PRESS RELEASE
Armenia Semester Abroad Program- 2005
Barlow Der Mugrdechian
Armenian Studies Program
5245 N Backer Ave PB4
Fresno, CA 93740-8001
Email: [email protected]

ASP Office: 559-278-2669
Office: 559-278-4930
FAX: 559-278-2129

Visit the Armenian Studies Program Web Page at

Armenian Studies Program * California State University, Fresno
Spring 2005 Armenia Semester Abroad Program

Semester begins – Feb. 14 – May 14, 2005

Experience a semester abroad in Yerevan, Armenia. This one semester
program is designed to introduce students to Armenian language,
history, art, and contemporary events. The semester schedule is
composed of five courses: Armenian language (4 units); Armenian art
and architecture (3 units); Armenia today (3 units); Armenian studies
(3 units); Independent study (2 units).
Courses, based on curriculum used by the Armenian Studies Program at
California State University, Fresno, will be taught by faculty from
Yerevan State University.
The academic committee in charge of curriculum is composed of Dr.
Dickran Kouymjian, Haig and Isabel Berberian Professor of Armenian
Studies at Fresno State, Dr. Tom Samuelian of Arlex International,
and Barlow Der Mugrdechian of the Armenian Studies Program at Fresno
State.
Full information on the program is available at the following web
site:

Eligibility: The program is open to all college juniors and seniors
and graduate students who have maintained a minimum 2.75 GPA.
Fees: Fees for the program are $2,250 per person (for 15 units of
courses) and an additional fee of approximately of $160 for health
insurance. Room and board, air fare, and transportation and any
additional costs are the responsibility of the student. (The Program
will assist in finding living arrangements)
Deadline: Students are required to fill in the following application
form and return it to the Armenian Studies Program by December 1,
2004 for study abroad in Armenia in the Spring semester 2005.
Required information for application: Official college transcript;
One page essay on why you would like to participate in the Armenia
Study Abroad Program, what has prepared you for study in such a
Program, and why you are qualified to participate; One passport sized
color photo; Names and telephone numbers of two references
(non-related). In addition please submit Name, Address, City, State,
Zip, Telephone number, Email address, Date of birth: (Please clearly
print all information and make sure that the telephone number and
email address are current). Send the application form, and all
requested material to: Barlow Der Mugrdechian, Armenian Studies
Program, 5245 N Backer Ave. PB4. Fresno, CA 93740-8001
If you have any questions contact: Barlow Der Mugrdechian office
telephone: 559-278-4930 * email: [email protected]
Travel fellowship: Travel fellowships are available to qualified
applicants who are accepted into the Fresno State Armenia Semester
Abroad Program through BirthRight Armenia/Depi Hayk (BR/DH). (See
below for Eligibility). The travel fellowship covers reimbursement of
roundtrip economy class airfare at the average price for that period
upon successful completion of the program and BR/DH requirements.
Applications for the travel fellowships are due by January 15, 2005.
The application form is posted on the

Washington Post
Keeping a key Caspian ally
Commentary
By S. Rob Sobhani

Today is the 10th anniversary of a landmark agreement
that changed the geopolitical landscape of the Caspian
Sea region forever and gave America access to huge oil
reserves previously under total control of the Soviet
Union.
After a decade, the relationship between the
contractual parties should remain a U.S. foreign
policy priority.
The agreement signed on this date in 1994 in Baku,
the capital of Azerbaijan, was a simple one between
the government of Azerbaijan and Foreign Oil Cos. for
developing three giant oil fields – Azeri, Chirag and
Guneshli. Production from the 6 billion barrels of
reserves in these fields will be shipped through the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline directly to the
Mediterranean Sea. From there the oil will be shipped
to Western markets, including ports on the U.S. East
Coast. The Caspian Sea region is home to 10 percent of
the world’s remaining oil reserves.

From the beginning, Azerbaijan wanted to be a friend
of America – the world’s sole remaining superpower –
and America needed access to non-Middle Eastern oil
reserves. But concluding this agreement was most
difficult given prevailing circumstances at the time.
Azerbaijan was at war with neighboring Armenia over
the territory of Nagorno-Karabagh. Twenty percent of
its landmass was under occupation and approximately 1
million of its 7 million citizens were refugees.
The people of Azerbaijan had only enjoyed
independence from the Soviet Union for three years,
during which the country witnessed serious political
and economic dislocation due to the Soviet collapse. A
further obstacle to signing this agreement was the
total opposition of Russia and Iran. This agreement
was seen as a threat to their national security
because it allowed American oil companies to work in
their backyards.
Only the vision, courage and political skills of
Heydar Aliev, former President of Azerbaijan, enabled
this landmark agreement to be signed. Heydar Aliev was
a former member of the Politburo turned Azeri patriot,
who successfully led his country to de facto sovereign
independence by not allowing either Russia to the
north or Iran to the south to interfere with his
country’s affairs.
Heydar Aliev realized very early that
U.S.-Azerbaijan interests were mutually reinforcing:
uninterrupted exploration, development and
transportation of Caspian Sea oil and natural gas to
international markets; peaceful resolution of the
lingering Nagorno-Karabagh conflict; limiting the
influence of radical Islam in the oil-rich Caspian Sea
region; and fighting the global war on terrorism. Mr.
Aliev saw no conflict between Azerbaijan’s Muslim
heritage and a secular government.He frequently said,
“Islam is our faith and belongs in our hearts and in
our deeds but not on the streets and in our politics.”

He was one of the first world leaders to offer
immediate assistance to the United States after the
tragic events of September 11, 2001. Mr. Aliev offered
immediate right to overfly Azerbaijan to U.S. military
aircraft flying to Afghanistan.
Azerbaijan voted for all the U.N. resolutions in
support of the United States. Working closely with
U.S. law-enforcement agencies, Azerbaijan identified
and arrested 30 very dangerous terrorists who had
entered Azerbaijan. A decade of friendship and
cooperation explains the presence of Azerbaijani
troops beside American forces in both Afghanistan and
Iraq.
This legacy of friendship, cooperation and support
has been passed on to Mr. Aliev’s son, Ilham Aliev
(elected president of Azerbaijan by a significant
majority this past year), who vows to continue his
father’s policies. The U.S., in turn, owes a
tremendous debt of gratitude to Azerbaijan and its
people for opening their hearts, despite tremendous
obstacles, to maintain their end of a bargain with
America that started in 1991 when oil contract
negotiations began.
Unfortunately, Washington has not always upheld
its end of this critical friendship. While both
Presidents Clinton and Bush have understood the
importance of Azerbaijan’s contributions to regional
energy security, Congress has turned its back on
America’s best ally, friend and working partner in the
former Soviet Union. Congress has failed miserably to
appreciate the geopolitical importance of Azerbaijan.
Regardless who wins the elections in November, the
U.S. has an obligation to uphold this legacy of
friendship and cooperation by immediately taking the
following corrective initiatives:
(1) Congress must permanently remove Section 907
of the Freedom Support Act that treats Azerbaijan as
an enemy worse than North Korea and has been in effect
since 1991. (Beginning after September 11, 2001,
President Bush has had to waive Section 907 each year
for Azerbaijan to be treated as America’s friend and
receive any direct U.S. assistance.)
(2) Given Azerbaijan’s strategic location as the
gateway to Caspian Sea oil, Congress must appropriate
funds for increased military cooperation between
Azerbaijan and America.
(3) Make the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabagh
conflict a priority of American diplomacy. Resumption
of this conflict can negatively affect the flow of oil
to the United States.
(4) Invite the new president of Azerbaijan to the
U.S. to thank him for staunchly supporting America’s
war on terrorism.
In conclusion, America has a strong ally just
north of the Middle East that has been taken for
granted for too long. America has been asking its
friends to stand up and be counted. We might consider
doing the same.

S. Rob Sobhani is president of Caspian Energy
Consulting and an adjunct professor at Georgetown
University.

The Guardian, UK
Sept 22 2004

Grown-up aesthetic bridges generation divide

Jess Cartner-Morley, fashion editor

At any catwalk show, the front row tells its own story. At Betty
Jackson yesterday, the glam duo of Jo and Leah Wood, wife and
daughter of Rolling Stone Ronnie, encapsulated the secret of the
designer’s success.
While London fashion week suffers from an uneasy generation gap,
divided between older designers who struggle to make headlines and
young ones who make headlines but precious few sales, Jackson
maintains a following among old and young.

The fashion climate is well suited to her designs. Both London and
New York have confirmed that bare midriffs are out and ladylike
dressing is in – at least for six months – meaning Jackson’s grown-up
aesthetic is back in the spotlight.

For next summer, her skirts and day dresses are knee-length; her
elegant trousers are worn low-slung but with a T-shirt tucked in.
Shirt-dresses in safari-brown cotton, and frocks in butterfly-print
silk, are worn with low-heeled metallic summer sandals – useful
clothes but with a healthy dose of frivolity.

Jackson describes her inspiration as the “decadent days of the 30s
together with the louche international lifestyles of the 70s”. For
evening, she sent out a showstopping long, pale column with art-deco
silver beading and a glamourous bead and feather-trimmed kaftan.

The 30s and 70s have cropped up repeatedly this season. New York had
Ralph Lauren’s 30s gowns and Luella’s “1970s Pacha” look; London has
seen Elspeth Gibson’s stunning 30s satin dresses and trousers in
classic Claridges shades of eau de nil and cream, and FrostFrench’s
Studio 54 glam.

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Far from being a coincidence, the emergence of these decades was, in
fact, inevitable – fashion ploughs through revivals at an alarming
rate, and the last two years have seen the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 80s.
Next season, it might be time for the 90s.

Earlier in the day, it was the turn of five emerging designers.
Unfortunately, most did little to challenge the stereotype that young
London designers’ collections are ugly, unwearable, and badly
presented – one expected a pair of one-legged trousers to appear any
moment. There was a ray of hope, however, in Gardem, the collection
by Garen Demerdijan, a Lebanese Armenian born in 1975 and based in
Paris.

Although yesterday was his first catwalk show, he has run a small
business since 2001, and has been stocked in the directional London
boutique Browns Focus for six seasons.

Yesterday’s collection had a sophistication of outlook and quality of
execution that set him apart from other young hopefuls.

Trendwatch Socks & high heels

Ankle socks with high heels, a favourite with the Hoxton fashionista
wishing to convey glamour and subversion, have this week become a
staple look.

At Jessica Ogden, left, socks were worn with chunky wedge sandals for
a nostalgic, schoolgirl effect. At Gardem, footlets – mini-socks that
leave your ankle and the top of your foot bare – made an unlikely
appearance, in black under strappy sandals.

But it was Paul Smith who showed the week’s newest combination. Long
ribbed socks almost to the knee were worn with loafers: very English
eccentric. Should you be tempted to follow suit, look for
fawn-coloured socks. A colour similar to but slightly darker than
your skin colour makes this a surprise leg-lengthener.

ArmenPress
Sept 21 2004

SPEECH OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA,H.E. MR. ROBERT
KOCHARYAN ON THE OCCASION OF THE 13TH ANNIVERSARY OF INDEPENDENCE OF
THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

Your Holiness,
Dear compatriots,
Dear guests,
I congratulate our people and all those present on the occasion of
Independence Day. Today’s Armenia is an established state with ever
growing tendency of deepening market reforms, democratic transitions
and international integration. The choice of our people brought us to
a new domain.
As a result of the implemented systemic reforms our country has
experienced obvious progress. Armenia today is defined in terms of
sustainable economic growth and regular implementation of the state
budget. It is visible that small and medium businesses are more
active. Most of these results are directed at social sector and the
main problem today is the elimination of poverty. Precise
implementation of that program is the duty of all of us.
We prioritize balanced development of all our regions (marzes),
evolvement of the middle class and deepening our democracy. The
formula of the further advancement of Armenia is based on the pillars
of the rule of law, effective governance, fair competition and
extended employment opportunities. Those challenges are typical of
the current stage of Armenia’s development. They also represent the
world processes currently underway.
In foreign policy our country has a precise strategy: to
strengthen the credibility of our country abroad by furthering
relations in all directions. Armenia brings its contribution to the
international fight against terrorism, which nowadays has a most
urgent meaning.
Protection of peace in our complex region is a vital issue. We
consider that the key to it is in multilateral cooperation between
all countries of the region. On the issue of Nagorno Karabagh we
remain committed to the principle of peaceful settlement. Such
settlement shall be based on the objective realities that came forth
after the collapse of USSR. Particularly it shall be based on the
unquestionable reality of existence of NKR.
The Armenian Armed forces are an important component of the
security of the Armenian people and of the peace in the region.
Formation of the Armed forces and the current level of combat
preparedness are an historic achievement of our people. At the
foundation of our Army are heroes, whose feat made our country a
stable state and the motherland of all Armenians.
On the occasion of this important day I also congratulate
Armenians from around the world. The Republic of Armenia is the
herald of the feelings and goals of all segments of the Armenian
people. It has already undertaken its mission of addressing the
issues of pan-Armenian scale.
I once again congratulate all of us on the occasion of the 13th
Anniversary of Independence of the Republic of Armenia. Establishment
of free, prosperous and powerful Armenia has been a dream for many
generations. Our generation got the opportunity to implement the most
decisive phase of that dream. We fulfill that historic responsibility
with honor for the glory of Armenia and our people.
Thank you.

ArmenPress
Sept 21 2004

GEORGE W. BUSH EXTENDS CONGRATULATIONS TO ROBERT KOCHARIAN ON THE
OCCASION OF THE 13-TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIA’S INDEPENDENCE

WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS: US president George Bush
sent a congratulatory message to Armenian president Robert Kocharian
on the occasion of 13th anniversary of Independence Day which runs as
follows:
“Dear Mr. President:
I extend to you and to all the people of Armenia congratulations
on the thirteenth anniversary of your nation’s independence on
September 21.
Today, an independent Armenia is a key partner with the United
States. I am particularly grateful for the important
counter-terrorism assistance that Armenia has rendered to the United
States.
The United States will work tirelessly to assist the government
and people of Armenia in their efforts to achieve economic growth,
build democratic institutions and resolve the crippling
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. I look forward to enhancing cooperation
between our countries and strengthening the deep ties of friendship
between our people.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ArmenPress
Sept 21 2004

ARMENPRESS HOSTS EXHIBITION OF BRAZILIAN ARMENIAN PHOTOGRAPHER

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS: Armenpress photo-hall was
flocked yesterday by photography-lovers who made a unique journey
around Brazil and San Paolo that has a strong Armenian community.
First time in motherland, a talented photographer Norayr Shahinian
has brought more than four dozens of colored photographs. Yet unknown
to the local public he is undoubtedly one of the talented
photographers of Diaspora. His talent was praised by photo-reporting
service head Felix Arustamian, painter Vahan Kochar and others.
Norayr Shahinian and his father, Hrair Shahinian, who has also
arrived in Yerevan to participate in his son’s exhibition, thanked
the present.
Shahinian has been in Armenia for a month now visiting many cities
and villages and metting with many people. He will go back after
completing his work in several months to unveil Armenia for
Brazilians.
Twenty-five years old, Shahinian is an architecture by profession.
“However I have been fond of photography since my childhood because
both my father and grandfather were masters in it,” he said. “I have
had several exhibitions in Brazil and Argentina but an exhibition in
motherland is a touching event for me,” he added.
Two of his works, “City View” and “The Lonely Tree” have won San
Paulo and Pan Brazilian photography awards.

ArmenPress
Sept 21 2004

HOVHANESIAN WINS EUROPEAN BOXING CHAMPION TITLE

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS: Azat Hovhanesian from Yerevan
in 52 kg weight category has won the Europe youth champion title in
the Russian Saratov on September 19 beating his German rival in the
finals.
Two other boxers from Armenia, Samvel Barseghian , 46 kg weight
category and Vagharshak Aslanian, 86 kg weight category, have
snatched bronze medals.
Armenia was represented by 9 boxers in Saratov.

The Hindu, India
September 21, 2004

RETURN TO ROOTS

WHILE A business commitment brought U.S.-based media consultant
Kesiglo Garbis to Chennai, a desire to establish a connection with
Armenian history took him around the city.

First stop: The Armenian Church on Armenian Street. At first glance,
he was impressed with what he saw. But on further inspection, he
could not but deplore the mess that the church was in. “The courtyard
and the tombstones looked cluttered. There were cats, ducks and dogs
around. The English wife of the late caretaker was in a small room
that was short on comfort. And the 252-year-old church cries for
renovation. It’s high time the Armenian Association in Kolkata
allocated funds for repairs. As the oldest Armenian church in India
and the only Christian church, east of the Suez, with six bells and a
separate belfry, it deserves greater attention,” pleads Garbis.

Fearing that this criticism will overshadow his deep admiration for
India, he quickly adds, “I should say that Indians have been
preserving all the Armenian legacies with a tolerance that could be
an example for some nations.”

Narrowing down his focus to Chennai, he says, “Chennai has an
important place in Armenian culture.” He then goes on to peel layers
of history and decipher them one by one. “According to Portuguese
sources, Armenian merchants were trading in Chennai in the early 16th
Century. Armenian merchants from Julfa/Iran flourished here during
the 17th and 18th Centuries and carried on a lucrative trade with
Europe and the Philippines. An Armenian manuscript tells us that in
1666 Armenians settled permanently’ in Chennai. Actuated by
philanthropy, these opulent merchants helped the downtrodden. They
also contributed to the advancement of Armenian classical literature
in India. The first ever Armenian newspaper’ in the world was
published in Chennai in 1794 by Father Harutiun Shmavonian.

Next stop: St. Thomas Mount. “In 1726, Choja Bedros Woskan (Petrus
Uscan) built with his own money the long-arched Marmalong Bridge
enabling easy access to St.Thomas Mount. He also built the 160 steps
that lead up to the church on the Mount. Unfortunately, today there
is only a stone plaque commemorating his contribution in Persian,
Latin and Armenian. This plaque is dirty and in bad shape. I hope the
city administration will ensure that it is cleaned and hung at a
proper place on the new bridge, so that everybody can see it. Choja
Bedros extended his financial resources for the construction of the
Chapel Nossa Senhora de Milagres in Vepery, in whose yard he was
buried. When the French captured Chennai in 1746 under Count Lally,
40 of his houses were levelled to the ground and his wealth was
confiscated. After his death in 1751, his heart was taken out and
sent to his birthplace, Julfa (Iran). Today the St. Matthias Anglican
Church occupies the site where his chapel once stood. It will be a
nice gesture to give his name to a place or a street in Chennai.”

<image> <credi> </credi> <img src=”../images/2004092100350102.jpg”
align=center width=”350″ border=1> <caption> Kesiglo Garbis
connecting with Armenian history. </caption> </image>

Peering further into the past, he comes up with more capsules of
history. “The oldest Christian grave in Chennai, dated 1663, is that
of an Armenian named Khoja Margar, on St. Thomas Mount. And inside
the church (on the Mount), lies the tombstone of Choja Safar
Zacarias, dated 1725. Many Armenian inscriptions mark the wooden
support of the pulpit and 14 oil paintings in Armenian throw light on
the Apostles.”

Stop Three: St. Mary of Angels, Armenian Street. Garbis says that it
was a pleasure tracing the “footprints” of those “respected Armenian
citizens” of this city. “Today they have no presence in Chennai,
except their tombstones and stone plaques. Famous Roman Catholic
Armenian benefactors such as Samuel Migirditch Moorat, Edward Samuel
Moorat and Anna Raphael were buried inside the Roman Catholic
Cathedral, St. Mary of Angels on the Armenian Street. The Moorat and
Raphael families financed the famous Armenian College,
Moorat-Rapahaelian in Venice, for the benefit of Armenian children in
Europe. Unfortunately, the Mechitarist Fathers closed this college a
couple of years ago. Edward Raphael was one of the founders of the
Carnatic Bank.”

He also wanted to scour the city for Armenian citizens. But a hectic
schedule led him to abandon this plan. He could not even meet the two
Armenians he knew of – the caretaker of the Armenian church and the
other, a rugby trainer. Defining the character of the quintessential
Armenian, Garbis says wherever Armenians go, they fit in well with
the locals. There is a flip side to this – assimilation. “Very much
so in America where many youngsters claim they are Americans but
their parents are Armenians.” Inter-racial marriage is another factor
diluting Armenianness’. “Except in Arabic countries where
inter-racial marriages are rare, many Armenians are marrying into
other communities.

Garbis, however, sees insensitivity to Armenian culture and not
miscegenation, as the biggest threat to Armenian identity. He is
concerned that in many countries the Armenian ethos is fading into
obscurity because the rhythms of modern life have been allowed to
drown what it has to say. “But, India is the silver lining.”

Morning Star
September 20, 2004

The first tragedy;
PICK:GEOFF SIMONS is shocked to discover the truth about a terrible
forgotten holocaust of the 20th century.

by GEOFF SIMONS

THE BURNING TIGRESS by Peter Balakian (William Balakian, GBP 18.99)

MANY of us are familiar with the words Adolf Hitler uttered to his
military advisers eight days before the nazis invaded Poland:

“Who today, after all, speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians?”
– a prelude to the nazi extermination of the Jews, Gypsies,
homosexuals and other victim groups.

Few of us, I reckon, know about the sheer scale of the vast crime
perpetrated by the Turks against the Armenian nation.

This was the first holocaust of the 20th century, predating by
decades the horrors of the World War II. Regarding the Armenian
extermination, the US was to emerge as a principal holocaust denier.

Balakian describes in graphic and harrowing detail the three stages
of persecution of the Armenian people, from the relatively
small-scale massacres under Abdul Hamid II to the ethnic cleansing
undertaken by the forces of the Turkish Committee of Union and
Progress under the cover of the first world war.

Extensive use is made of eyewitness accounts of US diplomats,
missionaries, massacre survivors and others and of the gruesome
testimony of the persecutors themselves, given during the short-lived
trials of the 1920s.

The great powers failed to respond effectively, just as they failed
to halt later genocides.

As Hitler knew, the fate of the Armenians was largely forgotten and
the dreadful lessons of the genocide were largely ignored.

It is to Balakian’s credit that he has helped to restore an early
20th-century tragedy to its rightful place in history.

I read this book with a mounting sense of shock. It is enough to
quote, almost at random, from the account of the massacres:

“Acommon practice was to . . . begin with bastinado . . . which
consists of beating the soles of the feet with a thin rod . . . until
the feet swell and burst . . . not infrequently, they have to be
amputated.

“In some cases, the gendarmes would nail hands and feet to pieces of
wood . . . they even delved into the records of the Spanish
inquisition and other historic institutions of torture and adopted
all the suggestions found there.”

The tortures were perpetrated as a prelude to or during the massive
phases of ethnic cleansing. ” The deportations quickly became either
scenes of mass killing for the men, death marches for the women,
children and elderly who were whipped, raped, tortured and shot in an
ongoing procession.”

In one account, a soldier wrestles a donkey away from a young woman
with a baby. “The Turk’s scimitar descended on her wrist and the hand
fell off.”

Rivers and brooks were filled with “swollen” and “worm-eaten
corpses.” There was no time to bury the thousands of bodies. “Most of
them had been partially eaten by dogs.”

At the village of Mollahkeuy, one of thousands similarly treated,
hundreds of dead bodies were scattered on the plain, nearly all of
them women and children.

Many of the women lay flat on their backs, showing signs of barbarous
mutilation by the bayonets of the gendarmes.

Ammunition was too valuable to use, so most of the killings were done
with “axes, cleavers, shovels and pitchforks.” The Turks “dashed
infants on the rocks” before the eyes of their mothers.

The carnage around Ankara was so vast that Talaat Pasha ordered more
than 40,000 bodies to be quickly buried in mass graves, “but the
stench of death and the mounds of bodies overwhelmed the landscape.”

As one witness travelled from Keghvenk to Mezre, he saw thousands of
corpses half buried.

On the beach of Lake Goeljuk, hundreds of bodies were piled on top of
each other, almost all women and children, all “naked” and showing
“signs of the brutal mutilation” that the Turks had inflicted.

In the valley, there were no fewer than 2,000 corpses.

The witness estimated “that, in the course of our ride around the
lake, we had seen the remains of not less than 1,000 Armenians.” The
“fiendish purpose of the Turks” was “to exterminate the Armenian
population.”

Another witness described the “game of swords” played by the Turkish
killing squads with Armenian girls.

Swords would be planted in the ground with the blades uppermost.
Then, men on horseback would each grab a girl and ride at a gallop,
throwing the girl to impale her on a sword.

If she was only wounded, she would be scooped up again and thrown
until she was finally impaled. The bodies were then thrown in the
Tigris river.

In 2000, an Armenian genocide resolution, acknowledging the full
horrors perpetrated by the Turks, was proposed by the US congress.

Turkey, in response, mounted a massive propagan – da campaign with
the support of Israel, declaring that, if the Bill were passed,
Ankara would close its airbase to US planes.

President Clinton then instructed House Speaker Dennis Hastert to
kill the Bill. “Once again, the attempt to commemorate the century’s
first genocide had been effectively censored by a foreign
government.”

In October 2000, shortly after Clinton had caved in to Turkish
pressure, France passed an A r m e n i a n genocide resolution into
law, declaring the fact of the vast extermination.

Turkey protested hysterically and withdrew its ambassador from Paris.

Six months later, Turkish diplomatic relations with France were
resumed and business was back to normal.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
September 21, 2004 Tuesday

OSCE Chairman-in-Office concerned about Karabakh conflict

By Sevindzh Abdullayeva, Viktor Shulman

BAKU

OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi
is concerned about the protracted conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh,
Pasi’s special envoy for Azerbaijan and Armenia Filip Dimitrov said
at a Tuesday meeting with Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev.

“The OSCE Chairman-in-Office thinks that the problem must be solved
as soon as possible,” Dimitrov said.

Abiyev thinks that the Astana meeting between the Azerbaijani and
Armenian presidents “gives hope for peace settlement of the problem.”
He agreed that the conflict should be settled quickly for the sake of
“security of large economic projects in Azerbaijan with the
participation of European countries and the United States.”

The Karabakh conflict must be settled on the basis of international
legal norms and in conformity to the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan, the minister said. “Armenia must unconditionally pull out
troops from the occupied lands. Otherwise Azerbaijan will have to
free them,” he noted.