NKR PRESIDENT: SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT STILL LONG WAY OFF
Arka News Agency, Armenia
June 23 2006
YEREVAN, June 23. /ARKA/. During meeting with paricipants of “NKR:
Past, Present, Future” international scinetific conference the
President of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Arkady Ghukasyan said settlement
of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is still long way off Ghukasyan emphasized
that “opponents”, avioiding dialogue have shifted Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict to political, economic and even scinetific planes, NKR
Presidetn’s Press Service reports.
“We have to accept the chellange, and in this struggle our firm
bearing must become the scinetific potential and rich experience of
the inteeligentcia”, Ghukasyan said. S.P.–0–

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
June 23 2006
Hard Times for Caucasians in Moscow
Residents and migrants say they are under increasing pressure from
nationalist thugs.
By Vage Avanisian and Samira Ahmedbeili in Moscow, and Sofo Bukia in
Tbilisi (CRS No. 345, 23-June-06)
Armenia is still reeling from the brutal murder of 18-year-old Artur
Sardarian last month. Sardarian, an Armenian migrant worker, was taking
a commuter train home from work on May 25 when a group of lads set
on him, stabbing him in the neck and then five more times in the chest.
Each knife thrust was accompanied by cries of “Glory to Russia!”
eyewitnesses said.
The attack took place on the day celebrations kicked off for “Armenia
Year” in Russia.
In the Caucasus, there was shock at a murder whose motive was so
patently the ethnic origin of the victim. Nor was Sardarian the
first foreigner murdered in Russia since the beginning of the year –
a Senegalese student and another Armenian were killed in April.
The sense that xenophobic violence is on the rise is supported by
data from Sova, a British non-governmental group that monitors racist
attacks in Russia, which indicated that 18 people have been killed
and more than 100 injured in hate crimes so far in 2006.
Doudou Diene, the United Nations special rapporteur on racism and
xenophobia who has just completed a report on Russia, told a press
conference in Moscow on June 16 that he was concerned not only at the
rising number of assaults on foreigners, but also by the increasingly
brutal nature seen in these attacks.
President Vladimir Putin roundly condemned the phenomenon when he
met with Russian interior ministry staff on February 17.
“Belligerent nationalism and attempts to provoke inter-ethnic conflict
endanger the life and constitutional rights of citizens, hamper the
stable existence of the state, and undermine its integrity. And, of
course, it does immense damage to Russia’s image worldwide,” he said.
Although there are no precise data, non-government groups estimate
that there are around three million Armenians living in Russia,
the same number of Azerbaijanis and over a million Georgians.
A Russian foundation called Public Opinion had done a survey which
shows that about half of all Muscovites polled tends to dislike
people from the Caucasus. Interestingly, those surveyed also said they
thought other Russians in the capital held even less tolerant views.
And as Levon Ananian, who heads the Armenian Writers’ Union,
points out, that is just Moscow, “We learn from the press about the
high-profile killings in the capital, but it’s clear the same is
happening in remote places throughout Russia.”
Moscow’s first ethnic murder this year happened on April 7 in Saint
Petersburg, when a group of skinheads attacked some dark-skinned
students. A student from Senegal, Samba Lampsar Sall, was shot dead,
and a gun marked with a swastika was found at the crime scene.
Two weeks later, skinheads dressed in black uniforms stabbed Armenian
student Vigen Abramiants in the heart at Moscow’s busiest underground
station, Pushkinskaya.
Elhan Mirzoyev, who works as a producer with the well-known television
station NTV and is of Azerbaijani origin was beaten within an inch
of his life at another Moscow underground stations on April 3. The
gang who attacked him said he had no right to live in Russia.
The doctors who put seven stitches in his head told him it was a
miracle he had survived.
Although these cases clearly bore the hallmarks of racist crime,
prosecutors only included the Russian criminal code clause covering
ethnic crimes in their indictments only after strong pressure from
lawyers for the two Armenians.
“The fact that people are being killed in Russia because of their
dark hair, swarthy skin or the shape of their eyes is harming the
country’s image,” said Moscow-based lawyer Simon Tsaturian, who is
acting for the two murdered Armenians. “That is why some officials
might be tempted to change the way the cases are presented, and put
them in a different light.”
Vigen Abramiants’s father Rafael agreed with this view, citing an
investigator on the case who told him he had nearly lost his job
after bringing the criminal action under Russian legislation covering
“murder on ethnic grounds”.
“What marked me most during the encounters and conversations I’ve
had?” the UN’s Diene told reporters. “It is the feeling of fear
and of solitude expressed by a number of foreign communities and
ethnic minorities – the Africans have been very vocal about it, as
well as people from the Caucasus and Central Asia… This is a very
alarming sign.”
Diene warned that the wave of racist attacks, if unchecked, could
soon target not only ethnic minorities, but even those who lobby to
protect them.
He noted that Russia still lacked clear laws on discrimination,
and urged the government to demonstrate a stronger political will to
fight racism and xenophobia.
The mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, claims the authorities in the
capital are doing their best to curb xenophobic sentiment. “We have
over 100 nationalities living here, and things do happen,” he told
IWPR. “But there are also cases like one where one of our policemen
died protecting an Armenian family from raiders.”
Ella Pamfilova, who chairs the Civil Society Institutions and Human
Rights Council, a body which answers to President Putin, said the
growth of xenophobia was mainly a consequence of corruption and flawed
migration laws.
“Adopting an intelligible law would go against the interests of corrupt
groups, which exist everywhere including in government agencies,”
Pamfilova told IWPR. “It’s far more convenient to have illegal people
deprived of their civil rights, to rob them in markets, than to have
legalised citizens who would pay taxes to the state and observe all
the laws. Because in the latter case the state would have to protect
their rights.”
Despite President Putin’s and Mayor Luzhkov’s assurances, there
are politicians and analysts in Russia and in the southern Caucasus
who believe the Russian authorities are in fact encouraging radical
nationalism.
“In most cases, ethnically motivated crimes in Russia either go
unpunished or the punishment is inadequate,” said Grigory Yavlinsky,
who heads the Yabloko opposition party in Russia. “I’m sure the
authorities have an interest in xenophobia being unleashed. I have
no facts or evidence to prove this, but it’s quite possible that the
authorities have some influence over the skinheads, and that they
support and manipulate them.”
The link between the gangs of youths and nationalistic political groups
is clearer. Such organisations as the Great Russian National Party,
the Union of Slavs, the National Bolshevist Party and the Movement
Against Illegal Immigration, and others too, are all active in and
around Moscow.
Alexander Chervyakov, a spokesman for the Great Russian National Party,
set out his group’s views in remarks to IWPR, “We are not going to
let foreigners humiliate us. We are fighting against those who are
trying to take our homeland away from us. We… are able to defend
what belongs to us and take revenge on our enemies.”
Chervyakov would not respond to questions about why young men like
Sardarian and Abramiants should be considered enemies of Russia.
According to Eduard Limonov, the head of the National Bolsheviks,
“Being a skinhead is fashionable in Russia these days. Young people
are attracted to crewcuts, black gear, big boots and a particular
kind of music. It’s a modern youth movement.”
Alexander Prokhanov, editor of the Zavtra newspaper which promotes
nationalist views, said resentment among Russians was spurred by the
hardship of daily life “People have to think about how to earn their
meager daily bread at a time when foreigners are milling to and fro
before their eyes. And there are many [foreigners], too many of them
now,” he told IWPR.
It is unclear whether such views are affecting migrants from the
three south Caucasian countries as they make decisions about coming
to Russia or staying there.
Ara Abramian, who heads the Union of Armenians in Russia, said that
following the recent attacks on his countrymen, he had noticed a
decline in the number of people coming from Armenia to look for jobs.
At the same time, he said, few people were actually deciding to leave
once they arrived. “The situation is difficult to judge,” he said.
“People are unlikely to leave for fear of encountering skinheads in
the street. Although that too plays a part.”
Georgian political analyst Mamuka Areshidze pointed to the
deteriorating diplomatic relationship between Moscow and Tbilisi as
an additional factor affecting migrants from Georgia.
“Of course political relationships play a very important part in
this, and the worsening of relations between Georgia and Russia has
done a great deal of damage to the many Georgians living in Russia,
who are now having problems with their jobs and businesses. In terms
of morale, it’s very hard,” he said. “Still, the extents of this are
not so global as to force Caucasians now living in Russia to start
returning home. I don’t think anyone in Russia will dare set up a
united front against Caucasians.”
Meanwhile, people from the Caucasus now living in Moscow either
permanently or as migrant labour continue to find their own ways of
dealing with hostile attitudes.
Sixteen-year-old Ruslana Samedova copes by concealing her ethnic
identity. She counts herself lucky to look more like her Russian mother
than her Azerbaijani father. “Even my closest friends don’t know I’m
Azerbaijani,” she admitted. “None of my schoolmates has ever seen my
father – I’m literally hiding him from everyone. As for my Azerbaijani
surname, I have to invent all sorts of stories to explain it.
“If they find out I’m Azerbaijani – even on one side only – at school,
that’ll be the end of me. I’ve seen how one of my classmates was
driven close to suicide. Her family had to move to Baku. I don’t want
to suffer the same fate.”
Vage Avanesian is director of the Moscow office of the TV-company
Shant. Samira Akhmedbeili is a correspondent for the newspaper Azerros
in Moscow. Sofo Bukia is a correspondent for 24 Saati in Tbilisi.

Armenian International Policy Research Group
Washington Office:
P.O. Box 28179
Washington, DC 20038-9998
USA
Phone: (202) 623-8605, (202) 458-2589
Fax: (202) 478-0934
Yerevan Office:
50 Nalbandyan Str, Suite 16,
Yerevan 0010, Armenia
Phone: (+374 10) 528 723
Contact Person: Naira Harutyunyan at

E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
June 22, 2006
For Immediate Release
AIPRG Conference on Dual Citizenship Offers a Forum for Concepts and Views
Yerevan, Armenia – On June 17-18, 2006, the Armenian International
Policy Research Group (AIPRG) held an international conference entitled
“Dual Citizenship: Alternative Arrangements, Economic Implications and
Social Dimensions.” The conference covered various topics surrounding
dual citizenship, including legal, economic, and socio-political
aspects, as well as international experience with dual citizenship
and regularizing Diaspora-homeland relationships. The event was
co-sponsored by the UNDP-Armenia, Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(ARF-Dashnaktsutiun), Armenian Bar Association, American University
of Armenia, and Birthright Armenia, and held in collaboration with
relevant government agencies and civil society groups.
The two-day conference drew together over 200 participants, including
high-level members of the government and National Assembly, multiple
political party representatives, members of local and Diaspora civil
society groups, academic institutions, and student bodies.
The conference was opened by AIPRG representatives who emphasized the
importance of holding such a conference ahead of the parliamentary
debate on the dual citizenship law to help achieve a more active and
meaningful arrangement between Armenia and the Diaspora.
Following the opening remarks, the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Vartan Oskanian, in his keynote opening address stated his support of
dual citizenship arrangement in Armenia as a way of addressing the
historical injustice that has divided the nation. Acknowledging the
existence of legal and administrative problems, Mr. Oskanian stressed
the importance of introducing simplified procedures for administering
the dual citizenship arrangement for Diasporan Armenians. He also
mentioned that dual citizenship may be viewed as a mechanism for
addressing Armenia’s growing demographic imbalances.
The Minister of Justice, Davit Harutyunyan, who chaired the first panel
session entitled “Legal Aspects Related to Dual Citizenship”, touched
upon the experience of other countries in dealing with issues related
to dual citizenship and pointed out that this issue is currently on
the agenda for debate in the National Assembly of the Republic of
Armenia. Mr. Harutyunyan also highlighted the government’s desire to
see a Law on Dual Citizenship passed before the end of 2006.
In his keynote luncheon speech Peter Spiro, Professor of International
Law at the University of Georgia, presented the experience of the
US and other countries with regard to dual citizenship arrangements
stating that “dual citizenship is an increasingly commonplace incident
of globalization, and in approximately thirty years will be universally
accepted.” He stressed that if the experience of other countries is
of any guidance, a liberal process of acquisition of dual citizenship
is likely to provide the states with a valuable asset.
Other presentations and discussions on the first day focused on the
international experiences with, and economic and social aspects of,
dual citizenship. This was followed by a roundtable on individual
country experiences with regularizing Diaspora-homeland relations
chaired by David Gregorian, Co-chair of AIPRG, featuring Reena
Pandey, India’s ambassador in Armenia; Ioannis Kiparissidis, the
General Director of the General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad; Patrick
O`Sullivan, Irish Diaspora Research Unit of the University of Bradford;
and Raffy Semerdjian of Saint Josef University in Lebanon. The final
session of Day 1 discussed the labor market and general developmental
implications of repatriation and was chaired by Deputy Minister of
Finance David Avetisyan.
The second day of the conference featured panels dealing with
the socio-cultural aspects of integrating Diaspora Armenians into
the socio-political and culture fabric of Armenia, as well as the
examination of cases of repatriation both in the 1940s and during
the third Armenian Republic. The panel’s chair, Professor Aharon
Adibekyan, provided a balanced opening statement on cons and pros of
dual citizenship for Armenia.
Following the first panel, three alternative proposals on dual
citizenship arrangement for Armenia were presented by Gevorg
Malkhasyan, First Deputy Minister of Justice; Hrair Karapetyan, Head
of the Parliamentary Faction of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
in the National Assembly; and David Grigorian. Presentations focused on
the differences in their treatment of issues related to voting rights,
military service, and taxation issues pertaining to dual citizens.
In his presentation, Grigorian stressed that the Affiliate Citizenship
status proposed by AIPRG aims at addressing historical injustice, by
providing Armenians around the world with a formal link to the country
of their ancestors, and creating opportunities for repatriation and,
through that, enhancing Armenia’s economic potential and strengthening
national security. The proposal offers flexible and easy-to-implement
mechanisms of achieving these objectives without causing any undue
legal difficulties with countries hosting Diaspora Armenians that
prohibit dual citizenship.
These three proposals were subsequently discussed by a panel of legal
experts. Peter Spiro, Henk Van Goethem, a Legal Adviser at UNHCR’s
Department of International Protection Services, and Vardan Poghosyan,
Director of “Democracy” Center of Political and Legal Studies, placed
the existing proposals in the context of the international legal
norms while acknowledging the specifics of Armenia and its Diaspora.
Professor Andranik Migranyan of the Moscow Institute of International
Relations, the keynote luncheon speaker of Day 2, expressed his belief
that dual citizenship in Armenia would help import new values of civic
engagement and facilitate the transformation of state-civil society
relations in Armenia. In his opinion, the right to vote should be
granted without tying it to residency requirement. He also highlighted
the problem of approximately 500,000 Armenians who “illegally” (from
Armenian legislation’s point of view) hold citizenships in both Russia
and Armenia.
The conference concluded with an open discussion and brainstorming
session moderated by Dr. Anna Ohanyan of Stonehill College in
Massachusetts, also an AIPRG Fellow. The open forum touched upon the
issues related to the possible ramifications of dual citizenship
in both Armenia and the Diaspora. During this session a research
agenda was set up, with the aim of clarifying the demand for dual
citizenship among the members of the Diaspora and quantifying potential
implications of dual citizenship for Armenia. A wide array of views was
expressed from those seeing dual citizenship as an absolute necessity
for Armenia and the Diaspora to those questioning the need for any
type of new citizenship arrangement.
Overall, the conference managed to achieve its goal of initiating a
professional public debate on the issue of dual citizenship ahead of
the deliberations in the parliament. It succeeded in bringing together
a broad spectrum of stakeholders to discuss the issues relevant for
dual citizenship, including its impact on Armenia and the Diaspora,
and to subject the existing proposals of dual citizenship to public
scrutiny. All materials regarding the conference, including the
proposed concepts, are available through the AIPRG website at:
* * *
AIPRG is a non-partisan, non-political association that researches
and encourages the dissemination of discussion of public policy
issues in Armenia and the Diaspora. AIPRG aims to consolidate the
existing Armenia related expertise around the world by bringing
together accomplished researchers and practitioners of economics,
political science, law, and governmental affairs. By way of research
and conferences, AIPRG collaborates with Development Agencies,
International Financial Institutions, the donor community, individual
researchers, and policy practitioners in order to achieve a greater
understanding of the development issues related to Armenia and the
Diaspora. Registered as a 501(c)3 corporation in Washington, AIPRG has
an office in Yerevan and unites over 40 Fellows from around the world.
##################
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Gazette (Montreal)
June 23, 2006 Friday
Final Edition
Canadian novelists embrace diversity: Linda Ghan’s Sosi, like works
by Yann Martel and Camilla Gibb, reconciles religious identities
PAT DONNELLY, The Gazette
Sosi, by Linda Ghan, Signature Editions, 222 pages, $19.95.
– – –
Linda Ghan’s novel Sosi, like Camilla Gibb’s Sweetness in the Belly
and Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, is a tale told by an orphan torn
between conflicting visions of the world.
The intent is admirable. But the execution here is not as smooth as
in Martel’s book, nor is it as deeply convincing as Gibb’s. Still,
Sosi is a warm, embracing read, leavened with a wry sense of humour.
Sosi, like Gibb’s Lilly, is raised by people whose background is
different from that of her parents. She is born to an Armenian
Christian mother and a Turkish Muslim father who see to it, before
they are murdered, that she is handed over to a kind-hearted Jewish
couple – the Reijskinds. In Sweetness in the Belly, after the death
of Lilly’s British parents, she is brought up in a mosque in Morocco
by a kindly Sufi Muslim scholar. Martel’s Pi Patel, who loses his
parents in a shipwreck, reconciles several religions in his mind as
he drifts across the ocean on a raft with a tiger.
Welcome to post-colonial, post-provincial CanLit in a globalized
world. Diversity to the max.
Sosi, whose Turkish name is Zeyneb, or “blessed one,” reverts to her
Armenian name, Sosi Arta, as part of her strategy to avoid marrying a
Turkish boy whom she does not like. When her adoptive family moves to
Jerusalem, she meets and falls in love with Ara, a young Armenian
photographer with political inclinations. He wants to return to
Turkey to record evidence of the persecution of Armenians, which has
continued many years after the genocide of 1915-16. Shortly after the
birth of their baby, he leaves, on a false passport, to pursue his
quest.
Sosi soon loses hope of his return and moves to Montreal with their
daughter Sammi, determined to make a fresh start. Her reasoning is
based on a idealist’s view of Canada: “Sammi would grow up in a
country that had no massacres, no wars, no genocides. She would speak
their language, learn their stories, and play their games. She would
know only songs of life. She had a right to know nothing of the
history that had consumed her father, nothing of those who had driven
him to it: you couldn’t know so much about dying and not belong to
it.”
Sosi’s rebellion against the past leads to her discovery of booze,
cigarettes, jazz and illicit romance in Montreal. Her adventures
allow the author, who has lived in Montreal off and on for many
years, a wonderful opportunity to write about familiar haunts within
the time frame of the 1950s.
Ghan’s writing, like her life, has been all over the map. Brought up
Jewish in Weyburn, Sask., she taught in Jamaica for several years
before moving to Montreal, where she produced a radio show, taught
creative writing at Concordia and wrote plays. Her children’s play,
Muhla, The Fair One, was produced by Black Theatre Workshop. She once
served a term as president of the Federation of English Writers of
Quebec (FEWQ). In 1996, she moved to Japan. She continued her career
as a journalist and teacher at Ibaraki University, where she led the
Canadian Studies department, and became a literary journalist,
writing for Japanese daily newspapers.
Her first novel was A Gift of Sky (1989). Her most recent book was
Gaston Petit: The Kimono and the Cross (2002), based on a series of
interviews with Petit, a Dominican priest.
Sosi is dedicated to the memory of noted Montreal carpet merchant
Kerop Bedoukian, whom Ghan became friends with after interviewing him
on her radio program. He was a survivor of the Armenian genocide who
helped other Armenians escape to Canada during the 1950s.
Bedoukian’s stories formed the main inspiration for this book. Sosi
takes us on an emotionally eventful journey from Turkey to Israel to
Canada. That this young woman’s struggle to transcend history
eventually finds a peaceful equilibrium offers comfort to the reader,
perhaps a little too easily. Ghan slips, occasionally, into
pulp-fiction glib.
Her summary of Middle Eastern politics seen through the eyes of an
Israeli-Armenian character is overly simplistic: “She had gone to
school with Baha’i, Greek Orthodox, Abyssinian, Muslim, Jew, Catholic
Armenian and Gregorian Armenian. They had learned each other’s
languages; they had respected each other’s church bells, chants,
prayers and holy days – until the British came along with
simultaneous offers of a homeland to the Jews and sovereignty to the
Arabs, allowing the Arabs to attack the Jews, and the Jews to
counterattack the Arabs, betraying them both and pulling out when
they were asked by the United Nations to oversee the peace. Now we,
the Armenians, were caught in the middle, of secondary consideration
in the old city as well as in the new Israel.”
Much of the charm of the novel lies in the fact that Sosi, like Pi
Patel, Lilly, little orphan Annie and Oliver Twist before them, is
almost impossible to dislike.
In fact, if it weren’t for the inclusion of Sosi’s X-rated adventures
in Montreal, the book could be mistaken for teen literature.
[email protected]
GRAP HIC:
Photo: SIGNATURE EDITIONS; Linda Ghan’s career, and her life, have
been all over the map.

Daily Post (Liverpool)
June 23, 2006, Friday
North Wales Edition
THE WAY I SEE IT;
I’ve witnessed the eerie, evil silence that envelops the death camp
at Oswiecim – known in German as Auschwitz. That’s what you call
racism
by ian PARRI
THE World Cup has certainly succeeded in stirring up a few emotions.
Take reader Bryant Merrick, who calls himself “a proud Yorkshireman”,
and who in a letter dubs me a “racist” because I choose not to
support his country’s football team. Get real.
Didn’t they knock us out of the World Cup, having booed our anthem
with venom before the teams met at Old Trafford? You surely don’t
expect me to support them? I’d rather back Greenland. True, we booed
their anthem in Cardiff too, but that was surely knock for knock in
car insurers’ parlance. Wasn’t it?
But how ludicrous can you get? It’s only a game, for crying out loud.
If through some aberration I was to support England in Sunday’s clash
against Ecuador, would I then be accused of racist anti-Ecuadorian
bias? Even a hatred of the entire people of the Andes, duty bound
never to buy an album of pan-pipe music ever again?
Paul Balsom similarly finds himself under the cosh. The 42 year-old
Englishman, who’s worked for the Swedish FA for the last eight years,
was branded a traitor in the London press for preparing a dossier on
England’s team prior to the two teams’ clash on Tuesday.
Which was a bit rich considering that England’s management team
consists of more Swedes than your average farm field. What’s the
Swedish for “traitor”, then?
Such accusations are too easily bandied about and applied to sporting
banter. I’ve seen the rows upon rows of graves in the Terezin ghetto
in the Czech Republic, and I’ve stood at the moving eternal flame
memorial in Yerevan to the one million Armenians slaughtered by the
Turks during World War I. I’ve witnessed the eerie, evil silence that
envelops the death camp at Oswiecim – known in German as Auschwitz.
That’s what you call racism.
On an admittedly far less bloodthirsty scale, I live in a state where
the laws declare categorically that I don’t have the same rights as
those for whom English is their mother tongue.
The unilateral Act of Union of 1536, annexing this country to England
in the same manner as Germany’s THE World Cup has certainly succeeded
in stirring up a few emotions. Take reader Bryant Merrick, who calls
himself “a proud Yorkshireman”, and who in a letter dubs me a
“racist” because I choose not to support his country’s football team.
Get real.
Didn’t they knock us out of the World Cup, having booed our anthem
with venom before the teams met at Old Trafford? You surely don’t
expect me to support them? I’d rather back Greenland. True, we booed
their anthem in Cardiff too, but that was surely knock for knock in
car insurers’ parlance. Wasn’t it?
But how ludicrous can you get? It’s only a game, for crying out loud.
If through some aberration I was to support England in Sunday’s clash
against Ecuador, would I then be accused of racist anti-Ecuadorian
bias? Even a hatred of the entire people of the Andes, duty bound
never to buy an album of pan-pipemusic ever again?
Paul Balsom similarly finds himself under the cosh. The 42-year-old
Englishman, who’s worked for the Swedish FA for the last eight years,
was branded a traitor in the London press for preparing a dossier on
England’s teamprior to the two teams’ clash on Tuesday.
Which was a bit rich considering that England’s management team
consists of more Swedes than your average farm field. What’s the
Swedish for “traitor”, then?
Such accusations are too easily bandied about and applied to sporting
banter. I’ve seen the rows upon rows of graves in the Terezin ghetto
in the Czech Republic, and I’ve stood at the moving eternal flame
memorial in Yerevan to the one million Armenians slaughtered by the
Turks during World War I. I’ve witnessed the eerie, evil silence that
envelops the death camp at Oswiecim – known in German as Auschwitz.
That’s what you call racism.
On an admittedly far less bloodthirsty scale, I live in a state where
the laws declare categorically that I don’t have the same rights as
those for whom English is their mother tongue.
The unilateral Act of Union of 1536, annexing this country to England
in the same manner as Germany’s anschluss or annexation of Austria in
1938, was never repealed. It states that it aims “to extirpate (from
Wales) all and singular the sinister usages and customs differing
from the same (the Kings’ realm)” and that “no person or persons that
use the Welsh speech or language shall have or enjoy any manor,
office or fees within the realm of England, Wales or the king’s other
dominions.”
That, again, is racism. Supporting others at football is a wheeze we
enjoy because our team isn’t there – especially when there’s a tenner
riding on the winner. Viva Argentina!

ENTERING ARMENIAN TELECOMMUNICATION MARKET RUSSIAN VIMPELCOM INTENDS TO IMPROVE SUBSCRIBER NET
Moscow, June 23. ArmInfo. Entering the Armenian telecommunication
market, the Russian Vimpelcom (trade mark “Beeline”) intends to
improve the quality of subscriber net, Vimpelcom Vice President for
International Investment Relations Valery Goldin told ArmInfo.
To note, yesterday OTE Greek Company announced 4 companies-participants
of the tender for 90 pct stake in ArmenTel. The first in the list
of applicant- companies is Russian Vimpelcom. Vice President of the
company did not explain if the ranking in the list testifies to the
success of an applicant. He proposed waiting for final results of
the current final stage. V. Goldin did not reveal the bid offered
by Vimpelcom before the final results either. He said in case of
winning the tender, Vimpelcom intends to invest in improvement of the
subscriber net and communication level to bring them to the Russian
quality standard. He said the investments will help improving the
technical net, extending the service zone, developing the distribution
net and the payment system. As regards possible difficulties of OTE in
the work in the Armenian market, V. Goldin said the specifics of the
work in the post-Soviet area is identical and the company got enough
experience in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. “It
seems to us there will not be any big problems in the Armenian market,”
he said with optimism.

ISLAMIC CULTURE EXPERT JOINS SUIT OF ARMENIANS OF SAINT PETERSBURG,
WHO PROTEST AGAINST TURKISH ADVERTISEMENT
Saint Petersburg, June 23. ArmInfo. The Islamic cultural expert joins
the suit of Armenians of Saint Petersburg against the advertisement
“I dream of Turkey”, considering it a provocation. “In order to
quarrel the Christians with Moslems, offending either of them,
a new provocation is invented, i.e. the advertising of tourism to
Turkey is drawn up as an advertisement “I dream of Turkey”, which
the TV-Rambler shows in Saint Petersburg by channel 22. A group of
Armenian activists-Christians had already handed in a statement of
claim to the court against the channel, accusing it of honor and
dignity offense”. As ArmInfo was told in the Edition of “Yerkramas”
newspaper of Armenians of Russia, Sergey Markus, a cultural expert,
presenter of Islamic programs of the state “Radio Rossii”, made such
a statement in the Internet- portal islam.ru.
According to Markus, this advertising is a double blasphemy for any
Moslem. Image of prophet Isa (Jesus Christ) is forbidden by Islamic
rules. Secondly, even if it is a Christian image, it has not to be
trampled on, as requirement of a respectful attitude to the Christians
is stated in the Koran, Markus said.

SCANDAL AT ISTANBUL AIRPORT PROVES THAT PROCESS OF DEMOCRACY
ESTABLISHMENT IN TURKEY REMAINS AT LOW LEVEL
Yerevan, June 23. ArmInfo. The scandal at the Istanbul airport proves
that the process of democracy establishment is still at low level
in Turkey, as the Turks can’t properly receive the Catholicos of All
Armenians. Famous Armenian writer Razmik Davoyan said this commenting
on the actions of the young skin head Turks at the Istanbul airport.
Criticizing the Turkish publicity, Razmik Davoyan emphasized that the
Catholicos of All Armenians proved that he is not prejudiced against
Islam by making the current visit to Turkey. He added that the lack
of diplomatic relations with Turkey should not put at stake the mere
humane relations with the Turkish people. “I want to believe that the
incident at the Istanbul airport is not an indicator of the Pan-Turkish
hatred to the Armenian people,” Davoyan said. He expressed hope that
Garegin II would continue his visit in more peaceful conditions and
all the planned visits would be properly held.

ILHAM ALIYEV PREPARES FOR WAR
Yerevan, June 23. ArmInfo. “Azerbaijan has lost hope for
international mechanisms of the conflict settlement”, President of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in the ceremony of graduates of students
of the Higher Military College after Heidar Aliyev.
As the “Day.Az” informs, I. Aliyev noted the “non-constructive
position of Armenia, which hinders from progress achievement in the
negotiation process for the Karabakh conflict settlement” and
emphasized that the “UN Security Council, the Council of Europe, ECO
and OIC adopted corresponding resolutions on the necessity of
liberation of the occupied Azerbaijan territories”. “But Armenia does
not take any international document into consideration”. That’s why
Azerbaijan has lost hope for the international mechanisms of the
problem solution”, Aliyev said.
“In such a situation Azerbaijan has to introduce corrections in its
foreign policy”, Aliyev said. He informed that the country will
receive $140 bln within the nearest 20 years from realization of oil
projects. “Taking into account that the Karabakh problem is of first
priority for us, these means will be used to strengthen the Army in
order to return our lands any time”, Aliyev said, having added that
“Azerbaijan will recover its territorial integrity without fail,
either in a peaceful or in a military way”.

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
June 23, 2006 Friday
WITHDRAWAL OF MILITARY HARDWARE FROM GEORGIA CONTINUES
Withdrawal of military hardware from Akhalkalaki (the 62nd Military
Base) and Batumi (the 12th) continues. Another echelon (the sixth)
with equipment of the 62nd Base left Tsalka railroad station for
Russia the other day. It is carrying 51 vehicle and weapons system.
The fifth echelon of 20 flatcars carrying auxiliary equipment like
cisterns, field kitchens, etc. will leave Batumi for the 102nd
Military Base in Armenia, tomorrow. A fourth convoy of 14 vehicles
will depart Akhalkalaki for Gyumri, tomorrow.
Despite what some media outlets have been insinuating, it is mostly
transport vehicles and suchlike gear that are ferried from bases in
Georgia to the one in Armenia. Only some battle equipment is moved to
the 102nd Military Base of the Russian Army Group in the Caucasus,
all the rest is sent to Russia.
Georgian state structures observe the process. Observers always
accompany convoys leaving Akhalkalaki for Gyumri and railroad
echelons departing Georgia for Russia.
Source: Krasnaya Zvezda, June 21, 2006, p. 3
Translated by A. Ignatkin
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress