Armenian Court Gives Green Light For Iraq Deployment
By Anna Saghabalian 09/12/2004 09:02
Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep
Dec 9 2004
Armenia’s Constitutional Court gave the government the green light
on Wednesday to send Armenian non-combat troops to Iraq, a deployment
which Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian claimed will spare the country
international isolation.
The ruling paved the way for a debate on the issue in parliament
dominated by President Robert Kocharian’s loyalists. Some of them
have serious misgivings about the wisdom of the deployment, sharing
concerns about the security of Iraq’s Armenian community.
But Sarkisian brushed aside those concerns as he addressed the panel
of nine judges. “Armenia could not have stayed isolated from regional
developments,” he said. “Hence, the Armenian authorities’ decision
to participate in the process of Iraq’s stabilization.”
Sarkisian warned that Armenia’s failure to follow neighboring
Azerbaijan’s and Georgia’s example and join the U.S.-led “coalition
of the willing” in Iraq “could create certain obstacles to a further
expansion of Armenia’s cooperation in the international arena.” He
did not elaborate.
The one-day court hearing centered on an agreement between Poland and
18 other countries that have troops in a Polish-led multinational
division controlling south-central Iraq. Kocharian promised to
place about 50 Armenian military doctors, sappers and truck drivers
under Polish command during a visit to Warsaw last September. The
Constitutional Court found that the agreement does not run counter
to the Armenian constitution.
Sarkisian said Yerevan will sign up to the document on the condition
that the Armenian military personnel take part only in “defensive
and humanitarian activities” and avoid joint actions with the bigger
Azerbaijani contingent. “Performance of joint tasks with the contingent
of Azerbaijani armed forces stationed in Iraq will not be acceptable,”
he said.
Speaking to reporters afterward, the powerful defense chief was
confident that the National Assembly will endorse the deployment
plans welcomed by the United States. “I think that the overwhelming
majority of our parliamentarians care about Armenia’s future and will
not make emotional decisions,” he said.
Critics have been warning that an estimated 25,000 Iraqi citizens of
Armenian descent could face retaliatory attacks from Iraqi insurgents
once Armenia becomes part of the U.S.-led occupation force. The
insurgents have routinely kidnapped and killed citizens of countries
cooperating with it.
Leaders of the Iraqi Armenians have themselves exhorted Kocharian
not to send any servicemen. Underscoring their fears was Tuesday’s
bombing of Armenian and Chaldean churches in the northern Iraqi city
of Mosul. News reports said gunmen burst in and set off explosions
inside the buildings, damaging them but hurting no one.
The Armenian Apostolic Church condemned the violence, with Catholicos
Garegin II warning of a “danger to the centuries-old co-existence
of the Christian and Islamic peoples” of Iraq. Garegin urged Iraqi
spiritual leaders to prevent the continuing unrest in the country
from degenerating into a religious conflict.
The alarm was echoed Pope John Paul II on Wednesday. “I express
my spiritual closeness to the faithful, shocked by the attacks,”
John Paul said, speaking from his apartment window above St. Peter’s
Square on the Roman Catholic feast of the Immaculate Conception.
In Yerevan, meanwhile, one of the Constitutional Court judges, Kim
Balayan, wondered if the planned deployment could put the lives of
Iraqi Armenians at greater risk. Sarkisian countered that they will
be insecure regardless of Armenian military presence in Iraq.

STRENGTHENING OF COOPERATION BETWEEN SUNIK AND ARDABIL OF STRATEGIC
IMPORTANCE FOR ARMENIA
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8. ARMINFO. The strengthening of the cooperation
between the Armenian region of Sunik and the Iranian province
of Ardabil is of strategic importance for Armenia, Territorial
Administration Minister of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan said during his
today’s meeting with Ardabil Governor Meied Javad Negarande.
He said that in its relations with Iran Armenia gives priority
to the exchange and testing of Armenian and Iranian crops, seeds
and seedlings, the introduction of the Iranian technology of potato
processing, the formation of a joint office of the Armenian and Iranian
commerce and industry chambers for coordinating agricultural and other
programs. Negarande said that his visit is an opportunity for Armenian
and Iranian businessmen to establish personal contacts. He says that
this cooperation will bring its fruits in the very near future.

Pope concern for Iraqi Christians after two terror attacks
Catholic News, Australia
Dec 9 2004
Pope John Paul II has expressed his concern for Christians in Iraq
after terrorists made fresh attacks on two Christian sites in the
northern city of Mosul.
Catholic News Service reports that after praying the Angelus with the
faithful gathered in St Peter´s Square yesterday, the Holy Father
conveyed his “spiritual closeness to the faithful, shaken by the
attack.”
An Armenian Catholic church and the Chaldean Catholic bishop´s
residence were destroyed on Tuesday in two separate bomb attacks in
Mosul.
The Pope prayed for the intercession of the Virgin Mary to help “the
beloved Iraqi people” experience “a time of reconciliation and
peace.”
In Mosul, an armed group of commandos stormed the Armenian Catholic
church at 2:30 p.m. Witnesses said the attackers ushered everyone out
of the church, then detonated two bombs, leaving the church in ruins.
About two hours later, another group of armed men attacked the
Chaldean bishop´s residence in another part of the city. The men
ordered people in the building out before setting off explosives,
which engulfed the residence in flames.
No one was killed or injured in the two attacks, according to news
reports.
Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel-Karim Delly of Baghdad lamented the fresh
violence and warned that local Christians were becoming “increasingly
worried that they will be targets of such acts of violence.”
“Christians are worried about this kind of violence happening over
and over again,” he said in a Dec. 7 interview with Asianews, an
Italian-based missionary news agency.
He said the “Iraqi government is impotent to prevent such acts.”
–Boundary_(ID_Buohn6hloZ2EMv1eXBdwew)–

Iraq, fatte esplodere due chiese cristiane
La Padania, Italia
mercoledì 8 dicembre 2004
MOSSUL – Un commando ha fatto saltare in aria la chiesa caldea di
Mossul, nell’Iraq settentrionale. Un gruppo di persone armate ha
fatto irruzione nella chiesa e ha costretto quanti vi si trovavano a
radunarsi in un cortile. Il commando ha poi fatto esplodere diverse
cariche di esplosivo all’interno della chiesa. I caldei fanno parte
della minoranza cristiana irachena, che ammonta complessivamente a
circa il 2% della popolazione. Un attentato analogo è stato portato
quasi contemporaneamente contro una chiesa armena della città. Anche
in questo caso gli attaccanti hanno fatto uscire tutti i presenti e
hanno fatto saltare cariche di esplosivi.
Un marine americano è stato ucciso ieri durante uno scontro a fuoco
con la guerriglia ad ovest di Baghdad, nella provincia di Al-Anbar.
Il presidente russo Vladimir Putin ha espresso forti riserve sulle
prossime elezioni in Iraq: «Francamente – ha detto durante un
incontro con il premier iracheno Ayad Allawi – non posso nemmeno
immaginarmi come sia possibile organizzare elezioni in un paese sotto
occupazione straniera». E’ il secondo “sgarbo” che Putin fa a Bush
dopo quello di pochi giorni fa, quando ha detto di sperare che “Bush
possa imparare la lezione irachena», ed è probabilmente la “vendetta”
per l’appoggio dato dagli Usa alla “rivoluzione arancione” in
Ucraina, che ha portato all’annullamento della vittoria del candidato
di Putin. Le elezioni, fissate per il prossimo 30 gennaio, potrebbero
essere scaglionate in 15-20 giorni nelle diverse province: lo ha
detto lo stesso Allawi per dar modo a tutti – “sciiti, sunniti,
cristiani, curdi, turcomanni” – di votare . Un meccanismo del genere
– ha spiegato – permetterebbe di creare un dispositivo di sicurezza
adeguato
Forze Usa hanno arrestato 18 sospetti ribelli in un raid a Tikrit, a
nord di Baghdad, sequestrando armi e bombe. Tikrit è la città natale
di Saddam Hussein e punto focale della resistenza.
–Boundary_(ID_dJ3CpbmH7AqYRF4c8WUWwA)–

Armenian, Azeri foreign ministers to meet in Brussels on 9 December
Arminfo
8 Dec 04
Yerevan, 8 December: Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan and
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will have a meeting in
Brussels on 9 December. The meeting will be attended by the co-chairmen
of the OSCE Minsk Group to settle the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict,
the press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry has told Arminfo
news agency.
The Armenian foreign minister arrived in Brussels from Sofia
yesterday to participate in a meeting of the foreign ministers of
the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (CEAP). As was reported, the
two countries’ foreign ministers also held a meeting in Sofia.
According to the source, Oskanyan today held a meeting with the
ambassadors of CEAP member countries and representatives of analytical
centres drawing up European policy. During the meeting, the sides
touched on relations between Armenia and Turkey, Armenia’s prospects of
integrating into and expanding cooperation with the European Union in
the context of Europe’s New Neighbourhood policy. The foreign minister
then met the European Commission’s commissioner for expansion issues,
Olli Rehn, to present Armenia’s approach to the 17 December summit of
the European Union regarding Turkey’s accession to the European Union.
[Passage omitted: Vardan Oskanyan also met other European officials]

Jean Paul II prie pour les Irakiens après les attentats contre des églises
Edicom, Suisse
Dec 8 2004
CITE DU VATICAN (AP) – Le pape Jean Paul II a déclaré mercredi qu’il
priait pour le peuple irakien après les attentats à la bombe contre
deux églises de Mossoul dans le nord de l’Irak, dernière violence en
date contre les chrétiens du pays.
»J’exprime ma proximité spirituelle avec les fidèles, choqués par ces
attentats», a dit Jean Paul II qui parlait depuis l’une des fenêtres
de ses appartements sur la place Saint-Pierre à l’occasion de la fête
catholique de l’Immaculée Conception.
Le souverain pontife a ajouté qu’il priait pour que les Irakiens
»puissent connaître enfin le temps de la réconciliation et de la paix».
Dans deux attentats simultanés mardi, des insurgés ont fait exploser
des bombes dans une église catholique arménienne et une église
chaldéenne à Mossoul, faisant trois blessés.
–Boundary_(ID_Pg2vY6gu1w1Ur9zhYYkWMQ)–

Armenian ombudsman accuses Azeri media of spreading misinformation
Arminfo
8 Dec 04
Yerevan, 8 December: Armenian ombudsman Larisa Alaverdyan has protested
against the spread of misinformation by the Azerbaijani media. “It
has become obvious lately that the Azerbaijani mass media are working
flat out to undermine relations between the human rights commissioners
of Azerbaijan and Armenia by trying to engage the national rights
institutions in pseudo-political insinuations that have nothing in
common with the ideals of human rights,” says a statement circulated
by the department for information and public relations of the Armenian
ombudsman’s office.
The latest Berlin meeting of ombudsmen from Europe and the CIS
held under the auspices of the Council of Europe’s human rights
commissioner was no exception to this rule, the document says. The
misinformation about “victories” in the putative struggle against
the Armenian ombudsman who has allegedly failed to disprove facts,
was promptly published on the web site of Azartac, the Azerbaijani
state-owned news agency.
Meanwhile, Alaverdyan said the official press release of the Council
of Europe says that the meeting adopted only one document, the Berlin
declaration, which does not and could not contain a word about the
“accepted suggestions and demands” of the Azerbaijani ombudsman,
especially if they concerned the Karabakh conflict. Such misinformation
casts a shadow on the high forum of representatives of national human
rights institutions from Europe and the CIS.
“In parallel with this, an international conference of ombudsmen from
the CIS and Europe was held in Baku and the Armenian ombudsman was not
even invited there even though she had repeatedly said from different
international rostrums that she was ready to attend the Baku conference
because she believes it is very important to establish cooperation
between national human right institutions of Europe and the CIS,”
the statement said.
[Passage omitted: previous meetings at the level of ombudsmen]
“Unfortunately, the destabilizing role of Azerbaijan in the South
Caucasus region, which the Armenian media and public have been warning
about, has reached the area of protection of human rights. This compels
us to raise the issue of joining our efforts in creating an atmosphere
of real and effective work in the area of human rights which would
enable us to reject all attempts at distorting the essence of this
benevolent mission,” the statement said.

Powell calls on Russia to withdraw bases
The Messenger, Georgia
Dec 8 2004
Georgian minister says border monitoring mission needs extension “for
the sake of peace and stability”
By Warren Hedges
Washington is waiting for Russia to act on its commitments to remove
military bases from Georgia and is even willing to contribute to the
cost of doing so, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell declared on
Tuesday.
Speaking in Sofia during the 12th meeting of the OSCE Ministerial
Council, Secretary Powell also said the OSCE needs to make a ‘new
push’ to help settle frozen conflicts like those in Georgia and
Moldova.
“In parts of our OSCE community, frozen conflicts still remain frozen
fifteen years after the end of the Cold War,” he said during a speech
to the council. He added that in the past year, “there has been
little headway made toward resolution of the situation in
Nagorno-Karabakh or in breakaway regions of Moldova and Georgia. A
new push from the OSCE and by the leaders of participating states is
needed.”
He immediately followed these comments by calling on Russia to follow
through on its obligations agreed to 1999 to remove military bases
from Georgia.
“Russia’s commitments to withdraw its military forces from Moldova,
and to agree with Georgia on the duration of the Russian military
presence there, remain unfulfilled,” the secretary noted.
Referring to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE),
which the U.S. has yet to ratify, Powell said, “A core principle of
the CFE Treaty is host country agreement to the stationing of
forces.”
“The United States remains committed to moving ahead with
ratification of the Adapted CFE Treaty,” Powell said, “but we will
only do so after all the Istanbul commitments on Georgia and Moldova
have been met. And we stand ready to assist with reasonable costs
associated with the implementation of those commitments.”
Representing Georgia, as well as the GUUAM organization, at the
two-day council meeting, Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Salome
Zourabichvili called on OSCE members to extend its border monitoring
mission in Georgia, a mission that is set to expire at the end of
this month.
“We strongly believe that the OSCE Border Monitoring Operation (BMO)
in Georgia is one of the most successful missions of our
Organization,” Zourabichvili said, “simultaneously making a
tremendous contribution to Georgia’s border security at the most
volatile and controversial segments of the Georgian-Russian border.”
The BMO currently deploys 150 monitors from member countries along
the border between Georgia and the Chechen Republic of the Russian
Federation. According to the OSCE, the mission began in December 1999
and was expanded in December 2001 to encompass the Ingush segment of
the Georgian border with the Russian Federation, and once more in
December 2002, to include the Dagestan segment of the border.
Zourabichvili concluded her speech by calling for an extension beyond
the current year: “We strongly support the BMO’s extension for the
sake of peace and stability in the region.”
Secretary Powell also backed up Georgia’s position, saying some of
the OSCE’s “most important assets” are its 17 field missions. ” The
missions are working for democracy, human rights and conflict
resolution from the Balkans to Central Asia. In Georgia, the OSCE’s
Border Monitoring Operation is contributing to stability on a
sensitive border, and its mandate should be extended for another
year.”
Representing Russia, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov called
on Georgia to avoid politicizing its separatist conflicts and to
avoid the use of force.
“Today we need not political slogans but concrete measures to improve
the situation in South Ossetia in terms of the Sochi agreements of
Zhvania and Kokoiti on November 5,” Lavrov said.
He also said Russia is waiting for economic cooperation between
Georgia and separatist Abkhazia: “We wait for the logical steps in
fulfilling these agreements from both sides so as to strengthen the
trust between Tbilisi and Sokhumi, mainly in the economic sphere.”
Lavrov also called on Georgia to “not forget about” its commitments
to the OSCE to protect regional governments like Adjara’s autonomous
status: “The liquidation of Adjaran autonomy would not contribute to
raising trust in Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-Ossetian relations.”

Indian Express, India
Dec 9 2004
Bollywood DIPLOMACY
Express Features Service
New Delhi, December 8: Like so many people in his part of the
world, the outgoing Armenian ambassador Armen Baibourtian too is a
Bollywood fan. And so, at a recent farewell party held in his honour
at The Grand hotel, he informed us that he is taking back many filmi
memories. “Aishwarya Rai and Shah Rukh Khan are my favourite stars,”
said the man who will be Deputy Foreign Minister in the Armenian
government. Baibourtian served a four-and-a-half-year term in India and
was happy to deliberate on the India-Armenia connection. “There are
Armenian communities in India, mostly in Chennai and Kolkata. And at
present there are around 650 Indian students in Yerevan State Medical
University in Armenia,” he said. But if he had to choose between a doc,
Ash and SRK as Indian envoy to his country, wonder who he’d vote for?

ARKADY GHOUKASSIAN AWARDS ARMENIAN PHOTOGRAPHER FROM CANADA HRAIR (BAZE)
KHACHERIAN WITH NKR MEDAL “YERAKHTAGITUTYUN”
STEPANAKERT, December 8 (Noyan Tapan). On December 8, NKR President
Arkady Ghoukassian awarded well-known Canadian photographer of Armenian
origin Hrair (Baze) Khacherian with the NKR medal “Yerakhtagitutyun”
(“Gratitude”). He was awarded with this medal for contribution to
the development of the NKR culture and in connection with the 15th
anniversary of the national-liberation movement in Artsakh.
Hrair Khacherian expressed deep gratitude to the head of the Karabakh
state for such a high assessment of his work. According to him,
Artsakh is a source of creative inspiration not only for himself but
for all the culural and art workers of the Armenian Diaspora.
According to the Head Information System attached to the NKR President,
on his behalf the Canadian photographer presented Arkady Ghoukassian
with one of his works.