Author: Kalashian Nyrie

The Times (London)
December 10, 2004, Friday
EU rules out Ukraine entry
by Anthony Browne Brussels Correspondent
HUNDREDS of thousands of Ukrainians have braved the snows of Kiev for
two weeks to demand their right to join the West. But their country
faces a certain rebuff by the European Union.
Viktor Yushchenko, the pro-Western presidential candidate, said in an
American newspaper interview yesterday that EU membership would be
his top priority if he were elected on December 26.
In Brussels, however, the European Commission said: “Our position has
not changed.
Membership is not on the agenda.” Instead, the commission announced a
partnership plan for greater co-operation with Ukraine to boost ties
with its closest neighbours once it holds free and fair elections.
Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, who takes up the
EU’s rotating presidency next month, said: “I can only warn against
offering Ukraine the prospect of full membership. We need a special
relationship with Ukraine that does justice to its strategic
importance.”
Ukraine’s possible membership is an acutely awkward subject for
European leaders.
“We just try to avoid the question when asked. The fact that Ukraine
never applied has made the decision easier but now it is far more
difficult,” said an EU diplomat. Although keen to support democracy
in the largest country wholly in Europe, EU leaders are concerned
that the bloc’s inability to say no to potential members means that
it is growing too big to control.
The EU has just expanded to 25 members by accepting ten mainly poor
Eastern European countries, among them Poland and Hungary. Bulgaria
and Romania are joining in 2007, and Turkey, almost entirely in Asia,
is already on track to become the biggest, and poorest, member in
about another ten years. The Balkan states, such as Croatia and
Macedonia, have also been accepted as potential members.
Many politicians fear that the EU simply will not be able to cope
with another country as poor, large and chaotic as Ukraine. Allowing
Ukraine in would also open the door for other countries such as
Belarus, Moldova, Georgia (which recently said that it wanted to
join), Azerbaijan and Armenia, bringing the total to nearly 40
countries.
To control its expansion, the EU set an arbitrary official limit that
its eastern border would be the western border of the former USSR,
with the exception of the three Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania
and Estonia. Romano Prodi, the former President of the European
Commission, said that Ukraine was as likely as New Zealand to become
a member. But if Mr Yushchenko wins the election on December 26, the
EU will probably be faced with irresistible pressure to let Ukraine
join.
The new Eastern European states, three of which have a border with
Ukraine, are keen to curb instability on their doorstep by letting
Ukraine in. An East European diplomat said: “We should not cut it
off. People are asking, ‘If Turkey can join, why not Ukraine?’ It is
clearly much closer to Europe.”
The British Government, which has always been a strong supporter of
enlargement and is Turkey’s main backer, is noncommittal on Ukraine.
France, like Luxembourg, is strongly opposed, concerned that it will
just turn the EU into a simple free trade zone.
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, said: “The
fact that Turkey is joining means it is only a matter of time before
Ukraine becomes a candidate.
“There is no good reason for it not to join. The (commission policy)
opposing Ukraine is simply not credible, and France will have to
follow the majority view on this.”
HOW UKRAINE MEASURES UP
The country’s GDP was £2,800 per capita in 2003, compared with an EU
average of £14,900
Average life expectancy is 68 (78 within the EU)
Ukraine has one of the world’s highest literacy rates: over 99.5 per
cent of the population over 15 rated as literate
Source: World Bank – World Development Indicators database

ARTSAKH PAYS TRIBUTE TO SPITAK EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS
STEPANAKERT, December 7 (Noyan Tapan). On December 7, NKR President
Arkady Goukassian visited the Memorial complex in Stepanakert,
where he laid flowers to the monument to the 1988 Spitak earthquake
victims. According to the Head Information Department attached to
the NKR President, NKR NA Chairman Oleg Yesayan, NKR Prime Minister
Anushavan Danielian, members of the Security Council, the heads
of tbe ministries and departments, executives of the presidential
staff, the parliament and the NKR government, staffs of enterprises,
organizations, institutions and educational establishments of Nagorno
Karabakh also laid flowers.

Intensification of combating international terrorism discussed at CIS IPA
Kazinform, Kazakhstan
Dec 6 2004
Astana. December 6. KAZINFORM. 24th plenary session of the CIS
Interparliamentary assembly (IPA) ended December 4 in adoption of a
set of model draft laws in sphere of cultural cooperation, observation
of human rights and liberties, Kazinform reports.
The agenda comprised 13 points, including strengthening of the role
of parliaments of CIS IPA member states in fighting international
terrorism.
During the held bilateral meetings of Chairman of the Senate of
the Parliament of Kazakhstan Nurtai Abykayev with Chairman of the
Federation Council of the Russian Federal Assembly Sergey Mironov,
Chairman of State Duma of Federal Assembly Boris Gryzlov, Chairman of
Armenian Federal Assembly Artur Bagdasaryan, Chairman of the House
of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Vladimir
Konoplyov the sides discussed situation and prospects of bilateral
interparliamentary relations and also issues of the constructive
dialogue on the level of international parliamentary organizations.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkey’s first Armenian museum opens in Istanbul
Agence France Presse
Dec 6 2004
ISTANBUL, Dec 5 (AFP) – Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday
opened the first museum in Turkey dedicated to the country’s Armenian
minority, which he said would help dispel accusations that genocide
was committed against Armenians under Ottoman rule.
“This museum will throw light on history for current and future
generations,” Erdogan said at the opening ceremony of the museum
inside a 175-year-old Armenian hospital in Istanbul.
“Anyone who casts an eye on the pieces in this museum will get a
straight look at our common history,” he said.
Erdogan was referring to Armenian accusations that up to 1.5 million
of their kinsmen were massacred in orchestrated killings nine decades
ago under the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of modern Turkey.
Turkey categorically rejects claims of genocide and says 300,000
Armenians and thousands of Turks were killed in civil strife as the
Ottoman Empire fell apart, with Armenian rebels siding with invading
Russian troops.
“Instead of allowing (museum) pieces such as this to throw light
on history, facts are being distorted through speculation and
disinformation,” Erdogan said.
The Turkish leader said Turks and Armenians had lived peacefully in
the region for centuries and pledged that his government would watch
over the rights of the Armenian minority.
“As the prime minister of this country, I deem it a duty to protect
the rights of these citizens along with others and to stand by them
in good times and bad”, Erdogan said.
Turkey, an aspiring candidate for membership of the European Union,
is under pressure from the 25-nation bloc to enable its recognized
minorities and the Kurds to fully exercise their rights.
Turkey, basing itself on the terms of the Lausanne Treaty of 1923,
recognizes only non-Muslim Turks — Armenians, Greeks and Jews —
as minorities, but not the more than 13 million Kurds living in
the southeast.

EURASIA FOUNDATION PLEDGES $2 MILLION IN GRANTS FOR 2005
ArmenPress
Dec 6 2004
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS: The director of the Eurasia Foundation
Armenia office, Ara Nazinian, told a last Friday news conference
that the Foundation plans to provide Armenian non-governmental
organizations with around $2 million grants next year. Since its
inception in Armenia in 1995 the Foundation has made available some
600 grants totaling $20 million.
The bulk of that money came from the USAID, other major donors were
well-known Armenian Diaspora financial organizations-Lincy Foundation,
Kafesjian and Izmirlian Foundations, as well as the Open Society
Institute.
In the outgoing year the Eurasia Foundation has funded 70 projects
with a total budget of $1.5 million and has approved another 25 new
projects worth some $600,000. Almost two third of funding goes to
non-governmental organizations, active in Armenia’s regions. Ara
Nazinian said the policy of the Foundation is to shift the work and
investments from the capital Yerevan to regions.
He said the main focus of next year’s projects will be on projects
of regional importance, which will cover improvement of business
environment, development of local self-management bodies, improvement
of conditions of local mass media and introduction of high technology
in higher educational system.
Along with that the Eurasia Foundation will fund all other projects
which contain innovations and tend to strengthening of democratic
society.

PanArmenian News
Dec 3 2004
SLOVAKIAIS THE 16TH COUNTRY TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
The Parliament of Slovakia adopted the “Armenian resolution”
unanimously
On Tuesday the National Assembly of Slovakia passed a resolution
adopting Armenian genocide. According to Ashot Grigoryan – the leader
of Armenian community in Slovakia, the chairman of Slovakian
parliament Pavel Rushovski is going to make an official statement
urging not to allow Turkey’s acceptance to European Union.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian organizations lobbied the “Armenian
resolution” with the aid of deputies from Christian-Democratic party.
As for the government, it has repeatedly appealed to abstain from the
issue because according to the leaders of Slovakian foreign ministry
the resolution might have a negative impact on the relations between
Bratislava and Ankara. Nevertheless, the parliament speaker did not
hinder the consideration of the issue and the decision was made
unanimously. 70 deputies voted for and no one voted against passing
the resolution. It is important to mention that the Slovakian
parliament intends to appeal to parliaments of European countries to
put forward the adoption of Armenian genocide as a necessary
requirement for acceptance of Turkey to European Union.
In Slovakian parliament the “Armenian resolution” was passed much
easier than in other countries. But it doesn’t mean that Ankara has
accepted the inevitable international recognition of Armenian
genocide and doesn’t put any obstacles in the way of its
internationalization. The thing is that Turkey has very few ways to
pressure Bratislava. Slovakia is one of the most “modest” and “non
pretentious” countries of Europe. Little depends on Slovakia and
Slovakia in its turn depends little of others. In the current case it
was difficult for Turkey to find ways to affect the decision making
process in contrast to Canada where many major corporations that had
interests in Turkey were involved in the campaign against passing the
resolution. The Montreal “S & C Lavilan” company received an order to
build a subway in Ankara. “Bombardier” company won the tender for
laying railways in Anatolia. The both mentioned companies actively
lobbied the interests of Turkey in the Canadian parliament. Slovakian
companies do not have any interests in Turkey, so that’s why the
Turks had very little lobby resources in this case.
Slovakia became the 16th country to recognize Armenian genocide
together with France, Russia, Italy, Vatican, Switzerland, Cyprus,
Belgium, Greece, Canada Australia, Uruguay, Argentina, Lebanon and
Iran. The Armenian genocide is also recognized by municipal
committees of 36 Italian cities, 26 French cities, two cantons of
Switzerland and the Welsh parliament. More and more achievable
becomes the perspective of recognition of Armenian genocide by the
United States of America. Resolutions have already been passed in 35
states. 167 members from 425 of the House of Representatives and 30
senators have already qualified the events of 1915 as genocide. Even
the US administration often threatens Ankara with recognizing the
genocide. It was just like that last week when the White House hinted
that it will stop hindering the “Armenian resolution” if they go on
telling in Ankara about the genocide as if organized in Iraq by
Americans. On Monday the Turkish foreign minister Abdula Gyul
approved that such talks have really taken place in Turkey. Thus, it
is quite obvious that a very favorable situation is being formed in
Washington for returning the “Armenian resolution” on the congress
agenda. Maybe the United States will become the 17th country,
recognizing Armenian genocide.

OSCE mediator sees UN debates on Karabakh as Azerbaijan’s “mistake”
Azadliq, Baku
1 Dec 04

Text of unattributed report by Azerbaijani newspaper Azadliq on 1
December headlined “The Minsk Group blames Azerbaijan for making a
mistake” and subheaded “Yuriy Merzlyakov explains his opinion by
Azerbaijan’s refusal to accept the suggested resolution”
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairman from Russia, Yuriy Merzlyakov, has
clarified some issues about the details of the resolution on Nagornyy
Karabakh submitted to the UN General Assembly for discussion on 23
November. It became known that the co-chairmen [from the USA, France
and Russia] who failed to prevent the discussions attempted to include
an alternative resolution in the agenda of the UN General Assembly.
However, official Baku opposed this demand.
“We submitted an alternative resolution to Azerbaijan four days before
the UN General Assembly discussions. Disagreeing with this, Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov insisted that the resolution submitted by
Azerbaijan should be put on the agenda. However, Azerbaijan did not
admit that it made a mistake by submitting its resolution for
discussion,” he said.
Saying that the meeting was confidential, Merzlyakov declined to
disclose the content of the draft they had put forward. The
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry did not declare either which resolution
the talk was about.
The head of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry press service, Matin
Mirza, said that there could be a certain resolution which Merzlyakov
spoke about. However, this proposal was unofficial.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agence France Presse
30 novembre 2004 mardi 4:57 PM GMT
Rixe à Valence: l’UDF dénonce “une agression inacceptable”
PARIS 30 nov 2004
Le groupe UDF à l’Assemblée a “dénoncé avec force” mardi “l’agression
inacceptable” dont ont été victimes des jeunes d’origine arménienne
samedi à Valence (Drôme) de la part de jeunes d’origine turque et a
demandé “des sanctions”.
Dans un communiqué rédigé au nom de son groupe, le député de la Loire
François Rochebloine a demandé “au ministre de l’Intérieur et au
ministre de la Justice de prendre toutes les dispositions nécessaires
pour que les auteurs de ces actes soient sanctionnés et ne puissent
être renouvelés dans le futur”.
“La liberté d’informer et de manifester doit être préservée”, a-t-il
ajouté.
Samedi à Valence, une rixe avait opposé des Français d’origine
arménienne à des Français d’origine turque. Les premiers, qui
militent contre une entrée de la Turquie dans l’Union européenne,
distribuaient sur la voie publique des tracts sur le génocide
arménien en 1915 par l’Etat turc.
Selon la police, cette rixe a fait quatre blessés légers et n’a donné
lieu à aucune interpellation.
M. Rochebloine a souligné que cette “agression” de jeunes militants
d’asociations arméniennes était intervenue quelques jours avant le
sommet européen du 17 décembre consacré à la question de l’entrée de
la Turquie dans l’UE.
L’UDF est opposée à une adhésion d’Ankara à l’UE.

AINA (Assyrian), CA
Dec 1 2004
Australian Liberal Party Condemns Iraq Church Bombings, Calls for
Safe Haven for Christians
(AINA) — The Liberal Party of Australia, NSW division, issued a
statement condemning the bombing of churches in Iraq, and calling for
a Christian enclave.
The Young Liberal Movement of NSW is the most influential youth
political organisation in Australia, and is the youth wing of the
centre-right conservative Australian Liberal Party, led by the
current Prime Minister of Australia, The Hon. John Howard MP. On
Saturday the 27th of November the state council, a meeting of
branches from the state of NSW gather to discuss policy, issued a
policy motion made by the Smithfield branch, which has many Assyrian
members and is located near Fairfield, which has the largest
concentration of Assyrians in Australia.
The Statement states:
The Liberal Party of Australia, NSW Division condemn the hideous and
unjustifiable attacks on the Assyrian and Armenian Christian churches
in Baghdad and Mosul that killed 15 worshipers and injured another
65. These attacks are a crime not only against Iraqi Christians but
all Iraqis who seek a free and democratic Iraq. The Liberal Party of
Australia, NSW Division further deems that the formation of a
Christian enclave in the north is necessary to safeguard the
country’s Christian minority, who makeup 3% of the total population.
The motion was passed unanimously by over 100 delegates in the
presence of Federal members of Parliament and is now a part of the
official policy of the NSW Young Liberals.

Reuters AlertNet, UK
Nov 30 2004
Equatorial Guinea coup trial “grossly unfair”-Amnesty
30 Nov 2004 19:13:41 GMT

By Estelle Shirbon
MADRID, Nov 30 (Reuters) – Equatorial Guinea’s trial of 19 suspected
mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in the oil-rich African
country was “grossly unfair” and the court ignored allegations of
torture, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
A court in the Equatorial Guinean capital Malabo last Friday
sentenced 11 foreigners it said were involved in an attempt to topple
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo to jail terms ranging from 14
to 34 years.
Two Equatorial Guineans were sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment.
Three other Equatorial Guineans and three South Africans were
acquitted.
“No evidence was presented in court to sustain the charges against
the accused other than their statements, which the defendants said
had been extracted under torture,” Amnesty said.
“However, defendants’ protestations to this effect were ignored by
the bench … No court can ignore allegations as serious as these,”
the human rights group said in a statement.
Authorities in Equatorial Guinea say the men on trial were an advance
party of mercenaries bent on killing Obiang and replacing him with
exiled opposition politician Severo Moto, who has denied any role in
the plot.
They say a web of foreign financiers hungry for a share of Equatorial
Guinea’s oil wealth backed the scheme.
The widely respected human rights group’s condemnation could
complicate any possible attempt by Equatorial Guinea to obtain the
extradition of the alleged financial backers of the plot.
They include Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher, who faces trial in South Africa on charges he
helped finance the scheme. Thatcher denies any role.
DEFENDANTS’ RIGHTS VIOLATED-AMNESTY
Amnesty said the rights of the eight South Africans and six Armenians
on trial had been violated from the moment of their arrest on March
8.
“All defendants were held incommunicado, handcuffed and shackled 24
hours a day,” it said. “They did not receive an adequate diet, and
only rarely received medical treatment for the many ailments that
afflicted them in prison.”
The state prosecutor told the court during the trial that all the
suspects’ rights had been respected.
Those convicted will remain in the same jail where they have been
held so far, Malabo’s infamous Black Beach prison.
Amnesty said a question mark remained over the fate of Gerhard Merz,
a German also arrested on March 8 who died in Black Beach nine days
later. Authorities said he was killed by cerebral malaria but two
defendants in the trial told the court he died as a result of
torture.
Amnesty said the men did not see their defence lawyers until two days
before the start of the trial.
It also said the statements presented in court were in Spanish — a
language the defendants did not understand — and that the English
translation provided to the South African suspects missed out or
distorted vital pieces of information.
“Neither the verdict not the sentences were translated, and the
defendants left the court with no knowledge of their fate.”
The foreign suspects appeared in court with their wrists and ankles
chained together at all times, which Amnesty said was “cruel,
degrading and inhumane treatment”.