Azeri president becoming nominal leader – former pro-government editor

Azadliq, Baku
4 Sep 04

There have recently been reports that Karabakh’s fate is in danger. The
fact that the Azerbaijani government is not giving any information
about the peace talks and the activists of the Karabakh Liberation
Organization [KLO] have been illegally arrested shows that these
reports are serious. Mahal Ismayiloglu, former editor-in-chief of the
[state-run] newspaper Xalq Qazeti, is also concerned that the recent
happenings might be preparations for a defeatist agreement on Karabakh.

[Ismayiloglu] The great powers might be trying to ensure that
the Karabakh conflict is settled and a peace agreement is signed
so they are exerting pressure on Azerbaijan to accept their
conditions. [President] Ilham Aliyev’s next visit to France
can be related to the Karabakh issue as well. The Key West talks
[Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents’ talks in the USA in 2001] are
back on the agenda again with only minor changes and Ilham Aliyev
is being pressurized. The punishment of the KLO members is also
connected with this.

[Correspondent] How would you assess the conviction of the KLO members?

[Ismayiloglu] I have doubts about the national identity of Famil
Nasibov, the judge who tried and convicted the KLO members. What
is the nationality of the judge who sentenced those struggling with
Azerbaijan’s long-time pain? Does he have the right to live in this
country at all?

[Correspondent] What do you think about Ilham Aliyev’s attitude
towards this arrest?

[Ismayiloglu] He said that he allegedly had no idea about this. But it
was quite obvious that the trial was a farce and had been ordered. If
the head of state has no idea about this, then who was behind the
order? Why did the court issue a ruling that is against its will
and why did they ignore the spirit and identity of the Azerbaijani
people? Then of which people are you the president? If people who stand
to fight for your land act as mojahedin, maintain the fire that is
about to go out and are punished so severely, of which country are you
the leader? His behaviour resembles that of his father [ex-President
Heydar Aliyev]. If you remember, there used to be pressure on the
media and opposition leaders. After a while, he would say that he
had no information about what was going on. But then he said himself
that he had been watching news bulletins and reading newspapers. If
he had no information, what was he reading? Now Ilham Aliyev is using
the same methods. It seems that Ilham Aliyev has to use his father’s
old methods, as he cannot find one himself.

[Passage omitted: Ismayiloglu comments on developments around a
scientific arthritis centre]

[Correspondent] Then why does Ilham Aliyev, as the head of state,
allow these things to happen?

[Ismayiloglu] More and more Aliyev looks like the British queen or the
Norwegian king. I mean they [the British queen or the Norwegian king]
wield power only nominally.

Advertiser, Australia
Brisbane Courier Mail, Australia
The Australian, Australia
Fox Sports, Australia
Sept 3, 2004

Hurricane’s KO blow
By Grantlee Kieza

THE world title shot of Sydney Olympian Vic Darchinyan was blown out
of the water yesterday as Hurricane Frances loomed over the coast of
Florida with wind gusts topping 220km/h.

Darchinyan, 28, was supremely confident of taking the IBF flyweight
crown from Colombian world champ Irene Pacheco at the Seminole Casino
in Hollywood, Florida tomorrow afternoon (Australian time).

But promoters were forced to cancel the big event yesterday as half a
million people were urged to evacuate the area.

Trainer Jeff Fenech said the cancellation of the fight had

left him $35,000 out of pocket after he paid for two weeks of
training expenses in Los Angeles for his boxer and their support team
before arriving in Florida last week.

“Vic is shattered,” Fenech said from Los Angeles last night as he
headed back to Sydney.

“We were certain he was going to overpower Pacheco and to have the
bout cancelled just 48 hours from fight time is a real knockout blow.

“Vic has spent his whole life in Australia and before that in Armenia
training and dreaming of a shot at the world title and who knows when
he will get another chance.”

Fenech said the fight could not be rescheduled this year because it
was the last boxing date booked for 2004 by the American telecasters
ESPN.

“I spoke to Pacheco and his manager this morning and we may be able
to bring the fight to Australia but we’ll have to wait and see,”
Fenech said.

“Our first priority was just to get everyone on flights out of
Florida as quickly as we could. The whole area is in a panic.”

Another Aussie, Kali Meehan, enlivened the press conference yesterday
for his WBO heavyweight title fight with Lamon Brewster in Las Vegas
on Sunday by releasing a spirited kangaroo at the Mandalay Bay
casino.

Meehan is a huge underdog against the hard-hitting American but
believes he has the boxing skills to get the jump on Brewster for the
upset of the year.

Azerbaijani President: Nagorno-Karabakh Talks Should Continue VOA News

Voice of America, DC
Sept 2 2004

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev says he believes negotiations on
settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should continue. He told
reporters Thursday if he ever determines that negotiations on the
conflict are ineffective, Azerbaijan will withdraw.

Nagorno-Karabakh is an ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan that
declared independence in 1988. A six-year conflict over the area
claimed some 35,000 lives.

On another issue, Mr. Aliyev says Azerbaijan will not join a call by
Russia and eight other former Soviet republics for reform of Europe’s
largest security organization.

In July, the nine countries agreed to seek changes in the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe. They accused the organization
of using a double standard in criticizing the human rights situation
in some countries, while ignoring rights in others.

Turkish, Georgian citizen among hostages in North Ossetia

RosBusinessConsulting, Russia
Sept 2 2004

RBC, 02.09.2004, Moscow 23:20:14. There are Turkish and Georgian
citizens among those taken hostage in North Ossetia. According to data
released by Turkish television NTV, a citizen of Turkey communicated
to the staff of the company and said that there were three Turkish
citizens among hostages at the seized school in North Ossetia. Russian
NTV television confirmed this information. According to recent reports,
two of them have already been released. There are two Georgian citizens
among hostages as well. According to non-confirmed information,
there are five Armenian citizens at the school in North Ossetia.

Turkish Daily News
Sept 2 2004

Putin, the first Russian president to visit Turkey in decades, hopes
to cap growing economic ties with Turkey by coming to Ankara
Turkey, Russia shift into a new orbit

Putin and Turkish leaders will bypass contentious matters in public
but cannot avoid Chechnya, the PKK and disputes in the Caucasus
behind closed doors

ELIF UNAL ARSLAN

ANKARA – Turkish Daily News
Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Turkish officials hosting the first
Russian president to visit Ankara in decades will endeavor tomorrow
to slough off the disputes of the past and cap growing economic ties
between long-time rivals Russia and Turkey with a political
breakthrough in public.

Putin is scheduled to arrive in the Turkish capital tonight and will
meet with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer tomorrow for top-level talks.
Later in the day, he will get together with Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the pair is expected to fly to the Aegean
city of Izmir in the afternoon where the Russian leader, along with
Erdogan, will visit the Izmir International Fair and meet with
Turkish and Russian businessmen before departing from the port of
Izmir in a Russian naval vessel.

When the two presidents pose for the cameras at the Presidential
Palace, they will be inking a declaration for “Friendship and
Multidimensional Partnership” that marks a shift in the two
countries’ ties, which were strained by mutual security concerns and
rivalry over luring the Caucasus and Central Asian republics into
their individual spheres after the collapse of the Soviet Union in
1991.

Turkish officials say an evolution in commercial relations between
Ankara and Moscow is pushing for political progress. “Our economic
relationship has grown, but political dialogue between us has
remained behind this growth. Our trade volume is increasing by 30
percent a year, and in the last 10-15 years it has grown from $150
million per annum to $10 billion. That explains the importance of the
Putin visit,” a Turkish official said.

The declaration that is due to be signed at the Presidential Palace
will highlight diversification in the profit-making areas of mutual
ties, in particular trade and economy and the energy and tourism
fields, another Turkish official said.

In addition to the declaration, the two leaders are expected to seal
five more documents. Among them are two military deals, the first of
which is intended to prevent the occurrence of dangerous incidents
outside of territorial waters, and a second that will protect
intellectual property rights to the exchange of know-how and
equipment in this field.

The rest of the documents to be wrapped up are a cooperative
agreement between Turkey’s BOTAS and Russia’s Gazprom on gas sales,
the distribution and construction of gas storage facilities, a
memorandum of cooperation between the Turkish Foreign Ministry’s
Strategic Research Center (SAM) and the Russian Federation’s
Diplomacy Academy to exchange experts, and finally a trilateral
agreement among Turk Eximbank, Russian Eximbank and GunesEconombank
to provide financial resources for exports primarily to the Central
Asian and Caucasian republics, the Middle East and western Asia.

Affirmations and realities
Turkish officials and Russian diplomats in Ankara both insist that
the previously fierce competition for winning over the Caucasus and
Central Asian republics has now been replaced by partnership savvy. A
Turkish official told the Turkish Daily News that the trilateral
agreement that envisages providing financial resources primarily for
those countries was proof of that perception.

Many agree that the rivalry between Ankara and Moscow in those
republics, some possessing rich oil and natural gas resources, has
lessened to a certain extent, partly because Ankara has been locked
onto its long-running aspiration to join the European Union and
partly due to a change in mutual perceptions on the part of both
countries in regional matters.

The mutual skepticism between the two capitals, however, looks far
from disappearing completly.

Russian Ambassador to Turkey Petr Viladimirovic Stegniy told the TDN
in an exclusive interview that developments in Georgia, Armenia and
Azerbaijan would still be on the negotiating table for Putin and
Turkish leaders. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said matters in the
Caucasus would be discused.

Turkey is discomforted by the presence of Russian military bases in
Georgia and Armenia, and Russia views with deep suspicion Turkey’s
cooperation with Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Ahead of Putin’s visit, mass-circulation Turkish daily Hurriyet
reported that the Russian leader would ask Ankara to pursue a
“balanced policy” towards Georgia and not to “spoil” it amid recent
tension between Moscow and Tbilisi over Georgia’s breakaway South
Ossetia province, to which Moscow is allegedly providing backing.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Georgia
mid-August and urged a peaceful solution to Georgia’s internal
disputes, both in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Georgia plays a crucial
role for both Turkey and Russia since it is part of a U.S.-backed
project, namely Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, to transport Azeri crude oil to
Western markets through Georgia and Turkey, scheduled to be realized
in 2005.

Ankara had pushed hard for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export
pipeline project that would bypass both Russia and Iran, whereas
Moscow had backed the “northern route” to Novorossiysk in an attempt
to control Caspian energy export routes to the West. Now Turkish
officials and Russian diplomats in Ankara say Russia is interested in
taking part in the Bakhu-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project.

On the South Ossetia dispute, the official policies of both Moscow
and Ankara are not too different. Both countries support a peaceful
solution to the South Ossetia conflict within Georgia’s territorial
integrity. An identical picture is valid for Nagorno-Karabakh, which
has caused tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Turkey and Russia
once again share a similar official stance, that is, a peaceful
solution to the trouble there within Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity.

But Ankara and Moscow, in reality, have differing views on the
resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh, with the two siding with opposing
Azerbaijan and Armenia respectively.

When it comes to the mutual accusations of the past of alleged
Russian support for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), now
known as PKK/Kongra Gel, and alleged Turkish backing for Chechen
separatists, it is easier for Turkish and Russian officials to admit
that “reciprocal mistrust” will not vanish quickly. However, they
say, frequent meetings between security officials and the regular
exchange of information have helped significantly and that headway
has been made to a certain extent to boost confidence.

After a Chechen militant raid on a five-star hotel in Istanbul three
years ago, Turkish authorities began to crack down more harshly on
Chechen sympathizer groups, a departure from Turkey’s treatment of a
group that had seized a ferry in 1996 in the Black Sea port of
Trabzon. The hijackers were later jailed for their act but
mysteriously managed to escape from prison one by one. On the
Russians’ part, Moscow no longer seems to allow outlawed PKK
activities such as a 1996 conference titled “The History of
Kurdistan” organized by PKK-linked groups there.

In a sign of progess, Russian Ambassador Stegniy said Turkish and
Russian officials had been discussing ways to put the PKK on Moscow’s
list of terrorist organizations. He, however, added that it would
require a Russian court decision.

Mutual expectations are running high for the Russian president’s
visit to Ankara. But it is quite clear that even if Putin and Turkish
leaders are able to bypass contentious issues in public, they cannot
not evade them behind closed doors.

Ivanov to hold separate talks
While Putin is attending talks with Turkish leaders, his defense
minister, Sergei Ivanov, will be holding separate negotiations today
with Turkish defense and military officials at the invitation of his
Turkish counterpart, Vecdi Gonul.

Ivanov is expected to seek ways to increase military cooperation with
Turkey that, according to a statement issued by the Russian Defense
Ministry, include the joint licensed manufacture of Russian-Israeli
joint-production Ka-50-2 Erdogan attack helicopters.

The Russian ambassador, however, was not hopeful that the issue would
be a top agenda item for Ivanov’s talks since Turkey had canceled an
earlier tender to purchase attack helicopters that was participated
in by the Russian-Israeli joint venture, and a new tender has yet to
be opened.

Turkish officials say the Russian minister will likely be told that
the Erdogan will be able to join with other attack helicopters once
Turkey opens a fresh tender. Ivanov, along with Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov, will accompany Putin in his meetings.

Among the other agenda items of the Russian president’s visit is
crude oil transportation through Turkey’s busy straits. Turkey has
long complained of the passage of too many oil-laden ships through
the narrow straits, saying this constituted an environmental danger
and a threat to the safety of Istanbul, a city of 13 million that
straddles the waterway. Russia has complained about its financial
losses stemming from delays in the passage of oil tankers carrying
its oil.

Turkish officials say Ankara and Moscow are now looking at
alternatives, such as possible pipeline routes, but no final outcome
in this area is expected during Putin’s time in Ankara.

Turkish leaders are also expected to request Putin’s support for
Turkey’s policy on the divided island of Cyprus.

Russia, one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security
Council, is perceived as one of the major sympathizers of the Greek
Cypriots, who overwhelmingly voted against a U.N. plan in April aimed
at reunification of the island.

The Greek Cypriots are lobbying to block efforts on U.N. and European
Union platforms to end the international isolation of the Turkish
Cypriots as a reward for their support of the U.N. plan.

Turkish officials agree that Russia so far has pursued a pro-Greek
Cypriot policy but say that Moscow has come to balance that position
recently, noting that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov met with
Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat on the sidelines of
the latest foreign ministers’ meeting of the Organization of the
Islamic Conference (OIC), which convened in mid-June in Istanbul.

Anooshavan “Flash” Kurkjian
By John Cronin

Boston Herald, MA
Sept 2 2004

Anooshavan “Flash” Kurkjian, of Watertown and Manomet, a noted
Boston artist, died Tuesday at Mount Auburn hospital after a brief
illness.

Born in Kigi, in eastern Turkey, he was forced to flee in 1915
during the Armenian genocide. Only he, his mother and an aunt
successfuly escaped the pogroms when they arrived in Syria.

In the 1920s, his family settled in Watertown, where they
settled among what is still a very large Armenian-American community.
After his marriage, he and his wife settled in Boston’s South End,
then Dorchester and lastly Watertown.

While attending Watertown High School, he excelled in tennis and
basketball and earned the nickname “Flash” from his teammates. His
rather long and difficult to pronounce – at least to non-Armenians –
first name lead to his earning nicknames throughout his life, which
was source of unending humor.

Graduating from Watertown High, he enrolled in the Vesper George
Art School and went on to become a comercial artist. He maintained an
art studio in Boston’s Little Building for more than 35 years.

In a period when photography was still in the black and white
era, he was noted for his ability to “colorize” photos of bridal
and other special occcasion photos for such photography studios as
Ciro’s.

Mr. Kurkjian was also a distinguished painter and portrait
artist. His portrait of Pope John Paul II graced the cover of the
then Boston Herald American Sunday magazine when the pontiff visited
Boston in 1979.

His portraits can be found in many homes and businesses in the
Boston area. Another portrait, commissioned by the then Attorney
General Scott Harshberger, of slain state prosecutor Paul McLaughlin
hangs in the Attorney General’s office.

An avid athlete, Mr. Kurkjian was a long-time member of the
Boston Young Mens’ Christian Union. An even more avid handball
player, he often engaged in matches with many prominent Bostonians.
They included former Attorney General Francis Bellotti, real estate
developer Thomas Flatley and former Globe and Herald columnist, Dave
Farrell. At BYMCU he was called “George.”

In the early 1990s, he traveled to his birthplace, Kigi, with
his son, Stephen Kurkjian, an editor/reporter with the Boston Globe.
The trip and his reminiscences appeared in an article entitled
“Roots of Sorrow” in the Globe Sunday magazine.

Mr Kurkjian is survived by his wife of 66 years, Rosella, a
former employee in the Boston Herald library, and three children,
Karolyn Kurkjian-Jones of Boston, Stephen of Boston and Elizabeth
Kurkjian-Henry of Winchester. He is also survied by his sister, Mae
Avakian of Watertown and six grandchildren.

Visiting hours will be held tomorrow from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at
Aram Bedrosian Funeral Home, Watertown. Funeral services will be held
at St. James Armenian Church, Watertown, at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Burial will be in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.

Funeral arrangements by Bedrosian Funeral Home, Watertown.

Anooshavan Kurkjian, 91; painted ‘high-oil’ portraits
By Tom Long, Globe Staff

Boston Globe, MA
Sept 2 2004

Anooshavan Kurkjian’s paintings are treasured by many, but few know
his name. His “high-oil” portraits of business leaders, brides, and
retiring judges were executed over photographs that bear the names
of photography studios, not the artist.

“A bride would have her picture taken and he would be given a sepia or
black-and-white photograph to paint over, ” Elizabeth Kurkjian-Henry of
Winchester said yesterday of her father, who died at 91 of congestive
heart failure Tuesday in Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge.

Mr. Kurkjian spent long hours under bright lights in smock and
eyeshade, bent over an easel in the Arcade Art Studio in the
Little Building in downtown Boston, trying to breathe life into a
black-and-white photograph.

“It was absolute concentration,” said his daughter. “I’d watch his
hands as he’d skillfully add just the right shading and the right
gradations of colors.”

She said he rarely got to meet his subjects, but “after spending
hours staring into their eyes he sometimes felt as if he knew them.”

That was certainly true when he created a portrait of Paul R.
McLaughlin after the assistant attorney general was assassinated
in 1995.

“He said he came to love and respect the prosecutor who was killed
so young,” said his daughter.

“That painting of Paul meant so much to me and Paul’s father,” former
lieutenant governor Edward F. McLaughlin, the prosecutor’s mother,
Elizabeth McLaughlin, said yesterday. “It captured his expression
perfectly and when we had it in our home for a few days it felt like
Paul was home.”

That portrait now hangs on the wall of the attorney general’s office
in the McCormack Building.

Mr. Kurkjian also did the portrait of John F. Kennedy that hangs at
the Dorchester Boys and Girls Club and a painting of Pope John Paul
II that hung in the window of the Jordan Marsh department store in
downtown Boston when the pope visited the city in 1979.

Mr. Kurkjian was a graduate of Watertown High School, where he was
active in sports and earned the nickname that would follow him through
life: “Flash.”

He was encouraged to pursue his interest in art by a teacher at
Watertown High, who also suggested that he enter a contest to create
a logo for a photography studio. Mr. Kurkjian’s entry, “Shoot with
a camera, not with a gun,” won the competition.

After graduating from Watertown High School, he graduated from the
Vesper George School of Art.

A tousle-haired man with a deeply cleft chin and a perpetual twinkle in
his blue eyes, Mr. Kurkjian kept in shape by playing handball nights
at the Boston Young Men’s Christian Union and the L Street Bathhouse,
where he beat athletes half his age.

He was also a gifted musician who loved to sing and play the
saxophone. He was fond of jazz, particularly the swing music of the
1930s and ’40s.

Though he rarely spoke of it, Mr. Kurkjian was a survivor of the
Armenian genocide. When he was 3, all the adult males in his family —
his father, uncle, and grandfather — were taken from the family home
in the mountain village of Kigi and murdered by Turkish militiamen.

His mother led the remainder of the family on a 300-mile trek to
safety, during which his brother and sister died of cholera.

He was the father of Boston Globe senior assistant Metro editor
Stephen Kurkjian, who accompanied his father on a return trip to his
homeland and wrote of the experience in a 1993 Globe magazine story
titled “Roots of Sorrow.” Mr. Kurkjian located the former site of his
family’s home, said a prayer for his father, and washed his face in
a brook that ran behind the house.

When his son asked him what the experience meant to him, he said,
simply, “It will help me in my drawing.”

Yesterday, his son said Mr. Kurkjian did indeed sketch the countryside,
but he never placed himself in drawings. “I think he was so small
when it happened, he was just blocked,” said his son. “He couldn’t
get to a place where he felt at peace with it.”

In addition to his son and daughter, Mr. Kurkjian leaves his wife,
Rosella (Gureghian); another daughter, Karolyn Kurkjian-Jones of
Boston; a sister, Mae Avakian of Watertown; and six grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday in St. James
Armenian Church in Watertown. Burial will be in Mount Auburn Cemetery
in Cambridge.

NKR CELEBRATES ITS INDEPENDENCE DAY

ArmenPress
Sept 2 2004

STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS: Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
president Arkadi Ghukassian, Armenian defense minister Serze Sargssian,
NKR National Assembly speaker Oleg Yesaian, prime minister Anushavan
Danielian, other government officials, officers of defense army,
parliamentarians and guests from Russia, Armenia and Diaspora visited
the memorial of Stepanakert today at 12 am on the occasion of 13th
anniversary of NKR Independence Day. They put flowers on the grave
of NKR Supreme Council first chairman Arthur Mkrtchian and honored
his memory with a minute silence.

“Independence of NKR, perhaps, is the highest achievement of our
nation. Therefore it can not be looked at as a temporary state. We
have factually proved the international community that are capable of
creating an independent statehood and live independent of Azerbaijan.
A nation, which has passed through a hard war of trials and hardships,
sacrificing the best of its sons, is unconquerable,” NKR president
A. Ghukassian said.

“There will be a time when the cherished hopes of our generations
will come true, generations which have even before us fought for the
high ideals and consciously died for their motherland,” Armenian
defense minister Serze Sargssian said. Responding to the question
what are the major principles in Karabakh conflict resolution,
Sargssian answered that they are three of them which have been
variously stated by Armenian president Robert Kocharian, “We think
that Nagorno Karabakh should be granted a status which will provide
independence from Azerbaijan, NKR will have borders with Armenia and
strong security guarantees.”

During the second half of the day, festivities to the Independence
Day moved to the park near Shahumian monument, republican sports
field where concerts, sports competitions and national marches were
organized. In the evening a big concert will be performed in the
Square of Revival with the participation of Russian famous singer
Iosif Kabzon, other famous singers of Russian music and best bands
of Armenia and Artsakh.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VARDAN OSKANYAN RECEIVED FAMOUS AMERICAN ARMENIAN WRITER PETER BALAKIAN

ArmenPress
Sept 2 2004

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS: Armenian foreign minister Vardan
Oskanyan received yesterday famous American Armenian writer Peter
Balakian who is on his second visit to Armenia on the invitation of
Writers’ Union of Armenian and Armenian General Benevolent Union.

According to foreign minister press services, Balakian presented his
impressions from Armenia and talked about his meetings at Writers’
Union and Academy of Sciences where he was granted the titles of
honorable member of Writers’ Union and honorable doctor of Academy
of Sciences. He also conferred on his future plans.

The two talked about Peter Balakian’s writings on Armenian themes
thanks to which the issue of Armenian Genocide has stepped out of
academic circles and become a point of interest for larger public.
With respect to this, the two talked about possibilities of involving
the theme in different branches of art.

Oskanyan briefed Balakian on preparatory works for 90th anniversary of
Armenian Genocide. American Armenian writer also displayed interest in
the present pace of Armenian-American and Armenian-Turkish relations.

Peter Balakian is the author of 5 poetry collections. He is a historian
and a faculty member of Corgate University. He has written “The Black
Dog of Fate” and “Burning Tigris” novels. The Armenian translation of
the first and the publication of the second has been recently presented
in Yerevan. “The Black Dog of Fate” was awarded with Pen/Albrand title
in 1998 and “Burning Tigris” with the title of Outstanding Book and
Bestseller of New York Times.

Radical group members’ arrest sparks public concern

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Sept 2 2004

Baku, September 1, AssA-Irada

The Nasimi district court’s decision to sentence six activists of the
Garabagh Liberation Organization (GLO) to 3 to 5 years in jail has
sparked the public concern. MPs also expressed their concerns over
the imprisonment of the radical group members at the first meeting
of the parliament’s fall session on Wednesday.

Zahid Oruj said that while adopting a decision on imprisonment,
the judge of the court has not taken into account the fact that the
Azerbaijani lands are currently under occupation. He called on the
parliament not to remain indifferent to the matter.

Alimammad Nuriyev noted that the court’s decision is illegal.

Jahangir Huseynov underlined that 20 MPs have sent an inquiry to the
Prosecutor General’s Office concerning the arrest of GLO members but
have not received any reply yet. He stressed that two of the three
accusations laid on the radical group members are unlawful.

Zeynab Khanlarova, in her turn, demanded release for the arrested
and called on her counterparts to unveil their standpoints towards
the issue.

“I also protested against the arrival of Armenians in Baku,” said
Speaker Alasgarov, underlining that the parliament has no authority
to express attitude to court rulings. MP Ali Karimli, chairman of the
Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) assessed the imprisonment
of GLO members as insult against those who love Garabagh and have
fought for its liberation. The PFPA will continue struggle for the
release of the arrested members of the radical group, he stressed.

The intellectuals and politicians in their interviews with TV channels
and press assessed the arrest of the GLO members as disrespect to
the public.*