ALL-ARMENIAN RALLY IN BRUSSELS TOGETHER WITH FRIENDS OF ARMENIAN PEOPLE

Azg/arm
21 Dec 04

Over 4000 Armenians arrived from France, Germany, Belgium, Italy,
Netherlands and Sweden and Switzerland and foreign political
figures, parliamentarians, survivals of the Armenian Genocide and the
massacres, the students and the youth gathered in Brussels in front
of the European Parliament. With Armenian, French and Greek flags
in their hands the participants of the rally were protesting against
Turkeyâ~@~Ys entry to EU without recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

Outstanding political figures and parliamentarians of France, Italy,
Greece and Sweden, as well as famous public figures held speeches
supporting the Armenian people. This historical rally once again
reminded the European nations, direct accessories of the Armenian
Genocide, that they spare no efforts to let Turkey that committed a
genocide enter the civilized Europe without paying for its crimes.

One should admit that the rally was well organized and it was for the
first time that all the Armenian parties and the political unions
protested unanimously supporting the Armenian Cause together with
the friendly European nations.

Later, in the evening the participants of the rally returned to their
home countries, while the European parliamentarians were voting.

By Hamo Moskofian

–Boundary_(ID_fx1ZM0jLYBtztHashKkXFg)–

Armenian Genocide and territorial losses on Russian state TV

20.12.2004  17:26    

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – 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?”

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. Once again, the Armenian
people, who had been subjected to a genocide, faced a threat of being
massacred.

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.

–Boundary_(ID_qqtgd+tIULa5AVFIUNPPTQ)–

Security issues

Yerkir
17 Dec 04

Present stage of social development is characterized by unprecedented
progress of informational field. Today informational system influences
the security of national, political, ideological, psychological and
other fields.

Level of informational content is most important index of
competitiveness of the nation. And time will only increase the role
of this aspect.

However, informational system should be based on national
ideology. This ideology should include ethic, religious, and
civilization characteristics of the nation. In these terms the national
can be creative.

Talking about informational system of Armenia we should take into
account the Diaspora. However today the Diaspora is not so homogenous
as before which creates certain issues. And yet its vast geography
creates flexible facilities for informational policy.

At the same time, despite the importance of this issue, there is still
no certain policy on it in Armenia. It is because our country so far
does not have a concept of informational security. In addition, even
the concept of national security has not been adopted in our country,
a part of which should be the informational security.

The above-mentioned indicates that the research of informational
security in frames of national security is an urgent issues in Armenia.

Political reason motivates extraordinary session on deposits

Yerkir
17 Dec 04

Political reason motivates the initiative for extraordinary session
on deposits. This opinion has been expressed by ARF faction secretary
Hrayr Karapetian during a briefing, saying that the real reason for
the session is not to return the deposits. Karapetian believes the
issue still needs scrutiny. In addition, MP finds the return of 30
dollars for lost 1000 rubles not just.

This topic was discussed with the prime minister the other day, who
said that return of the deposits will imply big cuts in teachers,
doctors, etc. He said that one of the ways for returning the deposits
could be privileges in taxes, etc. However, he found impossible to
destabilize political situation by the initiative.

The ARF faction secretary said that their party had not yet discussed
the issue, but may present its approaches in the near future. The
political situation in Armenia was rather stable throughout 2004
and seems to have same prospects the coming year. Karapetian noted
the political fight which resulted in the opposition’s decision to
boycott. But the main thing was that the people could live another
peaceful, stable and creative year.

The secretary expressed hope that during the coming year, the
coalition will be able to expand its social programs and provide
rise of salaries to civil servants in 2006. He also prioritized
parliamentary activities, adoption of laws on national security and
social system. He welcomed the decision of EU which offers Turkey
to recognize the genocide and open borders soon. He also said that
“our foreign policy has set Karabagh issue on proper rails and we
will succeed, if we continue in this direction.” Finally, he said
the ARF position on this issue has not changed.

Tajik, CIS security officials to look at cooperation

Avesta web site
20 Dec 04

Dushanbe, 20 December: A group of secretariat staff of the Collective
Security Treaty Organization [CSTO] led by deputy secretary-general
of the organization Toktasyn Buzubayev, who arrived in Tajikistan
yesterday, will discuss cooperation issues within the organization,
a source at the Tajik Ministry of Foreign Affairs has told Avesta.

Buzubayev will meet Tajik Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov, Defence
Minister Sherali Khayrulloyev, Secretary of the Security Council
Amirqul Azimov and the director of the Drug Control Agency, Rustam
Nazarov, as part of the visit which is to end on 22 December, the
source said.

During the meetings, they are expected to discuss regional issues, the
joint fight against drugs and terrorism, as well as the forthcoming
CSTO exercises, which are to be held in Tajikistan in the first six
months of 2005.

We recall that the CSTO members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

Kazakh TV says bank chief’s death may remain mystery

Kazakh Television first channel, Astana
20 Dec 04

The death of the Kazakh TuranAlem private bank’s president, Yerzhan
Tatishev, may remain a mystery, Kazakh TV first channel has said. The
TV report also said that an attempt was made on Tatishev’s life in
2002. Tatishev was shot dead in a hunting accident in southern Kazakh
Zhambyl Region on 19 December. The following is the text of report
by Kazakh TV on 20 December:

[Presenter] Despite the fact that media sources have said that Yerzhan
Tatishev’s sudden death was an accident, as the head of a leading
financial establishment and a well-experienced and rich banker, his
death will undoubtedly give rise to various rumours. There had been
few rumours even before Tatishev’s death.

[Correspondent, over video of an archive footage of Tatishev at a
meeting, a TuranAlem bank office] The name of Yerzhan Tatishev, who
put the TuranAlem bank to its feet and brought it to the international
financial market, became well-known after his joining the Democratic
Choice of Kazakhstan [opposition] party. However, Tatishev left the
party two years ago, saying that the bank should be engaged in its
professional business and, first of all, be concerned with depositors’
interests.

A rumour, which damaged not only the bank chairman’s name but the
country’s international reputation, was circulated on an Internet
web site in summer last year. According to the rumour, the bank
chairman appropriated all the funds of the bank and escaped to the
USA. Tatishev denied this rumour via a video-link while being on a trip
to the USA. The rumour’s authors linked Tatishev’s trip to the USA
with the early release of Mukhtar Ablyazov [a former minister and an
opposition leader who was given a prison sentence for abuse of power].

In addition, an attempt was made on the banker’s life two years
ago. But he was not in a service car [when attacked]. The police said
there was a hidden political motive. Having signed the statement by
major Kazakh banks, Tatishev recently once again said that he would
not be involved in politics.

Some foreign media sources link the name of the TuranAlem bank chairman
with Kazakhstan’s debt worth 2.5m dollars to Uzbekistan.

In recent years, the Kazakh bank has started to penetrate the financial
markets of CIS countries. Ukrainian media sources called the TuranAlem
bank’s intention to buy a bank in this country a Kazakh offensive. The
bank also has its branches in Russia and China.

The bank ranks sixth among private banks in the CIS. Its assets are
worth 4bn dollars. The bank has recently voiced its plans to open joint
ventures in Azerbaijan and Armenia and to buy a bank in Tatarstan.

No matter what they say, it is possible the banker’s death at the age
of 37 will remain a mystery. There are a lot of questions which have
not been answered yet.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Pressure on Turkey

Fresno Bee
December 19, 2004

I was pleased to read of the continued effort of the European Union
as well as (dare I say) the French in stepping up to the plate on
Turkey’s human rights issue. The EU urged Turkey to “promote the
process of reconciliation with the Armenian people by recognizing
the genocide perpetrated against the Armenians” in 1915-1923.

The European Parliament also called on Turkey to reopen its border
with Armenia “as soon as possible.”

Turkey should comply, or simply be left behind. Turkey can continue
to have a plummeting economy, or it can do the right thing to embrace
the European economic community.

Turkey can show, through proper genocide acknowledgment, that it can
move toward respect toward humanity rather than defacing it as it
has for close to 90 years.

Self-interest foreign policy is something the United States, in
particular, has hidden behind long enough. What about the interests of
all the other countries in the world? What did they lose by doing the
right thing and holding Turkey accountable for its misdeeds? Turkey’s
“special relationship” with the United States didn’t count for much
when we needed them most. Our soldiers were left to double back on
our ships when they were forbidden to cross Turkey during the initial
invasion of Iraq.

I hope U.S. foreign policy can follow the international community’s
lead on human rights, because we definitely haven’t shown such
leadership thus far.

Richard Sanikian

Fresno

;;

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Group Says Russia Now at ‘Not Free’ Status
By JUDITH INGRAM

The Associated Press
12/20/04 15:20 EST

MOSCOW (AP) – Russia has restricted rights to such an extent that it
has joined the countries that are not free for the first time since
the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, Freedom House said Monday, marking
Moscow’s march away from the Western democracies it has embraced as
diplomatic partners.

“This setback for freedom represented the year’s most important
political trend,” the U.S.-based non-governmental organization wrote
in its annual study, Freedom in the World 2005.

Freedom House noted increased Kremlin control over national television
and other media, limitations on local government, and parliamentary
and presidential elections it said were neither free nor fair.

“Russia’s step backward into the ‘Not Free’ category is the
culmination of a growing trend under President Vladimir Putin to
concentrate political authority, harass and intimidate the media,
and politicize the country’s law-enforcement system,” Executive
Director Jennifer Windsor said in a statement.

“These moves mark a dangerous and disturbing drift toward
authoritarianism in Russia, made more worrisome by President Putin’s
recent heavy-handed meddling in political developments in neighboring
countries, such as Ukraine.”

The report accused Putin of exploiting the terrorist seizure of a
school in southern Russia to ram through what Freedom House called
the dismantling of local authority.

In the wake of the September attack, which killed more than 330
people, Putin introduced a plan to end the election of governors
by popular vote and the election of legislators in individual
races. Currently, the 450 seats in the lower house of parliament are
equally split between those filled through party lists and those
contested in district races.

The Russian Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment on the report,
which said that Russia had reached its lowest point where political
rights and civic freedoms are concerned since 1989.

Grigory Yavlinsky, a former member of parliament with the liberal
Yabloko party, said Russia has been “not-free” for more than a
decade now.

“Today in Russia there are no independent mass media, no independent
court, parliament, business. There is no public control over special
forces and police. There are practically no elections which are not
controlled by the authorities,” he said.

Freedom House said that on balance, the world saw increased freedom
in 2004: 26 countries showed gains while 11 showed decline. Of the
world’s 192 countries, it judged 46 percent free, 26 percent not free,
and the rest partly free. Eight rated as the most repressive: Burma,
Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Turkmenistan.

The NGO said that only Central and Eastern Europe had seen “dramatic
progress” over the past year. It noted that Bosnia-Herzegovina’s
rating had improved following the first elections organized entirely
by Bosnian institutions.

In the Middle East, Freedom House rated just Israel as free. Five
countries in the region, including Jordan and Yemen, are partly free,
and 12 are not free. It said the territories occupied by Israel and
run by the Palestinian Authority were not free.

Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Qatar registered modest gains, Freedom
House said.

It registered democratic gains in the former Soviet republics of
Georgia and Ukraine, where popular protests forced the cancellation
of the results of fraudulent elections in the past 13 months.

“The positive experiences in Georgia and Ukraine indicate that
democratic ferment and nonviolent civic protest are potent forces
for political change,” Windsor said. “They also reinforce freedom’s
gradual global advance.”

The former Soviet republics of Belarus, Armenia and Lithuania saw
setbacks – the first two due to the authorities’ increasingly harsh
response to dissent, and the latter because of “worrying questions
about the full autonomy of Lithuania’s political leadership” in
the wake of President Roland Paksas’ impeachment amid allegations
of influence by the Russian mafia.

Freedom House, a Washington-based, nonpartisan group, was founded
nearly 60 years ago by Americans concerned about threats to
democracy. It conducts advocacy, research and training to encourage
and nurture democracy.

Armenian party calls for troops dispatch to other than Iraq “hot spots”

Noyan Tapan news agency
20 Dec 04

Yerevan, 20 December: The New Times party understands the importance of
[Armenia’s] participation in the worldwide comprehensive programme
of the fight against terrorism. However, this must not go against
Armenia’s vital interests especially as “alternative ways of
participating in this programme could be found should we decide to
pursue a sensible policy”, the party said in a statement released
on 17 December. The party expressed regret that “the number of
alternative choices has been brought to the minimum as a result of
our unwise policy”.

“The issue of sending Armenian servicemen to Iraq has recently
become topical again. Numerous public and political organizations of
Armenia and Spyurk [the diaspora] have sent anxious messages to the
authorities, strongly protesting against this short-sighted initiative
by the government, nevertheless the aforesaid issue will be discussed
at the NA [National Assembly],” the statement said.

The party stressed that many Armenians who have fled from the genocide
found refuge in countries of the Middle East and then harmoniously
participated in the public, political, social and economic processes in
these countries, “whereas now we are wasting the invaluable potential
of the Armenian Spyurk community”.

Speaking about the way out of “this critical situation”, the party
said the NA should discuss the dispatch of Armenian servicemen to any
other hot spot where the antiterror fight is being waged under the
aegis of the UN and “where the interests of the Armenian Republic do
not go against those of the Armenia-friendly Arab world”.

The New Time party insists that the NA should hold an open and
name-by-name voting on the issue “so that not only those who make
decisions but also those who ratify such short-sighted decisions
felt responsible”.

Speaker denies Armenia is Russia’s “outpost”

Mediamax news agency
20 Dec 04

Yerevan, 20 December: Artur Bagdasaryan, speaker of the Armenian
National Assembly, expressed his negative attitude in Yerevan today
towards Russian State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov’s recent statement
that Armenia is Russia’s “outpost” in the South Caucasus.

“Armenia is a sovereign state and cannot be any country’s outpost,”
Bagdasaryan said, adding that Armenian-Russian relations are developing
in a “normal and natural way”. However, the speaker said that “they
are lagging behind Turkish-Azerbaijani relations in terms of their
content”.

Commenting on Gryzlov’s statement last week, Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev said: “Armenia turns out to be a Russian outpost and
now we do not know who to talk to – this outpost or its owner.”