Author: Kalashian Nyrie

BECAUSE OF THE MEMORIAL DAY
A1+
| 13:48:46 | 12-09-2005 | Social |
Today the residents of the Buzand street, armed with petrol bottles,
waited for the officers of the court who were to evict them from
their houses.
Till noon not a single court officer came to the Buzand street. The
residents tried to guess the reason for their absence, and came to
the conclusion that it is because of the Memorial Day.
The situation was tenser in the Buzand 15. There are 6 families here
who do not want to leave their houses. The police are on duty here
for 24 hours a day. At night there are at least 4 policemen sitting
in cars.
By the way, according to the residents, the policemen are very warm
towards them. “But if there is an order from above, they will easily
beat us with their sticks”, said Nuneh Vardouni.
The head of the non-governmental organization “Liberty and Democracy”
lives with her 15-year-old daughter at Buzand 15. Nuneh has decided to
fight for her rights till the end, and even if she loses the battle,
she will use it too for her protection. She has decided not to take the
miserable sum offered for her house and to wait for better days. “I
do not lose hope that I will see those days, where I will be paid
more money with which I can buy a house”, she says.

AZERBAIJAN: EXILES’ PARTICIPATION IN ELECTION CAMPAIGN UNCERTAIN DESPITE REGISTRATION
By Jean-Christophe Peuch
Radio Free Europe, Czech rep.
Aug 7 2005
(RFE/RL) The international community has long pressed the government
of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to improve its democratic
credentials and ensure that legislative polls due later this year are
free and fair. Now, in a move seen as a concession to foreign pressure,
election officials have authorized two prominent exiled opposition
leaders to seek parliamentary seats. But whether the two men will be
able to return to Azerbaijan to participate in the election campaign
remains uncertain.
Prague, 7 September 2005 (RFE/RL) — On 5 September, an election
commission in Baku registered former President Ayaz Mutallibov as a
candidate in the 6 November polls.
Mutallibov now co-chairs the Social Democratic Party of Azerbaijan.
He has been living in exile in Russia since 1992.
Last month, another election commission in the Azerbaijani capital
registered former parliament speaker Rasul Quliyev as a candidate.
Quliyev chairs the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan and has been living
in self-exile in the United States since 1996.
Both men are wanted in Azerbaijan on charges they deny.
The Council of Europe, which Azerbaijan joined in 2001, has been
pressing the successive government of late President Heidar Aliyev
and his son Ilham to allow both political exiles to return home and
participate in the country’s political life.
Their recent registration is seen as a concession to European pressure
on the part of Azerbaijani authorities.
Speaking to our correspondent from Russia, Mutallibov welcomed the
decision that in theory allows him to campaign in Baku’s Yasamal
district.
“My reaction is very positive. I met the news with great
satisfaction. In this regard I would like to say that I agree
with those analysts and observers who say the first stage of the
electoral process is relatively transparent. [This being said,] the
vote itself must be perfectly transparent and I do hope it will be,”
Mutallibov said.
But whether the first president of post-Soviet Azerbaijan will be
allowed to return home safely remains under question.
Just hours after Mutallibov spoke to RFE/RL, the Prosecutor-General’s
Office in Baku ordered his immunity to be lifted. Mutallibov
subsequently declined to comment on the decision, which he said was
“predictable.”
The Prosecutor-General’s Office last month took a similar step with
regard to Quliyev, less than 24 hours after an election commission
in Baku’s Xatai district had registered the former parliament speaker
as a candidate.
Under Azerbaijani laws, candidates seeking parliamentary seats are
granted immunity from penal prosecution that can be lifted only if
they commit a crime during the election campaign.
Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor-General Zakir Qaralov last month said nothing
prevented Mutallibov and Quliyev from registering as candidates in
the upcoming polls. But he made it clear both men would be arrested
upon their arrival in Baku.
Quliyev tells RFE/RL he will challenge the prosecutor-general’s
decision to lift his immunity before an Azerbaijani tribunal and,
if necessary, before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
“I deeply regret that the Prosecutor-General’s Office made this hasty
decision. Were they afraid I would show up in Baku within the next
four or five hours [that followed my registration], or what? This
decision violates Azerbaijan’s constitution and other laws. By doing
this they cast an enormous doubt on the democratic character of the
upcoming polls,” Quliyev said.
Quliyev left Azerbaijan in the midst of growing disagreements with
Heidar Aliyev. He is wanted in Azerbaijan for allegedly embezzling
$100 million between 1990 and 1995, first as a state oil executive,
then as parliament speaker.
The charges facing Mutallibov are multiple.
He is reportedly wanted for his alleged responsibility in the bloody
army crackdown in Baku on 20 January 1990. Then-Prime Minister
Mutallibov took over as first secretary of Azerbaijan’s Communist
Party only after the Soviet military intervention, which claimed
nearly 170 lives.
Other reports say the former Azerbaijani president is wanted for his
failure to prevent the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenian forces
and for a 1996 failed assassination attempt against Heidar Aliyev.
Faced with increasing criticism over Karabakh, Mutallibov was forced
to resign in March 1992. He fled the country a few weeks later after
a failed attempt to retake power.
Mutallibov says he is not familiar with the legal proceedings initiated
against him.
“I’ve never seen them. During all [13] years [I’ve spent in exile],
I haven’t seen anything. Authorities [in Baku] could have sent
any document to the country I’m forced to live in, but that never
happened. They can’t even formulate the charges. At some point they
mentioned the events of 20 January 1990. But everyone knows they
were directly connected to a decision made by [then-Soviet President
Mikhail] Gorbachev. Then they invented something else. But they never
produced anything concrete,” Mutallibov said.
Quliyev says that whatever the risks, he will return to Azerbaijan
before the election.
“My plans haven’t changed. I am still a registered candidate. Under
Azerbaijani laws, no prosecutor, no official can lift my immunity.
Even if today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow a court rules that
the prosecutor-general’s decision is right, I will not change my
plans. I will return to Azerbaijan and take part in the elections,”
Quliyev said.
Fuad Alasgarov, a high-ranking official in Azerbaijan’s presidential
administration, on 5 September suggested that political exiles campaign
while staying out of the country.
But Quliyev says he will not even consider that option.
“No government official can settle this issue. This issue must be
settled in line with the law. And the law says [authorities] have
no right to take such decisions and impose such conditions on me,”
Quliyev said.
Mutallibov also says he plans to return to Baku soon despite the risk
of being detained.
But, unlike Quliyev, he hopes Ilham Aliyev’s calls for national
reconciliation will eventually materialize, thus allowing him to
escape criminal prosecution.
“When people ask me what I expect, I tell them I expect the head of
state to make a decision. I do hope he will make a decision.
Generally speaking, things are moving in the right direction,”
Mutallibov said.
Aliyev has repeatedly vowed to hold free and fair elections
in November. But he has not publicly commented on the issue of
Azerbaijan’s political exiles.
If Quliyev is allowed to take part in the November election, he will
run on the lists of Azadliq (Freedom), the opposition coalition that
comprises the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, the reformist wing of
the Popular Front of Azerbaijan, and the Musavat party.
Mutallibov is registered as a candidate for Yeni Siyaset (New
Politics), Azerbaijan’s other main opposition coalition.

HELP COMES FROM ALL CORNERS OF COMMUNITY
Farmington Observer, MI
Aug 8 2005
Whether it’s a small collection of toiletries or a large-scale
cash collection for the American Red Cross, people all around the
Farmington_Farmington Hills community are stepping up and digging in
to help the victims of hurricane Katrina. Here are just some of the
efforts we’re aware of.
eBay for charity
Ara Topouzian, a local Armenian musician – and president of the
Farmington_Farmington Hills Chamber of Commerce – placed one of his CDs
on eBay to raise money for the American Red Cross. While admittedly,
he is new at using the charity arm of eBay, he was able to raise
the percentage from 25 to 50 percent of the proceeds to go to the
American Red Cross. He will list more CDs on the Internet auction
site to raise more money for hurricane victims. Now, that’s creative!
[parts omitted]

from the September 08, 2005 edition –
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Everyone is telling teachers what to teach

Even in an era of standardized tests, state governments and others are
adding mandatory subjects to schools.
By Stacy A. Teicher | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

>From urban Philadelphia to rural Illinois, the new school year also
means new requirements for what, precisely, students must learn. In
addition to their normal English classes, science labs, and test-prep
work, more will be studying topics such as African history, personal
finance, and genocide in Bosnia and Rwanda.
Curriculum mandates sometimes come top-down from state
legislatures. Others spring from grass-roots demands on school
boards. They’re the product of a wrestling match of sorts – between
American education’s tradition of local control and the growing
movement to standardize subject matter for the sake of global
competitiveness.
When the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
periodically shows US students performing dismally on a certain
subject, “usually there’s a hue and outcry,” says Peggy Altoff,
president-elect of the National Council for the Social Studies
(NCSS). That can spur state lawmakers to try to expand the curriculum
in, say, history or geography. But in addition, “states [or local
districts] begin to pick up the mantle for certain issues … when a
certain segment of the population begins to say, ‘There’s a neglect
here,’ ” she says.
Take the City of Brotherly Love: It’s the first public school district
to require all high school students entering this September to take a
year-long course on African and African-American history before they
graduate.
Unanimously approved by Philadelphia’s five-member School Reform
Commission, the mandate was in some ways 40 years in the making. In
the 1960s, local activists won the fight for more Afrocentric
curriculum development, but the courses have been offered as electives
in just a portion of the city’s schools. Now a college-level textbook
has been adapted and instructors in all 60 high schools have been
trained to teach the required course.
The textbook starts with the history of African civilizations and then
moves to the Americas. “It puts in context that the slave trade was a
period in our history – we did not enter humankind as slaves,” says
Sandra Dungee Glenn, a member of the reform commission. She recalls
attending high school in the district in the 1970s, when she says she
rarely saw her heritage reflected in her textbooks.
Not a total solution, but it’s a start
About 65 percent of the district’s students are African-American, but
proponents of the course say it’s equally important for others,
because of the reverberations US racial history has to this day. The
move wasn’t universally applauded, however. John Perzel (R), the
Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, sent a letter to
the commission this summer expressing concerns raised in his district,
which is largely white and includes immigrants from Russia, Turkey,
and other countries.
“While I believe it is appropriate to acknowledge … cultural
diversity within the district’s curriculum, mandating an entire year
of study focusing on a single constituency appears unnecessary,” the
letter reads in part. “A more prudent course might be to develop a
multipronged course of study focusing on the many cultures embodied
within the school district.”
Ms. Glenn says the bulk of response has been positive and the decision
is firm. “I don’t believe that it’s a silver bullet, but it is an
important component [of reforming the city’s schools],” she says.
Teachers’ responses usually depend on how much they’re consulted on
new requirements. But even if they agree the subject matter is
important, covering a long list of specific topics as well as
attending to individual students is becoming much more difficult.
It’s even more difficult as they face simultaneous demands to focus
more on core skills such as reading and math, which have to be tested
under the federal No Child Left Behind law.
“The teacher is caught [in] this whirling cycle,” says Bruce Damasio,
a history and economics teacher in Maryland and an NCSS board
member. “You’re supposed to meet this standard, and at the same time
this topic du jour has come up … and you’ve got 180 days to get all
these things done.”
Illinois takes on genocide
For political leaders, curriculum is one way to signal values. In
August, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) signed a law expanding the
state’s 15-year-old mandate on Holocaust education. Now all students
will learn not just about Nazi atrocities but also about genocide in
places such as Armenia, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Sudan.
“We have to be sure [students] understand that racial, national,
ethnic, and religious hatred can lead to horrible tragedies,” Governor
Blagojevich said in a press statement. “These are not just the
problems of our parents’ or grandparents’ generations. We … [need
to] encourage students to fight intolerance and hatred wherever they
see it.” Local districts will determine the details of how the subject
will be taught at various grade levels.
Some efforts, on the other hand, never see the light of day. In
Maryland in the late 1990s, lawmakers wanted to mandate more teaching
about the Irish Potato Famine of the mid-1800s. Because the state has
a tradition of leaving curriculum matters primarily to local
districts, Ms. Altoff appeared before the legislature to warn against
setting a precedent with something so specific. In the end, schools
were given the option of using a suggested curriculum.
Creating commissions is one way states can influence curriculum
without going so far as to issue an edict. In New York this summer,
the announcement of an Amistad Commission to determine if there needs
to be more content on slavery and African-Americans’ contributions set
off a controversy; it’s unclear how many educators will be among the
group’s 19 political appointees. (The Amistad, for which the committee
was named, was a slave ship. Setting out from Havana in 1839, the
ship’s cargo of 53 enslaved Africans took over the ship and sailed to
Long Island, New York, where the mutineers were put on trial and
eventually set free.)
New Jersey also has an Amistad Commission, one of many groups in the
state charged with promoting better understanding of a variety of
issues and ethnic groups. The state’s Holocaust Commission is paired
with a requirement that the subject be taught in public schools.
But others, like the Italian Commission, created in 2002, prepare
curriculum that is strictly voluntary.
Persuading school districts and teachers to opt in requires some
innovative lesson plans and training, so they can see how the
materials meet state standards, says Roger Marinzoli, executive
director of the New Jersey Italian Commission.
Italian-Americans make up about 25 percent of the state, he says, but
“the attempt is not to make this a flag-waving exercise…. You have
to make it appealing to a broad spectrum.”
The group’s lessons cover the US internment of Germans, Japanese, and
Italians during World War II and address ethnic stereotyping. It also
offers a language-arts segment linking Da Vinci’s
stream-of-consciousness writings to existing lessons on novelist James
Joyce.
Feedback has been so good, Mr. Marinzoli says, that schools as far
away as Sicily have asked to use some of the curriculum.
Textbooks can be quickly adapted
Because textbooks are often updated every few years and customized for
states, the steady drumbeat of new material isn’t usually a problem,
says Chris Johnson, editorial director for social studies texts at
McDougal Littell.
Texas, for instance, requires that texts at every grade level include
information of the benefits of the free enterprise system. And
California has asked for more material on Martin Luther King Jr. and
labor organizer César Chávez to meet its social studies
requirement. Shrinking photos often makes enough space so that the
books don’t get longer or lose other content, Mr. Johnson says.
But for teachers, there’s a concern about trade-offs. A key question,
Altoff says, is “what provisions are being made to ensure that the
coverage of that content is more than surface – that it’s actually
going to be meaningful within the time frame [they have to teach]?”
“There is no simple answer,” she adds. “That’s why there’s so much
pressure from different curriculum groups.”
Additional ‘must’ topics vary from state to state
State lawmakers sometimes get specific about the topics that public
schools must teach. Some examples from recent years:
Human rights
* Sixteen states, ranging from Alabama to Nevada, have legislation on
Holocaust education. Eight states require or encourage Holocaust
instruction, while others simply establish commissions or task
forces to help develop materials.
* Rhode Island has had a law since 2000 requiring the education
department to develop material on genocide, human rights, and
slavery, including specifics such as the Holocaust, famine in
Ireland, genocide in Armenia, and Mussolini’s Fascist regime.
* In several states, including New Jersey, Illinois, and New York,
Amistad Commissions have been established to examine and improve the
curriculum related to African-American history and slavery.
Civics/citizenship
* Most states require a course on government, civics, or citizenship,
but to give these subjects more weight, five states now require a
related exam as a graduation requirement. Another five states are
phasing in such exams.
* In 2004, California passed a law in part to ensure that the
history/social science framework would include six documents: The
Declaration of Independence; the Constitution, including the Bill of
Rights; The Federalist Papers; The Emancipation Proclamation; The
Gettysburg Address; and George Washington’s farewell address.
* Since 2003, Missouri has required every school (pre-K through 12th
grade) to devote the equivalent of one class period to the meaning
and significance of Veterans Day.
Financial literacy
* More than half the states have standards for personal finance
education. Nine require testing in the subject, and seven –
including Utah and Georgia most recently – require it for high
school graduation.
Sources: Education Commission of the States; National Council on
Economic Education
| Copyright © 2005 The Christian Science
Monitor. All rights reserved.

OSCE READY TO MAKE CONTINUOUS EFFORTS TO SUPPORT SIDES IN PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Sept 6 2005
YEREVAN, September 6. /ARKA/. OSCE is ready to make continuous efforts
to support the sides in peaceful settlement of Nagorno Karabakh
conflict; OSCE Chairman -in-Office Dimitrij Rupel said at his meeting
with RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan, press-service of the RA
Foreign Ministry reported ARKA News Agency. During the meeting the
sides discussed prospects of Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement,
and the RA Foreign Minister presented the results of the meeting of
the Armenian and Azeri Presidents in Kazan. A.A. -0–

THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Sam Vaknin, Ph.D.
PeaceJournalism, Nepal
Sept 6 2005
The Armenian massacres in Turkey started in the 19th century
and continued well after the Armenian genocide of 1915 in which
some 600,000 Armenians perished. The Armenians were also raided by
Kurdish tribesmen on a regular basis. An Ottoman military tribunal,
convened between 1919-21, even convicted for the crimes members of
the administration of the Young Turks, including cabinet ministers.
Many of the perpetrators fled the country only to return, triumphant,
after the establishment of modern Turkey in 1923. The Turkish
government today denies that an organized, premeditated genocide ever
took place and pegs the number of Armenian fatalities at 200-300,000
at the most.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the Armenians formed guerrilla
movements in eastern Van (the Armenakans, in 1885) and in Russia.
Radical nationalist parties were established by Russian-Armenian
emigrants in 1887 (Hunchak or Henchak, “The Bell”) and in 1890 in
Georgia (Dashnak or Dashnaktsutyun, “Union”). Mass demonstrations in
the Turkish capital (in 1890 and 1895) and armed uprisings followed
(in 1894-5). The Dashnaks even invaded Turkey from Russia in 1896 – a
demonstrative act which resulted in the slaughter of 50,000 Armenians.
The suppression of these revolts claimed 200,000 Armenian lives. In
1909, in Adana, more than 23,000 Armenians were massacred as the
warships of the Great Powers stood idly by. In 1912-3 the Great
Powers, led by Russia, pressured Turkey to cease its mistreatment
of the Armenians. This intervention was resented by the Ottoman
authorities. By 1915, Armenian calls for autonomy were deemed a danger
to the disintegrating realm, now at war with Russia.
When the first world war broke, Turkey allied itself with the
Germans. All Armenian men aged 20-45 were conscripted to the army as
soldiers, soon to be disarmed and serve as pack animals or in menial
jobs. When Russian Armenians recruited Turkish Armenians for the
anti-Turkish Russian Army of the Caucasus, in April 1915, the elite
of the Armenian community was arrested and executed. Between May and
June 1915 the Armenian population was deported to Mesopotamia. The
deportation followed mass executions.
Many more died from starvation, exposure, dehydration, abuse and
outright torture. The survivors – less than 300,000 – were subjected
to additional slaughter in Syria. People were beaten with blunt
instruments, burnt alive or drowned forcibly. The massacres were
carried out by military officers with dictatorial powers, aided
by criminals especially released from jails and assigned to their
gruesome duties.
Armed resistance in Van province, Mussa Dagh, Shabin Karahisar
and Urfa – as well as setbacks in the war – prevented the Turks for
deporting the urban Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire’s major
cities. Today there are less than 60,000 Armenians in Turkey compared
to at least 1.8 million in 1910.
Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. is the author of Malignant Self Love – Narcissism
Revisited and After the Rain – How the West Lost the East. He served
as a columnist for Central Europe Review, PopMatters, Bellaonline,
and eBookWeb, a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business
Correspondent, and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe
categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.
Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government
of Macedonia. Sam Vaknin’s Web site is at

FOREIGN MINISTER OF AZERBAIJAN LEAVES FOR AUSTRIA
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Sept 5 2005
Foreign minister of the Azerbaijan Republic Elmar Mammadyarov on
September 5 has left for Austria, AzerTAc reported.
Minister Mammadyarov will be reporting on the Armenia-Azerbaijan,
Nagorno Karabakh conflict at the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna. He
is expected also to meet with OSCE Secretary General and members of
the Council.
Official visit of Elmar Mammadyarov will begin on 7 September. The
Minister will meet with the president of Austria Heinz Fischer,
foreign minister Ursula Palssnik, and carry out talks at the UN
Vienna sections.
The visit ends on 8 September.

20-25 TURKISH JOURNALISTS TO VISIT YEREVAN SHORTLY
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6. ARMINFO. 20-25 Turkish journalists will shortly
pay a “working visit” to Yerevan on the initiative of the Turkish
Foreign Ministry.
The Star newspaper (Turkey) reports that the visit will take place in
the framework of the events preceding the Sept 23-25 Istanbul Armenian
Conference, an event that is to consider alternative opinions on the
Armenian Genocide and to establish contacts for developing ties between
Armenia and Turkey. The contacts will start with the establishment
of in inter-university ties and then will grow into joint political
and economic initiatives. Star reports that performing shortly in
Yerevan will be the Opera and Ballet Company of Turkey. Then the sides
will form a political task force while now the they are developing
a program of exchange between the French University of Armenia and
Galatasaray University.

OSCE CHAIRMAN-IN-OFFICE DIMITRIJ RUPEL ARRIVING IN YEREVAN TODAY
Pan Armenian News
05.09.2005 02:17
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Slovenian Foreign Minister
Dimitrij Rupel is arriving in Armenia today. During the visit Mr. Rupel
is expected to meet with Armenian President Robert Kocharian, Prime
Minister Andranik Margaryan, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian and
NKR President Arkady Ghukasian. On September 6 evening Dimitrij Rupel
will depart from Yerevan, completing his visit on that day.

Saturday, 3 September 2005
by Khachik Chakhoyan
Ruud van Nistelrooij’s goal midway through the second half saved the
Netherlands’ blushes as they scraped a win in Armenia to strenghten
their place at the head of FIFA World Cup qualifying Group 1.
Stylish finish
Manchester United FC striker Van Nistelrooij was kept quiet for most
of the game by some solid Armenian defending, but it took him only
one shot to decide the game in favour of visitors. On 64 minutes
Khalid Boulahrouz crossed into the area, Philip Cocu won the aerial
challenge and when the ball dropped the ball to Van Nistelrooij,
he finished in style.
Berezovski heroics
Goalkeeper Roman Berezovski was undoubtedly the man of the match
for Armenia as he helped to keep the Dutch at bay for most of the
encounter. On eight minutes he denied Van Nistelrooij from a dangerous
shot, while on 31 minutes Dirk Kuyt’s powerful header from point-blank
range was brilliantly saved. Arsenal FC’s Robin van Persie was also
denied by the goalkeeper in the first half.
Armenia blow
Armenia were dealt a blow when they lost their young star Edgar
Manucharyan, after a bright start, to a 17th-minute injury. Ara
Hakobyan came on to form a duo with his brother Aram and had the home
side’s best chance just three minutes after coming on, just failing
to connect after Cocu misjudged a header back to his own goalkeeper.
Dutch top
On Wednesday the Dutch hope to reinforce their position further when
they play host to the group’s bottom side, Andorra. Armenia, meanwhile,
travel to the Czech Republic with their hopes of qualification
already over.
©uefa.com 1998-2005.
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