Category: News

United Press International
March 12, 2004 Friday 15:06 PM Eastern Time
Analysis: Iraq’s Shiite-Kurd differences
By HUSSAIN HINDAWI
LONDON, March 12 (UPI)
Although Iraq’s interim constitution was endorsed unanimously by the
country’s Governing Council, which represents all sectarian and
ethnic factions, deep divisions are simmering between the Shiite
majority community and the Kurds.
The signing of the document was delayed for three days till this past
Monday due to Shiite objections about the prerogatives and powers
granted to the Kurds, who constitute 20 percent of Iraq’s population
of 25 million.
The Shiite are believed to make up 60 percent of Iraqis.
A source close to the U.S.-sponsored Iraq Governing Council projected
more complications ahead.
“It will be very difficult to achieve consensus between the two sides
over the formation of the future transitional government and the
names of candidates who will enter the enlarged Governing Council
expected to be declared before the official transfer of powers from
the Coalition Authority to Iraqis on July 1st,” the source told
United Press International on condition of anonymity.
The interim constitution will govern Iraq for a transitional phase
until elections are held for a legislative council, which will be
entrusted with drafting the country’s permanent constitution.
The deep differences pitting Shiites against Kurds surfaced on the
eve of the signing of the interim constitution, when five Shiite
council members rejected a clause that fostered Kurdish powers.
“Shiite suspicion about the Kurds’ separatist intentions was the real
and main reason behind their objection,” the source said.
A clause in the interim constitution granted power to two-thirds of
the inhabitants of three Iraqi provinces, referring to Iraq’s
Kurdistan, to veto the country’s future permanent constitution.
The five Shiite council members whose objections delayed the
ratification of the document agreed to sign after consultations with
the leading Shiite religious authority, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who
expressed reservations after the endorsement.
The source said the Shiites and Kurds also disagree over several
other issues, including the naming of new Iraqi ambassadors abroad.
This was the cause of a heated debate this week between Foreign
Minister Hoshiar Zibari, a member of the Kurdish Democratic Party, or
KDP, and Shiite council members.
Senior Shiite cleric Ayatollah Taki al-Mudarissi said in recent press
comments that the clause that refers to the federation in the interim
constitution is tantamount to a “time bomb” that could cause civil
strife in Iraq.
The clause grants the minority Kurdish community the right to reject
the decisions of the majority Arab population, and consequently the
power to influence Iraq’s future status if they opt for secession.
But Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan, or PUK, and member of the Governing Council, played down
Shiite fears in a recent press declaration.
“It is in the interest of Iraq’s Kurds to choose voluntary union with
the Arab population of Iraq within the framework of national unity
based on democracy, federation and human rights,” Talabani said.
But Kurdish expert and Paris University professor Halkut Hakim
described the powers granted to the Kurds as unprecedented, “whose
dimensions are difficult to predict in a country like Iraq and in the
region.”
Evaluating the significance of the event for the Kurds on a historic,
political and moral scale, Hakim said: “It is the third time in
history that the Kurds’ cause and mere existence is placed within a
legal framework — if we exclude the 1920 Sevres treaty, which was
stillborn for both the Kurds and Armenians.”
“The first time was in 1958, when the Iraqi constitution recognized
the existence of the Kurdish people as a separate ethnicity and
community in the country. … The second time was in 1970, under the
self-rule law that recognized officially certain rights for the
Kurds. But the law was annulled four years later,” Hakim said.
At present, Hakim said, “The Kurdish cause was incorporated inside
the official legislation and placed in the preamble of the interim
constitution, which Kurdish representatives helped draft making sure
Kurdish rights are guaranteed.”
He said the document constituted a framework for regularizing future
relations between the Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq and the
central authorities “and at the same time protected the institutions
that Kurds have built since 1991.”
Control of the Kurdish north has been shared between the Talabani’s
PUK and the KDP led by Massoud Barzani after breaking out of
Baghdad’s control in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War.
Hakim noted that recognizing the Kurdish language as Iraq’s second
official language after Arabic is of major legal importance for the
Kurds since they got their self-controlled enclave in 1991.
On the political level, the interim constitution rallied all Kurdish
factions around it, especially because it was the fruit of efforts by
both leading Kurdish parties, the PUK and KDP.
On a morale level, Hakim said, “one can sense the widespread
jubilation and rejoicing among Kurds inside and outside Iraq over the
consecration of the entity they have created in northern Iraq without
official international or regional recognition.”
“There is no doubt that the new constitution consecrated the status
quo in Iraq’s Kurdistan and added momentum to Kurdish hopes and
aspirations in having their own entity,” he added.
In the meantime, trouble is looming over the controversial clause
that gives fewer than 1 million Kurds in a country of 25 million the
power to veto Iraq’s future permanent constitution.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 12, 2004 Friday 8:53 AM Eastern Time
Russian citizens in CIS states preparing to vote in March 14 polls
Chairman of Russia’s Central Electoral Commission Alexander
Veshnyakov said the number of polling stations had increased in
Georgia and Moldova, and that a precinct electoral commission and
eight polling stations were set up in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
Deputy Defence Minister Igor Puzanov said more than 80,000 people
will be able to vote at 48 polling stations the ministry had set up
in CIS republics.
According to the FSB Border Guard Service, 11 polling places were set
up in Tajikistan and Armenia, and three polling stations at
borderguard groups in Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, which may
receive up to 7,000 voters.
Twenty-one polling stations will be opened in Ukraine where some
62,000 Russians live or work.
In Belarus where 60,000 Russian citizens live, seven polling stations
will function.
Ten polling stations will be available for 80,000 RF citizens living
in Moldova.
In Tajikistan, 20,000 Russians, including border guards and
servicemen from the 201st division, will be able to take part in the
March 14 voting. Advance voting was arranged for remote border
outposts in Tajikistan from March 9.
Kazakhstan has 10 polling stations for 30,000 RF citizens.
In Kyrgyzstan, voting in the March 14 polls is organized in all large
settlements densely populated by Russians. There are some 15,000 RF
citizens in the republic. The servicemen at the Kant air base will
vote on Saturday.
There are two polling stations for RF citizens in Azerbaijan, with a
1,500-strong Russian electorate. They were set up under the Russian
Embassy in Baku and the Daryal Information and Analytical Center
(formerly the Gabalinskaya radar facility).
In Armenia, up to 8,000 RF citizens are expected to take part in the
March 14 election. The republic has ten polling stations, including
the military township of Kanaker where a Russian army unit is
deployed, and in Gyumri, where the headquarters of the 120th military
base is located.
Fifteen polling stations were set up in Georgia, an official at the
Russian Embassy in Tbilisi told Itar-Tass.
By now, part of Russian peacekeepers in Kodori Gorge, Gali district,
Abkhazia, and in Tskhinvali, South Ossetiam have already voted.
Turkmenistan has five voting stations for 63,00 RF citizens. Head of
the consular department of the Russian Embassy in Ashgabad Andrei
Brovarets expressed the hope that the electorate would be more active
compared with the December parliamentary election, at which just
3,000 Russians voted.
Uzbekistan has one polling station, set up at the Russian Embassy in
Tashkent, for more than 17,000 RF citizens. Everything is ready for
the polls, Russian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Farit Mukhametshin told
Itar-Tass. Advance voting took place in four Uzbek cities on March 6
and March 7.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 12, 2004 Friday
OSCE Chairman-in-Office to visit Transcaucasia
By Vladimir Abrosimov
SOFIA
Bulgarian Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairman-in-Office Solomon Pasi
will visit Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia on March 14-17, the press
service of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry reports.
Pasi will meet with the three presidents, government members and
legislators.
They will analyze OSCE activities in the light of promotion of
democratic processes and settlement of conflicts in the Caucasus.
Bilateral relations will be discussed, as well.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 12, 2004 Friday
Armenia may help normalize Russia-Georgia relations – pres
By Tigran Liloyan
YEREVAN
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said he believed Armenia could
contribute to the settlement of Georgian-Russian relations.
Saakashvili, who arrived in Yerevan on an official visit on Friday,
stated that he intended to normalize his country’s relations with
Russia, which he said “dramatically worsened under the previous
Georgian president.”
“We think that Armenia, with its special relations with Russia, can
play a special role in normalizing Georgian-Russian relations,” the
Georgian president emphasized.
“Russia for Georgia is a very important partner,” Saakashvili said.
In his view, it would be wrong not to use Armenia’s potential in
relations with Russia.
The Georgian president said many countries, which had developed good
relations with Russia, might contribute to the process of normalizing
Russian-Georgian ties. He said he had discussed the issue with French
President Jacques Chirac several days ago.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 12, 2004 Friday
Saakashvili certain Russia will not interfere in Georgia’s affairs
By Tengiz Pachkoria
TBILISI
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili is certain that Russia has no
intention of interfering in Georgia’s internal affairs.
Speaking in Tbilisi earlier on Friday before flying to the Armenian
capital Yerevan Saakashvili said, “Russia plans no interference in
Georgia’s internal affairs. President Vladimir Putin made a definite
statement on that score at our meeting in Moscow in February. I trust
Putin.”
Saakashvili was speaking after some local mass media alleged Russia
had the intention to increase the strength of the personnel of its
military base in Adzharia to intervene in the relationship between
Tbilisi and Batumi.

Agence France Presse
March 12, 2004 Friday
Bush taps ambassadors to Swaziland, Finland, Guinea, Kazakhstan
EAST MEADOW, New York
US President George W. Bush has picked nominees for ambassadorial
postings to Swaziland, Finland, Guinea and Kazakhstan, the White
House announced Thursday.
Bush wants Lewis Lucke, mission director and reconstruction
coordinator for the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) in Iraq, as ambassador to Swaziland. Lucke has
worked for USAID in Haiti and Jordan.
Bush has picked businessman Earle Mack as ambassador to Finland, and
career diplomat Jackson McDonald, currently US ambassador to Gambia,
as ambassador to Guinea.
The president has chosen career diplomat John M. Ordway, currently US
ambassador to Armenia, as US ambassador to Kazakhstan.
US ambassadorial nominations must win Senate approval.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 12, 2004 Friday
Armenia, Georgia adherent to European integration
By Tigran Liloyan
YEREVAN
Armenia and Georgia emphasize their striving for integration with
European organizations. They want closer interaction with the
European Union and cooperation in the United Nations, the Council of
Europe, the OSCE, the CIS and other international and regional
organizations, says a joint statement adopted after Friday
negotiations between Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and
Armenian leaders.
The Armenian and Georgian presidents said they were ready for more
active cooperation in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
Organization. They noted the importance of cooperation in TRACECA and
INOGATE initiatives of the European Union.
Bearing in mind the need to respond to new challenges and threats,
primarily terrorism, organized crime, illegal arms trade and drug
trafficking, Armenia and Georgia call for better efficiency and
coordination of the bilateral and multilateral cooperation, the
statement says.

XINHUA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
March 11, 2004, Thursday
Greek Cypriot side to continue reunification talks: Papadopoulos
NICOSIA
Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos said on Thursday that his Greek
Cypriot side remains firm in its commitment to continue the current
reunification talks under the auspices of the United Nations.
Papadopoulos made the promise in a written speech to the opening
ceremony of a trade union congress, which was read by Labour and
Social Insurance Minister Iacovos Keravnos.
It is too early and dangerous to draw conclusions on the progress of
the UN-led direct negotiations for a comprehensive settlement to the
Cyprus problem, despite the fact that most of the positions raised by
the Turkish side are contrary to the philosophy and parameters of the
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s plan, Papadopoulos said.
He said that what he can reiterate at this sensitive and important
present juncture is that the Greek Cypriot side remains firm in its
commitment to continue working positively, constructively and
productively with the UN Secretary General on the basis of his plan,
to secure a functional and viable solution to the Cyprus problem.
The Greek Cypriot side is striving for a solution which will secure
the rights of the Turkish Cypriots and will allow them to enjoy the
benefits with the accession to the EU, within the framework of a
reunified Cyprus, the president added.
He stressed that “our firm pursuit and constant concern is and will
remain the creation of a stable, peaceful and safe environment,
necessary for the welfare, progress and well being of all the people
of Cyprus, Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and
Latins.”
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey sent troops to take
control of its northern third. The two sides are currently engaged in
talks with a view to reach an agreement that would be put to
referenda, the positive outcome of which would enable a reunited
Cyprus to join the EU in May this year.

Associated Press Worldstream
March 12, 2004 Friday 3:08 PM Eastern Time
Gunfight erupts near restaurant where Georgian, Armenian presidents
dining, neither injured
by AVET DEMOURIAN; Associated Press Writer
YEREVAN, Armenia
A gunfight erupted Friday evening near a restaurant where the
presidents of Georgia and Armenia were dining, injuring at least
three people but leaving the two leaders unharmed, an official said.
The shooting started shortly after 10 p.m. local time between two
rival criminal groups outside the restaurant in the capital Yerevan,
an Interior Ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and his Armenian counterpart
Robert Kocharian weren’t injured and they even continued their meal
after the clash, the official said.
One person was arrested, and a gun and three knives confiscated,
according to the official. It didn’t appear those involved in the
altercation were aware the presidents were nearby.
Kocharian commonly invites his guests to informal dinners at the
restaurant, located in the center of the city on the banks of a small
pond. The shooting began on the other side of the water.
Saakashvili was in Armenia for his first visit there since winning a
January election to replace former President Eduard Shevardnadze. The
U.S.-educated Saakashvili was the most prominent leader of protests
that forced Shevardnadze to resign in November, and he has received
strong support from Washington.
Earlier at a news conference, the two leaders said they agreed to
keep close contact and Saaskashvili praised Kocharian as an “ideal
partner” for Georgia.
Saaskashvili said Armenia could also help Georgia normalize its
relations with Russia, which have been complicated by the continued
presence of Russian troops and Moscow’s support of separatist
regions.
On Friday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry harshly warned Georgia against
trying to rein in the independent-minded region of Adzharia, whose
leader has maintained close ties with Russia.
Kocharian expressed support for new railroad lines to be built from
Russia through the Georgia’s separatist Abkhazia region, which would
also link Armenia to Russia.

Lowell Sun (Lowell, MA)
March 10, 2004 Wednesday
The dog days of spring;
The return of Aram Arakelian and his pushcart to downtown Lowell is a
sure sign of warmer weather
KATHLEEN DEELY
Aram Arakelian serves customers from his sausage cart on Central
Street in Lowell. sun/michael pigeon LOWELL New York has one on every
corner. In Boston, The Sausage Guy is king. On the streets of Lowell,
Aram Arakelian is the sole purveyor of America’s culinary icon: the
hot dog.
For 10 years now Arakelian has stuffed grilled dogs, Italian sausages
and Polish kielbasa into buns from his silver cart for streams of
hungry denizens. Want peppers and onions? Extra hot sauce? “No
problem,” is the motto of this amiable Armenian vendor.
As sure a sign of spring as daffodils and the red breast of a robin,
the sight of Arakelian’s silver pushcart means winter is bowing out.
So when he popped up on Central Street last week, regulars relished
the smell and sizzle of grilled sausage, pepper and onions in the air
again.
“When I got off the bus today I said ‘yahoo!’,” exclaimed Pauline
Sigman, who likes to hit the cart a couple of times a week.
“I’ve tried all the stuff; it’s all good. The best there is.
Sometimes I want to double up, but I’ve got to watch my weight,” said
the Lowell resident ,gesturing toward her stomach.
Before there was Sal’s Pizza, before The Old Court, Arakelian held
down this stretch of Central Street in front of Banknorth. As the
city’s only outdoor food vendor, this one-man operation has become
part of Lowell’s lore.
“I’ve seen things change, but I stay the same,” said Arakelian,
deftly slinging sausages hot off the boil onto the grill.
Menu options haven’t wavered much; prices have kept pace with the
times. But at $1.25 for a grilled dog and $4 for a savory sweet
Italian sausage stuffed with grilled peppers and onions, it’s still a
decent bite for your buck. For a dollar more, the grilled chicken
breast sub is competitive, but is made to order with fresh meat and
served on soft rolls from a Malden bakery. He’s also strong in the
condiment department honey mustard, teryaki and hot sauce can doctor
up any order.
Ten years is a lifetime in the food industry and Arakelian attributes
his success to the Middlesex College students and elderly residents
who populate the block. They have turned his cart into a meeting
place and in turn he feels at home here. “I like seeing the people.
They ask me about my kids; it feels like a family.”
Like his exuberant personality, these sandwiches overflow with
goodness, making napkins a necessity when dining “a la cart.” The
other attraction to this portable meal is its versatility. These dogs
are easy to eat canal-side now that the weather is here. With so many
pluses, could Arakelian have created the signature meal of the city?
“It’s the best sandwich in town,” bellowed real estate tycoon Louis
Saab, walking by the cart this week.
“That’s good,” Arakelian said, pleased by the impromptu endorsement.
“He owns the city.”
Arakelian’s cart is open every weekday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., if it’s
not raining. Follow the aroma to Central Street between Middle and
Market.
Kathleen Deely’s e-mail address is [email protected] .