Category: News

Kirk Kerkorian Ranked 30th, Richard Manoogian Ranked
327th on New Forbes 400 Wealthiest Americans List
Forbes Magazine (Forbes.com)
September 23, 2004
Forbes 400 Richest in America in 2004
#30, Kerkorian, Kirk
Net Worth: $5.8 billion
Source: Investments, investments, casinos
Self made
Age: 87
Marital Status: divorced, 2 children, 3 divorces
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Undergraduate: High School, Diploma
Low-key investor hit jackpot with $7.9 billion
takeover of Mandalay Bay Resorts in June. MGM Mirage
stake now worth $3.4 billion. Former World War II
pilot got start selling Trans International Airlines
for $104 million profit in the 1960s. Invested
proceeds in Vegas: acquired Flamingo hotel 1967, built
International hotel 1969. Sold both properties to
Hilton Hotels in 1970. Built first MGM Grand (now
Bally’s), opened second incarnation 1993. Bought Steve
Wynn’s Mirage Resorts for $6.4 billion in 2000.
Longtime love affair with MGM movie studio appears to
be coming to an end: takeover negotiations with Sony
heating up. Originally purchased studio 1970; sold to
Ted Turner 1986, bought back months later. Sold again
1990. Picked up a third time 1996. Personally netted
$1 billion when studio paid massive $8 dividend to
investors in May. Continues to push lawsuit against
DaimlerChrysler over 1998 merger; testified in
Delaware court in December. DCX shareholders now
accusing Kerkorian of insider trading.
;passYear04&passListType=Person&uniqueId=NINP&datatype=Person
****************************************************
#327, Manoogian, Richard Alexander
Net Worth: $950 million
Source: Manufacturing, Masco
Inherited and growing
Age: 68
Marital Status: married, 3 children
Hometown: Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan
Undergraduate: Yale University, Bachelor of Arts / Science
Son of Armenian immigrant Alex, who began Detroit auto
parts business Masco in 1929; later developed
single-handle Delta faucet. Richard joined in 1958,
became president a decade later, diversified by
acquiring several low-tech, high-margin businesses in
building and home-improvement products. Avid collector
of 19th- and early-20th-century American art, which he
loans to the White House and the National Gallery.
“Art is my one main diversion from work.”
;passYear04&passListType=Person&uniqueId=EZVQ&datatype=Person

The definition
History
The Times Literary Supplement (London)
September 17, 2004
Page 13
Book Review
Peter Balakian
“The Burning Tigris”
The Armenian genocide
474pp. Heinemann. 0 434 00816 8
US: HarperCollins. 0 060 19840 0
By Andrew Mango
It is easy to understand the anger and anguish of Armenian
nationalists. They gaze at their terra irredenta, historic Armenia
which lies almost entirely within the borders of the republic of
Turkey, and which is dotted with the ruins of monuments bearing
witness to the high culture of Armenian kingdoms before the Turkish
conquest from the eleventh century onward. But there are no irredenti
– no unredeemed Armenians – in historic Armenia or elsewhere in Asia
Minor. Nor are there any prospects of a reconquista. The population
of the small landlocked Armenian republic in the southern Caucasus has
fallen from over three million at the time of the dissolution of the
Soviet Union to an estimated two million today. One-fifth of the
territory of the neighbouring republic of Azerbaijan, which the
Armenians have occupied, lies largely empty after the flight of close
on one million of its Azeri inhabitants. There are not enough
Armenians to hold on to recent conquests, let alone to people their
terra irredenta in Turkey. Why have things come to such a sorry pass?
In his campaigning book, Peter Balakian seeks to persuade liberal
Americans in general, and members of the United States Congress in
particular, that the Turks alone are to blame, and that, for reasons
of realpolitik, the Christian West has failed to bring their crimes
home to them. In Balakian’s account, Muslim Turks have always
oppressed Christian Armenians. Oppression turned to unprovoked
massacre in the 1890s in the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and
peaked in genocide when the Young Turks deported the Armenians from
Asia Minor in 1915 during the First World War. It was, he argues, the
first genocide of the twentieth century and a model for the Jewish
Holocaust. The historical record does not support Balakian’s thesis.
For eight centuries – from 1071 when the Seljuk Turks defeated the
Byzantines at Manzikert, in historic Armenia, to the congress of
Berlin in 1878 when the Armenian Question entered the agenda of
international diplomacy – the Armenians lived as a self-governing
religious community perfectly integrated into the mosaic of Ottoman
society. They provided the Ottoman State with most of its craftsmen –
from humble farriers to imperial architects, from potters to
jewellers, and in modern times, mechanics, train drivers and
dentists. Not only did many, if not most, of them adopt Turkish as
their mother tongue, but in a rare linguistic phenomenon, the grammar
of the Armenian language was affected by Turkish morphology. The
Armenian contribution to Turkish culture was immense: they set up the
first modern Turkish theatre, they published books in Turkish, they
devised Turkish translations for new Western terms and concepts, they
were prominent in Turkish music, both as composers and performers.
Like other non-Muslim communities, the Armenians were among the main
beneficiaries of the nineteenth-century Tanzimat reforms which
proclaimed the equality of the Sultan’s subjects, regardless of
creed. The prosperity which the Tanzimat brought in its train drew the
Armenians from their harsh homeland on the eastern Anatolian plateau
to the great commercial centres of the Empire – to Trabzon, Istanbul,
Izmir and the market towns of Asia Minor, where, together with the
Greeks, they accounted for the bulk of a new middle class. The
Armenians had always been renowned as merchants and bankers; under the
Tanzimat many became senior civil servants. Right up to 1914 there
were Armenian ambassadors and Cabinet ministers serving the Ottoman
State. Balakian does not mention them. Of course, the Armenians had
grievances, particularly in the mountainous areas of eastern Anatolia,
where they were subject to the depredations of Kurdish tribes and of
destitute Circassian refugees, not to mention venal Ottoman
officials. But most Muslims were much worse off.
As a result of Armenian emigration and the immigration of Muslim
refugees fleeing from successive Russian advances in the Caucasus,
Muslims came to outnumber the Armenians by a large margin in historic
Armenia. There were prosperous Armenian communities everywhere, but
they were not in the majority in a single province. This posed the
biggest problem for Armenian nationalists, when they began to agitate
for autonomous government. In his celebrated essay, “Minorities,” Elie
Kedourie described how ideas originating in the West destroyed the
Armenian community in Asia Minor and the Jewish community in Iraq. In
the case of the Armenians, these ideas came through two channels –
from the Russian Empire where Armenian nationalism was born in the
revolutionary ferment opposition to the rule of the Tsars, and from
American missionaries whose schools produced the unintended effect of
alienating the Armenians from their Ottoman environment. Kedourie
relates how Armenian nationalist terrorism was the pretext for the
anti-Armenian pogroms of the 1890s – the first major inter-communal
clash between Muslims and Armenians, who had earlier been known to the
Ottomans as “the faithful nation.” Even if one disregards the
exaggerated figures put out by Armenian nationalists, and reduces the
number of people killed to the more likely figure of 20,000″30,000,
the pogroms were bad enough. But worse was to follow.
It was the decision of the Young Turks to enter the Great War on the
side of Germany against Russia and the other Allies that sealed the
fate of the Armenians. By 1914 there were roughly as many Armenians in
the Russian as in the Ottoman Empire. Torn between two warring sides,
the Armenians were bound to prefer the Christian Russians. One can
argue about the extent of the threat posed by Armenian irregulars to
the Ottoman army, which was trying to contain a Russian advance in
eastern Anatolia in 1915. In the words of the American military
historian Edward Erickson, “It is beyond doubt that the actuality of
Armenian revolts in the key cities astride the major eastern roads and
railroads posed a significant military problem in the real sense.”
But it is hard to argue that the problem justified the decision of
Enver Pasha and the other Young Turk leaders to deport almost the
entire Armenian population of Asia Minor (outside Izmir and, of
course, Istanbul). The Young Turks issued a sheaf of orders and
regulations which, in theory, were meant to ensure the humane
evacuation and transport of deportees. But as Erickson points out,
“Enver Pasha’s plans hinged on non-existent capabilities that
guaranteed inevitable failure.” An earlier military historian, Gwynne
Dyer, wrote: “I believe that historians will come to see [the Young
Turk leaders] not so much as evil men but as desperate, frightened
unsophisticated men struggling to keep their nation afloat in a crisis
far graver than they had anticipated, reacting to events rather than
creating them, and not fully realizing the extent of the horrors they
had set in motion.”
The horrors involved, according to the careful calculations by the
American historical demographer Justin McCarthy (whom Balakian does
not mention), the loss of some 580,000 Armenian lives from all causes
– massacre, starvation and disease. The fact that Muslim losses were
much greater in the same theatre of operations does nothing to detract
from the extent of the Armenian tragedy. Was it a genocide” Bernard
Lewis was sued in a French court for saying sensibly that it all
depends on the definition of genocide. But, whatever the definition,
Balakian’s insistent comparison with the Jewish Holocaust is
misleading. The Turkish Armenians perished in the course of “a
desperate struggle between two nations for the possession of a single
homeland,” in Professor Lewis’s words. For the Turks, Lewis wrote,
“the Armenian movement was the deadliest of all threats;” to yield to
it “would have meant not the truncation, but the dissolution of the
Turkish state.” The Jews posed no such threat to the
Germans. Religious fanaticism was a factor in the Armenian tragedy,
racism was not. There is a much closer parallel with the eviction of
Circassians and other Muslim mountaineers from Russian Caucasus in the
nineteenth century. The figures are of the same order as those
relating to the Armenians: some 1.2 million Muslim Caucasians left
their Russian-conquered homeland; 800,000 of them lived to settle in
Ottoman domains.
“The Burning Tigris” fits in with the campaign waged by Armenian
nationalists to persuade Western parliaments to recognize the Armenian
genocide. It is not a work of historical research, but an advocate’s
impassioned plea, relying at times on discredited evidence, such as
the forged telegrams attributed to the Ottoman interior minister,
Talat Pasha, which were produced at the trial of his assassin in
Berlin. Some of Balakian’s assertions would make any serious Ottoman
historian’s hair stand on end. Like other similar books, it is replete
with selective quotations from contemporary observers. Turkish
historians have drawn from many of the same sources for material to
rebut Armenian accusations. It would be better if, rather than ask
parliaments to pass historical judgments, historians from all sides
came together to research the horrors of the war on the Ottomans’
eastern front. But it is better to lobby parliaments than to
assassinate Turkish diplomats, as happened in a previous campaign by
genocide-avengers, which Peter Balakian, to his credit, regrets. At
present, Armenian nationalists refuse to engage in a dialogue with
Turkish historians unless there is preliminary recognition of their
genocide claim. Refusal is in their eyes tantamount to the crime of
Holocaust denial. But acceptance would be a denial of the freedom of
historical research, not to say of free speech.
Andrew Mango is Research Associate at the School of Oriental and
African Studies, University of London. His books include “Ataturk”
(1999), and “Turkey: A delicately poised ally” (1975).
Letters to the TLS editor can be sent to the following
address:
The Times Literary Supplement
Admiral House
66-68 East Smithfield
London E1W 1BX
United Kingdom
Or via
Telephone: +44 020-7782 3000
Fax: +44 020-7782 3100
Email: [email protected]
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VISIT OF AZERBAIJAN PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV TO NEW YORK
PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV RECEIVED HEAD OF SOROS FOUNDATION
AzerTag
September 24, 2004
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, being on a visit
in New York, United States, to attend the 59th session of General
Assembly of the United Nations, on 22 September has received at his
residence in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, president of
the Soros Foundation Mr. George Soros, AzerTAj correspondent reported
from New York.
In the course of conversation, were exchanged views on the Fund’s
projects realized in Azerbaijan and also stressed their importance in
the transition period.
President Ilham Aliyev informed his interlocutor on the democratic and
economic reforms being conducted in the Republic, at the same time,
dwelt on the negative impact of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorny
Karabakh conflict on the Country’s development.
Creation of the Oil Fund from the oil revenues received in development
of the Caspian natural resources to raise welfare of Azerbaijan
population and transparent management of the Fund is very positive
event, Mr. Soros emphasized. He expressed confidence that the
political, socio-economic reforms will not weaken in the country.

BOOK REVIEW: New Armenia Travel Guide
By Neil C Scott
Yerevan Times
9-24-04
Armenia has become increasingly visited over the last decade so that
this Guide, which is beautifully illustrated by the authors’ own
photographs, is particularly welcome.
It is authoritative and highly informative, and written by authors who
have explored the country thoroughly with intelligent and observant
eyes. Their coverage of environmental issues adds significantly to the
value of the book.
The Guide starts with three introductory chapters covering the history
of Armenia, the basics of getting to the country and travelling around
it, and its ecology and environment.
Useful historical summaries by Robert Suny set the political scene,
while two other excellent contributions by Jason Kauffeld and Daniel
Klem on the forests and birds of Armenia respectively, emphasise the
fragile state of the country’s ecology and the measures that are being
taken to try to protect it. As in other parts of the book, useful
links are provided to stakeholders and other interested organisations.
A further seven chapters describe Yerevan, the regions, and Nagorno
Karabagh. The chapter on Yerevan provides an excellent summary of
where to stay and what to see, including those intriguing parts that
nobody else knows about – such as the city’s oldest religious centre,
the Katoghikeh Chapel, tucked away behind the Linguistics Institute in
Abovian Street. This chapel is so small that many worshipers have to
stand outside it during services!
The authors also draw attention to the development challenges that
Yerevan is facing and commendably highlight the absence of planning
controls that have allowed unwelcome incursion into the city’s
fast-diminishing greenbelt, as in the area adjacent to the monumental
Opera House.
The bulk of the Guide is devoted to the country’s regions, with
emphasis on sites of historical interest. As might be expected, these
focus on monasteries and other religious artefacts but the authors set
these in the context of contemporary social and political life,
thereby making their coverage relevant to Armenia today. For instance,
the problem of emigration and the legacy of the 1988 earthquake are
discussed, and attention drawn to the strange, isolated Russian
Molokan communities in the Dilijan area, where Armenian is not spoken
or understood.
More attention could have been paid to the changing industrial scene
and of the country’s Soviet and contemporary architecture. This could
be included in the enlarged Guide that the authors are planning for
the future, which will provide a more complete coverage of historical
Armenian sites in Eastern Anatolia. These are discussed in Appendix in
this Guide.
The chapter on Karabagh is particularly welcome since this Armenian
enclave in Azerbaijan has only recently been accessible to tourists
from Armenia. Throughout the book, detailed information is provided
on how to get to places of interest and where to stay, based on
Matthew Karanian and Robert Kurkjian’s own meticulous on-the-ground
research in their trusty Niva jeep.
Useful maps and plans of the principal cities as well as many
exquisite photographs support the lucid text, while the book’s layout
is clear and easy to follow. The Guide is priced at less than $25,
making it exceptionally good value. It will undoubtedly become the
standard reference volume for travellers to Armenia for many years to
come.
At a Glance:
Stone Garden Guide to Armenia and Karabagh
Matthew Karanian and Robert Kurkjian (304 pages)
Publisher: Stone Garden Productions
ISBN 0-9672120-8-1 $24.95
[Printed on p. 8 of The Yerevan Times; Photographs: Book Jacket,
Karabagh Shepherd]

CENN — SEPTEMBER 24, 2004 DAILY DIGEST
Table of Contents:
1. Web-based Consultation Tool
2. `Increasing Public Awareness and Participation in the Monitoring of
Safety Standards at the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant’
3. The 3rd World Youth Congress
4. Lula Calls For Review Of World Bank, IMF Practices
5. Project on Caspian Birds Protection Implementing
6. BTC Project Spends $4 Mln Daily
7. ATP Executive Director Addresses UN DPI NGO Conference
8. By Late September Armenia to Present its Proposals on Millennium
Challenges Program
9. Armenian Company Awarded Quality Star
10. Deputy Parliament Speaker Says Constitutional Amendments Based on
Human Rights Respect
11. The Other Trees Are Next in Line
12. The Court Backs the Yerevan Mayor
1. WEB-BASED CONSULTATION TOOL
Dear Colleague:
As part of our consultation process for IFC’s Update of the Safeguard
Polices and the Review of the Disclosure Policy, we have developed
web-based consultation tool to receive feedback on the new Policy and
Performance Standards and the Disclosure Concept Paper.
Instructions on how to register for the online consultation is available
on the following address: for IFC
online consultation.doc
Kenneth Chin
Environment & Social Development Department
International Finance Corporation (IFC)
tel: 202 473 9581
2. `INCREASING PUBLIC AWARENESS AND PARTICIPATION IN THE MONITORING OF
SAFETY STANDARDS AT THE ARMENIAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT’
October 21-22, 2004
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network Regional Office in Armenia will hold
the seminar `Increasing Public Awareness and Participation in the
Monitoring of Safety Standards at the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant’ on
October 21-22, 2004. The representatives of environmental NGOs in
Armenia can participate in the seminar. The priority will be given to
organizations from regional marzes. The seminar’s language is Russian.
Participants need an advanced registration; the number of participants
is limited. For further information, please contact.
Tel.: (3741) 51 26 94, 51-26-93, Fax: (3741) 51 26 95 E-mail:
[email protected]
3. THE 3RD WORLD YOUTH CONGRESS
Dear All,
The application form for The 3rd World Youth Congress is now online. We
are receiving a lot of applications as we speak so get yours in soon.
If you have difficulties applying online there will be a downloadable
version on the website soon.
Looking forward to seeing you all there in 2005.
Ray Bugg
Media and Communications Manager
World Youth Congress 2005
Tel: 0131 244 7425
Mobile 07957 261178
[email protected]
4. LULA CALLS FOR REVIEW OF WORLD BANK, IMF PRACTICES
Source: World Bank Press Review September 22, 204)
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday asked the
United Nations to review the way multilateral funding organizations
work, saying that sometimes, instead of solving a crisis, they become a
“part of the problem,” reports EFE News Service.
As has been customary since the first General Assembly meeting 59 years
ago, the Brazilian president was the first to step to the podium. His
address focused on the need to help to world’s most impoverished
peoples. Lula said the moment has come for implementing “changes” in the
way in which multilateral bodies, such as the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund, extend their loans if “just and sustainable
development” is to be achieved. The lenders “were created to provide
solutions, but on occasion, by virtue of their excessive strictness,
they become part of the problem, making it necessary to review their
modus operandi so as to restore their original goals,” Lula said.
Reuters explains that Brazil, the IMF’s biggest borrower and Latin
America’s largest economy, has been pushing for a change in IMF loan
programs that would allow infrastructure investments to be excluded from
calculations of fiscal targets. The IMF is studying the idea. “The issue
is to adjust their focus to development, thus restoring their original
objective.” Lula said. “The International Monetary Fund should be able
to provide the guarantee and the liquidity which are necessary for
productive investments – especially in infrastructure, housing and
sanitation – and which can also restore the poor countries’ capacity to
pay.”
Xinhua further notes the first day of the General Assembly meeting ended
with leaders from African countries pressing for greater efforts to
attain the development goals set at the Millennium Summit four years
ago. Tanzanian President Benjamin William Mkapa praised Denmark,
Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden for consistently meeting
the long-established UN target of allocating at least 0.7 percent of
gross national product of rich countries as official development
assistance (ODA) to developing countries. “We urge the other rich
countries to produce timetables to meet this long overdue target, to
have coherent development policies, and to earnestly and deliberately
build and nurture a national consciousness and consensus on the global
war on poverty,” said Mkapa.
Agence France Presse meanwhile reports the European Commission threw its
weight Tuesday behind calls for an international tax to fight poverty
and hunger but remained skeptical that the plans would go any further.
The idea won renewed backing Monday from French President Jacques Chirac
and Lula, who outlined “radically new” proposals to combat the negative
effects of globalization at a conference in New York. “As a matter of
ideology, the Commission supports anything that can move globally in the
direction of establishing funding sources for public good,” said EU
development commissioner Paul Nielson. Such initiatives could make
“international society function as society,” he added. But he lamented:
“So far, none of those ideas has gathered enough support to move
beyond the stage of being ideas.”
The Associated Press finally adds that protesters gathered outside the
US Treasury Department Tuesday to call for a 100 percent elimination of
debt for impoverished countries that owe money to the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund. About 35 people met during their lunch hour
to listen to speakers, rally and discuss their hope that debt
cancellation for over 30 countries might be agreed upon at an Oct. 1
meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the world’s
major industrialized nations and at World Bank and IMF meetings Oct.
2-3. The United States is pushing a plan for some debt elimination.
Marie Clarke, National Coordinator of Jubilee USA Network, said that
proposal is “a good start,” but she urged supporters to continue their
focus on the issue in case the debt cancellation was not agreed upon, or
if cutting aid to the countries saved the funds.
5. PROJECT ON CASPIAN BIRDS PROTECTION IMPLEMENTING
Source: State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, AzerTag,
September 22, 2004
Public association for ecology and birds protection of Azerbaijan
prepared a project `Protection of species of water and wader birds on
Azerbaijan waterside of the Caspian Sea’.
According to the project, species of water and wader birds, their
dwelling, place of their main accumulation will be determined,
anthropogenic influence on birds studied, territories to be polluted in
the course of offshore accidents researched, plans of arrangement linked
with birds protection prepared as well, Chairman of the association
Ilyas Babayev told AzerTAj correspondent.
Bp and its partners for Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline allocated funds
in 18 thousand US dollars for project implementation within a year.
6. BTC PROJECT SPENDS $4 MLN DAILY
Source: State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, AzerTag,
September 23, 2004
BP-Azerbaijan has spent $686 million out of the total $1 billion
scheduled in 2004 for the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil
pipeline to be launched in the first half of the next year. The work in
three countries the pipeline will pass through cost $4 million per day.
7. ATP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ADDRESSES UN DPI NGO CONFERENCE
ARMENIA TREE PROJECT
65 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472
617-926-8733
[email protected]
ATP Executive Director Addresses UN DPI NGO Conference
WATERTOWN, MA–Armenia Tree Project (ATP) Executive Director Jeff
Masarjian participated this week in a panel held as part of the 57th
annual United Nations Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental
Organization Conference at the UN headquarters in New York. The
conference, titled “Millennium Development Goals: Civil Society Takes
Action,” is taking place from September 8-10.
The focus of the conference is the role of NGOs as well as civil society
and governments for implementing the eight Millennium Development Goals
adopted by the UN in 2000. ATP was invited to participate in the
conference by the Armenian General Benevolent Union in association with
Rotary International, NGO Committee on Human Rights, Peace Action, and
the World Federation for Mental Health.
At the September 8 panel discussion with representatives of two other
NGOs, titled “Overcoming Obstacles to Economic Growth and Community
Development: The Role of Civil Society,” Mr. Masarjian outlined the ways
that ATP reforestation efforts are addressing many of the UN Millennium
Development Goals. The following is an abridged text of Mr. Masarjian’s
speech:
ATP Programs Contribute to Fulfillment of UN Millennium Goals in Armenia
By Jeff Masarjian, Armenia Tree Project Executive Director
Armenia Tree Project was founded in 1994 in response to the massive
felling of trees for fuel during the harsh winters of the early 1990s.
The mission of Armenia Tree Project is to improve the human, economic,
and environmental conditions of Armenia through the planting of trees,
aiding those with the fewest resources first.
Forests and trees are important and necessary components for maintaining
the environmental and economic infrastructure of a nation. They clean
the atmosphere, absorbing carbon dioxide and pollutants, while
simultaneously releasing oxygen. They attract and retain moisture, both
in the air and the soil, helping to regulate and stabilize the climate.
They prevent erosion and landslides, while retaining precious topsoil,
which is otherwise washed away with the rain, becoming silt in rivers,
streams and lakes, choking plant and animal life.
Forests also provide habitats for a diverse array of flora and fauna.
Armenia is home to over 3,600 species of flowering plants, many of which
are endangered and exist only in the ecosystems provided by the
dwindling forests.
>From 1994 – 2002, Armenia Tree Project focused its activities on
creating jobs through re-greening public spaces, many of which were
littered with the stumps of sacrificed trees. ATP works closely with the
residents of local institutions, such as schools, senior centers,
hospitals, and orphanages, as well as neighborhoods.
Once accepted as an ATP site, residents receive the training and tools
they need to plant and tend the trees. The relationship is based upon a
contract between ATP and the recipient institution or group, which
agrees to replace the trees at its own expense if less than 70 percent
survive.
By appealing to residents’ self interest, and using informal incentives
to promote compliance with the agreement, ATP is fostering a growing
respect for the environment through traditional value systems and needs
of the community. Residents–who had previously been plagued with
despair, while expecting the government or others to do something for
them to improve their lot–are now in a position of taking action to
make a direct impact on their immediate environment.
To date, ATP has assisted community residents in planting over 375,000
trees at 477 sites in every region of Armenia through our Community Tree
Planting program. ATP works closely with community schools to develop
environmental lessons, which are not typically part of the standard
curriculum.
The restoration of urban green spaces is the goal of ATP’s Coppicing
Program, which employs several hundred Armenians each year in seasonal
work. Coppicing is a forestry technique by which tree stumps with intact
root systems are trimmed of shoots, leaving the strongest one to grow
into an exact replica of the original tree.
To date, ATP staff has supervised the restoration of 760 acres of land
at several sites, including the Armenian Genocide Memorial, Botanical
Gardens, Victory Park, and Paros Hill, all located in Yerevan. Over
155,000 trees have been restored through ATP’s coppicing program since
1999.
The trees ATP supplies to community sites are propagated from seeds and
cuttings in our two state-of-the-art nurseries, founded in 1996 and 1998
in the refugee villages of Karin and Khatchpar. The nurseries’ 29
employees are responsible for the production of 50,000 trees each year
for planting at community sites.
The 53 species of trees growing in our nurseries are all-indigenous to
Armenia, and were chosen for their hardiness in surviving Armenia’s
harsh climate. With the opening of the new Michael and Virginia Ohanian
Environmental Education Center at ATP’s nursery in Karin village,
students from the State Agricultural Academy and elsewhere will attend
multi-media seminars and receive hands-on field practice with our staff.
In 2001, in response to a growing body of evidence published in
documents by the UN, the World Bank, and other sources regarding the
immediate and critical state of Armenia’s deforestation and path towards
desertification, ATP initiated a series of strategic planning sessions
to devise new interventions that might have a greater impact for the
people and land of Armenia.
We realized that we needed to devise innovative new programs which would
not only plant considerably more trees, but also address the widespread
poverty and despair suffered by nearly half of all Armenians. Many
Armenians live in rural villages, and are forced to strip the
surrounding forests of trees for heating and cooking fuel, as well as
for sale to commercial interests.
In Fall 2002, ATP met with the leaders of Aygut, a small, slowly dying
Armenian refugee village, comprised of 290 families. Youth and young
adults would routinely leave seeking opportunities elsewhere, and elders
longed for their lost homes and villages in Azerbaijan.
The school principal spoke of a plot of land near the river which she
had hoped would someday be an orchard, supplying income to purchase
badly needed school supplies. ATP agreed to provide technical assistance
and 500 fruit and nut trees for the site, if residents could collaborate
together to clear the land, build irrigation channels and a road to the
site, and fence it in for protection from livestock. ATP also developed
an environmental curriculum for the school and trained teachers in
presenting it.
The members of the Aygut community succeeded in completing their part of
the contract within weeks of our initial meeting. By Spring 2003, 500
fruit and nut trees were planted by school children and adults, assisted
by the US Ambassador to Armenia, John Ordway, and other invitees, who
celebrated Earth Day at the new Aygut School orchard on April 22. I’m
very happy to report that I observed the first cherries blossoming on
the trees this summer.
Seventeen families also signed up to participate in a pilot project
whereby they would be trained to propagate several thousand tree seeds,
collected locally, in newly developed backyard nurseries. For each
surviving seedling that the participant will then plant in the forest,
ATP will provide a set payment.
Seven species of local tree seeds are currently being propagated, and
some have already reached a height of 12 inches and may be out planted
this fall. In this, the pilot phase of the project, 20,000 seedlings are
being grown; we hope to increase this 10 fold over the next two years by
expanding this micro-enterprise opportunity to more residents in Aygut
and other villages.
This project can potentially increase the annual income of participating
families several times over, without negatively impacting the amount of
land needed for subsistence farming. In addition, because the trees are
grown using a short-term rotation cycle of 12-18 months, the per-unit
cost is less than in our traditional nurseries, creating a win-win
situation for everyone.
There are 13 villages in the river valley where Aygut is located,
comprising 6,000 people. ATP plans to replicate programming in three new
villages in 2005, using the same methodology to promote economic,
ecological, social, and cultural development. We expect that the fruit
produced in this valley will not only contribute to residents’ food
security, but also attract the interest of businesses involved in fruit
juice production and export.
Early on in our involvement with the residents of Aygut, it became clear
that the humanitarian and development needs of this village were far
beyond ATP’s individual capacity. We took a very collaborative approach
to our work in the village, inviting other international aid
organizations and NGOs to visit the village and observe the progress
achieved over the past year.
Organizations such as UN World Food Program, UNDP, Heifer International,
Project Harmony, USDA, Peace Corps, Satsil, and Jinishian Family
Foundation, among others, have contributed expertise and support in
furthering the social and economic development of Aygut.
The Mayor recently reported that since ATP initiated programming there,
emigration from the village has halted, there has been a noticeable
improvement in the overall demeanor and perspective of villagers, and
there was even a record number of births, all indicators of a growing
sense of hope and optimism.
In addition to this innovative community development and reforestation
programming, ATP this year partnered with a local environmental NGO,
called Tsiatsan, in the city of Vanadzor, to build a six hectare
reforestation nursery that has the capacity to produce over one million
trees each year beginning in 2006. These trees will be used to reforest
the devastated hillsides around the city, which have become subject to
serious erosion and landslides over the past 13 years.
In conclusion, Armenia Tree Project is implementing its mission to
protect and restore Armenia’s forests through a unique combination of
programming that aims to plant a growing number of trees each year,
while providing opportunities for employment, sustainable economic
development, training and education.
Our goal is to empower residents to become stewards of their environment
while also enhancing their standard of living and hopes for their
children’s future. It is our hope that our decentralized approach to
developing an environmental ethic based on education, action, and
self-determination will eventually lead to a national and even regional
commitment to environmental protection and enforcement of sustainable
practice.
8. BY LATE SEPTEMBER ARMENIA TO PRESENT ITS PROPOSALS ON MILLENNIUM
CHALLENGES PROGRAM
Source: /ARKA/, September 22, 2004
By late September Armenia to present its proposals to the American side
on Millennium Challenges program.
According to the information of the Armenian Government Public and Press
Relations Department Armenian PM Andranik Manukyan during his meeting
with Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary of the US to Armenia
His Excellency John Marshall Evans. Margaryan stated that the Trustee
Council of Armenian Program of Foundation Millennium Challenges made
wide discussions of the proposals with business circles and public
organizations of the country. In PM’s opinion, Armenia tends toward
strengthening of positive tendencies recorded in bilateral relations,
especially when new areas of cooperation emerge, the most important of
which is inclusion of Armenia into Millennium Challenges.
In his turn, the Ambassador added that after approval by the foundation
of the Armenian proposals, there would be new opportunities for further
cooperation.
As it is mentioned in the press release, touching upon the regional
issues, the sides mentioned interests of two nations in establishing
peace, stability and prosperity on the South Caucasus. In this relation
they mentioned the necessity of further enhancement of Armenian-US
economic and political relations attaching importance to activity of
Armenian-US Intergovernmental working group on economic issues (USATAF).
Armenia was included in 16 countries list, which will be assisted by the
US in implementation economic and democratic reforms in the frames of
Millennium Challenges. The list contains mainly African, Asian, Latin
American nations as well as USSR two former republics – Armenia and
Georgia. For the implementation of the program the US envisages USD 1b
and already requested from the US Congress to allocate additional USD
2.5b for the implementation of the program in the next year.
9. ARMENIAN COMPANY AWARDED QUALITY STAR
Source: ArmenPress, September 22, 2004
Lyudmila and Hamazasp Harutunians, a couple from the town of Hrazdan,
who established and run Vordi Armen company, have been invited by
Quality Stars international convention to participate in its annual
October 11 presentation in Paris.
Vordi Armen was one of 70 companies worldwide competing for the Quality
Star. Alfonso Kassale, the president of Quality Stars, said in the
invitation letter that awarding the Quality Star to the Armenian company
is a good opportunity for it to compete in the international market and
find new partners.
Vordi Armen produces dairy products and is able to process daily around
5 tons of milk, which it buys from farmers who have 2-3 cows. The
company was founded with the help of the US Department of Agriculture
Armenia office.
10. DEPUTY PARLIAMENT SPEAKER SAYS CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS BASED ON
HUMAN RIGHTS RESPECT
Source: ArmenPress, September 22, 2004
Deputy parliament chairman Tigran Torosian praised today the working
Constitution, passed in 1995, saying it has contributed significantly to
the democracy development and establishment of government institutions,
but added that it has some shortcoming constraining the country’s
progress, which he said result from Armenia’s scanty experience in
constitutional right and practice back in 1995.
He said the expected constitutional amendments, proposed by the ruling
majority, are based on constitutional guarantees ensuring the citizens’
right to exercise their freedoms. He also emphasized a clause in the
draft constitution that empowers the legislature with the right to elect
the human rights defender, vesting him or her with the power to address
to the Constitutional Court for protection of citizens’ rights.
Another important clause, according to Torosian are a chain of
amendments aimed to reform the judicial system, under which the Justice
Council, headed now by the president of the country, will be immune from
the executive power’s influence. Under the clause the Council will be
headed by one of its members. The deputy parliament chairman also said
the package of amendments seeks to create a balance among power
branches. Some other changes are expected also to introduce more clarity
in respect to local self-management bodies. Another draft amendment
would allow the parliament to endorse or reject a prime minister
nominated by the president, but the latter would be empowered to
dissolve it if his candidacies are rejected by lawmakers for three
consecutive times.
Torosian said two other packages of alternative constitutional reforms,
proposed by Arshak Sadoyan and the United Labor Party will be also
discussed in the parliament. He said the conclusion of the Council of
Europe Venice Commission on the amendments, designed by the majority,
would arrive in early October.
11. THE OTHER TREES ARE NEXT IN LINE
Source: Investigative Journalists of Armenia / HETQ Online, 22 September
2004
In Aigedzor, down the street from the former building of Yerevan State
University’s Department of Economics, right on the edge the gorge, there
are thick-trunked mulberry trees lying on the ground, chopped into
pieces. There are only trucks and cars at this construction site, not a
living soul. I asked a woman from a neighboring building, “Do you know
who this land belongs to?”
“Dear boy, it’s none of my business. I stay out of trouble [keep harm
and misfortune away]. You’ve got no business here, either. You’d better
get out of here. Don’t you see what is going on?”
Then I asked, “Didn’t you use to come here sometimes?”
“Of course we did. We would come and pick mulberries and have a rest;
the kids would play.”
Next to this construction site stand the huge private houses of our
state officials, parliament members, prosecutors, and businessmen. Does
it make any difference which one of them owns which property? These
mulberry trees are already lying on the ground; the others are next in
line.
12. THE COURT BACKS THE YEREVAN MAYOR
Source: Investigative Journalists of Armenia / HETQ Online, 22 September
2004
“We will not give you information…”
On September 16, 2004 the Court of Appeal on Civil Cases of the Republic
of Armenia heard the suit brought by the NGO Investigative Journalists
of Armenia (IJA) against the Office of the Mayor of Yerevan. Last
October, IJA chairman Edik Baghdasaryan had requested permission from
Mayor Yervand Zakharyan to see the decisions regarding land allocations
in the public park surrounding Yerevan ‘s Opera House taken from 1997 to
2003 by former mayors Vano Siradeghyan, Suren Abrahamyan, Albert
Bazeyan, and Robert Nazaryan.
Although judges’ chambers are technically off limits, it’s common in
Armenian courts for certain persons to have unimpeded access. The very
able lawyer from the Mayor’s Office, Karine Danielyan, did not miss the
opportunity to take advantage of this national tradition, and after
shooting a glare at the enemy, rushed into the judges’ chambers. After
receiving final assurances that the outcome was predetermined, she came
back, took her seat, produced a half-page note from a thick file of
documents, and handed it to the bench. In response to surprised looks,
she pronounced: “We will not give it to you.” The rest is up to the
court; it can justify its refusal however it wishes.
The three judges of the Court of Appeal on Civil Cases (Noyem Hovsepyan,
presiding) pretended to listen carefully to the arguments of the
plaintiff’s lawyer, Ara Zohrabyan. “In accordance with Article 24 of the
Constitution of Armenia, Article 10 of the Convention for the Protection
of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Articles 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of
the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in
Decision-Making, and Access to Justice on environmental Matters(the
Orhus Convention), and Articles 3, 4 and 6 of the Law on the Procedure
of Consideration of the Proposals, Appeals and Complains of the Citizens
of Armenia, applicants have the right to demand information and
respondents are obliged to provide information…”.
During the hearing of the suit brought by the IJA against the Yerevan
Mayor’s Office in the Court of First Instance of the Kentron and
Nork-Marash Communities of Yerevan, Judge Gayane Karakhanyan had
recommended that the journalists apply to the mayor’s office again and
request information on specific establishments. In his new appeal to
Mayor Yervand Zakharyan, Edik Baghdasaryan listed the names of fifteen
organizations that had been granted land in mayoral decisions and
requested that he be given copies of these decisions. In response, the
IJA received a letter signed by the head of the legal department of the
Mayor’s Office, A. Sargisyan, stating that since a lawsuit was in
progress the mayor’s office would address the issue “after the court
hearing is over”. Mayor’s Office lawyer Karine Danielyan produced a
different response to our inquiry on September 16 th. “The file of
documents related to businesses that do construction work must include
the State Register licenses given to these organizations. But the names
of the founders of the organizations are not mentioned in the licenses;
therefore the Mayor’s Office cannot provide information about land
allocations to these persons.”
Ara Zohrabyan drew the court’s attention to the fact that this response
has nothing to do with the request – the association had not requested
the “names of the founders”. The judges were well aware of this, of
course, but when adinistrative interests clash with public interests and
morals, administrators always win. This judgement was no exception. What
difference will one more unlawful verdict make? Especially when the
interests of the regime are at stake.
—
*******************************************
CENN INFO
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)
Tel: ++995 32 92 39 46
Fax: ++995 32 92 39 47
E-mail: [email protected]
URL:

Armenian National Committee of Wisconsin
4100 N. Newman Road
Racine, WI 53406
[email protected]
PRESS RELEASE
September 24, 2004
Contact: A. Zohrab Khaligian
[email protected]
REPRESENTATIVE PAUL RYAN JOINS CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUS ON ARMENIAN
ISSUES
RACINE, WI – Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI 1st) became the newest
member of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues reported the
Armenian National Committee (ANC) of Wisconsin. This brings the
total number of Congressional Armenian Caucus members to 141.
Since 1998, Representative Ryan has been a consistent supporter of
Armenian issues, including co-signing the Congressional Letter
encouraging the President to characterize the Armenian Genocide as
a genocide in his annual April 24th address, co-sponsoring the
ANCA’s Capitol Hill Observance of the Armenian Genocide, and
supporting US aid to Armenia. In his most recent term,
Representative Ryan co-sponsored HR 528 which extends Permanent
Normal Trade Relations to Armenia and HR 193 which commemorates the
15th Anniversary of the United States adopting the Genocide
Convention, and will finish the term by joining the Congressional
Caucus on Armenian Issues.
“Since his first days in Congress, Representative Ryan has been
responsive to the concerns of the Armenian-American community in
Wisconsin’s First District,” stated Zohrab Khaligian,
representative of the ANC of Wisconsin. “His recent joining of the
Armenian Caucus shows his strong support of these concerns and his
commitment to maintaining that support far into the future”. The
ANC of Wisconsin has worked closely with Rep. Ryan to inform him of
issues of concern in the Armenian American community.
Paul Ryan was elected to the House of Representatives in November
1988 and has served three terms. In Congress, Representative Ryan
serves on the House Committee on Ways & Means, Joint Economic
Committee and Majority Leader’s Leadership Advisory Group, and he
focuses on issues pertaining to social security, Medicare and
affordable health care and tax policy. Prior to running for
Congress, Representative Ryan was an aide to US Senator Bob Kasten
(R-WI), an economic advisor to former Vice Presidential candidate
Jack Kemp and a legislative director in the US Senate.
The Armenian National Committee is the largest Armenian American
grassroots political organization in Wisconsin and nationwide. The
ANC actively advances a broad range of issues of concern to the
Armenian American community.
#####

Vanguard, Nigeria
Sept 24 2004
LAW & HUMAN RIGHT :- Darfur: The New Name of Genocide

CHIDI ODINKALU
Friday, September 24, 2004
They came on their horses, killed the people of our village, who
started to resist them. When I heard the machine guns, I started to
collect my kids, trying to escape from the agony. But they captured
me, killed my three kids, and six of them raped me. Then they went
away. The rest of the villagers collected together and fled the area,
and now I am staying at a refugee camp looking for something secure.
I do not know how to say it, I am really afraid of even being killed
by my relatives because of the Janjaweed baby that I am bearing.’
This is the testimony of a female survivor of the on-going genocide
in Darfur Western Sudan. In 1944, Polish Philosopher, Ralph Lemkin,
coined the expression, Genocide, to describe the crimes such as the
Nazi-led attempt to eliminate the gene of a race, in that case, the
Jewish race. During the First World War, the Armenians suffered a
similar fate. A world appalled at the crimes of the Nazis adopted on
the last day of 1949 the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide, otherwise known as the Genocide
Convention.
The Genocide Convention entered into force on January on 12 January
1951. Article 2 of the Convention defines Genocide as `any of the
following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part,
a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life
calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in
part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.’
This definition makes genocide a crime of very specific intent. It is
adopted completely by Article 6 of the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court. One or a mixture of these elements
would constitute the crime of genocide. Article 8 of the Genocide
Convention establishes perhaps the most important obligation
contained in that treaty. It obliges all Contracting Parties to
`call upon the competent organs of the United Nations to take such
action under the Charter of the United Nations as they consider
appropriate for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide or
any other acts enumerated in Article III of the Convention’. These
enumerated acts are genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide,
incitement to genocide, attempt to commit genocide, and complicity
in genocide.
The obligations to prevent, suppress, and punish the crime of
genocide are both customary and peremptory norms of international
law. Thus, the egregiously notable failure of Sudan to ratify the
Genocide Convention does not shield it from the obligations to
prevent, suppress and punish the crime of genocide. Moreover, as the
United Nations Security Council noted in its Resolution 1556 of 30
July 2004, `the Government of Sudan (GoS) bears the primary
responsibility to respect human rights while maintaining law and
order and protecting its population within its territory.’ The GoS
has not just manifestly failed to do this; it is actively involved
in the most brutal violations of these obligations.
On this continent in 1994, the world witnessed genocide in Rwanda. On
that occasion, African leaders and the world outside the continent
looked the other way as an estimated one million Rwandans were
exterminated like vermin (the victims were described by the
Genocidaires as `Cockroaches’) in one hundred days.
Following the Rwanda genocide, the world sought to expiate for its
complicity by setting up the International Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda and sundry other mechanisms of investigation of the Rwanda
Genocide. The then Organization of African Unity (OAU), set up a
similar investigation that found the inaction of the OAU inexcusable.
After the genocide in Rwanda, both the leadership of Africa and of
the international community promised `never again’. Desperate for
something to hold onto, we believed. Yet, today, again on our watch,
we see the same pattern of denial, indifference, and tardiness
repeated as millions of victims of genocide and ethnic cleansing are
created in Sudan.
The prefatory testimony to this article is not isolated. The numbers
are even more harrowing: international agencies estimate that over
50,000 have been killed in the Darfur region since the beginning of
February 2003; over 200,000 have been forcibly displaced into
refugee camps in neighboring Chad; over 1,700,000 million people are
internally displaced and mostly encamped within Sudan itself; there
are up to an estimated 600 deaths in the camps for the internally
displaced who, until recently, have been denied access to
humanitarian assistance by the Sudanese Government. This adds up to a
monthly average of about 18,000 deaths; sexual violence and rape of
the women and young girls, some of the victims as young as eight
years and less, is employed as an instrument of war and ethnic
cleansing.
In a recent survey of the Darfurian refugee population conducted for
the State Department by the Centre for International Justice, 67%
had witnessed the killing of a non-family member; 61% had seen their
own family members killed; 44% had survived being shot at; 28% had
suffered death or forced displacement; 25% had been abducted; and 16%
of the population had been raped!
To put these numbers in perspective, Darfur, comprises three States
of the Republic of Sudan that between them are bigger than the
territory of France and host about 7 million people. Nearly one-third
of this number are now dead, displaced, abducted, raped, or being
starved to death in installments. Faced with this evidence, both the
European Union and the United States have in the past fortnight
determined that the situation in Darfur amounts to genocide. On any
reading, violations on this scale must qualify, in the language of
Article II(c) of the Genocide Convention, as `deliberately inflicting
on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its
physical destruction in whole or in part.’
For its part, the farthest that the African Union has been able to go
was the acknowledgement at the 5th Session of its Peace and Security
Council in April 2004, that the situation in Darfur represents a
`grave humanitarian situation’. The AU requested an investigation of
the situation in Darfur by the continental human rights body, the
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. But just as the
five-person team Commission was physically deployed on its mission in
Darfur in July, the Summit meeting of the 3rd Ordinary Session of
the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union,
presided over by Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo, prejudged
the outcome of the investigation by deciding on 8 July that `even
though the humanitarian situation in Darfur is serious, it cannot be
defined as a genocide.’
Article 4 of the Constitutive Act of the African Union requires
African States to exercise active intervention in other Member
States of the Union when those other States are involved in
committing war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.
Africa’s leaders persist in minimizing the international crimes being
committed in Darfur as `a humanitarian crisis’, very much redolent
of acts of nature like a flood, earthquake or hurricane. But Darfur
is not an act of nature. It is caused by human actors, exercising
political authority. They must be halted and brought to account. One
point of view within the leadership of the African Union is that
unlike the case of Rwanda, a genocide in terms of both the quantity
(nearly one million killed) and quality (mass murder) of the acts
perpetrated, `a mere’ 50,000 have been killed in Darfur. Apparently,
in the arithmetic of the African Union, the 2 million forcibly
displaced into death-like conditions in refugee camps guarded by the
same Janjaweed militia that have raped, outraged, and violated them
should have been physically wiped out too.
To support the implementation of the N’djamena Humanitarian Ceasefire
Agreement, the African Union established a Ceasefire Monitoring
Commission with Military Observers led by Nigeria’s own
Brigadier-General Okonkwo. Fewer than sixty AU Military Observers
have been deployed under this arrangement. In July 2004, the
Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union reported that the
entire budget of the AU Military Observer Mission in Darfur is $26
million, of which about $15 million ( 12 million) is contributed by
the European Union, the UK and Germany provided an additional $4
million between them, and the USA is providing headquarters
logistics. To put this in perspective again, $26 million is less than
the sum of business expense disbursed for a middling contract in
Nigeria’s petroleum or public works sector. It is less than half the
money that Nigeria is reported to have lent to Sao Tomé earlier this
year. Yet, between them, African States have managed to pledge less
than 18% of this derisory budget. Pray tell, how many of our people
have to be massacred and violated before Africa’s rulers think
Africans matter? When will the continent’s rulers begin to behave as
if the African life has intrinsic value?
In Pretoria, South Africa, the African Commission on Human and
Peoples’ Rights met on Sunday, 19 September, to adopt the report of
its investigation mission to Darfur. The report of the Commission is
yet to be published but authoritative sources close to the
Commission indicate that it found as a fact that in Darfur, the
government of Sudan had been involved in `war crimes and crimes
against humanity, and massive human rights violations by members of
the security forces’. The Commission is reported to have recommended
the establishment of an independent international commission to
investigate the international crimes in Darfur. While this
bureaucratic rigmarole goes on, the people of Darfur are being
savaged and the continent’s rulers shrink from their moral and legal
duty to call the crime by its name, Genocide.

Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
Sept 24 2004
Glendale Fire has plans to diversify

Department to ‘fast-track’ locals from cadet program, organize
meetings for the community.
By Jackson Bell, News-Press
GLENDALE CITY HALL – After city officials pressured the fire
department to better reflect the city’s ethnic make-up, Glendale Fire
Chief Chris Gray unveiled plans this week to diversify his staff.
Gray and other department personnel briefed the city’s Civil Service
Commission on Wednesday about the department’s recent community
outreach efforts. Those include giving fire cadets an edge over other
recruits when competing to join the force, and holding meetings to
inform locals about the force and what they have to do to join.
Many enrolled in the cadet program are of Armenian descent. Glendale
has no Armenian firefighters, even though an estimated one-third of
the city is of that ethnicity.
Commissioners gave their approval to allow the fire department – as
well as the police department – to have their cadets “fast-track”
their way on the force if they complete at least six months of work
and 600 hours of service. The cadet program is often used as a
stepping stone to becoming a sworn firefighter.
“It’s tough with open recruitment,” Gray said. “There are a series of
tests to find out who is or is not qualified for the job. But in an
interview, you really only get 15-20 minutes to look at someone.
“It’s better to bring someone into the fire service from the cadet
program because they have already done ride-alongs and have worked
alongside firefighters,” he added.
Battalion Chief Harold Scoggins, who heads recruiting and hiring,
also announced the next “Public Information Night,” a community
outreach meeting at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 27 in Glendale Fire Station 21,
421 Oak St. And Capt. Carlos Guerrero introduced “Bridging the Gap,”
a new translation booklet that allows firefighters to ask about 30
emergency response-related questions in Armenian, Korean or Spanish.
Commissioners, who recently slammed Glendale Fire officials for
lagging behind Glendale Police and other city departments in
diversity, praised Gray during the meeting for steering his staff in
the right direction.
“A month ago, I was a bit critical of the fire department,”
Commissioner Albert Abkarian said. “But not only have you met my
expectations, you have substantially exceeded what I expected to
see.”
Gray also introduced seven firefighters who were recently hired out
of a pool of about 2,400 candidates. One of them, Kevin Ku, is the
department’s first Korean-American firefighter.

Front Page Magazine
Sept 25 2004
John Quincy Adams Knew Jihad
By Andrew G. Bostom
FrontPageMagazine.com | September 27, 2004
Professor John Lewis Gaddis’ recent provocative analysis of the
origins of `unilateralism’ in American foreign policy highlights the
pivotal role of John Quincy Adams. With candor and humility, Gaddis
further reveals that his own contemporary assessment, `…is not a new
interpretation. If you go back and read the famous Samuel Flagg
Bemis, the very distinguished Yale diplomatic historian from half a
century ago, Bemis was certainly making this argument about the
importance of John Quincy Adams.
But I think this has been lost somewhat in intervening years. So, to
an extent, I am trying to rediscover John Quincy Adams, in that
sense.’ Bemis extolled Adams’ seminal contribution to the formulation
of U.S. foreign policy:
`Adams grasped the essentials of American policy and the position of
the United States in the world more surely than any other man of his
time. He availed himself of matchless opportunities to advance the
continental future of his country and the fundamental principles for
which it stood in the world. Nothing is clearer than that the
fourteen fundamentals (above reviewed) remained the main tenets of
American foreign policy during the century following…we may surmise
that he and the fathers of American Independence as well, had they
lived to share the troublous times beyond the British Century in the
science-shrunken smallness of the globe, and to experience the
extraordinary vicissitudes, combinations, and wars of global politics
would have joined the diplomatic revolution rejecting Isolation, and
that he [Adams] would say, as he did say at the time of the Congress
of Panama: `I do not recollect any change in policy; but there has
been a great change in circumstances.’…Even if John Quincy Adams was
not to have another great career, as a crusader against the expansion
of slavery, this first and mighty achievement, of no less than
continental proportions, in laying the foundations of American
foreign policy, would have been great enough for one lifetime.’ 1
Bemis’ landmark 1949 review also included a vague footnote referring
to a work which I located formally in a comprehensive annotated
bibliography of John Quincy Adams’ writings, compiled by Lynn H.
Parsons 2:
`Unsigned essays dealing with the Russo-Turkish War, and on Greece,
written while JQA was in retirement, before his election to Congress
in 1830′ [Chapters X-XIV (pp. 267-402) in The American Annual
Register for 1827-28-29. New York, 1830.]
A brief contribution appeared in the Claremont Review in December,
2002, purporting to summarize the contents of John Quincy Adams’ 136
pages of analysis (although, curiously, never providing the citation,
above, for the original essays). Upon reading Adams’ full set of
essays, however, it is apparent that this rather uninformed,
sanitized Claremont Review piece missed the mark widely.
John Quincy Adams possessed a remarkably clear, uncompromised
understanding of the permanent Islamic institutions of jihad war and
dhimmitude. Regarding jihad, Adams states in his essay series,
`…he [Muhammad] declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a
part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind…The precept of
the Koran is, perpetual war against all who deny, that Mahomet is the
prophet of God.’
Confirming Adams’ assessment, the late Muslim scholar, Professor
Majid Khadduri, wrote the following in his authoritative 1955
treatise on jihad, War and Peace in the Law of Islam :
`Thus the jihad may be regarded as Islam’s instrument for carrying
out its ultimate objective by turning all people into believers, if
not in the prophethood of Muhammad (as in the case of the dhimmis),
at least in the belief of God. The Prophet Muhammad is reported to
have declared `some of my people will continue to fight victoriously
for the sake of the truth until the last one of them will combat the
anti-Christ’. Until that moment is reached the jihad, in one form or
another will remain as a permanent obligation upon the entire Muslim
community. It follows that the existence of a dar al-harb is
ultimately outlawed under the Islamic jural order; that the dar
al-Islam permanently under jihad obligation until the dar al-harb is
reduced to non-existence; and that any community accepting certain
disabilities- must submit to Islamic rule and reside in the dar
al-Islam or be bound as clients to the Muslim community. The
universality of Islam, in its all embracing creed, is imposed on the
believers as a continuous process of warfare, psychological and
political if not strictly military.’3
And Adams captured the essential condition imposed upon the
non-Muslim dhimmi `tributaries’ subjugated by jihad, with this
laconic statement,
`The vanquished may purchase their lives, by the payment of tribute.’

Indeed, the famous Shafi’i jurist of Baghdad, al-Mawardi (d. 1058),
highlights the most salient aspect of the consensus view of classical
Islamic jurisprudence regarding the vanquished non-Muslims `tribute’,
i.e., the jizya: the critical connection between jihad and payment
of the jizya. He notes that `The enemy makes a payment in return for
peace and reconciliation.’ Al-Mawardi then distinguishes two cases:
(I) Payment is made immediately and is treated like booty, however
`it does, however, not prevent a jihad being carried out against them
in the future.’. (II). Payment is made yearly and will `constitute an
ongoing tribute by which their security is established.’
Reconciliation and security last as long as the payment is made. If
the payment ceases, then the jihad resumes. A treaty of
reconciliation may be renewable, but must not exceed 10 years.4 The
nature of such `protection’, i.e., a blood ransom, is reinforced in
this definition of jizya written by E.W. Lane, based on a careful
analysis of the etymology of the term:
`The tax that is taken from the free non-Muslim subjects of a Muslim
government whereby they ratify the compact that assures them
protection, as though it were compensation for not being slain’ 5
Adams’ staunch anti-imperialism, one of the `fourteen fundamentals’
of U.S. foreign policy which Samuel Flagg Bemis states, `…we may
connect with the name of John Quincy Adams more than with that of any
other man’ 6, is consistent with Old Man Eloquent’s support for the
struggle of the Greeks 7 to liberate themselves from the yoke of
centuries of dhimmitude, imposed by the imperialism of Ottoman jihad
8. At minimum, in light of the global war on jihad terrorism, John
Quincy Adams’ candid, timeless ruminations should be required reading
for all contemporary U.S. diplomats and politicians.
Key annotated excerpts from John Quincy Adams’ remarkable series of
essays, are provided below.
Adams on Jesus Christ and Christianity, Relative to Muhammad and
Islam
“And he [Jesus] declared, that the enjoyment of felicity in the world
hereafter, would be reward of the practice of benevolence here. His
whole law was resolvable into the precept of love; peace on earth –
good will toward man, was the early object of his mission; and the
authoritative demonstration of the immortality of man, was that,
which constituted the more than earthly tribute of glory to God in
the highest… The first conquest of the religion of Jesus, was over
the unsocial passions of his disciples. It elevated the standard of
the human character in the scale of existence…On the Christian system
of morals, man is an immortal spirit, confined for a short space of
time, in an earthly tabernacle. Kindness to his fellow mortals
embraces the whole compass of his duties upon earth, and the whole
promise of happiness to his spirit hereafter. THE ESSENCE OF THIS
DOCTRINE IS, TO EXALT THE SPIRITUAL OVER THE BRUTAL PART OF HIS
NATURE.” (Adam’s capital letters)….[pp. 267-268]
`In the seventh century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab of
the lineage of Hagar [i.e., Muhammad], the Egyptian, combining the
powers of transcendent genius, with the preternatural energy of a
fanatic, and the fraudulent spirit of an impostor, proclaimed himself
as a messenger from Heaven, and spread desolation and delusion over
an extensive portion of the earth. Adopting from the sublime
conception of the Mosaic law, the doctrine of one omnipotent God; he
connected indissolubly with it, the audacious falsehood, that he was
himself his prophet and apostle. Adopting from the new Revelation of
Jesus, the faith and hope of immortal life, and of future
retribution, he humbled it to the dust by adapting all the rewards
and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual
passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain,
by degrading the condition of the female sex, and the allowance of
polygamy; and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as
a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. THE ESSENCE
OF HIS DOCTRINE WAS VIOLENCE AND LUST: TO EXALT THE BRUTAL OVER THE
SPIRITUAL PART OF HUMAN NATURE (Adam’s capital letters)….Between
these two religions, thus contrasted in their characters, a war of
twelve hundred years has already raged. The war is yet
flagrant…While the merciless and dissolute dogmas of the false
prophet shall furnish motives to human action, there can never be
peace upon earth, and good will towards men.’ [p. 269]
Adams on Jihad War, Dhimmitude, and the Muslim View of Non-Muslims;
Examples of the Perfidy of Muslim States, Including the Ottoman
Turkish State
`As the essential principle of his faith is the subjugation of others
by the sword; it is only by force, that his false doctrines can be
dispelled, and his power annihilated.
They [The Russians] have been from time immemorial, in a state of
almost perpetual war with the Tatars, and with their successors, the
Ottoman conquerors of Constantinople. It were an idle waste of time
to trace the causes of each renewal of hostilities, during a
succession of several centuries. The precept of the Koran is,
perpetual war against all who deny, that Mahomet is the prophet of
God. The vanquished may purchase their lives, by the payment of
tribute; the victorious may be appeased by a false and delusive
promise of peace; and the faithful follower of the prophet, may
submit to the imperious necessities of defeat: but the command to
propagate the Moslem creed by the sword is always obligatory, when it
can be made effective. The commands of the prophet may be performed
alike, by fraud, or by force. Of Mahometan good faith, we have had
memorable examples ourselves. When our gallant [Stephen] Decatur ref
had chastised the pirate of Algiers, till he was ready to renounce
his claim of tribute from the United States, he signed a treaty to
that effect: but the treaty was drawn up in the Arabic language, as
well as in our own; and our negotiators, unacquainted with the
language of the Koran, signed the copies of the treaty, in both
languages, not imagining that there was any difference between them.
Within a year the Dey demands, under penalty of the renewal of the
war, an indemnity in money for the frigate taken by Decatur; our
Consul demands the foundation of this pretension; and the Arabic copy
of the treaty, signed by himself is produced, with an article
stipulating the indemnity, foisted into it, in direct opposition to
the treaty as it had been concluded. The arrival of Chauncey, with a
squadron before Algiers, silenced the fraudulent claim of the Dey,
and he signed a new treaty in which it was abandoned; but he
disdained to conceal his intentions; my power, said he, has been
wrested from my hands; draw ye the treaty at your pleasure, and I
will sign it; but beware of the moment, when I shall recover my
power, for with that moment, your treaty shall be waste paper. He
avowed what they always practised, and would without scruple have
practised himself. Such is the spirit, which governs the hearts of
men, to whom treachery and violence are taught as principles of
religion.’ [p. 274-275]
`Had it been possible for a sincere and honest peace to be maintained
between the Osmanli and his christian neighbors, then would have been
the time to establish it in good faith. But the treaty was no sooner
made than broken. It never was carried into effect by the Turkish
government.’ [p. 276]
`From the time when the disaster of Navarino ref had been made known
to him, the Reis Effendi [Ottoman diplomat assigned to Russia] had
assumed the tone of the aggrieved party, and made formal demands of
indemnity, and the punishment of the offending admirals. He still
manifested however, a solicitude to prevent the rupture of the
negotiations by the departure of the ambassadors…’ [p. 298]
`Upon the departure of the ambassadors, the Sultan, who must have
been, however, unwillingly preparing his mind for that event,
immediately determined upon two things; a war with Russia alone – and
a dallying attempt to protract the negotiation, and gain time of
preparation for the conflict.’ [p. 298]
[From the Ottoman Reis Effendi, to his Russian counterparts] `The
present friendly letter has been composed and sent, to acquaint your
excel – lency. with the circumstance; when you shall learn, on receipt
of it, that the Sublime Porte has at all times; no other desire or
wish than to preserve peace, and good understanding ; and that the
event in question has been brought about, entirely by the act of the
said minister, we hope that you will endeavor, do every occasion, to
fulfil the duties of friendship.’ But precisely at the time when this
mild, and candid, and gently expostulary epistle was despatched for
St. Petersburg, another state paper was issued, addressed by the
Sultan to his own subjects-this was the Hatti Sheriff of the 20th of
December, sent to the Pashas of all the provinces, calling on all the
faithful Mussulmen of the empire to come forth and ‘fight for their
religion, and their country, against the infidel despisers of the
Prophet. The comparison of these two documents with each other, will
afford the most perfect illustration of the Ottoman faith, as well as
of their temper towards Russia.
The Hatti Sheriff commenced with the following admirable com – mentary
upon the friendly profession, which introduced the letter to count
Nesselrode. `It is well known (said the Sultan) to almost every
person, that if the Mussulmen naturally hate the infidels, the
infidels, on then part, are the enemies of the Mussulmen : that
Russia, more espe – cially, bears a particular hatred to Islamism, and
that she is the principal enemy of the Sublime Porte.’
This appeal to the natural hatred of the Mussulmen towards the
infidels, is in just accordance with the precepts of the Koran. The
document does not attempt to disguise it, nor even pretend that the
enmity of those whom it styles the infidels, is any other than the
ne – cessary consequence of the hatred borne by the Mussulmen to
them – the paragraph itself, is a forcible example of the contrasted
character of the two religions. The funda – mental doctrine of the
christian religion, is the extirpation of hatred from the human
heart. It forbids the exercise of it, even towards enemies. There is
no denomina – tion of christians, which denies or misunderstands this
doctrine. All understand it alike – all acknow – ledge its obligations ;
and however imperfectly, in the purposes of Divine Providence, its
efficacy has been shown in the practice of christians, it has not
been wholly inoperative upon them. Its effect has been upon the
manners of nations. It has mitigated the horrors of war – it has
softened the features of slavery – it has humanized the intercourse
of social life. The unqualified acknowledgement of a duty does not,
indeed, suffice to insure its performance. Hatred is yet a passion,
but too powerful upon the hearts of christians. Yet they cannot
indulge it, except by the sacrifice of their principles, and the
conscious violation of their duties. No state paper from a Christian
hand, could, without trampling the precepts of its Lord and Master,
have commenced by an open proclamation of hatred to any portion of
the human race. The Ottoman lays it down as the foundation of his
discourse. [p. 299-300]
`The last appeal of the Sultan to the fanaticism of his people, and
to the protection of his prophet, has been vain. He told them, that
since the happy time of their great prophet, the faithful Mussulmen
had never taken into consideration the numbers of the infidels. He
reminded them, too truly reminded them, how often they had put
millions of Christians to the sword; how many states and provinces
they had thus conquered, sword in hand.’ 9 [p. 302]
`[More from the Ottoman Sultan’s pronouncement to his
subjects]…`all infidels are but one nation…This war must be
considered purely a religious and national war. Let all the
faithful, rich or poor, great or little, know, that to fight is a
duty with us; let them then refrain from thinking of arrears, or of
pay of any kind; far from such considerations, let us sacrifice our
property and our persons; let us execute zealously the duties which
the honor of Islamism imposes on us – let us unite our efforts, and
labor, body and soul, for the support of religion, until the day of
judgement. Mussulmen have no other means of working out salvation in
this world and the next.”
Those provinces are the abode of ten millions of human beings, two
thirds of whom are Christians, groaning under the intolerable
oppression of less than three millions of Turks. Those provinces are
in some of the fairest regions of the earth. They were Christian
countries, subdued during the conquering period of the Mahometan
imposture, by the ruthless scymetar of the Ottoman race; and under
their iron yoke, have been gradually dwindling in population, and
sinking into barbarism. The time of their redemption is at hand.’
[p. 303]
`With regard to the Hatti Sheriff of the 20th of December, summoning
the whole Ottoman nation to arms against Russia, the sultan now
thinks proper to say, that it was only a proclamation which the
Sublime Porte, for certain reasons, circulated in its states; an
internal transaction, of which the Sublime Porte alone knows the
motives, and that the language held by a government to its own
subjects cannot b a ground for another government to pick a quarrel
with it – especially, as the Grand Vizier had, immediately after the
departure of the Russian envoy, written a letter to the prime
minister of Russia, declaring the desire of the Sublime Porte till to
maintain peace. That if Russia had conceived suspicions, from the
Sultan’s address to his subjects, she might have applied amicably to
the Porte to ascertain the truth and clear up her doubts.’ [p. 311]
Remonstrating Against the Moral Equivalence of Britain and the
European Powers
`In the kings [British King, George IV] speech, at the opening of the
session of Parliament, on the 29th of January, he said that, `for
several years a contest had been carried on between the Ottoman
Porte, and the inhabitants of the Greek provinces and islands, which
had been marked on each side, by excesses revolting to humanity’.’
[p. 304]
`Still more extraordinary was it to the ears of Christendom to hear a
British king, in a speech to his parliament, style the execrable and
sanguinary head of the Ottoman race, his ancient ally; and denominate
a splendid victory, achieved under the command of a British admiral,
in the strict and faithful execution of his instructions, and
untoward event. But the last member of the paragraph from his
majesty’s speech, which we have quoted, to those accustomed to the
mystifications of royal speeches and diplomatic defiances, explained
these apparent disparates. He declares the great objects to which
all his efforts have been directed, and of which, while adhering to
his arrangements, he will never lose sight, are the termination of
the contest between the hostile parties; the permanent settlement of
their future relations to each other, and maintenance of the repose
of Europe, upon the basis on which it has rested since the last
general peace.’ [p. 305]
`And where is the protection to the commerce of his majesty’s
subjects! And where is the determination to launch all the thunders
of Britain at half a dozen skulking piratical cockboats, driven by
the desperation of famine to seek the subsistence of plunder,
assigned in the protocols, the treaty and the communications to the
Ottoman Porte, as the great objects of his majesty’s interference
between a legitimate sovereign and his revolted rayahs?…In all
these documents, issuing from the profound and magnanimous policy of
the British warrior statesman, nothing is more remarkable, than the
more than stoical apathy with which they regard the cause, for which
the Greeks are contending; the more than epicurean indifference with
which they witness the martyrdom of a whole people, perishing in the
recovery of their religion and liberty…The royal speech of January,
1828 indicates that in the protocol and in the treaty, the government
of George IV, had outwitted themselves, and were the dupes of their
own policy. It presents the singular spectacle of a sovereign,
wincing at the success of his own measures, and repining at the
triumph of his own arms. From that time the partialities of England
in favor of he ancient ally, have been little disguised; and the
disposition to take side with the Porte has only been controlled, by
the unwelcome necessity of adhering to the faith of treaties.’ [pp.
306-307]
`Far from being like the Hatti Sheriff of the 20th December, an
appeal to the Ottoman people, a bold and candid avowal of the
precepts of the Koran; it is an utter departure from them, and an
assumption, equally shameless and hypocritical, of argument on
Christian grounds.’ [pp. 308-309]
Justice of the Greek Revolution
`If ever insurrection was holy in the eyes of God, such was that of
the Greeks against their Mahometan oppressors. Yet for six long
years, they were suffered to be overwhelmed by the whole mass of the
Ottoman power; cheered only by the sympathies of all the civilized
world, but without a finger raised to sustain or relieve them by the
Christian governments of Europe; while the sword of extermination,
instinct with the spirit of the Koran, was passing in merciless
horror over the classical regions of Greece, the birth-place of
philosophy, of poetry, of eloquence, of all the arts that embellish,
and all the sciences that dignify the human character. The monarchs
of Austria, of France, and England, inflexibly persisted in seeing in
the Greeks, only revolted subjects against a lawful sovereign. The
ferocious Turk eagerly seized upon this absurd concession, and while
sweeping with his besom of destruction over the Grecian provinces,
answered every insinuation of interest in behalf of that suffering
people, by assertions of the unqualified rights of sovereignty, and
by triumphantly retorting upon the legitimates of Europe, the
consequences naturally flowing from their own perverted maxims.’ [p.
278]
`This pretended discovery of a plot between Russia and the Greeks, is
introduced, to preface an exulting reference to the unhallowed
butchery of the Greek Patriarch and Priests, on Easter day of 1822,
at Constantinople, and to the merciless desolation of Greece, which
it calls `doing justice by the sword’ to a great number of rebels of
the Morea, of Negropont, of Acarnania, Missolonghi, Athens, and other
parts 10 of the continent.The document acknowledges, that although
during several years, considerable forces, both naval and military,
had been sent against the Greeks, they had not succeeded in
suppressing the insurrection.’ [p. 301]
NOTES
1. Bemis, Samuel Flagg. John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of
American Foreign Policy, New York, 1949. pp. 571-572.
2. Parsons, Lynn H. John Quincy Adams- A Bibliography, Westport, CT,
1993, p. 41, entry # 194.
3. Khadduri, Majid. War and Peace in the Law of Islam, 1955,
Richmond, VA and London, England, pp. 63-64.
4. Al- Mawardi, The Laws of Islamic Governance [al-Ahkam
as-Sultaniyyah], London, United Kingdom, 1996, pp. 77-78.
5. E. W. Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon (London, 1865), Book I Part
II, Jizya, p. 422.
6. Bemis, S. F. John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American
Foreign Policy, p. 570.
7. Ackowledging his earlier position of strict neutrality, while
Secretary of State, Pappas makes clear how as President (perhaps
under the influence of Lafayette), Adams came to support the Greek
cause (Pappas, Paul C. The United States and the Greek War for
Independence, 1821-1828, New York, 1985, pp. 125-126.):
`The case of the Greek frigates demonstrated once again America’s
benevolent neutrality toward Greece. Motivated no doubt by
philhellenic zeal, the United States government came to the Greek’s
rescue in violation of the nation’s law and the international laws of
neutrality. President Adams and members of the cabinet and of
Congress enthusiastically helped Contostavlos [the Greek national
seeking warships for his country] and cooperated in passing swiftly
and discreetly a bill authorizing the government to purchase one of
the Greek frigates. The American government also cooperated in
postponing the purchase of the frigate so that Contostavlos could
deal with the houses, which refused to compromise on their high
demands. And finally, when Contostavlos was ready to sail with the
frigate Hope to Greece, President Adams temporarily put aside
neutrality to allow an armed ship to sail out of New York with
American officers and sailors…’
8. Vacalopoulos describes how jihad imposed dhimmitude under Ottoman
rule provided critical motivation for the Greek Revolution
(Vacalopoulos, A.E. Background and Causes of the Greek Revolution,
Neo-Hellenika, Vol. 2, 1975, pp.54-55):
`The Revolution of 1821 is no more than the last great phase of the
resistance of the Greeks to Ottoman domination; it was a relentless,
undeclared war, which had begun already in the first years of
servitude. The brutality of an autocratic regime, which was
characterized by economic spoliation, intellectual decay and cultural
retrogression, was sure to provoke opposition. Restrictions of all
kinds, unlawful taxation, forced labor, persecutions, violence,
imprisonment, death, abductions of girls and boys and their
confinement to Turkish harems, and various deeds of wantonness and
lust, along with numerous less offensive excesses – all these were a
constant challenge to the instinct of survival and they defied every
sense of human decency. The Greeks bitterly resented all insults and
humiliations, and their anguish and frustration pushed them into the
arms of rebellion. There was no exaggeration in the statement made
by one of the beys if Arta, when he sought to explain the ferocity of
the struggle. He said: `We have wronged the rayas [dhimmis] (i.e.
our Christian subjects) and destroyed both their wealth and honor;
they became desperate and took up arms. This is just the beginning
and will finally lead to the destruction of our empire.’ The
sufferings of the Greeks under Ottoman rule were therefore the basic
cause of the insurrection; a psychological incentive was provided by
the very nature of the circumstances.’
9. Bat Ye’or summarized the impact of the first two centuries of Arab
Muslim conquests on indigenous Jews and Christians of the Middle
East, as follows (The Jerusalem Quarterly 1987; Vol. 42, Pp. 84-85):
`Muslim chroniclers described the ongoing jihad (holy war), involving
the destruction of whole towns, the massacre of large numbers of
their populations, the enslavement of women and children, and the
confiscation of vast regions. This picture of catastrophe and
destruction corresponds to the period of gradual erosion of
Palestinian Jewry. According to [the Muslim chronicler] Baladhuri (d.
892 C.E.), 40,000 Jews lived in Caesarea alone at the Arab conquest,
after which all trace of them is lost…”.
The six centuries between 640 and 1240 C.E., she further observes:
`. witnessed the total and definitive destruction of Judaism and
Christianity in the Hijaz (modern Saudi Arabia), and the decline of
once flourishing Christian and Jewish communities in Palestine
(particularly in Galilee for the Jews), Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia,
and Persia. In North Africa, the Christians had been virtually
eliminated by 1240 C.E., and the Jews decimated by Almohad
persecutions… notwithstanding some brighter intervals, these six
centuries witnessed a dramatic demographic reversal whereby the
Arab-Muslim minority developed into a dominant majority, resorting to
oppression in order to reduce the indigenous populations to tolerated
religious minorities…’
Professor H.Z. Hirschberg includes this summary of a contemporary
Judeo-Arabic account by Solomon Cohen (which comports with Arab
historian Ibn Baydhaq’s sequence of events), from January 1148 C.E,
describing the Muslim Almohad conquests in North Africa, and Spain
(Hirschberg, H.Z., The Jews of North Africa, Leiden, Vol. 1, 1974,
pp. 127-128):
`Abd al-Mumin…the leader of the Almohads after the death of Muhammad
Ibn Tumart the Mahdi [note: Ibn Tumart was a cleric whose writings
bear a striking resemblance to Khomeini’s rhetoric eight centuries
later] …captured Tlemcen [in the Maghreb] and killed all those who
were in it, including the Jews, except those who embraced Islam…All
the cities in the Almoravid [dynastic rulers of North Africa and
Spain prior to the Almohads] state were conquered by the Almohads.
One hundred thousand persons were killed in Fez on that occasion, and
120,000 in Marrakesh….Large areas between Seville and Tortosa [in
Spain] had likewise [emphasis added] fallen into Almohad hands.’
Speros Vryonis provides a contemporary Georgian chroniclers account
of the Seljuk jihad in Asia Minor and Georgia during the late 11th
and early 12th centuries (Vryonis, Speros Jr. `Nomadization and
Islamization in Asia Minor’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 29, 1975,
pp. 50-51):
`The process itself is described in its essential details by the
Georgian chronicle for northeast Asia Minor and the adjoining
Georgian regions. The process which it describes was not unique to
the northeast, for we see it in the west and the south of Asia Minor
as well..
`The emirs spread out, like locusts, over the face of the land…The
countries of Asis-Phorni, Clardjeth, up to the shores of the sea,
Chawcheth, Adchara, Samtzkhe, Karthli, Argoueth, Samokalako, and
Dchqondid were filled with Turks who pillaged and enslaved all the
inhabitants. In a single day they burned Kouthathis, Artanoudj, and
hermitages of Clardjeth, and they remained in these lands until the
first snows, devouring the land, massacring all those who had fled to
the forests to the rocks, to the caves…The calamities of Christianity
did not come to an end soon thereafter, for at the approach of
spring, the Turks returned to carry out the same ravages and left
[again] in the winter. The [inhabitants] however were unable to
plant or to harvest. The land, [thus] delivered to slavery, had only
animals of the forests and wild beasts for inhabitants. Karthli was
in the grip of intolerable calamities such as one cannot compare to a
single devastation or combination of evils of past times. The holy
churches served as stables for their horses, the sanctuaries of the
Lord served as repairs for the abominations [Islam]. Some of the
priests were immolated during the Holy communion itself, and others
were carried off into harsh slavery without regard to their old age.
The virgins were defiled, the youths circumcised, and the infants
taken away. The conflagration, extending its ravages, consumed all
the inhabited sites, the rivers, instead of water, flowed blood. I
shall apply the sad words of Jeremiah, which he applied so well to
such situations: `the honorable children of Zion, never put to the
rest by misfortunes, now voyaged as slaves on foreign roads. The
streets of Zion now wept because there was no one [left] to celebrate
the feasts. The tender mothers, in place of preparing with their
hands the nourishment of the sons, were themselves nourished from the
corpses of these dearly loved. Such and worse was the situation at
the time.’…
By the time [of the late 11th and early 12th centuries, i.e.
(1083-1125)]…the nomads had effected permanent settlement in these
regions, moving into the abandoned and devastated areas with their
tents, families, and flocks of livestock.’
A. E. Vacalopoulos summarized the devastating impact of five
centuries of Seljuk and Ottoman jihad campaigns in Asian Minor and
the Balkans (Vacalopoulos, A.E. Origins of the Greek Nation-The
Byzantine Period, 1204-1461, New Brunswick, N.J., 1970, pp. 61, 68;
72-73):
`At the beginning of the eleventh century, the Seljuk Turks forced
their way into Armenia and there crushed the armies of several petty
Armenian states. No fewer than forty thousand souls fled before the
organized pillage of the Seljuk host to the western part of Asia
Minor. From the middle of the eleventh century, and especially after
the battle of Malazgirt [Manzikurt] (1071), the Seljuks spread
throughout the whole Asia Minor peninsula, leaving error, panic and
destruction in their wake. Byzantine, Turkish and other contemporary
sources are unanimous in their agreement on the extent of havoc
wrought an the protracted anguish of the local population…[The Greek
chronicler] Kydones described the fate of the Christian peoples of
Asia Minor thus:
`The entire region which sustained us, from the Hellespont eastwards
to the mountains of Armenia, has been snatched away. They [the
Turks] have razed cities, pillaged churches, opened graves, and
filled everything with blood and corpses…Alas, too, they have even
abused Christian bodies. And having taken away their entire wealth
they have now taken away their freedom, reducing them to the merest
shadows of slaves. And with such dregs of energy as remain in these
unfortunate people, they are forced to be the servitors of the Turk’s
personal comforts.’
`From the time the Ottoman Turks first set foot in Thrace under
Suleiman, son of Orchan, the Empire rapidly disintegrated….From the
very beginning of the Turkish onslaught under Suleiman, the Turks
tried to consolidate their position by the forcible imposition of
Islam. [The Ottoman historian] Sukrullah [maintained] those who
refused to accept the Moslem faith were slaughtered and their
families enslaved. `Where there were bells’, writes the same author,
`Suleiman broke them up and cast them onto fires. Where there are
churches he destroyed them or converted them into mosques. Thus, in
place of bells there were now muezzins. Wherever Christian infidels
were still found, vassalage was imposed upon their rulers. At least
in public they could no longer say `kyrie eleison’ but rather `There
is no God but Allah; and where once their prayers had been addressed
to Christ, they were now to `Mohammed, the prophet of Allah.’ ‘
E.G. Browne (A Literary History of Persia, Vol. III, 1928, p. 196)
describes the jihad depredations of Timur [Tamerlane] against the
Christian populations of Georgia and Asia Minor, at the outset of the
15th century (A Literary History of Persia, Vol. III, Cambridge,
1928, p. 196):
`The winter of A.D. 1399-1400 was spent by Timur in Qarabagh near the
Araxes, and ere spring had melted the snows he once more invaded
[Christian] Georgia, devastated the country, destroyed the churches
and monasteries, and slew great numbers of the inhabitants. In
August, 1400, he began his march into Asia Minor by way of Avnik,
Erzeroum, Erzinjan, and Sivas. The latter place offered stubborn
resistance, and when it finally capitulated Timur caused all the
Armenian and Christian soldiers to the number of four thousand to be
buried alive; but the Muhammadans he spared.’
10. John Cartwright, British Consul-General in Constantinople, filed
the following report from Constantinople May 25, 1822 (in, Argenti,
Philip. The Massacres of Chios, Described in Contemporary Diplomatic
Reports, London, 1932, pp. 39-40.)
`Scio [Chios], with the exception of twenty five of the Mastic
Villages, was a complete scene of desolation – the air corrupted by
the stench of dead bodies had produced an infectious disorder on
board the Turkish Fleet which was daily carrying off its’ victims.
The fate of the unhappy survivors in the Sciote tragedy is miserable
indeed – the females and children doomed to slavery from which there
will be but little chance of redemption, as all possible means are
taken to prevent the sale of them to Christians. The hostages who
were confined in the Castle of Scio as well as those who were here
have been put to death.’
Andrew G. Bostom, MD, MS is an Associate Professor of Medicine at
Brown University Medical School, and occasional contributor to
Frontpage Magazine. He is the editor of a forthcoming essay
collection entitled, “The Legacy of Jihad”.

Star of Mysore, India
Sept 24 2004
PRESIDENT GIFTS JUMBO FROM CITY ZOO TO ARMENIA
Journey from Mysore on Oct 12
Mysore, Sept. 24 – The precious gift from President of India to the
President of Armenia is receiving royal treatment at the century-old
Mysore Zoo. Seven-year-old female elephant Komala will be airlifted
to the Armenian capital Yerewan either on October 12 or 13. A team
from the Armenian Embassy is visiting the Mysore Zoo on October 2 to
review the measures taken for its travel.
Arrangement for Komala’s journey is being made and a specially-built
container has been designed by the Zoo engineers for its comfortable
journey to the Armenian Zoo.
A special flight will arrive at the Bangalore airport from Armenia to
airlift the jumbo to Yerewan. Komala’s partner, a male elephant from
Moscow Zoo, has already reached the Yerewan Zoo. Komala and the
Moscow elephant will be paired shortly.
Komala will undergo ‘biological conditioning’ inside the container to
adjust the animal to the conditions. The jumbo will be kept inside
the container (crate) for 10 days and feeding will be done inside.
Zoo Veterinarian Dr. S.M. Khadri, who is accompanying Komala to
Armenia, disclosed that Komala is getting special care. Its health
care, diet and vitamin supplement are looked after with special
attention by the Zoo vets.
Komala was separated from other elephants after it was decided to
gift the animal as per the request from the president of India.
Besides Dr. Khadri, the Director General of Forests and Central Zoo
Authority of India (CZA) Member Secretary Mr. Rajesh Gopal will
accompany the Jaumbo Komala to Armenia.
Among other elephants from renowned Zoos in the country Komala was
selected as she fulfilled all the prescribed conditions.
The authorities wanted an elephant in the age group of seven to eight
years. Komala is exceptionally good in its behaviour, temperament,
fitness, features and health, Dr. Khadri explained.
The F2 elephant
Only ‘F2’ elephants are sent to Zoos in foreign countries. ‘F2’ means
an elephant born in captivity. Komala was born to Gajalakshmi and
Jayaprakash. Gajalakshmi continues to attract visitors in Mysore Zoo.
Jayaprakash was specially brought to the Zoo from Bandipur for
breeding purposes.
Describing Komala as an ‘obedient’ jumbo, Dr. Khadri said she is
undergoing a training to learn commands from the trainers. As it was
with her mother all these years, this special training is being given
to update it with all necessary commands.
Dr. Khadri said all precautions have been taken for the smooth
airlift of Komala to Armenia. It will be airlefted with mild
sedation.
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