PRESENTATION OF BTA INVESTBANK TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN ON AUG 22

ARKA News Agency
Aug 18 2005

YEREVAN, August 18. /ARKA/. A presentation of the BTA Investbank is to
be held in Yerevan on August 22, 2005. BTA Investbank Board Chairman
Rasul Kosanov said that the bank itends to make its contribution to
the development of Armenia’s financial sector, introduce innovation
and banking products, promote Armenian companies and Armenia in
the international investment community, encouraging the inflow of
foreign investments.

In May 2005, one of the largest banks of Kazakhstan, “TuranAlem”
acquired 48.9% of shares of the authorized capital of the Armenian
“International Investment Bank” CJSC, which was later renamed BTA
Investbank. The other shareholders of the bank are the Austrian ZRL
company (31.1%), and the Kazakh-Armenian MOBILEX company (20%).

According to interim financial report, by June 30, 2005, the assets
of the BTA Investbank had amounted to AMD 1,118.9mln, total capital
AMD 878.8mln, and authorized capital AMD 1,105mln. The bank’s credit
investments had totaled AMD 181.7mln. P.T. -0–

Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Aug 18 2005

TAXING TIMES FOR ARMENIANS

IMF pressure prompts government to shed light on skewed tax system.
By Naira Melkumian in Yerevan

Big businesses in Armenia pay far less tax than their counterparts
in other post-Soviet countries, with the burden of taxation borne by
ordinary citizens and small companies, official statistics reveal.

After urging from the International Monetary Fund, IMF, the state tax
department recently published two lists of the country’s 300 highest
taxpayers, which paint an extraordinary picture of the country’s
economy that is embarrassing to both government and big business.

According to the latest list, published last month, the Armenian
treasury received a total of 78.4 billion drams (178 million US
dollars) in the first half of this year, an amount that James McHugh,
the IMF’s representative in Armenia, said was very disappointing.

“The tax collection level in Armenia is the lowest among the countries
of the CIS,” McHugh told IWPR.

Economists say this is because some of the country’s best-known
businesses are not paying big tax bills – a fact that although
commonly believed in Armenia for many years has now been proved by
the publication of the two lists detailing which taxpayers pay what
into the treasury.

Even Armenian president Robert Kocharian expressed his concern with
tax collection recently. Meeting leading tax officials last month,
he said of their work, “The results are not bad, but they are hardly
satisfactory.” He promised more reforms of the tax system.

In the latest list, as with the last published in April, Armenians
learned that the biggest taxpayer in the country was not one of
the big businesses based in the capital but the Zangezur copper and
molybdenum factory which contributed more than 24 million dollars to
the budget in the previous six months.

Asked to comment on the nature of the list, one of the government
officials dealing directly with the issue, Vakhtang Mirumian, who
is the head of the finance ministry’s department of tax methodology,
told IWPR that he had “nothing to say”.

Only two big companies, Grand Tobacco and International Masis Tabak,
are among the leading taxpayers in the current list.

Grand Tobacco is in fifth position having paid 2.3 billion drams
(more than five million US dollars) for the first half of this year
or 2.9 per cent of all taxes collected by the tax department.

Other big Armenian business concerns, running big factories and making
well-known products, however were not high up on the list.

According to the IMF 2004 report, the country’s biggest businessmen
pay only 23 per cent of all taxes while they can potentially contribute
75 per cent.

McHugh says that the lists are bringing transparency to Armenia’s tax
collection system and highlighting what needs to be done to raise
more taxes. “All Armenians should pay more taxes, and most of it
should come from large businesses,” he said.

The tax revenue figures have led to accusations that the system
delivers tax breaks to some companies while penalising others.

“There is a unique situation in Armenia – a businessman’s success
does not depend on the quality of business at all, it only depends
on how close they are to authorities,” former statistics minister
Eduard Aghajanov told IWPR.

There has been criticism for example that Kotaik Beer, which dominates
60 per cent of Armenia’s lucrative beer market, has paid no profit
tax at all – at the same time as its smaller competitor Yerevan Beer
paid 128 million drams (290,0000 dollars).

Tigran Mejlumian, chief accountant for the Kotaik factory, 71 per cent
of which belongs to the French firm Castel, told IWPR that because
it receives foreign investment it does not have to pay profit tax.

Under the law, companies that acquire more than one million dollars
of over overseas funds every two years are exempt from such taxation.

With big businessmen paying far less than their counterparts in other
post-Soviet countries, the brunt of Armenia’s tax burden is being
borne by ordinary citizens and small businesses.

Opposition parliamentary deputy Viktor Dallakian argues that because of
the heavy tax bill they paid, small businesses were being “destroyed,
while the oligarchs remain free to play”.

Dallakian estimates that large businesses actually earn 300-350
million dollars every year – equivalent to half the country’s budget.

However, top businessman Hachik Manukian, who heads the Max Group,
a prominent group of businesses, argued that the main tax burden
should indeed fall on small and medium enterprises.

Manukian rejected the IMF recommendations. “They want 300 large
taxpayers to provide 70 per cent of the collections,” he told IWPR.
“Who told them that it is correct?

“Large businesses are transparent enough and it is necessary to audit
the medium enterprises.”

When asked to declare the amount of the taxes paid by Max Group –
only some of its companies appear on the tax department list – the
businessman declined to comment, saying only, “Why are you interested
in this?”

Most of the taxes collected in Armenia are collected indirectly.
Parliamentary deputy Victor Dallakian estimated that 80 per cent of
revenues come from indirect taxes, while developed economies collect
around 70 per cent of their revenue from direct taxes.

According to the finance ministry, 46.2 per cent of tax revenues come
from VAT, while profit tax provides only 17.4 per cent, and income
tax 8.4 per cent of the budget.

“Filling the budget through VAT is like picking pockets, in other
words, the state is putting its hand in every consumer’s pocket,”
said Arthur Tamarjian, deputy head of the department for legislative
analysis and legal control in the Armenian parliament.

Felix Tsolakian, head of the tax department, told IWPR that over
the last two years there has been a 40 per cent increase in the
proportion of direct taxes in total tax revenues. He said the lists
of taxpayers had been published in accordance with the law and the
president’s wishes.

Naira Melkumian is a freelance journalist in Yerevan and IWPR
contributor.

System of a Down: Band plays by its own rules
By MALCOLM VENABLE, The Virginian-Pilot

Virginian Pilot, VA
Aug 18 2005

In 1996, System of a Down was just a 2-year-old L.A. band with guys
from Lebanon, Armenia and Hollywood . Like many rockers before them,
they played local clubs, tearing the walls down with their trashy,
thrashy heavy metal.

“Don’t scream, kid,” singer Serj Tankian recalled a music exec saying
to him. “You’re never gonna get signed.”

But uber-producer Rick Rubin did sign them in 1997, and shortly
after System, playing Sunday at Hampton Coliseum, released their 1998
eponymous debut, fans’ requests forced their song “Sugar” on the
radio. The album went platinum. The follow-up, 2001’s “Toxicity,”
sold more than 3 million copies in the United States. System of a
Down’s latest effort, “Mezmerize,” which is half of the dual CD
“Mezmerize/Hypnotize,” debuted at No. 1 on Billboard in May, selling
800,000 copies in a week. All total, the group has sold nearly 10
million albums around the world.

That music exec who initially discouraged them was very, very wrong.

As it turns out, people wanted to hear the band’s hard-core, gothic
metal. Maybe they’re successful because they fill a void that few
bands outside of Metallica have been able to. Or maybe it was because
people wanted something other than the hip-hop of Lauryn Hill or
Rancid’s Clash-like punk that was popular then.

System of a Down

AUDIO: Click the button below to hear an excerpt of “B.Y.O.B.” by
System of a Down. (Free Flash player required.)

IF YOU’RE GOING

Who: System of a Down with The Mars Volta
When: 7 p.m. Sunday
Where: Hampton Colisuem
Tickets: $32.50-$45.00, (757) 671-8100

Bassist Shavo Odadjian has another theory: System of a Down is
successful because they’ve always done what they’ve wanted to do.

“It beats the hell out of me,” he says from a hotel room in Florida,
the sixth stop on their first tour in three years. “I just know what
we’ve done is not conform. We never really planned to be where we are
– even on the radio.

Things came naturally to us, and I think that’s the key to any
success – putting in effort and hard work.”

Their indifference for the mechanics of the music industry seem
apparent looking at them – what other major band out today looks as
unstyled, unpolished and unconcerned with appearing cool? “We don’t
push to do something we don’t know how to do,” says Odadjian.

System’s music is often described as a brilliant, frenzied heap with
influences ranging from Armenian folk to rock to R&B. (All four band
members, including guitarist-singer Daron Malakian and drummer John
Dolmayan, are Armenian-Americans.) They’re typically lumped into a
dubiously titled category called “prog-rock,” a label they dismiss.

In addition to being musically strange in the best way, System of a
Down writes lyrics that run from the obtuse to the profound, from
political and timely to nonsensical.

“Why don’t presidents fight the war? / Why do they always send the
poor,” Malakian writes on “B.Y.O.B,” for example. Yet on “This
Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I’m on This Song,” he writes Dadaist
phrases like, “Killers Never Hurt Feelings/Gonorrhea gorgonzola.”

“Lyrically we just do whatever,” says Odadjian . “We don’t like to
explain it. We like to leave it to interpretation. It’s like an
artist painting an abstract piece and telling you what it’s about. It
kills it. Why give it away?” He doesn’t even ask the meaning behind
lyrics that other band members write.

“It’s a good brain tease.”

Odadjian’s comparison of System’s sometimes confounding lyrics to
abstract paintings rings especially true because he typically
outlines the conceptual direction for videos, cover art and the tour.

For “Mezmerize,” he wanted the albums to literally become one. So
when the companion disc “Hypnotize” drops in the fall, it will fold
into the first. It’s hard to explain over the phone, he says, but it
slides into the space where the booklet lies.

“I like them as one,” Odadjian says of the music that began as one
lengthy album. “We didn’t want to take a lot out. We were like, it
had to be a double.”

Usually, Odadjian’s artistic influences come from experience and
sleeping.

“The biggest influence is life experience, from dreams to encounters.
The music influences visuals, and the emotions influence the art. I’m
not one to share my deepest thoughts. I like to do it with visuals.”

The work, the album sales, the non-conformity, outlasting groups to
whom they were originally compared – Limp Bizkit, Korn – speaks for
itself.

Sometimes it’s heady and complex, sometimes it’s just silly. Whatever
it is System of a Down produces, it’s organic and assuredly real.

“It’s just not caring,” Odadjian says. “The more you care and try,
the more difficult it becomes, the less you’re likely to do it more
naturally. It’s not about making sense – it’s just do it.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KAZAKH “BANK TURANALEM” JSC TO OPEN OFFICE IN YEREVAN ON AUG 22

ARKA News Agency
Aug 18 2005

YEREVAN, August 18. /ARKA/. The “Bank TuranAlem” JSC (Kazakhstan)
is to open its office in Yerevan on August 22, 2005. The goal of
the office is rendering high-quality banking services to the bank’s
clients, contributing to the development of Armenian-Kazakh business
relations, monitoring the development of Armenia’s financial market
and finding the ways of developing the bank’s business in Armenia.
The Kazakh “Bank TuranAlem” is the first private banks implementing
a strategy of regional development in the CIS to form a common bank
space between Kazakhstan and the other CIS countries. The BTA’s assets
total $5.5bln, and the bank’s own capital exceeds $600mln. Among the
BTA’s strategic partners are Slavinvestbank, Omsk Bank, Agroincombank,
BTA-Kazan (Russia), BTA Transbank (Ukraine), Astana-Eximbank (Belarus),
BTA Silk Road Bank (Georgia), and BTA Investbank (Armenia). P.T. –0–

Crisis Group developing proposals on Garabagh conflict

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Aug 18 2005

Baku, August 17, AssA-Irada — An international organization working
to prevent conflicts worldwide is developing recommendations on the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper Garabagh.

Two reports of the International Crisis Group covering the situation
in the two countries will be published in September, the ICG project
director on South Caucasus Sabin Frasier told Radio Liberty.

“First, we want to provide other countries in the region with
information on the conflict and its consequences. On the other hand,
we will forward our proposals on ways of settling the conflict.”

Frasier said that the ICG vice-president Alain Deletroz will visit
Baku on September 8-9. “He will present the organization’s report
and up to 20 recommendations to the Azeri government”, she said.*

ARMENIA’S DEFENSE OFFICE REFUTES INFORMATION ON CAPTIVE AZERBAIJANI SOLDIER

ARKA News Agency
Aug 18 2005

YEREVAN, August 18. /ARKA/. The RA Ministry of Defense is refuting
the information on a captive Azerbaijani soldier. A number of mass
media spread the information that the Azerbaijani soldier Ralmil
Khudaverdiev was taken prisoner by the RA Armed Forces.

At his earlier meeting with journalists, Firudin Dadykhov, Head of the
Task Group, Azerbaijani State Commission for POWs, Hostages and Missing
Persons, reported that Ramil Khudaversiev had been taken prisoner by
Armenia’s armed forces. According to him, no detailed information was
available. Sadykhov also said that ICRC representative were mediating
in releasing Khudaverdiev. P.T. -0–

LA City Beat, CA
Aug 18 2005

Eric Garcetti
The L.A. City Councilmember on fighting graffiti, listening to
bloggers, and his upcoming road trip with Howard Dean

Illustration by Scott Gandell

A. City Councilmember Eric Garcetti is a fourth-generation Angeleno..
He grew up in the San Fernando Valley, is a professor at USC, and
recently ran unopposed for reelection for the City Council’s 13th
District (which includes Silver Lake, Echo Park, Hollywood, and
Atwater Village). But that didn’t stop Garcetti from pounding the
pavement on the campaign trail, inspired by the words of the French
writer Renan: “Democracy is a daily plebiscite.”

He was recently fined $5,000 by the city’s Ethics Commission for
failing to file some 2001 campaign mailers – a fine he says was
caused by a bureaucratic snafu that will soon ensnare other local
politicians in much bigger ways. Garcetti was merely one of the first
to settle. Meanwhile, he continues pushing an agenda of neighborhood
revitalization, traffic reduction, citizen equality, and
environmental protection. A central focus for him seems to be
bridging the gap between government and its constituents so that the
two work together. He holds neighborhood coffees and walks, blogs
regularly, and offers residents a chance to schedule sit-down
meetings through his website. And, most progressive of all, he’s
getting stuff done.

-Perry Crowe

*****

CityBeat: Your district’s Uniting Neighborhoods to Abolish Graffiti
(UNTAG) program, which appoints “block captains” to spot graffiti in
their neighborhoods, set a goal of 50 percent graffiti reduction
within two years. After just one year, there has already been a 62
percent reduction. Does that come from the program’s community
involvement angle rather than simply being a government operation?

Eric Garcetti: The success of [UNTAG] is that it’s a community
program. We’re the facilitator, but the heart and soul of this
program are the people who actually see their block long before we
could, call [the graffiti] in, and take care of it. I’ve got 20
people in my own office. We’ve got 260,000 people we represent. So,
our goal is ultimately to have one person on every single block in
this district, and there are literally hundreds of blocks.

When UNTAG becomes a citywide program, will you be involved?

I’d like to be the UNTAG cheerleader and help really champion it in
the City Council and continue to get the funding. If we have this in
all 15 districts, it’ll cost us half-a-million dollars more.

Outside of the gang tagging, do you see graffiti as an expression of
social, political, and economic frustration?

A lot of young people in Los Angeles often feel that they’re not
noticed, feel that they’re lost. But just as we would take
shoplifting as a crime that’s less serious than murder, it still
should be addressed. I don’t want to throw kids who aren’t affiliated
with gangs in jail over this, but I do want them to do community
service. For instance, painting out graffiti and realizing how much
time and money is spent on that. And then we’ll get them hooked up
with other programs where they can express themselves, but in a
better place.

What are some of those programs?

LACER [Literacy, Arts, Culture, Education, & Recreation] is a great
program. It’s in all the middle schools of Council District 13, where
we bring in some of the best jazz musicians, muralists, and most
creative professionals in Los Angeles for after-school programs that
these kids can get involved with. Similarly, we just last year
finally got an after-school program in every school in the district,
which was a goal of mine.

You recently updated your district’s blog to feed directly to
subscribers. How important a tool is your website in communicating
with constituents?

It’s amazing. We have conversations back and forth with some other
blogs. Blogging.la, for instance, had a constituent concern, and I
was able to answer it online and it got national attention because
people said, “Wow. A councilmember is reading blogs.” It’s the same
work we do on the phone. It’s the same work we do with letters every
day. But a lot of people know [blogging] is a quicker and a louder
way to communicate. We’ve just tried to do [our website] in a way
that will keep things fresh every couple of days. New news. Lots of
times, government sites change themselves once every month. We want
to be squarely in the cyber age and have as dynamic a website and
government as you can find.

Blogging.la even defended you after your recent $5,000 fine for the
city’s Ethics Commission regarding some unapproved campaign mailers
from 2001.

Yeah, that’s funny. That fake little thing they made [blogging.la
posted a mailer marked “EVIDENCE” that read: Vote for Eric Garcetti
for City Council because his opponent so sucks! And he doesn’t know
how to dance … and other shit like that”].

Oh, that was fake?

It was totally fake. It was a joke. A couple of people have asked me
about that. They didn’t realize that it was just a joke. Our
literature was better than that.

So what was the deal with the Ethics Commission fine?

The fine was for 10 mailers out of about 40 that we did that [the
Ethics Commission] says we never turned in to them. I am certain that
we did. We actually took down a record of it. Then [the Commission]
moved from City Hall East to City Hall and their file says we’re
missing 10. There’s 18 different candidates who are having the same
thing. I’m one of the first to settle it. But some campaigns didn’t
turn any of [their mailers] in, and they know they didn’t turn in
any, but they’re getting fined $500 per mailer. So if you did 40
mailers, it’s a $20,000 fine instead of you screwed up once. But for
me it was a very small [fine]. We cooperated from the beginning. [But
the] rule bears some reinvestigation. For some of my colleagues who
might face a $10,000 or $20,000 fine, or the candidates who didn’t
get elected who face the same fine, that really discourages people
from running.

Are you excited for the upcoming Sunset Junction festival, right
there in your district?

Absolutely. We want to make sure that it’s well-managed, that the
impact on the community isn’t too great, but it’s one of the most
eclectic and energizing collections of Angelenos I think you can find
in a given year. And we want to make sure, too, that people know that
we really enforce it as a voluntary donation. The donations help
support the organization, and that’s great. But families who might
come there with four or five kids, working class from the community,
don’t have to be paying 30 bucks to get in. They can go in for free.

What’s the trip you’ve got coming up?

I represent Little Armenia. So, for four years, the Armenian
community has been saying, “We’d really like you to take a trip to
Armenia and perhaps develop a sister-city relationship with Yerevan,
the capital.” And so we’re going to Armenia. We’re going to sign a
sister-city agreement between the two cities because we’re the
second-biggest Armenian city in the world. And Governor [Howard]
Dean, coincidentally, who is a friend, is going to come along for a
few days as the chair of the DNC [Democratic National Committee], so
he’ll be there for a little bit. We’re going to check out their
struggle to establish a democracy in Armenia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Almendhar, Iraq
Aug 18 2005

Would the Permanent Constitution Solve the Problem of Regime in Iraq?

A fast review of the drafts that were published by some Iraqi and
Arab newspapers have disclosed some dilemmas and problems of
political and legal nature, especially as some drafts came as an
expression for what is short-termed and temporary at the expense of
what is strategic and long-termed. In addition, some of them came as
a reaction to former conditions, not for considerations of
constitutional dimensions that are necessitated by the contemporary
state.

As regards the ‘new’ un-timed mines and bombs, in addition to what
has been stated in the interim state administration code, they are:

1. The relation between religion and the state: Is Iraq actually ‘an
Islamic republic’ as stated in the chapter of fundamental principles?

It is worth mentioning that the religionization of the state at the
expense of its civil nature would leave its traces and legal and
political traces on the state and its future.

2. Sectarianism of the state and community: For the first time,
sectarianism would be officially adopted instead of equivocation, as
it was in the former racial laws. It seems that the strategy of Paul
Bremer, the American civil governor in Iraq has infected the
permanent constitution, as the draft has included the phrase “the
Islamic identity of the majority of Iraqi people (with its Shiite and
Sunni majority)” (Article 2 Chapter 1). Under the sectarian strain
and the ethnic tension, the legislator should have plainly and
clearly stated ‘the impermissibility of sectarianism and punishing
those who practice, or call for, or promote, or harbor it, based on
the constitutional concepts on which the contemporary state is based
on, especially the principles of equality and non-discrimination.

3. Ethnic division and conceptual confusion between nationalism and
religion: The constitution has coined that the Arabs and Kurds are
“two major races”, and has coined “basic races for the Turkmen,
Chaldeans, Assyrians, Armenians, Shabaks and Persians.” Then it moved
to the Yezidi and Sabaen Mandaen religions (Article 3). It can be
stated that the Iraqi people consist of two major races “Arabs and
Kurds”, in addition to other racial, and linguistic and religious
races, then stating them by name. The constitution guarantees their
rights, pursuant to the UN Convention for the Protection of National
Minorities for 1992, and the International Convention on Human
Rights, on basis of full parity, equality and citizenship.

4. Iraqi’s relation with Arabization is afloat: The legislator did
not desire to state that Iraq is a part of the Arab nation, while it
is a founding member of the Arab League, and is adhering to its
conventions and treaties, due to the related ethical considerations
and legal liability. The text came general and descriptive without
any obligation, “The Iraqi state is a part of the Arab and Islamic
worlds.” (Article 5)
5. Political Seclusion: The constitution project has prohibited
racism, expiation and terrorism, which is a clear and justified
matter, especially due to the plain and clear calls for
criminalization, conviction and hatred, in addition to the terrorist
practices of extremist radical forces. Nevertheless, the legislator
was not satisfied with that, but connected it to the Saddami Baath,
which should be a part of the political diversity of the state
(Article 11). In case the punishment of the criminals of the former
regime is a legal and legitimate matter, the non-criminals would be
included in the constitution in political alienation, including a
great number of the members and cadres of Baath Party, who were
opposing the policies of the former regime, from within the same
party.

This text reminds us of the decisions of the former revolution
council. On March 21, 1980, the council has issued a decision (law)
that prescribes the impermissibility of joining the (agent), as
stated in the text, Islamic Da’wa Party, and rules with death
sentence for all its members. The decision even went further to
punish those former members, upon retroactive force.

Prohibiting Baghdad Alliance, Nouri Al Sa’ed’s government has issued
laws that prohibit the communist activities, and the like,
considering them as destructive activities.

The Baathi government of February 8th has issued a statement during
the first few hours of the coupe de tat, known as (Statement no.13),
which called for eradicating the communists.

The matter appears not to be restricted to laws, as some forces have
practiced banning the activities of others through their influence
over the street, the intellectual terrorism and exploiting the state
authorities, as occurred in 1959 on behalf of the communists against
the nationalists and Baathis.

The Kurdish movement has always been among the victims of banning and
discrimination, to the extent of issuing a general amnesty for the
armed Kurds, of which the former president Saddam Hussein has
excluded the current president Jalal Al Talebani.

The matter is not the issue of a law or the existence of a
constitutional text for eradication, banning or discharging. Ideas
can only be fought with ideas, evidence can never be refuted except
with evidence, and opinion can oppose another, not by the power of
law or chasing ideas. As for criminals, we would say that making
decisions on them is the competence of courts and judiciary
decisions.

6. The role of religious reference: The constitution project stated
“its independence and guidance status, for its being an eminent
national and religious symbol. (Article 15)

Here, we should stress that the reference is not only one, as it is
diverse and numerous. Despite the fact that the text induces the idea
of “the supreme reference” in the Islamic Republic of Iran or “the
committee for diagnosing the interest of the regime”, it does not
state it frankly. These are elected entities that the constitution
puts at a sublime elite status, and would have eventually the right
to make the decisions. In case Imam Al Khomeini has requested for the
rule of the jurist (Wilayat Al Faqih) through his political role, Mr.

Al Sestani desired or was granted a role (which he might not have a
great desire for), through his spiritual reference. Nevertheless, he
has retreated in a significant interview with Germany’s Der Shpigel
magazine has quoted his clear and plain talk when he called the
Shiite scholars not to occupy political positions or play a key
political role.

A question might pop up for the readers: How many references do we
have? (After asking: What is a reference and what is its role?). The
Shiaas have their references and so do the Sunnis, all Christian
sects, the Yezidis, the Sabaens and others.

In case we supposed that ‘Al Alamia, Al Zuhd and Al Haida’ are within
the reference, then what about if they interfered in the political
affairs and have promoted for this team or that group or person?

There might be many criticisms that emerged during the elections on
January 2005, when Al Sayyid Ali Al Sestani’s name and images were
used, and the denial of supporting this slate was not up to the level
of responsibility necessitated by the status of the reference.

However, the references and Hawzas should not be exploited for
political propaganda or promoting for this or that political party.

In addition, how can we deal with the reference in case it protected
‘corrupters’ or did not confront them, especially those acted
fruadently with the rights and money of the state, community and
citizens, in the past and present?

What if the references have been negligent and delayed a great
crucial matter that is relating to the destiny of the homeland, such
as the situation towards the occupation and fighting it? What if its
estimations were mistaken and wrong? The reference has previously
adopted stands that have aroused division in the Iraqi street. As
long as we are weak humans, we can make mistakes. Nevertheless, heavy
weight negligence or mistakes, as they say, are not similar to the
wrong estimations of regular people.

7. The legal identity of sacred thresholds: The state should stress
their sacredness and protect them. The text also induces the demands
of some Iraqi and non-Iraqi Shiite Islamic forces for the necessity
of placing the sacred thresholds under international supervision,
which would lead to dishonoring Iraqi sovereignty. It is a
coincidence that the post-occupation governments are the ones that
most violate the holiness of the sacred thresholds. They have
cordoned Imam Ali’s shrine (PBUH) in Najaf, have raided Al Sayyid
Muqtada Al Sadr’s group in the sacred Al Haidari’s shrine, and have
bombed the returning people from Muslim Ibn Aqil’s shrine in Kufa.

These confrontations and violations remind us of what Hussein Kamal
did in Imam Al Hussein’s shrine in Karbala in 1991.

The sacred shrines are public facilities that have their special
status and holiness for great classes of Iraqi and non-Iraqi Muslims.

The state should protect, maintain and develop them, in addition to
improving their mortmain system that they were annexed to in 1997.

Unfortunately, the sectarian division of the civil governor Paul
Bremer has extended to the mortmain ministry, dividing it into
“Shiite Mortmain” and “Sunni Mortmain”, after being only one
ministry.

8. Fear of the issue of population housing that is harming the
demographic environment in Iraq: (Section C, Article 4, Chapter 2).

The matter is not concerned with the settlement of Turks from Turkey,
or Kurds from Turkey, or Iran, or Syria, or Iranian or Bahraini or
Saudi Shiaas, it is related to the Palestinians. Some identities have
expressed panic from the settlement as it would lead to changing the
sectarian structure. The rejection of the principle of settlement is
not for preliminary considerations relating to the rights of the
Palestinian Arab people.

9. Women’s rights: which the state guarantees, pursuant to the
provisions of Islamic Sharia, as stated in the draft. It is a new
indirect attempt against law no. 188 for 1959, which has granted
broad rights for women, and has been rejected at that time on behalf
of many unsuccessful religious and traditional media. There were
attempts to cancel it in the interim governing council. Many laws
that treat women fairly, but they were frozen and nullified, due to
the wars and siege. The former regime has issued several retarded
laws that dealt with women’s rights, including the attenuated
penalties for murdering women for disgrace and the return of some old
clannish traditions.

There are currently several worries including: subjugating women’s
rights and freedom to limitations, designated in the name of Sharia.

The explanations and interference of interpreters are included.

Therefore, the issue of marriage, divorce and heritage are not remote
from the dominance of clergymen, which sets pressure on the idea of
civil marriage and equal rights stated in international conventions
with regard to women’s rights and preventing all forms of
discrimination against them.

10. Regions and their competence: Chapter 4 (Article 2) of the
constitution project has given the right to two or more provinces to
create a region and gave the region a right to draft a constitution
and approve it upon absolute majority (Article 7). It also gave the
president of the region the right of representing his region abroad
(Article 14). The legislator should have stressed the competence,
i.e. rights and duties, of Kurdistan region (in specific) as it is a
realistic not hypothetical situation. It has actually existed for
years. The Kurds have clearly crystallized their demands. Discussions
and debate might not be on the principle but on the limits and
competence of the regional authorities, the competence of its
non-central institutions, the right means for settling the postponed
Kirkuk problem, and the relation of the region with the federal
authority.

As for speaking of federations and regions for two or more provinces,
under a perplexed situation and the occupation, it might give some
adventurers and greedy persons the opportunity to exploit such hard
conditions, especially by accelerating the sectarian strain and
tension to drive matters towards division and fragmentation. This
serves old Zionist plans; especially as the heritage of the strict
oppressive central regime still have their heavy nightmares and
bitter experience.

The form, structure and competence of the federal system, which is
stated in the drafts is closer to entities, on their way to
separation, or at least it would be possible in case these regions
desire that, especially as the constitution project does not clearly
state the singularity of foreign representation, and international
and diplomatic relations, in addition to the issue of resources,
general budget, currency and armed forces, which arouse such doubts.

***

This mine might be the most dangerous, after the sectarianism, in
case it aggravated and exploded. The issue is not related to
Kurdistan region, which is a legal and political entity since the law
of self government for 1974 (despite its missing points and great
gaps), the broad and semi-complete independence during the period of
late 1991 until 2003, but the supposed form of the region and the
political projects behind it.

The permanent constitution has added to the complexity of the old
governing problem and filled it with doubts, skepticism and confusing
texts.

An Iraqi writer and thinker
Al Hayat

Armenian FM expects ‘new elements’ to emerge at Moscow meeting

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Aug 18 2005

Baku, August 17, AssA-Irada — New ‘elements’ may come up during any
round of talks on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict
over Upper Garabagh, Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oskanian
has said.

The Azeri and Armenian foreign ministers’ meeting due in Moscow
on August 24 is the continuation of the Warsaw meeting of the two
countries’ presidents, Armenian media quoted Oskanian as saying.

“We are working to fulfill the tasks set forth by the Presidents,”
said Oskanian. He added that certain progress has been achieved in
this area.*
From: Baghdasarian

The Herald Sun, NC
Aug 18 2005

Imprisoned Duke student free

By Ray Gronberg : The Herald-Sun
[email protected]
Aug 17, 2005 : 8:57 pm ET

DURHAM — A Duke University graduate student is once again a free man
after receiving a suspended sentence from a court in Armenia that found
him guilty of illegally trying to remove old books from the country.

Yektan Turkyilmaz can’t leave Armenia until court officials there
formally file the verdict on Aug. 31. But he is no longer being held
in prison, and may resume the research effort that prompted his visit
to the country.

“I am happy to be free,” Turkyilmaz was quoted as saying in a report
by Armenialiberty.org, a branch of Radio Free Europe. “I now want
to concentrate on my doctoral dissertation. I was, I am and I will
remain a friend of the Armenians.”

Officials at Duke who’ve pressed for the Ph.D. student’s release
welcomed the news.

“We were pleased to hear the news that Yektan Turkyilmaz has been
released from detention … and will be able to return soon to the
United States,” Duke President Richard Brodhead said in a written
statement. “We look forward to welcoming him back to Duke University.”

Turkyilmaz — a scholar from Turkey who is in his fourth year in
Duke’s cultural anthropology department — was in Armenia to conduct
archive research for a dissertation about the political and ethnic
evolution of eastern Turkey in the early 20th century.

The topic is a touchy one because it invariably touches on the question
of genocide. The region in question once was home to many Armenians,
but about 1 million died there in the early years of World War I.

Armenians have insisted that the deaths amounted to genocide, but
Turkish governments have rejected the claim. Relations between the
two countries are frosty; they do not maintain diplomatic relations.

Turkyilmaz — a Kurd considered sympathetic to the Armenian point
of view — was pulled off a plane by authorities on June 17 as he
prepared to leave the country. He was later charged with two counts
of smuggling under a law that bars the export without permission of
books that are more than 50 years old.

Tuesday’s court hearing upheld the seizure of 88 books published
more 50 years ago that Turkyilmaz had purchased from second-hand
book dealers. A judge, however, ordered authorities to return to the
scholar compact discs that contained his research notes.

According to Armenialiberty.org, a prosecutor said the smuggling charge
was “absolutely substantiated,” but agreed that there were mitigating
circumstances. Turkyilmaz received a two-year suspended sentence.

The law in question would have supported a prison sentence of between
four and eight years.

Turkyilmaz’ supporters — including a core group of professors at
Duke and UNC Chapel Hill — have insisted that Armenia’s handling of
the case was extreme compared to the alleged offense. He was held in
a high-security prison and initially was not allowed to communicate
with his family or Duke officials.

Supporters of the Ph.D. student were able to rally assistance from
political leaders who included former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole and U.S.
Rep. David Price, a former Duke professor.

Dole — the husband of Duke alumna and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole —
wrote Armenia’s president, Robert Kocharian, to say that Turkyilmaz’
detention had raised “questions about Armenia’s democratic progress
and commitment to the rule of law.”

Turkyilmaz’ dissertation adviser, Duke professor Orin Starn, traveled
to Armenia to attend the trial and told Armenialiberty.org’s reporters
that Duke officials were “very pleased” by Tuesday’s court decision.

Starn could not be reached for further comment.