Author: Yeghisabet Arthur

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief
=================================================
Friday 20 May 2005
NAGORNO-KARABAKH: BAPTIST FACES TWO YEARS JAIL OR TWO YEARS FORCED LABOUR
Baptist conscript Gagik Mirzoyan faces either being jailed or sent to do
forced labour for two years for refusing, on religious grounds, to swear
the military oath, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Mirzoyan has been
beaten up several times in two different military units in
Nagorno-Karabakh since being called up last December, when he refused to
serve with weapons. He has also been detained for more than 10 days for
sharing his faith with other soldiers and possessing several Christian
calendars. Mirzoyan’s trial has now been set for June and fellow Baptists
have told Forum 18 that the “harsh reality” of the maltreatment
Baptist conscripts suffered in the Soviet era is returning. Gagik
Mirzoyan’s congregation has earlier faced harassment from the Karabakh
authorities and other Protestants and religious minorities, especially
Jehovah’s Witnesses, have faced restrictions on their activity.
NAGORNO-KARABAKH: BAPTIST FACES TWO YEARS JAIL OR TWO YEARS FORCED LABOUR
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
Baptist conscript Gagik Mirzoyan, who has been beaten several times in two
different military units in Nagorno-Karabakh and detained for more than 10
days since being called up last December, now faces up to two years in
prison or in a forced labour battalion. His trial for refusing to swear
the military oath on religious grounds is set for June, Mirzoyan’s fellow
Baptists told Forum 18 News Service on 18 May from the unrecognised
republic in the South Caucasus. The Baptists recalled the maltreatment
Baptist conscripts suffered during the Soviet era. “Now the harsh
reality is returning,” they told Forum 18.
Ashot Yegonyan, senior investigator at the public prosecutor’s office of
the Hadrut region of south-eastern Nagorno-Karabakh, told Mirzoyan’s
mother on 18 May that charges have been laid against her son under Article
364 part 1 of the Nagorno-Karabakh criminal code. This punishes
“refusal to perform one’s military duties” with detention of up
to 3 months, disciplinary battalion of up to 2 years or imprisonment of up
to 2 years. Nagorno-Karabakh has adopted the Armenian criminal code.
In the wake of his conscription in December 2004, Mirzoyan refused to
serve with weapons and swear the military oath because of his faith. He
was beaten and pressured by the commander of the unit to which he was
transferred and Fr Petros Yezegyan, the unit’s Armenian Apostolic military
chaplain. The army then agreed he could serve in a non-combat role without
weapons and without swearing the oath, and he was transferred to a unit in
Hadrut region.
However, he was again beaten and punished with more than ten days in
detention in early April for sharing his faith with other soldiers and
possessing several Christian calendars (see F18News 15 April 2005
).
“I don’t have information about any trial,” Nagorno-Karabakh’s
deputy foreign minister Masis Mailyan told Forum 18 from the capital
Stepanakert. “I know about Mirzoyan though, as Baptists from the
United States and elsewhere keep writing to us about his case. But they
often have inaccurate information.” He denied that Mirzoyan had been
beaten since being conscripted, especially by an Armenian Apostolic
chaplain. “I don’t believe a chaplain could beat a conscript,”
Mailyan insisted. “It would go against Christian beliefs.”
An official at the Defence Ministry told Forum 18 from Stepanakert on 20
May that the minister, General Seyran Ohanyan, was out of the office and
that no-one else was immediately available. In February, Ohanyan had
denied to Forum 18 that Mirzoyan had been beaten and defended the system
of two-year compulsory military service for all young men in Karabakh. But
he seemed open to the idea of changing the law to allow those unable to
serve in the armed forces on religious grounds to be allowed some
alternative to military service (see F18News 22 February 2005
).
At present Nagorno-Karabakh has no provision for alternative service for
those who have religious or other conscientious objections to
participating in the armed forces. On 16 February a court in Stepanakert
handed down a four-year prison term to Areg Hovhanesyan, a Jehovah’s
Witness from Stepanakert who had refused to serve because of his faith but
had expressed a willingness to perform an alternative civilian service (see
F18News 22 February 2005
).
While both Mirzoyan and Hovhanesyan are local residents of Karabakh, the
Armenian authorities have illegally deported conscientious objectors who
are Armenian citizens to Karabakh against their will. Armenian authorities
routinely beat up and jail Baptist and Jehovah’s Witness conscientious
objectors. Armenia has also repeatedly broken its promises to the Council
of Europe to free its jailed conscientious objectors and to introduce a
genuinely civilian alternative to military conscription. One Jehovah’s
Witness deported from the Armenian capital Yerevan, Armen Grigoryan, goes
on trial in Stepanakert on 27 May and faces up to six years imprisonment
after refusing military service (see F18News 17 May 2005
).
Mailyan of the Foreign Ministry said he was not familiar with Armen
Grigoryan’s case, but found it hard to believe that an Armenian citizen
would be transferred by the Armenian military to Karabakh without the
individual’s permission. “We have Armenian soldiers serving here but
as far as I know they are all volunteers serving under contract,” he
insisted to Forum 18. “If it is the case that he was brought to
Karabakh against his will that would be strange. I will have to look into
this.”
Mailyan said he supported introducing a civilian alternative to military
service. “We are bringing our laws into line with European
standards,” he claimed. “Such standards include offering a
civilian alternative service.” But he warned that in the situation of
the unresolved war with the Azerbaijani government, which is seeking to
regain control over the enclave, “it will be difficult to find a
balance between protecting our national security and protecting human
rights”. He feared many young men who did not want to serve in the
army would pretend to be doing so on religious grounds.
Gagik Mirzoyan’s congregation – which belongs to the Council of Churches
Baptists, who refuse on principle to register with the state authorities
in post-Soviet countries – earlier faced harassment from the
Karabakh authorities. The local police raided the Stepanakert church last
September, confiscating religious literature and questioning church
members (see F18News 27 September 2004
). Other Protestants and
religious minorities – especially the Jehovah’s Witnesses –
have faced restrictions on their activity in Karabakh, though this has
eased in recent years.
A printer-friendly map of the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is
available at
;Rootmap=azerba
within the map titled ‘Azerbaijan’.
(END)
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News
Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at
–Boundary_(ID_dgMBOPI+/F6gqkZX1jgHLA)–

OSCE MINSK GROUP MEMBERS ARE WORKING ON ARRANGING NEXT ROUND OF TALKS ON KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
YEREVAN, May 19. /ARKA/. OSCE Minsk Group members are working on
arranging next round of talks on Karabakh settlement, according to
the statement of Hamlet Gasparyan, Press Secretary of RA Foreign
Minister. According to him, Armenia positively evaluates the last
meeting of Armenian and Azeri President in Warsaw. “This meeting
was a step forward to Karabakh conflict settlement and provides an
opportunity for continuous discussions at Foreign Ministers’ level
within the framework of the “Prague process”, says the statement. The
Warsaw meeting was favorably received by the world community and by
OSCE MG Co-chairs, in particular.
At the same time, Gasparyan refuted the announcements of Azerbaijan
about the return of the territories under the control of Armenian
troops, and noted that “it doesn’t correspond to the facts”.
L.V.–0–

Armenian Parliament To Amend Controversial Law On Rallies
Baku Today
19/05/2005 09:36
The National Assembly is expected to pass on Thursday amendments
to Armenia’s controversial law on rallies which pan-European human
rights organizations say infringes on its citizens’ constitutionally
guaranteed freedom of assembly.
The parliament majority loyal to President Robert Kocharian will
almost certainly vote to make it somewhat easier for political and
other groups to organize public gatherings. But it will also keep in
force one of the most controversial provisions of the legislation which
bans demonstrations outside Kocharian’s official residence in Yerevan.
The presidential palace was included last year in the list of
“strategically important” locations such as the Metsamor nuclear plant
and an underground natural gas storage facility that are off limits
to any protesters. No gatherings can now be legally held within a
150-meter radius of those facilities.
The list was drawn up by the Armenian police and approved by the
government in August. Under one of the proposed amendments it will
be formally incorporated into the text of the law, making any changes
in it even more difficult. Deputy parliament speaker Tigran Torosian
claimed that such restrictions exist in some European countries.
But Manuk Gasparian, one of two opposition lawmakers that attended
Wednesday’s parliamentary debate on the amendments, strongly criticized
the provision. “The people have a right to appeal to their elected
president on any issue,” he said.
“Last year’s incident near the presidential palace doesn’t mean that
the building should be included in the list of strategic sites,”
Gasparian added, referring to an April 2004 opposition rally that
was violently dispersed by security forces.
The overnight protest marked the climax of an opposition campaign of
demonstrations aimed at forcing Kocharian to resign. The unsuccessful
campaign is thought to have been instrumental in the law’s enactment
on May 4, 2004.
The so-called Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, a body
monitoring legislative reform in the organization’s member states,
concluded afterward that the law does not meet European standards
for freedom of assembly. Similar conclusions were drawn by experts
from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
In particular, the Europeans expressed concern at legal provisions
giving the police sweeping powers to “forcibly discontinue”
demonstrations in case of unspecified “violations of the law” and
calls for a “violent overthrow” of government.
Parliament majority leaders said on Wednesday that they have accepted
most of the recommendations made by the Venice Commission. They
argued that the amended law would allow law-enforcement officials
to disperse a demonstration only if it poses a threat to “public and
state security” and disrupts “the public’s calm at night.”
“If a rally proceeds in a natural way, then nobody will have the
right to stop it,” said Torosian.
Another draft amendment would simplified procedures for notifying
relevant authorities of plans to rally people in a particular location.
The parliament’s two opposition factions, which did not attend the
debate in line with their long-running boycott of parliament sessions,
have dismissed the changes as cosmetic.

Shahin Farhat’s ‘Damavand Symphony’ to Be Released Soon
Iranian.ws
May 18, 2005
Damavand Symphony, a masterpiece by well-known Iranian composer Shahin
Farhat, will be released next week. Farhat conducted the symphony
which was performed by the Armenian radio and television orchestra
and a recording of this will be available next week.
The composer described the symphony as the best music he had created
so far. He said that the symphony is in three beautiful movements,
conveying the secrets of the high mountain standing proudly to the
northeast of Tehran.
He said that Mount Damavand is a symbol of national pride and source
of inspiration for Iranians. In related news, the Music Center of the
Arts Division of the Islamic Propagation Organization will release
Siamak Shajarian’s album ‘Fondler of Heart’ with music by Mohammad
Javad Zarabian.
The album ‘Road Mirror’ by vocalist Hessameddin Seraj will be
released soon.
In addition to the albums, some 15 titles of books about music
and three titles of other books have been presented in the
recently-concluded Tehran International Book Fair.

KOCHARIAN-ERDOGAN MEETING DID NOT TAKE PLACE DESPITE EXPECTATIONS
Pan Armenian News
17.05.2005 04:46
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In spite of the forecasts and expectations
Armenian President Robert Kocharian did not meet with Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan within the third Council of Europe
Summit in Warsaw, reported Mediamax news agency. As reported by
Armenian delegation members, there was no agreement on holding
a Kocharian-Erdogan meeting and all the reports that it is being
arranged was spread exclusively by Turkish media. At the same time
Turkish journalists covering the CoE Summit emphasized that May 15
evening Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated there was no arrangement over
meeting with Robert Kocharian.

Armenia to give up seven occupied Azeri territories – Azeri official
AFX Europe (Focus)
May 16, 2005
BAKU, Azerbaijan (AFX) – Armenia is ready to give up the seven regions
of Azerbaijan it occupied during an early 1990s war for the Nagorny
Karabakh enclave, Azerbaijan’s foreign minister Elmar Mamedyarov told
ATV today.
“They have agreed to give up all the regions, but they are thinking
when” they should do this, Mamedyarov told the network in Warsaw,
where the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenian held talks on Sunday.
However, an unidentified Armenian foreign ministry official in Yerevan
has told Agence France-Presse that he has no information about such
a agreement.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a stalemate over the
majority ethnic-Armenian enclave since they signed a ceasefire to a
six-year war in 1994.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Baltimore Sun, MD
May 14 2005
Historian writes love letter to the city of Salonica

Salonica, City of Ghosts
By Mark Mazower. Alfred A. Knopf. 474 pages. $35.
The grand metropolises of northern Europe – Paris, London, Berlin –
helped create the Western ideal of worldly, sophisticated cities.
Western travelers imagined every great city as places with large open
spaces and wide boulevards. Dense traffic became a measure of
vitality. So were bright lights and the preening and babble at cafes.
Salonica, for nearly five centuries one of the greatest trading
centers of Europe, defied every expectation, as Mark Mazower, a
Columbia University professor of history, chronicles in his
exhaustive, affectionate biography of the city, a deeply researched
account that becomes a portrait of the singular, vanished
cosmopolitanism of the Ottoman Empire.
“Rotten houses. Smell of rotten wood,” Herman Melville wrote in his
journal after a typically chaotic landing at Salonica’s port on the
Aegean, seeing the city’s distinctively dressed Muslims, Jews and
Christians, and touring the narrow, odorous lanes. “Imagine an
immense accumulation of the rags of all nations, and all colors
rained down on a dense mob, all struggling for huge bales and bundles
of rags, gesturing with all gestures and wrangling in all tongues.”
This was a different, more frenzied vitality than northern Europe’s.
Jaffa, Sofia, Sarajevo, even Beirut – all important Ottoman cities –
were backwaters compared with Salonica. After conquering the city in
1430, the Ottomans made themselves at home in the Upper Town, where
access to fresh air and fresh water were best; ice was delivered to
them for making sherbet. The city’s population doubled to 20,000 at
the end of the 1400s, thanks to the arrival of Jews expelled from
Spain, then grew to 30,000. The Jews were entrusted with
manufacturing uniforms for the empire’s infantry. Salonica’s trading
routes soon extended through the eastern Mediterranean, west to
Venice, and east to Persia and India.
The Sublime Porte, as the government in Constantinople was known,
nurtured an unruly religious tolerance. Salonica was the imperfect,
disorderly showcase for both religious antipathy and compromise. “The
city, delicately poised in its confessional balance of power – ruled
by Muslims, dominated by Jews, in an overwhelmingly Christian
hinterland – lent itself to an atmosphere of overlapping devotion,”
Mazower writes. “With time it became covered in a dense grid of holy
places – fountains, tombs, cemeteries, shrines and monasteries –
frequented by members of all faiths in search of divine
intercession.”
Until the city expanded beyond its walls, citizens of every faith
shared equally in its misfortunes. Fires repeatedly rendered
hundreds, then thousands of people homeless. Cholera killed hundreds,
then hundreds more. No visitors were feared more than the empire’s
plundering Albanians, and soldiers en route to war abducted people
for ransom. The pashas appointed by the Porte to govern the city
rarely stayed longer than a year and typically devoted that brief
tenure to extorting bribes.
For Westerners, the city and empire seemed wholly foreign. And for
that reason, Ottoman lands were deemed exotic and inferior. It was
the convention to highlight the empire’s corruption, to characterize
its weaknesses as a form of sinfulness. But Salonica nurtured great
verve in trade. Nationalism seemed less rational, less appealing, to
the city’s Muslims and Jews than did a loose allegiance to a distant
sultan. It is a worldliness mostly lost to us, a cosmopolitanism less
self-centered and strident than the national movements that succeeded
it.
The largest upheavals came during the first half of the 20th century.
After the Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913, the victorious Greeks
supplanted the vanquished Ottomans. In 1923, Greek refugees arrived
from Anatolia, where tens of thousands of Greeks and Armenians had
been murdered, and the city’s remaining Muslims fled to Turkey. The
final, terrible chapter in the city’s transformation came in 1943,
when the Nazis deported Salonica’s Jews to Auschwitz.
It is almost always a mistake to disparage the present. Salonica –
Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece – is now a more
rationally governed city, its streets wider, its nights busier, its
citizens materially richer. But Mazower’s deep excavation of its
history, and especially of its frail communalism, is a reminder of
qualities that the city, the Balkans and all the eastern
Mediterranean can no longer claim as their own.
Robert Ruby is The Sun’s foreign editor.

Report: Turkish, Armenian leaders expected to meet next week
AP Worldstream
May 13, 2005

Leaders of neighbors Turkey and Armenia are expected to meet for rare talks
at a summit next week, a news agency said Friday.
Turkey’s Anatolia news agency said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan and Armenian President Robert Kocharian were expected to meet on the
sidelines of a Council of Europe summit scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Warsaw.
The date of the meeting was not specified.
Turkish and Armenian officials could not immediately confirm the report.
However, Council of Europe spokesman Can Fisek said there were “strong
indications” the leaders would meet.
The talks are widely expected to focus on efforts to promote dialogue between
the two countries, which do not have diplomatic relations.
The two countries sharply disagree over the mass killings of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks during World War I, which Armenians say was genocide.
Erdogan has indicated the countries might establish political ties if Armenia
agreed to join a joint commission to investigate the killings. Armenia says
it is ready to re-establish relations with Turkey, but without any
preconditions.
Armenians say some 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a deliberate
genocidal campaign by Ottoman Empire authorities. But Turkey says that death toll is
inflated and Armenians were killed or displaced in civil unrest during the
collapse of the empire.
The issue has gained new urgency as Turkey seeks membership in the European
Union.

Armenia to vacate occupied Azeri areas “with proviso”, diplomatic source says
Ekspress, Baku
13 May 05

Text of report by APA news agency in the Azerbaijani newspaper
Ekspress on 13 May headlined “Has Armenia agreed to vacate our seven
districts?”
Armenia has agreed to gradually withdraw troops from Azerbaijani
territories it has occupied, APA has learnt from diplomatic sources.
The gradual withdrawal of the Armenian troops from the seven occupied
districts was discussed at a meeting in London between the Azerbaijani
and Armenian foreign ministers and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen.
Azerbaijan submitted to the Minsk Group co-chairmen its proposed
changes to the plan. The co-chairmen discussed the proposals with
[Armenian Foreign Minister] Vardan Oskanyan.
The final draft of the plan which had been agreed with Armenia was
submitted to the Baku government later. The plan based on a 5+1+1
formula envisages initially the withdrawal of the Armenian troops from
five districts. These are Qubadli, Zangilan, Fuzuli, Cabrayil and
Agdam Districts. The sides will strike a peace deal after Azerbaijan
takes control over these territories. As soon as the accord is signed,
the Armenian armed forces will first vacate Kalbacar and then Lacin
Districts.
The source said that at the insistence of Azerbaijan a point has been
included in the document which stipulates that “the signed document
will lose its force if the troops are not withdrawn according to
schedule”. The document which was agreed at the level of foreign
ministers will be discussed at a meeting between the Azerbaijani and
Armenian presidents in Warsaw on 15-16 May. Russia and Turkey have
already been informed of the plan drawn up by Armenia on the
withdrawal from the seven occupied districts.
Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov who visited Turkey
early this week has briefed Ankara on the 5+1+1 formula suggested by
Armenia.
The diplomatic source said that even though Armenia had agreed with
some proviso to Azerbaijan establishing control over the seven
districts, the Baku government wants the Armenian armed forces to
vacate its territories without any conditions and it is not completely
happy with the plan.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian President
Robert Kocharyan will also discuss the withdrawal of the Armenian
troops from the seven districts in Warsaw on 15-16 May.
We failed to find out what the authorities think about the issue.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
05/11/2005
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) ANCA Darfur Genocide Vigil to Call on US for Decisive Action 2) US Ambassador Feldman Meets with ARF Lebanon Representatives 3) Hawk Khatcherian's 'Yerkir' Recaptures Lost Land 4) New 3D Model Portrays Shushi's Liberation 5) Safarov's Hearing Adjourned until September 27 1) ANCA Darfur Genocide Vigil to Call on US for Decisive Action WASHINGTON, DC--As the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) joined the growing coalition seeking decisive US action to stop the ongoing Genocide in Darfur, Sudan, it will hold a vigil, "Armenian Americans against the Darfur Genocide," urging the US government to take principled action and avoid the terrible cost of indifference. The ANCA vigil, part of a series of weekly Wednesday vigils by Africa Action, will take place on Wednesday, May 25, at Lafayette Park, across from the White House, from 5:30-6:30 pm. In April, the ANCA circulated an action alert to more than 50,000 activists in every US state, and called on Armenian Americans to work for the adoption of Congressional resolutions in favor of the appointment of a Presidential Special envoy to Sudan and the imposition of sanctions against the Sudanese Government. Known as the Darfur Accountability Act of 2005 (S.495), the measure, introduced on March 2 by Senators Jon Corzine (D-NJ) and Sam Brownback (R-KS), calls for a new UN Security Council resolution with sanctions, an extension of the current arms embargo to cover the Government of Sudan, and as well as the freezing of assets of those responsible for genocide and war crimes in Darfur. The Special Presidential Envoy for Sudan would work with all parties and the international community to stop the genocide in Darfur and help craft a comprehensive peace plan. Following the introduction of the Darfur Accountability Act, Illinois Senator Richard Durbin spoke in the support of the measure, citing a state's inherent responsibility to stop genocide. The escalation of Congressional efforts regarding the Darfur Genocide coincides with an expanded Sudanese government effort to deny its role in the ongoing tragedy. In a March 22nd front page Washington Post article, Sudan's First Vice-President Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha argued that, "his government had received an unfair share of the blame for the war in Darfur." The Washington Post article, which presented highlights from an interview with the First Vice-President continued: "We do understand and appreciate people having sympathy with the victims of Darfur," said Taha, 57, who called the situation a 'sad chapter' in Sudan's history. But he added: "This was not genocide, but an unfortunate internal conflict...that has nothing to do with ethnic cleansing. We urge people to see the difference between the innocents caught in the middle and the rebels who are escalating their claims to gain sympathy." "Genocide denial--of past atrocities or ongoing massacres--only serves to encourage perpetrators, emboldening them with the knowledge that their crimes can be committed with impunity," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "As Armenian Americans, we are reminded by the Sudanese government's efforts to blame the victims--like its hollow claims of self-defense--of the Turkish government's campaign--now in its ninth decade, to escape responsibility for the Armenian Genocide." Additional information about the Darfur Genocide can be found at: Africa Action or Save Darfur For more information or questions on the May 25 Darfur Vigil, call (202) 775-1918 or visit <; 2) US Ambassador Feldman Meets with ARF Lebanon Representatives BEIRUT (Aztagdaily.com)--US Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feldman met on Tuesday with central committee members of Lebanon's Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Also attending the meeting were state ministers Sebouh Hovnanian and Alain Tabourian. The focus of discussions were on current regional and local political developments, with the ARF representatives conveying their party's stance on the issues. They stressed the importance of mass participation in upcoming elections in Lebanon, and strict adherence to a democratic electoral process. Ambassador Feldman emphasized the fundamental issue remains that a new Lebanon must emerge based on principals of democracy. 3) Hawk Khatcherian's 'Yerkir' Recaptures Lost Land YEREVAN--(Combined Sources)--Hrair "Hawk" Khatcherian's photographs of Western Armenia, captured in an album called "Yerkir," was presented on May 11 at the Sergei Parajanov Museum in Yerevan. "Armenian architects have been denied the opportunity to study the historical and cultural monuments of Western Armenia," said architect Dr. Mourad Hasratian during the ceremony, explaining that Hawk's photos not only serve to fill that gap, but also document the fact that Armenians once lived and thrived in Western Armenia. "Symbolically named Yerkir, this album of photographs serves as legitimate proof of that, and is a tool for future generations to raise the issue of territorial rights." Yerkir features 460 photographs of the Western Armenian cities of Ani, Erzeroum, Gars, Moush, Sis, Van, and Zeitun, taken between 1992 and 2004. "This album is a document; it's our weapon. There is vast territory that we had not seen until now," said Parajanov Museum director Zaven Sarkissian, stressing the album must be used as textbook in every Armenian home. "Growing up with this album, our next generation will be able to speak with force, in a tone different then our's." "Yerkir" also documents the condition of monuments in Western Armenia by juxtaposing current photos with those taken at the turn of the 20th century. Khatcherian says that little has preserved; monuments in Western Armenia, specifically churches, have either been destroyed or converted into stables or mosques. The album also contains unique photos of the "Naregatsi stones." The Armenian poet Krikor Naregatsi (951-1003) wrote his mystical poem "Book of Lamentations" on the stones. Hrair Khatcherian has dedicated the album "Yerkir" to his "venerable teacher" Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian, who passed away on December 2, 2003. Khatcherian's first album, published in 1997, Artsakh: A photographic Journey, captures the vitality of the people of Mountainous Karabagh Republic, and their courage in the struggle to be free. Born in Lebanon, Khatcherian currently lives in Canada with his wife Lena and their two children Lori and Palig. For more information, contact Khatcherian at [email protected]. 4) New 3D Model Portrays Shushi's Liberation SHUSHI (Armenpress)--In a ceremony held on May 9, the Tufenkian Foundation unveiled a relief model depicting the May 9, 1992 liberation of Shushi--the military operation widely regarded as the turning point in the Karabagh war, after which Armenians succeeded in removing Azeri occupation from the enclave. The ceremony was held at the Shushi Historical Museum, which now houses the model in a special display hall created for this purpose. Levon Garibyan, a specialist from the Armenian State Geodesy Institute, created the model. Opening the ceremony was Armen Harutunian of the Tufenkian Foundation, who explained that the model is designed to heighten public pride and awareness of Shushi's liberation--how it was accomplished and its historic military significance. He then introduced Antranig Kasbarian, also of the Foundation, who explained that the Shushi model project forms part of the Foundation's efforts to renovate the Shushi museum, as well as of larger efforts to revitalize Shushi. "This small ceremony serves to highlight one of the illustrious pages of our past, and how Shushi is indelibly linked with the Armenian cause for liberation," he said. "At the same time, we cannot content ourselves with past accomplishments; the true liberation of Shushi will come when we rebuild this historic city from its war-torn status, brick by brick, into a living, vibrant place where Armenians may flourish." Harutunian explained that the model has been sponsored in memory of the late Vahe Maroukhian, an Armenian-American activist who was devoted to Shushi's liberation, as well as the Armenian Cause. Vahe's sister, Shaghig Maroukhian, was also on hand to convey her words of appreciation. Attendees were treated to a live-action demonstration of the model, conducted by Shushi Museum director Ashot Harutunian. Harutunian depicted the various military positions and lines of attack involved in the operation, assisted by light-activated routes shown on the model. 5) Safarov's Hearing Adjourned until September 27 BUDAPEST (Combined Sources)--A Hungarian court trying the case of an Armenian officer slain by Azeri counterpart Ramil Safarov in Budapest, announced that the next session will be held on September 27. Hayk Demoyan, a representative of the Armenian armed forces, informed that during the hearing, which lasted 55 minutes, the judge said the forensic expertise was carried out twice and showed different results, thereby adjourning the case until the specified date. The court is to hear testimonies from forensic experts and eyewitnesses from Azerbaijan and Lithuania at the next hearing. He said some provisions of the second examination refer to the psychological condition of the Azeri officer at the moment of the crime, though, according to Demoyan, the examination's results are not final. According to Hungarian law, experts conducting the two examinations have to meet and give a final conclusion; otherwise, a third examination is possible. Safarov used an ax and a knife to kill Armenian lieutenant Gurgen Margarian in his sleep early morning on February 19, 2004. Both officers were attending an English language training course at the Hungarian National Defense University in Budapest as part of the NATO Partnership for Peace Program. Hungarian police said the murder was committed with "unusual cruelty"--the Armenian officer's head was nearly cut off--and was witnessed by the victim's Hungarian roommate who called the police. The Azeri then apparently intended to kill a second Armenian officer, sleeping in a room nearby, but was stopped by a Lithuanian officer, who was awakened by the noise. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2005 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets.