Author: Tambiyan Samvel

UzReport, Uzbekistan
Aug 18 2005
Uzbek envoy to Azerbaijan says Uzbekistan has no relations with
Karabakh separatists
UzReport.com [12:20] 18.08.2005
The Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Azerbaijan Ismatulla Irgashov sent
a response letter to the Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO),
in which he said that Uzbekistan has no links with the occupation
regime in Nagorno-Karabakh, KLO told Trend news agency.
The report said the KLO chairman Akif Nagi applied to the
Uzbekistan Embassy and demanded to cease cooperation of this
country’s organisations with the Nagorno-Karabakh separatists in the
communication field.
In his return letter the Ambassador reported, the Unitel [mobile
operator] company, operating in Nagorno Karabakh is located in Tashkent
and is not Uzbek company. This company belongs to the Netherlands
and Greece.
The KLO chairman accepted the Ambassador’s explanations and noted,
the country took always an unbiased stand and even up to the moment
has not set up diplomatic relations with the occupation Armenia.
“We appreciate such a position of the fraternal Uzbekistan, anyhow,
we once again have to inform the government of Uzbekistan of our
concern over the setting up relations between the companies operating
in Uzbekistan with the occupation regime of Nagorno Karabakh,” the
KLO statement notes.

AZG Armenian Daily #145, 18/08/2005
Internet
‘MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES’ OPENS ITS WEBSITE ON ARMENIAN PROJECT
The press service of Finance and Economy Ministry informed that the
“Millennium Challenges” Foundation has opened the official website of
the Board of Trustees to inform the public about the elaboration and
implementation of its program in Armenia (MCA-Armenia Project). The
address of the site is
By A. M.

EDITORIALS Short attention span Another day, another genocide
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
August 8, 2005 Monday
THERE’S ONE thing you can always count on when the subject of genocide
comes up: Nobody gets too worked up about it. The dead are certainly
beyond caring. Survivors might be interested, especially surviving
family and friends. But in general the living, most of us anyway,
have other things on our minds.
A short news item out of Rwanda once again brings to mind how easily
the deaths of hundreds of thousands can become nothing more than
a footnote in the bloody pages of history. It seems the Rwandan
government has okayed the release of 36,000 prisoners, most of whom
have confessed to participating in the genocide in that country more
than 10 years ago. End of story.
What genocide? Well, over a period of about 100 days in 1994,
800,000 Rwandans were murdered by their countrymen. The massacres
arose out of tension between the majority Hutu and the minority
Tutsi. Most of the deaths were among the Tutsis, although Hutus also
were slaughtered. Sometimes by fellow Hutus who thought they were
soft on the Tutsis. It will all sound familiar to students of 20th
Century Europe.
The prisoners being released now were mostly foot soldiers in the reign
of terror, rather than leaders and organizers. Rwanda’s government
says the ex-prisoners will go back to their homes in the villages
where they committed their acts of violence. There they are supposed
to face local tribunals set up to allow for reconciliation-confession
and forgiveness. Not a bad idea, and it’s about as much justice as
can be mustered in Rwanda right now.
There’s a case to be made for the release of the prisoners. Rwandan
prisons are known for their horrific conditions. They were built to
hold about 30,000, but until this release there were more than 80,000
inmates crowded together. Food and shelter are lacking. Disease is
rampant. Some of the prisoners have been held for 10 years or more,
with no prospect for trials any time soon. Many have already served
longer sentences than they would probably have received if tried.
Many were minors when they participated in the killings. Others are
elderly. Many are sick.
>>From the point of view of the survivors, though, such humanitarian
concerns are misplaced. A massive release of prisoners puts them
back among the same people they once terrorized. One survivor voiced
her fear of what would happen, even with the prospect of village
tribunals. The released prisoners, she warned, will stick together
and hide the truth. And the survivors will rightly fear further
retaliation.
Those scholars who keep up with the world’s genocides tend to have the
same concern. The worry is that mixing the perpetrators and the victims
could re-open old wounds and lead to yet another round of mass murder
in that Central African country. And they suspect that the huge number
of prisoners being released will overload the reconciliation process,
meaning many never have to acknowledge their crimes. In short, the
release could create more problems than it solves. But it’s hard to
get the world to care.
Even in 1994, when the killings were known to be happening, nobody on
the outside showed much concern. Reaction from the United Nations was
feeble. Elsewhere, the reaction was non-existent. Another outbreak of
violence in Rwanda is likely to draw the same immense lack of interest.
Besides, Rwanda is so yesterday. Today’s genocide is happening in the
Darfur region of the Sudan, but few know the details, and fewer still
are trying to stop it. Rwanda is joining the long list of genocides
that escaped attention while they were occurring, then slipped from
human memory.
“Who remembers the Armenians?” as Hitler was supposed to have asked
when making his own genocidal plans. For that matter, who now remembers
the Bosnians or the Cambodians? Even the 20th Century’s most notorious
genocide, the Holocaust, has produced its deniers. How long, after all,
can one be exposed to tales of horror before the mind grows numb? The
Rwandans must now compete for attention on an always crowded list of
mass atrocities. And always we will have those who would minimize,
euphemize, or even excuse genocides, setting the stage for more. (One
Japanese textbook now refers to the Rape of Nanking-a weeks-long binge
of absolute horror-as the Nanking “incident.”) There will always be
those who say it’s time to move on. But often enough, that advice
comes from those who joined in the mass murders. Forgive and forget,
they say. Don’t dwell on the past. But attention must be paid if
humanity is ever to move beyond this bloody stage. The thankless
job of recording these enormities must go on. Lest we forget, and
repeat the Killing Fields of Cambodia, the slaughters of Rwanda,
the massacre at Srebrenica . . . .
All must be recorded in history, none whitewashed. No, remembering
won’t do much for the victims or maybe even for the survivors, but
somewhere, sometime maybe attention will be paid. And the future will
be better than the still echoing crimes of a terrible past.

PRESIDENT DOES NOT LIKE NEW PRICES FOR ROUTE MINIBUS TICKETS IN YEREVAN
YEREVAN, AUGUST 15. ARMINFO. During his leave President Robert
Kocharyan was informed of the decision of Yerevan Mayor on rising
the prices for rote minibuses in Yerevan, Press Secretary of the
President Victor Soghomonyan informs ARMINFO.
He says the president demanded that the mayor grounds his decision.
As the mayor failed to satisfy the demand of the president, Robert
Kocharyan instructed him to cancel the decision within 24 ours and
restore the former price for tickets – 100 AMD, Soghomonyan says.
It should be noted that on August 9 Yerevan Mayor rose the prices
for route minibuses in the capital up to 130 AMD. The mayor cancelled
his decision on August 13.

Is Yerevan Scared of History?
By Sahin ALPAY
Zaman, Turkey
Aug 12 2005
A young Turkish researcher, Yektan Turkyilmaz, is being held in
custody since June 17 by the Armenian intelligence service under
high security conditions. He was due to appear in court tomorrow,
facing according to Article 215/2 of the Armenian Penal Code a jail
sentence of four to eight years for allegedly “smuggling rare books”
out of the country. We hope that the court will reach a decision that
will repair the gross injustice inflicted on Turkyilmaz.
Who is Turkyilmaz? He is a scholar who after receiving after his B.A.
degree at Bogazici University in Istanbul is working for a Ph. D.
degree at the Duke University, a prominent university in the United
States. In addition to Turkish and English, Turkyýlmaz speaks French,
Ottoman Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian. His general field of research
concerns nationalist movements among Turks, Armenians and Kurds
during the final period of the Ottoman Empire. His colleagues believe
that Turkyilmaz’s research will make a significant contribution to
the debates concerning this period since it is based on Turkish,
Kurdish and Armenian sources. Having good relations with Armenian
colleagues, Turkyilmaz became the first Turkish scholar to be allowed
to work in the Armenian national archives. According to Orin Starn,
his thesis instructor at Duke University, “Turkyilmaz is brilliant
and widely respected young scholar” who has receieved numerous awards
and fellowships.
What then is Turkyilmaz’s crime? Turkyilmaz was taken to custody
soon after he embarked the plane to return to Turkey after having
completing his research in the Armenian national archives on his fourth
visit to Yerevan. It was reported that Turkyilmaz was found guilty of
“smuggling” old books out of Armenia which require official permission
to be taken out of the country according to a law which dates from
the Soviet times. Since there are no diplomatic relations between
Turkey and Armenia, Turkish officials merely demanded Turkyilmaz’s
release. Armenian intelligence service interrogated him about his
research and his theoretical orientations, and confiscated the copies
of his archival research. More than 200 Turkish, Armenian and American
academics sent a letter to the Armenian President Robert Kocharian
on July 29, calling for his intervention for the immediate release
of Turkyilmaz and his notes to be returned. In brief, they said
the following:
We care deeply about improvements in Armenian – Turkish relations
and consider the unimpeded work of independent scholars to be vital
steps in the right direction… None of the books he had with him
were forbidden from being taken out of the country, but only required
permissions… While it may be appropriate to impose a fine for the
unknowing violation of customs regulations, prison terms of 4 to 8
years is grossly disproportionate… The political implications of
his detention cause grave concern. The dialogue which has recently
been opened up between Turkish and Armenian scholars is put to risk.
“This arrest would also raise serious doubts as to whether Armenia
encouraes independent scholarly research into history.”
US Senator Bob Dole also sent a letter to President Kocharian on
August 2 in which he said: Human Rights groups do not rank Armenia
as a democracy, and define it only as a “partly free” country due to
your governments mistreatment of opposition leaders and supporters.
Your detention of Yektan for seven weeks Yektan being in detention
for seven weeks confirms the shortcomings of democracy in Armenia. I
urge you to intervene for the immediate release of Yektan, and also
for the amendment of this strange law which is not compatible with
a free society.
The Turkyilmaz case underlines two basic questions: Is the Soviet
regime still continuing in Armenia which is a member of the Council
of Europe? Is the Armenian administration, which has grossly violated
academic freedom, scared of shedding light on its history?
–Boundary_(ID_XyO453/QgUsJ+flRcTinZA)–

Azeri ruling party official says pre-election situation “perfectly normal”
ANS TV, Baku
11 Aug 05
The pre-election situation in Azerbaijan is causing great concerns,
because despite the pressure exerted on the Azerbaijani authorities on
the part of the West and international organizations, neither the
composition of electoral commissions has been changed, nor conditions
have been established for public organizations to observe the
election, the co-founder of the Yeni Siyasat (New Policy) election
bloc, Eldar Namazov, has said.
Namazov was invited to the Azerbaijani commercial ANS TV’s “Point of
View” programme on 11 August together with the deputy executive
secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, Mubariz Qurbanli.
Namazov said the failure to meet these demands had undermined public
confidence in the fairness of this election. He said that since the
process of registration of candidates had already started, his bloc
had nominated about 90 people to stand in the election. However, the
fact that many citizens have not received their ID cards is creating
problems in the process of collection of signatures. According to the
official statistics, more than 1m voters have yet to receive their ID
cards, he said.
Another problem candidates have been facing is the requirement to
produce too many documents. Members of the bloc have had to produce 48
different documents, Namazov said. In addition to that, all candidates
nominated from one bloc have to have their documents confirmed by a
single stamp, which means that the candidates nominated in regions of
Azerbaijan have to come all the way to Baku or send their documents by
mail. The biggest problem, however, is the ever exacerbating tension
in society, Namazov noted.
Mubariz Qurbanli said that his opponent had painted a grim picture of
the situation. He described the pre-election situation as “perfectly
normal” and said it was totally under control. Qurbanli said
sufficient changes had been introduced to the electoral code on the
basis of recommendations from international organizations. He noted
that the current election law can provide for a completely free and
fair election.
With regard to the difficulties Namazov referred to with the issuing
of ID cards to the population, Qurbanli said the Yeni Siyasat election
bloc had not organized its work properly. He explained that candidates
nominated in rural parts of Azerbaijan do not have to come to Baku but
can work through their proxies.
Qurbanli dismissed claims that polarization in society was deepening,
adding that the majority of citizens were rallying behind the
incumbent authorities. He said the forces who are already aware of
their impending defeat in the election portray themselves as a
fully-fledged player on the political firmament.
The ruling party executive went on to say that it was normal for
different groups of people, not necessarily those involved in
politics, to be outraged by the fact that the member of a group
supported by People’s Front of Azerbaijan Party (Yeni Fikir youth
movement), Ruslan Basirli, accepted money from Armenian secret agents
in order to overthrow government in Azerbaijan. He added that even
though a recent protest action outside the party had not been
authorized, members of the party should have let the police disperse
the protesters. Instead, some of them had climbed to the roof of the
building to throw stones at the pickets.
Picking up the topic, Eldar Namazov said he had condemned Ruslan
Basirli’s action in the press. However, he said opposition parties in
Azerbaijan have been deprived of any funding opportunities. In
democratic countries, he said, parties are supported by certain
businessmen. The businessmen helping opposition parties in Azerbaijan
have repeatedly come under pressure which eventually forced them to
close their enterprises.
Namazov said that in Russia, for instance, the parties running for
parliament receive money from the state budget proportionately to the
number of votes cast for them in a previous election. There is no such
thing in Azerbaijan, he said.

PACE president expected

Baku, August 8, AssA-Irada
President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) Rene van Der Linden will visit Azerbaijan August 22-23 as part
of his tour of the region. He will visit Yerevan on August 18-19 and
Tbilisi on August 20-21. The visit targets studying the current
situation in the region, head of the CE Information Office in Baku
Ilgar Ibrahimli told AssA-Irada.
While in Baku, Van Der Linden will discuss the pre-election situation
with Azeri officials. He is due to meet with President Ilham Aliyev,
the prime minister, parliament speaker, foreign minister, as well as
NGO and media representatives.*
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia & New Zealand
10 Macquarie Street
Chatswood NSW 2067
AUSTRALIA
Contact: Laura Artinian
Tel: (02) 9419-8056
Fax: (02) 9904-8446
Email: [email protected]
6 August 2005
ARMENIAN-AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY OUTRAGED AT FALSE REPORT
Sydney, Australia – The Armenian-Australian Community was outraged
this week demanding an apology and full retraction of a falsely
reported column headlined “Pope Shot by Armenian Gunman” posted in
The Canberra Times on 4 August 2005. The correspondent erroneously
reported the would-be assassin of His Holiness Pope John Paul II of
blessed memory, in May 1981, was of Armenian origin. Mehmet Ali Agca
was in fact a Turkish militant with absolutely no Armenian connection.
The outpouring of rage and resentment by the local and international
Armenian Community at such sloppy journalism is totally justifiable
particularly when The Canberra Times claims to be “Canberra’s primary
source of news, views and advertising information” and bears as its
motto ‘To serve the national city and through it the nation’.
Letters denouncing the Armenian link to the Turkish assassin,
the falsity of the report and the slur on the Armenian name were
affirmed to the Editor calling for an unequivocal apology. All
Armenian organisations and individuals are urged to make their own
protest against this profound mistruth, in a voice of unity that is
blasphemous for Armenians.
In his letter to The Canberra Times, Primate of the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of Australia and New Zealand, His Eminence Archbishop
Aghan Baliozian wrote ~ “I trust this egregious and damaging error will
elicit an immediate and sincere apology to the Armenian-Australian
Community. In turn, as true followers of Christ’s teachings, and as
the example set by His Holiness in forgiving Agca for the error of
his ways, the Armenian-Australian Community will forgive The Canberra
Times for the gross error it has made.”
A response from The Canberra Times is pending.

PRYAKHIN: ARMENIA HAS OPPORTUNITY OF DEMOCRATIC REFORMS WITHOUT VIOLENCE
PanArmenian News Network
Aug 6 2005
06.08.2005 03:14
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The OSCE hopes for the efforts of Armenian
authorities on constitutional reforms to succeed and Armenian
people to say “yes” to constitutional changes in the course of
the referendum scheduled in autumn. “OSCE hails the fact that the
Armenia party has accepted most of expert proposals of the Venice
commission and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights (ODIHR/OSCE),” – stated chief of the OSCE Office in Yerevan,
Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin. “This does not mean we are satisfied
with all changes. Not all proposals were taken into account,” the
diplomat noted, meaning specifically proposal over more transparent
and democratic activities of media regulating bodies. Today the
republic president appoints members of those structures. As of the
participation or non-participation of the opposition in the debate
over the constitutional changes, V. Pryakhin stated, “Opposition is
disconnected in Armenia. On the one hand Justice Bloc notes it would
be nice to take part in the debate over the constitutional reforms,
on the other hand Republic Party making part of the Bloc is against
it.” In Pryakhin’s words, the passing of constitutional reforms
will mean that Armenia “has registered progress in democracy.” “If
the opposition urges its supporters to vote against or boycott
the referendum, the changes will not be passed and we will have
the Constitution of 1995, which does not reflect the needs of
the society today. Thus, I call all parties to sensibly evaluate
the situation,” he noted. As of the opportunity of revolution and
change of authorities in Armenia, Mr. Pryakhin stated he is for
“evolutionary development” and is “against violence.” In his words,
revolution “provides for violence.” V. Pryakhin said he was sure that
today Armenia has opportunities of democratic reforms without violence.
“Most Armenians are not sure that the forces that will take power can
improve the situation,” V. Pryakhin noted. He added, “Thus, in Armenia
there is no revolution situation in the classical sense of the word,”
reported RFE/RL.

Turkish Press
Aug 5 2005
Press Review
TURKIYE
GUL: “WE’RE WORKING TO REVEAL THE REALITY ABOUT THE SO-CALLED ARMENIAN
GENOCIDE”
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday that the government was
working to reveal the reality about the so-called Armenian genocide.
Replying to an official question of a deputy, Gul said that a number
of documents reflecting the truth about the issue had been prepared
and sent to scholars, libraries, parliaments and journalists abroad.
/Turkiye/