Category: News

`EXISTENCE OF ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH ENDANGERED’
A1+
21-10-2004
Members of `Ramkavar’ Party of Armenia are alarmed for the atmosphere
around the Armenian Apostolic Church. They think existence and further
activity of Church are doubtful.
‘Establishment of Anthilias Diocese in Canada, bombing of the Armenian
Church in Iraq, the `traditional’ curses addressed to the
ecclesiastics in Jerusalem and disappearance of Deacon Zorik Abeshyan
in Vladikavkaz, Russiaserved as bases for such a
conclusion. Legalization of various sects, including `Jehovah’s
Witnesses’ activity paves the way for deceiving Armenian people joined
around the Armenian Apostolic Church of 1700-year-long history’, Party
statement says.
Respecting the basic norms of human rights, Republican Department of
`Ramkavar ‘ Party considers unacceptable registration of the religious
organizations, which activity is lined to harm forming of the civil
society and health of individuals.
Taking into account all the circumstances, Republican Department of
`Ramkavar’ Party expresses willingness to support all the Dioceses of
Saint Echmiadzin Church both in the homeland and Diaspora through all
the `Ramkavar’ structures in Armenia. `Ramkavar’ also calls upon
social, political and cultural organizations to join the action.

IPA Calls for Amendment to Turkish Penal Code
International Publishers’ Association sent a letter to the Presidency of
the EU and the Commission seeking their assistance in calling upon the
Turkish Authorities to abandon the Armenian Genocide, a measure
jeopardizing freedom of expression
IFEX
07/10/2004
BIA (Geneva) – Publishers call out to Romano Prodi and successor José
Manuel Barroso to put an end to the criminalization of the expression of
the Armenian Genocide
On 4 October 2004, the International Publishers’ Association (IPA) sent
a letter to the Dutch Presidency of the European Union (EU) and to the
President of the EU Commission, Mr. Romano Prodi as well as incoming
President José-Manuel Barroso, seeking their assistance in calling upon
the Turkish Authorities to abandon the criminalization of expression of
the Armenian Genocide, a measure jeopardizing freedom of expression and
freedom to publish.
According to Article 306 of the new Turkish Penal Code adopted on 27
September 2004, a citizen who demands the withdrawal of Turkish soldiers
from Cyprus or declares that the Armenian genocide actually took place
during the First World War can be pursued by virtue of Article 306.
Prison sentences range from “three to ten years”.
Says Lars Grahn, President of the IPA Freedom to Publish Committee: “The
criminalization of the expression of the Armenian Genocide amounts to an
unjustified limitation of ‘freedom of expression’, a fundamental right
which is guaranteed under numerous international instruments to which
Turkey is a party”.
Says Ana Maria Cabanellas, President of the IPA: “The many reform
packages adopted in Turkey thus far are in part designed to improve
Turkey’s freedom of expression record by amending various provisions of
Turkey’s major legislation. IPA welcomes these changes. However, it is
fundamental that these legislative measures are implemented effectively.
This effort must now include amending Article 306 of the new Penal
Code”.(YE)
**For further information on Turkey’s bid to join the European Union,
see IFEX alerts of 4 October, 23 July, 15 June 2004**

AZERNEWS
October 20 – 26, 2004
Nation
Russia adds Azerbaijan to North-South project
Azerbaijan has officially joined the agreement on the North-South
transport corridor. The issue was discussed on Friday during Russian
Minister of Transport Igor Levitin’s visit to Baku. He said that Russian
Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov has already signed a relevant document
on the entry of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Syria into the project.
The North-South transport corridor project envisions transportation of
cargo between Europe and South Asia through the Persian Gulf, Caspian
Sea ports, Russia’s water channels and railways.
Levitin emphasized that the entry of the new countries into the project
will allow to expand the geographic area for cargo transportation.
However, he failed to explain how Armenia’s joining the project is
possible while this country occupies the territories of Azerbaijan,
through which the route lays.
Along with Russia, Iran and India, also participating in the agreement
are Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Oman. The route will allow to
reduce the time needed for cargo transit by 10-12 days, as compared to
the delivery of goods through the Mediterranean Sea and Suez Canal,
which takes 35 days, and to cut transportation costs by some 20%.
Analysts say that the volume of cargo transported annually along the
North-South corridor may reach 12-15 million tons in the next five years
and 40 million tons in 10 years.
Russia, Azerbaijan boost transport co-op
On Friday, Azerbaijan and Russia signed a protocol on cooperation in the
area of transport upon conclusion of Levitin’s visit to Baku.
Transport Ministers of Russia Igor Levitin and of Azerbaijan Ziya
Mammadov voiced their satisfaction with the outcome of the talks. “The
parties worked fruitfully and prepared a protocol on negotiations as
framework for further relations”, the Russian minister said. Mammadov
said A zerbaijan expects the meeting to contribute greatly to improving
cooperation in the area of transport.
In the document signed the two countries gave a positive assessment to
the existing ties in the area of transport, stressed the need to hold
regular meetings to solve the outstanding problems, and collaborate in
upgrading transport infrastructure.
The parties also pointed out the importance of setting up a working
group to prepare a draft agreement on cooperation between the two
countries’ transport ministries and said they would like to step up
efforts to develop international transport communications, such as
West-East and North-South. Russia informed the Azeri party of the
procedures needed inside the government in light of Azerbaijan’s joining
the North-South project. Azerbaijan and Russia also agreed to cooperate
in international combined cargo transportation.
Also discussed were preparations for signing an inter-governmental
agreement on commercial navigation in the Caspian Sea. Russia proposed
to continue work on the agreement covering the five Caspian littoral
states – Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran and Turkmenistan.
The parties also agreed to establish a joint working group to address
problems and outline activities at improving the efficiency in using the
Caspian Sea and Russia’s internal waters to ensure commercial navigation
between Russia and Azerbaijan.
—

AZERI DEFENCE MINISTRY DENIES TENSION ON FRONT LINE
Turan news agency
21 Oct 04
BAKU
The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry press service has not confirmed
reports by some media outlets that the situation on the front line has
deteriorated over the last few days.
At the same time, the ministry said that a resident of the village of
Alibayli of Tovuz District (bordering Armenia), Police Sergeant Azar
Nagiyev, was wounded in his stomach by an Armenian sniper in the
backyard of his private house on 18 October. He is receiving treatment
at the hospital of the Internal Troops at the moment.

BRITISH MP PLEDGES ASSISTANCE TO KARABAKH
Artsakh State TV, Stepanakert
21 Oct 04
October
(Presenter over video of interview) After a meeting with the NKR
president, the head of the British interparliamentary union and member
of the House of Commons, Gordon Marsden, gave an interview to an
Artsakh Public TV correspondent and other journalists. He said the
following:
(Marsden, in English with Armenian voice-over) Our visit is not an
official one. However, we will inform our government about the result
of the visit. For us one of the most important questions is what kind
of assistance we can provide to Nagornyy Karabakh. I respect and
appreciate all achievements and difficulties which Nagornyy Karabakh
is facing. And our visit is just a proof of that.

Forward, NY
Oct 21 2004
Church Flap In Jerusalem: Bad Blood – And Saliva
By Eric J. Greenberg
October 22, 2004
It has been Jerusalem’s dirty little secret for decades: Orthodox
yeshiva students and other Jewish residents vandalizing churches and
spitting on Christian clergyman as they walk along the narrow,
ancient stone streets of the Old City.
Now, however, following a highly publicized fracas last week between
a yeshiva student and the archbishop of Jerusalem’s Armenian Church,
the issue is generating unprecedented media attention in Israel. The
fight started after a yeshiva student at the respected Har Hamor
yeshiva spat on Archbishop Nourhan Manougian during a Christian holy
procession in the Old City.
In the wake of the incident, a top Armenian Church official told the
Forward that his church is calling on the Israeli government and on
rabbis around the world to help put a stop to the offensive,
decades-long abuse.
“These ultra-Orthodox Jews are the ones causing this scandal, those
that live here in our neighborhood and the ones that come visit the
Western Wall,” said the church official, Aris Shirvanian, in a phone
interview Monday. He spoke from the patriarchate’s world headquarters
in the Armenian Quarter, one of the famed four quarters of the Old
City of Jerusalem.
“We would like to see the authorities… become more strict with the
offenders,” said Shirvanian, director of ecumenical and foreign
relations of the Armenian Patriarchate. “We would also ask rabbis to
get involved in educating this one sector of the Jewish society.”
Har Hamor is one of the leading institutions of religious Zionism,
Israel’s equivalent of Modern Orthodoxy. Most sources interviewed for
this article suggested that the abusive practices were more common in
the ultra-Orthodox or Haredi community, which is characterized by
greater insularity.
The controversy comes as the Israeli government and Diaspora Jewish
organizations have been viewed for this article suggested that the
abusive practices were more common in the ultra-Orthodox or Haredi
community, which is characterized by greater insularity. But sources
told the Forward that the pratice has recently been picked up by
other segments of the Orthodox world, including visiting American
yeshiva students.
The controversy comes as the Israeli government and Diaspora Jewish
organizations have been attempting to focus international attention
on what they describe as a surge in antisemitism across the globe.
Beyond potentially undermining these efforts, the reports of
anti-Christian harassment could weaken Israel’s claim to be an
effective guardian of Christian and Muslim rights in Jerusalem.
“Protection of everything sacred to other religions is one of the
justifications for Israel’s sovereignty in Jerusalem, whose
legitimacy will be undermined if this spitting becomes prevalent,”
said a former Israeli chief rabbi, Israel Meir Lau. Lau condemned the
harassment, and warned that such incidents could fuel antisemitism
outside of Israel.
Besides the Armenian rite, clergy of other Christian churches have
been targeted, Shirvanian said. “This is not happening only to
Armenian clergy, but also to the Catholics, Syrians, Romanians and
Greek Orthodox.”
Following the incident involving Manougian, numerous Israeli
government officials and Jewish religious and organizational leaders
have stepped forward to condemn the acts.
Interior Minister Avraham Poraz called the yeshiva students’ behavior
“intolerable,” and asked Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra to
“take all the necessary steps to prevent these incidents in the
future.”
The chairman of the Knesset’s Interior and Environment Committee,
Yuri Stern, said the incidents resulted from ignorance and stupidity.
He called for changes in how Christianity is taught in Israeli
schools.
Jerusalem mayor Uri Lupoliansky, the city’s first ultra-Orthodox
chief executive, announced that he would appoint an adviser to deal
with the problem of Jewish harassment of religious minorities in
Jerusalem and to provide recommendations to improve interfaith
relations in the city.
According to Shirvanian, church officials are frequently subjected to
spitting, from yeshiva students as well as from ultra-Orthodox women
and young children. He said ultra-Orthodox Jews also throw garbage on
church doorsteps and break windows at churches and at Christian
homes.
Daniel Rossing, a former adviser on Christian affairs at Israel’s
Religious Affairs Ministry, said there has been an increase in the
number of such incidents recently, “as part of a general atmosphere
of lack of tolerance in the country.”
“I know Christians who lock themselves indoors during the entire
Purim holiday” for fear of being attacked by Jews, said Rossing, now
the director of a Jerusalem center for Christian-Jewish dialogue.
A spate of recent incidents has been reported in the press:
– A few weeks ago, an elderly man wearing a yarmulke spat on a senior
Greek Orthodox cleric who was entering a government office in
Jerusalem’s Givat Shaul section.
– Stars of David were spray-painted on the entrance to the Monastery
of the Cross, not far from the Knesset. The Holy Trinity Russian
Orthodox Cathedral, near Jerusalem police headquarters in the
so-called Russian Compound in downtown Jerusalem, suffered similar
vandalism.
– Officials at a church located near several yeshivas complained that
the students were watching them through binoculars and making
offensive gestures when they passed by. Churches located in several
Orthodox neighborhoods in Jerusalem complained that neighbors had
thrown garbage into their yards.
The Armenian call for action comes several days after Manougian was
spat upon while leading a procession marking the Exaltation of the
Holy Cross near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City.
In response, Manougian slapped the yeshiva student, Natan Zvi
Rosenthal, 21, a resident of Beersheva. During the ensuing brawl
Manougian’s cross medallion, worn by Armenian archbishops since the
17th century, was damaged.
Police questioned both men. The Jerusalem District Court barred
Rosenthal from entering the Old City for 75 days.
Israel’s failure to impose a harsher penalty drew sharp criticism
from Manougian. “When there is an attack against Jews anywhere in the
world, the Israeli government is incensed,” the patriarch was quoted
as saying. “So why, when our religion and pride are hurt, don’t they
take harsher measures?”
Rosenthal later apologized to Manougian during a special meeting at
Jerusalem police headquarters late last week. In apologizing, he said
he had been raised to view Christianity as idol worship, which is
forbidden by the Torah.
Shirvanian later said the church had accepted Rosenthal’s apology, as
required by its religious tenets. “We had to forgive him in the
Christian spirit,” Shirvanian said, adding that the church now favors
canceling Rosenthal’s punishment.
On Sunday, Israel’s Knesset held an emergency meeting and launched an
investigation into the apparently rising level of assaults against
Christian clergy and churches.
But by then, the incident was reverberating throughout the world,
with more stories in the Israeli press of harassment and vandalism
directed by Orthodox Jews against several denominations.
Even as the Knesset’s Interior and Environment Committee was
interviewing Christian leaders and Jerusalem officials, a 6-year-old
Haredi boy spat on a young Armenian priest, Shirvanian told the
Forward.
In keeping with a long-standing approach, the church did not report
the second spitting incident to the police. “When a little boy and
little girl do this, they are being taught by their parents,”
Shirvanian said. “Shall we punish them? It’s more a matter of
educating them and educating the adults.”
The spitting on priests has been occurring “since the unification of
Jerusalem in 1967,” Shirvanian said.
Scholars contacted by the Forward cited several ancient rabbinic
sources as potential sources of anti-Christian attitudes.
At least one talmudic passage advises Jews to say pejorative things
when passing the homes or graves of idolators, and while most
rabbinic authorities have denied Christianity was intended, some
medieval commentators seem to suggest that some Jews viewed it that
way, presumably reflecting Jewish resentment of Christian
persecution.
Shirvanian said the Armenian church has generally “tried to ignore”
the spitting incidents. He said most Christians do not report the
incidents to the police because the authorities ignore them. “They
just take the reports and of course, they release the offenders.”
A Jerusalem police spokesman, Gil Kleiman, said that before the
recent altercation involving the Armenian patriarch, it had been two
years since the police handled a spitting incident.
Kleiman confirmed that Christian clergy complain the harassment is
frequent. But it took the attack on the Armenian leader to transform
the matter into a public issue and national embarrassment.
Shmuel Evyatar, a former adviser on Christian affairs to the mayor of
Jerusalem, called the situation “a huge disgrace,” adding that most
of the instigators are yeshiva students studying in the Old City who
view the Christian religion with disdain. “I’m sure the phenomenon
would end as soon as rabbis and well-known educator denounce it. In
practice, rabbis of yeshivas ignore or even encourage it,” he said.
Rabbis from the Har Hamor yeshiva said that Rosenthal was the first
student at their institution to be charged with such an offense. They
said that they educate their students to be courteous to others and
expressed regret over the spitting incident.
Rabbi Avi Shafran, a spokesman for Agudath Israel of America, the
leading advocacy organization of ultra-Orthodox Judaism here, said he
was unfamiliar with assaults on Christians and his organization has
no role to play in stopping the harassment.
“Were something of the sort to occur in the United States, our
rabbinic leadership would likely address the issue,” Shafran said.
“Since, though, the incident and the accusation of more widespread
abuse have taken place in Israel, our rabbis would leave any response
to the incident and to the demands of Armenian clergymen to the
rabbinic leaders in the Holy Land.”
Another American organization, the Anti-Defamation League, is
speaking out on the issue. The ADL sent a letter to Israel’s two
chief rabbis, urging them to take quick and forceful action.
Rabbi David Rosen, the Jerusalem-based international director of
interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee, said his
Christian counterparts are “extremely upset” over the recent
incidents. At the same time, he added that “they are also content, in
a way, that the matter is now being taken seriously by the Israeli
authorities.”

Viet Nam News, Vietnam
Oct 21 2004
Today in History
October 20 in History

2000
Turkey praises the US Congress’s abandonment of a resolution
accusing Turks of genocide against the Armenians 85 years before,
removing a major threat to Turkish-US relations.

1524
Death of Thomas Linacre, the British physician and the first
president of the Royal College of Physicians, London.

1616
Birth of Danish physician and mathematician Thomas Bartholin. In
1652, he became the first to fully describe the human lymphatic
system.

1632
Birth of English architect and mathematician Sir Christopher Wren
(died 1723). He designed and built over 50 churches in London. His
most famous designs are St. Paul’s Cathedral, Greenwich Hospital and
the Pembroke College chapel at Cambridge university.

1728
A huge fire ravages Copenhagen, destroying most of the city.

1740
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor and pretender to the throne of Spain,
dies.

1818
In an agreement between the United States and Britain, the US-Canada
border is set at the 49th parallel, with joint occupation of Oregon
for 10 years.

1822
Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper is first published.

1879
The governor of Cochinchina (South Viet Nam) approves the
establishment of the Municipalite de Cho Lon (now part of HCM City).

1883
Peru and Chile sign the Treaty of Ancon, under which Tarapaca
Province is ceded to Chile.

1890
Death of Sir Richard Burton born 1821, the British scholar and
explorer. He was the first European to locate Lake Tanganyika in
Africa and he translated the Arabian Nights tales.

1891
Birth of Sir James Chadwick; the British physicist who won the Nobel
Prize for Physics in 1935 for his discovery of the neutron.

1898
Viet Nam’s King Thanh Thai gives township status to Thanh Hoa in
Thanh Hoa Province, Vinh in Nghe An, Hue in Thua Thien, Faifo (now
Hoi An) in Quang Nam, Quy Nhon in Binh Dinh and Phan Thiet in Binh
Thuan.

1921
The Franco-Turkish agreement is signed at Ankara.

1930
Establishment of Viet Nam Anti-Imperialist Women’s Association which
then became the Viet Nam Women’s Union in 1946. The first chairwoman
was Nguyen Thi Minh Khai.

1930
Birth of Vietnamese soldier-writer Nguyen Minh Chau (died 1989). His
famous works include Co Lau (Reeds) and Dau Chan Nguoi Linh
(Soldiers’ Footsteps).

1950
Viet Nam’s Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People’s Army) newspaper is first
published.

1960
Penguin Books goes on trial in London, charged with contravening
Britain’s Obscene Publications Act by publishing D.H. Lawrence’s
novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

1973
In Australia, Queen Elizabeth officially opens the Sydney Opera
House.

1989
Sir Anthony Quayle, the English actor best remembered for his roles
in Lawrence of Arabia, Ice Cold in Alex and The Guns of Navarone,
dies of cancer.

1991
An earthquake strikes the Himalayan foothills in India, killing at
least 341 people and destroying tens of thousands of homes.

1995
Inauguration of the Viet Nam Women’s Museum in Ha Noi.

1999
Moslem leader Abdurrahman Wahid wins Indonesia’s first contested
presidential election, beating the favourite Megawati Soekarnoputri.
Megawati was elected vice president the next day.

2000
Turkey praises the US Congress’s abandonment of a resolution
accusing Turks of genocide against the Armenians 85 years before,
removing a major threat to Turkish-US relations. – VNS/REUTERS/AP

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Oct 21 2004
Azeri Foreign Minister Calls CIS Member States’s Resolute Stance on
Karabakh Issue
Minister of Foreign Affair s of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov met on
October 20 with Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee, Executive
Secretary Vladimir Rushaylo.
Updating the Minister on his visit to Belarus in connection with the
nationwide referenda in this country, Vladimir Rushaylo called the
fact that elections monitoring within the Commonwealth became
traditional.
He also pointed out the importance of strengthening member states
cooperation in fighting terror, migration problems, ecology and other
spheres including resolution of conflicts.
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov also noted the need to widen the
cooperation with international organizations and observers to acquire
more experience and knowledge in holding elections.
Touching upon the issue concerning conflicts resolution, the Minister
noted that economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Armenia is not
possible until the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is settled. He also
called on the CIS member state to express their resolute stance with
respect to settling people in Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent
territories of Azerbaijan.
Armenia occupied former autonomous Nagorno-Karabakh region and also
seven other Azerbaijani districts in 1991-94 war, forcing over
700,000 Azerbaijanis to leave their homes. Despite an armistice
signed in May 1994, no final solution has been achieved to the
conflict between the two countries.

PRESS RELEASE
University of Southern California Libraries
Contact: Tyson Gaskill, 213.740.2070 or [email protected]
Susan L. Wampler 213.821.1639 or [email protected]
October 22, 2004
Exhibition Documents Armenian Relief Efforts
LOS ANGELES – Decades before the Holocaust, the genocide of the Armenian
people effectively destroyed an entire nation, leaving more than 1.5
million dead and millions displaced from a homeland they had occupied
for nearly 3,000 years. A new exhibition at the University of Southern
California’s Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library documents the massive
relief efforts of the Near East Foundation to help survivors of the
atrocities.
In conjunction with the opening of the display, the USC Libraries, the
Institute of Armenian Studies and the Armenian Student Association will
host a reception and book signing in Doheny Library on Friday, November
11, at 11 a.m., featuring Professor Peter Balakian (Colgate University),
author of the recent bestselling book The Burning Tigris. The reception
is free and open to the public.
The genocide of the Armenian people, perpetrated by the Ottoman Turkish
government while most other nations were occupied by the events of World
War I, has been condemned as a crime against humanity yet remains a
largely forgotten part of history.
On the night of April 24, 1915, Armenian political, religious,
educational, and intellectual leaders in Constantinople (now, Istanbul)
were arrested and murdered when a triumvirate of extremist Turkish
nationals took control of the region in an effort to eliminate the
Armenian people and create a Pan-Turkic empire that spread to Central
Asia.
In the years that followed, the Turkish government ordered the deaths or
deportation of Armenians to `relocation centers’ in the barren deserts
of Syria and Mesopotamia. The greatest torment was reserved for women
and children run ragged for months over mountains and across deserts.
Hundreds of thousands died of starvation and exposure to the elements.
In the decade following the genocide, the New York-based Near East
Relief (since renamed the Near East Foundation) raised more than $100
million to help the surviving Armenians, Assyrians, Syrians, Greeks and
other victims of the Ottoman Turks’ depredations. The Near East
Foundation has since grown into a major international development
organization with projects in dozens of countries.
This exhibition documents the relief efforts of the foundation through
letters, posters, books and other rare artifacts, along with a
multimedia presentation showing some of the few known photographs of the
Armenian genocide, taken by the German army officer Armin T. Wegner.
The exhibition continues in the ground floor rotunda of Doheny Library
through Sunday, January 30, 2005; admission is free.
— 30 —

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Oct 21 2004
Russia ready to assist in solving Upper Garabagh conflict

President Ilham Aliyev said in a meeting with his Russian counterpart
Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Tuesday that the political dialogue
between the two countries is on a high level.

Aliyev expressed a hope that Russia, as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk
Group, will step up its efforts to settle the Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict over Upper Garabagh.
The two presidents discussed implementation of agreements signed
during Aliyev’s official visit to Moscow in February 2004,
fulfillment of tasks set for doubling the turnover of goods between
the two countries and prospects for strengthening the joint combat
against terrorism.

The parties also stressed the need for stepping up the international
community’s efforts to fight international terrorism.
Aliyev and Putin exchanged views on the present-day situation in the
Caucasus region as well. The Russian President welcomed the
continuation of talks between Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents
over the solution of the Upper Garabagh conflict. Russia is ready to
assist the sides in settling the conflict, Putin said.