Author: Nahapetian Zhanna

Northern District Times (Australia)
August 25, 2004 Wednesday
Armenians seek home
A DEMAND for more facilities to cater for Ryde’s 10,000-strong
Armenian community has emerged as the council considers whether it
should demolish a derelict clubhouse at Burrow Park.
The Ryde-based Armenian Association of Australia’s 85 members are
lobbying Ryde Council to keep the unoccupied facility in Princes St,
Ryde, for their cultural activities.
The council has said they could carry out their traditions at nearby
Santa Rosa Park’s scout hall, which is used by another Armenian group
but an association spokesman said their cultures differed
significantly.
“Irrespective of them being another Armenian group, we’re like chalk
and cheese,” association vice president Toros Boyadjian said.
“There are big cultural and traditional differences. There’s a
different language and different dialect.”
Burrow Park members are predominantly Christian Orthodox while Santa
Rosa members are a mix of religions, some with Iranian heritage.
Mr Boyadjian dismissed the idea of cultural conflict dividing the
groups.
The association expressed interest in occupying the clubhouse when
the Italian group San Giorgio Martire Di Sydney left the premises in
2001, finding it inadequate on car parking and safety issues because
of its secluded site.
The council said the building was structurally unsound and
dilapidated and would cost $300,000 to restore.
Ryde councillor Sarkis Yedelian said Armenians still needed a
facility of their own.
He said Ryde Civic Centre was available only up to four times a year
while most locals had to travel to the Willoughby Armenian Cultural
Centre for traditional activities. The Armenian Youth Federation,
Armenian Cultural Association, Armenian Sports Association and
Armenian Relief Society use the Ryde Civic Centre.
The recommendation to demolish the clubhouse went before the council
again last night (Tuesday).

ARMENIA’S STATE BUDGET ALLOTS 978 MLN DRAMS FOR REPAIR WORKS IN
SCHOOLS OF YEREVAN
YEREVAN, AUGUST 23. ARMINFO. This year the state budget of Armenia has
allotted 978 mln drams for repair works in the schools of the
capital. Last year the volume of repair works totaled approximately
570 mln drams. Head of the department of education of Yerevan’s
municipality Onik Vatian told journalists today.
According to him, capital repair has been implemented in 33 schools,
and in 19 schools the works are being continued. Speaking about the
preparation of the schools for the new school year and for winter,
Vatian mentioned that according tie the program of social development
for 2004-2007, elaborated by the municipality of Yerevan, 9 local
boiler-houses will be put into operation in Jan or Feb of the current
year. Thus, till the end of this year 27 schools will be heated by
local boiler-houses, 4 schools – by the heating system of Yerevan
thermal power station.

RA GOVERNMENT APPROVES ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN MINISTERIAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT
YEREVAN, AUGUST 19. ARMINFO. The RA Government has approved of the signing of
a cooperation agreement between the RA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
and the RF Ministry of Health and Social Development.
The RA Government’s press service reports that the Government approved the
signing of a protocol on amendments to the order of allotting and using
land-plots for stationing the Russian military base in the Republic of Armenia. The
decision specifies the list of points of stationing of the Russian military base
in Armenia, as well as provides legal grounds for the transfer of four
cantonments to the Armenian side. The RA Government approved the expenses on railway
transportation of cargoes addressed to the Russian troops stationed in
Armenia, etc..

AZG Marmenian Daily, Armenia
Aug 20 2004
“IF THE ARMENIANS WISH, THEY CAN CONQUER AZERBAIJAN”
While in Baku They Are Hopeful That “in the Coming 25-30 Years There
Will Be No State Called Armenia in the Southern Caucasus”
“‘How to liberate the occupied territories?’ This question is likely
to be put forward in each family of Azerbaijan. It is impossible to
liberate the Nagorno Karabagh and the neighboring regions without
military actions. There has been no case in the military history when
the conquered territories were voluntarily liberated,” the recent
issue of Baku’s Zerkalo wrote. Ramiz Melikov, Press Speaker of Azeri
Defense Minister, stated recently that “there will be no state called
Armenia in the South Caucasus in the coming 25-30 years, as today’s
Armenia was founded on the Azeri historical territories and in near
future these lands will be controlled by Azerbaijan.” Melikov didn’t
specify how they are going to conquer Armenia.
President Ilham Aliyev and the supreme military officials state in
public that the Azeri army is more efficient than the Armenian one
and if the peaceful negotiations yield no results, Azerbaijan will
have to solve the issue of Nagorno Karabagh and the neighboring
territories under Armenia’s control through military actions. It’s
worth mentioning that Baku has been consistently trying to solve the
issue through military actions since 1998, when the new stage of
Karabagh struggle began.
Vladimir Kazimirov, Former Special Russian Ambassador of OSCE Minsk
Group, wrote in one of his recent articles that the sides in conflict
had many opportunities to stop the war, to set up ceasefire even in
1992. He states in his article that the Azeri side was violating the
ceasefire mainly, hoping to solve the conflict through war, making
all the Armenians leave the territory.
Kazimirov said that in June of 1992, there appeared an opportunity to
stop the military actions on the front line and open the OSCE Minsk
conference, but Abulfaz Elchibey put forward a precondition, i.e. the
Armenians should leave Shushi and Lachin. On May 8 and 18 the
Karabagh forces liberated Shushi and took control over Lachin
corridor, securing land connection between Armenia and Karabagh.
Kazimirov, who implemented a mediator’s mission in the region for 47
times, recollects that in July, 1992 the Karabagh side agreed to
signing ceasefire, but Elchibey was stubborn, and only in the spring
of 1993, when the Karabagh forces took the control over Kelbajar, the
pro-Turkish Baku government gave consent for ceasefire.
One shouldn’t forget that Elchibey once promised to wash his feet in
the Sevan waters. It’s worth mentioning that the Azeri armed forces
conquered almost the half of Karabakh’s territory in the summer of
1992.
In June of 1993, the Azeris and the Karabagh people began direct
negotiations that helped make a ceasefire for a while. But Heydar
Aliyev, who came to power in Baku through military revolution, wanted
to regain the lost through military action. Again the Azeris began
refusing the settlement of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict through
negotiations. On July 23 the Karabagh forces took the control over
Aghdam, the neighboring dwelling places, a number of hills of
military meaning. Only after all these steps the Azeris stopped
bombing Stepanakert.
Notwithstanding the obvious military benefits, the Karabagh side
through the Russians’ mediatorial efforts again gave the consent to
stop military actions and set up a ceasefire on July 24, the very
next day after conquering Aghdam. Azerbaijan secured the ceasefire
for several days, but it broke the agreement afterwards. As a result,
the Karabagh forces took control over Fizuli, Jebrail and Kubatlun in
the August of 1993.
Two secret meetings took place between Heydar Aliyev and Robert
Kocharian in Moscow in the autumn of 1993. In this period Aliyev was
engaged in settling the problems of inner character, he made legal
the results of the military-state revolution that took place several
months ago and occupied the post of Azerbaijan’s leader. Few days
after the inauguration the Azeri armed forces began the military
actions again. Hundreds of the Armenian soldiers were killed as a
result of the large-scale attack in Kelbajar’s direction in winter.
But the failure didn’t last long. The Karabagh forces began a
large-scale attack and Azerbaijan lost at least 2000 soldiers in few
days.
In the April of 1994, the Karabagh forces were ready to conquer
Tartar, Bardan and Gianjan and reach Georgia’s border. The Azeri were
made to set a ceasefire. It took place in Bishkek, May. This
ceasefire is being secured till now with some violations.
By the way, the American Boston Globe daily dedicated a publication
to the Nagorno Karabagh Issue. The reporter of the daily cites the
words of Mamedov, Azeri Major, who was dwelling on the situation in
Azerbaijan fighting against Armenia and Azerbaijan. He says:” If the
Armenians wish, they can conquer the whole Azerbaijan.”
The militant statements made by the Baku officials should be paid
attention. As soon as Azerbaijan becomes certain about the
possibility of settling the issue through applying arms, the war will
begin. Anyway, the events of 1991-94 testify to this.
By Tatoul Hakobian

The German Exodus
DEBATE OVER COMMEMORATION OF MILLIONS EXPELLED FROM LOST TERRITORIES
Le Monde diplomatique
March 2004
By Brigitte Pätzold
Should there be a centre to commemorate the Germans expelled from
Czechoslovakia and Poland after the second world war? And if this
buried collective memory is to be revived, where should the centre be
located – in Berlin, Wroclaw, Geneva, Strasbourg or Stockholm? There
is nothing accidental about this debate, which has been the focus of
German public opinion for some time now; 60 years on, Germany wants to
normalise its relations, particu larly with its East European
neighbours who will join the European Union in May.
For years Germans seemed paralysed by their sufferings under
bombardment and during the exodus towards the end of the war and
after. Now, with the third and fourth generations to be born since
then and with the deaths of so many witnesses to the events, the
silence has been broken. Writers have taken the lead in the
debate. Günter Grass, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, was
the first to break the taboo. He is a native of Danzig, a keen Social
Democrat and close companion of Willy Brandt, and unlikely to minimise
Nazi crimes (1). He dealt with the exodus in Crabwalk (2), the story
of the vessel Wilhelm Gustloff, which was torpedoed by a Soviet
submarine on 30 January 1945; 9,000 refugees fleeing the Red Army died
in the icy Baltic.
Does this book mark a change of heart by Grass, who has always been
convinced that the lost territories were the price Germany had to pay
for starting two world wars? Not really. Grass blames himself for not
tackling German sufferings earlier and says: “We should never have let
the right make the subject its own. People of my generation had a duty
to speak out.” The book has sold 400,000 copies in weeks.
Jörg Friedrich’s The Fire (3), which has had a similar shock effect,
is about the bombing of Hamburg, Dresden and Cologne 1943-45, the
Allies’ war of fire in which 161 towns were razed and some 600,000
people killed. Friedrich, a historian who has written about German
army crimes in Russia, now brings to the public a subject previously
covered only in specialist publications. This story of the sufferings
of ordinary people produced an amazing response from readers.
Young writers are also interested in the past and its last surviving
witnesses. Tanja Dückers, 36, unwittingly chose the same subject as
Grass for a novel (4). The discovery of old letters in an attic led
her to question her uncle and aunt, who narrowly escaped the Wilhelm
Gustloff disaster. Other young authors – Christoph Amend, Stephan
Wackwitz, Reinhard Jirgl and Olaf Müller – seek their material in the
German past, their grand parents’ experiences during the war, the
exodus and the lost territories.
Hilke Lorenz, 41, interviewed war children (5). “The people I knew
didn’t talk about the war. It wasn’t the done thing. Pity was out.” So
she decided to get survivors to talk about air-raids, their fears in
underground shelters, the rape of mothers or sisters (which sometimes
they witnessed helplessly), the loss of their parents. It is hard to
talk about these things: what are their sufferings compared with those
inflicted by the “nation of butchers”?
This is the background to the debate about a centre to commemorate the
Germans expelled at the end of the war. Its location has caused
controversy. A proposal for a German centre in Berlin was made by
Erika Steinbach, joint president, with Social Democrat Peter Glotz, of
the Expellees’ Union and author of a history of her native Sudetenland
and the exodus.
Another proposal, for a European centre in Wroclaw in Poland, came
from Markus Meckel, Social Democrat member of the Bundestag and
foreign minister in the last government of the German Democratic
Republic. Supporters of this project, launched in July 2003, include
the Nobel Prize winners Grass and Imre Kertesz.
Steinbach launched her project in February 2000, when she had just
been elected president of the Union. She set up a foundation for a
centre against expulsion, to collect funds to build a centre in the
capital. At first all went well. The president, Johannes Rau, and the
minister of the interior, Otto Schily, whose parents had been
expelled, appeared to support it, and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and
foreign minister Joschka Fischer were not against it.
It was officially adopted for debate but there were many hostile
reactions, particularly in Poland and the Czech Republic. A caricature
photomontage appeared in the Polish magazine, Wprost, showing
Steinbach in SS uniform, astride Chancellor Schröder, who was depicted
as a sheep. The commentary read: “The Germans owe the Poles a billion
dollars in compensation for the crimes committed during the second
world war.” This made it seem as if the Poles still feared German
revanchism, as though the good relations based on post-war
reconciliation might collapse. Politicians criticised the
project. “Chauvinism is now the order of the day in Germany,” said
former foreign minister Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, and his contemporary
counterpart, Bronislaw Geremek, considered that the Berlin project
would not contribute to reconciliation but foment hatred.
In the Czech Republic the Sudeten question still poisons the political
atmosphere. History has left painful memories here. As Prime Minister
Milos Zeman pointed out, the first expulsion was that of the Czechs by
Germans after the Nazi invasion of the Sudetenland in October 1938 and
Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939; he has described the Sudeten
Germans as Hitler’s fifth column. The violence is well-remembered,
too, from the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich on 27 May 1942 and
the reprisal massacre at the village of Lidice on 10 June 1942, to the
expulsion of most Germans from the region in 1945-46.
In 1991 President Vaclav Havel apologised, on behalf of his people,
for massacres of Germans during the expulsion, and even suggested that
former inhabitants of the Sudetenland might apply for Czech
nationality to reclaim their lost properties. This gesture of
reconciliation seems to belong to another age. The present Czech
government will not repeal Edvard Benes’s 1945 decrees, which provided
the legal basis for the expulsion of three million Germans accused of
collective collaboration with the Nazi regime and the confiscation of
their property. Surveys suggest that public opinion is against any
such move. In this context it is not surprising that the plan for a
centre in Berlin has been opposed on the initiative of academics Hans
Henning and Eva Hahn, who have collected Czech, Polish and German
signatures.
Faced with the obvious distrust of Germany’s eastern neighbours,
Marcus Meckel launched his resolutely European project in July
2003. He has the support of the Polish president, Aleksander
Kwasniewski, son of an expatriate, the former Czech president, Vaclav
Havel, two Polish politicians Bartoszewski and Geremek, and Czech
politicians, including former prime minister and current president of
the senate, Petr Pithart, deputy prime minister Petr Mares, and Tomas
Kafka, co-director of the Joint Czech-German fund.
Adam Michnik, editor-in-chief of the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, is
among the strongest advocates of Wroclaw as the location; it is at the
junction of two expulsions, of the Germans and of the Poles from Lvov
in Ukraine. Former Czech president Havel may be in favour of
establishing the centre at Wroclaw but his successor, Vaclav Klaus,
would prefer neutral Stockholm.
For Meckel the location is not important. What he wants is to set it
in a European context and persuade the future members of Europe to
regard expulsion, forced migration and deportation as a violation of
human rights. Democrats such as Winston Churchill and Franklin
Roosevelt may have thought it acceptable to uproot whole peoples to
establish ethnically homogenous communities and achieve a stable
peace, but the sufferings of civilian populations and the rise of
nationalist movements since prove that they were wrong.
In this context, the Germans are entitled to recognition of their
sufferings. This in no way lessens their responsibility for the war
and for genocide. The object is not to record of the number of victims
on either side but to alert nations to their duty of transnational,
non-selective commemor ation, with due respect to their
differences. As Otto Schily suggests, the centre against expulsion
should not be a museum or a court of law but a living history workshop
for future Europeans.
According to Peter Glotz, to offset one crime against another, even in
the name of collective responsibility, is to return to the law of an
eye for an eye. He is prepared to give way on the question of
location, as long as work on the centre starts: “If we have to give up
the idea of Berlin so be it. But we don’t need to go to Srebrenica or
Stockholm.” For him the most urgent task is education, starting with
an exhibition in 2005 in the historical museum in Bonn on the 20th
century, the century of expulsion, from the exile of the Armenians all
the way to Kosovo in 1999, taking in the Sudeten Germans. Meckel is in
a hurry. He does not want to wait for governments, or Europe, to
decide on a centre whose location and funding are problematic; he
wants to set up a European network against expulsion, with seminars,
conferences, history workshops, competitions and bursaries.
So the debate is still open. The Polish writer Stefan Chwin points out
that there is a difference between his mother, who was expelled by the
Nazis, and the Germans expelled from Danzig/ Gdansk by the Poles: the
difference between the aggressor and the victim of aggression. (Günter
Grass has never forgotten this.) But it does not alter for either the
pain of being exiled from home.
Brigitte Pätzold is a journalist
NOTES
(1) Der Brand, Propyläen-Verlag, Berlin, 2002.
(2) Himmelskörper, Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin, 2003.
(3) Kriegskinder, List Verlag, Munich, 2003.
(4) Die Vertreibung. Böhmen als Lehrstück, Ullstein Verlag, 2003.
(5) Reproduced in Der Spiegel, Berlin, 22 September 2003.
Translated by Barbara Wilson

AZERI MINISTRY PROTESTS AGAINST KARABAKH STAMPS
Azad Azarbaycan TV
18 Aug 04
BAKU
(Presenter) The separatists of Nagornyy Karabakh, who are striving to
present themselves as a state to the world community, are continuing
to issue stamps. What is most deplorable is that historical monuments
of Azerbaijan are depicted on the stamps, which are issued in
Germany. Objecting to this, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Communications
and Information Technology intends to have this issue discussed at the
23rd congress of the World Postal Union (WPU), in which Armenians are
also expected to take part.
(Correspondent, over video of Karabakh and the Azerbaijani Ministry of
Communications and Information Technology) Protesting against the
issuance of stamps which introduce the self-styled Nagornyy Karabakh
Republic as a state, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Communications and
Information Technology has sent an appeal to the WPU. The appeal says
that this step by the self-styled entity contradicts international law
and, therefore, those stamps should be considered invalid.
(Novruz Mammadov, in office, captioned as the advisor of the Ministry
of Communications and Information Technology for postal issues) I want
to note that Nagornyy Karabakh illegally attempted to produce stamps
several years ago, in 2001. We appealed to the WPU in accordance with
the existing rules and based on this appeal the WPU sent letters to
each of its 200 member states to invalidate those stamps.
(Correspondent) It is the second appeal that the ministry has sent to
the WPU on the matter. Because after the first letter of protest the
self-styled entity continued production of stamps depicting this
year’s calendar. No response has been given to the ministry’s latest
appeal. Mammadov also touched upon the images on the stamps issued for
separatists. He said that the Azerbaijani monuments are touted as
Armenian on the stamps.
(Mammadov) They usually issue stamps dedicated to some monuments in
Karabakh. But, I again say that they are invalid. Azerbaijan
regularly issues stamps dedicated to historical monuments in Nagornyy
Karabakh every year and similarly such stamps were issued in 2004.
(Correspondent) The ministry, which is not confined to this, intends
to take the issue for discussion at the 23rd congress of the WPU, due
in Bucharest, Romania this September. Mr Mammadov said that there were
no postal services at all in the occupied region. Therefore, the
issuance of stamps is just aimed at presenting Karabakh as a state to
the world community, end quote. Armenia is also expected to take part
in the autumn congress of the WPU and Armenian and Azerbaijani
delegations are scheduled to meet during the event .
Farida Agaverdiyeva, Mirtofiq Miralioglu, for “Son Xabar”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
08/11/2004
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) "Yerkir" Editor Calls Azeri War Statements Absurd 2) Armenian, Azeri, and Turk Delegations Clash at Youth Festival 3) Longtime ARF Activist Avedis Ispenjian Passes Away 4) Shelling Clouds Russia, Georgia Talks On Separatist Row 5) Local Public Official Urges Leaders of His Own Party to Support Schiff Amendment 1) "Yerkir" Editor Calls Azeri War Statements Absurd YEREVAN (Combined Sources)--Responding to the recent hostile statements made by Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry, ARF Armenia Supreme Body member and Editor in Chief of "Yerkir" newspaper Spartak Seiranian said the appeal "to declare war on Armenia and liberate Karabagh" was made to incite the public. On August 5, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported that the chief spokesman for Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry, Colonel Ramiz Melikov, publicly stated that "within the next 25 years there will exist no state of Armenia in the South Caucasus." He added: "Modern Armenia is built on historical Azerbaijani lands...I think that in 25-30 years' time, its territory will again come under Azerbaijan's jurisdiction." Seiranian called such statements "absurd," adding it is meant for the uneducated people. According to Seiranian, if Azeris believe they have such military force that can fight and win, one should not forget that the Armenian fighters are also ready to die for their homeland. "The Azeri warrior isn't ready to die for Karabagh, as he knows very well that Karabagh isn't his land; on the contrary, the Armenian fighter knows that he defends his homeland, and that's why he will go to all lengths," he said. Seiranian, recalling the victory of Armenian troops in the Karabagh war, stated confidently that if the situation recurs in the future, the outcome would not be any different. 2) Armenian, Azeri, and Turk Delegations Clash at Youth Festival BARCELONA--The 3rd World Youth Festival is currently underway in Barcelona, Spain with the participation of 10,000 young people from around the world. The Festival--the only event completely designed by and for youth organizations from all over the world--provides a unique opportunity for regional youth platforms and organizations from all over the world to share ideas and projects. The ARF Youth delegation is participating as well, with two representatives from Lebanon's Zavarian Student Association. Aware of the festival's purpose and confident that today's youth will work together to bring about new perspectives and justice on various issues, the ARF Youth delegation used their designated poster board to inform the festival participants about the Armenian genocide. The Turkish and Azeri delegation angrily demanded that the pictures and information on the genocide be removed from the poster board; however, the ARF Youth delegation refused, resulting in commotion. The festival's organizing committee, composed of various international youth organizations including the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) of which the ARF Youth is a member of, devoted a considerable amount of time to the situation during their August 10 meeting. The IUSY representative supported the Armenian delegation and their work during the meeting, describing it as a basic human right to express their views and opinions. The end result was that the Azeri and Turk demand would not be met as doing so would defeat the purpose of the festival. In response to the decision, and in addition to appealing to their embassies to mediate the situation, the Azeri and Turk delegates prepared their own display boards and placed them next to the ARF Youth's poster board as a sign of protest. The ARF Bureau Youth office officially appealed to the festival's organizing committee stating, "The ARF Youth is confident that participating in the World Youth Festival would provide a unique platform to be 'seen and heard' as stated in the festival's goals...the latest developments, however, show otherwise, as certain groups or delegations try to pressure our representatives from being 'seen and heard.'" Referring to the latest statements by Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry asserting that "in 25-30 years' times its territory will again come under Azerbaijan's jurisdiction," as well as the killing of an Armenian officer by an Azeri during a NATO Partnership for Peace program in Budapest, the ARF Bureau Youth Office demanded that the organizing committee guarantee the safety of the Armenian youth delegation. The ARF Bureau Youth Office expressed gratitude to the IUSY representative for being resolute on the issue and supporting the Armenian youth. As of August 11, the situation remained calm as the ARF Youth representatives carries on its work without any hindrances. 3) Longtime ARF Activist Avedis Ispenjian Passes Away The family of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Western Region sustained a tremendous loss on the morning of Wednesday, August 11 when longtime party activist Avedis Ispenjian passed away at the age of 75. A devoted member of the ARF, Ispenjian had served on the party's Central Committee's both in Lebanon and the United States. Ispenjian played an active role during the Lebanese civil war, when he represented the ARF during political negotiations. Avedis Ispenjian's memory will not fade, and his life's work will serve as a source of inspiration to future generations. 4) Shelling Clouds Russia, Georgia Talks On Separatist Row MOSCOW (AFP)--Georgian troops and separatist forces in South Ossetia exchanged sporadic shelling and gunfire Wednesday, clouding talks between Russia and Georgia on calming disputes on the status of the pro-Russian region. "The situation is worrying," said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov after signing a joint communique with his Georgia counterpart Georgy Baramidze, RIA Novosti reported. Baramidze said during a following press briefing that "Russia and Georgia must become predictable neighbors." But he conceded the two sides discussed "uneasy matters" while his top deputy in Tbilisi accused the Russian of opening fire on Georgian troops. Officials said six people were injured in the cross-border shooting which has grown more frequent as Georgia's new president, Mikhail Saakashvili, tries to win back control over his fractured republic. "The attack came from armored personnel carries that carried the emblem of Russian peacekeepers" in the region, he said. All three sides accused each other of launching the attacks first. "We held negotiations to cease fire, and fighting would stop for 20 minutes, but then it would resume again with greater force," Russian defense ministry spokesman Nikolai Baranov told Rossia television. The Caucasus republic, once the Soviet Union's richest, fell into pieces after the superpower's breakup in 1991, with three regions--Ajaria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia--seeking either independence or rule from Moscow. Saakashvili has won back Ajaria, a key pocket on the Black Sea that oversees oil trade, with its leader leaving for self-imposed exile in Moscow in May. But his strategy for the other two regions, which have few ethnic links with Georgia, is unclear. Military threats from Georgia have been followed by vows to resolve the situation through dialogue, while Moscow issues increasingly aggressive statements as it grows more sensitive to Saakashvili's drive for military and economic assistance from the United States. 5) Local Public Official Urges Leaders of His Own Party to Support Schiff Amendment LOS ANGELES--Prominent Los Angeles attorney and Rolling Hills Estates City Councilmember Frank Zerunyan has issued an open letter to Congressional leaders urging them to end their opposition to the Schiff Amendment. The letter also strongly encourages the leadership to bring House Resolution 193 to a vote. "[Mr. Speaker] let the American people through their Representatives decide the fate of the resolution. Demonstrated to our allies the true meaning of Democracy. I expect this of you and the leadership in Congress," wrote Zerunyan. The Schiff Amendment, which was passed voice vote on July 15, 2004, would prevent the Republic of Turkey from spending US foreign aid dollars to lobby against legislation pending in Congress that recognizes the Armenian Genocide. One day after the Schiff amendment was successfully offered to the House Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2005, House Republican leaders issued a statement demanding that the [Schiff amendment] be dropped in conference. The leadership also threatened not to bring House Resolution 193 to a vote despite its popularity in the House of Representatives. The Resolution has more than 110 co-sponsors and was successfully voted out of the House Judiciary Committee on May 21, 2003. "Councilman Zerunyan's open letter to Congressional leaders provides a thoughtful foundation for these very leaders to end their opposition to the Schiff amendment and House Resolution 193," commented ANCA-WR Executive Director Ardashes Kassakhian. "The Councilman's words provide a compelling case for our many Republican friends in Congress to convince Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader DeLay to support the Schiff amendment and a vote on the resolution." 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. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2004 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets. From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RIA Novosti, Russia
Aug 10 2004
CSTO WILL NOT JOIN PEACEKEEPING OPERATION IN SOUTH OSSETIA
MOSCOW, August 10 (RIA Novosti) – The Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO: Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
and Tajikistan) adopted a concept for peacekeeping activities, CSTO
Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha told a press conference in
Moscow.
“We have adopted a concept for the CSTO’s peacekeeping activities,”
he said, “which stipulates the formation of peacekeeping potential by
common consent of CSTO member states.”
He said that the concept permitted peacekeeping contingents to be
trained according to a single system and for roles to be distributed.
“We plan to use this peacekeeping potential under the UN aegis in
CSTO territory and worldwide at the UN request,” he noted.
He stressed that the organization must not join the peacekeeping
operation in South Ossetia now. “Previous decisions must be
implemented to settle the conflict,” he added.
Mr. Bordyuzha said that the Georgian president’s statements were
“very contradictory.” “It is impossible to put them together to see
his [the Georgian president’s] position,” he said and added that
today, nobody wanted a repetition of when the Caucasus was hit by
Georgian-Abkhaz, Georgian-Ossetian, and Armenian-Azeri interethnic
conflicts ten years ago. “New politicians lack our experience but
they should understand that if a conflict is unleashed there is no
way back,” he emphasized.
Summing up the results of the recent exercises of the CSTO’s joint
rapid deployment forces in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, the secretary
general said that his organization was concerned about the
developments in Afghanistan. “Presidential elections will be held in
Afghanistan on October 9 and,” he noted, “therefore, the remaining
Talibs and Al Qaeda terrorists have become active.”
“As for the situation in Central Asia, I am not concerned about it,”
he added.
Mr. Bordyuzha said that the strength of the joint rapid deployment
forces met the present-day tasks and that the forces were ready for
an operative response to regional developments.
According to him, the 11 battalions are perfectly trained and can
fulfill all tasks set by the CSTO leadership.
Presently, the CSTO command is ready to give a proper and rapid
response to the possible aggravation of the situation, Mr. Bordyuzha
said.
“We need 1.5-2 hours to make a decision on the use of force in case
of local aggravations,” he said. “Servicemen can be deployed in this
area in several hours.”
In his words, a plan of the joint rapid deployment forces’
development until 2010 has been worked out and stipulates common
equipment and armament for the armed forces and their transfer to the
contractual basis, the secretary general reported.
“In my opinion, the best way is to form a single brigade of rapid
deployment forces under single command. We hope to accomplish this
goal in the future,” he concluded.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CONSTRUCTION WORKS WORTH A TOTAL OF $1.2 MLN TO BE STARTED IN SYUNIK
REGION OF ARMENIA
YEREVAN, AUGUST 4. ARMINFO. At the beginning of 2005 the Fund of
social investments of Armenia will begin implementation of
construction works in Syunik region of the republic worth a total of
$1.2 mln. Head of State Town-Planning Inspection of Armenia Sevada
Hayrapetian informed ARMINFO.
According to him, the package of necessary documents will be ready in
the last quarter of the current year. This fund will be directed to
construction of schools, engineering networks and buildings in the
region, as well as to repair of houses of culture. Besides, this year
Armenian government has allocated 13.5 bln drams for construction of
schools and social-economic projects in different regions of the
republic. Ministry of Town-Planning of Armenia is the owner of works
worth a total of 1.5 bln drams in 24 establishments.

AGREEMENT FOR SELLING OF SHARES OF “FACTORY NAIRIT” cjsc TO RUSSIAN
HOLDING “VOLGABURMACH”TO BE SIGNED ON AUGUST 10
YEREVAN, AUGUST 6. ARMINFO. Agreement for selling of the 100% of the
shares of “Factory Nairit” cjsc to Russian holding “Volgaburmach”will
be signed till August 10 of the current year, Minister of trade and
Economic Development of Armenia Karen Chshmaritian informed
journalists today.
According to him, there are no financial and technical disagreements
between the sides. He mentioned that he had talked with Chairman of
the Central Bank of Armenia Tigran Sargsian on Thursday, who is
optimist in this aspect. The minister added that the Armenian side has
fulfilled all its obligations to the Russian side.