7 POINT QUAKE REGISTERED IN TURKEY

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4. ARMINFO. A 7-point earthquake was registered in
Turkey last night.

The National Seismic Protection Service of Armenia reports that the
quake took place 50 km southeast of the town of Van at 4:20 a.m. In
the epicenter the shock was 7 point strong. Information on
destructions and casualties is specified.

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Feb 4 2005

Erdogan Criticizes Cypriots and Armenians

While meeting French Parliament Speaker Jean Louis Debre, Prime
Minister Erdogan criticized Cyprus over the failure of the
UN-initiated referendum. Answering Jean Louis Debre’s questions about
Cyprus, Erdogan recalled that Turkish Cypriots had voted in favor of
the Kofi Annan settlement plan but also highlighted the fact that it
was the Greeks who rejected it.

The premier said “We are constantly asked about what will happen in
Cyprus next. Why should we pay the price of a mistake that wasn’t
actually caused by us?”

On the subject of Armenians, Erdogan told Debre that Turkey has
opened its archives about Armenians but that there will be no
improvements in the situation until Armenians decide to collaborate
on the issue, which they are presently refusing to do.

Source: Hurriyet, 4 February 2005

Christianity Today
Feb 4 2005

Christian History Corner

Losing Jesus’ Language

The Assyrians, Iraq’s main Christian population, struggle to keep
their heritage and their ancient language.
posted 02/04/2005 9:00 a.m.

The Assyrians are the major Christian group in Iraq, where they
participated, with some hindrances, in last week’s election. A native
Assyrian herself, cultural historian Dr. Eden Naby has a great
concern for the survival of her community, which has suffered from
persecution throughout the 20th century. She has published
extensively on the Assyrians, as well as the Afghans, Turkmens,
Uighurs and Kurds, and has conducted NEH seminars for teachers at
Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst on
religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East. She is currently
editing a book about the Assyrian diaspora worldwide and preparing a
monograph on Assyrians in the Middle East.

CT Online Assistant Editor Rob Moll spoke and e-mailed with Dr. Naby
about the Assyrians and their struggle to maintain their heritage.

ROB MOLL: Assyrians have been in Iraq for a long time. Could you tell
us about their history in the region?

EDEN NABY: Iraq is a recent term. Assyrians were in the region long
before the British, the Ottomans, the Arabs, and the Kurds. For
Assyrians, the term Mesopotamia makes better sense since that Greek
word – meaning “land between the rivers” – expresses where they have
lived historically, between the Tigris and the Euphrates. The
combination of an increasingly minority ethnicity and language plus
the problem of being Christian under Muslim rule has driven Assyrians
into the hinterlands of Iraq – the natural refuge areas of the
marginalized (either deserts or mountains). The Assyrians went into
the mountains, although significant numbers remained on the Nineveh
plains where churches date to the 4th and 5th centuries or earlier.

When Iraq was cobbled together through conquest and negotiations with
the successors to the Ottomans, many Assyrians ended up in Iraq.
Others lived in Turkey, Iran and Syria. After the Islamic Revolution
in 1979, Assyrians left Iran in such numbers that only about 15
percent of the post-World War II community remains.

What forces caused Assyrians to emigrate?

Persecution of Assyrians during the past several centuries has
centered around their Christianity, not their ethnicity. It is only
in the 19th and 20th centuries that ethnicity has come to play a role
in the Middle East as a source of friction.

Records from the 19th century are plentiful and clear: Islamic
governments treated all “people of the Book” as tolerated
second-class citizens. The Assyrians were subjected to poll taxes
levied against non-Muslims and the oppressive feudal system prevalent
in the Middle East, which combined to keep the Assyrians poor and
starving.

But more immediately, they were the victims of Kurdish tribes often
appointed as “tax farmers” for the Ottoman rulers in the areas where
Assyrians lived. Kurds therefore became accustomed to abusing
Assyrians both as a different, non-Kurdish speaking minority, and as
Christians with no recourse to authority. Most egregious was the
regular abduction of Assyrian girls and women.

The opportunity to emigrate came with the advance of Tsarist Russia
southward and the entry of Western diplomats and missionaries. The
first big emigration was to Russia, which is still a thriving and
educated community that has retained its Aramaic languages since
1828.

The second emigration was to America, the Christian-friendly land
that was able and willing to take a hardworking laborer or a good
student. In the late 19th century, men began coming to work in cities
with industrial jobs.

But persecution increased, as did opportunities to emigrate. The
years 1895-6 were particularly severe as were 1905, 1909, 1912, 1914
and finally 1915, the Year of the Sword. By 1918, nearly all
Assyrians were refugees somewhere. Until 1924, when the U.S.
immigration law became more restrictive, Assyrians poured into the
U.S.

During times of persecution, even with the backing of British and
American diplomats and missionaries, there was little the Assyrians
could do to defend themselves except make appeals, have the
missionaries buy back their sisters and daughters, and study hard to
improve themselves. Medicine and technical fields became their
strength. As doctors, they passed the well-developed art of healing
from ancient practice, plus Greek knowledge, to the rest of the
Middle East.

There is a strong emphasis on education in the Assyrian community in
America.

In minority communities, especially from the Middle East where under
Islam there is little economic opportunity, education is the key.
Medicine is a long-standing tradition among Assyrians.

Medicine is transportable across cultures. Most of the intellectuals
who came over and were trained in the ministry, education, or
something else ended up doing factory jobs.

Assyrians are concentrated in certain areas of the U.S. Why?

Mostly because of factory jobs. Also missionaries helped to send some
boys to school. Ohio Wesleyan, Springfield International College in
Springfield, Massachusetts, and Colombia University, were a few
schools Assyrians attended. At Colombia, Professor Abraham Yohannan
came to help translate the New Testament into Syriac – not the ancient
language, but they Assyrian vernacular in Iraq.

The pre-WWI immigrants came to work. Only after 1912 did permanent
residence in the U.S. dawn on the community as it saw waves of
persecution build against them. After WWI, our community was either
killed or scattered. Two-thirds of our people were killed or died of
disease.

How has the Assyrian community stayed connected, both within America,
and with Assyrians in the Middle East?

The basic connection is family. People in our community, as in most
Middle Eastern communities, remain closely connected to extended
family. When people immigrate from Iraq or Syria, part of the family
stays behind. This is a plus and minus because when you have your
great uncle still living in Baghdad you’re very careful about what
you say about Saddam Hussein or anyone who could turn around and harm
your people.

The second connection is through religious organizations or cultural
institutions. But it’s not easy holding on to a second and third
generation because of the language issue.

How important is keeping the language to maintaining the culture?

It is possible to be an Assyrian and not know the language. Certainly
there are people who are Jews, Armenians, Native Americans, who don’t
know the language of their community. We have people who feel
strongly that they are Assyrian, but the basis for their being
Assyrian has diminished considerably because of the loss of language.

The Passion of the Christ was in Aramaic. Could Assyrians watch
without the subtitles?

Many people could understand much of it. If I didn’t want to see the
subtitles and just listen, I had to close my eyes, which I didn’t
want to do. I understood about 50 percent, and I’m not as well
acquainted with our written language as some.

Is there a larger interest in Aramaic because of the movie, and has
it affected your community?

I’d like to say that Mel Gibson had an effect on the community, but I
don’t think it’s Mel Gibson at all. In terms of the visibility of
Aramaic, it certainly created a lot of visibility outside of our
community.

We simply do not have facilities to propagate our written language.
We had greater literacy in our community in 1920 than we do today.
The reason is that before 1920 the West had an enormous interest in
our language. There is a story about the 50th celebration of the
American presence in northwest Iran, which was in 1884. They had
invited some Persian dignitaries and a missionary was sitting next to
one of the Persian officials. The official noticed a lot of women
sitting together with books in their hands, and the official turned
the missionary and said, “what are those women doing with those
books. Women in your community can read?” and they asked for all the
women who could read to stand up. 600 women stood.

I don’t think we have 600 women in Iran today who could read our
language. We have a population of 15,000. There has been no
opportunity for our people to study our language.

Can you maintain it in America?

We have social institutions and church institutions that teach and
propagate the language. One of the problems we have is that some
churches insist that the vernacular should not be written [for
services], and that the only language should be Syriac, which died
out as a spoken language in the 14th century. Other churches, the
Chaldean and the Church of the East, pushed for the vernacular. Using
the vernacular means the church, when it teaches the language,
teaches the vernacular. That helps to preserve the language.

Rob Moll is online assistant editor for Christianity Today magazine.
More Christian history, including a list of events that occurred this
week in the church’s past, is available at ChristianHistory.net.
Subscriptions to the quarterly print magazine are also available.

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TRYING TO STRENGTHEN THE RA POSITION IN THE WORLD

A1+
4 Feb 05

3 international structures – NATO Parliamentary Summit, PACE and OSCE
are preparing reports about the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, refugees in
our region and the Mass Media. This fact, as well as the Atkinson
report, which Arthur Baghdasaryan does not consider the victory of the
Armenian diplomacy, made our Parliament reconsider its international
activities.

The National Assembly intends to sign up not only for the NATO
Parliamentary Summit and the Francophone Parliamentary Summit, but
also for the West-European Union and the Arabian Countries
Parliamentary Summit. The participation in these Summits even as an
observer is very important not only from the parliamentary, but also
from the political point of view. In this case the Karabakh conflict
and the regulation of Armenia’s relations with the Muslim world are
taken into consideration. In this context the National Assembly
official delegation will soon visit the countries of the Persian bay.

The RA National Assembly is also taking measures to sign up for the
Parliamentary Assembly of the American countries and to get the
position ofobserver in the Parliamentary Summits of American
countries.

All this is necessary for Armenia to occupy the proper position in the
international field, `The people sitting in the great capitals do not
think about Armenia’, says Arthur Baghdasaryan, meaning that Armenia
must make efforts to strengthen his position in the world.

French Speaker, Turkish MPs discuss plans for Armenian genocide probe

Anatolia news agency
4 Feb 05

ANKARA

French National Assembly President Jean Louis Debre proposed on Friday
[4 February] that an international independent organization should
investigate the Armenian genocide claims.

Debre, who is visiting Turkey, met Yasar Yakis, chairman of the
Turkish Parliamentary European Union (EU) Adjustment Commission, and
the members of this commission.

So-called Armenian genocide allegations and the referendum to be held
in France on Turkey’s EU membership were debated in the meeting.

Debre said that Armenian genocide claims could be examined by a group
including scientists and representatives of organizations like United
Nations (UN), NATO, and Council of Europe, and a group from
Switzerland, and noted that thus, it could be proven whether those
claims were true or false.

On the other hand, Yakis said that any study to be made, supposing
that the Armenian genocide happened, and without investigating whether
some acts considered as “genocide” were true or false could be
wrong. He said that Turkey was not against any study to be made by
historians and so, opened its archives. But, he stated, Armenia had
not opened its archives.

Meanwhile, Onur Oymen, a parliamentarian from the main opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP) who is also a member of the
Commission, said that a meeting on this matter was held in (Austrian
capital of) Vienna but the Armenian historians did not join a second
meeting.

Also confirming that Turkey had opened its archives, Oymen claimed
that making a political decision on historical incidents would cause
wrong results.

As Oymen asked why the French parliament passed a law without
investigating the Armenian genocide claims, Debre said, “let’s leave
things aside. We should forget the past. We want to help you on your
road to the EU”.

[Passage omitted]

Former employee of US embassy in Armenia arrested for illegal issuance of
visas

Mediamax news agency
4 Feb 05

YEREVAN

A former employee of the consular department of the US embassy in
Armenia, 45-year-old Piotr Zdzislaw Parlej, has been arrested in
California on charges of taking bribes for illegal issuance of visas
during his tenure in Armenia, the US State Department and Justice
Department say in a joint official statement released by the US
embassy in Armenia today, Mediamax news agency reports.

If the charges laid against him are proved, Parlej will spend from
five to 15 years in prison.

The charges say that from April 2004 to January 2005, Parlej, together
with a group of accomplices, took bribes in Yerevan and forged
American visas. The investigation is processing six separate cases, in
which Piotr Parlej took bribes of 10,000 dollars for issuing US entry
visas.

Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein and Assistant Secretary for the Bureau
of Diplomatic Security Frank Taylor have stated that they highly
assess the actions of special agents of the US diplomatic security
service, the embassy staff in Armenia and the Armenian law-enforcement
bodies which helped solve the crime.

For its part, the US embassy in Armenia “thanked the Armenian
authorities for their cooperation in investigating the case and would
like to express special thanks to the Armenian National Security
Service for its invaluable help”.

French Speaker defends referendum over Turkey’s EU bid

Anatolia news agency
4 Feb 05

ANKARA

French National Assembly President Jean Louis Debre proposed on Friday
that an international independent organization should investigate the
Armenian genocide claims.

Debre, who is visiting Turkey, met Yasar Yakis, chairman of the
Turkish Parliamentary European Union (EU) Adjustment Commission, and
the members of this commission.

[Passage omitted]

The decision of the French parliament to hold a referendum on
accession of new members to the EU after 2007 was also debated in the
meeting.

CHP parliamentarian Oymen said that no referendum was held on any
country that became an EU member before, and noted that this decision
was made against Turkey, and added that it caused disappointment in
Turkey.

When Oymen said that such a procedure would not be carried out for
Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia which would become EU’s new members,
Debre said that referenda were held for some other countries in the
past, and stated that Europe’s borders would change after Turkey
joined the Union. He stressed that it would be useful to learn views
of the French regarding this matter.

Debre, who asked how his country could help Turkey on its road to EU
membership, said that France could either send experts to Turkey to
help this Commission’s initiatives or host members of the Commission
in France to extend support to them.

Jean Louis Debre was received by Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer
earlier today.

Iran’s position on Karabakh problem has not changed – envoy

Regnum, Moscow
2 Feb 05

The principled position of the Islamic Republic of Iran on regional
processes and neighbouring countries has not changed. Iran has always
wished the establishment of peace, stability, security and economic
prosperity in the neighbouring countries, including in the Caucasus,
the Iranian ambassador to Armenia, Ali Reza Haqiqian, has told our
Regnum correspondent.

The Iranian diplomat said that “Iran’s position on regional events is
clear and is based on cooperation, balance and mutual
understanding. The peaceful settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict and the need to continue the bilateral Armenian-Azerbaijani
talks have always been stressed. Iran has always stated its readiness
to render any assistance in the settlement of this conflict.”

To recap, Regnum news agency asked the Iranian diplomatic mission in
Armenia to clarify the statements made by Iranian President Seyyed
Mohammad Khatami’s during Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s visit
to Tehran at the end of January 2005.

Within the framework of this visit, among other issues, the sides also
touched on the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. Specifically, the Iranian
president expressed Tehran’s position on this issue. “Our position on
the Karabakh issue is clear. We are one of the few countries that
totally support Azerbaijan’s position on this issue. We support
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and its jurisdiction over this
territory,” the Azerbaijani media quoted Khatami as saying.

Meanwhile, within the framework of his official visit to Armenia in
September last year, the Iranian president spoke of the same problem
and used much vaguer formulations. “Iran is ready to make every effort
for a peaceful solution to the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. We respect
the principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty. We welcome
the peaceful settlement of the conflict. Iran has special respect for
Armenia and if the conflicting sides appeal to us, we are ready to
take specific steps in this direction,” he stated.

The Nagornyy Karabakh problem is a very important subject both in
Armenia and Azerbaijan. Baku and Yerevan are interested in regional
processes, first of all, in this context. Thus, the change of the
accents in the Iranian president’s statements has drawn attention.

The Azerbaijani president’s visit to Iran was important not only in
the context of bilateral, but also regional relations. The atmosphere
of the visit was replete with continuing US information pressure on
Iran and experts’ opinions that the Azerbaijani territories might be
used for possible strikes on Iran. On the eve of the visit, the
Azerbaijani media published a list of military facilities where
Americans have already been deployed or will be deployed.

[Passage omitted: the Azerbaijani media named the districts where
American defence facilities will be deployed]

Is there is a point in talking seriously about a change in Iran’s
policy on the Karabakh problem? It is impossible to give a clear
answer to this question at this stage. The only thing which is clear
is that Tehran is obviously concerned by the possible negative
development of events connected with Iran’s nuclear problem – if the
USA and Israel switch from words to deeds.

It is obvious that Yerevan realizes the depth of this problem – the
aggravation of the situation surrounding Iran will create absolutely
new realities not only around the Karabakh problem, but also in the
entire region.

As is expected, the secretary of the Armenian Security Council,
Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan, will discuss exactly these important
issues during his forthcoming visit to Iran on 7-9 February.

Armenian Assembly of America
122 C Street, NW, Suite 350
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:

PRESS RELEASE
February 4, 2005
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
Email: [email protected]

ASSEMBLY REACHES OUT TO ARMENIAN YOUTH AT OPPORTUNITY FAIRS
Birthright Armenia Promotes Work, Study Abroad

Washington, DC – In an effort to encourage college students to intern
in Armenia, the Assembly last week participated in a series of unique
opportunity fairs sponsored by Birthright Armenia and aimed at
promoting the importance of work, study and volunteerism in the
homeland.

The fairs, which took place in several major cities across the
U.S. and Canada, brought together for the first time a broad-based
network of organizations and young adults to discuss the plethora of
opportunity available in Armenia. Presenters included the ACYOA, the
Armenia Tree Project, the Armenian Volunteer Corps, the Armenian Youth
Federation, the Fund for Armenian Relief, Habitat for Humanity and
Land and Culture Organization.

“Our objective was to serve as the catalyst for these fairs in the
hopes that together, we can create a sustainable bridge between the
Diasporan youth and Armenia,” said Edele Hovnanian, Birthright Armenia
founder and Assembly Board of Directors Member. “By supporting those
organizations that offer youth programs in Armenia, we hope to make it
easier for even greater numbers of Diasporans to experience Armenia
and participate in its development.”

Intern Program Manager Alex Karapetian, who represented the Assembly
at fairs in Boston, New York and Washington, discussed the benefits of
interning in Armenia through the Assembly. The program, now in its
sixth year, offers college-aged students the chance to work in
Armenian government agencies, such as the Ministries of Finance and
Foreign Affairs. The eight-week summer internship is also designed to
include meetings with government and non-governmental officials, as
well as cultural and social opportunities.

Those applicants who are accepted to the Assembly’s internship program
in Armenia can apply to Birthright Armenia to have their travel
expenses covered in exchange for community service and other
requirements as determined by Birthright Armenia.

The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness
of Armenian issues. It is a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt membership
organization.

###

NR#2005-007

Photograph available on the Assembly’s Web site at the following link:

CAPTION: L to R: Armenian Assembly Intern Program Manager Alex
Karapetian, Birthright Armenia Executive Director Linda Yepoyan and
Assembly Intern Alum Christopher Babayan during an opportunity fair in
Boston, MA on January 21.

Armenia sends doctors to Indonesia to aid tsunami victims

Public Television of Armenia,, Yerevan
3 Feb 05

A group of Armenian doctors will leave for Indonesia to provide
medical aid to people hit by the tsunami on 26 December.

A trauma specialist, doctors specializing in infectious diseases and
an epidemiologist will leave for the disaster zone.

The decision was made at a cabinet meeting on Thursday [3 February]
under the chairmanship of President Robert Kocharyan.

Today the government instructed and allotted 8m drams [16,000 dollars]
to the Health Ministry to arrange the dispatch of the specialists.

It was also reported that the humanitarian aid – six tonnes of
medicines and warm blankets – sent by the Armenian authorities has
already been delivered to Sri Lanka.