Author: Torgomian Varazdat

Getting the job done
Bangkok Post – Thailand;
May 24, 2004
CHIRATAS NIVATPUMIN — A squeak of protest emerges from the well-padded
chair as Bob Kevorkian settles back and lights a cigar.
“You know, I do miss the physical work from a project. It’s less
stressful. You’re done for the day, come home, take a bath, relax,
and it’s over,” he said with a shrug.
“Management is different. So I do miss it, but of course, I’m fatter
now.”
Yet the 61-year-old former construction labourer shows little sign
of slowing down, not with the Thai economy firmly on the upswing and
the property sector booming with activity.
A former managing director of Philipp Holzmann (Thailand), Mr Kevorkian
has worked on some of the most prominent construction projects in
town, including projects such as the Sukhothai and Peninsula hotels
and the ill-fated Hopewell train project.
The British-educated Armenian left Philipp Holzmann just before the
1997 crisis to start his own firm, K-Tech Construction. Needless to
say, the timing was not good.
“I started in February 1997, with just one room, a maid, a driver
and a secretary,” Mr Kevorkian recalled, noting that turnover for
the first year was a paltry 50 million baht.
Compare that with last year’s revenues of 2.6 billion baht, expected
to rise to 4.5 billion this year. The company now employs some 10,000
people, including contract workers, with a project record boasting
the 260,000-square-metre Central Rama II development, the 47-floor
Central World Tower project, seven Carrefour projects and the Royal
Phuket Marina and Spa development.
The company recently filed to list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand
with a proposed float of 7.2 million shares at five baht par value,
equal to 16% of its new capital.
K-Tech, with paid-up capital of 185 million baht, currently is 35%
owned by Mr Kevorkian. Other major shareholders include Suprangporn
Thumsujrit at 27% and the Thailand Equity Fund at 19%.
Funds raised from the initial public offering, expected to be held
within the next two months, will be used for working capital and
expansion, including diversification into public sector infrastructure
projects and development projects abroad.
“My basic philosophy is to believe in people. You must work with the
clients, give them what they want, on time, on budget and with the
right quality,” Mr Kevorkian said.
Finding the right balance for all three factors is a balancing act
for any contractor.
“The bricks, the concrete, the windows, they’re all the same. The
difference is in how well can you do it, how well can you control
the costs and manage time,” Mr Kevorkian said.
Logistics and planning, more so than engineering and technical
issues, are the key to completing any construction project on time
and on budget.
“The particular challenges of working in Thailand? You have working
hour restrictions, small sois, traffic,” Mr Kevorkian said.
“In most countries, you order the concrete for 10am delivery and it
comes at 10. In Bangkok, it could come at 1pm”
He paused. “Construction is a risk business. If you don’t want the
risk, you shouldn’t get involved. The more your experience, the better
your people are, the easier it is to manage the risks.”
Maintaining quality is key, Mr Kevorkian said. “You can be late,
you can be overbudget, but you need to deliver value,” he said.
“It’s like in a restaurant. A steak might cost just 100 baht, but if
it’s bad, you will leave feeling cheated. But a good steak, it can be
30 minutes late, it might cost 1,000 baht … but if it’s really good,
you will be happy.”
Mr Kevorkian noted that over 60% of K-Tech’s customers were repeat
customers such as Central, Golden Land, Carrefour and Ananda
Developments.
“I’ve worked in dozens of countries. It’s a great feeling to pass a
building and think to yourself, I was involved,” he said.
An acknowledged workaholic, Mr Kevorkian says he puts in 14 hours
of work a day, six days a week, meeting with clients, architects,
consultants and his project managers. And even after a full week,
he still takes time each Sunday to drive around to various K-Tech
construction sites to sneak a peek at where the project stands.
“My wife asks why I work so much. I like to say, in the office,
I’m king. At home, I’m only a husband,” he said with a grin.
“I don’t get stressed. It’s important to enjoy what you are doing. I’ll
be ready to retire once the excitement is gone. But for now, the
interest is still there.”

Azeri TV reminds BBC that deadline ends 1 June
ANS TV, Baku
24 May 04
[Presenter; Following a report about two Armenian defectors] Another
comedy is being played with our Azerbaijani colleagues who are working
under the management of an Armenian Mark Grigoryan. But we will talk
about this later.
[Correspondent] There is only one week left until 1 June. It is
this day when a deadline given by the ANS management to BBC World
[Service] is ending [ANS rebroadcasts BBC World Service programmes in
Baku]. As we have reported, ANS took this step as a protest against
BBC’s position on Azerbaijan, in particular, against this company’s
morning programmes. Finally, today we managed to learn the regional
executive editor of the Eurasia regional unit, Olexiy Solohubenko’s,
oral response to ANS’s letter of warning. We should say that Mr
Solohubenko expressed a tough reaction to ANS’s step.
[Olexiy Solohubenko in English over Azeri-voice over] I think it
is a very bad mistake on the part of ANS if it really goes to do
it. It is even a bigger mistake as it is made by ANS. This is very
bad for Azerbaijan. I am very much surprised that ANS is going to do
so without proving that BBC is wrong.
[Correspondent] It is interesting that Mr Solohubenko says that ANS is
doing so without proving BBC’s wrong steps. It is surprising because
several letters have been to the BBC management protesting against
BBC’s biased programmes broadcast in the mornings, particularly,
programmes by producer Mark Grigoryan in which he clearly attempts
to distort the existing realities around the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict. The letters have more than enough number of proofs and
evidence.
However, Solohubenko is determined to support their positions and
Mark Grigoryan. Incidentally, ANS’s another prediction turned out to
be correct. Mr Solohubenko skilfully used the fact that Azerbaijanis
work under the leadership of Mark Grigoryan.
[Solohubenko] The fact that Mark Grigoryan is an Armenian does
not mean that he is no good. He works with us in a team involving
11 Azerbaijanis. If you have any specific claims concerning Mark
Grigoryan, we are ready to consider them. But given that there is
no other claim apart from the one that he is an Armenian, this is
inadmissible.
[Correspondent] Going further with his explanations, Mr Solohubenko
started informing us on BBC’s international essence. He said that
there are Jews and Arabs and other Africans work there and they all
work there as part of BBC but not as ethnic groups or representatives
of their nations. But ANS CM is trying to highlight this point that
the status of a citizen of an aggressor country and of a citizen of
an occupied country cannot be equal. Their truths are also different.
We also talked about the Muslim-Christian side of the problem. Mr
Solohubenko taught a little lesson for us here as well.
[Olexiy Solohubenko] Muslims and Christians work together here. This
is why we cannot understand the problem you have raised. I regret that
this is happening in the Caucasus, in Azerbaijan which is tolerant
to free media. This is a bad mistake and it is very bad for Azerbaijan.
[Correspondent] There is only one week left until 1 June. Which means
that Mark Grigoryan has seven more days on the air. Sevda Hasanova,
ANS.

Azerbaijan refuses to attend CIS sitting in Armenia
Bilik Dunyasi news agency
21 May 04
Baku, 21 May: Azerbaijani representatives will not take part in a
sitting of the council of the heads of CIS Chambers of Commerce and
Industry which is due in Yerevan on 2 June. The leadership of the
Azerbaijani Chamber of Commerce and Industry officially notified
the council of its decision not to take part in events held on the
territory of the enemy state, the chamber said.
[Passage omitted: Issues related to business information exchange
will be on the sitting’s agenda]

Gul In Moscow
There Have Been Worrying Developments In Palestine
Anadolu Agency
5/20/2004
MOSCOW – Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah
Gul has said there had recently been worrying developments in
Palestine, adding, “incidents there have been developing in a way
that worries whole world.”
Following his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in
Moscow where he had arrived under his meetings with the Middle East
Quartet (formed by European Union, United Nations, Russia and United
States) on the issue of Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)
Ministers Delegation’s Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Gul answered
Turkish reporters’ questions.
Noting that OIC’s meeting with Russia was occurring during an important
period, Gul said that important incidents had happened in Palestine
especially in last few weeks and in last few days.
“These are really worrying incidents and they have been developing in
a way that worries the whole region and the world. The latest policy
of Israel was condemned by the UN Security Council yesterday,” he said.
Stating that OIC wanted the problem to end peacefully, Gul said,
“as the Middle East Quartet said in its statements the day before,
both sides should act under framework of the road map. Israel should
stop use of force against civilians and innocent people, besides it the
policy of destroying homes should end. Any attempt that would split the
sides by building wall should be prevented and it should withdraw from
the territories it occupied under the UN Security Council resolutions.”
Noting that also Israel’s security and safety in the region should
be provided, Gul said, “these are important issues. I am here to talk
about these issues. With this respect I want to say that there will be
a session on Iraq issue in the Turkish parliament on next Tuesday. I
am thinking of directly bringing also the issues related to Palestine
and Middle East problem.”
Gul said that he had expressed his opinions about Cyprus to UN
Security Council permanent representative Russia and they had discussed
bilateral economic and political issues under his meetings in Moscow.
Stating that he had asked Lavrov to immediately lift economic embargo
on the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), immediately start
direct flights to the TRNC and remove obstacles that prevent vessels
carrying tourists and cargo from stopping by the TRNC, Gul said that
there would be concrete developments in line with the report that UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan would present to the UN Security Council.
Stating that Russia requested observer status in the OIC but there was
not such a status, Gul said that OIC’s regulations would be reviewed
at meeting in Istanbul and studies would start on granting Russia
such a status.
Replying to a question about Russia’s stance towards the Cyprus issue,
Gul said, “it is real that relations between Turkey and Russia have
been improving. Mr. President Putin proved it with multi-dimensional
partnership. Everything should enhance properly and appropriately to
this, of course.”
“While all relations are enhancing and getting deeper, common
opinions should emerge on regional issues and other problems and
Russia should review its policies, of course. Undoubtedly, these are
our expectations. However, we have to hold close consultations to
make these happen. We have to explain our issues in detail. We have
to clearly put forward our reasons. And it is what I am doing today,”
he said.
Stating that Lavrov had clearly told him that they supported lifting of
embargoes, establishment of commercial relations and lifting economic
isolation of the Turkish Cypriot side, which was the right thing,
Gul said, “they say that efforts could be exerted for a solution
in the future and everything should happen under the UN framework
and Annan’s plan should be taken as the basis. However, they say it
would be right to lift economic isolation. They clearly said that
they would not create any obstacle in front of Russian companies’
relations with the Turkish Cypriot side.”
Replying to a question, Gul said that opening of Turkish-Armenian
border could be possible only after Armenia withdrew from the
territories it occupied.
Asked about the Armenian President’s decision on not participating in
the NATO summit in Istanbul, Gul said, “it is a NATO meeting. Armenia
has a representation in Istanbul under the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation Organization. Should Armenia close it, too? I suppose
that it was a statement that targeted domestic politics.”
Asked whether Turkey had “plan B” in case the EU would not set a date
for opening of accession talks at its summit in December, Gul said,
“we don’t have such a plan. We all think of opening of negotiations
in December.”
“Besides, decision on opening of negotiations with Turkey was made
in 2002. At that summit, the decision was made and it was said that
negotiations with Turkey would immediately start in December of 2004
if it fulfilled political criteria,” Gul added.

Armenians direct water to flood Azeri frontline village – TV
ANS TV, Baku
17 May 04
[Presenter] The situation in the area of Agdam District of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani front is specially tense.
[Correspondent, over video of a board captioned as Xacincayi] Armenians
again stepped up their activities in the direction of Agdam on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani front on the night of 16-17 May. This time,
the enemy directed stream waters at the village of Tazakand in Agdam
District via a Friendship gas pipeline formerly laid in Yerevan. As
a result, houses of refugees settled in the area were flooded.
[Video shows a flooded house]
[Tahir Ibayev, refugee] This happened at about 0500 [0000 gmt] this
morning. The stream rushed into the house.
[Correspondent, over video] According to approximate calculations, the
gas pipeline is made up of pipes of about 730 millimetre in diameter
and one metre deep [underground]. According to local residents,
Armenians blew up the pipeline in 1994 and stopped exploiting
it. Specialists think that Armenians pump water from Xacincayi to
Tazakand through the pipeline and this is another provocation by
Armenia against the Azerbaijani people.
[Nizami Aliyev, deputy executive head of Agdam District, in his office]
[Sentence indistinct] Such a case has not occurred so far. For this
reason, we have not taken any preparatory measures beforehand to
prevent this.
[Correspondent, over video] The volume of water flowing through
the pipeline has reduced a little now and reached 2 cubic metres per
second. It is assumed that the enemy will suddenly increase the volume
of the pumped water at night. In this case, not only Tazakand, but
other villages nearby might be flooded. For this reason, the district
executive head is implementing urgent measures to avoid the imminent
disaster and change the course of water flowing through the pipeline.
Afat Telmanqizi, Sahin Rzayev, Zaur Naibov, ANS.

Azeri ANS TV blames BBC radio for making pro-Armenian reports
ANS TV, Baku
16 May 04
[Presenter] Here is the view of the Russian leading media outlets
on a possible war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. [Passage omitted:
quotes from Russian web sites and newspapers]
[Correspondent over video of Russian web sites] Izvestiya carries
reports saying that the military potential of the Karabakh Armenians
is higher than that of Azerbaijanis.
Strange as it may seem but Britain’s BBC radio also makes similar
reports reflecting the interests of the Armenians. The situation has
reached a point where Azerbaijan’s ruling party and the Milli Maclis
[parliament] administration have expressed their protest to the
BBC management.

The Times (London)
May 15, 2004, Saturday
Historian who sent Bush to war
by Michael Binyon
FROM BABEL TO DRAGOMANS
BY BERNARD LEWIS
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
£20; 350pp
ISBN 0 297 84884 4
£16 (p&p £2.25)
0870 1608080
Professor Bernard Lewis is one of the Western world’s foremost
authorities on Islam. Long a scholar and lecturer at the School of
Oriental and African Studies at London University, he moved to
Princeton 30 years ago, and continued to write incisively and
tellingly not only about the early history of the Muslims, Islamic
theology and Muslim reactions to the West, but also, increasingly,
about how the West should deal with the Muslim world. American
leaders sought him out for advice on the Muslim mind, and since the
September 11 atrocities he has rarely been silent, in demand by
newspapers, universities, conferences and especially at the White
House.
He is now identified as the unofficial author of the Bush doctrine of
spreading, by force if necessary, the values and democracy of the
West in Muslim countries, part of the justification for the Iraq war.
It is a role that has made Professor Lewis, 87, notorious in some
circles. He has become a figure of hatred to many Muslims – partly
because he is Jewish, and is assumed to be lobbying on behalf of
Israel, and partly because he is a relentless critic of what he sees
as decay and spiritual confusion in much of the Muslim world. His
latest book, published last year, on the crisis in Islam, is a
trenchant and incisive analysis of the turmoil now roiling a religion
that he has made his lifetime’s study.
This political role is regrettable. For it has overshadowed Professor
Lewis’s enormous achievements as a linguist – he speaks at least five
Middle Eastern languages – historian and researcher. He is one of a
handful of academics who has been labelled a hawk and whose writings
and research are, therefore, judged largely on the basis on the
policies to which they have been yoked. Richard Pipes suffered the
same fate: a brilliant scholar of the ancien regime in Russia, he was
adopted by the Reagan Administration as its resident apologist for
the anti Soviet line that was seen, at the time, as recklessly
aggressive. The fact that Pipes was largely proved right, after the
fall of communism, never quite restored his academic reputation among
political liberals.
Professor Lewis’s academic credentials are impeccable. Anyone
doubting the breadth of his knowledge and his scrupulously impartial
historical approach has only to dip into this weighty compendium of
his writings. The collection of essays, articles, reviews, lectures
and contributions to encyclopaedias gives a glimpse of his towering
scholarship. The title essay deals with the isolation of the early
Muslims from the learning and experience of the outside world and
their gradual need to find interpreters, “dragomans”, to translate
the manuals and writings, especially on warfare, of a resurgent West.
They tended to rely on people such as Lewis – cosmopolitans, often
Jews, Greeks or Armenians who had mastered another culture by
accident of birth or geography.
Some of the essays are studiously academic – an interpretation of
Fatamid history, the Moguls and the Ottomans, the Shia and attitudes
to monarchy in the Middle East. But the lucid writing is never dry or
obscure, even to the generalist. Even in scholarly analyses,
Professor Lewis brings the wisdom of historical background to issues
that baffle today’s politicians. Why do the Shia in Iraq still lay
such stress on the historical appeal to the wronged, the downtrodden
and the deprived? How much did the Assassins, a 12th-century sect
that prefigured the suicide bombers, influence today’s concept of
martyrdom? Or why, for example, have the rulers of the Middle East
only in the 20th century adopted the title of “king”, a term
originally associated with the West and seen primarily as military
and political rather than traditional weightier titles denoting
religious authority?
Other essays are more topical, political and controversial,
especially to Muslims who resent Western scholars questioning the
contemporary relevance of a theology that is, by definition,
immutable. “The enemies of God”, “The roots of Muslim rage”,
“Religion and murder in the Middle East” and “Not everyone hates
Saddam” deal with the here and now.
Though forthright, Professor Lewis is rarely dismissive or
patronising, although he has become more hawkish over confronting
Islamist activism. “There is an extraordinary belief in some circles
that politics is an exact science like mathematics; and that there
is, so to speak, one correct answer to any problem, all the others
being incorrect,” he says, discussing the Islamic revolutionaries in
Iran. “It is a delusion, a false theory, and its forcible application
has brought untold misery to untold millions of people.”
Professor Lewis is primarily an expert on Ottoman Turkey. This, as he
says in a revealing autobiographical introduction, is because the
Arab world was largely out of bounds to Jews after the establishment
of Israel. History was his first love, but an early fascination with
languages – at one time, he says, he was simulataneously studying
Latin, Greek, Biblical Hebrew and Classical Arabic – drew him to
research in the Middle East. He set out on his first trip there in
1937, enrolling at Cairo University. A year later he was offered the
post of assistant lecturer in Islamic history at the University of
London. With the outbreak of war, he put his languages to good use
with British Intelligence, dealing with Middle East in the Foreign
Office from 1941 to 1945.
After 1949, however, only three countries in the region were open to
Jewish scholars – Turkey, Iran and Israel. He focused on Turkey, and
was lucky to become the first Westerner admitted to the Imperial
Ottoman Archives. It was a treasure-house of neglected learning.
“Feeling rather like a child turned loose in a toy shop, or like an
intruder in Ali Baba’s cave, I hardly knew where to turn first.”
Professor Lewis’s authority rests on his own precept: “The first and
most rudimentary test of an historian’s competence is that he should
be able to read his sources.” He can. Dozens of books and articles
have flowed from his research.
Moving to Princeton in 1974 was a challenge, but a liberation from
the “administrative and bureaucratic entanglements that had built up,
over decades, in England”. Though he reached retirement age in 1986,
and became Emeritus Professor, his political authority grew. He
resisted any censorship or political correctness, just as he resisted
the notion of taboo subjects in many Muslim societies. He says that a
historian “owes it to himself and to his readers to try, to the best
of his ability, to be objective or at least to be fair”. But he
acknowledges the dangers of a historian becoming personally involved
and committed.
That, however, has been his fate. In early studies he says he was
most interested in the period when the Middle East was most different
from the West and least affected by it. Now it is deeply affected,
and scholars are being asked to predict the outcome of this clash.
Eight days after September 11 Professor Lewis was asked to address
the US Defence Policy Board. He has dined with Vice-President Cheney
and advised President Bush. Richard Perle, a lifelong hawk, called
him “the single most important intellectual influence countering the
conventional wisdom on managing the conflict between radical Islam
and the West”.
He has been seen as an apologist for the use of force to instil fear
“or at least respect” in an Islamic world that is on the defensive
and resentful of the West.
Much of this hawkishness can be traced to his loathing of appeasement
before the Second World War and his closeness to a succession of
Israeli prime ministers. It is a pity, for the “Lewis doctrine”, as
some term his call on the West to implant democracy in the Muslim
world, is far from a proven success. And political foolishness, in
Iraq and elsewhere, may yet overshadow the achievements of a great
scholar.
Read on
Islam in the World by Malise Ruthven (Penguin)
A Fury for God: the Islamist Attack on America by Malise Ruthven
(Granta)
The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? by John Esposito (OUP)
Rethinking Islam and Modernity by Abdelwahab El-Affendi (Islamic
Foundation)

PRESS RELEASE
REF: PR/04/05/011
Assembly of Armenians of Europe
Rue de Treves 10, 1050 Brussels
Tel: +32 2 647 08 01
Fax: +32 2 647 02 00
CONFERENCE ON ARMENIAN ARCHITECTURE IN BRUSSELS
Brussels, 13/05/04 – On May 7th 2004 at the CIVA (Centre International
pour la Ville, l’Architecture et le paysage) in Brussels, the Assembly
of Armenians of Europe organized a conference dedicated to Armenian
Medieval Architecture. Mr. Bernard Coulie (orientalist, rector of the
Catholic University of Louvain,), Mr. Sarkis Shahinian (co-chairman
of the Swiss Armenian Association, researcher at the EFP, Zuirch) and
Mr. Patrick Donabedian (PhD in the history of fine arts and fellow
worker at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France) contributed to
the conference, to which architects, members of the cultural units
of the European Commission as well as students and professors were
invited. The idea behind inviting the latter group was to introduce
European specialists and academics to Armenian cultural heritage,
emphasize its role in world heritage and reveal the unknown traditions
of Armenian Architecture.
At the opening of the conference Mr. Bernard Coulie expressed his
condolences to the Belgian Armenian Community on the occasion
of the decease of Arbak Mkhitarian, famous Egyptologist,
armenologist-orientalist and active member of the Armenian community.
Mr. Bernard Coulie gave the audience insights into Armenian history,
culture and Christianity, which became the integral part of the
Armenian identity, while Mr. Sarkis Shahinian presented in detail the
architecture of Armenian Churches in the Middle Ages and revealed the
connection between the Armenian pagan and Medial Christian cultures,
as well as presented a glance to Modern Armenian architecture, in
particular the urbanism of Yerevan, capital of the Republic of Armenia.
Mr. Patrick Donabedian elaborated on the subject of ‘khatchkars’,
cross stones, in which the Armenian valley is abundant. This
conference came to highlight the fact that the majority of those
Armenian monuments concerned are in the territory of Turkey and are
in danger of disappearance. Moreover, none of the mentioned monuments
are under the protection of UNESCO.
The conference was followed by the photo exhibition on Armenia by
the French photographer Wojtek Buss. It was in Armenia that Wojtek
Buss discovered his vocation of photographer and some years later he
returned there in order to realize his dream. His book publish in Paris
in 1998 was entitled “Armenia, Splendour of a secret country”. His
wonderful photos of Armenian monasteries, churches and landscapes
bear witness to the love, mysticism and courage of Armenians.

Ten-year ceasefire marked in Karabakh conflict
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
May 12, 2004, Wednesday
Yerevan/Stepanakert — The Armenian enclave of Nagorny- Karabakh on
Wednesday marked a shaky ten-year ceasefire in its unresolved conflict
of independence with Azerbaijan.
Unlike in other regional conflicts, the sides have avoided renewed
serious clashes without intervention by international peacekeepers,
the foreign minister of the unrecognized Nagorny-Karabakh republic,
Ashot Gulyan, said in the capital Stepanakert.
The 4,400-square-kilometre mountain territory is formally part of
Moslem Azerbaijan but is populated mainly by Christian Armenians.
At least 20,000 people died and 750,000 Azeris became refugees during
the 1992-1994 war between Azerbaijan and the Karabakh Armenians
assisted by troops from neighbouring Armenia.
The sides called a ceasefire on May 12, 1994, with help from other
former Soviet republics, but attempts to find a lasting solution to
the conflict failed.
There were no serious clashes since then along the demarcation line
although frequent exchanges of fire persist, Nagorny-Karabakh’s
defence chief Sergei Oganyan said Wednesday.
Landmines killed at least eight people in the region this year alone,
according to the British mine-clearing organization Halo Trust. dpa
fk na sc

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
05/12/2004
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) Uncompromising Opposition Stance Hinders Success of Upcoming Dialogue 2) Just a Scuffle 3) ARF Meets with Iranian Ambassador 4) Turkey Must Shed Its Genocide Burden Says EU’s Gharton 5) ARS Seminar in Bulgaria 1) Uncompromising Opposition Stance Hinders Success of Upcoming Dialogue YEREVAN (RFE/RL)--Armenia’s government coalition partners put forth a four-point agenda for its upcoming dialogue with the opposition. The three political parties of the coalition suggested that the two sides try to reach an agreement on reforming Armenia’s constitution; formulating election legislation to fully correspond to international criteria; working out models for active participation of opposition in the fight against corruption; and cooperate in complying with recent resolutions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). In a joint statement, the parliamentary leaders of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Orinats Yerkir, and Republican parties said these issues must be at the heart of the dialogue strongly encouraged by the PACE and the United States. The opposition Artarutyun (Justice) bloc and the National Unity Party (AMK) have called for discussions on “ways of overcoming the political crisis in Armenia resulting from the 2003 elections,” which they believe were rigged by the authorities. The coalition leaders said they will agree to include the issue on the agenda of the talks if the word “crisis” is changed to “situation.” The first official negotiations are scheduled for Thursday. Regardless of the outcome of the talks, however, opposition leaders said their rallies in Yerevan would resume on Friday, and would continue to campaign for Kocharian’s resignation The uncompromising stance led one of the top coalition figures, deputy parliament speaker Tigran Torosian, to seriously question the opposition’s commitment to the dialogue. “I don’t think the negotiations will last too long, and I am not particularly optimistic about their results,” Torosian said. 2) Just a Scuffle TBILISI (Combined Sources)--Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said that the skirmish between ethnic Georgians and Armenians of the Tsalka region on May 9 is not an ethnic conflict, and should not be over dramatized. "Let’s not make the situation tragic. It’s not an ethnic conflict, rather a fight between Georgians and Armenians. But we won’t tolerate disorder and we don’t intend to be drawn into provocation,” he told journalists on Tuesday. He noted that while Georgia’s enemies have retreated since the quelling of the recent Ajarian upheaval, “some enemies of Georgia” seek to involve the country in a new conflict. “We won’t allow anyone to blackmail us and will respond appropriately to such tactics.” Stressing that Georgia’s neighbors are peaceful, he said that both the Presidents of Armenia and Ukraine applauded the peaceful settlement of the Ajaria conflict. Though officials from the Armenian Embassy in Georgia have not issued a statement on the incident, they did indicate the issue lies within the jurisdiction of Georgian internal affairs, excluding Armenia’s active involvement in the matter. A statement was to be released late Wednesday. Georgians living in the Tsalka region meanwhile rallied in front of the State Chancellery in Tbilisi on Tuesday, demanding to meet with President Saakashvili to discuss disarmament of the Armenian population in Tsalka. The rally participants said that almost all the Armenian families keep firearms. There is a pending threat that the frequent conflicts in the Kveda Kartli region may turn into the armed clashes. Notably, what began as an argument among soccer fans at the Tsalka stadium on May 9 grew into a brawl, with scores reported injured. After the incident, the Georgian government deployed regional police and interior forces. 3) ARF Meets with Iranian Ambassador YEREVAN (Yerkir)--The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau’s Vahan Hovhannisian, Supreme Body’s representative Armen Rustamian, and member Levon Mkrtchian, met with the Iranian Ambassador to Armenia Mohammad Farhad Koleini on Wednesday at the Simon Vratsian Center in Yerevan. They discussed Armenian-Iranian relations, Armenia’s political developments, and regional issues. Addressing the recent political tensions in Armenia, Koleini praised the ARF for its efforts to resolve the matter politically with its calls for negotiations. The sides confirmed that Armenian-Iranian relations are a key in strengthening the stability of the region. 4) Turkey Must Shed Its Genocide Burden Says EU’s Gharton YEREVAN (Yerkir)--Speaking at a roundtable discussion on Wednesday, European Parliament (EP) member Per Gharton said that Turkey must take responsibility for the 1915 Armenian Genocide. "Turkey should get rid of that burden. This year, the European Union reaffirmed its decision recognizing the Genocide, and calls on Turkey to do the same," Gharton said during the roundtable “Wider Europe: New Neighborhood: What are Armenia's Expectations?" He said that it is senseless for Turkey to deny the Genocide, pointing to the decision of Istanbul courts immediately after the Genocide to sentence to death the perpetrators and Turkish officials responsible. “Where would Germany be now hadn't it admitted the Holocaust against the Jews,” he asked. He stressed that though Turkey “improves,” it fails to meet EU’s demands “to recognize the Armenian Genocide and to cease its blockade against Armenia to become an EU member.” He said that the EU will not accept a state with local or regional conflicts. “Cyprus was a bad precedent and we won’t make the same mistake again,” Gharton said. He said that while Armenia is Europeanized politically and is a member of the Council of Europe, it must still tackle issues tied to democracy, the environment, and settlement of confrontations. Also attending the conference was National Assembly Vice-speaker Tigran Torosian, who noted that Armenian authorities are determined to integrate into Europe. “Armenia has no alternative," he stated. 5) ARS Seminar in Bulgaria Representatives of the Armenian Relief Society (ARS) European chapters will gather in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, May 21-22, for a Seminar on Voluntary Organizations in the 21st Century. Organized by the ARS Central Executive, the seminar will address modernity and the Armenian women, as well broader topics on Armenia and the Diaspora. Lectures include, Status of Armenian Organizations in a Newly Emerging Europe by Hilda Choboyan, Non-Governmental Organizations by Helen Merdjanian, and Javakhk by Garine Hovhanessian. 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.