Author: Vardanian Garo

"AN EVENING OF ARMENIAN LITERATURE" HELD AT IAF

Mehr News Agency, Iran
July 16 2007

TEHRAN, July 16 (MNA) — A further program by the bimonthly Bokhara
entitled, "An Evening of Armenian Literature" was held on July 15 at
the Iranian Artists Forum (IAF).

Bokhara’s Managing Director Ali Dehbashi, made a speech at the
beginning of the ceremony, saying, "It was in the fifth century A.D
when the Armenian alphabet was compiled and edited and many literary
and religious texts were translated into the Armenian language in
those years."

With reference to the research work carried out by the Iranian Sirus
Alinejad on the relationship between Iranian and Armenian nations over
history, he noted, "The Armenians are the nation who lived amongst
the Iranians for four hundred years. They learnt Persian, and created
literary works in Persian, but they also preserved their own language."

Participant Misha Hayrapetian, translator and researcher of Armenian
literature, said, "The Armenian nation has experienced a history
full of ups and downs and it has always lived under unusual political
circumstances.

"Armenian literature differs greatly from that of other nations.

Despite the pain and oppression it has gone through, it enjoys a
dynamic and healthy spirit. The origin of Armenian literature is
oriental, since the Armenian nation is an oriental nation."

Participant, Azad Matian, professor of literature at the University of
Isfahan, made a speech at the ceremony saying, "Armenian literature has
not produced works like those of Tolstoy or Balzac for the world. Of
course, no one has such an expectation. But our literature has played
a major role in the formation of national unity among Armenians."

Researcher Robert Markarian delivered a speech on how Armenians became
familiar with Iranian literature, and said, "When Armenia joined the
ex-Soviet Union, the necessity was felt to establish research centers
and Iranology centers in Armenia. The universities and the research
centers began to translate Persian works into the Armenian language.

"Establishing Armenian language courses at the University of Isfahan
and publishing the Persian-Armenian language publication "Hur"
were among other activities carried out in recent years," he said
in conclusion.

Saturday, 14 July 2007
House committee examines human rights in Azerbaijan, Egypt, Cuba

By Olesya Vartanyan

(AXcess News) Washington – The name of Azerbaijani journalist Elmar
Huseinov is on the Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial near
Washington. He is among more than 1,500 journalists from all over the
world who have been killed in the line of duty since the middle of the
19th century. Huseinov was an editor of the leading opposition
newspaper in Azerbaijan and was gunned down in his apartment in 2005.

Huseinov’s death became one of the first in the range of events in
2005 after which Azerbaijan’s news media was labeled as "not free,"
according to a report by Freedom House, an international human rights
organization.

This situation was discussed Thursday at a hearing of a House Foreign
Affairs subcommittee. Azerbaijan was discussed along with Cuba and
Egypt.

Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., the subcommittee chair, said these
three countries are examples of regimes from different parts of the
world that lack freedom. He pointed out that in all these countries
power is inherited within families.

Azerbaijan is ruled by Ilham Aliyev, a son of Heydar Aliyev, who ruled
Azerbaijan for about 10 years. Although Ilham Aliyev won the 2003
presidential elections with more than 70 percent of the vote, local
representatives of the civil society and small opposition parties said
it looked like the son inheriting power from his father.

Ilham Aliyev became the president of one of the Caucasus region’s
fastest growing economies, due to its oil and gas industry.

But for the last 20 years it has had a conflict with neighboring
Armenia.

Both claim land that amounts to about 20 percent of what Azerbaijan
recognizes at its territory.

After Ilham Aliyev became Azerbaijan’s ruler, several events happened
that international organizations claimed were human rights violations.

In October 2005, before the November parliamentary elections, a number
of former and current senior officials were detained in response to
what the regime claimed was a coup attempt. Some experts say it helped
Aliyev to consolidate his position among the country’s ruling elite.

During the same period, police beat people who were participating in a
peaceful demonstration opposing the government. No officers were
punished.

Aliyev’s party won a majority in the Azerbaijani parliament, known as
the Mejlis. After these events, Aliyev met with President Bush in the
White House.

Some in Azerbaijan and at the hearing interpreted this as the
U.S. protecting the ruling regime.

The photo of this meeting was shown during the hearing, along with
other photos of Bush’s meetings with other controversial rulers,
including those of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Delahunt said he keeps a collection of such photos in a cabinet. He
said they help him to remember how the White House supports such
"authoritarian regimes" because of their oil and their support for
U.S. policies.

Freedom House pointed to some of the same type of problems.

Its report said Egypt recently held its "most democratic and
transparent presidential and legislative elections in more than half a
century." But when "real political competition" emerged, President
Hosni Mubarak’s government adopted new measures to suppress opposition
and imprisoned an opposition presidential candidate.

The U.S. has "retreated" from pushing Egypt toward "its forward
leaning policy" because of fears of terrorism, the report says.

Calling Cuba "one of the most repressive regimes in the world," the
report says that human rights activists deserve support from the
international community as power is transferred "in a post-Fidel
environment."

Azerbaijan is one of the main partners of the U.S. in energy
politics. It sends oil that ends up all over the world through the
Baku-Tbilisi-Jeihan pipeline that the U.S. supported politically and
with financial guarantees. A future project will deliver gas from
Azerbaijan to Europe.

Azerbajan is important as it has a common boarder with Iran. This
Muslim country is considered as an important ally for the
anti-terrorism politics of the U.S.

Morton H. Halperin, a senior fellow of the Center for American
Progress and former Clinton administration official, said during the
hearing that human rights activists in all three countries want the
U.S. to support them.

But he said U.S. support can encourage repressive governments in such
countries as Iran and Cuba to take measures against the activists.

In addition, he said the U.S. should support countries that have good
human rights records.

"In Azerbaijan, we should say that if you improve the situation with
human rights, you will get more economic donations," he said.

In each of the last five years, Azerbaijan has gotten an average of
about $73 million from the U.S. government, according to the
Congressional Research Service. About 16 percent of this supports
democracy assistance.

"We are interested in improving the situation with human rights in our
country, and it is the principal position of the top leadership and
politicians," said Araz Azimov, the Azerbaijan deputy minister of
foreign affairs, during a lecture at the Woodrow Wilson Center the day
before the hearing.

"The progress in the human rights is the evolutionary process. It
takes many components – economic development, stability in the
country, stability of the government, responsibility of the
government. All these issues are interrelated."

Azimov said the situation will improve with the passing years.

Source: Scripps Howard Foundation Wire

GUAM MEMBER COUNTRIES FORGET THAT POWER IN NKR HAS ALWAYS BEEN FORMED VIA ELECTIONS

defacto
2007-07-13 16:36:00

"First I’d like to note these countries should not comment the
issues, which are no concern of theirs", stated RA MFA acting
Spokesman Vladimir Karapetian answering Freedom Radio Station’s
question concerning a statement made by GUAM, condemning forthcoming
presidential elections to be held in NKR.

According to Vladimir Karapetian, after declaring its independence,
Nagorno-Karabagh Republic people have chosen the way of developing
democracy, building a legal state and have scored big successes.

"Unfortunately, these countries make comments proceeding from their
inner mercenary motives and forget that power in the Nagorno-Karabagh
Republic has always been formed via elections", Vladimir Karapetian
noted.

To remind, the Council of GUAM FMs has made a statement, expressing
concern over the intention of the Nagorno-Karabagh leadership to hold
presidential elections current July 19.

THERE ARE PEOPLE IN GOVERNMENT WHO LOOK FOR ALTERNATIVE

Lragir.am
12-07-2007 14:08:07

The opinion was voiced before the election that the controversies
inside the government would enable the opposition’s success. Does
the chain of controversies inside the government still continue,
and can the opposition use them during the presidential election of
2008? The reporter of Lragir.am asked this question July 12 at the
National Press Club to Vazgen Manukyan, who aspires to being the
common candidate of the opposition.

The leader of the NDU said those controversies which had natural and
artificial causes are impossible to use. "It is pointless to hope that
they will fight against each other, and the opposition will come back
to power. For instance, Bukharin, Trotsky, Stalin, Zinovev, Kamenev,
their controversies did not encourage the white guard that they would
come to power, because they understood that through struggle one of
them would become stronger," Vazgen Manukyan says.

He says if a stronger opposition emerged in the parliamentary election,
the wings of government would forget about their controversies and
would come together. The leader of the NDU says since there was no
united opposition, the controversies of the government were expressed
more openly. "But it was impossible to use them."

"As to the presidential election, I think the controversies inside the
government will not be used, because nevertheless there are people in
the government who hold enough power, enough capacity but they have
inner worry that this kind of a state cannot meet challenges. And not
only their patriotic thinking but also their instinct of security makes
them want an alternative, which would not affect their own lives but
would improve the country where their existence and their children’s
existence, their prosperity would be guaranteed, they would agree to
cooperate with such a force openly or not," Vazgen Manukyan says.

STARTING FROM SCRATCH: THE LONDON NHS PLAN SUGGESTS GORDON BROWN MEANS BUSINESS ON HEALTHCARE REFORM. ITS ARCHITECT, SIR ARA DARZI, TELLS JOHN CARVEL ABOUT HOSPITAL CLOSURES, POLITICS AND THE NEED FOR MAJOR CHANGE

The Guardian – United Kingdom
Published: Jul 11, 2007

At the cutting edge

Ari Darzi will continue practising as a clinician two days a week
while also working as a junior health minister Photograph: Matt Writtle

T he political significance of Gordon Brown’s decision to appoint an
Armenian-born pioneer of keyhole surgery as the health minister for
England becomes apparent today. Sir Ara Darzi, 47, is professor of
surgery at Imperial College London. He has a glittering international
reputation for making clinical advances in minimally invasive and
robot-assisted surgery.

He brings to the government the credibility of a practising
consultant who will continue to spend two days a week in the operating
theatre. And last week he was put in charge of a review of the NHS to
determine the next stages of reform after the government has achieved
the target of reducing the maximum wait for hospital treatment to 18
weeks by the end of next year.

Until today, it was possible to interpret Brown’s choice of Darzi as
a calming gesture towards the medical profession. Instead of having
politicians or managers telling the health service what to do, he
was putting one of their own in charge of mapping out the future.

But Darzi’s 10-year plan for reorganising the NHS in London is anything
but calming. However brilliant the conception, it is a recipe for
turbulence.

The document – due to be published by the London strategic health
authority today – proposes a massive shift of work from hospitals
into polyclinics and urgent care centres that would cater for most
people’s medical needs closer to home.

The plan is revolutionary. It says: "The days of the district general
hospital seeking to provide all services to a high enough standard
are over." In Darzi’s view, it is not safe or economic to treat
patients with complex needs in a hospital where staff have too little
experience of the condition. Those patients should go to specialist
hospitals. London already has six, including the internationally
renowned Great Ormond Street hospital for children and the Royal
Marsden for cancer patients.

Darzi thinks that the capital needs up to 12 specialist hospitals,
between eight and 16 major acute hospitals, and a handful of "academic
health science centres" created by integrating top hospitals with
universities’ biomedical research centres. That implies that many
of London’s big general hospitals would lose their maternity and
paediatric departments, and that they would no longer carry out major
surgery at night. Ambulances, blue lights flashing, would take the
most seriously ill patients to other hospitals with more advanced
facilities.

The rationale behind the proposals may be familiar to anyone who heard
Patricia Hewitt, the former health secretary, when she called for 5%
of hospital work to transfer into the community and the most complex
surgery to be carried out in regional specialist centres. But the
scale of Darzi’s reorganisation is vastly more ambitious. He has been
working on the London strategy since September, and it is probably
coincidental that the document was scheduled for publication so soon
after Brown entered No 10.

But the prime minister knew about the radicalism of Darzi’s vision
before giving him ministerial office. On the day before Brown was
formally anointed party leader last month, he sat in on one of Darzi’s
public consultation events. By backing Darzi, Brown showed he was
more interested in changing the NHS than making cosmetic adjustments
to defuse tensions in time for the general election.

Of course, Darzi is only the junior minister. Alan Johnson, the
health secretary, has the seat in cabinet. Johnson is the captain with
responsibility for sailing the NHS ship safely into port in time for
the general election. But Darzi has the keys to the map room to chart
the next voyage.

Talking to Society Guardian after operating on a patient at St
Mary’s hospital in Paddington, west London, on Friday, Darzi says:
"The review of London’s healthcare has dominated my life for the past
eight months. It was possibly the most challenging work anyone could
do while still contributing as a clinician. I have worked in London
for many years, but was never before exposed to the bigger picture."

He found huge contrasts. Top teaching hospitals and university
biomedical departments are at the cutting edge of global medical
advance, but across the capital, in pockets of social deprivation,
people are dying unnecessarily, due in part to poor healthcare.

Westminster and Canning Town are separated by only eight stops on
the Jubilee line as it runs from the centre of London to the East
End, yet life expectancy in Canning Town is seven years less than
in Westminster.

Darzi found there were fewer GPs per head in areas where the health
needs were greatest. Doctors in large acute hospitals in London saw 24%
fewer patients than their counterparts elsewhere in Britain. About 22%
of Londoners are dissatisfied with the way the NHS is run, compared
with 18% nationally. The review concluded: "Continuing with the old
ways of doing things will not only be ineffective, it is also likely
to be unaffordable."

Darzi says he wanted his review to be different from anything that had
been tried before. Instead of starting with the hospital estate and
thinking how it could be better used, he began by analysing patients’
needs from cradle to the grave.

"This is not the Darzi report," he insists. "A troop of 60 clinicians
went through this with me. They were not the great and the good,
but people working on the shop floor. I challenged them with three
questions. What are the clinical pathways that you provide for your
patients now? What are the best clinical pathways that you would wish
to deliver for your patients? And how do we make that happen?"

This amounted to working out how the NHS in London should look if it
were being built from scratch.

The clinicians set to work marrying polling research about what
patients said they wanted with medical research about the most
effective way of delivering care. One of their mottos was: "Localise
where possible, centralise where necessary." Other principles included
maximum cooperation between health and social services to stop people
falling through the gaps, more emphasis on health promotion, and a
strong focus on health inequalities and ethnic diversity.

The result is a blueprint for a radically different NHS. Darzi believes
50% of the work done in district general hospitals can be devolved to
local level. That would include more care being delivered in people’s
homes – particularly during maternity and towards the end of life.

A network of 150 polyclinics would "provide a new kind of
community-based care at a level that falls between the current
general practice and the traditional district general hospital". Minor
emergencies would be treated at urgent care centres dotted around the
capital, and the ambulance service would be upgraded to take the most
seriously ill directly to major acute hospitals or trauma centres.

This is a more comprehensive version of changes that have sparked
protests around the country – often supported by Labour ministers
who recognise constituents’ attachment to having the full range of
services available at the local hospital.

But Darzi believes he can carry Londoners with him by explaining
the clinical reasons for reform. For example, the status quo is
unacceptable for stroke patients who are not getting the right care. He
wants them to be treated in seven "hyper-acute" stroke centres.

"I don’t think there will be any closures of hospitals," Darzi
says. "Our analytic work suggests that what we need is to redefine
the function of buildings over the next decade." The London NHS
estate covers more than 1.5 sq miles – making it larger than the
City of London, on which much of the capital’s wealth depends. Many
hospitals are on prime sites, some of which could be released for
affordable housing. "I am not suggesting we sell the family silver,"
Darzi insists, "but creative enterprise can raise a lot on the back
of these assets."

He does not think private finance initiative (PFI) contracts locking
the NHS into 30 years of repayments on old-style hospitals are a
problem. If a district general hospital converts to become a local or
specialist hospital, the PFI costs will, he maintains, stay the same.

Darzi has no map showing which hospitals will become the hubs of
advanced medicine and which will lose some functions and status. That
will not emerge until after the strategic health authority has
completed a formal public consultation on the plan and primary care
trusts translate it into a 10-year programme.

He knows this will not be plain sailing. "The public say hospital
is not the only answer, but they also say don’t tinker with what we
have got until there is something better in place." The plan includes
investment in up to a dozen new polyclinics to whet the public’s
appetite for change.

Darzi’s family were among the survivors of the Armenian genocide in
the early 20th century. He was brought up in Iraq, where, like other
Christian Armenians, he attended a Jewish community school. At 17,
he went to university in Dublin and got his medical degree at Trinity
College. Darzi has an Irish wife and a slight Irish accent. "Take me
out for a drink and you will see I’m a Paddy," he says. He completed
his medical training at Central Middlesex and St Mary’s hospitals in
London, where he has combined hands-on surgery with a professorship
at Imperial College.

Now, as he starts work on the national NHS review, he asks patients
and voters to avoid jumping to the conclusion that his prescription
for London will be the right medicine for the whole country. His style
of working will be the same. He intends to "engage with the clinical
community and the public". And he will draw on the best international
research about quality and safety. But he maintains that London is
unique. The national review "could use the same processes, but the
recommendations would be very different".

Does this mean that Brown is committed to further heavy-duty NHS
reform?

Darzi does not say yes or no, but he accepts that the prime minister
has signed up to a process of clinical engagement. "Reform is here
to stay," he says. "Forget about the politics. I don’t have any
political experience.

But, as a clinician, I can tell you this: it is refreshing to take
a deep breath and look where we are on this journey.

"There is a reason why, as a clinician, I was asked to do this
[national] piece of work. We put the money in. We have done the
reforms. But we have not described to staff and users where this
journey is going.

"In London, I have been through this journey for the last eight
months. I can reassure you, I have carried everyone with me. The report
is based on what clinicians are telling me, what the public are telling
me, and what the clinical evidence suggests. Change causes turbulence
in all aspects of life, in all professions. The only difference here
is that we are talking about the quality of patient care."

NO CLOSED BORDERS BETWEEN COE MEMBERS: PACE PRESIDENT

New Europe, Belgium
Parliament

9 July 2007 – Issue : 737

Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (CoE) President Rene
van der Linden urged efforts to give "utmost priority" to improve
relations among the countries of the region as a way to necessary
reconciliation and to building a new future for young generations.

Speaking in Yerevan, Armenia last week, he called for compromise
to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which may be painful but
necessary to ensure the development of the region.

"Open borders are a pre-condition for prosperity. We cannot accept
closed borders between Council of Europe member states," he said. He
called on the Armenian authorities to use the forthcoming presidential
elections to consolidate the democratic progress achieved during the
recent parliamentary elections.

"The Council of Europe and its Assembly are ready to contribute to
this process with their expertise and instruments," he added. PACE
President mentioned in particular in this connection the need to
ensure that media, especially TV and radio, are truly independent
and the need to continue the judicial reform.

Calling on all political forces represented in the Parliament, both
from the majority and the opposition to observe the democratic rules
of political life he stressed that they work in mutual respect for
the future of their country. The President later continued his visit
in Georgia and Azerbaijan.

AS PARTNER FOR ARMENIA AND TURKEY, USA CALLS ON TWO SIDES TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.07.2007 14:46 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Armenia and Turkey has a long and reach
history. Yerevan and Ankara are to decide the future between the
two nations," OSCE American Co-Chair, Deputy Assistant Secretary
of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Bryza stated
in an interview to the PanARMENIAN.Net. But as partner for Armenia
and Turkey, the United States calls on the two sides to normalize
relations, Bryza stressed.

At the same time the American diplomat underscored that the
USA is not going to participate in the construction of the
Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railway.

New British envoy says ties with Azerbaijan strong

Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
7 Jul 07

[Presenter] The UK’s position on the Nagornyy Karabakh settlement has
not changed. The London government supports a solution to the conflict
within the framework of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity,
newly-appointed British ambassador to Azerbaijan Carolyn Brown has
said. Brown arrived in Azerbaijan yesterday to embark on her duties.

[Correspondent over video of Brown speaking to reporters] The new
ambassador knows Azerbaijan.

[Passage omitted: details about her biography still scanty]

[Brown, speaking in English with Azeri voice-over] I am very pleased to
be here. I first came to Azerbaijan in 1999. This is a great turning
point. Your country has made a very interesting impression on me since
my arrival. I am delighted about my appointment at the time when
UK-Azerbaijani ties are so strong and developing. I am delighted to be
here as a member of a group calling for Azerbaijan’s future successes.

[Correspondent] Both Armenians and Azerbaijanis live in Britain. The
ambassador said that her country’s position on the Nagornyy Karabakh
settlement has not changed. The fact of occupation is recognized and
the state’s [Azerbaijan’s] international rights should be protected.

[Brown] My government’s position on the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict is
known well. We have always supported a resolution to Nagornyy Karabakh
within the framework of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and we will
continue to do so. We have repeatedly stated this. The British
government regards as acceptable the use of international mediators’
help in the conflict resolution. This is the best means. We would also
be pleased to participate in this process.

[Passage omitted: Brown to closely familiarize herself with her mission
here]

Los Angeles Times
July 7, 2007 Saturday
Home Edition

Preaching the power of forgiveness;
Affected by genocide, a priest and a minister deliver message of
hope.

by Teresa Watanabe, Times Staff Writer

One is an Armenian American priest who resides in Pasadena, the other
a Rwandan minister who lives half a world away in Kigali. Across
culture and distance, however, Father Vazken Movsesian and Benjamin
Kayumba share a powerful if tragic bond: their peoples’ traumatic
legacy of genocide.

Movsesian lost dozens of relatives, including a grandfather, during
the early 20th century massacre of about 1.2 million Armenians under
the Ottoman Empire, which became the modern republic of Turkey.

For Kayumba, the scars are more recent. He lost 152 relatives,
including both parents, during the 1994 slaughter of more than
800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus by Hutu extremist
militias.

The men also share a conviction: that only forgiveness can ultimately
heal themselves and their communities.

It’s a difficult journey. During an interview this week, Kayumba
recalled that his mother was stripped naked, beaten, stabbed through
the chest and left to die on a road until dogs came to eat her flesh.
In time, Kayumba learned to forgive her murderer, and the anger that
weighed Kayumba down vanished.

"From that night, I was free," he said.

Kayumba and Movsesian will share that lesson today at a "forgiveness
forum" carefully scheduled for July 7, 2007; it’s a symbolic way of
following Jesus’ exhortation to forgive "not seven times but seven
times 77," according to the ancient Armenian Orthodox translation of
the Bible.

The forum at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, organized by
Movsesian’s In His Shoes Ministries, will also feature other speakers
and artists on the forgiveness theme, including a Latina mother who
met and forgave an Armenian gang member who killed her son.

Movsesian said his message has drawn opposition from some Armenian
Americans. But he said he intends to keep preaching unconditional
Christian forgiveness, following Jesus’ actions on the cross.

"I’ve forgiven the Turks," he said. "Now I can move on with my life."

The two men crossed paths for the first time last year. Movsesian
journeyed to Rwanda at the invitation of Donald Miller, a USC
professor of religion and sociology who has co-written a book on the
Armenian genocide and is compiling an oral history of Rwandan
survivors.

Movsesian said the trip immediately produced powerful emotional
moments. After arriving in Kigali, the group went to visit a mass
grave for 260,000 victims. At the Genocide Museum, Movsesian said, he
heard story after story of survivors — how Tutsi women escaped Hutu
soldiers by jumping into the Nile River, for instance.

Suddenly, Movsesian said, it hit him. His grandmother had told of
Armenian women eight decades earlier jumping into the Euphrates River
to escape the Turks. He said he began "crying like a baby."

"We haven’t changed," Movsesian said in an interview this week,
shaking his head. "Nothing has changed."

Shortly after his visit to the Genocide Museum, he met Kayumba, a
field activities coordinator for the Kigali-based Solace Ministries,
a faith-based nonprofit organization offering counseling, child care,
medical aid and other services for widows and orphans. Sharing their
faith and family stories, the two men also discovered common
convictions about forgiveness.

For Movsesian, the ideas about forgiveness first came in 2005 as he
planned his ministry’s commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the
Armenian genocide, observed each year on April 24.

The Armenian American community has protested to the Turkish
government, which denies a genocide took place, pushed for a
presidential resolution on the issue and held annual memorials.

"We’ve done everything but what we’re supposed to do as Christians —
we haven’t forgiven," Movsesian said.

That year, he began preaching that message — taking care to
emphasize that forgiving does not mean forgetting — and took young
members of his ministry to the desert to form a human chain
symbolizing forgiveness.

For Kayumba, the transformative moment came unexpectedly. Two months
after the genocide had ended, he drove from Kigali to his family’s
village to face his mother’s killer. Kayumba learned his identity
through other villagers. The two men had grown up together. When he
saw the man walking along a road, Kayumba said, his anger surged and
he tried to run the man over.

The young man dived into a ditch, unharmed. As Kayumba jumped out of
the car and made for the trembling man, he said, a voice filled his
head.

"Don’t take revenge," said the voice he identifies as the Holy
Spirit. "Revenge is mine."

Kayumba said he looked into the eyes of his mother’s killer. The man
did not ask for forgiveness, but Kayumba did — for trying to kill
the man. Kayumba offered absolution as well. His mother’s murderer
could go. Kayumba had forgiven him.

"The anger, frustration and trauma was totally gone," Kayumba said.
"Instead, I immediately felt relief, peace and love for this person.
That’s why I say forgiveness is for us, our own benefit. Hatred and
anger can kill you."

Whether the urge to kill is hard-wired into the human heart or not,
as one genocide seems to give way to another, the two men prefer to
believe in hope.

"We want to end this," Movsesian said. "We don’t want to have to come
back and talk about genocide again."

But work remains to be done, Kayumba and Movsesian say. The priest’s
In His Shoes Ministries, along with All Saints Episcopal Church’s New
Vision Partners ministry, is coordinating donations for Kayumba’s
Solace Ministries.

They are also sharing ideas about how to take action against another
genocide — in the Darfur region of Sudan.

WILL KOCHARIAN DEMONSTRATE POLITICAL WILL-POWER?

A1+
[07:29 pm] 06 July, 2007

Goran Lennmarker, the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly,
announced that the framework document on the Karabakh conflict
resolution is already ready.

"For some time now, I have talked about ‘a golden opportunity’
for an agreement and now, after another visit to the Caucasus, I
believe more than ever in that opportunity," said Goran Lennmarker,
the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

A good framework agreement that addresses the main concerns of all
parties has been presented by the Minsk Group, co-chaired by France,
Russia and the United States, he said. It is ready to be signed by
the leaders of the two countries, if the political will is there.

"The alternative, a new war, is unthinkable." The advantages of
a peace accord for the two countries, Armenia and Azerbaijan,
are huge. Hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons
and refugees could return and re-start their lives. With a peace
agreement in Nagorno-Karabakh, he continued, the two countries and
Georgia could, in earnest, work to build a region characterized by
security, democracy and prosperity.

He said that as Western Europe reaches out eastward, it was
important to understand the difficulties in building new, independent
nations. That work will not be completed overnight. But engagement
must continue not just for the sake of these countries but for the
sake of all of Europe.