Author: Maghakian Mike

Cyprus News Agency
Oct 21 2004
House President returns ”very pleased” from visit to Armenia
Larnaca, Oct 20 (CNA) — Cyprus House President Demetris Christofias
said he is ”very pleased” with the result of a visit to Armenia,
and welcomed a memorandum signed in Yerevan with a view to further
develop bilateral cooperation.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Mideast Mirror
October 18, 2004
U.S. Anti-Semitism law
The aim of this law is to exempt the state which presents itself as
the ‘Jewish state’ from any questioning of the crimes it
commits-Al-Rai
There are U.S. Jews who have been persecuted and boycotted by the
mainstream U.S. media because they criticized Israel-Asharq al-Awsat
Anti-Semitism is a pretext used to blackmail the world’s countries
and to extract from them certain political positions-as has been the
case with the alleged holocaust that Israel has been using for
decades to politically and financially blackmail European
countries-al-Rayah
AFP reports that U.S. President George Bush on Saturday signed into
law a bill requiring the State Department to monitor global
anti-Semitism and design strategies to combat it, rating countries
annually on their treatment of Jews. The US State Department had
opposed this new legislation, saying it was unnecessary as the
department already compiles such data in its annual reports on human
rights and religious freedom. Bush signed the Global Anti-Semitism
Review Act of 2004 on a flight to Florida, a key battleground state
in the November 2 presidential elections and one in which the
Republicans hope to make inroads into the traditional Jewish vote for
the Democrats, AFP says. Florida’s Jewish population is the third
largest in the world after Israel and New York, according to AFP .
Arab commentators have reacted strongly to Bush’s announcement that
he had signed into law new legislation on monitoring anti-Semitism
worldwide. The critics concur that the law’s real aim is to prevent
criticism of Israel, in an attempt by the Republicans to curry favour
with traditionally pro-Democratic U.S. Jewish voters, and that it
shows total disregard for Israel’s racist policies against the
Palestinians.
ILLOGICAL: “There is nothing new in this law drafted by the U.S.
Congress and signed by President Bush” requiring the State Department
to specifically monitor anti-Semitism in each country, writes Mahmoud
al-Rimawi in Monday’s Jordanian daily, al-Rai.
“Its real aim is to promote a sympathetic view of the ‘Jewish state’
no matter how this state behaves. The law is not concerned with the
Jews as followers of a religion. These have never had it so good
around the world. If the aim were to protect the followers of a
particular religion, a law would have been adopted banning
discrimination against any religion whatsoever. It is illogical that
there should be positive discrimination in favour of the followers of
one particular religion while excluding others.
The basic aim of this law is therefore to exempt the state which
presents itself as the ‘Jewish state’ from any of the consequences or
the questioning that follows the crimes it commits. Any who question
its actions will risk being accused of discrimination and
anti-Semitism.
There is nothing new in this law. The Republican administration’s
Middle East policy has been based on defending the interests of the
Israeli military and its colonial occupation for four years now. The
new law tries to use religious and ideological ammunition as a cover
for the unholy alliance between this administration and the enemies
of peace who rule in Tel Aviv.
The U.S. election campaign is of course the main reason why this law
has been approved at this particular time. The incumbent president is
trying to win over the votes of U.S. Jews in his battle to remain in
the White House. It is well-known that the majority of U.S. Jews vote
for the Democratic Party because this party has traditionally been
more respectful of minorities and religious and cultural diversity
than have the Republicans. This is why the incumbent president
announced his decision in Florida, with its large ‘Jewish weighting’.
It will be easy for this law to be exploited in such a way as to
portray any criticism of Sharon-style policies as a brand of
anti-Semitism, thereby rendering such criticism taboo.
This irrational move, based on a deliberate confusion between
religion and politics, is just one sign of the path chosen by the
current Republican administration. This is a path that has foiled the
language of dialogue, while the Arab world has been turned into a
theatre for two wars waged by the two most conservative and extremist
powers in the world today.
The response to this law should not be limited to showing how
mistaken it is in setting up discrimination between religions. There
should also be continued firm and courageous criticism of ‘Sharonism’
as a policy opposed to peace and coexistence and openly hostile to
other nations and peoples. A strict distinction must be made between
the advocates of this policy and the followers of the Jewish
religion.
“After all,” concludes al-Rimawi, “Our struggle is with occupation,
expansionism, and racism. It is in no way a struggle against the
followers of any particular religion.”
HYPOCRISY: “The anti-Semitism law signed by President Bush is a
paradigm of political opportunism and bare-faced hypocrisy”, writes
Ahmad al-Rab’i in Monday’s Saudi daily, Asharq al-Awsat. “President
Bush made the announcement that he had signed the law in the city of
Miami, Florida, where a considerable number of Jews live.”
The legislation shows a clear disregard for reason and history.
‘Semitic’ is an expression applying to many nations. The Jews are
Semitic, but so are their Palestinian victims. If there is to be an
anti-Semitic law, then the first to be prosecuted under it should be
Ariel Sharon, who commits crimes against the Semitic Palestinians,
wallows in their killing, and imposes collective punishment on them.
Nor does the law aim at defending the Jews. There are many Jews, both
inside and outside Israel, who oppose the Israeli government’s
policy. And there are U.S. Jews who have been persecuted and
boycotted by the mainstream U.S. media because they criticized
Israel.
The law really aims at protecting Israel, though it has been passed
under the name of combating anti-Semitism. Therefore, we, like many
other political writers and analysts, would be honored to join the
U.S. State Department’s list of ‘anti-Semites’, if ‘Semite’ in
President Bush’s dictionary means ‘Israeli’.
How can a particular state or group be chosen, have conferences
devoted to it, and have the president of the world’s leading country
issue a special law that prevents its criticism? The effect of this
law is to make the Israelis God’s bewildered people, and the rest of
the world’s nations, colors, and races God’s chosen peoples as
persecuted peoples . Israel is the only state in the world that
engages in colonialism, refuses to implement the resolutions that
represent international legitimacy, builds a racist Separation Wall,
carries out collective punishment, and is creative in emulating the
Nazi state that committed so many crimes against the Jews, only for
Israel to play the same role against the Palestinians.
“No sympathy has been expressed in the U.S. legislation for the Arabs
and the Africans. No mention was made of the crimes committed against
the Armenians and the Kurds. All you have to do is wait for the State
Department’s annual report to find out for sure that no one is to
dare criticize Israel,” concludes al-Rab’i.
ELECTORAL RACE: “At a time when the Palestinians have started to
inspect the effects of the terrible destruction, count their victims,
and assess their enormous losses resulting from the Israeli
aggression on the Northern Gaza Strip amidst international silence
and unlimited U.S. support, Israel-and behind it the world’s
Jews-have obtained a new and unprecedented privilege, offered to them
by U.S. President George Bush in the context of his race with this
Democratic rival John Kerry to win the approval of U.S. Jews”, writes
the Qatari daily, al-Rayah. “This is a race whose results will
inevitably be at the expense of the Palestinians and the Arabs”.
With great pride, President Bush announced before an electoral rally
in Florida that he has promulgated a new law to protect the Jews in
all countries of the world. It requires State Department to gather
statistics regarding anti-Semitic acts around the world and to assess
the positions of various states on this issue. It also requires the
establishment of a special bureau within the State Department whose
job it would be to prepare an annual report and to lay down
strategies for fighting anti-Semitic acts around the world. It is
evident that this racist law has been ratified as a result of clear
Jewish pressures. Congress approved it a few days ago on the
suggestion of Democratic Representative Tom Lantos, the congressman
who has been most enthusiastic in supporting Israeli policies.
Moreover, President Bush chose the state of Florida to sign this bill
into law because it contains the third largest Jewish community in
the world after Israel and the New York area.
This law constitutes a dangerous precedent, to be added to the U.S.
foreign policy that has adopted an extremist path in imposing U.S.
will on the world during President Bush’s term in office. Israel
seems to be the only state in the world to be benefiting from this
policy. The new law allows Washington to interfere in the domestic
affairs of countries around the world and to impose its supervision,
demanding they answer its questions concerning the way the Jewish
communities in these countries are treated. As a result, this law
encourages Israel to intervene in the domestic affairs of countries
around the world.
We believe that this law’s targets are primarily the Arab and Islamic
countries that include Jews among their people, or those states whose
policies are disapproved of by Washington and Tel Aviv. Anti-Semitism
is a pretext used by Israel, with U.S. support, to pressure and
blackmail the world’s countries in order to extract from them certain
political positions-as has been the case with the alleged holocaust
that Israel has been using for decades to politically and financially
blackmail European countries.
Discriminating between people on the basis of their colour, religion,
or race is unacceptable. It contradicts the UN’s Convention on Human
Rights. However, it is unfortunate that the U.S. adopts double
standards in this regard. It provides special attention to ensure
safety for Israel and the Jews, based on illusions, while it pays no
attention to the massacres that Israel is committing against the
Palestinians.
“In fact, it provides military, political, and economic support for
these massacres and adds to this by accusing the Palestinians of
terrorism. And herein lies one of the weakest points in U.S. policy,
a weakness that is costing it the world’s trust,” concludes the paper.

STATEMENT
A1 Plus | 19:26:11 | 14-10-2004 | Politics |
Yerevan Press Club, Journalists Union of Armenia and Committee
to Protect Freedom of Speech came up Thursday with the following
statement.
“On October 13, 2004 in the city of Kapan violence was committed
against the Chief Editor of “Syunyats Yerkir” newspaper Samvel
Aleksanian.
Apparently, the lack of punishment in a number of recent incidents of
violence against media representatives or else the mild punishments
imposed on their executors leave an impression that it is possible
to intimidate journalists, contrary to the provision of the RA Law
“On Mass Communication” that “a journalist engaged in legitimate
professional activities is protected by the legislation of the Republic
of Armenia as an individual on public duty”.
The Yerevan Press Club, Journalists Union of Armenia and Committee to
Protect Freedom of Expression demand that the law enforcement bodies
conduct an objective investigation of the incident and to hold the
people guilty of assaulting the journalist accountable.”

EUROTERM STARTS PRODUCTION OF GAS WATER HEATER
ArmenPress
Oct 13 2004
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS: Armenian prime minister Andranik
Margarian paid a visit on Tuesday to Euroterm company that has launched
production of gas water heaters together with a South Korean Lote
company. A company representative said water heaters will be first sold
at domestic markets and later to CIS and Middle East countries. The
South Korean company has invested $500,000 in the manufacturing of
heaters and a little more was invested by the Armenian company.
The deal followed a 12 month sale of South Korean company’s products
in Armenia by Euroterm. The company assembles daily 50 heaters from
parts brought from Korea, later they will be manufactured here.

Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918 Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]
PRESS RELEASE +++ PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: October 13, 2004
Contact: Armen Carapetian
(818) 500-1918
ANCA-WR MOBILIZES GRASSROOTS IN ARIZONA
ANCA-WR Staff Meets With ANC Activists in Phoenix
Phoenix, AZ – The Armenian National Committee of America – Western
Region (ANCA-WR) continued to reach out to Armenian communities across
the Western United States by traveling to Phoenix, Arizona on the
weekend of 25-26.
ANCA-WR Executive Director Ardashes Kassakhian and Government Relations
Director Armen Carapetian met with ANC activists from the Arizona
Armenian community and briefed community members on the importance of
the upcoming November elections. Their visit to the Grand Canyon State
was highlighted by an ANC workshop they held with community leaders
and activists and their participation in various community events,
including a dance at the local church hall and a community picnic which
was attended by over one hundred Armenian Americans living in Arizona.
“The Armenian American community in Arizona is growing and prospering,”
commented Kassakhian after his two-day trip. “The increasing political
awareness of Armenian Americans in Arizona impressed us. Clearly,
the ANC of Arizona is going to play an important role in a state with
eight Members of the House and two very important U.S. Senators,”
Kassakhian added. ANCA-WR staff spent the weekend in Arizona and
collected signatures from community members for a petition addressed
to Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) who serves as the Chairman of
the influential Congressional Subcommittee on Foreign Operations
Appropriations. The petitions urged Congressman Kolbe to maintain
language in the Fiscal Year 2005 Foreign Operations Appropriations
Bill authored by Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) which prohibits
Turkey from using any U.S. foreign aid money to lobby against official
U.S. acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide.
Over 100 signatures in support of the Kolbe petition were collected
at a community picnic which was organized and hosted by the Arizona
chapter of the Armenian Relief Society. At the gathering, ANCA-WR
Executive Director Ardashes Kassakhian gave the community a summary
of the priorities that the ANCA continues to work on in Washington, DC
and in the Western Region, including passage of a genocide resolution
and of a bill to provide normal trade relations between the United
States and Armenia.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest
and most influential Armenian American grassroots political
organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices,
chapters, and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated
organizations around the world, the ANCA actively advances the concerns
of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.
Editor’s Note: Photos available upon request
#####
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia economic forum to solve long-term tasks of country development
ITAR-TASS, Russia
Oct 13 2004
YEREVAN, October 12 (Itar-Tass) — The international Armenian
economic forum is designed to help resolve long-term strategic tasks
of Armenia’s development, president of the World Armenian Congress and
the Union of Russian Armenians Ara Abramyan told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
At the forum that will open on Wednesday concrete business projects
will be worked out and implemented in order to promote the social
and economic development of Armenia and use the existing political
and economic potential of the diaspora more effectively, Abramyan
emphasized. He is confident that “serious successes can not be achieved
in the solution of national tasks, the just solution of the Karabakh
problem cannot also be achieved, if the Armenian people does not
manage to pool its efforts and provide conditions for the effective
social and economic development of the country.”
According to Abramyan, on one hand, for this it is necessary to
consolidate efforts of business circles of the diaspora and Armenia,
strengthen involvement of businessmen of the diaspora in the republic’s
economy. On another hand, there is a persistent need to involve the
Armenian economy and businessmen in international business structures.
“Armenian economy and business should find its place in the
international economic community,” Abramyan pointed out. According
to him, the goal of the World Armenian Congress is to try to raise
Armenian business to a new level of foreign economic relations that
corresponds more to the current stage of globalization.

The Jewish Journal, CA
Oct 8 2004
Yom Kippur in Chad: Fasting a Way of Life
by Rabbi Lee Bycel

Sudanese refugees at a refugee camp in Tschad, Chad.

I am sitting in Adam’s living room – a carpet on a dirt patio. On one
side is a small tent for his five children, as well as two nephews
and a niece who have been orphaned. On the other side is a small tent
for Adam, his wife and all they could carry out of Darfur.
Around us, the Kounoungo refugee camp is filled with a shattering
sound – silence. It is the sound of despair. It is the sound of
genocide coming closer and the world turning away.
This year, I observed Yom Kippur, the most sacred day in the Jewish
calendar, in a Sudanese refugee camp in Chad. It is the day when Jews
throughout the world abstain from food and drink to assess their
lives and seek forgiveness for their wrongdoings. In this tragic
moment, I could think of nowhere more fitting to keep the Yom Kippur
fast than among people who have fasted for days on end – only not as
a ritual but as an agonizing condition of life.
Adam is the only refugee I met who spoke English. He belongs to the
Fur tribe and provides me with his analysis of the Sudanese genocide.
He speaks calmly and rationally. He tells of how his village was set
on fire by the Janjaweed and of other villages that met the same
fate.
In his view, the problem is quite simple: The fundamentalist Arab
Muslim government in Khartoum intends to eviscerate the African
Muslim and tribal people. Listening to him, I think of the Holocaust,
the Armenian genocide and other atrocities of the 20th century, where
the conflict also boiled down to the ambition of one ethnic group to
eradicate another.
Adam appreciates the noble humanitarian effort in the refugee camps
but wonders why the international community is not doing more to stop
this unfolding catastrophe.
I was in Kounoungo because of Adam – a human being I did not know
existed, suffering a fate to which I cannot be indifferent. His
condition as a human being is real, not reality television.
The enormity of the suffering – between 50,000 and 100,000 killed,
nearly a million left homeless, over 200,000 refugees in Chad,
hundreds of thousand more remaining in Darfur – tends to make us more
numb than horrified. I find it hard to comprehend the numbers, but I
do relate to Adam.
His desperate situation reminds me of the human capacity for cruelty.
But his gentle humanity reminds me that kindness and decency are also
possible.
Confronted by the misery of Kounoungo, I worry that I do not feel the
shame, the embarrassment and even the disgust that I should. Many of
us rationalize our indifference and inaction with the false notion
that we cannot possibly make a difference. Overwhelmed by the
complexity of human affairs, we forget about the human beings
involved.
Yet I cannot forget the faces of the people I saw. As haggard and
desperate as they are, they are no different than we – just
immeasurably less fortunate. To turn away from them is to forget that
we are one of them, all of us descended from the very first Adam.
In the Book of Genesis, God searches for Adam in the garden of Eden,
asking, `Where are you?’ In the Jewish tradition, this has always
been understood as a moral question: Where is your conscience? Why
are you hiding? Where do you stand?
The question hasn’t changed. What will be our answer?
Rabbi Lee Bycel is a board member of MAZON: A Jewish response to
hunger and traveled to Chad under the auspices of the International
Medical Corps. For more information, visit mazon.org or
imcworldwide.org.

Russian, Armenian speakers discuss joint fight against terrorism
Arminfo
1 Oct 04

YEREVAN
Armenian-Russian cooperation and the fight against international
terrorism were discussed today at a meeting between Armenian Speaker
Artur Bagdasaryan and Russian Federation Council Speaker Sergey
Mironov who is on an official visit to Yerevan.
Speaking about tightened security measures on the Russian-Georgian
border in the wake of the terrorist act in Beslan, as a result of
which cargo transportation to Armenia has been halted and the country
has in fact found itself in a blockade, the sides stressed the need
for the speedy opening of a road to transport cargo to Armenia.
For his part, noting the anti-terror campaign against foreigners in
Russia, the deputy speaker of the Armenian parliament and the chairman
of the Armenian-Russian interparliamentary commission on cooperation,
Vaan Ovanesyan, underlined the need for granting Armenians of Russia
temporary status to ensure their security.
At the end of the meeting, Mironov and Bagdasaryan signed a joint
statement offering condolences to the families of the victims of the
terrorist acts in Russia and expressing the readiness to fight
international terrorism hand in hand.
The statement also called on the deputies of the CIS countries to
consolidate their efforts in the fight against terrorism.

Armenian MPs’ visit to Baku will not do any harm – Azeri minister
ANS Radio, Baku
30 Sep 04
[Presenter] It is still not known if Armenian MPs Vaan Ovanesyan and
Gagik Lazarian, who are going to attend the Rose-Roth seminar of
the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO in Azerbaijan on 26-28 November,
have been given visas. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
has said that the issue will be tackled in the near future.
[Elmar Mammadyarov] In general, we protested against NATO’s Cooperative
Best Effort exercises in order to prevent Armenian officers from
coming to Azerbaijan. We thought that such a visit to Azerbaijan by
Armenian officers could be more damaging than helpful.
However, we think that Azerbaijan has made certain commitments
to NATO. From this viewpoint, we should continue NATO-Azerbaijani
relations. In general, I think that the Armenian MPs’ presence at
NATO’s Rose-Roth seminar in Azerbaijan will not do any harm and this
is not a problem.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Tehran-Damascus train gives travelers an appreciation of the real world
It may not be fast, but the 3-day trip offers plenty to see
By Paul Cochrane
Special to The Daily Star
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
DAMASCUS: Some train trips have a legendary aura about them.
The Trans-Siberian is famous for being the longest train trip on earth,
connecting Moscow with Vladivostok, over 9,000 kilometers away. It
is possibly the ultimate train ride, taking seven days and covering
seven different time zones.
The Orient Express has a reputation as one of the most luxurious train
rides, connecting Istanbul with London, and is also the setting for
a famous Agatha Christie murder mystery novel “Murder on the Orient
Express.”
By comparison, a lightweight contender with no prior history or fame
is the Tehran to Damascus train trip.
Established two years ago after lengthy bureaucratic discussions
between the Iranian, Turkish and Syrian governments, the direct route
began with little public fanfare.
The modern era, after all, is one of speed and convenience – the
era of the airplane. Traveling 2,500 kilometers over 70 hours when
a three-hour plane ride would suffice might seem a waste of time to
some. But unlike air travel, the train gives an appreciation of the
actual size of the world, and of the changing landscapes and peoples
seen through the window of a train carriage. Unless you travel the
length of Russia by land, for example, it is hard to truly conceive
of that nation’s vastness – the train keeps going for days on end. The
same can be said of Turkey and Iran, both huge landmasses.
The length of the Azerbaijan route (Western Iran is known as
Eastern Azerbaijan) from Tehran to the border at Razi, is 958
kilometers. Turkey requires a further 1,000 kilometers of train track,
as well as six hours to cross Lake Van by ferry. The remaining
500 kilometers from Northern Syria to Damascus seem relatively
inconsequential. In terms of the monotonous, flat desert scenery of
Syria, and after three nights on the train, it is the final lap of
the trip, and one you want to see end as rapidly as possible.
Starting in the south of the bustling and polluted Iranian capital,
a city almost devoid architecturally and physically of any sense of
Iran’s past other than that reflected in Tehran’s numerous museums,
the train begins to roll past fields and mountains.
It is completely full – mostly Iranians going to Damascus on holiday,
in search of work or on pilgrimage to the Shiite Muslim shrine of
Zeinab. The remaining handful are Syrians and one Afghan. One carriage
consisted of 32 Iranian teenage schoolgirls all dressed in their black
chadors going on pilgrimage. Such trips are not available for young
men as after the age of 16 males cannot leave the country until they
have completed the year long military service.
Tickets, costing between $55 and $70, are booked a month in advance
for the bi-weekly trip. Everyone started in first class sleepers of
four bunks to a compartment, the price difference only noticeable
when switching from the Iranian to Syria train – where the extra cost
ensured a double sleeper compartment rather than a reclining seat.
As the 20-year-old East German-manufactured train chugs through the
countryside past mud houses made from wattle and daub, and winds
through valleys of weathered red sandstone, the scenery resembles
a miniature version of the Canyonlands National Park in Utah, USA –
an arid landscape, but not without diversity, color or beauty.
Dinner is taken in the dining car as the sun goes down, and consists
of the staple fare for Iranians when dining out – soup, yogurt,
buttered rice and chicken or meat kebab.
After the evening meal, the train stops at the city of Zanjan for 20
minutes so passengers can use the station mosque to pray or wander
along the platform for a stretch of the legs. Others sit in their
compartments drinking tea, reading, talking or sleeping as sheets,
blankets and pillows are brought by attendants.
The next morning at 9 a.m., the train pulls into Salmas station, where
a three-hour wait begins for passports to be processed. Around 400
passengers pile off the train to sit in waiting rooms, take breakfast
on the grass outside the station, or walk to local shops. Conversations
start with strangers, and tea becomes a highly sought after beverage.
Once all the documents are processed, an Iranian official comes out
with huge stacks of passports and is immediately accosted by men,
women and children waiting for their name to be called out. This
waiting game was repeated three more times, taking around 15 hours
of the total trip, at the borders into and out of Turkey and on
entering Syria. Without such lengthy waits – late at night in the
case of Turkey and Syria – the trip would certainly flow faster and
have been more enjoyable for all concerned.
The Tehran to Damascus train ride however is not really geared
towards enjoyment. It is instead a cheap people carrier between the
two capitals, but more comfortable than three days on a bus – those
with cash obviously take the plane.
Still, the trip down to Van goes through ancient Armenian areas
of Eastern Turkey, and past picturesque, fertile plains of grass,
sunflowers and tilled fields awaiting seeding. The border between
Iran and Turkey is not just a line dividing the two politically as
the difference in landscape is striking. From barren, dusty terrain
in Iran to rolling hills of rich agricultural land, lakes and olive
trees in Turkey.
At Lake Van, the largest body of inland water in Turkey, the Iranian
train draws to a halt at the harbor where the goods carriage is shunted
onto a ship, and all passengers carry their belongings aboard. There,
travelers lie on carpets brought to sell in Damascus on the top deck
of the single smokestack ferry, dozing or killing time looking out over
the watery expanse lit by the moon. If you have ever wondered where the
stains on your Persian carpet came from, it is probable they came from
the steel deck of a ship rather than tea spilled in a nomad’s tent.
Docking in Tatvan, the Syrian train waits alongside Tehran-bound
passengers leaning on their baggage. Two nights follow, spent on
the Syrian train in comfortable sleeper compartments complete with
duvets and washbasins. Unlike the Iranian train, meals are included,
although they resemble more a school packed lunch than the culinary
delights of the Orient Express.
A full day passes as the train rambles through the cities of Mus,
Elazig, and Malatya until Gaziantep, where the train cuts down to wind
along the Syrian border. After the now-expected wait for visa stamps,
the diesel-powered vehicle passes through Aleppo overnight to arrive
in Damascus at 1 p.m. – only 18 hours longer than the official 52
hours initially cited in Tehran.
For some, Damascus is the end of train travel for a while. For others,
the Syrian capital serves merely as a brief respite before taking
the train all the way back.