DEEPENING OF DEMOCRACY – REGIONAL NECESSITY
National Assembly of RA, Armenia
March 9 2006
On March 8 Artur Baghdasaryan, President of the National Assembly of
Armenia, received Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and
Eurasian Affairs Matthew Bryza. U.S. Ambassador John Evans attended
the meeting.
During the meeting issues concerning the Armenian-American cooperation
were discussed. Touching upon the activities of the parliament,
NA President Artur Baghdasaryan noted that after the constitutional
amendment 70 new laws and amendments are envisaged, mainly in three
directions: in the local self-government, territorial administration,
judicial system and Electoral Code. Artur Baghdasaryan thanked the
USA for the assistance rendered to Armenia, highlighting that the
economic assistance is accompanied through democratic reforms.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
Matthew Bryza also highlighted the deepening of democracy in Armenia,
noting that within that framework are: the conflicts’ settlement,
energy security and the development of economy. The corruption
combating was especially highlighted as ensuring of the possibility
of sustainable investments. Touching upon the energy problems, Mr.
Bryza highlighted the development of alternative possibilities in
the sense of energy security. Both sides attached importance to
the implementation of “Millennium Challenges” program, during the
fulfillment of that program ensuring the publicity and public control
through NGOs.
Touching upon the Nagorno Karabakh problem, NA President Artur
Baghdasaryan, noted that the year 2006 has not exhausted the
possibilities of the peaceful settlement, and possibilities of
success in the negotiation process are still available. Mr. Bryza also
highlighted the solution of the problem for the development of the
region. Within this framework the normalization of the relations with
the neighbors was also highlighted, where the USA can also assist. The
possibilities of the development of EU “New Neighbourhood” programme
and Euro-Atlantic cooperation were highlighted.
During the meeting other issues of mutual interest were also discussed.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FREEDOM OF THOUGHT PRIZE AWARDED TO TURKISH JOURNALISTS
International Journalist’s Network
March 9 2006
Two Turkish journalists working in Belgium were recently honored for
more than 30 years of covering human rights in their home country.
The Human Rights Association of Turkey gave the 2006 Ayse Zarakolu
Freedom of Thought Prize to Dogan Ozguden and Inci Tugsavul. The two
journalists founded Info-Turk, an NGO that reports on issues that
are controversial in Turkey, such as anti-Semitism and the Armenian
Genocide. They are subject to arrest in their home country, for alleged
“crimes of opinion” and insults to “Turkishness.”
The association announced the award at the general meeting of the
International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), which took place
February 19 to 24 in Brussels.
The Freedom of Thought Prize is named for Turkish publisher and human
rights advocate Ayse Nur Zarakolu, who once said “the place to debate
our history is in books, not in the courts.”
Despite some reforms in recent years, Turkish law still allows
authorities to prosecute and jail journalists for their work.

ADMINISTRATOR SHARES STORIES OF GENOCIDE
By Korrina Grom
Staff Writer
Pioneer Press Online, IL
March 9 2006
Mary Olson, an administrator in Warren Township High School District
121, asked everyone in Lindsey Holm’s history class to stand and then
instructed all healthy boys at least 16 years old to sit.
“If you were Armenian boys in World War I, you’d probably be dead,”
Olson told the boys, who had all returned to their seats.
She then invited all girls who were wearing earrings or other jewelry,
or those who had fillings in their teeth, to sit. All of the girls
sat down.
“You’re still alive,” Olson said, allowing the girls a brief sigh of
relief. “However, you were rounded up and marched through the desert.”
And what would have happened to the girls once they got to the
desert? Olson said their earrings would have been ripped from their
ear lobes. Their fingers may have been broken to retrieve any rings
they were wearing, and the fillings would have been removed from
their teeth.
To students and staff in District 121, Olson is the curriculum
guru, serving as the district’s director of instruction and school
improvement.
Occasionally, however, Olson steps outside of her usual role and
returns to the classroom to share her wealth of knowledge about
history. As Holm’s class at the O’Plaine campus learned on March 2,
Olson is a descendant of survivors of the Armenian genocide that took
place in the early 1900’s.
With a colorful piece of embroidery from her grandmother as a backdrop,
Olson shared her knowledge of Armenian history, along with her family’s
stories of survival.
Olson’s story was one that Holm thought her students should hear.
“To have a source like her … is just so important for the kids
to know,” said Holm. “A lot of things she talked about our textbook
barely glosses over.”
Olson spoke briefly of Armenia’s history, including the country’s
status as being the first to declare Christianity as the official
religion in 301 AD. Olson noted that it was the Armenians’ belief
in Christianity that made them a target, even as early as 451 AD. A
Persian king declared war on the Armenians because he feared that
Christianity would become popular in Persia.
“Fast-forward to the 19th century,” she said, preparing to speak about
the genocide that she says Turkey still denies. Turkish authorities,
she said, attribute the deaths of thousands of Armenians during that
period to famine and disease.
Olson again asked the class to stand. Those whose parents have
any post-high school education or work in the health care, clergy,
teaching, writing, journalism or music professions were told to sit.
All but two students sat down.
Olson told the students who were sitting that they would have been
orphans.
“On April 24, 1915, the Turks rounded up the educated Armenians.
There was some jealousy going on,” Olson said. “All those people were
rounded up and they were imprisoned and tortured.
“Then other cities were visited and told to get rid of their
Armenians,” she said.
Returning Armenian soldiers were knocked unconscious with shovels
and buried alive, Olson told the students. Others — primarily women,
children and elderly men — were rounded up and marched through the
desert to Syria and Jordan, Olson said. There was no food or water,
and many of the young girls were physically abused.
Some women drowned themselves in the Tigris River to avoid the
suffering, Olson added. So many people did this, she noted, that
the bodies eventually had to be burned so the water could be made
drinkable again.
Families who attempted to escape into the mountains were forced to
take desperate measures to keep themselves alive, Olson said. One
family, she said, was forced to sacrifice one of their children by
pushing the child over a cliff. The boy fell onto a ledge, however,
and cried, resulting in the Turks capturing the family.
“The little boy was my uncle, by marriage,” Olson said. Her maternal
grandmother was smuggled out to France during the war and later came
to Waukegan at age 14.
Holm said she was touched by Olson’s story.
“The story that stands out for me (was about) the poor child being
pushed over the cliff,” Holm said. “I could only imagine having to
choose. And that happened in her family.”

AZERBAIJANI, ARMENIAN FORCES EXCHANGE MORE WEAPONS
Pravda, Russia
March 9 2006
Azerbaijani and Armenian forces exchanged more weapons fire along
the countries’ northern border, Azerbaijani military officials said
Thursday, in the latest rise in violence between the two Caucasus
nations.
A Defense Ministry statement said its forces in five locations were
fired on by Armenian forces with mortars and gunfire on Wednesday
and that the firing halted only after Azerbaijani troops returned fire.
The ministry reported no casualties.
Armenian defense officials could not be immediately reached for
comment.
Earlier this week, the two sides exchanged heavy gunfire and mortar
fire at several points along their border, killing at least one
Azerbaijani soldier and wounding several Azerbaijani and Armenian
soldiers.
The two countries remain at odds over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh,
an ethnic Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan. A cease-fire agreement
was reached in 1994 after six years of fighting, and the enclave is now
under the control of ethnic Armenians, whose troops face Azerbaijani
forces across a half-mile-wide no man’s land.
Sporadic clashes, however, break out along the Nagorno-Karabakh border
and land mines continue to kill people every year, reports the AP.

US ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EUROPEAN AND EURASIAN AFFAIRS TO VISIT ARMENIA
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
March 9 2006
The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
Daniel Fried is to visit Azerbaijan and Armenia, State Department
Spokesman Sean McCormack said to journalists in Washington.
According to State Department Spokesman, Daniel Fried will visit the
region next week, RIA Novosti reports. One of the trip’s goals will
be discussion of the results of the Azeri and Armenian Presidents’
Rambouillet meeting.

MEETING AT THE INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
March 9 2006
President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan on 8 March held a meeting at
the Institute of International Relations of Japan.
In the meeting, attending was the minister of education and science,
the country’s former prime minister, ex-foreign minister, renowned
men of science, authoritative diplomats, ambassadors, businessmen,
militaries, former ambassador of Japan to Azerbaijan, currently the
Executive Director of the Japan Foreign Relations Institute Toshiyuku
Fujiwara, public of Japan, media representatives.
President of the Institute Yukio Yato warmly greeted President Ilham
Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Khanum Aliyeva.
Mr. Yukio Yato informed on biography of the Azerbaijan President.
Then, President Ilham Aliyev gave a large speech for the participants.
Expressing pleasure with the visit to Japan and level of relations
between two countries, President Aliyev said Japan was one of the
first to cooperate with Azerbaijan after raining state independence.
Visit of the nationwide leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev to Japan
in 1998 played a special role in development of these ties.
President of Azerbaijan spoke of dynamic economic growth in the
Republic, commenting them as record figures in world.
Touching upon the political situation in region, the head of the
Azerbaijan State said there are conflicts on the Caucasus. Azerbaijan
can be considered a stable country in this region and it has good
relations with neighbors. Azerbaijan is an attractive country with
rich natural resources, and important geographical position. It draws
attention and interest. But Azerbaijan is not an arena of rivalry.
President of Azerbaijan informed on the opening of over 340 working
places in the last two and half years in the country, poverty reduction
measures taken, on the social programs being realized.
At the same time, he dwelt on the problems existing in social plight
of the internally displaced persons. Armenia holds 20 percent of
Azerbaijani lands under occupation, pursues ethnic cleanse. As a
result, over one million of people have become refugees and IDPs. The
reason of the conflict is separatism, the President emphasized,
expressing confidence for restoration of justice from the political,
legal and historical points of view. Nagorno Karabakh has never
been the land of the Armenians, he said. They have been removed to
these areas.
The world community and United Nations have recognized Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity, which is not the subject to discussions,
President Ilham Aliyev said. Further, he gave detailed information
on the principles of settlement of this conflict, noting that the
conflict is a threat for entire region.
Speaking of the investment environment in Azerbaijan, President of
Azerbaijan said last times the European countries seek alternative
energy sources as they face gas crisis. In this sense, Azerbaijan
can be the very energy source.
President Ilham Aliyev informed on the religious tolerance historically
existing in Azerbaijan, noting “we can share our experience with the
world states”.
Then President Aliyev widely spoke of the relations with Japan, its
large-scale credits allotted to Azerbaijan, stressed the similarity
in character of two nations – respect for traditions, the adult and
other nations.
The, President of Azerbaijan answered questions on Azerbaijan-Japan
relations, the prospects of economic cooperation, the country’s
oil strategy, the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict and
religious tolerance.
President of the Institute Yukio Yato thanked to the Azerbaijan
President for interesting and substantial lecture, on behalf of the
Institute made him a gift.
** The same day, at the “Imperial” hotel, the Azerbaijan-Japan
Intergovernmental Commission arranged a banquet in honor of the
President of Azerbaijan.

DANIEL FRIED: “AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN LEADERS SHOULD NOT MISS THE CHANCE TO SETTLE CONFLICT”
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 9 2006
“Washington urges Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders not to miss the
chance for settlement of the conflict,” Assistant Secretary of State
for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried said in the House of
Representatives (APA).
“We hope that we will achieve the settlement of the dangerous conflicts
such as Southern Osetia, Transdnestr, Abkhazia and Nagorno Garabagh
together with Russia and other states. We are confident that Russia
will accept the proposal of Georgia on peaceful resolution of the
conflict and will show respect for Georgia’s territorial integrity
and interests of Southern Osetia residents in the settlement of the
conflict.

GLO: “BUDAPEST COURT INTENDS TO PUNISH RAMIL SAFAROV AT BEHEST OF ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT”
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 9 2006
Today Garabagh Liberation Organization (GLO) issued a statement
concerning about Azerbaijani Army officer Ramil Safarov’s trial in
Budapest. GLO told APA that the court has a biased stance and didn’t
take the motives of the murder into account.
The statement reads that acceptance of the 4th forensic medical
examination, which was far from objectivity, and ignorance of the two
examinations is illegality but nothing. All of these have been done
at the behest of Armenian government to give the worst punishment to
Ramil Safarov.
GLO also blamed the State Committee on Work with Azerbaijanis Living
Abroad for the plight.
“The government didn’t take the required measures promptly; potential
of Diasporas was not used efficiently. On the contrary, irresponsible
statement s of the State Committee on Work with Azerbaijanis Living
Abroad prevented our Diasporas for any action. Despite the actions of
Armenian organizations, our Diaspora remained apart from the actions”.
In the statement GLO demanded Hungarian government to refrain from
the position formed under Armenian pressure.
“GLO will not forgive the injustice against Azerbaijani citizens
and will demand suspension of any relations between Azerbaijan and
Hungary”.

US DEPARTMENT STATE ANNOUNCES ITS 2005 REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES IN AZERBAIJAN
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 9 2006
The US Department of State today made public its 2005 report on human
rights practices in Azerbaijan (APA).
The following human rights problems were reported in Azerbaijan:
restricted right of citizens to peacefully change their government,
torture and beating of persons in custody; arbitrary arrest
and detention; particularly of political opponents; harsh and
life-threatening prison conditions; police impunity; lengthy pre-trial
detention; pervasive corruption in the judiciary; some restrictions of
privacy rights; periodic interference with media freedom;excessive use
of force to disperse demonstrations; limited instances of violence
and societal discrimination against women;trafficking in persons;
limited workers rights.
The report says that Armenian forces continued to occupy some of the
countrys territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh. The government did
not exercise any control over developments in territories occupied
by Armenian forces. The report also touched on the arrest of Haji
Mammadov, former official of the Interior Ministry and the murder of
the journalist Elmar Huseynov.
It is also stated in the report that during the year the government
did not punish MIA officials for the beating, torture, and verbal abuse
of persons detained in the aftermath of the 2003 presidential election.
The report also touched on arrest of Yeni Fikir opposition youth
activists Ruslan Bashirli, Said Nuriyev, Ramin Tagiyev as well
as former state officials Akif Muradverdiyev, Ali Insanov, Farhad
Aliyev, Fikrat Yusifov, Fikrat Sadigov, Rafig Aliyev and academic
Eldar Salayev.
According to the report, although the law provides for an independent
judiciary, in practice judges did not function independently of the
executive branch. The judiciary was corrupt and inefficient. The
executive branch exerts a strong influence over the judiciary.
The report also says that a large number of opposition and independent
media outlets operated during the year. The print media enjoyed more
freedom than the broadcast media and expressed a wide variety of
views on government policies. However, most broadcast media adhered
to a pro-government line in their news coverage. There were over 40
active independent newspapers and magazines and 23 television and 12
radio stations. There also were 10 national state newspapers and 80
newspapers funded by city or district level officials. In contrast
to pro-government newspapers, the distribution of many opposition
newspapers was limited to the capital, and their circulation was low.
Harassment and violence against individual journalists continued. The
Media Council, an independent NGO, reported that 40 journalists faced
physical attack or harassment during the 6-month period preceding
the November parliamentary election.
During the year the government expelled four students from Baku
State University, the State Economic University, and the Pedagogical
University due to their political activities in support of opposition
parties.
The report said that the 6 November parliamentary elections did not
meet a number of the countrys OSCE commitments and COE standards for
democratic elections. Local executive authorities frequently misused
administrative resources to the benefit of pro-government candidates.
Local authorities also restricted freedom of assembly for opposition
candidates. Police used disproportionate force to disrupt rallies.
State and private television news coverage of the campaign period
disproportionately favored pro-government candidates, according to
the report.
The report also touched on President Ilham Aliyevs decrees on
improvement of election practices and use of finger inking procedure in
voting. It was stated that the government complied with the Electoral
Code.

SECOND AZERI WORLD CONFERENCE TO DISCUSS CONCEPT OF AZERI DIASPORA ACTIVITIES – NAZIM IBRAHIMOV
Author: S.Agayeva
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
March 9 2006
Foreign guests invited for the participation in the second conference
on “Azeris from around the world due on 16 March have started arriving
to Baku, Trend reports citing the chairman of State committee working
with Azerbaijanis living abroad, Nazim Ibrahimov, as stating on
Thursday.
He stated, that up to 600 foreign guests and 650 delegates from
Azerbaijan will take part in the conference. Former ambassadors of
foreign countries to Azerbaijan, Nobel family members, delegations
from foreign parliaments, officials, leaders of Azeri, Turkish and
Jewish Diasporas will be among the guests.
Ibrahimov stated, that the conference that will take place on March
16 from 11.00 till 19.00 would host 170 media representatives. The
State Committee will later suggest holding the conferences
on ‘Azeris from around the world’ every five years. Conference will
review the statement on Nagorno-Karabakh, addressing statement to the
international community regarding Nagorno-Karabakh, statement to the
Azeri living abroad and to Turkish-Azeri Diaspora aimed to strengthen
the unity.
Conference will discuss establishment of a Special Work Group aimed
at preparing the concept of Azeri Diaspora activity and working out
common strategy for Azeri-Turkish Diaspora. Ibrahimov also noted
that all expenditures concerning the conference will be covered at
the expense of the public budget.