MUSLIM LEADERS URGE ARMENIAN WITHDRAWAL FROM KARABAKH ENCLAVE
Agence France Presse — English
June 21, 2006 Wednesday 2:04 PM GMT
Leaders of Muslim states urged the immediate and unconditional
withdrawal of ethnic Armenian forces from the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh
enclave in Azerbaijan in a declaration signed in Baku on Wednesday.
In a document called the Baku Declaration, the 57 member states of
the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) said they “strongly
condemn the aggression” of Armenia against Azerbaijan and “urge
the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian
occupying forces.”
The Armenian-majority enclave of Karabakh seceded from Azerbaijan
in the late 1980s, sparking a six-year conflict between Armenia
and Azerbaijan that claimed 25,000 lives and displaced hundreds of
thousands of people.
Despite a 1994 ceasefire, tensions remain high in the mountainous
region — one of the world’s most militarized zones.
The OIC declaration called on member states to “support Azerbaijan
on the issue of full restoration of its territorial integrity.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OIC DEMANDS ARMENIAN FORCES PULLOUT FROM AZERBAIJAN
by Sevidzh Abdullayeva and Viktor Shulman
ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 21, 2006 Wednesday 11:48 AM EST
The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) demanded Armenia
immediately, unconditionally and irrevocably withdraw its armed units
from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, according to a declaration
adopted at the 33rd session of the Council of OIC Foreign Ministers.
The foreign ministers said the settlement of the occupied territories
of Azerbaijan, the economic activity and the exploitation of natural
resources “are illegal and cause damage to the peace process.” They
condemned the destruction of cultural monuments and voiced concern
about mass fires in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
The OIC urged the international community to take all the necessary
measures to achieve a peace agreement on the dragged-out conflict
in Nagorno-Karabakh. “We urge the OIC member-states to support
Azerbaijan’s efforts to restore its territorial integrity and
sovereignty,” the declaration says.

ISLAMIC GROUP SAYS IRANIAN NUCLEAR CRISIS MUST BE RESOLVED THROUGH U.N. WATCHDOG
Aida Sultanova
AP Worldstream
Jun 21, 2006
Foreign ministers from member nations of the Organization of the
Islamic Conference said Wednesday that the dispute over Iran’s nuclear
program needs to be resolved through the U.N. nuclear watchdog _
the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Tehran also has insisted the issue should be dealt with solely within
the IAEA, but the United States and other Western countries have
pushed for possible referral to the United Nations Security Council.
In recent weeks Iran has indicated it might be is willing to negotiate
the nuclear dispute with six world powers who have offered a package
of rewards if halts uranium enrichment.
In a statement issued at the end of a three-day meeting in the
Azerbaijani capital of Baku, diplomats said the Islamic organization’s
57 member nations had “the inalienable right” to develop nuclear
energy for peaceful purposes.
“We believe that the outstanding issues between the Islamic Republic
of Iran and the IAEA should be resolved within the IAEA framework as
the sole competent authority,” the statement said. “The only way to
resolve the issue is to resume negotiations without any preconditions.”
Iran insists that its nuclear program is aimed at generating
electricity, but the United States and European Union suspect that
it is aimed at building weapons.
Tehran is considering a Western package of incentives, also backed by
Russia and China, that calls on Iran to suspend, not permanently halt,
uranium enrichment as a condition for the start of talks, although
the negotiations are aimed at getting Iran to agree to a long-term
moratorium on such activity.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the OIC’s secretary general, said the
organization also called for ridding the Middle East of all nuclear
weapons _ a long-standing demand by many Arab states directed mainly
at Israel and its clandestine nuclear arms program. Israel neither
acknowledges nor denies having nuclear weapons.
The OIC ministers also condemned Azerbaijan’s neighbor, Armenia,
blaming it for the lingering conflict over the territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Ethnic Armenian forces have controlled the mountainous territory
located entirely within Azerbaijan since six years of open fighting
ended in 1994 and the lack of resolution about its status has hampered
development of the strategic Caucasus region.
Ihsanoglu also criticized the media for last year’s controversy
surrounding the publication of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. A
Danish newspaper first printed the cartoons, and other foreign
newspapers later followed, infuriating much of the Muslim world and
sparking deadly riots.
“This is impermissible. This is a crime against Islam. This is an
insult to Muslims,” Ihsanoglu said.
“Freedom and responsibility should go hand-in-hand,” he added.
“Irresponsible freedom is anarchy. We call on the Europeans to pay
attention to this issue.”

ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW MEETS HEAD OF ARMENIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH, URGES SOLIDARITY
Benjamin Harvey
AP Worldstream
Jun 21, 2006
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I urged the world’s Orthodox churches
to minimize differences and seek solidarity as he met with the head
of Armenian Orthodox Church on Wednesday.
Deep divisions are prevalent throughout the Orthodox Church. Although
Bartholomew controls several Greek Orthodox churches around the world,
including the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and is considered
the spiritual leader of some 250 million Orthodox worldwide, relations
with two of the largest churches, in Russia and Greece, remain tense.
The Armenian Orthodox Church also operates independently and is not
under his jurisdiction.
“We must always keep in mind that we aim only for the glory of God,”
Bartholomew said after meeting Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians,
at the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul. “He himself taught us this:
‘May they all be one.’ It is a sacred goal.”
Armenian Christians pride themselves on being descendants of the first
people to adopt Christianity as their official national religion. The
Armenian national church was established in A.D. 301.
That predates the Roman Empire’s edict of A.D. 313 tolerating
Christianity, which was previously illegal, and was 94 years before
it became the official religion of Rome and the Orthodox lands of
the East.
Karekin arrived in Istanbul on Tuesday for a weeklong visit to the
Armenian community here and to hold talks with Bartholomew.
Police tightened security to protect the visiting leader from Turkish
nationalists who protested his arrival on Tuesday night, prompting
the police to accompany Karekin out of the airport through a separate
entrance.
Karekin has angered Turks by saying the country committed genocide
against Armenians around the time of World War I, an allegation
vehemently denied by Turkey.
Turkey, which has no diplomatic relations with Armenia, denies that
Turks committed genocide, saying Armenians who lived under the Ottoman
Empire were killed in internal fighting among ethnic groups as the
empire collapsed.
___
Associated Press Writer Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara contributed to
this report.

NKR MEETS EUROPEAN STANDARDS MUCH BETTER THAN BAKU
Yerkir
21.06.2006 16:48
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – “I was glad to learn about the international
conference dedicated to the 15th anniversary of proclamation of the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic.
This is an evidence that our state has formed,” NKR President Arkady
Ghukasian stated in Stepanakert at the opening of the international
conference titled “Nagorno Karabakh Republic: Past, Present and
Future.”
In his words, recent 15 years have proved that the people of Nagorno
Karabakh have the right to live in an independent state that was
proclaimed according to the former USSR legislation and norms of the
international law.
“Though the NKR has not been recognized by the international community
yet, our republic meets the European standards much better than
Azerbaijan, which having imposed a war on us attempted to get rid of
the Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh.
However our people not only held out in an unequal bloody opposition
but also managed to cure the wounds of the war, restore the economy
and raise the cultural life during a short period of time.
The NKR possesses an efficient and equipped army, which is the best
guarantor of security and prosperity of Nagorno Karabakh and its
people,” Arkady Ghukasian said.

BORDYUZHA: NATO DOESN’T WISH TO COOPERATE WITH CSTO MEMBER STATES
PanARMENIAN.Net
21.06.2006 15:13 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The member states of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO) are concerned over the NATO military infrastructure
being built around Belarus and Russia. At that the Alliance has not
responded to the CSTO proposal on partnership so far, CSTO Secretary
General Nikolay Bordyuzha stated. “A year and a half ago we proposed
partnership to the Alliance but have not received any response so
far. We understand that this is not a technical fault and we are
concerned over the fact,” Bordyuzha said. “The NATO’s unwillingness
to cooperate is conditioned by political reasons,” he added.
In Bordyuzha’s opinion, new members will be accessed in the NATO
for the fulfillment of certain military tasks. “We are concerned
that states will be accessed to the NATO without accomplishing the
necessary military procedures,” Nikolay Bordyuzha said adding that
the accession of Ukraine and Romania is nothing but “a political
decision for the fulfillment of military tasks,” reported Interfax.
The CSTO member states are Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The military-political union of these six
states was fixed by the Treaty on Collective Security signed May 15,
1992. The Council of the Collective Security is the supreme body of
the CSTO.

“IF IT CONTINUES IN THIS WAY, WE CAN’T HOLD STATE ELECTIONS”
Margaret Yesayan
Aravot.am
21 June 06
The “Justice” group representative in the CEC Felix Khachatrian
expresses his apprehension.
The “Justice” group representative in the CEC Felix Khachatrian
opposing to the CEC chairman Gourgen Azarian’s thought that the
opposition makes declaration for justifying its real defeat, said;
“We have never lost, we have won both in presidential and parliamentary
elections in 1998 and 2003 and during constitutional referendum in
2005, people like Spartak Eghiazarian and those who appoint them
have lost, it’s another matter that the authorities have rigged our
real victory. And Grigor Haroutiunian’s words are completely true,
he had said that they had gathered for taking courses in Goris city
but the lecturers hadn’t come, I myself has phoned the chairman of the
commission informing him about it”. Felix Khachatrian explains this
unorganized situation with a special intention by the authorities,
to do their best for less people take courses and for being possible
to give certificates whom they want.
Felix Khachatrian considers important the teaching project of the
members of commissions but he thinks as a specialist that the project
doesn’t serve its purpose as the responsibility of the case is given
to the leaders of communities who try to fail the process.
Mr. Khachatrian also has complaints from the whole duration of
course organization though he is also a teacher; ”16-hour project
is formed which is too little for realizing such a great documental
study. I was myself taking part as a teacher in Masis City of Ararat
region. My first impression was too bad and referred to organization
part of courses. The group with which I must have lessons was a group
by 154 members by the list. But a hall with 90 seats was given for
lectures. It was the hall of Masis Municipality. And it became clear
that only 92 persons were present in the hall and on the end of the
day the future members of commissions have run away from lectures and
it became clear that only 27 remained. And only 25 persons instead
of 154 took part in the test. This means if everything continues in
this way we won’t be able to hold the coming state elections. But
perhaps it will become clear that all future members of commissions
have passed the test in Masis region”, – F. Khachatrian expressed
his apprehension. M. Khachatrian is sure that if a lot of people from
this region get certificates of commission members, it will be obvious
that the authorities acted by their designed scenario again. To our
question the representatives of the authority or opposition take part
in the courses more, Felix Khachatrian answered that only the name and
surname if written in list given to him and the number of passport,
there isn’t any other information and he can’t answer to that question.
–Boundary_(ID_2+4QZKZAsEhmG4OhFCcefg)- –
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

U.S. SENATE TO DISCUSS RICHARD HOAGLAND NOMINATION FOR U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA
PanARMENIAN.Net
21.06.2006 16:41 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Americans across the U.S. will be closely
following the Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation
hearings for U.S. Ambassador to Armenia nominee Richard Hoagland,
in hopes of gaining concrete insight into the exact nature of the
State Department’s policy of complicity in Armenian Genocide denial –
particularly as it relates to the firing of the current U.S. Ambassador
to Armenia, John Marshall Evans, reported the Armenian National
Committee of America (ANCA). The hearing comes as Armenian American
activists across the U.S. continue to call on Senators to demand a
full explanation for the early recall of U.S. Ambassador to Armenia
John Marshall Evans.
To remind, the recall of Amb. Evans was caused by his statement on
the Armenian Genocide made February 19, 2005 at a meeting with the
Armenian Diaspora in California. “Today I will call it the Armenian
Genocide,” Amb. Evans said.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: LITHUANIA NORMALIZES CRACKED RELATIONS WITH TURKEY
PanARMENIAN.Net
21.06.2006 16:55 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Lithuania keeps on normalizing relations with Turkey
that cracked after the adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution by
the Lithuanian Seimas and promises support on the way to the European
Union, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus stated upon completion of
the meeting with Turkish President Ahmet Necet Sezer in Ankara. “The
resolution adopted by our Seimas will not introduce any changes into
the policy of the Lithuanian foreign policy,” he said. To remind,
last summer the Lithuanian parliament passed a resolution calling
upon Turkey to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. Turkey’s response
was a political demarche. Lithuanian Ambassador Vytautas Nauduzas
was invited to the Turkish Foreign Ministry and warned that the
resolution will not have a positive impact on the Turkish-Lithuanian
relations. “We agreed to avoid deeds that would damage the development
of bilateral relations,” the Turkish President stated at a briefing,
reported Trend news agency.

OSCE APPROACH TO SOUTH CAUCASIAN STATES DIFFERS
PanARMENIAN.Net
21.06.2006 17:02 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “The OSCE’s approach to the South Caucasian states
differs and we try not to compare the level of freedom of press in
Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan,” OSCE Representative on Freedom
of the Media Miklos Haraszti said in response to a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter’s question. In his words, the criteria of assessment vary. “In
one state the matters stand well with electronic media, in another –
with printing media,’ he remarked.