RIA Novosti
June 23, 2004

ESTABLISHMENT JOINTLY WITH RUSSIA OF ANTI-TERRORIST CENTRE IN
SOUTHERN CAUCASUS PROPOSED IN GEORGIA

TBILISI, June 23 (RIA Novosti) – A regular round of the
Georgian-Russian consultations on military questions will be held in
Moscow on June 23-24.

As Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported, the Georgian side
is ready to propose new initiatives, which can speed up the process
of the withdrawal of the Russian military bases from Georgia, to the
Russian counterparts.

Listed among them is establishment of a joint Anti-Terrorist Centre
(ATC) in the Southern Caucasus.

The Georgian delegation will be headed by Deputy Minister of Foreign
Affairs Merab Antadze.

The agreement on withdrawal of four Russian military bases from
Georgia was signed at the summit of the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Istanbul in 1999. In keeping with the
accords reached, the Russian side has already dismantled two of its
bases – in Vaziani and Gudauta (Abkhazia).

As for the remaining two Russian bases in Batumi and Akhalkalaki on
the border with Armenia, the Istanbul agreement provides for holding
additional talks between the Georgian and Russian sides to set the
deadline for their withdrawal.

In the Russian side’s opinion, it will take about 11 years to pull
the above-said bases out, whereas the Georgian side believes that
three years are enough for it.

Agency WPS
What the Papers Say. Part A (Russia)
June 23, 2004, Wednesday

NEO-NAZI GROUPS SUSPECTED OF MURDERING ETHNIC RELATIONS EXPERT

SOURCE: Izvestia, June 23, 2004, p. 5

by Sergei Nekhamkin, Elena Rotkevich

The St. Petersburg Prosecutor’s Office considers that Professor
Nikolai Girenko’s professional activities are likely to have been the
motive for his murder. Girenko frequently appeared as an expert
witness in trials involving charges of inciting ethnic or racial
hatred.

Nikolai Mikhailovich Girenko was killed on the morning of Saturday,
June 19 in his own apartment by a bullet fired through his door from
a sawn-off shotgun. His murder is being investigated by the St.
Petersburg Prosecutor’s Office major crimes directorate. St.
Petersburg Deputy Prosecutor Alexander Zhukov told the media on June
21 that one of the theories for the murder motive involves Girenko’s
professional activities. However, according to Zhukov, investigators
do not rule out the possibility of a random killing either.

Valentina Uzunova, a close colleague of Nikolai Girenko, does not
believe it could have been a random killing. According to Uzunova,
scholars in the group headed by Girenko, working on expert analyses
of nationalist extremist publications, constantly received threats.

One current trial in which Professor Girenko was involved as an
expert witness concerns the toughest nationalist group in St.
Petersburg: Schulz-88. The Schulz case began in spring 2003. While
investigating an assault on an Armenian citizen, detectives
identified a skinhead gang with about 30 members. After Girenko
presented his expert conclusions, it became clear that the gang was
more than a bunch of city hooligans: these were hard-line racists and
neo-nazis. Group leader Dmitri Bobrov (alias “Schulz,” with the “88”
in the gang’s name symbolizing the eighth letter in the alphabet and
standing for “Heil Hitler”) maintained strict discipline in his
organization; physical and “theoretical” exercises were carried out,
with youths being trained to “beat up blacks” and practising
large-scale pogroms. The group published a magazine called “Wrath of
Perun” with instructions for young skinheads.

The group of experts headed by Girenko did an evaluation of the
“Wrath of Perun” magazine. Bobrov and his colleague Alexei
Vostroknutov found themselves in pre-trial detention (four other
Schulz-88 members had to sign an undertaking not to leave the area).
The Schulz-88 investigation continued in May. Group members are
charged with inciting ethnic and racial hatred, and issuing public
calls for the overthrow of the constitutional order. The
investigation into the case is still under way.

Shortly before his death, Girenko started preparing to act as an
expert witness in another trial, involving the Russian National Unity
movement.

Translated by Gregory Malyutin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
June 23, 2004 Wednesday Home Edition

A QUESTION OF GENOCIDE: Sudan’s killing grounds;
Slaughter of villagers sparks concern, debate

by MARK BIXLER

As one of the world’s longest and most devastating wars nears an end,
Atlanta-based CARE and the Carter Center are preparing to expand
their work in southern Sudan even as other humanitarian organizations
warn of possible genocide in another part of the country.

In the Darfur region of western Sudan, reports of atrocities
reminiscent of mass killings in Bosnia, Cambodia and Rwanda have
created a troubling dilemma for U.S. officials, who have avoided
characterizing the killings as genocide because doing so would
obligate them to act under terms of a treaty drafted in response to
the Holocaust.

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide, adopted in 1948 and ratified by the United States in 1986,
defines genocide as the “intent to destroy, in whole or part, a
national, ethnic, racial or religious group.” Signatories agree to
“prevent and punish” genocide, though the treaty does not define
prevention and punishment.

“No president wants to say there is a genocide and ‘Oh, by the way,
I’m not going to do anything about it,’ ” said Jerry Fowler, director
of the committee of conscience at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
in Washington, which has issued a “genocide warning” for Darfur.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said this month the Bush
administration is trying to determine whether events in Darfur fit
the legal definition of genocide. Other U.S. officials have described
the killings as “ethnic cleansing,” a euphemism conceived in the
early 1990s by the Serbs to refer to their practice of targeting
non-Serbs for killing or forced removal.

In Darfur, aid workers and officials say, Arab militias, often
working with the Sudanese military, have killed 10,000 to 30,000
black Africans and forced 1 million others from their homes to remote
areas where food is scarce. The U.S. Agency for International
Development warns that at least 350,000 could die within months.

The United Nations’ under- secretary-general for humanitarian
affairs, Jan Egeland, has called Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis
in the world.

Past reports of mass killings, however, have prompted a muted
response from the United States.

In her Pulitzer Prize-winning book “A Problem From Hell,” Samantha
Power, who teaches human rights and U.S. foreign policy at Harvard
University, documents a U.S. tendency to avoid decisive action when
confronted with evidence of atrocities.

>From the slaughter of Armenian Christians in modern Turkey in 1915 to
the execution of Bosnian Muslims in the mid-1990s, Power writes,
“decent men and women chose to look away.”

In Rwanda in 1994, the international community did little as members
of the Hutu ethnic majority hacked, shot and burned to death 800,000
members of the minority Tutsis. President Bill Clinton said in Rwanda
in 1998 the United States should have done more to stop the killing.

That experience has informed the U.S. response to the “crimes against
humanity” in Darfur, said Jemera Rone, a Sudan expert at Human Rights
Watch/Africa in Washington.

“I think the U.S. and the U.N. learned a lesson from Rwanda,” she
said. “They’re trying to do the maximum they can without calling it
genocide.”

The United States helped arrange a briefing on Darfur at the U.N.
Security Council. It also made clear it will not improve relations
with Sudan unless conditions change. The Security Council called for
a halt to fighting, and Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he plans to
visit Sudan.

‘Janjaweed rule’

Still, the United States could do more, said John Prendergast,
director of African Affairs at the National Security Council during
Clinton’s second term. He left Washington a few days ago for Chad,
where he plans to meet victims of the Arab militias in Darfur, known
as the janjaweed. He said the United States and United Nations should
threaten war crimes trials for janjaweed commanders and Sudanese
leaders involved in abuses.

“There is a developing consensus that what the militias are carrying
out on the ground is genocide,” he said before leaving for Africa.

Problems in Darfur began last April.

Just as a north-south war that has raged for all but 11 years since
1955 appeared headed for negotiated settlement, a new war erupted in
western Sudan. Two rebel groups in Darfur that had not previously
been involved in the fighting attacked a Sudanese military base in
April.

In response, the Sudanese government turned to Arab militias with a
history of animosity toward black Africans in Darfur, Rone said. The
government armed and trained them, she said, even giving satellite
phones to some janjaweed commanders.

Last August or September, the militias and armed forces began
attacking hundreds of villages in Darfur. Aid workers say attackers
raped many women and branded some afterward to add to the stigma.
They say attackers hurled dead bodies into wells to poison water
supplies.

“They’re going after civilians,” Rone said.

The Sudanese government says the violence is the result of tribal
conflicts over resources. On Sunday, President Omar el-Bashir said
his military will disarm warring parties in Darfur, including the
janjaweed.

The militias and their victims both are Muslims, but the janjaweed
are Arabs while most people in Darfur are black Africans.

Prendergast said he believes the Bush administration was slow to
pressure the Sudanese government on Darfur for fear that it would
scare Sudan away from the negotiating table with southern rebels.

North vs. south

The Sudanese civil war pits a northern government of Arab Muslims
against black Africans in the south who follow Christianity and
animist religions. The conflict is mainly over power and resources.

Fighting and war-related famine and disease have killed at least 2
million people since 1983. The war also has displaced more than 5
million people. Most casualties are from southern Sudan.

The northern government and the main southern rebel group, the Sudan
People’s Liberation Army, have signed accords that call for a
referendum after six years on whether southern Sudan will secede and
form an independent nation. When talks resume Friday, only procedural
obstacles remain before a final peace agreement is reached.

In anticipation of peace, the United Nations and nongovernmental
organizations are building roads to facilitate the delivery of relief
supplies and encourage trade, said Gary McGurk, CARE’s assistant
country director for southern Sudan.

“In order to get peace in southern Sudan, you’ve got to have
infrastructure and development,” McGurk said during a visit to
Atlanta last week.

He said CARE is building or rebuilding 300 schools in southern Sudan.

The Carter Center, meanwhile, has prepositioned filters and medical
kits and hopes to increase distribution in a peaceful southern Sudan
as part of its effort to eradicate Guinea worm disease, said Craig
Withers, who coordinates the center’s health programs in Sudan.

Southern Sudan is home to 63 percent of the world’s cases of Guinea
worm, an affliction in which larvae from contaminated water grow to
worms inside a human body and break through the skin in painful
blisters.

“We’ve been planning this for a while,” Withers said. “We’re ready to
go.”

GRAPHIC: Graphic: WHAT IS GENOCIDE?
The Genocide Convention adopted by the United Nations in 1948 says
genocide includes the following crimes committed with the intent to
destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group:
1. Killing members of the group
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
3. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
4. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated
to bring about its physical destruction
5. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSES OF THE 20TH CENTURY
1915 to 1923: 1.5 million people of Armenian descent are killed
during a campaign by the Ottoman Empire to expel them from eastern
Turkey. The Turkish government denies it engaged in genocide.
World War II: The systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored
persecution and murder of approximately 6 million Jews by the Nazi
regime and its collaborators. Nazis also target other groups because
of their perceived “racial inferiority”: Roma (Gypsies), the
disabled, and some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians, and
others). Other groups are persecuted on political and behavioral
grounds, among them Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses and
homosexuals. The killings are carried out throughout Europe. The most
infamous death camps include Auschwitz, Treblinka and Bergen-Belsen.
1975-1978: An estimated 2 million Cambodians, mainly from the
intelligentsia, die at the hands of the Pol Pot regime in what
becomes known as the “killing fields.”
1982: Syrian Baathists under the direction of President Hafiz
al-Assad destroy the city center in the Sunni Muslim city of Hamah
and murder thousands. Estimates of those killed range from 5,000 to
10,000.
1988: Poison gas attack kills between 3,500 and 5,000 Kurds in
Halabja, Iraq, under the regime of Saddam Hussein.
1994: Ethnic Hutu militants in Rwanda slaughter an estimated 800,000
ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus as the world turns away.
1995: Massacre by Bosnian Serb forces of roughly 8,000 Bosnian Muslim
men and boys in the city of Srebrenica. It is ruled as genocide in
April 2004 by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for
the former Yugoslavia.
1995: A national inquiry concludes that the Australian government had
knowingly pursued a policy of genocide in regard to the Aboriginal
peoples between 1870 and 1970.
1998: Yugoslav forces under the leadership of President Slobodan
Milosevic execute scores of ethnic Albanian civilians in Kosovo and
are believed to have detained as many as several thousand men whose
fate is unknown; they also engineer the greatest refugee crisis in
Europe since World War II, emptying villages and cities in forced
expulsions that send more than 500,000 ethnic Albanians into exile.
Darfur conflict
The largely Arabic Janjaweed militia, backed by the government in
Khartoum, rampages through the villages of mainly African farmers in
Darfur. Activists say the attacks amount to genocide.
Reason for conflict
Grazing rights; soil in Darfur region is fertile. And for
generations, nomads have fought farmers for soil and cattle rights.
Sources: Armenian National Institute, United Nations, Web Genocide
Documentation Centre, Genocide Research Project, Knight Ridder
Tribune, Photos by Associated Press
Research by ALICE WERTHEIM / Staff
/ MICHAEL DABROWA / Staff; Photo: Arab and African horsemen parade
before Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir last month as a show of
solidarity in Nyala, capital of Darfur. / BERT WESTON / Courtesy of
the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; Photo: Mukama Tharcisse, 74, one
of the survivors of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, is one of the
guardians of the memorial of the genocide in Nyamata. The memorial
houses remains of 20,000 victims. / Associated Press; Photo: Slobodan
Milosevic / Associated Press; Photo: Armenian deportees in a camp of
makeshift tents inhabited mostly by women and children in the barren
Syrian desert. / Associated Press; Photo: The remains of huts burnt
by militia in Sudan’s North Darfur village of Bandago on April 29.
UNICEF has said the fighting in Darfur has forced 1 million people
out of their homes and into camps in Sudan, while 200,000 people have
taken shelter in cities and towns in the region. About 110,000 people
have taken refuge in neighboring Chad. / Associated Press; Map: Map
pinpoints the location of Darfur in Sudan.

Associated Press Worldstream
June 22, 2004 Tuesday

Protesters break in to a NATO forum attended by Armenian defense
officials

BAKU, Azerbaijan

Several protesters broke into a NATO forum on Tuesday attended by
Armenian defense officials, and called on Azerbaijan to stop
negotiations with Armenia, highlighting tensions over
Nagorno-Karabakh – a territory disputed by both countries.

Several activists of the Organization of Karabakh’s Freedom pushed
through police cordons, broke glass doors and stormed into a
conference hall in Baku’s Europe hotel which hosted the forum. The
conference of 21 NATO member states and partners was being held ahead
of NATO’s “Cooperative Best Effort-2004” to be held in Azerbaijan.
Two Armenian officers were among those attending the conference.

Outside the hotel, about 30 protesters held banners “NATO without
Armenians” and “Shame on those who negotiate with Armenians!” More
protesters were cordoned off by police.

Protesters and hotel security guards suffered minor injuries in the
incident in the hotel and the meeting resumed in several minutes.
Eight people were detained by police.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are at odds over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave,
which Armenian forces seized from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s. A
1994 cease-fire has largely held, but no final settlement has been
reached. Neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan are NATO members, but both
former Soviet republics participate in NATO’s Partnership for Peace
program.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
June 23, 2004 Wednesday 11:55 AM Eastern Time

Armenia works out complimentary foreign policy – Kocharyan

By Andrei Yarushin

STRASBOURG

Armenia is working out a complimentary foreign policy, Armenian
President Robert Kocharyan said.

Speaking at the summer PACE session on Wednesday, Kocharyan said the
main goal of Armenia’s policy is that the country “is trying to
benefit from settling disagreements between world and regional great
powers and not from their reinforcement.”

“We should bear responsibility for regional stability and join
efforts to settle disagreements and not aggravate them,” the Armenian
president added.

“It is such approach that has allowed us to build trusty relations
with the United States, the European Union and Iran, as well as
strengthen traditional close ties with Russia. We believe in peace
and cooperation in the South Caucasus,” he stressed.

Kocharyan said Armenia “is ready to develop business cooperation with
Turkey without any preconditions. But Armenian-Turkish relations
should not be conditioned by our contacts with the third country –
with Azerbaijan, for example.”

ANSA Notiziario Generale in Italiano
June 22, 2004

CINEMA: ARMENIA NUOVA LOCATION PER ROBERT GUEDIGUIAN /ANSA ;
IL REGISTA SI RACCONTA AL NAPOLI FILM FESTIVAL

NAPOLI

(ANSA) – NAPOLI, 22 GIU – Nei futuri programmi del regista
francese Robert Guediguian c’ e’ un viaggio in Armenia, dove
girera’ un film: lo ha detto lo stesso Guediguian che oggi e
stato protagonista della terza giornata del Napolifilmfestival.

Nell’ambito della sezione “Parole di cinema”, ciclo di
proiezioni e incontri dedicati ai protagonisti della
cinematografia internazionale, stamani e’ stata proposta la
visione del film di Guediguian, “Marius et Jeannette”. “La
decisione di lavorare con lo stesso gruppo di attori, ormai
amici – spiega il regista – non e’ stata una scelta. Anche
l’ambientazione geografica, la citta’ che fa da sfondo alle mie
storie, Marsiglia, mi accompagna da sempre, e’ come se fosse un
teatro, un teatro di lusso, che con il suo divenire e i suoi
cambiamenti, modifica e accompagna le tante storie e il loro
camminar con i tempi”.

Guediguian, ha sottolineato l’ importanza della storia, non
dell’ interprete. “Quando scrivo una storia per un film e la
sua sceneggiatura – continua il regista – penso al personaggio e
non all’attore che lo interpretera’, questa decisione e
l’ultimo step da affrontare. Gli attori non partecipano alla
stesura, loro vi partecipano solo in conclusione essendo
comunque un gruppo, che ormai dirigo da 20 anni, e con i quali
raccontiamo la storia della Francia”.

Guediguian ha poi posto l’ accento sull’ indipendenza dei
suoi film. “Sono un regista indipendente – aggiunge – nel senso
che produco i miei film. L’indipendenza ci viene dettata dal
fatto che siamo del tutto autonomi sulle varie decisioni che
gravitano attorno agli aspetti collaterali del cinema. L’essere
produttore, inoltre, penso faccia parte di quest’arte
cinematografica. Anche Fellini aveva la sua casa di produzione,
che pero’ ando’ male”. A chi gli domanda le differenze tra il
cinema europeo ed americano, secondo Guediguian “l’unica cosa
da dire e’ che ogni paese dovrebbe proteggere i propri film, e
l’America che noi intendiamo – aggiunge – alla fine e’ solo
Hollywood. Pasolini avrebbe detto che si tratta di disastro
antropologico”.

Tra gli appuntamenti pomeridiani del Napolifimfestival,
quello con la sezione “Svezia: Non solo Bergman”, con la
proiezione di Narvarande di Jan Troell. (ANSA).

Institute of War and Peace Reporting
June 23 2004

Armenia: the Rich Man’s View

Business venture luring diaspora Armenians to live the good life and
play golf against the backdrop of Mount Ararat.

By Alan Tskhurbayev and Sergiu Perju in Yerevan (CRS No. 239,
23-Jun-04)

On the edge of Yerevan with a spectacular view of Mount Ararat, a new
community is being built as a new paradise for the rich and powerful.

Slated to become the first `gated community’ in the south Caucasus,
Vahakni is being designed to combine an Armenian location with all
the comforts available in the West. It will offer high-quality
western-style housing and conveniences to its residents, around three
kilometres from the Armenian capital.

Located in the Ararat valley with the legendary peak in full view,
the 160-hectare housing development is the brainchild of Vahak S.
Hovnanian, a United States millionaire of Armenian extraction, who
owns the construction company Hovnanian Ltd.

`When Armenia gained independence, my first instinct was to build a
city here for Americans from the diaspora to return to,’ explained
Hovnanian. `The idea was to lure people back to their historical
homeland.’

Asked whether for him Vahakni meant business, money, or a personal
dream come true, Hovnanian said it was `a bit of each’.

`First of all, it’s business, but to me, this is a prime opportunity
to create more jobs for Armenia. I have always wanted to help my
people,’ he told IWPR. `If successful international entrepreneurs
move here from abroad, that means millions in direct investment.’

The development, under construction since last year, will consist of
upwards of 500 homes. Of an estimated 25 US million dollars earmarked
for the project, five million has already been invested in
infrastructure. So far only 20 homes have been sold and there is no
final construction date for the community.

`Of course there will be a certain isolation from the rest of
society, a big difference in living standards inside and outside the
community,’ conceded Karekin Odabashian, managing director of the
project.

`But Vahakni is in itself a lifestyle, which makes it different from
others. It is not true that housing here will only be available to
the privileged classes. Everyone is welcome – our prices are quite
normal for Armenia, on a par with apartment prices in prestigious
downtown neighbourhoods of Yerevan. But I always say that Hovnanian
Ltd is building more than just housing, we are building a way of
life.’

In fact, the `Hovnanian lifestyle’ is well out of reach of most
people in Armenia, where it would take someone earning an average
salary many lifetimes to be able to afford Vahakni’s real-estate
prices.

Those who have heard of Vahakni shrug it off as a place for the
fabulously rich. Suren Mikoyan, a taxi driver, said, `Every time I
drive by Vahakni, I look at these huge houses and feel depressed. It
seems to me that a whole different breed of people live there.’

Many of those `different’ people are expatriate Armenians. So far, 20
homes at Vahakni have been reserved for Armenians from France,
Canada, Russia, Switzerland and the UK.

Prospective buyers are free to choose from a great variety of layout
options, or even design their future home themselves with the
assistance of an architect. All homes will be fitted with security
systems, central heating, and fire alarm systems, as well as garages
and basements.

The majority of prospective residents are business people, something
which places high security requirements on the community. The only
vehicle entrance to Vahakni is guarded 24 hours a day.

`Security is one of the main reasons why I decided to move here,’ a
Canadian citizen who lives at Vahakni told IWPR, requesting
anonymity. `Back in Canada, the streets are not safe for my small
children. In that sense, Vahakni is ideal, and Armenia, I think, is a
great place to raise your children. There are security systems here,
but you can’t see them.’

Some residents are taking extra security precautions of their own.
Some have requested no photographing or videotaping around their
homes.

Other facilities intended for Vahakni include an international
school, a day clinic, a fitness centre – and Armenia’s first ever
golf club.

Vahak Hovnanian has high hopes for golf in the Caucasus, which he
says is both an art and a good way of doing business. `Golf is a
disease, and an infectious one, too. It’s a solitary sport: there’s
only you, your ball and your club. Playing golf is like painting a
picture.’

Perhaps not as perfect a picture as the view of Mount Ararat from the
golf course.

Alan Tskhurbayev and Sergiu Perju, from Moldova and North Ossetia
respectively, are graduating journalism students from the Caucasus
Media Institute in Yerevan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Interfax
June 23 2004

Armenian officers attending NATO conference in Baku

YEREVAN. June 23 (Interfax) – Two Armenian Defense Ministry officers
are taking part in the NATO conference in Baku, following
Azerbaijan’s promises to ensure their security, the Armenian Defense
Ministry’s press service told Interfax.

“The country hosting [the NATO conference] has pledged to ensure the
security of the two Armenian officers in Baku,” the press service
said.

Armenia’s concerns were sparked by a Tuesday rally by the
Organization for the Liberation of Karabakh. Some 40 members of the
group, protesting the presence of the Armenian military men in Baku,
tried to break through the police cordon to enter the Europe Hotel,
the venue for the NATO conference.

Delegations from NATO’s 24 member-nations are taking part in the
conference, which is aimed at preparing the Cooperative Best Effort
04 exercises. These military exercises will be held in Azerbaijan in
September.

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
06/23/2004
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP://

1. Opposition, Reforms, and Karabagh, All in A Day’s Address to PACE
2. KLO Activists Face Criminal Charges
3. Armenia Won’t Abandon Cooperation with NATO
4. European Court Condemns Turkey
5. Azeri Sniper Kills Armenian Soldier
6. Council of Europe Ends Monitoring of Turkey

1. Opposition, Reforms, and Karabagh, All in A Day’s Address to PACE

STRASBOURG (RFE/RL)–In his speech to the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary
Assembly (PACE) on Wednesday, President Robert Kocharian said that the
Strasbourg-based body should not have had to discuss the political
confrontation in Armenia last April, and defended his administration’s
response
to the opposition calls for resignation.
“I regret that some of our deputies drew the PACE into that discussion,” he
said. “I am convinced that the Council of Europe is not the best place to
settle scores between the government and the opposition. All of that must be
done in our own parliament.”
Kocharian described the Armenian opposition’s push for power as an awkward
attempt to replicate neighboring Georgia’s November “Rose Revolution” that was
welcomed in the West. “The Armenian opposition failed to take into account the
fact that Armenia’s economy, unlike Georgia’s, is developing dynamically; its
government is quite efficient and its democratic achievements are propped
up by
institutional structures, including police, which are able to maintain public
order,” he said.
In its April 28 resolution on Armenia, PACE said that the Kocharian
government’s reaction to the opposition protests was “contrary to the letter
and the spirit” of its values, and threatened to impose sanctions unless
reforms were undertaken by the September PACE session.
The Armenian leader, making his second appearance at the Council of Europe
since Armenia joined it in January 2001 emphasized the opposition’s rejection
of calls for political dialogue by the parties of the governing coalition.
“Those proposals remain in force, but they must be discussed in parliament,
not
in the street,” he said.
The Armenian authorities’ compliance with the resolution was discussed
earlier
this week by the PACE’s Monitoring Committee. Its rapporteur on Armenia Jerzy
Jaskiernia, is due to submit a final report on that in time for the assembly’s
next session in September. The committee has also been monitoring the
fulfillment of Armenia’s broader membership commitments to the Council of
Europe.
“Armenia has already fulfilled the vast majority of obligations assumed in
connection with its accession to the Council of Europe,” Kocharian declared,
adding that the remaining ones will be honored “by the end of this year.”
Armenia is going through “an active process of the formation of civil
society,”
he said.
The 20-minute speech was followed by a question-and-answer session. The two
PACE parliamentarians representing the Armenian opposition boycotted the
speech
and were not on hand to pose questions. Azeri and Turkish lawmakers, however,
grilled the president.
Asked by one of the Azeri parliamentarian whether he had any role in the war
over Mountainous Karabagh, Kocharian replied, “Yes, I took part in the war. My
children were hiding in a basement for three years and had no childhood. I am
proud of my participation in the war.”
Kocharian told another Azeri that his country would have regained most of its
territories around Karabagh had it accepted two international peace plans put
forward in 1998 and 2001, and stressed that Karabagh has never been apart
of an
independent Azerbaijan state and should remain outside of Baku’s control.

2. KLO Activists Face Criminal Charges

BAKU (ANS/Baku Today)Azeri law-enforcement authorities have charged five
members of the Karabagh Liberation Organization (KLO) with hooliganism after
their arrest on Tuesday for disrupting a NATO planning conference being
held in
Baku. The group was protesting the participation of Armenian officers Colonel
Murad Isakhanian and Senior Lieutenant Aram Hovannisian.
KLO leader Akif Naghi is reportedly among those arrested after the group
slipped away from police guarding the conference site, and succeeding in
smashing a glass wall of the conference hall.
KLO deputy chairman Barat Imani told the Turan news agency its protests were
not limited to the above disruption, but that a KLO member succeeded in
entering the conference site after the NATO session was in progress, and
announced: “You are sharing this hall with Armenian officers–aggressors,
terrorists, and occupiers. The participation of representatives of
aggressor-states in a NATO event conflicts with NATO policies. No one had the
right to invite them to Baku, and if they have dignity, they must leave
Azerbaijan.”
KLO had warned authorities earlier that they would take drastic measures if
the Armenian officers were allowed to attend the meeting to discuss the
NATO-led military exercise to be held in Azerbaijan this September.
Azerbaijan’s foreign affairs ministry meanwhile dismissed a statement by
parliamentary speaker Murtuz Aleskerov, that the Armenian officers had arrived
in Baku secretly.
A statement by foreign ministry said the arrival of Armenian officers had
been
officially announced by deputy foreign minister Araz Azimov.

3. Armenia Won’t Abandon Cooperation with NATO

YEREVAN (AFP/Armenpress)–Responding to whether Tuesday’s attack by the
Karabagh Liberation Organization, in protest of Armenia’s participation at a
NATO planning conference Baku, affects Armenia’s participation in upcoming
NATO
events, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hamlet Gasparian said that
though the act justly caused concern, Armenia will participate in the June 28
NATO summit in Istanbul.
Gasparian stressed the incident was the logical consequence of the Azeri
leadership’s position and policy [on Armenians], that affects all facets of
Azeri society and hinders Armenian-Azeri dialogue.
“Despite these obstacles, Armenia is resolute to continue its cooperation
with
NATO and participate in NATO-organized joint military exercises and other
events–including the Istanbul Summit.”
Meanwhile, Turkey is on high alert to ward off any threat to next week’s NATO
summit in the country’s biggest city that has long been a playground for
Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants, far-left guerrillas, and armed Kurdish
rebels.
Massive security measures are in place for the June 28-29 summit and Turkish
authorities say they have received no serious threat of a terrorist attack
against the meeting which will be attended by US President George W. Bush and
other Western leaders.
There have been a number of small bomb attacks in Istanbul in recent weeks,
and other cities, similar to those carried out in the past by left-wing
militants.
In the run-up to the NATO summit, Turkish security forces have detained
dozens
in security sweeps against several outlawed groups.

4. European Court Condemns Turkey

(VOA NEWS)The European Court of Human Rights has condemned Turkey for its
treatment of two men detained in 1995 for their alleged ties to a Kurdish
rebel
group. The court announced its decision in the case of Abdulrezzak Aydin and
Abdullah Yunus on Tuesday.
Doctors found the two men were physically abused while in Turkish police
custody after a police raid against the Kurdistan Workers Party.
The European court ruled that Turkey had failed to fulfill its obligation to
protect individuals while in the custody of police officers. It awarded
each of
the men approximately 27,000 dollars for damages and legal fees.

5. Azeri Sniper Kills Armenian Soldier

YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–A forty-seven-year-old Colonel from Armenia’s armed
forces Radik Avetissian was shot and killed by sniper fire in Armenia’s
northeastern Tavush region that borders the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Breaches of the cease-fire agreement are registered periodically in the area,
which is a contact line between Armenian and Azeri armed forces. An escalation
of tensions on the border was discussed at the recent Prague meeting between
the foreign ministers of the two countries.

6. Council of Europe Ends Monitoring of Turkey

STRASBOURG (ARMENPRESS)The Parliamentary Assembly decided on June 22 to end
the
monitoring of Turkey, declaring that the country had “achieved more reform
in a
little over two years than in the previous decade,” and had clearly
demonstrated its commitment and ability to fulfill its statutory
obligations as
a member state of the Council of Europe.
However, the Assembly resolved to continue “post-monitoring dialogue” with
the
authorities on a twelve-point list of outstanding issues. In a resolution
adopted by 141 votes to 8, the parliamentarians welcomed the adoption of
important changes to the Constitution in October 2001 and May 2004, as well as
abolition of the death penalty, “zero tolerance” towards torture and impunity,
the lifting of many restrictions on freedom of expression, association and
religion, the abolition of the state security courts, and the granting of
certain cultural rights to Turkish citizens of Kurdish origin.
Presenting the report, co-rapporteur Mady Delvaux-Stehres said, “This
decision
is a mark of our trust in the Turkish authorities that they will continue to
make progress. It is also a mark of trust in Turkey itself.”
In a separate vote, the Assembly also welcomed the “significant progress”
made
by Turkey in implementing decisions of the European Court of Human Rights,
including payment in the Loizidou case, but cautioned that some of the cases
outstanding were still not settled or only partly so. In its resolution, the
Assembly urged Turkey to take eight further steps to help prevent fresh
violations of the European Convention on Human Rights.

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.

June 23, 2004 07:38 PM US Eastern Timezone

Armenian-American Committee for a Just Settlement Criticizes Proposed
Settlement in Armenian Genocide Insurance Case

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 23, 2004–When a proposed
settlement of a class action lawsuit against New York Life by heirs of
unpaid Armenian Genocide insurance claims was announced recently,
attorney Mark Geragos was quoted in news reports as saying “(New York
Life) really stepped up to the plate and did what was right.” After
analyzing the proposed settlement, Ben Nutley, a Beverly Hills
attorney specializing in class actions, commented: “The only plate
that New York Life may have stepped up to is the dinner plate of
Geragos and the other plaintiff lawyers involved in the case.”

Geragos and the other three attorneys in the case will earn $4 million
— $1 million for each of their firms — while each family of a
policyholder stands to receive about $3,000, on average. “This is
probably the largest single fee of their careers for a civil matter of
this type, yet there remain substantial questions about whether they
have handled this case properly, and whether they should be entitled
to that fee,” said Nutley.

Nutley’s law firm, Kendrick & Nutley, has appeared on behalf of
several heirs of policyholders, and has challenged the adequacy of
notice in the case. In papers filed May 13, 2004, the firm pointed out
several problems with the notices that, by law, the parties must
disseminate in order to notify heirs of the proposed settlement. Among
other things, the filing charges that the notice program was
inadequate because it did not comply with federal law, omitted large
segments of the Armenian community from notice, and failed even to use
the term “Armenian Genocide” in the title and text of the notice. The
Honorable Christina Snyder, the United States District Court Judge who
is in charge of the case, is presently considering that motion.

But in legal documents filed in response to the motion, Geragos, who
is an Armenian-American, defended New York Life’s omission of the term
“Armenian Genocide” from the proposed settlement. Geragos stated that
including the word “Genocide” in the notice would be “confusing” and
“misleading” to class members. Nutley countered that the explanation
does not make sense. “The members of this class-action suit are full
or part Armenian. I’ve yet to meet anyone with a drop of Armenian
blood who didn’t understand the significance of that term. To say that
they would be confused is insulting. On the contrary, it would have
attracted the attention of far more potential class members.”

Judge Snyder will also decide whether to approve the terms of the
proposed settlement itself in a hearing presently set for July 30,
2004. Nutley’s firm filed a formal objection to the settlement, and is
planning to appear at the hearing to urge the court not to approve
it. Under the terms of the proposed settlement, New York Life has
agreed to pay $20 million: $4 million will go to the attorneys; $3
million will go to Armenian charities; between $2 million and $6
million will go to administrative costs; and depending on how much is
spent in administration, between $11 million and $7 million will go
the families of policyholders. If New York Life’s predictions are
accurate, the heirs of the 2,400 actual policyholders will share in
the balance ($7 million) depending on the face value of their original
policy.

Under this scheme, depending on the size of a policyholder’s surviving
family, the value of the policy, and the number of heirs who claim, a
typical heir will receive a little more than a few hundred dollars. By
comparison, Geragos and the other plaintiff lawyers have agreed to
give Martin Marootian, one of the named representative plaintiffs in
the case, $250,000. Nutley said that strongly suggests that the
plaintiff lawyers tried to buy Marootian’s approval of the proposed
settlement. Nutley added that federal case law will not sanction such
a “supersized” award to a named plaintiff, and that Judge Snyder has
already indicated that she is not bound to approve the award of money
to Marootian or the other named plaintiffs.

According to Nutley, the settling parties have not adequately
explained why the amount going to the heirs is so small. After filing
the case, the plaintiffs’ lawyers had claimed that the case was worth
nearly $3 billion in today’s dollars. Nutley said the lawyers should
explain that discrepancy, and have not yet done so. “After 90 years,
and 1.5 million lives lost, is this it for the Armenians? I don’t see
how any Armenian can feel either vindicated by this result or
confident that justice has been done,” said Nutley, who is not
Armenian but whose firm has argued for transparency and accountability
in class actions. “Putting aside the technical, financial and legal
defects in this settlement, this case is also unique in its symbolic
importance to Armenians generally. For them, justice should not just
be done, but be seen to be done.”

For further information, go to or call
626-240-0247.