State lawmakers wield foreign policy power
By Lisa Friedman, Washington Bureau
Los Angeles Daily News, CA
Aug 7 2005
WASHINGTON — From the Iraq War to tensions in the Mideast to the
extradition of criminals hiding in Mexico, California’s influence on
U.S. foreign policy is intensifying.
About 25 percent of the U.S. House committee overseeing international
affairs hails from the Golden State, leading some aides to jokingly
refer to the panel’s “California cabal” even as Congress’ foreign
policy demands increasingly reflect the state’s diversity and global
economic ties.
Twelve of the panel’s 50 members represent California, including
the leading Democrat, Tom Lantos of San Mateo, one other Northern
Californian, one from the Central Valley, and nine representing
various parts of the Southland. Three Californians chair subcommittees
on issues ranging from Europe to State Department oversight to
international terrorism.
“California members are very active in international relations because
the state is an economic powerhouse,” said Matthew Reynolds, acting
assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, a liaison
between Congress and the State Department.
Reynolds said California “is on the threshold of a lot of things. Its
interests are political, human rights, there’s interest in security
issues, and I think you’ve probably got every group covered in
California.”
With the largest delegation in Congress, California might be expected
to be represented in large numbers everywhere but isn’t.
Californians make up less than 10 percent of nearly every other panel
in Congress just five members serve on Transportation, six on Armed
Services and five on Appropriations. Only the Resources Committee,
which oversees federal land and water policy, comes close with nine
Californians making up about 18 percent of the panel.
Lawmakers say the state’s relationship as a trade partner with more
than 220 countries, and the fact that Californians trace their roots
from more than 100 nations, primarily account for the Golden State’s
disproportionate involvement in foreign affairs.
“There’s a natural interest in international affairs, perhaps even
greater than other parts of the country,” said Rep. Howard Berman,
D-Van Nuys. “California’s economy, its international dimension,
plays a huge factor as well as the part that so many Californians
come from other countries.”
But California interests are, of course, anything but homogenous.
Orange County’s Vietnamese community, for example, may press for human
rights in Vietnam while Los Angeles’ Armenian community urges an end
to Turkey’s blockade of Armenia.
Congresswoman Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs, uses her position
to encourage better relations between the U.S. and Latin America,
while Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, wields his influence
to highlight long-standing human rights concerns in China. Rep. Adam
Schiff, D-Pasadena, meanwhile, focuses his committee efforts on
curbing nuclear proliferation.
“Foreign policy issues are now intertwined with national security
issues,” he said.
Israel and the Palestinian territories also are frequent points of
contention, even within the California delegation.
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, for example, recently worked
language into a bill calling for an end to U.S. aid to the Palestinian
Authority as long as its government-sponsored textbooks deny the
existence of Israel. Lee, in a counteramendment, softened the provision
so that only aid to Palestinian education programs would be affected.
Overall, though, lawmakers say the foreign policy bills emerging
from Congress tend to have an overarching California theme: active
engagement in global affairs.
“Mostly it reflects a recognition of an internationalist approach
rather than an isolationist approach,” Berman said. “What goes on
around the world has an impact on us, and we need to be engaged.”
And engaged they are. For example, two laws about to go into effect
one authorizing the U.S. State Department for another two years
and another approving international U.S. assistance are filled with
provisions authored by Californians.
Among them:
One by Sherman blocking World Bank loans to Iran until the country
abandons its nuclear program.
About $4.5 million in scholarship funds for students in Muslim
countries to attend U.S. schools as part of a program championed by
Berman to expose more students to American ideas and values.
Demands from Reps. Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks, and Darrell Issa,
R-Vista, for the State Department to submit detailed statistical
reports regarding Mexico extradition requests.
Meanwhile, the panel will vote next month on whether the killing
of Armenians in Turkey during the Ottoman Empire should be declared
“genocide.” That’s a direct result of Schiff, whose district is home
to many of California’s estimated 400,000 Armenians.
Armen Carapetian, spokesman for the Armenian National Committee of
America’s western region in Glendale, said that for Armenians, having
a lawmaker on the International Relations Committee is as important
as having one on a bread-and-butter panel like Appropriations.
“It certainly helps to have your local congressman represent you in
places where it matters,” Carapetian said.
Added former Los Angeles Rep. Mel Levine, now head of community
relations for the Los Angeles Jewish Federation, “It’s very important,
and there’s no doubt that the pro-Israel community pays a lot of
attention to this committee.”
Levine, who served on International Relations himself when in Congress,
also noted that with more than 15 lawmakers representing a portion of
Los Angeles County, no one lawmaker bears the sole burden of bringing
home federal money. That, he said, frees up politicians who want to
exercise their own intellectual interests in world affairs.
“Our constituents tolerate it, even encourage it,” Sherman agreed. “A
Nebraska congressman might go home (after joining the foreign affairs
panel) and his constituents would say ‘You gave up the Agriculture
Committee for that?”‘
Gallegly said he also thinks California constituents want their
representatives in Washington to be tuned in to the world.
“Let’s face it,” he said. “We live in a global society. People are
a lot more interested in what’s going on around the world and how it
affects us at home.”

Saroyan and me
Prize-winning writer recalls his mentor.
Fresno Bee
By Mark Arax
August 7, 2005
The 2005 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing was announced
July 19 and Mark Arax of Fresno and Rick Wartzman of Los Angeles
were the recipients of the nonfiction category for their book, “The
King of California.” This is Arax’s acceptance speech at Stanford
University. At the risk of sounding parochial, I drove here today from
Fresno, up Highway 99, past the grape fields and peach orchards, past
the farmworkers picking in the 107-degree sun, some of them literally
dying of heat stroke in this harvest. As I drove by Uncle Melik’s old
pomegranate orchard, I couldn’t help but think of a summer just as
hot and brutal 25 years ago when I said goodbye to the San Joaquin
Valley and headed to New York City for grad school.
My heart was set on being a writer, but everyone in my family thought
it best that I pursue the law — everyone but my grandfather, Aram
Arax. He was a survivor of the Armenian genocide, a young poet with
the last name of Hosepian who took the pen name Arax from our mother
river, which poured down from Mt. Ararat. When he arrived in Fresno
in the summer of 1920, my grandfather wanted nothing more than to
continue his writing. But he did what all poets do when they land
in the Valley. He got down on his hands and knees and began picking
potatoes and then bell peppers and then grapes. Sixty years later,
his grandson wanted to be a writer and damned if he was going to see
that dream succumb to the idea of one more lawyer in America.
So he hatched a plan. He would take me, on the eve of leaving for New
York, to visit his old friend, the one man who might set me straight.
I picked him up and we drove to two tract houses side-by-side in
west Fresno. They looked like all the other tract houses except
the front lawn was waist high with weeds and filled with mint. The
old guy inside picked the mint every day to put in his yogurt. We
knocked on the door, and I will never forget the boom of his voice
from the kitchen. “Come on in fellow Fresnans, fellow Armenians,
fellow writers. I’m just finishing lunch.”
The door opened and I could see right away that William Saroyan wasn’t
quite the lion I remembered. He was thinner and more pale.
Only the mustache seemed as ferocious. The living room where he invited
us to sit was a lovely clutter. A big Formica table with his typewriter
stood in the middle surrounded by piles of books and free-form art he
had drawn in crayon and pen, pieces of glass and twine he had picked
up from that morning’s bicycle ride, rocks and pebbles he collected
to remind himself, he told us, that art should be simple.
It was a 105 outside and the room felt like a blast furnace. He said he
liked to perspire when he wrote and feel the cool of air conditioning
only at night, in bed. He opened the window to let in some midday
air. On the ledge, he had placed a recorder with which he taped the
sounds of night — hours and hours of nothing punctuated by the buzz
of a fly, the chirp of a robin.
We were there a good hour, but I don’t recall much of the
conversation. What comes back to me now, a quarter century later,
are the silly questions I peppered him with.
“I don’t know if I have the stomach for the life of a writer,” I told
him, surveying the room.” He laughed a big belly laugh. “Please don’t
judge a writer by these surroundings. There is no formula for being
a writer. It’s what you are and what you’re going to be and what’s
going to happen.”
“But the way you live seems important.”
“It’s only important to find what works for you. You must be alone
and have a place to write. So it’s lonely sometimes, but it isn’t
abject loneliness. Rather a kind of majestic one, a kinship with
larger things.”
Did being a writer, a real writer, mean there would be no time for
wife or children?
He was too kind to laugh again.
“Not if it’s the right marriage. Not any more than any other
intensely felt profession. Maybe less. I was married to the same
woman twice. Walter Matthau has her now. Thank God.”
He said he wrote using 300 words of the English language — no more.
Count them. And then in my exuberance, I asked a question that no
writer, mediocre or mighty, ought to be asked. Would he kindly
provide me with a reading list — the great books of American
fiction? On the back side of an envelope from his publisher, he
scribbled wildly. “Mark Twain, our best.” “Edgar Lee Masters for the
‘Spoon River Anthology.’ Sherwood Anderson, for ‘Winesburg Ohio.’
Faulkner, Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Wolfe’s ‘Look Homeward Angel.’ ”
Even himself, though he seemed almost apologetic for suggesting it.
“Let’s include Saroyan. ‘Sons Come and Go, Mothers Hang in There
Forever,’ even though that’s not the title I chose.”
Grandpa said it was time to go, and Saroyan showed us to the front
door. Then from behind his back, like a magician, he produced a copy
of his latest book, “Obituaries.” “Here,” he said. “This is for you.
For New York City. Don’t be put off by the title. It’s not about
death at all. It’s about living.”
When I got in the car, I opened the book and on the first blank page,
to my surprise and delight, Saroyan had penned a note. I read it
to Grandpa.
“For Aram Arax, grandfather, and to Mark Arax, grandson. Fellow
Armenians. Fellow Writers. It is a track. It is a profession. But
most of all writing is being alive. Continued good luck, Bill Saroyan.”
Pop nodded his head and smiled. Then he laughed and said. “You would
have thought the jackass could have turned on the air conditioning
a while.”
I returned to the Fresno heat a decade later to write a memoir,
“In My Father’s Name,” about my grandfather and his journey out of
genocide and the unsolved murder of his son, my father, when I was
15. And I returned in 1997 to tackle the King of California. I was
sitting in my back yard with my close friend and colleague, Rick
Wartzman, explaining how I had begun a book that was going to take
me 10 years at least. It was the story of how the South came West,
how the Boswells and other plantation owners had left Georgia and
Virginia, chased out by the boll weevil, and grafted their Dixie
onto a corner of California. Jim Boswell, a Stanford-educated cowboy,
had sucked dry Tulare Lake, the largest body of fresh water west of
Mississippi, and carved out the richest cotton patch in the world.
Rick and I joined forces that night and we ended up writing something I
swore I would never write — a book with footnotes, 100 pages of them.
On behalf of Rick and myself, I want to thank Stanford University,
librarian Michael Keller, the Saroyan Foundation and its director,
Bob Setrakian, and the judges for this honor. I guess you now know
why this prize is so special for me. And I want to thank Bill himself
for telling me, on our very first visit when I was 18, that I could
never bring paper or pen inside his house.
“Notes are crutches,” he explained. “If you’re going to be a writer,
you have to see things. And you can’t very well see things if your
face is stuck in some notebook.”
Mark Arax is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

Azeri party urges government to declare US envoy “persona non grata”
Turan news agency
7 Aug 05
Baku, 5 August: The People’s Front of Azerbaijan Party must be closed
and its leader Ali Karimli must be arrested, the pro-government Modern
Musavat Party demanded today. It justifies its demand by Karimli’s
cooperation with Armenians.
Moreover, the Modern Musavat Party is demanding an immediate “end to
the activities in Azerbaijan of the National Democratic Institute
[NDI], which is a spy network of the West”. At the same time, the
party is suggesting that the US ambassador [to Azerbaijan] be declared
“persona non grata”.
Otherwise, the Modern Musavat is threatening to stage “protests which
will be attended by tens of thousands of people outside the NDI office
and the US embassy”.

The eccentric aesthete
TDN
Sunday, August 7, 2005
FEATURE
Portobello Road
The Islamic Gemstone captures within it the various controversies of science and faith, as the images speak a thousand words
ANDY MCSMITH – TDN Guest writer
In May 2004, Picasso’s “Garcon a la Pipe” went under the hammer for a
whopping $104 million to an anonymous buyer that left even the experts
flabbergasted. Prior to this, Van Gogh’s “Portrait of Dr. Gachet”
was the record holder for the most expensive painting when it was
sold in May 1990 at the princely price of $82.5 million.
Why has art been able to command such prices? Is it because, as
Stephane Le Pelletier of Opera Gallery puts it, there is a diminishing
supply of masterpieces as more famous pieces get snapped up by museums
or are donated to these public institutions for the enjoyment of the
masses? While many are unable to comprehend and find justification for
such prices, there are those who remain unfazed by the prices offered.
History determines value:
Demand and supply is a small factor of its worth and is only tangential
to the reasons behind why one is willing to offer so much. Generally,
the history behind the artifact or artist or both determines much of
its value and significance. As Tobias Meyer, Sotheby’s director of
contemporary art, once said: “A work has to have historical importance
apart from aesthetic merit. There is a direct price correlation. Of
course, there are works that are very important historically but are
aesthetically difficult, which makes them somewhat challenging to
sell.” Another factor of high prices is of course attributed to the
bidding frenzy.
In 2002, the Black Star of Queensland went up for sale at a reserve
price of $88 million.
February last year, we saw the Forbes family sell off their fabled
collection of Faberge imperial Easter eggs to Russian oil magnate
Victor Vekselberg. This was just months before they were to be sold
at auction. The price remains undisclosed; however, many estimated
it to be around $90 million, if not more.
In March of last year, the Islamic Gemstone was offered a price
of around $70 million; however, its price has continued to spiral
upwards since it was put up for sale. Today, it is valued at close to
$100 million. The sale of the gemstone is planned to conclude by the
end of this year, but many believe that it may even end up being sold
earlier like the Faberge eggs when all requirements (and expectations)
have somewhat been exceeded.
According to the Weekly Independent, experts believe that the gemstone
may eventually be sold for over $100 million as in the case of many
other highly sought after rare paintings, sculptures and artifacts. The
owner has appointed his friend, who is also the chairman and CEO of
the O&S Group, Eli Oliveiro, to oversee the entire process. “Money
is an issue, but it is not the issue. Even if someone offers $150
million tomorrow, it will not lead to an immediate conclusion of
the sale. There are other things that have to be considered. The
gemstone is exquisite and extremely rare in its own right, simply
one of a kind. It carries with it a deeper symbolic meaning, which
gives it the intrinsic value unlike the norm and we all know that. We
want to ensure that the gemstone ends up in the best possible hands,”
says Oliveiro. Among those who find the gemstone captivating include
Muhammad Hamad Al Nasr, vice chairman of the National Council for
Culture, Arts and Heritage of Qatar, who said, “It is really a
splendid one.”
Putting a price is near impossible:
Owing to the danger of fakes going around, a painting, or for that
matter any other art, will generally be sought after if it has been
well documented in the literature of its period.
The Islamic Gemstone, and other of such art, however, is an exception,
as the distinctive patterns on this gemstone cannot be imitated. This
leads to some, including the Friday Times, to conclude that perhaps
putting a price to an art piece like the Islamic Gemstone is nearly
impossible.
“Garcon a la Pipe” was considered a “minor painting” by Picasso expert
Pepe Karmel as he expressed surprise at the price at which it was
sold. Art is truly subjective, as the maxim goes, “Beauty lies in
the eye of the beholder.”
The histories of both the Black Star of Queensland and the Islamic
Gemstone are unique. For the former, legend has it that a 14-year-old
Roy Spencer was reported to have found the sapphire in 1935. After his
father dismissed the stone as worthless, it was used as a doorstop
at their back veranda. It wasn’t until almost a decade later that
the rock’s value was realized and word was put out that it was up
for sale. In 1947, Armenian-born jeweler Harry Kazanjian traveled
from his home in Los Angeles to buy the prized stone. Spencer may
have initially been a little slow on the uptake, but he managed to
obtain the stone for $18,000. When weighed, it tipped the scales past
the 1,100-carat mark. It was then cut and polished by Kazanjian, to
reveal a brilliant six point star sapphire weighing 733 carats —
dwarfing the fabled Star of India sapphire’s 563 carats. Despite
the cost, the stone brought “great luck” to the Kazanjian family,
who went on to become one of the biggest gem dealers in the world.
The Islamic Gemstone, on the other hand, captures within it the
various controversies of science and faith, as the images speak a
thousand words.
Quite unexplainably, its images depict a bearded man in a Middle
Eastern outfit and wearing an imamah (Arab turban). He seems to be
seated cross-legged and reading from a book in what looks like a
cave. Some believe the book to be holy scripture. Beside him against
the wall lies a scimitar. What remains even more of a wonder is the
unusually clear facial profile of the man.
Most extraordinarily, potential owners in this case can only be
invited, and those not invited, although having offered what is
considered a very high price, will usually not be considered. “There
are certain things that money just cannot buy,” says Oliveiro.

Man convicted in alleged plot to kill Armenian leaders
AP Worldstream
Aug 06, 2005
A man accused of helping plot the assassination of several top Armenian
officials last year was convicted Saturday and received a five-year
suspended sentence.
Gagik Grigorian was found guilty of helping plan an abortive attempt to
kill the Caucasus Mountain nation’s prime minister, defense minister,
Constitutional Court chairman and other officials at a hunting lodge
last year.
Prosecutors had asked for a prison sentence of more than seven years,
but the court gave Grigorian a lighter sentence because they said he
acknowledged guilt, apologized and cooperated with investigators in
the former Soviet republic.
The man prosecutors say organized the alleged plot, former
Communications Minister Eduard Madatian, fled the country shortly
before the killings were supposed to have taken place and is said to
be living in Russia, where he has citizenship.
Prosecutors claim the alleged plotters planned to later kill President
Robert Kocharian.
Grigorian was arrested after an alleged co-conspirator, Misha
Khudaverdian, told authorities of the alleged plot. Khudaverdian,
who served as a witness in the trial, said Grigorian gave him money
to buy an anti-tank mine and detonator.
Politics are tense and occasionally violent in Armenia. In 1999,
the country was shocked by an attack in which gunmen burst into
parliament and killed the prime minister, parliament speaker and six
other officials and lawmakers.

Transeuro Enters into Integrated Project Management Contract with High
Arctic Energy Service L.L.C., Director Resigns
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Aug 4, 2005 (CCNMatthews via COMTEX) — Mr.
Edward Farrauto, President and CEO of
Transeuro Energy Corp. (the “Company”, “Transeuro”)(TSX VENTURE:TSU) is
pleased to announce Transeuro has entered into a
Integrated Project Management Contract (“IPMC”) dated August 1, 2005
with High Arctic Energy Service LLC (“High Arctic”) of Dubai,
United Arab Emirates, a wholly owned subsidiary of High Arctic Energy
Services Trust (TSX:HWO.UN).
High Arctic will manage operations in all areas of interest worldwide
for Transeuro through an Integrated Project Management model. This
will include asset management, management of operations, development of
work programs, development of AFE’s (Authority for
expenditures), supplying services and equipment as they relate to the
work programs and general responsibilities that encapsulate all asset
development that relate to the Transeuro concessions worldwide. The term
of the contract will be for thirty-six months.
High Arctic has been allocated a $1.0 million budget for the initial
assessment of Transeuro’s projects. This contract is in addition to the
Beaver River Project (the “Project”) where High Arctic has been
allocated $1.5 million per well over four wells in the initial nine
months of
the Project with Mattson Holdings Ltd. (“Mattson”). Mattson has entered
into a formal agreement with Ampac Petroleum Inc. (“Ampac”)
to earn Ampac’s interest in the Beaver River Field further to the Beaver
River Farmout and Operating Agreement between Questerre Beaver
River Inc. and Ampac. Transeuro is currently in the process of acquiring
of all of the issued and outstanding shares of Mattson (see news
release dated June 8, 2005).
High Arctic is engaged in the global oilfield services business by
providing underbalanced drilling and production services, equipment,
design and development, and technical support and training to the
Canadian and International oil and gas industry.
High Arctic’s head office is located in Red Deer, Alberta with
additional offices located in Brooks, Grande Prairie and Calgary.
International
offices are located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Bridgetown,
Barbados.
High Arctic has been completing a preliminary review of the Company’s
projects during the past two months.
Armenia:
An initial study of Block 2 is being completed by High Arctic. The goal
is to collect information for a dataroom to prepare for drilling
exploration wells on two known plays, the Oktemberian gas and Shorakpour
oil. The information package is largely complete and work is
commencing on a new website that will host the electronic data. This
work will continue over the next two months.
Papua New Guinea:
A technical fact finding visit has been completed by High Arctic
resulting in a large amount of data being compiled. A preliminary work
program is being drawn up with the focus on achieving the obligations
requirements of the Company exploration licence.
Ukraine:
On behalf of Transeuro Energy Corp. High Arctic is currently performing
a project planning review of the Gas Treatment Plant (GTP) and
the connecting pipeline that ties in the Karlavske and Krasnopolyanske
gas condensate fields to the existing gas mainline.
The High Arctic led review focuses on how the previous construction
undertaking addressed quality, cost and time projections, and will
provide analysis and recommendations to Transeuro within 60 days.
Other news:
Mr. Carlos Munoz has resigned as a director of the Company.
For further information contact:
David Parry, Director, [email protected]
TRANSEURO ENERGY
(604) 676-7592 – Phone
(604) 608 4733-Fax

ARA ABRAHAMYAN ASSISTED RELEASE OF RUSSIAN SAILORS FROM NIGERIA PRISON
PanArmenian News Network
Aug 6 2005
06.08.2005 04:02 — /PanARMENIAN.Net/ The release of Russian sailors
from Nigerian prison is the outcome of “common efforts of diplomats
and public figures,” Chairman of the Union of Armenians of Russia
Ara Abrahamyan stated. In his words, the same tactics, as that of
liberation of 6 Armenian pilots from Equato-Guinean prison was used
when releasing Russian sailors from Nigerian prison. “It was pleasant
to hear that the Nigerian court agreed to release Russian sailors
owing to Russian Embassy guarantees. This is good luck and an outcome
of our common efforts,” A. Abrahamyan noted. It should be reminded
that a crew of Russian sailors, who served on a Greek company tanker,
was arrested by Nigerian authorities in autumn 2003 and were charged
of oil contraband, reported IA Regnum.

Massaker an Armeniern wieder auf dem Lehrplan in Brandenburg
von Johannes Frewel
Agence France Presse — German
Freitag, 5. August 2005
Potsdam, 5. August
Wenn in Brandenburg in der kommenden Woche das neue Schuljahr
beginnt, werden die Schüler der 9. und 10. Klassen sich auch mit
einem Thema beschäftigen, dem ansonsten in deutschen Klassenzimmern
wenig Aufmerksamkeit zuteil wird: den Massakern der Türken an den
Armeniern, denen 1915 und 1916 zwischen 800.000 und 1,5 Millionen
Menschen zum Opfer gefallen waren. Brandenburg ist das einzige
Bundesland, das die von einem Großteil der internationalen
Öffentlichkeit als Völkermord eingestuften Massaker in den Lehrplan
aufgenommen hat – gemeinsam mit weiteren Genoziden wie jenen an den
Herero im früheren Deutsch-Süd-West-Afrika und den Tutsi in Ruanda.
Zu dieser salomonischen Lösung rang sich die Potsdamer
Landesregierung nach einer heftigen diplomatischen Schlingerfahrt
schließlich durch.
Eigentlich haben die Massaker im damaligen Osmanischen Reich schon
seit 2002 ihren Platz im Lehrplan der Brandenburger Schulen. Zu
verdanken war dies dem damaligen Bildungsminister Steffen Reiche
(SPD), der sich mit dem Schicksal der Armenier beschäftigt hatte.
Doch ausgerechnet kurz vor dem 90. Jahrestag des Völkermord in diesem
Frühjahr wies Ministerpräsident Matthias Platzeck (SPD) nach einer
Intervention des türkischen Botschafters Reiches Nachfolger Holger
Rupprecht (SPD) an, die beanstandete Stelle aus dem Lehrplan zu
nehmen – und löste damit eine Welle der Empörung aus.
Offiziell hatte sich die Kritik der Regierung in Ankara daran
entzündet, dass die Schüler an Brandenburgs Schulen neben dem
Holocaust lediglich das Schicksal der Armenier und sonst keinen
weiteren Völkermord im Unterricht behandeln. Anstatt den Lehrplan nun
in diesem Punkt zu ergänzen, schlug Platzeck den vermeintlich
leichteren Weg einer vollständigen Streichung der politisch
schwierigen Passage ein. Aufgeflogen war der klammheimliche
politische Kniefall des SPD-Politikers schließlich dadurch, dass die
entsprechende Passage auch in der Internetausgabe der Handreichung
für Lehrer plötzlich fehlte.
Nach einem Treffen mit der armenischen Botschafterin Karine Kazinian
und Vertretern der armenischen Gemeinde in Deutschland kündigte
Platzeck schließlich an, die Massaker gemeinsam mit weiteren
Völkermorden wieder in den Lehrplan aufzunehmen. Dazu verfasste das
Landesinstitut für Schule und Medien eine dicke Broschüre
“Völkermorde und staatliche Gewaltverbrechen im 20. Jahrhundert”. Dem
Völkermord an den Armeniern wird darin 18 Seiten und damit der
breiteste Raum zugebilligt. Thematisiert werden aber auch etwa die
Verbrechen Stalins oder der Roten Khmer im Kambodscha. Jeder
Geschichtslehrer kann frei entscheiden, welchen der aufgeführten
Völkermorde er seinen Schülern ergänzend zum Holocaust vermitteln
möchte.
Was Platzeck damals motiviert hatte, dem Drängen des türkischen
Botschafters nachzugeben, ist bis heute unklar. Seit mehr als zehn
Jahren gehört der gebürtige Potsdamer zu den Unterstützern eines
Wiederaufbaus der verfallenen Lepsius-Villa. Der evangelische Pfarrer
Johannes Lepsius hatte zahlreiche Armenier vor dem Tod gerettet und
den Völkermord, in den durch die Unterstützung türkischer Militärs
indirekt auch Deutschland verwickelt war, für die Nachwelt
dokumentiert. Sein ehemaliges Haus in Potsdam soll nun Heimstatt für
ein Dokumentationszentrum für den Genozid werden.
–Boundary_(ID_lQdVmRVDuqT3q5jQzC1TRw)–

FBI WHISTLEBLOWER APPEALS TO SUPREME COURT
BY REBECCA CARR
Cox News Service
August 5, 2005 Friday
WASHINGTON — FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds is asking the
U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether a lower court erred in dismissing
her claims of wrongful termination based on the rarely used “state
secrets privilege.”
By invoking the “state secrets privilege,” the Justice Department
prevented Edmonds, a former language translator, from airing in
court her allegations that the bureau fired her for reporting serious
security breaches and possible espionage.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in May
that Edmonds could jeopardize national security if her case proceeded.
But the state secret privilege was created by the high court 52 years
ago to be used as “a shield for sensitive evidence, not a sword the
government can use at will to cut off argument in a case,” said Ann
Beeson, who represents Edmonds as the associate legal director of
the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU is asking the high court to “rein in the government’s misuse
of this privilege,” Beeson said.
The ACLU is also asking the Supreme Court to reverse a decision by
the court of appeals to ban the media and the public from hearing
Edmond’s appeal.
There are at least four other cases now pending where the federal
government has asserted the state secrets privilege, which effectively
ends the case when a judge approves the use.
On Thursday, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond
affirmed the CIA’s use of the privilege to end a discrimination
lawsuit filed by a Jeffrey Sterling, a former operations officer in
the agency’s Near East and South Asia division.
“The district court properly concluded that this case would require
disclosure of highly classified information concerning the identity,
location and assignments of CIA operatives,” the court’s ruling states.
When the government invokes the privilege, the person seeking justice
against discrimination or retaliation loses because the case is
dismissed, open government advocates say.
The executive branch is increasingly using the privilege to obtain
dismissals of civil cases that allege unlawful conduct by federal
agencies, said Mark S. Zaid, who represents Sterling.
The government sends a message of “keep your mouth shut” to all
whistleblowers when it invokes the state secrets privilege, Zaid said.
Congress needs to investigate whether the executive branch is
misusing the state secrets privilege, said Beth Daley, director of
communication for the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog
organization based in Washington.
“The executive branch is abusing this authority,” Daley said. The
result is that national homeland security whistleblowers are afraid
to come forward when they see wrong doing because their cases end up
in a black hole, she said.
The Justice Department did not return calls seeking comment, but in
the past it has argued the privilege is a necessary tool to protect
government secrets.
Edmonds was hired by the FBI as a contract linguist soon after the
Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks for her fluency in Turkish, Farsi
and Azerbaijani.
Between December 2001 and March 2002, she reported a number of serious
security breaches to her superiors, including an allegation that a
fellow translator had been associating with an FBI target.
New details of those allegations appeared in the September issue of
Vanity Fair.
The article stated that Edmonds listened to wiretapped conversations
of FBI targets at the American-Turkish Council and the Assembly of
Turkish American Associations and the Turkish Consulate in Chicago.
The article claims that the Turkish groups arranged for tens of
thousands of dollars to be paid to House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s
campaign funds in small checks of less than $200 so they would not
have to be itemized in public campaign filings.
The article states that recordings mention Hastert’s decision in
2000 to withdraw his support for a congressional proposal that
would have designated as a genocide the killings of Armenians in
Turkey between 1915 and 1923. The article said that a senior Turkish
official claimed that the price for Hastert to withdraw his support
was at least $500,000.
Hastert’s voice was not heard on the recordings. And the article
notes that there was no evidence that any payment was ever made to
Hastert or his campaign.
Ron Bonjean, Hastert’s spokesperson, said the allegations are
“nonsense.” Hastert changed his vote because former President Bill
Clinton asked him to withdraw his support out of concern for U.S.
interests abroad.
” It makes for great summer time reading,” Bonjean said. “The
next thing you know they will blame the speaker for the Jennifer
Aniston-Brad Pitt break up.”
The Vanity Fair article also states that Edmonds listened to a
conversation between a Turkish official and a State Department
staffer. In the conversation, Vanity Fair reports, that government
officials agreed that the State Department staffer would send a
representative to pick up $7,000 in cash at the American-Turkish
Council’s Washington headquarters.
“I deny the allegations in the article in the strongest possible
terms,” said James Holmes, president of the American-Turkish Council.
“The article’s treatment of the ATC is packed with knowable lies. Any
rookie fact checker could have found out that the facts were wrong.”
Edmonds’ legal battle with the Justice Department began soon after
she was fired in March 2002. She filed a federal lawsuit alleging that
her termination was in retaliation for reporting security breaches.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton dismissed her case in July 2003
because then-Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked the “state
secrets privilege,” allowing the government to block the release of
any material that would harm national security.
In May, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed
her dismissal of her case based on the state secrets privilege.
“This privilege was supposed to be invoked rarely, but you see here
that they are using this as a tool to gag whistleblowers,” Edmonds
said on Friday. “It is extremely dangerous the way they invoke it.
According to them, my place of birth, my languages, my resume, are
all state secrets. It’s ludicrous.”
On the Web:
The American Civil Liberties Union’s filing before the U.S. Supreme
Court:
Rebecca Carr’s e-mail is rcarr(at)coxnews.com

Le Temps
6 août 2005
L’UDC recupère l’affaire turque;
VISITE ANNULEE. Le parti s’en prend a la norme penale antiraciste.
Joseph Deiss n’ira pas en Turquie en septembre: l’ambassade de Suisse
a Ankara a recu le 2 août une note du Ministère turc des affaires
etrangères l’informant que la visite etait annulee (LT du 5.08.2005).
Le ministre turc de l’Economie invoque des “problèmes d’agenda”.
Reste que les relations entre les deux pays se sont degradees ces
dernières semaines en raison des enquetes suisses contre un
politicien et un historien turc pour negation de genocide armenien.
Le fait que Joseph Deiss soit persona non grata apparaît dès lors
comme lie a ces affaires.
Micheline Calmy-Rey avait deja dû faire les frais de la colère turque
avant de pouvoir entreprendre un voyage en Turquie en mars. Le voyage
de Joseph Deiss devait, lui, etre purement economique et la reaction
turque, si elle est vraiment liee aux enquetes pour negation de
genocide armenien, apparaît comme demesuree aux yeux de la majorite
des parlementaires sondes. Mais pas pour l’UDC.
Initiative populaire?
Le parti qualifie la reaction turque de “logique”. Alors que Berne
s’escrime a faire comprendre a Ankara qu’une stricte separation des
pouvoirs est observee en Suisse, l’UDC tire a boulets rouges sur la
norme penale antiraciste. Precisement celle qui est invoquee pour
mettre les deux personnalites turques qui ont nie ou minimise le
genocide armenien sous enquete. “L’article 261bis du Code penal va
beaucoup trop loin: il doit etre supprime ou revise”, souligne Roman
Jaggi, porte-parole de l’UDC. “Cette affaire demontre a quel point
cet article peut nuire a nos relations avec un partenaire economique
important pour la Suisse! La Suisse n’a pas a juger les Turcs sur la
question armenienne!”. L’UDC a depose deux motions au parlement
demandant d’abroger l’article 261bis. Le parti songe meme a lancer
une initiative populaire en ce sens. Et Ueli Maurer en a parle dans
son discours du 1er Août. “Revient-il vraiment a un petit Etat neutre
de faire la morale sur la scène mondiale et de prononcer des
peines?”, a-t-il vocifere.
Pour ce qui est des consequences du report du voyage de Joseph Deiss,
Gregor Kundig, membre de la direction d’economiesuisse, se veut
rassurant. “Nous ne pensons pas qu’il y aura des repercussions
negatives sur nos relations economiques”, souligne-t-il. La Turquie,
avec un potentiel de croissance du PNB de 5% par annee, represente un
marche important pour les entreprises suisses.
–Boundary_(ID_bpNQfEzWIY/Q2Dn1hSCCow)–