Author: Torgomian Varazdat

/
In These Times, September 2006
Bird-Dogging Hillary Clinton
By Nancy Kricorian
In November 2005 Hillary Rodham Clinton sent out a fundraising letter
to her constituents. `Part of my job is being a good listener,’ she
wrote, going on to describe all the good listening she does as the
junior senator from New York. She concluded, `Now I’d like to listen
to you.’
In the envelope with the letter was a three-page, 18-question `2005
Critical National Issues Survey’ addressing a range of topics from jobs
to homeland security to separation of church and state. Not one
question in the survey mentioned the war in Iraq – an omission that came
as no surprise to those of us at the New York chapter of CODEPINK Women
for Peace.
At the time Hillary prepared her `questionnaire,’ close to 2,300 U.S.
troops and more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians had died, and polls showed
that most Americans were worried about the war and its ill effects,
including rising prices at the gas pump. But somehow, Hillary and her
handlers thought that ignoring the war was the strategically smart
thing to do. And they were right.
It turns out that Hillary has done a tremendous job – of getting New York
Democrats to assume that because right-wing Republicans hate her she
must oppose the war. Most New York Democratic voters also don’t realize
that she co-sponsored an amendment to ban flag-burning, is against
marriage equality for gays and lesbians, supports the death penalty,
votes consistently for Star Wars appropriations and has served on the
board of Wal-Mart for six years. Yet, she is consistently touted as the
`liberal Democrat from New York.’
But it is her position – or, rather, her exquisitely-phrased,
calculatedly imprecise non-position – on the Iraq War, accompanied by her
consistent voting record in support of the Bush administration on Iraq,
that had our local CODEPINK chapter trying for weeks before she sent
out her `I’m a listener’ mailer, to meet with Hillary or someone on her
New York City staff.
When the topic turns to Iraq, Hillary repeats the same garbled message
in various locutions: We shouldn’t stay, but we shouldn’t not stay;
while before we go we should get a job done, we shouldn’t be doing the
job we’re doing. If you parse her carefully worded speeches and
statements, the only significant differences between Hillary and Bush
are that she thinks we need more troops on the ground in Iraq so the
war can be better prosecuted – and that she is furiously trying to hide
that position from her constituency.
No invitation to talk from Hillary’s office was forthcoming. So
CODEPINK NYC pulled together a coalition of local peace groups and
launched a weekly vigil outside Hillary’s office on Third Avenue at
49th Street. We bought enormous rubber ears from a theatrical supply
company and made signs that said, `Hillary you’re not listening, bring
the troops home now.’ We passed out information about her positions,
and we launched the Web site
Standing on the sidewalk, in the dead of winter, it was remarkable how
many passersby would stop and talk, amazed to learn how close her
position on the war was to Bush’s.
Soon after we launched the weekly vigil we got a call from Hillary’s
office to set up an appointment. Four of us met with Hillary’s New York
City `Director of Governmental Affairs,’ a fresh-faced and genial young
woman who honestly appeared to know less about Hillary’s voting record
or statements on the war than the crowds on the sidewalk. She
patronizingly told us that she would pass along our concerns to the
senator.
After this fruitless meeting, we coordinated with peace groups around
the state and CODEPINK chapters around the country, organizing a
statewide and national campaign called `Bird-dog Hillary.’
Wherever Hillary was appearing we were there with our signs and
handouts, dressed in pink with big rubber ears. Women also got inside
and raised their voices, raining down flyers from balconies, and
generally making a notable, if momentary, ruckus. The results
everywhere were similar: a genuine sense of amazed – and
dismayed – recognition that Hillary’s views on Iraq are out of synch not
only with those of many Democrats but of the vast majority of
Americans, regardless of party affiliation.
CODEPINK has now become an almost integral part of the Hillary road
show. The only major fundraiser we were unable to crash was the one for
Hillary held in July by Rupert Murdoch, the location of which was a
more tightly-held secret than the location of Dick Cheney’s bunker. The
rituals of the campaign trail and the fundraising gauntlet have given
us a funny intimacy with her team.
In late May we were outside a fundraiser for Senator Robert Byrd in a
private apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan at which Hillary
was a `special guest.’ As the elderly Senator Byrd entered, one of us
asked, `Senator Byrd, can you tell Hillary to stop supporting the war?’
Senator Byrd paused and answered, `Ladies, I don’t tell her to do
anything.’
A few minutes later Senator Clinton drove up in her shiny black SUV
accompanied by her Secret Service detail. As she walked past us, one of
us asked, `Senator Clinton, when are you going to help end this war?’
Hillary’s answer: `We’re working on it.’
After she entered the building one of her secret service guys, whom
some of us by this point knew by name, winked and asked, `Will we be
seeing you later?’
He was referring to the West Village fundraiser for Ohio gubernatorial
candidate Ted Strickland that Hillary was co-hosting. A few minutes
later we were on the subway heading downtown.
In June we bought tickets to a Women for Hillary fundraising luncheon
at the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Eva-Lee, Missy and I went
into the ballroom where 1,000 enthusiastic and decorous attendees were
taking seats at their tables. I spotted a mother from my kid’s school
and a business acquaintance of my husband’s who had told me point blank
that she despised Hillary. What were they doing here? Placing their
bets on the Democrats’ leading horse.
Staging a protest at a Hillary event is a delightfully surreal
experience. We were assigned to Table 121, way in the back (we paid
$125 apiece for our tickets; the tickets up front went for $1,000) but
very close to the bank of press cameras. We nervously ate our cold
salmon and chatted with other women at our table.
We were in Hillaryland: we watched a slickly produced Hillary film in
which she single-handedly revived New York State’s economy, palled
around with firefighters and cured two children of cancer. A lot of
eyes got misty, both on screen and in the audience.
Then she made a grand entrance down a side stairway, greeted with a
standing ovation. She read through a very, very long list of
politicians’ wives and other supporters. And when she said `support’
for the 100th time, Missy stood up and shouted, `What about supporting
our troops by bringing them home?’ This was our cue.
Eva-Lee and I removed the sweaters covering our pink T-shirts, on which
we had written pro-troop messages with black fabric markers (mine said
`2,475 U.S. military deaths: How many more?’) Then we unfurled our pink
satin TROOPS HOME NOW banners. As we started chanting `troops home
now,’ the cameras strayed from Hillary and toward us.
The Hillary campaign employees, secret service guys and hotel security
who came to escort us out were resolutely polite, by now familiar with
the recurrent and inevitable drill. One young campaign worker said, `If
you’ll be quiet, you can stay.’ I answered loudly, `Troops out now’ and
off we went. Missy ran forward, handing out photos of her nephew who
had been killed in Iraq.
The bulk of the e-mail we get congratulates us on our work, but some
complains about the `Bird-dog Hillary’ campaign. One woman reminded us
that Hillary was a feminist who wore sandals in college and suggested
that as women and feminists we should be supporting her. Another New
Yorker asked why we weren’t targeting our senior senator, Chuck
Schumer, who isn’t much better than Hillary on the war. That one had
an easy answer: Chuck Schumer is neither running for re-election nor
positioning himself for a presidential run.
CODEPINK will continue to push the war issue to center stage, as others
are doing in Connecticut, fueling Ned Lamont’s successful challenge to
Senator Joe Lieberman. When he was stumping for Lieberman in July,
President Bill Clinton referred to the war as `the pink elephant in the
room.’ Well, the pink elephant has raised its head, as has CODEPINK.
Nancy Kricorian, whose most recent novel is Dreams of Bread and Fire,
is the coordinator of CODEPINK NYC.

`Miss Caucasus 2006′ beauty contest to be held in Yerevan

ArmRadio.am
01.09.2006 16:11
`Miss Caucasus 2006′ annual beauty contest will be held in Yerevan on
September 3. Head of the organizing committee of the contest Armen
Antonyan told ` Armenpress’ correspondent that nine beauties that won
the semifinal held in Pyatigorsk will participate in the contest. In
his words, the only purpose of the festival is to unite the Caucasian
peoples under the common root of beauty, to present the culture and
art of every nation.
To note, Azerbaijan refused to participate in the contest, which is
associated with the participation of the NKR representative.
The contest will welcome beauties from South Caucasian countries and
big cities of the North Caucasus. Directors of fashion agencies are
expected to attend the event.

Transitions on Line, Czech Rep.
Sept 1 2006

OSCE Karabakh Troubleshooter Under Fire

by Shahin Abbasov and Khadija Ismailova
1 September 2006
Hopes for a breakthrough in the Karabakh peace process any time soon
appear to be thoroughly dashed. From EurasiaNet.
Azerbaijan’s patience is wearing thin over the lack of movement
toward a Nagorno-Karabakh peace settlement, and officials in Baku are
taking out their frustration on the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) trouble-shooter responsible for
monitoring the cease-fire.
Hopes for a breakthrough in the Karabakh peace process, so high at
the outset of 2006, now appear to be thoroughly dashed. In a
mid-August speech to Azeri diplomats, President Ilham Aliev indicated
that Baku’s position is hardening. “Azerbaijan will not tolerate the
creation of a second Armenian state on its territory,” the president
said.
Another sign that trouble may be looming on the horizon is the
vehement criticism coming from Baku aimed at Andrzej Kasprzyk, the
special representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office on
Karabakh-related issues. Recent statements by Azeri officials, backed
by media reports, have portrayed Kasprzyk as incompetent, biased in
favor of Armenia, and possibly involved in nefarious business
dealings.
Having held the special representative designation for nearly a
decade, Kasprzyk’s responsibilities include managing existing
cease-fire monitoring mechanisms and promoting confidence-building
measures between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He also supports the OSCE’s
Minsk Group in promoting a lasting peace settlement for Karabakh.
Now it appears that Kasprzyk no longer enjoys the confidence of
Aliev’s administration. Dissatisfaction with Kasprzyk’s handling of a
recent inquiry into a series of fires in areas of Azerbaijan under
occupation by Armenian forces triggered Baku’s attacks against him.
The fires began breaking out in June. Convinced that the blazes had
been deliberately set by Armenians, Azeri officials pressed Kasprzyk
to look into the matter, and quickly started to criticize him for not
pursuing the investigation vigorously.
Azeri officials reportedly became enraged when Kasprzyk’s report went
into specific detail about the damage done by the fires, but shied
away from examining how they started. The closest the report got to
taking a stand was a suggestion that, given the arid conditions
prevailing in the area during the summer, fire was a perennial
threat.
“I am not an investigator,” the Arminfo news agency quoted Kasprzyk
as saying. “I could not find any evidence about what caused the
fires.” He indicated that international efforts to monitor the fires
were hampered by gunfire exchanges between Armenian and Azeri forces
deployed along the so-called contact line.
On 17 August, the Turan news agency quoted Novruz Mamedov, the head
of the Azeri presidential administration’s international department,
as complaining that Kasprzyk and the Minsk Group co-chairs had
“displayed a belated reaction” to Baku’s request for an
investigation, thus “showing their one-sided position.”
The same day, Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov stated that
“the non-prevention of Armenian-instigated blazes in the occupied
territories may lead to an ecological catastrophe.” Other Azeri
officials assailed Yerevan, accusing Armenian authorities of taking
no action to fight the fires. Azeri authorities at the same time
appealed to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and
UNESCO for help in containing the fires. Armenian officials have
generally maintained a low profile in the controversy.
>From Baku’s viewpoint, the fires are politically motivated, designed
to prevent the resettlement of Azeri internally displaced persons.
“If the fires continue, it will create problems for people who will
move to these areas; people will not be able to use this land for at
least the next five-10 years,” Araz Azimov, Azerbaijan’s deputy
foreign minister, told reporters.
Azimov went on to ridicule Kasprzyk’s assessment on the fires.
“Kasprzyk himself admitted that he is not an ecologist,” Azimov said.
“Therefore, his [inference] that natural causes were behind the fires
in the occupied territories is completely groundless,” Azimov said.
Despite their clear dissatisfaction with Kasprzyk’s performance,
Azeri officials have not taken formal action to prompt the special
representative’s replacement. Without such action, Kasprzyk said he
intends to keep performing his duties. “I will not resign,” the Turan
news agency quoted him as saying on 26 August.

ARMENIAN SPOKESMAN URGES MEDIA NOT TO POLITICIZE TRIAL OF EDITOR
Arminfo
30 Aug 06
Yerevan, 30 August: Some local media have excessively politicized the
trial of the editor-in-chief of Zhamanak newspaper, Arman Babadzhanyan,
the Armenian president’s press secretary, Viktor Sogomonyan, told a
news conference today.
Babadzhanyan faces charges of dodging military service and
counterfeiting documents.
Sogomonyan said that Babadzhanyan has already pleaded guilty. The press
secretary added that he will not comment on the trial. In any case,
there is no point to politicize Babadzhanyan’s trial, Sogomonyan noted.

AZERI NGO DEMANDS WAR AGAINST ARMENIA
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS General Newswire
August 30, 2006 Wednesday 5:09 PM MSK
Azerbaijan’s non-governmental Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO)
has demanded that the Azeri authorities launch a war against Armenia.
“The KLO demands that the authorities start a war against Armenia
in order to restore the territorial integrity of the country and to
banish the invaders from our land once and for all,” the organization
said in a statement circulated in Baku on Wednesday.
“The authorities of Azerbaijan are reluctant to take any specific steps
to liberate Karabakh from occupation and to smash the puppet regime
created by Armenia. International organizations loyal to Armenia
encourage the aggressor and are making efforts to find a solution
to the conflict at the expense of concessions from the Azeri side,”
the statement says.
“Peace talks have no prospects. Azerbaijan can liberate its territories
from this occupation only in a military way,” it says.
Azerbaijan lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven neighboring
districts as a result of a conflict with Armenia in the early 1990s.

EU WARNS GEORGIA OVER INCREASING DEFENSE BUDGET
Civil Georgia, Georgia
Aug. 30, 2006
European Commission said on August 29 that European Neighborhood
Policy Action Plans have been successfully negotiated with Azerbaijan,
Armenia, and Georgia and now await member-state approval, RFE/RL
reported.
But the EC has also warned Georgia and Azerbaijan to stop increasing
defense budgets.
Speaking at a conference in Slovenia on August 28 EU External Relations
Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said “defense expenditure in the
region is going through the roof.” She also said that increase in
defense spending is not justified in the region which is “in desperate
need of investment in education, health, and small businesses,”
according to the RFE/RL.
Benita Ferrero-Waldner has also called on the regional leaders to
refrain from “inflammatory rhetoric.”

ROBERT KOCHARYAN WILL NOT FOLLOW SERGE SARGSYAN’S PATH
Lragir.am
30 Aug 06
Armenian president Robert Kocharyan will not become member of any
political party. He announced this through his speaker in a news
conference at the residence of the president August 30.
“First, at the moment there is no consideration that the president
is likely to become member of one political party or another, if you
heard his speeches, he has never stated that he is going to become
member of any political party,” stated Victor Soghomonyan, speaker of
Robert Kocharyan. He also said as long as Robert Kocharyan is the head
of state, the president administration will not join political parties.

ARF STOPS ITS REPRESENTATIVE’S ACTIVITY AT INTERDEPARTMENTAL COMMISSION WORKING OUT DRAFT “ON RA ANTHEM”
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Aug 29 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 29, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. “The principal
defined by the new constitutional amendments on fixing the RA State
Anthem by the law is baselessly interpreted by some circles as a
constitutional demand to change the functioning anthem.” It is said in
the August 28 statement made public by the ARF Dashnaktsutiun Supreme
Body of Armenia. As Noyan Tapan was informed by the Press Service of
the ARF Armenia Supreme Body, authors of the statement mention that the
interdepartmental commission implementing the function of working out
the draft law “On RA Anthem” “for incomprehensible reasons, considered
its task to unequivocally reject the functioning “Mer Hayrenik”
(“Our Fatherland”) anthem and changing it with a new anthem.” “The
unbridled anti-propaganda of “Mer Hayrenik” was especially obvious. A
country’s anthem is born and established during a time, only in the
case if the logic of historic development makes it an indivisible part
of the people’s fate and biography,” is said in the statement. The
ARF Armenia Supreme Body, considering inadmissible creation of a
incoherent atmosphere about one of the RA most important symbols,
the anthem, the line of actions of the intergovernmental commission
and moods arisen by it, states about stopping its representative’s
activity at the commission and presenting a legislative initiative at
the National Assembly on re-affirming “Mer Hayrenik” as the RA anthem.

ALLAHSHUKUR PASHAZADEH: EVERYONE SHOULD BE READY TO JIHAD IF HIS HOME COUNTRY IS UNDER OCCUPATION
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug. 28, 2006
“Everyone should be ready to jihad if motherland has been occupied.
It is duty of every citizen to protect his country. The very situation
is in Azerbaijan…” head of Office of Caucasian Muslims Sheikulislam
Haji Allahshukur Pashazadeh told journalists while commenting on his
recent statement on the importance of making jihad for Garabagh.
Stating that his statement was misunderstood that time, Pashazadeh said
as Sheikulislam he cannot call for people to take arms and go to war.
“But it is not right to deprive the people of this courage,” he
underlined.

NAME, FACT AND EVEN IMAGE FOR TIGRAN TOROSYAN
Lragir.am
28 Aug 06
On August 26 Diasporan Artashes Barseghyan made interesting statements
at the Azdak Club on the water supply system in Armenia.
He moved to live in an Armenian village 15 years ago and tries to
contribute to rural development. Over these 15 years he found out that
corruption in Armenia is huge. Ashot Barseghyan particularly emphasizes
corruption in the sphere of water, especially in the region of Ararat
where he knows the state of rural communities, where the water supply
and quality threatens the physical security of people. Artashes
Barseghyan gave the example of the village of Kaghtsrashen.
“Now it is clear that two people are in charge of Armenian Water
Supply, both appointed by Mr. Hovik Abrahamyan. Perhaps most people do
not know Mr. Hovik Abrahamyan, he is known as Muk, as well as abroad,
in the Diaspora. Yes, yes, if you say Hovik Abrahamyan, people in
America, Europe, Diaspora will not know him, but they know him as
Muk. This mister is a prince in this region, as far as we can see,
as far as I can see, also in our republic, he appointed two people,
Felix Melikyan in charge of Armenian Water Supply in Ararat region,
and Blbulyan, executive director, ” says Artashes Barseghyan. He
says Blbulyan is a former Communist functionary, who does not work
transparently, there is no information what he is doing.
“For already three years this organization has been gathering hundreds
of million drams in the region for water and has never replaced a pipes
in the region. There are over one hundred villages in the region of
Ararat. Water bills mount to a billion drams. Where does this money go,
what is it spent on?” says Artashes Barseghyan. He says Armenian Water
Supply System has a van with pipes which travels in the regions as if
for replacing the pipes, but the same pipes return to the headquarters.
“The terrible thing is that Armenian Water Supply is already
threatening people. How? Every day they come, switch on the water for
three hours when people are not at home. For instance, they switch
on the water at 8.30 when the farmers are already in the field. When
they come home at 1.30, there is no more water. Now Armenian Water
Supply will demand that people drink bad water and will make them
pay for it, threatening to sue them if they refuse to pay the bills,”
says Artashes Barseghyan.
Meanwhile, he sues Armenian Water Supply. Artashes Barseghyan sued
Armenian Water Supply to the first instance court of the region
of Ararat demanding regular supply of quality water, instead of
poisoning the citizens. Artashes Barseghyan says since water supply
is not permanent, when there is water, it flows out of pipes, forms
puddles on the earth, gets mixed with manure and dirt on vilage roads,
and when water is switched off, the vaccum in the pipes drafts the
dirty water into the pipes, and this poisonous staff gets mixed with
water when it is switched on and is supplied to people. Besides suing
Armenian Water Supply Artashes Barseghyan made a statement for the
district attorney and is going to send his statement in writing to
the district attorney to investigate the state of water supply in
the region.
“Armenian Water Supply prefers creating artificial shortage of
water for small parasites to come and steal water from the pipes
in the village, there is no water meter there, fill water-carriers
illegally, then take this water to villages where there is no water
and sell it. Whom do they give part of the money they get from selling
water? I saw last week. I have hundreds of photos, I saw the worker
of Armenian Water Supply, water carriers standing at the back of his
land, to take the water and sell it. When they saw me, they shouted
to switch off the water, Artashes is coming,” says Artashes Barseghyan.
He says the same situation is in all the regions of Armenia, but
he cannot fight for everyone, therefore he started with one region,
one village. The NGO he set up will also deal with the problem of gas
because he thinks there is a dangerously high level of corruption in
this sphere too. He says he realizes that the water supply system in
the villages is worn out, and it is impossible to settle the problem
in a day, but Barseghyan says he is worried about the illegality for
already 15 years, when the government does not make any efforts to
improve water supply to the population, and the officials of Armenian
Water Supply cheat people. However, they not only cheat people but
also threaten Artashes Barseghyan to sue and even prosecute him.
Artashes Barseghyan assures, however, that nothing will prevent him
from battling corruption, because he has already solved all the other
problems in his life.