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06/19/2006
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP://WWW.ASBAREZ. COM 1) Matthew Bryza to Visit Karabagh Conflict Region 2) Czech Senate to Discuss Armenian Genocide Recognition in Fall 3) Armenian Plane ~QDid Not Malfunction before Crash~R 4) Statue of Archbishop Ashjian Unveiled in Armenia 5) IMF Praises Armenia~Rs Economic Growth 1) Matthew Bryza to Visit Karabagh Conflict Region YEREVAN (Yerkir)--Newly appointed American co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group will pay a visit to the Karabagh conflict region, said Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov. According to Mamedyarov, the three co-chairs in charge of mediating the regulation process will meet with the OSCE Permanent Council on June 22 in Vienna to discuss the current stage of the settlement. ~SThe co-chairs have already proposed to hold a new meeting at the level of Foreign Ministers and received my consent. In Vienna, Matthew Bryza will officially assume his duties. After this he will alone visit Baku and Yerevan,~T he said. ~SThe US Government has not lost hope for progress. Matthew Bryza is aware of the region,~T said Mamedyarov. ~SBeing well-informed about the Karabagh conflict, he won~Rt need time to get familiarized with the problem.~T 2) Czech Senate to Discuss Armenian Genocide Recognition in Fall YEREVAN (Armenpress/PanArmenian)Members of the Czech Senate committee on foreign and defense issues said during an official visit to Armenia Monday that they hope the Senate will adopt a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide. At a meeting with members of an Armenian Parliament committee on foreign affairs, Jaromir Stetina, who organized a conference on the Genocide in the Czech Senate two months ago, said he hoped the Senate would pass a resolution recognizing Armenian genocide this Fall. During the meeting, Parliament Members also discussed strengthening relations between the two countries, legal and cultural cooperation, and Turkey~Rs bid to join the European Union. Armen Rustamian, chairman of the Armenian Parliament committee, said the European Union is not only a geopolitical space but also a system of values. He said that in order to join the European family, Turkey should share European values including recognition of the Armenian genocide. ~SUntil Turkey recognizes the Armenian genocide there will be no guarantee the crime will not be repeated,~T Rustamian remarked. The Czech Parliamentarians agreed with him, noting that the EU-Turkey talks could last between 10 and 15 years during which Turkey~Rs domestic and foreign policy should be brought up to European standards. 3) Armenian Plane ~QDid Not Malfunction before Crash~R (AP)--The Armenian airliner that crashed into the Black Sea last month killing all 113 people aboard was intact, had its engines operating normally, and had enough fuel to land, a Russian commission said Monday. The Armavia Airbus A-320 was under manual control of its pilots up to the moment of the May 3 pre-dawn catastrophe near the Russian port of Sochi, the Transport Ministry commission investigating the disaster said in a statement. The commission, which based its conclusions after analyzing the plane's "black box" flight recorders, did not attribute blame for the crash. Prosecutors have dismissed the possibility that terrorists brought the plane down, and officials point to rough weather or pilot error as the likely cause. Armavia officials have suggested that air traffic controllers were at least partly to blame, giving the pilots improper instructions. The commission said it planned further analysis of the recorders and computer modeling to determine a cause. The flight was en route to Sochi from Yerevan. 4) Statue of Archbishop Ashjian Unveiled in Armenia A life-size statue of Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian was unveiled Sunday in the Armenian village of Moughni, in honor of the man known for his charitable work and devotion to the church. The statue, designed by Ara Shiraz, is located in the yard of the school named after Archbishop Ashjian, who faithfully served the Armenian Church for half a century, including twenty years as the Prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of the Eastern United States and Canada. Prior to his death in 2003, Ashjian lived in Armenia where he undertook extraordinary charitable work including the care of orphans, the elderly, the re-transmission of the faith to the people after 70 years of communist rule, bringing back to life centuries-old monasteries and churches, and the publication of hundreds of historical and literary books. In Moughni, Archbishop Ashjian revitalized the village through the renovation of the St. Gevorg church and the building of a community center. The statue will remind residents of his contribution to the village and to Armenian society at large. 5) IMF Praises Armenia~Rs Economic Growth YEREVAN (RFE/RL)--The managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Rodrigo de Rato, praised Armenia for continuing ~Simpressive~T growth of its economy, which looks set to remain in double digits for a sixth consecutive year. De Rato reiterated over the weekend the IMF~Rs highly positive assessment of the country~Rs macroeconomic indicators after what he described as ~Svery productive~T talks in Yerevan with President Robert Kocharian and other senior Armenian officials. ~SArmenia~Rs economic performance has been impressive in recent years: double-digit growth since 2001 in an environment of low inflation; a strengthening external position; a reduction in poverty; and, more recently, a notable improvement in tax performance,~T he told a news conference. ~SThe authorities have done a commendable job in maintaining sound macroeconomic policies,~T de Rato said. They will therefore be rewarded with $34 million in additional IMF loans to be disbursed in the next two years, he added. De Rato was in Yerevan to participate in a high-level conference of the so-called Dutch group of 12 countries, including Armenia, affiliated with the IMF and the World Bank. Armenian growth was a big feature during the two-day gathering that was attended by finance ministers, central bank chiefs, and other top officials from those nations. Official statistics put the Armenian economy, still reeling from the post-Soviet slump of the early 1990s, on track to expand by more than 10 percent this year. ~SEven China is not achieving that sort of growth,~T said Jeroen Kremers, a member of the IMF~Rs governing board representing the Dutch group. ~SThat~Rs pretty good, I think.~T According to the National Statistics Service, the proportion of Armenians living below the official poverty line fell from 56 percent to 34.6 percent between 1999 and 2005. The Armenian Government says this shows that the growth has benefited not only the small class of wealthy citizens but the population at large. De Rato also spoke about key economic challenges facing Armenia, such as tax evasion. He said he urged Armenian leaders to improve tax and customs administrations in a ~Stransparent and non-discretionary manner.~T Kocharian was quoted by his office as telling de Rato that his Government is doing its best to tackle the problem. The IMF chief further praised the Kocharian administration~Rs monetary policies, defending the appreciation of the Armenian currency, the dram. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2006 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets.

“IT IS BETTER FOR THE ARMENIANS OF KARABAKH TO REMAIN CITIZENS OF AZERBAIJAN”
A1+
[12:17 pm] 19 June, 2006
Baku is ready to grant Karabakh the highest level of sovereignty which
ever existed in the world, even the kind of sovereignty which Tatarstan
has as part of the Russian Federation. Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan
Elmar Mamedyarov announced about it, “For example, the Constitution
of Tatarstan allows them to open consulates in other countries”.
According to website day.az, Mamedyarov said it is meaningless to
seek alternative ways of settling the Karabakh conflict when there
already exist precedents of settling suchlike conflicts. According
to the Minister, the status of Karabakh must be cleared up sooner or
later. Baku offers to solve the problem quickly, but for this purpose
conditions must be created for the Azeris who used to live in Karabakh
to participate in the process, the Foreign Minister said.
“Azerbaijan will get more and more powerful day by day, and the
Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh must realize that it is better for
them to remain citizens of Azerbaijan”, Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar
Mamedyarov said.

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
_________________________________________ ____________________
RFE/RL Iran Report
Vol. 9, No. 22, 19 June 2006
A Review of Developments in Iran Prepared by the Regional Specialists
of RFE/RL’s Newsline Team
******************************************** ****************
HEADLINES:
* IRANIAN OPIUM CULTIVATION MAKES A RETURN
* FEMALE DEMONSTRATORS IN TEHRAN BEATEN AND DETAINED
* REFORMERS URGED TO UNITE FOR POLLS
* CENTRAL BANK ANNOUNCES UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES FOR PREVIOUS YEAR
* ACADEMICS WARN OF NEGATIVE ECONOMIC TRENDS
* EXILED OPPOSITIONIST SAYS IRGC TURNING TO BIG BUSINESS
* TEHRAN NOTES ‘POSITIVE’ ASPECTS OF INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR PROPOSAL
* SCHOLAR SUGGESTS IRANIAN WEAPONS PROGRESS UNDERESTIMATED
* SUPREME LEADER PRAISES NUCLEAR ACHIEVEMENTS
* NEW SIGNALS COULD HINT AT NUCLEAR PRESSURE FROM MOSCOW, BEIJING
* TURKEY DEPORTS IRANIAN AZERI LEADER
* SAUDI, IRAQI OFFICIALS VISIT TEHRAN
* SYRIAN MILITARY DELEGATION SIGNS AGREEMENT IN IRAN
* AHMADINEJAD ENCOURAGES PALESTINIAN ‘RESISTANCE’
* PUTIN SAYS GAZPROM COULD FINANCE PLANNED IRANIAN PIPELINE
* TAJIK BORDER-GUARD CHIEF MEETS WITH IRANIAN OFFICIALS
**************************************** ********************
IRANIAN OPIUM CULTIVATION MAKES A RETURN. Iranian authorities capture
more opiates than any other country in the world, but officials there
say they have yet to develop a counternarcotics strategy. That
approach has arguably contributed to the fact that opium cultivation,
once thought to have been wiped out in Iran, has resumed. Moreover,
drug-related security problems are increasing. It is more than merely
a policy problem, as Iranian officials say unemployment is a major
reason why people turn to poppy cultivation and drug smuggling.
Without a counternarcotics strategy — and until the country reins in
double-digit unemployment and rampant underemployment — Iran will be
unable to win its war on drugs.
The head of Iran’s Drug Control Headquarters,
Fada-Hussein Maliki, told visiting Afghan Interior Minister Moqbal
Zarar on June 13 that profits in the narcotics trade surpass those in
the oil business. Maliki warned of the connection between narcotics
and terrorism, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
Maliki also told his Afghan guest that Iran has controlled the drug
problem through “prudent policies.”
Yet in a meeting earlier the same day with a delegation from
the British House of Commons, Maliki pledged that Iran would develop
policies to combat drug smuggling and abuse, IRNA reported. Maliki
said the counternarcotics campaign must be reformed.
Such policy-oriented efforts have been an issue in Iran for
some time, but Maliki’s statement suggests that they remain
unresolved. Indeed, in late May he promised that a policy would be
forthcoming and the campaign would be reformed, according to IRNA on
May 20. Maliki added that relevant laws would be amended.
Interdiction Efforts
Protecting Iran’s eastern borders and preventing the
entry of drug smugglers has been a government priority for many
years, but it is a difficult task. The frontier with Afghanistan and
Pakistan is more than 1,800 kilometers long, and the terrain is
extremely rugged. There is a perception that security efforts have
diminished recently, and Iranians were outraged by grisly attacks on
motorcades traveling through the southeast in March and again in May.
Iranian national police chief General Ismail Ahmadi-Moqaddam
said in early April that Afghanistan and Pakistan cannot secure their
borders. He also accused “the narcotic drugs mafia in those
countries” of being “officially guided and supported by the
Americans,” “Aftab-i Yazd” reported on April 10. A few days later,
Iranian and Pakistani officials met in the city of Quetta in
southwestern Pakistan to discuss tightening border security, IRNA
reported on April 12.
Around the same time, the Rasul-i Akram base at which police,
military, and other security agencies in southeastern Iran’s
Sistan va Baluchistan Province will coordinate their activities was
established in the city of Zahedan, state television reported on
April 13. During the inauguration ceremony, police chief
Ahmadi-Moqaddam said drugs are at the root of problems in the east
and that opium cultivation in Afghanistan has worsened since 2002,
according to “Aftab-i Yazd” of April 15. Ahmadi-Moqaddam warned that
the establishment of the new base would not solve all the problems.
After the second highway attack, in early May, Iranians’
anger over eastern insecurity picked up. Zahedan parliamentary
representative Hussein-Ali Shahriari warned that if the central
government could not provide security, locals would establish
vigilante groups, “Aftab-i Yazd” reported on May 14. Shahriari noted
that violence in the province was not a recent development — 35
people were killed in a 2004 incident, and 11 were killed in 2005.
Shahriari accused the United States of encouraging ethnic differences
in an effort to worsen the situation.
There was also talk in Iran’s legislature of
interpellating the interior minister, Hojatoleslam Mustafa
Pur-Mohammadi, and of questioning provincial security, law
enforcement, and intelligence officials, “Etemad” reported on May 15.
Deputy speaker Mohammad Bahonar said that if the police could not
establish security, then the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps would be
asked to do so.
Qasem Rezai, deputy commander of the Rasul-i Akram base, said
later in May that the prevalence of drug trafficking and other forms
of crime is due to the absence of jobs, “Aftab-i Yazd” and “Iran”
reported. Rezai warned that “one cannot create security with guns.”
He added that security forces were in control during the day but the
bandits owned the night.
Opium Cultivation
The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International
Narcotics and Law Enforcement determined in 1998 and 1999 surveys
that a “negligible” amount of opium was being cultivated in Iran. The
report did not rule out the possibility of cultivation in more remote
areas, and reports suggested opium was being cultivated along the
border with Turkey.
Opium-poppy cultivation appears to be making a comeback. In
Iran’s southwestern province of Kohkiluyeh va Boirahmad, there
were late-April reports of opium cultivation. One local complained
that “in many parts of the province, poppy is openly cultivated and
authorities show almost no reaction,” “Siyasat-i Ruz” reported on
April 24. Another local said poor people resort to opium cultivation
because their needs and demands are ignored.
Mohammad Movahed, who represents the province in the national
legislature, suggested that people from other parts of Iran are
behind the phenomenon, “Siyasat-i Ruz” reported on April 27. Movahed
cited the large number of educated but unemployed young people, and
argued that “unemployment in the province should be taken seriously.”
He claimed that young people have told him “explicitly that this
matter has made them resort to drug dealing.”
Movahed said President Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s
administration would be more effective creating four realistic
provincial job-creation projects than creating 70 different ones.
Nor is Kohkiluyeh va Boirahmad, in the southwest, the only
place where opium-poppy cultivation occurs. National police chief
Ahmadi-Moqaddam said poppy planting has been going on in various
regions “for several years,” according to “Siyasat-i Ruz” of April
27.
The deputy secretary-general of Iran’s Drug Control
Headquarters, on the other hand, said on April 26 that the “mass
cultivation” of opium has been eradicated, according to IRNA. He
called claims of opium cultivation fabrications, except in some cases
where it takes place in remote regions.
Regardless of the government’s efforts or talk of
“isolated” opium cultivation, the situation appears to be worsening.
A Health-Care Organization official noted in Aftab-i Yazd” on April
19 that drug abuse is increasing twice as fast as the population
growth rate. Subsequent statements and incidents appearing in the
Iranian media hint at the same conclusion.
The secretary of the national pharmacologists association,
Seyyed Jamal Vaqefi, said in late April that up to $200 million worth
of pharmaceuticals is smuggled into Iran every year, IRNA reported on
April 24. He said those drugs are available in many unregulated
locations, and he claimed that Iranians consume an excessive amount
of drugs.
During a May 16 legislative session, lawmakers from Tabriz
and from Taft, Mohammad Reza Mirtajedini and Jalal Yahyazadeh,
respectively, said that fake tablets of the drug ecstasy were
responsible for the recent deaths of four schoolgirls, “Resalat”
reported. They said the tablets were made from rice pesticide.
Between June 3 and June 9, Iranian police seized more than 5
tons of drugs across the country, IRNA reported on June 13. Moreover,
295 smugglers and 465 addicts were turned over to the judiciary.
(Bill Samii)
FEMALE DEMONSTRATORS IN TEHRAN BEATEN AND DETAINED. Police and
security forces, including baton-wielding female agents, beat mostly
female demonstrators gathered in central Tehran on June 12 to call
for equal civil and legal rights for women in Iran, RFE/RL’s
Radio Farda reported the same day. One unnamed participant told Radio
Farda that “a very large crowd” of demonstrators included older
women, girls, and boys. Another witness told Radio Farda that police
surrounded the crowd, then began to break up the gathering,
apparently before the protest event had formally begun, beating
participants and arresting some people, many of whom were driven away
in minivans to unspecified locations. “There has been a lot of
fighting, [and] people were chanting slogans,” the witness told Radio
Farda. The source said police commanders and plainclothes agents were
directing the forceful response from a nearby mosque.
A security official said on June 12 that the organizers of
the event did not have a permit and it was therefore illegal, IRNA
reported. Ali Jahanbakhsh, director-general for political and police
affairs of the Tehran Governor-General’s Office, said that any
group that wants to hold a rally or other demonstration must first
obtain a permit from the Tehran Governor-General’s Office.
Noted Iranian human rights activist and lawyer Mehrangiz Kar
said at RFE/RL headquarters in Prague on June 12 that the authorities
were aware of plans for the demonstration before it took place, and
the organizers received court summonses.
The Office for Strengthening Unity (Daftar-i Tahkim-i Vahdat,
DTV), a politically active student organization, has denounced
suppression of the women’s rights event, Radio Farda reported on
June 13. The DTV called for the immediate release of the arrested
participants, particularly its own members. They include: Bahareh
Hedayat, Shahla Entessari, Masumeh Loghmani, and Atefeh Yusefi. DTV
spokesman Reza Delbari told Radio Farda that all the detainees were
sent to Evin prison.
Justice Minister Jamal Karimi-Rad said in Tehran on June 14
that “most” of the people arrested at the Tehran rally “are presently
free, and a limited number remain under arrest” while an
“interrogator is pursuing investigations with them,” the Iranian
Students News Agency (ISNA) reported the same day. Karimi-Rad said
student detainees have been released so they could study for coming
university exams.
A journalist arrested that day, Taraneh Bani-Yaqub, has also
been released, RFE/RL’s Radio Farda reported on June 14. She was
one of four reporters arrested on June 12 while covering the protest;
another, Lila Farhadpur, was released hours later, Reporters Without
Borders stated on its website on June 13. It was unclear whether the
two others the group reported as detained — Bahman Ahmadi-Amui and
Jila Bani-Yaqub — have been released. (Bill Samii, Vahid Sepehri)
REFORMERS URGED TO UNITE FOR POLLS. Hadi Qabel, a member of the
reformist Participation Front, told the Iranian Labor News Agency
(ILNA) on June 11 that he was certain reformers will agree on a
limited number of candidates for elections to the Assembly of Experts
— a senior body of clerics — due on November 17. He expressed hope
that a consensus would end existing divisions among reformist
parties, and allow for a reformist alliance in local council
elections after the Experts polls.
A former deputy interior minister, Mahmud Mirluhi, told ISNA
the same day that divisions have been the principal cause of
reformist defeats in the country’s last three elections. A
consensus, he said, is “the only…suitable strategy” for reformers
if they wish to compete in coming elections, while continued discord
is a “gift to…rivals.” He said that Expediency Council chief Akbar
Hashemi-Rafsanjani, a key regime official usually considered a
conservative, is now a reformer. “Given the conduct of conservatives,
Hashemi’s sidelining and recent Qom incidents, he must be placed
in the reformist camp,” he said. Rafsanjani was heckled — apparently
by right-wing radicals — as he spoke in Qom on June 5. (Vahid
Sepehri)
CENTRAL BANK ANNOUNCES UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES FOR PREVIOUS YEAR. A new
report from the Central Bank of Iran states that the national
unemployment rate was 12.1 percent as of March 20, 2006, Fars News
Agency reported on June 5. The overall population was 68.6 million
and the working population was 22.3 million. (Bill Samii)
ACADEMICS WARN OF NEGATIVE ECONOMIC TRENDS. Fifty academics have
written to President Ahmadinejad warning him about the state of
Iran’s economy and criticizing economic policies as inflationary
and against set economic plans, RFE/RL’s Radio Farda reported on
June 15. New York-based academic Siamak Shojai told Radio Farda that
a group of people who have been neutral or technocratic since
Iran’s 1979 revolution have for the first time engaged themselves
in the public sphere. Shojai described the move as an important step
toward identifying some of Iran’s problems. “For the first
time…a number of academics and specialists that have worked as
technocrats in these years have come forward,” he said. In their
letter, Shojai told Radio Farda, the economists highlighted
grievances like excessive state intervention in business and
employment regulations as well as noting increased imports and
government spending, but also pointed to broader issues that have led
to economic problems.
A deputy head of Iran’s state customs authority told Fars
News Agency on June 11 that Iran will raise tariffs on a number of
imported goods in a move that it quotes a prominent businessman as
describing as contradictory with Iran’s stated bid to join the
World Trade Organization (WTO). Mahmud Beheshtian suggested import
duties will be raised on mobile telephones, household durables,
clothes, textiles, meat, fruit products such as juice concentrate,
and sugar, Fars reported. In the case of silk, he said, the increase
is tenfold. But Masud Daneshmand, a businessman and member of the
Iran Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told IRNA that such moves
threaten to sidetrack Iran’s accession to the WTO and contradict
its public welcome of WTO observer status. Higher duties are an
injustice to Iranian consumers, Daneshmand said, and the government
can back domestic producers through other means, such as long-term,
interest-free loans.
Separately, the agriculture jihad minister — who oversees
Iran’s rural-development programs — informed legislators on June
11 that Iran intends to be self-sufficient in rice production “in the
next three years,” ISNA reported. Mohammad Reza Eskandari said every
Iranian currently consumes an average 36-37 kilograms of rice per
year.
Iranian officials, traders, and businessmen met in Tehran on
June 13 to discuss Iran’s decision to hike tariffs on some 1,000
imported goods in the Persian year to March 20, 2007, Radio Farda
reported on June 14. The tariffs are intended to protect Iranian jobs
when many Iranian manufactures cannot compete with equivalent
imports, Radio Farda reported. It quoted the head of the Tehran
Chamber of Commerce, Alinaqi Khamushi, as telling Industries Minister
Alireza Tahmasbi that “we should not be afraid of the facts…90
percent of our products are no longer competitive.”
Tahmasbi said in Tehran on June 13 that Iran does not
consider high tariffs a long-term means of boosting or improving
domestic production, ILNA reported the same day. But he said tariffs
in Iran were lowered in recent years without proper study beforehand.
It may take Iran up to a decade to join the World Trade Organization,
he said, and meanwhile, many countries impose tariffs on imported
manufactures or have protective or “antidumping” regulations, “but
Iran does not have this mechanism,” ILNA reported. (Vahid Sepehri)
EXILED OPPOSITIONIST SAYS IRGC TURNING TO BIG BUSINESS. Prominent
Iranian oppositionist Mohsen Sazegara told Radio Farda on June 11
that the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has become
increasingly involved in large-scale economic and construction
projects in the past 15 years and is moving away from its initial
mission as a popular army to defend Iran and its post-1979
revolutionary regime. He said the most recent example is a $1.3
billion project — signed last week between the IRGC and the National
Iranian Gas Company, which is affiliated with the Oil Ministry —
whereby the IRGC will build a pipeline to transport gas from Asaluyeh
in southern Iran to the eastern Sistan va Baluchistan Province.
The IRGC is reportedly implementing 247 other “economic
projects,” Radio Farda added, quoting IRGC commander Abdolreza
Abedzadeh. Sazegara, who was imprisoned in Iran in 2003 for his open
advocacy of a secular, democratic system, said the IRGC’s power
and close ties to the state effectively nullify domestic competition
for projects. The IRGC has become a “full-blown party” involved in
various private and public activities, he told Radio Farda. (Vahid
Sepehri)
TEHRAN NOTES ‘POSITIVE’ ASPECTS OF INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR
PROPOSAL. Iran’s ranking nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said
in Cairo on June 11 that the offer by six major powers on its nuclear
program, which may include technology transfers and other incentives
in exchange for a freeze by Iran on sensitive fuel-making activities,
is “positive” but sections on uranium enrichment need clarification,
Reuters reported the same day. Iran has repeated that it has a right
to make nuclear fuel. Critics want Iran to drop the fuel-making
process because of its potential bomb-making applications.
In Tehran on June 11, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza
Assefi said Iran will examine Western proposals “and prepare our
proposals,” for which no deadline has been set, “Aftab-i Yazd”
reported on June 12. He said Iran accepts some of the proposals it
has read and considers others “ambiguous” and others “unnecessary,”
the daily added. Iran will not drag out this process, Assefi said,
but it needs time to examine the proposals. The contents of the
Western package of proposals have not been officially disclosed.
A member of the Iranian parliament’s national security
and foreign policy committee, Rashid Jalali-Jafari, said in Tehran on
June 11 that Iran will not “cross its red line” — that is, the
cessation of uranium enrichment — unless any suspension is temporary
and limited “and does not endanger Iran’s national interests,”
ISNA reported the same day. Many Iranian officials have rejected a
suspension of enrichment outright. Jalali-Ja’fari said that Iran
has “absolutely no intention of setting aside this technology,” but
he added that if Western proposals “are such that the suspension of
enrichment helps national interests,” there would be “no problem”
accepting suspension “for a short time.”
Parliamentary speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel said separately
that Europe’s “return to negotiations is a victory for Iran,
Europe, and international bodies,” ILNA reported on June 11. He said
the return to talks shows Europe’s “independence,” while the
resolution of international crises through diplomacy boosts the
credibility of international bodies. Iranian officials, he said, will
certainly respond to recent EU proposals on Iran’s nuclear
program, ILNA reported.
Government spokesman Gholam-Hussein Elham said in Tehran on
June 12 that Iran’s positions on the nuclear fuel cycle and
“peaceful nuclear technology” are “clear,” and that “we have said our
country has attained this technology, and this is a recognized right”
of Iran, ISNA reported the same day. He said Iran will not discuss
its “evident right” with the five permanent members of the Security
Council plus Germany, the states most actively involved in the effort
to curb Iran’s nuclear program. “That is because it is not
acceptable in international norms for a country to negotiate over its
evident, legal, and recognized rights, and this is not negotiable,”
he said, adding that Iran could discuss “shared concerns” about its
program.
Iran, Elham added, is examining its own nuclear dossier
proposals to the great powers and will make statements at an
unspecified date. He separately dismissed safety concerns over the
Bushehr nuclear plant being built on the Persian Gulf. Gulf neighbors
have in the past expressed concern over its environmental impact.
Elham said Western and Eastern specialists have participated in the
project and “the highest standards” have been respected, ISNA
reported.
An unnamed U.S. State Department official told Reuters in
Vienna on June 12 that Iran must not be allowed to examine
“indefinitely” a recent proposal concerning its nuclear program while
at the same time continuing to pursue sensitive fuel-making and
related activities. He was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) governing board, which
met the same day to discuss Iran’s program. He added that
ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized countries will
likely discuss “where we stand on Iran” at a scheduled meeting on
June 29-30, Reuters reported.
Also on June 12, IAEA Director-General Muhammad el-Baradei
said Iran needs to improve its cooperation with the UN nuclear
inspectorate, and he urged Iran to help clarify remaining questions
on its nuclear program, Reuters reported. Reuters also quoted the EU
High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier
Solana as saying in Luxembourg on June 12 that he hopes to contact
Iran by June 17-18 to learn its views on the nuclear proposal.
In a related matter, the European Union is to present the
IAEA with a document noting that “concerns” persist over Iran’s
contested atomic program and urging Iran to “respond positively” to a
recent package of proposals designed to encourage Tehran to curb
sensitive nuclear activities, AP reported, citing a draft of the
document. The document threatens possible “further steps…in the UN
Security Council” if Iran “remains defiant,” but mentions no possible
use of force, AP added.
The U.S. envoy at the IAEA, Gregory Schulte, speaking in
Vienna on June 14, also threatened “further steps” if Iran “chooses
not to negotiate” over its program. AP noted that the language by
both parties was intended to avoid provoking Iranian intransigence as
it mulls over the proposal.
Manuchehr Mottaki said in a telephone conversation with
Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema on June 14 that the EU
proposals are a step forward in the dispute and that Iran is
carefully considering them, IRNA and ANSA reported. D’Alema told
ANSA that he thinks direct talks with Iran could help persuade it to
accept the proposals. Mottaki was in Madrid, where he met with
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, AFX News reported.
He said at Madrid airport that the resolution of Iran’s
disagreement with the international community will require efforts to
assure “a country’s right to develop a certain type of energy”
but also to resolve other states’ possible concerns, ANSA
reported.
In Tehran the same day, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman
Hamid Reza Assefi said he is hopeful about the prospects of talks
with the EU if “reason predominates,” Fars News Agency reported.
Assefi claimed that “most of the international community now supports
Iran’s nuclear activities.” Not only has the United States failed
to create a consensus against Iran, Assefi argued, but “a consensus
has taken shape against America’s positions toward Iran,”
farsnews.com reported.
Meanwhile, Nonaligned Movement (NAM) states are to reissue a
previous statement supporting Iran’s program, Reuters reported on
June 14. A May 30 statement by NAM members backed Iran’s
fuel-making activities, Reuters reported. It quoted Iran’s envoy
at the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, as saying in Vienna on June 14
that “we really appreciate it” and that “NAM support for us” in the
past three years has been “very valuable.” (Vahid Sepehri)
SCHOLAR SUGGESTS IRANIAN WEAPONS PROGRESS UNDERESTIMATED. Graham
Allison, director of the Belfer Center for Science and International
Affairs at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, writes
in the June 13 issue of “Yale Global Online” that “the American
intelligence community may be seriously underestimating Iran’s
progress toward a nuclear bomb.” Allison claims inaccurate
assessments of Iraq’s alleged weapons capabilities have led to
excessive caution regarding Iran, and he describes as worrisome the
unanimity of the intelligence community that Iran is unlikely to have
a nuclear weapon until the next decade. Before the Iraq war, he says,
the community was fairly united in its belief about Iraqi weapons
efforts.
Allison says he questions the assumption that an Iranian
freeze of overt nuclear activities would solve the problems, and he
asks whether success in the open activities is necessarily connected
with success in the clandestine ones. Allison also asks if Iranian
scientists have passed an intellectual “point of no return.” Allison
raises the possibilities that Iran has purchased highly enriched
uranium internationally and is already building bombs or that it has
purchased nuclear warheads internationally and is placing them on its
Shihab-3 missiles. (Bill Samii)
SUPREME LEADER PRAISES NUCLEAR ACHIEVEMENTS. Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei praised Iran’s scientific achievements in a speech
to nuclear-industry officials in Tehran on 15 June and said
development of the country’s nuclear technology is far more
important than oil discovery and extraction, ISNA reported the same
day. Iran earns the bulk of its revenues through the sale of crude
oil. Khamenei said Iran will not “give in to…pressures” exerted by
Western powers who fear Iran will develop nuclear weapons and will
continue its nuclear program.
Iranian Atomic Energy Organization chief Gholamreza Aqazadeh
addressed the same gathering, saying his organization has formed
several research and specialist training centers for new personnel,
ISNA reported. (Vahid Sepehri)
NEW SIGNALS COULD HINT AT NUCLEAR PRESSURE FROM MOSCOW, BEIJING.
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad on June 16 called a package of
international incentives aimed at persuading Tehran to abandon
sensitive nuclear activities “a step forward.” The comments come one
day after Ahmadinejad met with the Russian and Chinese presidents on
the sidelines of a Eurasian summit in Shanghai. Moscow and Beijing
have resisted Western efforts to seek UN Security Council sanctions
against Iran, but recent events suggest they are also pressing Tehran
to make some concessions to international concerns.
President Ahmadinejad’s encouraging assessment of the
incentives package was accompanied by less clear language about when
Iran will formally respond to the offer.
“We see this [package] overall as a step forward, and I’ve
asked my colleagues to carefully consider it,” Ahmadinejad said. “God
willing, we will express our views within the framework of the
national interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Ready For Dialog?
The comments are Ahmadinejad’s first public response to
the package, and come less than 24 hours after talks with Russian
President Vladimir Putin. Putin had emerged from that June 15 meeting
claiming that Iran was “positively” assessing the offer.
Putin also said Ahmadinejad had assured him that Iran was
ready to resume dialog on its controversial nuclear program.
The package of proposals is backed by the five permanent
members of the UN Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia,
and the United States) plus Germany.
It reportedly contains a number of industrial and economic
incentives, including the possible lifting of some U.S. trade
sanctions against Tehran. It is also believed to include the supply
of at least one light-water nuclear reactor to Iran.
U.S. officials have warned that if Iran turns down the
incentives, it could face “the weight of the Security Council,” which
could push for sanctions.
Today in Shanghai, President Ahmadinejad rejected the threat
of sanctions to pressure his country on the nuclear issue.
“I think the word ‘sanction’ should be removed from
the political [lexicon],” Ahmadinejad said. “Sanctions should not be
used as a threat or as a tool for exerting pressure.”
Ahmadinejad — who has repeatedly invoked national pride in
defending Iranian nuclear activities — said his country supports
“constructive talks on equal footing.”
Some Skepticism
Ahmadinejad also said that Iran is not seeking to develop
nuclear weapons.
Despite similar comments by Iranian officials, Western
countries are concerned that Iran could use enriched uranium, for
producing nuclear bombs. The United States have accused Tehran of a
covert nuclear weapons program. The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), says Iran has failed to
convince it that its nuclear efforts are purely peaceful in nature.
Today, Chinese media quoted President Hu Jintao as telling
Ahmadinejad that while China understands Iran’s concern over its
right to a peaceful nuclear program, “the critical point” is “to
build mutual trust between Iran and the international community.”
President Putin said after the meeting with Ahmadinejad on
June 15 that any country, including Iran, has a right to use nuclear
technology. But he added that countries must do it in a way that
“does not arouse the concerns of the international community on the
nonproliferation issue.”
Mounting Pressure
Ahmadinejad did not disclose the details of his talks with
Putin or Hu. But he said “our views and positions on many issue are
close, or even identical.”
Russia and China, which each have significant economic
interests in Iran, have pressed for negotiations to defuse the
standoff with the United States and Europe over Iran’s nuclear
program.
Both countries have called on Iran to seriously consider the
current offer.
Chinese President Hu reportedly said the package of
incentives provides a “new opportunity for the settlement of the
issue.”
The U.S. ambassador to the IAEA, Gregory L. Schulte, has
called on Iran to respond positively to the offer and suspend its
uranium enrichment.
The United States and the other five countries that agreed on
the package have not set a concrete deadline for Iran to respond.
EU foreign policy chief Solana said on June 14 that he has
held “constructive” telephone conversations with Iran’s top nuclear
negotiator, Ali Larijani.
Solana had officially conveyed the package of incentives to
Iran during a visit to Tehran on June 6.
Agencies report that EU leaders gathered at an EU summit in
Brussels are expected later today to call on Iran to take the
“positive path” and give an “early response” to the package.
On June 15, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jintao
said that Iranian officials might need “some extra time” before they
can formally react to the proposals.
Iranian officials have said they will respond in “due course”
while stressing that talks should be “unconditional.” (Golnaz
Esfandiari)
TURKEY DEPORTS IRANIAN AZERI LEADER. Mahmudali Chehraganli, one of
the leaders of the Southern Azerbaijan National Awakening Movement
that claims to represent Iran’s large Azeri minority, was
apprehended on June 9 by Turkish police on the grounds that his life
was allegedly in danger and deported to Azerbaijan, his country of
choice, day.az reported on June 10. Chehraganli reportedly arrived in
Turkey on June 5 from the United States, and told journalists there
he planned to travel to Baku on June 16, whereupon Iran’s
ambassador in Baku, Afshar Suleimani, commented that he does “not
think that the Azerbaijani authorities will issue him a visa and
permit him to carry on his work here.”
According to an unconfirmed report by the opposition
newspaper “Yeni Musavat” on June 11, Azerbaijani National Security
Ministry officials arrested Chehraganli in Baku late on June 10,
together with his daughter who was accompanying him, and put them
both on a plane to Dubai.
Chehraganli told day.az in a June 13 interview that he
arrived legally in Baku, having obtained a visa, but was subsequently
detained by security officials who demanded that he leave the country
immediately, and after being taken with his family directly to Baku
airport, he decided to fly to New York, where the Movement has an
office. Chehraganli said that his arrival in Baku “disturbed someone,
and the Azerbaijani government acted in accordance with the wishes”
of the Iranian authorities.
However, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
denied on June 12 that Chehraganli was constrained to leave Baku on
June 10, day.az reported. Mammadyarov said Chehraganli left
Azerbaijan of his own volition after consultations with persons
Mammadyarov did not name. The Azerbaijani National Security Ministry
similarly denied on June 12 that Chehraganli was deported. (Liz
Fuller)
SAUDI, IRAQI OFFICIALS VISIT TEHRAN. Saudi Foreign Minister Saud
al-Faisal was in Tehran on June 12 to meet with President Mahmud
Ahmadinejad and Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki to discuss
regional politics, the nuclear dossier, and Iraq, ISNA reported.
Al-Faisal said after his meeting with Mottaki that “Saudi Arabia
supports the peaceful resolution of Iran’s nuclear issue” and is
grateful that Iran has declared it is not pursuing nuclear weapons.
Ahmadinejad later told him the two states should cooperate in “energy
management” and activate a joint committee to oversee various areas
of bilateral cooperation. He said Iran and Saudi Arabia should work
with Iraq’s government to promote security and progress in Iraq,
ISNA reported.
Separately the same day, Ahmadinejad met with Iraqi Vice
President Adil Abd al-Mahdi in Tehran, ISNA reported. Ahmadinejad
said “intelligence and sympathy” have helped form a new Iraqi
government and are the key to future successes. With such qualities,
he said, Iraqis will prevent “the occupiers” from achieving their
goals of “pillaging Iraq’s resources and the continuation of
insecurity.” Al-Mahdi said he hopes for an expansion of Iraq-Iran
ties and Iran’s participation in unspecified water, electricity,
and oil projects, ISNA reported.
Mottaki said in remarks in Madrid published in “El Pais” on
June 15 that there is a “dirty plan” afoot to “create, back, and
continue ethnic and religious confrontations in Iraq and other parts
of the Islamic world.” He said Iran supports “all Iraqis,” whatever
their ethnic or religious affiliation, and their participation in
Iraq’s government. Unfortunately, he said, “terrorist groups”
have been created “with the financial and military backing
of…specific countries now making propaganda of fighting them under
the banner of the war against terrorism,” elpais.es reported. He did
not specify what country he was referring to. “There are no good or
bad terrorists,” Mottaki said. He urged the Iraqi government to take
measures to end terrorism on its territory, and said he hopes a date
is set for the departure of foreign coalition forces from Iraq.
(Vahid Sepehri)
SYRIAN MILITARY DELEGATION SIGNS AGREEMENT IN IRAN. Major General
Hussein Firuzabadi, chief of the joint staff of Iran’s armed
forces, met on June 13 in Tehran with the visiting Syrian Defense
Minister General Hassan Turkmani, IRNA reported. Firuzabadi said Iran
is ready to cooperate with Syria, particularly in the area of defense
industries. He also praised Syrian resistance to Israel. The Syrian
delegation arrived in Iran the previous day.
Iranian Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics
Mustafa Mohammad-Najjar met with Turkmani on June 12, Syrian Arab
Television and IRNA reported. According to Syrian television, the two
sides discussed bilateral cooperation, and they described their
defense and military links as a model for the region and a
contributor to peace and stability. Regional topics of discussion
included Iraq, its government, and its territorial integrity, as well
as Palestine. Turkmani said the Syrian and Iranian armed forces must
be prepared to confront the unnamed “joint enemy,” and he expressed
support for Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Mohammad-Najjar, according
to IRNA, emphasized Iranian support for Syria and said: “Syria’s
security is considered as part of the security and national interests
of Iran. We find ourselves bound to defend it.”
The Iranian and Syrian defense ministers on June 15 signed an
agreement to strengthen their “strategic” relationship, provide a
vigorous response to “disorder and insecurity” in the region, and
form an ongoing joint-defense committee, ISNA reported the same day.
At a subsequent news conference, Mohammad-Najjar said the Syrian
delegation’s visit conveys a message of solidarity between
Islamic states. He said he and Turkmani discussed Iran’s support
for “the Lebanese resistance,” presumably the Hizballah, ISNA
reported. “We shall continue to support the resistance, and the
people of Palestine,” he said. Mohammad-Najjar suggested that Iran is
not unduly concerned by “America’s threats,” and said regional
peoples have come to realize these are “merely psychological
operations…[but] these threats will not get anywhere, and we shall
maintain our course.” Iran, he said, will continue missile
“development and research” as part of a defensive policy of
deterrence.
Both ministers stressed that their states consider their
respective security a mutual concern. Turkmani said Iran and Syria
are forming a common front against Israeli threats. “We work to
mobilize movements and forces against America and Israel,” Turkmani
said. “We have always consulted, and keep consulting, with Iran in
this regard.”
General Karim Qavami, head of Iran’s regular air force,
met with Turkmani in Damascus on June 7, SANA reported. (Bill Samii,
Vahid Sepehri)
AHMADINEJAD ENCOURAGES PALESTINIAN ‘RESISTANCE.’ President
Mahmud Ahmadinejad met on June 11 in Tehran with visiting Palestinian
Foreign Minister Mahmud al-Zahhar, Tehran television and IRNA
reported. Al-Zahhar, who is a senior member of Hamas, was advised by
his host, “You [Palestinians] should intensify your resistance as it
is the key to winning the battle against bullying and spurious
powers,” IRNA reported. Ahmadinejad went on to say that the Hamas-led
government should also concentrate on developing Palestine and
exposing the misdeeds of the “Zionist regime,” both agencies
reported.
Ahmadinejad said the Islamic community should support the
Palestinian government, and he emphasized Iran’s support for that
government as it tries to “liberate the holy Qods [Jerusalem].”
Ahmadinejad criticized Western support for Israel, IRNA reported.
Al-Zahhar expressed gratitude for continuing Iranian support.
Tehran pledged to assist the Hamas-led government financially after
the United States, EU, and Israel said they would withhold support
pending Hamas’ renunciation of violence and its recognition of
Israel’s right to exist. (Bill Samii)
PUTIN SAYS GAZPROM COULD FINANCE PLANNED IRANIAN PIPELINE. Iranian
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad told his Russian counterpart Vladimir
Putin at the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)
in that Chinese city on June 15 that the two countries should work
together to set gas prices, RIA Novosti reported. “We can closely
cooperate from the standpoint of setting natural-gas prices…in the
interests of global stability,” Ahmadinejad argued.
Addressing reporters in Shanghai on June 15, President Putin
said that Gazprom is prepared to help build a proposed natural-gas
pipeline linking Iran to India through Pakistan, international news
agencies reported. He specifically mentioned the possibility of
financial help and called the project, which the United States
opposes, “perfectly feasible” and “perfectly profitable.” Iran,
India, and Pakistan have been negotiating for months about the
proposed $7 billion pipeline project. (Patrick Moore)
TAJIK BORDER-GUARD CHIEF MEETS WITH IRANIAN OFFICIALS. The head of
the Tajik border guards, Colonel General Saydamir Zuhurov, returned
to Dushanbe on June 14 after concluding a three-day official visit to
Iran, Asia-Plus reported. Zuhurov met with Islamic Revolution Guards
Corps commander Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, in Tehran to
discuss the expansion of bilateral cooperation in border security and
the counterterrorism and counternarcotics efforts. (Richard
Giragosian)
**************************** *****************************
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
The “RFE/RL Iran Report” is a weekly prepared by A. William Samii on
the basis of materials from RFE/RL broadcast services, RFE/RL
Newsline, and other news services. It is distributed every Monday.
Direct comments to A. William Samii at [email protected].
For information on reprints, see:
p
Back issues are online at

California Courier Online, June 22, 2006
1 – Commentary
VP Leaves PBS after Providing
Airtime to Genocide Deniers
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
2 – ARS Honors Outstanding Armenian
Graduates from Public High Schools
3 – Teymourian is Sole Christian
In Iran’s National Soccer Team
4 – Kazian Retires After 35 Years
As Stuntman for the Stars
5 – Tom Bozigian Trio
Performs Sundays
At Glendale Marketplace
6 – Dickranian School
Reaccredited by WASC
7- Mashdots College Commencement
To be Held June 22 in Glendale
***************************************** *********************************
1 – Commentary
VP Leaves PBS after Providing
Airtime to Genocide Deniers
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
The New York Times reported on June 14 that Jacoba Atlas, the Senior
Vice President of Programming at PBS (Public Broadcasting Service),
would be leaving her post at the end of this month. She told the
newspaper that she “did not know what she would do next.”
Her departure should not come as a surprise to those who have been
following the recent controversial developments at PBS. As Senior
Vice President of Programming, Ms. Atlas was the PBS executive that
arranged the airing of a debate on the Armenian Genocide with the
participation of two genocide denialists after the broadcast of
Andrew Goldberg’s documentary on the Armenian Genocide on April 17.
By doing so, Ms. Atlas not only raised questions about the veracity
of the Armenian Genocide, but also caused serious harm to PBS itself
by antagonizing a large number of its viewers and supporters as well
as many members of Congress who provide a major portion of its
budget.
Ms. Atlas completely mishandled this highly controversial situation.
When more than 30,000 viewers sent e-mails and signed a petition
asking her not to provide a national platform to genocide deniers,
she ignored them. When a major Armenian-American organization — the
ANCA – wrote her asking for a meeting in order to discuss this
serious matter, she turned down its request. When 30 members of
Congress sent a joint letter expressing their strong objection to the
airing of the panel discussion, she dismissed their concerns, knowing
full well that the Congress could cut the millions of dollars it
provides in federal funding to PBS every year. She also ignored the
dozens of articles on this nationwide controversy that appeared in
the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and
many other publications.
All attempts to explain to Ms. Atlas that it was wrong to put
genocide denialists on the air in order “to balance” a documentary on
the Armenian Genocide, fell on deaf ears. Goldberg’s documentary did
not need any balancing, as it already included comments by notorious
denialists Yusuf Halacoglu and Gunduz Aktan. Furthermore, as the PBS
Ombudsman revealed in a lengthy report, “top PBS officials,” most
probably including Ms. Atlas, were involved in editing and revising
the contents of the documentary and “requesting script revisions.”
If Ms. Atlas was truly interested in further exploring the issue of
the denial of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish government, all
she had to do was to convene a panel of experts who could have
intelligently explained why and how mass murderers engage in the
denial and cover up of crimes against humanity!
Finally, in early March, out of exasperation, this writer called for
the dismissal of Ms. Atlas from PBS after she insulted the victims of
the Armenian Genocide by stating that the Armenian and Jewish
genocides were “not analogous.” She made that offensive comment in
response to persistent questions on whether she would also organize a
debate on the Holocaust that would include Neo-Nazis or Holocaust
revisionists to be aired after the broadcast of a documentary on the
Holocaust!
According to reliable PBS sources, Ms. Atlas was let go after top
management at PBS concluded that she mishandled the panel discussion
and the resulting controversy, alienating many longtime PBS viewers
and supporters.
To make matters worse, the House Appropriations Committee voted last
week to substantially cut federal funding for Public Broadcasting for
2007 and none at all for 2009. Even though the Committee took this
action mostly due to partisan politics, nevertheless, it was not
helpful to PBS that one of its top executives had antagonized more
than 30 members of Congress at a time when PBS is in desperate need
of every single congressional vote and every dollar of revenue.
Following the departure of Ms. Atlas, Armenian-American community
leaders should meet with Paula A. Kerger, the newly installed
president of PBS, and patch up their differences. PBS provides a
valuable service to the community at large and deserves to be fully
supported. The poor judgments of a former executive should not leave
a lasting rift between the Armenian-American community and public
broadcasting. After all, most PBS viewers ended up not seeing the
panel discussion that Ms. Atlas had gone out of her way to put
together. The programming directors of most PBS stations nationwide,
and particularly those in the largest cities, felt that the panel was
unnecessary and did not add anything to the documentary!
After relations with PBS are patched up, the Armenian-American
community should ask the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues —
more than 150 House members — as well as the U.S. Senate, to
reinstate the budget for public broadcasting when the proposed bill
involving this issue reaches the House and Senate floors.
***************************************** *********************************
2 – ARS Honors Outstanding Armenian
Graduates from Public High Schools
LOS ANGELES – It has become a tradition for the Armenian Relief
Society of Western U.S.A. (ARS-WR), Regional Executive to
collectively honor Armenian graduates from public high schools, in
cooperation with the local chapters, which select and provide merit
awards to the graduates. The merit award night hosted by the “Mayr”
Hollywood Chapter was held on June 5, at St. Garabed Armenian
Apostolic Church’s Garabedian Hall in Hollywood.
This year, 42 students were selected by nine Southern-California
chapters. The students were a diverse group of valedictorians, honor
roll and key club members, drama performers; swimmers and dancers;
tennis, volleyball, and basketball players; coaches, hospital
volunteers, Armenian Youth Federation members, science and Armenian
club members. They were born in far away places like Tehran, London
and Montreal, or locally in Burbank and Pasadena. Some were planning
on attending local universities such as California State University,
Long Beach and UCLA or traveling further to Stanford University.
Along with the graduates, their parents and siblings, their public
school counselors also attended the event. During May
2006, high school graduates living in the Fresno and San Francisco
areas, received their awards during events organized by the local ARS
chapters.
ARS-WR Regional Executive Vice-chair, Karine Barikian-Setian, made
the opening remarks, and Regional Executive Chair, Angela Savoian,
gave the keynote message. Following receipt of their certificates
from the Regional Executive, the graduates received their monetary
awards from the respective chapter chairs or representatives.
********************************* ****************************************
3 – Teymourian is Sole Christian
In Iran’s National Soccer Team
By Slobodan Lekic
Associated Press
Many soccer players have a habit of routinely crossing themselves as
they emerge onto the field for a World Cup match.
But Andranik Teymourian is different.
His simple gesture has amazed television viewers around the world
because Teymourian plays on the national team of Iran, one of most
thoroughly Islamic nations in the world.
Teymourian is a member of Iran’s tiny Armenian minority, part of an
Orthodox Christian presence dating back to biblical times. About
200,000 Armenians currently live in Iran, mostly in Tehran and other
towns of the northwest.
Although Iran is an Islamic theocratic state, Christianity and other
non-Muslim religions are not banned as in other strictly
fundamentalist states such as Saudi Arabia.
“I’m the first Christian Iranian player in the World Cup since 1978,”
Teymourian said.
The last non-Muslim player on the national team was defender Andranik
Eskandarian in 1978. He now lives in the United States.
The gangly, 22-year old midfielder, who is seen as one of the great
hopes of Iranian soccer, plays for the Aboo Muslim club from Tehran.
He also has played for Iran at every youth level so far before being
drafted to the national squad by coach Branko Ivankovic.
“He is a wonderful player. Very serious, very committed, I can rely
on him to fulfill any task,” Ivankovic said. “He will definitely play
a big role on the national team for many years to come.”
Teymourian says he gets along very well with his teammates, and that
religious differences don’t affect their relations on the field or on
a personal level.
“I am very happy that as a Christian I am playing for a Muslim team,”
he said. “I will put all my abilities at the disposal of the nation
and the team.”
He said that normally he regularly attends church in Tehran.
“But it’s been impossible to get out of the camp in Germany because
of security, so I haven’t been able to do so here.”
************************************** ************************************
4 – Kazian Retires After 35 Years
As Stuntman for the Stars
by Tim Woodward
The Idaho Statesman
KUNA, Idaho — When Johnny Kazian’s son was a little boy, he thought
his father was Batman. “It wasn’t surprising,” Kazian said. “How many
dads wear a leather helmet and goggles to work?” These days, Kazian
and his wife live quietly in a rural area near Kuna. The only clue to
his remarkable career is found on his license plates — Stunt 1.
Kazian made his living as a Hollywood stuntman for nearly 35 years.
He also was a wing walker, credited with saving the death-defying
practice from virtual extinction. Before that he was a tumbler and
before that a trapeze artist. He’s Idaho’s elder statesman of thrills
and spills. A transplanted easterner, he says he “was born where the
cement grows, but now I live in the country. When you travel all
over, you can pick where you like it best. For me, this was it.
Seattle is nice, but it’s too liquid.”
An Idaho resident for 32 years, Kazian grew up in Philadelphia. It
was there that his high-flying lifestyle began, with a casual inquiry
and a trapeze.
“My father was an Armenian immigrant who designed rugs,” he said. “He
had a friend who was in the circus. His friend didn’t have a son of
his own, and one day when I was 7 he asked my father if he could
train me. I don’t know any 7-year-old who wouldn’t want to be a
trapeze artist.” He did his first professional show, at Coney Island,
N.Y., in 1947. He was 14. “It takes a long time to learn,” he said.
“You have to be in great physical condition, and your timing has to
be perfect. If everything isn’t done at just the right time, you’re
going to the net.”
Kazian spent two seasons flying hand to wrist with the Ringling
Brothers Circus. When the Korean War began, his skills made him a
natural candidate for aviation training. He became a Navy pilot and
was flying a seaplane when his wrist was badly broken in a crash. The
break didn’t heal properly, ending any chance of returning to his job
as a trapeze artist. What initially looked like bad luck, however,
proved to be a jackpot. “A friend helped me get a job as a stuntman
in Hollywood. You do a little of everything when you work in a
circus. I’d been a tumbler, as well as a trapeze artist, so I knew
how to fall and hit an air bag. I’d tumble out of movie belfries
dressed as a German officer, get thrown out of jeeps, that sort of
thing.”
The pay reflected the risk. “I have an engineering degree from Temple
University, but I could make more money doing stunts,” Kazian said.
“I got $500 just for showing up. I’d get another $500 for every bump
(stunt), more if it was something special. It was fairly easy to make
$2,000 a day.” Every stunt was planned to minimize the risk. “You
plan it so you go to the bank and not the hospital.”
He worked as a stuntman in movies and television programs, doubling
for James Brolin, David Hasselhoff and other actors. But it was wing
walking that brought him his greatest fame. The practice — some
would say madness — of walking on wings of airplanes while they do
loops and rolls was popular during the barnstorming era of the 1920s.
With the more powerful planes that followed, higher speeds made it
increasingly difficult and dangerous. By the time Kazian began
experimenting with it in the late 1950s, wing walking had become a
memory.
“I learned that if you make yourself an airfoil at the higher speeds,
you’ll be lifted off the wing,” Kazian explained. “If you curve your
back enough, it becomes a lifting surface and you fly off. The key is
to lean forward at the correct angle into the wind. That keeps you
from becoming an airfoil.
In 1975, Kazian doubled for actor Robert Redford in the title role
for the wing walking movie, “The Great Waldo Pepper.
Kazian retired from stunt work in 1994. “I found out then that my
wife was worried the whole time and never let on,” he said. Mary
Kazian admits that the nature of her husband’s work kept her awake
nights. “The traveling around the country made me as apprehensive as
his performing every weekend,” she said. “I was happy when he decided
to retire. I felt he had the right to relax and spend more time at
home doing what he loves — fishing, boating and hunting.”
Ten years after retiring, Kazian was inducted into the Airshow Hall
of Fame, honoring four decades of work as a wingwalker and stuntman.
********’******************************* **********************************
5 – Tom Bozigian Trio
Performs Sundays
At Marketplace
GLENDALE – The Tom Bozigian Trio will be performing this summer at
the Glendale Marketplace on several Sunday afternoons, from 1 to 4
p.m., except for July 30th when the group will perform from 5 to 8
p.m.
The Trio, which consists of Bozigian, on percussion, Nick Movsesian
on the clarinet, and Alex Piperkov, on the synthesizer, perform a
broad repertoire of western and eastern Armenian music, and a
smattering of middle eastern tunes, familiar to practically all dance
aficionados.
The trio’s performances are free to the public and the Marketplace is
located at 144 S. Brand Blvd.
Performances have started in June and will continue on July 9, July
30, Aug. 13, and Aug. 27. All performances are scheduled from 1 to 4
p.m., except the July 30 event, which will be held from 5 to 8 p.m.
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6 – Dickranian School
Reaccredited by WASC
LOS ANGELES – On its 25th anniversary year, the T.C.A. Arshag
Dickranian Armenian School was granted a six-year accreditation by
the
Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
In March, a four-member accreditation commission studied every aspect
of the Pre-K through 12th grades. They worked closely with Principal
Vartkes Kourouyan, computer Instruction Vardan Abramyan and General
Supervisor Vasken Boughourjian. They also observed classroom
instruction and met with faculty and students.
In addition to the School Administration and faculty, others entities
associated with the school, such as the Education Committee, the
Student Profile Committee and the Community Profile Committee, were
all involved in the accreditation process.
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7 – Mashdots College Commencement
To be Held June 22 in Glendale
GLENDALE – The 14th commencement exercises of Mashdots College will
be held June 22 at 7 p.m., at the Armenian Nazarene Church 411 E.
Acacia Ave., Glendale.
College Trusteess, faculty, students, community and civic leaders,
friends will gather to salute the Class of 2006 and celebrate the
College’s achievements.
College Department chairs will join board of Trustees Chairman Dr. W.
Donald Clague and College President Dr. Garbis Der Yeghiayan in
awarding diplomas to the 172 graduating students.
The class of 2006 has satisfactorily completed all requirements for
degree or certificate programs in one or more of the following
majors: Armenian Studies, Early Childhood Education, Bilingual
Education, Psychology, Computer Science, Computerized Office
Management, AutoCAD/3D Rhino, Website Design, Medical Billing, and
Foreign Languages.
Glendale Mayor David Weaver will serve as Keynote speaker at the
commencement exercises. A medley of Armenian songs and other musical
selections will be performed by Mashdots College students.
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Press Release
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
DEAC ONS’ ORDINATION IN ANTELIAS
Four students of the Seminary of the Catholiocsate of Cilicia, sub-deacons
Alexan Kalaidjian, Mihran Balkevorkian, Hagop Kortmosian and Hovsep
Loshkhadjian were ordained as deacons in Antelias on June 11.
Primate of the Diocese of Lebanon Bishop Kegham Khatcherian conducted the
ordination service and delivered the sermon to the newly ordained deacons.
During the service, the candidates climbed to the Holy altar on their knees
and turning towards the people, promised to give up earthly pleasures and
dedicate themselves to the Church. The candidates were then ordained and
handed their special deacons’ clothes.
Bishop Khatcherian congratulated the deacons, calling on them to guard their
ranks, preserve sanctity of their clothes and flourish their Christian
values through endless work and efforts. He also spoke about the mission of
the Seminary, where spirituals, intellectuals, teachers and other national
leaders, dedicated to the service of the Armenian Church and nation, are
formed.
“You shall give your best to the Seminary so our nation and Church are
equipped with the best of strength. The Seminary is the building where the
youth form to become servants of the Church and nation. This service is
divine, it is Holy and only suitable people should be invited to take it
up,” said the Bishop.
A procession of spirituals then walked towards the Veharan, where His
Holiness Aram I gave his blessings to the newly ordained deacons. The
Pontiff spoke about the transfer of Armenian spiritual-intellectual values
from one generation to the other through the Seminary.
The Catholicos saw the true spiritual man in his loyalty towards biblical
truths, the Armenian Church’s traditions, rites, belief, hymns and the faith
passed on to us by our predecessors.
“We do not have and we won’t have another path. We will form on this path
spiritually, intellectually. The true spiritual servant is he who not only
gives, but also takes. You will open up and flourish with our values. For
more than 1700 years our Church has praised God. Our Church guided our
people towards God through our language, our culture, our traditions, our
values, our conflicts and our dreams. We will always remind you that this is
the path,” said the Pontiff.
He added: “By way of Christianity God approached nations through their
culture and language. This is the path of a spiritual’s service: bringing
God close to God. Our Holy See will always be committed and demanding
towards this issue with spirituals of all ranks, with its Seminary, with its
Brotherhood, with its dioceses and with our youth and people. More than
ever, our Church should accomplish itself in the life of our people through
service. And that service is nothing but becoming the live and life-giving
presence of Christ’s Holy Book.”
The Pontiff also praised the Seminary’s principal and staff, considering
their contribution to be fruitful in the formation of the students.
Seminary students then sang “Cilicia”, “I Veh Partsants” and “Der Getso”,
after which the Pontiff blessed the newly ordained deacons with
“Bahbanitch.”
##
View photos here:
es83.htm
ctures84.htm
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Theological
Seminary of the Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of the
Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

Press Release
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
HIS HOLINESS ARAM I MEETS WITH THE SPIRITUAL HEAD
OF THE SYRIAN CHURCH
His Holiness Aram I met with the spiritual leader of the Syrian Church,
Patriarch Zakka Iwas I in the Syrian Monastery in Atshaneh on June 15.
Patriarch Zakka was visiting Lebanon on a personal one-day trip.
Bishop Nareg Alemezian, Ecumenical Officer of the Catholicosate, and Bishop
George Saliba, Primate of the Syrians of Lebanon, also attended the meeting.
The two spiritual leaders discussed the proceedings of the last meeting,
held in Antelias, of the executive committee of the Oriental Orthodox
Churches in the Middle East. They also discussed the upcoming meeting
between the three spiritual leaders of these churches (Pope Shnouda III,
Patriarch Zakka I and His Holiness Aram I) in November, as well as the
ecumenical gathering organized by the Russian Church in Moscow at the
beginning of July. The Catholicos has been invited to attend this meeting.
After the meeting, His Holiness had lunch with Patriarch Zakka.
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Press Release
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
THE WOMEN’S BIBLICAL STUDY SESSIONS
COME TO AN END
The Christian Education Department of the Catholicosate of Cilicia gives
special attention to the Christian and spiritual formation of women. As
such, the department organizes special biblical studies’ sessions and
gatherings.
Christian education and spiritual formation meetings for women were held
every Tuesday mornings in the Antelias headquarters of the Catholicosate
during the past six months. Members of the Cilician Brotherhood interpreted
the Psalms and taught the women about the hymns of the Armenian Church.
During the period of the Great Lent, lectures were given on the meaning and
significance of each of the seven Sundays of the Lent period. Their relation
to current times was explained to the attendants.
The women attending the sessions also listened to a lecture by His Holiness
Aram I on spiritual values and truths and their relations to the
difficulties and challenges of current life.
More than 100 women attended these sessions. The Christian Education
Department has similar plans for the future.
Addressing the women about Christian education, the Pontiff said during his
lecture: “Christian education in general and the study of the Bible in
particular have one purpose: living our lives according to Christian
principles, truths and commandants. That is why Christian formation is a
constant process. As Christians, it should be a constant purpose for us to
try and live our lives such that we become the loyal followers of Christ.
For the Catholicosate of Cilicia therefore, Christian education in our
schools, our structures, our homes is a necessity and we will devise new
plans in this respect with the Christian Education Department; plans that
will relate to the demands and difficulties of our youth and families.”
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the
jurisdiction and the Christian Education activities in both the
Catholicosate and the dioceses, you may refer to the web page of the
Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

BULGARIA READY TO ASSIST IN GARABAGH SETTLEMENT
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Posted June 19 2006
Baku, June 16, AssA-Irada
Sofia stands by to facilitate settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh, chairman of the Bulgarian
parliament’s committee on foreign policy Solomon Pasi visiting
Azerbaijan has said.
Azerbaijan’s integration into European organizations will help settle
the long-standing dispute and, as a member of NATO and the European
Union, Bulgaria is ready to provide assistance in this area.
Pasi said that his country, which once chaired the OSCE, now brokering
the peace process through its Minsk Group, is very familiar with the
ramifications of the conflict.
“The Bulgarian government is ready to avail of all the friendship
potential for Azerbaijan. Much work remains to be done,” Pasi said.

OIC SECRETARY GENERAL: “OCCUPATION OF THE AZERI TERRITORIES IS A PROBLEM NOT OF AZERBAIJAN ONLY BUT OF THE WHOLE MUSLIM WORLD”
Today, Azerbaijan
June 18 2006
OIC session to address broad agenda.
Representatives of 90 countries are to attend a session of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference’s (OIC) foreign ministers in
Baku on June 19-21, Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told a
news conference on Sunday, Interfax reports.
“Of the OIC’s 57 member-nations, 51 countries have already confirmed
their participation in the session. Another 33 countries will
be represented by their foreign ministers. The event will also
involve representatives of the Council of Europe, the OSCE and other
international organizations,” he said.
The session’s agenda includes 99 issues, he said. “Among other matters,
we will discuss the occupation of the Azeri territories and assess
the damage caused by Armenia’s occupation of the Azeri territories
and the destruction of monuments there,” the minister said.
The participants in the meeting will also exchange their views on
the diplomatic impasse over Iran’s nuclear program, the situation in
Iraq and the Palestinian territories. “All these problems should be
resolved diplomatically,” Mammadyarov said.
The Muslim world’s role in global energy projects is crucial,
OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said at the same
news conference. He welcomed Kazakhstan’s decision to join the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.
“We are entering a new epoch of global energy projects with the
participation of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkey and other countries
of the Muslim world,” he said.
Ihsanoglu, however, expressed concern over security worldwide and the
situation in the Palestinian territories and other conflict-ridden
regions.
“Our aim is not to stay away from ongoing processes. We attach great
importance to cooperation in ensuring peace and security worldwide.
The Palestinian issue is a common problem facing the Muslim world. We
are concerned about continuing terrorist attacks that claim civilian
lives,” Ihsanoglu said.
“We are all concerned about Iran’s nuclear issue, the problem of Azeri
refugees from Nagorno Karabakh and the Palestinian issue. All these
problems have had a negative impact on security around the globe,”
he said.
“The occupation of the Azeri territories is a problem of Azerbaijan
and the Muslim world as a whole,” he said.
URL:

EU SLAMS TURKEY IN DRAFT PROGRESS REPORT -PAPER
Reuters, UK
June 18 2006
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The EU criticises the Turkish military’s role
in politics, a lack of reform and minority rights and relations
with Cyprus in the draft of a progress report due later this year,
a newspaper reported on Sunday.
The European Union is due to publish a progress report on
Ankara’s entry bid in October or November, a year after the start
of negotiations, which turned frosty on Friday when Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan said he would sooner see talks suspended than make
concessions over Cyprus.
Turkey’s Cumhuriyet newspaper cited EU sources on Sunday as saying the
first draft criticised Turkey’s refusal to open its ports to Cyprus,
as the EU demands, before the bloc lifts trade restrictions on Turkish
Cypriots in breakaway northern Cyprus.
The paper said the draft also notes a slowdown in political reform,
the military’s continuing influence over political institutions and
calls for more work for judicial independence and rights for women
and minorities.
It says conditions in the poor, mainly Kurdish southeast, where
security forces are fighting separatist guerrillas, have deteriorated
and criticises relations with traditional enemies and neighbours
Greece and Armenia.
The European Commission’s enlargement spokeswoman, Krisztina Nagy,
said the report was still a long way off. “I don’t think a consolidated
draft report exists at this stage. In any case it is much too early
to speculate on its content,” she said.
The newspaper said the draft would be amended, but the sources did
not expect many fundamental changes.
“This is standard EU criticism of Turkey,” said an official in Brussels
who asked not to be named. “It was present in last year’s report and
it is likely to be in this year’s report.”
EU leaders at a summit in Brussels on Friday replied to Erdogan’s
Cyprus comments by calling on Turkey to let shipping from the tiny
Mediterranean island use Turkish ports this year.
Last week Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker was quoted
as saying membership talks should be frozen if Turkey does not open
its ports this year.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has said Turkey, which is not
expected to join the wealthy bloc until 2015 at the earliest, could
be heading for a “train crash” in its accession process and has urged
Ankara to step up reforms.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress