Nagornyy Karabakh calls for direct talks with Azerbaijan

Arminfo, Yerevan, in Russian 0501 gmt 2 Sep 06

The leader of Azerbaijan’s breakaway province of Nagornyy Karabakh has
called for direct talks with Baku, Arminfo news agency has said.
In his address at the festivities to mark the 15th anniversary of
Nagornyy Karabakh’s secession from Azerbaijan, Arkadiy Gukasyan said:
“I want to confirm readiness of the Karabakh side to conduct a direct
and constructive dialogue with Azerbaijan without any preconditions. I
regard this format of talks as
more natural because it reflects the essence of the problem.”
Gukasyan recalled that in 1994 Azerbaijan had signed a cease-fire
agreement with Nagornyy Karabakh, the agency said. “In doing so, the
Azerbaijani leadership in fact recognized Nagornyy Karabakh as a fully
legitimate side to the conflict denying this today,” he added.
The agency quoted Gukasyan as saying that bellicose calls could be
explained by the lack of democracy in Azerbaijan. He said that the
settlement of the conflict is possible only through mutual
compromises. “The Karabakh problem cannot be settled militarily. The
war will only bring new losses and suffering to both peoples. I call
on the Azerbaijani side to give up crazy and suicidal revanchist plans
and to resolve all issues, no matter how complicated they are, at the
negotiating table.”

Azerbaijan holding talks with countries of Central Asia on Kars-Akhalkalak
rail project

ArmRadio.am
02.09.2006 14:33
The Azerbaijani side is holding active talks with Kazakhstan and other
countries on the issue of participation in the Kars-Akhalkalak rail
project. The railroad will be constructed in two years, Azeri Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told the journalists. He noted also that he
intends to visit the countries of Central Asia to hold consultations
on the question.

Arkady Ghukasyan: Declaration of NKR was the only salvation for Artsakh

ArmRadio.am
02.09.2006 15:46
Today the NKR governmental delegation headed by President Arkady
Ghukasyan, RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan, other guests from
Armenia, Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia and Artsakhi people headed
for the communal grave to pay tribute to the memory of those killed in
the national-liberation war in Artsakh. Analyzing and assessing the
way passed in the past 15 years, NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan noted,
`The most important is that we have reached our objective ` we have
won the war, have constructed a state and are now developing it. And
we are confident we have not been mistaken. In his words, the
declaration of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic was the only salvation
for Karabakh; otherwise Artsakh would face the fate of Nakhijevan.
From: Baghdasarian

Armenian minister, Belgian senator discuss ties

Arminfo
2 Sep 06

Yerevan, 2 September: Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan met
the head of the commission on defence and foreign affairs of the
Belgian Senate, Roelants du Vivier Francois, today.
At the meeting Oskanyan highly rated the Belgian Senate’s effort to
raise the Armenian question in Belgium and its tangible contribution
to the development of relations between Armenia and Belgium.
The Belgian senator pointed out that Armenian-Belgian cooperation was
developing successfully in several directions. He also shared with
Oskanyan his impression of his visit to Nagornyy Karabakh and his
approach to the peaceful solution of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.
At the request of the guest, the Armenian foreign minister briefed him
on the current stage of the Karabakh conflict settlement. The sides
also discussed developing cooperation between Armenia and Belgium
within the framework of the programme Expanded Europe: New Neighbours
and the current developments in the region, as well as
Armenian-Turkish relations.

The question of recalling Andrzey Kasprzyk is not on the agenda

ArmRadio.am
02.09.2006 16:00
The question of recalling Andrzey Kasprzyk is not on the agenda, Azeri
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammdayarov responded to the question of
`Turan’ agency whether Azerbaijani authorities intend to raise the
question of refusing from the cooperation with the Personal
Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzey Kasprzyk.
To remind, earlier a number of Azeri officials openly criticized
Kasprzyk for he didn’t denounce the Armenians for the fires on the
occupied territories.
Simultaneously, mass media started condemning Kasprzyk of his
pro-Armenian position.

Israel buys German nuclear-capable submarines

AP
8/25/2006 10:00:00 AM GMT
Israel purchased two German-made Dolphin submarines, called U212s,
capable of carrying nuclear heads, the Associated Press reported.

The new submarines, built at a cost of $1.3 billion with Germany
paying one-third of the bill, have diesel-electric propulsion systems
that allow them to remain underwater for longer periods of time than
the three nuclear arms-capable submarines already in Israel’s fleet,
the Jerusalem Post reported.

According to Jane’s Defense Weekly, the U212s can carry a crew of 35,
have a range of 4,500 kilometers and can launch cruise missiles
carrying nuclear warheads.

The German defense ministry said the sale agreement between Israel and
the manufacturers, Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG, was signed on July
6, and that the subs would be operational shortly.

Military experts believe that Israel’s purchase of nuclear-capable
submarines sends a clear message to Iran, which is facing growing
international pressure over its nuclear program.

David Menashri, an Israeli expert on Iran, claimed that Tehran is
clearly determined to obtain nuclear weapons and “the purchase of
additional Dolphin submarines by Israel is a small footnote in this
context.”

Iran, which unlike Israel is a signatory to the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), insists that its nuclear program is
for the peaceful generation of electricity.

The latest submarines would allow Israel to carry out a first strike
at the time it chooses and also provide it with crucial second-strike
capabilities, said Paul Beaver, a London-based independent defense
analyst.

Israel already have the that capability in the form of the Jericho-1
and Jericho-2 nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, which are buried so
far underground they would survive a nuclear strike, he said.

The Dolphin submarine is also one of the best deterrents, Beaver said,
adding that the technology on the subs makes them undetectable and
gives them defensive capabilities in the event of an attack.

“They are very well-built, very well-prepared, lots of interesting
equipment, one of the best conventional submarines available,” Beaver
said. “We are talking about a third string of deterrence
capabilities.”

Israel maintains a policy of ambiguity concerning its nuclear program,
neither admitting nor denying that it does posses nuclear
weapons. However, it’s believed to have the world’s sixth-largest
stockpile of atomic arms, including hundreds of warheads.

Members of two opposition parties in Germany criticized the
submarines’ sale, which which was concluded amid Israel’s deadly
offensive in Lebanon, where more than 1,200 civilians died.

Winfried Nachtwei, national security spokesman for the Greens, said
that the sale was wrong because Germany didn’t obtain any guarantees
that the submarines would not be used to carry nuclear weapons.

“This red line should not be crossed,” Nachtwei told the newspaper
Taz.

“Otherwise it is a complete renunciation of Germany’s policy of
non-proliferation,’ he added.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The final place of refuge for Christians in the Middle East is under threat
As Iraq and Lebanon are torn apart by sectarian mayhem and war, only
Syria’s religious tolerance offers refugees shelter
William Dalrymple in Damascus
Saturday September 2, 2006
_The Guardian_ ()
Wander through the streets of Damascus this week, and you will see
signs everywhere of the conflict in Lebanon. The bearded,
black-turbaned Hassan Nasrallah stares out from every shop window,
even in the Christian quarter.Here electric-blue neon crosses wink
from the domes of the churches, and processions of crucifix-carrying
boy scouts squeeze past gaggles of Christian girls heading out on the
town, all low-cut jeans and tight-fitting T-shirts. Thevideo shops are
full of DVDs showing “highlights” from the war – exploding Israeli
tanks and jubilant Hizbullah fighters – which sell even better than
the ubiquitous pirated versions of the latest Hollywood releases, The
Devil Wears Prada and The Da Vinci Code: evidence that in the
contemporary Middle East you don’t have to hate western culture, or
even be a Muslim, to relish the bloody nose given to ill-judged
Israeli and American attempts at imposing their hegemony in the region
by force of invasion and cluster bombs.
Evidence of the conflict in Iraq, Syria’s neighbour to the north-east,
is at first harder to spot than the ubiquitous images from Lebanon,
but on closer examination it is no less pervasive. Lounging in every
park and teahouse are unshaven, tired-looking Iraqi refugees, driven
from their homes by sectarian mayhem. This summer, as Baghdad
spiralled out of control, with more violent deaths in one fortnight
than in Israel and Lebanon together in nearly a month of warfare,
Syria responded by providing asylum (though not work permits) to all
Iraqis who were forced to flee, as well as free education for their
children.
Talk to the refugees in Damascus, however, and you soon find that one
group predominates: the Iraqi Christians. Although they made up only
about 3% of the population of prewar Iraq – 700,000 people – under
Saddam they were a prosperous minority, symbolised by the high profile
of Tariq Aziz, Saddam’s Christian foreign minister. Highly educated
and overwhelmingly middle class, the Christians were heavily
concentrated in Mosul, Basra and especially Baghdad, which before the
war had the largest Christian population of any Middle Eastern town or
city.
Now at least half of these Christians – around 350,000 people – have
fled Bush’s new Iraq and its violence, mass abductions and economic
meltdown.
Wherever I went in Syria I kept running into them – bank managers and
engineers, pharmacists and scientists, garage owners and businessmen –
all living with their extended families in one-room flats on what
remained of their savings, and assisted by the charity of the
different churches.
“Before the war there was no separation between Christian and Muslim,”
I was told by Shamun Daawd, a former liquor-store owner who fled after
he received Islamist death threats. “Under Saddam no one asked you
your religion, and we used to attend each other’s religious services
and weddings. After the invasion we hoped democracy would come; but
instead all that came was bombs, kidnapping and killing. Now at least
75% of my Christian friends have fled. There is no future for us in
Iraq.”
His friend Sabah Mansur Nesco told a similar tale when I met him at
the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate, where he had come to collect the
rent money it provides for its more impoverished laity. He had lived
in a wealthy mixed area of Baghdad, al-Doura, he said, until two of
his nephews were kidnapped: for the first they had to arrange a
$30,000 ransom; for the second $10,000. The boys were returned, having
been tortured and beaten. Then some Christian neighbours were killed
by jihadis. Five Baghdad churches were bombed, and stories began to
circulate that Christian girls were getting raped at the
university. The family decided enough was enough, and drove to
Damascus.
The Christian community in Iraq is one of the oldest in the world, and
has existed since the first century; according to tradition it was St
Thomas and his cousin Addai who first brought Christianity to the
Parthian capital of Seleucia-Ctesiphon soon after the resurrection. At
the Council of Nicaea, where the words of the Christian creed were
thrashed out in 325 AD, there were more bishops from Mesopotamia and
India than there were from western Europe.
Later, the region became a refuge for groups considered heretical by
the Orthodox Byzantine emperors – such as the Mandeans, the world’s
last surviving Gnostic sect, who follow what they believe to be the
teachings of John the Baptist; and the Church of the East, or
Nestorians, who played a key part in bringing Greek philosophy,
science and medicine to the Islamic world. It was from the Nestorian
school of Nisibis, via Córdoba, that many of Aristotle’s and Plato’s
works reached the universities of medieval Europe. Yet in three years
most members of this ancient church, and almost all the Mandeans, have
been forced to flee the anarchy their western coreligionists have
helped unleash.
This is part of a much wider problem across the Middle East. Almost
everywhere the Christians are leaving, as ill-judged Anglo-American
adventures, intended to suppress terrorism, actually have the reverse
effect and steadily radicalise the entire region. Today in the Middle
East the Arab Christians are a small minority of 12 million; in the
last decade at least two million have left to make new lives for
themselves in Europe, Australia and America. Only in Syria has this
pattern been resisted.
Now there are worries that Syria, one of the last countries in the
region without an Islamist movement, is also in Washington’s cross
hairs: Donald Rumsfeld, among others, has accused Syria of sponsoring
the Islamic resistance in Iraq and in Lebanon.
Few would deny that Syria has much to reform. It is a one-party
Ba’athist state, where political activists are suppressed and an
extensive network of secret police fills the prisons with political
prisoners. Violent opposition to the regime is met with overwhelming
force, most dramatically in the case of the armed rising of the Muslim
Brotherhood in Hama in 1982. The city was sealed off and at least
10,000 people were killed – a similar operation to that undertaken by
the US in Falluja, except that Syria did not use banned chemical
weapons.
Yet if Syria is a one-party police state, it is one that tends to
leave its citizens alone as long as they keep out of politics. And if
political freedoms have always been severely, and often brutally,
restricted – as is also the case in most of the US’s ally states in
the region – Assad’s regime does allow wide-ranging cultural and
religious freedoms, which give Syria’s minorities a security and
stability far greater than their counterparts anywhere elsein the
region. This is particularly true of Syria’s ancient Christian
communities.
The Assads are Alawite, a Shia Muslim minority seen by orthodox Sunni
Muslims as heretical, and disparagingly referred to as Nusayris, or
Little Christians: indeed their liturgy seems to be partly Christian
in origin. The Assads have stayed in power by forming in effect a
coalition of religious minorities, through which they were able to
counterbalance the weight of the Sunni majority. In Syria the major
Christian feasts are national holidays; Christians are exempt from
turning up to work on Sunday mornings; and churches and monasteries,
like mosques, are given free electricity. This is unknown anywhere
else in the Middle East.
It would be tragic if the British now assisted the US in destabilising
not just Iraq and Lebanon, but also Syria. As Sabah Mansur Nesco put
it: “Bush brought nothing but killing, violence and mass emigration –
not just to Iraq but to Afghanistan and Palestine also. Now we just
pray he leaves Syria alone.
For us it is the last place of refuge.”
· William Dalrymple is the author of From the Holy Mountain: A Journey
in the Shadow of Byzantium. His new book, The Last Mughal, will be
published by Bloomsbury next month
_Williamdalrymple.com_ ()

Armed forces of Azerbaijan and Turkey to hold joint maneuvers

00:02 09/01/2006
“Military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey continues
developing; we constantly make certain steps aimed at even bigger
development of cooperation,” Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev
stated to the press; a REGNUM correspondent informs.

According to Mr. Abiyev, several joint maneuvers together with the
Turkish armed forces are planned to be held in the near
future. `Turkey has played important role in adjusting the Azerbaijani
armed forces to NATO standards, and, at present, Azerbaijani
peacekeeping forces are serving as part of Turkish peacekeeping forces
in Kosovo and Afghanistan. Economic projects, which are realized in
region, will strengthen military cooperation between Azerbaijan and
Turkey even more. Till now, agreement and tens of protocols on
military cooperation has been signed between Azerbaijan and Turkey,’
Mr. Abiyev stated.

Turkish PM: Turkey will withdraw its soldiers from Lebanon if they are
asked to disarm Hezbollah
AP Worldstream; Sep 02, 2006

Turkey’s premier on Saturday said his government will withdraw Turkish
soldiers from Lebanon if they are asked to disarm Hezbollah, as public
concern runs high that Turkish soldiers could end up clashing with
their fellow Muslims once deployed in Lebanon.

The government on Friday submitted a resolution to parliament to send
peacekeepers to Lebanon as part of an expanded U.N. mission, despite
public opposition to the deployment. The parliament is expected on
Tuesday to vote on authorizing a one-year deployment of an unspecified
number of troops

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan assured Turks the soldiers would
only be protecting peace and helping with humanitarian aid, not
disarming Hezbollah militants.

“When such a thing is requested from our soldiers, then we will
withdraw our soldiers from there. I’m saying this very openly,”
Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul on Saturday.

The Turkish contribution to the U.N. mission would include a naval
task force to patrol the eastern Mediterranean and prevent arms
smuggling.

According to the resolution, Turkish forces would also help train
Lebanese army troops and provide sea and air transport in support of
other national contingents in the U.N. force.

Europe, the United States and Israel are all eager to see peacekeepers
from Muslim Turkey in Lebanon, in the hopes that strong Muslim
participation would avoid any impression in Lebanon that the
U.N. peacekeepers are primarily a Christian, European force.

/
In These Times, September 2006
Bird-Dogging Hillary Clinton
By Nancy Kricorian
In November 2005 Hillary Rodham Clinton sent out a fundraising letter
to her constituents. `Part of my job is being a good listener,’ she
wrote, going on to describe all the good listening she does as the
junior senator from New York. She concluded, `Now I’d like to listen
to you.’
In the envelope with the letter was a three-page, 18-question `2005
Critical National Issues Survey’ addressing a range of topics from jobs
to homeland security to separation of church and state. Not one
question in the survey mentioned the war in Iraq – an omission that came
as no surprise to those of us at the New York chapter of CODEPINK Women
for Peace.
At the time Hillary prepared her `questionnaire,’ close to 2,300 U.S.
troops and more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians had died, and polls showed
that most Americans were worried about the war and its ill effects,
including rising prices at the gas pump. But somehow, Hillary and her
handlers thought that ignoring the war was the strategically smart
thing to do. And they were right.
It turns out that Hillary has done a tremendous job – of getting New York
Democrats to assume that because right-wing Republicans hate her she
must oppose the war. Most New York Democratic voters also don’t realize
that she co-sponsored an amendment to ban flag-burning, is against
marriage equality for gays and lesbians, supports the death penalty,
votes consistently for Star Wars appropriations and has served on the
board of Wal-Mart for six years. Yet, she is consistently touted as the
`liberal Democrat from New York.’
But it is her position – or, rather, her exquisitely-phrased,
calculatedly imprecise non-position – on the Iraq War, accompanied by her
consistent voting record in support of the Bush administration on Iraq,
that had our local CODEPINK chapter trying for weeks before she sent
out her `I’m a listener’ mailer, to meet with Hillary or someone on her
New York City staff.
When the topic turns to Iraq, Hillary repeats the same garbled message
in various locutions: We shouldn’t stay, but we shouldn’t not stay;
while before we go we should get a job done, we shouldn’t be doing the
job we’re doing. If you parse her carefully worded speeches and
statements, the only significant differences between Hillary and Bush
are that she thinks we need more troops on the ground in Iraq so the
war can be better prosecuted – and that she is furiously trying to hide
that position from her constituency.
No invitation to talk from Hillary’s office was forthcoming. So
CODEPINK NYC pulled together a coalition of local peace groups and
launched a weekly vigil outside Hillary’s office on Third Avenue at
49th Street. We bought enormous rubber ears from a theatrical supply
company and made signs that said, `Hillary you’re not listening, bring
the troops home now.’ We passed out information about her positions,
and we launched the Web site
Standing on the sidewalk, in the dead of winter, it was remarkable how
many passersby would stop and talk, amazed to learn how close her
position on the war was to Bush’s.
Soon after we launched the weekly vigil we got a call from Hillary’s
office to set up an appointment. Four of us met with Hillary’s New York
City `Director of Governmental Affairs,’ a fresh-faced and genial young
woman who honestly appeared to know less about Hillary’s voting record
or statements on the war than the crowds on the sidewalk. She
patronizingly told us that she would pass along our concerns to the
senator.
After this fruitless meeting, we coordinated with peace groups around
the state and CODEPINK chapters around the country, organizing a
statewide and national campaign called `Bird-dog Hillary.’
Wherever Hillary was appearing we were there with our signs and
handouts, dressed in pink with big rubber ears. Women also got inside
and raised their voices, raining down flyers from balconies, and
generally making a notable, if momentary, ruckus. The results
everywhere were similar: a genuine sense of amazed – and
dismayed – recognition that Hillary’s views on Iraq are out of synch not
only with those of many Democrats but of the vast majority of
Americans, regardless of party affiliation.
CODEPINK has now become an almost integral part of the Hillary road
show. The only major fundraiser we were unable to crash was the one for
Hillary held in July by Rupert Murdoch, the location of which was a
more tightly-held secret than the location of Dick Cheney’s bunker. The
rituals of the campaign trail and the fundraising gauntlet have given
us a funny intimacy with her team.
In late May we were outside a fundraiser for Senator Robert Byrd in a
private apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan at which Hillary
was a `special guest.’ As the elderly Senator Byrd entered, one of us
asked, `Senator Byrd, can you tell Hillary to stop supporting the war?’
Senator Byrd paused and answered, `Ladies, I don’t tell her to do
anything.’
A few minutes later Senator Clinton drove up in her shiny black SUV
accompanied by her Secret Service detail. As she walked past us, one of
us asked, `Senator Clinton, when are you going to help end this war?’
Hillary’s answer: `We’re working on it.’
After she entered the building one of her secret service guys, whom
some of us by this point knew by name, winked and asked, `Will we be
seeing you later?’
He was referring to the West Village fundraiser for Ohio gubernatorial
candidate Ted Strickland that Hillary was co-hosting. A few minutes
later we were on the subway heading downtown.
In June we bought tickets to a Women for Hillary fundraising luncheon
at the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Eva-Lee, Missy and I went
into the ballroom where 1,000 enthusiastic and decorous attendees were
taking seats at their tables. I spotted a mother from my kid’s school
and a business acquaintance of my husband’s who had told me point blank
that she despised Hillary. What were they doing here? Placing their
bets on the Democrats’ leading horse.
Staging a protest at a Hillary event is a delightfully surreal
experience. We were assigned to Table 121, way in the back (we paid
$125 apiece for our tickets; the tickets up front went for $1,000) but
very close to the bank of press cameras. We nervously ate our cold
salmon and chatted with other women at our table.
We were in Hillaryland: we watched a slickly produced Hillary film in
which she single-handedly revived New York State’s economy, palled
around with firefighters and cured two children of cancer. A lot of
eyes got misty, both on screen and in the audience.
Then she made a grand entrance down a side stairway, greeted with a
standing ovation. She read through a very, very long list of
politicians’ wives and other supporters. And when she said `support’
for the 100th time, Missy stood up and shouted, `What about supporting
our troops by bringing them home?’ This was our cue.
Eva-Lee and I removed the sweaters covering our pink T-shirts, on which
we had written pro-troop messages with black fabric markers (mine said
`2,475 U.S. military deaths: How many more?’) Then we unfurled our pink
satin TROOPS HOME NOW banners. As we started chanting `troops home
now,’ the cameras strayed from Hillary and toward us.
The Hillary campaign employees, secret service guys and hotel security
who came to escort us out were resolutely polite, by now familiar with
the recurrent and inevitable drill. One young campaign worker said, `If
you’ll be quiet, you can stay.’ I answered loudly, `Troops out now’ and
off we went. Missy ran forward, handing out photos of her nephew who
had been killed in Iraq.
The bulk of the e-mail we get congratulates us on our work, but some
complains about the `Bird-dog Hillary’ campaign. One woman reminded us
that Hillary was a feminist who wore sandals in college and suggested
that as women and feminists we should be supporting her. Another New
Yorker asked why we weren’t targeting our senior senator, Chuck
Schumer, who isn’t much better than Hillary on the war. That one had
an easy answer: Chuck Schumer is neither running for re-election nor
positioning himself for a presidential run.
CODEPINK will continue to push the war issue to center stage, as others
are doing in Connecticut, fueling Ned Lamont’s successful challenge to
Senator Joe Lieberman. When he was stumping for Lieberman in July,
President Bill Clinton referred to the war as `the pink elephant in the
room.’ Well, the pink elephant has raised its head, as has CODEPINK.
Nancy Kricorian, whose most recent novel is Dreams of Bread and Fire,
is the coordinator of CODEPINK NYC.