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06/22/2004
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1. Karabagh Liberation Organization Disrupts Baku NATO Conference
2. Austrian President Questions EU’s Readiness for Turkey
3. Kerry Honors 86th Anniversary of the Founding of the First Armenian Republic
4. Gorky Family Speaks out on Burying Artist in Armenia
1. Karabagh Liberation Organization Disrupts Baku NATO Conference
BAKU (Australian/Baku Today/RFE/RL)–A NATO conference in the former
Soviet republic of Azerbaijan was disrupted on Tuesday when hardline
nationalists tried to storm the hotel where the meeting was taking
place.
Police arrested several members from the Karabagh Liberation
Organization (KLO), including chairman Akif Naghi, who were protesting
the presence of two Armenian servicemen at the conference.
The KLO warned last week it would take radical action to stop the entry
[into Baku] of Armenian officers.
The conference is being held to prepare officers for a training
exercise of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, called “Cooperative
Best Effort,” which is due to take place in Azerbaijan later this year.
When police prevented the approximately 100 KLO protesters from
assembling outside the venue of the meeting, a hotel in the Azeri
capital, Baku, about 30 demonstrators broke through a police cordon
and smashed the glass door of the conference hall, witnesses at the
scene told AFP.
Hotel security guards prevented them from getting into the conference
hall; they were later detained by police. The meeting was suspended
for five minutes as a result of the disturbance.
The protesters had earlier marched through Baku carrying placards
with the slogans: “Armenians Out!” and “The Armenian criminals have
the blood of our people on their hands.”
“We will continue this protest action all day,” said Akif Nagi, who
led the demonstration. “Our aim is to force the Armenians to leave
the conference.”
Delegates from 24 NATO member states and partner countries, including
the two Armenian officers are attending the conference.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry warned it may recall its representatives
before the end of the conference. Spokesman Colonel Seyran
Shahsuvarian, said in a statement that Azeri security agencies and
the US embassy in Baku are taking “additional security measures.”
“Consultations are currently going on between Armenian representatives,
exercise organizers and Azerbaijani defense ministry officials
regarding the further work of the planning conference,” Shahsuvarian
said. “The Armenian side will continue its participation in the
conference if the Azerbaijani authorities assume full responsibility
for ensuring the security of the Armenian officers.”
Nagi has said that military and other government officials from Armenia
must not be allowed to set foot on Azerbaijani soil because “they
represent an occupying country that has infringed on Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity.” But in a statement to the local media on
Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov argued that under the PfP
rules the Azerbaijani government could not block their participation
in the conference. “Azerbaijan’s relations with NATO must not be
hostage to our problems with Armenia,” Azimov said.
2. Austrian President Questions EU’s Readiness for Turkey
ANKARA (Reuters) The European Union is not ready to accept Turkey
as a member and needs more time to assimilate into the countries of
central and eastern Europe, a Turkish newspaper today quoted Austria’s
new president as saying on Tuesday.
Turkey has won praise from Brussels for a flurry of liberal political
and legal reforms that have boosted its hopes of winning a date at a
December EU summit to start entry talks. But any one of the 25 member
states could veto the opening of talks.
Heinz Fischer, who takes office on July 8, told Turkey’s Aksam daily
he personally favors Turkey’s eventual membership into EU, but said
this was not the right time to begin negotiations.
“We are talking about a large country of 70 million people.
Turkey can change the balances within the EU. It can turn everything
upside down,” Aksam quoted Fischer as saying.
”The question which must be asked is not only whether Turkey is
ready for the EU but whether the EU is ready for Turkey.
”I say clearly, we cannot yet bear [the strain] of Turkey joining,”
said Fischer, a Social Democrat.
The EU admitted 10 new members including Poland, Hungary, the Czech
Republic and the divided island of Cyprus on May 1. It aims to take
in Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, and Croatia is also about to begin
accession talks.
”It is difficult to say whether Turkey will be given a date ]in
December],” Fischer said.
Financial markets are watching closely Ankara’s preparations for
December, believing failure to open negotiations could undermine the
center-right government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and derail
Turkey’s strong economic recovery.
At a summit in Brussels last week, EU leaders repeated their praise
for Turkey’s reforms and urged Erdogan to keep up his reformist
momentum. If launched, the entry talks are expected to last many years.
Turkey, a secular but overwhelmingly Muslim country, has been knocking
on the EU’s door since 1963. It became an official candidate in
1999 but has yet to open entry talks due to concerns over its human
rights record.
3. Kerry Honors 86th Anniversary of the Founding of the First Armenian
Republic
WASHINGTON, DC (ANCA)–In a statement released to the Armenian American
community, presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry
marked the May 28, 1918 founding of the first Armenian Republic.
In his statement, Kerry noted that, “the first Republic of Armenia
rose 86 years ago from the ashes of the Armenian genocide, but was
partitioned soon afterwards. Yet, Armenians yearned for independence,
and seven decades later realized their dream of self-determination.”
“Armenian Americans welcome John Kerry’s celebration of the 86th
anniversary of the first Republic of Armenia,” said Aram Hamparian,
Executive Director of the ANCA. “As a Senator with a twenty-year track
record of advocating for issues of importance to Armenian Americans,
John Kerry understands the tremendous challenges–first among them
the horrific toll of the Armenian Genocide–that the Armenian people
overcame in 1918 on the road to the establishment of the Armenian
Republic.”
In April of this year, Kerry joined the Armenian American community
in marking the 89th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. In a
statement issued on April 22, Kerry called “on governments and people
everywhere to formally recognize this tragedy. Only by learning from
this dark period of history and working to prevent future genocides
can we truly honor the memories of those Armenians who suffered
so unjustly.” In the days prior to his statement, Kerry joined 22
of his Senate colleagues in calling on President Bush to “refer to
the mass slaughter of Armenians as genocide in your commemorative
statement.” He was amongst the earliest cosponsors of the Genocide
resolution (S.Res.164), which marks the 15th anniversary of the US
implementation of the Genocide Convention.
Kerry’s complete record on Armenian American concerns is posted on the
“Armenians for Kerry” website The website
includes previous statements by the Senator and provides ways for
Armenian American supporters to become active in the Kerry campaign
through donations or other volunteer efforts.
Kerry’s congratulatory letter regarding the First Armenian Republic
was read at a Greater Washington, DC area celebration last Saturday
night, hosted by the ARF. The complete text of the statement follows.
Letter from John Kerry Honoring Armenia’s First Independence
Tonight I join Armenian-Americans in proudly celebrating the Republic
of Armenia’s day of independence. The first Republic of Armenia
rose 86 years ago from the ashes of the Armenian genocide, but was
partitioned soon afterwards. Yet, Armenians yearned for independence,
and seven decades later realized their dream of self- determination.
I am proud of my work with the Armenian-American community including
my support for ending Azerbaijan’s blockades of Armenia and Nagorno
Karabagh, for the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act in 1996 and for
extending “permanent normal trade relations” (PNTR) to Armenia.
This evening I would also like to pay tribute to the Armenian-Americans
who have contributed so much to our great country. Your hard work
and strong values make our country a better place for all Americans.
I hope you have a wonderful celebration and, of course, a very happy
birthday.
4. Gorky Family Speaks out on Burying Artist in Armenia
Arshile Gorky’s descendants recently responded to reports that the
Yerevan-based Arshile Gorky Foundation has undertaken fundraising
efforts to transport and bury the remains of the Armenian-American
abstract expressionist painter in Armenia.
Foundation chairman Badal Badalian announced on May 19 that his
organization had undertaken fundraising efforts and “is requesting
permission” to carry out on of Gorky’s greatest dreams to “to return
home and to be one with the soil of Armenia.” Gorky’s son-in-law
Matthew Spender, announced that the move to transfer Gorky’s remains to
Armenia “eventuality requires the permission of Gorky’s descendants,”
including Gorky’s daughter, Spender’s wife Maro.
“I’d like to place on record the fact that neither she nor her mother,
nor sister have been informed of the plan, and that they are against
the idea. Gorky’s resting place in Connecticut is final,” emphasizes
Spender who wrote the 1999 biography of Gorky, From a High Place:
A Life of Arshile Gorky
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