CE WON’T PROBE INTO ARMENIAN ARSONS IN AZERI LANDS
Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 5 2006
The Council of Europe is not credible to investigate the arsons
Armenians committed in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan.
As APA reports, the CE is unlikely to probe into the fact due to
complexity of the process, lack of specialists on this sphere and
some technical problems.
“It is a fact that the CE has no concrete official stance on the issue
as it has no technical and material potential to find and analyze
these facts. The CE stated its stand on the basis of the judgment of
the reliable organizations as the OSCE.
The OSCE mission visited the arsons-scene in summer. But, the mission
concluded that the happenings are not arsons but natural fires.
Unfortunately, the CE can neither confirm nor reject the facts.
Simply, the CE relies on the facts found by the OSCE. The OSCE has
more potential to investigate the issue.”
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

YEREVAN SLAVIC UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR DECLARES WAR TO TURKISH, GEORGIAN, TURKMEN, UKRAINIAN AND AZERBAIJANI HISTORIANS
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug 5 2006
Artyom Khachaturyan, professor of the Yerevan Slavic University called
Turkmenistan’s President Saparmurat Niyazov “successor of barbarians”,
APA reports.
Armenian professor states in his article published in Russian
“Politicheskiy klass” journal Saparmurat Niyazov did not stand against
one’s interest by calling Seljuk Turkish Empire Turkmen state.
“No state protests against Niyazov’s position. Because, no one wants
to be the successor of the “barbaric” Empire,” Khachaturyan underlined.
The Armenian researcher attempted to distort the histories of turkey,
Georgia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Azerbaijan as well. Accusing
Ukrainian historians of appropriating Russian history, Khachaturyan
said the claims that Ukraine is the first Slavic state and the Kyiv
Russian State belonged to Ukrainians are groundless.
He also introduced poet Azerbaijani poet Nizami as Persian. He said
Nizami never wrote in Azerbaijani but in Persian.
The Armenian professor also raised claims against Turkey related to
its denial of the so-called “Armenian genocide”.
Ukrainian and Turkmen historians have not yet reacted to Khachaturyan’s
article written by the order of Russian and Armenian political circles.
Artem Khachataryan is holding an active campaign in the forum section
of the countries.ru website for introducing Azerbaijani poets Nizami
Ganjavi and Khagani Shirvani as Persian. He also called it nonsense
that Armenians killed many Jews in Guba, Azerbaijan saying that the
world community is fed up with Jews trying to create an image of
suffering nation.

HALO TRUST CONTINUES MINE CLEARANCE IN OCCUPIED AZERBAIJANI LANDS DESPITE OFFICIAL BAKU’S PROTEST
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug 5 2006
The Halo Trust Mine Clearance Organisation registered in Britain is
still functioning in Armenian-occupied Azerbaijani lands despite the
Azerbaijani government’s protest.
Nazim Ismayilov, director of the Azerbaijan National Agency of Mine
Action (ANAMA) told the APA exclusively.
“The Halo Trust continues illegal de-mining in the occupied Azerbaijani
lands. We protested against it to international organizations, donors
and the British government. I made remarks to the organization’s
president in an event in Switzerland not long ago.
They called their mine clearance humanitarian actions,” the ANAMA
director underlined.
Mr.Ismayilov also said the Halo Trust presents Azerbaijani province
of Nagorno Garabagh as an independent state. Great majority of its
de-mining teams working in Nagorno Garabagh are former militants
and reconnoiters.
“The Netherlands supports this organization’s illegal actions most
of all. They are involved in other illegal activities under the name
of humanitarian mission,” Ismayilov underlined.
The ANAMA director stressed there is a mine-risk in the 60mn sq.
meters of area administered by the Azerbaijani government.
“We are planning to clear these areas by the end of 2008. The results
of the monitoring of international organizations, Halo Trust show
that there is mine problem in 4 percent or some 500mn sq. meters of
area in the occupied territories,” he said.
According to the ANAMA’s prediction there exist 50-100 thousand
mines in the occupied Azerbaijani lands which can take 12 years
to clear.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BILL TO HELP ARMENIAN HEIRS REGAIN BANK ASSETS
By E.J. Schultz — Bee Capitol Bureau
Sacramento Bee, USA
Aug 5 2006
Governor to decide on longer filing time for genocide lawsuits.
Lawyers seeking to recover millions of dollars in bank deposits
for Armenian genocide victims got some help last week from state
legislators.
A class-action lawsuit filed against two German banks seeks the
return of cash, bonds, gold jewelry and other assets that lawyers
believe are owed to an estimated 2,000 heirs of genocide victims,
including some possibly living in the San Joaquin Valley, home of
thousands of Armenian Americans.
Senate Bill 1524 by Sen. Chuck Poochigian, R-Fresno, and Sen. Jackie
Speier, D-Hillsborough — both of Armenian descent — would extend
the statute of limitations for such claims until 2016.
The bill passed the Legislature last week and is on its way to
the governor’s desk. Gov. Schwarzenegger supports it, according to
his office.
The lawsuit was filed earlier this year on behalf of several Armenians
living in Southern California. Lawyers have argued that the plaintiffs
are free to sue under current law, but attorneys for the defendants
have replied that the statute of limitations prohibits the action,
said Vartkes Yeghiayan, a Los Angeles-area attorney representing
the Armenians.
If the bill were to become law, it “would certainly fortify our
position,” Yeghiayan said.
Representatives of Deutsche Bank A.G. and Dresdner Bank A.G., the
two banks sued, could not be reached for comment.
The bill has already cleared the Legislature once this year. But it
was tied to another bill that would have allowed Mexican American
victims of a 1930s deportation campaign to seek damages for being
forcibly sent back to Mexico. The repatriation was sometimes violent,
as immigrants were taken across the border on trucks, buses and trains,
according to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund,
which backed the bill.
Schwarzenegger recently vetoed the Mexican deportation bill, arguing
that it would have allowed “private litigation of potentially thousands
of claims against the state, local governments and private citizens.”
The governor did not act on the Armenian bill, allowing lawmakers to
pull it back and remove the hook to the Mexican bill. Sen. Joe Dunn,
D-Santa Ana, who led the effort to link the two bills, criticized
Republicans for supporting the Armenian bill but rejecting the
Mexican legislation.
“I have been consistently concerned about the hypocrisy that has shown
up on the Senate floor from my Republican colleagues on these two
bills,” said Dunn, who supports the Armenian bill. “The unfortunate
continuing injustice here is that the handful of surviving victims of
the illegal deportation of the 1930s still do not have an opportunity
for their day in court.”
Poochigian said the bills never should have been linked because
“they are completely different issues.” The Armenian bill, he said,
deals with breaches of contract by private entities, rather than
claims against the state of California.
The Armenian genocide refers to the period between 1915 and 1923, when
Armenians were driven from their homeland in the Ottoman Empire by
means of torture, starvation and murder. The Armenian community says
that 1.5 million people died. Turkey, to this day, doesn’t recognize
the killings as genocide.
The effort to recover bank deposits comes on the heels of a successful
drive to secure millions of dollars in unpaid insurance claims owed to
genocide victims. New York Life Insurance Co. and heirs of about 2,400
policyholders agreed on a $20 million settlement in 2004, followed
by a $17 million settlement between French life insurance company AXA
and about 5,000 people and charities, according to published reports.
The deals were made possible as a result of Poochigian-authored
legislation that extended the statute of limitations for insurance
claims until 2010. The current bill allows genocide victims or heirs
living in the state to go beyond insurance policies and seek bank
deposit claims until 2016.
“It rights a terrible wrong dating back to the beginning of the last
century,” Speier said.
There are no firm estimates on how much money and assets could be
recovered, but “all indications are it’s enormous,” said lead attorney
Mark Geragos.
Geragos — an Armenian American whose family name is Geragosian —
has emotional ties to the case. His grandparents fled the genocide and
settled in Fresno, where they ran a grocery store on Belmont Street,
he said.
The Los Angeles attorney has handled a number of high-profile cases
and his client list has included the likes of Michael Jackson, Scott
Petersen and, most recently, Barry Bonds’ trainer.
But the Armenian case, Geragos said, has the “greatest personal
significance of any of the cases I’ve ever been associated with.”
At a glance ~U A class-action lawsuit filed against two German banks
seeks the return of assets that lawyers believe are owed to heirs of
Armenian genocide victims.
~U Senate Bill 1524 would extend the statute of limitations for such
claims until 2016.
~U The bill passed the Legislature last week and is on its way to
the governor’s desk.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MILITARY BUILDUP WORRIES EUROPE, AND RIGHTLY SO
The Messenger, Georgia
Aug 5 2006
Georgia still has the flag of Europe flying from every public building,
but in reality the country’s relations with the EU have reached
something of a stumbling block. On August 28 EU External Relations
Commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who is in charge of the European
Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), castigated Caucasian countries over huge
increases in military spending.
Speaking at a Ljubljana conference on the implementation of the ENP
action plans with South Caucasus, Ferrero-Waldner had nothing but
extremely stern words for Georgian. Pointing first to the lack of
progress in conflict resolution, which she said was a responsibility
of “all parties”, she went on to argue that the vast increase in the
military budgets of Georgia and Azerbaijan-which she described as going
“through the roof”-was not only unjustifiable given the deplorable
social conditions in those countries, but also hindered the peaceful
resolution of the conflicts.
Though in a subsequent interview with Radio Free Europe she admitted
that this criticism would not prevent the adoption of the ENP action
plans, she added the increase of “hate speech” she detected in all
three South Caucasus countries to her list of charges.
Ferrero-Waldner makes a good case: not only is it clear that in
a country as poor as Georgia, where most of the population live in
extreme poverty, unemployment is rife, access to healthcare is scarce
and teachers and doctors live on a pittance, spending the lions share
of the state budget new guns is unacceptable; an increase in military
spending coupled with an increase in military rhetoric makes peaceful
conflict resolution ever more difficult.
Georgia has repeatedly stated its commitment to solving its separatist
conflicts only by peaceful means, and has submitted peace plans to
that effect to both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. These plans have
one international approval, and call first of all for confidence
building measures to be implemented between the conflicting sides. It
is difficult to see how these plans can proceed past stage one then,
when both sides are rattling their sabres ever louder “lowering the
threshold for war”, and Georgia saw the biggest increase in military
spending of any country in the world this year. “Harsh rhetoric does
not create an atmosphere conducive to restoring mutual trust and
resolving these conflicts” she warns.
In Georgia’s defence, this military build up does start from an
incredibly low base, it was only 1998 when the whole of Senaki
military base (now rebuilt to those ‘European Standards’ we hear so
much about) mutinied over conditions and pay, and Georgia clearly
needs a strong military to stop it sliding back towards being a
failed state. Also, military build up is by and large supported
by the Georgian population, though increased employment and better
social conditions would be supported still more. However, it is also
true is that Georgia needs the EU, membership may be a dim prospect,
but if the peacekeeping forces and settlement mechanisms are to be
internationalised in the conflict zones, the EU will prove far more
acceptable to Russia than NATO; it is with this in mind that Georgia
should take Ferrero-Waldner’s words to heart.
Azerbaijan, fat on oil and gas revenues, without Russian military
might to worry about in its confrontation with Nagorno-Karabakh and
with an authoritarian regime which tightly controls the media, can
ignore the EU’s advice, but any escalation in that conflict would
only add to the suffering of its already impoverished population.
The EU is right to be worried, the last thing Europe needs is
instability on its crucial south-eastern flank, another Balkans would
be a disaster in terms of human trafficking, drugs and terrorism.
Anything they can say to try and push back the Caucasus from the
verge of armed hostilities is to be welcomes, and we can only hope
that regional leaders take Ferrero-Waldner’s advice: “Leaders have
a responsibility to prepare their populations for peace, not war.”
From: Baghdasarian

MEPS BACK ARMENIA GENOCIDE CLAUSE IN TURKEY REPORT
By Lucia Kubosova
EUobserver.com, Belgium
Sept 5 2006
EUOBSERVER / STRASBOURG – Turkey should recognize the Armenian
genocide as a condition for its EU accession, MEPs argue in a highly
critical report adopted by a broad majority in Strasbourg on Monday
(4 September).
The parliamentarians in the foreign affairs committee strongly
criticised Turkey’s slow pace on reforms and urged clear progress in
solving the Cyprus issue.
They stressed that the next step in the country’s membership talks
“will have to depend” on its pre-accession talks committments
“including a comprehensive settlement of border disputes and a
comprehensive settlement regarding Cyprus.”
The report by Dutch centre-right MEP Camiel Eurlings sparked a huge
discussion in the prominent committee with over 300 amendments filed,
but deputies from the biggest groups reached a compromise with a
slightly less strict wording on several issues ahead of yesterday’s
vote.
The re-drafted document – to be voted on in plenary three weeks from
now – highlighted some positive aspects of Turkey’s performance en
route to the EU – such as opening the first chapter of EU legislation,
introducing new laws to fight corruption and broadcasting in Kurdish.
However, it insisted on “persistent shortcomings” in sensitive areas
such as freedom of expression, religious, minority and women’s rights
as well as civil-military relations.
“We could see a clear delay of reforms in Turkey which was reflected
in the report – I hope the Turkish authorities will now take our
message on board,” Mr Eurlings told EUobserver after the vote.
“We wouldn’t help the country by hiding the truth,” he added.
Some deputies expressed their concerns over the impact of the strong
language in the parliament’s annual evaluation – ahead of the European
Commission’s report on Ankara due on 24 October.
“Being a hero in Strasbourg is easy but will this report as it is
written actually help Turkey’s real reformers? No, it will make their
life and work harder,” argued German Green deputy Cem Ozdemir.
Armenia divisive Dutch Socialist member Jan Marinus Wiersma commented
that a compromise text backed by the committee “is more positive than
the original proposal, but I’m afraid that the call for recognition
of genocide of Armenians will attract the most attention in Turkey.”
“This issue has so far not been specified as one of the formal criteria
so to suggest that it is a ‘prerequisite’ for Turkey’s accession is
bound to spark controversy,” he added.
British liberal deputy Andrew Duff also criticised the suggestion –
filed by the Belgian socialist MEP Veronique de Keyser – as “very bad,
uniting the far right and far left forces in the parliament.”
He also pointed out that the parliament’s foreign affairs committee
should have expressed “greater appreciation of Turkey’s contribution
to the foreign policy and security initiatives that the EU is also
involved in.”
Turkey’s parliament is set to vote on Tuesday on the government’s
proposal to send troops to Lebanon as part of the UN peace-keeping
force, with prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urging deputies to
join European countries in the mission.

LAST-MINUTE ASSURANCE
The New Anatolian, Turkey
Sept 5 2006
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday that Turkish forces will
be sent to Lebanon to keep the peace, stressing that refusal to send
the forces would be a strategic mistake.
Speaking to news channel NTV, Gul urged all concerned sides to look
at the bigger picture in the Turkish troop deployment issue and said,
“Sending forces and attaining peace and stability in the region is in
the interest of Turkey. If there is a contribution made to stability,
we shouldn’t have reservations about sending troops.”
Gul stated that the defeated March 1, 2003 motion before the Iraq
war is very different from the motion for Lebanon which will face
a Parliament vote today. “In the March 1 motion, the deployment of
foreign countries’ forces in Turkey and their launching attacks
on another country were at stake,” Gul said, referring to the
U.S. invasion of Iraq which was then imminent. “However, the motion for
Lebanon paves the way for sending Turkish forces to a mission which
is participated in by the international community. Therefore, in the
name of my party, I don’t see any resistance to approving the motion.”
Stressing that the Turkish forces will be sent to Lebanon as parts of
efforts to find a lasting peace in the region, Gul also assured that
Turkish forces won’t take part in any operation disarming Hezbollah.
“Hezbollah is part of Lebanon and the Lebanese government which
was established to end the occupation,” Gul added. “But then it
turned into an armed movement. Hezbollah said ‘yes’ together with
the Lebanese government to the deployment of UN peacekeepers in
the region. Hezbollah will be disarmed by the Lebanese army and if
something unexpected happens, we’ll withdraw our forces.”
Gul also assured the public that all the groups in Lebanon want the
presence of Turks in the country. “We had talks with Lebanese Prime
Minister Fuad Saniora, and all others including the Shiite and Sunni
groups,” Gul said. “All of them want Turks in the region. Only the
Armenians have different views on the issue.”
‘Number of Turkish forces limited to mission’
Foreign Minister Gul stressed that the number of forces that will
be deployed to Lebanon if Parliament approves the decision will be
limited to the activities they undertake there.
Stating that he doesn’t expect the deployment of more than 1,000
soldiers, Gul said, “The naval mission is much firmer. We have also
things to do concerning the training of the Lebanese army. The duty
area of the Turkish forces will be determined by the UN.”
Govt seeks Annan’s political support for Lebanon mission
Meanwhile, the Turkish government has turned its eyes to this week’s
visit of the United Nations secretary-general to find political
support for its stance towards sending Turkish troops to Lebanon.
UN chief Annan will arrive in Turkey on late Tuesday after Parliament
has gotten the motion for a vote. However, diplomatic sources
told The New Anatolian that no matter the decision of Parliament,
the political support and encouragement that will be voiced by the
highest UN authority for the Turkish government’s stance on deploying
troops to Lebanon will strengthen its hand in the public and against
the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which strongly
opposes the mission. “Annan during his visit will probably praise
the Turkish government’s contribution to efforts to attain peace in
the Middle East and will thank Turkey in the same way that he gave
political support to other countries during his tour of the region,”
said one source.
During his contacts in Ankara on Wednesday, Annan will meet with
Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. In wake of the latest
developments, Sezer’s talks with Annan will also be in the spotlight
since they have opposing stances on Turkey’s sending forces to the
UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.
Touching on the upcoming visit of Annan to Turkey during his speech,
Foreign Minister Gul stated that Ankara will learn from Annan about
the needs of the Lebanese people and army after the decision of
the Parliament.
Diplomatic sources also told TNA that Annan will discuss a range
of issues including deployment of Turkish forces in Lebanon, Iran’s
nuclear crisis and the Cyprus dispute. According to the sources, the
operational aspects of the mission that could be taken by Turkish
forces in Lebanon will be discussed, but not the details since the
specifics of the issue will be determined by the donor countries.
“Turkish leaders might brief Annan on their preferences about the
activity area and role of the Turkish soldiers planned to be deployed
in Lebanon and will get Annan’s views on the issue,” a source said.
Gul: US steps against PKK terrorism not enough
Foreign Minister Gul stated that although there have been some positive
steps by the U.S. towards eliminating the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK) threat from northern Iraq, Ankara doesn’t find them
satisfactory.
“There are some positive developments, but they don’t meet our
expectations,” said Gul.
Touching on debates on the Iraqi flag issue, Gul stated that Iraqi
Kurdish region President Massoud Barzani’s move to replace the Iraqi
flag by a Kurdish one is not only unacceptable for Turkey but also
for other groups in Iraq and urged all concerned sides to voice
their concerns.
FM: Turkey to determinedly continue EU process
Brushing off European Union accusations that Ankara Turkish has become
indifferent to its accession process, Gul stressed that the government
will continue its process to join the Union with decisiveness.
“The steps that we will take for EU membership will strengthen our hand
in the Cyprus dispute,” said Gul stressing that Turkey’s bid to join
the Union is not an issue that should be blocked by the Cyprus dispute.
Underlining that he doesn’t expect a crisis in Turkey’s relations with
the Union by the end of the year, Gul also stated that he doesn’t see
criticisms of Turkey’s chief EU negotiator Ali Babacan as justified.

LEBANON’S FATE AT THE HAND OF ISRAEL: THE OBLITERATION OF A COUNTRY
Written by Armen Kouyoumdjian
Newropeans Magazine, France
Sept 5 2006
Once again I have had to redirect my report towards a subject other
than the one I had planned to cover this week-end. Israel’s assault
on the Lebanon cannot leave me silent. May I also declare that more
than ever in this particular case, I shall not tolerate any critical
reaction to what I am about to write, none whatsoever. This is not a
moment for debating in the Agora, and if you (or your mother-in-law
to whom you pass-on these papers) do not like it, do not read them.
PROGRESSIVE TREND
Believe it or not, I used to be quite a fan of Israel during my young
days in Beirut. I do not think it has anything to do with the fact
that we are of the same age (I am 12 days older than Israel and much,
much wiser). It probably relates to my early interest in military
affairs. I even applauded its victories in the 1967 war, though it
fucked up my last summer in Beirut, before I left that city for good
in September of that year. It probably had not much to do with the
several Jewish classmates I had at both school and university there,
many of whom ended up for a short while in Israel before leaving it
in disgust. I myself avidly followed all the great military prowess
with great admiration. I soon realised how wrong I was.
My first inkling that this was not a show to be admired came on
December 27, 1968. I myself was just recovering from the May student
revolution at the Sorbonne where I was studying, when Israeli commandos
flew into Beirut airport and blew up in cold blood the 13-strong
fleet of its once proud Middle East Airlines. Hey, I thought, this
is not war, this is vandalism.
If that did not change my mind, the following four decades have
given plenty more ammunition. The 1978 invasion of the South, the
1982 occupation of half the country with the resulting destruction,
and the Sabra and Chatila massacres. Any lingering doubts that may
have remained within me would have been swept away when Menachem
Beguin stopped Armenian scholars from attending seminars on Genocide
in Israel, after which followed repeated denials of the Armenian
Genocide by various top Israeli officials, finally culminating in an
unholy alliance with Turkey. They even instructed Jewish organisations
worldwide to shamefully collaborate in the negation campaign. Begin’s
real name was actually Wolfovitch (hey, just like that guy at the
White House).
THE TARGET
The country which Israel has now decided to obliterate is not just any
country. It is the cradle of the ancient Phoenician civilisation that
gave the world its first modern alphabet, and pioneered international
commerce. It has been the home of great artists and thinkers. It has
given birth to some of the world’s most brilliant business brains, and
at least half a dozen countries in Latin America have had presidents
from among the ranks of the large Lebanese Diaspora. In my Beirut
school we spoke three languages during break, never discriminated
in any way among the many communities which made up our classes,
in an educational system the quality of which I never saw again in
the three countries where I have subsequently lived. We followed the
latest pop music and films from all around the world.
Half a century ago there were two French-language weeklies dedicated
to movies in Beirut. There is not a single one in Chile.
Above all this was the most hospitable country and people to have ever
roamed the earth. I cannot compare the slap-up banquets that hosts
used to come up with whenever one visited, to the visits my own sons
made to the houses of their Chilean classmates when, during a study
session of several hours their mothers would not even serve them a
glass of water. Though it does not apply to my own family history,
when Armenian survivors of the 1915 Genocide arrived in the Lebanon,
itself in the midst of a famine and other difficulties, the local
authorities built an entire village (Anjar) to house as many as they
could. The Armenians owe the Lebanese, and in fact Arabs in general,
a debt which can never be repaid enough.
This country, whose modern independence is recent, is built on a
fragile equilibrium which cannot easily take traumas. It is not the
solid balance of the cement-less vault of medieval cathedrals, but
the delicate one of a pyramid of Chinese acrobats. Mess around with
one and the whole thing collapses, as happened several times over the
past half century. To expect its authorities and modest armed forces
to do other people’s dirty work in as unrealistic as it is unjust.
If the genesis of the Hezbollah problem is Iran and Syria, supposedly
card-carrying members of the Axis of Evil, how come their territory
is not being attacked, whereas poor Lebanon is obliterated?
THE PERPETRATOR AND HIS ACTS
The answer is: the cowardly bully always targets the weak and
defenceless. To call Israel a Terrorist State would be an undeserved
compliment. Terrorists at least have an ulterior motive, however
warped it may sometimes be. Israel is a Vandal State. Vandals just
destroy for the sheer pleasure of causing harm. Within a few days,
this trading country’s transport and energy infrastructure is in ruins,
and half a million of its population are refugees. Its painful recovery
from a long and also foreign-induced internal conflict has been wiped
out at a stroke.
Its trading and tourist activities are dead. It will probably have
to default on its large public debt, much of which is held by its own
banking system which in turn might become insolvent. Customs revenues
are one of the main sources of treasury income. The cosmopolitan
fabric of its population will once again be ruined by the mass exodus,
which will take years to reverse, if ever. Meanwhile, there is an
immediate humanitarian problem of massive proportions, when medical
help cannot even get to the victims, and the power shortage prevents
even those getting to a hospital from getting proper treatment.
TIRED ARGUMENTS
The main argument presented by Israel to justify its actions is
Self Defence. This does not stand any scrutiny. Both national and
international laws restrict your field of action in this respect. If
you are a private individual and someone throws stones at your house,
you can try to stop them and nobody will blame you for it. However,
you have no legal nor moral right to go to his house, kill his family,
set fire to his possessions, and then go on to do the same with his
neighbours, the whole town where he came from and the whole country
it is situated in. Articles 33 and 147 of the Geneva Convention are
very clear about banning collective punishment and destroying targets
of no military relevance.
It is amazing that a state with a secret service and armed forces
that carry such a high reputation, could not seek out the Hezbollah
culprits who “kidnapped” three of its soldiers (whatever happened
to the concept of prisoners of war, aren’t they part and parcel of
a military conflict?). Instead, not just areas known to be used as
Hezbollah hideouts, not just the country’s entire infrastructure,
but residential areas of both Muslims & Christians, not to mention
United Nation posts and more have been struck.
Now there is a land invasion developing. The refugees who cannot
leave the country are clogging up the capital, causing an immediate
refugee situation which will then turn into deep social tension.
The territory of Lebanon will not only accumulate understandable
additional hatred against Israel, but will become a place of unrest
which cannot be of any comfort to its neighbour. Their old claim to
annex Lebanon up to the Litani river may be fulfilled, but it will
only increase the pressure in the overpopulated remainder of the
country. Physics 101.
Let me get on to a more controversial argument, that of Israel’s
Right to Exist. I think by its behaviour as a Rogue State, it has long
lost this right. Having a right to a country is not divine, even for
God’s chosen people. It is a capricious gift of history. Some have
it, others have it for a while, and others never get it. Nobody
has the right to mess up the whole of humanity every few years,
in order to “guarantee” their own geographical survival. The Kurds
are a nation that never managed to have a country, but they are
not responsible for the 1973 start of the long rise in oil prices,
which were multiplied by 30x in the following 33 years. The Poles
have been in and out of having a country for most of their history,
and though France and Britain went to war for them in 1939, they were
sold down the river as soon as WWII ended. The Kashmiri are fighting
for a country. We Armenians were without one for the best part of a
thousand years. Did we go out and steal anybody else’s country as
a result? Does Hillary Clinton say for us what she said last week
(“We will stand with Israel because Israel is standing for American
values as well as Israeli ones”). Those values appear closer these
days to those of Corporal Schillgruber in the 1930’s.
THE CURSE
If it is anything but a small consolation, everyone I have spoken to in
recent days has been highly critical of Israel. It is understandable
that the US administration has done nothing to prevent or stop this
outrage, but the indifference of the Europeans is harder to fathom. In
any case, the damage is done. A wonderful country has been willfully
destroyed. It might recover, one day. There is a spot just north
of Beirut, a gorge through which flows the Nahr el Kalb (the River
of the Dog). From Antiquity, it became a tradition for conquerors
passing through Lebanon to carve their names on the stony walls of
the river bank. Assyrian kings, Egyptian Pharaohs, Greek and Roman
generals and the more modern armies (such as the nostalgic Régiment
de Marche du Tonkin of the French Army). Tourist guides loved to
show them to visitors and say: “they all came, they all went, but
we are still here”). Maybe, Insh’allah, they will still be there
again. In the meantime, I am putting an old Armenian curse on the
State of Israel and all those who sail in her, adding that if God
elected that as the country of his chosen people, I do not know who
is the schmuck who gave Him the voting bulletin. The Armenian Curse
is very effective but secret, though I can tell you that compared to
its consequences, the Seven Plagues of Egypt appear as harmless as
an old ladies’ bridge afternoon.
The day before Yom Kippur, you have to seek forgiveness from all
the people you have wronged. On the day of Yom Kippur, you have to
seek forgiveness from God. There are things, however, which have
no forgiveness.
Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy
bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the
ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be
devoured. Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it,
saith the Lord GOD.” (Eze 39:4-5)
Armen Kouyoumdjian Country Risk Strategist – Valparaiso(Chile) org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&amp ;id=4522&Itemid=110
–Boundary_(ID_pfD7HUmcb2 Bz570oIfMR4Q)–

MORE THAN 10% OF INVESTMENTS IN ARMENIA FALL ON RUSSIA
SKRIN Market & Corporate News
September 5, 2006 Tuesday 1:18 PM GMT
Foreign investments into real sector of the Armenian economy totaled
$178.5mln in the first half of 2006, having increased by 27.9%,
comparing with analogous index of 2005, Cbonds said. As REGNUM was
informed at the Armenian National Statistic Service, direct investments
totaled about $86.3mln (9.2% increase). In first half of 2006, 33.1%
of direct investments were sent into communication sphere; 14.3% –
into minerals industry; 9.4% – into air transportation sphere.
Major investors into real sector of the Armenian economy are Lebanon
– $49.6mln (increase by 2.1 times), Greece – $37.9mln (decrease by
35%), Argentina – $17.2mln (increase by 3.7 times), Russia – $19.2mln
(increase by 41.9%), the USA – $14.8mln (increase by 59.2%), and
Germany – $12.1mln (increase by 63.1 times).

TURKEY REJECTS EU CALL TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Agence France Presse — English
September 5, 2006 Tuesday 12:54 PM GMT
Turkey denounced on Tuesday a European Union report saying that Ankara
must recognize the 1915-1917 genocide in Armenia as a condition for
joining the EU.
“We are dismayed by efforts aiming to impose preconditions that are
far from objective on questions that require serious academic inquiry,”
the Turkish foreign ministry said in a communique.
A report adopted by the EU parliament’s foreign affairs committee
Monday night deplored Turkey’s lack of progress in implementing reforms
needed to join the rich 25-nation bloc, and alluded specifically the
Ankara’s refusal to acknowledge the Armenian genocide.
“Certain elements of the report… written with political
considerations are not compatible with the credibility of the European
parliament,” the Turkish foreign ministry said.
Armenians estimate that up to 1.5 million of their forebear perished
in systematic killings orchestrated by the Ottoman Empire between
1915 to 1917.
Ankara rejects all accusations of genocide, estimating the number of
Armenian deaths at 300,000 and arguing they were not a consequence
of deliberate extermination but a combination of war, disease, famine
and ethnic conflict.