Armenian president signs up in condolences book in Russian embassy
By Tigran Liloyan

ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 7, 2004 Tuesday

YEREVAN, September 7 — Armenian President Robert Kocharyan signed
up in the book of condolences at the Russian embassy in Yerevan on
Tuesday. Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan also visited
the embassy.

The embassy thanked the Armenian administration, political parties
and public organizations, diplomatic missions accredited in Yerevan,
average people, students and schoolchildren for condolences,
solidarity, moral and material support to the people of Russia in
connection with the terrorist act in Beslan, North Ossetia.

Armenian Union of Russia condemns Beslan terrorist act

ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 7, 2004 Tuesday

MOSCOW, September 7 — The Armenian Union of Russia has condemned
the organizers and perpetrators of the barbaric act of international
terrorism against helpless children and their parents in Beslan,
North Ossetia.

“We reject terrorism as a method of solving any kinds of problems. We
regard it as barbarity and savagery,” says a Tuesday statement of
the Union.

The Union presented condolences to families of the Beslan victims
and expressed the readiness to help.

ARMENIA READY TO TAKE IN COUNTRY FELLOWS FROM BESLAN FOR RECOVERY

ArmenPress
Sept 7 2004

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS: After visiting the Russian embassy in
Yerevan to express his sadness and solidarity with Russia over Beslan
school hostage tragedy, Armenian prime minister Andranik Margarian said
to reporters that his Republican Party and the government condemn any
manifestation of terrorism. “What happened in Beslan caused pain to all
of us and our goal is to combine efforts to fight that evil,” he said.

The Armenian prime minister said after the collapse of the former
Soviet Union many CIS states appeared to be unable to recover security
capacities in order to ensure their citizens’ safety. He said the
Armenian health ministry has already sent a batch of humanitarian
assistance to Beslan and added that some Armenian building companies
would like to participate in reconstruction projects there. “Armenia
is ready to accept ethnic Armenians who suffered in the hostage taking
to help them recover here,” he said.

Mind the Gap

Turkey is everyone’s idea of a “successful” modern Muslim state

A new novel will make you think twice

The Atlantic Monthly
October 2004

Books

“A Bit On The Side,” by William Trevor (Viking)
“Snow,” by Orhan Pamuk (Knopf)

By Christopher Hitchens

Well before the fall of 2001 a search was in progress, on the part
of Western readers and critics, for a novelist in the Muslim world
who could act the part of dragoman, an interpretive guide to the
East. In part this was and remains a quest for reassurance. The hope
was (and is) that an apparently “answering” voice, attuned to irony
and rationality and to the quotidian rather than the supernatural,
would pick up the signals sent by self-critical Americans and Europeans
and remit them in an intelligible form. Hence the popularity of the
Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz, who seemed in his Cairo café-society mode to
be potentially “one of us”-even more so when he had the misfortune
to be stabbed in the neck by a demented fundamentalist. There was
a much lesser vogue for spikier secular writers, such as the late
Abdelrahman Munif, author of the Cities of Salt quintet, and the late
Israeli Arab Emil Habibi, whose novel Saeed the Pessoptimist is the
favorite narrative of many Palestinians (and who also had the grace
to win Israel’s national prize for the best writing in Hebrew). In
some ways those two were not quite “Muslim” enough for the purposes
of authenticity.

Orhan Pamuk, a thoughtful native of Istanbul who lived for three
years in New York, has for some time been in contention for the post
of mutual or reciprocal fictional interpreter. Turkey is, physically
and historically, the “bridge” between East and West, and I have
yet to read a Western newspaper report from the country that fails
to employ that cheering metaphor. (I cannot be certain how many
“Eastern” articles and broadcasts are similarly affirmative.) With
his previous novel, My Name Is Red, Pamuk himself became a kind of
register of this position, dwelling on the interpenetration of Islamic
and Western styles and doing so in a “postmodern” fashion that laid
due emphasis on texts, figures, and representations. After 9/11 he
was the natural choice for The New York Review of Books, to which
he contributed a decent if unoriginal essay that expressed horror
at the atrocities while admonishing Westerners not to overlook the
wretched of the earth. In Turkey he spoke up for Kurdish rights and
once refused a state literary award. Some of his fellow secularists,
however, felt that he was too ready to “balance” his views with
criticism of the Kemalist and military forces that act as guarantors
of Turkey’s secularism.

In a Bush speech to the new membership of NATO, delivered in Istanbul
last June, one of the President’s handlers was astute enough to insert
a quotation from Pamuk, to the effect that the finest view of the
city was not from its European or its Asian shores but from-yes-the
“bridge that unites them.” The important thing, as the President went
on to intone from Pamuk, “is not the clash of parties, civilizations,
cultures, East and West.” No; what is important is to recognize
“that other peoples in other continents and civilizations” are
“exactly like you.” De te fabula narratur.

Human beings are of course essentially the same, if not exactly
identical. But somehow this evolutionary fact does not prevent
clashes of varying intensity from being the norm rather than the
exception. “Remember your humanity, and forget the rest,” Albert
Einstein is supposed to have said. This already questionable call
to amnesia translates badly in cultures that regard Einstein himself
as a Satanic imp spawned from the hideous loins of Jewish degeneration.

In his new novel Pamuk gives us every reason to suppose that he is far
more ambivalent about this facile “bridge-building” stuff than he has
so far let on. The plot is complex yet susceptible of summary. Narrated
by Pamuk, with the advantages of both foresight and hindsight, it
shows an anomic young Turk named Kerim Alakusoglu, a poet with a bad
case of literary sterility and sexual drought, as he negotiates a
moment of personal and political crisis in the city of Kars, on the
Turkish-Armenian frontier. Disliking his given name, the man prefers
to go under the acronym formed by his initials: “Ka.” Having taken
part in the violent and futile Marxist-Leninist student movement that
was eventually obliterated by the military coup of 1980, and having
followed so many of his ex-comrades into exile in Germany, Ka is a
burned-out case. Pretending to seek a journalistic assignment in this
remote town, which has recently witnessed an epidemic of suicide
by young girls thwarted in their desire to take the Muslim veil,
he is in fact magnetized by the possibility of seeing Ipek, the lost
flame of his youth. As he arrives, a blizzard isolates the city and
almost buries it in snow-for which the Turkish word is kar. One might
therefore deploy a cliché and say that the action is frozen in time.

When frozen in the present, the mise-en-scène discloses a community
of miserably underemployed people, caught among a ramshackle state
machine, a nascent Islamism, and the claims of competing nationalist
minorities. A troupe of quasi-Brechtian traveling players is in town,
and it enacts a “play within a play,” in which the bitter violence
of the region is translated with shocking effect directly onto the
stage. Drawn into the social and religious conflict, Ka seems to
alternate between visions of “snow” in its macrocosmic form-the chilly
and hostile masses-and its microcosmic: the individual beauty and
uniqueness of each flake. Along the scrutinized axes that every flake
manifests he rediscovers his vocation and inspiration as a poet and
arranges a cycle of verses. This collection is lost when, on his return
to Frankfurt, he is shot down in a street of the red-light district.

In terms of characterization the novel is disappointing,
precisely because its figures lack the crystalline integrity of
individuals. Ipek, for example, appears on almost every page yet
is barely allowed any quality other than her allegedly wondrous
beauty. The protagonists speak their lines as Islamists, secularists,
conformists, and opportunists. And the author leaves no room for doubt
that he finds the Islamists the most persuasive and courageous. This is
true in spite of the utter nonsense that he makes them spout. A couple
of Muslim boys corner Ka and demand that he answer this question,
about a dead girl he never met:

Now we’d like to know if you could do us both a favor. The thing is,
we can both accept that Teslime might have been driven to the sin of
suicide by the pressures from her parents and the state. It’s very
painful; Fazil can’t stop thinking that the girl he loved committed
the sin of suicide. But if Teslime was a secret atheist like the one
in the story, if she was one of those unlucky souls who don’t even
know that they are atheists, or if she committed suicide because she
was an atheist, for Fazil this is a catastrophe: It means he was in
love with an atheist.

I should caution the potential reader that a great deal of the
dialogue is as lengthy and stilted as that, even if in this
instance the self-imposed predicaments of the pious, along with
their awful self-pitying solipsism, are captured fairly well. So is
the superiority/inferiority complex of many provincial Turks-almost
masochistic when it comes to detailing their own woes, yet intensely
resentful of any “outside” sympathy. Most faithfully rendered, however,
is the pervading sense that secularism has been, or is being, rapidly
nullified by diminishing returns. The acting troupe is run by a vain
old Kemalist mountebank named Sunay Zaim, who once fancied himself
an Atatürk look-alike, and his equally decrepit and posturing lady
friend. The army and the police use torture as a matter of course to
hang on to power.

Their few civilian supporters are represented as diseased old
ex-Stalinists whose leader-one Z. Demirkol, not further named-could
have leapt from the pages of Soviet agitprop. These forces take
advantage of the snowstorm to mount a coup in Kars and impose
their own arbitrary will, though it is never explained why they do
this or how they can hope to get away with it. In contrast, the
Muslim fanatics are generally presented in a favorable or lenient
light. A shadowy “insurgent” leader, incongruously named “Blue,”
is a man of bravery and charm, who may or may not have played a
heroic role in the fighting in Chechnya and Bosnia. (Among these
and many other contemporary references, the Taliban and al-Qaeda
are never mentioned.) The girls who immolate themselves for the
right to wear head-covering are shown as if they had been pushed
by the pitiless state, or by their gruesome menfolk, to the limits
of endurance. They are, in other words, veiled quasi-feminists. The
militant boys of their age are tormented souls seeking the good life
in the spiritual sense. The Islamist ranks have their share of fools
and knaves, but these tend to be ex-leftists who have switched sides
in an ingratiating manner. Ka himself is boiling with guilt, about
the “European” character that he has acquired in exile in Frankfurt,
and about the realization that the Istanbul bourgeoisie, from which
he originates, generally welcomes military coups without asking too
many questions. The posturing Sunay at least phrases this well.

No one who’s even slightly westernized can breathe free in this
country unless they have a secular army protecting them, and no one
needs this protection more than intellectuals who think they’re better
than everyone else and look down on other people. If it weren’t for
the army, the fanatics would be turning their rusty knives on the
lot of them and their painted women and chopping them all into little
pieces. But what do these upstarts do in return? They cling to their
little European ways and turn up their affected little noses at the
very soldiers who guarantee their freedom.

A continuous theme of the novel, indeed, is the rancor felt by the
local inhabitants against anyone who has bettered himself-let alone
herself-by emigrating to an undifferentiated “Europe” or by aping
European manners and attitudes. A secondary version of this bitterness,
familiar to those who study small-town versus big-city attitudes the
world over, is the suspicion of those left behind that they are somehow
not good enough. But this mutates into the more consoling belief
that they are despised by the urbane. Only one character-unnamed-has
the nerve to point out that if free visas were distributed, every
hypocrite in town would leave right away and Kars would be deserted.

As for the past tense in which Kars is also frozen, I have to rely on
a certain amount of guesswork. Although Ka’s acronym could ostensibly
have been drawn from any pair of consonant/vowel first and last names,
I presume from Pamuk’s demonstrated interest in codes and texts that
K and A were chosen deliberately. There seem to be two possibilities
here: one is “Kemal Atatürk,” the military founder of modern secular
Turkey; the other is “Kurdistan and Armenia,” standing in for the
national subtexts of the tale.

Pamuk supplies no reason for his selection, but the setting of Kars
means that he might intend elements of both of the above. The city
was lost by Ottoman Turkey to Russia in 1878, regained in 1918, and
then briefly lost again to an alliance of Bolsheviks and Armenians
until, in late 1920, it became the scene of a Turkish nationalist
victory that fixed the boundary between Turkey and then-Soviet
Armenia that endures to the present day. (This event was among the
many negations of Woodrow Wilson’s postwar diplomacy, which had
“awarded” the region to the Armenians.) From Kars, also in 1920,
the legendary Turkish Communist leader Mustafa Suphi set out along
the frontier region, dotted with magically evocative place-names like
Erzurum and Trebizond, and was murdered with twelve of his comrades
by right-wing “Young Turks.” This killing was immortalized by Nazim
Hikmet in a poem that is still canonical in Turkey. (Hikmet himself,
the nation’s unofficial laureate, was to spend decades in jail and in
exile because of his Communist loyalties.) The outright victor in all
those discrepant struggles was Mustafa Kemal, who had helped defeat two
“Christian” invasions of Turkish soil in his capacity as a soldier,
and who went on to assume absolute political power and to supervise
and direct the only lasting secular revolution that a Muslim society
has ever undergone. His later change of name to Kemal Atatürk was only
part of his driving will to “Westernize” Turkey, Latinize its script,
abolish male and female religious headgear, adopt surnames, and in
general erase the Islamic caliphate that today’s fundamentalists hope
to restore.

Pamuk is at his best in depicting the layers of the past that are
still on view in Kars-in particular the Armenian houses and churches
and schools whose ghostly reminder of a scattered and desecrated
civilization is enhanced in its eeriness by the veil of snow. Nor
does he omit the sullen and disaffected Kurdish population. The price
of Kemalism was the imposition of a uniform national identity on
Turkey, where ethnic and religious variety was heavily repressed,
and where the standard-issue unsmiling bust of Atatürk-pervasive
in Pamuk’s account of the scenery and most often described as the
target of terrorism or vandalism-became the symbol of military rule.
(Atatürk was a lifelong admirer of the French Revolution, but Turkey,
as was once said of Prussia, is not so much a country that has an
army as an army that has a country.) In these circumstances it takes
a certain amount of courage for any Turkish citizen to challenge the
authorized version of modern statehood.

However, courage is an element that this novel lacks. Some important
Turkish scholarship has recently attempted an honest admission of the
Armenian genocide and a critique of the official rationalizations for
it. The principal author in this respect is Taner Akcam, who, as Pamuk
is certainly aware, was initially forced to publish his findings as
one of those despised leftist exiles in Germany-whereas from reading
Snow one might easily conclude that all the Armenians of Anatolia
had decided for some reason to pick up and depart en masse, leaving
their ancestral properties for tourists to gawk at. As for the Kurds,
Pamuk tends to represent them as rather primitive objects of sympathy.

Ka’s poetic rebirth involves him, and us, in a comparable fatalism and
passivity. Early in the story he is quite baldly described as feeling
a predetermined poem coming on, and is prevented from completion of
the closing lines only by a sudden knock at the door. I managed to
assimilate the implied allusion to Coleridge’s Kubla Khan. But about
fifty pages later, when another poem was successfully delivered from
Ka’s subconscious, I was confronted with a full-out deadpan account of
the person from Porlock who had interrupted Coleridge at the critical
moment. Pamuk’s literalism and pedantry are probably his greatest
enemies as a writer of fiction; he doesn’t trust the reader until he
has hit him over the head with dialogue and explanation of the most
didactic kind. Throughout the remainder of the novel, though, we are
invited to believe in the miraculous rather than the mundane: Ka quite
simply sits himself down at odd moments and sets out near faultless
poems (never quoted) on whatever paper is handy. The necessary cliché
about “automatic writing” is eventually employed, somewhat heavily,
to account for this. But I was inevitably put in mind of the Koran,
or “recitation,” by which the Prophet Muhammad came to be the supposed
medium of the divine.

Ka is presented to us as a man who has assumed or affected his atheism
as a kind of protective epidermis. His unbelief is of a piece with his
attempt to deaden his emotions and decrease his vulnerability. His
psyche is on a knife edge, and he is always ready to be overwhelmed
by the last person he has spoken to. Yet he can watch an educator
being shot in cold blood by a Muslim zealot and feel nothing. Only
when in the company of beaming Dervishes and Sufis-those Islamic
sects that survived Atatürk’s dissolution of clerical power-does he
become moist and trusting and openhearted. Yet “rising up inside him
was that feeling he had always known as a child and as a young man at
moments of extraordinary happiness: a prospect of future misery and
hopelessness.” Like the Danish prince who had a version of the same
difficulty, Ka finds a form of cathartic relief in helping to produce
the violent stage play that expresses his own fears and dreads. Pamuk
drops in many loud references to Chekhov, and the gun that is on
the mantelpiece from the beginning of the action is at last duly and
lethally discharged. (It is described as a “Canakkale” rifle, Canakkale
being the Turkish name for the Dardanelle Straits and the site of
Gallipoli-the battle that was Atatürk’s baptism as a leader.) The
handgun that goes off later, and extinguishes Ka’s life, is heard
only offstage. But it is clear that Islamist revenge has followed
him to the heart of Europe and punished him for his ambivalence.
Prolix and often clumsy as it is, Pamuk’s new novel should be taken
as a cultural warning. So weighty was the impression of Atatürk that
ever since his death, in 1938, Western statecraft has been searching
for an emulator or successor. Nasser was thought for a while to be
the needful charismatic, secularizing strongman. So was Sadat. So,
for a while, was the Shah of Iran. And so was Saddam Hussein . Eager
above all to have a modern yet “Muslim” state within the tent, the
United States and the European Union have lately been taking Turkey’s
claims to modernity more and more at face value. The attentive reader
of Snow will not be so swift to embrace this consoling conclusion.

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Ministry says H1 investments in Armenia’s telecoms up 40%

Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
September 7, 2004

YEREVAN, Sept 7 (Prime-Tass) — Investment into the telecommunications
sector in Armenia rose over 40% on the year in January-June to
U.S. USD 41.5 million, the Economic Development and Trade Minister
Tigran Davtyan told reporters Tuesday.

Of the total, direct investments amounted to USD 21 million,
Davtyan said.

The major investor in the sector was Greece’s Telecommunications
Organization (OTE), he also said adding that the company continues
to invest in the sector.

“The increase of OTE’s investments testifies that the company is ready
for the fact that ArmenTel will not keep its monopoly in the Armenian
telecommunications sector for a long period of time,” Davtyan said.

ArmenTel is an Armenian telecommunications company, which was granted
the right to a monopoly for 15 years in 1997.

On September 8, 2003, the government decided to deprive ArmenTel of
its monopoly license, but the decision has not yet been enforced due
to ongoing lawsuits.

OTE controls a 90% stake in ArmenTel, while the remaining 10% is held
by Armenian government.

According to a financial statement provided by OTE, ArmenTel’s
operating revenue rose 22.7% on the year to 21.1 million euros in
the second quarter. End

TRIAL OF ARMENIAN PILOTS IN EQUATORIAL GUINEA TO RESUME IN EARLY OCTOBER

ArmenPress
Sept 7 2004

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS: In an exclusive interview with
Armenpress Armenian ambassador to Egypt, Sergey Manaserian, recently
back from Equatorial Guinea where he attended the trial of six
Armenian pilots, arrested on charges of involvement in an alleged
coup to oust that country’s president Teodoro Obiang Nguema, said
the trial, started on August 23, was suspended for one month.

He said Equatorial Guinea’s chief prosecutor, national security
minister and high officials of the foreign ministry used to say
that the trial would not run for more than 3-4 days, an opinion
that was also shared by lawyers and locally deployed diplomats and
representatives from the South African Republic.

Manaserian said the South African Nick du Toit, accused of attempting
to oust the president, was the only one of 19 arrested people for
whom prosecutors demanded death punishment. He was also the sole
who admitted to plotting the coup, saying he was to meet the team
of mercenaries and direct their further moves. He at the same time
insisted that other arrested 7 South Africans had no connection with
the plot and were just fulfilling his instructions.

Manaserian said Armenian pilots were questioned on the third day of
the trial and the prosecutors’ questions referred to their February
17 flight to Zambia. Their answers made obvious that they had no
relations to the implicated charges. Nick du Toit in his turn said
he had no relations with Armenian pilots (one of the charges was
that Armenians received money from South Africans). Their answers
were clear and definite despite the prosecutors’ attempts to find
any discrepancy in their testimonies.

Manaserian said that despite expectations that the presiding judge
will issue his ruling on August 30, he announced about adjourning the
trial for one month, as was requested by prosecutors, for collection
of additional evidence. The ruling was protested by lawyers, who cited
several international conventions, but without any effect. The trial
is most likely to resume between October 1 and 7.

The ambassador also criticized some Armenian mass media for distorted
coverage of the case, which he said was sometimes jeopardizing the
pilots’ fate. He also expressed his bewilderment that not a single
Armenian mass media sent a journalist to follow the trial in Malabo,
the capital of Equatorial Guinea.

According to the ambassador, no evidence was unveiled at the trial to
implicate Armenian pilots’ involvement in the plot, which he said was
a serious basis for optimism, but added that “we have to wait until
the end of the trial.”

On Monday Armenia’s foreign ministry denied a report by Agence France
Presse that a team of investigators from Equatorial Guinea arrived in
Yerevan to gather more information about six Armenian pilots accused
of involvement in the alleged plot. Agence France Presse quoted an
unnamed `legal official’ in the country’s capital Malabo as saying
that the investigators flew to Armenia to probe links between the
suspected coup plotters and an Armenian airline whose pilots have
been kept in Equato-Guinean custody since March.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARKA News Agency
Sept 7 2004

Monitoring of contact line of NKR and Azeri af took place without
violations of cease fire regime

Armenian Public Health Alliance summarizes results of competition for
anti-tobacco topic among journalists

Michelle Tankrez appointed representative of “Hayastan” All-Armenian
fund in NKR

Anatoli Drykov: We express our gratitude to Armenian people that
mourns together with Russia

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

MONITORING OF CONTACT LINE OF NKR AND AZERI AF TOOK PLACE WITHOUT
VIOLATIONS OF CEASE FIRE REGIME

STEPANAKERT, September 7. /ARKA/. Monitoring of contact line of NKR
and Azeri Armed Forces took place without violations of cease fire
regime, NKR MFA told ARKA. Monitoring from positions of NKR Defense
Army was conducted by field assistants of personal representative of
OSCE Acting Chairman Miroslav Vymetal (Czech Republic) and Urgen
Schmidt.
Monitoring took place in accordance to schedule.
Monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of NKR Ministry
of Defense and NKR MFA. L.D. –0–

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

ARMENIAN PUBLIC HEALTH ALLIANCE SUMMARIZES RESULTS OF COMPETITION FOR
ANTI-TOBACCO TOPIC AMONG JOURNALISTS

YEREVAN, September 7. /ARKA/. Today Armenian Public Health Alliance
summarized the results of competition for the best journalist
publication of anti-tobacco topic. As Astghik Gevorgyan, the Chairman
of Union of Journalists of Armenia told on press conference, Hripsime
Jebejyan of Armenian Aravat daily was awarded for the best
publication in journalist investigation for her article “Maximum
Pleasure”. Anahit Khaytyan (“Hayastani Hanrapetutyun” daily), Davit
Petrosyan (Second Armenian TV Channel), Larisa Stepanyan (Russian
language daily “Respublika Armenia” and Golos Armenii) also were
awarded for active elucidation of anti-tobacco topic. Also Heghine
Koshtoyan was awarded in nomination “For best debut work on
anti-tobacco topic” for her article “Smoking can be dangerous for
your health”(“New Yerevan Times”). T.M. -0–

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

MICHELLE TANKREZ APPOINTED REPRESENTATIVE OF “HAYASTAN” ALL-ARMENIAN
FUND IN NKR

The French benefactor Michelle Tankrez is appointed representative of
“Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund in Nagorno Karabakh Republic. As the
Fund Public Relations Department told today ARKA, he has taken up
permanent residence in Artsakh with his family since 2000 and has
been actively involved in the organization of annual phon-a-thons in
France. He has sponsored and currently continues sponsoring many
projects in Artsakh. T.M. —0–

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

ANATOLI DRYKOV: WE EXPRESS OUR GRATITUDE TO ARMENIAN PEOPLE THAT
MOURNS TOGETHER WITH RUSSIA

YEREVAN, September 7. /ARKA/. We express our gratitude to the
Armenian people that mourns together with Russia, as the Russian
Ambassador to Armenia Anatoli Drykov said today in Yerevan. “The
tragedy in Beslan is our common pain and your sympathy has great e
significance for us”, the Ambassador told. He stressed that Armenia
is already assisting all those who suffered in Beslan and there the
first party of donor blood was sent. The Embassy is also applied with
questions how to transfer funds to Beslan and therefore relevant
accounts have been opened. Dryukov mentioned that as officials as
well as simple people apply to the Embassy and offer organizations of
rehabilitation of the kids who suffered in Beslan. “We are
registering all these addresses and in case of necessity we will
certainly use them”, the Ambassador told.
Touching upon safety measures and prevention of possible terrorist
attacks, Dryukov mentioned that in his appeal of September 4, the
Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned three tasks among which is
strengthening of struggle against terror, in relation to which
relevant measures will be developed. The Ambassador also told that
the CIS states Heads are to hold their session in Astana on September
15-16 where these issues will be discussed undoubtedly. T.M. -0–

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

************************************************** ****************************
Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, CA 91206

Phone: 818.500.1918 Fax: 818.246.7353
Email: [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) Website:
_www.anca.org_ ()
******************************************************************************
PRESS RELEASE – PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, September 7, 2004

Contact: Armen Carapetian
(818) 500-1918

ANCA ENDORSES U.S. SENATOR BARBARA BOXER

Washington, DC – The Armenian National Committee of America announced
on Thursday, September 2, 2004 that it will endorse U.S. Senator
Barbara Boxer (D-CA) for reelection. The two term Democratic Senator
from California is seeking reelection and is challenged by Republican
and former California Secretary of State Bill Jones.

The ANCA endorsed the Senator based on her record of long and faithful
public service with special regard to Armenian-Americans living in
the State of California. Since her tenure as a Congresswoman, Boxer
has held an open door policy toward her constituents and has carried
their message to the halls of Congress. In a letter to Senator Boxer,
the ANCA stated that while the Senator’s responsibilities as an elected
official have increased, she has managed to maintain close working
relationships with even her smallest constituencies. California is
the nation’s most populous state and home to the nation’s largest
Armenian American community.

On issues of concern to her constituents of Armenian heritage and to
the Armenian-American community at large Senator Boxer has time and
again defended their history and their rightful place in American
society. As recently as this year, she made statements of support
for the official reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide including
letters to President Bush urging to end the illegal Turkish blockade of
Armenia. In addition to these measures, Senator Boxer has co-sponsored
and actively sought the support of leaders in the Democratic Party for
legislation on the issue of Genocide reaffirmation. Additionally,
Senator Boxer has been a staunch advocate of aid to the Republic of
Armenia as it undergoes the difficult process of transition towards
democracy and a free market economy. Senator Boxer traveled to Armenia
to witness firsthand these changes and returned as an even stronger
advocate than before.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest
and most influential Armenian American grassroots political
organization. Working coordination with a network of offices,
chapters, and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated
organizations around the world, the ANCA actively advances the concerns
of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.

####

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For the latest news and action alerts log onto _www.anca.org_
() .
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World mourns Beslan victims

ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 7, 2004 Tuesday

MOSCOW, September 7 — The total number of victims of the last week’s
terrorist act in the North Ossetian city of Beslan is 705, including
307 children.

Thirty people, including ten children, died in hospitals.

A book of condolences over the terrorist act in Beslan was opened for
the second day at the Russian Embassy in Britain on Tuesday. Dozens
of people made entries expressing deep sympathy to the next of kin
of those killed in Beslan.

Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos conveyed his condolences to the
Russian nation in connection with the hostage-taking raid in North
Ossetia. At a ceremony in memory of the Beslan victims, he wrote a
note in a book of condolences opened at the Russian Embassy in Nicosia.

A book of condolences was opened at the Russian Embassy in the
Netherlands for a second day. On Tuesday morning, speaker of the
parliament’s first chamber /Senate/ Yvonne Timmerman-Buck arrived at
the Embassy to put her signature in the book and express her sincere
condolences.

Mongolia “condemns the terrorist acts in Beslan, which shocked the
world with their cruelty,” President Natsagiyn Bagabandi said in
a statement he signed on Tuesday together with parliament speaker
Nambaryn Enkhbayar and Prime Minister Tsakhiagiyn Elbedorj.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour
expressed profound condolences to the Russian people over the tragedy
in Beslan. She visited on Tuesday the permanent Russian mission at
the United Nations Office and other international organizations at
Geneva and made an entry in the Book of condolences. She expressed
profound solidarity with people of Beslan at this tragic moment and
wrote she shares the grief of the parents who lost their children.

Bulgarian President Georgy Pyrvanov, visiting the Russian embassy
in Sofia, expressed compassion for the relatives of those who were
killed in the terrorist act in Beslan. He wrote this in his entry to
the Book of condolences opened at the Russian diplomatic mission. The
Bulgarian president placed flowers at the candles lit in memory of
the victims of the terrorist act.

Norway sent aid for those who were affected by the terrorist act. A
planeload of medicines and medical equipment arrived in Vladivostok
from Oslo. The plane has on board everything necessary for performing
over 1,000 surgical operations. Besides, three ambulances and
anaesthetic equipment were sent to North Ossetia.

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan signed up in the book of
condolences at the Russian embassy in Yerevan on Tuesday. Armenian
Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan also visited the embassy.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende of the Netherlands that currently
presides in the European Union presented condolences to families of
the Beslan victims on Tuesday.

Balkenende said they shared the mourning of Beslan residents and
prayed for them. He said they were shaken by the death of hundreds
of innocent people, including children.

Bernadette Chirac, the wife of the French president, expressed on
behalf of her family profound condolences to the Russian people and
government in connection with the tragedy in Beslan. She received on
Tuesday prominent Russian doctor Leonid Roshal now staying in France.

“It was apparent how concerned Bernadette Chirac was with the tragedy
in North Ossetia”, Leonid Roshal told Tass.

Japan supports the fight against terrorism conducted by the Russian
government and people and is going to strengthen solidarity with
Russia in this fight, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi
said. She visited on Tuesday the Russian embassy in Japan and made
an entry in the Book of condolences.

Azg Armenian Daily
Sept 7 2004

“IMPERIALISM IS THE MAIN OBSTACLE ON THE WAY OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH
RELATIONS; NEITHER TURKS NOR ARMENIANS ARE TO BLAME”

ARMENIAN’S TO BE BILLETED BESIDE POLISH TROOPS

“YERKIR” UNION ENDEAVORING TO INHABIT ARTSAKH’S DESERTED AREAS

RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES NOT TO BE HONEST ABOUT BESLAN TRAGEDY

OHAN DURIAN A TARGET

CINEMA AND THEATRE STATE INSTITUTE TO BEGIN FUNCTIONING IN GORIS

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“IMPERIALISM IS THE MAIN OBSTACLE ON THE WAY OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH
RELATIONS; NEITHER TURKS NOR ARMENIANS ARE TO BLAME”

Dr. Hasan Oktay Assures

Hasan Oktay of the Institute of Armenian Studies in Ankara together
with a coworker Banu is in Armenia these days. On September 3 Oktay
visited Azg Daily publishing house and had a talk with
editor-in-chief Hakob Avetikian. Apparently, the Turkish scientist is
interested in the position of the Azg Daily as regard to the
international acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide,
Armenia-Turkish relations and the border-gate opening.

Oktay’s interview with Hakob Avetikian will be presented as soon as
the former returns to Ankara. For that very reason we present our own
interview with the head of the Institute of Armenian Studies. The
interview was interesting regardless any disagreement over issues.

Q: What’s your main purpose for visiting Armenia?

A: To see the neighboring Armenia, to go sightseeing. When you see
everything with your own eyes you become fond of it.

Q: As a head of an institute you must be interested in scientific
establishments of Armenia. Which of those will you visit?

A: I shall be at the National Academy of Sciences, particularly at
the Institutes of Oriental Studies and of History, I’ll also visit
the Yerevan State University, Department of Oriental Studies and the
Institute-Museum of Armenian Genocide.

Q: Have you visited other places besides Yerevan?

A: We had time only to visit Etchmiadzin. We’ll leave for Gyumri for
3 days, then we’ll visit the Sardarapat National Museum.

Q: What is your impression of Armenia?

A: I expected to see a better country. Armenia could have been in a
better condition and Yerevan more orderly. Saying “better” I mean the
reflection of economy on the city.

Q: What do you think of Armenian-Turkish relations?

A: I think they will improve in the near future.

Q: What do you consider the main obstacle on the way of development
of these relations?

A: I consider the imperialism the main obstacle on the way of
Turkish-Armenian relations; neither Turks nor Armenians are to blame.

Q: What about Turkey’s close cooperation with such imperialistic
state as the USA?

A: The Turkish-US relations are not on a healthy ground at present.

Q: If the imperialists are to blame, why is Turkey striving for the
EU? After all, such imperialistic states as France and Germany are
there.

A: No matter how hard Turkey tries, it will never be a member. It
seems to me that Turkey is being tricked. Don’t you think so?

Q: What do you think of Azg Daily’s online edition?

A: There in Turkey many people consider Azg Daily to be the only
Armenian newspaper with a daily online edition. Turkey is attentive
to Azg Daily’s publications. And we know that Turkey is always at the
spotlight of Azg Daily.

Q: What can you say about the Institute of Armenian Studies?

A: Our Institute was founded in May of 2001 and operates within the
frameworks of the Center for Eurasian Research. The Institute
publishes 2 editions in Turkish and English. And we have 9 scientists
at the Institute.

Q: What kind of researches are you carrying out?

A: We try to contribute the development of Armenia-Turkish relations.
We want the world to understand the Armenians of Turkey correctly.
Meanwhile we try to respond through researches to those attempting to
spoil relations between the two nations. Our studies include the
history of Armenia from ancient times till our days. We approach the
historic issues from social, psychological views as well as from the
angle of international relations.

Q: Do you have any message to deliver?

A: I appeal to Armenian people and the intelligentsia to join us in
our efforts of raising Turkish-Armenian relations to the level of
blessed old times.

By Hakob Chakrian

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ARMENIAN’S TO BE BILLETED BESIDE POLISH TROOPS

RA National Assembly is Hardly to Hinder RA Government’s decision to
send Armenian Forces to Iraq

While the suicide-bombers continue their actions in Iraq, take
hostages and execute them and the US government with its allies, as
well as Iraqi puppet government try to make order in this Arabic
country, Armenian authorities are determined to send a group of
doctors, drivers and deminers to participate in the reconstruction
works in Iraq.

Arthur Aghabekian, RA Deputy Defense Minister, informed Azatutiun
Radio Station that an Armenian delegation will be sent to Iraq in
coming days to get familiarized with the situation. If RA National
Assembly votes for the decision of RA government to send our
specialists to Iraq, the Armenian support group will leave for this
country by the end of this year or next year. Aghabekian said that
the Armenian specialists will be located in the central, southern
part of the country that is controlled by the Polish forces. RA
Defense Minister Serge Sargisian is paying an official visit to
Poland these days. Poland send 6.500 militants to Iraq, but,
according to France-Presse, Warsaw will withdraw a part of its forces
from the country leaving only 2.500 soldiers there. Reuters agency
informed that Armenia envisages to send a group consisting of 50
specialists to Iraq.

Hovsep Khurshudian, expert of the Center for Strategic and National
Researches, believes that the issue of sending the Armenian
specialists to Iraq should be discussed in the context of the
negotiation around Nagorno Karabagh issue. “As Armenia’s
participation in the anti-terrorist struggle unfolded by the US
imparts with more importance to RA foreign policy’s positions and we
don’t have to make special efforts in this issue, because we endanger
the lives and the health of the Armenian soldiers, we can be left
behind by Azerbaijan. We can put at stake our position in Nagorno
Karabagh negotiations,” Khurshudian said.

Azerbaijan and Georgia joined the anti-terrorist struggle initiated
by the US in Iraq and send peace detachments there. Azerbaijan and
Georgia have their forces in Afghanistan and Kosovo as well. The
Armenian detachment consisting of 34 militants is still in Kosovo,
participating in the peace making actions.

Unless RA National Assembly approves the decision to send Armenian
forces to Iraq, the issue remains unsolved. Tigran Torosian, Deputy
Chairman of RA National Assembly, says the faction of the Republican
Party of Armenia hasn’t discussed the issue and it will be discussed
only when submitted to the Parliament. “Initially, Armenia intended
to render humanitarian aid and not participate in the military
actions. I can understand the concern aroused by the recent cases of
taking and executing the hostages from different countries.
Certainly, this arouses anxiety, but when the issue is submitted to
the parliament is will have relevant solution.”

Vazgen Manukian, Head of National democratic Union, believes that it
is not expedient to send Armenian specialists to Iraq. “I see no use
of it for the struggle against terrorist. Let’s not forget that we
have Armenian community in Iraq,” Manukian said, hinting that the
presence of the Armenian forces in the country create a complicated
situation for our compatriots.

Grigor Haroutiunian, member of Justice opposition faction at the
parliament, said that their faction didn’t discuss the abovementioned
issue. “I believe that this issue needs serious discussion and I
think that it is not right to go to Iraq,” Haroutiunian said.

Artak Arakelian, member of Orinats Yerkir, said that their party
didn’t discuss the issue either. “The war hasn’t finished in Iraq
yet. Taking into account the fact that we have a large Armenian
community there, Armenia’s active participation in the military
actions is not in our interests and can cause additional
complications. I think our participation is not important there.
Moreover, it can cause problems for the Iraqi Armenians,” Arakelian
said.

We couldn’t find out the position of ARF Dashnaktsutyun, as we failed
to get in touch with the MPs belonging to this party.

Parliament is most likely to vote for sending the Armenian forces to
Iraq, as our parliament obviously depends from Serge Sargisian,
Andranik Margarian and Robert Kocharian. As for the opposition, it
has decided to ignore the parliament’s sittings.

By the way, the Iraqi Armenians have hinted for many times that
Armenia’s participation in the coalition will create a hard situation
for them. Over 20000 Armenians lived in Iraq, when Saddam Hussein in
power. One can’t definitely say how many Armenians are living in Iraq
at present. On the eve of the war Armenia closed its embassy in Iraq
and called back the diplomatic staff. At present, our country is not
going to open the embassy again, as there are no elementary
conditions for the diplomats’ safety there.

By Tatoul Hakobian

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“YERKIR” UNION ENDEAVORING TO INHABIT ARTSAKH’S DESERTED AREAS

Perhaps the name of Qarvachar (selling stones) is the only right name
for this place. The hills covered with stones are stretching 200
meters all around the region. Miners and soldiers are the only people
one can find here.

The “Yerkir” NGO that is engaged in bringing Armenians back to
Artsakh gathered a huge group of journalists to take part in the
opening of a new school in the village of Knaravan, in the territory
of Qarvachar. The organization that dates its birth back to 2002 is a
union of Armenian, Karabakh, and Diaspora NGOs that has undertaken
the inhabiting of Armenian and Karabakh frontier regions. The new
settlement of Knaravan is being built on money of the Haroutiunian
family. They planned to build 18 houses with cattle-sheds, a school
and a social center.

Knaravan together with other newly built villages of Nor Karachinar,
Eghegnut and Nor Getashen doesn’t meet the elementary standards of
living. One may cover many kilometers in search of a store or even a
trading booth. The journalists had to stand the trial with hunger as
the nearest store was far behind.

Perhaps Knaravan is best only for cattle-breeding in view of vast
pastures. And the cattle are the only means of survival for the
families.

The sponsor of the village construction Karo Haroutiunian together
with his son Narek was present at the opening ceremony. He dedicated
the construction of the new settlement to his late wife Knar who also
was known for benevolence. Their son Narek described the construction
of Knaravan as a vow and an appeal to the rich folk of Armenia and
Diaspora to help in building the motherland. Talking to the future
inhabitants of the village Karo Haroutiunian was trying to find out
their primary needs. He informed that an Arabian businessman was
going to start a textile industry in the village, and the
population’s ideas on this were interesting. People can only be glad
for any industry even with a low wages but they hinted that
cattle-breeding farms would be the best solution.

The new school will be fully functioning in October. It was designed
for 50 pupils but there are only 12 pupils today. The supporters of
the project hope that they will grow in number soon.

The sweet tunes of “Komitas” chorus closed the program, and the echo
of the songs shook the surrounding mountains notifying the animals of
human presence.

By Karine Danielian

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RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES NOT TO BE HONEST ABOUT BESLAN TRAGEDY

Does America Hinder Putin’s Visit to Turkey?

On September 2 Turkey was getting ready for the Russian president
Vladimir Putin’s visit and was considering it an important one. But
the tragic events of September 1 held him back. Though the outcome of
the terrorist act was predictable, the Foreign Ministry of Turkey
declared that Vladimir Putin will arrive in Ankara in due time.

But the visit was postponed for an unknown term. The statement of the
Turkish Foreign Ministry shows that they in Turkey had great hopes
with Putin’s visit. The main hope, perhaps, was that Russia would
help Turkey to regain its lost positions in the South Caucasus and be
a fence-mending against the USA.

In the last coverage of Putin’s visit to Ankara Azg Daily mentioned
that September is a month of diplomatic riches for Turkey because
besides the Russian president there should have been Günter
Verheugen, of the European Commission, the PM of Palestine Ahmed
Korei, the president of Iran Mohammad Khatami and the Pope John Paul
II.

Nothing hindered commissioner Verheugen’s arrival but PM Korei also
stayed at home. Korei’s unwillingness to visit Turkey was explained
in Turkish Eni Shafak by the measures the Russians took against
terrorists in Beslan. The Pope’s delayed visit was also excused by
the last events in Beslan.

It’s rather difficult to find any connection with the two delayed
visits and the terrorist act in the North Ossetia. The Russian
authorities in their turn with their declarations and
counter-terrorist actions made a mystery out of tragedy. The aim of
the terrorist act, terrorists’ demands, the number of the dead are
still a mystery today. The nationalities of the terrorists are also
cloaked in mystery as the authorities claim for 9 Arabs among them
whereas none of the hostages has ever seen an Arab.

In other words the Russian authorities lie to the nation. The
counter-terrorist actions of the Russian forces turned into a bloody
slaughter. All the condemnations directed to president Putin should
not seem strange considering the number of killed.

Meanwhile the foreign affairs’ minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov
leaves for Israel where he signs a Russian-Israeli document of
“cooperation in the struggle against terrorism”. The Israeli PM Ariel
Sharon’s response to the agreement is interesting. He said: “The
terrorism Russia faces is of the same origin as we do”. Having said
this, Sharon in fact identified Beslan’s terrorist act with the
Palestinian confrontation and showed that the mystery that Russia
found Arabs among the terrorists was made up to sign the
Russian-Israeli agreement.

Byulent Orakoghlu, former deputy director of the Security
Administration of Turkey, made his own investigation into the matter
and came to a conclusion that the USA, the UK and Israel might have
organized the terrorist act to justify their Middle East
anti-terrorist policy. This opinion can be held up in view of the
coming presidential elections in the US, the Great Middle East
Project and the troubles that Putin’s visit of Turkey could have
caused.

By Hakob Chakrian

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OHAN DURIAN A TARGET

Ohan Durian worked in the motherland during the most severe, coldest
and darkest years. He recorded the performances of all the symphonies
by Beethoven. By the way, only four conductors in the history of the
world’s music have recorded all the nine symphonies of Beethoven.
Only Ohan Durian kept to the unique scores of Beethoven when
recording the pieces. This is a great tribute to the genius of the
humanity.

Today Ohan Durian visits Armenia as a guest. He is estranged from
Armenia. I can recollect a case that happened in Tbilisi. The
Georgian Theatre Union organized a meeting dedicated to Gurgen
Janibekian at Rustaveli Theatre. Eduard Shevardnadze, who was
Chairman of Georgia’s Communist Party, was present at the meeting. He
held a welcoming speech and congratulated Gurgen Janibekian. He
completed his speech in the following words:” We, the statesmen will
pass away, while the history will remember our nations by our
cultural figures. These are not my words, these words belong to
Alexander Miasnikian. When he came to Armenian, the first thing he
did was to gather around himself the great people of the Armenian
nation, namely, Sarian, Tumanian, Spendiarian, Charents and others in
order to inspire and encourage the people.”

Today, thanks to the policy of the ignorant and brutal officials of
ruling cultural sphere many people leave Armenia. No regret. Instead
of them “the mice” are getting fatter in the sphere.

We have to cherish all the people that are sent to us from God. It is
a shame that no one could protect and cherish Minas, Sevak and
Shiraz. Today’s’ intelligentsia is leading a life that deserve only
scorn; they are serving the ignorant authorities. We feel shame and
pity for them. Our heart aches for the generation that will come
after them. Our former “most cultural” minister Roland Sharoyan will
remain in the history as the person who estranged Ohan Durian from
Armenia.

By Felix Aramian

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CINEMA AND THEATRE STATE INSTITUTE TO BEGIN FUNCTIONING IN GORIS

Goris State Dramatic Theatre after Vagharsh Vagharshian was
established in 1936 and didn’t stop its performances even during the
Artsakh war. During the last four years the theatre is functioning
attached to Goris city administration. It has 13 employees instead of
the former 90 and they are getting the minimal salary. The theatre
has no basic troupe. Alfred Hakobian, director, believes that in case
of consistent work it will be possible to have a main and interesting
repertoire very soon. At present, the rehearsals for two performances
are in full swing; another performance for children is envisaged to
be staged by the end of the year. The first two plays, “The Parents”
and “Our Corner in the Big World” will be ready in September. Goris
city and Syunik regional administration greatly contribute to the
implementation of the program. But one should spare no efforts to
reach a professional level in the theatre. That is why Alla Zakarian,
head of the theatre, emphasizes the importance of RA Culture
Ministry’s support. Both Zakarian and Hakobian think that the theatre
needs to be financially supported to improve the quality of their
performances. Today the theatre is being innovated. The soldiers,
former students of Cinema and Theatre Institute, participate in the
performances of the theatre. This year the branch of the Cinema and
Theatre State Institute will be opened in Goris at the initiative of
Goris Theatre’s director and by support of RA Prime Minister Andranik
Margarian.10 students will be studying at the new opened branch of
the Institute and their studies will be financed by the head of the
Regional administration. These students will be working at Goris
Theatre during their studies as well as for five more years after
their graduation.

By Nana Petrosian

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