PanArmenian News Network
Aug 8 2005
KLO THREATENS RUSSIA WITH SEVERING RELATIONS
08.08.2005 04:08
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `The start of the transportation of the Russian
military equipment from Georgia to Armenia can cause serious problems
for Azerbaijan. The story of the unfinished Karabakh war proves that
Armenia always used Russian military bases for its aggressive
purposes’, the statement spread by the Karabakh Liberation
Organization yesterday says. The authors of the statement say that by
sending its armament to Armenia `Russia creates conditions for
Armenia’s continuing aggression and that this step conflicts with the
activities of Russia as the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair.’ `The KLO
considers that Russia should immediately stop the militarization of
Armenia or quit activities in the OSCE MG. International
organizations like the UN should take preventive measures against
Russia while the Azerbaijani authorities should re-consider relations
with this country. Otherwise we will take over the initiative and
press for Russia’s removal from the post of Co-Chair’, the statement
says. A source in the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported that
presently, the 112-nd military base in Gyumri is not capable of
receiving the military equipment withdrawn from Georgia. `The issue
was also discussed at the meeting of Azeri FM Elmar Mammadyarov and
head of the Chief of Russia’s Armed Forces General Staff Yyuri
Baluevsky’, Azeri 525-th newspaper reports

PanArmenian News Network
Aug 8 2005
CANCELLATION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION DISCUSSION IN U.S.
CONGRESS – RESULT OF BRIBERY
08.08.2005 03:45
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In 2002 Turkish organizations and diplomats in the
U.S. were going to grant $500 000 to Dennis Hastert, the Speaker of
the U.S. House of Representative for preventing the discussion of the
Armenian Genocide Resolution in the Congress, a FBI agent stated. As
reported by U.S. media Sybil Edmonds, who was working as a FBI
translator will publish in Vanity Fair September edition the
translations of the records proving that Turkish organizations and
Turkish Consulate in Chicago were going to allocate $500 000 for
Hastert’s election campaign. The collection of funds was to be
carried out by way of small donations to avoid naming the real
donator. The article to be published questions Hastert’s receiving
the sum. However some U.S. media verify that during the election
campaign a great number of minor donations not demanding personal
identification were made. In 2000 Mr. Hastert spoke out for the
discussion of the Armenian Genocide resolution. However President
Clinton called the Speaker and asked to recall the resolution
motivating the request by the possible hardships in U.S. foreign
relations. Afterwards Mr. Hastert recalled the resolution, RFE/RL
reports.

Turkish Press
Aug 8 2005
Press Scan
SABAH (LIBERAL)
TURKEY CLOSES DOORS TO SWITZERLAND
Protests started against Switzerland which considered rejection of
Armenian genocide as crime. Turkish State Minister Kursad Tuzmen
postponed scheduled visit of Swiss Economics minister saying, ”my
schedule is not appropriate.”
Switzerland launched an investigation into Labor Party (IP) leader
Dogu Perincek last month. Switzerland had also opened a legal
procedure against Turkish Institute of History (TTK) Chairman Prof.
Dr. Yusuf Halacoglu in May as they defended the view that there was
not Armenian genocide.

The Arizona Republic, AZ Central
Aug 8 2005
A lesson in dying
In their children’s deaths, one family learns a lesson in living
Pauline Arrillaga
Editor’s note: This story originally published in 2001
TUCSON – On the wall of Cindy Parseghian’s office hangs a giant
bulletin board, a tribute to four children from a mother who once
wasn’t sure she wanted kids.
There are photos of Michael, Christa and Marcia in their karate
uniforms, Ara at a high school dance. Greeting cards filled with
quotes about faith and will, a napkin with a scribbled message: “Love
U More.”
Scattered through this precious window into a family’s yesterdays are
the annual Christmas cards, always decorated with a photo of the
children and always signed “The Parseghian Family.”
Christmas 1996: A studio portrait of the four kids, snuggled close
and smiling big.
Christmas 1998: Ara and his two sisters, one on each side planting a
kiss on his cheeks.
Christmas 2000: Ara and the girls huddled around a tree, Christa on
big brother’s lap.
Cindy Parseghian smiles with pride as her eyes move across each
photo, each note, each memory. But the cards stop her, and her smile
fades.
“We’re not doing a card this year,” she mumbles. “It’s just too
empty.”
Then it hits. There, scattered among the cards, are the obituaries.
Michael, March 26, 1987-March 22, 1997: “He loved karate and cowboys
and Garth.”
Christa, April 12, 1991-October 23, 2001: “If love is for always,
then she is Christa.”
The year 2001 brought so much heartache to so many, and it brought
fresh misery to Cindy and Mike Parseghian, son of legendary Notre
Dame football coach Ara Parseghian. They lost a second child to
Niemann-Pick type C disease, while another is deteriorating.
How does a couple survive three of their four children being stricken
by a neurological disorder that eats away their bodies, transforming
them into invalids fed from tubes and incapable of speaking?
How do you fight for a cure for others when it may come too late to
save your own?
How do you go on with life when you are surrounded by impending
death?
Yet from their children’s abbreviated lives, the Parseghians have
found joy amid the agony, scientists have gleaned inspiration, and
strangers have been moved to open their hearts and give.
It is an odd turn of events for two people who were going to be
professionals, not parents.
In 1981, at 26, Cindy Parseghian had her master’s in business
administration and had been accepted into law school at Northwestern.
Mike, then her husband of four years, was applying for medical
residencies with the goal of becoming an orthopedic surgeon.
When Mike took an opening at Arizona instead of Northwestern, Cindy’s
plans for law school changed. So, eventually, did her thoughts on
parenthood.
Three years later she gave birth to her first child, Ara, and Cindy
knew immediately that she wanted more. Three more, to be precise.
“I was just really overtaken with motherhood,” she recalls. “There’s
a connection with your child like none other in the world. You feel
this beating soul inside, and it never leaves you.”
With their dark hair and dark eyes, a mark of Mike’s Armenian
heritage, the Parseghian kids were a striking bunch. They had beauty,
brains and spirit.
Ara and Michael, born three years later, took an early interest in
karate. Marcia, a year and a half behind Michael, began reading at 4
and was the first in her dance class to skip and tie her shoes. She
was so smart, so tenacious, Cindy dreamed of one day sending her to
Stanford.
Christa, the baby, was everyone’s little angel. With her cascading
tresses and dimpled smile, she was as adorable as a young Shirley
Temple. She even loved to tap dance.
“I felt incredibly lucky,” Cindy says. “We had these four beautiful
children, and our goal was to raise them to be happy, loving, caring
adults. I thought we were on top of the world.”
Then their world collapsed.
They first saw the signs when Michael was in kindergarten. He
couldn’t handle the monkey bars as well as other kids, and he was
losing his balance in karate class. His handwriting wasn’t as
legible.
Cindy took him to a pediatrician, who dismissed the symptoms as
childhood clumsiness, and her concern as a mother’s overprotection.
She and Mike knocked on more doors.
An ophthalmologist noticed Michael couldn’t raise his eyes without
also raising his head. He was sent to Columbia for another
evaluation.
“They took about a five-minute look at Michael and said, ‘We think
it’s Niemann-Pick type C,'” says Cindy, who remembers they cited two
telltale symptoms: the eye movement and the fact that Michael had an
enlarged spleen.
When Cindy and Mike heard the second symptom they knew: Not one, but
three of their children might be dying. Marcia and Christa also had
enlarged spleens; doctors had thought it ran in the family.
In the summer of 1994, all four children were tested. All but Ara had
the disease. Michael was 7, Marcia 6, and Christa was just 3.
Niemann-Pick type C is an inherited disorder in which a variety of
substances fail to move around properly inside cells, especially
nerve cells in the brain. This improper distribution signals the
brain cells to die.
At first, children seem clumsy. Then they have trouble speaking and
writing. As the disease progresses, most have seizures and suffer
from a condition that causes them to collapse if they laugh too hard.
“There’s a point where they cannot walk without assistance. They soon
are not able to walk even with help. Feeding tubes will have to be
applied,” says Dr. Sherman Garver, an NP-C researcher at the
University of Arizona.
There is no cure. About 500 children in the United States suffer from
NP-C. Most will die before age 15.
The elder Ara Parseghian, who won two national championships at Notre
Dame as coach from 1964-74, has seen his grandchildren’s decline
during visits over Christmas and spring break.
“It’s very hard,” he says. “You envision Marcia and Christa going to
their first prom and being dressed for their dates, and ultimately
being married and having children. But it’s not going to happen.”
Cindy says: “You scream and you yell and you cry and you curse God. I
can’t imagine anyone doing anything different.”
But the Parseghians did do something different: They turned their
children’s death sentence into a celebration of life. And they let
their children show them the way.
“Our first response was: Let’s take them out of school. Let’s show
them the world,” Cindy says. “Then we realized, that’s not what they
want. They wanted to be treated like other children, so we tried to
make their lives as normal as possible.
“They had their own little hopes and dreams, and we tried to focus on
those.”
The children remained in school – always the regular class, even
though their learning curve slowed. They continued karate and dance,
with assistance from their teachers and fellow students. When Marcia
couldn’t keep up with her peers in ballet, she joined her little
sister’s class. She still takes lessons, with a friend holding her up
as she dances.
As their children lived life, Cindy and Mike searched for a cure.
Using her father-in-law’s name, her husband’s medical connections and
her business acumen, Cindy had the Ara Parseghian Medical Research
Foundation operating two months after the children were diagnosed.
Before the Parseghian Foundation, two labs were dedicated to NP-C
research. Today, there are more than 20, and the foundation raises
more than $2 million a year toward the effort.
“They single-handedly have pushed this whole field,” says Dr. Michael
Parmacek, chief of cardiology at the University of Pennsylvania, who
heads the foundation’s scientific advisory board.
In 1997, scientists identified the gene responsible for causing NP-C,
but advances have been slow because the gene’s function was more
complicated than researchers anticipated.
Until they know more, a cure will remain elusive.
“There was a real hope and a real belief that we could find something
that could stem some of the horrible symptoms and give us enough time
to come up with a cure,” Mike says. “The cure is still obtainable.
Unfortunately, it’s taken longer than we ever hoped.”
Too long, they now know, for their children. Michael died of a
seizure on March 22, 1997, four days before his 10th birthday. His
death stunned the family; he had just started using a wheelchair, and
his speech, while slow, could still be understood.
That Christmas, Marcia asked Cindy to read her a book about what
children want to be when they grow up. Afterward, Marcia said: “I
don’t think I’m gonna grow up,” and she started to cry.
When Christa took a turn for the worse this summer, the family
prepared themselves – and Marcia.
In July, Christa suffered two seizures within five minutes. She
stopped eating, and doctors inserted a feeding tube. By fall, the
10-year-old needed a wheelchair full time. In October, she contracted
pneumonia.
The Friday before she died, Christa spoke her last word. Cindy had
told her “I love …,” and Christa put her hand on her mommy’s chest
and replied “you.”
When they knew there was little time left, Cindy and Mike put Christa
in their bed; Cindy painted her nails purple, Christa’s favorite
color, and Marcia went in to see her sister.
She sat on the bed, held her hand and kissed her. And when she died,
Cindy says, Marcia saw “there were a lot of people around, and it was
a restful death.”
On Nov. 21, a month after Christa died, Marcia turned 13. She lost
her speech two years ago. These days, she gives a thumbs up or thumbs
down to signal her likes and dislikes. She uses a wheelchair at
school, although she can walk at home with assistance.
One thing is sure, says Cindy: “She very much understands that she
has the disease that took the life of her brother and sister.”
A year after Michael died, he came to Cindy in a dream. He gave her a
big hug, and then was gone.
“I remember waking up and having this wonderful feeling that my
children will always be a part of me,” she says. “I feel lucky that I
spent so much time with my children. I’m sure more time than I would
have had they been normal. We have had a lot of great moments
together.”
The Parseghians don’t dwell on the what-ifs: What if they hadn’t
fallen in love with someone who carried the same defective gene? What
if they’d never had children? What if they’d found a cure in time?
Instead, they think of the smiles and laughs and recitals and
vacations – of all those great moments Cindy has captured on the
bulletin board in her office. They focus on Marcia and Ara, a high
school senior who hopes to be a writer or perhaps, like his father, a
doctor.
And sometimes, they remember the lyrics to a Garth Brooks song their
son Michael so loved. At those times, the what-ifs all wash away.
“And now I’m glad I didn’t know
“The way it all would end, the way it all would go.
“Our lives are better left to chance.
“I could have missed the pain, but I’d have had to miss the dance.”
That, they wouldn’t have missed for the world.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
Aug 8 2005
Abkhazia’s NGOs ask Russian president to recognize republic
SUKHUMI, August 8 (Itar-Tass) — Abkhazia’s non-governmental
organizations have asked Russian President Vladimir Putin and
Moscow’s Mayor Yuri Luzhkov to recognize the self-proclaimed
republic’s independence.
The call is contained in a message from the Coordinating Council of
the non-governmental organizations of Russia and Abkhazia addressed
to both officials.
Affiliated to the Coordinating Council are fifteen organizations,
including the Russian, Armenia, Greek, Jewish and Polish Communities
and the local Black Sea chapter of the Kuban Cossacks.
`Over 80 percent of Abkhazia’s residents are Russian citizens and the
number of Russian citizens resident in Abkhazia has been growing with
every day. Those who still do not have Russian citizenship have so
far been unable to pay for citizenship and passport acquisition
procedures.’
The Coordinating Council argues that Abkhazia is not part of Georgia
and is free to decide its future on its own. To support this claim it
mentions a number of legal acts adopted in the last days of the USSR,
and in the first post-Soviet years, as well as results of plebiscites
held at that time.
The authors of the message say that Russia is a legal successor of
the Soviet Union and those legal acts are still effective.
The Coordinating Council asked for easing border-crossing procedures
on the Russian-Abkhazian border and for considering Abkhazia’s
admission to Russia in the capacity of an associate member.
`Abkhazia has been with Russia since 1810 and we are hoping that this
shall be so further on, in compliance with the testament of our
ancestors,’ the message says.

Transitions Online, Czech Republic
Aug 8 2005
In Search of a Stable Eurasia

by Igor Torbakov
8 August 2005
Russia and Turkey forge new ties on security and trade. From
EurasiaNet.
Turkish Prime-Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent talks with
Russian President Vladimir Putin suggest that the two Eurasian
countries have found common ground on a number of key regional
security issues.
`It’s our fourth meeting during the last seven months, and I guess,
all of you understand what that means,’ Erdogan said at a news
conference following the 17-18 July negotiations at Putin’s posh
summer residence in the Russian Black Sea resort town of Sochi. `Our
views totally coincide with regard to the situation in the region as
well as to the issues concerning the preservation of stability in the
world,’ Erdogan was quoted as saying.
The recent Russian-Turkish encounter came after the Kremlin leader’s
official visit to Ankara in December 2004 and Erdogan’s trip to
Moscow in January 2005. Last May the Turkish prime minister also
attended festivities in the Russian capital commemorating the 60th
anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
Such a sharp increase in top-level contacts appears to be the result
of both countries’ wariness toward political turbulence in their
overlapping `near abroads’ – specifically, in the South Caucasus and
Central Asia, regional analysts say.
Both Moscow and Ankara are closely following the geopolitical changes
that are taking place in post-Soviet Eurasia – particularly those
brought about by the `color revolutions.’ In the South Caucasus, the
`frozen conflicts’ between Tbilisi and the breakaway territories of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the stalemate between Azerbaijan and
Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh drive these shared concerns.
In public, both Russian and Turkish leaders have stressed their
commitment to the peaceful settlement of the inter-ethnic conflicts
in the Caucasus. However, a number of Turkish and Russian experts
argue that Ankara and Moscow seem reluctant to embrace political
changes in the Commonwealth of Independent States’ southern tier and
would rather support the preservation of the status quo.
Even before the Putin-Erdogan meeting in Sochi, some regional
analysts suggested there might be joint Russian-Turkish attempts to
solve the Armenian-Azeri conflict. As Armenia’s main geopolitical
ally, Russia can be expected to mediate between Turkey and Armenia on
a number of issues, they say.
Russian media reports confirmed that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue was
discussed during the Russian-Turkish talks. The Russian government
newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported on 19 July that Moscow had
expressed its readiness to pursue the settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh
`more actively,’ and that Ankara had agreed to cooperate on this
issue. Furthermore, according to some Russian and Azeri sources,
Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul, who made an official visit to
Baku on 18-21 July, hinted that Ankara is interested in a
normalization of relations with Yerevan and discussed with the Azeri
leadership the prospects of Turkey’s participation in the
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement.
At the same time, Turkey appears keen to act as a mediator in the
Georgian-Abkhazian conflict. Turkey is home to a sizeable Abkhazian
community, and Ankara has established friendly ties both with Moscow
and Tbilisi, some Turkish commentators note.
`We don’t want to live in a world where enmity dominates; we need a
world where friendship reigns supreme,’ Erdogan said in Sochi,
referring to the urgent need to settle the South Caucasus’s
conflicts.
Both leaders, however, appear to share a strong apprehension
regarding potential political upheavals on post-Soviet territory.
While both Moscow and Ankara understand fully that a huge potential
exists for political change in the Caucasus and Central Asia, the
Putin administration and Erdogan government are unlikely to welcome
the revolutionary transformation of the authoritarian regimes in the
region, some Turkish analysts contend.
Azerbaijan’s November 2005 parliamentary elections are a case in
point, noted Suat Kiniklioglu, head of the Turkish office of the
German Marshall Fund of the United States. For Russia, securing
stability in this energy-rich Caspian state is important within the
framework of the Kremlin’s strategy of preserving its influence in
the Caucasus, Kiniklioglu said. But Turkey too wants to see
Azerbaijan stable, and keep secure the delivery of crude oil via the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan export pipeline, he said in an interview with the
Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
Similarly, Turkey and Russia are seeking to maintain the geopolitical
status quo in Central Asia. According to Kiniklioglu, both the Turks
and the Russians would prefer to deal with the likes of Uzbek
President Islam Karimov and other autocratic regional leaders than
face the uncertainty of revolutionary turmoil. A number of Turkish
foreign-policy experts suggest that Ankara’s strategic perspective on
Central Asia is much closer to the Russian position than to that of
the United States. `Neither Moscow nor Ankara is happy to see U.S.
forces in the region,’ wrote analyst Semih Idiz in the mass
circulation daily Milliyet.
The talk of shared security interests extends to economic issues, too
Bilateral trade and energy issues figured prominently during the
Sochi meeting. The two leaders said they aim to raise the volume of
trade between the two countries from the current $11 billion to $25
billion.
The Russian president signaled that Russia would like to increase
energy exports to Turkey. Putin set out plans for new gas pipelines
through Turkey to supply southern European markets and also raised
the possibility of electric power exports to Turkey and Iraq. Erdogan
appeared to welcome Moscow’s intention to boost gas supplies to
Turkey. `There is serious potential for increasing supplies through
the Blue Stream pipeline,’ the Turkish prime minister said. According
to Erdogan, the pipeline has a capacity of 16 billion cubic meters
per year, but current supplies amount to only 4.7 billion cubic
meters. The 1,213-kilometer Blue Stream gas pipeline under the Black
Sea was completed in 2002, but has since been a source of dispute
between Russia and Turkey over gas prices.
Most Russian and Turkish commentators gave a very positive overall
assessment of the outcome of the Putin-Erdogan meeting. The rapid
rapprochement between the two Eurasian powers could serve as useful
leverage for boosting each country’s geopolitical stature, they
argue.
The strengthening of cooperation between Russia and Turkey `adds
significantly to our country’s international prestige,’ noted one
Russian commentary posted on the Politcom.ru website. Many Turkish
experts seem to agree. Argued Milliyet foreign-policy columnist Idiz:
`It may be an exaggeration to call our bilateral relations `strategic
partnership,’ but Turkish-Russian relations have already grown in
importance to the extent that they affect the entire region.’

Igor Torbakov is a freelance journalist and researcher who
specializes in CIS political affairs. He is now based in Istanbul,
Turkey. This is a partner-post from EurasiaNet.

PanArmenian News Network
Aug 8 2005
SWISS SENATE WASHES HANDS OF GENOCIDE ISSUE
08.08.2005 06:55
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey’s massacre of Armenians in 1915 will not be
an issue for the Swiss Senate, according to the president of the
Senate foreign-affairs committee. Peter Briner said other countries
had no business pointing the finger at Turkey 90 years after the
disputed events. `The Senate Commission came to an agreement with the
Swiss government that it is not the parliament to decide whether it
was a genocide or not’, he added. To note, the Chamber of
Representatives of the Swiss Senate adopted the resolution on the
Armenian Genocide in 2003, Swissinfo reports.

Akipress , Kyrgyzstan
Aug 8 2005
Archeologists Discover Medieval Monastery In Kyrgyzstan
Archaeologists in Kyrgyzstan say they have discovered the remains of
a medieval Christian monastery on the northern bank of Lake
Issyk-Kul.
Aleksandr Kamyshev, who is heading the team from the Kyrgyz-Russian
Slavic University, told ITAR-TASS that archeologists have long
suspected the existence of a monastery built by Armenian Christians
on the shore of Issyk-Kul.
Maps from the time charting the Silk Road suggest the remains of the
Apostle Matthew are buried near the monastery walls.
Kamyshev said the monastery was built around the 14th century and is
designed in a style similar to medieval Armenian Christian monasteries.

RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, Czech Republic
Aug 8 2005
Azerbaijan: Relations With U.S. Enter A New Phase
By Richard Giragosian

(RFE/RL)
The working visit to Washington last week by Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov came at a very significant time for both
countries and could represent something of a turning point in
bilateral relations. Following a sweeping reevaluation of U.S.
policy, those relations have been subject to a dynamic, yet subtle
shift in recent months, driven by a set of external developments
ranging from the impact of the so-called colored revolutions in
several former Soviet states to a new emphasis on democratization as
the strategic priority of the second Bush Administration.
The shift in U.S.-Azerbaijani relations has also been dictated by
internal considerations, further exacerbated by Azerbaijan’s looming
parliamentary elections set for 6 November. Set against the wave of
democratic change in Georgia, Ukraine, and most recently, in
Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan faces new pressure to ensure a free and fair
election. And it is this need to meet heightened democratic standards
that is the new determinant in the U.S. approach to Azerbaijan.
The necessity for improved electoral credentials in Azerbaijan has
been repeatedly stressed in recent months by the Council of Europe,
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and
was reiterated during last month’s visits to Baku by former U.S.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and current Deputy Secretary of
State Paula Dobriansky. But Washington’s insistence on
democratization in Azerbaijan is not merely an end in itself, but
stems from a broader American recognition of democratization as
essential to domestic stability and regional security. It also
reflects a new tool in the global war on terror, although it remains
to be seen if this “muscular Wilsonian” approach will yield better
results.
For Azerbaijan, this priority for democratic elections has sharply
raised the threshold for the regime of President Ilham Aliyev. But
preparations for the election have fallen far short of the shared
expectations of the international community and the Azerbaijani
opposition. Specifically, Azerbaijan’s electoral reforms remain
incomplete, with shortfalls in both the composition of electoral
commissions and the planned monitoring of the ballot (See “RFE/RL
Caucasus Report.”). American disappointment with election
preparations to date was also a central message in Mammadyarov’s
talks with his American hosts.
This is also a lesson for others, however. For neighboring Armenia,
which will be facing its own elections within the next two years, and
even for Georgia, whose Rose Revolution was rewarded by an American
presidential visit and by U.S. help in pressuring Russia to withdraw
its troops from the country, but which has since created a Central
Election Commission wholly dominated by supporters of the ruling
party, there are significantly higher standards and greater
expectations.
In addition, Mammadyarov’s visit was largely overshadowed by
speculation about an imminent agreement for a new U.S. military base
in the country. This speculation has been largely fueled by the
recent demand by Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov to close the
U.S. and coalition air base at Karshi-Khanabad within six months. The
loss of the use of the base in Uzbekistan is viewed by some experts
as an immediate setback to the U.S. military’s operational
capabilities in nearby Afghanistan and, as the thinking holds,
necessitates the opening of new air base in Azerbaijan. While this
view is correct in recognizing the importance of the South Caucasus
air corridor as a “lifeline” between coalition forces in Afghanistan
and bases in Europe, it is flawed by a superficial understanding of
the nature of the U.S. military mission and presence in Azerbaijan,
as well as by the practical limitation of aircraft needing to refuel
en route from Azerbaijan to Afghanistan.
Despite reports predicting a “new” U.S. military engagement in
Azerbaijan, in reality, there has been a significant American
military mission there for at least three years, comprised of two
components. The first component was the creation of the “Caspian
Guard,” an initiative involving both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan
focusing on maritime and border security in the Caspian Sea. The
Caspian Guard initiative incorporates defensive mission areas,
including the surveillance of Caspian airspace, borders, and
shipping. It encourages greater coordination and cooperation in
counter-proliferation efforts by Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. This
effort was further bolstered by a $20 million program launched in
July 2004 and implemented by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency
to train the Azerbaijan Maritime Border Guard. Additional training
and combined exercises were also provided by U.S. Navy SEALS to
Azerbaijan’s 41st Special Warfare Naval Unit in June 2004.
The second component was the establishment of several “Cooperative
Security Locations,” tactical facilities with pre-positioned stock
that provide contingency access but, unlike a traditional base, have
little or no permanent U.S. military presence. These locations are
designed to increase the mobility of U.S. military forces and, most
importantly, facilitate counter-proliferation missions along
Azerbaijan’s southern border with Iran and northern borders with
Georgia and Daghestan.
In line with the U.S. military need to project military power
rapidly, the U.S. presence in Azerbaijan may be further expanded from
the existing Cooperative Security Locations to Forward Operating
Sites, host-country “warm sites” endowed with a limited military
presence and capable of hosting rotational forces. These forward
operating sites can also serve as centers for bilateral and regional
training.
Thus, while the utility of a permanent, traditional military base in
Azerbaijan is seriously limited, the expansion of the forward
stationing of forces is likely. (Azerbaijani presidential aide Novruz
Mamedov’s recent statement to Interfax that Azerbaijan will not host
“U.S. military bases” may draw a fine semantic line between “bases”
in the traditional sense and forward operating sites.) Yet even the
military relationship is in the final analysis contingent on
Azerbaijan’s ability to meet the new, more stringent U.S. standards
of democracy and free elections. The steadfast refusal by the
Azerbaijani authorities to amend the composition of election
commissions and their reluctance to permit the marking of voters to
preclude multiple voting cast doubt on President Aliyev’s repeated
assertions that the ballot will indeed be free, fair, and
transparent.

Los Angeles Times
Aug 8 2005
New Era for Glendale Armenians
Even as the ethnic group marks the milestone of a majority on the
City Council, it struggles with internal diversity and a changing
community.
By Amanda Covarrubias
Times Staff Writer
Drive down Central Avenue in the heart of Glendale and the telltale
signs of the city’s long Armenian influence quickly become apparent.
The cursive Armenian writing advertises bakeries, coffee shops and
restaurants that serve such specialties as sweet honey baklava and
lamb kebabs.
Glendale has been a haven for Armenians for generations, a point of
entry for immigrants from Armenia, as well as people of Armenian
descent from Turkey, Lebanon, Iran and the former Soviet Union. They
now make up 40% of the San Fernando Valley city’s 210,000 residents.
But it was not until this year that the city’s Armenian community
marked a major political milestone: winning a majority on the City
Council.
Many Armenian Americans are proud of the election results, saying
they illustrate how a community that once stood on the fringes of
local government now is playing a central role. But they also are
quick to say the Armenian American majority on the five-member
council does not reflect a homogenous community.
Despite its size, the population is highly diverse. Wealthy second-
and third-generation Armenian Americans live in tony neighborhoods in
the hills above the city, while recent immigrants struggle in
lower-income neighborhoods.
Bridging this divide is a task with which social service
organizations and the Armenian Church struggle. Sometimes the new
immigrants complain that their high expectations about life in
America are difficult to achieve, especially with limited English
skills.
“Some of these people can’t get jobs that will pull them out of their
financial situation,” said Angela Savoian, regional chairwoman for
the Armenian Relief Society. “They get deeper into debt because their
children want what their neighbors have…. It’s much more difficult to
be poor in this country than where they came from.”
Sometimes parents work two or three jobs to make ends meet, leaving
their children unsupervised for hours. In the past, authorities have
said the situation helped boost the ranks of Armenian street gangs, a
problem seen five years ago when an Armenian gang member fatally
stabbed a Latino student outside Hoover High School.
In recent years, police say, Armenian gang activity has declined. But
both Glendale police and the FBI are becoming increasingly concerned
about Armenian organized-crime rings linked to drug dealing and
robberies.
“I see a lot of materialism and anger and resentment,” said Father
Vazken Movsesian, who runs a youth drop-in center at St. Peter
Armenian Church, across the street from Hoover High. “I have to keep
telling them: ‘Appreciate all that America’s giving you.’ ”
The newly elected Armenian American council members have vowed to
help newcomers integrate into the community, fight youth crime and
bring about changes that will ease some of the parents’ problems.
Among the steps they can take, said Councilman Ara Najarian, is to
encourage the Police Department to hire more Armenian American
officers and work to secure more federally funded housing for
low-income families. The city has 1,500 vouchers for
government-funded housing and a waiting list of 9,000.
“Armenian Americans don’t all think the same way or walk in lock
step,” Najarian said. “We’re very diverse, from the poorest in the
city to the richest; some are professionals and some are newly
arrived with their own language and customs. It’s not like we had
60,000 people who came from Armenia yesterday and settled in
Glendale.”
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Once a bastion of white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant political power, the
city is now home to about 85,000 Armenians, one of the largest
populations outside Armenia itself.
In addition to Central Avenue’s bustling shopping district, Glendale
is home to at least half a dozen Armenian-language newspapers, and
local cable TV outlets are filled with Armenian-produced talk shows
and public affairs programming.
“When I first came to California to go to school in the 1950s, there
were few Armenians in Glendale,” said Richard Dekmejian, director of
the USC Institute of Armenian Studies. “Most of the Armenians were in
West Adams, Boyle Heights, a few in the Valley. There were a small
number of Armenians in Hollywood, but they grew very fast.”
Armenian families have lived in the city since the 1920s, but
immigration did not transform its social fabric until the 1970s, when
Armenians who had scattered across the globe during the era of
genocide in Turkey uprooted themselves in rapid succession from
Lebanon, Iran and the then-Soviet Republic of Armenia. They were
forced to leave these countries because of world events that
prevented them from practicing their Christianity freely and to
escape anti-Armenian discrimination.
Many were drawn to Glendale, as well as East Hollywood and Fresno.
In many respects, the Armenian American councilmen represent the
diaspora. Bob Yousefian was born in Iran, moved to Lebanon as a
teenager and later followed his family to the United States; Rafi
Manoukian was born in Beirut and immigrated to the United States in
1975; and Najarian, whose parents emigrated from Armenia, is a
Cleveland native whose family moved to Glendale in 1980.
The leaders consider former Gov. George Deukmejian and former Mayor
Larry Zarian, the first Armenian American on the City Council, to be
their role models. Zarian, who served on the council from 1983 to
1993, was invited to Armenia for an official state visit after
becoming the first Armenian American mayor of a relatively large U.S.
city.
“I think what the community is doing in Glendale is something it has
not been able to do in many other parts of the world,” Zarian said.
“Our parents, who come from Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, the Soviet Union
and Iran, were not able to participate in the governmental political
process and run for public office.
“But their children became lawyers, teachers and doctors and said:
‘We want to be able to get involved.’ ”
The growing Armenian population did not always experience a smooth
transition. In 2000, when city officials lowered the American flag to
mark Armenian Genocide Commemoration Day, some longtime residents
complained about all the attention the event was receiving. The day
recognizes the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks between 1915 and
1923.
Around the same time, officials became concerned about violent
clashes between Armenian and Latino students at a local high school.
More recently, the FBI’s Eurasian Crime Task Force and the Glendale
Police Department have worked together to combat organized crime
involving Armenians from the former Soviet Union and the United
States. Authorities said the groups have taken root in the last five
years, dealing primarily in white-collar crimes involving auto
insurance, credit cards, identity theft and welfare fraud. But the
rings have also been linked to several murders.
In March, the FBI filed charges against members of a Russian Armenian
organized-crime ring accused of plotting to smuggle $2.5 million in
illegal guns into the United States.
There have also been tensions within the Armenian community. Earlier
this year, Manoukian and members of the Armenian Council of America
accused each other of politicizing the city’s annual Armenian
Genocide Commemoration activities.
Arguments broke out over who would serve on the committee that plans
the events. Vasken Khodanian, chairman of the Armenian Council of
America, said Manoukian excluded all but one representative from his
committee and filled it with members who have ties to the Armenian
National Committee.
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Members of the new council majority are quick to say they do not
consider themselves a voting bloc. They note that they ran for office
on a broad range of mainstream issues, such as improving public
safety, providing more affordable housing and overseeing the
redevelopment of Brand Boulevard.
But that voters elected them, they believe, signals Armenians in
Glendale want a voice in the city’s stewardship.
“To be able to say there’s three Armenians on the City Council,
that’s wonderful,” said Greg Krikorian, a board member with the
Glendale Unified School District. “I’m proud to see it, as long as
they’re qualified and they put Glendale first.”
Manoukian, the mayor, also expressed pride over the election but said
it represents a moment in time.
“There aren’t that many cities with a 40% population of Armenian
descent,” he said. “Two or 10 years down the line, people of
different ethnicities could move to Glendale and they’ll run for
office, and that would be fine.”
Indeed, in addition to Armenians, Filipinos and Koreans make up a
growing segment of the city’s population; Asians now make up nearly
17%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Sixty-five languages are
spoken in the Glendale Unified School District.
Voters in April also elected their first Armenian American city
clerk, who ran on a platform of improving services to immigrants and
increasing their participation in civic life.
“Not many people were voting in Glendale. It was frustrating for me
to see so many Armenian Americans not participating in the city
government,” said Ardashes Kassakhian, 28, as he sipped strong
Armenian coffee in a cafe near City Hall. “That’s why I’m trying to
stress voter awareness and education.”
During the campaign, he initiated a broad voter registration effort,
aggressively signing up new voters via Korean and Filipino
newspapers, cable television and direct mail. He proudly notes that
the number of Filipinos registered to vote climbed from 700 to 5,000,
or nearly half the city’s Filipino population.
Berdj Karapetian, a businessman who has lived and worked in Glendale
on and off since 1982, said a big challenge for the new officials
would be to serve all parts of Glendale, both rich and poor.
“There are very wealthy Armenians who live in the hills, yet there
are those at low socioeconomic levels or seniors, who are dependent
on Medi-Cal or pensions,” Karapetian said.
“Will the policies start reflecting changes that accommodate those
who are in a less fortunate situation? Let’s look at policies that
will serve the less affluent population, whether they’re Hispanic or
Armenian or Asian.”