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07/26/2006
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1. House Backs Funding Ban on Turkish-Georgian-Azeri Rail Link
2. Baroness Cox Presents Julfa Monument Desecration at House of Lords
3. Armenia To Provide Relief To Lebanon
4. ARF Lebanon Meets with Religious Leaders, Ambassador
1. House Backs Funding Ban on Turkish-Georgian-Azeri Rail Link
WASHINGTON (RFE/RL)–The US House of Representatives has passed legislation
banning US government assistance to controversial plans for the
construction of
a railway that would link Turkey with Georgia and Azerbaijan and bypass
Armenia.
A resolution approved by legislators late Tuesday contains a provision which
says that the US Export-Import Bank can not finance or promote "any rail
connections or railway-related connections that do not traverse or connect
with
Armenia, and do traverse or connect Baku, Azerbaijan, Tbilisi, Georgia, and
Kars, Turkey."
The provision was unanimously backed by the House Financial Services
Committee
last month under pressure from Armenian-American lobbying groups. Its main
sponsor, Congressman Joseph Crowley of New York, said the ban will "assist in
promoting stability in the Caucasus region, help in ending long standing
conflicts, and save US taxpayers the responsibility of funding a project that
goes against US interests."
"We thank Congressman Crowley, his Financial Services Committee colleagues Ed
Royce and Brad Sherman, as well as the authors of the South Caucasus
Integration and Open Railroads Act – Joe Knollenberg, Frank Pallone and George
Radanovich – for securing the adoption by the House of this measure protecting
American taxpayers from subsidizing an ill-advised and over-priced railroad
project that–at the insistence of Turkey and Azerbaijan–has been proposed
solely for the purpose of excluding Armenia," said Aram Hamparian, Executive
Director of the Armenian National Committee of America.
The administration of President George. W. Bush did not voice objections to
the bill, indicating its opposition to the railway project currently discussed
by the governments of Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. "The proposed railway
would bypass Armenia and thus not be beneficial to regional integration,"
Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said earlier this year.
Similar legislation is due to be debated in the US Senate soon. If passed, it
will effectively block participation of US companies in the $400 million
project that has prompted serious concern from Armenia’s government.
However, Turkish and Azeri officials have already downplayed the impact of US
funding restrictions. "I think the three countries have enough funds to
finance
[the project] in one way or another," the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman,
Namik Tan, told RFE/RL on June 21.
The Armenian government argues that there already exists a railroad
connecting
Turkey to the South Caucasus via Armenia and that the regional countries
should
reactivate it instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars on
building a
new one. The Kars-Gyumri rail link has stood idle more than a decade as
part of
the continuing Turkish economic blockade of Armenia. Tan said it could be
reopened only after a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
2. Baroness Cox Presents Julfa Monument Desecration at House of Lords
YEREVAN (Armenpress)–Deputy Speaker of the British House of Lords Baroness
Caroline Cox told a press conference in Yerevan Tuesday that she has presented
the ongoing desecration of Armenian monuments in Julfa (Nakhichevan) to the
House of Lords, outlining that Azerbaijan systematically has destroyed 1000
such landmarks.
During her presentation, Cox has demanded that the British government to
exert
pressure on Azerbaijan to allow international monitors and experts to visit
the
area to become acquainted with the situation.
"What Azerbaijan is doing is a horrible crime. I will do my utmost to inform
people about that and tell the world the truth," said Cox.
Azeri army units stormed an Armenian cemetery along the banks of the Arax
River in December, and with large hammers, shovels and tractors destroyed
Armenian monuments, which had been salvaged in 2002.
Cox also told journalists that Karabakh Armenians have the right to determine
their future.
Answering a question about her visions for Karabakh’s future, the Baroness
stated, "I cannot advise what to do; the people themselves should decide what
is the most important thing for them" and added she was ready to support any
action, which could lead to the conflict settlement and secure peaceful life.
According to Baroness Cox, who has repeatedly been to the conflict area both
during the war and after the cease-fire, Azerbaijan was the major aggressor in
the Karabakh conflict and committed serious crimes against human rights.
Perpetrating ethnic cleansing of the Armenians in Karabakh was a crime
against
humanity, the Baroness said.
3. Armenia To Provide Relief To Lebanon
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–The Armenian government pledged on Wednesday to send
humanitarian assistance to Lebanon as the number of people arriving in Armenia
from the war-devastated country continued to rise.
A government statement said Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan’s cabinet will
allocate on Thursday an unspecified amount of medicines, tents and
fire-fighting equipment to the Lebanese authorities and ship them to Beirut
via
Syria later in the day. It said the aid will be provided in response to the
Lebanese leadership’s appeal to the international community to help
hundreds of
thousands of people displaced by the two-week Israeli bombardment.
Details of the relief operation were discussed at a meeting of senior
Armenian
officials chaired by Minister for Local Government Hovik Abrahamian. The
statement cited Deputy Foreign Minister Gegham Gharibjanian as telling the
officials that more than 550 people have been evacuated to Armenia since
Israel
launched its onslaught on Lebanon on July 12. He said another 120 Lebanese
residents are due to arrive in Yerevan on a special flight from Aleppo, Syria
on Thursday.
Most of the evacuees are Armenian nationals, the others being mainly ethnic
Armenian citizens of Lebanon. In Gharibjanian’s words, 49 Lebanese and two
residents of Israel have applied for and will be granted asylum in Armenia.
The government in Yerevan announced shortly after the start of Israeli
military action that all Lebanese fleeing the conflict zone will be able to
take refuge in Armenia for at least three months. The measure was primarily
intended for members of the Lebanese-Armenian community.
The cash-strapped government has not promised any financial aid to the
arriving evacuees, though. But it said on Wednesday that it will look into
ways
of helping those of them who have no relatives and can not support themselves
in Armenia.
4. ARF Lebanon Meets with Religious Leaders, Ambassador
BEIRUT (Aztag)–A delegation from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Lebanon
Central Committee met with His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great See of
Cilicia Tuesday at the Bikfaya monastery to discuss the ongoing Israeli
attacks
on Lebanon and the Armenian community’s role in light of the crisis.
The ARF delegation updated the Catholicos on the humanitarian and relief
efforts set forth by the Central Committee through corresponding organizations
and the Bourdj Hammoud City Council to assist Lebanese refugees and victims of
the attacks.
The Catholicos praised the Armenian community’s efforts, stressing that the
community will be able to weather this crisis, as well.
A Central Committee delegation also met with Armenia’s Ambassador to Lebanon
Vahan Ter-Ghevondyan and discussed coordination of efforts with the embassy.
The delegation also met with the chairman of the Middle East Evangelical
Church Organization, the patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church and the
Prelate of Lebanon.
During each meeting, the Central Committee delegation emphasized the
importance of guaranteeing the safety and security of the community and the
imperative for unity at the time of the crisis.
They also discussed and coordinated refugee relief efforts with community
leaders.
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