Author: Kanayan Tamar

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief
========================================== ======
Tuesday 23 May 2006
TURKMENISTAN: DEMOLITION OF PLACES OF WORSHIP CONTINUES
In large-scale demolition projects in Turkmenistan, those expelled from
their home get no compensation and often nowhere to live. Amongst the
buildings demolished are religious communities’ places of worship. The
last surviving pre-revolutionary Armenian Apostolic church and a
family-owned Sunni mosque in the eastern port of Turkmenbashi have been
destroyed, Forum 18 News Service has been told. Exiled human rights
activist Vyacheslav Mamedov told Forum 18 that the mosque “was used on
Muslim festivals and for family events like weddings, funerals and sadakas
[commemorations of the dead].” The former Armenian church “was a very
beautiful building,” Mamedov recalled. He told Forum 18 that there is
widespread anger and fear over the destruction of the town’s historic
centre. Amongst places of worship in Turkmenistan, known to Forum 18 to
have been demolished in the past, are mosques, an Adventist church, and a
Hare Krishna temple.
TURKMENISTAN: DEMOLITION OF PLACES OF WORSHIP CONTINUES
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <; The demolition of historic 19th century buildings in the central part of the Caspian port town of Turkmenbashi [Türkmenbashy, formerly Krasnovodsk], including the last surviving pre-revolutionary Armenian Apostolic Church in Turkmenistan, has been completed this month on the orders of President Saparmurat Niyazov. The authorities completed demolition of the church in February 2005, having previously refused to hand it back to the local Armenian community for worship. The Armenian embassy in the capital Ashgabad [Ashgabat] confirmed to Forum 18 News Service that it had been informed about the destruction of the historic church in Turkmenbashi, but the ambassador Aram Grigoryan was out of the country on 22 May and unable to comment on the destruction. No-one was available for immediate comment at the Armenian Foreign Ministry in Yerevan on 22 May, or at the headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Echmiadzin near the Armenian capital. Also demolished amid the wholesale destruction of the century-old heart of Turkmenbashi, which began in 2004, was a family-owned Sunni Muslim mosque. Human rights activist Vyacheslav Mamedov told Forum 18 on 22 May that the local Etrekov family started building the mosque on their own land, near the Turkmenbashi Hotel, in 1993 and began using it for prayers in 2001 as it neared completion. "Until its demolition in July 2005, it was used on Muslim festivals and for family events like weddings, funerals and sadakas [commemorations of the dead]," Mamedov told Forum 18. He himself left Turkmenbashi in 2004, as the campaign was beginning, and is now a refugee in western Europe. The former Armenian church, built a century ago and consecrated by the then Catholicos (head of the Armenian Apostolic Church) in 1904, was confiscated by the Soviet authorities and turned into a warehouse. In 1993, Mamedov - as a local journalist and human rights activist - had supported attempts by the local Armenian community to form a cultural and religious centre in the town and regain possession of the church. He said the authorities consistently refused to register the community or allow it to function. "It was a very beautiful building," Mamedov recalls. "When we were trying to get it back in 1993, I remember looking inside and it was just used as a store for the local administration's old furniture and car parts." Mamedov - who has obtained a copy of a secret local administration order from November 2005 detailing which streets are to be destroyed - said there is widespread anger and fear in Turkmenbashi over the destruction of the town's historic centre, reactions confirmed by the exile Turkmenistan Helsinki Foundation. But Mamedov said the town's main Sunni Muslim mosque and the Russian Orthodox church are located close together in the newer parts of the town and are not in immediate danger of demolition. In massive construction redevelopments in Ashgabad and elsewhere in Turkmenistan, those expelled from their homes ahead of demolition get no compensation and often nowhere else to live. Among places of worship bulldozed in Ashgabad was the Seventh-day Adventist church, built in the 1990s and which was destroyed in 1999 at only one week's notice. The authorities claimed the land was needed for a road-widening programme, but for some years the site was derelict. The Adventists have never been given any compensation and are not allowed to build a new church to replace the one destroyed. Shortly before Ashgabad's Adventist Church was demolished, in August 1999 a Hare Krishna temple outside the eastern town of Mary was demolished. A mosque was among buildings in an entire settlement, Darvasa in the central Kara-Kum desert, which was destroyed in autumn 2004 after President Niyazov flew over in a helicopter and regarded the settlement as unattractive. Darvasa's mainly ethnic Uzbek residents were given just two hours to leave. One visitor to the settlement before its destruction told Forum 18 that the mosque had only just been completed when it was destroyed. Other mosques in Turkmenistan have also been destroyed, apparently in some cases for failure to honour the President Niyazov's books of alleged "spiritual writings" (see F18News 4 January 2005 < e_id=481> and 19 November 2003
< e_id=187>). (END)
For a personal commentary by a Protestant within Turkmenistan, on the
fiction – despite government claims – of religious freedom in the country,
and how religious communities and the international community should
respond to this, see < 728>
For more background, see Forum 18’s Turkmenistan religious freedom survey
at < 672>
A printer-friendly map of Turkmenistan is available at
< s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=turkme& gt; (END) © Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855 You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to F18News Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at

PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT INFO:
Research on Armenian Architecture (RAA/USA)
Attn: Jora Manoucherian
10430 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1104
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Tel: (818) 469-1186
Email: [email protected]
Research on Armenian Architecture (RAA), founded in 1972, has established
itself as a vital and highly productive organization in its mission to
research and document the rich Armenian cultural heritage.
Today, RAA archives have their meritorious place in the treasury of silent
documents, as containing the most trustworthy facts about the great
historical culture of the Armenian nation. RAA archives are a mighty
weapon in the Armenian people’s arsenal, in their fight for historical
truth and rights.
Among many enthusiasts who appreciated RAA’s role in Armenian reality and
extended their expertise to assist RAA when it was needed, Garegin
Chookaszian has his unique place. A well known specialist in the field of
Information Technology (IT), Mr. Chookaszian technically assisted and
contributed towards digitization project of RAA’s immense archive.
In recognition of his contributions, RAA/USA has invited and will honor Mr.
Garegin Chookaszian in June 2006, by holding a special event at Glendale,
California USA.
Mr. Chookaszian is an entrepreneur, intellectual, scientist and educator
who utilizes his capabilities and talents in many spheres of Armenian
social life. His efforts have promoted the growth and advancement of new
technologies and implemented a number of important socio-economic programs.
Among Mr. Chookaszian’s many achievements are the following:
· In 1996 he greatly contributed to and effectively organized the first
web-casting of the World Chess Olympiad held in Yerevan.
· In 1997, as Director of the Information and Publishing Department of
the Republic of Armenia, he successfully initiated and implemented the
first Armenian Satellite TV Channel in public life.
· From 1999-2001, as a member of the Open Society Institute (OSI)
Information Sub-board (Budapest, Hungary), Mr. Chookaszian made strategic
decisions for information and communication programs for the OSI network in
30 countries.
· In 2005, he won the United Nations WORLD SUMMIT AWARD in the
e-Culture category for the “Aram Khachaturian, the Life and the Works”
interactive multi-media CD-ROM. He also earned Special Mention in the
e-Learning category for the “Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire, 1915-1923
” interactive multi-media CD-ROM.
· In 2005, he won the All Armenian `MASHTOTS 1600′ e-Contest Award in
the e-Armenian Literature Category for the `Paruir Sevak’ interactive
multi-media CD-ROM
Mr. Chookaszian will also hold a public presentation on IT progress in
Armenia on June 11, 2006, at 6:00 p.m. at Glendale’s Central Library and,
for the first time in the USA, will demonstrate his award winning CD-ROM
devoted to Aram Khachaturian. Entrance is free.

American Thinker, AZ
May 21 2006
Badging Infidels in Iran
May 20th, 2006
The Iranian Majlis or Parliament has reportedly passed (now
disputed) a law requiring that, `Jews would have to sew a yellow
strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would
wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth.’
An outraged Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Weisenthal Institute
immediately responded to the provisions for Jews:
`This is reminiscent of the Holocaust…Iran is moving closer and
closer to the ideology of the Nazis.’
Such a comparison sprang to the minds of many.
But Rabbi Hier’s statement and this general view ignore the immediate
context – most glaringly, the simultaneous dress badge requirements for
Christians and Zoroastrians living in Iran – and more importantly, the
sad historical legacy of Shi’ite religious persecution of all
non-Muslims which dates back to the founding of the Shi’ite theocracy
in (then) Persia, under Shah Ismail at the very outset of the 16th
century.
A reflexive invocation of the Nazi era is ahistorical, and
symptomatic of a general failure to appreciate either Judenhass or
much broader anti-`infidel’ (i.e., in this case anti-Christian and
anti-Zoroastrian) motifs intrinsic to orthodox Islamic doctrine and
practice – both Sunni and Shi’ite. The Iranian Parliament’s legislation
reflects the profound influence of najis – a unique Shi’ite
institution – not Nazism.
Shi’ite Theocratic Rule in Iran: Najis and non-Muslims (especially
Jews)
Visceral, even annihilationist animus towards Jews is a deep-rooted
phenomenon in Shi’ite Iran, hardly unique to the contemporary
post-Khomeini Shi’ite theocracy, including the current regime of
Ayatollah Khameini and President Ahmadinejad. The Safavid rulers, at
the outset of the 16th century, formally established Shi’a Islam as
the Persian state religion, while permitting a clerical hierarchy
nearly unlimited control and influence over all aspects of public
life.
The profound influence of the Shi’ite clerical elite, continued for
almost four centuries (although interrupted, between 1722-1795 during
the period of Sunni Afghan invasion and rule), through the later
Qajar period, as characterized by the noted scholar E.G. Browne:
The Mujtahids and Mulla are a great force in Persia and concern
themselves with every department of human activity from the minutest
detail of personal purification to the largest issues of politics
These Shi’ite clerics emphasized the notion of the ritual
uncleanliness (najis) of Jews, in particular, but also Christians,
Zoroastrians, and others, as the cornerstone of inter-confessional
relationships toward non-Muslims.
The impact of this najis conception (based on a literal
interpretation of Koran 9:28) was already apparent to European
visitors to Persia during the reign of the first Safavid Shah, Ismail
I (1502-1524). The Portuguese traveler Tome Pires observed (between
1512-1515), `Sheikh Ismail…never spares the life of any Jew’, while
another European travelogue notes, `…the great hatred (Ismail I)
bears against the Jews…’. During the reign of Shah Tahmasp I (d.
1576), the British merchant and traveler Anthony Jenkinson (a
Christian), when finally granted an audience with the Shah,
…was required to wear `basmackes’ (a kind of over-shoes), because
being a giaour [infidel], it was thought he would contaminate the
imperial precincts…when he was dismissed from the Shah’s presence,
[Jenkinson stated] `after me followed a man with a basanet of sand,
sifting all the way that I had gone within the said palace’- as
though covering something unclean.
Mohammad Baqer Majlesi (d. 1699), the highest institutionalized
clerical officer under both Shah Sulayman (1666-1694) and Shah Husayn
(1694-1722), was perhaps the most influential cleric of the Safavid
Shi’ite theocracy in Persia. By design, he wrote many works in
Persian to disseminate key aspects of the Shi’a ethos among ordinary
persons. His treatise, `Lightning Bolts Against the Jews’ (pp.
216-220), was written in Persian, and despite its title, was actually
an overall guideline to anti-dhimmi regulations for all non-Muslims
within the Shi’ite theocracy.
Al-Majlisi, in this treatise, describes the standard humiliating
requisites for non-Muslims living under the Shari’a, first and
foremost, the blood ransom jizya, a poll-tax, based on Qur’an 9:29.
He then enumerates six other restrictions relating to worship,
housing, dress, transportation, and weapons (specifically, i.e., to
render the dhimmis defenseless), before outlining the unique Shi’ite
impurity or `najis’ regulations.
With regard to dress, Majlisi’s stipulations from the late 17th
century are consistent with the contemporary the Iranian Parliament’s
proposal (albeit the `color-coding’ differs):
it is appropriate that the ruler of the Muslims imposed upon them
clothing that would distinguish then from Muslims so that they would
not resemble Muslims. It is customary for Jews to wear yellow
clothes while Christians wear black and dark blue ones. Christians
[also] wear a girdle on their waists, and Jews sew a piece of silk of
a different color on the front part of their clothes.
But it is the latter najis prohibitions which lead Anthropology
Professor Laurence Loeb (who studied and lived within the Jewish
community of Southern Iran in the early 1970s) to observe, `Fear of
pollution by Jews led to great excesses and peculiar behavior by
Muslims.’ Again, according Al-Majlisi’s authoritative and influential
late 17th century text,
And, that they should not enter the pool while a Muslim is bathing at
the public baths…It is also incumbent upon Muslims that they should
not accept from them victuals with which they had come into contact,
such as distillates, which cannot be purified. In something can be
purified, such as clothes, if they are dry, they can be accepted,
they are clean. But if they [the dhimmis] had come into contact with
those cloths in moisture they should be rinsed with water after being
obtained. As for hide, or that which has been made of hide such as
shoes and boots, and meat, whose religious cleanliness and lawfulness
are conditional on the animal’s being slaughtered [according to the
Shari’a], these may not be taken from them. Similarly, liquids that
have been preserved in skins, such as oils, grape syrup, [fruit]
juices, myrobalan, and the like, if they have been put in skin
containers or water skins, these should [also] not be accepted from
them…It would also be better if the ruler of the Muslims would
establish that all infidels could not move out of their homes on days
when it rains or snows because they would make Muslims impure.
Professor Laurence Loeb’s seminal analysis of dhimmi Jews in Shi’ite
Persia/Iran (Outcaste- Jewish Life in Southern Iran 1977), documents
the social impact of najis regulations, beginning with the
implementation of a
badge of shame [as] an identifying symbol which marked someone as a
najis Jew and thus to be avoided. From the reign of Abbas I
[1587-1629] until the 1920s, all Jews were required to display the
badge
Loeb emphasizes, `Fear of pollution by Jews led to great excesses and
peculiar behavior by Muslims.’
Indoors/Outdoors and Wet/Dry
The enduring nature of the fanatical najis regulation prohibiting
dhimmis from being outdoors during rain and/or snow, is well
established. Examples include item 5 of Benjamin’s list (Eight Years
in Asia and Africa- From 1846-1855, Hanover, 1859, pp. 211-213) of
`oppressions’
(they [i.e., the Jews] are forbidden to go out when it rains; for it
is said the rain would wash dirt off them, which would sully the feet
of the Mussulmans),
and item 1 of Hamadan’s 1892 regulations for its Jews (From a letter
by S. Somekh, The Alliance Israelite Universale, October, 27, 1892,
translated and reproduced in Littman, D.G. `Jews Under Muslim Rule:
The Case of Persia’ The Weiner Library Bulletin, Vol. XXXII, Nos.
49/50, 1979, pp. 7-8.)
(The Jews are forbidden to leave their houses when it rains or snows
[to prevent the impurity of the Jews being transmitted to the Shiite
Muslims]),
as well as this account provided by the missionary Napier Malcolm
who lived in the Yezd area at the close of the 19th century:
They [the strict Shi’as] make a distinction between wet and dry; only
a few years ago it was dangerous for an Armenian Christian to leave
his suburb and go into the bazaars in Isfahan on a wet [rainy] day.
`A wet dog is worse than a dry dog.’ [Malcolm, Napier. Five Years in
a Persian Town, New York, 1905, p. 107.]
Moreover, the late Persian Jewish scholar Sarah (Sorour) Soroudi
related this family anecdote:
In his youth, early in the 20th century, my late father was
eyewitness to the implementation of this regulation. A group of elder
Jewish leaders in Kashan had to approach the head clergy of the town
(a Shi’i community from early Islamic times, long before the
Safavids, and known for its religious fervor) to discuss a matter of
great urgency to the community. It was a rainy day and they had to
send a Muslim messenger to ask for special permission to leave the
ghetto. Permission granted, they reached the house of the clergy but,
because of the rain, they were not allowed to stand even in the
hallway. They remained outside, drenched, and talked to the mullah
who stood inside next to the window.'[ from, `The Concept of Jewish
Impurity and its Reflection in Persian and Judeo-Persian Traditions’,
Irano-Judaica, Vol. 3, 1994, p. 156.]
Souroudi added this note, as well [p.156, footnote 36]:
As late as 1923, the Jews of Iran counted this regulation as one of
the anti-Jewish restrictions still practiced in the country.’
A more disconcerting 20th century anecdote from an informant living
in Shiraz, was recounted by Anthropologist Laurence Loeb [in
Outcaste, p.21]:
When I was a boy, I went with my father to the house of a non-Jew on
business. When we were on our way, it started to rain. We stopped
near a man who had apparently fallen and was bleeding. As we started
to help him, a Muslim akhond (theologian) stopped and asked me who I
was and what I was doing. Upon discovering that I was a Jew, he
reached for a stick to hit me for defiling him by being near him in
the rain. My father ran to him and begged the akhond to hit him
instead.
Finally, Janet Kestenberg Amighi. (in The Zoroastrians of Iran:
conversion, assimilation, or persistence. New York, NY: AMS Press,
1990, pp. 85) has argued that the Zoroastrians were perhaps the
lowest non-Muslim caste in Shi’ite Iran, and accordingly, subjected
to the most severe najis-related restrictions:
In Yezd and Kerman (through the early 20th century), Moslem pollution
prohibitions were strictly observed and extended to most aspects of
life. A Moslem would not eat out of a dish touched by a Zoroastrian
nor permit even his garment to be touched by a Zoroastrian.
Zoroastrians were forbidden the use of most community facilities such
as barber shops, bath houses, water fountains, and tea houses. Water
and wetness were considered to be particularly strong carriers of
pollution. Zoroastrians were not permitted to go to the market in the
rain. They could not touch fruit when shopping in the bazaar,
although the dry goods could be touched.
Far worse, the dehumanizing character of these popularized `impurity’
regulations appears to have fomented recurring Muslim anti-infidel
violence, including pogroms and forced conversions, throughout the
17th, 18th ,19th and into the early 20th centuries, as opposed to
merely unpleasant, `odd behaviors’ by individual Muslims towards
non-Muslims.
Respite and Recrudescence
Reza Pahlavi’s spectacular rise to power in 1925 was accompanied by
dramatic reforms, including secularization and westernization
efforts, as well as a revitalization of Iran’s pre-Islamic spiritual
and cultural heritage. This profound sociopolitical transformation
had very positive consequences for Iran’s non-Muslims. By virtue of ,
`…breaking the power of the Shia clergy, which for centuries had
stood in the way of progress’, Walter Fischel observed that Reza
Shah, `…shaped a modernized and secularized state, freed almost
entirely from the fetters of a once fanatical and powerful clergy’.
Regarding Jews specifically, Lawrence Loeb wrote in 1976 that,
The Pahlavi period…has been the most favorable era for Persian Jews
since Parthian rule [175 B.C. to 226 C.E.]…the `Law of Apostasy’ was
abrogated about 1930. While Reza Shah did prohibit political Zionism
and condoned the execution of the popular liberal Jewish reformer
Hayyim Effendi, his rule was on the whole, an era of new
opportunities for the Persian Jew. Hostile outbreaks against the Jews
have been prevented by the government. Jews are no longer legally
barred from any profession. They are required to serve in the army
and pay the same taxes as Muslims. The elimination of the face-veil
removed a source of insult to Jewish women, who had been previously
required have their faces uncovered; now all women are supposed to
appear unveiled in public…Secular educations were available to Jewish
girls as well as to boys, and, for the first time, Jews could become
government-licensed teachers…Since the ascendance of Mohammad Reza
Shah (Aryamehr) in 1941, the situation has further improved…Not only
has the number of poor been reduced, but a new bourgeoisie is
emerging…For the first time Jews are spending their money on cars,
carpets, houses, travel, and clothing. Teheran has attracted
provincial Jews in large numbers and has become the center of Iranian
Jewish life…The Pahlavi era has seen vastly improved communications
between Iranian Jewry and the rest of the world. Hundreds of boys and
girls attend college and boarding school in the United States and
Europe. Israeli emissaries come for periods of two years to teach in
the Jewish schools…A small Jewish publication industry has arisen
since 1925…Books on Jewish history, Zionism, the Hebrew language and
classroom texts have since been published…On March 15, 1950, Iran
extended de facto recognition to Israel. Relations with Israel are
good and trade is growing.
But Loeb concluded on this cautionary, sadly prescient note, in 1976,
emphasizing the Jews tenuous status:
`Despite the favorable attitude of the government and the relative
prosperity of the Jewish community, all Iranian Jews acknowledge the
precarious nature of the present situation. There are still sporadic
outbreaks against them because the Muslim clergy constantly berates
Jews, inciting the masses who make no effort to hide their animosity
towards the Jew. Most Jews express the belief that it is only the
personal strength and goodwill of the Shah that protects them: that
plus God’s intervention! If either should fail… [emphasis added].
The so-called `Khomeini revolution’, which deposed Mohammad Reza
Shah, was in reality a mere return to oppressive Shi’ite theocratic
rule, the predominant form of Persian/Iranian governance since 1502.
Conditions for all non-Muslim religious minorities, particularly
Bahais and Jews, rapidly deteriorated. Historian David Littman
recounts the Jews’ immediate plight:
In the months preceding the Shah’s departure on 16 January 1979, the
religious minorities…were already beginning to feel insecure…Twenty
thousand Jews left the country before the triumphant return of the
Ayatollah Khomeini on 1 February…On 16 March, the honorary president
of the Iranian Jewish community, Habib Elghanian, a wealthy
businessman, was arrested and charged by an Islamic revolutionary
tribunal with `corruption’ and `contacts with Israel and Zionism’; he
was shot on 8 May
The writings and speeches of the most influential religious
ideologues of this restored Shi’ite theocracy – including Khomeini
himself – make apparent their seamless connection to the oppressive
doctrines of their forbears in the Safavid and Qajar dynasties. For
example, Sultanhussein Tabandeh, the leader of a Shi’ite Sufi order,
wrote an `Islamic perspective’ on the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. According to Professor Eliz Sanasarian’s important analysis
of religious minorities in the Islamic Republic, Tabandeh’s tract
became
`…the core ideological work upon which the Iranian government…based
its non-Muslim policy.’
Tabandeh begins his discussion by lauding Shah Ismail I (1502-1524),
the repressive and bigoted founder of the Safavid dynasty, as a
champion `…of the oppressed’. It is critical to understand that
Tabandeh’s key views on non-Muslims, summarized below, were
implemented `…almost verbatim in the Islamic Republic of Iran.’. In
essence, Tabandeh simply reaffirms the sacralized inequality of
non-Muslims relative to Muslims, under the Shari’a:
Thus if [a] Muslim commits adultery his punishment is 100 lashes, the
shaving of his head, and one year of banishment. But if the man is
not a Muslim and commits adultery with a Muslim woman his penalty is
execution…Similarly if a Muslim deliberately murders another Muslim
he falls under the law of retaliation and must by law be put to death
by the next of kin. But if a non-Muslim who dies at the hand of a
Muslim has by lifelong habit been a non-Muslim, the penalty of death
is not valid. Instead the Muslim murderer must pay a fine and be
punished with the lash
Since Islam regards non-Muslims as on a lower level of belief and
conviction, if a Muslim kills a non-Muslim…then his punishment must
not be the retaliatory death, since the faith and conviction he
possesses is loftier than that of the man slain…Again, the penalties
of a non-Muslim guilty of fornication with a Muslim woman are
augmented because, in addition to the crime against morality, social
duty and religion, he has committed sacrilege, in that he has
disgraced a Muslim and thereby cast scorn upon the Muslims in
general, and so must be executed
Islam and its peoples must be above the infidels, and never permit
non-Muslims to acquire lordship over them. Since the marriage of a
Muslim woman to an infidel husband (in accordance with the verse
quoted: `Men are guardians form women’) means her subordination to an
infidel, that fact makes the marriage void, because it does not obey
the conditions laid down to make a contract valid. As the Sura (`The
Woman to be Examined’, LX v. 10) says: `Turn them not back to
infidels: for they are not lawful unto infidels nor are infidels
lawful unto them (i.e., in wedlock).
And Sanasarian emphasizes the centrality of this notion of Islam’s
superiority to all other faiths:
…even the so-called moderate elements [in the Islamic Republic]
believed in its truth. Mehdi Barzagan, an engineer by training and
religiously devout by family line and personal practice, became the
prime minister of the Provisional Government in 1979. He believed
that man must have one of the monotheistic religions in order to
battle selfishness, materialism, and communism. Yet the choice was
not a difficult one. `Among monotheist religions, Zoroastrianism is
obsolete, Judaism has bred materialism, and Christianity is dictated
by its church. Islam is the only way out’. In this line of thinking,
there is no recognition of Hindusim, Buddhism, Bahaism, or other
religions
The conception of najis or ritual uncleanliness of the non-Muslim has
also been reaffirmed. Ayatollah Khomeini stated explicitly,
`Non-Muslims of any religion or creed are najis.’
The Iranian Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri further elaborated that a
non-Muslim (kafir’s) impurity was,
`a political order from Islam and must be adhered to by the followers
of Islam, and the goal [was] to promote general hatred toward those
who are outside Muslim circles.’
This `hatred’ was to assure that Muslims would not succumb to
corrupt, i.e., non-Islamic, thoughts. Sanasarian provides a striking
example of the practical impact of this renewed najis consciousness:
In the case of the Coca-Cola plant, for example, the owner (an
Armenian) fled the country, the factory was confiscated, and Armenian
workers were fired. Several years later, the family members were
allowed to oversee the daily operations of the plant, and Armenians
were allowed to work at the clerical level; however, the production
workers remained Muslim. Armenian workers were never rehired on the
grounds that non-Muslims should not touch the bottles or their
contents, which may be consumed by Muslims.
Khomeini’s views were the most influential in shaping the ideology of
the revitalized Shi’ite theocracy, and his attitudes towards Jews
(both before and after he assumed power) were particularly negative.
Khomeini’s speeches and writings invoked a panoply of Judenhass
motifs, including orthodox interpretations of sacralized Muslim texts
(for e.g., describing the destruction of the Banu Qurayza), and the
Shi’ite conception of najis. More ominously, Khomeini’s rhetoric
blurred the distinction between Jews and Israelis, reiterated
paranoid conspiracy theories about Jews (both within Persia/Iran, and
beyond), and endorsed the annihilation of the Jewish State.
Sanasarian highlights these disturbing predilections:
The Jews and Israelis were interchangeable entities who had
penetrated all facets of life. Iran was being `trampled upon under
Jewish boots’. The Jews had conspired to kill the Qajar king Naser
al-Din Shah and had a historically grand design to rule through a new
monarchy and a new government (the Pahlavi dynasty): `Gentlemen, be
frightened. They are such monsters’. In a vitriolic attack on
Mohammad Reza Shah’s celebration of 2500 years of Persian monarchy in
1971, Khomeini declared that Israeli technicians had planned the
celebrations and they were behind the exuberant expenses and
overspending. Objecting to the sale of oil to Israel, he said: `We
should not ignore that the Jews want to take over Islamic
countries’…In an address to the Syrian foreign minister after the
Revolution Khomeini lamented: `If Muslims got together and each
poured one bucket of water on Israel, a flood would wash away
Israel’…
Professor Reza Afshari’s seminal analysis of human rights in
contemporary Iran summarizes the predictable consequences for Jews
of the Khomeini `revolution’:
As anti-Semitism found official expression…and the anti-Israeli state
propaganda became shriller, Iranian Jews felt quite uncertain about
their future under the theocracy. Early in 1979, the execution of
Habib Elqaniyan, a wealthy, self-made businessman, a symbol of
success for many Iranian Jews, hastened emigration. The departure of
the chief rabbi for Europe in the summer of 1980 underlined the fact
that the hardships that awaited the remaining Jewish Iranians would
far surpass those of other protected minorities
Conclusions
An ethos of infidel-hatred, including paroxysms of annihilationist
fanaticism, has pervaded Persian/Iranian society, almost without
interruption (i.e., the two major exceptions being Sunni Afghan rule
from 1725-1794, and Pahlavi reign, with its Pre-Islamic revivalist
efforts, from 1925-1979), since the founding of the Shi’ite theocracy
in 1502 under Shah Ismail, through its present Khomeini-inspired
restoration, since 1979.
Having returned their small remnant Jewish community to a state of
obsequious dhimmitude – including now, perhaps the full restoration of
discriminatory badging – Iran’s current theocratic rulers focus most
of their obsessive anti-Jewish bigotry on the free-living Jews of
neighboring Israel.
Former Iranian President Rafsanjani’s December 2001 `Al Quds Day’
sermon threatened, explicitly, the nuclear annihilation of this
largest concentration of autonomous Jews in history. Current
President Ahmadinejad has reiterated these threats repeatedly as
Iran’s nuclear ambitions near fulfillment. But Ahmadinejad has also
reportedly vowed, `To stop Christianity in this country’ [i.e., Iran]
, and his recent `letter’ to President Bush emulates the jihad war
precept (originally formulated by the Muslim prophet Muhammad) of
calling infidel powers – often Christian powers – to accept Islam, prior
to initiating a jihad war against them.
The Iranian regime’s words and deeds are authentic manifestations of
the hatred of jihad. Whether directed against internal or external
`infidels’ this is a potentially genocidal animus which must be
understood in its Islamic context without meaningless and distracting
invocations to modern Western forms of totalitarianism, like Nazism.
Andrew G. Bostom is the author of The Legacy of Jihad.

FOREIGN MINISTERS OF ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN MET IN STRASBOURG
ArmRadio.am
19.05.2006 11:42
Yesterday RA Minister of Foreign Affairs had a meeting with his
Azeri counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs
Yuri Merzlyakov, Steven Mann and Bernard Fassier were present at the
meeting. Later the Ministers continued the talks with the mediators
in a separate format. The meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministers was meant to prepare the visit of representatives of Foreign
Ministries of US, France And Russia to the region scheduled later
in May. Principles and approaches of the settlement were discussed
at the Strasbourg meeting. The Armenian side assesses the meeting
as positive, despite the existence of unsettled issues, the Press
Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs.

IRANIAN, ARMENIAN MINISTERS DISCUSS BILATERAL COOPERATION
Regnum, Moscow
17 May 06
Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki has received Armenian Energy
Minister Armen Movsisyan who is paying an official visit to Tehran,
Iranian state radio reports.
During the meeting, Mottaki noted the importance of boosting
cooperation between Iran and Armenia and focused on studying ways of
expanding cooperation between the two countries.
“It is important to study new ideas and conditions and prepare the
ground for cooperation between the two countries in the sphere of
transport communications, including in the construction of the
Kadzharan tunnel, in railway communications, in the development
of private businesses, in the creation of preferential terms and
simplifications for business circles, as well as in risk reduction,”
the Iranian foreign minister said.
He said that the growth in the trade balance between Tehran and
Yerevan can raise bilateral cooperation to an acceptable level,
and cooperation between regions, especially between Iran’s northern
provinces and Armenia, will be of benefit in this context.
Expressing his satisfaction with the active work of the two countries’
joint commissions, Movsisyan said that the negotiations between Iran
and Armenia on the construction of gas pipelines, power lines and a
new road between the two countries will raise the level of bilateral
cooperation.

COMMISSION WORKING OUT DRAFT RA NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY ON THE WHOLE APPROVES ALL REVISIONS TO DRAFT
Noyan Tapan
May 17 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The fifth sitting of the
interdepartmental commission coordinating the works of elaboration of
the draft national security strategy was held on May 17. The sitting
was presided over by Serge Sargsian, Secretary of the National
Security Council under RA President, RA Defence Minister. Among
about 250 proposals received by the interdepartmental commission,
those included in the agenda of the fifth sitting, regarding the
departments “Strategy of Defence Reforms. Strategic Priorities of
Armenian National Security” were discussed. As Noyan Tapan was informed
by Colonel Seyran Shahsuvarian, Spokesperson for RA Defence Minister,
the revisions implemented as a result of exchange of opinions, on the
whole, were approved and the commission’s secretariate was charged
to additionally edit them. It was decided to send the whole text to
the departments after additional editing.

NATIONALIST ATTACK DISSIDENTS DINK AND ENGIN DURING TRIAL
BÝA, Turkey
May 17 2006
Armenian Turkish journalists Dink and Engin were attacked during court
hearing in Istanbul. Defendants escaped near-lynch attempt under police
protection. “They are exploiting court cases for nationalist plots”
says Dink.
BÝA (Istanbul) – Groups of nationalist spectators attacked defendants,
their lawyers and observers during the court hearing of bilingual
Armenian-Turkish Agos newspaper editor Hrant Dink, the paper’s
editor-in-chief Serkis Seropyan and columnist Aydin Engin at the
Istanbul 2nd Court of First Instance.
The defendants and their lawyers barely escaped a lynch attempt
as the tiral closed. After an hour-long siege in the justice hall,
they were escorted out to safety by policemen.
Dink, Engin and their lawyers Fethiye Cetin and Ergin Cinmen told
bianet that tensions in Tuesday’s hearing, where the defendants are
on trial for attempting to “influence justice”, started when they
turned up in front of Istanbul’s Sisli justice hall.
The group arrived at the court building to find its entrance populated
by angry nationalists shouting “get the hell out of this country”
to them in a physically threatening manner.
“We had to enter the court building surrounded by a police cordon”
Cetin explained. Dink added, “thankfully the police officers did
everything to get us into the court building safely. They took us up
to the court room in a special lift”.
The defendants and their lawyers were then verbally abused and had
to divert physical assaults in the corridor before they entered the
court room itself, where during the hearing coins and pencils were
thrown at them and they were insulted by a group of observer believed
to be led by nationalist lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz.
“I was only harassed verbally and through physical attacks by those
people filling the corridors of the court room” Dink said, noting that
they were mainly shouting “get the hell out of this country” to them.
Hearing under abuse
Dink and his co-defendants Seropyan and Engin attended Tuesday’s
court hearing under heavy verbal and physical abuse that was also
noted into court records.
Nationalist “Jurists Union” lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, Civilian Society
Organisations Union of Turkey (TSTKB) member Ramazan Kirkik, retired
general Veli Kucuk and Independent Turkish Orthodox Patriarchy
spokesman Sevgi Erenerol were among those at the hearing demanding
to be accepted as official complainants of the journalists and were
repeatedly warned for their behaviour by the bench.
During the hearing itself, defence lawyers were repeatedly threatened
verbally, being told “we are also watching you”.
Agreeing with prosecutor Mustafa Dag’s views, the court decided to
reject three separate appeals by the nationalists to be accepted
as complainants on grounds that they were “not directly effected by
the alleged offence” while judge Yalcin Hayret issued a warning to
Kerincsiz and those around him for repeatedly interfering in the case.
Kerincsiz claimed the judge himself had “lost his objectivity” and
asked for his removal on grounds that he was preventing intervention
on part of complainants but both his request for Hayret’s removal
and to be accepted as a complainant were turned down.
Dink: I have been made a deliberate target
More than defending themselves at court, Dink and his co-defendants
were forced to defend themselves from the intervening groups and
nationalists that turned up at the hearing.
“The marginal nationalists are clearly trying to make such cases
popular and are trying to produce a nationalist policy” Dink told
Bianet after the eventful hearing. “We should not fall into this trap”.
Dink added, “In all of the cases launched against me up till this
day, I not asked any support from inside or abroad, from the press
or politicians. Because this would mean falling into the trap of the
marginal nationalists”.
“I have been deliberately made a target. And they want to use and use
this target. By giving the impression that I have committed a crime
that I have not, the impression that I have insulted, they want to
isolate me in front of the Turkish society. At least those who know
how to read and who understand are standing up against this”.
Engin: Lynching Justice
Aydýn Engin said, meanwhile, that justice itself was being lynched.
“A group led by Kerincsiz and his friends have attempted to lynch
justice” he said. “And in a big way they have succeeded”.
He added, “I have seen many trials but throwing coins and pencils at
us and defence lawyers by those who managed to enter the court room
as complainants is something I have seen for the first time.”
Engin argued that the conditions of a “fair trial” no longer existed in
the case noting, “we ourselves are being put on trial for influencing
a fair trial but in reality today the conditions of a fair trial have
been eliminated”.
Cetin: Influencing fair trial
Defence lawyer Fethiye Cetin explained that the Dink and co-defenders
case was launched on allegations of influencing justice and added,
“what has taken place today and what is being done in other trials
is influencing justice itself”.
“They are creating such an atmosphere that one cannot talk about a fair
trial. They are putting pressure on the defendants, the defence, the
judge and prosecutor. During the hearing they insulted the prosecutor”.
Cetin continued “the pressure is directed at the court. When they
wanted to be accepted as complainants they said the Turkish nation
is a complainant and we are watching”.
Trial under pressure
During the hearing itself a number of people around Kericsiz wanted
to be accepted as complainants to argue their cases but their appeals
were turned down and due to their behaviour they were repeatedly
warned by the judge. To the extent that, according to Cetin, the
judge was almost calling the police into the courtroom.
Defence lawyers themselves were threatened by the so-called complainant
group saying “we are watching you too” and when Yucel Sayman reacted
to them saying “you can’t threaten us” coins and pencils were hurled
at the defence from observer seats.
When the hearing came to an end a group gathered downstairs and
attacked the defendants, lawyers and observers. Two people were
physically hit and the defendants could only leave the building an
hour later under police escort.
Cinmen: Police were tolerant
Defence Layer Ergin Cinmen referred to the incident at the end of the
hearing as “short of a lynch” and said it “reflected the intolerance
to freedom of expression in Turkey”.
“The number [of protestors] is small but because they are extremely
fanatic, it is a mass that can show itself. Security forces on the
other hand are incredibly tolerant to them. Two people were hit by
fists during the tumult. If they had the opportunity they would have
attacked the lawyers”
Case adjourned to 4 July
Following Tuesday’s hearing the court was adjourned to July 4.
Hrant Dink is on trial in this case for his article titled “Is
democracy going to be established with this penal clause?” while
Aydýn Engin is charged for his article “One should touch the justice
system”. Both defendants are charged under Turkish Penal Code article
288 for attempting to influence fair justice.
Dink, Engin and Arat Dink refuted the charges in the hearing and
maintained they had committed no offence.
–Boundary_(ID_CzXjIa0Bov58kOjd3e9kDg)–

I DON’T EXCLUDE THAT DEPUTIES CAN LEAVE THE RPA, TOO
Anna Israelian
Aravot.am
17 May 06
The RPA and NA deputy chairman Tigran Torosian says.
Last year when there were a lot of affirmations that the coalition
would stop its existence in the pre-electoral year Robert Kocharian
ordered the coalition to work till May of 2007 as a matter of
honor. “The coalition is so called political agreement among 4
subjects; 3 parties and the President. And it is an agreement for four
years. We have obligation and responsibility towards people till May
2007”. In your opinion who is guilty for stopping the obligations of
the agreement?
There is no need to find guilty persons here, as we don’t deal with
criminals. There was a political situation and a solution has been
found. I think all parts of the coalition are sincere in marking that
situation. And all parties would like to continue those relations
till next elections. But a civil and honorable solution was found in
that situation.
The NA deputy chairman Vahan Hovhannisian described the behavior of
the OEP businessmen by this parallel that the political building of
that structure is based on sands. Is it a right description? Besides
don’t you think that the overwhelming majority is on that same “sand”
and this situation can be repeated in your party, too?
Artistic and figurative formulations are attractive. But I think
it will be better to give political remarks. Everybody has a right
to give remarks on different demonstrations. But I’m sure that this
period when the OEP declared about its leave will be a 20-30 day trial
period for all parties of the coalition. It is interesting for me
who and how will behave himself. It is also a trial. And it will be
better for us to go out from this situation with dignity. As regards
the presence of businessmen deputies in the parliament I think all
of them shouldn’t be marked in the same way. A businessman can be a
party member and become ac deputy during his party activities. So I
can’t exclude that some people can leave the RPA, too. Everybody must
be marked according to his behavior, irrespective of the circumstance
whether he is a businessman or not.
The pro-authority mass media produce such interpretations as if Arthur
Baghdasarian’s bright future turned into sad past in a day.
I don’t admit situational approaches. And I want to repeat that this
is a trial for all of us. The life isn’t over today. We worked with
the OEP 3 years having successes and omissions.
Why did the NA speaker’s position about becoming the EU member get
such negative replies when all our leaders admit the necessity of
close integration to such structures in their declaration?
Undoubtedly. Discrepancies on this occasion aren’t principal, as
integration into the EU has been declared as the aim and a superior
direction in foreign policy of our country. Discrepancies referred
to the appraisals how it must be done and how. The main discrepancy
appeared on the occasion of the declaration about NATO membership. We
must admit that the NATO membership hasn’t been declared as the
aim. It isn’t fair when some people try to find discrepancies here
because there are EU member countries, which aren’t the NATO members.
But all these don’t exclude that a party can declare NATO membership
as an aim for it, for the future of Armenia.

SPECIALISTS TRY TO RESUME SEARCH FOR A-320 FLIGHT RECORDERS AT SEA
by Lev Nezdorovin
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 17, 2006 Wednesday
Notwithstanding bad weather specialists are trying to resume the search
for the flight recorders from the Armenian Airbus-320 passenger plane
that crashed into the Black Sea off Sochi on May 3.
“The swell on the sea is increasing and it is beginning to rain in
the search area. And yet the ship Navigator is trying to position
itself and sink the RT-1000 apparatus for work on the seabed,” an
official at the search operation technical support headquarters told
Itar-Tass on Wednesday.
On Tuesday work was interrupted by a strong side wind that constantly
carried away the Navigator, which is operating the RT-1000. The wind
subsided at about midnight and the apparatus was lowered to the seabed
between 1 a.m. (2100 GMT) and 6 a.m. (0200 GMT) but no flight recorders
were found.
Silt on the seabed complicated the work, covering the video camera
and the searchlights. The team had to raise the apparatus several
times to clean them. It takes 40 minutes for the apparatus to sink
and as much to come back to the surface.
The apparatus had not participated in such operations before. It
raised only geological samples weighing up to 20 kilogrammes and did
not work at such depths.
The device is capable to lift fragments of a plane weighing up to
12 kilogrammes and the two flight recorders, each weighing seven
kilogrammes, the head of the Federal Agency for Sea and River
Transport, Alexander Davydenko, said.
The RT-1000 is a system consisting of control and lifting equipment
and the apparatus itself with photo and video equipment and a hydraulic
manipulator operating in all directions.
Davydenko said, “It will take two to three days to lift [the flight
recorders]. Everything will depend on the weather.”
He said the operation would involve several groups of 18 people. Each
will work for eight hours.
The Navigator’s crew obtained the first television image of the flight
recorders lying at the depth of almost 500 metres, using the top-notch
research complex Kalmar.
The Kalmar equipment was provided by the department for salvage and
emergency operations based in the port city of Novorossisk.
The designer of the complex, the Russian corporation Tetis-Pro,
made the Kalmar for the Russian Navy. When the A-320 crashed, the
complex, which includes a sonic depth-tester having the functions of
a side-looking sonar, was still in the phase of testing.
The Kalmar is capable of tracking down objects at the depths of down
to 600 meters.
The flight recorders are lying on the seabed 496 metres from the
surface and about five metres apart. “The visibility is sufficient
for the work to be done,” the minister said.
Flight recorders used on aircraft of the Airbus-320 type withstand
the depth of up to 6,000 meters for 30 days, experts from the French
air crash investigation bureau said.
They said that flight recorders’ radio beacons keep working during
the 30-day period.
One of the flight recorders registers flight parameters, including the
speed, height and direction of the flight and the autopilot operation,
each second. The other gadget records conversations in the cockpit.
Each flight recorder weighs 10 kilograms, including a seven-kilogram
armoured casing for the gadget. The casing can withstand water pressure
at a depth of 6,000 meters, the temperature of 1,100 degrees Celsius,
and the compression of 2.2 tonnes.
The bureau retrieved flight recorders from the depth of over 1,000
meters in the Red Sea in January 2004, when an Egyptian plane crashed
near the Sharm-el-Sheikh resort. The rescuers were using a Scorpio
deep-water apparatus.
A technical commission investigating the Sochi air crash, which is
led by the CIS Interstate Aviation Committee, has asked French experts
to help find A-320 flight recorders.
Of 113 people who were abroad the plane, 51 bodies have been found
so far.
The Airbus A-320 of the Armenian airline Armavia plunged into the
Black Sea as it was making a landing manoeuvre in the early hours of
May 3. The accident claimed the lives of 113 people.

US EMBASSY DONATES NEW COMPUTERS TO YEREVAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY
ArmRadio.am
18.05.2006 15:05
US Ambassador John Evans participated today in the official opening
of the Library Science Computer Laboratory at the Yerevan State
Pedagogical University. The creation of the computer lab was made
possible by the donation of six computers and the installation
of library automation software by the US Embassy in Armenia. The
Pedagogical University provided the newly refurbished room for the
laboratory.
Since 2000, the Information Resource Center of the US Embassy has
cooperated with the School of Library Science at Yerevan State
Pedagogical University.
This has included bringing in American speakers every year to lecture
on modern developments in library science, as well as an expert in
2005 to help design a new, up-to-date library science curriculum.