Armenian president awards British MP
Arminfo
17 Sep 05
YEREVAN
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has decorated the deputy speaker
of the British House of Lords, Baroness Caroline Cox, with the Mkhitar
Gosh Medal for her significant contribution to the strengthening and
development of Armenian-British relations and for many years of
humanitarian, fruitful and courageous work. Kocharyan presented Cox
with Armenia’s state award today.
After the awarding ceremony, President Kocharyan highly valued Cox’s
consistent and purposeful work, the Armenian president’s press service
has told Arminfo.
Cox said it was her 60th visit to Nagornyy Karabakh as part of the
pilgrimage mission to Artsakh [Karabakh]. She shared her impressions
of Artsakh with Kocharyan. Cox said that on every visit to Nagornyy
Karabakh, she sees obvious progress both in Armenia and Artsakh. At
the request of the guest, Kocharyan updated her on the current
situation in the Karabakh settlement process in the light of his
recent meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Kazan.

Azeri official downplays Armenia’s threats to quit peace talks
Bilik Dunyasi news agency
16 Sep 05
Baku, 16 September: The latest statement of the press secretary of the
Armenian Foreign Ministry, Gamlet Gasparyan, on the Nagornyy Karabakh
process is nothing but a diplomatic trick and manoeuvring, the head of
the foreign relations department of the Azerbaijani presidential
administration, Novruz Mammadov, has said.
Gasparyan said that “our position remains unchanged. If Azerbaijan
raises any issue with the UN, Armenia will quit the Nagornyy Karabakh
peace talks and Baku will have to negotiate directly” with Xankandi
[Stepanakert].
Mammadov was commenting on the inclusion of the issue “On the
situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan” on the agenda of
the 60th session of the UN General Assembly.
“Behind this message is Armenia’s great anxiety. The matter is that
Azerbaijan’s position on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict has become very strong and is supported by
international organizations and states. The inclusion of the issue ‘On
the situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan’ on the agenda
of the 60th session is a logical consequence of this. There is nothing
unusual here. This is our right,” Mammadov said.
Armenia sees that Azerbaijan’s stand on the Nagornyy Karabakh
settlement is getting more support from the international community
and is trying to threaten Azerbaijan that they will stop the
negotiations, step aside and involve the Armenians of Nagornyy
Karabakh in direct talks.
“First, it is not so easy to avoid the talks. The territories are
under occupation and negotiations are continuing. Armenia is in a
desperate position and may be looking for an excuse. Second, if
Armenia indeed wants to quit the talks and Yerevan officially declares
its withdrawal from the Nagornyy Karabakh issue, we will find a chance
to talk to the Armenians of Nagornyy Karabakh. We can do it and there
is no problem about that,” Mammadov added.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Pan Armenian News
KOCHARIAN AWARDED MKHITAR GOSH MEDAL TO CAROLINE COX
17.09.2005 05:30
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Robert Kocharian yesterday signed a
degree on awarding Vice-Speaker of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, baroness Caroline Cox with Mkhitar
Gosh medal. The award is due to the contribution to the development and
strengthening of the Armenian-British ties, as well as for the efficient and
dedicated philanthropic activities for many years, reported the Press
Service of the Armenian leader. When handing the medal to baroness Cox in
the course of the meeting, R. Kocharian appreciated her consistent and
purposeful activities. Within Pilgrimage to Artsakh mission Caroline Cox is
visiting Nagorno Karabakh for the 60th time now. Ms. Cox shared her
impressions of NK with the President. Baroness Cox noted that progress is
evident after each of her visits to Armenia and NKR. At the instance of C.
Cox, R. Kocharian told her about his meeting with the Azeri President and
presented the current course of the Karabakh settlement process.

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.