Associated Press Worldstream
September 25, 2005 Sunday
Police arrest dozens of Azerbaijani opposition parties amid attempted
unauthorized protest
AIDA SULTANOVA; Associated Press Writer
BAKU, Azerbaijan
Opposition activists clashed with riot police Sunday as Azerbaijan’s
largest opposition alliance defied authorities’ refusal to allow a
protest rally – fueling fears of growing unrest in the Caspian Sea
nation just weeks before parliamentary elections.
Opposition leaders said dozens were beaten and arrested in the
confrontations, which were abruptly suspended after authorities
called for surprise negotiations to try and calm spiraling tensions
in the oil-rich former Soviet republic that borders Iran.
“Our goal is free, democratic elections,” party leader Ibraghim
Veliyev said, adding that he was hit by police truncheons during
Sunday’s rally. “In spite of everything, we will continue our
struggle. Authorities must understand that the country needs
changes.”
Rising tensions before the Nov. 6 vote have led some observers to
predict that Azerbaijan could see a mass uprising similar to those
that brought opposition leaders to power in Georgia, Ukraine and
Kyrgyzstan. The mostly Muslim nation of 8.3 million is the starting
point for a pipeline that will ship oil and gas from Azerbaijan’s
huge offshore reserves to a Turkish Mediterranean port.
Though the opposition has held nearly weekly demonstrations, Sunday’s
was the first mass protest to be held without official permission
since the October 2003 presidential election, which the opposition
said was rigged and which sparked rioting.
President Ilham Aliev, who succeeded his late, strongman father in
that election, has pledged repeatedly that the November elections
would will be free. Opposition leaders said, however, they strongly
doubted the vote would be fair.
Hundreds of activists on one Baku street chanted “Resign!” and “Free
Elections!” and carried red carnations as they confronted a row of
riot police. As they tried to break through the cordon, officers
using truncheons beat them back and forced them to flee.
Isak Avazogli, a spokesman for the People’s Front of Azerbaijan, one
of three parties making up the Azadlig opposition alliance, said more
than 100 people were detained. City police officials said 15 officers
were injured in the clashes and 42 activists were detained.
“This is an unsanctioned action, and police were performing their
duties,” deputy city police chief Yasar Aliyev said.
Appealing for calm, opposition leaders held 30 minutes of closed door
negotiations with authorities – an unprecedented decision by a
government that has kept the opposition at arm’s length.
“It’s clear that authorities, on the eve of parliamentary elections,
fear they will find themselves in an unpleasant situation before the
world community,” political analyst Rasim Musabekov said. “There is
not the slightest doubt that the elections will be falsified; the
question is will it be completely falsified.”
One opposition party spokesman said Laura Scheibe, a political
officer with the U.S. Embassy in Baku, had participated in the talks.
Scheibe could not be located for comment, and no one answered phones
at the embassy Sunday.
Party leader Ali Kerimli said the law stipulates that the opposition
must only notify authorities before staging rallies. Government
officials disagreed, but said they would hold further discussions
Monday about the legality of future rallies, he said.
“We are not the same opposition as before; we are more united in our
strength,” he said.
More than 2,000 candidates are running for 125 seats in parliament.
Even before the formal beginning of the election campaign earlier
this month, allegations that authorities were trying to discredit the
opposition had arisen.
Two activists with an opposition youth organization were arrested
last month, accused of receiving money from Armenian agents in
exchange for organizing an uprising in Azerbaijan. The two deny the
charges and say Azerbaijan’s secret service was responsible.
Authorities have also vowed to arrest former parliament speaker Rasul
Guliyev, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States
since 1996, should he return to Azerbaijan. Guliyev is running for
parliament, as is another opposition figure, Ayaz Mutalibov, a former
president who also lives in self-imposed exile in Moscow.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
September 23, 2005 Friday
Armenia holds no talks on gas transit to Ukraine-energy minister
By Tigran Liloyan
YEREVAN
Armenia is conducting no negotiations on the transit of Iranian gas
to Ukraine or to Europe, Energy Minister Armen Movsesian has told a
news conference.
“It is up to Iran and Ukraine to discuss such matters. As long as
there have been no negotiations on that score, discussing the
participation of other countries in such projects will make no
sense,” he said.
The gas pipeline from Iran will go operational 4-5 months earlier
than expected, by the autumn of 2006, Movsesian said. Armenia plans
to increase the pipeline’s throughput between Kadjaran-Yerevan. The
Iran-Armenia pipeline began to be laid on November 30, 2004. Under
the contract it is expected to go be commissioned by January 1, 2007.
Over a period of 20 years Iran will supply to Armenia 36 billion
cubic meters of natural gas in exchange for electricity.
Movsesian said Iran will invest 150 million dollars in the
construction of the fifth unit of the Razdan thermoelectric power
plant. When upgraded, this power unit will increase the power plant’s
capacity to 450 megawatts. The facility’s economic parameters will
then match all international standards.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
September 24, 2005, Saturday
08:35:12 Central European Time
Protests in Istanbul as Armenian genocide conference begins
Ankara
Right and left-wing nationalists joined forces in Istanbul on
Saturday to protest the start of an academic conference looking into
the massacres of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in Turkey during
and after the First World War.
Hundreds of police officers were on duty at Bigli University ensuring
that only those invited to the conference were allowed onto the
campus while protesters shouted pro-Turkish slogans outside. There
were no reports of violence.
The conference has been extremely controversial as Turkey refuses to
accept that the deaths of as many as 1.5 million Armenians
constitutes genocide. The official state line is that massacres did
occur but they were a result of Armenians living in what was then the
Ottoman Empire rising up against the state in support of invading
Russian forces.
Armenian historians argue that the massacres and the state policy of
deporting Armenians who were forced to march into the deserts of what
is now Syria was a clear act of genocide.
More than a dozen European countries have passed resolutions
specifically stating that the events of 1915 did constitute a
genocide and that Turkey should accept this and make appropriate
apologies.
The “Ottoman Armenians during the Demise of Empire” conference has
been dogged by controversy since it was planned to go ahead in May.
It was originally postponed after Justice Minister Cemil Cicek
described those participating as stabbing Turkey in the back. After
Cicek softened his words and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
he believed it to be in the interests of democracy and history, the
organizers planned to start the conference on Friday at Bogazici and
Sabanci universities.
The conference appeared to have been put on hold once more when it
emerged on Thursday night that a court in Istanbul had banned the
conference. Organizers found a loophole in the ruling, however, and
moved the conference to Bilgi University.
The controversial conference comes two weeks after prosecutors filed
charges against Turkey’s internationally famous author Orhan Pamuk
for “denigrating the country” when he told a Swiss news magazine that
“a million Armenians were killed”. Pamuk faces up to three years
imprisonment if found guilty. dpa cw pmc

Noyan Tapan News Agency
Sept 23 2005
ARMEN RUSTAMIAN: NOT ACCEPTING KARABAKH AS A NEGOTIATIONS PARTY,
AZERBAIJAN FACTUALLY AVOIDS PEACEFUL NEGOTIATIONS
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, NOYAN TAPAN. No complete negotiations go on
the Karabakh settlement today. Armen Rustamian, a representative of
the ARF Supreme Body of Armenia, the Chairman of the NA Standing
Committee on Foreing Relations, expressed such a confidence at the
September 22 press-conference. According to him, today meetings,
consultations take place, but no negotiations: “No real negotiations
can be spoken on as Nagorno Karabakh is not present at the
negotiations as a party.” According to Rustamian, refusing to
recognize Nagorno Karabakh as a side, Azerbaijan, factually, avoids
peaceful negotiations, by this approving that it prefers the way of
war solution.
According to Armen Rustamian, Armenia can represent and protect
approaches of Karabakh in all those instances where the NKR hasn’t
been represented yet because of its being unrecognized, but it may
never take the place of Karabakh. According to him, no document
concerning the problem settlement, adopted without the participation
of Karabakh may be legal. According to Rustamian, there are issues
which are just under commission of Nagorno Karabakh, and Armenia may
not reach agreements on those issues. The problem of territories is
particularly among them as today those are factually guarantees of
the security of the people of Karabakh, and today this people has no
other real guarantee of security.
According to Rustamian if Azerbaijan tries to replace the discussion
of the issue to the UN platform without the participation of Nagorno
Karabakh Armenia should not participate in that discussion.
According to him, it’s impossible to solve all problems put on
negotiations at the same time that’s why “the agreement must be
package and the solution phasal.” “I won’t be against such phasal
solution when the issue of the status of Karabakh is solved first,”
ARF SB representative stated.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Anatolian Times, Turkey
Sept 23 2005
Suspension Of Academic Conference On Armenian Issue
ISTANBUL – Several groups held demonstrations in front of Istanbul’s
Bogazici University on Friday to protest an academic conference on
the Armenian issue which was suspended by the court.
Members of the Culture & Ethics Association hang photographs of women
and children who were killed by Armenian gangs during the World War I
on fences surrounding the university campus.
Meanwhile, members of the National Power Platform held another
protest to support decision of the court.
Kemal Kerincsiz, chairman of the Platform and a member of the
Executive Board of the Lawyers’ Association, said, ”yesterday, the
Armenian issue was debated at the European Parliament and a
parliamentarian said, ‘they (Turkish authorities) gave us a promise.
How could they suspend the conference now?’ Now we want to know who
has given those promises? Was it the prime minister or the foreign
minister? We expect Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to make a
statement.”
”The conference is not scientific at all. It aims to explain biased
views of the Armenian diaspora,” he said.
Kerincsiz kept on saying, ”Turkish nation has the most honorable and
cleanest history of the world. There is nothing to be ashamed of in
our history including relocation of Armenians in 1915 due to security
reasons. Turkey has already opened its archives to researches.
According to documents in those archives, 527 thousand Turkish people
were massacred by Armenian gangs.”
Meanwhile, speaking on behalf of the Patriotic Movement, Bedri
Baykam, a prominent Turkish painter, said, ”some circles wanted to
organize this conference with extremely biased, antidemocratic and
misleading mentality.”
In another part of Istanbul, members of the Association of Retired
Officers held a demonstration to protest the conference.
Riza Kucukoglu, chairman of the Association said, ”we respect
decision of the court. We believe that the Bogazici University was
saved from an Armenian occupation after the decision of the court.”
A court in Istanbul ordered the suspension of the academic conference
on ”Armenians in the Late Ottoman Empire: Scientific Responsibility
and Democracy Problems”. The conference was originally scheduled for
May but was postponed as a result of severe criticisms. The case to
cancel the conference was brought by lawyers who are members of the
Foundation of Turkish Lawyers’ Union.

Dansk Boldspil-Union, Denmark
Sept 23 2005
English Futsal on the up
Gary Macbeth, event director of the UEFA Futsal Cup preliminary round
in London, says the event has shown how the game in England is
developing.
Competitive European Futsal came to the capital of England for the
first time last week – and the finish could not have been more
exciting.
Heartbreaking exit
Hosts London White Bear FC, having lost to Dinamo Tirana but defeated
France’s Roubaix Futsal, went into their last UEFA Futsal Cup
preliminary round game needing what seemed an unlikely two-goal win
against experienced Tal Grig Yerevan, and the odds increased when the
Armenian champions scored after only ten seconds. But London
equalised early in the second half and took the lead late on, and
when the whistle went there was some number crunching before they
realised that Yerevan and Dinamo Tirana had pipped them on
head-to-head record, on goals scored.
Praise for city
The chance to come to London was relished by the visiting teams.
Roubaix president Messaoud Ferkioui said: “We have learned so much
just being in London, it has confounded our expectations. It is as
beautiful as Paris!” Yerevan coach Ruben Nazaretyan added: “We
enjoyed it – thank you London!”
English improvement
London’s performance shows the development that is taking place in
English Futsal, as promoted by the Football Association (FA) and the
burgeoning leagues. One prominent example is the Futsal Premier
League (FPL), whose CEO Gary Macbeth was the event director of the
mini-tournament at the Crystal Palace National Sports Arena.
‘Fantastic experience’
Eastern European-influenced London are the current FPL champions, and
Macbeth told uefa.com: “This truly was a fantastic experience for our
team in hosting this event and bringing European competition to our
shores. The opportunity to offer a higher level of Futsal was a real
treat and we hope the Futsal fans that came out to support the event
thought so too. For me personally, I think it was also a huge success
in demonstrating the positive results that can come from UEFA and the
FA working with league organisations like the FPL to advance Futsal.”
‘Desperately unlucky’
Macbeth was certainly pleased with London’s performance in
representing his league and English Futsal. “Having not seen the
other teams, I had no idea really what to expect from them or how
well the White Bear team would do,” he said. “They were desperately
unlucky not to qualify. Winning two games, including coming from
behind and beat the group winners Yerevan, is a testimony to the
improvement in Futsal in this country over the last few years.”
Brazilian influence
He added: “The standards have raised here in the UK.. The competitive
league structure is going from strength to strength. The Futsal
Premier League is fortunate in that we benefit from a strong presence
of Brazilian and Eastern European teams. This is a definite help in
raising the level of the game overall.”
Future years
Next year’s English representatives will be Doncaster College for the
Deaf from the Sheffield and Hallamshire County FA’s Elite Futsal
league, who beat London in this year’s national finals. But there is
no doubt that London’s performance on their European debut has raised
the expectations for English teams, and Macbeth hopes that
improvement will continue.
Benefit gained
“I think the teams know now they can compete in Europe,” he said.
“There’s still a long way to go, but only by competing at that level
can teams learn what it will take. The cost of international fixtures
is high of course, but the benefit from the experience is significant
and obvious. It’s our hope of course to continue now in working
closely with UEFA and the FA, but any sponsors out there who love
football, should seriously take a look at Futsal.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Colgate University, NY
Sept 23 2005
Balakian’s ‘The Burning Tigris’ wins Raphael Lemkin Prize
Friday, September 23, 2005
Colgate professor Peter Balakian’s The Burning Tigris: The Armenian
Genocide and America’s Response has been awarded the 2005 Raphael
Lemkin Prize for best scholarly book in the preceding two years on
the subject of genocide, mass killings, gross human rights
violations, and the prevention of such crimes.
The award is given by the Institute for the Study of Genocide at John
Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY Graduate Center in New York
City. The prize, which comes with a cash award, commemorates Raphael
Lemkin, the legal scholar who pioneered the international legal
concept of genocide.
Helen Fein, chair of the prize committee, called The Burning Tigris
`a book of enduring scholarly value and of important contemporary
meaning.’
Previous winners include Samantha Power’s A Problem From Hell:
America and the Age of Genocide (winner of the Pulitzer Prize), and
Alison Des Forges’s Leave None To Tell The Story: Genocide In
Rwanda.
The Burning Tigris was a New York Times bestseller and a Times
notable book of 2003. Balakian is the author of seven other books,
including Black Dog of Fate, which won the 1998 PEN/Albrand Prize for
memoir, and June-tree: New and Selected Poems.
Balakian is the recipient of honors and awards including a Guggenheim
fellowship, a National Endowment for the Art, the Anahit Literary
Prize, and an Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
He has appeared widely on national television and radio. Translations
of his work have been published throughout Europe. He is the Donald
M. and Constance H. Rebar Professor of the humanities and professor
of English at Colgate, where he was the first director of Colgate’s
Center For Ethics and World Societies.
The award ceremony and talk by the author will be at 2:15 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 11, at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Contact
Helen Fein, director of the Institute for the Study of Genocide, at
[email protected] for more information.
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ANOTHER CHAMPION
A1+
| 17:38:56 | 26-09-2005 | Sports |
In Serbia the Chess European Youth Championship in which 23 Armenian young
chess-players participated, has been over. The most successful of all was
16-year-old Zaven Andreasyan who won 7 points from 7 possible and became
Champion of Europe.
Another medal was won in the 12-year-old age group where Hayk Tamazyan took
the third place winning a bronze medal.

IN 3-5 YEARS YEREVAN CENTER WILL LOSE ITS FACE
A1+
| 17:37:41 | 26-09-2005 | Social |
While “victims of state needs” gathered opposite the Yerevan
municipality and demanded a meeting with the Yerevan mayor, the
chief architect of the capital Samvel Danielyan told the journalists
inside the building how they will reconstruct the areas “bought”
for state needs.
Today during the usual briefing Mr. Danielyan spoke about the monuments
of historical-cultural importance. Their list has finally been verified
by the Government. The monuments have been divided to two groups –
of local and state importance. Those in the first group will not be
transported, and the 14 buildings in the second group are subject
to transportation.
So, according to the chief architect, in 3-5 years Yerevan will
have its center finished. As for how much money will be needed to
realize the project, Mr. Danielyan was not sure, but he informed
that a competition will be organized. The winners will make
corresponding investments and will realize the projects ratified by
the Government. Samvel Danielyan announced that there will also be
local rich people among the investors.

OSKANYAN IS ALMOST ITALIAN
A1+
| 17:41:24 | 26-09-2005 | Official |
On September 24 in Verona, Italy, the RA Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanyan was awarded the “Great Venice Gold Award” (Grosso d’Oro
Veneziano). Oskanyan was awarded the medal of the Italian MASI Fund
for his contribution to the process of Armenian integration into
the European structures and the enhancing of the Armenian-Italian
relations.
In this connection Vardan Oskanyan made a speech in the 25th solemn
ceremony in the Verona St. George Church of the 8th century where
he referred to the determination of Armenia to develop according to
the European standards, to the inner development of the country, the
Armenian-Italian relations, as well as represented the events of the
Armenian-Italian friendship days to be organized in Yerevan in October.
The MASI fund was founded and is now headed by the inheritors of the
Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Every year distinguished representatives
in the literature, art, science, and economy fields are awarded these
medals. They are usually awarded to Italians.
Up to now the only foreign politician who had won the award was the
former President of Slovenia Milan Kuchan.