National Council of Churches USA, NY
Feb 17 2005
NCC Board Acts on Development, Security, Middle East, Genocide, Due
Process
NCC Endorses U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals
Halving global poverty by 2015 and ultimately ending it altogether is
the aim of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. The
National Council of Churches USA, at its quarterly Governing Board
meeting Feb. 14-15, 2005, in New York City, endorsed the goals and
pledged to work for their achievement.
The Millennium Development Goals set specific targets within
categories of extreme poverty and hunger; primary education; gender
equality and empowerment of women; child mortality; maternal health;
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, and environmental
sustainability. They call for establishment of a global partnership
for development.
The NCC pledged “to support, through advocacy, education and other
appropriate means, programs that work toward the achievement of these
goals, and urges its member communions to work together with one
another and other church and ecumenical organizations that work
toward these same ends.”
SMART Security Platform Promotes Peace, International Cooperation,
NCC Says
What foreign policy alternatives exist to better assure America’s
security and address terrorism? The organization Physicians for
Social Responsibility offers its “SMART” Security Platform, and the
NCC endorsed the platform at its quarterly Governing Board meeting,
Feb. 14-15, 2005, in New York City.
“SMART” is the acronym for “Standing for Sensible Multilateral
American Response to Terrorism.” The platform makes specific
recommendations for strengthening international institutions and
supporting the rule of law to prevent acts of terrorism and future
wars; reducing the threat and stopping the spread of nuclear and
other weapons of mass destruction, and changing budget priorities to
reflect “SMART” security needs.
Statement of NCC Middle East Delegation Commended to Member Churches
“Barriers Do Not Bring Freedom,” the statement of the National
Council of Churches USA’s official delegation to the Middle East Jan.
21-Feb. 4, has been commended to the Council’s 36 member churches for
their consideration.
Delegation members reported Feb. 14 to the NCC’s Governing Board at
its regular quarterly meeting. The 11-member delegation met with
Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders in Lebanon, Egypt, Israel and
Palestine, with the aim of understanding current on-the-ground
realities in the context of renewed optimism for peace, expressing
solidarity with Christians in the region and meeting with new
leadership of the Middle East Council of Churches.
The statement, which offers a sobering assessment of the current
situation, reflects the delegation’s experiences and insights gleaned
from the various meetings. The Board voted to receive the report and
commend it to the Council’s members.
NCC Commemorates 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
On April 24, 2005, it will be 90 years since the start of the
Armenian Genocide, in which 1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey
died and almost the entire Armenian population was deported from its
ancestral lands in Asia Minor.
Many of the methods employed in that genocide – the first of the 20th
century – would become models for subsequent genocides, such as under
the Nazi regime and in the Soviet Union, Cambodia and Rwanda.
Despite copious documentation and the inter-disciplinary consensus of
serious scholars, the Armenian Genocide is still not acknowledged by
the present-day Republic of Turkey – nor, officially, by the U.S.
government. And despite the lessons of the past, the horrors of
genocide continue to the present day, most recently in Darfur, Sudan.
In response, the NCC Governing Board, meeting Feb. 14-15, 2005, in
New York City, resolved to ask the Republic of Turkey and the U.S.
government to grant official recognition of the Armenian Genocide,
and to ask that the world community heed the lessons of the Armenian
Genocide.
Specifically, the Board asks recognition and unambiguous
acknowledgement of “the early ‘seeds’ of genocide when they arise, to
act speedily and decisively in these early stages, so as to pre-empt
full-blown genocide” and “to resist and rebuke the deniers of
genocide.”
Finally, the NCC joined other faithful, including members of the
Armenian Church, in remembrance of the souls of those who perished in
the Armenian and other genocides in the past 90 years, in prayers for
the peace of those who survived, and in petition that “in the century
just beginning, God will free humankind of the scourge of genocide
once and for all.”
NCC Weighs In, Again, on Due Process for National Security Detainees
The National Council of Churches USA Feb. 15 heard a concern
expressed by the NCC’s Interfaith Relations Commission on the effects
of the USA PATRIOT Act on civil rights and due process for Muslim
people.
The Governing Board of the Council, at its quarterly meeting (Feb.
14-15), voted to receive a statement which noted that in the past the
NCC has joined with other organizations “to advocate for tighter
controls on current anti-terrorism efforts and the highest standard
of scrutiny in laws and policy changes related to civil liberties,”
and has spoken out on civil rights and due process for detainees at
Guantanamo Bay and Abu Graib.
The statement asked that the NCC speak out more directly about the
USA PATRIOT Act in order to express its solidarity with Muslims and
others whose well-being continues to be threatened by some of its
provisions. “This is especially important in view of the upcoming
Congressional debates on certain provisions of the Act,” it said.
The Interfaith Relations Commission, in meetings last weekend in St.
Petersburg, Fla., with representatives of a Florida social advocacy
organization, HOPE (Hillsboro Organization for Peace and Equality)
and the Tampa chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations
(CAIR), heard about the case of Dr. Sami Al-Arian.
Emphatically noting that it is not taking any stand on Dr. Al-Arian’s
guilt or innocence but rather on his right to due process and humane
treatment, the Council resolved to make known the plight of the
former professor at Florida State University, arrested in February
2003.
CAIR “shared with us statistics and concerns about civil rights in
the Muslim community since the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act,” the
Commission reported. “The Muslim community came to us as an
authoritative Christian body and said, ‘We are hurting over this.
Please stand up and be counted,'” said Betty Gamble, a member of the
NCC Interfaith Relations Commission.
Asserted Mia Adjali, United Methodist Church, “We are using this
person as an example of so many others. Whatever this man may have
done or not, the issue is the inhumane treatment that’s befallen
Muslim people, Arab people, anyone who looks like an Arab.”
In addition to the Board’s action, the NCC’s Justice and Advocacy
Commission is developing a new policy on civil liberties.

Toronto Star, Canada
Feb 17 2005
Life tales of the unexpected
Levon Haftvan has unusual past
Directs Pinter and Pirandello plays
ROBERT CREW
ARTS WRITER
World events have a way of entangling Levon Haftvan in their coils —
and changing his life.
As a young theatre graduate of Teheran University, the Iranian-born
Haftvan was showcasing two shows at an international theatre festival
in the Republic of Armenia when his passport was stolen. Because he
couldn’t get back to Iran without a passport, he went to Moscow to
get another from the Iranian Embassy. but the former Soviet Union had
started to collapse and Haftvan found himself stranded.
He waited and waited; it was six months before he finally got his
travel papers. In the meantime, “I started to learn the language and
I started watch theatre again,” says the burly, bearded director, who
now has 25 years’ experience on three continents.
And after a while, he decided to study for an MFA in directing at
Moscow’s Russian Academy of Theatrical Arts. As a Christian, he
explains, he was unable to take a further degree back home in Iran.
“Religious minorities were not allowed to do further degrees in the
humanities,” he says. “I don’t think they wanted professors or
academics who were not Muslim.”
Learning that his travel papers wouldn’t be renewed, Haftvan flew to
Denmark, where he stayed for 10 months before coming to Canada about
10 years ago.
Now, after years of directing community productions, he is mounting
his first professional show here, a double bill of Harold Pinter’s
The Lovers and Luigi Pirandello’s I’m Dreaming but am I?, starring
Brenda Bazinet and John Evans. It opens tonight at Artword Theatre.
The Lover is about a respectable couple that lives out a wild second
life as whore and lover, ultimately shattering the barriers between
fantasy and reality. Haftvan first directed the play at Toronto’s
SummerWorks theatre festival in 2002, losing three or four shows to
the blackout.
Written in 1929, I’m Dreaming explores familiar Pirandello territory,
about the difference (if there is one) between dreams and reality and
how dreams permeate and influence our whole life.
It’s about a woman who is feeling guilty that she no longer loves her
partner and who has a nightmare that he has found out that she is
cheating on him.
“She then wakes up and something else happens,” says Haftvan,
enigmatically.
Haftvan relishes the opportunity to explore such areas of human
experience. “In Iran we didn’t have the chance to work on such things
as eroticism,” he says. “We are allowed to touch all problems except
politics and sexuality.”
Working with Bazinet and Evans is a treat, he adds. “It is amazing. I
am learning a lot in rehearsals.”
Becasuse he is still waiting for landed-immigrant status, Haftvan
can’t get any government funding for his work and is financing the
$30,000 production himself.
The process has been delayed because the government halted all
applications from the Middle East after Sept. 11, 2001, he says.
“About two years ago, I decided, okay, how long it wants to take, it
will take. Let’s do it because life is quick. I only have 20 to 25
years to go and this life is not going to return!”
Haftvan grew up speaking two languages, Armenian and Persian, and has
since added Russian and English.
He started acting when he was 12, inspired, he says, by his father
who wrote poetry and performed on the violin. It was then that he
decided to devote himself to theatre, over the objections of his
parents, who wanted him to train as a doctor or an engineer.
His interest lies firmly in the classics; in the 2004 SummerWorks he
directed a version of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull.
“I like to work on those texts,” he says. “They give me so much more
to explore.”
–Boundary_(ID_fS2x0qzGRqxy+ecTLB/w6g)–

Azeri, Russian Presidents to discuss Garabagh conflict
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Feb 17 2005
President Ilham Aliyev has told Moscow-based “Nezavisimaya Gazeta”
newspaper that he will bring the attention of the Russian leader
Vladimir Putin to the Upper Garabagh conflict during his visit to
Moscow, which started on Tuesday.
“We will not negotiate just for the sake of negotiating”, he said.
Aliyev said that Russia, as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, has
considerable leverage for influencing the conflict resolution process.
“Russia is the only MG co-chair that shares a border with Azerbaijan
and is the largest regional state. This, certainly, further increases
its responsibility in the conflict settlement.”
The President also said he is dissatisfied with the activity of the
OSCE Minsk Group and that talks on resolving the problem have been
fruitless.
“The patience of the Azerbaijani people is not inexhaustible and we
cannot carry on with the talks for another 10 years.”
Aliyev said that if the negotiations yield no results, Baku will halt
them and move to respond to the new situation.
“We are strengthening our armed forces. If we put it in figures, the
funds we spent on defence exceed those spent by Armenia two times,
and we will further expand this potential. Armenia will not last long
compared to Azerbaijan in terms of the armament tempo.”
With regard to the possible stationing of foreign military contingent
in Azerbaijan, the President addressed the issue in the context of
the conflict resolution. He termed this as unacceptable, but said
that “if this implies admissibility of such an involvement for the
resolution of the Garabagh problem, then we may consider it”.

Asia Pulse
PacNews
February 16, 2005
THERE IS HOPE AND HEALING IN THE FACE OF ALL WANT AND INJURY
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND 16 FEBRUARY 2005 SAIPAN (Pacnews) – “Ask the
questions that have no answers. Invest in the millennium. Plant
sequoias. Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not
plant it and will not live to harvest. Practice resurrection.” This
is a religious poem that would seek to foster some sort of renewed
faith for people who call themselves Christians. It is also one of
many simple and spiritually stirring phrases and expressions of faith
that don the walls of employees of the World Council of Churches
(WCC) in Geneva, Switzerland.
And everyone talks to PACNEWS about a growing anxiety and uncertainty
marking the dawn of the 21st Century in the world today and how the
Church has had a renewed concern and awareness towards healing as a
major component of its fundamental theological, missiological,
ethical and pastoral duty to humanity.
It’s snowing in Europe, providing a white fleecy blanket over living
and non-living things. It grey and cold and the trees are bare.
Sunshine comes in little rays once in a while. Everyone freezes over
and as one speaks, vapour shoots out of the mouth. There are endless
cups of coffee to keep warm.
At the WCC Geneva headquarters, however, the corridors are abuzz with
fellowship as the annual Central Committee Meeting, a gathering of
150 church leaders from all over the world, commences with a
conviction that the Church in the world today must rediscover its
ministry of healing.
The Central Committee serves as the WCC’s chief governing body
between its assemblies. Meeting every 12 to 18 months, it is
responsible for carrying out policies adopted by the assembly,
reviewing and supervising WCC programmes and adopting the Council’s
budget. The overall theme of this meeting is healing and
reconciliation. It will discuss a range of key ecumenical and public
issues of much concern to the Church today. Opening the meeting at
the WCC Ecumenical Centre on Tuesday morning (local time), Meeting
Moderator, His Holyness Aram I, of the Catholicos of Cilicia,
Armenia, said church leaders all over the world today must discuss
healing as the “transforming, empowering and reconciling missionary
action of the Church”.
“The world in which we live in is broken, a world dominated by evil
forces that are generating a culture of violence and hopelessness,”
he said. “The signs of the times are clear, the HIV/AIDS pandemic,
the genocide in Sudan, the Tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia – to
give a few examples”.
“Conflict, poverty and injustice have deepened the anguish and
despair of many societies. The world is in desperate need of healing
in almost all spheres of human life,” Aram I said.
And using the painful experience of Armenians, Aram I called on the
Church world wide to rediscover healing as a comprehensive ministry
that “transforms, empowers and reconciles”, saying that God’s mission
calls for a healing church in the midst of a broken, fragmented and
alienated world”.
Ninety years ago, the Ottoman Empire killed Armenians within its
borders. Systematic genocide took up to a million and a half Armenian
lives. By 1923, almost the whole Armenian population of Anatolian
Turkey had disappeared. This year’s meeting sees the Pacific
represented fully in a Pacific plenary on critical emerging issues in
the Pacific Islands today.
At the WCC, the Pacific is represented by at least 17 major church
organisations from all over the region, including Cook Islands. The
Pacific delegation, at this level of consultation at the Central
Committee Meeting, will highlight the work of Pacific churches on
critical issues such as the nuclear compensation for those seriously
affected by the bombings on Northern Pacific territories in the
1940s, climate change and its serious implications on the region’s
smaller atolls, HIV/AIDS, globalisation and trade, women and children
and Pacific concerns in general.
“When the Church speaks in the Pacific, basically everyone listens,”
says Feiloakitau Tevi, executive secretary of the Fiji-based WCC
Pacific Office. “These critical issues are being addressed by the
Church in our region and the Church, with all its widely experienced
leaders throughout the region, is in some ways, drawing us together
as never before to highlight human commonality.” “It is a calling to
everyone involved in trying to control some of the world’s more
keenly fought issues and ills that we all work towards a common goal
– to work together and bringing our faith together for the good of
all.” Speaking at the opening later, Rev. Sam Kobia, WCC general
secretary, called on Christians to be authentic in their spirituality
because it connects them to humanity.
He called on church leaders to address young people’s issues fully,
saying he has heard “over and over again” questions by young people
on morality and spirituality.
Rev Kobia, of the Methodist Church of Kenya, said Christians ought to
have a basic desire to relate and share with one another who they are
as human beings because this would prove sense for Christianity.
“If post-modernity is threatening to rob us of our capacity to be
human, then how can we even claim to be Christians?” he asked. Both
leaders expressed a hope that the Church would maintain its work in
reaching a common understanding of what it means to be human, and
from there move towards consensus on ethical issues.
The WCC’s Mission and Evangelism Programme, one of five main themes
of the organisation, is one great example of the work of the Church
today, and prepares church leaders from throughout the world for a
major “reconciliation and healing conference in Greece in May 2005.
Preparations for the conference include a study of what constitutes
an ecumenical healing and reconciling ministry today, helping
churches to reflect on the way they do evangelism, networks with
evangelicals, Pentecostals and others involved in the evangelistic
aspect of mission, helping poor and marginalised communities to
reflect on reconciling mission and share their insights with churches
and also enabling churches to address the challenge of HIV/AIDS as
part of holistic approach to health and healing.
The Central Committee Meeting ends on Friday.
The WCC is a fellowship and community of churches that brings
together more than 340 churches, denominations and church fellowships
in over 100 countries and territories throughout the world,
representing some 400 million Christians and including most of the
world’s Orthodox churches, scores of denominations from historic
traditions of the Protestant Reformation as Anglican, Baptist,
Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed, as well as many united and
independent churches.
While most of the WCC’s founding churches were European and North
American, most are today in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin
America, the Middle East and the Pacific. (ENDS) (THROUGH ASIA PULSE)

Russian, Armenian foreign ministers discuss Nagorno-Karabakh
Interfax
Feb 17 2005
YEREVAN. Feb 17 (Interfax) – The problem of Nagorno-Karabakh was the
focus of the first part of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s
negotiations with his Armenian counterpart in Yerevan.
“The ministers discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement problem.
Practical aspects of the development of bilateral cooperation,
political dialog, and trade-economic relations were also the center
of attention,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko
told journalists on Thursday.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
—————————————— —-
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
375010 Telephone: +3741. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +3741. .562543
Email: [email protected]:
PRESS RELEASE
February 16, 2005
Armenia Mourns Lebanon’s Al-Hariri and Other Victims of Beirut Explosion
On 16 February, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian visited Lebanon’s
Embassy in Yerevan and left a condolence message on the occasion
of tragic demise of former Prime Minister Rafiq Al Hariri in the
Embassy’s condolence book.
On the same day, following the funeral ceremony in Beirut, Armenia’s
Ambassador Areg Hovhanissyan visited the house of the assassinated
Prime Minister Al Hariri and conveyed to his family Armenian
government’s and his personal condolences and sympathies.

Russian, Armenian foreign ministers praise “strategic partnership”
ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow
17 Feb 05
Yerevan, 17 February: Relations between Russia and Armenia are
“those of partners and allies, be it in the sphere of the economy,
security or other spheres”, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry,
Sergey Lavrov, has said today in Yerevan at talks with his Armenian
colleague, Vartan Oskanyan.
“We are interested in seeing stability in the region and therefore
the settling of conflicts in post-Soviet space meets the interests
of our countries,” Sergey Lavrov stressed.
He reported that during the talks the sides “will discuss all
bilateral issues on the agenda and also the fulfilment of accords at
the highest level”.
For his part, Vartan Oskanyan noted “Russia’s leading role in the
coming-to-be of Armenia”. In his words, “relations between Moscow
and Yerevan stand at a very high level and are in the nature of a
strategic partnership”.
“We do not have any political disagreements but we have common
interests both in the region and on global issues,” the head of the
Armenian Foreign Ministry stressed.
In Oskanyan’s view, “Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Yerevan will serve
as a stimulus for the further development of partnership between
our countries”.

Russian foreign minister to discuss Karabakh in Armenia
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
17 Feb 05
[Presenter] Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Yerevan
late on Wednesday [16 February] evening.
At talks in Yerevan he will discuss the resolution of Armenia’s
transport problems, the situation in the fuel and energy sector,
the implementation of the agreements reached by Russia and Armenia
earlier and other issues.
After his meetings with the Armenian leadership, Sergey Lavrov will
visit the Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex to pay tribute to the
victims of genocide.
[Sergey Lavrov, shown at airport speaking in Russian with Armenian
voice over] We have multifaceted and allied relations with Armenia. We
shall discuss the implementation of all the agreements reached by the
presidents [Vladimir Putin and Robert Kocharyan] of our countries. We
will discuss both bilateral and regional issues. Stability in the
Caucasus is in the interests of both Russia and Armenia.
[Presenter] Sergey Lavrov will also discuss the Karabakh problem in
Yerevan. Moscow thinks that the conflicting sides themselves should
find a mutually acceptable solution. The Russians are ready to actively
help the sides, both on a mutual basis and within the framework of
the OSCE Minsk Group and to act as a guarantor, the spokesman for
the Russian Foreign Ministry, Aleksandr Yakovenko, said.

SERGE SARGSIAN: I WANT TO BELIEVE THAT AZERIS PARTICIPATING IN TALKS ARE SINCERE
PanArmenian News
Feb 15 2005
15.02.2005 16:18
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “To tell the truth I do want to believe that the
Azeris participating in the negotiations on the Karabakh conflict
settlement are sincere”, Secretary of the National Security Council
under the RA President, Defense Minister Serge Sargsian stated in his
online interview with Yerkir weekly. “But unfortunately Azerbaijan’s
numerous attempts to exert pressure upon the Armenian party with the
help of mass media or other structures during the negotiations raise
strong doubt. Even during the war military operation are suspended
for the negotiating period”, he added. According to him, negotiations
imply the desire to fine a way-out and readiness to make concessions.
“If the Azerbaijani leadership thinks it can gain much by pressing
it is deeply mistaken. Such situation will only toughen our stand”,
S, Sargsian said.

Envoy in India protests at gold production in occupied Azeri land
ANS TV, Baku
16 Feb 05
[Presenter] The Azerbaijani embassy in Delhi has called on the Indian
Foreign Ministry to clarify the issue of involvement of an Indian
company in the development of gold fields in [Azerbaijan’s occupied
district of] Kalbacar.
[Correspondent, over archive video of Kalbacar] The Azerbaijani
ambassador to India, Tamerlan Qarayev, went to the Indian Foreign
Ministry today to discuss the involvement of the Indian company in
the development of gold fields in Kalbacar and to demand clarification.
[Tamerlan Qarayev, captioned, speaking over phone and his still]
I had a meeting with the secretary of the [Indian Foreign] ministry,
Mr (?Rajiv Dogra). I passed on the information we received from our
foreign ministry. Mr Dogra said he needed time to look into the issue
and asked us to come back.
[Correspondent] Qarayev said that it was first thought that the company
working in Kalbacar belonged not to India, but to Great Britain.
[Qarayev, captioned, speaking over phone] Not India, but Great Britain
has such a company, but the owner and all the staff are Indians. But it
is a British company. A Canadian company was also mentioned before. It
was not an Indian company, but Indians were alleged to have shares
in it.
[Correspondent] Qarayev said that the unlawfulness of such operations
in the occupied territories and its harm to bilateral relations had
been mentioned to the Indian leadership. They had been asked to take
serious measures in this regard.
[Qarayev, captioned, speaking over phone] Kalbacar is our territory and
Mr Dogra reiterated that India recognizes and respects Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity and sovereignty and has established diplomatic
relations with Azerbaijan. There will be a thorough investigation into
the work of the Indian company in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories
and I have no doubt that there will be results.
[Correspondent] It is noteworthy that Ashot Azadyan, one of the four
[Armenian] servicemen taken captive near the front line in Karabakh at
different times in 2004 reported the involvement of Indian workers in
gold production in Kalbacar. The (?US RB Investment Service) group of
companies received a licence to work in these fields under a contract
signed in 1997. But a spokesman for the company said that it cannot
start production since Kalbacar is under occupation and therefore
their safety is not ensured.
Zamina Aliyev for ANS