Parliament’s Decision May Impede Armenian MPs’ Participation In NATO Seminar
Baku today
30/09/2004 09:03
The participation of Armenian parliamentarians in the “Rose Roth”
seminar of NATO Parliamentary Assembly to be held in Baku in
November depends on the decision to be adopted by the Milli Majlis
(Azerbaijan’s parliament). AssA-Irada — This statement was made by
Araz Azimov, Deputy Foreign Minister also the Azerbaijani President’s
special envoy on Karabagh issue. Azimov noted that the Azerbaijani
MPs’ position will play a particular role in impeding the visit by
Armenian parliamentarians to Baku as well.
“The Azerbaijani parliament is the organizer of the seminar and should
express its position on the matter,” said Azimov, adding that Armenians
won’t be able to attend the seminar if Azerbaijani parliamentarians
reject their participation.

RUSSIA MAY STOP NAVIGATIONAL SERVICE FOR CIS AIRLINES
30-09-2004 19:31
RIA Novosti
MOSCOW, September 30 (RIA Novosti) – On October 1, Russia may stop
navigational service in Russia for CIS countries’ airlines because
of the airlines’ debts, the Russian Transportation Ministry’s press
service reported.
“The Russian side raised the question of Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan,
Ukraine and other CIS countries’ airlines’ debts for navigational
service during flights through the Russian Federation’s territory
more than once,” the ministry’s press release said.
On September 3, 2004, the main center for planning and regulating air
traffic officially notified the CIS countries’ air authorities that
on October 1, 2004, it would stop providing navigational services
for their airlines in Russia if they do not pay off their debts,
the press release said.
The Transportation Ministry noted that this was not the first
notification. “The Russian side believes that the issue of paying
off the debts by bankrupt airlines that have stopped flying should be
considered by the inter-governmental commissions on cooperation with
the given countries,” the press release said, “while the problem of
the debts of the airlines that continue to fly should be considered
by the aviation authorities of the sides. The biggest difficulties
may be from bankrupt airlines that have stopped flying. In a number of
cases, there are grounds to assert that the companies were deliberately
bankrupted to avoid paying debts for navigational service.”
The ministry said that under the inter-governmental agreements on
air traffic between the Russian Federation and Armenia, Georgia,
Kazakhstan and Ukraine, the airlines whose planes fly along the agreed
upon routes are appointed by the governments of the sides.
The ministerial statement offers CIS airlines debt statistics.
Thus, Armenian companies flying via and within Russia owe $5,527
for navigation services, and companies who have by now terminated
activities, $2,681,544.
Russian and Armenian air authorities met at the negotiation table,
September 9. Armenia acknowledged the debt, and said it was willing
to join hands with the creditor, and together grope for ways to settle
the debt. Sixteen Georgian-based companies who no longer have flights
via Russia are owing more than $3.6 million fir navigation alone-a
stale debt of 1994-2001. Russian authorities appealed to Georgia on
the issue four times this month alone-all to no avail. The requests
stayed unanswered, points out the Transport Ministry.
Kazakh airlines who have terminated flights owe $5,515,783 for
1994-2001 alone. The government-authorised Kazakhstan Aue Zholy Co. is
the biggest debtor, with $3,559,005.
An official reply has come from Kazakh air authorities, who say they
are willing to settle the issue together.
Ukrainian airlines who are making flights in and via Russia owe a
token $251.96 for navigation services. 37 companies who have terminated
such flights, on the contrary, are more than five million dollars in
debt for 1994 through last year. Ukrainian Airlines accounts for 4.5
million of the lump.
Ukraine’s State Air Transport Department has taken the obligations
upon itself, and drawn a payment schedule. Payments never started,
however. A bilateral conference of September 20-22, 2004, acknowledged
the debt and drew a pattern to reschedule it, reports Russia’s
Transport Ministry.
From: Baghdasarian

Dido Sotiriou
The Times (London)
September 29, 2004, Wednesday
Dido Sotiriou, writer, was born on February 18, 1909. She died on
September 23, 2004, aged 95.
Writer whose bestselling Farewell Anatolia documented her family’s
expulsion from Turkey in 1922.
THE WRITER Dido Sotiriou was the chronicler of Greece’s turbulent and
often traumatic passage through the 20th century and in her most
famous novel, Farewell Anatolia, acted as the recording angel of the
“catastrophe”, as it is known the expulsion from Turkey in 1922 of
more than a million Greeks, domiciled there for millennia, of whom
she was one.
When Greece achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire in the
mid-19th century, the new kingdom was less than half the size it is
now. The vast territorial gains it made in the North and in the
Aegean in the First Balkan War of 1912 encouraged its nationalist
leader Eleftherios Venizelos to take advantage of the sultanate’s
weakness after 1918 to press ahead with the “Great Idea”, the dream
of uniting all the Greek-speaking regions around the Aegean, notably
on the coast of Asia Minor, where there had been Greek communities
since the time of Homer.
These had largely preserved their identities under the Turks, with
whom they lived in harmony, and in 1919 (prompted in part by vague
assurances from the British Government) Greek forces occupied the
most important of these entrepots, Smyrna (now Izmir). Dido
Sotiriou’s father, a prosperous industrialist, encouraged by the
Greek advance towards Ankara, moved the family there from the hills
near Ephesus, where they had lived previously.
Three years later, however, the teenage Dido and thousands of others
were forced to flee in terror when Kemal Ataturk’s troops
unexpectedly routed the Greek Army and seized back Smyrna. More than
30,000 Christians -Greeks and Armenians were slaughtered in the
ensuing massacre. The Sotirious escaped to Athens, but 12 of their
relations had perished in Smyrna and the family had lost everything.
Dido’s father was reduced to working as a dockhand at Piraeus.
In the subsequent exchange of populations agreed between the two
countries, 380,000 Muslims left Greece for Turkey, while 1.1 million
Ottoman Greeks moved the other way. Their experiences and memories of
their land of lost content, shared by Sotiriou, provided the raw
material for Matomena Chomata (“Bloodied Earth”, available in English
as Farewell Anatolia), which she wrote in 1962. It has since been
republished 65 times and has sold half a million copies in ten
languages, including Turkish.
In common with Sotiriou’s other novels, it reads as loosely
fictionalised fact, taking as its protagonist Manolis Axiotis, a
Greek villager from “Kirkica” (Sotiriou’s native Sirince), caught up
in an increasing spiral of hatred that sets former Turk and Greek
neighbours against each other (the framework, too, for Louis de
Bernieres’ recent Birds Without Wings). “War is Circe for all of us,”
reflects one of the characters. “It turns men into swine.”
The book acts as a receptacle for many dearly held Greek sentiments
about the past, which undoubtedly aided its popularity, but it also
urges reconciliation with Turkey and its objective tone gained
Sotiriou a wide following in her homeland. Perhaps surprisingly, too,
after such a disrupted childhood, Sotiriou devoted much of the rest
of her long life to radical, even revolutionary, politics.
She was born Dido Pappas, a citizen of the Ottoman Empire, at Aydin,
Turkey, in 1909. Her parents died shortly after their enforced
exodus; she was raised in Athens by an aunt, but soon began to
evidence a rebel’s temperament, taking up smoking, riding a
motorcycle and swimming naked. An early marriage to a mathematics
professor, Plato Sotiriou, uncle of the author Alki Zei, freed her
from her family, and soon afterwards she moved to Paris to study
literature at the Sorbonne.
France became almost a second home to her, and in time she came to
know writers such as Andre Malraux, Andre Gide and Louis Aragon. She
had meanwhile begun to espouse the causes both of feminism and the
far Left, and she began her writing career as the French
correspondent for several Greek newspapers and magazines, being one
of the first Greek women to break into journalism. Her rather saintly
husband did her typing for her.
When Greece fell under the dictatorship of Metaxas in the mid-1930s,
she joined the Greek Communist Party (KKE), and during the German
occupation she was active in its underground press and resistance
movement, as was her sister, Elli Pappas.
By 1945 she had become editor of its newspaper, Rizospastis, and that
year she attended the first meeting of the International Democratic
Confederation of Women in Paris.
During Greece’s subsequent civil war between the communists and the
restored conservative Government, however, she was expelled from the
party for voicing criticisms of its actions. Then in 1950, her
sister’s lover, Nikos Beloyiannis, a senior figure in the KKE, was
captured by the Government. The party had been outlawed, and
Beloyiannis was declared a traitor and given a show trial. The grace
with which he conducted himself during this was memorialised in
Picasso’s sketch of him, The Man with the Carnation, but despite
widespread outcry, he was shot in 1952.
Elli Pappas was sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment, and the couple’s
newborn son, also Nikos, whom Beloyiannis had seen once before his
execution, was brought up by Dido Sotiriou, who had no children of
her own. Before these events, she said, she had no literary
ambitions, but now “I had a duty to society, to tell the truth”.
Her first book, a study of American imperialism in the Mediterranean,
written in 1947, was censored and not published until 1975. She thus
first came to attention with Oi Nekri Perimenoun (The Dead Are
Waiting, 1959), something of a dry run for Farewell Anatolia, which
made her name, though it was banned under the Colonels’ regime from
1967 until 1974. Electra (1961) dealt with her time in the
Resistance, while Entoli (The Command, 1976) was a novelisation of
the Beloyiannis case.
She also wrote two books for children, a last novel, Katedafizometha
(Demolished, 1982), about a man in prison, and a monograph on the
theatre. Several other works, including an autobiography, remain
unpublished.
In 1990, Sotiriou was awarded Greece’s highest honour for a writer,
the prize of the Athens Academy. Some years ago she gave her flat in
Codrington Street, Athens, to the Hellenic Society of Authors to
serve as its offices.
Her nephew survives her.

Russian cleric calls for boosting public relations against terror
By Viktoria Sokolova
ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 29, 2004 Wednesday 8:56 AM Eastern Time
MOSCOW, September 29 — Terrorism and counteraction to this menace
were the main subjects discussed by the Council for cooperation with
religious organisations under the Russian president on Wednesday.
“The main issue is terrorism, mobilisation of public forces, the entire
spiritual resource of the country to make Russia capable of stopping
activities of terrorists,” Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad
Kirill said after the meeting.
Metropolitan Kirill called for “giving a new impetus to public
relations, in order to make the country capable of stopping war that
has not been declared but is being waged on Russia.”
All the Council members noted the importance of the meeting, especially
the fact that it was held under the chairmanship of Russian President
Vladimir Putin after a pause in its meetings.
The presidential Council meeting was held in the Kremlin.
The meeting also focused on discussing ‘activities of religious
organisations on consolidating the civil society and counteracting
to the global threat of terrorism and extremism.’
The Council has recently undergone changes.
By his decree the president included in the Council the head of
the Russian Orthodox Church of Old Belief, Metropolitan Andrian
(Chetvergov).
So now the Council consists of 22 members.
There are four hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, three muftis,
the Chief Rabbi of the Federation of Jewish Communities, the Head of
Buddhists of Russia, the Old Believers Metropolitan, a representative
of the Armenian Church, heads of Russian Catholics, Lutherans,
Baptists and Adventists, as well as seven secular experts among them.
Addressing the Council meeting Putin said it is inadmissible and
harmful to wreak wrath against terrorists on people of other faith
and other nationality.
“It is inadmissible to toe the line of criminals and terrorists, as
well as to wreak wrath against terrorists on people of other faith and
nationality, and it is even pernicious to do so in a multi-confessional
and multinational country,” Putin stressed.

Alcatel to supply equipment worth 2 mln euro to ArmenTel
Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
September 29, 2004
MOSCOW, Sept 29 (Prime-Tass) — France’s telecom equipment supplier
Alcatel SA is to provide equipment worth 2 million euros to Armenia’s
national fixed-line and mobile operator ArmenTel by August 2005,
Alcatel said in a press release Tuesday.
The equipment includes high-capacity switching units that are to be
installed in the cities of Stepanavan and Gyumri. This will improve the
telecommunications infrastructure in northern areas of the country,
which has a population of about 235,000 and has not yet completely
recovered from the damage incurred from an earthquake in Armenia in
December 1988.
ArmenTel shareholders are Greece’s Hellenic Telecommunications
Organizations SA (OTE) with 90% and Armenia’s government with 10%.
OTE has invested more than U.S. USD 200 million in upgrading and
development of Armenia’s telecom infrastructure, Alcatel said. End

Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press
September 29, 2004
SOCHI COMPACT. — Russia Casts Its Vote for President of Abkhazia.
Kommersant, Aug. 31, 2004, p. 9. Condensed text of first and complete
text of second of two items:
(By Alla Barakhova in Sochi and Vladimir Novikov in Tbilisi). —
Moscow has made its choice for the presidential election in Abkhazia,
set for Oct. 3. On Sunday evening [Aug. 29], . . . Russian President
Vladimir Putin, who was vacationing in Sochi, met with Abkhaz Prime
Minister and presidential candidate Raul Khadzhimba. In Tbilisi,
officials saw the meeting as indicating that, for all practical
purposes, Moscow has recognized Abkhazia’s independence.
Mr. Putin’s visit to Sochi’s Dagomys Hotel, which is about a
30-minute drive from Bocharov Ruchei, the president’s Sochi
residence, was portrayed as an impromptu occurrence. The head of
state was accompanied by just a few bodyguards and a small group of
reporters. . . .
Vladimir Putin . . . sequestered himself with Raul Khadzhimba in
the Panorama Cafe, on the Dagomys Hotel’s 22nd floor.
Members of the Kremlin administration have declined to comment on
what the Russian president and Abkhaz premier discussed at the
meeting. According to the official account, the parties discussed
“matters relating to cooperation between Russian and Abkhaz veterans’
organizations.” Unofficially, however, Kremlin spokesmen have
acknowledged that the meeting was directly connected to recent
developments in Georgia. It may be recalled that, one week ago,
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said in an interview in the
French newspaper Liberation that Georgia was “on the brink of war
with Russia.” At the same time, mass protests were being held in
Georgia in front of the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi. The Russian
leadership was particularly outraged by slogans that were projected
onto the building and that read, “Putin is a liar” and “The
double-headed eagle is a two-faced birdie.” In connection with these
actions, the Russian Foreign Ministry sent a protest note to the
Georgian leadership, and the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi was even
forced to suspend its operations for a time. . . .
A source in the Kremlin administration told Kommersant that the
meeting between Putin and the Abkhaz prime minister at the Dagomys
should serve as a “lesson in peaceableness” to the Georgian
president. The source added, “If we wanted to destroy Georgia, all we
would have to do is switch off the gas. End of story.”
Messrs. Putin and Khadzhimba left the Dagomys together around 8
p.m., to the sound of applause from vacationers [who had gathered in
front of the hotel]. . . . Kremlin officials conceded later that that
“lesson” might not find much favor with Mikhail Saakashvili, who has
repeatedly voiced his intention to reassert Georgian control over
Abkhazia. According to the Kremlin, however, technically he has no
grounds for complaint, since no political statements were made at the
meeting.
In Tbilisi, reports of the Sochi meeting between Putin and
Khadzhimba set off shock waves. Members of the Georgian Parliament
whom a Kommersant correspondent asked for comment were bewildered,
and even said initially that the reports were disinformation, “since
Vladimir Putin could not possibly have taken such a step.” Officials
at the Georgian Foreign Ministry told Kommersant they were studying
reports of the meeting between the Russian president and the Abkhaz
prime minister, and that an official response might come later. . . .
In the absence of Georgia’s president [who was away in Athens], the
chairwoman of the Georgian Parliament, Nino Burdzhanadze, commented
on the meeting between Putin and Khadzhimba. After expressing
puzzlement at the very fact the meeting took place, she posed a
question: Does this mean that Russia recognizes Abkhazia’s
independence and the legitimacy of a presidential election that will
be held “in the absence of two-thirds of Abkhazia’s population?”
[Burdzhanadze was alluding to the Georgian refugees who fled during
the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in 1992-1993. — Trans.] She promptly
answered her own question: Russia would find itself the only country
in the world taking the Abkhaz election seriously. “Along, perhaps,
with Belarus,” Ms. Burdzhanadze added, correcting herself.
Our sources in Tbilisi confirm that during the Putin-Khadzhimba
meeting, one of the matters discussed was that of reestablishing rail
links. As long ago as last year, Putin and [former Georgian
President] Eduard Shevardnadze agreed on the need to open a
through-traffic rail line from Russia through Abkhazia and on to
Tbilisi and Armenia, but the Georgian side linked the issue to a
return of Georgian refugees to Abkhazia’s Gali District, which was
inhabited almost exclusively by Georgians prior to the war. Tbilisi
and Sukhumi have deep disagreements over this matter. And that is why
no decision on restoring full-scale rail connections has been reached
as yet. Nevertheless, all indications are that a Sukhumi-Moscow route
will start operating at full capacity in the near future, first for
freight trains and later for passenger service.
Overall, the meeting between the Russian president and the Abkhaz
prime minister indicates that the Kremlin has cast its lot with Mr.
Khadzhimba in the upcoming presidential election in the unrecognized
republic. The Abkhaz prime minister is supported not only by the
“party of power,” but also by the republic’s incumbent leader,
Vladislav Ardzinba, who will not be running in the election. Mr.
Ardzinba is seriously ill and is quitting the political arena,
although he remains a very respected figure in Abkhazia, since he
symbolizes Sukhumi’s victory in the Georgian-Abkhaz war of 1992-1993
and Abkhazia’s secession from Georgia. The Abkhaz leader’s top aides
believe that Raul Khadzhimba will continue Mr. Ardzinba’s policies.
As does Moscow, apparently.
* * *
What’s at Stake. (By commentator Gennady Sysoyev). — Russian
President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with the prime minister of
Abkhazia, a candidate for president of that unrecognized republic,
had nothing to do, of course, with discussion of the social welfare
of Great Patriotic War veterans, as the official protocol reads. The
meeting was immediately taken as a sign of Moscow’s direct support
for Mr. Khadzhimba’s candidacy in the coming election. Abkhazia is a
tiny republic, so the news that its premier had met with the
president of Russia would presumably spread to the whole population
in minutes, and everyone would know which candidate to support on
Oct. 3.
This is all undoubtedly true. But the real import of the meeting at
the Dagomys Hotel lies much deeper. By arranging the meeting, Moscow
clearly indicated that it views Abkhazia as, at the very least, a
zone in which it has special interests. And there are a great many
reasons for this.
Abkhazia is traversed by a road that connects Russia with Armenia,
Moscow’s chief ally in the Transcaucasus. Not far from the Abkhaz
city of Gudauta is a strategically important air base that
specialists describe as unique: Takeoffs of military aircraft from
this base are virtually undetectable by NATO radar installations in
Turkey. In addition, the Russian president’s southern residence,
Krasnaya Polyana, is situated on the Psou River within 10 kilometers
or so of the unrecognized republic’s border, and Abkhaz leaders
regularly remind Moscow that the moment Georgia regains political
power in Sukhumi, a NATO observation and listening post will go up in
that same area along the banks of the Psou. Finally, Moscow has
financial motives for keeping Abkhazia within its zone of influence
as well: Over the past few years, Russia has acquired a considerable
amount of real estate in the unrecognized republic, and the drumbeat
of statements from Georgian politicians about reviewing privatization
outcomes in Abkhazia once Tbilisi reestablishes its rule there is
compelling Moscow to do everything it can to prevent Tbilisi from
doing so.
But that’s still not all. Moscow would like to preserve its
influence with Georgia, since in view of its strategic partnership
with Armenia, this would give it control over the Transcaucasus as a
whole. And retaining its influence in Tbilisi is something Moscow
expects to do primarily through preserving its control over Abkhazia.
Formally, Moscow is unlikely to question the territorial integrity
of Georgia, which officially includes Abkhazia. And so Abkhazia is
unlikely to become part of the Russian Federation. But there is no
need for it to do so. From Moscow’s point of view, it is sufficient
that virtually all the residents of Abkhazia hold Russian
citizenship. This, Moscow considers, gives it the right — at the
very least — to keep Abkhazia under its special care.
Georgia could, of course, take umbrage at this and resume drawing
parallels between Abkhazia and Chechnya. It might ask, as Georgian
Defense Minister Georgy Baramidze did, why it is that when Russia
defends its borders, it’s entirely within its rights, but when
Georgia tries to do the same, it’s engaging in aggression. To all
such objections, it would appear that Moscow has a ready answer:
There are no Georgian citizens in Chechnya, and the Abkhaz aren’t
blowing up Georgian airliners.

21 accused of forming militant group on trial in Azerbaijan
Associated Press Worldstream
September 29, 2004 Wednesday 7:13 PM Eastern Time
BAKU, Azerbaijan — Twenty-one people, some of whom prosecutors say
underwent militant training in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge, went on trial
Wednesday on charges of organizing and participating in an illegal
armed group.
The 21 defendants, who were disarmed by authorities in August 2003
in an operation in the capital Baku and several other cities in
Azerbaijan, are also accused of weapons possession and creating and
using counterfeit documents.
Prosecutors say the man accused of leading the organization, Rovshan
Badalov, also fought in Russia’s Chechnya region alongside rebels
in 2001-2002.
The defendants – 20 Azerbaijanis and one Georgian – say they wanted to
fight against ethnic Armenians who have controlled Nagorno-Karabakh
and surrounding areas since a cease-fire ended a six-year war over
the enclave in Azerbaijan in 1994. At the same time, all but one of
the defendants pleaded innocent Wednesday.
According to prosecutors, Badalov illegally crossed the border into
Georgia in March 2001 and led several other defendants in training in
the Pankisi Gorge that involved learning how to use weapons and maps.
Members of the group regularly crossed the Georgian-Azerbaijani border
illegally and, with the help of forged documents, also traveled to
Moscow and Turkey, according to prosecutors. However, aside from
Badalov, authorities say a preliminary investigation did not show
that the defendants fought or intended to fight in Chechnya.
Russian officials say Chechen rebels have taken refuge in the Pankisi
Gorge, and after the Sept. 11 attacks the United States initiated a
program to train Georgian forces amid concern over the presence of
fighters in the gorge that Washington said were linked to the al-Qaida
terror network.

ARKA News Agency
Sept 29 2004
Exhibition of NKR artists takes place in Stepanakert
Armenia joins the project of exchange of radio-journals in South
caucasus
Confederation of graduates of Melkoniantsi International calls to not
to allow its closing
Draft law on ecological expertise to be discussed in Armenia
Two-day international conference “South Caucasus as Part of Enlarged
Europe” to be held on September 30 in Yerevan
Awards delivered to veteran of WWII on honor of 60th anniversary of
liberation of Belarus today in Yerevan
*********************************************************************
EXHIBITION OF NKR ARTISTS TAKES PLACE IN STEPANAKERT
STEPANAKERT, September 29. /ARKA/. Exhibition of NKR artists took
place in Stepanakert, the Chairman of NKR Artists’ Union Lenord
Zakharian stated today. According to him, it is third and last
exhibition this year. The next one will be conducted in March 2005.
“We want to exhibit only new works that is why the time split is so
big”, he explained.
Newly elected Mayor of Stepanakert Eudard Agabekian in his turn noted
big contribution of artists in development of Artsakh culture,
propaganda of art outside the country. He stressed that the
exhibitions will be organized more often. L.D. –0—
*********************************************************************
ARMENIA JOINS THE PROJECT OF EXCHANGE OF RADIO-JOURNALS IN SOUTH
CAUCASUS
YEREVAN, September 29. /ARKA/. Armenia joins the project of exchange
of radio-journals in South Caucasus, Coordinator of the Project of
British NGO “Peace Researces” Helen Kuk stated today at the press
conference. According to her, the advantage of the journals is that
it is not a political genre, but an example of so called “people’s
broadcast”. According to her, in the regions with conflict, there is
lack of information on life of people by both sides of the conflict.
“Sincere stories of ordinary people’s lives allow filling existing
vacuum, overcome stereotypes in people’s mentalities and are very
important in the view of psychological rehabilitation of society that
suffered conflict”, Kuk said.
In the whole, about 20 channels in all countries of the region will
broadcast audio-journals, and the materials will be translated in
several languages, so they could be understood outside the region as
well.
Radio-journals is an original genre of programs, first appeared at
BBC in the beginning of 90s. It is sincere stories of people recorded
without journalists. The length of one journal makes 3-5 minutes.
The project is coordinated by British NGO Peace Resources in
financial support of Global Fund on Prevention of Conflicts and Swiss
Agency for Cooperation and International Development. L.D. –0
*********************************************************************
CONFEDERATION OF GRADUATES OF MELKONIANTSI INTERNATIONAL CALLS TO NOT
TO ALLOW ITS CLOSING
YEREVAN, September 29. /ARKA/. Confederation of graduates of
Melkoniantsi International calls to not to allow its closing. The
statement says that organization raises the issue of closing of
acting institution in Cyprus during General Assembly of Armenian
Charity Union that will take place on Oct 1-8 in Yerevan. According
to the organization, closing of the institution with 78-year history
will lead to a loss of small part of Armenian nation and break the
last will of Karapet Melkonian as of 1925. The press release notes
that similar attitude of ACU GA to Armenians has been several times
discussed in Armenian press and by some Armenian political parties,
the Government of Cyprus and representatives of ACU. Namely, the
Chairman of Belgium Department of ACU refused of his position and
Swiss Department of the Union condemned the decision. “It is no doubt
that Melkonian is the most important and most famous Armenian school
in the world that gave leaders of Armenian communities, teachers,
academicians, doctors, art figures, state servants”, press release
notes. Confederation of graduates of Melkoniantsi International
expressed hope that the delegates of the General Assembly will cancel
the decision. L.D. –0—
*********************************************************************
DRAFT LAW ON ECOLOGICAL EXPERTISE TO BE DISCUSSED IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, September 29. /ARKA/. The draft law on ecological expertise
will be discussed in Armenia, as ARKA was told in Transparency
International, the Armenian branch of the regional center of
development. The draft law as well as the draft of the sub-law act is
developed by Transparency International in the frames of the program
“legislation perfection in the area of the evaluation of an impact on
the environment”, sponsored by GB Government. RA Ministry of
Environmental Protection together with some Ministries and NGOs
participated in the development of the draft laws. A.H. –0–
*********************************************************************
TWO-DAY INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE “SOUTH CAUCASUS AS PART OF ENLARGED
EUROPE” TO BE HELD ON SEPTEMBER 30 IN YEREVAN
YEREVAN, September 29. /ARKA/. Two-day international conference
“South Caucasus as Part of Enlarged Europe” to be held on September
30 in Yerevan. The conference is organized by Department of Public
Diplomacy of NATO with support of Finnish Foreign Ministry. As
SPECTRUM Strategic Analyses Center told ARKA, in the frames of the
conference there will be discussed a number of issues related to
South Caucasus with NATO and EU. The conference will be attended by
Vice Speaker of Armenian Parliament Tigran Torosyan, Deputy Armenian
Foreign Minister Ruben Shugaryan, Personal Advisor of EU on South
Caucasus Harri Kamarainen, Representative of Vienna Institute of
Peace Study and Conflicts Martin Malek, Head of Department of
Conflictology and Migration of Baku Institute of Peace and Democracy
Arif Yunusov. T.M. –0–
*********************************************************************
AWARDS DELIVERED TO VETERAN OF WWII ON HONOR OF 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF
LIBERATION OF BELARUS TODAY IN YEREVAN
YEREVAN, September 29. /ARKA/. Today jubilee awards were delivered to
veterans of WWII in honor of 60th anniversary of liberation of
Belarus from Nazi occupants. As Marina Dolgopolova, Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Armenia stated, the
state awards are delivered as instructed by Belorussian President
Alexander Lukashenko. She also mentioned for many Armenian veterans
of WWII, Belorussian soil became motherland. “Belorussia highly
honors feat of arms of veterans and will always be grateful for the
peace achieved”, Dolgopolova said.
Veterans stood in memory of fallen during the war as well as raised
their glasses in honor of Victory in WWII and liberation of
Belorussia. T.M. –0–
*********************************************************************
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

[Congressional Record: September 28, 2004 (House)]
[Page H7716]
>>From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr28se04-115]
THREATS MADE BY AZERBAIJAN AGAINST ARMENIA
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I want to bring attention to recent
statements made by high-ranking government officials in Azerbaijan
that threaten the security of Armenia as well as the efforts towards
a peaceful settlement over the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict.
This issue, if not compellingly addressed by the administration,
has the potential to undermine U.S. interests and American values in
the strategically important Caucasus region.
I refer to the recent remarks made by officials in the government of
President Aliyev calling into question the very existence of Armenia.
For example, as reported by Radio Free Europe, the Azerbaijani Defense
Minister spokesman called for Azerbaijan’s takeover of the entire
territory of Armenia and removal of the entire Armenian population from
the Caucasus. He went so far as to say, “Within the next 25 years
there will exist no state of Armenia in the south Caucasus.” Given
Azerbaijan’s history of aggression against Armenians, these remarks
cannot be dismissed as mere rhetoric.
Furthermore, Azerbaijan recently blocked key NATO exercises in the
country, due to their opposition towards having Armenian officers
taking part in the exercises. In fact, in June 2003, Armenia served
as the host country for similar exercises, to which Azerbaijani
military forces were invited, yet refused to participate. This year,
Armenia was one of several dozen countries due to participate, yet
the initiative was blocked by Azerbaijan, which is continuing its
efforts to undermine the prospects for peace in the Caucasus region.
Azerbaijan’s threats again Armenia’s survival reinforce our
commitment to maintaining parity in U.S. military aid to Armenia and
Azerbaijan. This arrangement means even more today than when it was
first put in place, particularly in light of Baku’s increasingly
aggressive posture towards Armenia. Any tilt in military spending
towards Azerbaijan could, in our view, destabilize the region by
emboldening the new Azerbaijani leadership to continue their threats
to impose a military solution of the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict.
Just last week, the Republic of Armenia celebrated Independence
Day marking 13 years of freedom from Soviet rule. We have seen
considerable economic growth in the country. Despite the continuing
illegal blockade by Turkey and Azerbaijan, a recent Wall Street Journal
study found that Armenia remains the most economically free nation in
the region. Today, Armenia is steadfast in its support of the U.S.,
as exhibited by their recent announcement of plans to send a unit
of deminers, doctors and 50 trucks, including staff and drivers,
to assist the Coalition forces in Iraq.
It is critical to note that Armenia is today, as it has always been,
committed to the peace process and the terms agreed to in the Key West
summit. Since the beginning of the Nagorno-Karabagh and Azerbaijan
conflict, Armenia has been committed to finding a peaceful resolution.
Moreover, I cannot stress enough the crucial role that the U.S. plays
in the negotiations over Nagorno-Karabagh to help the people of this
region find a lasting and equitable peace. These threats by Azerbaijan
undermine these efforts and seriously complicate our diplomacy in the
region. A failure on our part to forcefully and publicly confront
the Azerbaijan government over these destabilizing threats would,
in our view, send extremely dangerous signals to Azerbaijan.
So, Mr. Speaker, I hope that the United States takes action to condemn
these remarks by the Azerbaijani government, and that we here in this
Chamber do everything we can to ensure that all parties involved in
this conflict make a genuine commitment towards peace and stability
in the region.
____________________

Hastert rejecting calls to consider recognition of Armenian genocide
By Lisa Friedman, Washington Bureau
dailynews.com
Sept 28, 2004
WASHINGTON — Despite mounting pressure from Southern California
lawmakers, House Speaker Dennis Hastert will continue to oppose a
Pasadena congressman’s amendment recognizing the Armenian genocide,
his spokesman said Tuesday.
“That amendment, in the Speaker’s view, was poorly crafted and
wouldn’t help us with one of our most valuable allies in the war
against terror,” John Feehery said. “He doesn’t think that this is
a fight we should be picking right now.”
Feehery’s comments came on the heels of a petition from Rep. Adam
Schiff, D-Pasadena, asking Hastert to reconsider his position that the
United States should not formally declare the massacre of Armenians
in the Ottoman Empire after World War I a genocide, saying it would
alienate Turkey, a NATO ally.
The letter, signed by more than 60 lawmakers sympathetic to Armenian
issues, reminded Hastert that four years ago, in order to help
James Rogan — a then-struggling Glendale Republican incumbent —
the Speaker vowed to allow a vote on the Armenian genocide.
Lawmakers also downplayed the effect such a resolution would have on
the U.S. relationship with Turkey, noting that the European Parliament,
the Council of Europe and several European nations have recognized
the genocide without suffering long-term breaches with Ankara.
“Our relationship with Turkey is important, but that relationship
must not compel us to acquiesce in the unwillingness of Turkey to
confront the actions of its Ottoman forebears,” lawmakers wrote.
Schiff, whose district is home to a large concentration of Armenians,
attached an amendment to a foreign-operations funding bill earlier
this year that would forbid Turkey from using U.S. funds to lobby
against the genocide resolution.
The amendment is largely symbolic because the law already prohibits
foreign governments from using U.S. aid to lobby. But it has the
practical effect of formally designating, for the first time, the
killing of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923 as a genocide.
Hastert and the GOP leadership reacted swiftly to the amendment and
insisted it be stripped from the bill. He also vowed that the central
question of whether to declare the killings genocide would never be
scheduled for a vote under his watch.
Last week, the Senate passed a version of the legislation that made
no mention of the Schiff amendment. Now House and Senate negotiators
are working to merge the two versions, a process that will determine
whether the genocide language will live or die.
Schiff did not accept an early defeat regarding the fate of his
amendment, but noted: “We’re in this fight for the long haul. If we
don’t succeed in the remaining few weeks of this session, we want to
recognize the genocide while there are still some victims left.”
Armenians estimate that more than 1.5 million died in a planned
genocide campaign. Turkey has consistently denied the assertions,
putting the number at 300,000 and contending that thousands of Turks
also died in what was a multiparty conflict during the last years of
the Ottoman Empire.
Lisa Friedman, (202) 662-8731 [email protected]