Category: News

ARMENIA HAS NO INTENTION TO JOIN NATO
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
May 24, 2004, Monday
The issue of NATO accession is not included into Armenia’s agenda
on foreign policy, Armenian Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisyan said at
his press conference last Friday.
“The reply to the question regarding Armenia’s joining NATO is clear
initially, since the Armenian leaders have repeatedly declared that
this problem is not included into the agenda on foreign policy,”
the minister said.
S. Sarkisyan also said that in the immediate future Armenia has no
intention to pull out from CSTO. The minister noted that Armenia’s
involvement in CSTO is among the major components of Armenia’s
national security.

Iranian president inaugurates Abadan’s gas-operating power plant
IRNA news agency, Tehran
24 May 04
Abadan, Khuzestan Province, 24 May: President Mohammad Khatami Monday
24 May inaugurated a gas-operating power plant in this southwestern
city.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Khatami said God-given assets of
Khuzestan Province, like resistance of its patient people, are unique.
He added the power plant would add some 500 Megawatts of electricity
to the national capacity, saying Khuzestan province accounts for 25
per cent of the national power generation.
The president noted that Abadan power plant would play a key role in
the country’s development and progress.
The gas-operating power plant in Abadan, with a nominal capacity
of 493.6 Megawatts, has four gas turbines, each with a capacity of
123.4 Megawatts.
The project whose construction was started three years ago has cost
94 million euros, 23 million dollars and 450 billion rials to provide
electricity to the southern regions of Khuzestan and to tackle shortage
of electricity in Abadan and Khorramshahr cities particularly during
peak hours.
According to Petroenergy Information Network, Iranian power stations
have to boost their capacities at a rate of 3,000 Megawatts per annum.
The Third Five-Year National Economic Development Plan calls for
contribution of the private sector to building power stations.
Power stations throughout the country generated more than 148 million
kilowatts per hour of electricity in the last calendar year (ended
19 March).
Power output was higher than what had been predicted in the third
five-year national plan. The generation was also higher than
neighbours.
Demand for electricity exceeded 27,000 Megawatts last year. The figure
grew more than 2,000 Megawatts.
The national demand for electricity will hit 44,000 Megawatts by
the end of the fourth five-year development plan (in March 2010)
and the country should boost its capacity to 56,000 Megawatts per hour.
Iran’s power network is connected to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan,
Pakistan and Afghanistan. Iran will supply power to

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
May 24, 2004, Monday
RUSSIA HAS NO INTENTION TO HASTILY WITHDRAW ITS TROOPS FROM GEORGIA
AND LIQUIDATE ITS MILITARY BASE IN TAJIKISTAN
Any “hasty withdrawal of Russian military bases from Georgia” is
out of the question, Russia’s Acting Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov
announced during his visit to Yerevan. “In this case the measures taken
during withdrawal of the Russian forces from Germany in early 1990s
won’t pass now,” Ivanov said at his meeting with Serzh Sarkisyan,
his Armenian counterpart. Besides, Sergei Ivanov flatly denied the
information of Moscow’s alleged plans to close the Russian military
base in Tajikistan and withdraw its troops from the republic.
Source: Vremya Novostei, May 21, 2004, p. 1

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
May 24, 2004, Monday
INTEGRATION COULD BE FREE IN THE CIS ALONE
SOURCE: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, May 21, 2004, p. 5
by Vladimir Mukhin
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov’s official visit to Armenia
started on May 20. He met with Armenian leaders, held the talks with
his counterpart Serzh Sarkisyan, at which the parties discussed the
issues related to the prospects of developing the bilateral military
cooperation. As of now, Russian minister’s contacts with the Armenian
military continue in the framework the ordinary meeting of the Council
of Defense Ministers (CDM) of the entire CIS.
Armenia is among few CIS states with which Russia has close military
and military-technical contacts. First of all, the sphere of military
cooperation concerns the issues of Armenia’s antiaircraft defense. As
far back as 2001 the antiaircraft defense units of Russia and Armenia
assumed joint combat duty and are performing this mission so far. The
troops are involved in joint staff command exercises and war games.
Most importantly, the Armenian antiaircraft missile defense units and
the 102nd military base of Russia and a squadron of 30 MiG-29 fighters
ensure security of the air space at the southern boundaries of the CIS.
At the meeting of May 21, the issues of creating the joint antiaircraft
defense system of the CIS will be given the foreground. In the
framework of the CDM defense ministers of the CIS will discuss the
functioning of the Unified Antiaircraft Defense system, founded
in 1995, consider the draft target program on joint counteraction
to air attacks. Nevertheless, the facts evidence that not all the
states are ready to give their active support to the integration in
the sphere of air defense, initiated by Russia. Turkmenistan, Georgia
and Uzbekistan are not taking part in the regular exercises over past
9 years, although they maintain bilateral contacts in this sphere.
These countries also maintain bilateral relations with Ukraine,
Russia’s rival in the sphere of military-technical cooperation.
Russia also has problems with other allies. For instance, Kazakhstan
is no more oriented at supplies of Russia-made weapons for its own
army and intends to invite Western states to participate in a tender
for supply of antiaircraft missile systems and radar installations.
Besides, almost all of CIS states (exclusive Russia and Belarus) are
granted multimillion aid for development of their defense from the
USA and NATO. While Yerevan and Moscow are discussing new directions
of military-technical cooperation, the Pentagon has already initiated
supplies of communications facilities to Armenia to the amount of $7
million. The USA has been involved in similar upgrade programs for the
armies of Georgia, Uzbekistan, Moldova and Azerbaijan. If many CIS
states are not involved in joint military maneuvers inside the CIS,
they regard NATO-led exercises as prestigious are a involved in them
on a regular basis.
In particular, Cooperative Best Effort-2004 military maneuvers, the
largest over entire CIS’ history and involving NATO and CIS member
states have been scheduled for this summer in Azerbaijan. Even
Armenia will take part in the exercises, General Charles Wald,
ECDC deputy commander convinced Armenian leaders. At his insistence
Armenia decided to send its troops to Iraq. As is widely known,
while the coalition troops are eliminating their presence there,
CIS states have plans to expand their presence in Iraq, supposedly
as a sign of gratitude for U.S. military assistance. The spokesmen
for Georgia and Azerbaijan announced that in addition to Armenia.
There’s no need to guess why this is happening. All military contacts
in the framework of the CIS require spending, whereas NATO and the
USA are commonly sponsoring military activities on their own.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Boston Globe
May 24, 2004, Monday ,THIRD EDITION
KEVERIAN IS STILL KING OF HEARTS
FORMER MASS. HOUSE SPEAKER CONTINUES TO HELP ANY WAY HE CAN
By Phil Santoro, Globe Correspondent
EVERETT – The gold-plated sign on his desk reads: “It’s Good To Be
King.” But his drab, rank, closet-size office at Everett City Hall is
fit more for a municipal bureaucrat than for a king. It’s a far cry
from his palatial digs in the State House when he served as speaker
of the House of Representatives from 1985 to 1990. Yet George
Keverian, at one time one of the most prominent figures in Boston
politics, appears, if not regal, then content as the city’s part-time
chief assessor.
At 72, Keverian has returned to his roots in city government, roots
that were planted in 1953 when, fresh out of Harvard University at
the age of 21, he was elected to the Everett Common Council and began
a 37-year career as a Democratic office-holder. He may no longer
wield the kind of influence that determined the size of the House,
but he is not easily forgotten. At City Hall, officials turn to
Keverian to negotiate tax deals with developers, set the tax rate for
the city every year, and guide them through local matters that
involve state agencies.
Last year, Everett officials named a City Hall hearing room after
him. That may not seem to be a big deal, but in Everett, where
campaign signs are as common as street signs, it’s huge. And a few
months ago, the new George Keverian Elementary School opened.
More than his widely fluctuating weight and his mutinous overthrow of
longtime House Speaker Thomas McGee, Keverian is well known for his
compassion and for wearing his heart on his sleeve, traits that some
say cost him his speaker’s job in 1990 when he failed to coalesce a
fractured House because he tried to please everybody. That same year,
Keverian lost his Democratic primary bid for state treasurer to
William Galvin because many of the speaker’s loyal supporters
deserted him.
Today, Keverian finds other ways to care for people. In the past
year, he has “adopted” three Haitian families in Everett, including a
single mother and her twin 5-year-old daughters, who had been evicted
from their apartment because the mother couldn’t keep up with the
rent. Keverian took them into his home for several weeks, getting
their furniture out of storage and into his garage and helping them
find public housing. A lifelong bachelor who for many years cared for
his ailing mother, Keverian chuckles at the suggestion that they may
be the family he never had. But he doesn’t dismiss the notion.
“Oftentimes when their mother picks [the twins] up from school,
they’ll walk here to City Hall and I’ll drive them home. They come in
the door and they run to me – ‘Uncle George, Uncle George,’ ”
Keverian says. “And they hug me and kiss me, and as I’m taking them
home – you know I never married, I never had children – it’s ‘Uncle
George, can we get a Dunkin’ Donut?’ They’ll say, ‘I’m hungry.’
Forget the doughnut. ‘I want a sandwich. With egg and sausage and
bacon and cheese. And I want something to drink.’ And the mother
says, ‘I’ll have a sandwich, too.’ And it’s like $15. But I love
doting on them.”
Keverian met the mother (who wished to remain anonymous), a medical
technician at a Boston hospital, on two separate occasions two years
ago when he was recovering from gastric bypass surgery. He learned
she was living in Everett. Last year, when Keverian was going through
the drive-through at Dunkin’ Donuts, he saw the woman standing nearby
and greeted her. As they chatted, he learned she had been evicted and
her furniture had been seized.
“I said, ‘Where did you sleep?’ ” Keverian says. “She said, ‘I slept
on the stairs of the apartment outside. I came here to clean myself
up in the lady’s room.’ I said, ‘Where are the children?’ She said,
‘With a friend.’ I said, ‘Where are you going to stay?’ She said, ‘I
don’t know.’ Well, I wasn’t going to let her be homeless. I said,
‘Bring the children and come down to my office.’ ”
Keverian invited them to stay at his house while they tried to find
another apartment. During the family’s 2 1/2-week stay, Keverian sent
the mother to the local welfare office, where it was determined that
her $330 net weekly pay made her ineligible for assistance. The woman
is also a part-time student at a community college in Brockton,
studying to become a respiratory therapist.
“She’s one of these people who makes too much for welfare and too
little to live,” he says in a tone of indignation. Her husband,
Keverian says, is a substance abuser who left the family and does not
provide support. Keverian eventually was able to help her land an
Everett Housing Authority apartment, got an accountant to complete
her tax returns at no charge, negotiated with Mass. Electric and got
donations from the community to pay off her $500 overdue electric
bill, and is working to secure income-eligible discounts for her gas
and telephone expenses. Recently he threw a birthday party for the
twins at his office, soliciting and receiving gifts for the girls
from a more than willing City Hall staff, including Mayor David
Ragucci, who occasionally seeks Keverian’s council on sticky
municipal matters.
“George is an invaluable asset to me and the city,” Ragucci says.
“He’s an icon in this city. He’s been a lot of help to a lot of
people over the years. He has that unique ability to make people
happy.”
In the past few months, Keverian also helped a Haitian immigrant go
through the permitting process to open a hair salon and “made a few
calls” for a Haitian woman who was trying to get accepted to Bunker
Hill Community College. Michelle Volmar said she would never have
been able to open her Malden hair salon without Keverian’s guidance.
“He’s my adviser,” Volmar says. “He’s a wonderful man; he has a good
heart.”
One of only a handful of Armenian-Americans growing up in the mostly
Italian and Irish city of Everett, Keverian says he has a soft spot
for people who are “trying to fit in” and need guidance.
“Some people kiddingly call me the ambassador to Haiti,” Keverian
says. “But it just happened to be Haitian people who asked me for
help. . . . I don’t care who it is, if someone asks for help, if I
can help them, I will.”
Keverian laments, however, that he can’t help as much as he could
when he presided over 160 members of the House. Lots of friendships
were won and lost during his 12 years of political maneuvers at the
State House, which included his work on redistricting (and
subsequently reducing) House seats, his successful bid to wrestle the
House speakership from the decade-long tenure of McGee, his
replacement of key McGee appointees with his own, and his swan song
in elected politics – a failed campaign for the state treasurer’s
office in 1990.
Is there loyalty among politicians? “Very little,” says Keverian,
“When you find it, you worship it.”
It was his loyalty to the late Speaker McGee that enabled Keverian to
rise to power; he earned McGee’s trust and respect by taking on the
thankless task of redistricting the house seats, reducing the number
from 240 to 160. His reward for the project and for his loyalty to
McGee was getting appointed House majority leader and a promise that
he would get the speaker’s gavel when McGee stepped down at the end
of his sixth year, as had been the practice of the four previous
House speakers. Six years turned into seven, then eight, then nine;
each year Keverian would ask McGee when it would be his turn to steer
the ship. Frustrated by McGee’s vague responses, Keverian took a huge
risk in plotting McGee’s ouster.
Now, at times, Keverian finds it frustrating to be out of the
spotlight.
“When you’re speaker, people would do anything for you,” Keverian
says. “Today, sometimes I pick up the phone and ask somebody for help
and they ask you to spell your last name.”
Keverian can still count on the friendship of a handful of folks at
the State House, including State Representative Robert Correia of
Fall River, who served as the House whip under Keverian’s leadership,
House general counsel Louis Rizoli, and a few national politicos,
including President Bush’s chief of staff, Andrew Card, who served in
the House with Keverian, and US Representative William Delahunt,
whose daughter is Keverian’s godchild.
Since leaving the State House, Keverian has been beset with a number
of health problems, most of which are a result of his weight, which
has fluctuated from 420 to 160 pounds. Though he speaks about it
candidly, being overweight has always been a sensitive topic for
Keverian, who has been the subject of some public ridicule.
“Sometimes people say things to get a laugh, but they don’t stop and
think about what effect that has on the person who’s the subject of
their joke,” he says. “They wouldn’t make jokes about someone in a
wheelchair or someone with an illness.”
The decision to undergo gastric bypass surgery two years ago was a
risky one, Keverian says, though he felt he had little choice. Given
his poor health, including a diabetic condition that required him to
take two shots of insulin a day, Keverian’s doctors at Mass. General
warned him there could be complications with the surgery. However,
his surgeon told him “because of my health, not having the surgery
was even riskier. I was desperate. I knew bad things were starting to
happen.”
After the surgery, Keverian lost 100 pounds. Since then, he says his
health has improved. Because of the weight loss, his insulin
production is sufficient and he no longer needs to take shots. Today
he weighs 290 pounds and says he’s trying to lose 80 more. Keverian
says his struggles with weight make him “quite sensitive” to issues
of popular diets, such as the South Beach and Atkins diets, and
obesity among children.
“People like me, when we are desperate to lose weight, we’ll try
anything. But the question is, will you be able to live like that.
It’s a lifestyle change, not a diet. Exercise is the key. That’s the
only way to do it. People who walk every day or go to the gym,
they’re serious. I don’t exercise; I’m not proud of it. But I realize
that’s the key, and I’m trying.”
Though in semi-retirement, Keverian fills each day by keeping regular
hours at City Hall and by running errands for and with his newfound
friends. One of those errands found Keverian waiting in his car with
the 5-year-old twins while their mother was in the supermarket. “One
of the girls says ‘Uncle George, I have to go to the bathroom,’ ”
Keverian recalls. “And now I have to take them in to the supermarket
so they can go to the bathroom.”
It’s a far cry from the days when he was holding court with needy
legislators and lobbyists who were dependent upon him to enact
legislation that would affect the state’s 6 million residents. Within
a smaller circle of people who look to him to help solve their
problems, Keverian can still be king.
Phil Santoro can be reached at [email protected].
GRAPHIC: PHOTO ,
1. George Keverian has helped many people in Everett, including
Michelle Volmar (rear right) and a Haitian woman who asked that her
name and those of her children not be used. / GLOBE STAFF PHOTO /
MICHELE MCDONALD 2. Michelle Volmar says she never would have been
able to open her hair salon without the help and advice of George
Keverian. / GLOBE STAFF PHOTO / MICHELE MCDONALD
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AGBU PRESS OFFICE
55 East 59th Street, New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone (212) 319-6383
Fax (212) 319-6507
Email [email protected]
Webpage
PRESS RELEASE
Monday, May 24, 2004
A “CALIFORNIA HARVEST” YIELDS NEW CROP OF TALENT
New York – ARARAT’s fall 2003 issue examines the talents emerging
from America’s West Coast, where Armenians have a long history in the
arts. Entitled, “California Harvest,” the collection gathers together
the work of 20 writers and artists.
Edited by awarding winning journalist, Mark Arax, and novelist
Aris Janigian, the special West Coast edition includes work by
established figures, including Aram Saroyan, Peter Najarian, and
Micheline Aharonian Marcom, along with a wealth of emerging talents,
including Michael Simonian, Armen Hogtanian, Daniel Melnick, Jeanette
Arax Melnick, Silva Dakessian, Shahé Mankerian, Vic Jabrassian and
David Mushgain.
The special issue includes an exclusive excerpt from the
much-anticipated release of Markar Melkonian’s memoir/biography,
Terrorist, Saint, that tells the complicated and intense story of his
brother, Monte Melkonian, a figure renowned as a freedom fighter and
champion of the Armenian cause.
Other works include Simonian’s radical “24110,” which as the editors’
note, “provocatively centers a nuclear waste disposal site near the
Capital Mall in Washington,” a short story by Saroyan that takes a
satirical look at Hollywood life, Janigian’s correspondence with the
L.A. Times over their use of the term “alleged” in reference to the
Armenian Genocide, and the emotionally charged images of Jabrassian
that form a stark contrast with the coolness of Mushgain’s photography.
Arax and Janigian have gathered together a bounty of works that reflect
a new multifaceted reality. The coeditors write in their introduction:
“Today, Armenian-Americans have committed themselves to artistic
propositions that feel unparalleled in their scope and depth, and
one cannot help sensing that this vitality is the first stirring
of a renaissance the likes of which we may not have seen since the
Turks swept away the great generation of Varoujans and Siamantos in
the Genocide.”
Available through AGBU, copies of ARARAT’s California Harvest can be
ordered by phone, 212.319.6383, or email, [email protected]. Individual
issues are $7. Since 1960, ARARAT Quarterly has been a leading voice
in Armenian-American writing, culture and ideas. Published by AGBU,
ARARAT showcases established and emerging talent with an interest in
representing the richness of the Armenian experience in America and
around the world.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Att. Luiz Bakar
Patriarchate Press Spokesperson
Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey
TR-34130 Kumkapi, Istanbul
T: +90 (212) 517-0970
F: +90 (212) 516-4833
GSM:+90 (533) 516-2212
E-mail: [email protected]
A news item concerning the status of the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey
appeared in the 20 May 2004 edition of the Cumhuriyet daily newspaper.
In the aforementioned news item it was stated that the Foreign Ministry has
prepared a working paper for the “election and duties of the Patriarch” and
that the Interior Ministry had also offered certain responses to this paper.
We feel it necessary to notify the public that we have no new request
concerning the legal status of our Patriarchate before the Foreign or
Interior Ministry.
Again, we want to state unequivocally that we have no connection whatsoever
with the views attributed to our Patriarchate in this news item about the
study carried out by these two Ministries.
We do not believe that such news items will be of any benefit either to the
Ministries carrying out the study or to our Patriarchate. What is more, they
could impede the efforts of our Government, which desires to find solutions
to the existing difficulties.
In conclusion, the very existence of views such as those mentioned in the
news item, that the patriarchal election be conducted in the presence of a
notary public and, again, that the Interior Ministry could recommend the
deposition of the Patriarch, are damaging to the image of the Republic of
Turkey. 23 May 2004.
Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey
Press Office

Interior Ministry To Recommend Deposition of Armenian Patriarch
LRAPER Church Bulletin
Armenian Patriarchate
TR-34130 Kumkapi, Istanbul
Contact: Deacon V. Seropyan
T: +90 (212) 517-0970
F: +90 (212) 516-4833
E-mail: [email protected]
or [email protected]
LRAPER Church Bulletin, 23 May 2004 (Istanbul) — In a news article
prepared by the Ankara bureau of the Cumhuriyet daily newspaper and
dated 20 May, it is claimed that the Turkish Interior Ministry seeks
legal authority to recommend the deposition of the Armenian Patriarch
of Turkey.
The Cumhuriyet Bureau reported that the Interior Ministry objected to
a working paper prepared by the Foreign Ministry about the election
and duties of the Armenian Patriarch of Turkey.
The Cumhuriyet report continues, “The Interior Ministry emphasized that
the Patriarchate is “responsible only for providing religious services”
to the minority citizens, “has no political or administrative duties”
and that such a privilege would exceed what the International Treaty
of Lausanne prescribes.
“The Interior Ministry thus refuted a draft directorium prepared by
the Foreign Ministry which concerns the Patriarchal See that provides
the religious needs of the Armenians of Turkey whose minority status
is recognized by the Treaty of Lausanne.
“Experts at the Interior Ministry, who have evaluated the Foreign
Ministry working papers, indicated that there is no mention of the
Patriarchal See in the Treaty of Lausanne, and to this day, no laws,
constitutions or other binding legal arrangements of the sort have
been formulated.”
“The Interior Ministry observed that a 1961 ‘Armenian Patriarchate
Election Directorium’ had been implemented in previous elections
and that, in this case also, a similar decision by the Cabinet of
Ministers would be in order. “

ARMENIA THIS WEEK
Friday, May 21, 2004
KOCHARIAN DROPS TURKEY VISIT FOR LACK OF PROGRESS IN RELATIONS
Armenian officials confirmed this week that President Robert Kocharian would
not attend the NATO summit in Istanbul, Turkey set for late June. Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian, who will head the Armenian delegation to the
Summit, said that the president made the decision due to absence of any
appreciable progress in relations between Armenia and Turkey after years of
talks. At the same time, Oskanian noted that Armenia’s partnership with the
NATO alliance would continue to expand.
Turkey has steadfastly refused to establish diplomatic relations with
Armenia, since the latter became independent in 1991. For over a decade
Turkey has also kept its land border with Armenia closed, linking
normalization to Armenian concessions on the Armenian Genocide and Karabakh
issues. Turkey has also provided military and international support to
Azerbaijan in the Karabakh conflict, and has been slow to improve the rights
of the Armenian minority and conditions of the Armenian cultural heritage in
Turkey.
U.S. and the European Union have long urged Turkey to reconsider these
policies. Direct Armenian-Turkish contacts resumed after Armenia lifted its
objections to holding the 1999 summit of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Istanbul and as several Western democracies
officially affirmed the Armenian Genocide. The new Turkish government
elected in late 2002, after initially hinting at a positive change of
policy, has now ruled the lifting of preconditions as “out of question.”
In the meantime, Armenia has significantly strengthened security links with
NATO and directly with the United States, by signing new multilateral and
bilateral agreements, hosting NATO events and deploying peacekeeping forces
under NATO command earlier this year. Armenia is expected to join the NATO’s
Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) program – a key stepping stone for
potential future membership. Last month, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State
Elizabeth Jones noted that “Armenia has taken big steps to enhance its
security relationship with the United States and NATO.”
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer noted this week that, among
other issues, the summit will focus on “increasing our co-operation with the
Caucasus and Central Asia – areas that once seemed very far away, but that
we now know are essential to our security.” So far, out of the three
Caucasus countries, only Georgia is publicly seeking NATO membership.
Armenian leaders, while expanding cooperation with the Alliance have said
that membership is not presently on the country’s agenda. Following several
contradictory statements, Azeri Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov
announced earlier this month that “Azerbaijan is not planning to join NATO.”
(Sources: AAA R&I Fact Sheet: Armenia and NATO 2-17; Lider TV 5-4; Mediamax
5-4; Arminfo 5-17, 21, 24)
AZERBAIJAN CONTINUES PUSH FOR UNILATERAL ARMENIAN CONCESSIONS IN KARABAKH
Azerbaijani officials said this week that they will continue to push for the
so-called “stage-by-stage” settlement of the Karabakh conflict, which has
been repeatedly dismissed by the Armenian side and dropped by the mediators.
The plan first considered in 1997 called for Karabakh Armenian withdrawal
from areas adjacent to Nagorno Karabakh in exchange for lifting of the
Azerbaijani blockade of Armenia and limited security guarantees, with the
status of Karabakh left to be determined in future talks.
Both President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov discussed
the plan in talks with senior European Union officials and media this week.
Earlier this year, the European Parliament voted down a similar proposal
when discussing a resolution on the Caucasus. Incidentally, the Parliament’s
Caucasus Envoy Per Gahrton who raised the possibility of the Armenian
withdrawal came under a blistering attack this week, when he told the Azeri
press that Nagorno Karabakh could no longer be ruled by Baku. Former senior
presidential advisor Vafa Gulizade and pro-government MP Rafael Husseinov
accused him of “taking bribes from Armenians.”
Azeri officials have said publicly that the “staged” plan’s implementation
would put Azerbaijan in a better position to exert more pressure on Armenia.
This week, Armenia’s Defense and Foreign Ministers again ruled out the plan,
with the Armenian side perceiving exchange of the security buffer for
communications as inequitable. (Sources: Armenia This Week 2-26, 5-7, 14;
Arminfo 5-15, 17, 18; EU Observer 5-18; EuroNews 5-18; AFP 5-22)
Note to Readers: Armenia This Week will not be published Friday, May 28 due
to the Memorial Day Holiday. Publication will resume on June 4.
A WEEKLY NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY THE ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA
122 C Street, N.W., Suite 350, Washington, D.C. 20001 (202) 393-3434 FAX
(202) 638-4904
E-Mail [email protected] WEB
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkey in EU only after reconciliation with Armenia
Reformatorisch Dagblad
May 21, 2004
The relation between Turkey and Armenia must be re-established before the
admission of Turkey to the European Union can be considered, states prof.
dr. J. A. B. Jongeneel.
The European Union (EU) will probably decide this year upon the possibility
and desirability for allowing Turkey to become a member in the long run. The
Netherlands will soon be President and will therefore have extra
responsibility.
It is extremely remarkable that neither Dutch policy, nor the Dutch press
publicly pay attention to the broken relation between Turkey and its
neighbouring country Armenia. This relation must be re-established before a
EU membership of Turkey can be considered seriously.
When Turkey is admitted to the EU in the long run, we will become direct
neighbors with Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaidjan, Iran, Iraq and Syria. This
article will only discuss the external border with Armenia.
Change
Approximately 99 percent of Turkey is Muslim today. A century ago, however,
this was entirely different. An estimated 77 percent was Muslim and
approximately 22 percent was Christian. At that time most of the Christians
in Turkey belonged to the Armenian church or the Greek Orthodox church. In
the past century Christianity in Turkey has thus on the one hand been
excessively marginalised and on the other hand Islam has developed into a
religion which has an uncontested monopolized position. This development to
a mono religious society – with barely any churches, synagogues and temples
still in use – is problematic.
The enormous degradation of the number of Christians in Turkey at the end of
the nineteenth century and in first half of the twentieth century has been
caused by terrible events there. Two things stand out. First of all the
‘exchange’ of population between Greece and Turkey, which was enforced by
the politicians at that time: approximately 1,000,000 Greek orthodox were
forced to move from Turkey to Greece, and approximately 400,000 Moslems from
Greece to Turkey.
Much more terrible than this “ethnic cleansing” was the deportation and the
massacre of approximately 1,500,000 Armenians. This genocide, dating from
the time before Atatürk came to power in Turkey, is still strongly denied by
the current government of Turkey. Without batting an eye, Turkish historians
also deny this historically well-established fact.
Compensation
Similar to Germany being able to become a full member of Europe after the
second world war only by doing penance and giving compensation, present-day
Turkey must also be able to qualify as a member of the EU right after
recognition of and dealing with the above mentioned genocide. The
Netherlands as temporary president of the EU must take the initiative for
the reconciliation by means of a thorough historical study into the charged
past.
The best way for this to happen is through an EU commission of two Turkish,
two Armenian and two European top historians (with a European President),
with the task to describe and analyze the said genocide within a maximum of
five years and consequently indicate ways in which to re-establish the
mutual relations. A “great reconciliation” is desirable and subsequently
history books should be rewritten for Turkish schools and other Turkish
institutions.
This way Turkey can not only learn how it has lost its multi religious and
multicultural society in one hundred years¹ time, but also learn how it can
regain this in the coming one hundred years. Reorientation will also be
necessary for Armenia. As the victims of the apartheid in South Africa have
required that peace be based on justice, in the same way the Armenians too
will have their conditions for the reconciliation with Turkey.
The Netherlands
The admission of Turkey to the EU in the long run is one of the greatest
European questions of this moment. Nevertheless it plays no role of meaning
in the run-up to the European elections. Let us hope that the Dutch
government will exploit its temporary presidency of the EU to turn the
Armenian Genocide into a hard point of negotiation in the discussion
concerning the admission of Turkey to the EU and will pursue an equitable
reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey.
The author is Professor Emeritus in Missiology at the University of Utrecht.