Pan Armenian News
U.S. EMBASSY DONATED THREE COMPUTERS TO PROSECUTOR GENERAL OFFICE
16.09.2005 07:39
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ As PanARMENIAN.Net came to know from the U.S. Embassy’s
press center, on September 15, the U.S. Embassy donated three computers to
the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia. A small
donation ceremony was held during which Deputy Head of the Investigative
Department and Head of the Anti-Trafficking Division of the Office of the
Prosecutor General Marsel Matevosyan signed the grant agreement.

Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran
Sept 16 2005
Ahmadinejad discusses key int’l issues with prominent figures
United Nations, New York, Sept 16, IRNA
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad here Thursday discussed issues of
mutual interest and key international development with prominent
world figures on the sidelines of the UN summit.
In a meeting with his Georgian counterpart Mikhail Saakashvili, the
Iranian president called for closer and broader cooperation between
Iran and Georgia in different domains, especially in the cultural
field.
Ahmadinejad said numerous commonalties shared by the Iranian and
Georgian nations give an impetus to promotion of cooperation and
bilateral ties.
He welcomed an invitation by Saakashvili to visit Georgia and said he
will visit the country on an appropriate time.
Saakashvili said his country admires the noble Iranian nation with
their great civilization and rich culture.
He said he believes Iran is playing an important role in the
international and regional relations.
He said his country is ready to promote ties with Iran.
In another meeting, Ahmadinejad and his Belarussian counterpart
Alexander Lukashenko agreed the foreign ministers of the two
countries would explore avenues for promotion of bilateral relations
and draw up the agenda for the next meeting of the Iranian and
Belarussian heads of state.
In a separate meeting, Ahmadinejad and his Tajik counterpart Imomali
Rakhmonov stressed expansion of all-out ties between the two
countries.
Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad and Armenian Prime Minister Andrinik Margaryan
stressed the two countries’ willingness to promote mutual ties and
cooperation.

“AMIRIAN PLAZA” TRADE AND OFFICE COMPLEX TO OPEN IN YEREVAN IN TWO YEARS
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 15, NOYAN TAPAN. A trade and office center
“Amirian Plaza” will be constructed at 2 Amirian St (Yerevan)
under the patronage of the businessman Gagik Zakarian, Chairman of
Unibank CJSC Board. G. Zakarian stated at the foundation laying
ceremony on September 15 that the construction will be completed
in 1.5-2 years. The total amount of the investments for the project
implementation will make 20 mln USD. G. Zakarian expressed a hope that
both natural persons and legal entities will take interest in the
multifunctional complex – this multistory building will accomodate
press and exhibition halls, sport facilities, a swimming pool,
several restaurants, a spacious undergroung parking lot, etc.
Yerevan Mayor Ervand Zakharian also attended the ceremony.

ASIO BUGGED EMBASSIES, NOT MPS: EX-CHIEF
By Paul Osborne
AAP, Australia
Sept 18 2005
A former head of ASIO says a few foreign embassies were routinely
monitored by the spy agency, but MPs’ claims of being bugged themselves
were wrong.
Sir Edward Woodward, chief of the Australian Security Intelligence
Organisation from 1976 to 1981, has made the assertion in his
autobiography, One Brief Interval, to be published next month.
The 77-year-old former royal commissioner says in the memoir that
ASIO, armed with new powers to tap phones, took a keen interest in
foreign embassies on Australian soil.
“The telephones of a few foreign embassies were routinely monitored,
not so much for the contents of their conversations, which would
always be guarded, but in order to help identify the officers of
foreign intelligence services,” he said.
“For example, it was instructive to see or hear which embassy employees
were called in when an apparently urgent coded message was received
in the middle of the night.”
But he said some former members of parliament, including Labor’s Ken
Fry and Tom Uren, had wrongly claimed their phones were tapped.
“There was no possible reason to do so and it would have been a
ridiculous waste of resources,” Sir Edward writes.
Sir Edward said that he also knew of one occasion when a journalist’s
phone was tapped.
“We did once obtain a warrant to intercept the telephone of a
journalist who we knew had taken a number of documents from the office
of a minister for whom he had worked briefly,” he said.
“He had become the recipient of later stolen documents, which he was
using in his publications, and we hoped to identify the thieves.”
But the month-long bugging operation failed to find anything on the
journalist or nab the thieves.
Sir Edward rejected repeated claims that ASIO in the 70s had been
infiltrated by the Russian spy agency, the KGB.
“I could not find any experienced security intelligence officer
in Australia or overseas who was prepared to support such a simple
deduction,” he said.
The former spy chief says ASIO’s main focus in the late 1970s was on
espionage, mainly by agents of the Soviet Union and Eastern European
nations.
However, there were growing concerns about terrorism, most notably
involving supporters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine, or Al-Fatah groups.
He said when the Iraqi consulate-general opened in Sydney in July
1978 the first consul-general was a career officer of the Iraqi
Directorate-General of Intelligence and he immediately became involved
with pro-Palestinian groups and individuals.
“The most likely targets for an attack were the premises of other
countries, especially Israel, Egypt and the United States,” the former
judge writes.
ASIO assessed about 40 pro-Palestinians in Australia who were willing
to support terrorist action and helped kick two Al-Fatah activists
out of the country, he said.
But ASIO had been caught by surprise by the assassination of Turkish
consul-general Sarik Ariyak in December 1980 – a crime which has
never been solved.
Sir Edward said he believed it have been the work of an Armenian
terrorist group, Justice Commandos for the Armenian Genocide.
One Brief Interval will be published on October 4 by Miegunyah Press,
an imprint of Melbourne University Publishing.

PERINCEK LEAVES FOR SWITZERLAND TO GIVE TESTIMONY
Anatolian Times, Turkey
Sept 17 2005
ISTANBUL – Labor Party (IP) leader Dogu Perincek left for Switzerland
on Saturday to give testimony in Lausanne Prosecutor’s Office.
Prior to his departure, Perincek told reporters, “I will give testimony
at 9.00 a.m. on September 20th.”
Perincek reminded, “when an investigation was opened against Turkish
Institute of History (TTK) Chairman Prof. Dr. Yusuf Halacoglu,
I went to Switzerland and told reporters that so-called Armenian
genocide allegations are nothing but lie. Accusation about me stems
from this statement.”
“I am very pleased that such investigations are opened because the
opportunities to show realities increase,” he added.
“Our struggle will continue until Swiss Parliament abolishes the
resolution which recognizes so-called Armenian genocide. We will
violate this inquisition decision again. Tomorrow we will give a
conference in Switzerland about Armenian issue. We are establishing
a defense line for Turkey in Europe,” he said.
Perincek said, “I am taking English, German and French publications
with me which show realities about Armenian issue. I will show these
documents during my meetings there. Also I will put them in court
files. I will submit them to prosecutor’s office because they do not
know realities. This is a prejudice and we will destroy it.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

COUNCIL IN DIPLOMATIC ROW WITH TURKEY
Murdo Macleod
[email protected]
The Scotsman, UK
Sept 17 2005
IT HAS failed miserably to fix the capital’s roads, has the most
notorious parking wardens in Scotland and has sky-high council
tax rates.
Now Edinburgh City Council has caused a diplomatic incident with
Turkey by proposing a motion on the Armenian genocide, angering a
close Nato ally of Britain and a would-be EU member.
Opposition politicians have accused the council of indulging in
1980s-style student politics.
The Turkish embassy in London has decided to send a diplomat to
Edinburgh in an effort to stop any motion about genocide being passed
because they believe it will damage their bid to be a member of the EU.
The matter has been reported to the Turkish government in Ankara,
and a high-ranking official is expected to arrive in Edinburgh to
discuss the matter next month.
Edinburgh council leader Donald Anderson has already enraged Turkey
by telling its ambassador in a letter: “Having researched this issue,
I am in no doubt that the Armenian community suffered a genocide
at the hands of the Ottoman regime. There are substantial eyewitness
accounts that are well documented and there is, I believe, wide support
for the view that the historical evidence is robust and compelling
for genocide.
“As council leader I have to advise you that I am convinced of the
need to support recognition for what I believe was genocide.”
While the move has been welcomed in the city by members of the Armenian
community, it has puzzled and enraged Turks. The embassy did not give
any official comment, with a source saying that they hoped they could
deal with the issue by talking to the council.
The source said: “We believe that raising this issue is calculated
to damage Turkey’s bid for EU membership and the country’s reputation
in the West.
“We also believe that it is unhelpful to create divides between Muslims
and the West at the very time we are seeking to promote the ideal of
a modern and democratic Islam and coexistence.
“You also wonder what this has to do with a Scottish city council. I
would have thought they might have other things to deal with, like
roads and so forth.”
Ian White, the Tory leader on the council, echoed these sentiments,
saying: “Whatever the view on Turkey and Armenia it is not for
councillors in this city to sort out. I would have thought they should
focus on fixing roads and making sure that our streets are clean. It
is a typical empty political gesture. One would have hoped they had
grown up and put the era of 1980s student politics behind them.”
The Armenian killings occurred between 1915 and 1923. Turkey was
fighting Russia in the First World War and feared that many members
of its Armenian community would defect to the side of the Russians
because of the Orthodox religion the Russians and Armenians shared.
The rulers of the then Ottoman Empire decided to deport them.
In the following years, nearly 1.5 million Armenians reportedly died.
Turkey has claimed the deaths were the result of civil unrest at a
time of war and that Turks and Kurds also lost their lives. Armenians
believe the deaths of their ancestors and the lack of recognition they
received paved the way for the Holocaust. When talking about his plans
for the deaths of the Jews, Adolf Hitler was quoted as having said:
“Who remembers the killing of the Armenians?”
Anderson said: “Accusations of genocide are a very sensitive issue
and we are attempting to deal with it as such. The accusations are
made against the Ottoman regime and are no reflection on the modern
Turkish state or Turkish people. I have met to discuss the issue with a
range of representatives from the Turkish community and agreed to host
a seminar for them to present their view on this period of history.”
Asked why it was felt necessary for the council to have a position on a
historical issue which happened abroad, he said: “Although this isn’t
a particularly fashionable or high-profile issue, the council does
from time to time become involved in issues that are not recognised
as our core business. Apartheid would have lasted a lot longer if
a wide cross section of organisations, including local authorities,
had not campaigned.”
An aide to Anderson said he “strongly supports” Turkish membership
of the EU.

EXPLORE CULTURES AT HERITAGE FESTIVAL
By Stacy Jenkins
Staff writer
Farmington Observer, MI
Sept 18 2005
This week’s Heritage Festival events will celebrate the many colors
that weave the fabric of the Farmington_Farmington Hills community
and the common threads that unite its residents.
The Heritage Festival, a week-long celebration with special events
happening all around the community, began six years ago as a way to
share racial and cultural backgrounds in the community.
“Just as quickly, we realized we wanted to explore not only our
differences, but our similarities as Farmington and Farmington
Hills residents,” said Karen Bolsen, co-chair of the Multicultural
Multiracial Community Council.
A special new citizen swearing-in ceremony will do just that. The
annual event, which draws hundreds of new citizens, is set for 10
a.m. on Monday, Sept. 19, at the Costick Center. The ceremony includes
voter training and voter registration for new citizens.
“Most United States citizens originated from other countries or their
ancestors did, so we wanted to share that similarity as Americans,”
said Bolsen.
Heritage events
New this year will be a cultural music concert and lecture, set for
7-8:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 19, at the Farmington Community Library,
32737 W. 12 Mile Road. The event will feature Ara Topouzian, who
will lecture and demonstrate Armenian and Middle Eastern instruments.
Accompanying on percussion will be Mark Sawasky. For more information
call (248) 553-0300. The event is free of charge.
A leadership luncheon and mini conference will be held 11:30 a.m. –
1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 22, at the Costick Center. The event
will highlight the unveiling of a multicultural art exhibit.
New this year, a world music concert will be held 12 – 3 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 24, at the Civic Theatre in downtown Farmington. It’s
the first Heritage Week event to be held in the city of Farmington.
Music will include performances by Millish, a Celtic band; Eastern
Winds, Middle Eastern music; and Biakuye, African music.
The main Heritage Festival will happen from 12:30 – 5:30 p.m. on
Sunday, Sept. 25. This exciting event will take place at the Costick
Center and include many free attractions, such as cultural booths;
children’s activities with crafts from around the world; ethnic food;
community booths and historical displays; ethnic music and dance
and foreign language children’s book collection and distribution.
“Heritage Week is important because we honor every single heritage
from the Quakers in the Magical History Tour, which debuted with our
festival, through our history to all of the backgrounds represented
by our current residents,” said Bolsen. “We have 85 languages spoken
in the homes of our current students. What a fabulous way to have
fun as we better understand each of our neighbors’ backgrounds.”
For more information, leave a message on the multicultural information
line at (248) 871-2512.

EXHIBITION DEDICATED TO RUSSIAN PAINTING OPENS AT ARMENIAN NATIONAL LIBRARY
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, NOYAN TAPAN. More than 40 albums and 35
post cards were presented at the exhibition under the title “Russian
Painting” that opened on September 14 at the Armenian National Library
in connection with the Year of Russia in Armenia. The exhibition
has departments of landscape painting, portrait-painting, as well as
historic and icon painting departments.
According to Gohar Haroutiunian, chief librarian of library’s painting
department, by means of the exhibits they tried to briefly present
the Russian painting from 14th century up to 1990-s.
Exhibitions of Russian incunabular and small books and exhibitions
dedicated to Armenian-Russian contacts were also organized at
the Armenian National Library within the framework of the Year of
Russia. Gohar Haroutiunian said that a display of Russian placards
will be organized in October at the library.

SECURITY FORCES MENTIONED IN BEIRUT’S EXPLOSIONS
Arabic News
Sept 18 2005
Lebanon-Syria, Politics, 9/17/2005
Lebanese parliamentarians on Saturday loomed to the responsibility of
the Lebanese security forces which worked during the Syrian presence
period for the al-Ashrafeyah explosions which took place on Friday
evening and killed one person and injured other 22.
Beirut’s parliamentarian Atef Majdalani, who belongs to al-Mustaqbal
( future) parliamentary bloc which is led by Saad al-Hariri, said
that this explosion is “part of the coward terrorist series which
will not stop before the discovering of the reality in the operation
of assassinating the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri.”
For his part, Tripoli parliamentarian and member of the parliamentary
majority Elias Atta Allah said that even though former security
leaders are in prison, their security departments are still active.
Worthy mentioning that four leaders of the Lebanese security forces
close to Syria were arrested two weeks ago after they were accused
of being involved in the assassination of al-Hariri on February 14.
Al-Ashrafeyah explosion took place after the lifting of the banking
secrecy from the accounts of 8 Syrian and Lebanese figures suspected
to be involved in the assassination, at the request of the UN
investigating committee.
The Christian part of Beirut has witnessed 11 explosions since the
assassination of Hariri. Two of these explosions claimed the life of
the Lebanese journalist Samir al-Qasir and the leader of the former
Lebanese communist party George Hawi, opposers of the Syrian existence
in Lebanon.
The Lebanese security sources said the explosion resulted from a bomb
of 10 to 20 kg weight, adding that it was implanted under stairway
of a building rather than inside or under a car as stated earlier.
The explosions which took place near a branch for the Lebanese
Bablous Bank in al-J’eitawi suburb in al-Ashrafeyag area of a
Christian majority.
The explosion resulted in the collapse of the facade of one building
and destruction of its balconies, adding that the Lebanese security
forces cordoned the site of the explosion.
Lebanese security and medical sources said that the explosion resulted
in killing one elderly man (Armenian) and injuring of 22 persons one
of them is in a critical condition.
The explosion also resulted in setting fire in three cars which were
stationed near the site of the explosion and damages were inflected
in the nearby buildings.

THE ARC OF DANGER REQUIRES PRAGMATISM
By Douglas Hurd
Financial Times, UK
Sept 19 2005
A few weeks ago, Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, was seen
in Baghdad talking uneasily about the need for compromise in Iraq.
There could be no more striking proof of the difference between the
first and second terms of the current Bush administration. Of course
neither George W. Bush nor Tony Blair, UK prime minister, will
admit any fundamental mistakes. We shall have to be content with a
change of approach disguised in familiar rhetoric. That change is
clear enough.
In Iraq, the emphasis is indeed on urging political compromise through
the country’s new constitution. The aim is to isolate the insurgents
and so weaken them to the point where, with luck, the new Iraqi
security forces can cope and American forces can withdraw. In Iran,
the Americans, having no alternative policy of their own, have so far
accepted the need for European diplomacy, despite their scepticism. In
both crises the gap between US and European views has notably narrowed.
The Middle East is just the starting point. It forms the central
segment of an arc of danger that stretches north and east through
Afghanistan to the Chinese border, and north and west through Ukraine
to Belarus.
Terrorism is rife all along this arc and the potential for conflict
is great. The components of crisis, already familiar to us in the
Middle East, re­appear here. There are disputes between nations over
territory, for example between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and between
Russia and Moldova. There are tensions between dictators and their
suppressed peoples, as in Uzbekistan and Belarus. There are tensions
between opposing versions of Islam, as in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
There are tensions because of the huge sums to be made out of heroin –
and out of oil and oil pipelines. Sometimes, as in Chechnya, several
of these components combine in a deadly mix. We can expect a series
of conflicts along this arc, for which we are ill prepared.
Russia is much more heavily engaged along the two ends of this arc
than in the Middle East. Most of the republics along the arc were
once part of Russia; some still are. President Vladimir Putin does
not wish to regain lost sovereignty, not even in Belarus. But as
seen from the Kremlin, these countries are part of a Russian sphere
of influence. Russia joins China in rejecting the idea that the US,
Europe or any international organisation has the right to encourage
democracy or analyse the quality of elections in these parts.
With truly Soviet-era clumsiness, the Russians have mishandled their
relationship with Ukraine, Georgia and the Baltic states; and that
is only the beginning. They expect the west to treat as terrorists
any group that may challenge the status quo in Russia’s backyard. We
have been collecting strange allies under the banner of the war
against terrorism; that is one ­reason for welcoming the slow death
of the phrase.
We cannot rely on phrases to provide policy. Too much is made of the
contrast between stability and freedom.
In the Middle East, it sometimes suits the administration in Washington
to talk as if it was abandoning the old regimes in its new enthusiasm
for spreading freedom. This is not what is happening. The US and Europe
are rightly encouraging reform in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan but
they are not about to abandon President Hosni Mubarak, King Abdullah or
­General Pervez Musharraf. They need Mr Mubarak for the Palestinians,
King Abdullah for oil and Gen Musharraf for Afghanistan.
The same pragmatism should prevail along the whole arc of danger. The
difference between Mr Putin and the Chinese government and ourselves
is not that we want to see violent revolutions across the world
and they do not. No one wants to see Belarus or Uzbekistan become
another Chechnya or Iraq. The difference is that we Europeans see
the slow growth of home-grown freedom as the best road to stability,
whereas the Russians and Chinese prefer authoritarian rule, in which
they believe themselves expert.
Each of the crises emerging in this area will need its own combination
of public and private pressure and negotiation. Europe has to act as
one in all of these. It is frivolous to chatter in terms of separate
British, French or German policies – unless we are interested only in
chatter. A single European foreign and security policy will not emerge
from clauses in a constitutional treaty, but from facts on the ground.
This has already happened in our dealings with Iran; on the nuclear
issue Britain, France and Germany have been negotiating on behalf of
Europe with US approval. Our relationships with Russia, Ukraine and
Belarus are now, in substance, European relationships, which means
that we have to pay more attention than hitherto to the views and
interests of Poland and our Baltic partners.
As new leaders take over the European Union (to name but three
potential leaders: Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown),
old extreme positions towards the US should melt away, particularly in
London and Paris. The answer lies neither in obedience nor in rivalry
but in partnership. In Mr Bush’s second term, Europe working together
should find that partnership easier to achieve.
The writer was UK foreign secretary 1989-95. Lord Hurd is senior
adviser at ­Hawkpoint and is working on a biography of Sir Robert Peel
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