Author: Yeghisabet Arthur

Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh enclave holds parliamentary
elections
Monday, June 20, 2005
FOREIGN
ANKARA – TDN with wire dispatches
The Armenian-controlled enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh held parliamentary
elections on Sunday, with the main pro-government party and an
opposition group expected to win the majority of seats.
Candidates and parties are contesting all 33 seats in the legislature
of the region, which has been in the hands of ethnic Armenians since a
six-year war against Azerbaijani forces ended with a 1994
cease-fire. The war killed some 30,000 people and drove a million from
their homes.
No political settlement has been reached despite international efforts
to nudge the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan toward a resolution
and the threat of a new armed conflict between the former Soviet
republics in the Caucasus Mountains persists.
Observers believe the Democratic Party of Artsakh, which supports the
government of President Arkady Gukasian, and the
Dashnaktsutyun-Movement 88 bloc have the best chances of gaining seats
in the in the election. Artsakh is the Armenian name for
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Pro-presidential forces currently hold about half the parliamentary
seats and have usually been able to push their initiatives through
with support from independent lawmakers. Dashnaktsutyun holds about a
dozen seats in the current Parliament.
The opposition bloc says Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership is not tough
enough in asserting its self-proclaimed independence and claims it is
too willing to consider ceding Azerbaijani territory it controls
outside the borders of the enclave.
Dashnaktsutyun says the leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh must not
consider ceding control of any territory unless Azerbaijan recognizes
the enclave’s independence, something Azerbaijan has said it will not
do.
Of the 33 seats in Parliament, 22 are to go to the winners of races in
individual electoral districts. The other 11 are to be filled through
voting by party, with parties allocating seats in proportion to the
number of votes they receive.
Turkey denounces polls in Nagorno-Karabakh:
Turkey said Friday that upcoming parliamentary polls in
Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway enclave claimed both by its close ally
Azerbaijan and its arch-foe Armenia, were illegitimate and contrary to
international peace efforts in the region.
“Turkey believes that such unilateral initiatives … will not help
efforts for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem and
considers these elections to be illegitimate,” Foreign Ministry
spokesman Namık Tan said in a statement.
Armenia is the only country to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an
independent state.
Turkey is one of Azerbaijan’s staunchest allies, with which it also
has close ethnic bonds. It has refused to establish formal diplomatic
ties with Armenia out of solidarity with Azerbaijan in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict but also because of Armenia’s campaign to
have the World War I-era killings of Armenians under Ottoman Empire
rule internationally recognized as genocide.

Agence France Presse
19 juin 2005 dimanche 7:17 AM GMT
Michel Tancrez, un Francais qui a fait du Karabakh sa vocation
(PORTRAIT)
Par Mariam HAROUTIOUNIAN
STEPANAKERT (Azerbaïdjan) 19 juin 2005
Michel Tancrez, un Francais de 61 ans, represente depuis 2001 le
Fonds Armenie au Nagorny Karabakh, une petite republique
autoproclamee du Caucase, où il a choisi de s’etablir avec sa
famille.
Surnomme “le Francais”, il est bien connu et respecte des habitants
qui voient en lui un homme hors du commun qui a quitte une existence
prospère en France pour s’installer dans un pays detruit par la
guerre et qui ne connaît toujours pas vraiment la paix.
“J’aime vivre et travailler au Nagorny Karabakh où il y a 11 ans j’ai
rencontre celle qui devait devenir mon epouse, Mariam”, dit-il.
C’etait en 1994, Michel Tancrez etait venu acheminer pour la deuxième
fois de l’aide humanitaire au Karabakh: des medicaments et des
vetements offerts par la diaspora armenienne de France.
“La guerre entre l’Azerbaïdjan et le Karabakh durait encore. J’ai vu
des avions bombarder Stepanakert, j’ai vu tout s’effondrer autour de
moi. J’ai vu des gens qui fuyaient les bombardements se refugier dans
la cave de leur maison et y vivre des semaines avec des enfants en
bas âge, sans electricite, sans eau”, se souvient-il.
Il a rencontre Mariam Chagamian qui, comme lui, arrivait de France
pour essayer d’aider d’une facon ou d’une autre les habitants du
Karabakh.
“Mariam descend d’une famille qui a echappe par miracle au genocide
des Armeniens en Turquie et qui a trouve refuge en France. Elle etait
professeur de francais et envisageait de faire la meme chose au
Karabakh. Mais apprendre le francais n’etait pas la preoccupation de
l’epoque”, dit-il.
Ils se sont maries en France un an plus tard, après qu’il se fut
remis d’une grave blessure a la jambe. Une petite fille est nee.
“Nous avons pris ensemble la decision de nous installer au Karabakh.
Si nous n’avions pas ete convaincus que la guerre ne recommencerait
pas, nous ne l’aurions sans doute pas fait”, explique Michel Tancrez.
Au debut la famille etait contre et leurs amis ne comprenaient pas.
“A present, mes nombreux amis commencent a s’interesser aux
programmes d’investissement au Karabakh et beaucoup d’entre eux
comptent venir nous rendre visite, cela ne leur fait plus peur”,
dit-il.
Le Fonds Armenie, alimente par la diaspora, construit au Karabakh des
ecoles, des hôpitaux, des routes, des systèmes de distribution d’eau,
apporte une aide aux jardins d’enfants et aux orphelins et aide les
ecoles de musique a se procurer des instruments.
“Il y a encore beaucoup a faire et je veux faire plus de choses pour
le Karabakh”, declare “le Francais”.
Il n’est pas facile du tout de vivre au Karabakh où l’on manque
parfois des produits les plus elementaires mais il dit ne jamais
avoir doute du bien-fonde de sa decision.
En tant que citoyen francais, il ne peut voter pour le Parlement mais
il a decide de faire partie des observateurs au scrutin de dimanche,
car il considère que de la facon dont se deroulera le vote depend
l’avenir de ce petit pays où il compte vivre longtemps avec sa femme
et sa fille, aujourd’hui âgee de 9 ans.
–Boundary_(ID_c2wowEA94o+sb7MT9HVa4Q)–

Soviet WWII vet saw enough death, devoted his life to diplomacy
By Ivonne D’Amato
Centre Daily Times, PA
June 18 2005
[email protected]
It was a warm July day in 1941 when Victor Israelyan, newly arrived at
the front lines of the Soviet-German conflict, heard the sirens blast.
He gathered a young nurse in his arms and they ran through the ruin
and death of a small town in the Soviet Union.
“I had her in my arms,” Israelyan said, his eyes wide. “I heard the
German planes come over us with automatic guns firing.”
He paused, somberly staring into the past.
“I felt her fall from my arms,” Israelyan said. “Can you imagine the
young nurse had three wounds in her back, and I was safe? She was
only 20 years old.”
Israelyan was 25 at the time, a physician. The day after he graduated
from First Moscow Medical Institute, he and 800 classmates were sent
to the front lines of World War II.
His experiences there would shape the rest of his life, prompting him
to abandon the practice of medicine to become a diplomat. He went on
to negotiate missile treaties, befriend a president and author more
than 10 books on diplomacy and the Cold War.
Eventually, it brought him to Penn State, and State College, where
he lives today with his wife.
Throughout Israelyan’s home are mementos from his life. Pictures
of grandchildren share space with a picture and mounted letter from
President George H.W. Bush, a small Soviet flag astronaut Alan Shepard
took to the moon and a photo of himself in his Soviet army uniform,
his chest covered in medals.
At age 85, he moves in a slow shuffle across the room. He is of
Armenian descent, he says, but considers himself Russian because his
mother tongue is Russian.
“I want to salute the veterans of World War II. Soon, we will all pass
away,” Israelyan says in a voice slightly slurred by the effects of
four strokes, but still thick with an accent.
He throws himself into his office chair and gestures with his hands:
“What do you want to know?”
Israelyan didn’t become a physician to serve the military, he said.
“My father was a physician. … I wanted to be a doctor like my
father.”
But as he was attending medical school, Adolf Hitler’s military was
invading the Soviet Union. The war, Israelyan said, was “unexpected.”
Before it ended, the Soviet Army would lose 9 million soldiers and
another 19 million in civilian deaths, more than any of the Allied
armies.
“It is difficult to say how many battles I was in,” Israelyn said,
“but it was terrible.”
He still is haunted by one particular incident.
“In my regiment, there was a group of 18-year-old Kazakhs. They did
not even speak Russian, so they could not communicate with the rest
of us,” said Israelyan, noting that the Soviet army consisted not only
of Russians but also ethnic groups such as Jews, Kazakhs and Armenians.
“They (the Kazakhs) were from a small village, so they did not
understand what the war was for.”
Two Kazakhs were sent to scout ahead of Israelyan’s regiment, he said.
“Two hours later, one of the two returns crying, shot in the arm, and
he says, ‘The Germans shot us and killed my brother, my colleague.’ ”
Officers were suspicious of the young Kazakh’s story. Israelyan was
ordered to investigate.
It turned out the two Kazakhs made a “secret deal,” Israelyan said, to
shoot each other in the arm in hopes of gaining medical discharges. The
one who returned accidentally killed his friend.
“I had to report what happened to the colonel,” Israelyan said.
The injured Kazakh was executed for treason.
“I felt quite guilty because he told me the truth,” Israelyan said
apologetically. “I had to report it. I had tears.”
The turning point of the war came when the Soviet forces
counterattacked near Stalingrad, now Volgograd, in November 1942.
Thousands of German troops and their allies were cut off. Shortly
after the Nazis’ surrender at Stalingrad, Israelyan said he stood in
what had once been a thriving city.
“You cannot imagine,” he said. “It was a horrible situation.
Everything was destroyed. Stalingrad was more destroyed than Berlin.
There was no living thing left.”
Of the almost 800 people who graduated from medical school with
Israelyan, fewer than half returned from the war, he said.
“One of my closest friends, who was my roommate in medical school,
committed suicide because he was captured by the Germans,” Israelyan
said. He was released, “and when he returned to Russia he was accused
of being a traitor.”
Israelyan said the idea of being branded a traitor was too much for
his former roommate to handle.
But Israelyan said the war gave him a new purpose in life. “I was a
disappointed physician. I saw people my age killed so I had to become
a keeper of peace — a diplomat.”
Israelyan attended the Diplomatic Academy in Moscow from 1944 to
’46, later attended Cambridge University and, in 1960, earned a
doctorate in historical science from the Moscow State Institute of
International Relations.
“The war was five years, but the rest of my very long life was in
diplomacy, teaching, writing and lecturing,” he said.
For 20 years, Israelyan lectured at the academy and the State
University in Erevan, Armenia. Another 20 were spent as a diplomat
to the United Nations.
In 1968, Israelyan was appointed ambassador and first deputy permanent
representative of the Soviet Union to the U.N.
>>From 1975 to ’86, he headed the Soviet delegation to the U.N. and
worked on several treaties, including the Seabed and the Biological
Weapons and Non-Proliferation treaties in Geneva.
He was, he said, “regretfully, a cold warrior.”
“You have to be grateful there was no World War III,” he said. “And
that was a great success as a cold warrior.”
It was while working on the non-proliferation of nuclear arms during
the 1980s that he met George H.W. Bush, who would later become
president. Over the years, they became friends, Israelyan said.
“He is a hero, not because he was the former president, because he
was my brethren and colleague,” he said. “He was of the West and I
was of the East.”
In 1987, Israelyan retired from the foreign ministry. He later became
a visiting lecturer at Stanford and Harvard universities. In 1991, he
was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to teach topics such as diplomacy,
political science and arms reduction at Penn State.
He has been a State College resident ever since. Although retired,
Israelyan is working on his 12th book.
Israelyan said he still thinks of Russia as his motherland, but said
he loves the United States.
And he said he hopes to see a stabilized, democratic Russia. “It is
not for me and not for my children, but for my grandchildren.”
The 25-year-old physician who walked straight into the trenches of
war in 1941 saw many lives slip through his hands, but his was spared.
“God saved me.”

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
June 17, 2005, Friday
THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE COLLECTIVE SECURITY
TREATY HAS ARRIVED IN ARMENIA
Nikolai Bordyuzha, Secretary-General of the Organization of the
Collective Security Treaty (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Russia and Tajikistan) arrived in Yerevan yesterday. He will inform
the Armenian leadership about the situation in the Organization.
He will meet with Armenian President Robert Kocharyan. In addition he
will hold negotiations with the Armenian defense minister and
secretary of the Security Council. They will discuss issues, which
will be raised at the June session of the Collective security
council, the council of foreign ministers, the council of defense
ministers and the committee of secretaries of the Security Councils.

A. GUL: WE SERIOUSLY WARN COUNTRIES ACCUSING TURKEY IN COMMITTING GENOCIDE
Pan Armenian News
17.06.2005 04:32
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “The struggle against Armenian statements is a
priority task of the Government foreign policy. Working out a new
strategy is most important to us,” the Turkish Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul stated, Turkish media reported. “We have made a
historical proposal to Armenia – the PM sent a letter to Armenian
President Robert Kocharian, officially presenting the proposals of
the Turkish party over the disputable issue. Our evaluation of the
response letter of April 26 was positive. The availability of common
approaches in these 2 letters for dialogue is still being studied,”
he remarked. Turning to countries that have recognized the Armenian
Genocide, the Turkish FM said, “We seriously warn countries, whose
parliaments accuse Turkey and the Turkish people in committing a
genocide. No one is entitled to accuse the Turkish people based on
distortion of historical facts and political profit.” As reported
by the Azg Daily, touching upon the Armenian-Turkish relations,
Gul underscored the Armenian party is fully responsible for their
unsettled state. “I want to specially accentuate that our Government is
not against normalization of relations with Armenia. On the contrary,
it will promote establishment of stability in the region and creation
of atmosphere of cooperation. We work for gradual establishment of
normal relations. Our dialogue with Armenia will continue with task
of this kind to overcome absence of mutual confidence between the
two countries,” he summed up, Regnum news agency reported.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkey’s Premier in Beirut as Armenians Stage Street Protests
An-Nahar, Lebanon
June 16 2005
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a round of talks with
Lebanon’s Premier Najib Mikati on expanding bilateral relations and
was the guest of honor at the Arab Economic Forum for Investment and
Arab Capital Markets, which opened in the Lebanese capital Thursday.
Erdogan flew in Wednesday and was awarded a red carpet welcome at
Rafik Hariri Beirut airport although hundreds of Lebanese Armenians
were demonstrating in the capital’s district of Bourj Hammoud against
Turkey’s refusal to recognize what Armenia and several other countries
regard as an act of genocide.
Armenians say Turks killed up to 1.5 million Armenians in eastern
Turkey between 1915 and 1923. Turks claim the number is inflated and
that the victims were killed in civil unrest or during deportation
to Syria.
The Lebanese protesters burned a Turkish flag and closed their shops
for an hour in Bourj Hammoud, which has a large Armenian community.
Some 100,000 Armenians live in Lebanon.
A newly elected Armenian member of parliament, Hagob Pakradounian,
said Lebanon must follow 18 other countries in officially recognizing
the killings as genocide. Speaking to reporters, he demanded that
Turkey recognize the massacre.
Erdogan and his wife, wearing a purple headscarf, visited the residence
of slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to pay their condolences to
his widow, Nazek. Later, the three visited Hariri’s grave on Martyrs’
Square in central Beirut. Hariri was killed with 20 other people in
a massive bombing in Beirut on Feb. 14.
Erdogan also met President Emile Lahoud and Speaker Nabih Berri
on Thursday.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918 Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
PRESS RELEASE +++ PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Contact: Vrouir Frankian
Tel: (281) 543-8274
HOUSTON HOLOCAUST MUSEUM HOSTS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE LECTURE
— William Parsons, Chief of Staff of the US Holocaust Museum presents
lecture to a capacity crowd
HOUSTON, TX – On May 26, 2005 William Parsons, Chief of Staff of
the United States Holocaust Museum and Memorial presented a lecture
entitled “Remembering the Past for Sake of the Future” at the Houston
Holocaust Museum. Over one hundred Houstonians, the majority of
whom were not of Armenian descent, attended this lecture. Several
local and international dignitaries, including Mr. Peter Berkowitz,
incoming Chairman of the Houston Holocaust Museum, and Ambassador
Edward Djerejian of the Baker Institute also attended.
“The Armenian Community of Texas welcomes Ambassador Djerejian’s
presence at an outstanding event which, most appropriately, examined
the many dimensions of the Armenian Genocide,” said Texas community
activist Philip M. Kanayan, Esq.
Mr. Parsons’ lecture centered on the similarities of genocides and
how the Armenian Genocide is a classical genocide. He did this by
comparing the Armenian Genocide to the modern day genocides in Darfur
and Bosnia Herzegovina. Following the lecture, Mr. Parsons allowed
for a question and answer session. Local Turkish community members
attempted to question the validity of Armenian Genocide. Mr. Parsons
stated that this issue has already been established by a preponderance
of genocide scholars and that no additional proof was necessary.
This event also marked the final days of an Armenian Genocide exhibit
entitled “The Forgotten Genocide Exhibit” that was hosted by the
Houston Holocaust Museum from March 29 through June 8, 2005. The
exhibit was sponsored by the Armenian National Committee of Texas.
“The Armenian National Committee of Texas would like to thank the
Houston Holocaust Museum for its moral courage and leadership in
hosting this exhibit,” stated Vatche Hovsepian of the ANC of Texas.
The Houston Holocaust Museum is bringing Dr. Richard Hovannisian of
UCLA for a Genocide curriculum training session for teachers on July
26 and 27. Dr. Hovannisian will be giving a public lecture at the
Museum the evening of the July 26. All are welcomed and encouraged
to attend. Admission to the Museum is free.
The ANCA is the largest and most influential Armenian American
grassroots political organization. Working in coordination with a
network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the United
States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA actively
advances the concerns of the Armenian-American community on a broad
range of issues.
Editor’s Note: Photos attached. Photo 1 caption: Chief of Staff
of the US Holocaust Museum and Memorial William Parsons (left) with
Houston Holocaust Museum chair-elect Peter Berkowitz. Photo 2 caption:
William Parsons (right) with Holocaust survivor Chaja Verveer.
#####

BORDYUJA MET THE PRESIDENT
A1plus
| 17:54:58 | 15-06-2005 | Official |
Today Robert Kocharyan received Nikolay Bordyuja, Secretary General
of the Joint Security Agreement Organization.
The sides discussed the issues included in the agenda of the Joint
Security Council session to take part in Moscow on June 22-23, the
problems faced by the Organization, the ways of their solution and
the further activity of the organization.
Nikolay Bordyuja represented the works done combating narco trafficking
and human trafficking, as well as the active anti-terrorist actions
in the context of the present challenges.
Issues about the military-technical cooperation within the framework
of the Joint Security Agreement Organization were also discussed.

MEETING DEDICATED TO YEAR OF ARMENIA IN FRANCE HELD IN LYONS
Pan Armenian News
13.06.2005 06:47
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Heads of about 40 Armenian-French organizations of
Lyons and Rhône-Alpes held a meeting dedicated to the Year of Armenia
in France, RA Foreign Ministry’s press center reported. During the
meeting Armenian Ambassador to France Edward Nalbandian familiarized
the participants with the events scheduled within the frames of the
Year. The interlocutors stressed that the decision by the Armenian
and French President proves high level of relations between the two
countries. The meeting participants also highlighted the opportunity
of presenting the Armenian cultural values in France as well Europe
and the whole world. To remind, 2006 was declared Year of Armenia
in France.
–Boundary_(ID_vemAZf9bOxU5Kh5RFn+lMA)–

26 KARABAKH CHILDREN WITH MUSCOLOSKELETAL DISEASES TREATED IN GERMANY
STEPANAKERT, June 13. /ARKA/. Twenty-six children with muscoloskeletal
diseases from the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) have been treated
in Germany since 1996 under a program implemented by the German
Fund Health to Children. The next group of children wishing to go to
Germany for treatment is being examined at the Stepanakert Children’s
Hospital now. They are mostly children that received traumas typical
of post-Soviet states.
The children will spend about 6 months in Germany. P.T. -0–