LAWRENCE’S MID-EAST MAP ON SHOW
BBC News, UK
Oct 12 2005
Lawrence’s proposals were opposed by British authorities A map showing
Lawrence of Arabia’s proposals for the reconstruction of the Middle
East following World War I is set to be displayed for the first time.
The newly-found map shows TE Lawrence opposed the allied agreement
which eventually determined the borders of Iraq as it is now.
He said separate governments should operate in the predominantly
Kurdish and Arab areas in what is now Iraq.
The map is to go on display at the Imperial War Museum in London.
It is just one of a number of previous unseen items in the museum’s
new exhibition, Lawrence Of Arabia: The Life, The Legend.
Lawrence, who presented his proposals to the Eastern Committee of
the War Cabinet in November 1918, also mooted the idea of separate
governments for the Mesopotamian Arabs and Armenians in Syria.
Allied agreement
These proposed borders would have replaced those drawn up in the
1916 allied agreement, which was negotiated between Sir Mark Sykes
and Francois Georges-Picot on behalf of Britain and France.
Lawrence’s stance was formed during the Arab Revolt of 1916/18 when
he heard the views of men from across the Middle East who were serving
in the army of Britain’s Arab allies against Turkey.
He was also in contact with other British experts on the region,
such as DG Hogarth and Gilbert Clayton.
But Lawrence’s suggestions came across opposition by the British
administration in Mesopotamia.
The map shows that the opinions of those who knew the region well
were often ignored
Hania Farhan
Jeremy Wilson, Lawrence biographer and historical adviser to
the exhibition, said the discovery of the map was “particularly
interesting” because “it suggests that Lawrence’s proposals were
taken fairly seriously, at least in London”.
Mr Wilson added that the proposals “would have provided the region
with a far better starting point than the crude imperial carve-up
agreed by Sykes and Georges-Picot”.
Meanwhile, Hania Farhan, regional director of the Middle East and
North Africa, Economist Intelligence Unit, said: “The map shows that
the opinions of those who knew the region well were often ignored,
as the colonial powers in London and Paris had their own agendas and
did not appear to care about the facts on the ground or the people
of those areas.
“Lawrence’s proposed borders differ substantially from those that
ended up being put in place.”
The exhibition will run from 14 October to 17 April 2006.
It will also include the Brough Superior SS100 motorcycle Lawrence
was riding when he had his fatal accident on 13 May 1935.

EMPLOYEE ‘HAD VITAL EVIDENCE’
Nicki Walker
Norfolk Eastern Daily Press, UK
Oct 12 2005
A factory employee told a jury at Norwich Crown Court yesterday how
she gave detectives the vital breakthrough in their bid to identify
a dead man and track down his killers.
Vanessa Armstrong, who works at Cooper Roller Bearings in King’s Lynn,
recognised a scorched piece of memo, found next to the dead man’s
burning body, dumped in a field at Upton, near Peterborough.
The man had been shot and stabbed before being doused in petrol and
set alight on December 21, 2002.
David Farrell, prosecuting, told the court that detectives spent
almost a year trying to identify the body. But once they found the
source of the memo, it helped them find the murder scene – Cooper
Roller Bearings’ medical room. This led them to the alleged killers –
Armenians Nishan Bakunts, 28, and his father-in-law Misha Chatsjatrjan,
44 – and helped them identify the murdered man as 42-year-old fellow
countryman Hovanhannes Amirian.
The court heard that after finding the partly-burned memo – bearing
the names Talbot and Armstrong – detectives wrote to everyone with
those surnames in the eastern region. More than 2000 letters were sent,
asking recipients if they recognised the memo.
Ms Armstrong told the court yesterday that she contacted the police
on September 4, 2003, after receiving a letter from the force and a
copy of the burned memo.
She told the court: “I recognised it instantly, because it is something
I do fortnightly. It was quite clearly my writing and my memo.”
>>From the memo and with Mrs Armstrong’s extra information, police
were able to establish it had been sent to an employee, Paul Talbot,
regarding a routine medical check at the factory.
Mr Talbot realised the last time he had the memo was in the factory’s
medical room.
After searching the room, forensic officers discovered traces of the
dead man’s blood on the couch and walls.
Bakunts, it emerged, was working as a security guard at the factory
on the weekend of the murder.
In a statement read to the court, Det Insp Bert Deane, who led the
murder investigation, said of the call from Mrs Armstrong: “It was
a major breakthrough in the investigation.”
Bakunts, of Lichfield Road, Yarmouth, and Chatsjatrjan, who was living
in Holland, deny murdering Mr Amirian.
Home Office pathologist Dr Nat Cary said his examinations showed
the man had died from gunshots to the face and multiple stabbing to
his body.
Mr Cary said it was likely that two people carried out the attack.
He said it was unusual for a murderer to use one method of killing
such as a gun and then change and use a knife.
The man would have been dead when the killers set his body alight,
he added.
The trial continues.

ON EVE OF 2005 NOBEL LITERATURE PRIZE, NAMING LIKELY WINNER DIFFICULT TASK
Associated Press
Oct 12 2005
STOCKHOLM, Sweden — A row over last year’s winner has done nothing
to stifle rampant speculation about who may win the 2005 Nobel Prize
in literature.
On Wednesday, the day before the planned announcement, a bevy of names
— some familiar and others less so — emerged as likely candidates for
the prestigious prize, although trying to guess the secretive 18-member
Swedish Academy’s choice is, at times, an exercise in futility.
Still, Swedish media was buzzing with names like Syrian poet Ali Ahmad
Said, known as Adonis; Korean poet Ko Un; and perennial contenders
Margaret Atwood of Canada and Americans Philip Roth and Joyce Carol
Oates.
Respected daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter said other authors like
Turkey’s Orhan Pamuk, who faces prison after he was charged with
insulting Turkish identity for supporting Armenian claims that they
were the victims of genocide under the Ottoman Turks in 1915, could
be tapped.
“The first names that come to mind are Joyce Carol Oates and (Swedish
poet) Tomas Transtromer,” Uppsala University literature professor
Margaretha Fahlgren told Svenska Dagbladet, another Swedish daily.
Online betting Web site, Ladbrokes, also says the Czech Republic’s
Milan Kundera is a choice, with 12-1 odds, while Belgian poet Hugo
Claus, Italian poet Claudio Magris and Indonesian novelist Pramoedya
Ananta Toer each have 14-1 odds of winning.
Whatever the academy decides, it will likely have two immediate
consequences: increased book sales and controversy.
Last year’s winner, Austrian feminist Elfriede Jelinek, drew such
ire that a member of the academy publicly blasted his colleagues for
picking her.
Knut Ahnlund, 82, who has not played an active role in the academy
since 1996, resigned Tuesday after he wrote in a signed newspaper
article that picking Jelinek had caused “irreparable damage” to the
award’s reputation.
The prizes are handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of prize founder
Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896. (AP)

OUT OF OUR PAST
Battle Creek Enquirer, MI
Oct 12 2005
25 years ago today, 1980: Terrorist bombings in four major cities
left police puzzling over those claiming responsibility. Anonymous
callers claimed responsibility for bombs in New York, Los Angeles and
London that were aimed at Turkish-owned businesses and the Turkish
Mission to the United Nations. The callers claimed to be Armenians
retaliating for decades of persecution by Turks since a massacre that
began in 1915 when Turks killed an estimated 1.5 million Armenians.
Two other explosions went off in London and Paris near Swiss-based
organizations. The October Third Organization claimed responsibility
and said the Swiss government would know what it was about.
50 years ago today, 1955: Michigan’s secretary of state ordered
the state’s attorney general to appear before a license examiner
to determine whether he was fit to continue driving. The order came
after it came out that the attorney general had received five traffic
violation tickets in the 18 months before he became attorney general
and the secretary of state’s office had dropped normal action in
the case.
100 years ago today, 1905: A pear tree on the Mary Smaltz place,
175 W. Fountain St. in Battle Creek, was producing immense sized fruit.
An average-sized pear from the tree brought to the Daily Journal’s
office measured seven inches in length, 12 inches in circumference,
and weighed 19 ounces. All that was known about the tree was that it
was a type of winter pear.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN ARMENIAN ECONOMY UP 12% IN H1
Interfax
Oct 12 2005
YEREVAN. Oct 12 (Interfax) – Foreign investment in the Armenian
economy in the first half of 2005 increased 11.6% year-on-year
to amount to $139.6 million, a source in the National Statistics
Committee told Interfax.
Foreign direct investment amounted to $78.9 million (up 4.5%),
including foreign direct investment in communications – 45.4%, in the
food industry – 15.5%, in air transport – 8.9%, in metallurgy – 7.1%
and in the construction sector – 4.7%.
The main foreign investor in the Armenian economy in the first half
was Greece – $58.3 million (up 40.3%). Lebanese investment amounted
to $23.2 million (up 14.3-fold), and Russian – $13.5 million (down
44.8%). Total U.S. investment in the Armenian economy in January-June
fell 38.5% year-on-year to $9.3 million, and investment from France
fell by 36.2%, to $8.8 million. rd
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NO PROBLEM AT CONTACT LINE
A1+
| 17:00:16 | 11-10-2005 | Politics |
In accordance with the agreement achieved beforehand with the NKR
authorities, the OSCE Mission held a planned monitoring of the
Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan armed forces’ contact-line in the
Agdam direction, in the area of the settlement of Yusifjanly.
>>From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring mission
was led by Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office
(PR C-i-O) ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk (Poland). The group comprised
Field Assistants of the OSCE PR C-i-O Olexandr Samarsky (Ukraine)
and Harry Eronen (Finland) and head of the OSCE High Level Planning
Group Colonel Toma~^ Strgar (Slovenia).
The monitoring passed in accordance with the planned schedule, no
violations of the cease-fire regime were fixed.
>>From the Karabakh party, representatives of the NKR Ministries of
Foreign Affairs and Defense accompanied the OSCE monitoring mission.

SOCIAL SITUATION DISCUSSED
A1+
| 16:40:23 | 11-10-2005 | Official |
Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian held a working meeting with
Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Aghvan Vardanyan.
The parties discussed draft budget of social and insurance programs
for 2006 providing for a sum 9 billion AMD exceeding that of the one
allocated last year.
The Minister also presented the process of fulfilling the
recommendations on rising the pensions of military and war
veterans. From January 2006 the amount of pensions will be as well
raised.
The President and the Minister discussed the system of benefits,
pension reform strategy and new bills submitted by the National
Assembly.

EUROPE CREATES ATMOSPHERE
A1+
| 20:39:14 | 11-10-2005 | Politics |
For the first time since 2004 the parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe has not discussed any concrete issues referring
to Armenia. Today head of the Armenian delegation to PACE informed
journalists of the Strasbourg developments. He in detailed told about
the meeting with head of the Ago Group and PACE President.
Europeans stress the necessity of the constitutional process and its
successful outcome, he said. He also reminded that PACE President
Van der Linden remembered the election in Azerbaijan naming each of
the arrested and candidates, who haven’t registered yet. Head of the
Azeri delegation in his turn noted that it will be rather hard to
honor all the CoE commitments.
As it is known, the PACE Ad Hoc Committee on Nagorno Karabakh held
a sitting in Strasburg. According to Torosyan, it will not reduce
the authority of the OSCE Minsk Group, since it will deal with the
settling the problem while the CoE will “secure tolerance and creation
of atmosphere of mutual trust.”
Tigran Torosyan mentioned yesterday’s statement by Chair of the Council
Minister of the Council of Europe, who called upon the RA political
parties adopt the constitutional amendments. The Vice Speaker also
sounded discontent with the political forces speaking out against
the amendments.
“How can one prefer his own interest to the interests of the state”,
he said.
Tigran Torosyan considers that if the referendum fails, the problem
will last 4-5 years, since parliamentary election in to he held in
2007, and the turn for the presidential election will come in 2008. If
the constitutional amendments are adopted, laws will be changed as
well and the Council of Europe will not subject Armenia to monitoring
any longer.
To note, the process of Armenia’s honoring commitments to the CoE
will be discussed during the next PACE session.

NO RE-SETTLEMENT IN KARABAKH CARRIED OUT
By Tatoul Hakobian
AZG Armenian Daily #183
12/10/2005
Demographic Situation Disturbing
Azat Artsakh newspaper of Stepanakert published demographic situation
in Nagorno Karabakh for January-September of 2005. In the period of
8 months 1525 children were born in Nagorno Karabakh against the 1619
for the last year. The natality for the given period was 458 people,
67 people or 10.9 percent decrease compared with 2004. Official
figures for newcomers in January-September of 2005 were 677 and 627
for emigrants. The mechanical growth was only 50 people.
The Armenian historiography and press wrote numerous times about
Baku’s partiality in regard to demographic policy. It is already
10 years that Karabakh is out of Baku’s control and logically the
Azerbaijani authorities are not responsible for demographic situation
in the region. Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh are the only ones to hold
responsible today.
According to population census in 1989, the population of Nagorno
Karabakh was 189.085, 145.500 of which were Armenians, 40.700 Azeris
(Baku still claims that the Azeri population of Karabakh amounted
to 46.347) and the rest were people of other nationalities. On the
threshold of referendum in Nagorno Karabakh, the authorities present
their approximate figures – 145.000, i.e. as many as in 1989. The
international organizations functioning in Karabakh think this figures
exaggerated and bring their own – 100.000.
Even if the figures Stepanakert presents are real, there is no
re-settlement going on in Karabakh and surrounding territories. In
effect, population density in Karabakh is lower than in any province
of Armenia. Meanwhile natural and agricultural conditions in Karabakh
are not more tolerable than the republican average.

ARMENIA TO BE REPRESENTED AT TUNISIA SUMMIT
By Tamar Minasian
AZG Armenian Daily #183
12/10/2005
An Armenian delegation headed by prime minister Andranik Margarian
will represent Armenia at the summit of informational technologies
in Tunisia on October 16-18. The Armenian pavilion will present best
Armenian products of electronic content. Those will be the works
that won “Mashtots-1600” Pan-Armenian Competition in June. “The
Armenian Genocide, 1915-1923” CD from the best ten of such works
and “Aram Khachatrian: His Life and Works”, which was recognized
“best cultural CD/DVD” in world summit 2005 will be exhibited at the
Armenian pavilion.