Deutsche Presse-Agentur
November 17, 2004, Wednesday
17:15:22 Central European Time
INTERVIEW: Armenia hopes to join E.U. in 20 years, says minister
By Leon Mangasarian, dpa
Berlin
Armenia hopes to join the European Union within 20 years and has no
objections to its arch-rival Turkey joining the bloc if Ankara meets
strict membership terms, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan
said Wednesday. “We would like to be a European Union (E.U.) member
… the sooner the better,” said Oskanyan in an interview with
Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa, after talks between German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder and Armenian President Robert Kocharian in Berlin.
Oskanyan said the path used by the 10 mainly east European nations,
which joined the E.U. earlier this year, showed Yerevan the blueprint
it had to follow. “More needs to be done but a lot will depend on
Armenia,” he said, adding Armenia had to reform its legislature,
institutions and democratic system as well as fight corruption to be
on track for possible E.U. accession negotiations. But he stressed
the process of completing reforms to meet E.U. standards was highly
positive in itself and that the journey toward joining the Union was
just as valuable as the final prize. Asked when his country expected
to join, he said: “Maybe in 15 or 20 years.” Turning to Turkey’s bid
to join the E.U., Oskanyan said his government had no objections but
was noting with concern that the E.U. seemed to have watered down
some of its criteria in the case of Turkey. Armenia, he said could
not understand how Turkey could be recommended for E.U. membership
talks while its border to Armenia remained closed. Oskanyan also
noted that Turkey’s penal code banned any mention of the term
genocide in reference to the killing of Christian Armenians by Moslem
Turks during and after the First World War. Armenia and many
historians say the killings amount to a genocide as between 800,000
and 1.5 million Armenians died during this period. But Turkey has
always rejected this and insisted a smaller number of Armenians were
killed during the war when they rebelled against Turkish rule.
Nevertheless, Oskanyan said Armenia had “no problem” with Turkish
E.U. membership because this would lead to European standards of
minority rights and full freedom of speech in Turkey as well as an
E.U. member state bordering on Armenia. He said Turkish recognition
of “genocide” was not a precondition for normal ties between Ankara
and Yerevan. Turkey is expected to get a green light at the scheduled
December 17 E.U. summit in Brussels to begin accession talks. Turkish
leaders admit it could take until 2019 before their country becomes a
full member. Turning to an uneasy truce over the mountainous
Nagorno-Karabakh region between Armenia and mainly Moslem Azerbaijan
which has held since their war over the region ended in 1994,
Oskanyan complained that Azerbaijan was backtracking on moves aimed
at a final accord. Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a bitter war over
Nagorno-Karabakh in which an estimated 35,000 people were killed and
some one million became refugees. Nagorno-Karabakh is an ethnic
Armenian region but lies within the internationally recognized
borders of Azerbaijan. The Armenian state supports ethnic Armenians
in Nagorno-Karabakh and it military occupies about 16 per cent of
Azerbaijan. Oskanyan said his government wanted the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to continue to mediate the
dispute, and he opposed recent moves by Azerbaijan to shift talks to
the U.N. dpa lm emc

Zerkalo, Baku, in Russian
17 Nov 04, p 1,2
AZERI RIGHTS ACTIVIST URGES SOLUTION OF PROBLEMS WITHOUT EUROPE’S
INTERVENTION
The Ago Group of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) is expected to pay a visit to Baku shortly. Its members will
become familiar with the fulfillment of Azerbaijan’s commitments to
the Council of Europe, the situation on human rights and freedoms and
the preparations for municipal elections (on 17 December).
The visitors will tour the regions and penitentiary institutions and
meet convicted opposition members (for organizing post-election riots
in Baku on 15-16 October). Besides, they are scheduled to meet human
rights activists and representatives of the official circles,
political parties and public associations.
(Passage omitted: irrelevant details)
The head of the Azerbaijani foundation of democratic development,
Murad Sadaddinov, and a member of the monitoring group of human
rights organizations, Saida Qocamanli, have shared their views on the
forthcoming visit with Zerkalo.
Sadaddinov said that the members of the group will visit not only
Azerbaijan, but Armenia and Georgia as well.
(Passage omitted: known details)
Asked about possible results of the visit of the Ago Group,
Sadaddinov said: “The Committee of Ministers is the only Council of
Europe entity whose decisions are mandatory for all members of this
organization. Their opinions play a positive role in resolving
certain issues pertaining to human rights and democracy.”
Qocamanli agreed with Sadaddinov. She said the main topic of
discussion during the meeting of the foreign visitors with human
rights activists will be the issue of political prisoners. She said
that this topical issue was actually a hot potato, being one of the
main commitments of Azerbaijan to the Council of Europe.
The list compiled by the members of the monitoring group now includes
a total of 62 political prisoners, while this number was 716 before,
she noted. “We are concerned over this issue because a new cohort of
inmates comprising those involved in the October events and the
leaders of opposition parties has emerged in the country,” she said.
The sides will focus on public TV and the freedom of speech during
the meeting, as well as discuss the fulfillment by Azerbaijan of the
European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,
Qocamanli said.
Speaking about a possible outcome of the visit, the human rights
activist said: “We should not pin hopes on the Council of Europe with
regard to the problem of human rights, but deal with it ourselves. I
think there are issues that we can resolve ourselves.”
As an example, Qocamanli cited the last year meeting of the
monitoring group of human rights organizations with high-ranking
officials in the hierarchy of Azerbaijan’s ruling pyramid. About 30
political prisoners have been released following meetings of this
kind, she said. “I am not in favour of having all our ‘vexed
problems’ discussed at the Council of Europe. I am for resolving our
problems inside the country,” Qocamanli said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Boston Globe, MA
Nov 18 2004
Arts center donors are honored
By Christina Pazzanese, Globe Correspondent
As a group of Harvard bigwigs, Boston philanthropic organizations,
and town officials celebrated groundbreaking for the Arsenal Center
for the Arts last week, it was clear that the center’s roots are
firmly planted in Watertown’s rich Armenian heritage.

John Airasian, owner of Eastern Clothing of Watertown, and Charles
Mosesian, retired owner of the former Euphrates Bakery, have played
key roles in getting the arts center, an ambitious $7.5 million
project scheduled to open in May, off the ground. Both are successful
businessmen who set up shop in the Coolidge Square area long ago and
never left. They were honored for their contributions at the
groundbreaking ceremony.
Few have their finger on the town’s pulse like Airasian, known
locally as ”Mr. Watertown.”
”The town would not have been celebrating the groundbreaking of the
arts center without John,” said Town Manager Michael Driscoll. ”He
walks and talks and thinks all about Watertown.”
As chairman of the Arsenal reuse committee in the 1980s, Airasian,
61, ”played an integral role” in securing $100 million in federal
and state funds to clean up the Arsenal property, Driscoll said. The
37-acre site, used as a munitions factory by the Army for 174 years,
had long been contaminated by radioactive and chemical waste and once
housed a nuclear reactor. In 1989, Airasian headed up the Watertown
Arsenal Development Corp., a nonprofit entity charged by the town to
find a suitable developer to convert the land to commercial and
cultural uses.
”It’s incredible, the amount of time he’s put in for the community,”
said John Portz, a town councilor who served on both the reuse
committee and the development corporation.
Over the last few years, Airasian has served as cochairman of the
center’s capital campaign. He’s been a relentless fund-raiser,
hitting up deep-pocketed friends and local business leaders for the
$7.5 million needed to build the arts center.
”We’re as far as we are because John put his shoulder to the wheel,”
said Roberta Miller, the capital campaign’s cochairwoman.
As construction cost estimates rose and fund-raising stalled after
9/11, Airasian acknowledged that he had ”a lot of sleepless nights”
along the way and uttered more than a few prayers.
”It’s an awful feeling when you take money from people and you’re
not sure if you’re going to make it,” Airasian said. ”I thought,
‘What if we don’t get there? What am I going to say to these people?’
”
Armenian natives both, Airasian’s father, Peter, and his uncle, John,
started a company in the early 1930s, making men’s clothing for
department stores like Sears, Roebuck and Co., and military uniforms
during World War II.
Airasian took over the business in the late 1960s, eventually
refocusing Eastern Clothing of Watertown as a retailer of high-end
men’s suits, best known for athletic-cut suits worn by many Boston
sports stars over the last 30 years.
Airasian’s father was close friends with Mosesian, back when East
Watertown was a hot spot for Middle Eastern food and Armenian
businesses in the 1940s and ’50s.
”When you drove into Coolidge Square, you could smell the lamejun
from Aintab, the bread from Euphrates, and hear the Armenian music
from Armen Vahe’s record shop,” Airasian said. ”Those were good
days, days that never leave you. Charlie represents all of that. He’s
done a lot of good without a lot of fanfare.”
Mosesian, who is 92, arrived in Watertown in 1930 at age 17, escaping
Armenian genocide in Turkey. His mother’s two brothers had already
settled in town and said it was a good place, Mosesian said in an
interview last week.
After working briefly in a Rhode Island pencil factory for 13 cents
an hour, Mosesian opened a small bakery in Coolidge Square that
specialized in Armenian sesame crackers.
Euphrates Bakery crackers were so popular, Mosesian eventually sold
them to a large food manufacturer and began focusing his efforts on a
1950s novelty food — frozen pizza. Mosesian developed a method of
assembling and freezing the pizzas so that vendors such as ballparks
and racetracks could finish baking them on site. He later went on to
start a local bank and develop condominiums in town.
In 2000, Mosesian gave $1 million — the center’s single largest gift
— at a time when the project was still years away from fruition. The
center’s 380-seat theater, where Newton’s New Repertory Theater will
take up residence next spring, is to be named in Mosesian’s honor.
”It was selling an idea and selling a possibility,” Miller said.
”Charlie gave us a tremendous lift.” His donation ”was a huge piece
of our success.”
Mosesian’s family eagerly awaits the theater’s opening next spring.
”We’re extremely pleased,” said Charleen Onanian, his granddaughter.
”It’s a wonderful thing that my grandfather’s name will be carried
on and that building will be there long after we’re all gone.”

Rzeczpospolita, Warsaw in Polish
18 Nov 04
Polish general: Our troops to stay in Iraq; “new allies” may join

Text of an interview with Gen Mieczyslaw Cieniuch, deputy chief of
the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, by Jacek Przybylski
entitled “The sector will remain under Polish command” published by
Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita on 18 November
Przybylski The third turn of duty of the Polish military contingent
in Iraq will complete its mission at the end of January. Will the
fourth tour really be smaller?
Cieniuch Yes. The exact number of men, however, will be specified in
a decision the president is to make in December. The size of our
contingent, naturally, will depend on how events in Iraq unfold.
Przybylski Will the south-central sector continue to be commanded by
a Polish general in the first half of 2005?
Cieniuch Yes. The strongest candidate for this post is Lt-Gen
Waldemar Skrzypczak, who currently commands the 11th Airborne Cavalry
Division in Zagan. This division will be the core of the fourth tour.
Gen Skrzypczak has taken part in all the preparations for the mission
and has paid a reconnaissance visit to Iraq.
Przybylski Is the Ministry of National Defence MON carrying out any
negotiations with the United States on handing over responsibility
for the so-called Polish sector?
Cieniuch No. Poland is not negotiating any such issue with the United
States. Poland will continue to be responsible for the central-south
sector.
Przybylski Hungarian troops are to pull out in December. Bulgaria is
also planning to downsize its contingent. Are any countries offering
to send more men? Do we have any new allies?
Cieniuch Yes. Armenia and Bosnia and Hercegovina have expressed
willingness to join the Centre-South Multinational Division. We do
not know of any plans Bulgaria may have regarding the troop
reduction. No such reports have reached the MON.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RIA Novosti, Russia
November 18, 2004
OVER 500 KG OF DRUGS WITHDRAWN IN CSTO COUNTRIES
MOSCOW, November 18 (RIA Novosti) – Over 550 kg of drugs have been
seized over the two days of the Channel-2004 anti-drug operation, the
PR center of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service said to RIA
Novosti on Thursday.
“The second stage of the Channel-2004 operative-preventive operation
is underway in order to cut channels for trafficking of drugs,
psychotropic substances and their precursors on the territory of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization member-states, RIA Novosti’s
interlocutor said.
According to him, on November 16-17 over 550 kg of drugs were
withdrawn from illegal trafficking, 859 criminal proceedings were
launched and over 2,000 crimes solved.
“For instance, law enforcers searched a car and discovered 183 kg of
drugs in the Karaganda region, Kazakhstan. Anti-drug policemen seized
over 8.5 kg of heroin in the Samara region, Russia. In Tajikistan
policemen detained two people and withdrew 10.5 kg of heroin from
them,” RIA Novosti’s interlocutor noted.
“Representatives of Azerbaijan, Iran and Uzbekistan’s law enforcement
bodies participated in the operation as observers for the first
time,” he stressed.
The Collective Security Treaty was signed on May 15, 1992 in Tashkent
and came into force on April 20, 1994 for five years till April 1999.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization was set up on May 14,
2002. It comprises Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
and Tajikistan.

RosBusinessConsulting Database
November 18, 2004 Thursday 10:24 am, EST
Energy Minister comments on energy reforms
The issue of handing control over assets of RAO UES to the Federal
Network Company will be solved after the plan for liberalizing the
market for electrical energy is clear, Russian Energy Minister Viktor
Khristenko told journalists. According to him, the future of foreign
assets of RAO UES is not clear as yet. Currently RAO UES subsidiary
Inter RAO UES controls operations of the holding related to imports
or exports. The company may be restructured into a subsidiary of the
Federal Network Company.
RAO UES owns Armenian and Georgian assets and plans to acquire energy
companies in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Agence France Presse — English
November 18, 2004 Thursday 5:38 PM GMT
Armenia’s President Kocharian says Turkey bullying his country
BERLIN
President Robert Kocharian of Armenia has accused neighbouring Turkey
of trying to seal off and bully his country by closing their border
for the last decade in a gesture of support for another neighbour
Azerbaijan, in remarks to be published on Friday.
In an interview with the Friday edition of the German newspaper Die
Welt, Kocharian said: “Turkey is sealing off Armenia, and you can
only call that bullying.”
He said the closure of the frontier since 1993 was a reflex act of
solidarity with Azerbaijan.
Armenia has had tense relations with its Caucasian neighbour
Azerbaijan since both became independent from the Soviet Union with
its collapse in 1991.
The cause of the trouble is the mainly Armenian-populated enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.
The territory is claimed by Azerbaijan but currently ruled by a
self-styled independent government recognized only by Armenia.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia to support Azerbaijan in its
war against Yerevan over Nagorno-Karabakh.
A close ally of Azerbaijan, Turkey has declined to establish
diplomatic ties with Armenia.
Kocharian, currently in Berlin for an economic conference, said his
country had set no preconditions for normalisation of relations with
Turkey.
“For us it is very important that Turkey should acknowledge its
genocide of Armenians in 1915 but this will never be a condition for
development of bilateral relations,” he was quoted as saying.
But if Turkey did admit to genocide it would be a big step towards
normalisation, he said.
The subject of the Armenian massacre has remained a controversial one
touching Turkish and Armenian sensitivities for nigh on nine decades,
with Turkey categorically refusing to acknowledge that genocide had
occurred in 1915-1917 when up to 1.5 million Armenians died.

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan, in Armenian
17 Nov 04
Armenian president, German chancellor discuss relations
Presenter High-level negotiations have started in Germany. The
Armenian president Robert Kocharyan met Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
in the German capital Berlin about two hours ago. Schroeder
characterized the two countries’ relations as friendly. He also spoke
about achievements in economic cooperation, noting that the
Armenian-German trade had increased by 40 per cent as against the
last year.
Correspondent Lilit Setrakyan from Berlin, on telephone The Armenian
president’s plane landed at Berlin Tegel airport this afternoon.
Robert Kocharyan’s working visit started with the meeting with the
German chancellor. Gerhard Schroeder met Robert Kocharyan at his
residence.
The ethnic Armenian children welcomed the Armenian president here.
Before the meeting, Schroeder spoke about the German-Armenian
relations at a briefing. The two countries have no problems, their
relations are friendly in the economic and political spheres, he
said.
Passage omitted: reiteration
Robert Kocharyan and Gerhard Schroeder also discussed the
opportunities for increasing the German investments in Armenia.
Schroeder noted that the main condition for the investments was how
they would be protected and how favourable the business atmosphere in
Armenia would be.
Robert Kocharyan and Gerhard Schroeder discussed the EU’s New
Neighbourhood programme as well.
Passage omitted: Kocharyan attended concert by German Armenians
Video showed the meeting
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Kurdistan Observer, MI
Nov 18 2004
The Kurds, Turkey’s metamorphosis to a European state
By: Adil Al-Baghdadi
Turkey’s bid and eagerness to join EU is a welcome sign that the
country wants to change and shake off its not so glamorous 80 years
past of either direct tyrannical military rule or intermittent
military-controlled civilian governments.
The heirs of Ataturk and the despotic Ottoman rule, which fought the
Europeans for centuries and stopped the flow of renaissance to reach
regions within its domain – especially the Middle East – are now
knocking at every European door and begging for an admission.
However, it seems that Turkey’ military and civilian leaders do not
realize, just like Ataturk didn’t, that being a European means more
than wearing a suit and a tie.
And acting like one is certainly nothing to do with the fact that
their country has a bit of a territory within the European continent,
which in fact was an integral part of Greece.
To be part of Europe and declare one is European is not also by
joining the Eurovision contest and parade scantly clad and beautiful
young Turkish women.
There is more to it than that, in fact there are more than 600 years
of it to be precise.
As throughout many centuries of the despotic Ottoman rule Europe went
through complete social, political and cultural transitions,
especially during the renaissance era, the likes of which have not
yet being tried in Middle East let alone Turkey.
This era has shaped Europe to what it is now, a collection of
countries that has strong adherence to democratic principles,
unwavering conviction in human and equal gender rights rights and
above all tolerance towards anything that is different, be it ethnic
and religious groups, homosexuals and others.
By contrast, the present Turkey, which is a by-product of Ataturk
supremacist, Kurdish-hating and jingoistic mentality still has a very
long way to go to convince even its ardent supporter in Europe that
it has changed, but not on the cosmetic level.
Many reports in Turkish dailies frequently caries news about the
Turkey that everyone has come to know, that’s to say a Turkey that is
intolerant towards the Kurdish population in northern Kurdistan and
Kurdish gains in southern Kurdistan.
The underlying tone of such articles and reports describe the
inexplicable derision and mistrust towards people who contributed
greatly to creating Turkey – which afterwards denied their existence
for more than 80 years – and who will yet again contribute to
Turkey’s accession to European Union.
In one such report the Turkish Human Right Organization head, Yusuf
Alatas, describes the current situation in Turkey regarding the
supposedly newly found rights for Kurds to broadcast and teach
Kurdish.
In it he says: `Has the problem of broadcasting in native language
been solved with a half-hour broadcast, when in fact watching private
TV channels in the same native language is not allowed? And will
people attend Kurdish courses where they have to undergo
interrogation?
Are people asked personal questions when enrolling in English
language courses? After all they pay money to attend these courses’.
Turkey should not expect to qualify to the much-prized club
membership by applying a trimmed down versions of EU adaptation
packages.
What’s more, it should not assume to be treated like a European state
when it still relapses back to its tyrannical past in between now and
then.
To behave, act and think like a European takes centuries.
It would be a tall order and implausible demand, however desirable
and beneficial that maybe, to ask Turkey to enrol en-masse all of its
military and civilian leaders in courses ranging from studies in
European history, human rights, multi-ethnic societies in democracies
and rights of nations for self-determination.
They even may find it useful to enrol in courses in basic decorum
such as tolerance and respect towards others.
Also it would be a far-fetched request to ask Turkey’s establishment
and its military leaders to take long sessions with European
psychiatrists to rid themselves from the Kurdo-phobia, which has
besotted them and has gripped Turkey for centuries and up until now.
But, heaven to be hold, there is a short cut for Turkey to become a
modern European entity that is by embracing and helping the Kurds in
Northern Kurdistan to achieve political and cultural rights.
And by owning up to the genocide of Armenians and by granting
cultural and political rights to Turkey’s substantial Arab, Greek,
Assyrians and Laz population and others.
This would convince even its staunchest opponent in Europe and
millions of Kurds that Turkey is on the right track to become a true
European country.
The travesty of justice for Turkey is that the very people whom she
disowned, decimated, humiliated and culturally annihilated for more
than 80 years are now the most critical factor in deciding whether
Turkey can be part of Europe or not.

Adil Al-Baghdadi
London
[email protected]

Noyan Tapan news agency, Yerevan, in Russian
17 Nov 04
Armenian companies says telecom firm’s monopoly affecting their
business
Yerevan, 17 November: As a result of changes to licence No 60 of
ArmenTel Armenian Telecom , 250 IT-telephony companies, which have
signed contracts with relevant international organizations, have
licences to operate, have borrowed loans from banks and have
encountered a financial crisis now, are losing their jobs, 10
authorized representatives of the companies providing the mentioned
services and the Labour Analysis and Research Centre public
association said at a meeting with Armenia Speaker Artur Bagdasaryan
on 16 November.
Bagdasaryan said that the government had been acting within its
power, the press service of the Armenian National Assembly told Noyan
Tapan. At the same time, he proposed studying international
experience in this type of communications and prepare a bulletin
containing legal and specialized technical information.
After that, parliamentary hearings may be organized in order to find
answers to questions of concern, to discuss issues of protecting the
interests of the companies and the high-tech sphere in Armenia and to
apply innovations in this sphere in the future, the chairman of the
National Assembly said.