ISSUES OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS ACTIVELY DISCUSSED IN EUROPE
By Hakob Chakrian
What is EUâ~@~Ys Concern?
Azg/am
27 Oct 04
The European Commission issued a report suggesting the EU member state
leaders and governments to start accession talks with Turkey. All
the formulae unacceptable for Ankara and European statesâ~@~Y
preconceptions resulted in a debate long before December 17, EU summit
day that will set up the negotiation term.
The issues of Armenian Genocide acknowledgment as well as
Armenian-Turkish relations in general were not bypassed during these
debates neither in Europe nor in Turkey. Active involvement of NGOs
was very supportive in bringing issues up.
Eminent statesman Ilter Turkmen singled out Europeâ~@~Ys Friends
and Commission of Independent Turkey NGOs in an October 2 article of
Hyuriet. The former thinks that relations with neighboring Armenia
will be drawn forward if not now then at the accession stage, the
latter thinks that EU will suggest not only opening borders with
Armenia and putting right Armenia-Turkish relations but will also
exhort Turkey to recognize the tragic events of the past.
This is a hint about Armenian Genocide. Unlike the Commission of
Independent Turkey, the European-Armenians spoke out openly at their
first congress at the European Commission. They demanded EU member
states to include Armenian Genocide acknowledgment as a precondition
for Turkeyâ~@~Ys accession.
The EU December 17 summit will show if the European-Armenian
Federationâ~@~Ys demand was accepted or not. The fact is that the
discussions over Armenian Genocide acknowledgment and Armenia-Turkish
relations are not limited with the circle of European and Turkish
political fractions, Turkish NGOs and the European-Armenian Federation.
Scientific circles in their turn contribute to debates. The October 15
issue of Turkish Akos newspaper writes about a scientific conference
in Venice on October 28-30. Diaspora Armenians Levon Zekiyan, Ramon
Gevorgian, Iv Ternon, Turkish scientists Halil Terktay, Murad Belge,
Baskn Oran, Ferhat Qentel and Rag?p Zaraqolu, Tanem Akcam (USA) and
Ruben Safrastian from Armenia will take part at the conference called
“Armenian and Turks Throughout the History. Century-old Relations”.
Participation of Armenian Diaspora NGOs together with political circles
of Europe and Turkey at the Venice conference inspires hope that EU
will include the Armenian-Turkish relations in the precondition list
even though dropping out the Genocide acknowledgment.
EUâ~@~Ys New Neighborhood Initiative that took over the three South
Caucasian states on June 14 of the current year is also aimed at
that. But there is still an answered question: if the EU is concerned
with Armenian-Turkish relations why does Europe view this issue in
the context of the Armenian Genocide? By threatening Turkey with the
Genocide EU makes Turkey agree on improving relations with Armenia.
Therefore neither discussions over Armenian Genocide and
Armenian-Turkish relations nor the initiatives for those discussions
can be considered casual. It was in the interests of Europe that the
1st European-Armeniansâ~@~Y congress took place and that the Venice
scientific conference is to be held.
–Boundary_(ID_5w2z6JQuiovyrWNrkmKJXg)–

Political analysis and ideology
Editorial
Yerkir/am
October 22, 2004
Political, geopolitical and ideological considerations come to
dominate social sciences today. Should political analysis be based
on ideological considerations?
At first sight, it might seem that it should not because analysis
requires neutrality, objectivity and reasoning independent of
any ideological and especially party affiliation. However, such
objectivity very often serves as a cover for absence of political
will and a specific political line, and pure reasoning often hides
the absence of a political ideal and political idealism.
The mask of objectivity often hides individuals, organizations,
elites or systems deprived of any goals of their own. The powerful
states and the political research institutes at their service do
not shun subjectivity presenting their interests and their positions
as universal.
Meanwhile, the intellectual elites suffering from provincial
inferiority complex feel ashamed for the conservatism of their national
ideals and resort to â~@~ objectivismâ~@~] and determinism. In
reality, they find themselves servicing the interests of some powerful
actors.
Assessment and analysis of domestic and internal political processes
and realities is subconsciously ideologized in Armenia. However, this
ideologization is dangerous because it derives from the pro-Russian
or pro-Western position of certain individuals thus imitating the
assessment of political realities presented by Russian or Western
sources respectively. The analysis of domestic, regional or global
issues is thus based on concepts and scenarios developed by others.
You can research thousands of sources, be very well aware of various
facts. But if you do not have your own analytical mind, your own ideal
you will not be able to analyze the situation from a perspective that
specifically suits your interests. Before any analysis is possible in
Armenia, we first of all need to develop our own position on things
and situations to be analyzed; we have to develop the ability to have
our own perspective on different things.
This can happen if we have our own vision of the future, a vision that
will be Armenian and not Russian, European or American. The vision
of the future must be based not on objective calculations but on our
will to pursue the future we want to have. Facts are objective only
for those who lack will. The future must be shaped in a way favorable
for Armenia. Facts must be analyzed only from the perspective of
Armeniaâ~@~Ys interests.
Armeniaâ~@~Ys interests cannot be completely identical with the
interests of any strategic partners or allies. The ideological factor
must be analyzed consciously. Today, the ideological factor does exist,
but is either a product of subconscious imitation or is a conscious
service paid to some external forces.
–Boundary_(ID_UXN5A62ve3moD3WV9swF9w)–

They want to silence us
Yerkir/am
October 22, 2004
Several days ago, the Ministry of Justice officially registered
Jehovahâ~@~Ys Witnesses. We can already see some direct consequences
of this act and make some predictions as to the possible further
developments.
We have received numerous phone calls from our readers. People voice
their protest against the Justice Ministryâ~@~Ys decision to grant
official registration to this religious organization.
Many people noted that after registration the Witnesses have
become more aggressive in their behavior and in their activities of
â~@~delivering the truth to the peopleâ~@~].
The Witnessesâ~@~Y behavior is of course backed up not only by the
mandate now given to them by the Justice Ministry. There are many
forces supporting all kinds of sects and other groups aiming to
deteriorate our national traditions and values.
Meanwhile, Armenian citizens, those who do not belong to any sects or
any minorities, are expecting the state agencies to answer several
questions. If the state agencies start to support and protect the
rights of the religious sects and all kinds of minorities, then
who will protect the rights and interests of ordinary citizens? Who
will protect the non-minority citizens from the very propaganda and
soul-hunting activities of those sects?
If the Witnesses can have the right for public preaching, shouldnâ~@~Yt
other citizens have the right to protect themselves and their children
from the same public preaching?
If the Witnesses can have the right to knock at our doors, to penetrate
schools and universities, shouldnâ~@~Yt we have the right to treat
them as unwanted guests, as ideological interveners into the value
system underlying our and our childrenâ~@~Ys identity? There are
other questions to be asked. But the answers are what matters. Does
our justice system have the answers?
–Boundary_(ID_+Q3gVwkzwhPjIwPaT0DBgw)–

Ethnic Armenians urge Georgia to fulfil Council of Europe requirements
Noyan Tapan news agency, Yerevan
26 Oct 04
The council of Armenian public organizations of Georgia’s
Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakheti Region has asked the Council
of Europe Monitoring Commission to pay attention to “the appalling
situation in the region which might have horrible consequences for
the population of the region and for Georgia as a whole”, Armenian
news agency Noyan Tapan quoted A-Info agency as saying on 26 October.
In a memorandum sent to the Monitoring Commission, the council of
Armenian public organizations said that although five years have
passed since Georgia became a member of the Council of Europe, it
has done nothing to fulfil its commitments concerning protection of
national minorities in the country. “This has resulted in a critical
situation in Samtskhe-Javakheti Region,” the memorandum said.
“Today’s task is the region’s complete integration into the state,
political, social and economic life of the country. However,
integration does not mean assimilation, and autonomy does not mean
separatism… In order to integrate, the majority and the minority
must have the desire and will to meet each other halfway,” the
memorandum said.

Azeri foreign minister says Armenia responsible for “time-out” in talks
ANS TV, Baku
26 Oct 04
Time-out taken by the Armenian side in Astana is becoming too long,
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has said. He added
that although during a meeting with the Azerbaijani president in
Astana [Kazakhstan in September] Armenian President Robert Kocharyan
had asked for some time to examine several issues, there had been
no news from him up to now. The [Azerbaijani] Foreign Ministry has
already informed the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen about this. Even a
meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries scheduled
for October has been postponed, end of quote.

Karami unveils final Cabinet lineup
30-member government includes 2 women
By Nada Raad and Nafez Kawas
Daily Star staff
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
BEIRUT: Prime Minister-designate Omar Karami formed a pro-Syrian
30-minister Cabinet on Tuesday excluding opposition members and former
Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s parliamentary bloc, but, for the first
time in Lebanon, naming two women to ministerial posts.
“We would have wished all parties to participate, but we could not
do better,” Karami, who had called for a national unity government
to face the pressures on Lebanon, said from Baabda following the
announcement of his new Cabinet.
The Cabinet reshuffle comes amid international pressures on Syria to
withdraw its troops from Lebanon.
However, Karami promised that his Cabinet will draft a new
parliamentary electoral law respecting the Taif Accord, which
stipulates that Syria leave Lebanon.
The Cabinet excludes anti-Syrian opposition groups, who boycotted the
parliamentary consultations ahead of Karami’s appointment. However,
the prime minister designate said that it was the opposition that
decided not to participate in his Cabinet, despite attempts he
initiated in the last few days.
“We will continue to deal with the opposition to solve all difficulties
placed on Lebanon,” he said.
Karami’s Cabinet is the first to include two women, Leila Solh,
daughter of former Prime Minister Riad Solh and aunt of billionaire
Saudi Prince Walid Bin Talal, and Wafaa Hamza, a Shiite close to
Speaker Nabih Berri. Said Karami, “Women constitute half the Lebanese
population.”
Two of the most prominent portfolios, the defense and foreign
ministries, were given to Syria’s allies Abdel-Hamid Mrad and Mahmoud
Hammoud, while Syria’s strongest ally, Suleiman Franjieh, was named
interior minister.
Karami named economist and former Minister Elias Saba as finance
minister, at a time when his government is suffering from an estimated
$35 billion national debt.
Druze Talal Arslan was named minister of the displaced, replacing his
opponent Chouf MP Walid Jumblatt, who said he will not participate
in any Cabinet under Lahoud’s mandate in opposition to the extension
of the president’s term for three years on Sept. 3.
In accordance with the Taif Accord, the Cabinet must include equal
Christian and Muslim representation spread between six Christian
Maronites, four Christian Orthodox, three Christian Catholics,
two Christian Armenians, six Shiites, six Sunnis and three Druze,
headed by a Sunni Muslim prime minister.
The Cabinet was announced following extensive and lengthy consultations
between Lahoud, Berri and Karami over the past five days.
Kararmi’s first visit to Baabda on Tuesday was used to reach an
agreement over the names appointed to some ministries.
Sources close to the Cabinet discussions said that Berri vetoed the
presence of former Speaker Hussein Husseini in the Cabinet and demanded
that the names of all six Shiites ministers receive his approval.
Berri, who heads the Amal Movement, issued a statement on Tuesday
denying all information about a “Shiite obstacle” in the Cabinet
reshuffle.
“There is no Shiite obstacle at all in the Cabinet reshuffle. Several
of the names mentioned in the press are inaccurate,” the statement
said.
After resolving the interior ministry obstacle, granted to outgoing
Health Minister Suleiman Franjieh after outgoing Interior Minister
Elias Murr announced he would not participate in the next Cabinet,
other difficulties emerged over the past 24 hours concerning the
names to be appointed in the culture and education ministries.
Sources said that while Lahoud wanted to grant the Education Ministry
to Bsharri MP Qabalan Issa Khoury’s nephew Ibrahim Daher, Karami
wanted the post for Sami Minkara or Tammam Salam.
“Salam wanted the Public Works and Transportation or the Education
Ministry, but we could not offer him either of the two portfolios. We
hope to include him in future cabinets,” Karami said.
Sources said that former Beirut MP Tammam Salam also wanted a prominent
ministry as none of Beirut’s main figures were handed a portfolio.
Hariri’s parliamentary bloc, which includes 17 Beirut MPs, announced
last week it would not participate in the next cabinet. It also
refrained last Thursday from naming a prime minister during the
compulsory parliamentary consultations with Lahoud.
Early before heading to Baabda, Karami said from his residence in
Ramlet al-Baida that the delay in the Cabinet reshuffle was due to
obstacles concerning names more than allotted portfolios.
Karami also received a delegation from the Syrian Social Nationalist
Party headed by the party’s president Gebran Araiji and a delegation
from the Phalange Party, two visits which were kept away from the
media.
The new Cabinet excludes members of the opposition, such as Jumblatt’s
Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc, the Qornet Shehwan Gathering
and any ally of Hariri.
Karami’s extensive attempts to include members of the opposition in
his Cabinet failed late Monday. The opposition groups, although not
opposing Karami personally, are determined not to participate in a
cabinet that falls short concerning basic national objectives, such
as implementing the Taif Accord.
They have also repeatedly said that the next cabinet will not bring
any improvement to the current situation.
“We refused to participate in the next cabinet knowing … that the
opposition would be a minority and could not make any difference
to face the majority of pro-regime parties and forces that are
determined to keep the situation going as it is now,” said Qornet
Shehwan Gathering member Batroun MP Butros Harb in a statement Tuesday.
Until late Monday night, Karami was still trying to convince both
Harb and Zghorta MP Nayla Mouawad to join his Cabinet. However,
his initiatives failed when the opposition groups said they would
not participate in a cabinet that lacks reform plans.
What remains to be seen following the Cabinet reshuffle is whether
it will be granted the confidence of Parliament, which requires the
vote of 86 out of its 128 MPs.
According to Article 64 of the Constitution, “The Cabinet does not
exercise its powers before it gains Parliament’s confidence.”
The 29 MPs who voted against the constitutional amendment of the
extension of Lahoud’s term may refuse to cast their vote for the
new Cabinet. However, such a number would not affect the Cabinet’s
legitimacy. But if Hariri’s parliamentary bloc decided not to vote
in favor of the government, in addition to the 29 other MPs, Karami’s
Cabinet would not be able to exercise its powers.
On Wednesday morning the   ministers will go to the Cabinet offices
in Beirut, form a committee and issue a ministerial statement that
needs to receive Parliament’s vote of confidence before the ministers
start exercising their powers.
Lineup of new cabinet
Prime Minister: Omar Karami Deputy Premier: Issam Fares
Finance Minister: Elias Saba
Information Minister: Elie Ferzli
Minister of State: Albert Mansour 
Interior Minister: Suleiman Franjieh
Minister of the Displaced: Talal Arslan
Education Minister: Sami Minkara
Defense Minister: Abdel-Rahim Mrad
Public Works and Transport Minister: Yassin Jaber
Social Affairs Minister: Ghazi Zeaiter
State Minister: Karam Karam
Sports and Youth Minister: Sebouh Hovnanian
Foreign Minister: Mahmoud Hammoud
Telecommunications Minister: Jean-Louis Qordahi
Agriculture Minister: Elias Skaff
Labor Minister: Assem Qanso
Tourism Minister: Farid Khazen
Economy Minister: Adnan Qassar
Minister of State: Mahmoud Abdel-Khaleq
Justice Minister: Adnan Addoum
Culture Minister: Naji Boustany
Energy Minister: Maurice Sehnawi
Industry Minister: Leila Solh
Minister of State for Administrative Development: Ibrahim Daher
Minister of State: Youssef Salameh
Health Minister: Mohammed Jawad Khalifeh
Minister of State: Wafaa Hamzeh
Minister of State: Alain Tabourian
Environment Minister: Wi’am Wahab
–Boundary_(ID_cawbwTzA3G86VFijMUcZ2g)–

CEREMONY OF REMEMBRANCE OF VICTIMS OF OCTOBER 27 TERRORIST ACT TAKES PLACE IN
YARD OF NA BUILDING
ATTENTION: UPDATED NEWS SENT YEREVAN, October 26 (Noyan Tapan). As
of 6:30 p.m., the rally organized by the “Ardarutiun” (“Justice”)
bloc in Liberty Square was over, and the rally participants went to
the NA building to pay tribute to the memory of the political figures
perished during the October 27 1999 terrorist act and to lay wreaths
to the memorial stone set up in the yard of the NA building. A group
of 50 people among participants of the rally, representatives of the
opposition and relatives of the victims of the October 27 terrorist
act, entered the territory of the parliament. Small perturbation arouse
at the gates of the parliamemt, as many participants of the rally
also wanted to enter the yard of the building. But the list of people,
who have the right to come in the yard, was preliminarily coordinated
with the leadership of the National Assembly whose representatives
and MPs representing the political forces of the ruling coalition have
already been waiting for an hour and a half for representatives of the
opposition organizing the rally in Liberty Square. Participants of
the mourning ceremony laid wreaths to the monument of the victims of
the October 27 terrorist act. RA NA Chairman Artur Baghdasarian in his
short speech presented his condolences to the relatives and friends
of the victims of the tragedy. He also mentioned the necessity of
the full disclosing of the crime. Viktor Dallakian, Secretary of the
“Ardarutyun” faction, spoke on behalf of the opposition. He mentioned
that terrorism is unacceptable independently of the fact for what
goals it serves. Dallakian stressed that the purpose of this crime
was to change the results of the 1999 parliamentary elections.
Mentioning that he doesn’t what to give assessments, the MP said
that all the political forces should unite in order to exclude the
possibility of the repetition of terrorist acts in Armenia. The
mourning ceremony lasted for 10-15 minutes, then participants of the
rally left the NA building.

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
10/26/2004
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) Kocharian Pleased with International Community's Attention to Stability in South Caucasus 2) Human Rights Report May End Up in Court 3) Turkish Foreign Minister Sees 10-Year Accession Process as Realistic 4) Georgia Disagrees with Russia's Assessment of Regional Conflicts 5) Gorky's Pirate I Sells for 1,949,969 euros at Paris Auction 6) Armenia's Men at Third 1) Kocharian Pleased with International Community's Attention to Stability in South Caucasus YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)--President Robert Kocharian provided the history and the current developments in the Mountainous Karabagh conflict settlement process during his meeting with members of the joint mission of the German Marshall Fund of the US (GMF) and the Project on Transitional Democracies (PTD). Noting that a resolution to the Karabagh problem is important both to Armenia and the entire region, Kocharian said, "It is appreciated that the problem is getting the attention of various centers and individuals of expertise, and there is certain interest to study it more deeply in order to become acquainted with details on the spot." The President pointed to the significance of the international community's focus on establishing peace and stability in the South Caucasus, evidenced by the GMF/PTD joint mission there. Armenia's foreign policy, relations with the neighboring countries, and the country's economic development were also discussed. The German Marshall Fund of the United States is an American public policy and grant making institution dedicated to promoting greater cooperation and understanding between the United States and Europe. All GMF activities are organized within three principal program areas: transatlantic policy, transatlantic leadership, and wider Europe. Founded in 1972 through a gift from Germany as a permanent memorial to Marshall Plan assistance, GMF maintains a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic. The Project on Transitional Democracies was established in 2002 to facilitate the democratic transformation of Europe's new post-1989 democracies and educate key decision-makers and the political leadership of the countries in transition. 2) Human Rights Report May End Up in Court The controversial report by the Prime Ministry's Human Rights Advisory Board was rejected by senior officials, who denied it was commissioned by the government. (NTV-MSNBC)--A report on ethnic minorities in Turkey, released by an advisory body linked to the office of the Turkish Prime Minister, may end up in court, with one member of the Human Right Advisory Board saying he has applied for its authors to be prosecuted. Fethi Bolayir, a member of the board, said on Monday that the report attacked the national and spiritual values of the republic. Bolayir, who is also the chairman of Social Thinking Association, described the report as a "a document of treason" and called for legal action to be taken against those involved in preparing it. Issued last week, the report recommends greater recognition be given to ethnic minorities in Turkey. Currently, only three ethnic minorities--the Jews, Armenians, and Greeks--are officially recognized. But Bolayir stressed the report disregards the Laussane Treaty, the international treaty that established the status of minorities in Turkey. "If this report--which suggests that the unchangeable articles of the constitution that limits minority and cultural rights, be changed--then what is it, if not a document of treason," he said. Bolayir also stressed that his organization supports ridding of injustices, corruption, and poverty, but not the division of the Turkish Republic. He revealed that of the 30 members of the board, seven voted against the report, and that changes in the section covering minorities were made without the knowledge of certain members, thus a clearly abuse of office and breach of confidence. Chairman of the board Ibrahim Kaboglu, said the report had been submitted to the Prime Ministry, but government officials denied having anything to do with the report. 3) Turkish Foreign Minister Sees 10-Year Accession Process as Realistic PRAGUE (AFP)--Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Tuesday that he believed it would take his country around 10 years to join the European Union once negotiations got under way. Speaking during a visit to the Czech Republic, Gul said fulfilling the criteria for accession would not be easy. "First we need a clear-cut date for accessions to start. We know the negotiation period is not easy, particularly for big countries. And we know as a big country that it will take longer, maybe 10 years," he told a press conference. "But it depends on our performance when we fulfill the criteria and when we close the chapters," he added. The EU summit is due to decide in December whether to adopt the European Commission's recommendation and give the green light to launching accession talks with Ankara. Gul's Czech counterpart Cyril Svoboda said the Czech government believed the Commission's assessment of Turkey was "fair." "The Czech Republic has made clear that it supports Turkey launching negotiations and that it is right to launch the process," he told journalists. During Gul's visit, the two countries agreed to work to cancel visa requirements in the very near future. 4) Georgia Disagrees with Russia's Assessment of Regional Conflicts TBILISI (Itar-Tass)--In response to a statement by Russia's foreign ministry regarding the conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the Georgian Foreign Ministry disagreed with Russia's assessment, saying, "Today, Russia is trying again to justify the separatist regimes in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and shift the blame to the Georgian side." The Russian Foreign Ministry statement read, "Russia favors a political and peaceful resolution of the conflicts in Georgia; these conflicts have resulted from minority rights violations that have not allowed the preservation of national identity and autonomy within the sovereign Georgian state." The Georgian Foreign Ministry responded by saying, "The Russian side is either not fully informed about the history of these conflicts in Abhkazia and South Ossetia or does not want to recognize objective facts." 5) Gorky's Pirate I Sells for 1,949,969 euros at Paris Auction PARIS--Arshile Gorky's 1942 work Pirate I sold for 1,949,969 euros during the first day of a three day auction in Paris on October 5. The estimated price of the work was 1.4-1.6 million euros, the highest estimated price for any single item in the sale. Pirate I was part of the massive private collection of New York art dealer Julien Levy, in whose gallery Gorky had a number of shows in the 1940s. Also in that collection was Gorky's 1946 work Sans Titre, estimated at 50-60,000 euros, which sold for 98,672 euros. Gorky's 1942 piece Pirate II, estimated at 1,100,000-1,300,000 euros, was purchased for 1,149,500 euros during session two of the auction. Among the more than 800 paintings and drawings on the auction bloc were four paintings and eleven drawings by Gorky, a few of which are barely known to the public. The auction sale by François Tajan, who is among the most famous of Paris auctioneers, included works by Hans Arp, Dali, Toulouse-Lautrec, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernest, Fini, Lichtenstein, Magritte, Man Ray, Matta, Naguchi, and Tanguy. 6) Armenia's Men at Third After 11 rounds of competitions at the 36th Chess Olympiad in Mallorca, Spain, Armenia kept its third position intact with an easy 2.5-1.5 victory over Switzerland and moved to 29 points just behind Russia and the Ukraine, which holds first place. Rafael Vahanyan won his match, while Vladimir Hacopyan, Levon Aronyan, Gabriel Sarkissian all drew theirs. After beating United States 2.5-1.5, Russia remained in second place, and now trail Ukraine by 2.5 points, while Israel stands fourth on 28 after comprehensively beating Azerbaijan 3-1. Armenia's women Elina Danielian, Lilit Mkrtchian, Nelly Aginian, and Siranush Andriasian are in the 14th spot, with China at first, followed by Georgia and the US. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2004 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets. --Boundary_(ID_JaQCTxUqMTosmxBmHiYoHw)-- From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

An ’80s business overture that fits a lifetime ‘W’ pattern of CIA dealings
Bush’s Courting of Saddam
by Wayne Barrett With Special Reporting by Nathan Deuel
The Village Voice, October 26th, 2004 10:20 AM
Sarkis Soghanalian, the international arms dealer who bought billions
in weapons for Saddam Hussein, says he was approached at a Newark
airport luncheon meeting in the early ’80s by a representative of
then Texas oil entrepreneur George W. Bush, who was seeking to do
business in Iraq.
Featured in lengthy interviews on 60 Minutes, 20/20, and PBS’s
Frontline over the years, the twice-convicted Soghanalian was dubbed
the “Merchant of Death.” He was released from prison at the request of
federal prosecutors who, as recently as 2001, cited his “substantial
assistance to law enforcement.” Justice Department officials questioned
him in Washington this year about an ongoing case in Peru involving
the sale of 10,000 assault rifles to Colombian guerrillas, but they
did not extradite him though he is facing a possible 15-year jail
sentence there for brokering the deal.
Soghanalian recalled in half a dozen phone interviews with the
Voice that he met with a business associate of W’s whose full name he
cannot recall but who, like Soghanalian, was Armenian. The meeting was
arranged, he says, by a friend who was a leader in Armenian charity
circles. Soghanalian recalls that the business associate told him:
“George W. Bush wants to do business in Iraq.”
“Unfortunately, I was pretty high-profile at the time,” says
Soghanalian, “and everyone was trying to get close to me. Why would
I want their business? I knew his father. What did I need him for?”
Soghanalian, who had a stopover in Newark on his way to Baghdad, says
he can’t remember any specifics about the suggested business. The
businessman, he said, “was sent on behalf of Bush” and “said to me,
‘This is an important man.’ ” Soghanalian claims that the man told him
that W had “a lot of contacts overseas” and that Soghanalian replied:
“I have contacts too. I don’t need more contacts.” Soghanalian says
he has known the senior Bush since at least 1976, when Bush was CIA
director. Soghanalian has had such a long-standing CIA relationship
that David Armstrong of the National Security News Service calls him
the agency’s “arms dealer of choice.”
Soghanalian says Bush’s representative continued to “chase me around”
after the airport meeting. Living in an overseas location he did not
want disclosed, the 300-pound, 75-year-old legendary dealer said:
“I am not where I am and have never been where I was.” Though he
volunteered the story of the Newark solicitation, he expressed concerns
about “angering” the Bushes and repeatedly cut off later interviews,
citing health concerns.
It’s widely known that prior to the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the
Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations maintained friendly ties
with Hussein, but there has never before been any indication that the
current president was seeking business deals with him. In the ’80s, the
younger Bush managed a series of struggling Texas-based oil companies,
one of which, Harken Energy, did secure a major oil deal in Bahrain
that caused a public furor, since it appeared to have been awarded to
earn favor with the Bush administration. Bush’s storefront start-up
Arbusto (later renamed Bush Exploration) was in deep trouble in the
’83-’84 period when Soghanalian says the approach occurred.
The Soghanalian overture is only one of several Bush business
intertwinings with the dark side, starting way back in 1974, when
he was 28 years old. Like the Soghanalian adventure, each of these
tales has CIA ties, which touch virtually every Bush business venture
until 1990.
A mysterious Alaska summer
Neil Bergt, The New York Times’ “richest man in Alaska” in the ’80s,
gave W a summer job in 1974, when he was in between years at Harvard
Business School. Bergt says he doesn’t know why the young Bush–still
living, by his own account, the “wild and woolly days”–wanted to come
to Fairbanks, where the company was based. But a Houston construction
executive contacted him and asked him to hire Bush, who has been
described by professors and friends as an out-to-lunch business
student. Bush’s father was then the chairman of the Republican National
Committee, installed by President Nixon, and Bush Sr. would wind up
that summer appearing on the White House lawn when Nixon resigned,
waved farewell, and climbed aboard the presidential helicopter for
the last time. Bergt concedes that the Bush job was “a political hire.”
In several wide-ranging interviews, Bergt oscillated between demands
that the Voice pay him $250,000 for “the real story” that “only I
can tell” about Bush and insisting that there was “no story here”
and that Bush spent a quiet summer preparing a business plan for him.
Asked why Bush preferred a summer in Alaska to Wall Street or Houston,
Bergt suggested that the motive was nefarious, and that a full account
could affect the election, adding: “I’m not talking without money.”
Bergt’s company, Alaska International Air, certainly has a checkered
history. In 1979, it sold a coveted military cargo plane, a Hercules
C-130, to Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, despite a U.S. ban that
specifically barred the delivery of that particular plane. Bergt
contends he was tricked by the middleman on the $8.6 million
transaction –none other than Sarkis Soghanalian. Soghanalian, who
claims to have never done an arms deal that wasn’t covertly
sanctioned by the CIA, says Bergt, who also has a plethora of CIA
ties, was fully aware that Qaddafi was getting the plane and
participated “voluntarily.”
Ironically, the Bergt plane and two others illicitly sold to Libya
were soon used to invade neighboring Chad and to fly enriched uranium
from Niger for Qaddafi’s fledgling nuclear development program. Bush
has claimed credit recently for convincing Qaddafi to abandon his
nuclear program, and once claimed that Saddam Hussein had received
uranium from Niger as a justification for the war. While another top
AIA executive, Gary White, says he met Soghanalian in Geneva on a
couple occasions and even stayed in his Florida mansion, Bergt just
had lunch with him in San Diego.
“Gosh, to find out later that he was an arms merchant,” Bergt now
says. “We had several incidents where we dealt with people and later
we’d read about the things they did in Time magazine,” which was then
exposing CIA covert operations. “We were doing a lot of wild stuff
all over the place,” recalls Bergt, specifically including the period
that W worked there.
Indeed, in September 1975, Bergt says, “I sold a Herc to Idi Amin for
$10 million,” celebrating decades later that he made the African
despot “pay through the nose.” Bergt acknowledged that there
were “some CIA guys surrounding the deal with Idi,” just as he
acknowledges that AIA, under its prior incarnation as Interior
Airways, was doing CIA-tied business back to 1968-69. “I wasn’t a CIA
proxy company,” says Bergt, referring to airlines that were actually
no more than fronts for the agency. “I just wished I was.” One of his
pilots recalled that Bergt actually bought planes from CIA firms like
Southern Air Transport.
The very summer that W worked at the company, it was participating in
the most secret and expensive CIA venture ever, the Glomar Explorer.
The agency spent a half- billion dollars on what congressional
critics called a boondoggle for billionaire Howard Hughes: the
construction of a ship the length of three football fields with a
giant clawed arm designed to dive 17,000 feet to bring a sunk Soviet
sub to the surface. In early August, the Glomar dropped the sub and
shattered it on the ocean floor off the Alaskan coast. White
remembers doing an airdrop to supply the Glomar, and Bergt says that
W “may have made some runs with us”–though he adds that he didn’t
even know Bush was a pilot.
When the senior Bush was vice president in 1986 and his aides were
deeply involved in supplying the Contras in Nicaragua, Bergt’s
airline, renamed MarkAir, did at least a half-dozen runs to a dirt
strip in Honduras hauling aid, some of it in sealed containers, for
the rebels. “If it’s guns and ammunition, I could care less,” Bergt
told reporters at the time. Again, Soghanalian and the CIA were also
deeply involved in the Contra traffic. The Anchorage Daily News
reported that at least two of the flights were not registered with
customs, avoiding the requirement of “an export declaration of
everything” aboard.
Bergt even offered to regale the Voice with stories of “drug running
and Iran-Contra.” A day later, he called his own offer “absolute
bullshit,” though he insisted that the Anchorage paper already
intimated both in connection with his company. He branded the
stories, which a Voice search of years of the Anchorage paper’s clips
could not locate, as “claptrap” and “yellow journalism.”
Coincidentally, when Bush answered questions about his own alleged
cocaine involvement during the 2000 campaign, he implicitly suggested
that 1974 might be the last year he did drugs, claiming that he
could’ve filled out a federal questionnaire about illegal drugs going
back 15 years prior to his father’s presidency.
Bergt recalls the senior Bush calling him after his son’s summer
there at least once, and says Neil Bush attended a 1988 fundraiser he
hosted in his Anchorage home for the Bush presidential campaign. A
check of federal election records indicates that Bergt, who’s also
contributed lesser amounts to W’s campaign, raised at least $6,500
for the 1988 campaign. One of Bergt’s brothers works for the Federal
Aviation Administration and his son-in-law is the Interior Department
official in charge of overseeing the Alaska pipeline. There is no
indication that political influence was involved with obtaining
either job.
A couple of weeks before the 2000 election, the Times first reported
about W’s Alaska summer, calling it a chapter that “has largely
escaped attention,” omitted, unlike five other summer jobs, from his
autobiography. Bergt said then that his CIA reputation was
undeserved, but in fact, even though Bush’s summer there precedes by
18 months his father’s rise to CIA director, the company has a legion
of agency ties. That would become a W pattern.
The Texas CIA connections
Michael Moore made James Bath famous. A former National Guardsman in
W’s champagne unit in the ’70s, the Houston-based Bath mysteriously
became the U.S. representative for the bin Laden family shortly after
the senior Bush became CIA head in 1976. Bath was also one of the
initial investors in Arbusto, W’s first energy company venture, in
1978, kicking in $50,000. What Moore didn’t say, but Houston Post
reporters John Mecklin and Pete Brewton “independently confirmed,”
was that Bath himself “had some connections to the CIA.” In his only
known interview on the subject, Bath “equivocated” with Craig Unger,
author of House of Bush, House of Saud, saying there are “all sorts
of degrees of civilian participation in the CIA” and those that do it
don’t talk about it. A former Bath business partner says Bath told
him he was CIA.
Bath also became the U.S. representative of Khalid bin Mahfouz, the
largest shareholder in the notorious Bank of Credit and Commerce
International, the biggest bank fraud in history and springboard for
the Islamic terrorist nightmare of today. Countless news stories and
books have documented the myriad of connections between Harken Energy
and the Saudi-dominated BCCI, which was also pivotal in financing
illegal arms sales to Saddam.
Bush helped arrange a $25 million cash infusion for Harken in 1987
through Arkansas investment banker Jackson Stephens, who’d helped
guide BCCI’s acquisitions in America, to secure financing for Harken,
which had acquired Bush’s failed company and made him a six-figure
director. Stephens arranged for two BCCI-tied investors to bail the
company out: the Union Bank of Switzerland, a BCCI partner in a third
bank; and Abdullah Taha Bakhsh, whose Saudi Finance Co. was partly
controlled by BCCI shareholders.
When BCCI exploded in scandal in 1991, the senior Bush tried to
distance himself from any knowledge of the bank or its principals,
even though a top White House aide, Ed Rogers, was put on a $600,000
retainer by one of the bank’s founders, Kamel Adham. Bush denied even
knowing Adham, who was the head of Saudi intelligence when Bush ran
the CIA. But Soghanalian told the Voice that the two “were friends a
long time ago,” adding that George H.W. Bush “can say whatever he
wants.” Soghanalian says he “escorted” Adham to a 1976 meeting with
Bush at the Waldorf Astoria, where Adham had a whole floor for five
days. “This is when they were organizing the BCCI bank stuff,” says
Soghanalian, refusing to discuss it any further.
When Bush Sr. said, “I don’t know anything about this man (Adham)
except I’ve read bad stuff about him,” Time reporters Jonathan Beaty
and S.C. Gwynne wrote in their book, The Outlaw Bank, that they were
sure the president had told “a certifiable lie” and got White House
reporters to ask the press office about it. They were “incredulous”
when the press office confirmed the disavowal. Adham himself
said: “It is not possible for the president to say that,” insisting
that Bush had indicated a day later that he did know Adham but that
the newspapers refused to print it. Adham wound up pleading guilty on
BCCI charges, as did Mahfouz, who paid $225 million in restitution
and penalties.
Papa Bush’s direct links to BCCI–noted CIA historian Joe Trento, also
of the National Security News Service, wrote that as CIA director,
he “joined a Saudi prince to create” it–apparently explain the bank’s
willingness to throw money at Harken shortly after it bought out
Junior’s busted Arbusto. The Harken bailout is the last in a series
of business ties between W and his father’s onetime agency, though
biographers have noted that W’s campaigns, like his father’s, have
attracted ex-CIA types. When Jimmy Carter replaced the senior Bush at
the CIA in 1977, the new director, Stansfield Turner, forced hundreds
of agents out, and many joined forces with Bush as a kind of out-of-
power CIA clique. That group continued to function unofficially for
years, even rising to the fore in the Iran-Contra days of the
late ’80s.
As W has dallied for months with the CIA reformation promised after
the 9-11 Commission report, his own historic ties to the agency may
assume greater importance, should he get a second term.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
375010 Telephone: +3741. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +3741. .562543
Email: [email protected]:
PRESS RELEASE
25 October 2004
Foreign Minister Oskanian receives Kalman Mizsei, Assistant
Administrator and Regional Director of Bureau for Europe and the CIS
of the UNDP
On October 25th, Foreign Minister Oskanian received Kalman Mizsei,
Assistant Administrator and Regional Director of Bureau for Europe
and the CIS of the United Nations Development Program.
During the course of the talks, Minister Oskanian stressed the
importance of the role of that the UNDP plays in the newly independent
states. He also expressed his satisfaction with the activity of
their office in Armenia, which is directed to the development of the
private sector. It also positively affects the economic progress of
the country and the social situation of its people.
Kalvin Mizsei expressed gratitude to the Armenian government for its
cooperation. He highly appreciated latter’s great effort against
corruption, as well as its work for improvement of efficiency of
governance and cooperation between the private business and the
governmental circles.
During the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on the perspectives
of the development of regional cooperation in the South Caucasus and
the circumstances hindering it. Both sides stressed the importance
of the private sector in the region, which could potentially be a
source of success.
The purpose of the visit of Kalman Mizsei to Armenia is to discuss the
Prime Minister’s national campaign on the UN Millennium Development
Goals, as well as the presentation of new regional initiatives of the
UNDP in the South Caucasus. On this issue, Kalman Mizsei will hold
meetings with the Prime Minister A. Markarian and other high ranking
officials. The UN official will also participate in the festivities,
dedicated to the day of the UNO in the Karakert village.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress