Author: Vorskanian Yeghisabet

Oranges and lemons perturb Putin
by Jeremy Page
The Times (London)
February 19, 2005, Saturday
A MAP of the former Soviet Union must be a troubling, if not colourful,
sight for a former KGB officer such as Vladimir Putin as he prepares
for a summit with President Bush next week (Jeremy Page writes).
Since Mr Putin became President of Russia in 2000, the United States
has relentlessly encroached on Moscow’s sphere of influence in
Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. First the conflict in
Afghanistan brought US troops to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Then the
Rose Revolution swept a Western-minded liberal into power in Georgia in
2003. Within a few months the US was training Georgian special forces.
Next Nato fighter jets arrived in the former Soviet republic of
Lithuania after its accession to the alliance in 2004. And late last
year Russia lost its foothold in Ukraine when the Western-leaning
liberal Viktor Yushchenko came to power.
But the erosion of Russia’s strategic orbit does not stop there,
analysts say. They are predicting a series of copycat “revolutions”
in Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Armenia and, possibly, Kazakhstan that will
dash for good Mr Putin’s aspirations to reassert Moscow’s influence
over its former empire.
The Russian media have even come up with names for future revolutions:
grape for Moldova; apricot for Armenia; aubergine for Azerbaijan;
and amber for the tiny Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.
One of the places they are not predicting revolution is in Russia
itself, where Mr Putin recently abolished direct elections for
regional governors.

PanArmenian News
Feb 17 2005
17.02.2005 13:35
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The recurrent sitting of the CIS Council of Foreign
Ministers is planned in Minsk March 18. The ministers will discussed
the work done within the accountable period, will outline the plans
for the coming months. One of the most important issues on the agenda
will be the topic of reforming the CIS bodies. The parties intend to
hear reports, as well as to consider drafts of documents on the CIS
reform. Finally, the drafts will be considered at the summer summit
of CIS leaders in Tatarstan.

AZERBAIJAN SENDS 700 KILLER AGAINST PEACEFUL RESIDENTS OF NAGORNO KARABAKH IN 1992
Azg/arm
18 Feb 05
Baku based Yeni Zaman newspaper published “Bloody Retribution on
Prisoners” article that touched upon the February 15-16 rebellion of
over 100 prisoners in N11 prison. Certainly, we are not interested
in the actions of the prisoners and “the relevant response” of the
authorities. At least, Azerbaijan is a prison itself and its people
carry the yoke of the Aliyevâ~@~Ys clan.
Yeni Zaman thoroughly represents the chronology of all the rebellions
in the Azeri prisons since 1990. According to the newspaper, the
rebellion that took place in the prison N11 in 1990 was crashed down
immediately. Besides, six other cases of rebellion took place in
Azerbaijan. We will dwell on the two of them.
In the summer of 1992 hundreds of prisoners from the Azeri prisons
demanded freedom suggesting to fight in Karabakh. Yeni Zaman writes
that the Azeri authorities satisfied the patriotic intentions of
only 700 prisoners. But soon most of the murderers escaped from the
army and formed criminal groups that in future disturbed their native
authorities as well.
On July 22, 1993, protesting against the violation of human rights and
awful social conditions, over 1200 prisoners demanded to send them
to Karabakh to fight against the Armenians. Taking into account the
experience the authorities had with the 700 killers before, Heydar
Aliyev didnâ~@~Yt want to create additional complications for himself
and declined their request.
This information comes to prove that Azerbaijan spared no efforts
for cleaning Nagorno Karabakh from the Armenians. Azg has written
for several times that Baku turned for help to various terrorist
organizations, inviting the Muslim and Christian hirelings.
In mid-January the Azeri Obozrevatel Internet weekly published the
interview with Azer Rustamov, 41 years old colonel, participant of
the wars in Karabakh and Afghanistan. Azer Rustamov stated that he
will never again fight for Azerbaijan.
“I donâ~@~Yt want to fight, the others will not go to the
war, either. They will prefer trading in the market,” Rustamov
said. Remembering the summer of 1992, he added: “Hundreds of Chechen
volunteers rendered us invaluable help in these battles led by Shamil
Basayev and Salman Raduev.
Being crashed in Karabakh, Basayev and Raduev moved to Abkhazia
and Chechnya to begin a war against the Russian forces. These two
terrorists organized dozens of terrorist acts in Chechnya and Russia.
The relations of Osama bin Laden with Azerbaijan began in mid-1990s,
Samir Razimov, Azeri journalist, writes in the publication of the
London based “The Peace and War Institute.”
Baku based Ekho wrote several times that the activities of the
extremist groups settled down in Azerbaijan ripened in the days of the
Soviet Unionâ~@~Ys collapse. Hyuriet stated that at least 7 terrorist
organizations have headquarters in Azerbaijan. The Financial Times
wrote in the April of 2002 that Khatab, terrorist killed in Chechnya,
fought for Azerbaijan against Karabakh. One of the July 2002, issues
of The Wall Street Journal wrote about the travel of Amyar al Zauahri,
world terrorist N2, from Malaysia through Baku to Dagistan. He was
arrested there, then he passed trough Baku to Afghanistan again and
joined bin Laden.
It was also proved that the explosions in the U.S. embassies in
Kenya and Tanzania were coordinated from Baku. It is stated in the
publications of “The Peace and War Institute” that there had been
proofs testifying to the fact that Azerbaijan is used as a base for
Al Qaeda.
By Tatoul Hakobian
–Boundary_(ID_KhYq/MWY+/lXci/IqTVyiQ)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep
Feb 14 2005
Armenia/Azerbaijan: Mediator Sees No Organized Settlement Policy In Occupied Lands
By Jean-Christophe Peuch
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) last
week completed an unprecedented fact-finding mission into Azerbaijan’s
occupied territories to verify claims that Armenian authorities are
sending settlers to the area. The mission, which was supervised by
the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, was the first of its
kind since the suspension of the 1988-94 Nagorno-Karabakh war. In an
exclusive interview with RFE/RL, France’s Minsk Group co-chairman,
Bernard Fassier, discussed the mission’s preliminary findings.
Prague, 14 February 2005 (RFE/RL) — For more than a week, experts
from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
toured the seven Azerbaijani administrative districts that ethnic
Armenian troops have occupied for the past 12 years.
Those include the regions of Kalbacar, Lacin, Qubadli, Fuzuli,
Cebrayil, Zangilan, and Agdam.
This is the first time since these territories fell into the hands
of ethnic Armenian forces in 1992-93 that the OSCE was authorized to
conduct a fact-finding mission there.
The eight-member mission was placed under the supervision of the
so-called Minsk Group of nations that has been mediating the Karabakh
conflict for the past 13 years on behalf of the OSCE. Since 1996,
the Minsk Group has been co-chaired by France, Russia, and the
United States.
France’s co-chair, Bernard Fassier, toured Azerbaijan’s occupied
territories with the OSCE experts. He told RFE/RL that the mission,
which had long been demanded by Azerbaijan, was made possible only
after arduous talks between Baku and Yerevan. Azerbaijan claims
the Armenian and Karabakh authorities have already sent some 23,000
settlers to the areas and demands that an end be put to what it says
is a deliberate policy of colonization.
“The determinant factor that made this mission possible — despite
Armenia’s earlier objections — was a compromise reached recently by
the two countries under the aegis of the Minsk Group co-chairs. The
main provision of the compromise was that Azerbaijan would suspend its
action at the United Nations in return for — among other things —
Armenia’s consent to that mission, the technicalities of which were
agreed to by both parties,” Fassier said.
In early 1993, ethnic Armenian forces were in full control of
Nagorno-Karabakh and had already secured the strategic southern
corridor of Lacin that links the separatist exclave to Armenia.
In March 1993, ethnic Armenian forces launched a two-pronged offensive
that drove Azerbaijan’s rag-tag army farther east and expelled hundreds
of thousands of Azerbaijanis and Kurds from their homes.
Kalbacar fell on 3 April 1993. Agdam, Fuzuli, Cebrayil, and other
cities and towns followed soon thereafter.
The Armenian victory, achieved in just four months, precipitated the
collapse of Azerbaijani President Abulfaz Elchibey’s regime. Recalled
from Moscow in the wake of a military coup, Soviet Politburo member
Heidar Aliyev soon took power in Baku and precipitately negotiated
a truce that came into effect in May 1994.
As a prerequisite to any negotiations on the status of Karabakh,
Azerbaijan demands that ethnic Armenian troops leave all occupied
territories in line with a string of resolutions approved by the
UN Security Council. But Armenia, which also represents Karabakh at
the peace talks, wants the future of the enclave to be negotiated in
parallel with the troop withdrawal.
Azerbaijan claims the Armenian and Karabakh authorities have already
sent some 23,000 settlers to the areas and demands that an end be
put to what it says is a deliberate policy of colonization.
But French Ambassador Fassier told RFE/RL that, with one noticeable
exception, Armenian migration into the occupied territories seems to
be largely spontaneous and improvised.
“Contrary to what many people thought, there doesn’t seem to be a
deliberate, large-scale plan to settle those areas. One exception,
however, is the Lacin district. In Lacin, one can say that the
[Armenian] settlement is being encouraged and sponsored. But with
regard to the six remaining districts, its seems that up to 80 to
90 percent of settlers have gone there either on their own or with
the support of local nongovernmental organizations or the [Armenian]
diaspora. Except for Lacin, there is no large-scale involvement from
[the Nagorno-Karabakh capital of] Stepanakert, even less so from
Yerevan,” Fassier said.
Although the OSCE mission had no mandate to conduct a census, Fassier
believes the number of Armenian settlers populating the occupied
territories roughly matches the estimates given by Azerbaijani
authorities.
The French diplomat said the largest group of settlers is made up of
Armenian refugees who fled Azerbaijan before the Karabakh war broke out
in 1988 and in the early months of the conflict. The second-largest
group is composed of victims of the December 1988 earthquake that
leveled the Armenian city of Spitak and partially destroyed Leninakan,
Stepanavan, and Kirovakan.
“Finally, there is a third and much smaller group that consists of
people who have fled Armenia for economic reasons, or who live in
mountainous areas of Armenia and come on a seasonal basis to these
more temperate areas for cattle-breeding purposes. During the winter
season, these families come down from their mountains to graze their
few cows or sheep in these more temperate zones,” Fassier said.
Fassier noted that most Armenian settlers are apparently receiving
no assistance whatsoever from Yerevan or Stepanakert. He said the
precarious Armenian settlements, generally made up of a few families,
remain isolated from each other because there are neither roads nor
any means of communication.
With the exception of Lacin, no organized effort has been made to
restore infrastructure destroyed during the war. Also, Fassier said,
no reconstruction program has been initiated and many settlers continue
to live in appalling conditions more than 10 years into the cease-fire.
“In many areas there is no electricity and poverty predominates. I
wouldn’t say people live. Rather, they are surviving in half-destroyed
walls topped by a tin roof. To survive, these families rely on
small gardens or plots of land that offer only limited agricultural
possibilities. Sometimes, they also rely on what a few fruit
orchards that have been in a state of neglect for the past 10 years
are still able to produce. In the most extreme situations there is
no electricity and just a hole in the ground, a fountain or a well
to draw water from. In areas where conditions are slightly better,
accumulators allow for just enough electricity to supply a single
bulb. In other areas there are small generators. Sometimes electricity
is either imported from Karabakh or supplied by an Armenian military
base nearby,” Fassier said.
Due to its key strategic importance as a land bridge between Karabakh
and Armenia, Yerevan insists that the notion of returning the Lacin
corridor to Azerbaijan is a nonnegotiable issue.
In Lacin, Fassier said, migrants live in much better conditions
then in other occupied lands. The reconstruction rate is nearing 50
percent. Schools have been built with government support, water and
electricity supplies progressively restored, and local administrations
set up — all things that would sustain Baku’s claims of an organized
settlement policy.
The OSCE experts are due to present their final report to the Minsk
Group co-chairs. The latter will then add their own recommendations
and political conclusions before passing on the report to the other
Minsk Group members and the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna —
tentatively scheduled for the second half of March.

Ultimate-Guitar.Com
Feb 9 2005
System Of A Down Release Date
Date: 2005-02-09 Artist: System Of A Down Category: Upcoming Releases
Blabbermouth.net reports, System Of A Down have confirmed an April 26
release date for “Mezmerize”, the first half of their new double
album set. The second CD, titled “Hypnotize”, will be out sometime
this fall. Meanwhile, the first single from “Mezmerize”, called
“B.Y.O.B.”, is poised to arrive at rock radio on or around March 1,
according to Launch Radio Networks.
The Armenian-American quartet has just wrapped up its headlining
stint on Australia and New Zealand’s Big Day Out festival and is
heading home to Los Angeles to finish work on the new album.
The band is also one of many acts that have donated items to a second
eBay auction sponsored by Waxploitation Records to raise money for
genocide victims in the African nation of Sudan. Other artists that
have contributed signed or rare items include Dave Matthews,
Dashboard Confessional, and Bad Religion. System contributed to
Waxploitation’s first such auction last month, along with Limp
Bizkit, Korn, 311, Rob Zombie and others.

ARMENIA THIS WEEK
Monday, February 7, 2005
In this issue:
Armenian Assembly sends condolences to Georgia’s leader
Armenia expresses condolences, anxiety over Zhvania’s death
U.S., Armenia cooperate in the Embassy briber investigation
Senior Azeri officials linked to terrorism, drug smuggling
February 3, 2005
His Excellency Mikheil Saakashvili
President, Republic of Georgia
Tbilisi, Georgia
Dear President Saakashvili,
It was with great sadness that we learned of the tragic and untimely
death of Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania. We extend our heartfelt
condolences to Prime Minister Zhvania’s family, to the Georgian people
and to you and your colleagues.
The entire world has taken notice of the sweeping reforms you, the Prime
Minister and your colleagues have initiated throughout Georgia. During
meetings with Prime Minister Zhvania, we had discussed ways in which the
Georgian-American community and the Armenian Assembly of America could
work together to improve the lives of the Georgian and Armenian peoples,
thereby contributing to a stable and flourishing region. We remain
committed to this.
Mr. Zhvania’s legacy will live on as you continue building a strong and
prosperous Republic of Georgia.
On behalf of the Board of Trustees, Board of Directors, members and
staff of the Armenian Assembly of America, we extend our deep
condolences to the Georgian people.
With compassion,
Hirair Hovnanian Anthony
Barsamian
Chairman, Board of Trustees Chairman,
Board of Directors
[AAA Note: Chairman of the Assembly Board of Directors Anthony Barsamian
and Armenia Director Arpi Vartanian visited Georgia and met its leaders
last June.]
ARMENIA EXPRESSES CONDOLENCES, ANXIETY OVER GEORGIAN PRIME MINISTER’S
DEATH
President Robert Kocharian and other Armenian leaders have expressed
shock and grief over the sudden death of Georgia’s Prime Minister Zurab
Zhvania last week. According to the official report, Zhvania, 41 and a
close friend and colleague 25-year-old Raul Yusupov, were found dead of
carbon monoxide poisoning at a Tbilisi apartment. Georgian police said
that deaths were accidental and no foul play was involved.
Kocharian’s message said the news was received “with pain in Armenia. We
share the grief of this loss with you.” He further noted Zhvania’s role
in strengthening Georgian-Armenian relations. There is also anxiety in
Armenia that the death may bring back instability to Georgia. The
Georgian government appointed over a year ago and led by Zhvania has
cracked down on rampant corruption, reducing the barriers to travel and
trade with and through Georgia, on which Armenia depends. Reflecting
these changes, Armenia’s trade with Georgia grew by 50 percent last
year, faster than with any other country. Zhvania also made a personal
contribution to the bilateral relationship, admonishing Georgian
politicians who in the past frequently engaged in xenophobic,
anti-Armenian rhetoric and declaring to the Georgian Parliament that he
was proud that his mother, accomplished physicist Mariam
Antonova-Zhvania, is an ethnic Armenian.
Zhvania had the most political experience of the leaders of the Georgian
opposition movement that forced out President Eduard Shevardnadze in
November 2003. Long seen as a political successor to Shevardnadze,
Zhvania for six years served as Parliament Speaker before breaking ranks
with Shevardnadze in 2001. While at the helm of the Parliament, he is
credited with attracting young, Western-educated cadres, such as the
future President Mikhail Saakashvili, to serve in the government.
Zhvania played a key role in what became known as Georgia’s “revolution
of the roses,” the subsequent anti-corruption drive and diffusing
tensions in Ajaria and South Ossetia last year.
Many Georgian commentators have questioned the official version of the
Prime Minister’s death. Some pointed to the deadly bomb blast earlier
last week outside the police station in the town of Gori near the South
Ossetia region, which saw renewed fighting last year, as somehow
connected. Others have linked an apparent suicide by the Georgian
President’s staff member 32-year-old Giorgi Khelashvili and murder of a
Russia-based Georgian businessman Mamuka Jincharadze, just days after
Zhvania’s death, as possibly linked. According to the U.S. Ambassador to
Georgia Richard Miles, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will
send a special team of experts to study the circumstances of Zhvania’s
death, as well as the recent blast in Gori. (Sources: Armenia This Week
4-2-04, 1-24; Noyan Tapan 2-3; Regnum 6-10-04, 2-4, 5, 6, 7; Civil.ge
2-4, 5, 6, 7; BBC News 2-5; Daily Telegraph 2-6)
U.S., ARMENIA COOPERATE IN EMBASSY BRIBERY INVESTIGATION
A former U.S. consular official in Armenia has been charged with bribery
and visa fraud, an indictment jointly released by the Departments of
Justice and State said last week. Piotr Zdzislaw Parlej, who pleaded
guilty, faces between 5 and 15 years in prison for bribes he allegedly
took from visa applicants while working at the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan
until last month. The case was jointly investigated by the U.S. State
Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, the Embassy in Yerevan and
Armenia’s law-enforcement authorities. In a statement issued last week,
the U.S. Embassy in Armenia praised Armenia’s National Security Service
“for their invaluable assistance” in the case. (Sources: Mediamax 2-4;
Noyan Tapan 2-4)
SENIOR AZERI OFFICIALS LINKED TO TERRORISM, DRUG SMUGGLING
Recent publications in Azerbaijan’s opposition-leaning press have
renewed accusations that senior government officials are linked to
terror groups and drug trafficking. A publication last week said that an
unnamed “head of a state committee and a patron of various sports” had a
private army, elements of which have fought against the U.S. in
Afghanistan and Iraq to “gain experience.” Another publication alleged
that the head of the State Customs Committee Gen. Kamaleddin Heydarov
and Border Guards commander Gen. Elchin Guliyev are complicit in
narcotics trafficking.
Azerbaijan reportedly lies at the crossroads of the opium and heroin
trade stretching from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Russia and Western
Europe. A State Department report issued last March suggested that while
drug trafficking is a significantly smaller problem in Armenia than in
the neighboring states, it could potentially exacerbate should borders
with either Turkey or Azerbaijan open. (Sources: Armenia This Week 6-18,
10-4, 25; Monitor 12-25; Azadliq 2-1)
A WEEKLY NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY THE ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA
122 C Street, N.W., Suite 350, Washington, D.C. 20001 (202) 393-3434 FAX
(202) 638-4904
E-Mail [email protected] WEB

Education: Anxiety in the UK: Serious complaints by overseas students are
unjustified, says their university
The Guardian – United Kingdom
Feb 08, 2005
HSIAO-HUNG PAI REPORTS
About 400 students from east Asia have enrolled for programmes this
year at Royal Holloway, University of London. They are paying at
least three times the fees of UK students, but came because they
regarded it as a prestigious place to study. But following a series
of what appear to be racially motivated assaults, several students at
the campus in Egham, Surrey, have expressed concerns about security,
accommodation, and what they describe as a culture of isolation within
the college. These claims are vociferously denied by Royal Holloway.
A Korean female postgraduate exchange student was attacked by three
youths – one man and two women – inside a college laundry room at
the main campus in November, 2004. They verbally abused her and hit
her continuously for half an hour, till she fell on the floor. Then
they started kicking her. She was left with bad injuries and bruises
all over her face.
“There is no security system at this university,” said Mr Jin,
president of the Korean society, who asked us not to publish his first
name. The incident provoked great anger among east Asian students
and overseas students in general. The Korean society, along with the
Chinese society, Japanese society, Taiwanese society and the Indian
society, presented a petition with 400 signatures to the college,
demanding that a satisfactory security system be installed, with
better lighting on campus and an increased patrol.
“In the first two weeks, patrolling increased. But things got back to
usual after that,” said a Korean student who doesn’t want to be named.
Two months later, on January 28, a Chinese-German student was attacked
by 10 youths at the south gate, outside the college grounds. On the
same night, an Indian student was attacked.
“The college could have done better on informing students about the
attacks,” said Zepyur Batikyar, an Armenian MA student. “We got to
hear of them mostly from other students.”
“We feel extremely excluded by our skin colour,” said Yu-Jen Bai,
a postgraduate business student from Taiwan, “We almost feel we can
only be protected by the presence of a white student.”
Royal Holloway emphatically denied it had responded inadequately to
the attacks. All the students have been offered support and counselling
since the attacks, a spokeswoman said.
“The incident involving a Korean student was taken very seriously,
and subjected to a full investigation in collaboration with Korea
University, [the] students’ union, the local community and local
police. The college has also provided ongoing support for the student
involved.
“The student support officer, who has been working closely with the
Korean student involved in this incident, has received much gratitude
for the care and support, and we understand the student is hoping to
return to Royal Holloway for further study.”
After the November attack, the spokeswoman said, a bulletin was issued
by the students’ union alerting students. “Lighting systems throughout
the campus were reviewed and the level of patrol by security officers
was increased to cover additional areas on the campus, in particular,
those close to halls of residences, and arrangements for these patrols
were continued through the vacation period. In addition, the college
is working closely with the local community and police to seek ways
to ensure that all members of the community continue to work and live
in a safe and secure environment.”
It was “totally inaccurate” to say the college had no security
system. “Each of the halls of residence has a resident warden to
support students and the college operates 24-hour security presence.”
Students, particularly east Asian students, feel fearful of these
attacks and are deeply concerned that something should be done. But,
according to Jin, they have no proper channels of complaint and are
worried that too much noise would have a negative effect on their
status at college.
“There is practically no means of communication between overseas
students and the college authorities,” said a Taiwanese MBA student.
Royal Holloway’s spokeswoman said: “This could not be further from
the truth. The college prides itself on its level of pastoral care.”
Yuki Yanagi, a 22-year-old postgraduate student from Japan, says that
the attack in November “is not just a Korean issue. To the eyes of
locals, we look similar and I feel the same thing could happen to me
or my friends.
“I have become very cautious. Nowadays I only do shopping in the
daytime and in British, male company.” My parents are worried
about me.”
Safety has, in fact, been a long-term concern. “Incidents of attacks
and harassment have been going on here for at least two years. MBA
students who studied here in 2003/04 warned me about safety the first
day I got here,” said Yu-Jen Bai. “There should have been stronger
action from the students themselves. I never imagined safety to be
a problem at London University.
“The problem is our student societies are only interested in organising
social events. They aren’t interested in fighting for our rights. I
guess it’s because they are run by younger people, undergraduates,
who aren’t very aware.”
The students suffer from being both separate and visible. “Life
is isolated and lonely here,” says Sangseuk Park. Like many other
east Asian students, Park chose to study at Holloway because of its
excellent international reputation. “And the campus looks so nice,”
he said. He is self-funded and pays a tuition fee of pounds 8,500
for a one-year course.
Park finds language a barrier. He only socialises with east Asian
students. “It’s not so easy to interact with local students. Perhaps
it’s cultural differences.”
“It isn’t always language that is the barrier,” says Zepyur Batikyar.
“Self-blame was my initial reaction when I experienced distance from
the local environment. But I understood it wasn’t me at all when I
began to interact so well with other overseas students.”
“We don’t go out much. Our weekend entertainment is going to the
cinema in Staines with other Chinese students,” says Gu Chen, 24,
a Chinese postgraduate in Business Information Systems.
Yuki Yanagi came to this college for its reputation in women’s
studies. She’s eager to be socially active and learn about local
culture. She joined the women’s football team where there are hardly
any Asian players, and went to watch the football in the local pub.
“But the best time of my stay in Royal Holloway was when I met east
Asian students. We socialise a lot and I feel things are getting
better and better.”
She’s disappointed with the level of interaction between overseas
and local students. “I often have racially abusive jokes thrown at
me by fellow students, and some of the sexually harassing behaviour
really disgusts me.”
Pei-Ling Lu, a business postgraduate from Taiwan, says: “We didn’t
really know that much about the course structure or the environment
before we came, because all the information was provided by agencies
at home, who gave us nothing but college brochures.”
All the east Asian students we spoke to talked about the administrative
inefficiency of the college. “Our requests are often ignored or
delayed,” one said.
Accommodation is also one of the biggest concerns among overseas
students here. “There is a large difference in the types of
accommodation we get, and the criteria of housing distribution seems
arbitrary,” said one student.
“There’s no support for overseas students here,” said Gu Chen. “We
believe that overseas students tend to be given poorer-facilitated
housing. The course is also very different from what I had
expected. It’s loosely organised, and the teaching hours are too
short – only two days a week.”
The postgraduates on the business courses seem particularly unhappy
with what they get in return for the high tuition fees. “The college
facilities are commercialised,” one MBA student said. “There are
bars run by outside companies, which charge higher prices than local
pubs. But there aren’t enough academic resources, such as a good
library. This is only geared towards undergraduate interests.”
The college denied these charges. “International students are given
priority in securing accommodation within halls of residence. In
the case of a large group of students, such as those from Korea
University, we also work to accommodate them across the campus, to
enable them to integrate more fully within the campus community,”
said the spokeswoman.
“We consider our accommodation standards to be high – situated in a
135-acre parkland campus. Royal Holloway opened a brand new pounds
23m state-of-the-art halls development in September 2004. Many
international students are within these halls. Indeed, we have a
collaborative venture with Korea University, and a section of the
halls have been named in honour of a Korean industrialist.”
She added: “We have many channels in operation to receive feedback
from students. Standards of teaching at the college are frequently
praised by students, and the college’s record demonstrates our high
commitment to teaching and research.”

OSCE completes mission in disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave
Associated Press Worldstream
February 7, 2005 Monday
BAKU, Azerbaijan — Officials from the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe left the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave Monday after
completing a fact-finding mission as part of efforts to resolve the
territory’s status and end a long-running dispute between Armenia
and Azerbaijan.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Metin Mirza said the mission from the
so-called Minsk Group would report back to the main body of the OSCE
before a final report is issued.
The four-day OSCE mission was investigating, among other things,
whether ethnic Armenians are settling in occupied territories around
the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s has been
trying to help the two countries reach a settlement for enclave,
which since the mid-1990s has been under the control of ethnic
Armenian forces. The forces also occupy some territory adjacent to
Nagorno-Karabakh proper.
A cease-fire in the conflict was reached in 1994, but
Nagorno-Karabakh’s political status remains unsettled. Its ethnic
Armenian government is not recognized internationally, and Baku
insists it must remain part of Azerbaijan.
Mirza also said Azerbaijan would again seek to the have the U.N.
General Assembly discuss the status of the enclave.
Meanwhile, in Nagorno-Karabakh, officials said the mission met in the
enclave’s main city, Stepanakert, with Armenian refugees who were
driven out of Azerbaijan during the six-year war in the 1990s that
killed some 30,000 people and sent 1 million fleeing from their homes.

Anadolu Agency
Feb 8 2005
President Aliyev Of Azerbaijan Hosts A Banquet In Honor Of Arinc
Anadolu Agency: 2/7/2005
BAKU – President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan hosted a banquet in honor
of Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc, who is currently in Baku
on an official visit, on Monday.
Relations of Azerbaijan with the other regional countries, and the
Upper Karabakh dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia were high on
agenda during the banquet.
Speaking at the banquet, President Aliyev called on Turkey to support
them in their fight against Armenian occupation.
Meanwhile, Arinc said in his part that several decisions were made by
the EU and the United Nations for withdrawal of Armenia from the
occupied Azerbaijani territories, adding, ”however, Armenian
occupation has been continuing. More than 1 million people were
forced to leave their homes. They have been living under extremely
difficult conditions. Turkey will continue extending all kinds of
support to Azerbaijan in its rightful struggle.”

Edmonton Journal (Alberta)
February 5, 2005 Saturday
Final Edition
Annan tries to limit oil slick damage to UN: Action threatened
against oil-for food managers; Iraqi government wants money returned
by Steven Edwards, CanWest News Service
UNITED NATIONS – UN Secretary General Kofi Annan scrambled Friday to
limit the damage from a report that says “unethical conduct” by top
UN managers helped Saddam Hussein skim huge sums from the
organization’s $67-billion US oil-for-food program in Iraq.
He said he would “take action promptly” against the managers — one
of them the former head of the aid program, and a man Annan has
described as a friend.
But in Baghdad and at the UN, Iraqi government officials demanded a
return of stolen funds, saying the program had done more to prop up
Saddam’s regime than help ordinary Iraqis.
In Washington, Annan faced a mixture of criticism and praise. Some
Republicans in Congress said the report will lead to the downfall of
both Annan and the UN. But the Bush administration said it showed
Annan was committed to making the organization accountable.
The 200-page report by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul
Volcker amounted to a damning indictment of the UN’s management of
the world’s largest humanitarian aid program.
It said oil-for-food chief Benon Sevan had “undermined the integrity”
of the UN by bargaining with Saddam on behalf of an oil company run
by an Egyptian relative of former UN secretary general Boutros
Boutros-Ghali. It also criticized UN senior manager Joseph
Stephanides for manipulating a UN contract.
Volcker added at a press conference that the report is only the “tip
of the iceberg” of what was wrong with the program, saying two
subsequent reports would focus not only on additional activities by
Boutros-Ghali, but also roles played by Annan and his son, Kojo, who
worked for a company that landed a lucrative oil-for-food inspection
contract.
Launched in 1996, the oil-for-food scheme was meant to get food and
medicine to ordinary Iraqis at a time when sanctions against the
country aimed at forcing Saddam and his regime to comply with UN
disarmament demands.
“We are as determined as everyone to get to the bottom of this,”
Annan said Friday. “We do not want this shadow to hang over the UN,
so we want to … take appropriate measures to deal with the gaps.”
But it remained unclear what disciplinary measures could be taken
against the retired Sevan, and Stephanides, who is five months from
retirement.
While both men are Cypriots, Sevan is of Armenian heritage, and his
success in his 40-year career at the UN has seen him hailed as a hero
on Armenian websites, alongside tennis star Andre Agassi and
entertainers Charles Aznavour and Cher.
But he, Stephanides and others named in the report were accused of
having “not an iota of shame” Friday by Iraq’s human rights minister,
Bakhtiar Amin.
“They profited as parasites on the misery of an impoverished nation,”
he said in Baghdad.
He said Saddam had been able to manipulate the oil-for-food program
to “fund terrorism,” adding Iraqis should now be compensated.
“These people shouldn’t get away with the money and live the rest of
their lives in luxury,” he said. “A lesson needs to be made of them.
They benefited by stealing the bread of others.”
Iraqi officials are particularly angry that the UN is using $30
million US raised from the sale of Iraqi oil to fund the Volcker
inquiry.
The UN has turned over to Iraq $9.3 billion US of remaining
oil-for-food money since the program ended with the fall of Saddam in
2003, but has retained $37 million for “administrative” spending on
Iraqi matters, in addition to the money to pay for the Volcker
commission.
Anger over the UN’s failure to back the war in Iraq led to increasing
criticism of the organization by some U.S. Republicans, who saw the
report as more reason for the United Nations to be closed down.
“I am reluctant to conclude that the UN is damaged beyond repair, but
these revelations certainly point in this direction,” said Rep. Henry
Hyde, chairman of the House international relations committee.