80 PEOPLE DIE IN TODAY’S QUAKE IN IRAN
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22. ARMINFO. 80 people died and over 5,000 are
wounded in today’s earthquake in Iran.
The quake took place 60 km north-west of Kerman 6:25 am. in the
epicenter the magnitude was 7-8 point on 12 point scale (MSK-64).
TO RAFIK HARIRI’S FAMILY
Azg/arm
22 Feb 05
February 16, 2005 Mrs. Nazig Hariri
Mr. Bahieddine & Mr. Saaddine Hariri Beirut, Lebanon
Dear Hariri Family,
To say that we are shocked by the tragic loss of your beloved husband
and father, HE Rafik Hariri, is an understatement. The entire Middle
East, along with the people of Lebanon, is in deep sorrow.
The late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was a great humanitarian and a
visionary leader, who single handedly rebuilt Lebanon, after the
prolonged and devastating civil war. Then he steered the country to
political stability and prosperity.
Thousands of young students, from all denominations, enjoyed his
generosity and were able to receive higher education and build their
careers. They will all miss their fatherly figure.
We, as members of the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party (Ramgavar),
are especially touched because of our deep admiration for this
legendary leader. We were very proud to have our regional leadership
in Lebanon politically associated with Mr. Hariri for the last several
years.
We will never forget his support and friendship to Armenia and the
Armenian community in Lebanon.
Rafik Hariri has already carved his place in Lebanon’s modern history,
and will go down as one of the greatest leaders of the country.
Our Central Board joins its esteemed member and representative, Hagop
Kassardjian, and the entire Armenian community in Lebanon to express
our sorrow to you and to the members of your bereaved family.
With sincere sympathies,
A.D.L. Central Committee
Armenian foreign minister meets pilots jailed in Equatorial Guinea
Mediamax news agency
22 Feb 05
YEREVAN
Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vardan Oskanyan discussed with
representatives of Equatorial Guinea’s authorities the prospects of
signing a bilateral agreement on the extradition of prisoners.
As Mediamax learned in the press service of the Armenian Foreign
Ministry today, Vardan Oskanyan discussed this issue in order to
clarify the future of the six Armenian pilots serving their sentences
in Malabo. They were accused of participation in the preparation of a
coup d’etat against the authorities of Equatorial Guinea.
During his official visit to Malabo that started on 20 February, the
Armenian foreign minister met Equatorial Guinea’s Prime Minister
Miguel Abia Biteo Boriko, the foreign minister, the state secretary
and the prosecutor-general.
The foreign ministers of Armenia and Equatorial Guinea signed a
memorandum on holding consultations between the two countries’ foreign
ministries.
During his visit, Vardan Oskanyan met the Armenian pilots serving
their sentences in the prison of Malabo.
Official Yerevan has frequently stated earlier that the Armenian
pilots have not participated in the preparation of the coup d’etat in
Equatorial Guinea.
[Congressional Record: February 18, 2005 (Extensions)]
[Page E284-E285]
>>From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr18fe05-28]
REMEMBERING THE TRAGEDY OF KHOJALY
______
HON. DAN BURTON
of indiana
in the house of representatives
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, for years a number of
distinguished Members of this House have come to the Floor of this
Chamber every April to commemorate the so-called Armenian Genocide–the
exact details of which are still very much under debate today almost 90
years after the events. Ironically and tragically, none of these
Members has ever once mentioned the ethnic cleansing carried out by the
Armenians during the Armenia-Azerbaijan war which ended a mere decade
ago.
Khojaly was a little known small town in Azerbaijan until February
1992. Today it no longer exists, and for people of Azerbaijan and the
region, the word “Khojaly” has become synonymous with pain, sorrow,
and cruelty. On February 26, 1992, the world ended for the people of
Khojaly when Armenian troops supported by a Russian infantry regiment
did not just attack the town but they razed it to the ground. In the
process the Armenians brutally murdered 613 people, annihilated whole
families, captured 1275 people, left 1,000 civilians maimed or
crippled, and another 150 people unaccounted for in their wake.
Memorial, a Russian human rights group, reported that “scores of the
corpses bore traces of profanation. Doctors on a hospital train in
Agdam noted no less than four corpses that had been scalped and one
that had been beheaded. . . . and one case of live scalping:”
Various other witnesses reported horrifying details of the massacre.
The late Azerbaijani journalist Chingiz Mustafayev, who was the first
to film the aftermath of the massacre, wrote an account of what he saw.
He said, “Some children were found with severed ears; the skin had
been cut from the left side of an elderly woman’s face; and men had
been scalped.”
Human Rights Watch called the tragedy at the time “the largest
massacre to date in the conflict.”
The New York Times wrote about “truckloads of bodies” and described
acts of “scalping.”
[[Page E285]]
This savage cruelty against innocent women, children and the elderly
is unfathomable in and of itself but the senseless brutality did not
stop with Khojaly. Khojaly was simply the first. In fact, the level of
brutality and the unprecedented atrocities committed at Khojaly set a
pattern of destruction and ethnic cleansing that Armenian troops would
adhere to for the remainder of the war. On November 29, 1993, Newsweek
quoted a senior US Government official as saying “What we see now is a
systematic destruction of every village in their (the Armenians) way.
It’s vandalism.”
This year, as they have every year since the massacre, the leaders of
Azerbaijan’s Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities issue appeals on
the eve of commemoration of the massacre of Khojaly urging the
international community to condemn the February 26, 1992 bloodshed,
facilitate liberation of the occupied territories and repatriation of
the displaced communities.
And every year, those residents of Khojaly, who survived the
massacre–many still scattered among one million refugees and displaced
persons in camps around Azerbaijan–appeal with pain and hope to the
international community to hold Armenia responsible for this crime.
I am pleased to say that on January 25, 2005 the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe overwhelmingly adopted a resolution
highlighting that “considerable parts of Azerbaijan’s territory are
still occupied by the Armenian forces and separatist forces are still
in control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.” It also expressed concern
that the military action between 1988 and 1994 and the widespread
ethnic hostilities which preceded it, “led to large-scale ethnic
expulsion and the creation of mono-ethnic areas which resemble the
terrible concept of ethnic cleansing.”
Mr. Speaker, this is not the ringing condemnation that the survivors
of Khojaly deserve but it is an important first step by an
international community that has too long been silent on this issue.
Congress should take the next step and I hope my colleagues will join
me in standing with Azerbaijanis as they commemorate the tragedy of
Khojaly. The world should know and remember.
____________________
NATO Special Envoy to Visit Armenia
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Feb 19 2005
AssA-Irada 19/02/2005 13:33
Robert Simons, NATO Secretary General’s special envoy on South
Caucasus and Central Asia, is scheduled to visit Armenia on February
23-24. While in Yerevan, Simons will represent the NATO liason officer
Romuldas Razhooks.
The two NATO representatives visited Georgia and Azerbaijan early
in February. Simons said in Baku said that “NATO is studying the
situation around Nagorno Karabakh, but “the alliance does not intend
to act as an intermediary in this process”.
PALLONE AND KNOLLBERG CONGRATULATE PEOPLE OF NKR
Azg/arm
19 Feb 05
Dear President Ghoukasian and the people of Nagorno Karabakh:
We congratulate the people of Nagorno Karabakh on the seventeenth
anniversary of the Nagorno Karabakh Freedom Movement. As we all know,
the Karabakh Movement was the first sustained campaign for freedom in
the former Soviet Union. On February 20, 1988 the people of Nagorno
Karabakh officially petitioned the Soviet government to correct the
historical injustices of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin by reuniting
the area with Armenia.
This peaceful and legal request was met with violent reactions from
the central Soviet and Azerbaijani leadership, which escalated into
full military aggression against Nagorno Karabakh. The people of
Nagorno Karabakh bravely defended their right to live in freedom on
their ancestral land. Today, Nagorno Karabakh continues to strengthen
its statehood with a democratically elected government, capable armed
forces and an independent foreign policy.
On this anniversary, we reiterate our unwavering support to Nagorno
Karabakh’s freedom, democracy and continued economic development.
Last year, the U.S. Congress appropriated another $3 million in
foreign assistance to Nagorno Karabakh to help you rebuild your land
and restore your lives, devastated by Azerbaijan’s war against your
freedom. We assure you that we will continue to do everything we can
to ensure that your interests are represented in Congress.
As always, we applaud your constructive approach and ongoing
contribution to peace and stability in the region. Our support for
your democracy and your quest to live free, under the government of
your own choosing, remains strong.
Sincerely, Joe Knollberg and Frank Pallone members of Congress
Three Azeris said captured by Armenia
Agence France Presse
Feb 17 2005
BAKU, Feb 17 (AFP) – Armenian forces have captured three Azeri soldiers
along the ceasefire line dividing Azerbaijan and Armenian-occupied
territory, the defense ministry said here Thursday.
“The defense ministry has started working on freeing them,” a ministry
spokesman told AFP.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a stalemate over the ethnic
Armenian enclave Nagorno Karabakh ever since they ended large-scale
hostilities with an uneasy ceasefire agreement in 1994.
Armenia controls Karabakh and seven surrounding regions equal
to roughly 14 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized
territory.
In the past the Red Cross has sometimes intervened to negotiate the
release of Azeri soldiers captured by Armenian forces.
About a dozen soldiers lose their lives from sniper fire and mines
along the ceasefire line every year.
City News Service
February 16, 2005 Wednesday
Organized Crime
GLENDALE
The U.S. ambassador to Armenia will discuss organized crime in the
former Soviet Union with the Eurasian Crime Task Force during a visit
today to the Glendale Police Department, a department official said.
John Evans will discuss the criminal underground that spread to the
United States after the fall of the Soviet Union, the impact of
Russian and Armenian organized crime on the Los Angeles area, and the
assistance embassy officials provide to law enforcement agencies in
the United States and Armenia, said Tom Lorenz of the Glendale Police
Department. The task force includes the chiefs of the Glendale and
Burbank police departments and representatives of the FBI, Secret
Service, Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County District
Attorney’s Office and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
VLADIMIR KAZIMIROV: ANYONE IN STRASBOURG WHO FEELS LIKE IT EXPRESSED
ABOUT KARABAKH
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17. ARMINFO. “Anyone in Strasbourg who feels like
it expressed about Karabakh: Norwegian, German, French, Bulgarian,
Polish and Turkish, all, except heralds from Moscow”. Former Russian
mediator on settlement of Karabakh conflict Vladimir Kazimirov
writes in his article “Pleasure from propaganda or negotiations
seriously”. “Either they know the problem a little or it does not
concern them at all? No speech, no amendment. Even then when the matter
concerned already not the parties of the conflict, but the role of
Russia”, Kazimirov says. For example, PACE expresses gratitude for
cease-fire in Karabakh in May 1994 not to Russia, but representatives
of OSCE, who did not have any relation to that. Russians voted for PACE
resolutions. Though Moscow heralds to Strasbourg (as well as Rapporteur
Atkinson) earlier knew about the defects in the drafts of the report,
resolution and recommendations, Kazimirov said. May be they in this
way corrected the recent lapsus of their speaker Gryzlov who declared
Armenia “Russia’s outpost in the South Caucasus”? During the war in
Karabakh their predecessors – Russian parliamentarians – were much
more accurate and constructive, made contribution to cease-fire. Now
we are waiting for news from OSCE mission, which had monitored the
occupied the districts of Azerbaijan, Kazimirov said.
THE DEATH OF LEBANESE EX-PREMIER MAY HAVE DANGEROUS CONSEQUENCES FOR BEIRUT ARMENIANS
PanArmenian News Analysis
Feb 16 2005
As a result of the intensification of the conflict between the main
communities of Lebanon, Armenian community may lose the current
political influence in the country.
The President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan and Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan presented their condolences to the President of Lebanon
Emil Lahoud on the murder of the country’s ex-Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri. Armenian leaders were on friendly terms with the prominent
Lebanese politician. Friendly relations strengthened especially during
last year’s visit of Hariri to Yerevan. Armenian authorities realize
that the tragic death of the former Prime Minister may a negative
impact on the status of the influential Armenian community of Lebanon.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 60 years old multi-millionaire Hariri whom in late
70s “Forbes” magazine included in the list of the hundred richest
people of the planet, has made a significant contribution to the
recovery of the country’s economy. Twice the head of the government,
the politician last left the post of the Prime Minister in November
2004 due to contradictions with President Emil Lahoud who managed to
stay in power thanks to the amendment in the constitution. Being in
opposition, Hariri took the task of uniting all the forces who insisted
on the immediate withdrawal of Syrian troops from the territory of
Lebanon. Sunnite Hariri was supported by politicians representing
various parties, ethnic and religious groups, the leaders of Druz
community, the former commander of the army of Christians Michelle
Aoun and even representatives of the Maronite Christian community
represented by Lahoud himself. Analysts supposed that thanks to
Rafik Hariri the opposition could win in the upcoming parliamentary
elections. Now, after his death, nobody tries to make any predictions.
Hariri’s victory would change the geopolitical situation because he
would surely achieve the withdrawal of Syrian troops. Supporters of
Hariri as well as some forces in Israel and USA blame Syria for the
incident. It is obvious that the act of terrorism will be used by
Washington against Damask together with other sanctions. This will
increase the possibility of taking military measures against Syria
by the United States. Armenia cannot be indifferent to the situation
that is being formed in Lebanon and Syria since those countries are
inhabited by hundred thousands of Armenians.
Armenian community of Lebanon has always strived to keep neutrality
and normal relations with all the political forces. However Emil Lahoud
has always been more popular for Armenians than Rafik Hariri. This is
not because Lahoud is a Christian and Hariri – a Muslim and even not
because Lahoud’s mother and wife are Armenians. The thing is that being
Prime Minister Hariri broke the 1976 agreement on the principles of
forming power. The Constitution of Lebanon was created on the basis of
the mentioned document that put an end to the civil war. The agreement
stipulated the representation of ethnic and religious communities in
the government. (As it is known, besides Sunnite Arabs, Shiite Arabs,
Maronite Arabs and Armenians there are also Kurds, Assyrians and Jews
living in the country). The representation of the Armenian community
is realized by two ministerial posts and five deputy mandates. However,
in 2002 Hariri decided to reduce the number of ministries and deprived
one ministerial post of the Armenian community. In the government he
kept only Dashnak Sepouh Hovnanyan who occupied the insignificant post
of the Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs. This arouse indignation
among Armenian community. After the last year’s visit of Hariri to
Yerevan the contradictions toned down. Nevertheless he did not keep
his word. Lahoud returned the second ministerial post to Armenians
only after Hariri’s resignation.
The situation being formed in Lebanon is extremely dangerous for
Armenian community. The positions of Emil Lahoud have distinctly
weakened. It is hard to say whether we will manage to keep control
over the situation in the country. There is a serious thread of a
new civil war. The confrontation between Sunnites and Maronites can
force the political elite of Lebanon to reject the requirements of the
1976 agreement. In this case it will be very difficult for Armenian
community to preserve its current political influence in the country.
Artyom Yerkanyan
–Boundary_(ID_mn5Q4BHBoWpR6mXVpzE/FA)–