Author: Khondkarian Raffi

VISIT OF OSCE PA RAPPORTEUR ON NK TO BAKU POSTPONED

Pan Armenian News
08.09.2005 05:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) Rapporteur on
Nagorno Karabakh Goran Lennmarker will visit Azerbaijan after the
parliamentary election, head of the OSCE PA Azeri delegation Sattar
Safarov told journalists. In Safarov’s words, the postponement is due
to the parliamentary election. The report on Nagorno Karabakh will
be discussed in the course of Lennmarker’s visit to Azerbaijan. The
OSCE representative will probably take part in the discussion of new
proposals. “The Azeri party again insists on the position that the OSCE
PA decision over NK should openly demonstrate the occupation policy
of Armenia. Theses indicated in the CE PA Resolution on NK should also
be reflected in the document,” S. Safarov stated, reported IA Regnum.

Armenian Assembly of America
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:

PRESS RELEASE
September 8, 2005
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
Email: [email protected]

CONGRESSMAN GUTIERREZ JOINS THE ARMENIAN CAUCUS

Washington, DC – At the urging of the Armenian Assembly, Congressman
Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) today joined the Congressional Caucus on
Armenian Issues, bringing the total Caucus membership to 147.

Gutierrez, who is currently serving his seventh term in office,
strongly supports U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide and has
cosponsored legislation in the House of Representatives that would
properly recognize this crime against humanity. Additionally,
Gutierrez has urged the President to formally acknowledge the Armenian
Genocide in his annual April 24 remembrance statements.

Board of Directors Vice Chair Lisa Esayian said the Assembly is
pleased that Congressman Gutierrez will be part of this very important
body. “As a Chicago resident, I have witnessed firsthand the
Congressman’s efforts on behalf of his constituents and know he will
be an effective member of the Caucus.”

Echoing Esayian, Illinois State Chair Jim Keledjian said that
Gutierrez is a well-respected legislator and that he looks forward to
working closely with him to advance Armenian issues in Congress.

Gutierrez was born in Chicago in 1953 and graduated from Northeastern
Illinois University in 1975. He worked as a teacher, social worker,
community activist, city official and Alderman before his election to
the U.S. Congress in 1992.

The Congressman is also a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
and serves on the House Financial Services and Veterans’ Affairs
Committees.

The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness
of Armenian issues. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership
organization.

NR#2005-089

Photograph available on the Assembly’s Web site at the following link:

CAPTION: Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)

OSCE CHAIRMAN CITES RAPPROCHEMENT IN AZERBAIJAN-ARMENIA TALKS

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Sept 6 2005

Baku, September 5, AssA-Irada
The OSCE is closely following the results of the meeting of Azeri
and Armenian presidents in the Russian Volga river city of Kazan,
OSCE chairman-in-office, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel
said after meeting the head of the Azerbaijani community of Upper
Garabagh Nizami Bahmanov in Baku on Monday. Bahmanov told reporters
after the meeting that Kazan talks are of great importance. “The OSCE
chairman said that although no documents were signed at the meeting,
a considerable rapprochement (between the two sides) was observed.” The
OSCE will continue working in this area, he said. During the meeting
with Rupel, Bahmanov stated his objection over the fact that Armenian
President Robert Kocharian’s participated at the event dedicated to
the so-called ‘independence day’ of the separatist regime of Upper
Garabagh. The OSCE chairman, in turn, promised to discuss the matter
with the Armenian leader during his visit to Yerevan. Bahmanov and
Rupel also discussed the settlement of Armenians in the occupied
Azeri territories and issues related to providing conditions for
Upper Garabagh’s Armenian residents to take part in Azerbaijan’s
parliament election this fall. The OSCE chairman vowed to work toward
re-settlement of Armenian residents from the occupied land.*

TURKISH WRITER THREATENED WITH IMPRISONMENT FOR STATEMENTS ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Pan Armenian News
02.09.2005 04:09

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Well-known writer Orhan Pamuk can be sentenced
to three years of imprisonment for the statements on the Armenian
Genocide. The Turkish authorities initiated the investigation against
Pamuk in February 2005 when during an interview with Tas Magazin Swiss
edition he said, “30 thousand of Kurds and a million of Armenians
were killed in Ottoman Turkey and no one except me dares to say
that.” Pamuk’s statements aroused stormy negative reaction among the
Turkish nationalists. Orhan Pamuk’s trial is scheduled for December
16. The writer’s words can be rated as “offence of the Turkish national
self-consciousness”. Neither the writer nor the representatives of the
Turkish Office of Prosecutor General have commented on the accusations
yet, Reuters agency reports.

CIS finds time for introspection

The Messenger, Georgia
Sept 2 2005

The Kazan CIS summit has concluded, but speculation over the future
of the tenuous alliance continues. The summit showed that despite
negative forecasts, the CIS has not died, though it has become clear
to all that the practice of hiding from problems by postponing measures
to deal with them cannot go on for ever.

More importantly, this type of postponement no longer figures into the
interests of Russia. In the estimation of Russian politicians, Moscow
is fast losing its influence in CIS space and if certain measures
are not taken, the “symbolic union” will become a thing of the past.

Moscow’s concern over the current situation in the CIS was aroused
by the recent wave of “velvet revolutions” in the area. While it
was being founded under Yeltsin, the CIS was construed as a way for
Russia to declare its “sphere of influence,” where no outside force
would stick its nose – not the United States, the European Union, nor
any regional power. Within the alliance itself, integration processes
were to gradually take shape, on the basis of which a single military,
political and economic bloc and perhaps even a united state would
be created. The revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine, the continuance
of revolutionary processes in Central Asia and the anticipation of
similar events in Belarus, Armenia and Azerbaijan have made it clear
to Moscow that no one recognizes its exclusive influence on the CIS
any more. These velvet developments are seen by many in Moscow not as
“people’s revolts,” but rather the U.S. achieving its geopolitical
goals in the region by means of “election technologies,” at the expense
of curtailing Russia’s influence and driving it out of regions where
just a few years ago, its dominance could not be disputed.

Prior to the Kazan summit, the Borjomi Declaration signed by Georgian
and Ukrainian Presidents Mikheil Saakashvili and Viktor Yushchenko on
creating a new alliance of democratically oriented countries in the
Black, Caspian and Baltic Sea basins caused a great amount of uproar.
This group is expected to consist of Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan,
and potentially Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland and Romania.

True, Saakashvili and Yushchenko say they are not considering
withdrawal from the CIS and that the alliance envisaged by the
Borjomi Declaration will be of an informal character, but Moscow
is still highly suspicious about the upcoming meeting to discuss
the creation of the Community for Democratic Choice” scheduled this
month in Ukraine. The Russian newspaper Moskovskie Novosti reports
that Russian President Vladimir Putin received an invitation to
participate in the conference, but refused, as that day he has a
scheduled meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan.

The Russian media characterizes Saakashvili’s and Yushchenko’s
presence at the Kazan summit as that of “strangers,” saying that the
remaining presidents “eyed them with suspicion.” Likewise regarded
as less than entirely trustworthy were the presidents of Moldova and
Kyrgyzstan. Indeed, many problems showed themselves at the summit
– the adoption of several documents required great effort and the
participants failed to elect a new CIS chair. The acting chair, Putin,
was to have been replaced by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev,
but Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov objected, as the former had
apparently said of him that “he’s originally from a village.” Putin
retained his chairmanship.

Interestingly, the next summit of CIS presidents will take place in
Belarus. Many wonder just how the “velvet presidents” will be greeted
in Minsk or how they will be received by Belarussian chief Aleksandr
Lukashenko, who has been labeled “the last dictator in Europe.” But
speculation now is useless, as much time remains before the Minsk
summit and the wave of revolutions has yet to subside.

Moscow, meanwhile, is busy thinking about implementing fundamental
reforms in the CIS. Russians consider that the best way to encourage
these countries to remain loyal to Moscow is to make cooperation
with that country more attractive. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
mentioned that Russia must become more competitive and speed up its
development. But time is necessary in order to achieve this. The
best illustration of the attractiveness of cooperation with Russia
is the low energy prices offered to CIS states. “Whoever is not in
the CIS will not be able to take advantage of the economic benefits”
– such is the essence of Russia’s policy. Being in the CIS, in turn,
will imply active participation in its reformation. It is time for
Georgia to pick a course and stay with it, for ultimately, integration
into NATO and European structures, together with remaining the CIS
will not prove possible.

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TOP STORIES
08/31/2005
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1) EU Insists Turkey Fully Implement Customs Protocol
2) Turk Novelist May Face Jail for Genocide Comments
3) Parliament Approves Proposed Constitutional Reforms, Opposition Exits pre
Vote

1) EU Insists Turkey Fully Implement Customs Protocol

BRUSSELS (Combined Sources)–The European Commission has insisted that Turkey
must fully implement an EU customs protocol if it hopes to join the bloc,
despite Ankara’s refusal to recognize Cyprus as a member state.
Spokeswoman Krisztina Nagy said Turkey’s hopes of joining the EU hinged on
its
respect for the revised Ankara protocol. Turkey signed the pact in Brussels
last month but added a declaration that it did not amount to recognizing
Cyprus.
“What is important for the commission is to see a full and total
implementation of the Ankara protocol and the customs union,” Nagy told
reporters.
She said that would include allowing Cypriot ships to use Turkish ports.
“There are conditions on the free movement of goods in those documents,” Nagy
stated. “Turkey has to grant access to Cypriot vessels.”
EU leaders gave the vast Muslim state the green light in December to start
entry talks despite its refusal to recognize the government of Cyprus, which
was among 10 countries that joined the EU last year.
Nagy’s comments came as EU ambassadors were being briefed on the protocol and
the attached declaration by a commission legal expert.
The ambassadors are preparing the ground for a meeting of EU foreign
ministers
in Wales on Thursday at which the issue is certain to figure high on the
agenda.
The issue of Turkey has recently become contentious again, as member states
such as France and Austria–as well as potentially Germany under a new
conservative leadership after its upcoming elections–have signaled that they
prefer a loose partnership with Ankara as opposed to full membership.
Austria has stated that Vienna will seek ‘privileged partnership’ to be
explicitly stated as an alternative to full Turkish EU membership.
The European Commission’s negotiating terms state open ended process with the
aim of EU membership, but not with Turkey’s entry as guaranteed conclusion.
In a letter to her EU colleagues on Thursday, Austrian foreign minister
Ursula
Plassnik said the mandate should specify a “specific alternative to EU
membership.”
“Such a partnership would constitute a more realistic goal in the middle
term,
for Turkey as well as for the EU member states, without excluding the
perspective of full membership,” Plassnik wrote.

2) Turk Novelist May Face Jail for Genocide Comments

ANKARA (Reuters)–Best-selling Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk faces up to three
years in jail for saying that Armenians suffered genocide at the hand of the
Ottoman Turkish government 90 years ago, his publisher said on Wednesday.
Turkish prosecutors are also investigating comments by Pamuk that some 30,000
Kurds were killed more recently in Turkey in separatist clashes with security
forces.
“A lawsuit has been filed against Orhan Pamuk that could result in a
three-year prison sentence,” Iletisim Publishing said in a statement faxed to
Reuters.
Pamuk made his comments about the Armenians and the Kurds during an interview
published on Feb 6, 2005, in Das Magazin, the weekly supplement of Swiss
newspaper Tages Anzeiger.
“Thirty thousand Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed in these lands and
nobody but me dares to talk about it,” Pamuk was quoted as saying in the
interview.
His remarks drew an angry reaction from Turkish nationalists and politicians
at the time, and the author even received anonymous death threats.
The public prosecutor in Istanbul’s Sisli district found that Pamuk’s remarks
violated Turkey’s newly revised penal code, which deems denigration of the
“Turkish identity” a crime, the publisher of Iletisim, Tugrul Pasaoglu, told
Reuters.
Pasaoglu said the first hearing in Pamuk’s trial was scheduled for December
16.
The prosecutor’s office declined to comment on the case.

SENSITIVE ISSUE

Ankara has long denied that Armenians suffered genocide, or systematic
killing, at Ottoman hands during and after World War I, saying they were
victims of partisan fighting which also claimed the lives of many Muslim
Turks.
Turkey is also very sensitive to portrayals of the Kurdish issue. Its
security
forces have been battling separatist guerrillas in Turkey’s impoverished
southeast since 1984. Fighting has recently flared up after a period of
relative calm.
Pamuk is best known as the author of historical novels set in Ottoman Turkey,
including “My Name is Red” and “The White Castle.” His recent novel “Snow”
is a
meditation on love and politics in modern Turkey. His book “Istanbul” is a
personal memoir of growing up in Turkey’s sprawling biggest city.
His books have been widely translated into English and other foreign
languages.
Pamuk’s trial is likely to prove embarrassing for the Turkish government
as it
prepares for the launch of European Union entry talks on October 3. The EU has
said Ankara must meet European standards on freedom of expression.

3) Parliament Approves Proposed Constitutional Reforms, Opposition Exits pre
Vote

YEREVAN (RFE/RL/Armenpress)–With a vote of 92 to 1 and no abstentions,
Armenian parliament approved on Wednesday the first reading of 18 revised as
well as new articles to the Constitution.
Lawmakers from opposition Ardarutyun (Justice) bloc and National Unity vetoed
the vote. They had indicted on Tuesday that they would reject the draft
because
their proposals were turned down.
Following speeches by the opposition’s leadership, there was a collective
walkout of the more than two dozen parliamentarians affiliated with the two
opposition groups. They suspended their 18-month boycott of parliament
sessions
on Monday to attend the debate broadcast live by state television.
The Armenian opposition decided to reject the draft amendments despite the
fact they are supported by the Council of Europe, the European Union and the
United States, who say constitutional reform would result in a more effective
system of checks and balances among Armenia’s branches of government.
Adoption of the proposed reforms is expected in the second and final readings
scheduled for Thursday and September 11 respectively.

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OSKANIAN CONTENT WITH RESULTS OF ARMENIAN-AZERI SUMMIT

Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug 31 2005

The weekend meeting in Russia between the presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan marked another important step towards the resolution of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said
on Tuesday.

Oskanian said he and his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov will
now try to build on progress made by Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliev.

“True, no breakthrough was achieved during that meeting, but we do
consider it positive and believe that the negotiations are following
a positive course,” he told a news conference. “The most important
thing is that the presidents’ meeting in Kazan enables the [foreign]
ministers to continue their work. I think that there will be a meeting
of the ministers in the near future. A visit to the region by the
co-chairs [of the OSCE Minsk Group is also possible.”

“I think that we have some work to do regarding the results of the
presidents’ meeting and that there is now new room for continuing
the process,” Oskanian said, adding that he and Mammadyarov received
relevant “instructions” from the two presidents. He did not say what
those instructions are.

“Each meeting at the level of the presidents is a step forward,
but it’s still early to speak of serious progress,” Mammadyarov told
reporters on Monday.

International mediators and the United States in particular hoped the
Kazan meeting will clear the final hurdle to a Karabakh settlement.
It is not clear if Aliev and Kocharian lived up to their expectations.

It is widely assumed that the two leaders will not sign or
announce any compromise agreements on Karabakh before the November
parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan and constitutional referendum
in Armenia. Unpopular concessions could significantly strengthen
opposition groups in both countries that are plotting fresh attempts
to topple the ruling regimes in Baku and Yerevan.

Oskanian said the upcoming polls will have no bearing on the peace
process. “We have not yet reached a point where we need to inform our
publics about details,” he explained. “We are still not there. That
is why it is not worth thinking about that.”

“We are simply not close to putting anything on paper. So nobody is
thinking yet about the restrictive impact of the elections or the
referendum on the negotiations,” he added.

France, Belgium Ban a List of Air Carriers
By SOPHIE NICHOLSON, AP

Updated: 04:39 PM EDT
08/29/05

PARIS (Aug. 29) – France and Belgium have issued blacklists of
airlines prohibited from using their airports, an attempt to allay
public fears about flying after a recent series of deadly crashes.

The French list released late Sunday comprises six companies from the
U.S. Virgin Islands, Thailand, North Korea, Mozambique and Liberia.
Belgium’s list released Monday includes nine airlines from Egypt,
Armenia, Congo, Libya, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Ukraine and the Central
African Republic.

Swiss civil aviation officials also said they plan to release a
similar list Thursday.

Proposals for a European blacklist are still being prepared, prompting
individual countries to take action in the meantime.

Starting Sept. 8, EU states will meet in Brussels to work on
harmonizing rules to ban or suspend a company’s flights, EU Transport
Commissioner Jacques Barrot said.

Maxime Coffin, test director at the French civil aviation authority,
said he hoped the list would speed up Europe’s efforts.

Though all the airlines had been banned in recent years, France had
never before made a blacklist public.

“We also hope this list will persuade foreign companies who want to
come to France to be more rigorous,” Coffin told a news conference.

Thailand’s Phuket Airways, one of the airlines banned in France,
demanded to know what criteria France used to judge it.

“I really don’t understand what is the meaning of unsafe. Unsafe
for what? Unsafe for operations or unsafe for what? Because we have
never had a serious incident or accident, so I would like to ask back
to the authorities what is the meaning of unsafe?” Capt. Chawanit
Chiamcharoenvut, executive vice president of Phuket Air, said in
Bangkok.

Because air accidents are still so rare – despite this month’s spike –
airline records fail to tell the whole story, safety specialists say.

In France, many questioned the reliability blacklists.

“Publishing lists is completely ineffective,” said Marc Chernet,
president of an association for victims of a Flash Airlines plane
crash in the Red Sea in June 2004. The plane, heading to Paris,
crashed after taking off from Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, killing 148
people, mostly French tourists.

The French and Belgian measures were announced following five
aviation accidents in the past few months, including one involving a
Colombian-registered charter that crashed in Venezuela, killing 152
French citizens from the Caribbean island of Martinique.

On Saturday, a charter flight from Turkish company Fly Air was grounded
at Paris’ Roissy airport with tire problems and a small fuel leak. That
company was not on France’s blacklist.

The U.S. has a slightly different system that focuses on countries
rather than airlines, and uses aviation safety standards set by
the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations
agency headquartered in Montreal. Twenty-six of the 100 countries
that have been assessed do not meet ICAO standards, most in Africa,
South America and the Caribbean.

France’s list of banned airlines is: Air Koryo of North Korea; Air St.
Thomas of the U.S. Virgin Islands; International Air Services of
Liberia; Thailand’s Phuket Airlines; and Linhas Aereas de Mocambique
and Transairways, both from Mozambique.

On the Belgian list were Africa Lines of the Central African Republic;
Air Memphis from Egypt; Air Van Airlines of Armenia; Central Air
Express from Congo; Libya’s ICTTPW; International Air Tours Limited
from Nigeria; Johnsons Air Limited of Ghana; Silverback Cargo
Freighters from Rwanda; and South Airlines of Ukraine.

Associated Press Writer Pierre-Yves Roger in Paris contributed to
this report.

ARMENIAN NGO THAT WANTS TO WATCH PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN AZERBAIJAN HAS FACED BLANK WALL OF MISUNDERSTANDING

YEREVAN, AUGUST 29. ARMINFO. The Central Electoral Commission
of Azerbaijan did not respond to the application of the Armenian
charitable nongovernmental organization ‘Azat Hayk’ to include it in
the list of the international organizations on monitoring over the
parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, Leader of Azat Hayk Rouben
Mnatsakanian informed ARMINFO.

“In the main to the Azeri CEC from 20.07.05 our organization
pledged itself to undertake all the financial costs of the mission
of the observers and the refusal means that the Azerbaijani CEC
has something to conceal”, Mnatsakanian said. According to him, the
CEC did not answer either the e-mail or the fax. In this connection
the nongovernmental organization has appealed to the Yerevan-based
offices of international organizations, as well as diplomatic
representations of different countries with a request to assist
sending a fax release. But oral refusal was received from all.

Mnatsakanian mentioned that the organization Azat Hayk has carried
out a monitoring over parliamentary elections to the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic and estimated them as open and democratic. He stressed
that all the aforementioned gives basis to state that international
organizations and individual statesmen do not have any moral right
to require from Nagorno-Karabakh Republic concessions to Azerbaijan.
“Nagorny Karabakh, the democracy standard bearer in the region cannot
cooperate with an anti-democratic country, all the more to become
its part”, Mnatsakanian stressed.

YEREVAN – SALE ZONE

A1plus
| 15:17:47 | 29-08-2005 | Social |

New people are added to the group of those shelterless who have been
ousted of their houses. Together with the residents of the North
Avenue, Buzand and Yeznik Koghbaci streets the residents of Kanaker
and Malatia-Sebastia are already participating in marches.

In the Malatia-Sebastia community there are good pieces of land too. In
particular, the lands of the ex collective economy N22, which were
allotted to the workers of the economy, families of dead soldiers
and socially insecure families. These lands are being sold too.

The above mentioned lands form about 50 hectares. 30 of them have been
allotted to the Defense Ministry, which it its turn has resold them,
but the new owner of the lands is unknown.

Although there are families who have rent contracts of the lands,
the contracts are found invalid. As for the compensation for the
lands, it is miserable. 1 square meter usually costs 40 cents, and
the families of the dead soldiers are paid 2 dollars.

It is noteworthy that 20 hectares of the whole territory is not
considered a green zone, therefore no necessary compensation is
given. As for the Yerevan municipality, it has started to sell the
territory in an auction.