Author: Maghakian Mike

Far Away Trial
News
Inside Higher Ed (Washington, DC)
August 11, 2005
By Doug Lederman
Academics and human rights advocates are warily monitoring a trial
unfolding in an Armenian courtroom, in which a Duke University doctoral
student from Turkey faces up to eight years in prison for allegedly
taking used books out of the country illegally.
Scholarly groups, which have waged a campaign to defend him, fear the
smuggling charges are a subtext for the Armenian government to crack
down on a researcher who is studying a politically sensitive period in
the country’s tangled history with Turkey.
Yektan Turkyilmaz, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in cultural anthropology
at Duke, in May became the first Turkish citizen to request and receive
access to the Armenian National Archives, where he sought information
for his dissertation, `Imagining `Turkey,’ Creating a Nation: The
Politics of Geography and State Formation in Eastern Anatolia, 1908-1938.’
Turkyilmaz is said to be one of a handful of Turkish scholars who have
critically assessed the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman in
1915 and 1916, which Armenians and most scholars have long characterized
as genocide, and the means by which Turkey took control of the eastern
region of the country known as Anatolia.
On June 17, according to the Social Science Research Council (which
supports his work with a field grant) and the Science and Human Rights
Program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science,
authorities at Yerevan Airport in Armenia pulled Turkilman off an
airplane as he prepared to leave the country. They seized in the
neighborhood of 100 books that he had bought at secondhand stores and
compact disks that contained the fruits of his research in the Armenian
archives.
He was held without bail for nearly a month before being charged, on
July 21, with violating an article in the Armenian Constitution that
bars transportation out of the country of drugs, nuclear weapons and
certain `raw materials or cultural values’ without prior permission.
According to the scholarly groups’ reports, Armenian customs regulations
require travelers to declare books that are at least 50 years old, as
seven of Turkyilmaz’s books reportedly were.
Turkyilmaz’s supporters say that if he violated the customs policy, he
did so unknowingly, and that he is being far more harshly than the
charges warrant. They say that the first few days he was held in custody
were dominated by interrogation about his research and his political
convictions, and that the Armenian authorities pored over his archival
material, which arguably had nothing to do with the alleged book smuggling.
The arrest, the AAAS said in its report on the case, `sends a negative
signal that Armenia does not encourage independent scholarly research
into its history.’
More than 200 academics from around the world signed a letter to
Armenia’s president urging that Turkmilyaz be released and his archival
materials returned. Richard H. Brodhead, the president of Duke, where
Turkmilyaz is a John Hope Franklin Institute fellow, sent a similar
letter, in which he called Turkmilyaz a `scholar of extraordinary
promise.’ `His exceptional command of many languages is, I am told,
unique among scholars of this period and gives him an equally unique
opportunity, therefore, to help illuminate this critical historical
period,’ Brodhead wrote.
He added: `As the leader of a great country, you have the ability to
intervene in this matter and to determine the appropriateness of the
actions of your government and the Armenian prosecutors and police. You
also have the ability to release Mr. Turkyilmaz. With respect, I urge
you to do so.’
International PEN, the writers’ group, issued an alert on Turkyilmaz’s
behalf, and the former presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Bob Dole
weighed in with a letter.
Those pleas did not stop the trial, which began Tuesday but was promptly
delayed, according to a report by Radio Free Europe. The agency reported
that Turkyilmaz’s new lawyer said he needed more time to familiarize
himself with the case, and that a delay was granted until tomorrow.
Ayse Gul Altinay, an assistant professor at Istanbul’s Sabanci
University and an organizer of the campaign for Turkyilmaz, said in an
e-mail message Wednesday that `we are hoping that the trial process will
not last long and that Yektan will be freed soon. It is also very
important that they return his research material, together with his
personal things, when he is released.’
For more information on Yektan Turkyilmaz, see:

Unfinished Business in Russia
Stratfor.com
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
By Peter Zeihan
It should come as no surprise that the most dynamic part of U.S. foreign
policy relates to Russia. Condoleezza Rice, appointed as Secretary of
State at the beginning of the year, began her government work during the
end of the Cold War, when she served as former President George H. W.
Bush’s Soviet expert at the National Security Council. Now that she is
in the big chair at Foggy Bottom, she has surrounded herself with
members of the same team from her previous stint in government service.
Of particular note are former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick,
former U.S. ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns, and Robert Joseph, former
special assistant to the president and senior director for proliferation
strategy, counterproliferation and homeland defense with the National
Security Council (NSC) — a wordy way of saying that he was really
important. The three now serve essentially as Rice’s No. 2, 3 and 4 at
State.
As we stated when Rice was appointed in January, the State Department is
now “staffed by a team that helped knock the Soviet Union off its
superpower perch. Russia can look forward to four years of a State
Department with the resources and the will to ratchet back Moscow’s
influence throughout the Baltics, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Central
Asia and even its western Slavic flank. The confrontation over Ukraine
was just the beginning.”
Personnel changes have not been limited to the top tier. Vershbow’s
replacement as ambassador — William Burns — fits the mold set by Rice
and her top team. He served at the U.S. embassy in Moscow as
minister-counselor for political affairs during the 1980s, a position
and time that would tend to shape one’s political views. He is now
coming back to Moscow after several years of knocking Israeli and
Palestinian heads together.
In the case of Russia, however, the transformation is much deeper than
“just” a fresh ambassador, secretary of state and top management team.
The rank and file of the entire Russia desk at the State Department is
being overhauled. Considering that most State Department personnel swap
out positions every two to three years to avoid the dangers of going
native, a certain amount of turnover is expected, but the top-to-bottom
housecleaning in the case of the Russia team appears to be far more
thorough than any scheduled rotation.
The big shift began — and the direction of U.S. policy was set — at
the V-E Day celebrations in Moscow in May. During that trip, the Bush
team bracketed a whirlwind tour past a parade stand in Moscow between
deep, long and extremely friendly visits to Latvia and Georgia. The
message was clear: the United States is now more concerned with the
comings, goings and concerns of Vaira Vike-Freiberga and Mikhail
Saakashvili — the Latvian and Georgian presidents — than it is with
the Russians, and this message was sent on the Russians’ national day.
In the Russian mind, it is all snapping into place: color “revolutions”
in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine; NATO and EU expansion right up to
the Russian border; the commencement of pumping on the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline; and now a thorough personnel shift in
the State Department that is stocking the top ranks with people who were
present at — and played a role in — the Soviet defeat. The Kremlin’s
belief is that the West, led by the United States, is committing to a
full-court press into Russia’s geopolitical space in an attempt to
permanently remove Russia as a threat.

ARMENIAN PM RECEIVES OUTGOING INDIAN AMBASSADOR
YEREVAN, AUGUST 9, ARMENPRESS: Armenian Prime Minister Andranik
Margarian received today the outgoing Indian ambassador to Armenia
Deepak Vohra who ended his mission in Armenia.
The governmental press service said during the meeting the prime
minister thanked the ambassador for his effective work and wished
success in his further mission. On his part, the ambassador noted that
it was great honor for him to work in Armenia and he leaves the
country full of great impressions and memories.
He said that his next mission will be in Sudan and he has already
managed to find information about the local Armenian community and is
going to establish close relations with its representatives. The
ambassador thanked the Armenian government and prime minister for
supporting him during his mission.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
August 8, 2005 Monday 1:28 PM Eastern Time
New Ukrainian-Russian plane begins flight testing in Armenia
By Vitaly Matarykin
KIEV
A new-generation Ukrainian-Russian joint regional passenger plane,
An-148, began flight-testing in Armenia on Monday.
The testing is taking place at Gyumri Airport (former Leninakan),
1,525 metres above the sea level, and will end on August 13.
Earlier the plane was tested for heat resistance in Uzbekistan and
for ice resistance in Russia.
All testing of the new plane is expected to be completed at the
beginning of 2006.

Movement chair arrested over cooperation with Armenian secret service
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Aug 5 2005
Baku, August 4, AssA-Irada – Head of a youth movement has been arrested
on charges of attempting to forcefully seize power with the aid of
the Armenian secret service. The apprehension follows a testimony of
a member of the organization, who appealed to the Prosecutor’s Office
on Wednesday.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, representative of the Yeni Fikir
(New Thought) movement Osman Alimuradov testified that on July 28-29,
he traveled to Tbilisi together with the movement chairman Ruslan
Bashirli, on an instruction of the major opposition Popular Front
Party (PFPA) chairman Ali Karimli. While in the Georgian capital, they
met with Merabi Jibutia, who presented himself as a representative
of Georgian ‘democratic forces’, as well as two other individuals,
Georgi Ispirian and a man named Vardan. “However, these individuals
actually represent Armenian secret service”, the Prosecutor’s Office
report said. These persons drew the movement representatives to
secret cooperation.
Alimuradov submitted a video tape and a receipt proving that Bashirli
received money from these individuals.
The investigation showed that in late June-early July, Georgian
citizen Jibutia visited Baku and met with the Yeni Fikir chairman
Bashirli. Bashirli then introduced him to the PFPA chairman Karimli,
which was followed by an hour-long face-to-face conversation.
Bashirli and Alimuradov met with Georgi Ispirian and Jibutia at a
private apartment in Tbilisi on July 29. Bashirli then said that the
‘forces’ he represents act on an instruction of the US National
Democratic Institute. He said that they have received ‘specific
instructions’ from NDI representatives to stage a ‘revolution’
in Azerbaijan. He said that NDI representatives arranged training
sessions for PFPA deputy chair Fuad Mustafayev and the Yeni Fikir
movement coordinator Nuriyev, in Poland.
Ispirian, in turn, said that the ‘democratic forces’ headed by
PFPA chair Karimli and Bashirli should try to stage a revolution
in Azerbaijan. Ispirian also promised that Armenian and Georgian
‘democratic forces’ would provide all kinds of assistance, including
sufficient funds. He said that if necessary, fear and confusion would
be provoked among the population and ceasefire may be breached for
a short period of time to ‘show the incompetence of the authorities’.
Ispirian also said during the meeting that he is capable of staging
shooting at one of the opposition rallies in Azerbaijan in order to
breach stability in the country.
After an agreement was reached to jointly struggle against Azerbaijani
authorities, Ispirian gave $2,000 to Bashirli and received a receipt
for the money. Besides, he promised Bashirli to give him another
$20,000 in a few days. The plotters then agreed that Bashirli will
receive $2,000 every month.
However, Alimuradov turned down the proposal to cooperate. He said
that the afore-mentioned man named Vardan told him that they represent
Armenian secret service and have video-taped the meeting with a hidden
camera. Vardan threatened Alimuradov that if collaboration is declined,
the mentioned video-tapes would be aired on TV channels. He also gave
a copy of the tape to Alimuradov.
The Azerbaijani law enforcement have arrested Bashirli and started a
criminal case against him on charges of ‘forceful capture of power’
and ‘forceful overthrow of the constitutional system’.*

AGREEMENT OVER KARABAKH ISSUE MAY BE REACHED AT KOCHARIAN-ALIYEV MEETING
PanArmenian News Network
Aug 4 2005
04.08.2005 02:46
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “An agreement over the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
may be reached at the recurrent meeting of the Azeri and Armenian
Presidents to be held August 26. The talks held within the past
year provide ground for an opinion of this kind,” Project Director
of International Crisis Group for Caucasus Sabine Freizer stated in
the air of RFE/RL. In her words, the population is not sufficiently
informed on the course of the talks, which results in discontent and
press speculations. “It is utterly important for the Governments
of Azerbaijan and Armenia to provide information to their country
population irrespective of whether an agreement is reached or not.
Otherwise the attitude of the population of both countries to any
arranged issues will be negative,” she said. The International Crisis
Group monthly report says during OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ visit
to the region there were optimistic conversations about peace. The
document says that the matter of the referendum in Karabakh was
discussed in the press, while the Azeri MFA denies it. The report
also notes that in spite of the public opinion in Azerbaijan still
being very critical, relative calmness is available in Armenia. It
notes that on the eve of the parliamentary election pressure over
Azerbaijan increases – the US, EU and OSCE make statements on the
need to hold free and fair election.

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT VICE-SPEAKER: THE ONLY WAY FOR STABLE DEVELOPMENT IS EUROPEAN
ARKA News Agency
Aug 3 2005
YEREVAN, August 2. /ARKA/. The only way Armenia has for stable
development is European way, Armenian National Assembly Vice-Speaker
Tigran Torosyan said at Constitutional Guarantees of Stable Development
round-table discussion held Tuesday in Yerevan. In his words,
the republic’s geopolitical position and current challenges don’t
allow it to fall into soviet-era-like isolation. In his opinion,
Armenia Eurointegration process went on at a sluggish pace in
2004-2005. Torosyan sees the current constitution as the main obstacle
for that. He thinks although Armenia finds itself behind Poland, Czech
Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and Baltic countries having reach
experience of democracy gained in pre-soviet epoch, the republic was
capable not to stay behind Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia. Torosyan
says that today, when a group of countries joined the European Union
and another group of countries became the EU aspirants, Armenia
found itself outside this row and the main obstacle is the current
constitution. Level of economic freedom in Armenia exceeds that in
some EU member countries. The Vice-Speaker noted that Armenia is
the only country, where gap between economic freedom and democracy
is so wide. In his explanation, the present constitution is not
hobbling economy, but barring democracy from developing. That’s why
constitutional reforms are so needed, Torosyn said. M.V. -0—
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Karabakh accuse Azeri media of adverse coverage
Nagornyy Karabakh Foreign Ministry, Stepanakert
2 Aug 05
Text of report by press release from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic on 2 August headlined “Commentary on
the publication of the article ‘NKR torpedoes the peace process” in
the 23 July issue of Zerkalo newspaper
Representatives of the Azerbaijani mass media, having no idea of the
details of the peace process on the Karabakh problem and its
political and legal aspects, publish articles in which information
from Stepanakert is misconstrued. As a result, an atmosphere
hindering the understanding of human values and consideration of any
alternative means and goals is created in Azerbaijani society.
There is no doubt that the search for a mutually profitable and fair
settlement of the Karabakh conflict is possible only via the
establishment of effective communications between the Nagornyy
Karabakh Republic [NKR] and the Azerbaijani Republic.
In this connection, it should be re-emphasized that any settlement of
the Karabakh conflict, the current stage of which started with such a
humanitarian catastrophe as mass killings of Armenians in Sumqayit
and Baku, as well as further ethnic cleansing, deportation and
expulsion of nearly 500,000 Armenian citizens of the former
Azerbaijani SSR in 1988-1990, must, first of all, propose the
restoration of justice and reparation for moral and financial losses
to these people, including the recognition of their right to have
their motherland.
The Azerbaijani leadership is entirely responsible for unleashing
hostilities and for their results, including the issue of paying
reparations to all the refugees and internally displaced persons who
suffered from these actions, regardless of their nationality and
current citizenship.
Starting with a humanitarian catastrophe, the Karabakh conflict must
be settled only in the humanitarian dimension and in full accordance
with the fundamental principles and goals of international law.
[Signed] The information-analytical department of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic

ARMENIAN PRODUCTION FAIR TO BE ORGANIZED IN MOSCOW IN SEPTEMBER
PanArmenian News Network
Aug 1 2005
01.08.2005 07:02
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A fair of Armenian production will be organized
in Moscow’s Pushkin Square September 24-25. The event will take
place within the framework of the commercial-economic cooperation
established between Moscow authorities and the Armenian Government.
Mushegh Sargsyan, top official from the Armenian Development Agency,
stated that different Armenian produce will be presented at the fair.
The agency has sent invitations to over 300 businessmen 30 of which
have already displayed readiness to participate in the fair. Those
who have not received the invitation can apply to the agency on their
on initiative. M. Sargsyan noted that a large space is provided for
the organization of the fair, thus there will be no limitations in
the number of participants. The pavilions will be designed by Agency
representatives and will be provided to businessmen free of charge. A
similar fair of Russian products will be organized in Yerevan in
October, reported Armenpress.

El Pais, España
Sábado 30 Julio 2005
Malikian aborda un programa barroco en Bermeo
IGOR CUBILLO
Bilbao
El pasado mes de marzo Ara Malikian ofrecio un recital de fusion
flamenca acompanado por el guitarrista Jose Luis Monton en el palacio
Euskalduna de Bilbao, en el marco del programa Musiketan. Ese dia, el
violinista libanes, de familia armenia, solo mostro una de sus
facetas. Otra quedara al descubierto el proximo 1 de agosto en la
iglesia Andra Mari de Bermeo (20.00 horas; entrada gratuita), donde
repasara un programa barroco al frente del Ara Malikian Ensemble.
Los instrumentistas andaluces Jose Velez, al violin, Juan Francisco
Padilla, al laud, y Alfredo Barrales, a la viola, completan el
cuarteto de cuerda que lidera Malikian.
La formacion interpretara en el concierto previsto en Bermeo un
repertorio compuesto por piezas de Veracini (Sonata prima), Marin
Marais (L’Arabesque y La Reveuse), Vivaldi (Concierto en Re), Jean
Marie Leclair (Sonata VI y Sonata para dos violines y bajo continuo),
Couperin (Les Bergeries) y Tarquinio Merula (Ciaconna ).
Malikian, en la actualidad concertino de la Orquesta Sinfonica de
Madrid, recibio muchas de sus primeras clases en refugios antiaereos
de Beirut, hasta que con 14 anos consiguio una beca del gobierno
aleman para cursar estudios en la Hochschule fuer Musik und Theater
de Hannover. La Guildhall School of Music and Drama de Londres
tambien ha tenido como alumno a este violinista que ha estrenado
obras de autores contemporaneos como Franco Danatoni, Malcolm Lipkin,
Luciano Chailly, Ladislav Kupkovic, Loris Tjeknavorian, Lawrence
Roman y Yervand Yernakian.
Asimismo, hasta ahora ha fundado conjuntos como Malikian Ensemble,
Ensemble Nuevo Tango, Laureate Ensemble, Malikian String Quartet y
Camerata Creativa, y ha actuado en mas de 40 paises de los cinco
continentes.
Su pericia al violin ha sido requerida para las bandas sonoras de
largometrajes como Hable con ella, de Pedro Almodovar, y Otro barrio,
de Salvador Garcia Ruiz, y, pese a haber basado su formacion de corte
clasico, el musico tambien se ha sentido atraido por el jazz, el
flamenco y la musica de Oriente Medio.