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1) Turkey and Azerbaijan ‘Failed States,’ According to Foreign Policy Magazine
Index
2) Hovhannisan Tells Youth that Armenia Has Nothing to Negotiate
3) Ciao Mediterranean, Ahoy Atlantic!
4) Armenian Relief Society’s 85th Convention Concludes

1) Turkey and Azerbaijan ‘Failed States,’ According to Foreign Policy Magazine
Index

By Aris Babikian

In its July /August issue, Foreign Policy magazine published its first annual
Failed States Index. Turkey and Azerbaijan are ranked 49 and 50 respectably
out
of 60 countries surveyed. Turkey accumulated 86.1 points and Azerbaijan 85.7
points. Armenia was not included in the Index.
Produced by Foreign Policy and the Fund for Peace, the ranking measures the
world’s most at-risk countries, based on 12 social, economic, political and
military indicators. The Failed States Index was compiled using the Fund for
Peace internationally-recognized Conflict Assessment System Tool (CAST).
According to Fund for Peace, a state is failing when its government begins to
lose physical control of its territory or lacks a monopoly on the legitimate
use of force. Other indicators include the breaking down of authority,
resulting in inability to make collective decisions, and become incapable to
formally interact with other states as a full member of the international
community.
As suggested by the list of 12 indicators, extensive corruption and criminal
behavior, large-scale involuntary dislocation of the population, widespread
violation of human rights, sharp economic decline, group-based inequality, and
institutionalized persecution or discrimination are other hallmarks of state
failure. States can decline at varying rates through explosion, implosion or
erosion.
The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has warned, “Ignoring failed states
creates problems that sometimes come back to bite us.” French President
Jacques
Chirac has spoken of “the threat that failed states carry for the world’s
equilibrium.”
The 2005 Failed States Index is based on a sample of countries deemed to be
the most vulnerable to violent conflict. The Fund for Peace updated a list of
vulnerable countries using the “World Conflict and Human Rights Map,” produced
by Leiden University in Holland. The map identifies states with a history of
high levels of internal violence and political oppression.
Tens of thousands of articles from global and regional open-sourced media
were
collected from May to December 2004. The Failed States Index will be updated
annually.
The Fund for Peace is a non-profit educational, research and advocacy
organization based in Washington. Its mission is to prevent war and to
alleviate the conditions that cause war. Since 1996, it has specialized
primarily on reducing conflict stemming from weak and failing states.
Foreign Policy is published since 1970 and is a major, award-winning magazine
of global politics, economics, and ideas. It is published by the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace.

2) Hovhannisan Tells Youth that Armenia Has Nothing to Negotiate

YEREVAN (Combined Sources)–A senior member of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (ARF) echoed findings of a study conducted by the Armenian-European
Policy and Legal Advice Center (AEPLAC), a research center funded by the
European Union, which concluded an open border with Turkey would do little to
give a strong push to Armenia’s economic development.
Vahan Hovhannisan, who is the vice chairman of Armenia’s parliament and a
member of the ARF Bureau, stressed however, that Turkey must eventually lift
its blockade of Armenia, in aspiring to join the European Union.
The blockade was instituted in 1993, in the heat of the Karabagh conflict. It
resulted in a total shutdown of land and air communications between Turkey and
Armenia.
Speaking to a gathering of the Third Pan-Armenian Youth forum, taking
place in
Yerevan, Hovhannisian added that the border is open from the Armenian side,
and
that Armenia has nothing to offer to Turkey in return of its opening the
border.
“We cannot give up what Turkey demands. It demands that Armenian forces leave
Karabagh. In addition, Armenia cannot drop its demand for the recognition of
the Armenian genocide. That process is in place even without Armenia’s
participation,” said Hovhannisian, citing the recent passage of Armenian
genocide legislation by Venezuela. “Armenia’s role was minimal.”
AEPLAC’s findings run counter to the opinion of Western donors and some
members of the Armenian government who say that an open border would help
restore the Turkish-Armenian rail link and give Armenia alternative routs to
take its products to other markets.
Currently over 90 percent of Armenia’s external trade is carried out through
Georgian territory.

3) Ciao Mediterranean, Ahoy Atlantic!

YEREVAN (Armenpress)–The Armenian “Cilicia” sailing ship, named and modeled
after the 13th century vessels used in and around the Armenian kingdom of
Cilicia, dropped its anchor in the Mediterranean Sea, and will sail the
Atlantic ocean in two days. Diaspora Armenians and deputy speaker of Britain’s
House of Lords Caroline Cox will be present as it passes the Strait of
Gibraltar.
The vessel has been in 9 seas and 10 islands carrying the flags of Armenia
and
Mountainous Karabagh Republic. Cilicia’s Seven Seas Navigation expedition
began
in June 2004, as it sailed through the Marmara, Aegean, Mediterranean, and
Adriatic seas to arrive in Venice in September of 2004, where it stayed for
the
winter.
The crew returned to Venice to start the second leg of the expedition, taking
the ship from the historic Italian city to circle Europe and arrive in
Amsterdam by September 2005.

4) Armenian Relief Society’s 85th Convention Concludes

WOODLAND HILLS–The Armenian Relief Society’s 85th Convention took place in
Southern California from July 21 to July 24, with the participation of 36
delegates from 26 chapters.
Participants included ARS Central Executive members Hasmig Derderian and
Anahid Meymarian, and invited guests ARS Western Region (ARS-WR) Executive
member Lucine Isjanian, Armenian Revolutionary Federation Central Committee
member Vahe Bozoian, and former ARS-WR Executive Secretary Dr. Rita Vorperian.
During the course of the four day convention, delegates made recommendations
for the coming year, after reviewing the fiscal year’s activities, and the
regional executive’s financial records, and finally, elected the 2005-2006
executive.
Five new members–Garine Parigian-Setian, Christine Keshishian, Hourig
Aintablian, Adrineh Postoian, and Rose Altounian–were elected to serve.
Continuing their term are executive members Angela Savoian, Rita Hintlian, and
Maral Nashalian-Arsenian.
The convention also elected three delegates–Annie Keshishian, Sona Madarian,
and Sonia Peltekian–to represent the ARS Western Region at the organization’s
International Convention.

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