WATERTOWN TAB

Fingers on the pulse of the town

By Dan Atkinson/ Staff Writer
Friday, March 11, 2005

There are many books about the history and culture of Watertown. Ann
Forbrush and Kathy Lobo wanted theirs to be a little more hands-on.

The two artists spent the past 18 months collaborating on four copies
of a four-volume set of artist’s books about the town, funded by a grant
from the Watertown Cultural Center. The books, which were displayed at the
Armenian Library and Museum of America, use textures and unconventional
design to focus on the artistic and creative history of Watertown.

“We’re interested in the fragments you see from the past,” Forbrush
said. “There’s a lot of little treasures around Watertown.”

For example, Lobo said, Watertown resident Sterling Eliot invented the
quadricycle – a four-wheeled pedal car that contained the model for the
braking system still used in cars today. And anyone who has thawed out a
pizza in the oven owes a debt to Watertown’s Euphrates Bakery, the first
business to market the frozen pizza.

Each book uses different artistic techniques to examine different areas
of Watertown, Forbrush said. “First Hand,” which looks at inventions and
products from Watertown, uses collage and occasionally the products
themselves, while “Hand Wrought” is made of various textiles and rubbings of
other handcrafted items around the town. “A Show of Hands” shows Watertown
residents and their hands creating everything from paintings to food, while
“Hand Signals” is a tribute to the Perkins School for the Blind, made up of
the various tiles and materials that comprise the school cut into outlines
of the school’s architecture.

Forbrush took photographs for the books and Lobo worked on the binding,
but the artistic direction of the books was collaborative, Lobo said.

“We passed the baton back and forth. We were constantly looking over
each other’s shoulder,” she said.

While each of the books has a different look, they are unified by their
focus on art and creation and their physical presence. “Hand Signals” is
bound with bolts to hold its blocks of wood and tile together, and “A Show
of Hands” is bound in a concertina style, stretching out to six feet when
fully extended.

A previous “handbook” that focused on women working with their hands
was the inspiration for this project, Forbrush said. And the pair has made
artist’s books out of less obvious material before, like an edible book
constructed of flatbread bound with licorice. But they think these new
volumes will be a bit longer-lasting.

“Artist’s books are an exploding niche,” according to Forbrush, who
said the pair is looking to sell the other three sets of books to a library
or university. “It’s a very small edition, one-of-a-kind.”

“You can’t make these with machines,” Lobo said.

But while these editions may be limited, Watertown’s history is not,
Lobo said. She and Forbrush want to create more artist’s books about the
town over the summer.

“We’re just scratching the surface,” she said. “There were so many
other stories people were telling us.”

One set of four has been donated to the Armenian Library and Museum of
America, 65 Main St.

Dan Atkinson can be reached at [email protected].

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

2005 The Sports Network

Romania

Iordanescu steps down as Romania coach
11/19 12:51:00 ET

Bucharest, Romania (Sports Network) – Anghel Iordanescu resigned as
coach of Romania Friday following Wednesday’s disappointing 1-1 World
Cup qualifying draw with Armenia.

The point was the first for Armenia in five matches, but Romania was
decimated by injuries and suspensions. Romania is still in position
to qualify for Germany 2006 as they have 10 points from five matches.

“I respect Romanian football fans and because I respect them, I
decided to quit,” said Iordanescu, 54. “I stepped down in order to
allow a better atmosphere around the national team, because without
a good atmosphere, you cannot achieve something great.”

Iordanescu previously coached Romania from 1993-98, leading the
squad to the quarterfinals of the World Cup in 1994 and the finals
of EURO 1996.

WATERTOWNTAB

Community Calendar
Friday, March 11, 2005

NAASR LECTURE — the National Association for Armenian Studies and
Research presents a lecture by psychiatrist Dr. Levon Z. Boyajian at
8 p.m. at the NAASR Center, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont. The lecture
will be on psychological effects of Armenian Genocide. Admission is
free. Donations appreciated. The NAASR Bookstore will open at 7:30
p.m. More information about the lecture is available by calling
617-489-1610, faxing 617-484-1759, or e-mailing [email protected].

El Pais, España
viernes, la 11 de marcha de 2005

Kasparov anuncia su retirada definitiva

LEONTXO GARCIA

Linares

El ruso Gari Kasparov, numero uno del mundo, anuncio ayer en Linares
(Jaen) que abandonaba definitivamente el ajedrez de competicion.
Kasparov, con sonrisa triste y un rostro entre alegre y preocupado,
dijo que la enorme presion que tiene en estos ultimos anos le han
hecho tomar esta decision. “Jugare al ajedrez, porque me gusta mucho,
pero no en plan profesional. Podre participar en simultaneas o en
partidas rapidas pero nada mas”, dijo con aire compungido. El ruso,
que cumplira 42 anos el proximo 13 de abril, anadio que los problemas
de los ultimos anos se han ido agravando y se quejo de que en
Federacion Internacional de Ajedrez (FIDE) nadie le haya apoyado.

De hacer efectivo su anuncio, su ultima partida habria sido una
derrota, la que cosecho ayer contra el bulgaro Topalov en la ultima
jornada del torneo andaluz.

Hijo de padre judio y madre armenia, se inicio en la practica del
ajedrez a los seis anos. A los trece se convirtio en campeon
sovietico juvenil y a los dieciseis se adjudico su primer torneo
internacional.

Su imparable progresion en el mundo del ajedrez se debio, en buena
medida, a los cuidados de Mijail Botvinnik, antiguo campeon mundial,
en cuya escuela estudio entre 1973 y 1978. A partir de esta ultima
fecha se puso a las ordenes de Aleksandr Nitkin. Maestro
internacional desde 1980, en 1985 se convirtio en el campeon del
mundo mas joven de la historia al derrotar a su compatriota Anatoli
Karpov. En 1996 vencio al potente ordenador Deep Blue.

–Boundary_(ID_fNqAXUcqbL4eFE4D9DZ10g)–

Turkish Daily News
March 12 2005

Gündüz Aktan: A few points involving the Armenian issue
Saturday, March 12, 2005

The suggestion Mr. Sükrü Elekdað has made regarding the ~SBlue Book~T
in order to counter the Armenian genocide claims, is quite right. At
the instigation of Turkey~Rs main opposition party and with the
support of the Turkish government a joint call will be issued to the
British Parliament

Gündüz AKTAN
The suggestion Mr. Sükrü Elekdað has made regarding the ~SBlue Book~T
in order to counter the Armenian genocide claims, is quite right. At
the instigation of Turkey’s main opposition party and with the
support of the Turkish government a joint call will be issued to the
British Parliament. The latter will be urged to declare as
~Spropaganda material~T the Blue Book in question. Britain, who was an
invading power at the end of World War I, is the country that knows
about the facts better than anybody else. Westminster has not, until
now, accepted the argument that the Armenian incidents had been
genocide. In fact, in a press release the British Embassy in Ankara
made it clear two years ago that the genocide claims were groundless.

On the other hand, the Armenian foreign minister has promptly
rejected the proposal for creation of a commission — consisting of
Turkish and Armenian historians or, to put it differently, academics
— to look into the genocide claims. The Armenians are saying that
all historical-and-archive work has been completed; that the outcome
has been accepted by the world; and that the problem stems from
Turkey’s ~Sdenial of the genocide.~T

If the Armenians’ sole aim is to disseminate anti-Turkey propaganda
this is an understandable attitude. However, they must not think they
can make the EU or America, pressure us into accepting the genocide
claims — whereas Turkey would, naturally, accept the outcome of a
joint initiative.

The U.N. is not a suitable place for such a task. Those who, with
good intentions, suggest the U.N., are not well acquainted with the
U.N. The U.N. Security Council may tackle only those issues that
constitute ~Sa threat to international peace and security.~T The
incidents of 90 years ago are not within that scope. The Whitaker
Report debated in 1985 shows how inadequate the U.N. human rights
system is in this respect. And we know that UNESCO and the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe are not eager to
tackle this issue. Under the circumstances, we must keep striving to
pave the way for the creation of a common working premise. However,
we must know that this issue is more technical than it seems. So we
must not promptly voice any proposal that seems reasonable at first
sight.

Now let us come to the ~Smea culpa~T front. In the course of an
interview that appeared in the March 7 issue of daily Milliyet,
Professor Halil Berktay claimed that the Armenians had been subjected
to a forced relocation ~Sonly because they were Armenian.~T He argued
that forced relocation amounted to ethnic cleansing and that ethnic
cleansing is considered genocide in our day. He said that the secret
orders (concerning the massacres) were more important than the
documents available in the archives.

As far as I know Berktay has no published work on the historical
aspect of the incidents. More gravely, he is not familiar with the
genocide law, that does not keep him from making a legal assessment.

According to Article 2 of the Genocide Convention, acts committed
with the intent to destroy a group only because of that group’s
identity (that is, without any ground fall into the genocide
category. For example, Jews were destroyed without any other reason,
that is, only because they were Jews. Armenians, on the other hand,
were relocated because they had rebelled, because they had cooperated
with the invading Russian army and because they had attacked the
Turkish and Muslim population, with the aim of setting up their own
state in eastern Anatolia. If, in the course of that process, the two
sides massacred groups of civilians, that would fall into another
category of crimes.

The concept of ~Sethnic cleansing~T emerged during the incidents in
Bosnia-Herzegovina. That is not a legal term. It is being used when
describing such actions as the destruction of civilian targets and
the killing and raping of defenseless civilians — acts perpetrated
during the attacks staged by armed groups with the aim of driving out
from their homes the resident population of a given area. The Former
Yugoslavia Tribunal in The Hague treats this kind of ethnic cleansing
as ~Swar crimes~T or ~Scrimes against humanity.~T The only exception was
the Krstic case. But that was quite different. Ethnic cleansing is
similar to the way Turks were driven out of the Balkans and the
Caucasus in the 19th century rather than to the relocation of
Armenians which was largely carried out in an orderly manner.

Article 7 of the ICC’s Rome Statute (1998) considers forced
transfer of people a ~Scrime against humanity.~T However, according to
Article 17 of Protocol 2 additional to the Geneva Conventions,
relocation is not a crime if carried out due to ~Smilitary
imperative.~T

On the other hand, it is strange that Berktay does not know that
almost all archive documents involving the Armenian incidents are
~Ssecret~T documents anyway, that is, they are encoded.

And, finally, one can only wish that the ~Seminent~T members of our
press — which we increasingly realize are beyond criticism — who
seem to be dying to take part in the genocide debate, would be
willing to study this issue at least a little.

–Boundary_(ID_dpedlcioDc37mNOdOO99EQ)–

Turkish Daily News
March 12 2005

Germany says archives open to all
Saturday, March 12, 2005

Ankara – Turkish Daily News

The German Embassy in Ankara announced that all documents in German
archives relating to the Armenians were open to everybody.

“All of the German official archives belonging to the pre-1945 era
are open for any research,” the embassy said. “Those documents — in
the political archives section of the German Foreign Ministry — have
a significant importance since Germany had intensive diplomatic and
military relations with its ally the Ottoman Empire at that time.”

Turkey is keen to conduct a joint study for full access to state
archives both in Turkey and Armenia to settle the argument once and
for all; however, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan, in an
interview with Reuters, reiterated that Armenia rejected a Turkish
proposal for an impartial panel of historians to test Armenian claims
that their people suffered a genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turkey.

Turkish daily Milliyet reported that a symposium to be funded by
the Foreign Ministry was scheduled to be held on May 28 in Turkey to
discuss so-called genocide allegations attended by a number of
Turkish and foreign experts.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FORMER U.S. CONSULAR ASSOCIATE PLEADS GUILTY TO BRIBERY, VISA FRAUD CONSPIRACY

US Fed News
March 9, 2005 Wednesday 1:26 AM EST

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic
Security issued the following press release:

Former United States Consular Associate Piotr Zdzislaw Parlej, 45,
entered a plea of guilty today, March 8, 2005, to the charge of
engaging in a conspiracy to take bribes in exchange for issuing
fraudulent visas.

United States District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle, of the District of
Columbia, set sentencing for July, 2005. Parlej, who has remained
jailed since his arrest on February 2, 2005, will continue to be
detained pending sentencing.

The charge carries a potential penalty of 5 years in prison and a
$250,000 fine.

In pleading guilty, Parlej admitted that from at least April 2004
through about January 13, 2005, while employed by the Department
of State and assigned as a consular officer at the United States
Embassy in Yerevan, Armenia, he and several co-conspirators arranged
for foreign nationals to obtain United States nonimmigrant visas,
for which they were not eligible, in exchange for cash payments. He
also admitted to six specific instances where he took and agreed to
take bribes totaling at least $45,000 for fraudulently issuing visas.

Parlej was indicted in the District of Columbia on February 2,
2005, shortly before his arrest. His State Department employment was
terminated shortly thereafter.

Diplomatic Security is the worldwide law enforcement and security arm
of the U.S. Department of State with special agents assigned to U.S.
diplomatic missions overseas and field offices throughout the United
States. Diplomatic Security special agents conduct passport and visa
fraud investigations worldwide and are responsible for security at
285 U.S. diplomatic facilities around the world.

ANSA Notiziario Generale in Italiano
Martedì Il 8 Marzo 2005

TURCHIA: ERDOGAN E BAYKAL, APRIREMO ARCHIVI MASSACRI ARMENI ;
GOVERNO E OPPOSIZIONE DISPOSTI A FARE LUCE SU ‘GENOCIDIO’

ANKARA

(ANSA) – ANKARA, 8 MAR – Governo ed opposizione turca si sono
detti concordemente disposti ad aprire gli archivi sui massacri
di armeni perpetrati negli anni 1915 e 1916, in epoca ottomana,
pur continuando a respingere la denominazione di “genocidio”
per quei massacri, che, secondo stime armene, portarono alla
morte di 1 milione di armeni, deportati da alcuni membri del
governo ottomano per “collaborazionismo” con la nemica, a quel
tempo, Russia.

E’ quanto e’ emerso al termine di un inusuale incontro oggi
tra il premier turco, Tayyip Erdogan, ed il leader del partito
di opposizione Chp, Deniz Baykal, al termine del quale i due
leader hanno affermato di essersi trovati “concordi” e di
voler “sviluppare l’atteggiamento ed i pareri comuni”
riscontrati sull’argomento.

“Non si puo’ fondare un futuro giusto su un passato
sbagliato. Siamo disposti a contribuire a fare luce”, ha detto
Erdogan che si e’ riferito ai massacri con l’usuale espressione
“cosiddetto genocidio armeno” aggiungendo che il resoconto dei
fatti contenuto nel noto “libro blu” (pubblicato 85 anni fa)
“non riflette tutta la verita'”.

“Siamo pronti ad aprire i nostri archivi, ma anche gli
armeni dovranno aprire i loro. Chiederemo anche ad altri paesi
di fornirci i documenti in loro possesso. Siamo pronti ad
accettare la verita’, ma solo la verita'”, ha dichiarato
Baykal, secondo cui “genocidio e’ una parola molto seria e
prima di usarla bisogna fare indagini molto approfondite”.

Baykal ha annunciato la formazione di una commissione
congiunta tra esperti dei due partiti per “illuminare la
realta’ dei massacri”.

La questione del “genocidio degli armeni” e’ uno dei punti
di maggiore conflitto tra la Turchia e l’Armenia, i cui confini
restano chiusi, anche se l’Ue ha chiesto ad entrambi di avviare
una normalizzazione delle loro relazioni.

Il parlamento francese ha qualche anno fa praticamente
riconosciuto, pur con alcune ‘nuances’, i massacri degli armeni
come “genocidio” (suscitando asprissime reazioni e boicottaggi
di appalti francesi in Turchia) e poche settimane fa il partito
cristiano democratico tedesco ha presentato una mozione al
Bundestag per approfondire la realta’ di quei massacri, senza
tuttavia menzionare il termine “genocidio”.(ANSA).

–Boundary_(ID_F0N0mxDg7OR2cunm5NtQkQ)–

RUSSIA WILL NOT ACCEPT ULTIMATUMS

RIA Novosti, Russia
March 11, 2005

MOSCOW, March 11 (RIA Novosti) – Mikhail Margelov, chairman of the
International Committee of the Federation Council (the upper house of
the Russian Parliament), regrets the decision taken by the Georgian
Parliament the day before on the withdrawal of two Russian bases from
Georgia.

“In my opinion, such flatness in relations between Moscow and Tbilisi
is unacceptable,” he told RIA Novosti on Friday.

According to the committee chairman, there are a lot of political
problems, let alone the technical difficulties of withdrawal. “One
should not forget that when one power leaves another fills its place.
Vacuum is quickly filled. I think that, taking into consideration
Russia’s services to Georgia, Moscow has the right to demand
guarantees that the withdrawal, in political sense, would not be used
as a reason to allow the deployment of troops of a third country or
to take some other extreme action,” he stressed.

According to Mr. Margelov, one should not forget about the Chechen
problem and the unclear position of Georgia over the Pankisi Gorge.

“Georgia wants Russia to withdraw troops as soon as possible, and
Moscow has no reason or desire to resist it. However, it would be
only fair to put in a claim in response, demanding guarantees that
Georgia would stop posing a terrorist threat to Russia,” Mr. Margelov
said.

The committee chairman also said that Moscow had “other methods of
pressurizing Tbilisi,” apart from military bases. “And the Georgian
attitude towards Russia is playing against both Moscow and Tbilisi,”
he noted.

There are two Russian bases in Georgia: in Batumi (Adzharia) and
Akhalkalaki (Georgian-Armenian border). The headquarters of the Group
of Russian Forces in Transcaucasia is stationed in Tbilisi. The
resolution taken the day before stipulates the deadline – May 15 –
for determining the date for the Russian troop withdrawal. Otherwise
they would be “outlawed.”

Baltic News Service
March 11, 2005

ESTONIA TO GIVE DEVELOPMENT AID TO GEORGIA, UKRAINE, ARMENIA

TALLINN, Mar 11

Estonia is going to support five development aid projects targeting
Georgia, Ukraine and Armenia in the sum of 1.36 million kroons (EUR
0.09 mln).

The funds will come from the Foreign Ministry’s development aid and
humanitarian relief budget, spokespeople for the ministry said.

The aim of the first of the two Georgian projects is to share
Estonia’s experience of the organization and development of the
vocational education system and the work of vocational schools. The
plan includes a visit of Georgian vocational school leaders to this
Baltic state to study the local experience.

The objective of the second project is to work out a Tiger Leap
program of information technology development for the Georgian
Ministry of Education and Science, with a test phase scheduled for
this and the next year, and a follow-up stage for the 2007-2008
period.

Georgia has named the program the Deer Leap.

Two projects are aimed at supporting the development of public
service in Ukraine on both the central and the local government
level.

One of them is a sequel to an earlier training program carried out in
2000-2004. Its objective is to support Ukraine’s public service and
its development and political and economic reforms through educating
public servants. In the framework of the project two training
programs in Estonia for 12 Ukrainian environmental and social sphere
officials are planned.

In the framework of the second approved Ukrainian project Estonia’s
Polva County is going to share its social reform experience of the
past 15 years with Ukraine’s Kulikovka district.

The Armenian project is designed to help the Caucasian country
develop its population protection system and it will be carried out
through seminars, visits, training and humanitarian aid organized by
the Estonian Rescue Service and its institutions.

The Foreign Ministry noted that target countries’ interest in
Estonia’s reform experience and progress has lately been on the rise
and local organizations’ readiness to put their knowhow and
experience to use outside this Baltic state has also grown.

The ministry’s budget for development aid and humanitarian relief
this year stands at eight million kroons.