THOUSANDS OF ARMENIAN CITIZENS REFUSED FROM SOCIAL CARDS

PanArmenian News
Dec 12 2004

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Based on religious and legal reasons thousands
of Armenian citizens refused from social cards. Many of those, who
were forced to get the cards or were deceived to get them, today
convey them to the Armenian Center for Protection of Constitutional
Rights and ask us to return them to the Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs, as respective services refuse to receive them,” the Center
President Gevorg Manukain noted at a press conference in the House
of Journalists. The requests of 130 citizens are complied. In Gevorg
Manukian’s words a note was received from the Ministry, which reported
that the personal records of the citizens, who refused from social
cards, are blocked. Virtually from January 1, 2005 hundreds of people
can be deprived of minimal means of existence – the opportunity
to get salary and pension. The Armenian Center for Protection of
Constitutional Rights and other human rights organizations state that
further steps on the way of fulfillment of the Law on Social Cards
are fraught with serious consequences.

ARMENIA SHOULD GAIN CONTROL OVER NAGORNO KARABAKH, NATO PA HEAD CONSIDERS

PanArmenian News
Dec 21 2004

21.12.2004 17:01

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Europeans, Americans and Russians have to jointly
find a compromise, in compliance with which Armenia would gain
temporary control over Karabakh, and further the Karabakh status would
be determined via a referendum – within five of ten years,” head of
the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Pierre Lellouche and former Spanish
Foreign Minister Ana Palacio write in Putin and the Phantoms of the
Empire joint article in Le Figaro today’s issue. In the article the
relations between the EU and Russia against the background of the
Ukrainian events. “The success of the democracy in Ukraine should
underlie the common strategy of our democratic countries. This strategy
aims at putting an end to the “frozen” conflicts at the threshold of
Europe,” the article authors consider. In the future the fate of the
peoples, who live at the threshold of Russia and the EU, will depend
on whether the “Russian neo-imperialism or the EU is able to establish
“pax europa”. To that end “the Western democracies” in the opinion of
the authors should come out with initiatives to solve the conflicts in
the post-Soviet space. “The frozen conflicts” in Georgian provinces –
South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as in Pridnestrovie have much in
common. “The conflict, in which Armenia and Azerbaijan collided in
Nagorno Karabakh, is more difficult and has a different nature than the
conflicts in South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Pridnestrovie, Ana Palacio and
Pierre Lellouche write. “As of Turkey, it has got the opportunity to
show that the country wishes to enter the European family: for that
the border with Armenia should be opened and it would facilitate
the life in the republic, which has been blockaded for already 15
years. Finally, in exchange for cooperation with Azerbaijan in the
conflict, the West has to arrange close partnership ties with the
country,” the authors sum up. Both authors had visited Armenia and
Nagorno Karabakh in late October this year as part of the delegation
of the German Marshall US fund. They came for the participation of
Nagorno Karabakh in the conflict settlement talks.

ARMENIA AND KARABAKH PARTLY FREE, AZERBAIJAN AND RUSSIA NOT FREE

PanArmenian News
Dec 21 2004

21.12.2004 14:52

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to the results of the recurrent research
of Freedom House human rights organization that summed up the year
2004, Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh were ranged among the partly free
countries, while Azerbaijan and Russia are not free. The estimate is
based on a seven-point scale, where 1 is the highest value. According
to the scale Armenia got 4 points in civil freedoms and 5 points in
political freedoms. Nagorno Karabakh got 5 in both categories. The
Freedom House report notes aggravation of the political freedom record
of Armenia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TWO ARMENIAN JUDOISTS WIN SILVER AND BRONZE MEDALS IN TEHRAN

ArmenPress
Dec 21 2004

TEHRAN, DECEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS; Two Armenian judoists, Levon Galstian
from Yerevan (73 kg weight category) and Karen Yeritsian, also from
Yerevan (60 kg) snatched silver and bronze medals respectively at an
international competition in Tehran. Three other Armenian athletes
occupied the fifth position.

Russica Izvestia Information Inc.
RusData Dialine – Russian Press Digest
December 21, 2004 Tuesday

Ilkham Aliyev teaches politics

by Rauf Mirkadyrov

SOURCE: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, No 277, p.5

Azerbaijan’s President believes Russia is excessively interfering
insettling the conflict in Nagorny Karabakh

Commenting on the progress of the talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia
on the problem of the disputed province Nagorny Karabakh, the Azeri
President Ilkham Aliyev praised as successful the recent round of
negotiations the two countries’ foreign ministers Elmar Mamedyarov and
Vardan Oskanyan conducted in Prague. As a result of the four meetings,
the sides came to an agreement on the general principles of settling
the conflict. “I believe that if the negotiations continue in a
constructive manner and the Armenian side doesn’t withdraw from the
existing agreements, as it happened earlier, we can reach a certain
settlement,” Aliyev said.

However, he remarked that the Russia’s excessive interference in the
conflict settlement and backing of Armenia may negatively affect the
peace process. Commenting on the last week’s visit of the Russian
State Duma’s Chairman Boris Gryzlov to Yerevan, Ilkham Aliyev said
the following: “The chairman of the State Duma said the other day
that Armenia is the Russia’s outpost in the Southern Caucasus. We
used to believe Armenia was an [independent] state. Now it turns out
to be just an outpost.” After this sarcastic remark, Aliyev continued:
“With whom shall we conduct negotiations – with the ‘outpost’, or with
its owner?” According to Aliyev, Yerevan should “clear up this issue,”
in order to create favorable conditions for continuing the talks. “If
Armenia behaves like an independent state, we can approach signing
a concrete agreement in the near future,” the Azeri President said.

Experts said that Aliyev’s statement was predictable – after the defeat
of the Russia’s “imperial” policies in Ukraine the Azeri leader is
likely to distance himself from Russia and demonstrate loyalty to
the West.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Attack on US base in Iraq kills more than 20

Agence France Presse — English
December 21, 2004 Tuesday 6:03 PM GMT

BAGHDAD Dec 21 — More than 20 people were killed in a rocket attack
Tuesday that turned a dining hall at a US base in the Iraqi city of
Mosul into a fireball, one of the deadliest strikes against US-led
forces in the country.

The attack, claimed by Al-Qaeda linked militants, was swiftly condemned
by US President George W. Bush who said it was aimed at derailing
the transition to democracy in Iraq.

“More than 20 have been killed and more than 60 wounded,” said
Brigadier General Carter Ham, the US-led coalition commander for the
Mosul area.

“The killed include US military personnel, US contractors, foreign
national contractors and Iraqi army,” he said. “It is indeed a very,
very sad day.”

An embedded reporter from the Richmond-Times Dispatch described the
scene of carnage at the Mosul base as soldiers sat down for lunch
and were suddenly hammered in a rocket attack.

“The force of the explosions knocked soldiers off their feet and out
of their seats. A fireball enveloped the top of the tent, and shrapnel
sprayed into the men,” journalist Jeremy Redmon reported.

“Amid the screaming and thick smoke that followed, quick-thinking
soldiers turned their lunch tables upside down, placed the wounded
on them and gently carried them into the parking lot. ‘Medic! Medic!.
soldiers shouted.”

The attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda linked Ansar al-Sunna, which
broke away from another radical group called Ansar al-Islam, both
of which are believed to have links with Iraq’s most wanted man Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi.

“One of the mujahedeen of the Army of Ansar al-Sunna carried out
a martyrdom-seeking (suicide) operation in a restaurant of the
infidel occupation forces at the Ghazlani camp in Mosul,” said the
website statement from the group, whose authenticity could not be
independently confirmed.

Bush condemned the attack and mourned the loss of life, saying it
believes it shows the desperation of insurgent forces, White House
spokesman Scott McClellan said.

“The terrorists and Saddam loyalists are desperately seeking to
derail the transition to democracy and freedom in Iraq,” he said.
“They will be defeated.”

Iraq’s intelligence chief Mohammed Abdullah al-Shahwani said in October
that Mosul has been turned into a major base for militants linked to
Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born militant who has a 25 million dollar price
on his head.

Mosul, 370 kilometres (250 miles) north of Baghdad, was once considered
a success story of the defunct US occupation in Iraq, but has been
transformed into a battleground between insurgents and US forces.

The city, home to Islamists and staunch loyalists of the ousted Baath
party regime, was the site of almost daily assassination attempts on
suspected US collaborators before the city boiled over in violence
last month.

On June 24, insurgents mounted a one-day street battle against US
forces and set off five car bombs, killing more than 50 people,
in a prelude to November’s fierce uprising by insurgents.

The US military has been conducting operations in Mosul, Iraq’s
third largest city, since coordinated attacks by insurgents on
police stations prompted most of the local police force to quit on
November 11.

Around 80 bodies have been found in and around Mosul since the
beginning of December, most of which authorities say belong to security
forces executed by insurgents.

Christian churches in the city have also come under attack.

Mosul, whose name in Arabic means the link, is one of the most
ethnically diverse cities in Iraq with Arabs, Syriac people, Armenians,
Kurds, Turkmen, Jews, Christians, Muslims and Yazedis all calling
the city home.

Sunni Muslims in Mosul, together with the minority Turkmen community,
fear Kurdish calls for an expanded autonomous region in districts
immediately bordering the northern metropolis, a city of about 1.5
million people.

U.N.: Almost a million refugees face hunger in 2005
by JONATHAN FOWLER; Associated Press Writer

Associated Press Worldstream
December 21, 2004 Tuesday 11:10 AM Eastern Time

GENEVA — Around a million refugees could face hunger and malnutrition
next year because of meager donations from governments of more
prosperous countries, the United Nations said Tuesday.

Several hundred thousand refugees are already struggling to survive
because aid agencies have had to drastically reduce rations to ensure
there is enough to go round, said Ron Redmond, spokesman for the U.N.
high commissioner for refugees.

“We are especially worried for refugees in Africa,” Redmond told
reporters.

In Zambia, handouts already have been halved in the past two months
and soon will be slashed again, putting 87,000 people at risk of
malnutrition.

“Already, we are hearing reports of refugee women resorting to
prostitution to support themselves and their children,” Redmond
added. “Field offices in Zambia also report there has been a marked
increase in children dropping out of school, presumably to help their
families find food.”

In Tanzania, rations were cut by a quarter in October. UNHCR and the
World Food Program found last month that malnutrition is rising among
some 400,000 refugees from Burundi and Congo who live in Tanzania’s
camps.

Malnutrition also threatens some 118,000 refugees in Ethiopia, and
another 224,000 in Kenya, Redmond said.

In conflict-ravaged Congo, WFP says that next month it will need to
make ration cuts of almost one third, Redmond noted.

“Africa is not the only continent facing a breakdown in the food
pipeline,” he said.

In January, 140,000 displaced a decade ago by conflict between Armenia
and Azerbaijan face a complete cut in rations – just two months after
handouts were halved.

Non-U.N. aid agencies also have sounded the alarm, but some have
chastised the United Nations for failing to respond fast enough
to crises.

On Monday, U.S.-based Refugees International said the world body was
moving too slowly to hand out food to people who fled the conflict
in Ivory Coast.

But the Rome-based WFP said Tuesday it can only provide food assistance
to refugees who have a registration and a ration card issued by UNCHR,
given the limited resources of the agency. The ration card is the
only document that makes a refugee eligible for U.N. food assistance.

“We need to be absolutely sure that who gets the food is in need of
it,” said Caroline Hurford, WFP spokeswoman. “Otherwise, what would
we tell our donors?”

Hurford said food supplies are already in the border zone. But many
Ivorians are going back to Ivory Coast to harvest their crop and then
returning to Liberia to look for extra food.

“The process of feeding is not always easy with flows of population
going back and forth,” she said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARKA News Agency
Dec 21 2004

70% of citizens of Armenia are against sending armenian servicemen to
Iraq

RA President orders to form a work group of experts in the sphere of
social security

Freedom house research states that Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh are
“partially free states

Armenian Genocide and Territorial losses on Russian State TV

*********************************************************************

70% OF CITIZENS OF ARMENIA ARE AGAINST SENDING ARMENIAN SERVICEMEN TO
IRAQ

YEREVAN, December 21. /ARKA/. 70% of citizens of Armenia are against
sending Armenian servicemen to Iraq for them to participate in
reconstruction work, as stated Hovsep Khurshudyan, the expert of
Armenian Centre for National and International Studies (ACNIS).
According to him, only 15,6% of the respondents were for sending
Armenian peacekeeping forces to Iraq, 13,9% found the question
difficult to answer. 24% of 100 experts who participated in the
survey were for sending, 67% were against it, and 9% found the
question difficult to answer.
100 experts and 2002 respondents from Yerevan and all 10 marzes of
Armenia participated in the study of ACNIS. The main objective was to
study the public opinion concerning 5 issues: Eurointegration,
Armenia-Diaspora cooperation, tolerance, problems of minorities and
situation in educational system.
The Armenian Centre for National and International Studies (ACNIS)
NGO was founded in 1994 by the former RA Foreign Minister Raffi
Hovhannisyan. A.H. –0–

*********************************************************************

RA PRESIDENT ORDERS TO FORM A WORK GROUP OF EXPERTS IN THE SPHERE OF
SOCIAL SECURITY

YEREVAN, December 21. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharyan ordered
to form a work group of experts in the sphere of social security.
According to RA President’s Press Service Department, Kocharyan noted
at today’s session that the government lacks full-fledged program on
social security system reformation. “The reforms imply coordinated
work which will concern not only the RA Ministry of Social Affairs.
Some other departments will be involved in it”, he said.
According to the President, on the base of several measures taken by
various departments, a single program can be developed, which may be
implemented already next year. Kocharyan ordered that the work group
submits in a month the common conception of reforms.
RA Prime-Minister Andranik Margaryan, RA Minister of Labour and
Social Affairs Aghvan Vardanyan, Chairmen of the State Fund of Social
Insurance and of CBA participated in the session. A.H. –0–

*********************************************************************

FREEDOM HOUSE RESEARCH STATES THAT ARMENIA AND NAGORNO-KARABAKH ARE
“PARTIALLY FREE STATES

YEREVAN, December 21. /ARKA/ Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh are
“partially free states”, according to the results of 2004 global
research conducted by Freedom House, which is American rights
advocacy organization. According to the annual report of the
organization, human rights in Armenia get worse. “Suppression of
peaceful civil demonstrations by the authorities testifies to the
fact that non-democratic ruling prevails in the country”, according
to the research.
Freedom House gives evaluation by 7 point scale, where one point is
awarded for the best results. According to the scale, Armenia was
awarded 4 points in the sphere of civil freedoms and 5 –in political
freedoms. Nagorno-Karabakh was awarded 5 points for each category.
In East Europe positive growth is recorded in Georgia and the
Ukraine, where all national protests caused the change of the results
of the falsified elections. Russia is the only of the countries which
lowered its rating in 2004, having become a “not free” from
“partially free” country. Of the free countries of the West Europe
only Turkey is recognized as “partially free”.
On the whole, according to the research, the level of freedoms in the
world increased in 2004: 26 countries had positive results, and 11
countries worsened their results. Out of 192 countries of the world
46% are free, 26% are not free, and the rest are partially free. The
most regressive countries are called 8 countries like Burma, Cuba,
Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan. A.H. –0–

*********************************************************************

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND TERRITORIAL LOSSES ON RUSSIAN STATE TV

YEREVAN, December 21. /ARKA/. The Russian Cultural Fund and Rossia
State TV Channel in association with the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation’s (ARF) Moscow office, have produced a documentary called
“Who Had Paid Lenin?”. As the Press Service of ARF told ARKA, the
documentary tells the truth about the 1917 October coup. Based on
rich documentary material, the film shows for the first time that the
Bolsheviks seized the power using Kaiser Germany’s funding under the
plan offered by Parvus. The fact is that the October coup was the
result of the cooperation between Parvus and Lenin. As a reward for
the assistance to seize the power, the Bolsheviks signed the
Brest-Litovsk Treaty with Germany, getting out of the war and making
vast concessions to Germany and its allies. In the film, ARF Bureau
member and Armenian National Assembly vice speaker Vahan Hovhannisian
speaks of the October coup impact on the fate of the Armenian people.
He speaks of the devastating consequences the Bolshevik coup for the
Armenians. By the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, not only the Russian troops
— so close to a victory — were withdrawn from Western Armenia, but
also the Kars and Ardahan regions of Eastern Armenia were surrendered
to Turkey. Later on, the concessions made by the Bolshevik government
to Turkey, were sustained in the 1921 Moscow and Kars treaties.
Also, the film contains documentary footage of the Genocide. “Who Had
Paid Lenin?” will debut on the Rossia Channel no December 22 at 11:35
p.m. Moscow time. L.V. –0–

–Boundary_(ID_sH1ac+VyU/qiz10dSmgd/g)–

Turkish Press, Turkey
Milliyet
Dec 21 2004

Hope It Goes Smoothly
byegm: 12/21/2004
BY SAMI KOHEN

MILLIYET – Now we should consider these issues: How can we benefit
from the decision made at last week’s EU summit? How can we overcome
hurdles during the process of our membership talks? Turkey faced
quite a few difficulties before last week’s summit. It wasn’t easy
for us to implement so many reforms in such a short period of time.
However, we’ll see even greater difficulties in the months and years
to come. The government, Parliament and bureaucracy have especially
suffered from having to enact harmonization laws so quickly. From
now on, such difficulties and problems will shift more onto society
and even individuals. In other words, these changes will influence
and sometimes hurt the Turkish people. Are we ready for this? Most
importantly, do we know exactly what awaits us? Now let’s consider the
decisions made last week and start to accommodate ourselves to them.

We can summarize the difficulties Turkey will face as follows:

* Oct. 3 was set as the date to start membership talks, but it’s
uncertain if this will happen due to the Cyprus issue. If a consensus
can be reached on recognizing Greek Cypriots, the talks might start.
But this won’t be easy. The outcome of the negotiations process
isn’t certain either. If such countries as France and Austria hold
referendums on our membership, there is the risk of rejection. The
majority of the public in many countries still oppose our membership.
We have a lot of time – 10 years until such referendums – but we have
to build public support and turn the atmosphere into one favoring us.

* After the talks start, Turkey will work hard to harmonize with the
EU acquis communautaire in various areas. This will cause a great
transformation which directly concerns society and people and will be
felt in daily life. However, this transformation will force various
sectors of society to make concessions.

* During the negotiations process, many issues from Cyprus to the
Armenian and Kurdish issues will be in the spotlight. This will disturb
Turkey and Ankara, and the Turkish public should be ready for this.

Obviously, the most urgent issue is the problem of recognizing
Cyprus. Turkey thinks that recognition is possible only after
the island’s problems are solved. Ankara is preparing to take the
initiative on this. It’s expected that the UN will get involved in
the issue, and the EU will force Greek Cypriots to sit at the table
again. Could the 40-year-old Cyprus issue be solved in nine months?
It’s worth it to try again, but of course there’s no guarantee. In
sum, a new and difficult era is awaiting Turkey. This is the price of
integrating with Europe and carrying out a true transformation. Let’s
hope it goes smoothly!

–Boundary_(ID_aEOhdJMErocCosuL4Y/NPg)–

With million refugees worldwide threatened by hunger, UN appeals for urgent aid

UN News Centre
Dec 21 2004

21 December 2004 – With more than a million refugees worldwide
threatened with hunger and malnutrition in the New Year due to
food shortages, the United Nations today launched an urgent appeal
for international aid, especially for Africa where some woman have
resorted to prostitution to feed their children.

Several hundred thousand refugees are already struggling to survive
on drastically reduced food rations, the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) said.

“In this holiday season, we want to draw attention to their plight,
which will only worsen unless the [UN] World Food Programme (WFP),
UNHCR’s partner agency, urgently receives the funding it is seeking,”
agency spokesman Ron Redmond told a news briefing in Geneva. “We
urgently appeal to donor countries worldwide to come to their help
by generously supporting WFP’s appeals.”

He voiced particular concern over Africa. In Zambia, distribution of
lentils and cereals, two essential food products, has been halved
in the past two months. Overall food rations will soon have to be
cut by half, putting 87,000 of Zambia’s 191,000 refugees at risk
of malnutrition.

“Already, we are hearing reports of refugee women resorting to
prostitution to support themselves and their children,” Mr. Redmond
said. Field offices also report there has been a marked increase in
children dropping out of school, presumably to help their families
find food.

In Tanzania, daily rations of lentils and of maize, the most important
staple in the refugees’ diet, were reduced by 25 per cent in 13 camps
in October. A joint UNHCR-WFP mission in November found that the rate
of malnutrition among some 400,000 Burundian and Congolese refugees
in Tanzanian camps is on the rise.

Malnutrition also threatens some 118,000 refugees in Ethiopia, and
another 224,000 in Kenya. Both countries face imminent cuts unless
there are immediate donations of cash or food commodities. In the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), WFP says it will need to
make 30 per cent cuts in food rations from January, with adverse
consequences for thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs)
and refugees.

Africa is not the only continent facing a breakdown in the food
pipeline. IDPs in Azerbaijan face a complete cut in food aid in
the New Year. Rations for 140,000 Azerbaijanis displaced by the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Armenia more than a decade ago were
halved last month, but food stocks are so low that more drastic
measures will be needed soon.

And the WFP yesterday launched a $1.2 million appeal to cover the
immediate needs of 350,000 IDPs in Colombia, civilian victims of
decades of military strife. To date, the agency’s current 18-month
relief operation, which started in October 2003, has received $14.3
million and needs the additional funds to tide it over through March.

In a related development the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
and the European Commission today announced a new €15 million (euro)
partnership programme to improve the ability of decision makers to
target food insecure and vulnerable people and take effective action
to reduce hunger.

The three-year project covers 20 countries representing three very
different food insecurity situations. Some, such as Eritrea and
the DRC, are in the grip of protracted crisis or conflict. Others,
such as Laos and Malawi, suffer chronic, structural food insecurity,
while the third group, such as Tajikistan and Georgia, are making the
difficult transition from a centrally planned to a free market economy.

–Boundary_(ID_54H6lWJPPORs4qm+qCIR1w)–