Category: News

Armenian, Azeri foreign ministers to meet in Brussels on 9 December
Arminfo
8 Dec 04
Yerevan, 8 December: Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan and
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will have a meeting in
Brussels on 9 December. The meeting will be attended by the co-chairmen
of the OSCE Minsk Group to settle the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict,
the press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry has told Arminfo
news agency.
The Armenian foreign minister arrived in Brussels from Sofia
yesterday to participate in a meeting of the foreign ministers of
the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (CEAP). As was reported, the
two countries’ foreign ministers also held a meeting in Sofia.
According to the source, Oskanyan today held a meeting with the
ambassadors of CEAP member countries and representatives of analytical
centres drawing up European policy. During the meeting, the sides
touched on relations between Armenia and Turkey, Armenia’s prospects of
integrating into and expanding cooperation with the European Union in
the context of Europe’s New Neighbourhood policy. The foreign minister
then met the European Commission’s commissioner for expansion issues,
Olli Rehn, to present Armenia’s approach to the 17 December summit of
the European Union regarding Turkey’s accession to the European Union.
[Passage omitted: Vardan Oskanyan also met other European officials]

Jean Paul II prie pour les Irakiens après les attentats contre des églises
Edicom, Suisse
Dec 8 2004
CITE DU VATICAN (AP) – Le pape Jean Paul II a déclaré mercredi qu’il
priait pour le peuple irakien après les attentats à la bombe contre
deux églises de Mossoul dans le nord de l’Irak, dernière violence en
date contre les chrétiens du pays.
»J’exprime ma proximité spirituelle avec les fidèles, choqués par ces
attentats», a dit Jean Paul II qui parlait depuis l’une des fenêtres
de ses appartements sur la place Saint-Pierre à l’occasion de la fête
catholique de l’Immaculée Conception.
Le souverain pontife a ajouté qu’il priait pour que les Irakiens
»puissent connaître enfin le temps de la réconciliation et de la paix».
Dans deux attentats simultanés mardi, des insurgés ont fait exploser
des bombes dans une église catholique arménienne et une église
chaldéenne à Mossoul, faisant trois blessés.
–Boundary_(ID_Pg2vY6gu1w1Ur9zhYYkWMQ)–

Armenian ombudsman accuses Azeri media of spreading misinformation
Arminfo
8 Dec 04
Yerevan, 8 December: Armenian ombudsman Larisa Alaverdyan has protested
against the spread of misinformation by the Azerbaijani media. “It
has become obvious lately that the Azerbaijani mass media are working
flat out to undermine relations between the human rights commissioners
of Azerbaijan and Armenia by trying to engage the national rights
institutions in pseudo-political insinuations that have nothing in
common with the ideals of human rights,” says a statement circulated
by the department for information and public relations of the Armenian
ombudsman’s office.
The latest Berlin meeting of ombudsmen from Europe and the CIS
held under the auspices of the Council of Europe’s human rights
commissioner was no exception to this rule, the document says. The
misinformation about “victories” in the putative struggle against
the Armenian ombudsman who has allegedly failed to disprove facts,
was promptly published on the web site of Azartac, the Azerbaijani
state-owned news agency.
Meanwhile, Alaverdyan said the official press release of the Council
of Europe says that the meeting adopted only one document, the Berlin
declaration, which does not and could not contain a word about the
“accepted suggestions and demands” of the Azerbaijani ombudsman,
especially if they concerned the Karabakh conflict. Such misinformation
casts a shadow on the high forum of representatives of national human
rights institutions from Europe and the CIS.
“In parallel with this, an international conference of ombudsmen from
the CIS and Europe was held in Baku and the Armenian ombudsman was not
even invited there even though she had repeatedly said from different
international rostrums that she was ready to attend the Baku conference
because she believes it is very important to establish cooperation
between national human right institutions of Europe and the CIS,”
the statement said.
[Passage omitted: previous meetings at the level of ombudsmen]
“Unfortunately, the destabilizing role of Azerbaijan in the South
Caucasus region, which the Armenian media and public have been warning
about, has reached the area of protection of human rights. This compels
us to raise the issue of joining our efforts in creating an atmosphere
of real and effective work in the area of human rights which would
enable us to reject all attempts at distorting the essence of this
benevolent mission,” the statement said.

Powell calls on Russia to withdraw bases
The Messenger, Georgia
Dec 8 2004
Georgian minister says border monitoring mission needs extension “for
the sake of peace and stability”
By Warren Hedges
Washington is waiting for Russia to act on its commitments to remove
military bases from Georgia and is even willing to contribute to the
cost of doing so, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell declared on
Tuesday.
Speaking in Sofia during the 12th meeting of the OSCE Ministerial
Council, Secretary Powell also said the OSCE needs to make a ‘new
push’ to help settle frozen conflicts like those in Georgia and
Moldova.
“In parts of our OSCE community, frozen conflicts still remain frozen
fifteen years after the end of the Cold War,” he said during a speech
to the council. He added that in the past year, “there has been
little headway made toward resolution of the situation in
Nagorno-Karabakh or in breakaway regions of Moldova and Georgia. A
new push from the OSCE and by the leaders of participating states is
needed.”
He immediately followed these comments by calling on Russia to follow
through on its obligations agreed to 1999 to remove military bases
from Georgia.
“Russia’s commitments to withdraw its military forces from Moldova,
and to agree with Georgia on the duration of the Russian military
presence there, remain unfulfilled,” the secretary noted.
Referring to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE),
which the U.S. has yet to ratify, Powell said, “A core principle of
the CFE Treaty is host country agreement to the stationing of
forces.”
“The United States remains committed to moving ahead with
ratification of the Adapted CFE Treaty,” Powell said, “but we will
only do so after all the Istanbul commitments on Georgia and Moldova
have been met. And we stand ready to assist with reasonable costs
associated with the implementation of those commitments.”
Representing Georgia, as well as the GUUAM organization, at the
two-day council meeting, Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Salome
Zourabichvili called on OSCE members to extend its border monitoring
mission in Georgia, a mission that is set to expire at the end of
this month.
“We strongly believe that the OSCE Border Monitoring Operation (BMO)
in Georgia is one of the most successful missions of our
Organization,” Zourabichvili said, “simultaneously making a
tremendous contribution to Georgia’s border security at the most
volatile and controversial segments of the Georgian-Russian border.”
The BMO currently deploys 150 monitors from member countries along
the border between Georgia and the Chechen Republic of the Russian
Federation. According to the OSCE, the mission began in December 1999
and was expanded in December 2001 to encompass the Ingush segment of
the Georgian border with the Russian Federation, and once more in
December 2002, to include the Dagestan segment of the border.
Zourabichvili concluded her speech by calling for an extension beyond
the current year: “We strongly support the BMO’s extension for the
sake of peace and stability in the region.”
Secretary Powell also backed up Georgia’s position, saying some of
the OSCE’s “most important assets” are its 17 field missions. ” The
missions are working for democracy, human rights and conflict
resolution from the Balkans to Central Asia. In Georgia, the OSCE’s
Border Monitoring Operation is contributing to stability on a
sensitive border, and its mandate should be extended for another
year.”
Representing Russia, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov called
on Georgia to avoid politicizing its separatist conflicts and to
avoid the use of force.
“Today we need not political slogans but concrete measures to improve
the situation in South Ossetia in terms of the Sochi agreements of
Zhvania and Kokoiti on November 5,” Lavrov said.
He also said Russia is waiting for economic cooperation between
Georgia and separatist Abkhazia: “We wait for the logical steps in
fulfilling these agreements from both sides so as to strengthen the
trust between Tbilisi and Sokhumi, mainly in the economic sphere.”
Lavrov also called on Georgia to “not forget about” its commitments
to the OSCE to protect regional governments like Adjara’s autonomous
status: “The liquidation of Adjaran autonomy would not contribute to
raising trust in Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-Ossetian relations.”

Indian Express, India
Dec 9 2004
Bollywood DIPLOMACY
Express Features Service
New Delhi, December 8: Like so many people in his part of the
world, the outgoing Armenian ambassador Armen Baibourtian too is a
Bollywood fan. And so, at a recent farewell party held in his honour
at The Grand hotel, he informed us that he is taking back many filmi
memories. “Aishwarya Rai and Shah Rukh Khan are my favourite stars,”
said the man who will be Deputy Foreign Minister in the Armenian
government. Baibourtian served a four-and-a-half-year term in India and
was happy to deliberate on the India-Armenia connection. “There are
Armenian communities in India, mostly in Chennai and Kolkata. And at
present there are around 650 Indian students in Yerevan State Medical
University in Armenia,” he said. But if he had to choose between a doc,
Ash and SRK as Indian envoy to his country, wonder who he’d vote for?

ARKADY GHOUKASSIAN AWARDS ARMENIAN PHOTOGRAPHER FROM CANADA HRAIR (BAZE)
KHACHERIAN WITH NKR MEDAL “YERAKHTAGITUTYUN”
STEPANAKERT, December 8 (Noyan Tapan). On December 8, NKR President
Arkady Ghoukassian awarded well-known Canadian photographer of Armenian
origin Hrair (Baze) Khacherian with the NKR medal “Yerakhtagitutyun”
(“Gratitude”). He was awarded with this medal for contribution to
the development of the NKR culture and in connection with the 15th
anniversary of the national-liberation movement in Artsakh.
Hrair Khacherian expressed deep gratitude to the head of the Karabakh
state for such a high assessment of his work. According to him,
Artsakh is a source of creative inspiration not only for himself but
for all the culural and art workers of the Armenian Diaspora.
According to the Head Information System attached to the NKR President,
on his behalf the Canadian photographer presented Arkady Ghoukassian
with one of his works.

‘Ararat’ confronts truth in world of denial
By Paul F. Agusta, Contributor/Jakarta, [email protected]
Jakarta Post, Indonesia
Dec 8 2004
Canadian author and journalist, Peter C. Newman, once wrote, “History
is no more than memories refreshed.”
Now, Armenian-Canadian writer-director Atom Egoyan sets out to refresh
mankind’s collective awareness concerning a long-buried event of
history; the Armenian genocide of 1915.
Although occurring almost a century ago, this event in which 1.5
million Armenians were killed or deported in a massive act of ethnic
cleansing within the Ottoman Empire, continues to haunt the both
the Armenians and the Turks, who have yet to fully acknowledge the
possibility it even happened at all.
With the deftly layered and heavily textured film, Atom Egoyan
points out that we cannot escape our histories, neither personal,
national or collective, nor can we escape the desire to understand
what happened and maybe, along the way, discover a hidden reality —
what makes us who we are.
It is this desire to comprehend that drives the majority of the
film’s characters, especially the young Armenian-Canadian Raffi;
the main protagonist.
In a film-within-a-film, in stories within a story, and in the midst
of grasping at a thin red thread of truth within a tapestry of lies
and denials, Raffi, played with subtle sadness and burning passion
by David Alpay, finds himself questioning his heritage while working
as a production assistant and driver on the set of a film about the
Armenian genocide.
As his questions are answered, even more questions emerge to plunge
him ever more deeply into an obsession with history; the catalogue
of the forgotten. As viewers watch Raffi turn the pages of the past,
the film, Ararat, takes on new and more complex layers that may daunt
many in the audience.
Egoyan throws such an immense amount of information at the audience
that it threatens to inundate the senses and to almost obscure the
core storyline of the genocide itself.
Yet, Egoyan never loses sight of the impact of that event, and
carefully ties up every lose end for the audience as the myriad threads
of the story entwine. It is his meticulous attention to detail as a
screenplay writer that lends immediacy to this film and motivates a
desire to learn more about this often-overlooked part of history.
It is as if Egoyan has set out to take the advice of Lord Acton who
once suggested that if the past seems to be an obstacle and a burden,
knowledge of it would be the safest and surest emancipation.
Ararat, which is rounded out by a stellar international cast,
including Christopher Plummer, Charles Aznavour, Eric Bogosian,
Arsinee Khanjian, Elias Koteas and Bruce Greenwood, is a solid piece
of work. Not one person among the players gives a performance that
falls short of excellence.
Charles Aznavour, who plays Edward Saroyan, the director of the
film-within-the-film, skillfully and aptly depicts a wounded soul,
who is a descendent of survivors.
Christopher Plummer plays David, a stern and almost reluctantly
compassionate professional, whose decisions are pivotal not only
for Raffi, but also for the cinematic revelation of the history of
the genocide.
As if driven by the suspicion that history is destined to repeat
itself because not enough people were consciously observing the
first time around, Egoyan has taken pains to make sure this film
is so unforgettable that it inscribes the tragedy of this atrocity
indelibly on the psyches of filmgoers.
Ararat is a film that many viewers may find requires a second viewing
due to the necessary complexity of the storytelling. It is truly
worth the effort.

Armenian Patriarch blames Turkey for poor relations
NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Dec 8 2004
The Armenian Patriarch Karekin II said that the genocide issue was
not one that could be debated.
December 8— The Patriarch of the Armenian Church on Wednesday claimed
that Ankara was responsible for lack of formal diplomatic relations
with Yerevan.
Patriarch Karekin II said that this was because Turkey insisted on
setting preliminary conditions for the normalising of the relations.
However, Karekin II said that it was essential to resolve the question
of Ngorno-Karabag region of Azerbaijan and which is currently occupied
by Armenia, and the recognition of the alleged Armenian genocide.
“Undoubtedly in such a climate it is of special importance to open
the border and improve co-operation,” he said.
But he stressed that the issue of genocide was not an issue that
could be the subject of debate.
“This was a real experience, the Patriarch said. “But without any
hesitation I have to say that this problem has to be overcome and
relations between the two nations should be re-established.”
–Boundary_(ID_87ArFnMHUviOAw61XMJskQ)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkish Press
Dec 8 2004
Russia and the West
BYEGM: 12/8/2004
BY SAMI KOHEN
MILLIYET- Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Ankara this
week coincided with a problematic period in terms of our relations
with the West. Before and after the visit, Turkey’s warmth for Russia
stood in contrast with its coldness towards the US and certain EU
members. In fact, Putin’s visit highlighted the positive atmosphere
between Ankara and Moscow. For example, the Turkish media’s interest
and positive take on relations with Moscow surprised even Russian
observers. However, there’s been a negative shift in Turkey’s feelings
for old friends. Particularly its anti-US feelings are about to upset
relations. The key factor in this is criticisms of US policies in
northern Iraq and towards PKK terrorists. As a decision on our EU
membership talks looms, there’s also difficulties and discomfort in
our relations with Europe. Particularly certain EU members’ recent
stances and a draft statement for the summit caused disappointment.
Putin’s visit to Ankara in such an atmosphere, taken as the
beginning of a new era for Turkish-Russian relations, served to
relax Turkey. However, we shouldn’t consider this an alternative
to our relations and common interests with the West or an escape
from the West by leaning towards Moscow. If Russia is seen in terms
of multidimensional relations, relations are positive. Ankara and
Moscow still have common views on many issues, for example, Iraq
and the Middle East. However, they disagree on others, for example,
Cyprus, Armenia and Northern Karabakh. We have good cooperation in
some areas, particularly economics. However, there is disharmony over
Straits traffic and energy transportation. Putin said in Ankara that
if Turkey becomes an EU member, due to EU restrictions, it wouldn’t
be able to buy inexpensive energy from Russia, as it has done, and
that many Russian tourists would no longer be able to visit Turkey.
In fact, these negative predictions for the next 10-15 years were
surprising. Putin gave the impression that he didn’t favor Turkey’s
EU membership and that Ankara should prioritize its relations with
Moscow. I wonder if he was trying to send a message even as Turkey
is working to get a date for EU membership talks.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkish Press
Dec 8 2004
No appointment for Edelman
BYEGM: 12/8/2004
BY ASLI AYDINTASBAS
SABAH- There’s been a serious change in Turkish-US relations and the
atmosphere in Washington. Let’s look at what Turkey might want in
altering its 50-year ‘strategic partnership’ with the US. We can
begin our analysis with the fact that for three months now, US
Ambassador to Ankara Eric Edelman’s request for an appointment with
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has gone unanswered. This is
completely unprecedented. Egeman Bagis, a foreign policy advisor to
Erdogan, is in Washington, and another advisor, Cuneyt Zapsu, is also
on the way there. State Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin just got back from
a Stateside visit.
Yesterday I talked to both Turkish and US officials about the
strained state of relations. One high-ranking US official began by
joking, ‘We’re happy to have united the right and left wings.’
Anti-US feeling has become a common feeling among rightists,
leftists, Islamist and nationalists. Over the weekend, some
newspapers criticized Edelman for calling Fener Greek Patriarch
Bartholomeos ‘ecumenical.’ The US official continued: ‘Turkey is
rapidly losing its friends in Washington. I don’t know whether
they’re doing this on purpose or because they can’t manage crises.’
On its road to the EU, Ankara, on the other hand, is continuing its
relations with the US as a ‘cold marriage,’ and wants Washington to
keep off this road. US Secretary of State Colin Powell will ask his
Turkish counterpart whether Ankara needs Washington’s help for next
week’s pivotal EU summit. What the Americans have in mind is the
telephone diplomacy made before the 1999 Helsinki summit. But Ankara
is leaning towards saying, ‘no, thanks.’ The same US official said
that Turkish-US relations aren’t distant from Europe, and added ‘The
government struck a balance between us and the EU, but now if it’s
looking just to please France, that’s something else. However
Turkey’s natural place in Europe is among countries resisting the
Franco-German axis. Those countries have close relations with the
Washington.’ State Minister Sahin also had important meetings in the
EU. ‘Neither we nor the US has the right to destroy such a
longstanding relationship,’ he said.
The same US official said, ‘The Turks think we don’t have domestic
political problems, but there are three communities in Washington
interested in relations with Turkey. Relations with the Jewish lobby
are not good, and the US Greek community is disappointed about the
‘ecumenical’ crisis. The last group is the Armenian lobby, which has
its own line. The current atmosphere is a real nightmare for us’.