Armenian defense minister: Events in Lebanon extremely dangerous for the region
Regnum, Russia
July 15 2006
The events in Lebanon are extremely dangerous for the region, Armenian
Defense Minister Serge Sarkisyan believes. At the same time, he noted
that Armenia’s role in this issue is close to zero.
It is worth mentioning, the Armenian Foreign Ministry made a statement
on shelling of Lebanon by Israel on July 14. The statement particularly
says: “The Armenian Foreign Ministry expresses its serious concern in
connection with large-scale military operations and numerous civilian
victims in Lebanon. Armenia condemns any acts of violence, let it be
hostage taking or use of force. We, in particular, consider it to be
inadmissible the disproportionate use of force that damages civilians
and infrastructure. Actions like those committed by Israel are hard to
understand, taking into account the fact that the Lebanese government
clearly stated that it had nothing to do with hostage taking. We hope
that a ceasefire will be established immediately in order to settle
current problems through talks.”
In the morning of July 12, Israel started a military operation in
Lebanon after the Hezbollah group kidnapped two Israeli servicemen.
Israeli Air Forces struck Lebanese transport communications systems
and Hezbollah infrastructure near the border.

Azeri-Armenian conflict to be discussed at G8 summit in St Petersburg
Source: Trend
15.07.2006
Author: R.Agayev
CIS regional conflicts will be undoubtedly discussed by heads of G8,
and namely in this respect the conflict discussion will be inevitable,
Trend’s special correspondent reports quoting Azer Mursaliyev, chief
of foreign policy department, Kommersant.
Speaking on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, Mursaliyev said
President of Azerbaijan said that his meeting with President of Armenia
Robert Kocharyan and in general all conversations with Armenia do not
make any sense. He also said there is still no information confirming
near Aliyev-Kocharyan meeting possibility, including that during the
informal meeting of CIS leaders in Moscow in the third decade of July.
“Although I do not rule out such a chance, and Russian government,
using informal meeting in Moscow as a tool, will undoubtedly act in
this direction, he added, Naturally, Karabakh conflict will not be the
only matter of discussion, but nevertheless one of the most important
as the said conflict is one of those to be settled the first”.
Besides, Mursaliyev says the US and other Western countries
will also promote acceleration of peaceful process in a view of
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. “In this respect, Russia will also make
an effort during the CIS informal summit to catch initiative in this
matter”, he concluded.

UA prof faces Turkish trial for novel
Arizona Republic, AZ
July 15 2006
Mike Cronin
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 15, 2006 12:00 AM
Marly Rusoff, a New York-based literary agent, says it’s like writing
about the Holocaust in Germany and being jailed for “insulting
Germanness.”
But in Turkey, it’s the law.
Elif Shafak, a University of Arizona assistant professor of Near
Eastern studies whom Rusoff represents, has been charged with
“insulting Turkishness” under Turkey’s Article 301 of the Turkish
Criminal Code. If convicted, the author could go to prison.
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Shafak’s novel, The Bastard of Istanbul, deals, in part, with the
conflict between the Turks and Armenians that began in 1915. A mass
evacuation that lasted until 1923 resulted in up to 1.5 million
Armenian deaths. Most American and Western scholars categorize those
deaths as genocide, saying the Turks massacred the Armenians.
In Shafak’s novel, one of the characters refers to “Turkish butchers.”
The Turkish government and some international historians, however,
reject the genocide claim.
Turkey maintains that many Armenians died of starvation, disease and
exposure on forced marches to Syria. Those marches were in retaliation
against the Christian minority for reportedly collaborating with
Russia during World War I. Turkey also says the death toll is inflated.
Although Shafak’s case has been reported in the Turkish media,
prosecutors and court officials there have not confirmed it.
Shafak, 35, on leave from UA, is not incarcerated. A trial date has
not been set, the author told the Arizona Daily Star.
“No Turkish writer has ever written about the Armenian genocide,”
Rusoff said. “She (Shafak) wrote about it (while living in Tucson).
It was translated into Turkish. It was published there first in March
and became a bestseller. That’s when trouble started.”
Shafak’s first novel, written in English, The Saint of Incipient
Insanities, was published by Farrar Straus & Giroux in 2004.
The European Union has frequently warned Turkey that its efforts
to join the bloc could be hampered by Article 301, which sets out
penalties for insulting the Turkish Republic, its officials or
“Turkishness.” It has been used to bring charges against dozens of
journalists, publishers and scholars.
Shafak said her book “questions two big taboos, one of them a political
taboo – the Armenian Question – and the other a sexual taboo –
incest. So it was not easy to digest for some people and it caused
a lot of stir.”

Azeri FM received Japanese deputy FM
Source: Trend
15.07.2006
Author: P.Kasamanski
On July 14, the foreign minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov
received the Japanese deputy foreign minister Akiko Yamanaka.
The guest noted that the visit of Azerbaijani president to Japan in
February of the current year played an important role in strengthening
the relations between the two countries, and the cooperation on base
of signed agreements covers several spheres.
Besides, she noted that Japan highly assesses the efforts of Azerbaijan
in developing the democracy and market economy.
Yamanaka expressed that Japan is ready to cooperate with Azerbaijan
in other spheres, particularly in pharmaceutics, production of
air-conditioners and development of small and medium business. She
noted that the strengthening of peace, stability and prosperity in
Azerbaijan affects the stability in South Caucasus. Besides, she
pointed out that Tokyo has always supported the peaceful settlement
of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Mentioning the importance of joint Azerbaijani-Japanese statement
“On wide development of friendship and partnership of between Japan
and Azerbaijan” made during the visit of Azerbaijani president Ilham
Aliyev to Japan, Mammadyarov highly assessed the cooperation of the
two countries within UNO.
He presented to the attention of the guest that the aggression of
Armenia against Azerbaijan prevents the stability in South Caucasus
region.
Noting that the regulation of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a
stage-by-stage process, Mammadyarov mentioned the importance of
returning the occupied lands, placing the internally displaced persons
there, ensuring their security and prosperity and then appointing
the status of Nagorno-Karabakh within the territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan.

Thousands of Aussies stranded in Beirut
Washington Times, DC
July 15 2006
Some 25,000 Australian tourists are reported trapped in Lebanon in
the fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The Age newspaper said some people had managed to cross to Syria
to fly home from there, despite the bombing of the Beirut-Damascus
highway by Israeli warplanes. But others remained trapped in and
around the Lebanese capital, including 43 performers of an Armenian
dance troupe based in Sydney.
Roland Jabbour, chairman of the Australian-Arabic Council, was
reportedly stuck in a Beirut hotel with his family after Israeli jets
bombed the runway of the international airport.
The Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra said the situation was
being reviewed constantly and Australia had no immediate plans for
evacuation, The Age said.

Aussie dance troupe stranded
Daily Telegraph, Australia
July 15 2006
An Australian dance troupe stranded in Lebanon by the bombing of
Beirut airport has been told by Australian authorities to stay put
in its hotel in the Lebanese capital.
Israel has blockaded Lebanese ports and struck Beirut airport and two
military airbases, expanding reprisals that have killed 53 civilians in
Lebanon since Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers a day earlier.
The parliamentary secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander
Downer, Teresa Gambaro, said 2200 Australians were registered as
being in Lebanon.
But she said that figure could be much higher.
More than 27,000 Australians visited Lebanon last year, she said.
Ms Gambaro said the Australian embassy in Lebanon has temporarily
closed.
The advice from DFAT was for Australians in Lebanon is to “stay put”
in what is a “very volatile situation”.
“The best they can do is to remain in a secure location indoors. To
monitor the media and follow the instructions of local authorities,”
she told ABC radio.
The Sydney-based Armenian dance group of 43 performers, travelling
with family and friends, arrived in Beirut from Syria two days ago.
The group left Sydney three weeks ago and performed for two weeks in
Armenia before spending three days in Syria.
Troupe spokesman Joseph Diodarty said the group could not see or hear
the effects of any of the attacks from their hotel, 30 minutes drive
from the airport.
Australia Department of Foreign Affairs officials have been in contact
with the group and advised them to stay at their hotel and not move
about the city, he said.
“For two days at least, until there’s news from the airport whether
they are ready to go or not,” Mr Diodarty told ABC Radio.
The group had believed they would be able to leave Lebanon while
hostilities were confined to southern Lebanon.
But when the group discovered today that three runways at the airport
had been bombed they started to worry.
“We all just sort of thought, ‘OK, how are we going to get out of
here?’,” Mr Diodarty said.
The group made inquiries about travelling overland to Syria but were
told the border was closed.
“There’s no way we can travel to any bordering country either by train,
especially by plane, or bus or car,” Mr Diodarty said.
“It’s left us stranded … .
“We’ll just see how we go in the next couple of days.”

Lost in a warzone
Daily Telegraph, Australia
July 15 2006
By Lillian Saleh
UP to 25,000 Australians are stranded in Lebanon as Israeli jets strafe
the streets in a nation virtually cut off from the outside world.
With the Australian Embassy in Beirut shut, they are being forced to
fend for themselves.
The battle between Israel and terror group Hezbollah has turned a
traditional annual pilgrimage for thousands of Australian-Lebanese
into a living nightmare.
Among those trapped were 70 teenagers from the Armenian Sydney Dance
Company and their 10 chaperones.
The troupe was only stopping in Lebanon for two days after returning
from a dance competition in Armenia.
As bombs rained down on the Lebanese capital, the dancers — average
age 17 — have been told to stay in their rooms at the White Tower
Hotel.
Half a world away, frantic parents are desperately trying to reach
their children to ascertain their well-being.
Dance company president Reg Kolokossin’s two sons, Peter, 16, and
Garbis, 18, are among those trapped in their besieged Beirut hotel.
“Some parents here are comforted by the fact their children are
telling them they are okay, but we are worried about the long term
affects and how long they are going to be stuck there,” Mr Kolokossin,
whose three nieces are also stranded, said.
“None of us here have been getting any sleep. We are overcome
with worry.
“We are hearing the American President talking about bringing in
ships and helicopters to get their citizens out.
“We want to hear what our Government is going to do and how quickly
they’re going to do it to bring our children home.”
Australian Muslim Doctors Against Violence president Dr Jamal Rifi
fears for the safety of his sister Rajja Rifi, her husband Azam
Allouche and their three sons Hilal, 12, Adam, 15 and Ahmed, 17.
“My sister hasn’t been back to Lebanon since she moved here 20
years ago — she has spent the past six years planning this trip,”
Dr Rifi told The Saturday Daily Telegraph.
He spent several hours yesterday trying to contact his sister via
telephone.
“We just can’t get through. The other night we tried for four hours
but the lines are constantly congested,” he said.
Dr Rifi said his sister and her family were seeking refuge in northern
Lebanon while plans were being arranged to get them out via Syria
or Jordan.
“The problem with that is that the Australian Embassy is closed and
they cannot get visas,” he said.
He said, with major highways in the country closed, any plans to
escape via the road network would be fraught with danger.
In Sydney, Arabic-speaking Australians with relatives stranded in
Lebanon are inundating Arabic commercial radio station 2ME with their
fears for loved ones.
Station general manager John Martin told The Saturday Daily Telegraph
the network’s 16 phone lines had been in “meltdown” since the crisis
in Lebanon escalated.
He said listeners were desperate to know why the decision was made
to close the Australian Embassy — effectively stranding thousands
of Australians enjoying the northern summer.
He said callers had put aside religious differences to express their
fears for their motherland and relatives caught up in the bloody
violence.
“We have 16 phone lines and every one of them has been in complete
meltdown all day,” Mr Martin said.
“People are validly worried for their relatives.”
For announcer Anis Ghanem, that fear is close to home, with his wife
Jacqueline stranded in eastern Beirut.
“She went over late last month to visit her sick mother and was due
back in two weeks,” a worried Mr Ghanem said.
“I have been trying to get through to her for the past two days
but because others are also trying to check on relatives, the lines
are congested.”

Azeri delegation in PACE has prepared more than 50 documents
Baku Today, Azerbaijan
July 15, 2006
The Azerbaijani delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe (PACE) has prepared more than 50 documents, Rafael Huseynov,
the member of Azerbaijani delegation in PACE, told Trend.
He noted that 45 out of the documents have been prepared by himself.
“Some of them have been dedicated to the European problems, turning
of the Council of Europe into a developed organization and democratic
reforms in Europe. A majority of documents have been prepared with
various aspects of Armenian policy against Azerbaijan,” he told.
Besides, he stressed that the members of Azerbaijani delegation
have prepared documents on the damage inflicted by Armenians to
the agriculture and ecology of Azerbaijan, Armenians’ destroying
the cultural monuments, keeping nuclear remainders in Azerbaijan’s
occupied territories and firing the forests.
Huseynov noted that the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan is
not ordinary, but complex problem. “Armenia pursues the policy of
destroying Azerbaijani people. This policy has many aspects each with
individual document,” he told.
According to him, 300 deputies from more than 40 Council of Europe
member-countries have passed their signature on the prepared
documents. “In result of this, on January 25, 2005, in the first
paragraph of the resolution No. 1416 Armenia was recognized as
aggressor country and Nagorno-Karabakh as separatist regime,” he added.

Puzzle over Artur airport escape
Standard, Kenya
July 15 2006
By Biketi Kickechi and Patrick Mathangani
The baffling escape of the so-called Artur brothers from the fiercely
guarded Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on June 8 yesterday
came under scrutiny at the Commission of Inquiry investigating the
Armenian saga.
The Commission heard that police were instructed to close the airport’s
main gates moments after the Arturs drew guns at a charging crowd,
but the brothers still fled.
An inspector of police stationed at the airport during the incident
on the evening of Thursday, June there were more than 50 officers on
duty at the time.
Inspector Stephen Kithinji said he received frantic instructions on
police radio to have the gates closed, and relayed the orders to an
officer manning the entrance.
But when the gates were closed and vehicles searched, there was no
trace of the Arturs, said the officer who manned the gate, Constable
David Yator Kiprotich.
Earlier, the commission was told the escape puzzled senior officers
and angered Police Commissioner Maj-Gen Hussein Ali, who demanded
to know how the Arturs drove for a kilometer, to the gate, without
being arrested.
Asked to explain how the escape could have occurred with gates closed,
Kithinji replied: “I can’t tell, my Lords.”
Kithinji was being cross-examined by Ms Jane Ondieki, lawyer for
suspended CID director Joseph Kamau, who wanted to know how the Arturs
could have evaded the dragnet.
Kamau was suspended on June 12, four days after the Arturs breached
security at the airport by drawing guns at a crowd. They had refused
to pay duty for goods their guests had brought into the country.
Former police commander Shedrach Kiruki chairs the commission,
sitting at Kenyatta International Conference Centre.
Yesterday, Kiprotich said the Officer Commanding Station, a Mr Gikonyo,
later joined him and they engaged in a fruitless search for the Arturs
at the airport.
Kithinji said when he attempted to persuade Margaryan to pay duty
for the seven CCTV cameras and a receiver, the latter said he could
not pay duty for “such small items”.
He said Margaryan boasted that he was a VIP investor who never paid
duty for his containers entering the country.
The Artur brothers left the airport after they had allegedly snatched
goods without paying tax and whipped out pistols from holsters tucked
on their hips to scare away furious members of the public.
Police officers based at the airport continued giving contradictory
accounts of what transpired at the baggage hall.
Two officers, Josphat Kirui and Geoffrey Muthama, said they were at
the baggage hall contrary to statements by other witnesses that they
were no where near there during the commotion between Margaryan and
the customs officers.
The two officers said they shielded the brothers from a hostile crowd
of about 300 people and escorted them to the car park.
“Two white people who were in the company of the Artur brothers drew
pistols at the car park,” said Kirui.
Their story was the complete opposite of that narrated by their
immediate boss, Sergeant Everlyne Awonda who said Artur Margaryan
drew out his gun as he exited the baggage hall.
Nambale and Ochieng’ had earlier said Margaryan drew out two pistols
as he stepped out of the hall to scare away the hostile crowd.
Muthama told the Commission that Artur Margaryan was spoiling for
a fight while the crowd was baying for his blood, that is why they
escorted them.
He however explained that they did not arrest them after saving them
from the mob because they were known and could be caught later.
Others present at the baggage hall have consistently said Margaryan
walked into the hall accompanied by a bodyguard who took away the
goods.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN OFFICE CONCERNED OVER HOSTILITIES IN LEBANON
Arka News Agency, Armenia
July 14 2006
YEREVAN, July 14. /ARKA/. The RA Foreign Office is concerned over
the military operations in Lebanon and over numerous victims among
civilians.
“Armenia condemns any violence, including hostage taking and use of
force. We consider unequal use of force causing damage to civilians
and infrastructures especially inadmissible,” says a statement of
the RA Foreign Office.
“Israel’s actions are difficult to understand, considering the fact
that the Lebanese Government clearly stated that it has nothing to
do with the hostage taking,” the statement says.
The RA Foreign Office hopes for the establishment of cease-fire in
the region for the settlement of the problem by means of negotiations.