BAKU GAVE CONSENT FOR NEXT MEETING OF AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN FMS IN SEPTEMBER
Author: S.Agayeva
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Aug. 23, 2006
Official Baku gave its consent to the next meeting of the foreign
ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in September, Azerbaijani
foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov told journalists on August 23,
Trend reports.
According to the minister, the next round of the consultations of
the conflict sides with the participation of the co-chairs of OSCE
Minsk Group has been scheduled for September. Mammadyarov stressed
that he has discussed this issue with French co-chair Bernar Face who
offered one-two variants of the meeting where the date and place were
suggested. We have already given our consent, the minister added.

PASHAZADEH: “I AM READY TO MEDIATE IN THE SOLUTION OF ISRAEL-LEBANON CONFLICT”
Today, Azerbaijan
Aug. 23, 2006
“I am ready to mediate in the solution of the Middle East problems,
including the conflict between Israel and Lebanon if there is a need,
and I am offered to do that,” Sheikulislam Haji Allahshukur Pashazadeh,
head of Office of Caucasian Muslims told journalists.
Stating that he is accepted by Sunnis and Shiites, Pashazadeh said
Israel has not asked him to help release captured Israeli soldiers.
“Israel did not take a right stance regarding this matter. It is not
Israel’s policy, official Tel Aviv was tricked,” he underlined.
The religious leader also said Muslim states failed to demonstrate
solidarity adding even Arab states did not support Lebanon, APA
reports.
‘Muslims did not react to the invasion of Islamic states. They do not
show a serious reaction with regard to the resolution of the Nagorno
Karabakh problem. We must be prepared for jihad. If potential for
a peace agreement for the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh ends,
military way should be preferred,” he said.
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KARELIAN EVACUEES FEATURED IN BERLIN EXHIBITION
Helsingin Sanomat, Finland
Aug. 23, 2006
Karelians shown alongside Armenians and Jews
The 20th Century was a time when millions of people were forced
to leave their homes in mass deportations and other transfers of
population linked with wars and major conflicts.
Examples include the mass deportation and genocide of Armenians by
Turkey in 1915-1916, leading to the death of an estimated 1.5 million
people. In the 1920s Greece and Turkey “exchanged” population: a total
of 2.6 million had to leave their homes, and as many as 700,000 are
believed to have lost their lives.
The most extreme example was naturally the industrial-scale genocide
of millions of Jews by Nazi Germany.
The horrors of displacement are on display at an exhibition that opened
in Berlin recently, called Erzwungene Wege – Flucht und Vertreibung
in Europa des 20. Jahrhunderts (“Coerced Paths – Escape and Expulsion
in Europe in the 20th Century”).
One of the stories detailed in the exhibition is exceptional.
The fate of Finland’s Karelians in the Second World War was more
humane, and their escape route was no death-march. Nevertheless, more
than 400,000 Karelians had to leave their homes during the war years,
and in 1944 the displacement became permanent, when the territories
were annexed to the Soviet Union. The tragedy directly affected more
than ten per cent of the Finnish population.
“The fate of the Karelians is interesting in many respects”, says Dr.
Doris Muller-Toovey, who is responsible for the Karelian section in
the exhibition.
“The people left of their own free will. What is also exceptional is
that it all happened not once but twice.”
When studying the events, which were quite new to her,
Dr. Muller-Toovey was also impressed at how successful Finland was
at settling the Karelian population in other parts of Finland.
The exhibition places the Karelian displacement story within a European
framework in a completely new way. It is also exceptional that any
interest is shown in the Karelian issue in Central Europe.
“It is not known that anything like this would have happened previously
in exhibition activities”, says Mervi Piipponen, cultural secretary
of the Karelian Association.
Similar thoughts were expressed at the South Karelia Museum, the
Carelicum Travel and Cultural Centre in Joensuu, and the Äijala
Cultural Centre in Kangasala, all of which lent objects for the
exhibition.
The exhibition has sparked heavy controversy in Germany. The reason
for the political dispute is that the exhibition highlights the
expulsions of more than 14 million Germans from territory that is now
part of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, which took place
in the late stages of the Second World War and immediately after the
fighting ended.
evacuees+featured+in+Berlin+exhibition+/1135221168 840
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JORDAN AND AZERBAIJAN WILL COOPERATE TO SOLVE REGIONAL CONFLICTS
Today, Azerbaijan
Aug. 23, 2006
King Abdullah II of Jordan is visiting Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani and
Jordan heads of state and delegations of the two countries met in
the President’s Office today.
President Ilham Aliyev and King Abdullah II held press conference,
APA reports.
President Aliyev stressed the importance of this visit for development
of relations between the two countries noting there is already a high
level political dialogue between Azerbaijan and Jordan, and they are
cooperating within international organizations as well as. Mr. Aliyev
said yesterday and today they exchanged views on regional security,
stability, situation in the Middle East and in the region as well
as conflicts, including the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno
Garabagh problem and Palestine conflict.
The heads of state also focused on developing economic and trade
relations. President Aliyev expressed hope the visit of King of Jordan
will provide opportunities for further exchange of delegations of
government officials and businessmen.
Azerbaijani President also stressed that opening of the embassy of
Azerbaijan in Jordan soon will expand the relations between the
two countries. He said there exists a solid ground for expanding
relations between Azerbaijan and Jordan in all fields adding political
relations and his friendship relations with the King of Jordan provide
opportunity for that cooperation.
Thanking to Azerbaijani President for warm welcoming, King Abdullah
II expressed satisfaction with his two-day visit in Azerbaijan.
Touching on challenging regional conflicts, King Abdullah II stressed
Jordan and Azerbaijan will cooperate to solve these issues.
He also said he takes serious developing trade relations adding he
closely works with Azerbaijan for that.
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KING ABDULLAH II OF JORDAN: JORDAN AND AZERBAIJAN WILL COOPERATE TO SOLVE REGIONAL CONFLICTS
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug. 23, 2006
King Abdullah II of Jordan is visiting Azerbaijan, APA reports.
Azerbaijani and Jordan heads of state and delegations of the two
countries met in the President’s Office today. President Ilham Aliyev
and King Abdullah II held a press conference.
President Aliyev stressed the importance of this visit for development
of relations between the two countries noting there is already a high
level political dialogue between Azerbaijan and Jordan, and they are
cooperating within international organizations as well as. Mr. Aliyev
said yesterday and today they exchanged views on regional security,
stability, situation in the Middle East and in the region as well
as conflicts, including the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno
Garabagh problem and Palestine conflict.
The heads of state also focused on developing economic and trade
relations. President Aliyev expressed hope the visit of King of Jordan
will provide opportunities for further exchange of delegations of
government officials and businessmen.
Azerbaijani President also stressed that opening of the embassy of
Azerbaijan in Jordan soon will expand the relations between the
two countries. He said there exists a solid ground for expanding
relations between Azerbaijan and Jordan in all fields adding political
relations and his friendship relations with the King of Jordan provide
opportunity for that cooperation.
Thanking to Azerbaijani President for warm welcoming, King Abdullah
II expressed satisfaction with his two-day visit in Azerbaijan.
Touching on challenging regional conflicts, King Abdullah II stressed
Jordan and Azerbaijan will cooperate to solve these issues. He also
said he takes serious developing trade relations adding he closely
works with Azerbaijan for that.

ELMAR MAMMADYAROV: WE SHOULD CARRY OUT OPERATION TO PREVENT ARMENIAN ARSONS IN OUR OCCUPIED LANDS
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug. 23, 2006
“We should carry out an operation to prevent Armenian arsons in the
occupied Azerbaijani lands,” Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov told journalists, APA reports.
Stating that the issue concerning the arsons has been raised at the
UN, Minister Mammadyarov said the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, OSCE
Chairman and UN Secretary General have been notified of that.
“Azerbaijani representative to UN Yashar Aliyev is seriously dealing
with this issue. We demand conducting an operation with Azerbaijan’s
participation to extinguish the fires,” Mr.Mammadyarov underlined.

EDITORIAL: MIDEAST FUSS CALLS FOR BAN ON JUNKETS
Toronto Star, Canada
Aug. 23, 2006
Why are some Canadian Members of Parliament allowing themselves to be
squired around flashpoints like the Middle East and Taiwan by lobby
groups with agendas to promote?
The question is worth asking, given the uproar Toronto Liberal MP Borys
Wrzesnewskyj has sparked by accusing Israel of “state terrorism” and
“criminal” activity in defending itself against Hezbollah attacks from
Lebanon. Whatever one’s view of the Mideast, his comments Sunday after
a trip to the area were inflammatory, and embarrassing to his party.
The “fact-finding” trip to southern Lebanon on which Wrzesnewskyj
and two other opposition MPs went was led by the National Council on
Canada-Arab Relations. In Wrzesnewskyj’s case it wasn’t a junket;
he covered his costs. But it illustrates the pitfalls MPs face on
all such trips.
And far too many are junkets, pure and simple. The federal Ethics
Commissioner’s office reports that 44 MPs went on 67 “sponsored”
trips last year, some of them worth well over $10,000.
The Chinese International Economic Co-operation Association sponsored
17 forays to Taiwan, with the Taiwanese government sponsoring still
more. And the Canada-Israel Committee and Quebec-Israel Committee
sponsored 14. A sampling of other sponsors includes the government
of Armenia, the Christian Embassy, the Sikh Organization of New York,
the World Federation of Shooting Sports, the Canada-Sri Lanka Business
Council and the International Committee for a Free Vietnam.
The old Reform party frowned on junkets, and rightly so. Prime Minister
Stephen Harper, having come to office promising clean government,
should canvass for support in Parliament to ban them entirely. And
MPs from all parties should think harder before letting themselves
be squired around by lobby groups on any trips, even at the MPs’
own expense.
There is plenty of opportunity, and money, for MPs to travel abroad
in the course of their work. The Canadian government pays for travel
on official federal business. And Parliament has a travel budget for
parliamentary committees, and for interparliamentary exchanges.
That should suffice. If Parliament or the government feel that
MPs need to know more about the Middle East, Asian politics or the
shooting sports, the taxpayer should foot the bill, not some foreign
government or agency looking to lobby our lawmakers. If Parliament or
the government pay and arrange the trips, the public can have some
confidence that MPs will be exposed to a healthy variety of views,
not a narrow focus.
When others pay, or arrange the travel, the perception will always
exist that MPs will come home beholden to their sponsors, or disposed
to see the world through their sponsors’ eyes. That inspires no
great confidence.

UNSEALED WARRANTS ACCUSE PRIEST OF SEXUAL ASSAULT
By: Francine Maglione
New Britain Herald, CT
Aug. 23, 2006
NEW BRITAIN – Armenian priest Krikoris Keshishian, 54, made an
appearance in court Tuesday morning in his continuing battle against
charges that he sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl last year.
Judge Patrick J. Clifford said the case will be continued “for
further pretrial.”
Keshishian, of 21 Garry Drive, was first arrested on May 9 on charges
of fourth-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to, or impairing the
morals of, a minor. Police reported that Keshishian had inappropriately
touched a 12-year-old parishioner of St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic
Church in May 2005.
In his defense, Keshishian claimed that the alleged touching happened
by accident while he was attempting to catch the girl as she was
falling off a table. However, once the arrest warrant was unsealed,
a number of new accusations were brought to light, some including
the friend of the 12-year-old girl.
The warrant stated that Keshishian fondled the friend of the victim,
and had once asked her what color underwear she was wearing. He had
also repeatedly invited the two girls to visit Paris with him and
gave gifts to the victim on several occasions for no apparent reason,
the warrant stated.
When questioned by police, the victim claimed that Keshishian’s story
of catching her while she was falling off a table was untrue. She
also claimed that on May 22, 2005, Keshishian touched her buttocks
while he was hugging her.
The friend of the victim accused the priest of touching her leg while
kissing her on the cheek, the warrant stated.
Keshishian’s next court date will be Sept. 20.

WILL GUAM PEACEKEEPERS REPLACE RUSSIANS?
The Messenger, Georgia
Aug. 23, 2006
With the Georgian leadership pushing to sideline Russian peacekeepers
in the conflict zones, questions have arisen as to just who could step
in as a substitution force. The US openly supports the withdrawal of
Russian peacekeepers, calling for the introduction of an international
force in their stead.
However, finding a replacement for the Russian peacekeepers, let
alone convincing Moscow to withdraw, is not a simple task. There are
500 Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia, and 1600 in Abkhazia.
Ukraine or the Baltic countries are widely viewed as possible
substitutions for Russia, but peacekeeping tasks require a substantial
commitment of material, logistical, and human resources.
Georgia may be hard-pressed to convince states without a strategic
national interest in the region to take on those responsibilities.
There is another, increasingly popular, option: GUAM. The organization
of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, created in 1997 to
counterbalance Russian influence in the region, met in June to
discuss the creation of a united peacekeeper battalion. The once
moribund alliance, reenergized by the ‘color revolutions’ and Western
encouragement, have strong motivation to establish a joint peacekeeping
force-three out of four of the member-states have unresolved conflicts
on their territories (including Nagarno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan and
Transnistria in Moldova).
The GUAM peacekeeping battalion could function under the aegis of
UN, OSCE, NATO or EU-anything but CIS-mandates, participating in
peacekeeping and humanitarian operations. GUAM summits in 2005,
in Chisinau, and 2006, in Kiev, erected the legal framework to move
ahead with the idea.
There is support from experts and observers for replacing CIS (that
is, Russian) peacekeepers with GUAM forces. Director of the Strategic
Research Center Irakli Menagharishvili, minister of foreign affairs
at the time of GUAM’s creation, says that resolving conflicts and
creating a joint peacekeeping contingent was a priority issue for
the alliance from the get-go.
According to Menagharishvili, today GUAM is fit enough to take on
this mission; of additional helpfulness is the fact that its member
countries now have peacekeeping experience in different part of the
world. Russia’s clear failure to act as a disinterested party in the
conflicts, he says, is a violation of international norms.
Georgia is already taking some modest steps to subtract Russia from
the peacekeeping equation. Recently, on Tbilisi’s demand, Russian
peacekeepers were left out of the monitoring group assembled to
observe the situation in the Kodori Gorge.
Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili has pushed forth with other
substantial demands, including an insistence that in addition to
monitoring of the Georgian-controlled upper Kodori Gorge, observers
should be placed in the Abkhaz-controlled lower part. Additionally,
Tbilisi has long made noise over the former Russian military base in
Gudauta; theoretically, it is completely dismantled by now, but the
Russians, claiming that the Abkhaz authorities won’t allow inspections,
haven’t let observers ascertain that for themselves.
And now, perhaps skittish over this increased talk of a withdrawal of
Russian peacekeeping forces from the conflict zone, Abkhaz separatist
authorities are explicitly threatening military reprisals should
the Abkhazian government-in-exile be resituated in the Kodori Gorge
as planned by Saakashvili’s administration. Far from dampening the
martial rhetoric, Moscow has added its voice to the chorus, saying it
‘shares the concern’ of the Abkhazian de facto government.
Still, Abkhaz separatist leadership is dissatisfied with Russian
conduct; they want their northern patron to bare its teeth against
Georgia. The entry of Georgian ‘police forces’ into the gorge was a
perceived blow to their security, and in their minds a preventable
one should Moscow have more forcefully intervened.
With Abkhazia feverishly convinced that a Georgian attack is imminent,
calls for Russian peacekeeper withdrawal predictably meet with howls
of protest. Finding an independent body willing to step into that
maelstrom will take some doing.

AREA RESIDENTS OPPOSE ARMENIAN HIGH SCHOOL
By Cortney Fielding Staff Writer
Pasadena Star-News, CA
Aug. 23, 2006
PASADENA – Negative reaction to a new Armenian high school in Pasadena
has organizers asking “What’s so bad about a school?”
Residents in the Victory Park area have mobilized against the Armenian
General Benevolent Union High School, which they say will bring
significant noise, traffic and other disruptions to their neighborhood.
Members of the Mountain Park Villa Condominiums Homeowners
Association contend the AGBU kept them in the dark about plans to
open Sept. 12. They are now questioning the organization’s right to
operate on a site originally approved as a church elementary school.
“Teenagers are not little kids – they can cause a lot of noise and
mischief,” said former association board member Loraine Bernstein.
“I’m very hesitant.”
Fifty students in grades nine through 11 are already registered
for the private college preparatory school’s inaugural year, school
officials said. Administrators say they anticipate adding a 12th grade
and expanding to 100 students in upcoming years. The school’s permit
allows for up to 200 students.
The AGBU, a national social and educational organization that promotes
Armenian heritage, has owned the land at 2495 E. Mountain St. for more
than 10 years, but has rented much of the space to the Living Waters
Christian Fellowship, which operates an elementary school. They’ve
thus far used the building for social gatherings and group functions.
At a meeting with residents Monday night, AGBU Chairman Vahe
Imasdounian said he wanted to build excitement for the private school,
which he said will add to the quality and value of the neighborhood.
In addition to cleaning out and remodeling the building, Imasdounian
said the school will also see extensive landscaping, in addition to
being gated.
“Whatever it takes,” he said. “We want to make this neighborhood
better and better.”
But tensions mounted when neighbors peppered him and other AGBU
members with questions about where cars would park, where parents
would drop and pick up students, and how they would control teenagers
from walking through their property and causing disruption.
Residents also cited a decade-old incident that occurred on-site
during an AGBU party, when a fight resulted in reported gunfire,
and a security guard had to be hospitalized.
The incident, Imasdounian said, occurred “so long ago, and a lot has
changed since then.”
He vowed to ensure the school, which will eventually cost $12,000 in
annual tuition, runs smoothly and causes no disruptions.
“Discipline comes first at our school,” he said.
After the meeting, AGBU director Haig Messerlian asked homeowners
association president Karen Lindsey what was wrong about starting a
school in a neighborhood.
“The residents don’t want a high school here,” she replied.
But Lindsey also said the meeting was a positive step toward opening
communication, and she would continue to work with the group. “It’s
a start, definitely,” she said.