Author: Karakhanian Suren

Armenian National Committee of America
888 17th St., NW Suite 904
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Fax: (202) 775-5648
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet:
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 14, 2006
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
ANCA JOINS ARMENIAN BAR ASSOCIATION-LED COALITION IN
FIGHTING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL IN MASSACHUSETTS
— Broad-based Coalition Files Amicus Curiae Brief
Supporting the State of Massachusetts’ Motion
to Dismiss Turkish Lobby Lawsuit
WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA) has joined with a broad coalition of civil rights organizations
in filing an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in
Massachusetts Federal District Court to oppose attempts by the
Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) to mandate the
inclusion of Armenian Genocide denial material in Massachusetts’
genocide curriculum guide.
The coalition led by the Armenian Bar Association, in addition to
the ANCA, includes the Irish Immigration Center, the Jewish
Alliance for Law & Social Action, and the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
In support of the State of Massachusetts, the coalition filed its
brief on March 8th urging the dismissal of the complaint filed by
the ATAA, a lobbying group that actively denies the Armenian
Genocide and that calls for the inclusion of the ATAA website in a
list of educational sources provided as part of a teacher’s guide
on genocide education. The complaint also calls for the addition
of other websites, including that of the Embassy of the Republic of
Turkey, which the ATAA had lobbied to include in the guide, but
were disqualified because they denied the Armenian Genocide, in
direct contravention of the Massachusetts statute requiring the
teaching of the Armenian Genocide.
In filing the brief, coalition members expressed their opposition
to the mandating of genocide denial in Massachusetts’ curriculum
guide and refuted allegations that plaintiffs’ free speech rights
were violated. The brief argues, “This case is not about
Plaintiffs’ ability to express themselves, to receive ideas, or to
access information. Nothing in the Massachusetts Guide to Choosing
and Using Curricular Materials on Genocide and Human Rights has
altered those rights. Rather, this case involves [Massachusetts’]
right as a government to express its own official views on matters
of historical importance and their place in education and to choose
the specific content of its own message.” Citing judicial
precedent, the brief noted that courts cannot compel state
governments to speak as plaintiffs demand: “The government is
entitled to full control over its own speech, whether it speaks
with its own voice or enlists private parties to convey its
message, and the remedy for dissatisfaction with its choices is
political rather than judicial.”
To read the entire brief, visit:
iciCuriae.pdf
#####

BOOKS: THE GREAT WAR FOR CIVILISATION BY ROBERT FISK
The Independent, UK
Oct 17 2005
Robert Fisk of the ‘Independent’ is one of the best-known journalists
in the world, with a passionate sense of justice and a knack for
being in the right place at the right time.
Neal Ascherson looks on in admiration at his old friend and colleague
Robert Fisk is the sort of reporter who walks in the opposite
direction. I first came across him as an absence, 30 years ago in
Belfast. We, the pack, had spent the day waiting for the big Paisley
briefing, but where was Bob? It turned out that he had gone off alone
to the battlefield of the Boyne, to see what the place and the past
would say to him. In the first Gulf war, he enraged “pool” colleagues
under Army control by hiring an old car, putting on a borrowed helmet
and driving down forbidden roads until he reached the front. When a
“facility trip” is laid on for the press corps, Fisk stays behind,
suspecting – usually rightly – that it’s to get the hacks out of the
way while something interesting happens.
Right at the end of this book, he describes himself sitting in the
roadside mud with an Iraqi family, watching as a 40-mile convoy of
American armour thunders up Highway Eight towards Baghdad. For Fisk,
it’s a moment to reflect on Roman and American empires which have a
visceral need to “project power on a massive scale”. For the reader,
it’s almost a caricature: the journalist who wants to see the world
from down in the muck with the victims, rather than from a tank turret
as an “embedded” correspondent.
Today, Robert Fisk is one of the best-known reporters in the world.
Long before 11 September, he had an enormous following of readers who
had come to regard him as the only journalist consistently describing
the Middle East “as it is”. He has also accumulated a pack of vengeful
enemies, longing to discredit and silence him. Not all of them are
Israelis or American diplomats. Some are fellow-journalists, maddened
by his gift for being in the right place at the right time.
(The bomb which changed Near-Eastern history went off down his street
in Beirut; the dead man with his socks still burning turned out to
be his friend Rafiq Hariri, ex-prime-minister of Lebanon…)
For the last 30 years, Fisk has been covering an enormous arc of
territory which is not just “the Middle East” but reaches from the
Moroccan Atlantic to the Punjab with a northward extension into the
Balkans. Almost all the peoples who live there are Muslim. All of them,
without exception, have been the objects of imperial conquest and
colonialism, of cultural suppression and big-power frontier-drawing.
This is a book about what Fisk saw, heard, thought and wrote in those
years. It is not an autobiography. Apart from his relationship with
his parents, the door on his private life is locked. Neither is it a
complete chronicle. Having just written a separate book about them,
Fisk leaves out the experiences in Lebanon which generated some of
his best-known writing (his accounts of the Israeli shelling of Qana
in 1996, for instance). But what remains is overwhelming.
This is a very long book, allowing Fisk to interleave political
analysis, recent history and his own adventures with the real stories
which concern him. These are the sufferings of ordinary people under
monstrous tyrannies or in criminal, avoidable wars. Fisk reported
the Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf war of 1991, the Palestine intifadas,
the Taliban rule in Afghanistan and its sequel as the Americans and
their allies invaded in 2002, the terror regimes of Saddam, the Shah
and the ayatollahs, the frenzy of bloodshed in Algeria as Islamists and
security forces competed to slaughter the innocent, and – of course –
the Bush-Blair war against Iraq and its outcome. His chapter on the
1915 Armenian genocide, still unpardonably denied and evaded and not
only by Turks, revives his famous report from Syria when he stumbled
across the mass graves at Margada (see extract, above).
The source of most of this horror, for Fisk, is the post-1918 carve-up
of the Middle East between European powers. “We” – Britain, France
and much later America – are responsible. Subtly, Fisk weaves this
sense of guilt around his own ambiguous feelings for his father,
a young officer in the Great War for civilisation who became at
once a cold, bullying husband and a stiffly proud parent. Shame for
that generation’s imperial mistakes, he seems to feel, is heritable,
and when he is attacked and almost killed by an Afghan refugee mob,
Fisk’s impulse is that they are not to blame. He might have done the
same to a Westerner, in their place.
All the same, the cumulative impact of these terrible accounts
of massacre, torture and almost unimaginable ruthlessness may not
be what Fisk wants. The case against “Us” (the West) diminishes;
the unjust impression that this is a zone of endemic savagery grows
stronger. He writes with a marvellous resource of image and language.
His investigative reporting is lethally painstaking (see how he
pieces together the biography of an American missile which somehow
came into Israeli hands, was fired at an ambulance and killed an
innocent Lebanese family).
But the sense of inescapable doom which builds up in this book is
misleading. What’s missing is a sense that it’s not just Fisk but
most of the world which finds Western policy crazy. Fisk includes here
several unforgettable, marvellously observed meetings with Osama bin
Laden. Maybe he should try his talents on a meeting with George W Bush.
Robert Fisk is the sort of reporter who walks in the opposite
direction. I first came across him as an absence, 30 years ago in
Belfast. We, the pack, had spent the day waiting for the big Paisley
briefing, but where was Bob? It turned out that he had gone off alone
to the battlefield of the Boyne, to see what the place and the past
would say to him. In the first Gulf war, he enraged “pool” colleagues
under Army control by hiring an old car, putting on a borrowed helmet
and driving down forbidden roads until he reached the front. When a
“facility trip” is laid on for the press corps, Fisk stays behind,
suspecting – usually rightly – that it’s to get the hacks out of the
way while something interesting happens.
Right at the end of this book, he describes himself sitting in the
roadside mud with an Iraqi family, watching as a 40-mile convoy of
American armour thunders up Highway Eight towards Baghdad. For Fisk,
it’s a moment to reflect on Roman and American empires which have a
visceral need to “project power on a massive scale”. For the reader,
it’s almost a caricature: the journalist who wants to see the world
from down in the muck with the victims, rather than from a tank turret
as an “embedded” correspondent.
Today, Robert Fisk is one of the best-known reporters in the world.
Long before 11 September, he had an enormous following of readers who
had come to regard him as the only journalist consistently describing
the Middle East “as it is”. He has also accumulated a pack of vengeful
enemies, longing to discredit and silence him. Not all of them are
Israelis or American diplomats. Some are fellow-journalists, maddened
by his gift for being in the right place at the right time.
(The bomb which changed Near-Eastern history went off down his street
in Beirut; the dead man with his socks still burning turned out to
be his friend Rafiq Hariri, ex-prime-minister of Lebanon…)
For the last 30 years, Fisk has been covering an enormous arc of
territory which is not just “the Middle East” but reaches from the
Moroccan Atlantic to the Punjab with a northward extension into the
Balkans. Almost all the peoples who live there are Muslim. All of them,
without exception, have been the objects of imperial conquest and
colonialism, of cultural suppression and big-power frontier-drawing.
This is a book about what Fisk saw, heard, thought and wrote in those
years. It is not an autobiography. Apart from his relationship with
his parents, the door on his private life is locked. Neither is it a
complete chronicle. Having just written a separate book about them,
Fisk leaves out the experiences in Lebanon which generated some of
his best-known writing (his accounts of the Israeli shelling of Qana
in 1996, for instance). But what remains is overwhelming.
This is a very long book, allowing Fisk to interleave political
analysis, recent history and his own adventures with the real stories
which concern him. These are the sufferings of ordinary people under
monstrous tyrannies or in criminal, avoidable wars. Fisk reported
the Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf war of 1991, the Palestine intifadas,
the Taliban rule in Afghanistan and its sequel as the Americans and
their allies invaded in 2002, the terror regimes of Saddam, the Shah
and the ayatollahs, the frenzy of bloodshed in Algeria as Islamists and
security forces competed to slaughter the innocent, and – of course –
the Bush-Blair war against Iraq and its outcome. His chapter on the
1915 Armenian genocide, still unpardonably denied and evaded and not
only by Turks, revives his famous report from Syria when he stumbled
across the mass graves at Margada (see extract, above).
The source of most of this horror, for Fisk, is the post-1918 carve-up
of the Middle East between European powers. “We” – Britain, France
and much later America – are responsible. Subtly, Fisk weaves this
sense of guilt around his own ambiguous feelings for his father,
a young officer in the Great War for civilisation who became at
once a cold, bullying husband and a stiffly proud parent. Shame for
that generation’s imperial mistakes, he seems to feel, is heritable,
and when he is attacked and almost killed by an Afghan refugee mob,
Fisk’s impulse is that they are not to blame. He might have done the
same to a Westerner, in their place.
All the same, the cumulative impact of these terrible accounts
of massacre, torture and almost unimaginable ruthlessness may not
be what Fisk wants. The case against “Us” (the West) diminishes;
the unjust impression that this is a zone of endemic savagery grows
stronger. He writes with a marvellous resource of image and language.
His investigative reporting is lethally painstaking (see how he
pieces together the biography of an American missile which somehow
came into Israeli hands, was fired at an ambulance and killed an
innocent Lebanese family).
But the sense of inescapable doom which builds up in this book is
misleading. What’s missing is a sense that it’s not just Fisk but
most of the world which finds Western policy crazy. Fisk includes here
several unforgettable, marvellously observed meetings with Osama bin
Laden. Maybe he should try his talents on a meeting with George W Bush.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian pontiff: court settlements step to genocide recognition
By PETER PRENGAMAN
.c The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Two recent life insurance settlements for decedents
of Armenians killed 90 years ago by the Turkish Ottoman Empire are a
first step toward international recognition that the bloodshed was an
act of genocide, the Armenian pontiff said Sunday.
His Holiness Aram I, on a two week visit through Southern California,
home to the largest Armenian community outside country, said the
financial settlements could help prod Turkey and Turkish allies like
the United States to declare the killing of up to 1.5 million
Armenians in eastern Turkey a genocide.
“The settlements will be helpful in raising awareness,” Aram I said
in an interview Sunday with The Associated Press. “If we are
committed to preventing future genocide in the world, the world must
recognize the genocide that has happened.”
Aram I, the spiritual head of one of the Armenian Apostolic Church’s
two branches, said gaining recognition for the mass killings took on a
religious meaning for thousands of Armenian families who fled Armenia
during the turmoil and have yet to return.
The church is a focal point for the Armenian diaspora, including the
estimated 500,000 Armenians living in Southern California.
“The crime and sin must be acknowledged by those who committed it,”
Aram I said.
Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died between 1915
and 1923, but says the numbers have been exaggerated and that the
deaths occurred in the civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire.
France, Russia and many other countries have declared the killings
genocide. Turkish allies including the United States and neighboring
Azerbaijan have not.
Last week, French life insurance company AXA agreed to pay $17 million
(euro14.17 million) to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by
descendants of Armenians killed, splitting the money between about
5,000 people and charities. That came after New York Life Insurance
Co. and heirs of some 2,400 policyholders agreed last year to a $20
million (euro16.67 million) settlement, believed to be the first in
connection with the disputed event.
Turkey, which has no diplomatic ties with Armenia, is facing
increasing international pressure to fully acknowledge the event as it
seeks membership in the European Union.
It was the pontiff’s third trip to California since being elected in
1995 as head of the Great House of Cilicia, the diaspora branch of the
church based in Lebanon.
During the visit, Aram I has led a handful of masses at Armenian
churches, met with local political leaders and spoken to groups
including the World Affairs Council of Los Angeles.
The church’s other branch, the Catholicosate of All Armenians, is
headquartered in Armenia. Its pontiff, His Holiness Karekin II,
visited California in June.
The church split administratively more than 50 years ago while Armenia
was under the control of the Soviet Union.
Aram I said the division turned out to be a “blessing” because it
allowed the Armenian Church to better connect with millions of
Armenians living abroad.
Less than 3 million live in Armenia while more than 1 million live in
the United States. There are also large numbers in Lebanon, Iran and
Syria.
“At this point, the two centers are serving their people,” said Aram
I when asked if the administrative centers might someday consolidate.
“What will happen in the future, nobody knows.”
10/16/05 19:01 EDT

Chicago Daily Herald
October 9, 2005 Sunday
F3 Edition; F4 Edition
Parents’ language of love for newlyweds needs no interpreter
Marnie Mamminga
They spoke almost no English.
Journeying from the biblical vistas of Mount Ararat, they flew
thousands of miles across the cities of Europe, the blue-green swells
of the Atlantic Ocean, and the drought-dried fields of America’s
heartland before arriving in the concrete heat waves of the
distinctly different Dallas.
He is Hamlet and she is Karine (Kara), and they traveled all this way
bearing gifts of cognac and hand-made pillow covers from their native
Armenia in celebration of their daughter’s wedding to my nephew.
It is my fifth wedding of the summer, beginning with my own son’s
joyous celebration to his beautiful high school sweetheart and
concluding with our nephew’s long-awaited marriage to his Armenian
bride. In between were the wonderful weddings of friends.
Each celebration reflected not only the unique love of the bride and
groom but of the parents’ love for their children as well. For
although it is a time of great happiness, it is also a time of
separation as our children journey forth with their beloved partners
and create lives of their own.
They go, of course, with our blessings but not without a soft sigh
from our hearts in the definite realization that our children are now
grown and belong to someone else.
We try to be subtle about this letting go, but we are not so good at
it.
I witnessed it in a myriad of undisguised moments during each of
these summer breeze-brushed weddings: the gradual weakening of a
dad’s voice at the rehearsal dinner as he delivered a humorous and
heartfelt toast; a mother’s sweet, prolonged adjustment of her son’s
tuxedo tie as they wait for the ceremony to begin; and a father’s
continuous tender kisses on his daughter’s forehead as they so
lovingly dance at the reception.
Like the ancient rivers that have long caressed the Earth, such small
moments are wordless expressions of the deep, ever-flowing love a
parent has for a child.
And although we parents try to keep these powerful emotions under
wraps, they keep bubbling up at unexpected moments. So my heart went
out to Hamlet and Kara, who were not only celebrating their only
daughter’s wedding in a foreign land but also adjusting to their
first trip to America as well.
Besides not knowing the language, there was the heavy heat of Dallas,
the congested traffic, the mix of American-Mexican food, and the
ongoing introductions to yet another set of family members that kept
appearing on the scene. Not to mention, that as the bride’s parents,
they had an important role to play.
But none of that seemed to ripple Hamlet or Kara’s demeanor. Kara’s
beautiful smile and sparking eyes spoke volumes, and she knew a
smattering of gracious words like “beautiful” and “good” and “thank
you” which, when you think about it, cover a lot of territory.
Hamlet emanated a quiet dignity that overshadowed what must have been
tremendous cultural differences. Although he knew no English, he was
not afraid to venture forth in his own language with interpreting
help from the bride’s two Armenian girlfriends. (After all, the
bride, who also speaks impeccable English, could hardly be expected
to translate her father’s toast to herself.)
“Shhhhhh, Hamlet is going to speak,” someone would announce
throughout the weekend celebrations. And then Hamlet would take
center stage, gather his thoughts, and in a strong voice, confidently
deliver a toast in the musical language of his native tongue.
” ‘He says we parents are like gardeners, and these are our
flowers,'” the young Armenian woman translated to the groom’s parents
in impeccable English. “‘We have raised and nurtured our flowers
separately, but now these beautiful flowers will bloom together.’ ”
Gathered guests nodded in perfect understanding of this wisdom.
” ‘He wants to know if the vows included honoring one another in
sickness and health, in good times and bad?’ ” the young interpreter
asked the bride and groom, who confirmed this was so.
” ‘He wishes that you love each other always. May you share one
pillow as you go through life and grow old together.
” ‘When you have difficulties, and you will, for life is hard,'”
Hamlet continued, “but your love can overcome these obstacles. Your
love will see you through.’ ”
Although we do not know much of Hamlet’s Armenian or personal
background, it is clear he knows of what he speaks.
Earlier in the day, with the morning shadows still cooling the
wedding’s backyard garden setting, Hamlet stood poised in his
American tuxedo with his radiant daughter on his arm. To the sounds
of a lush brass quintet, they started down the down the aisle
together.
This is always one of the most poignant moments of a wedding for me,
for unaccountably, even if I don’t know the family well, a wall of
emotion surges up like a dam ready to burst. It takes all my strength
to keep from breaking into a sea of sobs.
I can only attribute this emotional flash to the sub-conscious memory
of my own deep love for my father as we began our walk down the aisle
together at my wedding 35 years ago. I was only 20, and at the end of
the aisle waiting for me was a man my father loved and respected and
I adored (still do).
Perhaps it is because my father died a mere six years later that such
a bonding moment, a time to leave and a time to join together, holds
such a cherished place in my heart.
And so I felt a special empathy for this Armenian father as he
listened and watched an entire ceremony whose words held no meaning
for him. What could be going through his head as his daughter not
only leaves his family to join another’s but also trades a culture
and a country?
As the bride and groom concluded their vows with a kiss and began
their walk back down the garden path to a new life of their own,
Hamlet spoke out over the background of the brass in his native
Armenian language to his once little girl:
” ‘Be happy,'” he says in a loud and clear voice. “‘Happiness to you
always.’ ”
The universal language of a parent’s heart.
No interpretation needed.

ELECTION KIDNAPPING IN ECHMIADZIN
A1+
| 22:54:47 | 13-10-2005 | Politics |
Today several hours before the meeting with candidate for Mayor of
Echmiadzin Yervand Aghvanyan 5 his supporters disappeared. Then an
anonymous person informed that if the meeting with Aghvanyan does
not take place, they won’t see the kidnapped any more.
The indignant residents of Echmiadzin tried to meet with President
Kocharian or his representative. However the meeting did not take
place.

ANDORRA 0 ARMENIA 3
Sportinglife.com, UK
Oct 13 2005
Armenia moved off the bottom of World Cup Qualifying Group One with
a comfortable win over Andorra on Wednesday.
Andorra gave the visitors a helping hand when Oscar Sonejee opened
the scoring with an own goal in the 39th minute, and things got worse
for the hosts when Ildefons Lima was sent off moments later.
Brothers Aram Hakobyan and Ara Hakobyan then scored second-half goals
to complete the rout.
Andorra coach David Rodrigo fielded a defensive formation but could
not find a match for Armenia’s Romik Khachatryan and Karen Aleksanyan
in midfield, while the visitors used the wings to attack.
Khachatryan fired a shot across goal and Valeri Aleksanyan missed a
good chance from a corner before the first goal came.
It arrived when Egishe Melikyan crossed from the left and Sonejee
got his attempted clearance all wrong and slid the ball into the net.
Lima was then guilty of a moment of madness four minutes later when
he was shown a straight red card, apparently for comments directed
at the referee.
Down to 10 men, Andorra were immediately under threat as the second
half began and Ara Hakobyan saw a shot tipped away before they doubled
their lead after 52 minutes.
Hamlet Mkhitaryan crossed to Aram Hakobyan who finished well at the
far post, slotting the ball home on the half volley.
Andorra heads dropped, allowing Armenia to stroke the ball around
with ease.
Ara Hakobyan extended their lead after a good run and strike from
the edge of the area 10 minutes later.
With the game over as a contest, Armenia continued to create plenty
of chances but were over-elaborate and could not add to their lead.
Melikyan should really have scored after an excellent ball from
Mkhitaryan left him unmarked at the far post but he attempted a
flamboyant volley which went well wide.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WCC MODERATOR AND GENERAL SECRETARY TO ADDRESS ECUMENICAL CHALLENGES AT US SYMPOSIUM
Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (Comunicados de prensa), Switzerland
Oct 12 2005
“Challenges facing the ecumenical movement in the 21st Century” is
the theme of a symposium to be held on 22 October at the Interchurch
Center in New York.
Planned in honour of Catholicos Aram I, head of the Armenian Apostolic
Church (See of Cilicia) and moderator of the World Council of Churches’
(WCC) central committee, who will be visiting the United States in
late October, the symposium will feature WCC general secretary Rev. Dr
Samuel Kobia as keynote speaker; Aram I will offer closing reflections.
Other symposium speakers will include Rev. Dr Wesley
Granberg-Michaelson, general secretary of the Reformed Church of
America; Rev. Dr Diane Kessler, executive director of the Massachusetts
Council of Churches; Bishop Thomas Hoyt, president of the National
Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA; Rev. Dr Robert Edgar,
general secretary of the National Council of Churches, Dr Anthony
Kireopoulos, deputy general secretary of the National Council of
Churches, Fr. Leonid Kishkovsky, moderator of the US Conference for the
WCC and ecumenical officer, Orthodox Church in America, Rev. Deborah
DeWinter, programme executive for the United States office of the WCC;
and a representative from the United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops. Archbishop Oshagan, prelate for the Eastern United States
of America of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America, will deliver
the welcome speech.
The symposium is being jointly sponsored by the Armenian Apostolic
Church of America, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in
the USA, and the WCC.
On Sunday, 23 October a pontifical divine liturgy will be celebrated
by Aram I at St Bartholomew’s Church at 13:30 p.m, to be followed by
a banquet at the Pierre Hotel commemorating the 75th anniversary of
the Armenian Apostolic seminary in Antelias, Lebanon.
Aram I was one of the founding members of the Middle East Council of
Churches in 1974. He attended the WCC assemblies in Nairobi, Vancouver,
Canberra, and Harare as a delegate; in 1975, he was elected to the
WCC’s Faith and Order Commission, and soon after as a member of the
central committee. At the 1991 Assembly in Canberra, he was elected
moderator of the WCC.
Media contacts: – Caroline Hennessy 212-870-2192 917-407-6172 (mob.)
– Armenian Apostolic Church of America 212-689-7810
Interchurch Center address: 475 Riverside Drive, New York , NY
10115, USA.
A free high resolution photo of Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia
with HH Aram I is available on the WCC website at:

EMPLOYEE ‘HAD VITAL EVIDENCE’
Nicki Walker
Norfolk Eastern Daily Press, UK
Oct 12 2005
A factory employee told a jury at Norwich Crown Court yesterday how
she gave detectives the vital breakthrough in their bid to identify
a dead man and track down his killers.
Vanessa Armstrong, who works at Cooper Roller Bearings in King’s Lynn,
recognised a scorched piece of memo, found next to the dead man’s
burning body, dumped in a field at Upton, near Peterborough.
The man had been shot and stabbed before being doused in petrol and
set alight on December 21, 2002.
David Farrell, prosecuting, told the court that detectives spent
almost a year trying to identify the body. But once they found the
source of the memo, it helped them find the murder scene – Cooper
Roller Bearings’ medical room. This led them to the alleged killers –
Armenians Nishan Bakunts, 28, and his father-in-law Misha Chatsjatrjan,
44 – and helped them identify the murdered man as 42-year-old fellow
countryman Hovanhannes Amirian.
The court heard that after finding the partly-burned memo – bearing
the names Talbot and Armstrong – detectives wrote to everyone with
those surnames in the eastern region. More than 2000 letters were sent,
asking recipients if they recognised the memo.
Ms Armstrong told the court yesterday that she contacted the police
on September 4, 2003, after receiving a letter from the force and a
copy of the burned memo.
She told the court: “I recognised it instantly, because it is something
I do fortnightly. It was quite clearly my writing and my memo.”
>>From the memo and with Mrs Armstrong’s extra information, police
were able to establish it had been sent to an employee, Paul Talbot,
regarding a routine medical check at the factory.
Mr Talbot realised the last time he had the memo was in the factory’s
medical room.
After searching the room, forensic officers discovered traces of the
dead man’s blood on the couch and walls.
Bakunts, it emerged, was working as a security guard at the factory
on the weekend of the murder.
In a statement read to the court, Det Insp Bert Deane, who led the
murder investigation, said of the call from Mrs Armstrong: “It was
a major breakthrough in the investigation.”
Bakunts, of Lichfield Road, Yarmouth, and Chatsjatrjan, who was living
in Holland, deny murdering Mr Amirian.
Home Office pathologist Dr Nat Cary said his examinations showed
the man had died from gunshots to the face and multiple stabbing to
his body.
Mr Cary said it was likely that two people carried out the attack.
He said it was unusual for a murderer to use one method of killing
such as a gun and then change and use a knife.
The man would have been dead when the killers set his body alight,
he added.
The trial continues.

AZERBAIJAN NOT CONSIDER EU STATEMENT AS SERIOUS
Azerbaijan News Service
Oct 7 2005
A high-ranking European Union official has warned Azerbaijan may
“fall behind” in the EU New Neighborhood Policy due to its forging
ties with the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
(TRNC), Armenia media reported. The European Commissioner for
Foreign Affairs Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the international
community recognizes a united Cyprus. This country is currently
blocking the progress achieved by Baku within the mentioned program
due to the opening of direct flights with TRNC, she said. I have
informed Azeris that if they do not change their decision, we will
continue collaborating only with Georgia and Armenia within the
New Neighborhood Policy. Nonetheless, we hope Azerbaijan will find
a solution for the problem, said Ferrero-Waldner.In his turn Azeri
official do not consider the statement as serious. Tahir Taghizadeh,
head of the information of the Ministry of foreign affairs of
Azerbaijan said official Baku did not receive any letter on the
issue. In his interview with ANS TV, Mr. Taghizadeh said during his
visit to New-York within the 60th session of UN, Elmar Mammadyarov,
foreign minister of Azerbaijan met with his Cypriote (Greek Part)
Colleague and no excitement was heard from that part. In any case we
are not going to change our position. Because position of Azerbaijan
coincides with one of the United Nations, European Union and other
countries who call to eliminate problems and bring the Northern Cyprus
from isolations. Relations with Northern Cyprus are only commercial
and no need to politicize the case.

Panorama.am
13:30 08/10/05
61-st Rose Roth Seminar ¡§Security in the South Caucasus¡¨
7 October 2005
Report by the Secretary of the National Security Council under the President
of the Republic of Armenia ¡V Minister of Defense Serzh SARGSYAN
Topic: Defense reforms in South Caucasus
Dear organizers, participants, guests
First of all I would like to greet the organizers and the participants of
the seminar and congratulate for arranging such an interesting and
overarching event. This is an excellent manifestation of productive
cooperation between National Assembly of Armenia and NATO Parliamentary
Assembly.
Modernity, regional significance and in general the global nature of the
chosen topic make us study it thoroughly and multilaterally to have an
ultimate understanding of many aspects of defense reforms in South Caucasus.
. Political Military situation in South Caucasus: Regional threats
South Caucasus has traditionally been a crossroad, where the interests and
contradictions of different security forces, military political force
centers, and different super powers have been focused. This fact has
definitely left its footprint on historic development course of the regional
states. In this sense South Caucasus is a specific region with its
geography, history, culture, demography and with other factors
characterizing its security environment. It is a crossroad of different
ethnic groups, religions, cultures, and civilizations, transportation routes
of international importance. Although South Caucasus occupies a relatively
small area in geographical sense, nations have different world perception
given their historical-cultural development, language and as a consequence
national psychological features. These nations have for centuries been
involved in wars of empires and instilling hatred and enmity between them
was one of the effective ways for empires to achieve their goals and
interests. As a result international distrust has been shaped in the region,
often aggravating into atmosphere of hostility.
The main part of existing international conflicts in the region have their
roots in soviet period, since the demarcation lines in the South Caucasus
were drawn neglecting ethnographic and demographic factors.
After the breakdown of the Soviet Union South Caucasus found itself in a
security environment facing internal and external regional threats. Internal
regional threats are predominantly due to the existence of international
conflicts and armed conflicts. Being at the crossroad of interests between
East and West, Europe and Asia, Russia and USA, today the South Caucasus
continues to bear the impact of contest among these interests. The mentioned
factors bring about additional stimulus for different international security
systems to amplify the leverages on regional states¡¦ defense and security
systems. This is the very reason that the areas providing security and the
developments taking place here are prioritized and possibly politicized in
the regional states. What refers to the security systems and military
structures of South Caucasian states, it is worthy to note that these were
established during armed conflicts in all three states. Armed Forces being
organized under such conditions did not set the goal of being led by
international standards, which is a complex and time consuming process. They
were seeking to apply traditional and non-traditional methods to settle
interethnic problems through military means. It is understandable that all
the resources ¡V economic potential, traditions, armaments, tactics and
goals bore the imprint of the Soviet Union. However, under these
circumstances Armenian defense complex managed to withstand Azerbajanian
forces prevailing in strength and armaments and to provide both the security
of the population of the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.
Thus, under such military-political conditions numerous threats come to the
fore, which are related to any of the South Caucasus States and have
symmetrical and asymmetrical nature.
As symmetrical threats of regional security may be viewed regional unsettled
conflicts and perspectives of their settlement through military means,
blockade of regional economic-transportation routes, unsatisfactory course
of democratization, disproportional development of regional states,
differentiated approach of external regional powers and international
community to regional states.
As asymmetrical threats of regional security may be viewed international
terrorism and the attempt of performing international terrorist network
activities in the region, regional intolerance and atmosphere of distrust,
seeding of international enmity, disinformation.
Here it is also worthy to mention another important thing: symmetrical and
asymmetrical threats are interwoven and the existence of the one may cause
the derivation of the others. For example, atmosphere of intolerance and
distrust may be easily abused by international terrorist organizations to
breed a fertile ground to resume military operations in South Caucasus
conflict areas.
All these threats have common nature that no country in the region is able
to avoid. Their ultimate defusion is impossible by individual efforts,
without the assistance of international community and reforms in security
and defense structures. In my opinion, this is the very goal that the
defense reforms in the South Caucasus are to be targeted at.
. Factors impacting defense reforms in South Caucasus
When speaking about defense reforms in South Caucasus those major factors
generating from regional political-military situation, which predetermine
the direction of defense reforms here, should be taken into consideration.
The first and the major factor is related to the existing conflicts that
three South Caucasus states are involved in: Armenia and Azerbaijan ¡V
Nagorno Kharabakh conflict, Georgia ¡V Abkhazia and South Ossetia. ¡§No
peace, no war¡¨ status greatly impacted on further development of military
components as well as foreign policy of regional states and state
development direction. As a result of these unsettled conflicts military
factor plays a considerable role in state efforts of construction both in
Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Moreover there are many forces in regional
countries and especially in Azerbaijan that are guided by the destructive
desire of settling conflicts through military means. These forces shape an
atmosphere of intolerance by their bellicose policy, which involuntarily
impacts on comprehensive defense reforms in Armenia and makes the
authorities of the Republic of Armenia evince cautiousness. However it is
noteworthy to mention, that by the support of international organizations,
if not final settlement, at least, if possible to put it this way,
¡§stable¡¨ and ¡§guaranteed¡¨ freezing of the conflicts opens opportunities
to conduct gradual defense reforms.
The second important factor impacting on defence reforms in South Caucasus
are international new threats. Realizing these threats and especially the
effective struggle against international terrorism drastically changes
traditional security perceptions. If we cast a glance on the activities of
international terrorist organizations and the frames of counter-terrorist
military operations, we will notice that South Caucasus occupies
geographically central place within these frames. South Caucasus is a
crossroad ¡V a transit zone for Chechen, Arab-Israel, Iraqi, Afghan
terrorist pockets. Here, under conditions of weak state structures,
imperfect mechanisms to combat terrorism and under conditions of
international conflicts, an opportunity to establish terrorist network and
activities is open.
One of the main factors impacting on defense reforms in South Caucasus is
the European integration policy adopted by regional states. This policy
gives wide opportunities to be involved in European security structures and
to take advantage of their experience and advice. In general, intensive
reforms conducted in international defense and security structures, in
individual states, adopting new approaches, development of new mechanisms
attest that development of common strategy, improvement of interoperability
mechanisms, rapid response and peacekeeping forces, mobile teams and etc.
come to overtake traditional defense structures. These factors expedite
international integration processes in defense area.
South Caucasus states have also entered into a resolute stage of European
integration. It leaves its positive influence on directing defense reforms
of regional states in synergy with the principles of overall European
security system restructuring. Particularly both Armenia, Georgia and
Azerbaijan are involved in international stabilization processes. It
contributes to establish rapid response and peacekeeping forces in these
states in line with international standards and fully interoperable with
international forces. Anyhow there is a specific feature: three South
Caucasus states conduct integration separately` refusing internal regional
integration. Notwithstanding Armenia makes suggestions to establish regional
security system through cooperation and integration. It is clear that the
absence of internal regional integration and cooperation makes it impossible
to fully provide the security despite individual reforms in security
structure of South Caucasus states. Thus the absence of internal regional
integration essentially impacts on the nature and direction of defense
reforms.
In general positive and negative factors impacting defense reforms in South
Caucasus are numerous and miscellaneous which account for the cautiousness
of South Caucasus states to implement defense reforms.
. Standpoints of regional states on defense reforms: differences and
generalities Regional and international threats and South Caucasus European
Integration direction requires equivalent reforms from regional states.
However the nature, objectives, intensity and direction of reforms are
different in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Differences in standpoints of three South Caucasus states in implementing
defense reforms are due to different perception of providing security and
defusing threats: these differences are widely displayed in the perceptions
of Armenia and Azerbaijan. For example, on the issue of Nagorno Karabakh
conflict settlement we are guided by the principle of ¡§Partnership for
Peace¡¨, suggesting to reach mutual confidence and stability through
cooperation, which is the primary precondition for the conflict resolution.
Azerbaijan, to the contrary, connects the establishment of cooperation with
the settlement of the conflict and rebuffs any suggestion of cooperation
until conflict resolution.
Having in circulation the option of settling Nagorno Karabakh conflict
through military means, authority circles of Azerbaijan have the vision of
reforming Armed Forces and enhancing the capabilities truly by militarized
means. To this end military expenses are multiplied in Azerbaijan year by
year. Moreover, the recent statement of Aliev on doubling the military
budget in 2006 is a challenge of arms race. Armenia, to the contrary, offers
complete exclusion of military settlement of the conflict to reach success
in defense reforms. This will give an opportunity not to weave defense
reforms with the conflict resolution and embark upon more practical steps.
But not receiving desirable response, Armenia has to and is ready to
withstand rude force with force. Armenia and Azerbaijan hold contradictory
opinions of issues on establishing regional security system and regional
integration. Both the official circles of Armenia and the representatives of
International community have made suggestions from different platforms on
this issue, every time Azerbaijan¡¦s refusal to start any cooperation.
Moreover, by this stance Azerbaijani authorities incite other countries also
to refusal. Frankly speaking, such a standpoint casts doubt on the desire of
Azerbajanian authorities to conduct defense reforms in line with
international standards.
In this hostile atmosphere to have a numerous army becomes a priority for
Armenia. We certainly realize that keeping a numerous army is not in line
with our aspirations and priorities of European integration, democratization
and reforms. However, in contrast with other priorities, which predominantly
generate from our national natural interests, having a numerous Armed Forces
is a compelling priority, a reliable guarantee to provide security.
On different occasions I have noted that most effective way to provide
military security and strengthen Armed Forces capabilities is military
integration and reforms. This strategy is important to meet the military
needs of the Armed Forces and to provide their stable development.
To have a stable security system Armenia is actively getting involved in
different security systems. Today Armenia cooperates within NATO and CSTO
/Collective Security Treaty Organization/, which contributes to the
establishment of Armenian Armed Forces interoperability capabilities by
different international standards. Therefore, both Armenian-Russian military
alliance within bilateral and CSTO frameworks and enhancement of cooperation
with NATO organizations and USA are the guarantees providing Armenia¡¦s
security. Through Armenia-NATO cooperation Armenia implements defense
reforms within the frameworks of PARP and IPAP. Reform strategy within CSTO
is targeted at establishing a joint and effective system to defuse security
threats.
Despite differences in standpoints of South Caucasus countries on defense
reform issues, there is a circumstance inspiring hope for their successful
implementation: defense reforms in three countries proceed in the course of
international integration.
We also realize, that defense reforms constitute only a part of overall
process of advanced development of statehood i.e. establishing legal state
and civil society. In this process the establishment of all legislative,
defense, social, economic, democratic institutions and the area of
institutional reforms are interconnected and symbiotic, and cannot develop
separately. Defense reforms conducted in regional states should be viewed in
the context of developing the countries through reforms and democratization
as one integral process, one system. It is impossible to build reformed,
transparent and modern Armed Forces in economically and socially weak
countries lacking democratic traditions and principles. Therefore, not only
cooperation with NATO must be taken full advantage of but also with other
European structures Council of Europe, OSCE, EU, the assistance of advanced
European institutes in this sphere, ¡§European Neighborhood policy¡¨,
Consultations of Venice commission for Democracy through Law, etc. Armenia
is resolute in its decision to be guided by this principle.
. The nature of defense reforms in South Caucasus region
I have already noted that defense reforms in South Caucasus with their
positive and negative aspects proceed in the spirit of European integration.
Cooperation with Euro-Atlantic Alliance plays a considerable role in these
reforms, since it is NATO who urges supports and assists in reforms.
What refers to the nature of defence reforms, as a result of consistent
policy in recent two years they have become more institutionalized`
engulfing real and specific goals. Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan have
joined PARP and IPAP by presenting all those goals that cooperation with
NATO is to be targeted to implement them.
By joining IPAP, Armenian on the whole presumes the following major reforms
in defense field: – Development of National Security Strategy
Although National Security Strategy will be developed for a transitional
period it will allow three South Caucasus states to reconfirm defending
nature of their activities aimed at providing national security supporting
the establishment of atmosphere of mutual confidence by that. Particularly
in Armenia¡¦s case once again it will be proclaimed that our country is for
peaceful settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict and is determined to
implement policy of integration to European structures. By 2007 Republic of
Armenia plans to develop the National Security Strategy and table it for
broad public discussions.
– Development of Defense Concept
Armenia greets NATO initiative to support the development of Strategy
Documents in South Caucasus states. Defense Concept of the Republic of
Armenia, which will be in harmony with the defense provisions defined by the
National Security Strategy, will be widely spread among population and will
be approved in 2007. It will also be submitted to the discussion of the
National Assembly of Armenia, which will provide the basis for near-term and
long-term defense planning. Defense Concept of Armenia will describe the
role and mission of Armenian Armed Forces and will serve as a principle
document to direct reform efforts. It will provide a single united strategic
direction for the Armed Forces and for other Government officials
responsible for national defense. Broad circulation of Defense Doctrine
across the country will foster public discussions on defense issues and will
provide support to meet military needs identified in the document. Defense
Strategy will play an important role to guide the efforts of Armenian Armed
Forces reforms and modernization.
– Defense system and particularly defense planning and budgeting reform
Reforming this area will give an opportunity to use defense resources more
effectively supporting the balance between economic growth and defense
expenditures. It will greatly enhance the defense budget transparency, which
will also contribute to strengthen mutual confidence in a stable security
environment.
– Strategic Defense Review
This process will give an opportunity to develop and implement plans for
Armed Forces improvement and transformation in accordance with tasks defined
by strategic documents. The process, which is planned to conduct during
defense reforms, will also continue after the completion of reforms becoming
a tool for Armed Forces assessment and continuous modernization.
– Defense Legislation and Administration Review
Through this review it will be possible to identify the shortfalls in
defense legislation and make necessary amendments to the legislation in
parallel with defense reforms. The present legislation /¡¨Law on Defense¡¦,
¡§Law on Mobilization¡¨, ¡§Law on Liability for Military Service¡¨, ¡§Law on
Entering to Military Service¡¨ and other laws/ will need to be changed after
Constitution reforms and approvement of National Security Strategy.
Amendments have already been made in defense legislation of the Republic of
Armenia. Particularly amendments were made to the ¡§Law on liability for
military service¡¨ of RA in October 2000, on 3rd July 2002 ¡§Law on entering
to Military Service¡¨ was adopted, and ¡§Law on Alternative Military
Service¡¨ of RA was adopted on 17 December 2003 and amended on 29 January
2004.
– Increasing the system of democratic-public control of the Armed Forces
will in its turn contribute to the enhancement of Armed Forces transparency
and will provide more public support to the state defense policy. It is
necessary to use the existing mechanisms when conducting events to increase
democratic control in regional states by expanding and improving them year
by year, training appropriate specialists and conducting public awareness
policy.
– Input of civilian personnel in the Armed Forces of the Republic of
Armenia Implementation of the above mentioned reforms will automatically
necessitate the input of civilian personnel in the Armed Forces system. MOD
will require civilian experts well aware of defense policy principle
provisions and able to manage different spheres of national defense
structure. Civilian experts can greatly contribute to the development of
defense policy, legislative collaboration, legal advice, resource
management, public affairs and procurements. Increasing the number of
civilian experts handling issues of defense policy development and planning
will assist Armenia to achieve her National Security goals.
As a result of the above mentioned activities the opportunity of
interoperability with European and Euro-Atlantic structures, institutional
and conceptual compatibility will be expanded, without any harm at all to
its cooperation within CSTO.
Anyhow the true desire and the real understanding by the heads of regional
states and public awareness policy based on that understanding is of primary
significance to successfully conduct the reforms. This is the only possible
way to smooth out existing contest, sometimes-even hostility between
regional nations. Obviously it is impossible to reach stability and
prosperity in South Caucasus when the head of one state speaks about
European integration, compromising and peaceful settlement of conflicts,
regional cooperation, but at the highest political level of the neighboring
state bellicose statements are made, thus seeding own people with hostility
and intolerance against the neighboring nation.
I am confident that the continuation of impartial and balanced policy course
towards Armenia and Azerbaijan by NATO and European institutions, efforts
seeking to establish an atmosphere of tolerance and mutual confidence will
uphold South Caucasus states to achieve cooperation through reforms and to
peace and stability through cooperation.
Thank you.