Pan Armenian News
VLADIMIR PUTIN CONGRATULATED ROBERT KOCHARIAN ON INDEPENDENCE DAY
21.09.2005 03:38
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a congratulation
message to RA President Robert Kocharian on the occasion on the national
holiday – the Independence Day, RF President’s press service reported. The
message says in part, `The centuries-old friendship and traditions
established between the Armenian and Russian peoples, the closeness and
concord of our interests make a strong basis for mutual interaction. It is
gratifying that the Russian-Armenian allied relations became a significant
factor of stability and security in the region. I am convinced that the
successful conduction of the Year of Russia in Armenia and the Year of
Armenia in Russia to be held in 2006 will contribute to further
consolidation of the mutually beneficial Russian-Armenian cooperation.’

Azerbaijan News Service (ANS)
Sept 9 2005

SHAHIN SALIEV: `FATE OF SOME AZERI CAPTIVES CLEARED OUT’
2005-09-09 14:15
According to results of recent investigations by State Commission on
captive, lost and hostage citizens, the number of Azeri captives,
lost and hostages are 4740 persons. `But within the last 7-8 months
the fate of some of them has been cleared out.’, said Head of the
Commission Shahin Saliev. He added, `Within the last 7-8 months the
fate of some of them has been cleared out. The number of dead is low.
Some 37 persons were dead, others were lost. Initially their parents
gave their names as lost people. But afterwards we found out that
they are in their homes, in Azerbaijan. In 2005, 6 Azeri citizens
were freed from captives. Meanwhile, 6 Armenian captives were freed
in Azerbaijan and returned to Armenian side’.

The Santa Fe New Mexican (New Mexico)
September 16, 2005 Friday
A BATTLE-TESTED PEN
by SOLEDAD SANTIAGO
In more than 30 years of covering the Middle East, journalist Robert
Fisk has become one of Britain’s most respected and vilified
journalists. His detractors call him an apologist for terrorists. His
admirers, including American journalist Amy Goodman, count on him to
tell the stories no one else is telling. Unlike many covering the
region, Fisk is fluent in Arabic; he is the Middle East correspondent
for The Independent newspaper in London and has won the British
International Journalist of the Year award seven times.
At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, the Lannan Foundation Readings &
Conversations series begins with Fisk reading from and discussing his
upcoming book The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the
Middle East (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005) with Amy Goodman, host of the
public-radio program Democracy Now!
>From the 1970s through the 1990s, Fisk covered the Israeli invasions
of Lebanon, the Iranian revolution, the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan, the Iran-Iraq war in 1980-88, the 1991 Persian Gulf War,
the war in the former Yugoslavia, the 1999 Kosovo conflict, and the
ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One of only two Western
journalists to remain in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war, he
subsequently published Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon
(Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1990); he still has a home in Beirut. When
the United States launched its invasion of Afghanistan, Fisk covered
the conflict. Most recently, he has been covering the war in Iraq.
Fisk was in Baghdad when the “shock and awe” campaign began.
The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East is a
vivid firsthand account of the civilian agony caused by war. Many
chapters are set in Afghanistan and Iraq in the years following the
U.S. invasions of those countries. The book begins in 1993, when Fisk
was the first Western journalist to interview Osama bin Laden. In a
subsequent interview in Afghanistan, Fisk writes, bin Laden uttered
his first direct threat against the United States. But bin Laden
ultimately represents a small part of a thousand-page tome that
blends investigative journalism, first-person narrative, and gut
reaction with historical analysis. Fisk emphasizes that most of the
civilians he writes about are the subjects of totalitarian regimes
and thus never had a say in the actions of their governments. He
portrays years of political failures and coercion leading to
conflagrations, both religious and territorial. “I used to argue,
hopelessly, I’m sure, that every reporter should carry a history book
in his back pocket,” he writes.
As a young boy, Fisk learned about World War I from his veteran
father, who had fought believing he was participating in the “war to
end all wars.” Robert grew up accompanying his father on yearly
summer treks to that war’s great battlefields. When his father died
at the age of 93, Fisk inherited his campaign medals, one of which
was engraved with the words The Great War for Civilisation. Fisk used
the phrase as the title for his latest book to draw attention to his
central contention that, far from solving problems, World War I
generated them. He writes, “After the Allied victory of 1918, at the
end of my father’s war, the victors divided up the lands of their
former enemies. In the space of just seventeen months, they created
the borders of Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia and most of the Middle
East. And I have spent my entire career – in Belfast and Sarajevo, in
Beirut and Baghdad – watching the peoples within those borders burn.
America invaded Iraq not for Saddam Hussein’s mythical “weapons of
mass destruction” – which had long ago been destroyed – but to change
the map of the Middle East, much as my father’s generation had done
more than eighty years earlier. Even as it took place, Bill Fisk’s
war was helping to produce the century’s first genocide – that of a
million and a half Armenians – and laying the foundations for a
second, that of the Jews of Europe.”
Fisk notes that, to his parents’ consternation, he has spent most of
his adult years writing about an endless series of wars, each of
which was also positioned as a battle between good and evil and
fought “for civilization.” He blames governments, including his and
ours, for war. “Governments like it that way,” he writes. “They want
their people to see war as a drama of opposites, good and evil,
‘them’ and ‘us,’ victory or defeat. But war is primarily not about
victory or defeat but about death and the infliction of death. It
represents the total failure of the human spirit. I know an editor
who has wearied of hearing me say this, but how many editors have
first-hand experience of war?”
Fisk’s book is written with the urgency of a Scheherazade who must
tell one more story to keep the forces of death at bay. Nevertheless,
Fisk is adamant that, as a journalist, he observes war from the
privileged position of one who can leave. “Which is why I cringe,” he
writes, “each time someone wants to psycho-babble about the ‘trauma’
of covering wars, the need to obtain ‘counselling’ for us well-paid
scribes that we may be able to ‘come to terms’ with what we have
seen. No counselling for the poor and huddled masses that were left
to Iraq’s gas, Iran’s rockets, the cruelty of Serbia’s militias, the
brutal Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the computerised death
suffered by Iraqis during America’s 2003 invasion of their country.”
Having witnessed the human price of more than a generation of wars,
Fisk’s compassion for civilian victims is mixed with a simmering rage
against “the arrogance of power” he attributes to Britain and the
United States. He wrote an article for The Independent headlined “My
Beating by Refugees Is a Symbol of the Hatred and Fury of this Filthy
War”: “I couldn’t see for the blood pouring down my forehead and
swamping my eyes. And even then, I understood. I couldn’t blame them
for what they were doing. In fact, if I were the Afghan refugees of
Kila Abdullah, close to the Afghan-Pakistan border, I would have done
just the same to Robert Fisk. Or any other Westerner I could find.”
While many admire his courage, some have questioned his objectivity.
But Fisk, a frequent guest on Democracy Now!, accuses mainstream
media of biased and even censored coverage of the Middle East. His
book charges that Western reporters fail to cover the daily suffering
of Arab mothers and children. In particular, he alleges that the
carnage of Palestinian and Iraqi civilians remains hidden from
Western eyes. In an Independent editorial written earlier this year,
Fisk attacked a number of America’s most respected news organizations
in an editorial titled “‘Hotel Journalism’ Dictates Coverage of
Iraq.” He wrote: “Rarely, if ever, has a war been covered by
reporters in so distant and restricted a way. New York Times
correspondents live in Baghdad behind a massive stockade with four
watchtowers, protected by locally hired, rifle-toting security men,
complete with “NYT” T-shirts. Journalists with America’s NBC
television chain are holed up in a hotel with an iron grill over
their door, forbidden by their security advisors to visit the
swimming pool or the restaurant, ‘let alone the rest of Baghdad,’
lest they are attacked.”
Details:
Robert Fisk with Amy Goodman, Lannan Foundation Cultural Freedom
event
Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W. San Francisco St.
7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21
$6, $3 for seniors and students; 988-1234
Rebroadcasts:
6 p.m. Sept. 25 on KUNM-FM 89.9
2 p.m. Sept. 26 on KSFR-FM 90.7

CoE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS TO DISCUSS SITUATION IN ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN
Pan Armenian News
21.09.2005 08:31
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today the Committee of Ministers of the Council of
Europe will discuss the Ago Group’s latest report on the process of
Armenia and Azerbaijan’s honoring the commitments of the CoE. Exchange
of views with EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Heikki
Talvitie is also expected. Mr. Talvitie will present the activities
carried out within his mandate framework and answer the questions of
the delegations, RFE/RL reported.

GOLDEN POMEGRANATE FAIR OF ARMENIAN PRODUCE TO BE HELD IN MOSCOW
Pan Armenina news
21.09.2005 06:35
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ September 24-25 the first fair of Armenian produce
titled “Golden Pomegranate” will be held in Moscow. The fair will be
organized with the assistance of the government of the Republic of
Armenia, the government of Moscow, Yerevan city administration and the
prefecture of the Central Administrative Okrug (CAO). As CAO Prefect
Sergey Baydarkov informed, the fair will be organized within the
framework of the Agreement on trade and economic development concluded
between the governments of Armenia and Moscow. A number of officials,
well known entrepreneurs, cultural and scientific workers representing
the Armenian Diaspora will take part in the opening ceremony. About a
hundred of Armenian companies will present their production. To note,
being one of the pollution-free countries in the world Armenia exports
about 80% of its produce. The Moscowers will have the opportunity
to taste the Armenian cheese, basturma, natural juices and nectars,
jam and canned products, tea, coffee, pahlava, fruit and vegetables
as well as pure mineral water. Besides, knitted garments, clothes,
electric devices, medical make up, souvenirs, carpets, books will be
displayed at the exhibition. The best artists and craftsmen of Armenia
will present their works. The attendees will be offered an interesting
cultural and entertaining program consisting of performances by folk
and dance ensembles from Moscow and Yerevan. The fair will end in
a gala concert with the participation of the Armenian and Russian
variety performers, Russian media report.

YEREVAN AND MINSK HAVE NO PROBLEMATIC ISSUES TO SOLVE
Pan Armenian News
21.09.2005 04:11
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Celebrating the 14-th anniversary of independence
our country can be proud of the results it achieved”, Armenian
Ambassador to Belarus Suren Harutyunian stated. “Last year Armenia
joined the WTO leaving behind the other CIS member-states from the
viewpoint agricultural growth and the living standards of the people
raised”, he noted. When commenting on the Armenian-Belarusian relations
Suren Harutyunian said, “Yerevan and Minsk have no problematic issues
to solve. The turnover between Armenia and Belarus during recent 5
years has become 5 times as much. Belarusian BelAZes have “adapted”
to the Armenian roads. Besides, the performances of the Armenian
theater groups and exhibitions of Armenian art are always welcomed
in Belarus,” Belarus Today reported.

ARMENIA MARKS INDEPENDENCE DAY
Armenpress
Sept 21, 2005
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS: Armenia celebrated today the
Independence Day, a holiday marking the September 21, 1991 referendum
in which the overwhelming majority of Armenians voted for secession
from the Soviet Union. Two days later Armenia’s first non-Communist
parliament passed the Declaration of Independence.
President Kocharian and a cohort of top government officials and
Nagorno-Karabakh leader Arkady Ghukasian began the official ceremonies
today by visiting the Yerablur military cemetery in a Yerevan outskirts
where hundreds of Armenians killed during the war with Azerbaijan
were buried.
Speaking to reporters prime minister Margarian said today’s Armenia
is an established state with a definite commitment to deeper economic
reforms, democratic transformation and international engagement.
“What remains is to make our state stronger, ensure its security and
address the pressing problems of the people, to create conditions for
thousands of Armenians who left the country to come back, ” he said.

ANDRANIK MARGARYAN: ARMENIA’S INDEPENDENCE – INEVITABLE REALITY
Pan Armenian News
21.09.2005 06:16
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On the occasion of the 14-th anniversary of
independence of Armenia President Robert Kocharian, National
Assembly Chairman Artur Baghdassaryan, NKR President Arkady
Ghukasian, Constitutional Court Ggaik Harutyunian, Defense Minister
Serge Sargsyan, MPs and high rank officers of police, armed forces
attended today the memorial complex of Yerablur. The officials laid
wreaths to the graves of Zoravar Andranik and former Defense Minister
Vazgen Sargsian. In A. Margaryan’s words, Armenia’s independence is
an inevitable reality and life has shown that it’s not only wish but
necessity as well. Congratulating the nation of the holiday the Prime
Minister wished the Armenian people strong will and belief. “Every
year on coming here I realize the necessity of moving forward and
solving the problems of our people”, NA Speaker Artur Baghdassaryan
said. In his turn Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan stated that Armenia’s
greatest achievement is the right of free life. When asked about the
errors committed during the years of independence he said, “Probably
were a bit too late to attend to the problems of the people, who fought
for the independence.” According to Chief of the General Staff of the
Armenian Armed Forces Mikael Harutyunian, our army is highly efficient
and is ready to solve any problem the state and people may face.”

AFTER PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION IN AZERBAIJAN NEGOTIATIONS ON KARABAKH WILL SPEED UP, SOME AZERI POLITICIANS CONSIDER
Pan Armenian News
21.09.2005 03:26
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Over the upcoming parliamentary election in
Azerbaijan the authorities targeted efforts at the election campaign
and the Karabakh problem receded into the background, the 5250th
newspaper writes. Some politicians claim it is a temporary phenomenon
and after the elections the issue will again find its place in the
agenda. In their opinion the Karabakh settlement in a way depends on
the outcome of the parliamentary election.
According to leader of the Karabakh Liberation Organization Akif Nagi
the conduction of democratic relations is of utter importance for the
Karabakh conflict settlement. “Should the parliamentary election be
undemocratic Baku will lose 5 years”, the KLO leader stated. Acting
chairman of the Azerbaijani Liberal Party Avez Temirkhan stated that
the concentration of attention at the forthcoming parliamentary
election is quite natural but it does not mean that the Karabakh
problem is forgotten. “Karabakh is the priority issue for each
Azerbaijani citizen. But one should keep in mind that the settlement
of the principal problems is directly connected with the conduction
of democratic election”, he said.

SPEECH BY PRESIDENT ROBERT KOCHARIAN ON THE OCCASION OF INDEPENDENCE DAY
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS:
Your Holiness,
Dear Compatriots,
Esteemed Guests,
I congratulate all our people and all those present on the occasion
of Independence Day. The Republic of Armenia celebrates its fourteenth
year of independence as a steadily developing country. We continue to
successfully implement pervasive programs of reforms. These programs
practically encompass all the spheres of the Republic’s life.
It’s been the fourth year that Armenia’s economic growth shows
double-digit numbers. First of all, this is a result of our
people’s diligent work as well as of the effective policies of
the authorities. It has also become possible through the internal
political stability, which is a necessary precondition for the
country’s advancement. It is very important that the results of this
progress are channeled predominantly into the social sphere. The
economic growth should have a direct impact on the well-being of
our citizens. We are resolute to fully implement the plan on the
Reduction of Poverty. The guarantees of overcoming challenges faced
by our country are strengthening of the rule of law, more efficient
administration and civic accord.
Very soon a referendum of Constitutional changes will be held in
Armenia.
People of Armenia, who fourteen years ago this day made their historic
choice to build a free, democratic and prosperous country, must take
their next step on this road. This will provide for an opportunity
to have an improved, more balanced Constitution. By accepting it we
will record significant political progress and will reinforce the
international prestige and image of our country. It will also be
the best guarantee of the irreversibility of the reforms which are
currently underway.
In foreign policy we will continue to work for Armenia’s deeper
international involvement by our active participation in the discussion
and resolution of the problems, which concern the humankind. We think
that the best way for the gradual solution of the existing problems is
the cooperation of all the countries of the region. We are committed
to a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabagh issue, which must be
built on the actual existence of the Republic of Nagorno Karabagh and
right of people to self-determination. Our state is safe and secure
thanks to Armenia’s armed forces, which were born by our independence
and have now become its shield. Our army was formed by the heroes,
who shed blood to create powerful foundations for the Republic of
Armenia – the motherland of all Armenians.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I once again congratulate all of us on the
occasion of Independence Day.
This is a holiday, which the best sons of our people have dreamed of
and made possible through the centuries-long endeavors. I am confident
that present and future generations will continue this sacred task
in the name of strong and prosperous Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress