Author: Torosian Aram

A JOINT WORKING GROUP ON KARABAKH FORMED AT THE PACE

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Oct 18 2005

A working group on the Karabakh issue has been formed at the PACE.

The corresponding decision was rendered at the latest sitting of
the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Subcommittee on Nagorno
Karabakh.

According to PanARMENIAN.Net, a member of the Azeri delegation at the
PACE Asim Mollazade stated the new working group had been formed on
the initiative of the Subcommittee Chair lord Russell Johnston. Both
Azerbaijan and Armenia are represented in the group. “It is a joint
working group. The group’s sitting was held at the PACE latest session,
and we arranged to conduct a number of meetings, discuss the program
of the Subcommittee activity”, noted Mollazade.

According to Mollazade, the Subcommittee headed by Russell Johnston
has been formed to implement a resolution on the Karabakh conflict
adopted by the PACE. “It is the Subcommittee’s principal goal. The
structure is to present its report and working plan at the PACE
January session, inform of the work done and planned for the future.

We are currently working over the plan of measures referring to the
PACE resolution implementation. Principal goal in the adoption of
the resolution is promotion of the conflict settlement. The Council
of Europe is eager to participate in the settlement of the Nagorno
Karabakh problem”.

The Azeri Parliamentarian noted substitution of the OSCE Minsk group
for the new working group was not subject for discussions. He stressed
the OSCE MG was the main format of mediation between the conflict
sides. “The Council of Europe is trying to settle the conflict in the
aspect of the values it defends. The resolution was adopted before
that, and the work being done is based on the document”. In his words,
the latest steps undertaken by the CE testify to the organization’s
wish to actively participate in the Karabakh conflict settlement. “The
Council of Europe cannot close eyes to the tragedy within Europe. Using
its authority the CE will render all – round assistance to the conflict
settlement in the international organizations as well. Naturally,
we’ll go on acting within the frames of the organization. I believe
it will have a positive influence on the conflict settlement”, stated
Asim Mollazade.

REFERENDUM TO BE FORGED

A1+
| 13:08:07 | 17-10-2005 | Social |

“What do you think the result of the Constitutional Referendum
will be?”

This was last week’s poll question of the internet site “A1+”. 307
readers have participated in the poll. According to the results, more
than half of the readers are no optimist. The results are as follows.

The pack will not receive enough votes but the authorities will forge
the results – 57.0%

The pack will be adopted – 24.8%

The pack will be rejected – 13.4%

Undecided – 4.9%

This week our poll question will be ” What mechanisms of returning
the bank deposits made in the soviet period do you prefer? “. Let us
also remind you that you can read articles about the poll theme in
the corresponding section of our site.

Independent on Sunday (London)
October 16, 2005, Sunday

BOOKS: WITNESS FROM THE SAVAGE ZONE;
THE GREAT WAR FOR CIVILISATION BY ROBERT FISK FOURTH ESTATE £25

by NEAL ASCHERSON

Robert Fisk recovers after being beaten by a mob on a road near
Quetta, Pakistan, 2001 HUSSEIN MALLA/AP

Robert Fisk is the sort of reporter who walks in the opposite
direction. I first came across him as an absence, 30 years ago in
Belfast. We, the pack, had spent the day waiting for the big Paisley
briefing, but where was Bob? It turned out that he had gone off alone
to the battlefield of the Boyne, to see what the place and the past
would say to him. In the first Gulf war, he enraged ‘pool’ colleagues
under Army control by hiring an old car, putting on a borrowed helmet
and driving down forbidden roads until he reached the front. When a
‘facility trip’ is laid on for the press corps, Fisk stays behind,
suspecting ” usually rightly ” that it’s to get the hacks out of the
way while something interesting happens.

Right at the end of this book, he describes himself sitting in the
roadside mud with an Iraqi family, watching as a 40-mile convoy of
American armour thunders up Highway Eight towards Baghdad. For Fisk,
it’s a moment to reflect on Roman and American empires which have a
visceral need to ‘project power on a massive scale’. For the reader,
it’s almost a caricature: the journalist who wants to see the world
from down in the muck with the victims, rather than from a tank
turret as an ’embedded’ correspondent.

Today, Robert Fisk is one of the best-known reporters in the world.
Long before 11 September, he had an enormous following of readers who
had come to regard him as the only journalist consistently describing
the Middle East ‘as it is’. He has also accumulated a pack of
vengeful enemies, longing to discredit and silence him. Not all of
them are Israelis or American diplomats. Some are fellow-journalists,
maddened by his gift for being in the right place at the right time.
(The bomb which changed Near-Eastern history went off down his street
in Beirut; the dead man with his socks still burning turned out to be
his friend Rafiq Hariri, ex-prime-minister of Lebanon…)

For the last 30 years, Fisk has been covering an enormous arc of
territory which is not just ‘the Middle East’ but reaches from the
Moroccan Atlantic to the Punjab with a northward extension into the
Balkans. Almost all the peoples who live there are Muslim. All of
them, without exception, have been the objects of imperial conquest
and colonialism, of cultural suppression and big-power
frontier-drawing.

This is a book about what Fisk saw, heard, thought and wrote in those
years. It is not an autobiography. Apart from his relationship with
his parents, the door on his private life is locked. Neither is it a
complete chronicle. Having just written a separate book about them,
Fisk leaves out the experiences in Lebanon which generated some of
his best-known writing (his accounts of the Israeli shelling of Qana
in 1996, for instance). But what remains is overwhelming.

This is a very long book, allowing Fisk to interleave political
analysis, recent history and his own adventures with the real stories
which concern him. These are the sufferings of ordinary people under
monstrous tyrannies or in criminal, avoidable wars. Fisk reported the
Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf war of 1991, the Palestine intifadas, the
Taliban rule in Afghanistan and its sequel as the Americans and their
allies invaded in 2002, the terror regimes of Saddam, the Shah and
the ayatollahs, the frenzy of bloodshed in Algeria as Islamists and
security forces competed to slaughter the innocent, and ” of course ”
the Bush-Blair war against Iraq and its outcome. His chapter on the
1915 Armenian genocide, still unpardonably denied and evaded and not
only by Turks, revives his famous report from Syria when he stumbled
across the mass graves at Margada (see extract, above).

The source of most of this horror, for Fisk, is the post-1918
carve-up of the Middle East between European powers. ‘We’ ” Britain,
France and much later America ” are responsible. Subtly, Fisk weaves
this sense of guilt around his own ambiguous feelings for his father,
a young officer in the Great War for civilisation who became at once
a cold, bullying husband and a stiffly proud parent. Shame for that
generation’s imperial mistakes, he seems to feel, is heritable, and
when he is attacked and almost killed by an Afghan refugee mob,
Fisk’s impulse is that they are not to blame. He might have done the
same to a Westerner, in their place.

All the same, the cumulative impact of these terrible accounts of
massacre, torture and almost unimaginable ruthlessness may not be
what Fisk wants. The case against ‘Us’ (the West) diminishes; the
unjust impression that this is a zone of endemic savagery grows
stronger. He writes with a marvellous resource of image and language.
His investigative reporting is lethally painstaking (see how he
pieces together the biography of an American missile which somehow
came into Israeli hands, was fired at an ambulance and killed an
innocent Lebanese family).

But the sense of inescapable doom which builds up in this book is
misleading. What’s missing is a sense that it’s not just Fisk but
most of the world which finds Western policy crazy. Fisk includes
here several unforgettable, marvellously observed meetings with Osama
bin Laden. Maybe he should try his talents on a meeting with George W
Bush.

A1+

| 16:25:36 | 14-10-2005 | Social |

CELEBRATING THE ARMENIAN PRESS DAY

For the last two years October 14 has been celebrated as the Armenian Press
day as the anniversary of the publication of the first Armenian periodical
`Azdarar’ in the Indian city Madras in 1794. In this connection today in the
Journalist’s House the award-giving ceremony `Azdarar’ took place.

The names of the winners are: Julieta Martirosyan (`Avangard’), Fahrad
Apoujanyan (`Lousardzak’, Spitak), Manouk Mouradyan (program `Karot’,
National TV Company), Gohar Martikyan (program `Life Formula’, Armenian
National Radio), and Hakob Berberyan (`Golos Armenii’).

The head of the Journalists’ Union Astghik Gevorgyan congratulated the
journalists and wished them success in their field of activity.

BAKU CALL TO NKR CITIZENS TO TAKE PART IN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION IN AZERBAIJAN “ABSURD”

Pan Armenian
11.10.2005 23:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Chairman of the National Assembly of Nagorno
Karabakh Ashot Gulyan called “absurd” the Azerbaijani Central
Electoral Commission call to NKR citizens to take part in the
parliamentary election in Azerbaijan. “It is clear that there will
be no participation,” the NKR Speaker said. As of the domestic
situation in Azerbaijan on the threshold of the election, he said it
“fully corresponds to our forecasts.” “We are sure the election will
be held with shortcomings, unsanctioned rallies, pressure upon the
opposition and dispersal of rally participants,” Gulyan stated. “I
think international observers will have an opportunity to assess the
electoral situation in Azerbaijan and compare it with that in Nagorno
Karabakh,” stated Ashot Gulyan. Under the conditions of absence of
confidence between the parties to conflict, when Azerbaijan prevents
contacts between representatives of the two peoples, reaching a
settlement of the issue is impossible, he said when commenting on the
Karabakh settlement. Karabakh party’s stand based on the NKR people’s
right for state independence is unchangeable, Gulyan said.

KOCHARIAN SIGNS DECREE ON DRAFT, DEMOBILIZATION ON OCT. 8, 2005

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 10 2005

YEREVAN, October 10. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharyan signed
a decree on draft and demobilization on October 8, 2005; the RA
Presidential Press-Service reported ARKA News Agency. According
to the decree the RA citizens over the age of 18 years, as well as
individuals who lost their right for deferment will be called up to
the army. At the same time, citizens who completed their compulsory
military service will be demobilized.

Athens News Agency
Oct 6 2005

DM meets with Armenian political leaders
YEREVAN, 6/10/2005 (ANA)

Defense Minister Spilios Spiliotopoulos met with Armenian officials
on Wednesday during his visit to Erevan.
Spiliotopoulos met separately with Armenian President Robert
Kocharian, Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan and Armenian
Defense Minister Serzh Sargsyan.

The Greek minister reiterated Greece’s support regarding Armenia’s
aspirations to join NATO, while on a bilateral level, both sides
agreed to strengthen existing military cooperation.

A committee was created which will investigate how this can be
achieved.

Spiliotopoulos announced that Greece will provide defense materiel to
Armenia’s Peace Corps, while a Greek C-130 military plane will
transport Armenian soldiers who will replace peace-keeping forces
currently in Kosovo.

The defense minister also met with Patriarch of Armenia Garegin and
visited the Tsitsernakaberd Monument where he laid a wreath and
planted a tree in memory of the victims of the Armenian genocide.

Armenian President Robert Kocharian is expected to visit Athens in
November.

OPENING OF TURKISH-ARMENIAN BORDER REQUIRES OFFICIAL YEREVAN REFUSE FROM TERRITORIAL CLAIMS: HEAD OF TURKISH DELEGATION TO PACE

ARMINFO News Agency
October 6, 2005

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6. ARMINFO. Opening of the Turkish-Armenian border,
first of all, requires official Yerevan to establish normal relations
with its neighbors and refuse from territorial claims. Otherwise, one
should not expect normalization of the Turkish-Armenian relations,
Head of the Turkish delegation to PACE Murad Mercan said in an
interview to the Trend.

Turkey and the EU have negotiated for over 10 years and the framework
agreement does not impose any obligations of Turkey to Armenia,
Mercan said.

Regarding the discussions of two documents on the Armenian Genocide
at the US Congress, he said anti-Turkish documents are considered
world wide due to the Armenian lobby. M. Mercan noted the importance
of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project railway for raising the turnover of
Turkey and the Eastern states. He called natural the problems with
the project and expressed confidence in their gradual settlement. He
reiterated that Turkey and Azerbaijan are fraternal states that will
always support each other.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

PRIMATE BISHOP KHATCHERIAN ATTENDS A RECEPTION
ORGANIZED BY THE IRANIAN EMBASSY IN BEIRUT

The Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Beirut Seyed Masoud Idrisi
organized an official reception in honor of the Iranian Parliament Speaker
Dr. Ghalam Ali Haddad Adel in the “Sheraton” hotel in Beirut on September
30.

The reception was organized on the occasion of his visit to Lebanon. Primate
of the Diocese of Lebanon, Bishop Kegham Khatcherian attended the reception
on behalf of His Holiness Aram I.

The Bishop welcomed Dr. Adeli in Lebanon, reminding him of the strong
relations and cooperation between the Catholicosate of Cilicia and the
Islamic Republic of Iran, particularly in the Christian-Muslim dialogue
field.

##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of the
Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

E.U. BID KEEPS TURKEY ON PATH OF REFORM
By Karl Vick

Washington Post
Oct 5 2005

Goal Is Distant, But Pressure Isn’t

ISTANBUL, Oct. 4 — Turks say they know the negotiations that formally
opened in Luxembourg a few moments after midnight Tuesday morning
may not end with Turkey actually joining the European Union.

“The biggest problem, to start with, is that we’re Muslims,” said
Rabia Yasar, 18, to the nods of fellow students on an Istanbul street.

But even as they downgrade their expectations, Turks still very
much want to join Europe, polls show. And keeping that possibility
alive nourishes a new climate of change that already has brought a
flurry of reforms to a country that had long been almost impervious
to foreign pressure.

“It’s historic,” said Cuneyt Ulsever, a columnist for Hurriyet, a
mainstream daily newspaper. “We all grew up with our father holding a
stick in his hand to make us do our homework. Without any imposition
from outside, Turkey would quickly lose contact with reform.”

Even with the start of membership negotiations early Tuesday, the
process of Turkey joining Europe is expected to take at least 10
years. In the past three years, Turkish lawmakers have voted to ban
torture, outlaw the death penalty, dissolve special security courts,
revise the criminal code and dilute the power of a military that
three times since 1960 has taken power from civilian governments.

All the changes came at the behest of the European Union, which
requires member states to conform to so-called European norms.

“E.U. membership is the means of realizing Turkey’s claim of being
a democratic, liberal, just and prosperous society,” Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday told his ruling Justice and Development
Party, which calls itself reformist.

In the past month, as the start date for talks loomed, critics
scheduled news conferences to show what work still needed to be done,
and Turkish officials scrambled to demonstrate that their country
really could change.

With the public encouragement of Erdogan, scholars gathered in Istanbul
for the first independent public examination here of the deaths of
1 million Armenians in eastern Turkey during the last days of the
Ottoman Empire. Police lines kept back ultranationalists who gathered
to protest that shattering of what was termed “Turkey’s last taboo.”

Less noticed was the launch of a government program that pays
households for sending their daughters to school. The move was aimed
at undoing traditions that impede women’s rights in the Anatolian
heartland.

“If there were only the European side of Turkey, it would be easy,”
said Ifgenia Minaoglu, in the Katia shop that for half a century has
made custom hats for the elite of Istanbul society, who have long
considered themselves continental.

Others worry that Europe will bring not only rights and prosperity
but also homogenization. “We’ve been living without the E.U. up to
now,” said Nadira Canan, her hair tucked under the head scarf that
many Turkish women believe Islam requires them to wear in public. “If
we’re going to lose the values of our culture, then we’re better off
not part of it.”

But the headlines of Monday’s front pages, just under news of
the E.U. cliffhanger in which Austria nearly blocked the start of
membership talks, told of changes already underway: life in prison for
a man who killed his 16-year-old daughter because she had been raped,
an “honor crime” that a year ago would have brought a lighter sentence;
the opening by a state official of a home in central Istanbul for
battered and homeless women.

“The speed of reform has increased tremendously,” said Meltem Muftuler
Bac, who studies Turkey and the E.U. at Istanbul’s Sabanci University.

On an inside page, Hurriyet on Tuesday discreetly displayed the front
page it had prepared in the event that Austria had prevailed in its
attempt to deny Turkey full E.U. membership. The mock-up featured
a giant photo of Adolf Hitler throwing a straight-arm salute. “The
Same Spirit,” the headline read.

At the same time, Turkish nationalists have also been energized
by the E.U. bid, turning out tens of thousands of protesters for a
weekend rally where Erdogan’s government was accused of selling out
the country’s sovereignty. Turks are raised to be deeply invested in
their state, and some analysts predict that mind-set is more likely
to derail union with Europe than the country’s size, poverty, Middle
Eastern borders or even religion.

“Whatever the state thinks, that’s what I think,” said Arsez
Degirmencioglu, 70, outside his clock shop in downtown Istanbul. “I
don’t have any individual thoughts.”