Author: Boshkezenian Garik

Armenian refugees sue Azerbaijan in European Court of Human Rights

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
16 Dec 04

[Presenter] Four families who were forcibly deported from Shaumyan
[Azerbaijan’s Goranboy District] and Getashen [Azerbaijan’s Caykand
village] have filed a lawsuit against Azerbaijan with the European
Court of Human Rights.

They have filed the suit in connection with the violation of the
property and housing rights of people who lived there and were
forcibly deported.

The Shaumyan-Getashen Union of Patriots, which has initiated this
action, expressed its readiness to defend the interests of thousands
of Armenian families that suffered from the aggression unleashed by
Azerbaijan in 1990.

Turkey knocks, EU ponders
Membership talks likely to start, but Europe yet to shed misgivings
JEFFREY FLEISHMAN    
Posted online: Friday, December 17, 2004 at 0000 hours IST
The Indian Express

BERLIN, DECEMBER 16: Can a Turk be a European? That centuries-old
riddle will be asked again, when Turkey is expected to take a big
step in its troubled quest to join the European Union. EU leaders are
likely to make an official announcement on beginning membership talks
with Turkey, a prospect certain to intensify doubts that a Muslim
nation can be embraced by a Europe anxious about the rise of Islam
across the continent. The historic negotiations could last 15 years.

There is no guarantee of membership. A din of caveats and protests
has already erupted over economic and human rights concerns. But,
in the end, the question is identity: Are Turkey’s history, religion
and borders compatible with the geographic and cultural landscape of
Europe? And, perhaps more important, does a predominantly Christian
Europe want them to be?

“No, it’s not a natural fit,” said Hans-Ulrich Klose, a Social
Democrat and deputy chairman of the German Parliament’s foreign
affairs committee. “It’s going to be very difficult. But we
should give it a good, fair try. If it’s a success and Turkey turns
European, it could be good for security regarding all our concerns
from the Middle East.”

Big-shouldered and chaotic Turkey wants to nudge itself into a
continent that is perplexed about its own identity and future. The
EU admitted 10 new, mostly East European members in May and is still
awaiting approval of a contentious constitution. Economic problems and
high unemployment across much of the continent are hurting the middle
class and eroding the welfare state. Some leading European officials
contend that admitting a moderate Muslim democracy to the EU would
calm the tremendous strain between East and West over terrorism and
the war in Iraq.

The belief is that Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally,
could help stifle Islamic fanaticism around the world and enhance
Europe’s diplomatic leverage in Central Asia and the Middle East. The
clamour against Turkey, whose per capita gross domestic product is
only 28 per cent of the EU average, has energised right-wing European
political parties and much of the continent’s population. Turkey’s
entry would mean that the EU’s Muslim population would soar from 12
million to 81 million. Sceptics envision Europe opening itself to a
flood of religious extremists and migrant workers, and with minarets
cluttering skylines from Vienna to Krakow.

Many Europeans, most notably the French, argue that admitting
Turkey would threaten European secularism and tip the EU’s balance
of power. Former French President Valery Giscard D’Estaing warned
that Turkey’s accession would mark the end of Europe. Conservative
German politician Edmund Stoiber has vowed he will do everything he
can to derail Turkey’s chances if elected chancellor in 2006. Writing
in Le Figaro, Robert Badinter, an ex-justice minister in France’s
Socialist Party, said of Turkey: “Ninety-five percent of the
territory and 92 percent of the population are in Asia. We’ll have,
we Europeans, common borders with Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq and
Syria. I am asking you: What justifies our common borders with these
countries? What justifies that we’d get involved in the most dangerous
areas of the world?”

Such sentiments have led to qualifications and demands that seem to
daily raise the bar for Turkish membership. Pressure is mounting on
Ankara to recognize its longtime enemy and EU member, Cyprus. France
is pressing Turkey to acknowledge genocide over the killing and
deportation of as many as 1.5 million Armenians during World War
I. Some European politicians have hinted that membership talks
would fail and Ankara would be granted a “privileged partnership”
a consolation prize that infuriates Turks and has led to calls that
negotiations end only in full membership. The European Parliament
passed a resolution on Wednesday urging the EU to open accession
talks “without undue delay.” —LAT-WP

–Boundary_(ID_khK7b0T5gnAas2ji1/+CqQ)–

Saudi Press Agency
December 16, 2004 Thursday 8:01 PM EST

Riyadh, December 16

E.U. leaders confident Turkey will win

entry talks 3 Brussels Observers expect the E.U. to fudge the issue
at the summit and issue a declaration saying they welcome “the
intention” of Turkey to extend customs union.

Asked about calls by France for Turkey to recognise the killing of up
to 1.5 million Christian Armenians under the Ottoman Empire in 1915
as a genocide, Barroso said the question would have to be up for
frank discussion.

But he underlined this should take place at a later date.

Turkey rejects the label of genocide with regard to the Armenians.

The second major summit sticking point is what wording will be used
to make clear to Ankara that negotiations will be open-ended and
their successful outcome is not guaranteed.

A senior German official said full membership for Ankara was the E.U.
goal and demands by a minority of member states, led by Austria, for
setting an option of second class membership – a so-called
“privileged partnership” – was not on the cards.

“That issue is dead,” added an E.U. diplomat.

Austria as well as France and Denmark, still remain nervous about
admitting a large, poor and mainly Moslem state with 70 million
people to what has until now been a mainly Christian club.

EP Adopted Turkey Report, Turned Down Motion for Special Partnership

Journal of Turkish Weekly
Dec 16 2004

The European Parliament adopted thee report about Turkey which calls
on beginning membership negotiations without delay. The report of
Camiel Eurlings was adopted by 451 votes in favor. 227 votes were
against.

The motions about calling on to empower EP to reject Turkey’s
membership and offering special partnership to Turkey, were rejected
in a secret vote. EP also rejected the motion about imposing a
condition to Turkey to recognize the Armenian genocide claims, to
launch accession talks.

Even though EP decisions are not binding, they will beee referred to
in the EU summit’s final declaration.

Source: Hurriyet, Turkish daily

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
12/16/2004
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP://

1) Chirac Gives a ‘Yes, But’ for Turkey’s EU Membership
2) Youth in Athens Convey Opposition to Turkey EU Membership
3) Oskanian Commends European Parliament’s Resolution as Joint Victory
4) Karabagh Leader Calls for Stronger Ties with Population
5) BRIEFS

1) Chirac Gives a ‘Yes, But’ for Turkey’s EU Membership

PARIS (AP/AFP)–President Jacques Chirac, beset by opposition to Turkey’s
drive
to join the European Union, told a divided France that the mostly Muslim
country belongs in the EU–but that Paris will block negotiations if Ankara
fails to meet membership conditions.
“Does Europe, and particularly France, have an interest in Turkey joining it?
My answer is, ‘Yes, but,'” was how Chirac summed up his position on national
television late Wednesday, explaining that adhesion could only occur after up
to 20 years of negotiations and each current EU state, including France, could
slam the door at any time.
The French would have the “last word” in a referendum, he said, giving the
three principle criteria as a commitment to peace and stability, democracy,
and
economic and social development.
France also wants the issue of the massacre of Armenians in 1915-23 to be on
the table during membership negotiations, although Foreign Minister Michel
Barnier has said France will not demand official recognition of the
killings as
a condition for entry.
Turkey vehemently denies its genocide of 1.5 million Armenians, under its
Ottoman Empire.
On Wednesday, the European Parliament called on EU leaders to open membership
talks with Turkey “without undue delay.” However, it urged Ankara to carry out
more democratic reforms, move toward recognizing Cyprus and acknowledge the
Armenian killings.
The summit, gathering the leaders of the 25 member states of the European
Union, was expected to give the green light to the start of negotiations with
Ankara.
But Chirac’s ruling conservative UMP party has pronounced itself against EU
membership for Turkey, a large, relatively poor Muslim country, and surveys in
France show most of the public was also against.
Chirac’s support for Turkey’s eventual membership has been met with grave
misgivings among ordinary citizens worried about an influx of cheap labor to
France, already stung by 10 percent unemployment. Many also question Turkey’s
human rights record.
A poll published earlier this week by the newspaper Le Figaro suggests two in
three French oppose bringing Turkey into the 25-nation bloc. The Socialist
Party is divided over the issue, and Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the
far-right
National Front, insists Turkey is a country that “cannot be European.”
“Only a rejection of the European constitution can save the French from this
trap,” Le Pen said Wednesday. “This willingness to integrate an Asian and
Muslim country, against the will of the European people, illustrates the
noxiousness of Brussels’ Europe.”
By throwing his support behind Turkey, Chirac also has broken ranks with his
own party, the conservative Union for a Popular Movement, which favors a
“privileged partnership” between the EU and Ankara that would fall far
short of
membership.
Although Chirac favors full membership for Turkey, while conceding it could
take up to 20 years, a skeptical Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin argues
that the influence of Islam in Turkey would clash with Judeo-Christian
European
values.
Confronting that argument head-on, Chirac contends that bringing the
nation of
70 million people into the EU is the best way to tamp down Islamic extremism
and eliminate what some Europeans see as a threat
Chirac had previously evoked a negotiating period of just 10 years.
Suggesting
talks could drag out twice as long with no certain result was latched upon by
the French media Thursday.
“Even though he was forced to steer a straight course, Chirac seemed hesitant
sometimes to pull on the oars,” the left-leaning newspaper Liberation said of
the interview.
It noted that Chirac’s real reason for reiterating his position at such a
crucial time was to save another referendum he has proposed for next year, and
which he holds more dearly: a plebiscite on adopting the European Union’s
first
constitution.
The French president fears that though two-thirds of voters are in favor of
the constitution, they may reject the constitution as a way of registering
their opposition to Turkey’s EU membership.
In his interview, Chirac said that referendum “must not be distracted from
its
very important goal by considerations which have nothing to do with it.”
Le Figaro, a conservative daily that was the only national newspaper to put
Chirac’s interview on its front page, said that the event was forced upon the
president because he was “completely out of step with his country’s public
opinion and isolated within his own camp.”

2) Youth in Athens Convey Opposition to Turkey EU Membership

ATHENS (Aztag Daily)–Armenian youth picketed European Union offices in Athens
on Wednesday to protest Turkey’s aspirations to join the European Body.
“Turkey’s criminal past casts a shadow on it European dreams,” read one of
their placards, while another declared, “Recognition of the Armenian genocide
is the only way to Turkey’s EU membership.”
Organized by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Youth
Organization, the protest drew more than three hundred, including the youngest
of ARF youth, the “badanees.”
In conveying their message to the EU, the youth presented the head of
Athens EU office a statement of protest.

3) Oskanian Commends European Parliament’s Resolution as Joint Victory

YEREVAN (Arminfo)–Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian hailed the European
Parliament’s adoption of three strongly worded measures by the European
Parliament calling on Turkey to properly recognize the Armenian genocide, lift
its blockade of Armenia, and abandon it hostile policies toward Armenia and
the
Armenian people.
In an interview with Public Television of Armenia, Oskanian stressed the
political significance of the measures. Calling the resolution the joint
victory of Armenia’s diplomacy and the diaspora, particularly European
Armenian
organizations, Oskanian was cautiously optimistic. “If during the first stage,
Turkey does not conform to the political criteria, including improvement of
relations with Armenia, negotiations will not necessarily be broken off,” he
noted.
The provisions were added on the eve of the December 17 vote of the European
Council on opening membership talks with Turkey as amendments to a
Parliamentary report on Turkey’s progress toward accession to the European
Union.

4) Karabagh Leader Calls for Stronger Ties with Population

STEPANAKERT (RFE/RL)–The president of Mountainous Karabagh Republic Arkady
Ghukasian said on Thursday that his government has lost touch with its people.
Meeting with a large group of government officials and public figures in
Stepanakert, Ghukasian promised a cabinet reshuffle and other “resolute steps”
to boost his administration’s standing.
“Government officials are often indifferent to citizens’ problems. There is
mistrust towards the authorities,” he said.
“Judges often hand down wrong verdicts for profit-making considerations,” he
said without elaborating.
His criticism came amid the improving economic situation in the
Armenian-populated territory. Ghukasian declared that the local economy is on
course to expand by 30 percent this year on the back of growing foreign
investment. He also said that the government will have more money at its
disposal next year.
At the same time, he noted that many Karabagh Armenians live in poverty and
are unaffected by the positive change. He urged local business people to do
more to help the poor.

5) BRIEFS

EU Talks ‘To Settle’ Cyprus Issue

ANKARA (BBC)–As European Union leaders are set to hold accession talks at
the
two-day summit now under way in Brussels, commission head Jose Manuel Barroso
urged them to reject any half measures during discussions of the membership
bid.
Asked about the latest progress on the Cyprus issue, Erdogan told
reporters in Brussels it “will be resolved tomorrow,” without elaborating.
Barroso urged Turkey to “go the extra mile” and recognize Cyprus, which is an
EU member. He asked what kind of message Turkey was sending if it did not
recognize all the members of the club it wanted to join. Turkey, however,
which
occupies northern Cyprus, has said it will not bow to demands to recognize the
country, calling the issue a “red line.”

Powell, Gul Discuss Turkey’s EU Accession

WASHINGTON, DC (AFP)–US Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke Wednesday with
his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul, on Turkey’s EU accession. “The
secretary
spoke this morning with Foreign Minister Gul, just to check in and see where
things are,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
“We’ll continue to keep in touch with Turkish leaders on the subject,”
he told reporters. The European Union is waiting to give its approval to
Turkey’s negotiated accession during a summit which opened late Thursday in
Brussels.

No Change in Ties with Armenia over Dispatch of Military to Iraq

YEREVAN (Itar-Tass)–Speaker of the Russian parliament’s lower chamber Boris
Gryzlov, said on Wednesday that a possible decision by Armenia to send
military
specialists to Iraq will not change relations between the two former Soviet
republics.
“Armenia is a sovereign state and the decisions it makes are decisions of a
sovereign state,” Gryzlov told a press conference in reply to a query
concerning Armenian authorities’ intentions to send military specialists to
Iraq.

Gas Leak Kills Family in Armenia

YEREVAN (RFE-RL)–A natural-gas leak from a homemade heater killed a
family of
five in Armenia, officials said Thursday.
The accident Wednesday in the city of Echmiadzin killed a married
couple
and their three small children, the Prosecutor General’s Office said. It said
the heater was set up without regard for safety standards. The family was
among
a growing number of victims of accidents resulting from the improper use of
homemade heaters and from insufficient oversight by officials charged with
enforcing safety standards.

OSCE to Send Monitoring Mission to Karabagh

BAKU (Interfax)–The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) will send a monitoring mission to Karabagh to check reports from Baku
about Armenia’s plans to establish settlements in the area, Azerbaijan’s
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told journalists in London.
An agreement to organize a monitoring mission was reached with Armenia
during talks between the Armenian and Azeri foreign ministers in Sofia and
Brussels in early December, he said, adding that the co-chairman of the Minsk
Group directly settling the conflict should join the monitoring mission.

Exhibition Captures Essence of Childhood

YEREVAN (Arka)–Photographer Zaven Khachikyan’s latest exhibition, “We are
all
from Childhood,” opened in Yerevan on December 16. Devoted to the 10th
anniversary of UNICEF’s efforts, Khachikyan captures the essence of the
children’s daily lives. He said, “In order to go forward, it is necessary
to go
back to childhood for some time and to see the reality of children’s lives in
Armenia in order to improve it in future.” The exhibition, organized by the
Armenian representative office of UNICEF and “West-East” center of
photojournalism, will last until December 19.

UN Food Program to Halt Food Aid for Azeri Refugees

BAKU (Combined Sources)Food distribution for 140,000 Azeris displaced by the
Karabagh conflict with Armenia a decade ago will come to a complete halt next
month because of a $10 million shortfall in aid sought for the three-year
operation by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP).
WFP country director Rahman Chowdhury said the agency had halved rations for
refugees last month in an effort to stretch food stocks. The WFP faces a $10
million shortfall this year, he said, in part due to higher retail prices and
rising gasoline and natural gas prices. “Most of the displaced are so poor
they
don’t have the means to buy food. It’s a dreadful situation, especially in
winter, when temperatures drop to minus 20 degrees Celsius.”

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Big News Network, Australia
Dec 15 2004

Turkey riled by genocide reference

France’s demand that Turkey accept responsibility for the alleged
1915 Armenian genocide has drawn an angry denial from Ankara, The
Times of London reports.

In preliminary talks among European foreign ministers on Turkey’s
entry into the European Union, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier
said Turkey must first officially recognize the 1915 genocide.

When the time comes, Turkey should face up to the requirement of
remembrance, Barnier said. The European project itself is founded on
reconciliation.

Historians claim Turkish authorities orchestrated the killing of 1.5
million Armenian Christians, who were indigenous inhabitants of
Turkey, in an attempt to make an ethnically pure nation. However,
subsequent Turkish governments have maintained only a small number
were killed in spontaneous violence.

Tuesday saw a similar denial from an unidentified government official
in Ankara.

They are just trying to make us angry. It is their last chance to
cause trouble against us, the official said.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
December 14, 2004, Tuesday
09:44:00 Central European Time

French not to press Turkey on admitting Armenian genocide

Paris

Turkish acknowledgment of genocide against the Armenian people during
World War I will not be a prerequisite for starting negotiations for
Ankara’s admission in the European Union, French Foreign Minister
Michel Barnier said Tuesday.

“This is not a condition posed by France, especially not a condition
for opening negotiations (with the E.U.),” Barnier told France 2
television. “Legally, this would not be possible.”

France’s sizeable Armenian community has been pressuring the French
government to force Ankara into acknowledging its responsibility in
the deaths of more than 1 million Armenians between 1915 and 1917,
which Turkey has steadfastly refused to do.

However, Barnier said this “is a question, a question we will ask
during the negotiations, and we have a dozen years to ask it”.

Sunday Magazine (Sydney, Australia)
December 12, 2004 Sunday

Fashion addict

SOURCE: MATP

by: ANDREA DUFF, TONY MAGNUSSON

SEX ON THE BEACH

Feraud is hot – again. Almost half a century after Brigitte Bardot
sported a white sundress at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, the label
pioneered by designer and artist Louis Feraud, and which counted Kim
Novak and Ingrid Bergman among its devotees, has reinvented itself.
Cast your eyes on this vibrant print silk blouse and you’ll see what
we mean.

Check out this season’s collection at the Feraud boutiques in
Sydney’s QVB or West. eld Bondi Junction. Prices range from $350 to a
cool $5000. Call (02) 9264 0067. For national stockists, call (02)
9669 9700.

TONY MAGNUSSON

FAB FIND

It’s the perfect day bag.

A funky canvas satchel with leather trim and room for everything.
$62.50, from Wilson Australia Accessories.

Call: (03) 9509 7855.

BUB’S THE WORD

Babywear used to be as inspiring as a dirty nappy, but not anymore.
Online boutique Baby’s Got Style has an extensive range of quirky
clothing and accessories from celeb baby clothiers such as Tea
Collection and Posh Baby.

Pick of the bunch? BlaBla’s adorable sheep booties, $42.95, handmade
in Peru.

SHOE FETISH

Feeling slinky? Slide your pedicured piggies into a pair of snakeskin
stilettos, $649, from the range at G&L Hand Made Shoes. The
brainchild of Armenian shoe designer Levon Karapepyan, G&L also make
shoes to order. Call: (02) 8354 1005 or (03) 9510 5526.

Treat yourself to the latest issue of Monster Children magazine for
$9.95, and pick up one of their funky T-shirts for Christmas gifts,
$60 from General Pants.

Denver Post, CO
Dec 10 2004

Immigration agency frees Armenian family

By Nancy Lofholm
Denver Post Staff Writer

An Armenian family that has been held in an immigration detention
center in Denver for nearly five weeks was unexpectedly released
Thursday, setting off a wave of joy that quickly spread through a
small Western Slope community that has fought for their freedom.

“I’m shaking. It happened so fast. It’s incredible. I feel like I’m
in a dream,” said Gevorg Sargsyan, moments after he, his sister Meri,
brother Hayk and father Ruben walked out of the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement Center where they had been held since Nov. 4.

The four members of the Sargsyan family were taken into custody while
their attorney was waging a legal battle to obtain visas for them
based on their contention they were victims of a con man who
trafficked in fraudulent visas. That battle will continue now that
the Sargsyans are free from detention.

The family has lived and worked in Ridgway for more than six years.
When they were taken into custody, Hayk was a senior honor student at
Ridgway High School. Gevorg was on the dean’s list at the University
of Colorado, where he was studying chemical engineering. Meri was
well known for playing piano in local churches. And Ruben, a
space-optics scientist in Armenia, had been working multiple jobs to
provide for his family.

His wife, Susan, and their daughter Nvart, who both work in Ouray and
Ridgway, were not taken into custody because their immigration cases
were being heard separately.

Since realizing last summer the Sargsyans were in danger of being
deported, Ouray County residents have raised more than $30,000 for
their legal defense, wrote hundreds of letters and e-mails, and
pressured officials from regional immigration officials to President
Bush to take another look at the case and allow the family to stay.

“We are very glad ICE made this decision,” said Pete Whiskeman, a
Ridgway businessman who has helped lead the effort to free the
Sargsyans.

Carl Rusnok, a Dallas-based spokesman for the immigration division,
said the Sargsyans were released on orders from Washington on
Thursday.

“They were released because they are not a threat to national
security and not a flight risk,” Rusnok said. “Frankly, we can use
the detention space for more dangerous criminals.”

Hampstead Express, UK
Dec 10 2004

East End girl
[email protected]

JUST in case any hardened journalists get too emotional after the
advance screening of Michelle Collins’ new drama, Can’t Buy Me Love,
the ITV press office has kindly left a box of tissues for us to wipe
our eyes.

The programme does have a feel-good factor and it’s likely some
viewers will emerge misty-eyed after 90 minutes. Collins is
convincing as Donna, the long-suffering wife who throws out her
decorator husband Alan (Martin Kemp) after having enough of his lies
and financial ineptitude.

She’s left penniless as the family find themselves in a no-win
situation when the bailiffs come knocking on the door. She is then
tricked into taking Alan back after he tells her he’s won £9million
pounds on the lottery. She swaps their council flat and threadbare
existence for a house in the country and a life she and her daughter
could only dream about. But it’s another of his lies and she has been
duped.

It’s a romantic drama with comic overtones, especially when the
friends and relatives the family never knew they had queue up asking
for money.

The drama was inspired by a newspaper article about a northern
decorator who in real life served time in prison for the crime. Also
it’s topical, considering the lottery has just celebrated its tenth
anniversary.

Collins, 41, arrives for our meeting in the ITV Centre on The
Southbank wearing a long black leather coat, black boots and a stripy
red and blue dress. Considering she’s just flown in from New York a
day after being presented with an Emmy award for Channel 4’s
children’s programme The Illustrated Mum, she looks relaxed and
laid-back.

Although she and co-star Kemp were both in EastEnders, they missed
each other by a few months. She left in 1998 after playing Cindy for
11 years and he joined the cast at the end of that year.

“I’ve never worked with Martin before but we knew each other
socially,” she says. “When I read the script and saw Martin had the
role as my husband I thought, ‘Oh, EastEnders; it will be fine.’ And
Martin was perfect. We didn’t talk about EastEnders – it was an
unspoken thing.”

Someone she did know and who was pivotal to her accepting the part
was Can’t Buy Me Love writer Tony Jordan. She knew him as the writer
of some of her most dramatic scenes in EastEnders.

She says: “Most of my big stuff as Cindy was written for me by either
Tony Jordan or Tony McHale. When I saw it was one of Tony Jordan’s
scripts I knew it would be good. I was in EastEnders for a long time
and, although he wasn’t always around, they’d always call him in if I
was about to have a big storyline.

“Before I accept a part I always look at who the writer is.”

Collins describes Donna as “a resilient, dignified and ordinary woman
who loves her husband and daughter”. Collins has a slight connection
with the lottery in that she used to promote it with Neil Morrissey
and release the lottery balls on the Saturday night BBC show.

“It’s about the lottery but it’s also a good, old-fashioned charming
love story, so that’s what came across to me when I read it,” she
says. “They’ve been together so long that they’re intertwined. I
don’t think they could imagine life without each other, and Donna –
who is less flawed than most characters I play – relies on Alan for
so much that they couldn’t be apart for that long anyway.”

Collins admits she and Donna are totally different: “I’ve seen the
side of life that Donna’s never had, but I don’t mean that in a
patronising sort of way,” she says. “I’m much more independent and I
have a career.”

Since leaving Albert Square six years ago, Collins has remained a
staple of the television schedules. Whether as the soccer player’s
wife who turns to crime in Daylight Robbery, the serial bigamist in
Perfect or the mother battling to keep her daughter in Ella and the
Mothers. With another of her BBC series, 2,000 Acres of Sky playing
on NBC, Collins has an open mind about working in America.

She says: “They do have great television over there and if I could
get some work in America that would be fantastic, but at the same
time I would still like to do good work over here. There are a lot of
British actors out there and some do well while others don’t.

“It’s very early days so we’ll have to wait and see.”

She stresses there are no plans to move to America – and adds how
much she loves Britain, in particular Muswell Hill where she lives
with Maia, her eight-year-old daughter, who can chalk up Can’t Buy Me
Love as yet another TV appearance with her mother.

Collins is fond of the area because “it’s very family orientated”.
She likes the shops like the Giraffe Café in The Broadway and Banners
in Crouch End.

She says: “Even when I lived in Islington, I always loved Muswell
Hill; it’s so nice and relaxed. You can be very anonymous there and
it’s a popular place for actors to live. You just run into them in
the street, like I bumped into Mackenzie Crook and his baby the other
day.”

She was born in Hackney and after youth theatre at 14 studied drama
at Kingsway Princeton College. Her early years in the business
involved appearing with the band Squeeze in their video of Up the
Junction. Later she toured as a backing singer for Mari Wilson and
the Wilsations who accompanied groups such as Level 42, Marc Almond
and Altered Images.

Her debut on television was in 1984 with Gary Oldman in the powerful
BBC drama Morgan’s Boy about a troubled young boy who goes to live
with his uncle in Wales. Bergerac, two series of the BBC comedy
Running Wild and then roles in films including Personal Services,
starring Julie Walters, and Hidden City, directed by Stephen
Poliakoff, followed.

The year that spun her professional life around was in 1988 when
EastEnders executive producer Julia Smith asked to play a new
character called Cindy Beale. The booking was only for a handful of
episodes, which turned into 11 years of her acting life.

Of the programme’s current problems she says: “I think EastEnders
will bounce back because all soaps have blips. It’s so typical of
this country that we love things when they’re successful and when
they’re not we go in there dismissing them.”

After EastEnders there was more television work and this year she
co-starred with Ballykissangel actor Stephen Tomkinson in the West
End play Rattle of a Simple Man, playing a prostitute with a hidden
past who strikes up a friendship with a client.

Although Collins can’t confirm what we’ll see her in next, she is
hoping to return to Armenia where she’s visited before as an Oxfam
ambassador.

“I went to Armenia this year just before I did Can’t Buy Me Love and
it’s possible I’ll do some more work for them early next year,” she
says. “I’d like to go back to Armenia because I want to find out how
those projects I saw, to do with education and health, are
progressing. I’ve been an ambassador for five years and apart from
Armenia I’ve been to Brazil, Kenya and Africa. It’s become part of my
life and I really enjoy doing it.”

For now it’s Can’t Buy Me Love and as far as Michelle Collins is
concerned, the drama has a message to be said about money. “Money can
help, but it can’t buy you love,” she feels. “What I hope comes
across is that this couple are in love and that love conquers all.
Love can get you through anything and everything – we hope.”

o Michelle Collins stars in Can’t Buy Me Love on ITV1 on Monday 13
December at 9pm.