The Economist
October 15, 2005
U.S. Edition
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 — ListProcessor(tm) by CREN
Bigger problems; The Middle East
IN THE course of 30 years as Middle East correspondent for two London
newspapers, the Times and the Independent, Robert Fisk has filled a
lot of notebooks with a lot of stories. Many of them are excellent.
His new book begins with a ripping yarn about his summons in 1996 to
interview Osama bin Laden. Setting up the encounter takes many
months. The process opens with an intermediary’s call to “Mr
Robert’s” office in Beirut. It continues with a mysterious meeting in
London’s Belgravia Sheraton hotel, moves via New Delhi to a flight
into Jalalabad’s old Soviet military airstrip, pauses for a sweaty
interlude in the Afghan city’s Spinghar hotel and culminates, after
an edgy night drive with machine-gun-toting escorts, in an interview
with Mr bin Laden at a remote mountain hideaway.
Mr Fisk is a gifted writer and an accomplished storyteller, so those
who have not read him before will enjoy the famous correspondent’s
colourful narrative. Mr Fisk tries to tell the story of the Middle
East, but he does not flinch from telling the story of Mr Fisk. So
here is not only a record of what he has seen and reported since 1976
in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Algeria and many other dusty and
violent places, but also a tale of how he got the lead, wangled the
flight, bribed the guard and brought home the scoop. The Times
offered Mr Fisk the Middle East when he was only 29, and his love
affair with the region and the glamorous profession of being a
foreign correspondent finds expression on every page.
Over the years, the vividness of his reporting and the vehemence of
his opinions have turned him into one of Britain’s most controversial
journalists. Two decades ago, in a history of Lebanon’s civil war, he
argued that the job of the journalist was to write a first draft of
history. Since then, he appears to have changed his mind. In the
preface of this book he endorses the view of an Israeli journalist,
Amira Hass, that the proper vocation of the reporter is to “monitor
the centres of power”. The upshot is that the chief villains in his
stories from the Middle East are governments, mainly those of the
West which he believes have been led by folly or knavery to meddle
needlessly in the affairs of a region not their own, and which have
almost invariably turned out to make a bad situation worse.
People who buy the Independent mainly to read Mr Fisk’s Old Testament
rants against the wickedness of Israel and America will love this
book. But is it possible to loathe this point of view and still enjoy
the read? Up to a point. For even if you are turned off by Mr Fisk’s
self-righteous identification with those he deems history’s
victims – and this habit’s subtle corollary of making himself the hero
of every story – he still repays reading. All you have to do is skip
the analysis and tuck into the wealth of hard-won narrative detail
accumulated over the decades of intrepid reporting. With Mr Fisk you
meet the grim Russian crews threading their tanks through
Afghanistan’s mountain passes in 1980; sit at the feet of Sadeq
Khalkhali, the Iranian revolution’s “hanging judge”; witness the
Israelis’ Merkava tanks clattering into downtown Beirut in 1982; and
join Ayatollah Khomeini’s Revolutionary Guards in their fearless,
doomed assaults on Iraqi lines in 1987.
The trouble with reading the reporter and ignoring the polemicist is
that only some of this book consists of reporting. Mr Fisk
interleaves his first-hand accounts with much material of more
doubtful quality: potted histories (of the Palestine conflict, the
Suez crisis of 1956, the Armenian genocide) and warmed-up off-cuts
from old columns (denouncing the George Bushes junior and senior,
Tony Blair and the supposedly supine reporting of CNN, the New York
Times and sundry other media that happen not to subscribe to the full
Fisk world view). As a result, the whole is worth rather less than
the sum of the parts.
When Mr Fisk at last conducts his interview with Mr bin Laden on that
bare Afghan mountain in 1997, the Saudi billionaire, who later
commends him as a rare western reporter who is “neutral”, says: “Mr
Robert, from this mountain upon which you are sitting, we broke the
Russian army and we destroyed the Soviet Union. And I pray to God
that he will permit us to turn the United States into a shadow of
itself.” Four years later, when the hijacked airliners glide into New
York’s twin towers, Mr Fisk recalls this warning and dictates a
column – reprinted in full in his book – in which the perpetrators are
described as representatives of a “crushed, humiliated population”
who are “striking back”.
The Middle East, Mr Fisk believes, is a region of victims, and the
terrorism it generates is the enraged lashing out of the powerless.
Seeing the region this way gives his writing its force. But it also
produces systematic distortion. Mr Fisk seems unwilling to find the
slightest hint of rhyme, reason or justification in the behaviour of
the powerful – especially America and Israel – lest doing so is allowed
to blunt his righteous anger. So he quarrels not only with America’s
invasion of Iraq but also with its invasion of Afghanistan. Israel’s
violence is invariably “brutal” or “ruthless” as it pursues “the last
colonial war”.
As for the American idea of spreading democracy, Mr Fisk says that
Arabs also want “justice, a setting-to-rights, a peaceful but an
honourable, fair end to the decades of occupation and deceit and
corruption and dictator-creation”. But hang on. The Israeli
occupation of the West Bank and Gaza came about because in 1967, as
in the decades before, the Palestinians and Arab states were intent
on liquidating the Jewish state; and the Arab dictators – the Nassers,
Saddams and Assads – were created at home, not abroad. The extent to
which Arabs have been the authors of their own misfortune is not
given adequate consideration in this dogged, powerful and often
infuriating polemic against the West.
GRAPHIC: Dangerous deceits; The Great War for Civilisation: The
Conquest of the Middle East.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Associated Press Worldstream
Oct 16 2005
Armenian president’s protocol chief dies in car crash

The head of protocol for the Armenian presidency was killed in an
automobile accident, officials said Sunday.
Mamikon Tonoyan, 32, died in the accident Saturday night on the
outskirts of the Armenian capital, Yerevan, the presidential
administration said.
No further details were immediately available.

Anatolia news agency, Turkey
Oct 14 2005
Turkey’s NATO envoy says accusations of genocide “baseless political
argument”
Ankara, 14 October: Vahit Erdem, President of Turkish delegation to
NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PNA), sent a letter to Simon Lunn,
secretary-general of NATO PNA, regarding the speech of Prof Dr Halil
Berktay during the seminar in Yerevan.
In his letter Erdem said: “I would have preferred that an objective
historian were also invited to the seminar along with a person who is
known as the supporter of the Armenian claims. If you had contacted
me, a participant who would have created a more balanced atmosphere
would have been found.”
“I would like to put forward that the problems about the Ottoman
Armenians go back to 1877-78 Ottoman-Russian War and reached its peak
during World War I in 1915, with Armenian rebellions and massacres,”
he noted.
Erdem said: “Armenians revolted against the Ottoman Empire and
massacred the local Muslim people, believing some countries’ promises
that they would be able to establish an Armenian state in eastern
Anatolian region. The story behind the 1915 events is being ignored
by one-sided evaluations. The Ottoman state took the necessary
precautions against rebellious Armenians which would have been taken
by every other state. The relocation of the Armenians was one these
measures.”
“Armenians were deported to Syria, which was Ottoman territory during
that time. If there had been a secret extermination plan as Halil
Berktay claims, nobody would have arrived in Syria. However, the
majority of the Armenians reached their destination. The deported
Armenians were the ancestors of today’s hundreds of thousands
Diaspora Armenians,” he added.
Erdem stated: “There is no scientific evidence that the 1915 events
meet the criteria of the crime of genocide as defined in the UN
Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”
“All of the experts on Turco-Armenian history know that there is no
document that proves Armenian accusations that the Ottoman State used
World War I as a pretext for planning and executing ‘genocide’,” he
added.
Erdem concluded his letter: “It is well-known that there was no
racial, religious or cultural hatreds in the Ottoman Empire.
Therefore, the accusation of genocide is being used as baseless
political argument against Turkey.”

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Oct 13 2005
Armenian president happy about investment projects of European bank
Yerevan, 13 October: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan received the
representatives of the board of directors of the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) today.
The relations between Armenia and the EBRD have entered a practical
stage, the Armenian president noted with satisfaction. He stressed
the importance of boosting the work of the bank with the private
sector. As the first steps show, the commercial entities of Armenia
are reliable partners, Kocharyan said.
The Armenian president said that the reforms in Armenia are being
conducted with a conviction that they are the driving force in the
development of the country. The economic growth achieved following
the reforms is impressive and a certain share comes to the projects
of the EBRD.
The sides also discussed the possible ways of further cooperation.
Kocharyan expressed a desire for an active involvement of the EBRD in
the development of Armenia. As of today, the total amount of the EBRD
investment projects in Armenia amounts to 100m euros. Armenia has
been cooperating with the EBRD since 1992.

Edmonton Journal (Alberta)
October 12, 2005 Wednesday
Final Edition
Jerusalem weekend full of wonders: After just two days in this holy
city you’ll know why there isn’t a better place to pray for peace
by Bonnie Stern, For National Post; CanWest News Service
JERUSALEM
JERUSALEM – Holy ground to three world religions — Judaism,
Christianity and Islam — Jerusalem has been fought over for more
than 3,000 years. Yet to visitors the city seems peaceful and
welcoming.
Day 1
MORNING: Start with an Israeli breakfast, usually included in your
hotel rate. You will be amazed at the huge buffet of salads —
Israelis eat salads all day — fresh fruits, cheese, smoked fish,
omelettes, chocolate croissants and more.
Your first goal is to explore the walled Old City. It is divided into
four quarters: the Armenian Quarter, Muslim Quarter, Jewish Quarter
and Christian Quarter. For an overview of the history of the city,
start at the Jaffa Gate and the Tower of David History of Jerusalem
Museum (towerofdavid.org.il/eng) just inside the gates.
Then continue into the Armenian Quarter and visit the Cathedral of
St. James. Stand in the peaceful cobblestoned courtyard where the
disciple James was stoned and where James the Apostle was beheaded.
And don’t miss the lovely Armenian Art Centre where there are
striking hand-painted tiles and pottery for sale.
For a breathtaking view, head to the Petra Hostel in the Old City. Go
up the rickety stairs to the front desk and pay about $1.25 to go to
the roof. Spread before you is the Tower of David Museum, the
Armenian Quarter, the Mount of Olives, the gold-domed Mosque that
dominates the Jerusalem skyline and the two grey domes of the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre.
Across the street from the hostel is where the ancient souk begins.
Enter and get ready for sensory overload. When you see a lot of
pilgrim religious artifacts for sale you will know you are close to
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Jesus was entombed.
AFTERNOON: By now you should be getting hungry. Abu Shukri, a tiny
aluminum-fronted food stall in the exotic Muslim quarter is said to
have the most delicious hummus and falafel on the planet. Ask anyone
for directions. If it is packed (there are only a few seats, but the
turnover is fast), go to Lina’s across the street. There are spirited
debates over whose falafel is the best.
Continue on to the Cardo, the original shopping mall in the Jewish
Quarter. The ancient long underground street is lined on both sides
with stores. Try Mira for beautiful handcrafted jewellery and Bar On
and Chaya for handwoven table linens and prayer shawls.
A must-see in the Jewish Quarter is the Western Wall, the holiest
place for Jews. Men and women visit the Wall in separate areas and
tourists can watch or join in. Many people push a tiny written prayer
or supplication between the stones in the Wall, as this is considered
the closest place to God.
Nearby — you’ll recognize it because it is manned by soldiers — is
the entrance to the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock. If it is
open, go to the Temple Mount first because visiting hours are
limited. This holy Muslim site is where Muhammad ascended to heaven.
Although only Muslims can enter the mosques, the Temple Mount area
can be visited by tourists.
Before leaving the Old City, do not miss the Southern Wall
excavations. Enter though the Davidson’s Visitors Centre and explore
2,000 years of history above and below ground.
You will end up just inside the Dung Gate where taxis are available
to take you to the garden of the elegant American Colony Hotel, the
haunt of foreign journalists and celebrities. Or head for the
stunning terrace of The King David Hotel. Have a celebratory
pre-dinner drink because if you have done all this sightseeing — or
even some of it — you deserve to celebrate.
EVENING: Enjoy a relaxing dinner at Olive and Fish (2 Jabotinsky
St.), where they offer a large assortment of appetizer salads and
Israeli fish and meat specialties.
Day 2
MORNING: Start the day at one of the city’s great coffeehouses. Try
the Hillel Cafe or Aroma Cafe with their yogurt, honey and granola
specialties and delicious breakfast breads.
Take a taxi to the Israel Museum (it is closed Tuesdays,
imjorg.il/eng). Don’t miss the Dead Sea Scrolls housed separately in
the Shrine of the Book, a building shaped like the lid of the clay
jars in which the scrolls were found. The main building contains the
archeology of Israel, an amazing collection of Judaica and modern
Israeli art.
AFTERNOON: Have lunch in the museum restaurant in the lower level of
the main complex. They serve a lovely salad buffet, soup and a wide
selection of sandwiches at reasonable prices. After lunch, walk over
to the nearby Knesset, the parliamentary buildings, to see the
gigantic bronze menorah with bas-reliefs showing events in Jewish
history.
Next, take a taxi to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial (vashem.org),
with the newly designed museum by Canadian-Israeli architect Moshe
Safdie. As sombre as it might be, Yad Vashem gives visitors insight
into the seminal event in recent Jewish history.
For a lighter experience, join the locals, who love to buy their
fruits and vegetables in Mahane Yehuda, an open-air market on Agripas
Street. Be sure to try the world-famous chocolate rugalahs at
Marzipan bakery.
Take a taxi to the pedestrian mall on Ben Yehuda Street to finish
your shopping. For more handcrafted pottery and jewellery go through
Zion Square to Yoel Salomon Street. Have coffee or a snack in the
charming literary coffeehouse, ‘Tmol-Shilshom.
EVENING: For your send-off dinner, try Arcadia (10 Agripas St.), a
hidden gem that has received raves from Israeli and international
restaurant reviewers. After dinner, investigate Jerusalem’s outdoor
coffee cafe culture and find out why Starbucks couldn’t make inroads
here.
After just two days in Jerusalem you’ll know why there isn’t a better
place to pray for peace.
IF YOU GO
Where to stay:
– King David Hotel: This is Jerusalem’s finest luxury hotel. It is
located within walking distance of the Old City. Double rooms start
at $284 US (danhotels.com).
– Inbal: A very modern, elegant hotel. Double rooms start at $220 US
(inbal-hotel.co.il).
– Grand Court Hotel: A new hotel, it has large modern rooms and the
price is excellent — though the location is off the beaten track.
Double rooms start at $100 US ().
– Shabbat: If you have limited time in Jerusalem do not plan your
visit for Friday or Saturday as restaurants, shops and tourist sites
close early on Friday. Many do not reopen until after sundown on
Saturday night. Non-kosher restaurants and hotel restaurants are
open, however, and some tourist sites are open on Saturday.

Azerbaijani TV Channel One,
Oct 14 2005
Azerbaijan’s patience over Karabakh running out, president says

Azerbaijan’s patience in the peace talks on Nagornyy Karabakh is
running out, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said.
Addressing the forum of the youth in the Azerbaijani capital on 14
October, Aliyev said: “I have said and I am saying again. Since the
talks and opportunities have not exhausted, we are trying to continue
the peace talks. However, our patience has limits and is not endless.
For how long can we continue these talks? For how long will this
situation remain unchanged? This is our right.
“The whole international community recognizes, supports and expresses
a clear attitude towards Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. However,
the issue has not been resolved due to various reasons. I would not
like to talk much about this.
“I am totally convinced that given our wish to resolve the
Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagornyy Karabakh conflict fairly – within
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity – along with the talks, one should
pay major attention to a military build-up.”
Aliyev also spoke about Azerbaijan’s achievements in all spheres.

San Francisco Chronicle, CA
Oct 15 2005
A tragedy, but not an accident
C.W. Nevius
We are calling this an accident. But it wasn’t.
What happened last Sunday night was that Kevin McGuinness, who police
say was driving drunk again, blasted through intersections in Pacific
Heights, fled a hit and run, ran a stop sign and slammed into Yellow
Cab No. 701, according to police.
McGuinness’ four-door 2001 pickup crumpled the car, killing a
passenger, 21-year-old Tyler Brown, and the driver, 76-year-old Zareh
Soghikian.
Today, McGuinness is in jail, facing second-degree murder charges. He
has three previous DUI convictions. This could be his fourth. My
guess is he feels terrible about what happened.
At least now he does.
But what is hard to understand is how two such remarkable people were
put in that truck’s trajectory.
“This was two really good, young guys,” says Ruach Graffis, a member
of the executive board of the United Taxicab Workers of San
Francisco. “One was 21, and one was 76.”
Emily Wren, a Duke University student who met Brown there when they
were freshmen, says of McGuinness: “That man wasn’t just hurting one
person or his family. He was taking the life of someone who honestly
could have changed part of the world. And I know he would have.”
The funeral services are today. Brown’s friends and family will
gather back in Rhode Island, while Soghikian’s service will be in
Oakland at the Armenian Apostolic Church. At midnight last night, the
night cabbies were expected to gather at the crash site to share a
few stories about Soghikian. Some of them are remarkable.
His father was chief medical officer for the Egyptian Army, one of
his brothers is a doctor, and the other is an engineer/architect. The
6-foot-4-inch-tall cabbie ran a travel business and was also, his
sister-in-law Collen Soghikian says, “an excellent basketball
player” in his youth.
Meanwhile, on the East Coast, Wren may tell the volleyball story.
She and Brown were among five Duke students from “Engineers Without
Borders” who traveled to Sumatra last summer to help the village of
Lamnga rebuild its shrimp hatcheries after the devastation of the
Indonesian tsunami. (See their Web site at ewb.pratt.Duke.edu.) That
sounds like Brown, who at Duke lived at Wayne Manor, a “selective
living” house that emphasizes “community service.”
But it was also right in character for Brown to be among the
6-foot-tall Americans who ended up challenging a group of middle
school boys, none of whom was more than 5 feet tall, to a volleyball
match.
“And our team pretty much got its asses kicked,” Wren says.
Which Brown, of course, found hugely amusing.
“He had an incredible laugh,” says Jason Loughnane, who calls Brown
his best friend. “From anywhere in our apartment you could tell that
Tyler was watching something funny online because he would just laugh
so loudly by himself in his room.”
Brown ended up in Soghikian’s cab because he was checking out
graduate schools at Stanford and Cal. His double major, biomedical
and mechanical engineering, was ridiculously difficult, but Wren says
he had a plan. He wanted to “be a professor like his parents. But
before he did that, he was going to join the Peace Corps.”
“But more than that,” Loughnane said by e-mail, “he couldn’t wait to
be a dad. We had a lot of fun times chasing girls in college, but he
talked about how much he wanted a son and how I would be Uncle Jay to
his kids when we met up in 20 years to watch Duke basketball games
together.”
That sounds like something Soghikian would have appreciated.
“He was,” says Mark Gruberg, executive board member of the cabbies’
union, “gentlemanly and genial, graceful and gracious and deeply
caring.”
Mort Weinstein, a cabdriver who rode to work with Soghikian three
nights a week, says Soghikian charged him $5 for the ride to work
each night, “But it didn’t go in his pocket, ever.” It seems he met
an Armenian family one night in his cab who had lost everything in an
earthquake. He took their name and address and, Weinstein says,
“twice a year he would send the money to them.”
He could, however, be a little strict.
“Zareh holds the record,” Weinstein says. “One New Year’s Eve he
kicked seven passengers out of his cab for bad behavior. They didn’t
get the privilege of riding his cab.”
Tyler Brown got the privilege. And if they had to go, they could have
done worse than to be with each other. Two good guys, kindred souls,
whose paths somehow crossed a careening pickup one night in San
Francisco.
“I thank God that Mike (Brown’s friend Michael Giedgowd who was in
the cab) is going to be all right,” Loughnane says. “But I just keep
hoping that Ty will come home with him. It’s going to take a lifetime
to get through this.”
Officially we will call this a tragic accident. But when a guy like
McGuinness does this over and over, it isn’t an accident, it’s a
pattern.
But tragic? Yeah, I’d go along with that.

Kathimerini, Greece
Oct 15 2005
US agency calls on Turkey to drop charges against Pamuk
WASHINGTON (AP) – A US government human rights group is calling on
Turkey to drop charges against Orhan Pamuk, a writer indicted for
speaking openly on the Armenian question. The appeal was made by
commissioners of the US Helsinki Commission, which monitors rights
issues, mostly in Europe. They sent a letter to Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urging him to authorize the removal of
charges against Pamuk. `A stable democracy cannot blossom until the
government ends the practice of stifling free speech and removes the
clouds of deception and censorship from a true telling of history,’
said Commission Co-Chairman Rep. Christopher Smith.

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Oct 15 2005
FOREIGN MINISTER ELMAR MAMMADYAROV VISITS EGYPT
[October 16, 2005, 23:22:04]
Baku, 16 October (AzerTAj). Paying an official visit to Egypt Foreign
Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov met here with his
counterpart Ahmad Abu Al-Jeit on October 15. The parties discussed
ways of enhancing Azerbaijan-Egypt cooperation in political and
economic fields as well as within international organizations, and
exchanged views on the situation in the Middle East and international
security issues.
The Egyptian Minister said touching on the Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, he supported the efforts by the OSCE
Minsk group, as well as the talks between the leaders and foreign
ministers of the conflicting states aiming at peaceful settlement of
the problem. He expressed hope it would be settled soon in the
framework of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Both Ministers
pointed out that the economic relations between Azerbaijan and Egypt
were not on a due level and stressed the importance of expanding
trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. They
welcomed the idea of opening the flight Baku – Sharm El Sheik- Cairo
that, according to them, would increase the tourist flows between the
countries, and intensify direct contacts among businessmen.
Informing his Egyptian colleague on the implementation of the
large-scale projects in Azerbaijan including the construction of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipelines,
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway as well as TRACECA, Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov expressed his wish that Egypt joined the latter in an
observer capacity.
Following the meeting, the two Ministers gave a press conference.
On the same day, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Chairman
of the National Assembly of Egypt Ahmad Fathi Surur, and made a
speech at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry’s Foreign Affairs Council.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Tehran Times
Oct 17 2005
Religious minorities to stage demo in front of British Embassy
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN — Members of Iran’s religious minority communities will
gather in front of the British Embassy at 10:30 a.m. today to protest
against the way the International Atomic Energy Agency is dealing
with Iran’s nuclear program.
Zoroastrians and Armenian, Chaldean, and Assyrian Christians will be
taking part in the demonstration.
They plan to issue a statement in defense of Iran’s inalienable right
to possess nuclear technology meant for peaceful purposes and
condemning the IAEA and the EU trio’s stances toward Iran at the end
of the protest.