ARMENIA’S GREAT LOSSES DUE TO UNSETTLEMENT OF NK CONFLICT ARE OBVIOUS – EU SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE
Author: A.Mammadov
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Sept 27 2006
Peter Semneby, the European Union (EU) Special Representative for
South Caucasus, stated that this year Armenia and Azerbaijan lost
a great opportunity to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Trend
reports citing Armenian News Agency Mediamax.
“If I would have to speak about my disappointment in the first
half-year as a European Union Special Representative in the South
Caucasus, I would definitely remember the inability of Armenia and
Azerbaijan to reach an agreement to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, he said. A very important opportunity has been lost,”
Semneby stated.
“At present I am not very optimistic. Whilst I do not wish to accuse
either side, Armenia and Azerbaijan should think of the threats and
losses that the unresolved conflict has brought about. In the case
of Armenia, the great losses are obvious. The relative isolation
of Armenia is a direct result of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,”
Semneby stressed.
“I hope that finally the leaders and the people of Armenia will come
to the conclusion that it is more profitable for Armenia to resolve
the conflict irrespective of how much it will cost them,” Semneby said.

GUAM POLICE PLAN TO REPLACE RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPERS
Vladimir Solovyev
Kommersant, Russia
Sept 27 2006
The foreign ministers of the GUAM nations – Georgia, Ukraine,
Azerbaijan and Moldova – have agreed to set up their own police force
that is to replace the Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zones
of the CIS. Simultaneously, the pro-Western GUAM states are lobbying
the United Nations to pass an anti-Russian resolution. Kommersant has
learned that the no-holds-barred offensive against Russia is related
to worries that Russia is about to recognize the breakaway republics.
Military Council
The meeting of the GUAM foreign ministers took place Monday in New
York during the 61st General Assembly. They met to discuss the progress
of settlement of the frozen conflicts in the CIS. It is notable that,
although Russia is involved in the Abkhazian, South Ossetian, Nagorny
Karabakh and Transdniestrian conflicts as a guarantor of peace, no
Russian representatives were invited to the meeting. U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State David Kramer was present, however.
After a short consultation under the observation of Kramer, the
ministers unanimously decided that police peacekeeping forces from
the GUAM states should replace the Russian peacekeepers in conflict
zones on the territories of Georgia and Moldova. In particular, as
the Georgian foreign minister elucidated, an agreement was reached
that GUAM peacekeepers should participate in peacekeeping operations
in the zones of the Abkhazian and South Ossetian conflicts.
Implementing the agreement has been postponed indefinitely, however.
The decision to establish GUAM peacekeeping forces was made only in
May of this year and the quartet of countries has yet to form the
joint police force.
The ministers also conciliated a strategic plan for joint activities
“to expand international support in issues of peaceful settlement of
drawn-out conflicts on the territories of GUAM countries.” The main
goal of the plan was for a resolution to be passed at the current
General Assembly session on the frozen conflicts. “The issue of the
conflicts was placed on the agenda of the session and it is logical
that some document reflecting the position of the international
community would be passed after the discussion,” Moldovan Minister
of Reintegration Vasile Sova told Kommersant. “Enormous efforts are
now being made to get the settlement process moving. International
support is needed for it too.”
GUAM’s desire to rid itself of Russian peacekeepers and set a firm
course toward the internationalization of the conflict regions means
that the group is extremely dissatisfied with Russia’s behavior in
settling the crises. The decision of the GUAM foreign ministers in New
York is one more step to reduce Moscow’s role as much as possible in
the negotiations processes of conflict settlement in those countries.
Coming on Strong
It is no coincidence that the GUAM decision has been times to the
UN General Assembly session. The current session has great meaning
for that quartet of countries. GUAM put up a unified front against
Russia even before the session began and has already scored important
victories. In spite of Russia’s active resistance, GUAM lobbied
successfully to have the issue of the frozen conflicts placed on the
session’s agenda. The UN general committee first refused Georgia,
Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova’s request to place the issue on the
agenda. However, once they received the support of the United States
and Great Britain, GUAM got the decision it wanted by one vote. The
results of the vote show the tension of the fight. Sixteen countries
supported the GUAM proposal, 15 opposed, 65 abstained and about 100
were simply absent from the voting.
Novruz Mamedov, head of international relations for the Azerbaijani
presidential administration, told about the diplomatic skirmishes
behind the scenes at The UN. “First Russian and Armenia had the issue
rejected,” he recalled. “But finally the bureau couldn’t help paying
attention to the insistence and pressure from the GUAM countries,
and then the issue was put to a vote again… We regret that Russia
has again taken such a position. It makes us think certain things.”
The placement of the issue of the conflicts on the UN session agenda
was Russia’s first defeat, since it was an acknowledgment of the
ineffectiveness of the Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zones.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili continued the offensive against
Moscow. Inspired by a NATO decision to begin an “intensive dialog”
with Tbilisi, he accused Russia of the “occupation” of Abkhazia and
South Ossetia from the podium of the UN. “Those regions,” he said,
“were annexed by our neighbor to the north, Russia, which supports
their inclusion as part of it, intentionally making a mass issuance of
Russian passports in violation of international law… The residents
of the disputed regions live under the bandit occupation of Russia. I
doubt that anyone in this auditorium would tolerate such interference
on their land.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Boris Tarasyuk could not resist a jab
of his own against Russia. “Ukraine will reject any attempt to draw
parallels between the problem of Kosovo and the unsettled conflicts
on the territory of the GUAM countries,” he said, joining the polemic
against Moscow, which insists that, if Kosovo is given independence,
the regional conflicts in the CIS should be settled the same way.
Preemptive Strike
Moscow, having suffered a number of delicate setbacks, prefers to
pretend that GUAM’s successes do not upset it. Commenting on the
inclusion of the frozen conflicts in the former USSR on the agenda of
the 61st General Assembly session, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov said that it was not evidence of the UN’s interest in the
problem, since on 16 states voted for it, while the rest were either
against it or abstaining.
The meeting of the GUAM foreign ministers did not go uncommented
on either. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov said of it that
“Georgia is trying to take advantage of the military potential of
GUAM to replace Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
The presence of additional forces on the territory of Georgia allows
it to flex its muscles anytime it feels like it, as it did recently
in the Kodor Gorge, and it gives it the opportunity to take advantage
of them as an additional card to play in the standoff with Sukhumi
and Tskhinvali.” Ivanov made it clear that they are ready for that
in Moscow. “Russia supports a settlement of the existing conflicts
only through political methods and it will find adequate measures to
prevent the development of a situation in that scenario,” he warned.
Moscow’s patronage of the unrecognized republics is the cause of
the GUAM countries aggressive rhetoric. Moldova and Georgia, which
are dealing with the separatism, are seriously concerned that Russia
will be able to gain recognition for the regions that reject them. A
referendum has already been held in Transdniestria in which 97 percent
of the residents voted for independence and subsequent unification
with Russia. South Ossetia will hold an analogical plebiscite in
November. A source in the Moldovan government admitted to Kommersant
that the current GUAM offensive could be considered a preemptive
strike. There have been fears in Chisinau recently that Moscow will
begin procedures to recognize Transdniestria based on the results
of the referendum. “Moscow’s strategic goal,” the source said, “is
to change the political course of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia. They
want those countries to coordinate all of their foreign policy steps
with Russia. That is how the Kremlin defines its influence in the
former Soviet Union. They need to direct a friendly chorus of voices
in the post-Soviet republics and force them to share their point of
view. The frozen conflicts are an influence factor.

HOVNANIAN’S FORTUITOUS PATH TO AMERICA
By Bill Mooney
Trenton Times, NJ
Sept 27 2006
MOUNT LAUREL — Jirair Hovnanian, patriarch of the J.S. Hovnanian &
Sons building company, never forgets where his family came from.
“My family was driven out of Turkey during the 1915 massacre,” said
the recent recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. “My father
was 15 years old, and they were driven into the Syrian desert. The
Turks wanted to wipe out the Armenian minority when Armenians were
the tradesmasters, the businessmen.” Hovnanian, now in his 70s, was
born in Baghdad, Iraq, lived in Kirkuk for a time and then attended
a Jesuit school in Baghdad. A different place and time.
Those memories stayed with him as he arrived in this country in
1948 at the age of 21 with his family and served as inspiration as
he helped build up what has become one of the larger home-building
enterprises in the region. The medal, given earlier this month by
the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations, recognizes citizens
of diverse ethnic backgrounds for contributions to the United States.
“I was born in Baghdad,” he said. “America is really my first country.”
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of
Business, Hovnanian began a construction business in 1959 with
his three brothers, then in 1964 started his own company that now
includes two sons Stephen and Peter, as well as a grandson, Garo,
and has established a base building homes and commercial properties
in central and southern New Jersey.
“I never really came through Ellis Island,” he said, but he appre
ciates what it stands for. “That facility allowed so many millions
of Americans to come to this country and become citizens of this
coun try.”
Of the medal, he said, “I will cherish it forever. It gives me the
opportunity to say thank you to America.”
As a successful businessman, Hovnanian has given back to the community
here and abroad. He is the founder of the Armenian Sis ters Academy,
a private school; a member of the Armenian Assembly of America; and
an archdeacon of St. Gregory’s Armenian Church in Philadelphia. He is
working to establish a high-tech center in Armenia, an International
Synchotron Light Source Accelerator Research Center in conjunction
with the European Union and the U.S.
Department of Energy.
“We have everything. They don’t have everything,” he said of the
Middle Eastern and Central European regions. “We have to show them
how to become successful. It’s like the Bible says: Don’t give them
the fish; give them something to fish with.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GRUESOME CRIME IS LATEST BLOW TO PROUD COMMUNITY
By Doug Moore
St. Louis Post-Dispatch,MO
Sept 27 2006
East St. Louis
Miles Davis grew up here.
This is where Tina Turner cut her teeth and met her then-husband,
Ike.
Katherine Dunham adopted this town as her own. Advertisement
The city’s pride and joy is Jackie Joyner-Kersee, billed as the
world’s greatest female athlete.
For all the big names that come with this small town, it’s the day-in
and day-out perception that East St. Louis is best known for: You
don’t want to be here after dark unless you’re looking for trouble.
But it’s also a town of fiercely proud people who say they love East
St. Louis, even when standing among a row of boarded-up houses and
weed-choked lots. They’re residents, usually the older set, who
remember when the town was a hub of activity. Jobs were plentiful.
Lawns were manicured. The National Municipal League in partnership
with Look magazine hailed East St. Louis as an All-America city 45
years ago.
Now, it’s a city that doesn’t make headlines unless the news is bad.
And usually it’s about murder and vote fraud.
The most recent headlines are almost too gruesome to believe. A woman
allegedly cut a fetus out of her good friend and left the friend,
Jimella Tunstall, to bleed to death. Then, police say, the suspect,
Tiffany Hall, led them to the bodies of her friend’s three children,
found stuffed in a washer and dryer. Police say they had been
drowned.
Unfortunately for a town that has hope for a turnaround, it’s far
from the first time the national spotlight has shined to reveal its
dark side.
Race riots in 1917 have left deep pocks in the city’s landscape and
given residents a wary eye on outsiders.
It was the same year that the violent death of a young boy jarred the
community and the country.
An Armenian baker complained to police that a house of prostitution
was being run next door. Soon after, his 3-year-old son, Alphonso
Magarian, went missing. Nine days later, the boy’s headless body was
found 100 yards away in a dump heap, according to “Race Riot at East
St. Louis,” a book by historian Elliott Rudwick.
“Who could do such a thing?” was the outcry from the community then –
and now.
Police are not discussing a motive. Hall has been charged with
Tunstall’s murder and the death of the unborn child, but not the
three children. Other sensational crimes have bolstered the
perception that East St. Louis is a dangerous place. During the
course of several months in 2001, police found the bodies of eight
women who had been dumped there. Serial killer Maury Travis, of
Ferguson, was linked to at least three of them.
A decade earlier, a serial killer targeting children terrified the
city. Parents were afraid to let their children walk to school or
play in the yard. Lorenzo Fayne was convicted of killing six children
in and around East St. Louis from 1989 to 1993.
Eleven children died in a house fire in 1981 while their mother was
out gambling.
Heinous crimes are not the only blemishes that have put East St.
Louis on the national map. Buster Wortman, who died in 1968, ran the
Metro East operations for Chicago-based Al Capone. In the 1980s, with
the city in financial straits, trash collection was stopped. For
seven years, trash piles grew on vacant lots. Abandoned houses became
makeshift landfills. And in 1990, a judge gave City Hall to a man who
had been severely beaten in the city’s jail as a way to help satisfy
a $3.4 million judgment. Two years later, however, an appeals court
gave City Hall back to East St. Louis. A vote fraud case took down
two prominent politicos last year.
The town’s rise as a political powerhouse peaked in the 1950s, when
the population was more than 82,000. Today, countywide elections can
still be decided by East St. Louis voters, but the city’s steep
decline in population has lessened its influence. In 2000, the
population was 31,542, according to the U.S. census. Today, the
number is thought to be well below that.
Railroad jobs gave way to the construction of interstates, which were
built through the city and took down large chunks of neighborhoods.
Factories closed and moved elsewhere, and those who had the means to
move – mainly white families – moved with the jobs. It left a broken
city that has not yet been able to put itself together again.
“The headlines we see today are not all that different than they were
in the paper 50, 75 or 100 years ago,” said Southern Illinois
University Edwardsville political science professor Andrew Theising,
who has written extensively on the city. “East St. Louis is exactly
what it was designed to be – a city that was designed to facilitate
profit, both legal and illegal.”
He notes that the national award given to the city in 1960 was for
its turnaround of corruption, not for its model as an ideal place to
live.
“Even though some people have very pleasant memories that sound like
bedroom suburb memories, East St. Louis was never designed to deliver
that,” Theising said.
Still, says Mayor Carl E. Officer, the brutal deaths of three
children and an expectant mother cannot be discounted as simply more
violence in this impoverished town.
“You don’t ever get used to it,” said Officer, who also runs a
funeral home. “We really have to reflect on our faith. I don’t know
of anything else you can draw upon.”

ATOM-ANTI-TERROR 2006 JOINT EXERCISES START IN YEREVAN
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The representatives of ruling staff
of anti-terrorist subdivisions of CIS countries announced about the
start of the Atom-Anti-terror 2006 joint exercises at the September
27 meeting at the Marriott-Armenia hotel of Yerevan.
A program of organization and holding of operative-searching events
connected with disclosure and extermination of terrorist groups
penetrating into the country’s territory will be worked out during
the exercises. Employees of RA National Security Service special
subdivision will act as terrorists. A joint military operation of
surrounding and extermination of diversion-terrorist group will be
shown on September 28 at RA Defence Ministry and operation of release
of hostages and neutralization of terrorists will be shown in the
territory of Metsamor ANPP.
As Lieutenant-General Gorik Hakobian, Head of RA National Security
Service, mentioned, it is the first time that such large-scale
exercises are held in Armenia. In his words, these exercises are the
logical continuation of the South-Anti-terror, West-Anti-terror,
Azov-Anti-terror and Caspi-Anti-terror exercises held previously
within the framework of CIS.
“Holding of such large-scale exercises cannot be an end in itself and
has concrete tasks: to work out cooperation elements between special
services and their subdivisions when holding joint anti-terrorist
actions,” G.Hakobian said. In his words, another peculiarity of the
current exercises is that for the first time military subdivisions
will also take part in them.
The heads of CIS countries’ anti-terrorist structures and special
services in their speeches touched upon issues of providing security
of atomic energy entities.
It is noteworthy that Secretary of Security Council under RA
President, RA Defence Minister Serge Sargsian and Chief of RA Police,
Colonel-General Hayk Haroutiunian were also present at the event.
Representatives of the Great Eight countries’, OSCE’s, UN’s, Shanghai
Organization’s anti-terrorist structures together with delegations
of CIS countries’ security bodies and special services took part in
the Atom-Anti-terror 2006 exercises as observers.

LONDON ARMENIAN PHOTOGRAPHER EDMOND TERAKOPIAN AWARDED “WORLD PRESS PHOTO” PRIZE
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2006
ISTANBUL, SEPTEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Exhibition of
photos of 2006 winners of the “World Press Photo” international most
famous annual photo exhibition has opened in the exhibition hall of
the Prague University from September 8. The traditional Prague prize
was this year for the first time given to famous London Armenian
photographer Edmond Terakopian.
E.Terakopian photograthed on July 7, 2005 a worker with injuries got
from the explosion taken place in the London underground and with
bloody bandage. He got with this photo the 3rd prize in the “Important
News” nomination of the “World Press Photo-2006” competition. And
this photo was awarded the annual city prize in Prague.
According to the Istanbul “Marmara” daily, during those July days
of 2005, ten English and international periodicals published in the
first page that photo of Edmond Terakopian. On the occasion of the
Prague prize, Edmond Terakopian was also given possibility to present
separately his 12 works as well which were dedicated to consequences
of the terrorism act taken place in London on July 7, 2005.
The “World Press Photo” exhibitions started in Prague from 1990 and
the Prague prize was also fixed on the initiative of Mayor of those
years Jaroslav Goran. This year the prize was given by present Mayor
Pavel Bem.
It is mentioned that this is Edmond Terakopian’s 8th international
prize. He was already proclaimed this year the best photographer of
the year during the annual awarding of the British press. And he also
got a special prize of British photographers-editors in March 2006,
in the “News Photographer of the Year” nomination.
4448 professional photographers from 122 countries of the world
participated this year in the “World Press Photo” awarding, presenting
83 thousand 44 photos. 63 photographers from 25 countries also got
prizes. Finbarr O’Reilly, a Canadian correspondent of the Reuter agency
got the main prize. In a photo taken in Nigeria he pictured a face
of a mother and a hand of a child waiting for humanitarian aid food.

KOCHARIAN: TERRORISTS CANNOT BE STOPPED ONLY WITH THE HELP OF ARMS AND FORCE
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. “Coordination of actions of
special services and law enforcement bodies of different states is
a necessary precondition for efficiency of fighting international
terrorism, various forms of extremism, illegal circulation of drugs
and arms, kidnapping and illegal migration posing danger to life and
rights of citizens.” RA President Robert Kocharian mentioned this in
his address to the participants of the Atom-Anti-terror 2006 joint
exercises being held in Yerevan.
“Terrorists cannot be stopped only with the help of arms and force.
Effective preventive measures of political, diplomatic,
financial-economic character are necessary to liquidate the reasons
giving birth to terrorism and to create insuperable obstacles for
development of terrorist actions,” RA President’s address said.
In his words, the international community makes active and consistent
efforts for forming a coordinated system of anti-terrorist security.
The confirmation of this is participation of representatives of CIS
special services, G8 countries, as well as influential international
organizations in the Atom-Anti-terror 2006 exercises.

GHOUKASSIAN RECEIVES DELEGATION HEADED BY CAROLINE COX
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2006
STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. On September 26, Nagorno
Karabakh President Arkady Ghoukassian received the delegation headed
by Deputy Speaker of British House of Lords, Baroness Caroline Cox. A
number of British and American public figures supporting implementation
of various humanitarian programs in Artsakh were included in the
delegation this time. Noyan Tapan was informed about it from NKR
President’s Press Service.
After mutual greetings Mrs Cox congratulated NKR people and authorities
on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of proclamation of the
Republic. She mentioned that during each visit she is again filled
with optimism and is inspired with diligence of Artsakh people.
At the guests’ request Arkady Ghoukassian touched upon the origin of
the Nagorno Karabakh problem, the war thrusted upon the NKR people and
the current situation. NKR President reaffirmed the Artsakh people’s
will of living free and independently and Stepanakert’s readiness to
pecefully solve the conflict. Answering the questions of those present
the President mentioned the necessity to establish mutual confidence
between the sides as a very important precondition of settlement.
At the end of the meeting Arkady Ghoukassian expressed gratitude to
the guests for their constant attention to Artsakh and expressed the
hope that cooperation traditions will continue.

COUNCIL OF NGOs OF JAVAKHK AND TSALKA CALLS ON ARMENIANS OF JAVAKHK TO PARTICIPATE IN COMING ELECTIONS OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT BODIES
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2006
AKHALKALAK, SEPTEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Council
of Armenian public organizations of Samtskhe Javakhk and Tsalka
calls on Armenians of the region of Samtskhe Javakhk and Tsalka to
participate in elections of local self-government bodies to take
place on October 5.
“Today more than ever, the problem of national existence faces
Armenians of the region of Samtskhe-Javakhk and Tsalka, and this
circumstance may not leave indifferent all the Armenians born on
this land. Participation in October 5 elections is the civic duty of
each of us and it becomes more weighty when the issue of possibility
of living independently and creating is put on the table of a part
of the Armenians,” is mentioned in the Council’s statement made on
September 26.
“We must say general “no” on October 5 to fall and split, humiliation
and collapse, “yes” to Javakhk’s having status of self-government, the
Armenians’ prosperity and development, blossoming of our ancestors’
land, Armenian and Georgian peoples’ friendship,” is said in the
statement of the Council of the Armenian public organizations of
Samtskhe Javakhk and Tsalka.

“NANE” DANCE GROUP PERFORMS IN NEW DELHI ON OCCASION OF 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF RA INDEPENDENCE
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2006
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The “Nane”
dance group representing Armenia had a performance in the Kaman concert
hall in New Delhi, on September 25, within the framework of the events
dedicated to the 15th anniversary of declaring the independence of
the Republic of Armenia. Noyan Tapan was informed about it by the RA
Foreign Minisry’s Press and Information Department.
Ashot Kocharian, the RA Ambassador to India addressed to those present
with the welcome speech at the beginning of the concert. He mentioned
that the events dedicated to the mentioned anniversary symbolize the
centuries-old friendship of the peoples representing the two ancient
civilizations, attaching special importance to the present high level
of the Armenian-Indian friendly relations.
Government officials of India, Ambassadors accredited in India,
representatives of scientific and educational institutions and
associations, students of Armenia participating in re-training courses
in India within the framework of the ITEC program were present at
the concert.
The bright perfomance of the dance group was approved by the
spectators. The Indian TV and press covered the concert process.
The “Nane” dance group will continue its performances on September
27 and 29 in Calcutta and Chandigarh, under the patronage of the RA
Embassy and the Cultural Ties Council of India.