Author: Kanayan Tamar

WALKERS RAISE $15,000 FOR DARFUR
By Sue Doyle, Staff Writer

Los Angeles Daily News, CA
June 4 2007

WEST HILLS – Some 400 people joined a three-mile walk Sunday, raising
an estimated $15,000 toward aid for refugees escaping violence in
Sudan’s Darfur region.

Participants want to put the deadly clashes on politicians’ radar
so America will take a stronger and louder role against Sudan’s
government, which critics allege is behind the bloodshed that began
in 2003.

Nobody knows for sure just how many have been killed in the struggle
between local rebels and government forces over water resources and
land. However, international agencies have estimated that between
200,000 and 400,000 people have died and 2.5 million people have been
driven from their homes in Darfur, located in western Sudan.

Saying it’s time to get involved and stop the atrocities, Jewish
World Watch, an Encino-based nonprofit, sponsored Sunday’s walk to
spread the word.

"Darfur is unfortunately now infamous for being the first genocide
of this century," said Tzivia Schwartz-Getzug, executive director of
the organization.

Sudanese leaders have refused to allow 20,000 troops from the United
Nations and the African Union peacekeeping force into Darfur.

Taking punitive steps against the country, President George W. Bush
last week banned 31 Sudanese companies and some individuals from
doing business with U.S. companies and banks.

Because Sudan does much of its trade with Arab and Asian nations,
some critics say America’s sanctions will have little economic effect
on the country.

"We need instead to turn to the world’s oil companies and say,
"You’ve got to get out of Sudan," said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman
Oaks, who spoke to participants at the event.

Walkers began and ended the three-mile route at the Jewish Federation
Valley Alliance, which also sponsored the event.

For fifth-graders Eva Gellman and Caila Glickman, Sunday’s walk
fulfilled an assignment to do at least one weekly charity at their
school – Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School, a Northridge Jewish
day school.

The walk also gave the 11-year-olds time to think about children
their own age in Darfur and the suffering they face.

"It makes you realize that you have so much and other people don’t,"
said Eva. "And that you should help them."

To symbolize some of history’s genocides, six tents were set up in the
alliance’s courtyard to represent Armenia, the Holocaust, Cambodia,
Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur. Well-wishers wrote messages of love,
hope and peace on the white canvas tents.

Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918
Fax: 818.246.7353
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

PRESS RELEASE June 5, 2007

Contact: Haig Hovsepian
Tel: (818) 500-1918

Armenian American Community Is Focused on Genocide Resolution According To
Internet Poll

Los Angeles, CA – The Armenian National Committee of America – Western
Region (ANCA-WR) is reporting that an internet poll conducted over a two
week period has shown that over 85% of the Armenian American community is
closely following the Armenian Genocide resolution (H. Res. 106) currently
pending in the U.S. Congress. The poll was conducted in late May and early
June and included the participation of 848 participants.

Individuals who participated in the internet poll were asked if they were
following the progress of H. Res. 106 which is pending before the House
Committee on Foreign Affairs. The bill, which was introduced on January 30,
2007 by Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA-29) enjoys support from over 195
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Over 85% (731 individuals) of respondents conveyed that they are closely
monitoring the status of the bill. In addition, a resounding 97% of
respondents shared that they would not vote for a Member of Congress who did
not support the Armenian Genocide resolution.

"We are pleased that so many Armenian American voters are educated and
focused on the Armenian Genocide resolution," commented ANCA-WR Executive
Director Andrew Kzirian. "An educated and united community is a strong
community. Clearly, ANC chapters in California, Arizona, Nevada and
elsewhere across the western United States have done a successful job in
educating, voter by voter, our community on the status of the Armenian
Genocide resolution," Kzirian added.

The ANCA-WR internet poll was conducted between May 25, 2007 and June 4,
2007 and included the participation of individuals across the Western United
States. The internet poll surveyed the opinions of 848 individuals and had
an error margin of plus/minus 3 percent.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and most
influential Armenian American grassroots political organization. Working in
coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout
the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA
actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad
range of issues.

DEVELOPMENT OF REAL ESTATE MARKET IS CONDITIONED BY TRAINING OF
RESPECTIVE SPECIALISTS AT UNIVERSITIES, EXPERTS CONSIDER

YEREVAN, JUNE 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The first step aimed at development of
real estate market in Armenia should be presence of qualified
specialists, which is possible in case of creating the respective
faculties or departments at universities. Expressing such opinion in
his interview to Noyan Tapan correspondent, Erik Mesropian, Chairman of
Real Estate Scientific-Information Center, chief expert of Urban
Institute international program’s real estate market, said that Real
Estate Management and Expertise faculty has been functioning at the
Financial Academy since 2004 on the initiative of Accern corporation.
In E. Mesropian’s words, this contributes to training of qualified
specialists at the very universities and not at firms. In his words,
before this, the gap was filled by retraining courses held at Accern.

Teaching of Real Estate Economics subject has started at
Armenian-Russian (Slavonic) University since 2006, which also
contributes to rise of level of specialization. However, in E.
Mesropian’s words, there is still a lot to do in the issue of training
of serious specialists in this quickly developing sphere.

Sunday Telegraph Magazine (Australia)
June 3, 2007 Sunday

In my own words … JON DEE

by Elissa Blake

He’s spent his working life making the world a better place, but
there’s still plenty more to do. The 43-year-old co-founder and
chairman of Planet Ark has inspired businesses, individuals and rock
bands to each play their part

My dad was a fireman. I was so proud of him. The community values I
learnt from him and his colleagues left a real imprint on me as a
young boy.

I was always very entrepreneurial as a kid and I wanted to help
people. I grew up in a small town called Wem [in Shropshire, England]
and my paper round ended at an old people’s home. I loved my daily
chats with the residents, but I noticed that many of them were dumped
there by their families and spent their days staring at a blank wall.
To this day, that still angers me. So I started working as a
volunteer there and later started fundraising for charities at
school.

At 14, I became vegetarian. I went for a job at the local chicken
farm, thinking I’d be just collecting eggs. But there were eight
chickens to a small cage and one of the jobs was removing the hens
pecked to death by other hens. That’s when I decided not to eat meat
any more. Then I started to question all my other values. A lot of
the moral values I hold today were formed around that time.

The rock band Yes changed my life. I saw them live when I was 13 and
thought they were brilliant. I joined the fan club and later edited
the Yes fan-club magazine. I never told them I was only 17. I used to
put on a low voice on the phone so they thought I was in my 30s. When
I was invited to [drummer] Alan White’s wedding, the look of shock on
their faces was quite funny. I got very drunk with [Led Zeppelin’s]
Jimmy Page at the reception and met all my heroes. It made me realise
success often comes down to who you know. If you have a good idea and
a good network, you can make most things happen. You only need a
degree of confidence.

When I look back, the thing I’m most proud of is helping the Armenian
earthquake victims. In 1988, I got the first independent TV crew into
the quake zone where more than 100,000 people had been killed. I took
the footage and distributed it to newsrooms around the world – that
unleashed a firestorm of media coverage that helped kick-start the
massive international aid effort. The President of Armenia gave me a
medal for my work.

I talked some top rockstars into doing an album, Rock Aid Armenia. It
was the first charity album to go gold in Britain. To get them on
board, I showed them the worst footage. That’s when I realised if you
have a strong message and it’s about doing good, people will help. I
believe people inherently want to do good. It’s in our nature to look
after each other.

Climate change is our biggest challenge and it needs a huge worldwide
effort. When President Kennedy challenged Americans [in 1961] to put
a man on the moon by the end of that decade, everyone rose to the
occasion. We need a similar call to arms; we need to spend billions
from our resources boom to safeguard the future of Australia’s kids.
Look at Cooper Basin in South Australia. The geothermal energy in the
hot rocks could supply a huge amount of our needs. We could be a role
model to the world with renewable energy instead of copying outdated
ideas, such as nuclear, that are far too dangerous.

Pat Cash and I were 27-year-olds when we set up Planet Ark. I went
around to his place in London. He had two cartons of beer and the
more we drank, the more we talked about doing something for the
environment. We had the idea to help businesses do the right thing
and get the solutions out there to the average person as well. That
was 16 years ago and, together with the Planet Ark team, we’ve
achieved way more than we believed possible.

We set up Planet Ark in Australia because our small population can be
a good role model. That’s been proven by the ‘Ban the Bulb’ idea –
getting rid of incandescent globes over three years and replacing
them with energy savers. The government took that idea of mine,
committed to it publicly and now the whole of Europe has followed us.
We should be doing more of that.

Planet Ark is a passion for me, but I’m working on other projects.
Being the Australian spokesperson for the DVD launch of An
Inconvenient Truth was a real highlight. I now think of myself more
as a change agent. To me, sustainability is not just about a
sustainable environment, it’s also about having a more sustainable
society where big businesses are giving back to the community.

We need to get back to the Australian idea of giving people a fair
go. We need to look after each other more. We’ve lost a bit of that
ethos. Corporations are waking up to the idea; they’re starting to
see it’s not all about the bottom line. Australia has fallen
dramatically behind other countries in corporate responsibility over
the past decade.

I’d love to see people volunteer and give more to their communities.
I’ve started a company, Issues Communications, to help individuals
and businesses do that. One of the first groups I’d like to help is
elderly people. We rightly revere them on Anzac Day, but forget about
them the rest of the year.

I’m a big geek. I love technology that improves people’s lives. I
caught some of my daughter Estelle’s first steps on webcam, and my
parents in England saw it live over the internet.

One of my ambitions is to drive a fully electric car. I only got my
driver’s licence last year. I vowed not to drive until someone
invented a practical electric car. But when the [petrol-electric
hybrid] Toyota Prius came out, I decided to get one.

I’ve spent my working life challenging the status quo. I want to
inspire Australia’s kids to believe that they have the power to
create a better world. I want them to avoid making the same mistakes
that many of us adults have made.

On June 5, Jon Dee releases the results of a poll of 14,000 people’s
environmental attitudes in 14 countries. From next week, he will be
writing the Eco A-Gogo column on ‘Sunday Best’.

SKINHEAD IS NOT A KILLER; SKINHEAD IS A PATRIOT, ISN’T HE?

PanARMENIAN.Net
31.05.2007 GMT+04:00

By March 2007, 539 cases of similar attacks have been registered,
among which 54 with deadly outcomes.

The circuit court of Moscow has justified Roman Polusnyak; the
murderer of the 19 year-old Arthur Sardaryan. 10 out of 12 members
of the jury found the murderer not guilty, in spite of the evidence
brought by two witnesses, who identified the murderer. Arthur Sardaryan
was killed on May 25, 2006 on train near the Klyazma station. Two
skinheads attacked Arthur from his back and shouting "Viva Russia"
struck him 6 blows on his thorax.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The decision of the circuit court of Moscow speaks
for the policy carried out against the "foreigners", which gives more
and more bases for similar crimes to be committed not only in large
cities, but in smaller and remote places too. It should be mentioned
that the Russian Nation has always been very conservative towards the
"others". And they have never liked them, but recently the number of
the xenophobes and the nationalists in Russia has increased greatly,
and most of those suffering from xenophobia are young people. The
murders are committed by young people, who unfortunately do not regret
for the committed, and vise versa, even may boast about it. For
instance the 18 year-old Arthur Rino together with his friend 18
year-old Pavel Skachevski killed dozens of people. The teenager told
in details how he killed and "cleaned up the city" from the foreigners
and said that at first no one believed his words in the police station,
but later on some of his evidences proved to be truthful. If the proves
of all the other crimes are found as well, this case will undoubtedly
give rise to a storm in the society as in this case the question is
not in a single murder of a representative of a national minority,
but of a series of murders. Since August 2006 Rino killed 37 people,
20 of which he did together with his friend Skachevski.

By March 2007, 539 cases of similar attacks have been registered,
among which 54 with deadly outcomes. These crimes do not include the
crimes committed against the homeless, even if the skinhead attacks
are officially given publicity to by the representatives of the law
enforcement officers. The victims of the mass fights aren’t included
here either, as it’s not possible to fix their exact number.

The violations of the organized skinhead groupings start to carry
a more demonstrative character, which is expressed in different
ways. Before it was basically expressed through recognizing the
responsibility for violent activities, but now the organized attacks
become more common, especially those dedicated to some certain event
(excluding the traditional "celebration" of the skinheads dedicated
to Hitler’s birthday, April 20, which was fixed long ago). This
is particularly typical of St. Petersburg, where a rather big and
well-organized skinhead grouping is sheltered, and the attack on the
9 year-old Lillian Sisocco, which was made right after the trial on
the murder of another 9 year-old girl was over speak for the above
mentioned. Yet this tendency is gradually moving to some other cities
and firstly to Moscow. The attackers may show they are not afraid to be
caught so many murders are committed at daytime in crowded places just
like the case with Vigen Abramyants, who was killed on the platform of
the metro station "Pushkinskaya" on April 22, 2006. Crimes committed
on racial grounds become more common. The case with Alexander Koptsev,
who organized a slaughter on January 11, 2006 in a synagogue in Moscow
in the result of which 9 people were injured, is not the only one.

According to the official statistics of 2005, 50% of Russians are for
setting limits on the number of the people of Caucasian origins. 46%
of Russians think that they live in poorer condition than the
representatives of other nationalities. 37% agreed with the idea,
that "in Russia many troubles are caused by the representatives of
others nationalities mainly".

"PanARMENIAN.Net" analytical department

RELIGIOUS COMPROMISE
By Richard Miniter

Wall Street Journal
June 1 2007

Van, Turkey

Our story starts with a small sandstone 10th-century Armenian church,
on an uninhabited rock less than 500 yards wide, in a remote Turkish
lake that changes colors like moods and sometimes bubbles like soda.

If you had seen the ruins of it, as I did in 2000, you might cry. Its
roof was gone. Its bas-reliefs, chiseled by master carvers a millennium
ago, of Adam and Eve, of saints and kings, were wearing away in the
wind. It was an empty husk that had not heard a Mass in more than
90 years.

In March, after years of painstaking restoration, Turkey reopened the
church as a museum. Among the ambassadors and visitors at the opening
ceremonies, I roamed the grounds. The building is now magnificent.

Its roof is restored and its reliefs cleaned.

Church of the Holy Cross in Van, Turkey The Church of the Holy Cross
is one of the holiest sites for Armenian Christians, who once made
up one-third of the population around Van.

They were driven out by the Ottomans in 1915, when some were suspected
of supporting Russia-backed terrorist attacks. During World War I,
the Ottomans were allied with Germany and Austria, fighting Russia,
Britain and France. While most Turkish historians concede there was a
massacre of Armenians (while pointing out that Armenians slaughtered
Turks from 1890 to 1915 and that most Armenians were relocated,
not slain), they hesitate to call it genocide. The Armenians do not
hesitate — and sometimes compare it to the Holocaust. The Armenian
Diaspora has emerged as a real political force in Western Europe,
complicating Turkey’s plans to join the European Union.

The re-opening of the church was a peace offering by the AKP,
Turkey’s Islam-oriented ruling party, but all did not run smoothly at
first. After spending millions on the structure, the Turkish government
refused to restore the stone cross on the steeple. Turkish journalists
were quick to criticize. Ultimately, common sense prevailed.

"I cannot say we will have the stone-cross back there tomorrow, but
I do not see any problem in that," Culture Minister Attilla Koc said.

He wanted time for an "academic council" to consider the
issue. Mr. Koc’s answer might not sound "revolutionary" to our ears,
but Turkish News columnist Yusuf Kanli declared it so. Many Christian
churches have been waiting for decades for permission to restore
their churches at their own expense.

At the opening of the Church of the Holy Cross, I met George Kumar,
bishop of Turkey’s some 20,000 remaining Roman Catholics. He said
that five churches in Istanbul alone are still awaiting approval to
be repaired. "I wish they would let us restore all of the churches,"
he said softly, but he doesn’t want to push. "We will wait and pray."

Nor did Armenian Christians who attended the opening ceremonies
complain. They told me that they were there for history and for
peace. Of course, the Turks would buy a lot of goodwill by lifting
restrictions on repairing churches. Many Turkish politicians (even
members of the AKP) see it this way. But Egemen Bagis, the prime
minister’s foreign policy adviser and a member of Parliament, says
that "Turkey is a democracy, not a sultanate." Rebuilding churches
here is like building mosques in America and Europe, controversial
among ordinary citizens. Still, the blind machinery of the law lets
mosques go up in Boston, Chicago and the rural plains of Virginia.

Italy and Spain have seen some of the world’s largest mosques change
their skylines.

Mr. Bagis stresses religious tolerance. "In my neighborhood in
Istanbul, there are Christians, Muslims and Jews living side-by-side.

My children have Christian and Jewish friends." He is right. That is
the way forward.

So far, everyone has acted with admirable restraint. The Armenian
Patriarch, who spoke at the opening ceremonies, asked only if a Mass
could be celebrated in the church once a year. The culture minister
may let a cross grace the roof. Some 3,000 people have visited the
church since its re-opening earlier this spring. Turkey’s critics
focus on its Ottoman past and, more recently, its Islam-oriented
ruling party. They miss the spirit of compromise that prevails in
the republic. It is this spirit that unites Turkey with the West
and separates it from its Middle East neighbors. A difference made
manifest by a small church in Van.

Mr. Miniter is the Washington editor of PajamasMedia.com and a fellow
at the Hudson Institute.

DASHNAKS AGAIN MEET KOCHARIAN ON NEW COALITION
By Ruzanna Khachatrian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
June 1 2007

The leadership of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun) was having what appeared to be final deliberations
on its continued presence in Armenia’s government on Friday after
holding more talks with President Robert Kocharian.

Hrant Markarian, the de facto head of its worldwide governing Bureau,
told RFE/RL that Kocharian presented him and other top party leaders
with "new proposals" on the terms of Dashnaktsutyun’s involvement in
a coalition government to be formed by Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian.

Markarian refused to disclose those proposals, saying only that they
will be presented to the governing Supreme Body of the Dashnaktsutyun
organization in Armenia. The body met later on Friday but made no
decisions apart from instructing its collective leadership to draft
a response to Kocharian’s proposals.

"The meeting was adjourned," a senior party member, Gegham Manukian,
told RFE/RL. "Discussions will continue later on."

Party officials say that the Supreme Body, of which Markarian is
not a member, will have a final say on the matter, even though it is
formally subordinated to the Bureau dominated by Diaspora Armenians.

Markarian implied that the influential party, which has branches in
virtually all major Armenian communities abroad, will announce on
Saturday whether or not it will join Sarkisian’s cabinet.

Markarian and the top Supreme Body member, Armen Rustamian, already
met Kocharian on Wednesday but apparently failed to reach any
agreement. Lragir.am reported that they also held more with Sarkisian
and other senior representatives of the governing Republican Party
(HHK) in Kocharian’s presence late Thursday. According to the online
news service, the Dashnaktsutyun leaders again rejected Sarkisian’s
demands that they commit themselves to supporting him in next year’s
presidential election in return for retaining their control over
three or four government ministries.

Dashnaktsutyun endorsement would give a major boost to Sarkisian’s
chances of succeeding Kocharian as president early next year.

Observers believe this is the reason why he is ready to share power
with the center-left nationalist party despite the fact that his
HHK won an outright majority in the Armenian parliament in the May
12 elections. Dashnaktsutyun, by comparison, will have only 16 seats
in the 131-member National Assembly.

In an interview with RFE/RL earlier this week, Markarian said his party
is seeking a greater say in the formulation of key government policies
and will not be "bribed" by ministerial portfolios. He and other party
leaders had earlier demanded that Armenia’s next defense minister be
affiliated with Dashnaktsutyun. However, the HHK’s landslide election
victory all but ruled out such possibility.

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION LEADER WARNS COUNTERPART TO ACCEPT DEFECTIONS

Arminfo
1 Jun 07

Yerevan, 1 June: New Times party leader Aram Karapetyan sympathizes
with People’s Party of Armenia [PPA] leader Stepan Demirchyan over
the intention of Demirchyan’s two deputies to leave the party.

Karapetyan told Arminfo that he sympathized with Demirchyan but a p
olitician, and especially a party leader, should always be prepared
to the fact that some of his friends may betray and leave him in
hardships. "What can you do, it is their choice. Similar things happen
in politics," Karapetyan said.

It was reported earlier that PPA board secretary Vardan Lazarian has
announced he was going to leave the party. Another board secretary,
Stepan Zakaryan, has said he too may leave the party.

PROBLEM
Ara Papian

Azat Artsakh Daily, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]
30 May 07

The settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict some people say is
possible through conciliation of the allegedly contradicting principles
of territorial integrity and self-determination of peoples. In speaking
about territorial integrity mainly two documents are referred to, the
Charter of the United Nations (1945) and the Conference on Security
and Co-operation in Europe, Final Act (1975). Let us go through
these documents to see if these references are relevant. First,
let us consider the principles of self-determination of peoples and
territorial integrity according to the Charter of the United Nations
to reveal their legal content in the document and thereby their
relevance to the international law. The charter is dominant over
all the other international documents. This provision is set down
in Article 103 of the Charter, and is accepted by all the members of
the UN. Article 1 of the Charter dwells on the goals and principles
of this organization. According to Article 1 Point 2 of the Charter
of the United Nations, "The Purposes of the United Nations are:
1. … 2. To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect
for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples,
and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal
peace." [1] It is clear that the UN considers self-determination
of peoples (self-determination, not just the right of people for
self-determination, i.e. the application of this right) as not only
one of its basic principles but also as a basis for friendly relations
and universal peace. Hence, rejection of self-determination hinders
friendship and universal peace. In addition, Article 24, Point 2 holds:
"In discharging these duties [the maintenance of international peace
and security] the Security Council shall act in accordance with
the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations." It means in the
maintenance of international peace and security the Security Council
must be guided by self-determination if peoples because it is one of
its principles. As to territorial integrity, it is not included in
the purposes or principles of the UN. The Charter includes (Article
2, Point 4) unacceptability of use of force against territorial
integrity in international relations. "All Members shall refrain in
their international relations from the threat or use of force against
the territorial integrity or political independence of any state…" In
other words, it is not absolute maintenance of territorial integrity of
a state but the unacceptability of use of force against the territorial
integrity of one state by another state. It has nothing to do with
applying the tight of the self-determinate community, separation with
its own territory, if this community wishes to self-determinate through
independence. It should be noted that only the community has the right
to decide the form of its self-determination: a classic independent
country, a federation, sovereignty, or unification with another state
[2]. Most experts on the law of nations acknowledge self-termination as
a legal principle unlike the so-called territorial integrity. Hence,
it is obvious that the political aspect of the issue cannot distort
its legal content [3].

Moreover, the principle of self-determination is part of the jus cogens
of the international law, therefore [4] it cannot be changed. The UN
General Assembly declared by Resolution 637A(VII) (December 16, 1952):
"The States Members of the United Nations shall uphold the principle
of self-determination of all peoples and nations." [5] It is highly
important that the honoring of the right for self-determination is
interpreted as obligation proceeding from the Charter of the United
Nations. (… regards the principle of self-determination as a part of
the obligations stemming from the Charter) [6]. The other important
international document which is often referred to is the Conference
on Security and Co-operation in Europe, Final Act adopted on August 1,
1975. It is also known as Helsinki Final Act. This document allegedly
upholds territorial integrity and indivisibility of border. It does
not. "They [the participating States] consider that their frontiers can
be changed, in accordance with international law, by peaceful means
and by agreement," holds Helsinki Final Act’s Chapter 1. It makes
clear that use of force against territorial integrity and political
independence is unacceptable. "The participating States will refrain
in their mutual relations, as well as in their international relations
in general, from the treat or use of force against the territorial
integrity or political independence of any State …" Hence, it is
obvious that the Helsinki Final Act, like the Charter, condemns use
of force against territorial integrity and not absolute maintenance of
territorial integrity. In other words, the unacceptability of threat or
use of force by one of the countries which signed the final act against
another country’s territorial integrity and political independence. It
should be kept in mind that the Helsinki Final Act and the Charter
intend to maintain peace and security through refraining from threat
or use of force in international relations and not eternal borders
or conferring the status of a holy cow to the territories of states.

Self-determination of peoples is one of the basic principles
of the international law in accordance to which the borders of
the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Yugoslavia changed and will
change (Serbia). To conclude, neither the Charter nor the Helsinki
Final Act provide for territorial integrity or indivisibility of
borders. These documents include only commitment assumed by countries
on signing these documents not to threaten or use force against the
territorial integrity of another state. Hence, if Azerbaijan used
force in answer to the free and peaceful expression of the will
of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh (rallies, referendums, claims,
appeals), took inadequate means of punishment, perpetrated massacres
of the Armenian citizens of Azerbaijan in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad,
waged a ruthless war with Ukrainian, Afghan, Russian mercenaries
and sustained a defeat losing control over part of the territories
it considers as its own, it has nothing to do with the territorial
integrity mentioned in the abovementioned documents.*** 1. Similar
wording is found in Article 55 of the Charter on stability. 2. Ian
Brownlie, Principles of Public International Law, Oxford University
Press, Fifth edition, 2001, p. 599. 3. Ibid., p. 600. 4. Ibid.,
pp. 475-76. 5. Ibid., p. 600. 6. Ibid.

ANOTHER MILITARY CONVOY SET TO LEAVE BASE IN GEORGIA MAY 30

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 29 2007

MOSCOW, May 29 (RIA Novosti) – A military convoy will leave a Russian
military base in Georgia Wednesday as part of a 2006 deal on the
withdrawal of Russian bases from the country, a senior military
official said Tuesday.

Igor Konashenkov, an aide to the Russian Ground Forces commander, said
the convoy consisting of over 20 trucks will leave the Akhalkalaki
base in the south of the country and head for Gyumri in neighboring
Armenia, where Russia retains Military Base 102.

The Akhalkalaki base located in a region populated largely by ethnic
Armenians will be completely evacuated before the end of the year,
while the base in the Black Sea port of Batumi is to close by the
end of 2008.

Russia completed the withdrawal of its military garrison from the
Georgian capital, Tbilisi, handing over control of its headquarters
to Georgia’s Defense Ministry, last December.

Konashenkov also said that another military convoy, consisting of 32
carriages and carrying about 200 metric tons of cargo, will leave by
rail the Batumi base on the Black Sea Thursday.

"We plan to send before the yearend 14 more convoys by rail and one
convoy by road from Georgian territory to Russia and Military Base 102
[in Gyumri]," Konashenkov said.

According to the agreement between the countries, Russia must complete
the removal of its bases in Georgia by the end of 2008.

Georgia’s Western-leaning leadership, which is seeking to join NATO,
is uneasy about Russia’s continued military presence and has repeatedly
urged Moscow to close its Soviet-era bases.