historians,
lawyers, political scientists and archeologists should deal with this
matter. Our Foreign Ministry is handling necessary initiatives.”
-MEETING WITH BERISHA-
Noting that they discussed with Albanian PM Sali Berisha recent
developments in the Balkans, Erdogan said, “stability and prosperity
are enforced in the region where clashes and wars were common in
the past. Albania’s policy is a positive one as far as our region
is concerned. As two important regional countries we have agreed to
exert efforts to build confidence in the Balkans.”
“Today important developments are being observed in Kosovo. Not only
Albania but also Turkey has close historical, cultural and humanitarian
ties with Kosovo. During our meeting, we underlined importance of a
multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and democratic Kosovo, which is committed
to European and universal values. We also think that in Kosovo,
the rights of the minority should be taken under guarantee,” he stated.
-MILITARY RELATIONS-
Stressing that Turkey supports Albania’s adherence to NATO, Erdogan
said, “we think that this will contribute to lasting peace and
stability in the Balkans. We are lobbying for this membership, as we
have done so far.”
-ALBANIAN PM CALLS ON TURKISH BUSINESSMEN TO INVEST IN HIS COUNTRY-
On the other hand, PM Berisha called on Turkish businessmen to invest
in his country.
On Cyprus, Berisha noted, “referendum was a chance, but it was missed”
and expressed belief that PM Erdogan and his government will contribute
to a new process (in the island).