Author: Jalatian Sonya

KurdishMedia, UK
Sept 28 2004
New Turkish Penal Code full of anti-democratic articles
“The reform” exaggeratedly applauded by Verheugen is a deceit
The Turkish Parliament finally adopted on September 26, at an
extraordinary sitting, the controversial reform of the Turkish penal
code. Although applauded exaggeratedly by Commissionner Verheugen and
some other EU leaders because of the absence of the mention of
adultery, the new Turkish Penal Code is full of many anti-democratic
articles.
Ten days after the withdrawal by the government of the project in
order to introduce a clause penalizing adultery, the last two
articles of the Penal Code, like two other bills aiming at reforming
the legal system, were voted after the debates which lasted longer
than envisaged because of last minute amendments as well as conflict
on the calendar of application.
The meeting was marked by recriminations of the deputies of the
Republican People’s Party (CHP ) social-democrat opposition) against
the Recep Tayyip Erdogan Prime Minister, absent at the debates, whom
they accused ofhaving created an useless crisis while trying to
penalize adultery.
“We did not succeed in convincing him, it happened to be necessary
that he goes to Brussels for being convinced by Verheugen”, a CHP
said ironically. He referred to the talks Thursday between Mr.
Erdogan and Geunter Verheugen, European Commissionner for
Enlargement, who put an end to one week of crisis between Ankara and
Brussels.
The deputies of the opposition also criticized the fact that the new
penal code will be applied in three times — a first part, on the
wild urbanization, immediately, the large part of the law on April 1,
2005, and the articles penalizing the pollution of the environment on
April 1, 2007.
The CHP announced that it would seize the Constitutional court to
make cancel the clause delaying until 2007 the penalization of
environment’s pollution, like some other amendments of last minute
imposed by the AKP.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared Saturday sure that the
European Union (EU) will give in December its green light to the
opening of negotiations for the country’s adhesion.
“I would like to affirm firmly and clearly that a date for the
opening of negotiations of adhesion will be fixed this year in
December”, said Erdogan in his monthly address to the Nation,
diffused by TV.
The Prime Minister’s speech intervenes 48 hours after his visit to
Brussels during which he ensured the European Commissionner for
Enlargement, Guenter Verheugen, that adultery would not be mentioned
in the new Turkish penal code.
“My conclusion is that there is no more obstacle on the table. From
my point of view, Turkey does not have additional conditions to fill
for allowing the Commission to make a recommendation “, had declared
Guenter Verheugen at the end of this visit.
However, Mr. Verheugen, as many other leaders of the European Union,
is fooled once more, because the new Turkish Penal Code is full of
antidemocratic and repressive articles for the freedom of expression
and the press. Many of these articles already existed in the former
Penal Code, borrowed in 1926 from Mussolini’s Penal Code (for example
Articles 158, 159 et 312).
These articles were imposed by the military and approved one by one
by the Grand National Assembly with the complicity of the opposition
party (CHP).
The Journalists’ Association of Turkey (TGC) has established the
following list of these new antidemocratic articles.
If the “crimes” defined in these articles are committed by any kind
of written, audio-visual and electronic media (newspapers, magazines,
radio, TV and/or Internet), the punishment will be increased one-half
or one-third according to the case.
So, even with this new Turkish Penal Code, adopted without mention of
adultery, Turkey will always remain as a country where freedom of
expression and the press is subject to the State repression.
Antidemocratic articles of the New Penal Code
Article 215 – Praising a committed crime or a person who committed
this crime: up to 2 years (if committed by the means of media, to be
increased one-half).
Article 216 (new form of Article 312) – Instigating a part of the
people having different social class, race, religion, sect or region
to hatred or hostility against another part of the people in a way
dangerous for the public security: up to 3 years (if committed by the
means of media, to be increased one-half).
Article 220/8 (new form of Article 169) – Propaganda of an
organization founded for committing crime: up to 3 years (if
committed by the means of media, to be increased one-half).
Article 285 – Spreading confidential information on a legal
investigation: up to up to 3 years (if committed by the means of
media, to be increased one-half).
Article 300 (new form of Article 158) – Insulting the President of
the Republic: up to 4 years (if committed by the means of media, to
be increased one-third).
Article 301 (new form of Article 145) – Insult to the Turkish flag or
to anything having the Turkish State’s symbol (crescent and star): up
to 3 years (if committed by a Turkish citizen abroad: to be increased
one-third); Insult to the Turkish national anthem: up to 2 years (if
committed by a Turkish citizen abroad: to be increased one-third).
Article 302 (new form of Article 159) – Insulting the Turkish
national identity, the Republic or the Grand National Assembly of
Turkey: up to 3 years (if committed by a Turkish citizen abroad: to
be increased one-third); Insulting the Turkish Government, the
judicial organs, military or security institutions: up to 2 years (if
committed by a Turkish citizen abroad: to be increased one-third).
Article 306 – Acting against fundamental national interests for
directly or indirectly receiving benefits from foreign persons or
institutions: up to 10 years. (According to the statement of reasons
for this article, written by the Parliamentary Commitee of Justice, a
citizen who demands the withdrawal of Turkish soldiers from Cyprus or
declares that the Armenian genocide actually took place during the
First World War, can be pursued by virtue of this article).
Article 319 – Instigating the people against military service: up to
2 years (if committed by the means of media, to be increased
one-half).
Article 324 – Spreading unfounded news or information during a war:
up to 10 years (if committed as a propaganda campaign against the
military and in accordance with a foreigner, up to 20 years).
Article 330 – Unveiling the information that should remain
confidential for the sake of the State’s security or its internal and
external political interests: up to 10 years (if committed during the
war or the preparation of the war: up to 15 years).
Article 331 – Unveiling, with the purpose of political or military
spying, the information that should remain confidential for the sake
of the State’s security or its internal and external political
interests: Life prison.
Article 337 – Unveiling the information that is forbidden by the
competent authorities and should remain confidential because of its
nature: up to 5 years (if committed during the war or the preparation
of the war: up to 15 years).
Article 338 – Unveiling, with the purpose of political or military
spying, the information that is forbidden by the competent
authorities and should remain confidential because of its nature: up
to 15 years (if committed during the war or the preparation of the
war: life prison). (Info-Turk, September 27, 2004)
For all latest news on the situation of human rights in Turkey:
All news on the situation of human rights in Turkey since 1998:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FM HOLDS MEETINGS IN NEW YORK
ArmenPress
Sept 28 2004
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS: On 27 September Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian held several meetings in New York, within the framework
of the 59th General Assembly of the United Nations.
In their fourth meeting, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
and Minister Oskanian explored bilateral issues as well as regional
concerns. This meeting followed a meeting with Minsk Group co-chairman
Ambassador Steven Mann. Earlier in the day, the Minister had met with
US Undersecretary of State Mark Grossman, with whom they explored
bilateral issues, including the upcoming Armenia-US Task Force meeting
and the Millennium Challenge Account.
The Minister also met with Jean Obeid, Foreign Minister of Lebanon,
who was also in New York for the UN General Assembly.
The Minister will remain in NY through Wednesday September 29 when
he will address the General Assembly.

The Daily Star, Lebanon
Sept 25 2004
Late 20th century life gets a twist of ‘Vodka Lemon’
Iraqi Kurd’s tragicomic film about post-communist Armenia is a
highlight of the Cinema Days festival
By Jim Quilty
Daily Star staff
BEIRUT: Hinner Salim’s “Vodka Lemon” opens with an old man in bed. A
car is dragging him, bed and all, along a snow-covered road. He
arrives at his destination, the graveyard, solemnly removes both
racks of false teeth and begins to play the doudouk – the beautifully
mournful pipe that is probably Armenia’s best-known export, aside
from the Armenians themselves. The old fellow is one of a band of
musicians summoned to perform for somebody else’s funeral.
It is one of those moments that audiences have learned to expect of
films emerging from the once-communist world. Gypsy brass bands run
behind speeding cars while they play (alternatively having money
thrown and bullets fired at them), a la Emir Kusturica’s
“Underground.” Cows inexplicably fall from the sky to kill
bridegrooms, as in Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov’s “Luna Papa.” These
bizarre, funny, poetic conjurings serve as brilliant metaphors for
the tragicomic dislocations of the late 20th century.
There are a number of such moments in “Vodka Lemon,” one of the
non-Arab “guest films” at the Ayam Beirut Cinemaiyya (Cinema Days)
film festival which ends Sunday. Salim’s skill in using them renders
his story – which is pretty damn depressing in itself – all the more
entertaining and artful.
Set in a bleak, snowbound Armenian village, the story revolves around
Hamo (Romik Avinian) and Nina (Lala Sarkissian) and the snowbound
graveyard they visit every day. Hamo’s wife died some years earlier,
leaving him a trio of grown sons. The oldest, Dilovan (Ivan Franek),
lives poorly in the same village as Hamo, another works in Russia,
the youngest, Robert, has emigrated to the good life in Paris.
The arrival of the youngest son’s letters sends Hamo to Yerevan
periodically, in hopes the boy is sending money. Salim wrings some
great comedy out of Hamo’s plight. Upon his first return from
Yerevan, his son, then the other men of the village materialize on
his doorstep looking for handouts. None of them believe that there
was no money enclosed, so he has to show them the letter and the
photo of his son happily hugging his French girlfriend.
Money, or the lack of it, nudges the plot forward. The village is
becalmed, stuck in the doldrums of economic transition. The communist
economy has evaporated, and with it the provision of basic
essentials. Consumer capitalism – or rather the jobs that make
consumer capitalism “work” – has yet to arrive. With no visible means
of income aside from sheep-rearing and sales of the local tipple (the
ubiquitous, almond-flavoured “Vodka Lemon”), the locals have been
forced to start selling their meager possessions. The images of
people staggering along desolate roadways lugging pieces of furniture
on their backs would be utterly depressing were they not so absurdly
funny.
Nina is also next to penniless. Her husband, a fighter of some
description, has been dead for a decade, leaving her with a pair of
daughters. One of them has made it safely outside the village. Nina
explains to Hamo that the other daughter, a musician, plays piano in
a hotel but that her only source of income are “tips” from her
“admirers.” As we later see, in post-communist Armenia personal
possessions aren’t the only things people are forced to put a price
on.

When Hamo’s granddaughter becomes pregnant by one of the local men
who’s made good in capitalist Russia, Hamo, his son and the young
man’s father negotiate a marriage. Hamo’s son remarks that his
daughter is no whore, yet we later learn that the fee for the
“marriage contract” – the price of his daughter’s virginity – is
$2,000 and a job for him in Russia. When his son-in-law can’t furnish
the fee, the father-in-law shoots him.
Though he carries a gun and, like so many of the men in the film,
looks a bit of a thug, Hamo’s son isn’t particularly villainous. He’s
just desperate for want of money. The film lingers over the
implication that in circumstances where everything has a price –
which, with greater or lesser degrees of overt violence, are the
circumstances everywhere – human dignity goes out the window. Many a
devastatingly bleak film has worked with this very theme, in fact.
Salim, however, resists the temptation.
This may have something to do with the fact that – if the press is to
be believed – Hinner Salim is relatively new to film. Like Iranian
director Abbas Kiarostami, this native of Iraqi Kurdistan is known as
a poet and painter. It is tempting to compare Salim’s pacing, and his
remarkable use of landscape, with that of Kiarostami, but the
comparison wouldn’t do justice to the subtle emotion and wry humour
that are central to “Vodka Lemon.”
Hamo and Nina strike up a friendship while visiting their respective
graves. When she’s not on the bus one day – she can’t pay the $5 in
accumulated fares she owes the bus driver – Hamo pays her bill,
though he’s been selling his possessions at the open market. Nina
later loses her job at the Vodka Lemon kiosk – the owner complains
that the location’s not making him any money – at the same time that
her daughter loses her meal ticket. Destitute, she calls upon Hamo to
give her a hand, moving her only valued possession – an out-of-tune
piano that her daughter uses to practice.
They move it to the roadside, but Salim lets the couple find another
use for the instrument, one that – if fantastical, in the tradition
of magic realism – reaffirms and reinforces the dignity of his
characters rather than utterly extinguishing it. Though set in
Armenia, Hinner Salim’s film takes his audience on a stroll through a
compact metaphor for the human condition at the beginning of the 21st
century. Remarkably enough, he leaves us smiling.
Hinner Salim’s “Vodka Lemon,” the closing film of Ayam Beirut
Cinemaiyya Film Festival, will screen at Beirut’s Cinema Sofil on
Sunday, 26 September, at 8.30pm

ARKA News Agency
Sept 24 2004
Security and stability in Caucasus are very important to Europe
RA Government and UNDP develop joint program on monitoring of
corruption
Trends and directions of development of science and technology in
Armenia and Russia coincide – representative of Russian Academy of
Science
International theater festival `Highfest 2004′ to take place on Oct
2-9 in Yerevan
RA President hands awards and honorary titles to art figures
Newly appointed US Ambassador to Armenia meets with representatives
of American Companies in Armenia
*********************************************************************
SECURITY AND STABILITY IN CAUCASUS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO EUROPE
YEREVAN, September 24. /ARKA/. Security and stability in Caucasus are
very important to Europe, Vice Chairman of Parliament Assembly of
West European Union Marco Dzaker stated today at the meeting with RA
Minister of Defense Serge Sargsian. Dzaker said that his mission is
to prepare report on security issues in the region. Sargsian noted
that security issue is one of the most important. `Caucasus is very
sensitive region, namely in the view of international goals. Problem
of Karabakh must be settled by peace by all means’, he added. The
Minister represented three basic principles of Armenian party on
conflict settlement: Nagorno Karabakh cannot no longer be a part of
Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh cannot be in isolation and must have
land border with Armenia and it is necessary to provide guarantees of
security.
Talking about relations with Turkey, he said that `Turkey’s entry in
EU is very profitable to Armenia’. `Diplomatic relations with Turkey
should be established without preconditions’, he added.
Dzaker said that fully supports given point of view and will include
this issue in the report. The parties also discussed issues of fight
against terrorism. L.D. –0 –
*********************************************************************
RA GOVERNMENT AND UNDP DEVELOP JOINT PROGRAM ON MONITORING OF
CORRUPTION
YEREVAN, September 24. /ARKA/. RA Government and UNDP developed joint
program on monitoring of corruption, RA Government press office told
ARKA that this was stated today by the Head of Monitoring Commission
on Anticorruption Strategy, RA President’s Advisor Bagrat Yesayan at
the sitting of RA Council on Fight Against Corruption. Besides, he
said that the group of CE countries represented Armenia a list of
questions, on the base of which, by the end of Oct 2004, the
preliminary works on development of National report on conducted
works in the field of fight against corruption must be prepared.
With this goal, according to Yesayan, working group has been created.
L.D. –0 –
*********************************************************************
TRENDS AND DIRECTIONS OF DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN
ARMENIA AND RUSSIA COINCIDE – REPRESENTATIVE OF RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF
SCIENCE
YEREVAN, September 24. /ARKA/. Trends and directions of development
of science and technology in Armenia and Russia coincide, RA
Government press office told ARKA that it was stated by the
representative of Russian Academy of Science Gennady Matishov during
the meeting with RA Prime Minister Andranik Margarian. Matishov
stressed that coincidence of basic development directions allows both
countries to put realistic goals and productively solve them.
RA PM in his turn stressed the importance of restoration of
scientific links between Armenia and Russia and establishment of new
cooperation, which at the same time will contribute to development of
Armenian-Russia bilateral links. In given aspect Margarian stressed
the importance of the agreement signed in June 2004 in the sphere of
science and technology between Armenian Academy of Science and South
Center of Russian Academy of Science.
Margarian assured in readiness of Armenian Government to provide
assistance to activation of links between science circles of the two
countries and stressed the important role of Armenian-Russia
interstate commission on economic issues. L.D. –0
*********************************************************************
INTERNATIONAL THEATER FESTIVAL `HIGHFEST 2004′ TO TAKE PLACE ON OCT
2-9 IN YEREVAN
YEREVAN, September 24. /ARKA/. International theater festival
`Highfest 2004′ will take place on Oct 2-9 in Yerevan. According to
the President of the Festival and the Head of Armenian Actors Union
Arthur Gukasian, more than 150 actors from 18 countries as well as 20
troupes from Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Korea, Serbia, Czech
Republic and Romania will take part in the festival. The show of 25
performances is scheduled in the frames of the festival. The basic
goal of the festival is expanding of culture links of Armenia with
other countries, which will contribute to activation and development
of Armenian cultural life and stimulate integration of Armenia in
international culture area. Gukasian also said that producers,
artists and chairmen of international festivals will conduct seminars
and discussions, which would contribute to development of culture
policy and sphere of art-management in Armenia. He also said that
total budget of the festival makes about 15 million AMD.
The festival is organized by Caucasus Fund, Producer Center AlfaEl
and Union of Armenian Actors in assistance with RA Prime Minister
Andranik Margarian. The festival is conducted in Yerevan second time.
L.D. –0 –
*********************************************************************
RA PRESIDENT HANDS AWARDS AND HONORARY TITLES TO ART FIGURES
YEREVAN, September 24. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharian handed
awards and honorary titles to art figures on occasion of 13th
anniversary of Independence Day of Armenia. After the ceremony the
President congratulated everyone with the awards and noted that the
country has good tradition to hand awards dedicated to Independence
Day. According to Kocharian, `it allows to estimate the role of the
people that made their contribution in strengthening of the state’.
He stressed that only proportional development of all directions –
army, science, culture and art – can lead to development and
stability of the republic. `Every one of us makes contribution in
development of separate spheres and the state in the whole. Thank You
for your activity’, Kocharian said.
Note the President awarded Yeghishe Astsatrian with order of St.
Mesrop Mashtots for serious contribution in development of Armenian
economy, the actress of Abelian Theater Roza Mkhitarian with the
medal of Movses Khorenatsi and Chief Nurse of Kapan Anti Tuberculosis
Clinic Marusya Gukasian with Mkhitar Geratsi Medal.
The title of people’s artist was given to professor of State
Conservatory after Komitas Araksya Davtian, Composer Araik Gevorkian,
Violinist Nikolay Madoev, artists of National Academic Theater after
Sundukian Greta Medjlumian and Harutyun Movsesian.
The title of honorary art figure was given to the sculptor Eduard
Ter-Kazarian and the title of honorary doctor – to Pediatrist Eve
Bajanova.
Captain of Police Haik Galumian was posthumously awarded with order
Battle Cross and Commander of 80925 military base, Colonel Garegin
Gabrielian, the Head of Artillery Mayor-General Vladimir Airapetian
and the Head of Aviation Department of RA Armed Forces Colonel Kadjik
Mnatsakanian were awarded with orders of Vardan Mamikonian. L.D. –0 –
*********************************************************************
NEWLY APPOINTED US AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA MEETS WITH REPRESENTATIVES
OF AMERICAN COMPANIES IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, September 24. /ARKA/. The newly appointed US Ambassador to
Armenia John Evans met today with members of American Chamber of
Commerce in RA and representatives of American business community in
Armenia. According to American Chamber of Commerce in Armenia
(AmCham), the objective of the meeting attended by 45 members of
chamber and members of Economic and Commerce Departments of US
Embassy was the acquaintance of the newly appointed Ambassador with
American companies functioning in Armenia. During the meeting, the
members of Chamber of Commerce presented the business opportunities
and existing obstacles in Armenia. At that, the Head of AmCham Edit
Khatchatryan noted that the American Chamber of Commerce is an
organization which creates opportunities for business cooperation in
Armenia and participation of John Evans in these activities is very
important for the creation of favorable business atmosphere in
Armenia. In his turn, Evans pointed out the special role of the
organization in bringing together the US companies in Armenia
`Establishment of close relations between the Embassy and American
Chamber of Commerce, increase of American investments in Armenia are
our priorities’, added the Ambassador.
According to the regulations of AmCham, the US Ambassador in Armenia
is a member of Directors Board of the Chamber of Commerce, according
to his position. L.V. – 0 –
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri paper derides decision to allow Armenian military experts to visit Baku
Zerkalo, Baku
17 Sep 04

Text of Farid report by Azerbaijani newspaper Zerkalo on 17 September
headlined “Armenians still to come to Baku” and subheaded “Though this
time, they will be wearing plain clothes”
The participation of Armenian representatives in the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly’s [PA] Rose-Roth seminar due in Baku on 26-28
November is still on the agenda, the head of the Azerbaijani
delegation to the NATO PA and deputy speaker of the Azerbaijani
parliament, Ziyafat Asgarov, has told Trend news agency.
He said Armenian specialists are not military officers and since they
are civilian experts, their visit to Baku will not cause serious
protests in Baku.
The seminar, which was postponed in 2003, will be held at Hyatt Park
Hotel which the NATO PA chose itself during a visit to Baku (Trend).
Only one thing remains unclear: who is trying to fool who? Either
Ziyafat Asgarov, who is trying to convince the nation that the
Armenians, who have now slipped into plain clothes, will meet less
resistance in Azerbaijan or our neighbours have decided to set foot on
our soil at all costs.
And while the wish of the Armenians is quite understandable, the
position of the Azerbaijani authorities in this issue is causing
nothing but astonishment. Why did they raise all this hue and cry
over the visit by Armenian officers to Baku and eventually damage
relations with NATO, if only two months later Armenians are to appear
in Baku anyway?
Even stranger is the fact that this has been announced by the deputy
speaker of the parliament, a body whose representatives were almost
kissing each other in jubilation after representatives of the Armenian
military establishment were barred from coming to Azerbaijan.
Whatever the outcome, Azerbaijan has made a rather precipitous
decision, especially if we take into account Asgarov’s statement.

Agence France Presse — English
September 22, 2004 Wednesday 11:44 AM GMT
Armenia prepared to send Iraq aid not troops: FM
YEREVAN
Armenia will not send troops to Iraq but is prepared to take part in
the country’s reconstruction, Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian said
Wednesday.
“Armenia is not prepared to have a military presence in any foreign
country, but we have always said we would cooperate in the
reconstruction of Iraq,” Oskanian told a press conference.
The south Caucasus republic could send doctors, drivers and engineers
to Iraq, he said.
Earlier this month Yerevan agreed with Poland to send 50
non-combatant troops to Iraq to work with the Polish military
contingent there.
Parliamentary approval is required for the accord to come into
effect.
Armenian political circles expressed disquiet at the commitment,
fearing that the ethnic Armenian diaspora in Iraq, numbering around
20,000 people, could be targeted by Iraqi insurgents.
Officials here said around 100 Armenian families in Iraq have sought
temporary asylum in Armenia following last month’s wave of bomb
attacks on churches in Baghdad and Mosul, in northern Iraq.

PanArmenian News
Sept 22 2004
ONE CANNOT INTIMIDATE ARMENIA BY SAYING REGIONAL PROJECTS PASS IT
ROUND, ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAID
22.09.2004 18:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “One cannot intimidate or disturb Armenia with
statements that it remains aside regional oil, gas and transport
projects,” head of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia Vardan Oskanian
stated in Yerevan today. “Nagorno Karabakh does not have a price and
is not subject to bargain, thus we do not accept the argument that by
protecting its interests the Armenian party loses the opportunity to
participate in regional projects,” the Minister noted. “We never
connected the Nagorno Karabakh problem with regional projects and we
are not going to do it in the future,” V. Oskanian noted.

Europe ready to cooperate with Baku under New Neighbors initiative
By Sevindzh Abdullayeva, Viktor Shulman
ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 17, 2004 Friday
BAKU, September 17 — The affiliation of Azerbaijan to the New
Neighbors initiative of the European Union begins a new phase in the
Azerbaijani integration with the EU, European Commission President
Romano Prodi said at a Friday press conference in Baku.
He said it was the central item on his negotiations with Azerbaijani
officials, including President Ilham Aliyev.
Europe is ready for cooperation within the framework of the New
Neighbors policy, Prodi said. Everyone wants to see fruit and
benefits of expanded Europe, and Azerbaijan will get an access to
the 500-million European market through the New Neighbors initiative,
he said. The initiative will also promote broader cultural and public
relations between the EU and Azerbaijan, Prodi said.
He said the Baku meetings assured him that it was necessary to launch
the New Neighbors policy immediately. Cooperation priorities will
be defined at further negotiations between the European Union and
Azerbaijan. The New Neighbors initiative embraces Azerbaijan, Armenia
and Georgia, and all countries will enjoy the same approach. Yet
cooperation priorities will be different in each case, Prodi said.
The European Commission supports negotiations between presidents and
foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia on the Karabakh conflict
and hopes for settlement with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group,
Prodi said. He said that the European Union will not interfere with the
dialog but it may assist the return of refugees and assistance to the
development of Azerbaijan and Armenia after the Karabakh settlement.
Baku wants close integration with European institutions, Azerbaijani
Prime Minister Artur Rasi-zade said at a Friday meeting with Prodi.
Azerbaijan is the only South Caucasian country, which has repaid $57
million in EU loans in full, he said.
The European Union is implementing over 25 joint projects in
Azerbaijan, primarily in the sphere of transport, telecommunications,
energy and foods.

Poll Finds Public Distrust In Armenian Anti-Graft Plan
By Armen Zakarian 17/09/2004 10:26
Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
September 17 2004
Armenians remain overwhelmingly skeptical about the success of their
government’s declared fight against corruption with almost half of
them believing that it itself is the biggest obstacle to the rule of
law, according to a new poll made public on Thursday.
The survey conducted by the Armenian Center for National and
International Studies (ACNIS), a private think-tank, shows that nearly
two thirds of about 2,000 people interviewed across the country
are not familiar with an anti-corruption strategy unveiled by the
authorities last year. Only 5 percent of them are confident that it
will be successfully implemented, ACNIS pollsters said. Forty-nine
percent said they would subscribe to the view that “a corrupt regime
can not fight against itself.” Others attributed the perceived lack
of results in the stated anti-graft crusade to government incompetence
and pervasive influence of business “oligarchs.”
The authorities’ anti-corruption plan approved by Western donors
is a set of largely legislative measures designed to curb illegal
practices such as bribery and nepotism. A special body headed by Prime
Minister Andranik Markarian was formed earlier this year to oversee
its implementation. The Council on Combating Corruption in turn set
up a “monitoring commission.”
The success of the council’s stated mission was called into question
in June by a senior representative of the Berlin-based watchdog
Transparency International. He said the body is likely to be
ineffectual because it is not independent.
According to the ACNIS survey, the most common popular perception
of the problem’s root causes is a political one, with 42.8 percent
saying that Armenia’s rulers lack legitimacy because they did not
come to power as a result of democratic elections. “In a country
that has disputed elections many people agree that the government
gives privileges and other rewards to those who helped them come to
power,” Stepan Safarian, a leading ACNIS analyst, told journalists,
presenting the survey results.
More than a third of those polled said they were offered bribes in
return for voting for particular candidates in last year’s presidential
and parliamentary elections. Most claimed to have refused to accept
the illegal payments.
Votes bribes are one the most frequent forms of Armenia’s chronic
electoral fraud which marred the 2003 elections criticized as
undemocratic by international observers.
The poll also suggests that nearly half of Armenians bribe government
officials at least once a year. The bulk of those who admitted doing
so said their kickbacks were meant to ensure fair and lawful treatment
by government bodies. Health care institutions, the judiciary and
the military were singled out by most respondents as the most corrupt
structures in Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BBC News, UK
Sept 17 2004
Ray of light in family’s black life
By Ruben Mangasarian
For BBCRussian.com
I received many e-mails at my photo agency after my photo story
“Black Life” was published on the Karabakh Page of BBCRussian.com and
then on BBC News Online.
Ruben says baby Maria is the happiest in the family – because she
doesn’t understand anything
The photos related the story of an Armenian refugee family from
Azerbaijan living in desperate poverty in Bagratashen, near the
Armenian capital, Yerevan.
The conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh – in
Azerbaijan but claimed by Armenians – displaced thousands of people
in 1988-1994.
“I don’t think in my life photos have ever moved me more,” wrote
Heidi Wallace from Los Angeles in California.
“The depth of this poor family’s plight is almost more than I can
bear.”
“I would go through the ends of the world to send them a care
package,” added Christina Flanary, also from the US.
I will never forget those overwhelming feelings. Thinking about
taking those pictures, I realised what was hitting so hard.
The mother Lida’s “black life” was like a real hell on Earth – not
the one for evil sinners.
Tough lives
The family was covered by a pall of smoke and soot from burning
plastic bags in their kitchen stove – they couldn’t afford normal
fuel.
Black life – one refugee family’s struggle against poverty
In pictures
Everything was black: the walls, curtains, clothes, the faces of
Lida’s children.
It seemed they had given up knowing any other life and kept only
their love for each other.
It was different in the summer. As the weather was warm the stove was
taken outside.
But life was, and is, still tough. They have almost no furniture –
just two beds, several chairs and a bench.
All the clothing is kept in big sacks.
The only electrical appliance in the house is a bulb. No fridge, no
radio, no TV and, what shocked me most, no toilet.
I didn’t have the courage to ask them how they survived without one.
New clothes
Jay, a BBC News Online reader from Britain, sent some money, so I
paid local authorities to build a toilet cabin for Lida’s family.
Lida cooks an omelette – she will not eat herself, but give it to the
children
Then I needed to get them into new clothes. I wanted them to wear
fresh shirts sent from Tokyo on their clean washed bodies.
I asked the children – have they ever had a bath or taken a shower?
They didn’t know what they were.
So I arranged for them to visit local communal baths. It was the
first time they had washed in something other than a small tub with
lukewarm water.
Lida is the only person who knows the outside world – she goes out to
earn some money.
The rest of the family don’t leave the house much – only to get water
from a tap nearby.
The children don’t know what friendship is, they still don’t go to
school, they cannot read or write.
Readers’ help
Yolande McLean, born in Canada, currently designs publications in
Tokyo, Japan. She wrote:
The family in their new clothes….
“When I saw Ruben Mangasarian’s photos of Lida and her family, I was
struck by the compassion behind them. I knew the family must have
endured circumstances as harsh as any I’d come across.
“And then I thought, in spite of the soot and smoke, what beautiful
kids! Armen had a shy, self-conscious smile; Mariam seemed pensive.
I showed the story to Jay in England and said ‘let’s do something.’ I
think he said, ‘Sure! Cool!'”
“Ruben asked me why we wanted to help a family living in an
unfamiliar country so far away. The simplest answer is, why not?” she
went on.
“The fact is, though, Armenia really doesn’t seem so far or so
strange. After you’ve travelled a while, borders, distances, and
differences are not formidable obstacles.”
Yolande said she felt Lida could use a friend. “I’m no refugee, but I
understood what it was like to be a stranger,” she said.
“I’m delighted to see Asya smiling and wearing her new cardigan, and
is that my velvet baseball cap on Armen?”
Colour in their lives
Jay Dykes, 38, from the UK, wrote:
“My friend in Tokyo, Yolande, alerted me to your haunting images that
depict the life of Lida and her children.
… kindly sent by readers Yolande [left] and Jay
“Words fail me… when I viewed your photos I was immediately moved
by them.
“I feel it was the strength of the pictures, the strength of my
friend’s words, and the strength that I could see in the eyes of the
whole family peering out of the darkness that made me want to do
something, anything, to try and help,” he added.
Yolande has sent from Tokyo two boxes with clothes and shoes, the
third one is on its way.
Jay sent some money. They were the first to spring into action to
help Lida’s family.
But the family still need help to bring some colour into their “black
life”.