Georgia should rather strivie for joining CSTO than NATO
Pravda.RU:World
19:20 2004-06-22
Chairman of the State Duma (the lower house of parliament) committee
for CIS affairs and ties with countrymen Andrei Kokoshin believes
that it would be more logical for Georgia to strive for joining the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) than NATO. The CSTO
incorporates Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan.
“It would be more logical for Georgia to strive for joining the CSTO
since the new Georgian leadership has said many times of late about
its friendly feelings towards Russia, and its recognition of Russia’s
leading role in ensuring security and stability in the region,”
Kokoshin said on Tuesday in an interview with RIA Novosti.
According to him, the CSTO is more modern and flexible organization
than NATO, which was created after the cold war period and therefore
is not burdened by the past events.”
Kokoshin believes that the attempts of Georgian and some other
CIS countries’ representatives to use Russia-NATO cooperation
as an argument in favor of its entering NATO are “groundless and
illogical.” “Russia cooperates with NATO in combating terrorism, in
non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and in some other
areas where this cooperation is mutually beneficial and equal. But
this is achieved not always,” Kokoshin explained.
He also pointed out that “Russian and foreign experts differently
assess the effectiveness of such cooperation inside NATO as well,
not to mention its interaction with external partners.”
“The overwhelming majority of State Duma deputies have a negative
attitude to statements made by some Georgian officials about the
plans of its joining NATO,” Kokoshin stressed.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Utut holds Akopian in first game
The Jakarta Post
June 23, 2004
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Grand Master (GM) Utut Adianto, the only Indonesian representative in the
world chess championships now underway in Tripoli, Libya, had to be content
with a draw with GM Vladimir Akopian in the first game of the second round
on Monday.
Playing with black pieces, Utut pressed ahead with his attacking game.
In the game, which could be viewed live on the internet, Utut who gained his
championship berth through the Dubai qualifying tournament, won a pawn on
the 29th move.
Although he had to give away his own in the later moves, Utut looked to have
built a promising position with his pawn having a cleared passage in the
a-file.
However, Akopian, the 1999 championship runner-up from Armenia, defended
tenaciously and a draw was agreed after 39 moves.
On the other boards, favorites GM Michael Adams and GM Vassily Ivanchuk were
surprisingly held to draws by Karen Asrian and Pentala Harikrishna, who have
lower ratings than the former two.
Meanwhile, Vaselin Topalov, who has been tagged as the top seed in the
absence of a number of the world elite players, scored a 1-0 win over
Aleksander Delchev. Nigel Short and Alexander Grischuk also beat their
respective opponents.
The second games are to be played on Tuesday to decide which of the
remaining 64 contenders will qualify for the next stage.

Kurd Issue Likely to Fuel Chaos in Future Iraq
Amir Taheri, Arab News
Arab News
June 22 2004
With the end of the 14-month occupation, Iraq is likely to be faced,
once again, with some of the problems it has had ever since it was
put on the map as a nation-state in 1921.
The most complex of these concerns the Kurds whose leaders are playing
a game of bluff and counter bluff in the hope of exacting maximum
advantage in a period of uncertainty.
Both Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, the two most prominent leaders
of the Iraqi Kurds, have dropped hints that they might decide to
“part ways” if their demand for a Kurdish veto on some key national
decisions is not included in the new constitution.
This may or may not be a bluff. But the threat of Kurdish secession
has already met with two different reactions from Iraq’s non-Kurdish
leadership elite.
Some Iraqi Arab leaders are horrified at the thought of the Kurdish
problem dominating the nation’s agenda once again. They are prepared
to do all they reasonably can to satisfy Kurdish demands within a
multi-ethnic pluralist system.
Others, however, manifest some frustration against the Kurds.
“The Kurds have been the source of all our national miseries from
the start,” says one Iraqi Arab leader on condition of anonymity. “We
became involved in several wars because of them. We also had to submit
to dictators because we believed they would prevent the Kurds from
secession. But now that Iraq is free why should we return to the
failed policies of the past just to keep the Kurds under our flag?”
Many Iraqis, and some policy-makers in Washington, see the Kurdish
secession as the worst case scenario for the newly-liberated nation.
Barzani and Talabani, arguably the most experienced politicians in
Iraq today, know this and try to exploit such fears.
A closer look at the reality of the situation, however, would show that
there is little chance for a breakaway Kurdish state in northern Iraq.
There are several reasons for this. To start with Iraqi Kurds do not
constitute a single ethnic entity let alone a “nation” in the accepted
sense of the term.
Iraqi Kurds speak two different, though mutually intelligible,
languages, each of which is divided into several sub-dialects, with
distinct literally and cultural traditions.
Iraqi Kurds are also divided into half a dozen religious communities,
including a number of heterodox creeds.
Some of the people generally labelled “Kurdish” are, in fact
ethnic Lurs and Elamites with their distinct languages, cultures
and histories. At the same time the predominantly Kurdish area is
also home to some non-Kurdish communities, including ethnic Arabs,
Turcomans, Assyrians and Armenians.
To make matters more complicated, at least a third of Iraqi Kurds live
outside the area that might one day become an independent Kurdish
state. (There are more than a million Kurds in greater Baghdad,
for example.) The creation of a breakaway Kurdish state in Iraq
could trigger a process of ethnic cleansing, population exchanges,
and displacements that could plunge the whole region into years
of conflict.
A Kurdish mini-state in northeastern Iraq might not even be viable.
It would be landlocked and will have few natural resources.
Almost all of Iraq’s major oil fields fall outside the area under
discussion. Also, the area’s water resources would be vulnerable to
manipulation from Turkey and Iran where the principal rivers originate.
But what about a greater Kurdistan, encompassing all who describe
themselves as Kurds? After all there are millions of people who,
despite the objective diversity of their languages, histories, and
ways of life, feel themselves to be Kurds.
Such a state, including Kurds in Syria, Turkey, Iran, Armenia and
Azerbaijan as well as Iraq, would have a population of 30 million
in an area the size of France. To create this greater Kurdistan one
would have to reorganize a good part of the Middle East and re-draw
the borders of six states, including the two largest in the region:
Turkey and Iran. Even then the greater Kurdistan would still be a
weak landlocked state with few natural resources, and surrounded by
powers that, if not hostile, would not go out of their ways to help
it get along.
Such a greater Kurdistan would face numerous internal problems also.
To start with it will have to decide which of the four alphabets in
use for writing the various Kurdish languages should be adopted as
the national one.
If the view of the majority is to prevail the alphabet chosen should be
Turkish because almost half of all Kurds live in Turkey. At the same
time, however, the bulk of Kurdish historic, literary, political,
religious and other significant texts are written in the Persian
alphabet, itself an expanded version of the Arabic. And where would
be the capital of the greater Kurdistan?
If history, myth and, to some extent, the number of inhabitants,
are the yardsticks the Iranian cities of Sanandaj and Mahabad would
be strong candidates. And, yet, the city with the largest number
of Kurdish inhabitants is Istanbul, Turkey’s cultural and business
capital which is home to more than 1.6 million ethnic Kurds.
In a greater Kurdistan the intellectual elite would come from Iran and
the business elite from Turkey. Would they then allow Iraqi Kurds to
provide the political elite? That is hardly likely. What is certain,
however, is that in a greater Kurdistan Barzani and Talabani, now big
fish in the smaller Iraqi pond, could end up as small fish in a much
bigger pond.
All that means that Barzani and Talabani have no interest, personal
or otherwise, to provoke the disintegration of Iraq only to end up
as local player in a bigger Kurdish state. Nor do a majority of Iraqi
Kurds have an interest in leaving Iraq now that it has, for the first
time, a real opportunity to build a state in which Kurds can enjoy
full autonomy plus a leading position in national power structures.
The experience of the 3.5 million Iraqi Kurds who have lived a life
of full autonomy thanks to US-led protection since 1991 is a mixed
one. The area was divided into two halves, one led by Barzani the other
by Talabani, showing that even limited unity was hard to achieve in a
corner of Iraq let alone throughout the vast region where the Kurds
live. The two mini-states respectively led by Barzani and Talabani
developed a complex pattern of shifting alliances in which, at times,
one allied itself with Saddam Hussein against the other. The two
mini-states even became involved in numerous battles, including a
full-scale war.
Like pan-Arabism and its promise of unity, Kurdish unification is
easy to talk about but hard to implement even on a small scale.
Barzani and Talabani should stop bluffing about “walking away”. Other
Iraqis, meanwhile, should realize that a shrunken Iraq, that is to
say minus its Kurds, would be a vulnerable mini-state in a dangerous
neighborhood.
The preservation of Iraq’s unity is in the interests of both Kurds
and Arabs. It is also in the best interest of regional peace.
At the start of the 21st century, the Kurds cannot pursue their
legitimate aspirations through the prism of 19th century romantic
nationalism which has mothered so many wars and tragedies all over
the world.
The Kurds, wherever they live, must be able to speak their languages,
develop their culture, practice their religions and generally run
their own affairs as they deem fit. These are inalienable human rights,
and the newly-liberated Iraq may be the only place, at least for the
time being, where the Kurds can exercise those rights.
In other words this is not the time for the Kurds to think of leaving
Iraq nor for other Iraqis to deny the legitimate rights of their
Kurdish brethren.
;section=0&article=47218&d=23&m=6&y=2004

Clinton on the record, from Oslo to Camp David
By Matthew E. Berger
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
June 23 2004
WASHINGTON, June 22 (JTA) — Bill Clinton covers a range of issues
in his 957-page autobiography, “My Life.” Following are excerpts.
• On a brush with anti-Semitism in New York:
“I lived in a southern town with two synagogues and a fair number
of anti-Semites who referred to Jews as ‘Christ-killers,’ but I was
surprised to find anti-Semitism alive and well in New York. I guess
I should have been reassured to know the South didn’t have a corner
on racism or anti-Semitism, but I wasn’t.”
• Clinton discusses getting Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and
Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat to attend the September
1993 White House signing of the Declaration of Principles behind the
Oslo peace accord:
“I badly wanted Rabin and Arafat to attend and urged them to do
so; if they didn’t, no one in the region would believe they were
fully committed to implementing the principles, and, if they did,
a billion people across the globe would see them on television and
they would leave the White House even more committed to peace than
when they arrived.”
Arafat, however, wanted to wear a revolver:
“I balked and sent word that he couldn’t bring the gun. He was here to
make peace; the pistol would send the wrong message, and he certainly
would be safe without it.”
Clinton strove to get Arafat and Rabin to shake hands. Rabin was
reluctant:
“I told Yitzhak that if he was really committed to peace, he’d have
to shake Arafat’s hand to prove it.”
Before long, Clinton writes, “Rabin and Arafat would develop a
remarkable working relationship, a tribute to Arafat’s regard for
Rabin and the Israeli leader’s uncanny ability to understand how
Arafat’s mind worked.”
• Clinton learns of Rabin’s assassination:
“By the time he was killed, I had come to love him as I had rarely
loved another man. In the back of my mind, I suppose I always knew
he had put his life at risk, but I couldn’t imagine him gone, and I
didn’t know what I would or could do in the Middle East without him.”
Clinton discusses his decision to say “Shalom, chaver” — Hebrew for
“Goodbye, friend” — at Rabin’s funeral. The phrase since has become
famous in Israel:
“I had a number of Jewish staff members who spoke Hebrew and knew how
I felt about Rabin; I am still grateful that they gave me the phrase.
Shimon Peres later told me that chaver means more than mere friendship;
it evokes the comradeship of soul mates in common cause. Soon,
‘Shalom, chaver’ began to appear on billboards and bumper stickers
all across Israel.”
• Clinton recalls his historic December 1998 speech to the Palestinian
National Council in Gaza:
“Just before I got up to speak, almost all the delegates raised their
hands in support of removing the provision calling for the destruction
of Israel from their charter. It was the moment that made the whole
trip worthwhile. You could almost hear the sighs of relief in Israel;
perhaps Israelis and Palestinians actually could share the land and
the future after all.”
• On the Camp David summit in July 2000:
“It was frustrating and profoundly sad. There was little difference
between the two sides on how the affairs of Jerusalem would actually
be handled; it was all about who got to claim sovereignty.”
Efforts continued to reach a peace agreement that fall, as Clinton’s
term drew rapidly to a close:
“It was assumed that Palestine would get the Muslim and Christian
quarters, with Israel getting the other two. Arafat argued that
he should have a few blocks of the Armenian quarter because of the
Christian churches there. I couldn’t believe he was talking to me
about this.”
“At times Arafat seemed confused, not wholly in command of the facts.
I had felt for some time that he might not be at the top of his game
any longer, after all the years of spending the night in different
places to dodge assassins’ bullets, all the countless hours on
airplanes, all the endless hours of tension-filled talks. Perhaps he
simply couldn’t make the final jump from revolutionary to statesman.”
“Arafat never said no; he just couldn’t bring himself to say yes.
Pride goeth before the fall.”
Just before Clinton left office, he spoke with Arafat on the phone:
Arafat “thanked me for all my efforts and told me what a great man I
was. ‘Mr. Chairman, I replied, ‘I am not a great man. I am a failure,
and you have made me one.’ I warned Arafat that he was single-handedly
electing Sharon and that he would reap the whirlwind.”
“Nearly a year after I left office, Arafat said he was ready to
negotiate on the basis of the parameters I had presented. Apparently,
Arafat had thought the time to decide, five minutes to midnight,
had finally come. His watch had been broken a long time.”
• On Israel-Syria peace talks:
“Before he was killed, Yitzhak Rabin had given me a commitment
to withdraw from the Golan to the June 4, 1967 borders as long as
Israel’s concerns were satisfied. The commitment was given on the
condition that I keep it ‘in my pocket’ until it could be formally
presented to Syria in the context of a complete solution.”
At peace talks in Shepherdstown, W.Va. in January 2000, Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak took a go-slow strategy:
“Barak had not been in politics long, and I thought he had gotten
some very bad advice.”
• On his decision not to pardon Jonathan Pollard, a Navy intelligence
analyst and American Jew convicted of spying for Israel:
“For all the sympathy Pollard generated in Israel, he was a hard
case to push in America; he had sold our country’s secrets for money,
not conviction, and for years had not shown any remorse.”
Plus, CIA Director George Tenet objected to Pollard’s release,
threatening to resign if he were pardoned:
“I didn’t want to do it, and Tenet’s comments closed the door.”
Clinton had to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who
had demanded Pollard’s release in exchange for Israeli concessions at
the 1998 Wye River Plantation talks with the Palestinians, to agree
to the deal even without Pollard:
“I told Netanyahu that I would review the case seriously and try to
work through it with Tenet and the national security team, but that
Netanyahu was better off with a security agreement that he could
count on than he would have been with the release of Pollard.”

NATO conference suspended as Azeris protest at Armenian officers’ presence
Lider TV, Baku
22 Jun 04
The final planning conference of the Cooperative Best Effort-2004
exercises, which are due to be held in September within the
framework of NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme, started in Baku
today. Representatives from 10 NATO member countries and 11 partner
states are attending this event.
Members of the Karabakh Liberation Organization [KLO] have been
picketing the Hyatt Regency Hotel since last night in protest against
the arrival of Armenian officers in Baku. They said they had learnt
that the Armenian officers were staying there.
Today, members of the KLO gathered outside Hotel Europe, the venue
of the conference. Although police tried to disperse the crowd, some
of the protesters managed to get into the hotel. Despite the police
resistance, the protesters smashed the glass door and entered the
conference hall. The conference suspended its work for a few minutes,
but it resumed after the protesters were sent away from the hall.

Karabakh bank stimulating local business community
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
21 Jun 04
[Presenter] Thanks to the investments of businessmen from the Armenian
Diaspora and the support of the Armenian Central Bank, visible growth
has been confirmed in the Artsakh Bank over the last few years. The new
official building of the Artsakh Bank opened recently in Stepanakert
[Xankandi].
[Correspondent over video of building of Artsakh Bank] According to
the share holders of the Artsakh Bank, the construction of the new
building is aimed not only to create comfortable working conditions
but is also aimed at enriching Stepanakert’s business circles. A
major 81 per cent stake in the Artsakh Bank belongs to non-resident,
Switzerland and US Armenians. (Diaspora Armenians).
[Karabakh President, Arkadiy Gukasyan, captioned] The Artsakh
Bank’s role in our country is large and if today we have 43.8 per
cent economic growth, believe me the Artsakh Bank has the largest
investment in this work. We thank the owners, (?Vardan Sirmakesh and
Hrach Gabrielyan) who are doing their best to develop the Nagornyy
Karabakh Republic [NKR].
[Correspondent] The Artsakh Bank is the only Armenian bank which is
issues credit on Karabakh territory. Only in 2003 the bank allocated
credits to the tune of 13bn drams [Armenian currency – 1 dollar equals
570 drams].
[Kamo Nersesyan, director of the Atrsakh Bank, captioned] The Artsakh
Bank together with the Karabakh leadership is implementing joint
programmes to develop the small and medium business in Karabakh.
[Passage omitted: The bank’s share holders speaking about the bank’s
work and investments.]
[Correspondent] The Artsakh Bank is implementing dram currency transfer
to the world via Armenian and other banks and will issue international
plastic cards in 2006.
Narine Agabalyan, “Aylur”, Stepanakert.

Karabakh insists on package settlement , parliament speaker says
Aykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
22 Jun 04
[Aykakan Zhamanak correspondent] Mr Yesayan, rumours are circulating
that on 3 June, during the meeting of [Armenian President] Robert
Kocharyan with the US co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Steven Mann,
they discussed the issue of returning to Azerbaijan three districts
bordering on Iran. Are you aware of these discussions?
[Oleg Yesayan] I did not take part in these discussions, I have never
heard of them, and I do not think there were such discussions. If
Karabakh does not think it is serious to return five districts in
exchange for opening the railway, why do you suppose that it should
agree to return three districts?
[Correspondent] Nevertheless, it is evident that the Karabakh issue
should be settled only by means of compromises. What is the limit of
compromises that Karabakh can make?
[Yesayan] All the problems connected with compromises may be more
specifically discussed during the talks. By the talks I mean a much
wider and deeper process than the talks that are being conducted
today. We can talk about any compromise only in case the Karabakh party
is also a full participant in the talks. On the whole, our principled
position is the following: Karabakh should never be an enclave and
should border on Armenia, Karabakh cannot stay within Azerbaijan with
any status. Moreover, Karabakh should have firm security guarantees.
[Correspondent] In an interview with our newspaper, a member of the
Azerbaijani Milli Maclis [parliament], Samad Seyidov, has said that
resources of the peaceful settlement of the issue seem to have been
used up. Moreover, Azerbaijan has been frequently making calls for
a military settlement to the problem.
[Yesayan] If there is only a cease-fire between the parties which
are at war and there is no peace agreement, naturally nobody has
ever denied the possibility of the war restarting. But according to
our information, we are sure that today Azerbaijan is not ready to
settle the problem militarily. We also say that such problems may not
be settled militarily. Finally, once there was war and the problem
was not settled. Who said that another war could settle the Karabakh
issue? As for the bellicose statements, they are conditioned by the
necessity in Azerbaijan to strengthen [President] Ilham Aliyev’s
political positions and nothing else.
[Correspondent] Recently an attempt has been made on different
international levels to return to the stage-by-stage settlement of
the problem once again. What will be Karabakh’s position in this case?
[Yesayan] The Karabakh party definitely insists on the package
settlement. If today the stage-by-stage settlement supposes dividing
the whole package of the Karabakh issue into separate parts and
discussing them in a succession where only the last stage may concern
the defining of the Karabakh status, of course, this is unacceptable
for us. I would like to ask: will Azerbaijan agree to discuss
the package settlement if the first problem of the stage-by-stage
settlement is the Karabakh status? [Sentence as received] Our position
is strict: the issue should be resolved under the package settlement.
[Correspondent] The presidents of Azerbaijan, Aliyev senior and Aliyev
junior, and Kocharyan met 17 times. Is there any positive change as
a result of those meetings?
[Yesayan] Yes, there is. The continuation of these talks is a guarantee
that today’s peace will be preserved. The cease-fire is being preserved
at least. Moreover, as long as these meetings continue, the Minsk
Group thinks that a mutually acceptable settlement to the problem can
be found and they also stimulate their work. I certainly understand
that these meetings have not yet yielded serious results, but they
should be considered as positive in the abovementioned context.
[Passage omitted: NKR wants to participate in talks]

Azeri MPs urge foreign colleagues to condemn Karabakh polls
Trend news agency
22 Jun 04
Baku, 22 June, Trend correspondents X. Azizov and E. Huseynov:
The Azerbaijani Milli Maclis [parliament] adopted an appeal to the
parliaments of the world and international organizations on 22 June
in connection with the 9 August municipal elections in the occupied
Nagornyy Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
The appeal decisively condemns plans to hold the elections, which
are gauged as a gross violation of Azerbaijani laws. The document
says that by taking these steps Armenia proves once again that it
has no intention of giving up on its aggressive policy and neglects
the norms of international law, the UN Security Council resolutions
[on Nagornyy Karabakh] and the principles of the OSCE’s Budapest,
Lisbon and Istanbul summits.
The Milli Maclis calls on the parliaments of the world and
international organizations to decisively condemn such steps and not
to recognize the results of the elections.
All the 96 MPs who attended the session voted for the appeal.

Creativity Required: Surname Spellings & Variations
geneaology.about.com
June 22 2004
When we think of tracing our family tree, we often envision following
our surname back thousands of years to the first bearer of the name.
In our neat and tidy dream, each successive generation bears the same
surname – spelled exactly the same way in each and every record –
until we reach the dawn of man.
The dream comes to an end, however, when confronted with the
cold hard facts of genealogy research. For the majority of human
existence surnames were not even used. According to legends, China
first initiated the custom of using surnames during the reign of
Emperor Fu Xi (2852BC), but their use didn’t begin in the European
world until about the eleventh century, with some patronymic surnames
in Scandinavia bestowed as late as the nineteenth century. Surnames,
for the most part, evolved during the past eight hundred years to help
distinguish one person from another as the world’s population grew.
The acquisition of surnames has been influenced by many factors,
including social class, naming practices and patterns, and even
unusual events.
Even tracing your ancestors back to the point where they first
acquired surnames can be a challenge as surname spelling and
pronunciation has evolved over centuries, making it unlikely that
your present surname is the same as the original surname bestowed
on your distant ancestor. You may have a slight spelling variation
of the original name, an anglicized version, or even a completely
different surname. This may have occurred for such reasons as:
Illiteracy – the further back you go in your research, the more
you will find cases of ancestors who couldn’t read and write. Many
didn’t even know how their own names were spelled, only how to
pronounce them. Therefore, when they gave their names to clerks,
census enumerators, clergymen, or other officials, that person wrote
the name the way that it sounded to him. Even if they did have the
spelling memorized, the person recording the information may not have
asked. Example: the German HEYER has become HYER, HIER, HIRE, HIRES,
HIERS, etc.
Simplification – Immigrants, upon arrival in a new country, often
found that their name was difficult for others to spell or pronounce.
Therefore, they often simplified the spelling or altered their names
to relate them more closely to the language and pronunciations of
their new country. Example: the German ALBRECHT becomes ALBRIGHT,
or the Swedish JONSSON becomes JOHNSON
Necessity – Those from countries with alphabets other than Latin had
to transliterate them, producing many variations on the same name.
Example: the Ukranian surname ZHADKOWSKYI became ZADKOWSKI
Mispronunciation – Letters within a surname were often confused due to
verbal miscommunication or heavy accents. Example: depending upon the
accents of both the person speaking the name and the person writing
it down, KROEBER could become GROVER or CROWER
Desire to Fit In – Many foreigners changed their names in some way to
assimilate into their new country and culture. The most usual change
of surname was to translate the meaning of their surname into the
new language. Example: the Irish BREHONY became JUDGE
Desire to Break with the Past – Immigration was sometimes prompted in
one way or another by a desire to break with or escape the past. For
some immigrants this included ridding themselves of anything, including
their name, which reminded them of an unhappy life in the old country.
Example: Mexicans fleeing to America to escape the revolution
Dislike of Surname – People forced by governments to adopt surnames
which were not a part of their culture or were not of their choosing
would often shed themselves of such names at the first opportunity.
Example: Armenians forced by the Turkish government to give up their
traditional surnames and adopt new “Turkish” surnames would revert back
to their original surnames, or some variation, upon emigration/escape
from Turkey
Fear of Discrimination – Surname changes and modifications can
sometimes be attributed to a desire to conceal nationality or
religious orientation in fear of reprisal or discrimination. This
motive constantly appears among the Jews, who often faced
anti-Semitism. Example: the Jewish surname COHEN changed to COHN/KAHN
or WOLFSHEIMER shortened to WOLF

NATO-Sponsored Conference on Pollution Detection Hosted by WIU
Newswise
June 22 2004
More than 30 scientists from 14 world nations will participate in the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization Advanced Study Institute Tuesday,
July 6 through Friday, July 16 at Western Illinois University.
Newswise — More than 30 scientists from 14 world nations will
participate in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Advanced
Study Institute (ASI) Tuesday, July 6 through Friday, July 16 at
Western Illinois University.
This institute, “Plant Bioassay on the Genotoxicity of Contaminated
Water, Air and Soil,” is a subdivision of the NATO Environmental
and Earth Science and Technology (EST) Program that deals with the
detection of genetic damage from common pollutants, radioactive
pollutants and the contaminants from warfare in water, air and soil.
The focus of the institute will be on the eastern European area.
The NATO/EST Advanced Study Institute will introduce participants
to the principles and technical skills of three biological tests
(Allium-micronucleus, Tradescantia-micronucleus, Tradescantia-Stamen
Hair Mutation) using the genetic material of plants – – onions
(Allium) and spiderworts (Tradescantia) – – through tutorial
instruction and hands-on exercise. The participants, mostly from
the eastern European area, will then complete follow-up studies to
monitor and detect genetic damage of environmental pollutants in
each of their home territories, explained Te-Hsiu Ma (say Tee Mah),
Western Illinois University biological sciences professor emeritus,
who serves as co-director of the institute along with Professor Rouben
Aroutiounian from Armenia, under the directorship of Dr. Alain Jubier,
NATO Science Affairs Division.
“Special emphasis will be aimed at radioactive and warfare contaminants
in the environment in the eastern European area, and reports of the
follow-up studies will be published to show the status of pollution
level in these countries and the potential genetic damage to the
ecosystem and human health,” Ma said. “In the long run, this monitoring
program could contribute to homeland security of this area.”
A common plant, the Spiderwort (Tradescantia species) is used in two
(Stamen-hair- mutation, and Micronucleus) of the three tests. The
Stamen-hair-mutation (Trad-SHM) test, developed by the late Dr.
Arnold Sparrow of Brookhaven National Laboratory (NY), detects gene
mutation. The micronucleus (Trad-MCN) test, developed in 1976 by
Ma during a six-month sabbatical leave at the Brookhaven National
Laboratory, detects chromosome (DNA) damage from chemical and physical
pollutants, including radiation.
Genetic materials in plant cells are more sensitive to pollutants
than those of animal cells because there is less protection in plant
tissues from the impact of pollutants, Ma explained. These genetic
tests which are highly sensitive, simple and economical have been
used in more than 40 countries across five continents for more than
30 years. Test results of the Trad-MCN test and Allium-micronucleus
test can be obtained within 24 to 48 hours, while results of the
Trad-SHM test require at least seven days.
Institute participants will receive instruction and have hands-on
experiment exercises during daily laboratory sessions in Western’s
Radiation biology lab, which is equipped with X-ray and Gamma ray
facilities; the Cytogenetic lab; as well as the Nuclear Physics
laboratories in the physics department. Assisting with the physics
lab work will be WIU physics Professor Keh-Chang Chu and Assistant
Professor Brian Davies.
Ten international scientists will join Ma in presenting specialized
lectures, including radioactive pollution from the Chernobyl nuclear
power plant accident; plant bioassay in carcinogen screening;
contaminated soil from ammunition testing grounds; genetic toxicity
of common poison, cyanide and arsenics; epidemiology of respiratory
patients and on-site genetic toxicity monitoring; remote sensing of
environmental pollution; ecology and ecosystem change as well as the
variation of background radiation around a nuclear power plant.
Opening ceremonies will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, July 6 in Morgan
Hall 109, followed by an address by Ma on the timetable, DNA damage
from chemical and physical pollutants and the mission of the Advanced
Study Institute.
Ma joined Western’s biology faculty in 1964. He retired in 1997;
however, he has maintained his laboratory and has increased his
international activities. Since developing the Trad-MCN bioassay
in 1976, Ma has conducted 89 workshops around the world, training
scientists on the three simple and effective genetic tests, under
the auspices of the International Program on Plant Bioassays.
Opening ceremonies and lecture sessions during the NATO/EST/ASI
program are open to any individuals who are interested in the topics,
according to Ma.
Additional support for this ASI is provided by Western’s College of
Arts and Sciences and the department of biological sciences.
Media representatives are invited to attend the 10 a.m. July 6 opening
ceremony in Morgan Hall 109 and any of the lectures. Media may also
make arrangements to film or photograph participants during afternoon
laboratory sessions. Additional film/photo opportunities include a
Saturday, July 10 banquet/reception at 6 p.m. in the University Union
and a Sunday, July 11 field trip for participants to Mark Twain’
s Cave in Hannibal, MO, followed by a tour and dinner at Western’s
Alice Kibbe Life Sciences Station in Warsaw.