MONITORING OF MASS MEDIA: VIEW FROM ASIDE

Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
18 June 2004

With the assistance of the international organization “Article 19”
the Stepanakert Press Club organized training for the representatives
of the Stepanakert mass media. This is another event in the process
of democratization of the society. Training began on June 15. At the
training was present the representative of “Article 19”, coordinator
on South Caucasus Irina Smolina. The training was conducted by the
deputy chairman of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, expert of the
organization “Article 19” Alexey Koshel and the representative of the
Yerevan Press Club Elina Poghosbekian. Of the Artsakh mass media were
invited representatives of the republic newspaper “Azat Artsakh”,
Public Radio and TV, official organ of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation “Aparazh”, newspaper “Hayrenik” as, well as members of the
Press Club. The first day of the training was mainly devoted to the
experience of the mass media of conducting public opinion polls,
monitoring. In reference to this topic Alexey Koshel and Elina
Poghosbekian raised a number of acute problems which were actively
discussed by the participants of the training. At the end of the first
day the participants of the training were offered to take part in a
game and monitor Artsakh mass media. According to the experts, both
teams managed to keep up to the requirements of the game. The second
day was devoted to such important issues as the ethic, the moral code
of the journalist. Both chairperson-experts spoke on these topics. On
the same day due to the efforts of the organizers of the training the
meeting with the chairman of the NKR Central Election Committee Sergey
Davtian took place. The chairman of the CEC pointed out the role of
the mess media during elections. “Without the mass media elections
are impossible,” he said. S. Davtian spoke about certain drawbacks of
the law “On Elections to Municipalities”. Nevertheless, the CEC will
meet the requirement of providing equal rights and conditions for
all the candidates. During the second day the task of the activities
of lawyers and their services was discussed which is important for
maintaining trust between the mass media and the reader or viewer.

SUSANNA BALAYAN. 18-06-2004

NKR PRESIDENT IN FRANCE

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
June 18, 2004

On these days the president of Arkady Ghukassian is in France to
take part in the cultural celebrations devoted to the tenth year
of maintenance of cease-fire in the Karabakh conflict area. The
president visited Marseilles and Nice. At the city hall of Marseilles
Arkady Ghukassian met with the representatives of the local Armenian
community. During the meeting at which were present members of the
National Assembly of France and representatives of the municipality
Arkady Ghukassian presented the social, economic and political
situation in Nagorni Karabakh. At the same time the president
mentioned that during the short period of independence the Republic of
Nagorni Karabakh achieved significant success in building a legitimate
democratic state and forming civil society. In Nice the president also
met with the representatives of the local Armenian community. At the
meeting were present the chairman of the regional council of Alpes
Maritime, the deputy chairman of the National Assembly, members of
parliament, representatives of the municipalities. During the meeting
the participants discussed the situation in the social, economic and
cultural spheres of Nagorni Karabakh. In Nice president Ghukassian
also met with the leaders of the Armenian youth organization of Cote
d’Azur and the reporters of the newspaper “Nice Matin”. According
to the arrangement made beforehand On June 14 Arkady Ghukassian in
France met with the French co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Henry
Jacolen. During the meeting they discussed questions referring to
the prospects of regulation of the Karabakh conflict.

Armenian trespasser detained on Azeri-Iranian border

ANS TV, Baku
19 Jun 04

The State Border Service said today that on 13 June they detained an
Armenian who tried to secretly cross the Iranian-Azerbaijani border
in the section supervised by a border outpost in Fuzuli District’s
village of Qazaxlar.

The border trespasser was 33 year-old Gerasim Grogoryevich
Lazarian. The Border Service’s investigation department has instituted
criminal proceedings into the case. The trespasser is in custody. An
investigation is under way.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri embassy in Georgia not to issue visas to Armenian officers

ANS TV, Baku
19 Jun 04

[Presenter] The Azerbaijani embassy in Georgia has not yet issued
visas to Armenian officers who are trying to come to Baku. It must
be remembered that a NATO conference will take place in Baku in
three days.

[Correspondent] The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry does not see any
problem with the Armenian officers’ visit to our country. Deputy
Foreign Minister Araz Azimov today issued a statement which says –
quote, the issue is about NATO exercises which are important in terms
of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy interests and the future development of
the geopolitical situation in the region. Over 1,000 representatives
of NATO member states and other countries will take part in the
large-scale exercises. Some people’s attempts to discredit this big
event using Armenia’s representatives seem artificial and not serious,
end quote.

The statement says that the situation is not simple. It says that
Azerbaijan’s developing relations with NATO should not be hostage to
the country’s relations with Armenia. Intensifying discussions on the
issue will only blow the problem up and cause an unhealthy interest
in it. As a result, certain groups will try to use the situation in
their political interests. Araz Azimov said that protests against the
Azerbaijani side’s intention to permit the Armenian representatives
to visit our country will lead to the postponement of the conference
and to coolness in relations with NATO.

Azimov said that if the Armenian officers arrive in Azerbaijan, they
will be able to see Azerbaijan’s real achievements, understand what
kind of crisis Armenia has created for itself and see what people
have gained and lost.

The Azerbaijani embassy in Georgia has no intention of issuing visas
to the Armenian officers who want to take part in the NATO conference
in Baku on 22 June. The Armenians have already applied to the embassy
for visas, the Azerbaijani ambassador to Georgia, Ramiz Hasanov,
has told ANS.

[Hasanov over phone] How can we give them visas? There are no
diplomatic relations between the two countries. I mean in what form can
we issue visas to them? How can I put visas in their passports? There
is no way we can issue visas to them.

[Correspondent] The conference will take part in three days.

Rasad Isgandarov, ANS.

USNews.com

Defining America

6/28/04

Our exceptional innocence
By Michael Kazin

Are Americans exceptional when they go to war? A century ago,
the nation was shocked to learn that U.S. troops had committed
atrocious acts in their struggle against independence fighters in the
Philippines. Soldiers tortured native prisoners by almost drowning
them and hanging them up by their thumbs. In retaliation for a deadly
ambush on the island of Samar, Gen. Jacob H. Smith ordered his men
to kill any Filipino over the age of 10 and to leave the island
“a howling wilderness.”

For months, high officials in Teddy Roosevelt’s administration
suppressed the military report that described these deeds. When the
truth finally came out in 1902, Congress held hearings, and many people
called for the secretary of war to resign. Mark Twain wrote, “We have
debauched America’s honor and blackened her face before the world.”

Ugly as they are, the infamous photos from Abu Ghraib prison reveal
nothing quite so brutal as “the water cure,” much less a command to
slaughter children. But most Americans have reacted to the images
from Baghdad the same way that Twain and most of his fellow citizens
did to those outrages in the Philippines: as a sad betrayal of our
national values.

Yet over the past century, the bloodiest in human history,
Americans have conducted themselves in war much like the leaders
and peoples of other powerful nations. At the end of World War II,
the United States used firebombs and atomic bombs to kill hundreds of
thousands of Japanese civilians, even though their government was near
surrender. In North Korea, our Air Force decimated the countryside,
driving millions of people into underground caverns for the duration
of the war. In Vietnam, revelations about the gruesome massacre at
My Lai in 1968 did nothing to stop carpet-bombing or the widespread
use of pesticides. In Haiti and the Philippines, some U.S. occupation
troops molested and murdered local inhabitants.

Such acts differed only in degree, not kind, from the British bombing
of Dresden during World War II, the French war against the Algerian
independence movement, and the Soviet Army’s rape of thousands of
German women after the fall of Berlin. The only truly “exceptional”
nations have been the few that went one terrible step further and tried
to wipe out an entire people. Fortunately, the Turks did not succeed
in annihilating the Armenians, nor did the Germans murder every Jew.

Right and duty. What does set the United States apart is that so
many of its citizens believe in its moral superiority. The conviction
began with the nation itself. “We fight not to enslave, but to set a
country free,” wrote Tom Paine during the Revolutionary War, “and to
make room upon the earth for honest men to live in.” That an immigrant
like Paine was such an eloquent exceptionalist testifies to the power
of the creed itself. Americanism is a faith designed to apply to all
humanity. In their innocence, millions of Americans believe it is
both their right and their duty to spread that faith around the world.

Such naivete can lead to disaster, as it did in Vietnam and may again
in Iraq. But it can also give the United States an advantage over other
lands. Most Americans expect their soldiers and leaders to live up
to their stated ideals. General Smith was court-martialed, convicted,
and dismissed from the Army, although few Filipinos actually died as
a result of his hideous order. My Lai led to several court-martials
and a murder conviction. And this spring, a large majority of the
public disagreed with conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and Sen. James
Inhofe who made light of the torture at Abu Ghraib. In contrast, it
has taken four decades after France left Algeria for the whole truth
about the atrocities of that colonizer to be revealed. Cynicism can
be as blind as innocence.

Yet American tradition, with its strong Christian roots, often
condemns the individual sin without necessarily demanding that the
evil policy be changed. By the time Congress investigated the outrages
in the Philippines, the United States had defeated the rebels and
was busy converting “our little brown brothers” to American ways. By
the 1904 election campaign, the atrocities were no longer an issue,
and Theodore Roosevelt won the presidency in a landslide. We will
soon learn whether, a century later, voters will deliver a more
exceptional verdict.

Global Chaos, Just for Fun

terra lycos Network
Wired News

02:00 AM Jun. 17, 2004 PT

It was a sultry evening early last summer when 200 or so New Yorkers
marched into Macy’s department store and loudly informed bewildered
onlookers and one blasé sales clerk that they were looking for a
“love rug” for their communal suburban house.

That was the start of the Mob Project. And this Saturday,
at approximately 2 p.m. local time, people in 76 cities in 32
countries will participate in a global flash mob to celebrate the
first anniversary of what is now a worldwide phenomenon.

Since the first mob gathered in force last year on June 19 (there
was a small mob event in Manhattan a few weeks earlier, but it was a
failure due to police interference), flash mobs have been organized
around the world. People are evidently quite taken by the idea of using
e-mail, blogs and the Internet to gather together a group of people
who suddenly materialize in public places, do something absolutely
inane and then vanish.

Some mobs have joined together to sing Christmas carols. Others have
gathered to support then-Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean,
to attempt to link their laptops to form a supercomputer, to taunt
performance artist David Blaine when he was hanging in a box over
the River Thames in London or to protest local politics.

Mobs can do whatever they want; there is no mob boss, no Tony Soprano
running things. But it is worth pointing out that flash mobs were
supposed to be meaningless, silly, utterly pointless endeavors,
according to “Bill,” who conceived the whole Mob Project idea.

“It’s just a mob, for no reason. That’s it, that’s the whole point,”
said Bill, when Manhattan’s Mob Project ended Sept. 10, 2003.

The current political unrest in many areas of the world sparks a
desire to describe the global mob as a warm and fuzzy international
gathering. But in a return to the random roots of the mob as Bill
dreamed of it, organizers have firmly stated that the gathering will
have absolutely no political or social significance.

“The idea of the East greeting the West and the West greeting the East
and everyone coming together has nothing to do with a real flash mob
script. Mobs should be silly,” said one of the event’s main organizers,
who in the spirit of Bill just goes by the name “Dave.”

Dave, who describes himself as “a 36-year-old communications technician
from Moscow, who was born in Armenia, is Chinese by origin and has
been living in New York and Chicago for the past three years,” seems
to be a perfect person to host a global event.

The idea for the global mob was first posted May 21 on the Flash Mob
Association website run by Dave and his collaborator, “Capricorn.”
Twenty-five people from six countries were soon involved in the
planning.

Mobs follow a script that lets participants, many of whom don’t know
each other, synchronize their actions. In Manhattan, the scripts,
printed on slips of paper, were handed out to participants at
designated meeting places immediately before the beginning of each
event. Since then, many people have relied on e-mail or text messages
sent to mobile phones to deliver the scripts.

Participants in the global flash mob will receive their scripts
by e-mail immediately prior to the event. To participate, a local
organizer just needs to register. Once signed up, they will receive
the e-mail containing the script and will also have access to private
planning forums.

Organizers said they worked hard to come up with a script that
would work well for people in different locations. The various mobs
are encouraged to follow the script as closely as possible, but the
organizers also said that participants should feel free to alter the
script to suit cultural differences if needed.

“Planning this has been a lot of fun,” said “Tempest,” an organizer
from Sydney, Australia. “The script is pretty cool, I think. It should
confound a lot of people.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian Officers Already Have Entry Visas to Baku, report says

Baku Today

Baku Today 18/06/2004 17:23

Two Armenian military officers have already received entry visas to
Azerbaijan to attend a Baku-hosted NATO conference scheduled for
June 22, Public Television of this country reported on Wednesday,
citing Armenia’s ministry of defense.

However, Armenpress reported on Thursday that the officers are planning
to ask Azerbaijan’s embassy to Georgia on June 21 for the visas.

The report said Colonel Murad Isakhanian and Aram Hovhanesian (the
latter’s rank was missed) from Armenian defense ministry’s department
of foreign relations are to represent their country in the upcoming
planning conference for NATO’s Cooperative Best Effort-2004 exercises,
which are planned to be held in Azerbaijan in September.

According to the Armenian media, Azerbaijani authorities have promised
NATO leadership that they will not put up obstacles to Armenian
officers’ attending the Baku conference. High-ranking Azeri officials
have also expressed willingness to let officers of the occupational
military in.

Foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov and his deputy Araz Azimov have
recently told local media that since the conference is organized by
NATO, it would be unwise on the part of Azerbaijan to create obstacles
for the Armenians’ coming.

But some non-governmental organizations in Baku, particularly the
Karabakh Liberation Organization, have warned the officers against
coming to Baku, threatening to go for any radical step to prevent
their arrival.

Garikian University Scholarship Fund
Contact: Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate of the Western Prelacy
[email protected]
Tel: 818-248-7737
Fax: 818-248-7745

C/O Western Prelacy
6252 Honolulu Avenue, #100
La Crescenta, CA 91214

COMMUNIQUE — GARIKIAN UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP FUND 2004-2005 ACADEMIC
YEAR

The Executive Board of the Garikian University Scholarship Fund at
its latest meeting reviewed the By Laws of the Garikian University
Scholarship Fund and changed the requirements of the Scholarship for
the 2004-2005 fiscal year. Based on this, the following decisions
are brought to the attention of Armenian University students, both
former and new applicants, of the GARIKIAN SCHOLARSHIP FUND.

All candidates:

1. – Should attend one of the accredited Universities of the State
of California.

2. – Should have successfully completed their first academic year at
the respective universities.

3. – Should pursue their higher education in one of the following
fur (4) majors or subjects specified by the revised By-Laws of the
GARIKIAN SCHOLARSHIP FUND.

a. – Armenian Studies – Armenian Literature
b. – Political Science.
c. – Journalism
d. – Education-Teaching and Counseling

We call on our University students to apply for application forms from
the Western Prelacy and return them completed no later than August 31,
2004 to the following address:

Secretariat, Executive Board

Armenian Assembly of America
122 C Street, NW, Suite 350
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:
 
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 18, 2004
CONTACT: David Zenian
E-mail: [email protected]

ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY, ARMENIAN NATIONAL INSTITUTE CHALLENGE CALIFORNIA
GENOCIDE CASE

Washington, DC – The Armenian Assembly of America this week, on behalf
of the Armenian National Institute and certain other individuals,
challenged a proposed class action settlement reached in the California
case of Marootian, et al. v. New York Life Ins. Co. (Marootian),
on several grounds, including that it could potentially preclude New
York State from pursuing the abandoned proceeds of Genocide-era life
insurance policies. The Assembly also recently retained a noted class
action litigator with New York-based Kaplan, Fox and Kilsheimer LLP,
to analyze the proposed settlement agreement.

“We are concerned that the language in the California settlement
may be construed as so broad as to preclude the New York State
Abandoned Property Initiative,” said Aram Kaloosdian, Vice President
and Counselor to the Assembly Board of Trustees and Chairman of the
Armenian National Institute.

In 2001, the Armenian Assembly urged the New York Office of State
Comptroller to investigate whether New York Life violated New York
State abandoned property laws by not turning over to the State the
proceeds of abandoned Armenian Genocide-era life insurance policies.
New York law provides that, if no address of the insured or apparent
beneficiary can be “ascertained…such person’s last known address
shall be presumed to be within this state if unclaimed funds are held
or owing by life insurance corporations organized under the laws of
this state.” New York Life is incorporated in the State of New York.
Under the New York law, New York Life may be liable for penalties
and accrued interest.

Recently, one of the Marootian plaintiffs’ attorneys, writing to the
Assembly in response to the Assembly’s inquiry whether the proposed
California settlement precludes New York State Initiative, wrote
that the “matters would seem to have little overlap.” But he added
that they “do not know whether the proposed settlement in the class
action would have any effect.” “If we are advised by the Court that
the California settlement does not preclude our Initiative, then we
will withdraw our challenge,” said Kaloosdian.

On February 19, 2004, Judge Christina A. Snyder preliminarily
approved the settlement agreement reached between the parties in the
Marootian case and set July 30, 2004, for the final fairness hearing.
The settlement, if finally approved, would require New York Life to
pay $20 million dollars, of which $11 million was allocated to pay
the heirs or beneficiaries, $4 million to the plaintiffs’ attorneys,
$3 million to various organizations, and $2 million allocated for
settlement implementation and administration.

In a filing with the Court, the Assembly stated that the settlement
agreement is too broadly defined to include “all other persons having
claims of any nature under life insurance policies.” Such a provision
could affect the New York State Abandoned Property Initiative, and
specifically, whether New York Life complied with state laws and
regulations regarding abandoned life insurance proceeds.

The Assembly letter to the Court also stated that “it is likely that
persons entitled to the proceeds of the life insurance polices at
issue are deceased. Accordingly, such proceeds would be considered
abandoned property and should escheat to the State of New York,
in accordance with the public policy of New York.”

The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of
Armenian issues. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.

NR#2004-059

DEFENSE MINISTER VISITS LITHUANIA
[June 18, 2004, 15:12:28]

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
June 18 2004

Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan, Colonel General Safar Abiyev
stayed in Vilnius, Lithuania on June 14 – 15 at the invitation of
the country’s Defense Minister Linas Linkyavichus.

At Vilnius International Airport, the Azerbaijan Minister of Defense
was met by Deputy of National Defense of Lithuania, Dr. Povilas
Malakauskas and other officials.

On the 14th of June, a solemn welcoming ceremony was held at the
Lithuanian National Defense Ministry, where a Guard of Honor was
lined up in honor of Colonel General Safar Abiyev.

During the meeting held one-on-one and in a broaden format, the parties
discussed the current military and political situations in the South
Caucasus region and Baltic States, as well as Azerbaijan-Lithuania
military relations, international cooperation and issues related to
military reforms.

Touching upon Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict Nagorno-Karabakh, Defense
Minister Abiyev expressed concern about unrecognizing so far of
Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan by the global community and
CIS countries. Although, Presidents of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and
Ukraine would state that Karabakh is Azerbaijani land, besides,
the Council of Europe, the European Union and other international
organizations would also express their stands in the matter, no one,
however, officially recognized Armenia as a country-aggressor, he said.

In conclusion, the parties have signed the Agreement on Participation
in Military Training at Lithuanian Military School between the Ministry
of Defense of the Azerbaijan Republic and the Ministry of national
Defense of the Republic of Lithuania.

On the same day, Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan Safar Abiyev was
received by acting President of Lithuania Arturas Paulauskas. The
latter updated the Minister on the successes Lithuania achieved
in the sphere of defense and state building, and touching on the
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict said: I believe
Azerbaijan will fairly solve this conflict.

Colonel General Safar Abiyev told of Azerbaijan-Lithuania military
relations, Azerbaijan-NATO links, large-scale economic reforms
implemented in the country, as well as Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict
and the current military situation in the South Caucasian region.

The Minister also met Deputy Chairman of the Lithuanian Seym
/Parliament/Arturas Skarjius and Chairman of the Seym’s National
Security and Defense Committee Evaldas Ignatavichus to exchange views
on integration into European structures, existing socio-political
situation in the regions, economic projects, NATO-Azerbaijan and
NATO-Lithuania relations, join activity in the anti-terror coalition
and other issues.

Sharing his impressions of the Lithuania meetings and touching upon
the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armeniam Colonel General Safar
Abiyev said in particular: violating the international legal norms,
the state of Armenia ignores the United Nations Security Council’s
four resolutions on the problem. Armenia is an aggressor, Azerbaijan’s
patience is not unlimited, and the country is taking very decisive
stance on liberation of its lands from Armenian occupation.

On the 15th of June, the delegation of Azerbaijan lead by the Defense
Minister visited Lithuanian Yonas Zhematis Military Academy and
Adolfas Ramanauskas Military Training Center.

On the same day, the delegation returned to motherland.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress