Author: Jagharian Tania

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version: nian.htm

ANTELIAS CELEBRATES THE SAINT GHEVONT FEAST

In the Armenian Church the feast of the Ghevontian Saints has an appealing
and unique meaning. These braves were self-denying churchmen who were not
only preachers against tyranny, but also fighters in the front lines in the
War of the Vartanians, both before the battle itself and in the continuing
popular resistance during the subsequent period. The memory of Saints was
marked during a series of services stretched over the last two days in the
Catholicosate of Cilicia. Services in the Cathedral in Antelias on February
16 and 17 highlighted the championing role the saints played in the battle
of Avarayr.

Holy mass was also held in the Diocese of Lebanon on February 17, presided
by Primate Bishop Kegham Khatcherian. These services became an opportunity
for both the clergy and the faithful to reassess the role and place of the
Armenian clergy in the life of our nation, particularly in the Diaspora,
where their responsibility is not only limited to fulfilling the believers’
spiritual needs, but also attending to the community’s educational, cultural
and social spheres.

##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.

TURKISH EDUCATION MINISTRY HALTS ANTI-ARMENIAN DOCUMENTARY SCREENING IN SCHOOLS

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.02.2009 18:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey’s Education Ministry has halted the
distribution of a controversial documentary about the Armenian issue
to all elementary schools after its move incited fierce reactions
among academics and intellectuals, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The ministry had distributed "Sari Gelin – The True Face of the
Armenian Question," a documentary developed by the General Staff,
to all schools around the country, requesting that all students see
the film and asked school directors return a "conclusive report"
to the related administration by Feb 29, 2009.

The ministry said in a statement Wednesday that "the film was sent
to schools for the benefit of the teachers, not the students."

"There was no directive suggesting watching of the documentary was
compulsory in schools. But some schools used the film inappropriately,"
the statement said.

Academics have criticized the documentary for reflecting the official
ideology of the Turkish Republic on the Armenian Genocide.

Some 500 Armenians and intellectuals sent an open letter to the
Turkish Prime Minister protesting the Ministry’s move.

NKR PRESIDENT MEETS THE PARLIAMENT SPEAKER OF ARMENIA

armradio.am
20.02.2009 16:16

NKR President Bako Sahakyan met Chairman of the Armenian National
Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan, Central Information Department of the
Office of the NKR President reported.

The interlocutors touched upon the meeting with the official delegation
of the Republic of Armenia, which took place at the NKR National
Assembly. The parties stressed the importance of further expanding
and deepening of ties between Artsakh and Armenia.

The meeting subsequently continues in an enlarged format.

Representatives of legislative and executive branches of the two
Armenian states discussed a wide range of issues related to mutually
beneficial cooperation, NKR socioeconomic development, amelioration
of the demographic situation, and peaceful settlement of the Karabakh
conflict.

The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia
underlined that the Armenian Parliament will not even discuss any
proposal unacceptable for the people of Nagorno Karabakh.

HUMAN RIGHTS IMPROVEMENT EXPECTED IN ARMENIA – CZECH MINISTER

Czech Happenings
uman-rights-improvement-expected-in-armenia-czech- minister/361138
Feb 18 2009
Czech Republic

Prague – Czech diplomacy and the European Union will continue to
support the improvement of human rights and civic dialogue in Armenia,
Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said after talks with his
Armenian counterpart Edvard Nalbandian in Prague today.

Nalbandian stated that Yerevan intended to continue reforms in the
judiciary and other areas of public life.

Last March, Armenian police detained opposition activists who were
accused of provoking unrest in the country.

A series of mass protests were held in Armenia in the wake of the
Armenian presidential elections of February 19, 2008. Supporters of
unsuccessful presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrossian demanded
that the results of the elections in which Serge Sargsyan was elected
president were reconsidered.

Armenia is one of the six post-Soviet republics the EU has selected
as members of its Eastern Partnership programme.

The establishment of the programme is one of the priorities of the
Czech six-month EU presidency. Apart from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine are members of the Eastern Partnership.

Schwarzenberg said the EU would approach each country individually
within the programme.

The Czech Republic wants to officially launch the Eastern Partnership
programme at a EU summit in Prague on May 7.

Schwarzenberg did not say specifically what Armenia could expect from
the EU.

Nalbandian said Armenia expected the facilitating of the regimes of
visas and trade for its citizens.

"At present we are discussing with the European Commission, Armenia and
the Czech EU presidency the forms of this cooperation," Schwarzenberg
said.

By establishing the Eastern Partnership the EU wants to send its
participants a signal that it is interested in wider cooperation with
them and intends to support these countries in all areas.

In the case of Armenia, Prague puts an emphasis on human
rights. Schwarzenberg said the Armenian authorities should change
their treatment of political prisoners.

Nalbandian argued that there were no political prisoners in Armenia.

Czech diplomacy voiced its concern during last March’s unrest in
Armenia.

"We believe that expressing views on the government policy is an
inseparable part of the democratic development," the Czech Foreign
Ministry then said in a statement.

"Discussions on the future orientation of the country should be held
within the law and political dialogue. Using force and violence against
peaceful demonstrators is absolutely unacceptable," the statement said.

GREECE, AZERBAIJAN TO WORK CLOSER ON ENERGY SECURITY

EUBusiness
s-eu/1234888322.17
Feb 17 2009

(ATHENS) – Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis and Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev agreed Tuesday to work more closely on getting
Azeri gas into Europe to help ease its energy security problems.

Azerbaijain was a key partner for Europe both as a producer of
hydrocarbons and as transit country, Caramanlis said after meeting
Aliyev.

The two countries have agreed to work together to extend a
Greco-Turkish pipeline inaugurated in 2007 to supply gas from the
Caspian Sea to Italy and western Europe, with the work due to be
completed in 2011.

Aliyev urged quick progress in talks on the project and said Azerbaijan
would "plays and will continue to play an important role in assuring
the European Union’s energy security.

He called on the support of Greece, which currently holds the rotating
presidency of the Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE), for help resolving the conflict with the disputed region of
Nagorny Karabakh.

Armenian forces seized control of Nagorny Karabakh from Azerbaijan
in the early 1990s in a war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives
and forced about a million people to flee their homes.

The row between Ukraine and Russia that disrupted gas supplies to
much of the rest of Europe in January underlined the need for the
European Union to free itself of its dependency on Russia for gas.

Taipei Times, Taiwan
Feb 15 2009

`Bob of Arabia’ explores the ills of our troubled times

In a timely collection of essays, veteran reporter Robert Fisk of the
`Independent’ casts an unsparing look at the people and institutions
who define our reality

By J. Michael Cole
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Feb 15, 2009, Page 14

How does one review a book by a man who has spent the past three
decades reporting on the world’s bloodiest conflicts, who has
interviewed Osama bin Laden and who, by Air France calculations,
travels more frequently than any Air France crew member? Robert Fisk’s
journalistic resume is impressive, from the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan to Israel’s own invasion of Lebanon, Iran after the
overthrow of the Shah to the US-led invasion of Iraq, as well as the
killing fields of Algeria, Syria, the Occupied Territories and other
trouble spots in the Arab world.

The sum total of his death-defying forays into the Middle East is
contained in his excellent Pity the Nation, which covers the Lebanese
civil war, and The Great War for Civilization, a monumental,
1,300-plus page catalogue of man’s inhumanity to man which, Fisk tells
us, will eventually be followed by a second volume.

The Age of the Warrior departs from the blood-soaked pages of his
previous books and offers more personal insights into Fisk the man. In
it we find the ponderings, through a decade or so of editorials he
wrote for the Independent, of a man who probably has seen more dead
bodies than any reporter alive today. The 116 entries can be read as
hiatuses, `a foreign correspondent’s thoughts amid war, a corner of
the journalist’s brain that usually goes unrecorded,’ recorded here
for our benefit.

Some entries, such as `The forgotten art of handwriting’ or `The cat
who ate missile wire for breakfast’ ‘ a true story, by the way ‘ are
light in tone, but underlying the whole volume is the same anger we
have come to expect from Fisk in the face of injustice, double
standards and Western complicity in the suffering that finds such
fertile ground throughout the Middle East.

As in his reporting, Fisk spares no one, and his cast of characters is
a rogues’ gallery of the architects of catastrophe ‘ former US
president George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, former British prime
minister Tony `Kut al-Amara’ Blair, Jack Straw, Ariel Sharon and other
symbols of the West at its worst. Equally targeted are `our’
dictators, ally-turned-foe Saddam Hussein, Hosni Mubarak, Pervez
Musharraf, Yasser Arafat, Hafez al-Assad, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Muamar
Qadaffi and King Abdullah of Jordan. His skewering of these
individuals will be nothing new to anyone who has followed Fisk’s
reporting over the past three decades or has waded through his immense
The Great War for Civilization. But here Fisk, aware of the failings
and limitations of his own profession, takes a step back and turns to
equally important subjects such as our collective forgetting of
history and how movies have come to define reality.

Especially useful is the section `Words, words, words,’ a modern-day
version of George Orwell’s famous essay Politics and the English
language, in which Fisk confronts the insidious manipulation of
language (starting from his own training as a journalist) that
characterizes most reporting ‘ especially when it comes to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Here Fisk draws our attention to the
catchwords, euphemisms and `hygienic metaphors’ used to distort
reality, how illegal Jewish settlements become `Jewish neighborhoods,’
occupied land becomes `disputed,’ Palestinian attacks invariably
`terrorist’ while Israeli `retaliation’ is self-defense,’ killed
civilians become `collateral damage’ and Palestinians who blow
themselves to bits while making a bomb as dying from `work accidents.’
And so on, language that once again reared its ugly head during
Israel’s 22-day pounding of Gaza in December and January.

Later, Fisk explains why journalists should not be forced to testify
at war crimes tribunals, at least not until courts abandon their
double standards and become equally intent on trying war criminals in
the Middle East, the perpetrators of Sabra and Chatila, Hama and the
countless other massacres that have written the history of the region
in blood. Until then, journalists testifying in court or providing
evidence would risk being complicit in that system of double
standards, he argues.

Fisk, who makes Lebanon his home, has often been accused by Western
media and various Israeli groups of sympathizing too much with
Muslims, criticism that has bordered on accusations he suffers from
Stockholm syndrome ‘ especially after he was attacked by Afghan
refugees in Pakistan on Dec. 10, 2001, whose anger at Westerners he
said could be rationalized. Such accusations, however, are nonsense,
and anyone who has paid attention to his long career will know that
Fisk sides with justice, which in our world often means siding with
those who ended up on the wrong side of history. In fact, his
detractors (Zionists and others) will find in this volume many
instances of Fisk at his most unsparing in his criticism of Holocaust
revisionists or individuals, such as Maurice Papon, Marshal Philippe
Petain and Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who had
a hand in it. He is equally implacable in his call for recognition of
the Armenian Genocide and his criticism of the Turkish government,
which to this day continues to deny it took place.

History conveniently distorted or altogether effaced by opinion makers
and governments, Fisk argues, is a dangerous instrument that, over
time, will come back to haunt us, as it did on Sept. 11, 2001. Though
Fisk clearly calls the attacks a `crime against humanity,’ he insists
that they did not occur in isolation, that they were a result of our
actions in the Middle East. There is no doubt, he argues, that the
London bombings of July 7, 2005, would not have happened had the UK
not participated in the invasion of Iraq. And yet, to this day, an
unrepentant Blair (a favorite villain of Fisk) and a complicit media
claim there was no connection between the two events, as will those
who continue to argue, against all evidence, that 9/11 was the result
of Muslim `hatred’ for Western democracy, that it had nothing do to
with racism, support for or indifference to the Apartheid-like
conditions Israel imposes on Palestinians, catastrophic sanctions
against Iraq that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, support
for Saddam as he used poison gas against Iran and support for
repressive regimes that are allies in the `war on terrorism.’

There is much, much more to Fisk’s rich volume, which, as with his
other publications, should come with the warning `danger, no light
subjects therein.’ But then again, what should we expect from a book
that concludes on such a note: `I wake each morning in Beirut and hear
the wind in the palm trees outside my bedroom window and ask myself
what we all ask ourselves these days ‘ or should ask ourselves: what
horror waits for us today?’

hives/2009/02/15/2003436161

ARMENIA FUND COMPLETES EQUIPMENT PROJECT FOR HADRUT REGIONAL HOSPITAL

armradio.am
13.02.2009 15:19

On the heels of implementing a two-year renovation program that
thoroughly refurbished the Hadrut Regional Hospital in Nagorno
Karabakh, the Hayastan All Armenian Fund completed a major
equipment-upgrade project at the institution. The initiative, worth
17,500,000 drams (just over U.S. $57,000), was sponsored by the
Armenia Fund U.S. Western Region.

Patient wards, staff quarters, and technical facilities alike benefited
from the project, which provided the hospital with beds, mattresses,
sofas, chairs, television sets, refrigerators, air-conditioning units,
and various medical equipment.

"We are happy to have provided the residents of the region with a
well-accommodated hospital, where they can receive high-quality and
safe medical care," said Ara Vardanyan, the Hayastan All Armenian
Fund’s acting executive director.

Built in 1982, the Hadrut Regional Hospital had been in a state of
disrepair since the 1990s, with rundown facilities and the lack of
ambulances making it an ongoing challenge to ensure adequate healthcare
to the area’s 12,000 residents.

The Hayastan All Armenian Fund’s renovation program, launched in
2007, revamped and modernized the hospital and furnished it with an
urgently needed fleet of ambulances. Among the improvements is the
hospital’s new laboratory, which has been operational since December
2008. Furthermore, by financing the construction of the 22-kilometer
Togh-Hadrut gas pipeline, which was completed this year, the Hayastan
All Armenian Fund made it possible for the hospital, as well as 5,000
residents of seven nearby villages, to be supplied with natural gas.

PRESS RELEASE
Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
Governmental Buiding 3, Yerevan, RA
Contact: Hasmik Grigoryan
Tel: +(3741) 56 01 06 ext. 105
Fax: +(3741) 52 15 05
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

13 February, 2009

Hayastan All Armenian Fund awarded the Yerevan Conservatory student Mary
Khojanyan with a diploma and the Best Student 2008 Prize. The prize equaling
to $500 US was founded by Hrair and Martha Albarians. In 2008 Mary was also
granted with Aram Khachatryan silver medal.

"Only students with excellent academic records and active involvement in
music and social life can apply for the Best Student Prize. Final selection,
out of the three best Conservatory students, is made by the benefactor
himself. Hopefully, the prize will encourage Conservatory students to do
their best this year", commented Aida Khachikyan, Advisor to the Hayastan
Fund Executive Director.

Mary Khojanyan is a second-year student studying at the Yerevan State
Conservatory’s Orchestra faculty. The young musician had her first concert
when she was nine. Since then, she has had many more accomplishments,
pursuing her career both in the homeland and abroad. Mary said that she had
been longing for her own violin and now there was a real chance for her
dream to come true. Mar’s brilliant performance at the ceremony was the best
"Thank you."

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway

The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief

========================================== ======
9 February 2009
ARMENIA: TWO YEARS’ IMPRISONMENT FOR ORGANISING SHARING OF FAITH?
id=1251
If two draft Laws which began passage through Armenia’s Parliament on 5
February are adopted, spreading one’s faith would be banned, Forum 18 News
Service has learnt. Those who organise campaigns to spread their faith
would face up to two years’ imprisonment, while those who engage in
spreading their faith would face up to one year’s imprisonment or a fine of
more than eight years’ minimum wages. Gaining legal status would require
1,000 adult members, while Christian communities which do not accept the
doctrine of the Trinity would be barred from registering. "These proposed
Laws contain violations of all human rights." Russian Orthodox priest Fr
David Abrahamyan told Forum 18. Religious affairs official Vardan
Astsatryan told Forum 18 the government backs the draft Laws "in general".
He declined to explain why the government has not involved the OSCE in
preparation of the draft Laws.

12 February 2009
AZERBAIJAN: PASTOR CONVICTED NOT JAILED, INSISTS CHARGES FABRICATED
cle_id=1254
Baptist Pastor Hamid Shabanov has been convicted of possessing an illegal
weapon, but insists that he is innocent. "I will continue to fight against
this sentence and to clear my name," he told Forum 18 News Service. Unless
Shabanov’s conviction is quashed, he will have a criminal record. The head
of Azerbaijan’s Baptist Union Ilya Zenchenko told Forum 18 though that "the
main thing is that Hamid won’t have to go to prison." Both the prosecutor
and police have refused to talk to Forum 18 about the case and conviction.
Concern is being expressed about the arrest of one of Shabanov’s relatives,
Teyyub Eyvazov, who police claim possessed drugs. Some Baptists think that
this is the latest attempt by the authorities to pressure them, although
Eyvazov is not a Christian. Meanwhile, yet another raid has been made on a
Jehovah’s Witness meeting. "It is ironic that at the previous police raid
in Gyanja the police said we did not have registration and therefore our
meeting was unlawful," Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18. "But why, then,
do they also raid meetings in Baku, where we do have registration?"

11 February 2009
BELARUS: DANES DEPORTED FOR PRAYING IN CHURCH
id=1253
Two Danish visitors to Belarus were detained by police and are being
deported as they expressed "ideas of a religious nature", in the words of
the deportation order, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. "We were praying,
reading and speaking from the Bible, greeting the people, and praying
together," one of the two, Erling Laursen, told Forum 18. Neither were
leading the worship service they attended. Police took video footage of the
two praying in Gomel’s charismatic Living Faith Church, but refused to say
who had recorded it "to protect our colleague". The Church’s pastor Dmitry
Podlobko told Forum 18 that a young man he had never seen before filmed a
worship service with his mobile phone. Pastor Podlobko said that "it’s not
news to us that the security organs are watching. They visit and watch us
secretly." The KGB secret police closely monitors all religious
communities. The deportation of the two Danes – who are banned from Belarus
for one year – brings to 31 the number of foreign citizens barred from
Belarus in recent years for their religious activity. The most recent
people expelled were four Catholic priests and three nuns, banned at the
end of 2008.

12 February 2009
KAZAKHSTAN: "THE CURRENT RELIGION LAW IS ALSO UNCONSTITUTIONAL"
ive.php?article_id=1255
Kazakhstan’s Constitutional Council has announced that a restrictive draft
Law severely restricting freedom of religion or belief is unconstitutional.
President Nursultan Nazarbaev has up to one month to respond. Yevgeni
Zhovtis, head of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and
Rule of Law, told Forum 18 News Service that the Constitutional Council’s
judgement also implies that the current Religion Law is unconstitutional.
The Constitutional Council referred to a part of the Constitution barring
limitations on freedom of religion or belief, so "anyone charged with
breaking the current Religion Law’s limitations on religious freedom can
cite the Constitutional Council’s decision in court," Zhovtis said. "The
court can then be asked to refer the current Religion Law to the
Constitutional Council, for them to directly rule on the current Religion
Law’s constitutionality." A judge who tried a case involving unregistered
Baptists has already welcomed the possibility of such a review. "It is also
very important," Zhovtis told Forum 18, "that as well as looking at the
draft Law, people also pay attention to the continuing violations by
officials of everyone’s freedom of religion or belief."
* See full article below. *

10 February 2009
UZBEKISTAN: UNREGISTERED HARE KRISHNA DEVOTEES AND PROTESTANTS RAIDED
id=1252
Uzbekistan is continuing to raid members of religious minorities who the
authorities think are conducting unregistered religious activity, Forum 18
News Service has found. A Hare Krishna festival in Samarkand, and a
birthday party for a Protestant in the north-western Karakalpakstan region
have both been raided, Uzbek police confirmed to Forum 18. The people who
police found during the raids may be prosecuted for religious activity
without state permission. This is a criminal offence, in violation of
Uzbekistan’s international human rights commitments. Describing one raid, a
Protestant told Forum 18 that police "secretly planted" two religious
books, the names of which they could not identify. The officers then
"seized" the books. Police confirmed that NSS secret police officers took
part in this raid. Police Captain Zhasur Kamalov told Forum 18 that the
raid took place to see whether church activity was being conducted. Also,
it remains unclear whether imams arrested in the second half of 2008 have
been tried for the offences officials accused them of.

12 February 2009
KAZAKHSTAN: "THE CURRENT RELIGION LAW IS ALSO UNCONSTITUTIONAL"

hive.php?article_id=1255
By Mushfig Bayram, Central Asia Correspondent, Forum 18 News Service
<;, and
John Kinahan, Forum 18 News Service <;

Kazakhstan’s Constitutional Council announced on 11 February that the
restrictive "Law on Amendments and Additions to Several Legislative Acts on
Questions of Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" is
unconstitutional. Gulnara Baygeldy, the Council’s press officer, told Forum
18 News Service from the capital Astana on 12 February that "now the
President [Nursultan Nazarbaev] should decide to agree or disagree with us
within 10 days." She declined to make further comments, or make the text of
the Constitutional Council’s judgment public. "Only after the President
makes his decision can we make further comments," she told Forum 18.

The Chair of the Constitutional Council, Igor Rogov, made the announcement
at a meeting in Astana widely shown on television and reported in the local
media. He said that the proposed Law is not in accord with the Constitution
and so "cannot be signed and brought into force".

President Nazarbaev has up to one month to respond to the decision. He can
propose changes to the decision, but these must be supported by two-thirds
of the Constitutional Council’s members to take effect.

Rogov said the Constitutional Council particularly cited Article 39
paragraph 3 of the Constitution in support of its judgment that the draft
Law is unconstitutional. This paragraph states that the "rights and
freedoms stipulated by" various specific articles of the Constitution
"shall not be restricted in any way". Among the articles listed is Article
14.2 stating "no one shall be subject to any discrimination for reasons of
origin, social, property status, occupation, sex, race, nationality,
language, attitude towards religion, convictions, place of residence or any
other circumstances." Also listed is Article 19.1, which states that
"everyone shall have the right to determine and indicate or not to indicate
his national, party and religious affiliation."

Constitutional Council Chair Rogov said the draft Law violated the
equality of all before the Law by giving different registration conditions
for faiths "previously unknown in Kazakhstan". He added that the draft Law
would also have infringed the rights of non-citizens by not specifically
including legal residents who are not citizens as having equal rights.

Human rights defenders, religious communities, Kazakh and international
human rights experts – including the OSCE/ODIHR Advisory Council on Freedom
of Religion or Belief – are strongly critical of the draft Law’s many
restrictions on fundamental human rights (see F18News 4 February 2009
< e_id=1249>).

Yevgeni Zhovtis, head of the Almaty-based Kazakhstan International Bureau
for Human Rights and Rule of Law, told Forum 18 on 12 February that the
Constitutional Council’s judgement on the draft law also implies that the
current Religion Law is unconstitutional.

He told Forum 18 that, as the Constitutional Council has indicated by its
use of Article 39 paragraph 3 that the current Religion Law is also
unconstitutional, the Kazakh Parliament should in principle scrap all its
limitations on freedom of religion or belief. An example of the
limitations, Zhovtis said, is the current Law’s ban on the unregistered
dissemination of religious views.

"Anyone charged with breaking the current Religion Law’s limitations on
religious freedom can cite the Constitutional Council’s decision in court,"
Zhovtis said. "The court can then be asked to refer the current Religion
Law to the Constitutional Council, for them to directly rule on the current
Religion Law’s constitutionality."

Human rights defender Ninel Fokina, head of the Almaty Helsinki Committee,
agrees that the current Religion Law needs to be examined. "The
Constitutional Court decision was only about the proposed Law and has no
retroactive effect," she told Forum 18 on 12 February. "But of course it
does have an impact on the current Law." However, she pointed to the
difficulty of finding 20 parliamentary deputies, or a judge, or a senior
government member, who would be likely to refer the current Law to the
Constitutional Council for a review.

"It is also very important," Zhovtis told Forum 18, "that as well as
looking at the draft Law, people also pay attention to the continuing
violations by officials of everyone’s freedom of religion or belief."

Human rights defender Fokina told Forum 18 that these violations include
officials repeatedly encouraging intolerance of religious minorities and
freedom of thought, conscience and belief (see F18News 5 February 2009
< e_id=1250>). Officials often
ignore Kazakh law in carrying out human rights violations, for example
banning a Hare Krishna devotee from the country after a trial which
apparently never took place (see F18News 30 January 2009
< e_id=1247>).

Facing particular harassment are members of the Council of Churches
Baptists, who refuse on principle to register any of their congregations
with the state. In Akmola Region, which surrounds Astana, Judge Larisa
Seksenbaeva on 4 February fined the pastor of one of their congregations
and banned the church. The judge imposed the punishment for unregistered
religious activity under the Administrative Code’s Article 375 paragraph 5.
Council of Churches Baptists told Forum 18 that it is the first time a
court in Kazakhstan has banned one of their churches permanently.
Previously such bans were imposed for up to six months.

Pastor Nikolai Levin, who leads the church in Balkashino, was fined 12,500
Tenge (580 Norwegian Kroner, 65 Euros, or 85 US Dollars). Judge Seksenbaeva
defended her decision. "We warned Levin about his unauthorised activity
many times and fined him," she told Forum 18 on 12 February. She said Levin
"unsuccessfully" appealed in the Akmola Regional Court against the previous
court decisions to fine him. "Each time the Regional Court upheld the
fines." Levin has again appealed against the fine to the Regional Court,
she added.

Seksenbaeva insisted that the current Religion Law requires religious
organisations to officially register. Told that Levin’s congregation do not
want to register to freely practice their religion, Seksenbaeva said she
"understands" the situation but "cannot" help.

Law professor Roman Podoprigora, of the Caspian Public University in
Almaty, has noted that Kazakh law contradicts itself on whether or not the
registration of religious organisations is compulsory (see F18News 4 August
2005 < 625>).

Judge Seksenbaeva, told by Forum 18 that the Constitutional Council’s
decision implicitly questioned the constitutionality of the current
Religion Law, welcomed the possibility of asking for a Constitutional
Council review of the current Law. "This is good news," she said. "Levin
should include this in his complaint." She commented that such a review
"would help the Panel [of judges in the Regional Court] to correctly and
clearly interpret the norms of the Religion Law."

Zhanna Zhabagina, acting head of Sandyktau Justice Department, told Forum
18 from Balkashino on 3 February that they had talked to Levin several
times in the past, explaining to him that registration "would help the
church to function without much trouble". Asked whether Kazakhstan’s Law
requires communities to be registered to practice their religion, she
responded: "I cannot positively answer that question." Zhabagina said that
the Constitution gives freedom to people to freely exercise their religion,
but the current Religion Law requires religious organisations to be
registered.

Zhabagina said she understands that the Baptists do not want to register,
but "our duty is to explain to people that it is easier to function once
registered, and I don’t really know what to say in this situation." She
added that it is the court which decides these matters.

The fine on Pastor Levin followed a 25 January raid on the Balkashino
Baptist church by Sandyktau district authorities (see F18News 3 February
2009 < 1248>). The National
Security Committee (KNB) secret police took part in this raid. A KNB
officer showed Levin his identity card, but "because I did not have my
glasses with me I could not see his name, and do not remember it," Levin
told Forum 18. Officials asked questions about state registration, who the
leader of the church was, how many people attended the services and when
they were held. As he left the KNB officer told him "now we will meet
often," Levin stated.

Another court case against Baptists for unregistered religious activity is
continuing in Bulaevo in North Kazakhstan Region, Baptists told Forum 18.
On 27 January the case against Galina and Tatyana Kiryushkina – two sisters
aged respectively 68 and 76 – was returned by a court to Bulaevo Police for
further investigation.

In the southern town of Kentau, Jehovah’s Witness may be making progress
in resolving their property problems (see F18News 19 December 2008
< e_id=1233>). On 21 January Kentau
City Court closed the case brought for use of a property for worship, and
on 26 January the Akim (head of the local authority) cancelled a decision
made in June 2008 alleging violation of planning rules by using a house for
religious purposes. However, Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18 on 11
February that "we are waiting for the City Architecture Department to
authorise the use of the house." (END)

For a personal commentary on how attacking religious freedom damages
national security in Kazakhstan, see F18News
< icle_id=564>.

For more background, see Forum 18’s Kazakhstan religious freedom survey at
< id=701>.

More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Kazakhstan
can be found at
< mp;religion=all&country=29>.

A survey of the religious freedom decline in the eastern part of the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) area is at
< id=806> and a survey of
religious intolerance in Central Asia is at
< id=815>.

A printer-friendly map of Kazakhstan is available at
< s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=kazakh& gt;.
(END)

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F18News

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MANVEL SARGSYAN: NO LINK BETWEEN RESOLUTION 1643 AND KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
Nvard Davtyan

"Radiolur"
11.02.2009 17:22

Armenia has become a very serious country for Russia, Europe and NATO
after the August events in the South Caucasus, expert of the Armenian
Center for National and International Studies Manvel Sargsyan told a
press conference today. He clarified that Armenia’s importance has
considerably grown since Russia has completely lost its influence
in Georgia, thus the relations with Armenia are very valuable for
maintaining influence in the South Caucasus. Europeans are also
cautious and do not wish to "hand over" Armenia to Russia.

As for the comments on the link between PACE Resolution 1643 and the
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the political scientist
does not share this logic. According to him, Europe understands pretty
well that the Karabakh conflict is a complex issue and a consensus
between all interested parties is needed. With the Maindorf Declaration
Russia entrusted the Karabakh issue to the Minsk Group.

According to Manvel Sargsyan, Armenia can best participate in
Russian-Turkish relations, which have acquired new quality after
the Russian-Georgian war. In his opinion, in this context the talks
about the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border are not vain, these
intentions are on the agenda of the Armenian-Turkish dialogue.

Manvel Sargsyan noted also that some intelle ctuals in Turkey consider
that the relations of their country with Armenia should be separated
from the relations with Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, he considers that
Turkey’s mediation in the Karabakh issue is impermissible.