Category: News

REPORT ON AZERBAIJAN NOT DISCUSSED AT SESSION OF PACE COMMITTEE
[November 20, 2004, 12:46:53]
Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
Nov 20 2004
As the correspondent of AzerTAj informs, the Legal Issues and Human
Rights Committee of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
has held regular sitting in Paris, on 19 November.
At the session, expected was discussion of the question connected
to Azerbaijan, member of delegation of parliament of Azerbaijan at
PACE Rafael Huseynov told AzerTAj correspondent. Because of absence
at session of the reporter, the deputy from England Malcolm Bruce,
to members of the Committee has been represented the message –
memorandum on the resolution (#1359) prepared by him. The given
document, within the framework of the report “Activity of democratic
institutes in Azerbaijan”, deals with the condition of the work done
in the Country in connection with problem of prisoners.
New and former variants of this document discussed at the autumn
session, have not undergone serious changes. M. Bruce has supplemented
the report with new data connected to events, occurred for last
period. In the report, the high estimation has been given to the
measures, which have been carried out in Azerbaijan in connection
with the solution of this problem, decrees of the President of the
country about the pardon, effective cooperation of Azerbaijan and the
Council of Europe in the cause of solution of the question separately.
During the sitting, dialogue between R. Huseynov and Secretariat
concerning the text of the report has taken place.
At the sitting of the Committee, the new document prepared by R.
Huseynov for the first time has been considered. Some members of
Committee have signed the document titled “On the responsibility of
the Armenian state connected to compensation of material and moral
damage, as a result of occupation of territories of Azerbaijan»,
and they have stated that approve substantive provisions of the text.
It is expected that at the forthcoming winter session the document
will be submitted in Secretariat of the Council of Europe, issued
and again discussed.
–Boundary_(ID_33AoDUpJTJUBMogph12DOw)–

Armenia Fails To Realize Claims In PACE
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 20 2004
Armenia has again failed to realize their territorial claims as the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) supported
Azerbaijan’s fair position on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, head of
the Azerbaijani delegation at PACE Samad Seyidov said.
Seyidov returned home late on Thursday from the meeting of the PACE
Political Committee held in Strasbourg. He said that the Azerbaijani
delegation’s position at PACE substantiates that Azerbaijan is pursuing
a correct and fair policy.
“The developments in the Committee’s meeting were expectable as
a report on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, prepared by former
CE rapporteur Terry Davis, contained realities and was precise,”
Seyidov noted.
According to Seyidov, the Azeri parliament members were also ready
to prevent the Armenian MPs’ attempts to withdraw the report from
the meeting agenda.
The report is due to be discussed at the PACE session in January 2005.

Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
Nov 20 2004
Giving help, a box at a time
Clark Magnet High School students gather dozens of boxes of toys,
books, clothes and shoes to be shipped to Iraqi children.
By Darleene Barrientos, News-Press and Leader
LA CRESCENTA — Having had the luxury of playing with Barbie dolls as
a young girl, the image of Iraqi girls making do with rocks hit home
for Clark Magnet High School student Jenny Lee.
“That kind of got to me,” the 17-year-old student said of a video she
saw. “We have so much here. The least you could do is buy something
for just $1 or $2. Just donating will make us happy and make them
happy.”
So Jenny, a member of her school’s student government, set out to
help her school gather dozens of boxes of toys, school supplies,
shoes and clothes to donate to the women and children of Iraq. The
boxes were handed over to Passions & Dreams Funding, an organization
accepting donations that will be sorted out and shipped to Iraq.
Clark Magnet’s student government mobilized the effort in October,
placing a container in each fourth-period classroom where students
could deposit their donations. The school made a competition of the
effort, in which each classroom could garner points for every type of
donation. Books and coloring books were the most valuable at 200
points, and shoes were worth 150 points. Clothes and toys got each
class 100 points, while school supplies, like pencils and crayons,
were 10 points each.
The school’s goal was to hit about 400,000 points, but the students
exceeded 500,000. Mary Mardirosian’s classroom alone acquired more
than 100,000 points, the most out of the whole school. The classroom
with the most points won an award pointing that out and thanking the
students.
Several of Mardirosian’s students recently moved here from other
countries, so that might have fueled their motivation to donate,
Mardirosian said.
When talking about the effort, Mardirosian talked to her students
about the earthquakes in Armenia and Mexico.
“I said, ‘Now it’s your chance to give,’ ” she said. “It doesn’t
matter your opinion of the war — just help the Iraqi children.”
The cardboard boxes of donations overflowed with a plush, red Elmo, a
Scooby Doo doll, and a SpongeBob Squarepants doll, while sparkly
pencil sets and baby’s clothes protruded from other boxes. A box
filled with worn baseballs and softballs elicited wows from the
students, while plastic bouncing balls nearly popped out of several
other boxes.
“I’m blown away,” said Silva Mirzoian, the founder of Passions &
Dreams. “I’m overwhelmed with their generosity. I had no idea they
would gather so much.
The organization will take this shipment to a warehouse so workers
can sort through the goods and make sure they are appropriate to the
country’s customs. Mirzoian said she hoped the toys, clothes, shoes
and books would be in the hands of the Iraqi children by
mid-December. For more information about Passions & Dreams or to
donate, call (310) 273-1019 or go to their website at
–Boundary_(ID_BNt11hilcyoZFx2dnsthjg)–

Los Angeles Times
Nov 20 2004
Living One’s Faith Among the Poor
An Azusa Pacific program places interns in service to the community
in L.A. Student Brendan Alley helps the homeless.
By K. Connie Kang, Times Staff Writer
Approaching a disheveled man lying on a sidewalk near Vine Street
in Hollywood, Brendan Alley crouched quietly beside him and gently
touched the homeless man’s shoulder.
“My name is Brendan. Do you want something to eat?” said the Azusa
Pacific University sophomore.
“Yah,” the man replied, pulling himself up slowly from his makeshift
bed of crushed cardboard boxes and peering from beneath a crumpled
cowboy hat at the juice and chips the stranger offered.
As the man took the snack, Alley asked him how he was doing, his name,
how long he had been on the street and whether he had heard of PATH
(People Assisting the Homeless). Alley also told him that a free lunch,
a shower, a haircut and various social services were available at
the PATH agency’s facilities between Koreatown and Silver Lake.
Alley, 19, who comes from Billericia, Mass., a town of 30,000 near
Boston, has spent many hours since September walking countless city
blocks — from Hollywood to Inglewood — to reach out to the homeless.
The experience, under the supervision of a PATH official, fulfills a
requirement for a bachelor’s degree in global studies at Azusa Pacific,
the largest evangelical Christian college on the West Coast.
Students have a choice of interning at any of more than two dozen
community groups involved in economic development, community health,
urban education, environmental justice, human rights, and moral and
spiritual renewal.
Alley, who plans to be a minister, is one of 10 students from around
the country enrolled this semester in an Azusa Pacific program known as
the Los Angeles Term. In addition to the internship, the students use
only public transportation, live with families in the city and take
classes at the school’s L.A. Regional Center on Wilshire Boulevard
in Koreatown for the semester.
Now in its fifth year, the program was born out of the 1992 Los
Angeles riots.
“When the city was burning from the uprising, APU realized there was
an experiential gap between Azusa and L.A., even though it’s only 25
to 30 miles from the center of the city,” said the Rev. Paul Hertig,
professor of global studies and director of the Los Angeles Term.
School officials decided to start an academic program to participate in
the healing of the city. The Los Angeles Term is a component of that.
“We are challenging the students to live out their faith in the
realities of urban life,” said Hertig, a specialist in inter-cultural
studies. “When they journey from their familiar territory to a more
multicultural setting of L.A., their monocultural faith gains a
multicultural dimension. Their faith begins to reflect the color of
the mosaic of L.A.”
For Alley, working with the homeless offers a challenge to live out
his faith. “It’s all about becoming more aware about people around
you,” he said, “Through that, you’re able to love people better.”
Alley grew up in a loving family active in the Baptist church. In
addition to having Alley and his older brother, the family adopted
five children. Alley said he was inspired to go into the ministry when
he was 12 and saw a church group renovating a former strip joint in
Cambridge, Mass., into a sanctuary and sports facilities for youths.
His Los Angeles internship, current classes and living with a Filipino
American family near Koreatown have been life-changing experiences.
“The biggest challenge for me is to absorb and interpret as much as
possible while not becoming overwhelmed,” he said.
Sometimes, he admits, he is tempted to ignore homeless people who
ask for money, especially when he is broke. But, even then, it’s
important to hear what they have to say, he said. “You can offer
them your attention, introduce yourself to them and listen, give them
certain respect,” he said.
He often has his meals at the Thai restaurant his host family runs,
Lynne’s Cuisine at 6th and Occidental streets. His host mother,
Alice Meyer, who has two sons in their early 20s, dotes on Alley,
making sure that the slender student has had enough to eat.
“He is such a sweetheart,” said Meyer, who has been a host to other
students in the Los Angeles Term. “We are a family; that’s the beauty
of it.”
Alley has a car he keeps at a friend’s house in San Diego. He is not
allowed to use it under the semester’s rules. So on a recent Thursday,
his day began before 7 a.m. when he took the No. 14 Beverly bus to
get to the PATH office on Madison Street and did not end until after
9 p.m., when he left the Zen Center of Los Angeles.
At 9 a.m., after reviewing files and conferring with Sam Colquitt —
his supervisor and a PATH project director — Alley was on a PATH van
headed for Hollywood.
With Colquitt and Veronica Johnson, PATH’s street outreach case
manager, Alley visited with 15 homeless people, including several
old-timers who tend to stay in the same place.
“I still find it amazing that you find the same people at the same,
exact spot,” he said after visiting with Bob, a Korean War veteran
whose home is a bench by a bus stop across from St. John Armenian
Apostolic Church on Vine Street near Sunset Boulevard.
As a vet, Bob qualifies for many benefits, but he tells them he wants
to stay where he is.
The only thing he would like is a driver’s license, he told Colquitt,
who keeps an eye out for him. Could he pick up an application form so
he could get a driver’s license, Bob asked. Colquitt told Bob that
he had to appear in person at a Department of Motor Vehicles office
to get a license. But Bob just nodded and talked about how his vision
is so bad that he can barely read.
After a short lunch, the team returned to PATH shortly before 2 p.m.
Alley made a brief stop at his home before heading for the Central
Library downtown to do research on Buddhism. After dinner at the
restaurant, he went the Zen Center in Koreatown, where he observed
and meditated with about 10 others, most of them Buddhists, for two
hours until shortly after 9 p.m. He took the subway, then a bus,
getting home after 10 p.m.
As part of the course “Urban Religious Movements,” Azusa Pacific
classes visit various religious settings including Eastern Orthodox
and Roman Catholic churches, a Jewish synagogue, a Buddhist meditation
center, an Islamic mosque and a Hindu temple. Later, students pick
one religious community to concentrate on and visit it often, as
Alley did with the Buddhists.
On Fridays, after attending Hertig’s class “Community Organizations
and Social Change,” Los Angeles Term students have lunch together
and talk about such issues as homelessness, sweatshops, pollution
and mass transit.
Alley says he is waiting for God’s direction on what to do after
graduating from Azusa Pacific: a seminary or graduate school first,
or whether to start working with Baptists to launch new churches.
“I want to be God’s friend and co-laborer and a tool to do his work,”
he said.
–Boundary_(ID_jq3h+Nl4FQN9Pj0h8kUl+A)–

Ago Monitoring Group Meets With President
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 20 2004
President Ilham Aliyev received a delegation of the Council of
Europe Ministers Committee Ago monitoring group chaired by the German
ambassador to the CE Roland Vegener on Friday.
Among the issues discussed was democratization, ensuring political
pluralism in the country, the CE-Azerbaijan cooperation, and
fulfillment of Azerbaijan’s commitments to the organization.
The parties also considered discussion of the Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict over Nagorno Karabakh within relevant entities of the PACE.

Details of Azeri, Armenian FMs’ Meeting not Disclosed
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 20 2004
On Friday Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov and of
Armenia Vardan Oskanian met in Berlin, Germany to continue talks on
the issues they discussed at their previous Prague meeting several
months ago. The details of the meeting are not reported.
All the four meetings of the two countries’ foreign ministers were held
in Prague. The Friday meeting was initially scheduled for October 25,
but was postponed after the Armenian side requested time to analyze
the results of previous meetings.

In the footsteps of the prophets
By Nick Wyke
The Times, UK
Nov 20 2004
Our correspondent follows the pilgrims discovering a part of the Holy
Land rich in biblical sites
THE wealth of biblical sites in the Muslim kingdom of Jordan is
attracting growing numbers of Christian pilgrims who are deterred by
the violent conflict from visiting Israel.
Even a recent visit by the pop star Madonna to kabbalist sites in
Israel failed to boost the country’s tourism, and a wider picture
shows that pilgrimages – once the lifeblood of its tourist industry –
have slumped. Compared to the relatively peaceful few years before
the intifada – the Palestinian grassroots uprising of September 2000 –
American and British tour groups are staying away.
This makes neighbouring Jordan seem an increasingly popular
alternative. Its three most important biblical sites are: Bethany,
where Christ is said to have been baptised by John the Baptist;
Mount Nebo, from which Moses is said to have seen the Promised Land;
and Machaerus, the hilltop village where John the Baptist was beheaded
by Herod Antipas, the successor to Herod the Great.
Jordan is also where Jacob wrestled with the angel of God, Job suffered
and was rewarded for his faith, and Elijah ascended to heaven. These
stories are critical not only to the development of Christianity, but
in the evolution of the monotheistic religions of Judaism and Islam.
“In the past the Christian market has been an optional add-on to
tours of Israel, but now it is holding its own,” says David Symes,
sales and marketing manager of the Jordan Tourism Board in London.
Two years ago Symes joined a pioneering interfaith pilgrimage,
organised by Saga Holidays, that brought British Christians and Muslims
together on a tour of the sites of prophets in Jordan. Each day’s
coach trip would begin with a reading from the Bible and one from
the Koran. “Given what was going on in the world post-9/11, you had
to pinch yourself to believe this was really happening,” says Symes.
Although the tours are no longer run, they reflect a certain
peacefulness and potential for interfaith dialogue in Jordan that is
not always possible elsewhere in the Middle East. This is one of the
factors that makes a trip there, whether as a pilgrim or otherwise,
so fascinating.
“You set out to see Christian sites and deepen your relationship with
God and the Bible and you do that, but you also get to learn so much
about the Muslim world,” says the Rev Rupert Lazar, of West Croydon
Baptist Church, one of a group of Baptist leaders that recently
toured Jordan.
“To witness the behaviour and values of practising Muslims first-hand
was enlightening. To hear how Christians and Muslims live in peace
with respect for each other was heartening, when back home we just
hear that they are at loggerheads,” says Mr Lazar.
A good starting point to any pilgrimage in Jordan is the Byzantine-era
mosaic map at St George’s church in Madaba, the most important
Christian centre in Jordan. The original map contained more than
two million pieces and showed all the biblical sites from Lebanon to
Egypt. Only one third of the whole now survives – identifying Karak,
home to a crusaders’ castle, and Lot’s cave and monastery in Jordan.
One of the most significant finds of recent times is the baptism site
at Bethany, which has just opened a visitors’ centre. About ten years
ago the Jordanian Antiquities Ministry received news that shepherds had
unearthed ancient pots and coins in the military zone at the northern
end of the Dead Sea. After scrutinising the finds and the Bible the
ministry believed this to be the site where Jesus was baptised by
John and anointed by God. Landmines were cleared and excavations began.
Proof, the Jordanians argue, is based on biblical references (John 1,
28, for example), archaeological finds – the remains of three churches
and baptism pools – and journals of pilgrims from the 4th century AD.
“It’s the lowest point on Earth but the closest to Heaven,” says
Rustain Mkhjian, an Armenian Christian responsible for the restoration
of the site.
The sage-green river flanked with bulrushes conjures a scene from a
children’s Bible. It is so close to the West Bank that you can see
Israeli army lookout posts, and a message on my mobile phone reads:
“Welcome to Israel”. Russians are baptised here in bikinis and fill
bottles with river water to take home.
“When Christians pray here, I can feel how touched they are,” says
Kamel al-Jaysui, a Jordanian tour guide.

Glendale telethon to fund Armenian highway
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News
November 19, 2004
Friday, November 19, 2004 – GLENDALE — Rush-hour traffic on the
freeway, blaring horns, rude drivers — those are the stuff of dreams
for people in Armenia, who have 52 miles remaining to complete a
major north-south “backbone” highway in the country.
To that end, Armenians living outside that country are gearing up
for the Armenia Fund’s 12-hour telethon on Thursday.
More than 600 volunteers — 200 of which will answer telephones —
will help conduct the event live from Glendale. It will feature
popular Armenian singers and government officials and will air in
45 million homes throughout the United States, Europe, South America
and the Middle East.
The goal of the 10th annual telethon: To raise the $12.5 million
needed to complete the $25 million, 105-mile highway that will link
150 towns and villages and help spur the country’s struggling economy.
“The importance of the road, half of which has already been built,
is that it created 1,000 jobs in very small villages in most need
of development,” said Maria Mehranian, chairperson of Armenia Fund
Western United States. “And strategically, the road still remains
the single most important project in the country.”
Currently, the transportation of goods from one part of the country
to another is clumsy at best.
Small trucks carry goods back and forth, without any expressways
or mass transit of any sort, making for a very slow and inefficient
exchange of goods.
“We have seen firsthand here what impacts a freeway has not only on the
community but on the economy,” said George L. Pla, chief executive
officer of Cordoba Corp., a civil engineering and construction
management company. He traveled to Armenia and surveyed the country
to explore the potential of infrastructure development.
“I think it’s even more crucial in Armenia because they don’t have
too many access points to moving goods and services, so in short,
this highway is just going to stimulate the economy and create jobs,”
he said.
Over the last 10 years, the nonprofit Armenia Fund has raised about
$90 million for projects in Armenia. Last year’s telethon generated
$6.5 million, but organizers are hoping that with a larger audience
this year, they will hit their target goal of $12.5 million.
“Armenia Fund started in Glendale, and because of the large community
of Armenians that live in the city of Glendale, this has become
a very successful event, a very worthwhile event, and it does help
build infrastructure for the country that needs the help from its
community,” said Mayor Bob Yousefian.
Each year, the international organization that’s headquartered in
the Armenian capital of Yerevan identifies a cause in Armenia it will
support, causes that in the past have included building roads, schools,
hospitals, water-related facilities and creating training programs.
When Armenia became an independent country in 1991, Armenia Fund raised
money for social programs, but when the country began to stabilize,
it started to exclusively dedicate money to the infrastructure and
economic development.
Mehranian said Armenian people — many of whom have never been to
Armenia — feel compelled to send money to a country with which they
feel an undeniable bond.
“There is a strong bond between Armenia and Armenians in the diaspora,”
Mehranian said. “After years of living in other countries, for the
first time there is an idea of homeland … and as more Armenians go
back to Armenia, these bonds become stronger, people want to do more
and to give more.”
Naush Boghossian, (818) 546-3306 [email protected]
HOW TO HELP
Armenia Fund’s 2004 Telethon will air in Los Angeles from 8 a.m. to
8 p.m. Thursday on KSCI (Channel 18). It will also be Webcast at

President Receives New Turkish Ambassador
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 20 2004
President Ilham Aliyev, receiving credentials from the newly-appointed
Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan Turan Morali, said Turkey has
supported Azerbaijan on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
“Ankara has regularly supported Azerbaijan on the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict resolution.”
Aliyev said that Azerbaijan aspires for a settlement based on
international legal norms and principles.
Touching upon economic relations, the President said Turkey and
Azerbaijan are connected within regional cooperation projects. He added
that the two countries’ collaboration within the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum projects should serve as an example for
other states.

Thursday, November 18, 2004
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Politicians are adept at making you think you are thinking when in fact you are parroting slogans of their own contrivance.
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The unspoken aim of an elite is the systematic moronization of the masses.
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We are all victims of politicians, if not the enemy’s than our own. People of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your charlatans.
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According to the Turkish version of the story, it was Bulgarians, Greeks and Armenians who provoked Ottoman massacres by killing Turkish civilians. If true, the question we should ask is: “Why did law-abiding subjects of the Empire suddenly behave like bloodthirsty savages?”
It can be said of massacres, what Merleau-Ponty says of torture:
“It is said, and it is true, that torture is the answer to terrorism. This does not justify torture. We ought to have acted in such a way that terrorism would not have arisen.”
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Democracy may also be defined as fascism modified by anti-fascist checks and balances, which sometimes fail to check and balance.
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Thomas Mann: “The intellectual man is almost as much interested in painful truths as the fool is in those which flatter him.”
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Friday, November 19, 2004
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We cannot change history, but we can try to understand it, beginning with the fact that political decisions are not acts of God (like earthquakes and volcanoes) but acts of men, with their own set of prejudices, loyalties, interests, blind spots, limitations, idiosyncrasies, fears, doubts, and anxieties. In short, politicians are people like us, totally disqualified to assert infallibility.
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History may be summed up as a slow-motion avalanche of blunders and miscalculations by men of power whose central concern is to either maintain or increase their powers.
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Talleyrand is right: sometimes errors of judgment can be far worse than crimes.
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It has been said, and it is true, that we see things not as they are, but as we are. Our understanding is therefore enhanced whenever we think against ourselves, or we view reality as a succession of traps and ambushes.
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A version of the past that supports a specific political agenda cannot be right. Also, between a version that flatters our vanity and one that does not, the chances are the unflattering version will be closer to the truth.
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A Sudanese general on the genocide in Darfur: “It is not genocide; it is war, and in war bad things happen.”
Sounds familiar?
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We have many kinds of literary awards except a Freedom of Speech Award. Can you guess why?
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Because I dare to question the judgment and wisdom of our political leadership, I am sometimes accused of “self-hatred.” Figure that one out, if you can.
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Saturday, November 20, 2004
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It is a mistake to identify the people with the regime, especially if the regime is non-representative, and all regimes are to some extent non-representative, including democracies. Consider the case of the Bush Administration today. Roughly speaking it represents only the interests and values of only 25% of the people, since 50% don’t vote and the remaining 25% voted against him. And of the 25% that voted for him, one is justifying in wondering how many of them did so on the basis of deceptive slogans that exploited their prejudices and fears. For more on this subject, see GAG RULE: ON THE SUPPRESSION OF DISSENT AND THE STIFLING OF DEMOCRACY by Lewis H. Lapham (New York, Penguin Press, 2004).
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Speaking of the unpopularity of democracies and the ease with which they slide into fascism, Lapham writes: “Nobody ever said that democratic government was easy, which is why, during the twenty years between the last century’s two world wars, it failed and was abandoned by the people of Italy, Turkey, Portugal, Spain, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Albania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Austria, and Germany.”
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And finally, here is Spengler on the undemocratic nature of democracies: “A small number of superior heads, whose names are very likely not the best known, settle everything, while below them are the great mass of second-rate politicians selected through a provincially-conceived franchise to keep alive the illusion of popular self-determination.”
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