AZERBAIJAN: ANOTHER OPPOSITION PAPER, PARTY UNDER PRESSURE FOR "BACK RENT"
Mina Muradova and Khazri Bakinsky

EurasiaNet, NY
Dec 1 2006

Days after the government’s suspension of broadcasts by an independent
television and radio station, along with the eviction of an opposition
party and pro-opposition media outlets from their offices in downtown
Baku, Azerbaijan’s State Property Committee has initiated court
proceedings against another opposition newspaper for failure to pay
its rent.

The Hurriyyat newspaper, a publication financed by the opposition
Democratic Party of Azerbaijan (DPA), has been in print since 1992.

The DPA has a long history of disputes with the government. On the eve
of the November 2005 parliamentary elections, law enforcement officials
claimed that DPA Chairman Rasul Guliyev, a former parliamentary speaker
who has been granted political asylum in the United States, was working
in collusion with government officials to overthrow President Ilham
Aliyev. [For background see the Azerbaijan: Elections 2005 website].

In an interview with EurasiaNet, State Property Committee spokesperson
Gulu Khalilov stated that the Committee decided to take Hurriyyat to
court to collect overdue rent on a building near Baku’s May 28 subway
station. The building has been occupied by the DPA and Hurriyyat since
1992. Khalilov declined to answer additional questions about the case.

The Committee maintains that Gurban Mammadov — a co-founder of
Hurriyyat who rents the building the newspaper and the DPA occupy
— owes the government $2,700. In a November 30 interview, however,
Mammadov stated that the newspaper owes the State Property Committee
$700. The amount would be paid "right now." in exchange for a new
lease, he continued. The Committee has not renewed an earlier lease,
which expired in 2004, Mammadov said. "We have a little debt, and
we’re ready to pay it, but after signing a new contract."

Representatives of the State Property Committee have said that
they will consider the question after court hearings on their rent
claim are complete. The court has not yet registered the case for a
hearing. In response, Mammadov has filed a suit against the Committee
in the same court, Azerbaijani Economic Court No. 1, alleging that
the Committee refused to prolong his contract because Hurriyyat is
an opposition newspaper.

The dispute follows on the heels of the November 24 suspension of
broadcasts by independent television and radio station ANS, and a
November 25 court ruling to evict the opposition Popular Front Party
of Azerbaijan, the country’s largest opposition political party,
and a series of pro-opposition media outlets and non-governmental
organizations from their offices in a building in downtown Baku. [
For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The eviction prompted sharp criticism from the international community,
and has raised concerns about respect for freedom of the press in
Azerbaijan.

In a November 27 statement, US Department of State spokesperson
Tom Casey said the ANS broadcast recent moves against independent
media outlets indicates that "the government is seriously impeding
the ability of independent journalists to work in Azerbaijan." [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Saying that Washington
"is concerned by the government of Azerbaijan’s moves to limit press
freedoms," Casey called on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s
administration to permit "all three media outlets to continue
operations while negotiations on regulatory and licensing compliance
are resolved."

Responding to such concerns in a November 29 interview with state
television channel AzTV, President Aliyev dismissed as groundless fears
that the government is attempting to squash critics. "[F]reedom of the
press is present in Azerbaijan… and ensuring freedom of speech is one
of our priorities, in which Azerbaijan has achieved notable success."

The opposition has exaggerated the circumstances surrounding the
eviction of Azadliq newspaper and the Popular Front Party (PFPA) for
political reasons, the president continued. "They want to show that
authorities allegedly suppress the opposition press. On the contrary,
we have created very good conditions for the Azadliq newspaper in the
Azerbaijan Publishing House." The State Property Committee provided
alternative offices for the Popular Front and other organizations on
the outskirts of Baku, but the tenants refused the offer.

Aliyev also dismissed the contention that "special privileges"
should be given to journalists or the media. "All questions should
be resolved on a legal basis. One [person] may like the law; another
may dislike it. However, this is the law and these laws rule society
and the country," he added.

Opposition leaders, however, show little sign of putting aside
their misgivings about the government’s intentions. In a November 25
interview with Day.az, Lala Shovket Hajiyeva, leader of the Liberal
Party of Azerbaijan, said that the opposition’s inability to gain
approval for rallies, or to work out of regular offices has prompted
the disbanding of the opposition Azadliq (Freedom) bloc, a movement
formed by the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, the Democratic Party
of Azerbaijan and the Liberal Party for Azerbaijan’s 2005 parliamentary
elections. The bloc fared poorly at the polls, based on official
results. [For background see the Azerbaijan: Elections 2005 website].

Echoing Hajiyeva’s concerns, Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan Deputy
Chairman Fuad Mustafayev argues that a campaign is underway to stamp
out Azerbaijan’s opposition and non-state-controlled media. "If they
[officials] played at democracy before, now they even refuse to imitate
it," Mustafayev said. "The purpose of the authorities’ actions is
to establish in Azerbaijan the same regime as is in Turkmenistan
and Uzbekistan."

The PFPA’s eviction has hampered its ability to function as an
organized political movement, he continued. Lower-level party
functionaries have now been scattered to work in various locations,
while PFPA leaders had set up their offices in the building now
featured in the State Property Committee’s case against the Hurriyyat
newspaper.

Government critics suggest various reasons for the actions against ANS
and eviction of pro-opposition media outlets, ranging from preparation
for an unpopular proposed solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute
with Armenia to a desire to further strengthen the government’s grasp
on power in preparation for the 2008 presidential elections. The
government has dismissed all such interpretations, saying that it is
acting purely on a legal basis.

Editor’s Note: Mina Muradova and Khazri Bakinsky are freelance
reporters based in Baku.

PAPAL VISIT FOCUSES ATTENTION ON MINORITY RIGHTS ISSUES IN TURKEY
Yigal Schleifer and Nicholas Birch

EurasiaNet, NY
Dec 1 2006

Pope Benedict XVI’s four-day visit to Turkey, which concluded December
1, appears to have fulfilled its main aims. It succeeded in promoting
closer ties between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches,
and repaired the pope’s image among Muslims.

At the outset of his trip, Benedict XVI sought to cultivate better
ties with Turks by offering an endorsement of Turkey’s European Union
membership drive. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

During a subsequent meeting with Ali Bardakoglu, the chief of Turkey’s
Religious Affairs Directorate, the pope called for an "authentic
dialogue" between Christians and Muslims. Such conciliatory words and
gestures helped ameliorate damage done back in September, when he gave
a speech quoting a Byzantine emperor who linked Islam and Mohammed
with violence. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The visit also stimulated dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox
hierarchies. Benedict XVI had a "fraternal encounter" with Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomew I, according to a joint statement. The two
pledged that the churches would work jointly to promote Christianity.

"We cannot ignore the increase of secularization, relativism, even
nihilism, especially in the Western world. All this calls for a renewed
and powerful proclamation of the Gospel, adapted to the cultures of
our time,’ the joint statement said.

Another important aspect of the papal visit was that it raised
awareness about conditions faced by Turkey’s Christian minority,
including about 3,000 Greek Orthodox Christians, along with another
70,000 Armenians. The pope, in voicing support for Turkey’s EU
ambitions, called on Ankara to promote religious freedom. During a
mass on November 29, Benedict XVI characterized Turkey’s Christians as
"a small minority which faces many challenges and difficulties daily."

Although guaranteed the same rights as Muslim citizens, Christians
and Jews in Turkey have long complained about the legal hurdles they
face. Working out of a small compound hemmed in by a working class
neighborhood, the Orthodox patriarchate – which has been in Istanbul
for 1,700 years, since the city was known as Constantinople, capital of
the Byzantine Empire – is the frequent target of nationalist protests
while the occasional grenade has been lobbed over its walls.

Over the decades it has seen numerous properties, including schools
and cemeteries, confiscated by the state. Its theological seminary was
closed down in 1971 and has yet to be reopened, leaving it unable to
train its own clergy. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Ankara also refuses to recognize the patriarchate’s status as
ecumenical – or global – in reach, saying that it is responsible only
for tending its dwindling Orthodox community in Turkey. "Minority
rights of non-Muslims are the issue that we have had the least progress
on over the last six or seven ears. It’s a common theme in all the
[EU] reports," says Ioannis N. Grigoriadis, an assistant professor
of political science at Istanbul’s Isik University. "Other difficult
issues have been dealt with more successfully, while with the issue
of non-Muslim minorities that has not been the case."

The recent debate in parliament over a bill regulating the
establishment of minority foundations illustrated for many Turkey’s
continuing struggle with the issue of its non-Muslim peoples.

Although originally envisioned as a reform-minded bill that would
ease the bureaucratic hurdles and burdens that minority foundations
currently face, legal experts say the version of the bill that passed
offered little improvement over the past.

"The legal thinking behind the new [law] is the same, approaching
minority foundations with a lack of trust," says Ester Zonana,
a lawyer who advises Turkey’s Jewish community. "This new law even
takes us a bit back."

The new law, for example, offers no way for minority group to reclaim,
or seek restitution for the thousands of properties – schools,
churches, cemeteries and other real estate – that have been confiscated
by the Turkish state over the last few decades.

Even more disturbing for some was the tone of the parliamentary
debate on the bill, much of it centering on whether giving greater
rights to minority groups would give foreign powers greater influence
in Turkey. When the question of property restitution came up, some
parliamentarians asked whether allowing Turks of Greek origin to
reclaim property could force Turkey to hand back Istanbul’s historic
Hagia Sophia, the Byzantine church turned into a mosque by the
Ottomans, and then into a state museum in 1935.

"I was very angry during the debate. They were not treating us as
citizens. Why should I be treated differently than a Muslim?" says
Mihail Vasiliadis, editor of Apoyevmatini, a daily Greek newspaper
based in Istanbul. "The new law doesn’t offer us any solutions. It
doesn’t solve any of our problems."

Some representatives of Turkey’s Armenian community are more hopeful
that the law can be used to recover eight properties belonging to
Istanbul Armenian church that were confiscated between 1987 and 1993.

"It’s a positive step towards wiping out the effects of 1974,"
says Diran Bakar, a Turkish Armenian lawyer. He was referring to a
Turkish Appeal Court’s decision – made as ethnic tensions between
Greeks and Turks on Cyprus spilled over into war – holding that real
estate acquisitions made by non-Muslim foundations since 1936 had to
be returned to their previous owners. The ruling led to the piecemeal
confiscation of at least 4,000 properties belonging to Turkey’s Jews,
Armenians and Greeks.

It remains unclear whether the new legislation will ease EU concerns
about minority rights protection in Turkey. The foundations bill
was passed by parliament the day after Brussels released its regular
report on Turkey’s accession progress. The report rapped Ankara for
making little or no progress in the areas of freedom of expression
and religious freedom.

While freedom of worship was "generally respected" in Turkey,
"non-Muslim religious communities … continue to face restricted
property rights," the report stated. It recommended that Turkey
should remove restrictions barring the full operation of all religious
communities by adopting framework legislation in line with European
Court of Human Rights (ECHR) case law.

The most widespread criticism voiced by minority-group representatives
is that the new law continues to make a distinction between Muslim
and non-Muslim foundations. "Legal reform is all very well," says
Lakis Vingas, a businessman and prominent member of Turkey’s Greek
community. "But mentalities are more important. In Turkey, minorities
are ‘you,’ and they need to become ‘us.’"

It’s an attitude Diran Bakar illustrates with the story of an
acquaintance who decided to donate property to a charitable foundation
in his will. As required under a 2002 law, he informed the Foundations
Directorate. When the bureaucrat found out he was older than 50,
he told him to get a doctor’s report attesting to his mental health.

Turkish historians trace suspicion of the Orthodox Church back to the
tumultuous period after World War I, when Greece invaded the nascent
Turkish state and the patriarchate sided with the invaders. As part
of their peace agreement, Turkey and Greece implemented a massive
population exchange, although the patriarchate was allowed to stay
in Istanbul. Armenians are also often viewed as having designs on
gaining back Turkish territory.

In the early days of the Turkish republic, efforts were made to
bring all religious foundations – Muslim and non-Muslim – under the
government’s control, says Elcin Macar, a professor at Istanbul’s
Yildiz Technical University who specializes in minority issues. But
in the 1960’s and 70’s, particularly as the Cyprus conflict became
more tense, the Turkish government moved towards greater restrictions
on non-Muslim communities, with Turkish courts issuing decisions that
allowed for the large-scale confiscation of minority properties.

"I believe that these decisions were not made in harmony with the
law. They were discriminatory," Macar says. Although he believes there
has been some improvement in the legal standing of minority communities
in Turkey, Macar says that underlying suspicion of them continues. "The
minority is still seen as a dangerous thing for us," he says.

Editor’s Note: Nicolas Birch specializes in Turkey, Iran and the Middle
East. Yigal Schleifer is a freelance journalist based in Istanbul.

WE ARE ONLY TWO WEEKS FROM AN EXISTENTIAL EXPLOSION
Martin Kettle

Guardian Unlimited, UK
Dec 2 2006

If the European Union now spurns Turkey, it will deservedly stand
accused of historic dishonesty and perfidy

Today, as in the past, Turkey embodies transcendent political
questions. Can west and east live in harmony? How can secular and
religious values best coexist? Are minorities and human rights
properly respected? This week Pope Benedict trod a more exemplary
path through these difficult issues than some had expected. Now
the European Union must do the same if it is to avoid becoming a
protectionist irrelevance and, perhaps, if it is to survive at all.

In spite of all its problems, the mutual embrace between the west
and Turkey is a great project of civilisation and law. Yet events are
pushing both sides towards an epochal confrontation at this month’s EU
summit. We are a mere two weeks away from an existential explosion
which could end with Europe defining itself as a place in which
Muslims are not welcome, and with modern Turkey turning away from
the westernising path that has been fundamental to its whole existence.

We would be crazy to allow either thing to happen.

It is futile to deny that Turkey is in its own distinct but deep sense
a part of Europe. Like Britain it is a nation of the periphery, but
there is no European network of importance – from the Champions League
and the Eurovision Song Contest to Nato and the Council of Europe –
of which Turkey is not a part. The sole exception is the EU.

Turkey first applied for associate membership as long ago as 1959. It
has been an associate since 1963. It asked for full membership in
1987. Accession negotiations finally began in 2005. Even optimists
think it unlikely Turkey will join the EU before 2015, and then only
with significant transitional arrangements. So what is this latest
crisis really about? Turkey has been consistent, patient and obliging
in its pro-European policy. Yet since 1959 it has been leapfrogged
by 21 new member states – and may yet be beaten to membership by five
others from the Balkans (two of which have large Muslim populations).

If Europe now spurns Turkey, it will deservedly stand accused of
historic dishonesty and perfidy.

None of this is to deny the challenges. Turkey would be physically
the largest nation in the EU (it is more than twice the size of
Germany). Its membership would propel the union’s borders from the
Danube almost to the Euphrates. Within a few years, Turkey would have
more people than any other EU member. Yet Turks would be among the
poorest and least skilled EU citizens. In the UN development project’s
human development index, Turkey ranks 92nd, well below every other
European nation, including Albania. Corruption remains a nationwide
blight. Measured in this way, Turkey is more a Middle Eastern nation
than a European one.

Nor can we dismiss Turkey’s mistreatment of minorities and abuses of
human rights. It is in denial about Armenia, has fought a brutal war
against the Kurds and remains reluctant to acknowledge its Greek and
Orthodox traditions. Last year it put the most famous Turk of our era,
the Nobel prize winner Orhan Pamuk, on trial merely for criticising
the taboo on discussing these events. Ten days ago the Gazi University
professor Atilla Yayla was dismissed for questioning the cult of Kemal
Ataturk. This week Turkey’s ardently Kemalist president, Ahmet Necdet
Sezer, vetoed a new religious freedom law.

Yet Turkey is unquestionably changing. The economy has grown by a
third in the past five years. Growth this year is at 8%. Urbanisation
is rapid, especially in Anatolia, parts of which have gone from being
like Kosovo to being like Ireland in under a generation. In October
the OECD praised Turkey for adopting far-reaching structural reforms.

The prospect of EU membership has been a catalyst for reform across
Turkish governance. Under the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan –
who owes his power in large part to the emerging Anatolian middle class
– Turkey has taken what the BBC correspondent Chris Morris describes
as its great leap forward. In 2004, an independent commission under
Martti Ahtisaari, of the UN, concluded that reform was being carried
through with "unprecedented determination and efficiency". Ahtisaari
spoke of a "silent revolution". Under Erdogan modern Turkey is one
of the healthier men of Europe.

It may seem incredible that this sweeping transformation and radical
possibility are held hostage by the Greek Cypriot regime in Nicosia,
which uses its veto to block almost all aspects of Turkish EU entry.

Yet on one level that is why Turkey’s bid may founder in Brussels in
two weeks. Granted, Turkey is not without blame for the impasse – it
could call Nicosia’s bluff. And its pace of reform has slowed since
the disastrous decision to admit Nicosia to the EU in 2004 without a
solution of the Cyprus conflict. Even so, common sense says something
more important is in play here.

That something is political and public opinion in the many parts of
the EU that oppose Turkish membership, yet prefer to hide behind the
Cyprus dispute. Public opinion is against Turkish entry in 15 of the
EU’s 25 states. In Austria, still affecting to be traumatised by the
siege of Vienna in 1683 and where a referendum has been promised,
opinion is six-to-one against. In France, where there will also be
a vote, opponents lead by 15%. The real problem about any coming
together, in other words, does not lie in Turkey but in the EU.

The west has always been prejudiced against the Turks, said Ataturk,
adding that the Turks have always moved towards the west. Perhaps
the imminent danger to the Turkish bid is merely another swing in a
ceaseless cycle. Yet we must be clear what message the derailing of
the talks would send and what the consequences would be. As the newly
published Cambridge history of the later Ottoman Empire reminds us,
the defeat of 1683 cost the grand vizier his life and the sultan his
throne. Having staked so much on Europe, the Erdogan government would
risk being swept aside by resurgent Kemalism or resurgent Islamism,
or perhaps both. At best, Turkish reformers would fall victim to the
melancholy huzun of which Pamuk writes. At worst the country could
become fratricidally ungovernable and might look to Iran or Russia
for support.

The cost on the wider stage might even be greater. The impact in the
Muslim world – and among Europe’s own Muslims – of Europe’s symbolic
renunciation of tolerance and pluralism is hard to quantify. But we
can be sure of one thing: al-Qaida would be laughing all the way to
the terrorist training camp.

THE POPE: "I LEFT MY HEART IN ISTANBUL"

Sabah, Turkey
Dec 2 2006

The Pope Benedict 16 released the pigeons brought by the
Şişli mayor Sarigul while entering the prayer at Harbiye. He
tanked the Turkish people at the airport and added: "I have seen the
most precious part of this great city. One piece of my heart stays
in Istanbul."

My heart is in Istanbul

The Pope Benedict 16 directed the prayer at Harbiye Esprit Cathedral
at the last day of his visit. Then the Pope went to the airport and
said goodbye to Turkey by saying: "my heart is still in Istanbul."

The Pope Benedict 16 who came as the official visitor of the
president Ahmet Necdet Sezer, returned to his country with THY
plane yesterday. The Pope Benedict 16 directed the "thanksgiving
rite" at Harbiye Esprit Cathedral at the last day of his visit. The
Şişli mayor Mustafa Sarigul, the Fener Patriarch Bartholomeos
and the Armenian patriarch Mesrop II welcomed the Pope at the
Cathedral. The peole gathering at the garden cheered at the Pope by
saying "viva Pope". The Şişli mayor Mustafa Sarigul gave
the Pope the white pigeons and the Pope let the pigeons fly and gave
a peace message. Then he opened the statue of the Pope Jean Paul 23,
known as the friend of Turks, and blessed it.

CBA HEAD: ARMENIA’S NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY PURSUES FORWARD-LOOKING GOALS

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Dec 4 2006

YEREVAN, December 4. /ARKA/. Armenia’s national security strategy
pursues forward-looking goals, Tigran Sargsyan, chairman of the
Central Bank of Armenia, said Monday during the strategy discussion
in National Assembly.

"We live in fast-changing world, where challenges, risks and threats
are changing very quickly. That’s why the document has to undergo
modernization", the CBA head said.

Sargsyan said referring to the world experience, that the document
should be modernized every four or five years.

In his words, the commission members have mulled over the
U.S. intelligence open publications and its world vision for coming
20 years as well as forecast of risks and challenges connected with
Armenia.

The second level of studies was regional and the third national,
the head of the Central Bank said.

"The document has to say what we should do to resist challenges and
risks", he said.

The CBA head said financial and economic security is one of the
Strategy’s components.

He said more detailed documents would be worked out after approval
from the government.

"Working out financial security concept, we come outside Armenia’s
borders, since our financial system includes financial interests of
those economy entities functioning outside Armenia but keeping their
focus on our republic", Sargsyan said.

In his words, these entities are impacting Armenian financial system’s
stability from the outside.

DOCTORS TAKE IN NEW HORIZONS
swissinfo, Gaby Ochsenbein

Neue Zurcher Zeitung, Switzerland
Dec 4 2006

The Swiss section of Medecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which provides
medical assistance to victims of natural disasters and war, is
celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Representatives of this non:governmental organisation are active in 20
countries, helping people in war:torn Darfur, treating Aids patients
in Mozambique and fighting tuberculosis in Kyrgyzstan, among others.

Antoine Chaix is just one of many medical volunteers who make up MSF.

He is a member of the Swiss section’s committee and has worked in
the field on a number of occasions for the organisation.

His first mission lasted seven months and took him in 1997 to
Azerbaijan’s Nagorny Karabakh region to help fight tuberculosis.

"I had never come across this disease despite working for a number of
years in Switzerland," he said. "To find out more, I visited similar
projects in Abkhazia and Southern Ossetia, where the situation was
tense. It was a whole new world for me."

Even though he was a young doctor, his job was to convince more
experienced colleagues to apply World Health Organization guidelines,
anything but a simple task and requiring real diplomatic skills.

For security reasons, the MSF staff were not allowed to leave their
residence alone. There weren’t any restaurants, in fact no distractions
whatsoever.

"Team spirit is extremely important," Chaix told swissinfo. "You
spend all your time working and living with the same people."

Experience Until 2002, he worked in Kazakhstan, Mozambique and Sierra
Leone, long enough to build up a lifetime of memories.

"In Sierra Leone, there was no medical care available in the east of
the country, but refugees including starving children were arriving
there in massive numbers," he said.

The French doctors, as they are sometimes called, quickly set up a
centre there to help around 100 children, a hugely satisfying outcome
according to Chaix. But there is a dark side to such stories.

"I remember watching a two:year:old child suffering from cholera
literally die before my eyes. I had to learn that there was a lot we
could do, but that we could not help everyone."

MSF works mostly in crisis areas and war zones. Its teams can be
found in most of the planet’s hot spots, such as after the 2004 Asian
tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, in Sudan’s Darfur region or
in Lebanon this summer.

"Our emergency teams are always on the ground in a very short time,"
said Chaix. "Often the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
and ourselves are the only ones on the spot, so we have developed
some synergies even if our missions differ."

Aids The doctors who now work for MSF are different to their
predecessors.

New programmes now deal with fighting Aids and resistant forms
of tuberculosis, a huge challenge according to Chaix, a general
practitioner.

"Aids is a terrifying pandemic that is spreading throughout the world,"
he said. "Each year, it kills three million people, the equivalent
of ten tsunamis, and Africa is worst off."

MSF has been offering Aids treatments since 2001, with around 80,000
people getting antiretroviral therapy. The organisation has also been
demanding cheaper access to drugs since 1999.

"If generics were produced massively in countries like India, the
price of treatment per patient and per year would drop from thousands
of dollars to just $300," added Chaix.

Precarious Humanitarian work has also become more dangerous for
MSF. Its members followed the arrival of foreign soldiers in Iraq
and Afghanistan very quickly, causing some parts of the population
to assimilate them to invaders.

Chaix reckons this is why five MSF representatives were killed in
Afghanistan in 2003, even though the organisation is careful to
highlight its independence.

When he returns from one of the planet’s many hotspots to the Swiss
health system, one of the world’s most expensive, Chaix says he finds
his marks very quickly.

He is always surprised how fast he slips back into his bad old ways.

"You get upset about the tram being three minutes late, whereas before
you were quite happy if you could get from A to B within a day,"
he admitted.

–Boundary_(ID_nogLUoIMaMopxzZAFetz8A)- –

RACINE MAN SEEKS TO CORRECT ALBERT EINSTEIN
By Janine Anderson

Journal Times Online, WI
Dec 2 2006

RACINE – Raffi Abagian has a big idea. Huge. The kind of idea that
could change the world.

But there’s a problem. He doesn’t know whether or not he’s right.

See, Abagian’s idea isn’t the next big thing in cell phones or toys
or cars or any other gadget someone might need to make their life
complete. His idea is really big. Universe big.

Abagian, in his own words, is an "unemployed Armenian." He’s
46. He graduated from Menominee High School in Menominee, Mich. He
has a bachelor’s degree in literature and minors in economics and
international relations. He spent six years in the United States Army,
but he won’t say exactly what he did there.

Physics is a hobby, he said.

"Quantum physics, dynamics. I read a lot," he said.

So when this big idea started tickling his brain, he read even more.

For four days he thought about virtually nothing other than this
theory. He couldn’t sleep, he thought so much.

"I started postulating over this, trying to figure out where I was
wrong," he said. "I wasn’t able to."

So he went to college professors. The first one he called told him
to get in touch with Stephen Hawking.

"If you’ve got Stephen Hawking’s number in your rolodex, I’ll take it,"
Abagian said. "I’m not stupid."

He left a message for a second professor, but never got a call back.

Abagian thought he might have started too high. So he dropped down
a step, and went to Horlick High School. A teacher there pointed him
to Park High School’s Brian Galley.

Galley invited Abagian to come by during sixth hour on Tuesday. A
friend told him not to wear jeans or a T-shirt, so he would make a
better impression. He put on a subdued Hawaiian-style shirt and khaki
cargo pants. Sunglasses perched on top of his head, nestled into his
unruly black curls.

He stopped at a Citgo station and bought a pack of Newport cigarettes
on the way to Park, to calm his nerves.

Abagian parked his red Jeep in the small lot, careful to choose a
spot that wasn’t marked reserved. Abagian couldn’t afford to pay a
parking ticket if he got one.

"Let’s blow this stand," he said as he got out of the car.

Abagian knows he’s taking a risk, even by just talking to a high
school teacher, but he can’t pass up the chance.

"Even if there’s mild interest it means there’s some validity," he
said. "There’s no hard evidence, but it all fits and makes sense. I
want this out of my head. For four or five days I was up trying to
figure this out."

Abagian’s idea is this: "Gravity is independent and absolute." It is
separate from Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Gravity is, in fact,
the thing that keeps the whole universe in place, Abagian says.

"When the big bang expanded, gravity kept it in place, even then,"
he said.

Abagian is waiting in the hallway outside Galley’s room at Park High
School. He’s pacing back and forth. It’s 12:10 p.m., eight minutes
before the period ends. He ducks out a side door to have another
cigarette. When he comes back in the hallways fill with students.

Galley meets him at the door and invites him inside. Galley sits down
and Abagian starts explaining things. He talks for several minutes
about dark matter and black holes and sunspots. When he’s done he
looks at Galley.

"It’s a theory that is logical," the teacher said.

Abagian paces through the classroom, up and down the rows of desks.

"Oh my God. Oh my God."

Galley watches Abagian move through his classroom and smiles.

"Nobody knows what gravity is," he said. "I tell my kids the same
thing."

With a boost in his confidence, Abagian tried to figure out what to
do next.

"I’m waiting for the question I can’t answer," he said. "I need to
talk to professors so I can get these ideas to where they can be
published. I’ve read countless books in the past week."

Galley offered Abagian one more book to read, "Just Six Numbers: The
Deep Forces That Shape Our Universe," by Martin J. Rees. Galley told
him to read it, that it will give him something else to think about.

He also told Abagian to write his theory down, and bring it back in.

"Type it up and come back tomorrow," Galley said. "I’m here for the
kids, but I’m here for the community, too."

Abagian said that wouldn’t be a problem.

"It’s the foremost thing on my mind," he said. "I’m not crazy, am I?"

"No," Galley said.

Abagian promised to get the writing done and bring it back to Galley.

He walked back to the main office, where he turned over his car keys
in exchange for the orange visitor’s pass that let him into the school.

As he left Park High School he pulled out his cell phone and called
a friend. She didn’t answer, but he left a message, saying he’d done
it, and that he wasn’t crazy. He called another friend and told him
about the meeting. His words came fast, and his free hand gestured
as he spoke, explaining how the meeting went.

"Talk to you on the flip side," he said. And he hung up the phone,
started the Jeep and drove off.

"I think I’m blowing myself away," he said. "I’m in a zone. I haven’t
been in a zone like this in a long time. I feel lucky. Like I’ve got
tumblers in my hand and it keeps coming up seven, 11."

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ROBERT KOCHARYAN WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE GREAT INFLUENCE

Lragir, Armenia
Dec 4 2006

Garnik Isagulyan, adviser to the president of Armenia, reasserted
December 4 at the Friday Club his statement made several months ago
that Robert Kocharyan will continue to have great influence on the
political sphere of Armenia. Garnik Isagulyan did not specify the
status with which Robert Kocharyan is going to exercise influence.

One may think that Isagulyan does not know the answer. However, he
also declines to answer the questions on his own future and the future
of the National Security Party he leads. For instance, the reporters
wanted to know whom Isagulyan and his party are going to support,
the Republican Party or the Bargavach Hayastan Party. "I think we have
already decided with whom we are going to be. You will learn it when
it is time," only said Garnik Isagulyan, avoiding definite answers.

On the other hand, his definite answers are not important because
they often have nothing to do with the reality. For instance, in his
previous news conference in October Garnik Isagulyan forecast that
the political processes would not be passionate, there would be some
activity in November which would diminish by New Year. November did
not appear to differ from October or September, and since Garnik
Isagulyan also makes strategic and political forecasts for the
president of Armenia, we considered it necessary to find out why his
forecast on activity in November did not come true. The answer is
interesting in the sense if his forecasts for the president are as
precise. Of course, Garnik Isagulyan disagreed that he had forecast
activity in November. He even said he had forecast activity after
November. And generally he advised not to have great expectations,
"It is pointless to speak about hot autumns and springs, and the
greatest activity is now." And those who think otherwise are mistaken.

VIGEN SARGSYAN: THE YEAR OF ARMENIA IN RUSSIA WAS A SUCCESS
Marlena Hovsepyan

"Radiolur"
04.12.2006 17:45

January 22, 2006 the Year of Armenia in Russia was officially launched.

"A number of diverse arrangements were held in Moscow, Saint Petersburg
and other regions of Russia, due to which our country managed to
appear before Russians in a new way," says Vigen Sargsyan, Assistant
to RA Presidnet, Coordinator of the Year of Armenia in Russia.

The official closing of the Year was held on the first days of
December.

What can we register, closing the Year? "It is very important that Year
of Armenia in Russia was not become simply a collection transitional
arrangements.

There were events that will remain in the history. First of all it
was the opening of Aram Khachatryan’s monument in Moscow, a number
of books were published," said Vigen Sargsyan.

What could have been organized better? Vigen Sargsyan would like the
Year of Armenia to find more coverage in Russian media. In case of
the year of Armenia in France this omission has already been taken
into consideration.

There have been a number of mutual political visits and economic
arrangements in the framework of the Year of Armenia in Russia. The
Assistant to RA President emphasized the conduct of the Days of
Armenia in regions of Russia as a great achievement, since it enabled
to establish direct link between Armenian and Russian businessmen.

Although the Year of Armenia in Russia has been officially closed,
the arrangements still continue.

KUWAIT MAY INCREASE HUMANITARIAN AID TO AZERBAIJANI REFUGEES AND IDPS
Author: S. Aghayeva

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Dec 4 2006

Kuwait may increase its humanitarian aid to refugees and IDPs in
Azerbaijan driven from their native land as a result of the Armenian
aggression. This issue was the focus of attention during the meeting
with Ali Hassanov, Vice-Premier of the Azerbaijani Government and
Chairman of the State Committee for Affairs with Refugees and IDPs
and Abdullah Maatouk al-Maatouk, Kuwaiti Ministry for Vakfs and
Islam Issues. This meeting took place within the official visit of Ali
Hassanov to Kuwait, Trend was informed exclusively by Gourban Sadikhov,
Chief of a Department of the State Committee, who is accompanying
the Azerbaijani Vice-Premier during the visit.

During the meeting, Mr. Hassanov informed the Minister of the heavy
consequences of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, of problems the
refugees and IDPs face in the country as well as measures taken to
improve the conditions and life of these people.

Within the visit, the Head of the Azerbaijani State Committee held
a meeting in the Kuwaiti Red Crescent Society where he discussed
perspectives of humanitarian co-operation. "The Azerbaijani party has
put forward several projects, including one concerning the construction
of a settlement for 500 families of IDPs, hospitals and schools",
said Mr. Sadikhov.

The agenda of the Head of the Azerbaijani Committee also includes
meetings with Kuwait’s Prime-Minister, Speaker of the Kuwaiti
Parliament as well as the Kuwaiti Crown Prince.