Author: Kalantarian Kevo

German chancellor candidate will continue to fight Turkish EU membership
Agence France Presse — English
June 16, 2005 Thursday 9:42 AM GMT
BERLIN June 16 — German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s conservative
challenger said Thursday she would not budge on her objection to
Turkey joining the European Union if she wins a September election.
Angela Merkel told parliament that she would stand by her position
that the EU would be better served by a “privileged partnership”
with Ankara as opposed to full Turkish membership.
“We will not renounce our position and will continue to repeat that
negotiations for a privileged partnership are the best option for
integrating Turkey in Europe,” she said.
Merkel said that the fact that Turkey had still not established
diplomatic relations with Armenia or Cyprus, the latter of which
joined the EU one year ago, was a “quite catastophic situation”.
Schroeder has strongly backed full EU membership for Turkey. Ankara
is due to begin EU accession talks on October 3.
Merkel’s Christian Union bloc is leading Schroeder’s Social Democrats
in opinion polls by a double-digit margin.
The debate was the first face-to-face clash between the two since
Schroeder announced last month that he would seek early elections
following a string of drubbings for his party in state polls.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
June 16, 2005, Thursday
15:21:15 Central European Time
German resolution on Armenian massacre sparks Turkish anger
Berlin/Ankara
Straining relations with Turkey, the German Bundestag parliament
adopted a resolution Thursday condemning the massacre of up to 1.5
million ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 90 years ago.
The resolution criticised the current government of Turkey for
“neglecting to address the issue” in a forthright manner.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul denounced the resolution as
“irresponsible, appalling and injurious” to relations between the
two countries.
“We note this decision with regret and we strongly condemn it,” said
a statement released by the Foreign Ministry. The statement accused
the resolution of being rooted in “domestic politics” and called it
“irresponsible and narrow-minded”.
Turkey acknowledges the tragedy of hundreds of thousands of deaths in
“civil strife” during 1915-17 but denies there was a state- sponsored
extermination plan – a stance that has complicated its efforts to join
the European Union. Accession talks are due to start later this year.
On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Turkish government arrested hundreds
of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders, most of whom were
quickly executed.
This was followed by the mass relocation of Christian Armenians from
Anatolia through desert to Mesopotamia and what is today Syria.
Starvation, disease, attacks by bandits and the brutality of the
escorting troops resulted in mass fatalities. Most Western sources
maintain that more than a million deaths took place.
The incident has been widely referred to as the first genocide of
the 20th Century.
Turkey said Thursday’s resolution is not historically correct, saying
claims that “almost all Armenians living in Anatolia were exterminated”
have “no basis”. dpa eg cw sc ch

Ha’aretz, Israel
June 16 2005
The Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem. After the Six-Day War in 1967, it
was restored and important archaeological digs took place there.
(Lior Mizrahi / BauBau) Many years ago, when I was writing my
doctoral thesis, I used to visit the Jewish Studies reading room in
the Jewish National and University Library at the Hebrew University
in Jerusalem. I arrived when the library opened, so I could be the
first to get to all the necessary books on the shelves.
Drawn to the Quarter
By Yehoshua Schwartz
One day a stranger stood next to me, a man of average height with a
thick mustache, and asked for one of the books on my desk.
Incidentally, he also asked about the subject of my research. I told
him I was working on the Jewish community in Judea during the
Roman-Byzantine period, and that I was now researching the Ayalon
Valley. He immediately asked if I was familiar with a large number of
archeological artifacts from the region, which were relevant to my
research. I was disheartened. I thought I had already read
everything, that I knew everything. He recommended that I order from
the library storehouse the Kibbutz Nahshon newsletter from the
mid-1960s, and look for a personal column called “Al Harekhes” (On
the Mountain Ridge).
The man standing next to me was Rami Yizrael, the writer of the
column and of the book under review. I learned from him that day not
only about the Ayalon Valley region, but also about modesty,
particularly academic modesty: There are serious scholars who are not
a part of the academic world, and important things are published not
only in the “research literature,” but also in popular journals, and
they and their writers should not be regarded with scorn.
The book before us includes Yizrael’s most important articles
published over the years, in addition to several new studies, and
deals mainly with three areas: the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old
City, various sites and places in Jerusalem and its environs and
various sites in Israel, especially Tiberias and Safed. The articles
are research studies in the full sense of the word, but they have a
practical aspect as well, and are highly recommended reading when you
are on a tour or a field trip.
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We cannot deal with the broad variety of subjects in the 20 chapters
of the book, and will have to make do with drawing several
conclusions from Yizrael’s studies about the Old City in Jerusalem,
the subject of the first section of the book and its first seven
chapters. These articles were written in the wake of a comprehensive
study conducted by the writer at the initiative of the Association
for the Restoration and Development of the Old City, and as part of
an attempt to strengthen its tourist potential.
The Jewish Quarter was a “quarter,” but not a European-type ghetto
(or the “voluntary ghetto” that covered an area of 30 dunams in the
Armenian Quarter), or the harat in Eastern countries. It was not
surrounded by an (interior) wall, and was not restricted only to
Jews. In medieval cities, residents were concentrated according to
their ethno-religious origin, and in Jerusalem, which is sacred to
the three religions, this phenomenon was especially prominent. In the
Jewish Quarter, one could find Jews and Muslims alongside one
another, and the same was true in the Muslim Quarter, an area that
was popular among the Jews because of its proximity to the Temple
Mount, and in light of the fact that it was impossible to settle in
the closed Armenian Quarter, or in the Christian Quarter, which the
Church leaders closed to Jewish residents.
An interesting phenomenon in the Jewish Quarter is the connection
between the Jewish residents and the synagogues, especially starting
in the middle of the 19th century. Until then, there were synagogues
in the Jewish Quarter, but because of the Omar Laws, which restricted
the construction of non-Muslim houses of prayer, these were not
particularly impressive buildings. In the 1860s, the Ottomans
moderated the laws restricting the rights of minorities concerning
the construction of houses of prayer, and the residents began to
build synagogues. As a result, the Jewish population multiplied
sevenfold in the 19th century, and the number of synagogues
multiplied by 13, almost double the increase in the population. These
synagogues attracted many worshipers, about 600 on average per
synagogue in the middle of the 19th century.
Overcrowding and poverty
The increase in the number of residents in the Jewish Quarter led to
terrible overcrowding and poverty. The development of the new city
led the educated, the rich, laborers from the First and Second Aliyah
(waves of immigration to Palestine in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries), and most of those who could afford it, to leave the
Jewish Quarter for the new city. By World War I, only poor people
remained in the Old City, as well as the religious leadership of
Jerusalem and most of its institutions. The process of abandoning the
Jewish Quarter accelerated during the British Mandatory period
(beginning in 1922), since the gap between the standard of living of
the new city and the old one, only continued to grow.
The situation continued to deteriorate in the wake of the Arab riots
that began during Pesach in 1920. These were the first riots against
the Jews of Jerusalem in generations. They were not limited only to
the Jewish Quarter, or even to the Old City, and were renewed every
few years until the 1948 War of Independence. The British forces
often included Arab policemen, who did not interfere with the
rioters, and sometimes even helped them. During these first riots,
several members of the Haganah defense forces exhibited initiative
and heroism. Rachel Yanait Ben Zvi, for example, penetrated the Old
City wearing a disguise, passed via Hagai Street and Hashalshelet
Street, and exited via the Jaffa Gate, in order to report on the
situation to the Haganah. Nehemiah Rabin (a member of Hagdud Ha’Ivri
– the Jewish Brigade, and father of the late prime minister Yitzhak
Rabin) and Zvi Nadav (one of the veterans of the Hashomer defense
group) evacuated the wounded.
During the 30 years of the British Mandate, the number of Jewish
residents in the Old City steadily decreased. In the new city during
that period, another 28 Jews were added for every 10 residents,
whereas in the Old City barely two out of every 10 Jewish residents
remained. The buildings in the Jewish Quarter, which were hundreds of
years old, were decrepit, and the sanitary conditions and other
services were also in a bad state.
After the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939, it was mainly an impoverished
population that remained in the Jewish Quarter, with a large number
of children and elderly people. In addition, there was a lack of
authorized leadership there to confront the large number of problems
that made life difficult for the residents. The Jewish Quarter was
not fortunate during the War of Independence. After 13 consecutive
days of fighting, it fell into the hands of the Arab Legion, on May
28, 1948, about two weeks after the establishment of the State of
Israel.
Yizrael believes that the fall of the Jewish Quarter was the greatest
and most scathing failure of the War of Independence. During that
war, other communities fell as well, but the Jewish Quarter was the
largest, and the only urban community. Other Jewish neighborhoods
fell as well, but the Jewish Quarter was much more than a
neighborhood. The author believes that the failure was worse because
there were several opportunities to save it, which were not
exploited.
Jordanian rule
The 19 years of Jordanian rule in the Jewish Quarter only accelerated
the process of neglect. The Jewish Quarter was not restored during
this period, but turned into a kind of refugee camp for those Arabs
who had been uprooted from the Western neighborhoods of Jerusalem and
from the surrounding villages. No real new buildings were
constructed, and the infrastructure, which had been damaged during
the war, was poorly maintained. However, this situation preserved the
physical character of the quarter.
After the Six-Day War in 1967, a new chapter in the history of the
Jewish Quarter began. It was restored, important archaeological digs
took place there, and the writer, as well as other researchers, began
to tour and to research it. In recent years, the political-security
situation has led to ups and downs in the fate of the Jewish Quarter.
During periods of calm, Jews streamed into the Jewish Quarter and
into the entire Old City. In times of crisis and attacks, people
rarely tour its alleyways.
Recently, we were informed (Haaretz, May 1) that “Israelis are
returning to the Old City in Jerusalem.” We can hope that they will
return with Yizrael’s book in hand, and tour there – as in Tiberias,
Safed and Petah Tikva, and all the other sites researched in the
author’s book – out of the enjoyment of learning and the love of the
country that underlie the research studies and are so deeply
ingrained in the heart of soul of the writer.
The writer is dean of the faculty of Jewish Studies at Bar-Ilan
University

Azeri deputy minister says Russia’s Caucasus combat experience ‘valuable’
Interfax
June 16 2005
Moscow, 15 June: The Azerbaijani deputy interior minister and
commander-in-chief of the country’s Interior Ministry troops,
Lt-Gen Zakir Hasanov, has described as valuable the combat experience
gained by the Russian Internal Troops in the North Caucasus and other
“hot beds”.
“We are also interested in an exchange of experience in the sphere of
combat training of troops,” Hasanov told journalists after a meeting
with his counterpart, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Interior
Ministry’s Internal Troops, Col-Gen Nikolay Rogozhkin, in Moscow on
15 June.
Touching on the situation in Nagornyy Karabakh, Gen Hasanov said
that “almost the entire world recognizes Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity”.
“Our internal troops will carry out their tasks in Nagornyy Karabakh
fully once the issue is solved by political means,” the general said.
He underlined that the internal troops were preparing for performing
the tasks during the parliamentary elections due in November.

ELECTIONS IN NKR DIRECTED TO REGULATION OF DOMESTIC LIFE
Pan Armenian News
15.06.2005 05:25
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The parliamentary elections in Nagorno Karabakh
are first of all directed to the regulation of domestic life,
NKR Foreign Minister Arman Melikian stated in his interview with
H2 Armenian TV Channel. “We do not purpose the objective to be
praised by the international community for conduction of exemplary
elections. We ourselves need these elections and their correspondence
to international standards will do much good. But I would like to
reiterate that it is the issue of our internal life and due to this
reason the conduction of transparent and democratic elections is
essential”, NKR FM noted. “As for the presence of international
observers, Karabakh sent invitations to lots of international
and public organizations and individuals from the CIS, US, Europe
and Islamic states. Many of them have already agreed to watch the
elections”, the minister resumed.

YEREVAN AUTHORITIES CALL CITIZENS NOT TO USE SERVICE OF STREET TRADERS
YEREVAN, JUNE 13. ARMINFO. “We call the public of Yerevan not to use
the service of street traders and not to drink the unhealthy juices
made directly in the street.” Vice Mayor of Yerevan Arman Sahakyan
made such a statement at a briefing today.
He said that 21 of 38 territories for mini-markets are functioning
at present. As regards still functioning “trading tables,” Sahakyan
said that municipality has no relevant levers to settle this issue,
however, it will clean the streets, and then the problem with the
street traders will be solved through the police.
In his turn, Head of the Public Health Department of Yerevan
Municipality Armen Soghoyan states that the Hygienic and
Anti-epidemiological Inspection cannot examine the quality of the
street products as the traders are not legal entities. “So it remains
for us to call the public not to buy the products from the street to
avoid possible poisoning.” According to him, no cases of poisoning
from street products have been registered in the current year so far.

ALIYEV AND PUTIN TO DISCUSS KARABAKH PROBLEM
Pan Armenian News
13.06.2005 07:47
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will
arrive in Russia on a two-day working visit to take part in the 9-th
International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg. Within the frames
of the visit, Aliyev will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin
and discuss the Karabakh conflict settlement.

China to promote relations with Armenia: FM
People’s Daily Online, China
June 14 2005
China is willing to make concerted efforts with Armenia to promote
bilateral relations, said Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing in
Beijing Monday.
Li said at a meeting with his Armenian counterpart Vardan Oskanyan
that China and Armenia enjoy smooth development of bilateral ties,
with close political relations and gradual expansion of economic
cooperation and trade.
China appreciates Armenia’s firm adherence to the one-China policy,
Li said.
Oskanyan said his country attaches importance to developing relations
with China, thanking China for helping Armenia in economic and social
development.
Armenia is ready to enhance cooperation with China in such fields as
economy, culture and education, he said.
Oskanyan said it will, as always, firmly stick to the one-China policy
and support China’s peaceful reunification.
The two ministers also exchanged views on situation in Transcaucasia
region, where Armenia is located, situation in the Commonwealth of
Independent States, and the United Nations reforms.
Oskanyan arrived here Monday on an official visit to China as guest
of Li.

Premier says China determined, capable of curbing HIV/AIDS
Xinhua news agency, Beijing
13 Jun 05
Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua
(New China News Agency)
Beijing, 13 June: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told UN officials here
Monday [13 June] that China is determined and capable of controlling
HIV/AIDS in the country.
“China is still facing serious challenges in HIV/AIDS prevention
and control, but the Chinese government is determined and capable of
curbing the spread of the disease to ensure the people live a healthy
and peaceful life,” Wen said in a meeting with Peter Piot, executive
director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
China has an estimated 840,000 people infected with HIV, including
80,000 with full blown AIDS. Wen said the Chinese government attaches
great importance to the work of HIV/AIDS prevention and control and
has set up a working mechanism led by the government, coordinated by
different departments, and participated by all social sectors.
China’s cabinet set up a high-level committee in 2004. The
organization, known as the AIDS Prevention Committee, is headed by
Vice-Premier Wu Yi, and involves 23 departments and institutions of
the central government and leading officials of concerned departments
of seven provincial governments.
Wen said China has formulated its national guideline on HIV/ AIDS
prevention and enacted a series of policies. “We also greatly increased
financial input and manpower into the fight against HIV/ AIDS.”
In September 2003, the Chinese government announced that it would
provide free anti-retroviral treatment to AIDS patients in rural
areas and those urbanite sufferers with financial difficulties. The
government also promised free HIV screening, free therapy to
intercepting mother-to-infant transmission, free infant HIV testing
and financial assistance for orphans whose parents have died of AIDS.
Wen said China also increased the intervention work among the groups
with high-risk behaviours and enhanced public education to improve
people’s awareness of self-protection and reduce social discrimination.
“Those efforts have led to significant results,” he said, adding that
the Chinese government will continue to intensify the efforts and
make sure that all the policies and measures will be fully implemented.
Wen also expressed appreciation for international help, saying that
the Chinese government wants to improve exchanges and cooperation
with the international community to make its due contribution to the
global fight against HIV/AIDS.
Piot said he was deeply impressed with Chinese government’s
determination and policies in curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS. He said
China is playing a positive role in the global fight against HIV/AIDS
and the UNAIDS will continue to offer its help and support. After
the meeting, Wen met with Armenia’s Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Zaman, Turkey
June 10 2005
Voice of Spiritual Leaders: Religion Rejects Terrorism
By Erkan Acar
Published: Friday 10, 2005
zaman.com
Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate President Professor Ali
Bardakoglu has said that religions are never the source of terror,
violence, and brutality. The President made his speech as part of the
ongoing “Istanbul Conference on Democracy and Security”.
The priority of religious clerics should be the prevention of
misrepresentation of religions as approving of terror, violence, and
injustice. All religions should stand against any kind of
misperceptions that terror, violence and savagery stem from
religions, stressed the Director. Terror is a crime against humanity,
whomever it comes from, Bardakoglu said: “We should explain and teach
religion in a true way. Religious clerics and theologians should be
as courageous as those who support terrorism and stand against
terror, violence and every kind of injustice in an open hearted and
frank way.” Turkish Armenian Patriarch Meshrob II also made a speech
on the issue of religion and terror with excerpts of holy books.
Noting that events that terrify, injure, and kill people are crimes
against humanity, Meshrob II said: “Whatever its goal, terror should
be damned by all believers ethically. Those, who commit acts of
terrorism, cannot be accepted as martyrs. This is against the law of
God.” The Chief Rabbi of Jews in Istanbul, Isak Haleva, on the other
side, said that it has been claimed that many acts of terrorism in
history were committed in the name of religions, but that religions
do not approve wars and destructions. Vatican’s Turkey representative
George Marovitch noted that the main reason for humanity’s problems
are insufficient justice, spiritualism and morality.