Category: News

Zaman, Turkey
Aug 10 2004
Crusader Murmurs in Cyberspace
SELCUK GULTASLI
Don’t mind the fact that Brussels is in a summer hibernation. There
are plenty of scenarios around about the answer to be given to Turkey
in December.
It is understood from the rumors that the special partnership offer,
which was regarded as a serious option in 2002, is no longer an
alternative. The possible answer fluctuates between a “conditional
yes” and Turkey’s expectation, an “unconditional yes,” and the
formula that also foresees the start of negotiations in February or
in March at the latest. The “‘conditional yes” has many formulas
including one close to saying “no,” and one close to an
“unconditional yes.”
The certain deletion of “no” appears to have stirred up Turkey’s
opponents in Europe even more. Internet sites that are against
Turkey, are putting up a great struggle, thinking that they are
losing the battle on the political level.
The answer to be given to Turkey, is one of the most popular topics
on the Internet sites, that publish news about the European Union
(EU). Every news about Turkey receives dozens of e-mails. Turkey’s
opponents have not only stormed these sites with reactions, they have
also established special Internet sites to prevent the EU membership
of Turkey. Some of these sites have prepared drafts of letters to be
sent to EU countries and leaders, to the European Parliament
president as well as important members, and to EU Commission members,
to brief them on why Turkey cannot be an EU member — in their
opinion. In addition, acting in accordance with the idea that
Turkey’s possible membership is one of the greatest ‘disasters’
awaiting Europe, they want all the EU citizens, who possess “European
consciousness,” to act against Turkey and contribute to this
‘beneficial duty’ of opposing Turkey’s bid, by sending a mail at
least.
Most of us are familiar with the expression, “Turkey would the
greatest disaster to befall Europe.” It is therefore not surprising
that those who refer to Turkey as the greatest disaster, declared
immediately thereafter that a new spirit of Crusaders is needed in
the political area. Those who have lost hope in European politicians
are turning to the Crusaders.
It is understood that the Greek Cypriots, Greeks and Armenians are
active on these sites. That only a small number of Turks send mails
to these sites, coupled with fact that they get easily offended,
prevent the Turkish theses from being properly defended.
There is a government in Turkey now, which sincerely defends the EU
target and is doing all the necessary work towards this goal. Up till
now, the multitude of 70 million, who have generally been deep asleep
in Turkey’s relations with the outside world, need to wake up and
take action on the EU issue. It will be very beneficial for Turks who
are literate and who know foreign languages to come together, just
like the opponents have organized themselves, and straight away
launch a citizen initiative that will speed things up towards
December.

IN THIS ISSUE:
*** AAA NGO CENTER ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF ITS NGO CAPACITY BUILDING GRANTS
PROGRAM
*** PROMOTING PARTICIPATION OF THE DISABLED DURING ELECTIONS
*** CLEANING ACTIVITIES IN STEPANAVAN
*** AWARENESS AND TRAINING PROGRAM IN SHIRAK AND LORI REGIONS
*** PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY. INITIATIVES AND RESPONSIBILITY
*** SUPPORT FOR SOUP KITCHENS
*** NEW PUBLICATION
***WEBSITE LAUNCH: COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN INFORMATION OFFICE
*** ANNOUNCEMENT FROM ROA MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND YOUTH AFFAIRS
*** AAA NGO CENTER ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF ITS NGO CAPACITY BUILDING GRANTS
PROGRAM
This grants program is aimed at promoting organizational development of
local Armenian NGOs towards their more effective involvement in delivering
social and/or primary healthcare services and information. Of 47 NGOs
applied for the grants program contest, eight organizations have been
selected by the review board. Their projects are aimed at strengthening of
their organization’s human, financial, physical, public relations and
service capacities. The winning NGOs are: Ozone Young Men’s Christian
Association, Maternity Fund of Armenia, Yerevak, Vanadzor Young Men’s
Christian Association, Women’s Rights Center, Gratemed Scientific Medical
NGO, Asup, and Meghvik Children’s and Youth NGO. Funding for the grants
program is provided by the United States Agency for International
Development.
Contact: Margarit Piliposyan
AAA NGO Training and Resource Center
39 Yeznik Koghbatsi St.
Tel.: (374-1) 54-40-12, 54-40-13
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
*** PROMOTING PARTICIPATION OF THE DISABLED DURING ELECTIONS
After observation activities on behalf of the disabled during the 2003
elections, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and five
interested NGOs made a statement regarding polling station inaccessibility
for the disabled. The domestic NGOs which were signatories to the
statement – Lusastgh, Paros, Nor Spitak, Liarzhek Kyank and Pyunik – have
developed suggestions and presented them to the National Assembly’s
Committee on Issues of the Disabled. With regard to this, the initiators
organized a roundtable on July 9 with the participation of members of
electoral commissions, and representatives of NGOs and international
organizations to discuss the NGOs’ suggestions and the position of the
National Assembly on incorporating the proposed amendments in the electoral
code. During the meeting, spokespersons presented the issue of the role of
the communities in providing wheelchair accessibility in the polling
station, as well as the participation of mentally disabled, blind and deaf
people in the elections. Upon the conclusion of the roundtable, a working
group was formed. Its members met on July 12 to discuss all of the
suggestions. They prepared a package of suggested amendments to the
electoral code, which was later handed to Artak Arakelyan, Deputy of Armenia
‘s National Assembly (NA) and Coordinator of the Committee on the Disabled
Issues with the ROA NA Chairman.
Contact: Al Decie
IFES/Armenia
9 Alek Manukian St.
Tel.: (374-1) 51-20-51, 51-20-16
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
Internet:
*** CLEANING ACTIVITIES IN STEPANAVAN
The Makur Yerevan (Clean Yerevan) project, with the participation of its
volunteers and in cooperation with the Stepanavan Legal, Psychological,
Training and Information Center NGO, carried out cleaning activities in
Loreberd and Ashot Yerkat historical and cultural sites. Dendropark site and
the area adjoining the weaving factory were also cleaned. At the end of the
cleaning project, a literary and musical event was organized to entertain
the project participants. Henceforth, the participants have decided to
devote their time to cleaning activities on the third Saturday of every
month.
Contact: Gerasim Asryan
Stepanavan Legal, Psychological, Training and Information Center NGO
Tel.: (374-56) 3-28-91
E-mail: [email protected]
*** AWARENESS AND TRAINING PROGRAM IN SHIRAK AND LORI REGIONS
The Progress Through Education project of the Asparez Club of Journalists
NGO has come to its end and the results were summarized on July 9. Project
staff presented the three directions of the activities implemented in
Gyumri, Vanadzor, Stepanavan and Alaverdi to representatives of NGOs,
interested international organizations and state structures. These areas
included seminars, TV discussions and social advertising on human rights
protection, local Mass Media, local self-governance and NGO cooperation. As
stated by Project Coordinator Levon Barseghyan, “Such projects are necessary
for information exchange and establishing cooperation between Armenia’s
northern towns.”
Contact: Levon Barseghyan
Asparez Club of Journalists NGO
Gyumri, 96 Pushkin St.
Tel.: (374-41) 2-27-21
E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
*** PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY. INITIATIVES AND RESPONSIBILITY
This was the title of the international conference, organized by the
Association of Women With University Education NGO on July 9-11 within the
framework of its Democracy and Peace Center Project. Association heads and
activists, NGO heads, representatives of political parties, National
Assembly Deputies, officials of the ROA President Administration and
Government, political scientists, philosophers, historians, lawyers,
sociologists, economists, psychologists, and representatives of NGOs and
scientific institutions of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russian Federation
participated in the conference. They discussed participatory democracy as a
factor contributing to the establishment of civil society and further
democratization of political life in Armenia and other CIS countries, as
well as issues on forms and initiatives of civic participation, and the
responsibility of citizens and citizen groups in the irrevocable
democratization processes of the society.
Contact: Jemma Hasratyan
Association of Women With University Education NGO
Tel./Fax: (374-1) 58-15-83
E-mail: [email protected]
*** SUPPORT FOR SOUP KITCHENS
Mission Armenia NGO’s Support for Soup Kitchens five-year program, aimed at
addressing nutritional, social and health needs of the disadvantaged older,
disabled persons and extremely vulnerable households, is currently underway.
This USAID-funded program is being implemented in Yerevan and five other
regions of Armenia: Shirak, Gegharkunik, Lori, Syunik and Tavush. The
program objectives are: providing hot, calorie-rich meals, social and
healthcare services, legal, psychological and gerontology-related
consultancies and training. Currently, almost 6,300 vulnerable people
benefit from the program activities through 22 soup kitchens and three
community centers. Concurrently, the NGO initiates activities that are to
promote social partnership, as well as raise public awareness on the given
program and problems which the elderly in our society face. The social
partnership component of the program will promote establishment of
cooperation between parties concerned with finding solutions to the problems
of the elderly. The model developed by Mission Armenia was recently
presented to the Kanaker-Zeytun community’s self-governing body, community
council, local condominiums, NGOs and other structures. As a result of
preliminary discussions with these structures, a social partnership model is
to be developed, which will first be introduced in the Kanaker-Zeytun
community, and later applied in other communities.
Contact: Hripsime Kirakosyan
Mission Armenia NGO
42 Garegin Nzhdeh St.
Tel.: (374 1) 44-47-92; 44-47-93; 44-47-61; 44-47-32
E-mail: [email protected]
Website
*** NEW PUBLICATION
On the initiative of the Caucasus Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations,
the Tradition Of Solving Problems in the Caucasus and Methods of Civil
Society Institutes publication has been published. It is based on materials
from the Traditions of the People Diplomacy and Behavioral Norms in War and
Conflict Conditions in the Caucasus conference. Three chapters of the
publication – Traditions of War and Peace in the Caucasus: View from the
Inside; Self-Consciousness; Possible Activities of Civil Society in the
Caucasus in the Context of Current Conditions – are analytical articles and
reports on historical forms of being, Caucasian identification, traditions,
and localization of the western model of civil society. Opinions and
comments on these topics are also presented.
Contact: Caucasus Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations
25 Demirchyan Cul-de-Sac
Tel.: (374-1) 54-57-27
E-mail: [email protected]
***WEBSITE LAUNCH: COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN INFORMATION OFFICE
The newly-launched website provides information on the
activities of the Council of Europe in general and on CoE in Armenia
activities in particular. This English-Armenian website is both informative
and interactive: while the general materials on the Council of Europe and
Armenia ensure public awareness at large, the daily media digest, press
releases and news/announcements provide up-to-date information on CoE
developments with particular relevance to Armenia. One of the most striking
features of the website is the online virtual library.
Contact: Susan Marukhyan
Council of Europe Information Office in Armenia
10 David Anhaght St.
Tel.: (374-1) 24-38-92
E-mail: [email protected]
*** ANNOUNCEMENT FROM ROA MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND YOUTH AFFAIRS
The Youth Policy Department of the ROA Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs
Administration is registering NGOs in order to develop a database of
organizations operating in the Republic of Armenia and dealing with youth
issues. Registered NGOs can post information and announcements about their
activities free of charge in the Skizb (Beginning) newsletter, funded by the
ROA Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs. The NGO registration form is
available at the Youth Policy Department of the ROA Ministry of Culture and
Youth Affairs Administration.
Contact:
3rd Government Building, Republic Square, 7th floor
Tel./Fax: (374-1) 52-62-97
E-mail: [email protected]
____________________________________________________________________________
Armenian NGO News in Brief is a publication of the NGO Training and Resource
Center (NGOC) issued in the Armenian, English and Russian languages for
electronic dissemination inside and outside Armenia. Primary funding for
the NGOC, which is a project of the Armenian Assembly of America, is
provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Individual NGOs are welcome to submit information for publication to the
NGOC. The NGO Center is not responsible for the clarity of information
provided by individual NGOs.
Dear Readers,
The not-for-profit, non-governmental sector of Armenia is rich with diverse
civic initiatives and activities. This electronic publication, though far
from covering all activities of the sector per any given period of time, is
intended to contribute to raising awareness, both inside and outside
Armenia, of the activities of Armenian not-for-profit, non-governmental
organizations.
Your comments and feedback about this electronic publication are greatly
appreciated.
Thank you.
Contact Information:
In Armenia:
Armenian Assembly of America
NGO Training and Resource Center
39 Yeznik Koghbatsi St.,
Yerevan 375010
Tel.: (3-741) 54-40-12; 54-40-13;
53-92-04
Fax: (3-741) 54-40-15
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
In the United States:
Armenian Assembly of America
NGO Training and Resource Center
122 C Street NW, Suite 350
Washington, DC 20001 USA
Tel: (202) 393-3434
Fax: (202) 638-4904
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ORGANIZES MAJOR INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
`ARMENIA / THE SOUTH CAUCASUS AND FOREIGN POLICY CHALLENGES’
Armenian Studies Program
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
August 10, 2004
The Armenian Studies Program at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
will hold an international conference on the theme `Armenia/the South
Caucasus and
Foreign Policy Challenges.’ The conference will be held at the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, on October 21-24, 2004.
This unique gathering will bring together some thirty-five scholars,
past and present diplomats and conflict negotiators from over ten
countries, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Russia, Iran,
Europe, Canada, and the US to discuss the foreign policy problems and
prospects of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia as well as the conflict
resolution processes in the region, with special emphasis on Nagorno
Karabakh.
The conference is being organized by Prof. Gerard Libaridian (Department
of History) under the auspices of the Armenian Studies Program at the
University
of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with the support of the Center for Middle
Eastern and North African Studies, and is being cosponsored by the
Department of History, the Department of Near Eastern Studies, the
International Institute and others at the University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor.
The conference will be open to the general public.
Details will be announced later and can be accessed on the website of
the Armenian Studies Program,
Inquiries can be made by writing to [email protected] or by
calling 734-764-0350.

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
08/10/2004
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) Iran Expresses Willingness to Support Azeri Stance on Karabagh 2) Georgia's South Ossetian Economic Minister Goes Missing Amid Tensions 3) Georgia, Russia Seek Peace Over Rebel Regions 4) Young Armenian Chess Players Return from European Championship With Gold and Silver Medals 1) Iran Expresses Willingness to Support Azeri Stance on Karabagh TEHRAN (AZTAG)--During a recent press conference, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid Reza Asefi confirmed Azeri media reports about Iran's willingness to support Azerbaijan's position on the Mountainous Karabagh conflict. "[Iranian President] Khatami's visit to Azerbaijan was very successful and led to an important stage in the relations of the two countries," Asefi noted. Asefi also noted that President Khatami expressed Iran's desire for a peaceful resolution, which entails the maintenance of Azerbaijan's territorial control over the enclave. 2) Georgia's South Ossetian Economic Minister Goes Missing Amid Tensions TBILISI (AFP)--The economic minister of Georgia's separatist region of South Ossetia, Ruslan Pliyev, is missing after his empty car was found in a river, a local television news station reported, as cited by Agence France-Presse. This report comes amid growing tension in the former Soviet republic, with its new president, Mikhail Saakashvili, trying to win back control over his fractured Caucasus state--having toppled the country's leadership in a peaceful "rose revolution" last year. The news station--which has not been identified--cited undisclosed sources as saying that foul play may have been involved in the disappearance of Pliyev, who, the station said, is in conflict with other leaders of the separatist pro-Moscow government in South Ossetia. Georgian officials have so far made no official comments on the reported disappearance. Nevertheless, the alleged incident adds to the confusion surrounding relations between Georgia, the pro-Russian region, and Russia itself, whose defense minister strongly rejected accusations that Moscow's planes are spying on Georgia. "This is all nonsense and delirium," Russian defense minister, Sergei Ivanov, was quoted as saying by Interfax in Moscow. Nevertheless, Georgia's interior minister vowed last week to shoot down the next Russian military plane flying over Georgia. Ivanov's comments followed a tense meeting with Georgian defense minister Georgy Baramidze, held in an effort to resolve a growing military conflict in the corridor between South Ossetia and Georgia, presently guarded by Russian troops. The conflict has so far almost totally been reserved to a war of words, but there has been sporadic gun fire and arrests of various peacekeepers in the region. The talks in Moscow also focused on Abkhazia, another pro-Moscow region in Georgia that serves as a popular summer resort for Russians. In blistering remarks, Saakashvili threatened last week to sink foreign ships that enter the region without permission. "Abkhazia is not a place to holiday, it is a war zone...(Russian) tourists have nothing to do there," he said, before leaving for a visit to the US. But, his deputies have since said that his comments were misinterpreted by reporters, in a move clearly aimed at appeasing relations with Moscow. Seen as a young, popular reformer, Saakashvili has vowed to reunify his fractured republic since toppling the administration of veteran leader Eduard Shevardnadze in a peaceful revolution last year. He has also developed closer relations with the West, and his country will soon be home to a key US-backed oil pipeline that skirts Russian territory, despite being opposed by Moscow. 3) Georgia, Russia Seek Peace Over Rebel Regions MOSCOW (Reuters)--Russia and Georgia's defense ministers tried to calm increasingly shrill rhetoric over two breakaway regions on Tuesday by promising to cooperate in the search for a peaceful solution, Russian news agencies reported. Georgia's determination to bring South Ossetia and Abkhazia under central control--spelling the end of a decade of rule by separatists with support in Moscow--has sparked saber-rattling that over the past few weeks threatened to turn into bloodshed. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Russia was ready to hand over two Soviet-era military bases in Georgia--one in the capital Tbilisi and one in the southern town of Akhalkalak. "In the near future we are prepared to hand them over to the Georgian Defense Ministry--only the Georgian Defense Ministry--under an agreement," RIA-Novosti news agency quoted Ivanov as saying, without giving details of the agreement. His Georgian counterpart Georgy Baramidze, visiting Moscow for three days, praised his hosts for their approach. "Russia's sincerity in the search for a peaceful solution is very encouraging," Itar-Tass quoted him as saying. "My Russian colleague and I have discussed the situation in the conflict regions and how to minimize the risks for peacekeepers and peaceful citizens. No reasonable country could have any interest in inflaming the conflict," Baramidze said. The two also said they hoped to renew contacts between their militaries, which Ivanov said "does not need colossal steps--it's enough just to make an agreement and stick to it." Baramidze said developing Georgia's air defenses was one potential area of cooperation. The apparent thaw comes less than a week after US Secretary of State Colin Powell called for dialogue between the two sides--despite Moscow warning Washington not to get involved. The United States and Russia are rivals for influence in Georgia, which--despite poverty and a history of ethnic conflict--is strategically placed as a future conduit for massive Caspian oil resources to the energy-hungry West. Georgia's US-educated President Mikhail Saakashvili, who won a landslide election in January, has helped to escalate the disputes over the two regions by insisting they must bow to his rule, surrendering their powers and taxes to Tbilisi. He angered Russians last week by saying Georgian forces would sink Russian tour boats plying the Black Sea coast of breakaway Abkhazia, a popular beach holiday destination for Russians since Soviet times. The Vedomosti business daily dubbed him "our Fidel," comparing him to Cuban leader Fidel Castro for his hot-headed rhetoric in defiance of the dominant power in the region. In a potential twist to the row over one of the regions, Georgian police found the economy minister of the unrecognized South Ossetian government dead in a river on Tuesday. It was not clear if he had crashed his car, found in a nearby gully. 4) Young Armenian Chess Players Return from European Championship With Gold and Silver Medals YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)--The European Junior Chess Championship, held in the Turkish city of Urgup, came to a close with 670 representatives from various countries having participated in ten tournaments held simultaneously in five age groups. Armenia participated in the Championship with 14 boys and girls performing in all age groups. Ten year-old Robert Aghasarian from Yerevan performed successfully, earning 7.5 out of possible 9 points. He placed first for the highest tournament coefficients, acquiring the title of European champion and won a gold medal. Samvel Ter-Sahakian from Vanadzor, the European champion of last year, also had high standings. He performed in the 12-year age group this year, earning 7.5 points. The chess player earned second place, and was awarded with a silver medal. Fourteen year-old Varduhi Kalashian (fourth place) from Gyumri, 16-year-old Zaven Andreasian from Yerevan (eighth place), and 18-year-old Liana Aghabekian from Vanadzor (ninth place) also performed successfully in the tournament. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2004 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets.

Interfax
Aug 10 2004
Azerbaijan calls U.S. strategic partner
Baku. (Interfax) – Azerbaijan considers the United States a strategic
partner, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Monday.
During a meeting with a U.S. Senate delegation led by Senate
President Pro Tempore Ted Stevens, Aliyev expressed satisfaction with
the pace of development of Azerbaijani-U.S. political, economic, and
military cooperation and said energy projects in Azerbaijan in which
the United States is involved were of global significance.
Aliyev called for stronger cooperation between the two countries with
hopes that Americans may become better informed about the situation
in Azerbaijan, including the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict over
Nagorno- Karabakh, an Armenian-speaking enclave in Azerbaijan that
Armenia has occupied along with surrounding Azerbaijani districts for
several years.

Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
Aug 10 2004
Police seek alleged gang boss

Authorities say Glendale resident is leader of burglary ring for
organized crime syndicate.

By Jackson Bell, News-Press
GLENDALE – Police are asking for the public’s help finding a Glendale
man who investigators say is the alleged ringleader of a
Russian-Armenian organized crime syndicate that has been connected to
a string of burglaries of jewelry store and pawn-shops throughout Los
Angeles County.
Ara Karapetian, 42, of Glendale, is wanted on a $2-million arrest
warrant for his role in a pawn-shop burglary June 13 in Van Nuys,
said Rick Lutz, a Sheriff’s Department detective working out of the
Crescenta Valley Station.
Karapetian, who lives in the 3300 block of Barnes Circle near Oakmont
County Club, also has homes in Las Vegas, Armenia and the United Arab
Emirates, authorities said. He owns two clothing stores and a
money-transfer business that allows local Armenians to send money to
relatives in their home country, authorities said.
Police have been in contact with Karapetian through his attorney, but
he has refused to turn himself in, Lutz said.
“Through his attorney, we have pleaded for him to turn himself in,”
Lutz said. “But so far he has refused to do so.”
In early June, surveillance cameras recorded the crew allegedly
attempting to take a safe from a jewelry store in La Crescenta,
police said. After a multi-agency investigation, five men were
arrested June 13 for allegedly trying to steal another safe from a
Van Nuys pawn shop, Lutz said, adding that Karapetian left behind his
driver’s license.
The men arrested are Suren Melkonyan, 46, of Glendale; Ashot Avoyan,
42, of Hollywood; Andranik Grigoryan, 29, of Van Nuys; Arsak
Grigoryan, 36, of North Hollywood; and John Nazarian, 32, of
Hollywood, authorities said.
Their preliminary hearing Monday in Los Angeles Criminal Court was
postponed to Sept. 9, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ronald Goudy. They are
all being held in Los Angeles County Jail.
“They’ve been involved in welfare fraud, selling untaxed cigarettes,
tax evasion, burglary of jewelry stores – they were involved in many
things,” Goudy said. “We’ve easily recovered over a million dollars
[in property].”
Karapetian’s adult son, Ghor Karapetian, has also been arrested on
suspicion of burglary, said Lutz, who was unable to give more
details.
Ara Karapetian is described as white with brown hair and brown eyes.
He is 5 feet 9 and weighs 200 pounds. Anyone with information is
asked to contact Lutz at 236-4015.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
Aug 10 2004
MEETING AT MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
[August 10, 2004, 13:59:47]
Meeting at Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elmar
Mammadyarov received a Pakistani delegation led by Chief of the
Committee of the General Staff Commanders of the Islamic Republic of
Pakistan, General Mohammad Aziz Khan.
During the meeting, Minister Elmar Mammadyarov note in particular
that the Azerbaijan-Pakistan relationship developing towards
strategic partnership, and expressed confidence that the present
visit of the Pakistani delegation would promote expanding military
cooperation between the two countries.
He informed the guest in detail on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict
over Nagorno-Karabakh, peace process, as well as non-fulfillment of
the UN SC four resolutions by Armenia and related activity of the
OSCE Minsk group. Reminding of the 32 terror acts committed in
Azerbaijan, the Minister told of the part the country has been
playing in fighting terrorism, and participation of Azerbaijani
soldiers in ante-terror operations of the international coalition.
General Mohammad Aziz Khan expressed satisfaction with the level of
existing relationship between Azerbaijan and Pakistan and stated that
the recent official visit by President Pervez Musharraf to Azerbaijan
would contribute to further strengthening of the two countries’
cooperation in political, diplomatic and military spheres. He
stressed Pakistan would continue its assistance in training
Azerbaijani officers.
General Mohammad Aziz further advised the Minister of the political
and military situation in Pakistan, his county’s activity in fighting
international terrorism, and expressed hope for urgent peaceful
resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 10 2004
Defense Ministry Confirms Reports on Azeri Soldier’s Capture
Baku Today 10/08/2004 18:20
The Defense Ministry has confirmed the reports saying that Anar
Samadov, 21, a soldier of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, has been
taken captive by Armenians.
According to the Ministry, work is underway to release the soldier
from captivity. Samadov’s parents have appealed to the Defense
Ministry and the International Committee of the Red Cross to get the
latest information about the fate of their son.
Samadov, who was doing his military service in the «N» military unit
in Gapanli village of Terter District, was taken captive on August 2
after he lost his way and came closer to the positions of the
Armenian military units.*

NewsCentralAsia, Asia
Aug 10 2004
First World Hegemony and Mass Mortality – from Bengal to Afghanistan
and Iraq
Dr. Gideon Polya
The world has now been confronted for a dozen years by the continuing
devastation of strategically-located, oil-rich Iraq by Anglo-American
armies and their allies. Afghanistan has been devastated by a quarter
century of war intimately connected with First World rivalries and
both Russian and US desires for Indian Ocean access to Central Asia.
These extensions of what was once called the `Great Game’ between
Britain and Russia have had an appalling human cost.
Using United Nations population statistics for the period 1950 to the
present it has been possible to calculate the `excess mortality’ (or,
essentially, the avoidable mortality) for every country in the world
for this period. `Excess mortality’ is simply the difference between
the ACTUAL deaths in a country and the deaths EXPECTED for a
decently-run, peaceful country with the same demographic
characteristics. The results are startling and horrifying. The total
post-1950 `excess mortality’ has been 5.2 million for Iraq, 16.2
million for Afghanistan, 550 million for the Muslim world, 1,230
million for the non-European world – and 54 million in total for all
the countries of Europe, North America and Australasia.
The French have a saying `Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose’
(the more things change, the more they stay the same). We can go back
in history and see that the same greed, violence, racism, dishonesty
and criminal immorality involved in continuation of First World
hegemony in the world today is closely mirrored in the European
expansion into the non-European world over the last 500 years.
Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, British and French expansion into the
Americas brought disease that, in addition to egregious violence,
wiped out millions and destroyed sophisticated civilizations. The
subsequent slave trade from Africa transported 15 million to America
but associated deaths in Africa may have been much greater. While
knowing of the deadly transmissibility of disease in the Americas (23
million victims) and from the medieval Black Death (24 million
victims), the Europeans happily devastated Australasia and the
Pacific through disease in the 19th century (1-2 million victims).
The Europeans carved up Africa in the 19th century and imposed
horrendous colonial regimes. Thus the Belgians butchered some 10
million Congolese in exacting rubber supplies; colonial wars
slaughtered millions more. The Europeans left a crippled continent in
the 1960s.
Two hundred and fifty years ago Bengal was a prosperous province of
the Muslim Mughal Empire in India. Bengal led the world in its
agriculture, civil administration and textiles. The textiles were so
fine it was said that you could pass a sari of Dacca silk through a
wedding ring. However in the mid-18th century the East India Company
turned its attention seriously to Bengal and the British set up a
trading post called Fort William at the site of what is now Calcutta.
Steady pressure from the British (as well as from the French, Dutch,
Portuguese and Danes) eventually elicited Bengali resistance and in
1756 the Muslim Nawab (or Prince) of Bengal, Siraj-ud-daulah,
captured Fort William.
British-Bengali machinations may have meant that the Nawab was merely
supposed to besiege Fort William and then a palace revolution would
secure `régime change’ in favour of the British. In the event, Fort
William was taken and all school children in the British Empire were
subsequently told the dreadful story of the Black Hole of Calcutta –
how, supposedly, 146 British prisoners were incarcerated overnight in
a small prison cell in captured Fort William and in the morning only
23 survivors (including the one woman) emerged alive. This story is
believed by many historians to have been greatly exaggerated. However
for a quarter of a millennium it has very successfully demonized
Indians and, by extension, all non-Europeans who resisted European
hegemony.
In 1757 the British returned with a vengeance, bribed important
Bengali princes to withhold their troops and, at the Battle of
Plassey, Robert Clive won a stunning victory over numerically vastly
greater Bengali forces. Siraj-ud-daulah was hunted down, captured,
chopped into pieces and demonized forever. A key plotter was Mir
Jafar and he was rewarded by being made the next Nawab by the British
(just as the US helped install the Shah in Iran and Saddam Hussein in
Iraq)..
After the British had installed their puppet Nawab they set about
taxing the Bengalis. Taxes that formally would go successively
through collectors, zamindars and the Nawab to the Mughal Emperor to
pay for civil administration now started to flow to the East India
Company and its officers. Robert Clive returned to Britain in 1767 as
its richest man. In responding to Parliamentary cross-examination in
1773 about his excessive wealth from the down-trodden Bengalis, Clive
declared `By God, Mr Chairman, at this moment I stand astonished at
my own moderation’. The vast wealth flowing from India with the East
India Company and its returning officers (the so-called `nabobs’, a
corruption of `nawab’) helped fund the Industrial Revolution and 2
centuries of British global domination that has variously devastated
peoples and cultures on 6 continents.
Unfortunately the British exceeded themselves and a mere 12 years
after the Battle of Plassey a temporary food shortage in Bengal
translated inexorably into the man-made Great Bengal Famine of
1769-1770 that killed 10 million Bengalis, one third of the
population. Over-taxed Bengalis who could not meet the escalating
price of grain simply starved. The East India Company, concerned
about its diminishing profits, sent Warren Hastings out to Calcutta
to reorganize taxation of the half-starved, surviving Bengalis.
Hastings succeeded and indeed greatly extended British control in
India. However his rapacious excesses (from the robbery of the Begums
of Oudh to famine in the Gangetic plain) led to his impeachment by
Parliament after his return to England and a protracted trial.
Hastings was acquitted in 1795 in what has been Britain’s only war
crimes trial of a major colonial administrator. He has been lionized
by British historians as a great founder of Empire.
Two centuries of British rule in India saw recurrent famines that
killed scores of millions. Further, the British railways, irrigation
canals and shipping spread cholera (endemic to Bengal) throughout
British India at the cost of an estimated 25 million lives in the
19th century. The British taxation system deprived indigenous Indian
institutes of support (noting that education is vital in the war on
disease and want). The Bengal textile industry was destroyed and
Britain exported textiles to India. Well-watered, warm Bengal with an
energetic population is a part of the sub-continent that should never
suffer famine. Nevertheless Bengal suffered repeated famine in the
1860s and 1870s and at the turn of the century.
Of course Bengal was part of an empire `on which the sun never sets’.
The British traded Bengali opium to China for tea and silver, this
trade precipitating the 19th century China Opium Wars and the
subsequent Tai Ping rebellion that took 20-100 million lives
In 1918-1919 Indian soldiers returning from World War 1 brought
influenza to India (this causing 17 million deaths). Indeed the
global influenza death toll of some 40 million greatly exceeded the
military casualties of World War 1 (8 million). However in the middle
of World War 2 the price of rice begin to rise in Bengal for a
variety of reasons (cessation of supplies from Japanese-occupied
Burma, small seasonal losses from fungal infection and storm damage,
the divide-and-rule granting of food supply autonomy to Indian
provinces, sequestration of some rice stocks and decreased grain
imports via Indian Ocean shipping because of shipping losses in the
Atlantic). However, as analysed by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen,
Calcutta was experiencing a war-time boom and effectively sucked food
out of a food-producing countryside. Those who could not afford rice
at 4 times the normal price simply starved under a callous British
administration.
The death toll from the man-made Bengal famine was 4 million as
compared to the deaths from the Jewish Holocaust (6 million), the
Namibian genocide (0.1 million), the Rwandan Tutsi genocide (1
million), the World War 1 Armenian Holocaust (1 million), the Polish
(6 million), Soviet (20 million) and Chinese (35 million) losses in
World War 2, the Chinese Great Leap Forward (16-30 million victims)
and the millions who died in the Russian, Chinese and Ukrainian
famines between the World Wars, the Soviet Gulags and Pakistan-Indian
Partition.
In an astonishing collective act of racist white-washing, the Bengal
famine has been largely expunged from British historical writing.
History ignored yields history repeated and the Bengalis have
continued to suffer: post-Independence Partition massacres and
displacements in 1947, US-backed West Pakistan invasion in 1971 (3
million dead, 0.3 million women raped, 10 million refugees) and
further famine and murderous US-backed régime change (1974). However
the biggest killers in Bengal since 1950 have been deprivation,
malnourishment, disease and illiteracy – the post-1950 `excess
mortality’ has been 51 million in Bangladesh (present population 150
million) and about 27 million in West Bengal (population about 80
million).
What can be learned from this sorry tale? The biggest message is that
ignoring or white-washing mass mortality simply allows unimpeded
continuance or repetition. Indeed Bengal is now facing a devastating
prospect of inundation from global warming-induced sea level rises.
The US and Australia, variously linked with Bengal’s previous
man-made disasters, refuse to sign the Kyoto Protocol while being
among the world’s worst greenhouse gas polluters. In the past month
over two thirds of Bangladesh has been under water from international
monsoon run-off. Afghanistan and Iraq simply illustrate the same
sorts of First World impositions that devastated Bengal for over a
quarter of a millennium in the interests of profit, power and
imperial satisfaction – manipulation, corruption of indigenous
leaders, régime change, vilification and demonization of indigenous
opponents, militarization, debt, economic distortion, economic
exclusion, divide-and-rule, support for intra- and international war,
sanctions, invasion, occupation, extirpation of undesired indigenous
opponents, installation of unelected governments and inclusion into a
new order of global, violence-backed hegemony. Of course, just like
the mythology of the Black Hole of Calcutta, the demonization of
Indians and the asserted nobility of British civilization and Pax
Britannica, today we have the non-existent weapons of mass
destruction, the demonization of Muslims and the violent and
massively deadly imposition of an Anglo-American vision of `freedom’.
Sensible analysis of the horrendous mass mortality in the world over
the last half century indicates that the First World imposes war for
profit and that war kills massively – but mainly through deprivation
and malnourishment-exacerbated disease that sweeps away 20 million
people a year or 60,000 a day and overwhelmingly in the non-European
world. It is the IGNORING of horrendous global mass mortality that is
the fundamental cause of this continuing tragedy.
About the author: Dr Gideon Polya is a Melbourne-based scientist and
writer. Over a 4 decade scientific career he published some 130
works, most recently a huge, pharmacological reference text
“Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds’ (Taylor &
Francis/CRC Press, London & New York, 2003).

Centre for Public Opinion and Democracy, Canada
Aug 10 2004
Armenians Plead For New Economic Policies
(CPOD) Aug. 10, 2004 – Many citizens of Armenia are unhappy with the
way their elected officials are pursuing financial strategies,
according to a poll by the Armenian Center for National and
International Studies (ACNIS). 48.4 per cent of respondents believe
their government is not pursuing an economic policy that supports the
development of enterprise and investments.
Armenia’s national currency – the dram – has gained strength in the past
few months. While Central Bank officials believe the fluctuation is a
result of incoming United States dollars, finance and economy
minister Vardan Khachatrian admitted that the phenomenon could be the
result of speculation.
Most Armenians would like to boost their country’s financial profile.
32.6 per cent of respondents believe the country should pursue closer
economic ties with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) – a
coalition encompassing 12 former Soviet republics – while 13.9 per cent
favour cooperation with the European Union (EU).
President Robert Kocharyan was re-elected to a new four-year term in
March 2003 in an election marred by fraud allegations.
Polling Data
Do you think Armenian authorities pursue an economic policy that
supports the development of enterprise and investments?
Yes
22.0%

No
48.4%

Difficult to answer
28.6%

In your view, Armenia should have the closest economic relations
with…
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
32.6%

European Union (EU) member states
13.9%

Countries of the region, including Turkey,
Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iran
7.0%

Countries of the American continent,
particularly the United States and Canada.
2.7%

All of them
35.3%

Source: Armenian Center for National and International Studies
(ACNIS)
Methodology: Interviews with 1,127 Armenian adults, conducted from
Jun. 20 to Jul. 12, 2004. No margin of error was provided.