Author: Chavushian

Georgia not to close Azeri schools – paper

Ekho, Baku
26 Jun 04

An official of the Georgian Education Ministry has denied reports that
the schools of the country’s ethnic minorities will be closed as a
result of reforms in the education system, the Azerbaijani newspaper
Ekho has reported. Levan Takheladze said that the quality of education
in the schools of Georgia’s ethnic minorities leaves something to be
desired. In Azeri, Armenian and Russian schools they study by the
books that come from those countries, he said. The Education Ministry
intends to translate Georgian textbooks into the languages of the
ethnic minorities so that they can receive education in line with
Georgia’s own standards, Takheladze told Ekho. The following is a text
of E. Quliyev report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekho on 3 July headlined
“The Georgian Ministry of Education intends not to close Azeri
schools, but rather to bring the education system in them in line with
the educational standards of that country”. Subheadings have been
inserted editorially:

The threat of closure

The threat of the closure of all 168 Azeri-language schools in Georgia
within the next two or three years will emerge as a result of planned
reforms in the education sector of that country, the chairman of the
Qeyrat movement of the Azeris in Georgia, Alibala Asgarov, has said in
a conversation with Ekho.

According to him, the Georgian education minister [Kakha Lomaia] made
a statement recently that from 2006 all classes in the Georgian
schools would be taught in the country’s national language.

According to Asgarov, the minister explained that these measures were
not directed against the schools of national minorities and that the
latter could study the history and geography of their historical
motherland and their native tongue in their own language. “It has to
be noted, however, that ethnic Azeris in Georgia have been officially
banned from studying the history and geography of Azerbaijan since
1996. Only the native language remains,” Asgarov said. According to
the chairman of Qeyrat, in contrast to the educational system of
Azerbaijan, schools in Georgia are funded from local budgets which
mainly consist of land taxes.

“The authorities say that ethnic minorities who are interested in
preserving their schools should think about sources of funding
themselves. But the ethnic Azeris have no funds to keep the
schools. The reforms will violate the right of the ethnic Azeris to
education.”

Ethnic minorities cannot afford to fund their schools

In turn, the former member of the Georgian parliament, Zumrud
Qurbanov, said in a conversation with Ekho that he did not regard as
trustworthy the rumours that the schools of the ethnic minorities will
be closed soon or the burden of keeping them will be placed on the
ethnic minorities themselves. “There are 170 Azeri schools in Georgia
and some 200 Armenian schools. It is obvious that ethnic minorities
cannot afford to fund this number of educational institutions.
According to the Georgian constitution and international law,
secondary education schools should be funded by the state,” the former
deputy said.

Meanwhile, the ethnic Armenians are not pleased with the planned
educational reforms in Georgia either. For example, according to the
A-Info news agency, cultural departments in predominantly
Armenian-populated districts have shown their displeasure with the
project because, if it is implemented, the Armenian schools will lose
99 per cent of their specialists even if the transformation is
implemented gradually. Significant funds are required to train
specialists who speak Georgian, but the state cannot afford to
allocate them.

Georgian official denies schools to be closed

In turn, the head of the Georgian Education Ministry press service,
Levan Takheladze, said in a conversation with Ekho that the planned
reforms in the educational sector of Georgia do not envisage the
closure of the schools of the ethnic minorities. According to him, the
education system in the schools of the ethnic minorities will be
brought as a result in line with the standards of the Georgian
schools.”

The head of the press service noted that the quality of education in
the schools of the ethnic minorities leaves something to be
desired. “In Azeri schools, they study by the books that come from
Azerbaijan, in Armenian schools they study by the books that come from
Armenia, and the Russian schools get books from Russia. Naturally,
this state of affairs does not please the leadership of the Education
Ministry because these manuals are intended for and written according
to the standards of the countries in which they are published. This is
why the Georgian Education Ministry decided to translate, using its
own resources, the books that are used in Georgian schools into the
languages of the ethnic minorities. This will allow the ethnic
minorities to receive education that fully complies with the standards
of the Georgian education system,” Levan Takheladze said. According to
him, rumours that the funding of ethnic schools will become a concern
for the ethnic minorities are not true. Takheladze emphasized that the
funding of the schools is a duty of the country’s government and that
the authorities have no intention of delegating their duties to the
ethnic minorities.

In a conversation with Ekho, the newly-elected member of the Georgian
parliament, Allahverdi Humbatov, described all talk about the closure
of the Azeri schools as a rumour spread by unsuccessful
politicians. According to Humbatov, the incumbent Georgian authorities
are not conducting an anti-Azeri policy. “Ethnic Azeris in Georgia
currently live better than they lived before, and in the future they
will live better than now,” the parliamentarian concluded.

Front Page Magazine
July 2, 2004

Beyond Munich – The Spirit of Eurabia
By Bat Ye’or

The following presentation by Bat Ye’or was delivered at a seminar in
the French Senate in Paris three weeks ago – The Editors.

Allow me first to make a preliminary observation about the title of
this session: the `return of the spirit of Munich’ – a title which I
find somewhat optimistic. At Munich, in 1938, France and England,
exhausted by the death toll of the Great War, abandoned Czechoslovakia
to the Nazi beast, in the hope that by doing so they would avoid
another conflict. The `spirit of Munich’ thus refers to a policy of
states and of peoples who refuse to confront a threat, and attempt to
obtain peace and security through conciliation and appeasement, or
even, for some, an active collaboration with the criminals.

For my own part, I would say that we have gone beyond the spirit of
Munich, and the present situation should be seen not in the context of
the Second World War, but in the present jihadist context.

In fact, for the past 30 years France and Europe are living in a
situation of passive self-defense against terrorism. This began with
Palestinian terrorism, then Islamic terrorism, not to speak of the
local European terrorism, including the Basques in Spain, the
Baader-Meinhof group in Germany, and the Red Brigades of Italy of the
1980s.

One need only look at our cities, airports, and streets, at the
schools with their security guards, even the systems of public
transportation, not to mention the embassies, and the synagogues – to
see the whole astonishing array of police and security services. The
fact that the authorities everywhere refuse to name the evil does not
negate that evil. Yet we know perfectly well that we have been under
threat for a long time; one has only to open one’s eyes and our
authorities know it better than any of us, because it is they who have
ordered these very security measures.

In his book, La Vie Quotidienne dans l’Europe Médiévale sous
Domination Arabe (Daily Life in Medieval Europe under the Arab
Domination), published in 1978, Charles-Emmanuel Dufourq, a French
specialist on Andalusia (Islamic Spain) and the Maghreb, described
under the subheading `Une grande Peur’ (`A great Fear’) the conditions
of life for the indigenous non-Muslim peoples in the Andalusian
countryside. (1) Today, Europe itself is living with this Great Fear.

At Munich war had not yet been declared. Today the war is
everywhere. And yet the European Union and the states which comprise
it, have denied that war’s reality, right up to the terrorist attack
in Madrid of March 11, 2004. If there is a danger as Europe proclaims
urbi et orbi, that danger can only come from America and Israel. What
should one understand? For can anyone seriously maintain that it is
the American and Israeli forces that threaten us in Europe? No, what
must be understood is that American and Israeli policies of resistance
to jihadist terror provoke reprisals against a Europe that has long
ago ceased to defend itself. So that peace can prevail throughout the
world, those two countries, America and Israel, need only adopt the
European strategy of constant surrender, based on the denial of
aggression. How simple it all is…

This strategy is less worthy than even Munich’s connivance and
cowardice. At Munich there was some sort of future contemplated, even
if war, or peace, were to determine the future. There was a choice. In
the present situation there is no choice, for we deny the reality of
the jihad danger. The only danger comes, allegedly, from the United
States and Israel. We conduct a propaganda campaign in the media
against these two countries, before entering into a yet more
aggressive phase; it’s so much easier, so much less dangerous…And we
conduct this campaign with the weapons of cowardice: defamation,
disinformation, the corruption of venal politicians.

In the time of Munich, one could envisage that there would be battles
that might be won. There was at least the Maginot Line for defense. In
Europe today, dominated by the spirit of dhimmitude – the condition of
submission of Jews and Christians under Muslim domination – there is
no conceivable battle. Submission, without a fight, has already taken
place. A machinery that has made Europe the new continent of
dhimmitude was put into motion more than 30 years ago at the
instigation of France.

A wide-ranging policy was then first sketched out, a symbiosis of
Europe with the Muslim Arab countries, that would endow Europe – and
especially France, the project’s prime mover – with a weight and a
prestige to rival that of the United States (2). This policy was
undertaken quite discreetly, outside of official treaties, under the
innocent-sounding name of the Euro-Arab Dialogue. An association of
European parliamentarians from the European Economic Community (EEC)
was created in 1974 in Paris: the Parliamentary Association for
Euro-Arab Cooperation. It was entrusted with managing all of the
aspects of Euro-Arab relations – financial, political, economic,
cultural, and those pertaining to immigration. This organization
functioned under the auspices of the European heads of government and
their foreign ministers, working in close association with their Arab
counterparts, and with the representatives of the European Commission,
and the Arab League.

This strategy, the goal of which was the creation of a
pan-Mediterranean Euro-Arab entity, permitting the free circulation
both of men and of goods, also determined the immigration policy with
regard to Arabs in the European Community (EC). And, for the past 30
years, it also established the relevant cultural policies in the
schools and universities of the EC. Since the first Cairo meeting of
the Euro-Arab Dialogue in 1975, attended by the ministers and heads of
state both from European and Arab countries and by representatives of
the EC and the Arab League, agreements have been concluded concerning
the diffusion and the promotion in Europe of Islam, of the Arabic
language and culture, through the creation of Arab cultural centers in
European cities. Other accords soon followed, all intended to ensure a
cultural, economic, political Euro-Arab symbiosis. These far ranging
efforts involved the universities and the media (both written and
audio-visual), and even included the transfer of technologies,
including nuclear technology. Finally a Euro-Arab associative
diplomacy was promoted in international forums, especially at the
United Nations.

The Arabs set the conditions for this association: 1) a European
policy that would be independent from, and opposed to that of the
United States; 2) the recognition by Europe of a `Palestinian people,’
and the creation of a `Palestinian’ state; 3) European support for the
PLO; 4) the designation of Arafat as the sole and exclusive
representative of that `Palestinian people’; 5) the delegitimizing of
the State of Israel, both historically and politically, its shrinking
into non viable borders, and the Arabization of Jerusalem. From this
sprang the hidden European war against Israel, through economic
boycotts, and in some cases academic boycotts as well, through
deliberate vilification, and the spreading of both anti-Zionism and
anti-Semitism.

During the past three decades a considerable number of non-official
agreements between the countries of the CEE (subsequently the EU) on
the one hand, and the countries of the Arab League on the other,
determined the evolution of Europe in its current political and
cultural aspects. I will cite here only four of them: 1) it was
understood that those Europeans who would be dealing with Arab
immigrants would undergo special sensitivity training, in order to
better appreciate their customs, their moeurs; 2) the Arab immigrants
would remain under the control and the laws of their countries of
origin; 3) history textbooks in Europe would be rewritten by joint
teams of European and Arab historians – naturally the Battles of
Poitiers and Lepanto, or the Spanish Reconquista did not possess the
same significance on both Mediterranean littorals; 4) the teaching of
the Arabic language and of Arab and Islamic culture were to be taught,
in the schools and universities of Europe, by Arab teachers
experienced in teaching Europeans.

The Situation Today

On the political front, Europe has tied its destiny to the Arab
countries, and thus become involved in the logic of jihad against
Israel and the United States. How could Europe denounce the culture
of jihadic venom which exudes from its allies, while for so many years
it did everything to activate the jihad by hiding and justifying it by
claiming that the real danger comes not from the jihadists,
themselves, but from those who resist the Arab jihadist, the very
allies that Europe serves at every international gathering, and in the
European media.

On the cultural front, there has been a complete re-writing of
history, which was first undertaken during the 1970s in European
universities. This process was ratified by the parliamentary assembly
of the Council of Europe in September 1991, at its meeting devoted to
`The Contribution of the Islamic civilization to European culture.’ It
was reaffirmed by President Jacques Chirac in his address of April 8,
1996 in Cairo, and reinforced by Romano Prodi, president of the
European Commission, through the creation of a `Foundation on the
Dialogue of Cultures and Civilizations’ that was to control everything
that was said, written and taught on the new continent of Eurabia,
which englobe Europe and the Arab countries.

The dhimmitude of Europe began with the subversion of its culture and
its values, with the destruction of its history and its replacement by
an Islamic vision of that history, supported by the romantic myth of
Andalusia. Eurabia adopted the Islamic conception of history, in which
Islam is defined as a liberating force, a force for peace, and the
jihad is regarded a `just war’. Those who resist the jihad, like the
Israelis and the Americans, are the guilty ones, rather than those who
wage it. It is this policy that has inculcated in us, the Europeans,
the spirit of dhimmitude that blinds us, that instills in us a hatred
for our own values, and the wish to destroy our own origins and our
own history. `The greatest intellectual swindle would be to allow
Europe to continue to believe that it derives from a Judeo-Christian
tradition. That is a complete lie,’ Tariq Ramadan has stated (3). And
thus we despise George Bush because he still believes in that
tradition. What simpletons those Americans…

The spirit of dhimmitude is not merely that of submission without
fighting, not even a surrender. It is also the denial of one’s own
humiliation through this process of integrating values that lead to
our own destruction; it is the ideological mercenaries offering
themselves up for service in the jihad; it is the traditional tribute
paid by their own hand, and with humiliation, by the European dhimmis,
in order to obtain a false security; it is the betrayal of one’s own
people. The non-Muslim protected dhimmi under Islamic rule could
obtain an ephemeral and delusive security through services rendered to
the Muslim oppressor, and through servility and flattery. And that is
precisely the situation in Europe today.

Dhimmitude is not only a set of abstract laws inscribed in the
shari’a, it is also a complex set of behaviors developed over time by
the dhimmis themselves, as a way both to adapt to, and to survive,
oppression, humiliation, insecurity. This has produced a particular
mentality as well as social and political behaviors essential to the
survival of peoples who, in a certain sense, would always remain
hostages to the Islamic system.

The dhimmis are inferior beings who undergo humiliations and
aggressions in silence. Their aggressors, meanwhile, enjoy an impunity
that only increases their hatred and their feeling of superiority,
guaranteed by the protection of the law. The culture of dhimmitude
which is expanding throughout Europe is that of hate, of crimes
against non-Muslims that go unpunished, a culture which is imported
from the Arab countries along with `Palestinianism,’ the new European
subculture that has been raised to the level of a European Union cult,
and its exalted war banner against Israel.

At Munich, in 1938, France had not renounced its own culture, its own
history becoming German; it has not proclaimed that the source of her
own culture was the German civilization. The spirit of dhimmitude
which today blinds Europe springs not from a situation imposed from
without, but from a choice made freely, and systematically carried
out, in its political dimensions, over the course of the last 30
years.

The well-known scholar of Islam, William Montgomery Watt, described
the disappearance of the Christian world from the countries which had
been Islamized, in his book The Majesty that was Islam (1974): `There
was nothing dramatic about what happened; it was a gentle death, a
phasing out.'(4) But Montgomery Watt was wrong; in fact, the long
death-throes of Christianity under Islam were extremely painful and
tragic, as can be seen even in the 20th century, with the genocide of
the Armenians, and the Lebanese Christians’ resistance in the
1970s-1980s, and for the last decades the genocide in the Sudan, and
finally the relentless Arab jihad against Israel, which is only one of
the examples of the age-old struggle by people devoted to fighting for
freedom against dhimmitude, for the dignity of man against the slavery
of oppression and hate. But that observation by Montgomery Watt –
about the `gentle death, the phasing out’ applies perfectly to Europe
today.

Notes:

1) Charles-Emmanuel Dufourq, La Vie Quotidienne dans l’Europe
Médiévale sous Domination Arabe, Hachette, Paris, 1978; this
book examines the Arab conquest and colonization of Andalusia – see
chapter 1, `Les Jours de Razzia et d’Invasion’. I am grateful to Dr
Andrew Bostom, for having brought to my attention the works of
Charles-Emmanuel Dufourcq, some of which will be included in his
forthcoming compendium of essays and documents, The Legacy of Jihad,
New York, Prometheus Books, 2005.

2) Pierre Lyautey (the nephew of Marshall Lyautey): `) « Le nouveau
rôle de la France en Orient », Comptes rendu des séances de
l’Académie des Sciences d’Outre-Mer, 4 mai 1962, p.176, voir aussi
Jacques Frémeaux, Le monde arabe et la sécurité de la France
depuis 1958, PUF, Paris 1995.

3) Tariq Ramadan, `Critique des (nouveaux) intellectuels
communautaires’, Oumma.com, 3 October 2003.

4) William Montgomery Watt, The Majesty that Was Islam. The Islamic
World, 66-1100. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1974, p. 257.

Bat Ye’or has written articles and scholarly studies since 1971 on
the situation of Jews and Christians under Islam. Her books in French
have been translated into English ( /
). This presentation – translated from the French –
was given at a seminar organized by the B’nai B’rith (Europe) in the
French Senate (Palais du Luxembourg, Paris), on the theme: `La
démocratie à l’épreuve de la menace islamiste’ (`democracy
faced with the Islamist menace’), in two sessions: `Les Islamistes et
leur alliés’ (`The Islamists and their allies’); `Vers un retour
à l’esprit de Munich’ (`toward a return to the spirit of
Munich’). Her next book covers this subject in depth: Eurabia. The
Euro-Arab Axis (Cranbury, NJ., Associated University Presses, 2005)

The west should invest in central Asia
By Jean Lemierre

FT.com site
Jul 01, 2004

A worrisome disparity is developing between countries that spent
decades together behind the Iron Curtain. On one side of the emerging
divide are the eight countries of central Europe and the Baltic region
that joined the European Union on May 1 – hard-won recognition of
their economic and political transformation. But further east, beyond
the new borders of the EU, economic and political transition in the
seven poorest countries emerging from the command economy system has
been slower; half the population still lives below the poverty line.

In many parts of central Asia and the Caucasus, poverty, ethnic
tensions, the slow pace of reform and high indebtedness combine to
pose a threat to regional and global security. This is particularly
true in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Geographically and ideologically, these seven countries were closer
than the new EU members to the heart of the former Soviet Union and it
is taking them much longer to emerge from its long shadow. They have
not had the offer of EU membership to encourage them through arduous
and often unpopular reforms. Widening the embrace of the EU to
include eight new central European and Baltic states will only go so
far to stabilise the post-cold-war situation, if, over the horizon,
trouble is brewing. Pent-up social frustration born of a lack of
opportunity in these seven nations may heighten tensions, even
extremism. In the long run, private-sector growth and job creation
coupled with political reform are the only means to defuse tensions.

Of course, if economic transition were easy to accomplish in these
states, it would have happened already. The publicly owned European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development was created in 1991 to foster
such transition in 27 countries of the former Soviet sphere and the
bank is the largest single investor there. But, in spite of our
expertise, local presence and mandated interest in doing business in
the seven poorest countries, we have had difficulty raising the level
of our investment there. Given the challenges of doing business in
these countries, it is easy to understand why private-sector investors
shy away.

Yet the EBRD’s local offices see many promising investment
opportunities. These range from big oil, gas and mining deals to
family-owned bakeries, middle-sized lumber businesses, small-scale
hydro-power producers, dairies and growing textile mills.

Unfortunately, opportunity is not enough. The slow and uneven pace of
economic and political reform in these countries discourages foreign
investors and local businesses alike. There remain too many vestiges
of the command economy system and big government, and there is not
enough commitment to improving commercial law, the functioning of
courts and regulatory bodies, and fighting corruption.

The least painful path to economic growth is to cut red tape and then
get out of entrepreneurs’ way. At the EBRD annual meeting last year,
one Kyrgyz entrepreneur reported that 160 permits were needed to start
a small business in her country; that was an improvement on the old
days when 193 permits were required. A year later, the situation has
not changed much. Both local business growth and foreign investment
would be encouraged if governments cut through the thicket of
restrictions on foreign currency exchange and on cross-border trade
and travel.

Trade depends on transport and here we have seen many encouraging
signs of greater regional co-operation. The upgrading of the ancient
Silk Road linking the Caucasus and central Asia is an example of
national governments, donors and international lenders working
together on regionally important infrastructure. The
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline has built better relations between
Azerbaijan and Georgia and introduced more than a dozen top
international banks to those countries.

A new EBRD initiative aims to promote greater investment and
accelerate economic reform in these seven still-poor countries by
accepting higher risk to make investments, improving banking services
for small and medium-sized businesses, encouraging small-scale
infrastructure projects, and promoting legal reform and regional
trade.

As every euro invested in a project by the EBRD typically attracts two
more from other sources, we expect this initiative will increase
private investment. The expansion of the EU’s borders has brought
Europe closer to the Caucasus and central Asia. There is no better
time to promote economic development there, increase prosperity and
underpin stability for the region, and beyond.

The writer is the EBRD’s president

PRESS OFFICE
Armenian Holy Apostolic Church Canadian Diocese
Contact; Deacon Hagop Arslanian, Assistant to the Primate
615 Stuart Avenue, Outremont Quebec H2V 3H2
Tel; 514-276-9479, Fax; 514-276-9960
Email; [email protected] Website;

Meeting of the Department of Christian Education

The fifth meeting of the Armenian Holy Apostolic Church Canadian
Diocese, Department of Christian Education took place in Hamilton,
Ontario on June 24th, 2004. His Grace Bishop Bagrat Galstanian
attended the meeting. Rev. Fr. Datev Melenguitchian, Pastor and
Mrs. Georgina Sarkisian attended as representatives from St. Gregory
the Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church of St. Catherines.
Mrs. Taline Gumusdjian attended as representative from Holy Trinity
Armenian Apostolic Church of Toronto. Miss Alexia Citak as
representative from St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church of Hamilton and
Mrs. Ashken Malkhasian attended as secretary. The meeting was called
upon in the efforts to assess the needs and challenges facing the
Sunday Schools in Canada.

The Department of Christian Education began from “the ground up”, as
His Grace Bishop told those attending; since the summer of last year,
all members of the council have worked hard to provide a solid
foundation for which all Sunday Schools can grow. Through the past
meetings the department has come a long way; Sunday Schools have been
started in churches that before now had never had one. By creating a
mission and vision supported by calendars and a new curriculum, Sunday
Schools have flourished into true learning facilities for Christian
Armenian youth. The department has worked hard to provide student
interaction, most recently by the development of an annual Christmas
event, and a summer camp.

During the meeting, a major point was made on communication, this
being what all members saw as the key to instilling all further
developments by the council. In response to this point, a link from
the diocesan website to a site for the Sunday School will be
created. This way a format where anyone can find out, and understand
the goings on within the council and individual Sunday Schools at any
time, just by accessing the site. This opens the door to different
learning methods and exciting teaching styles, as all teachers and
eventually all students will have the opportunity to ‘chat’ with one
another. With regular meetings and a good communication base there
would be the longevity and support needed to establish all the
different areas of the department.

It was addressed that there was a need for not only financial support
within the department but administrative support in order to entrench
all areas of the department into the diocese. Administrative
assistance was considered to be a crucial formality, this way all
schools could have uniform polices and could deal with issues in the
same way. This would alleviate difficulties and challenges made toward
individual Sunday Schools. The idea of a small fee given to the
Department from each Sunday school was offered. Thus, by creating a
financial base, others could donate to the department in order for
more activities and events to take place. This topic was suggested to
be further discussed at the next meeting taking place in Montreal on
August 6th, 2004.

Overall the meeting was very efficient and helped to bring out valid
points in order for the growth of Sunday Schools to be possible. The
Department as a whole is making important steps to benefit Sunday
Schools throughout Canada. It is expected that by this time next year
it will advance further and be an even more influential branch of the
Armenian Holy Apostolic Canadian Diocese.

Communication Office of the Christian Education Department

100th Anniversary Celebration of Vehamayr Ovsanna Sarkissian

On Saturday June 26, the 100th Anniversary of Vehamayr Ovsanna
Sarkissian, the mother of H.H. Karekin I of blessed memory, was held
in the Cummer Lodge in Toronto.

The Sarkissian family members, relatives and friends who bear fond
memories of Vehamayr Ovsanna Sarkissian, had gathered to congratulate
the centenarian mother and to wish her good health. Also present at
the celebration was His Eminence Bishop Bagrat Galstanian, Primate,
accompanied by Rev. Fr. Zareh Zargarian, Pastor of Toronto’s Holy
Trinity Church, Yeretsgin Nayira and Assistant Pastor Deacon Vrej
Berberian.

During the celebration, a surprise announcement was made by Bishop
Galstanian, that His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians,
has bestowed the Pontifical Order of St. Nerses Shnorhali upon
Vehamayr Ovsanna Sarkissian. The Pontifical Gontag was read by
Rev. Fr. Zareh Zargarian, following which the Primate announced that
the medal will be formally handed to Vehamayr in the Holy Trinity
Church on Sunday, August 8.

A reception was held, hosted by the Sarkissian Family, and prayers
were said for the good health of Vehamayr. Serpazan congratulated
Vehamayr Ovsanna on behalf of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of
Canada, the clergy, the Diocesan Council, the Parish Councils and the
entire faithful, wishing her and the Sarkissian Family God’s
blessings.

The Primate’s Lecture in Holy Trinity Church of Toronto

On June 25, His Eminence Bishop Bagrat Galstanian lectured on the
Armenian Holy Apostolic Church to an international audience of over
300 people. The lecture was organized by St. Marc’s Eastern Orthodox
Church.

Bishop Galstanian talked about the role of the Armenian Church in the
life of the Armenian nation, and about the Church’s losses and martyrs
in the long and tragic march along the Armenian people in her almost
2000-year history. Serpazan’s presentation, which lasted about an
hour and a half, deeply impressed and moved the audience that
consisted of Armenians and non-Armenians alike. Many among the
audience posed questions that were answered by the Primate.

The second lecture was about the Coptic Orthodox Church, presented by
Bishop Ankelos, who was invited from England. The lecture evolved
around the brotherly relations between the Coptic and Armenian
Churches, and the common theology shared by both churches. Bishop
Ankelos said that he had visited Armenia on three occasions and has
been enriched with many memorable impressions of the country. A period
of questions and answers followed the lecture. The audience then moved
to the church hall, where coffee was served, hosted by the British
Consulate. The evening was concluded by the blessings of the bishops.

The Year-end Hantes of AGBU Zarougian Daily School

On Friday June 25, 2004 the AGBU Zarougian school year-end hantes was
held under the auspices and in the presence of His Eminence Bishop
Bagrat Galstanian, Primate of the Armenian Church Canadian Diocese,
accompanied by Reverend Archpriest Father Zareh Zargarian, Pastor of
Holy Trinity Armenian Church of Toronto.

The attendees, consisting of parents and former students of the
school, cheered a high quality cultural program staged by the school’s
students. Graduation certificates were then handed to the students who
had successfully accomplished their schooling. The Principal of the
school Ms Hasmig Kurdian read her annual report and then invited the
Primate His Eminence Bishop Bagrat Galstanian to speak. “There is no
victory without sacrifice; there is no freedom without suffering” said
His Eminence addressing the students. He then congratulated the
graduates, the executive and auxiliary bodies of the school as well as
the parents.

The year-end Hantes was concluded by the Prayer and blessing of His
Eminence Bishop Galstanian.

Women’s Guild Central Council Meeting was held in Toronto

On June 26, 2004 the Women’s Guild Central Council meeting was held
under the auspices and presence of His Eminence Bishop Bagrat
Galstanian. During the meeting, discussions focused on the role and
the mission of Women in the Armenian Church. Upon the instruction of
His Eminence future plans and projects were formulated to revitalize
the Women’s Guilds of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Canada.

Regional representatives were appointed as follows: Mrs. Rima
Derderian, Mrs. Verjin Assadourian (Ottawa, Montreal, Laval). Mrs
Sofi Kuzuian, Mrs Diana Boghossian (Ontario), Mrs. Rita Mushluyan, Mrs
Aida Bardekjian (Vancouver).

Eelection of the executive was held and the results were as follows:
Mrs. Louisa Kerim (Honorary Chairperson)
Mrs. Sofi Kuzuyan (Chairperson)
Mrs. Hasmig Met (Vice Chairperson)
Mrs Rita Mushluyan (Secretary)
Mrs Ani Chavoushian (Vice Secretary)
Mrs Diana Boghossian (Communications Secretary)
Mrs Rosemary Tanielian (Treasurer)
Mrs Pergrouhi Meremetci (Vice Treasurer)

Divan of the Diocese

ENN
Environmental News Network

Every Crop Needs Its Wild Relatives

>From UN Environment Programme
Monday, June 28, 2004

COLOMBO/NAIROBI/ROME, 28 June 2004 — A project aimed at boosting the
conservation and use of the wild living relatives of some of the world’s key
crops is being launched today.

The project, bringing together the biologically rich countries of Armenia,
Bolivia, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan, aims to improve key features
of traditional crops, ranging from their economic and nutritional value to
their ability to naturally fight disease.

The importance of conserving wild crop relatives as future sources of novel
traits is highlighted by recent developments with the tomato. An increase of
0.1 per cent in the solid content of this fruit is worth around $10 million
a year to processors in California.

One wild living tomato has allowed plant breeders to boost, by 2.4 per cent
or $250 million annually, the level of solids in commercial varieties.

Meanwhile, three different wild peanuts have been used to breed commercial
varieties resistant to root knot nematodes. It is helping to save peanut
growers around the world an estimated $100 million a year.

Researchers believe the new project, which is co-funded by the Global
Environment Facility (GEF), will play its part in fighting hunger and
improving the livelihoods of farmers across the globe.

The project, called “In Situ Conservation of Crop Wild Relatives through
Enhanced Management and Field Application”, is being launched today in
Colombo, Sir Lanka, by the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute
(IPGRI) in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) and national and international partners. (See notes to editors.)

It comes at a time of increasing concern over the loss of these precious
genetic resources. For example, more than one in 20 of the species of
Poaceae, the botanical family that includes cereal crops such as wheat,
maize, barley and millet, are threatened with extinction from deforestation,
habitat loss and intensive agriculture.

Forests are rich in wild plants that may be new sources of novel genetic
traits for improved crops including coffee, mango and rubber. During the
1990s, 94 million hectares, or 2.4 per cent of total forest cover, was lost.

The new scheme will pool existing information from a wide variety of sources
on crop wild relatives in each of the five countries. An information
exchange network will be set up allowing scientists and breeders to pinpoint
promising traits for improving crop production. The project will pinpoint
ways on how to best conserve the rich genetic resources of the countries
concerned.

The project will enhance conservation measures already undertaken and make
available resources in order to build upon these. For example, Sri Lanka has
carried out several actions to conserve crop wild relatives and raise
awareness of their importance, but has no national strategy.

Armenia and Uzbekistan have surveyed their crop wild relatives and created
limited protected areas at least partly to conserve these plants. For
example, Armenia’s Erebuni Reserve is one of the few in the world
deliberately established to conserve the wild living relatives of a key
crop, in this case wild wheats.

Bolivia and Madagascar need to extend surveys of where wild living crop
relatives may be found and establish areas to protect them.

Notes to Editors

Some examples of the value of crop wild relatives Crop wild relatives make a
huge contribution to plant breeding. It is estimated that between 1976 and
1980, wild relatives contributed approximately $340 million per year in
yield and disease resistance to the farm economy of the United States alone.

In addition, improvements in molecular technology have made it easier and
quicker to identify useful traits in wild relatives and to develop new and
improved varieties.

Wild relatives have increased the productivity of globally important crops
such as barley, maize, oats, potatoes, rice and wheat.

Breeders have also used them to boost the nutritional value of foods. For
example, the high anti-cancer properties found in some varieties of broccoli
originated in a Sicilian wild relative.

Wild relatives have provided traits such as disease resistance, tolerance to
extreme temperatures, tolerance to salinity (from a wild relative growing in
the Galapagos Islands) and resistance to drought. They have also helped
increase the nutritional value of the cultivated tomato by providing more
Vitamin C and beta-carotene. One wild relative has made it possible to
increase the solids content of the tomato by 2.4% worth $250 million a year
in the state of California alone.

Nutritional value By crossing cultivated broccoli with a wild Sicilian
relative, scientists are breeding a variety that contain higher levels of
the cancer fighting chemical, sulforaphane, an anti-oxidant that destroys
compounds that can damage DNA. The new variety of broccoli contains 100
times more sulforaphane.

Wheat is the staple food for approximately one in three of the world’s
population. But diets based solely on cereals lack important nutrients such
as iron, zinc and vitamin A.

A wild relative of wheat, Triticum turgidum var dicoccoides, from the
Eastern Mediterranean, was used to increase the protein content of bread and
durum wheat. The International Centre for the Improvement of Wheat and Maize
(CIMMYT) has shown that other wild relatives of wheat have up to 1.8 times
more zinc and 1.5 times more iron in their grains than ordinary wheat and
could be used to improve levels of these minerals in wheat varieties.

Disease resistance In the 1970s an outbreak of grassy stunt virus devastated
the rice fields of millions of farmers in South and South-East Asia. The
virus, transmitted by the brown plant hopper, prevents the rice plant from
producing flowers and grain.

Scientists from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) screened
more than 17,000 cultivated and wild rice samples for resistance to the
disease.

A wild relative of rice, Oryza nivara, growing in the wild in Uttar Pradesh
was found to have one single gene for resistance to the grassy stunt virus.
This gene is now routinely incorporated in all new varieties of rice grown
across more than 100,000 km2 of Asian rice fields.

Apart from UNEP, GEF and the IPGRI, the other agencies involved are the
Botanic Gardens Conservation International, the United Nations Food and
Agricultural Organization, IUCN-the World Conservation Union, UNEP’s World
Conservation Monitoring Centre and ZADI, the German Centre for Documentation
and Information in Agriculture.

For more information, please contact:

For UNEP: Eric Falt, Spokesperson/Director of UNEP’s Division of
Communications and Public Information, in Nairobi, on tel: +254-20-623292,
mobile: +254-733-682656, e-mail: [email protected] or Nick Nuttall, UNEP
Head of Media, on tel: +254-20-623084, mobile: +254-733- 632755, e-mail:
[email protected]

For IPGRI: Jeremy Cherfas, Public Awareness Officer, in Rome, on tel:
+39-066118-234, e-mail: [email protected]

Asia Times, Hong Kong
June 28 2004

You have met the enemy, and he is you

Disaster seemingly will attend the power transition in Iraq. Official
Washington has already reverted to its ancient traditions, in
particular the sacrificial rite of assigning blame. Within the George
W Bush camp, one hears that it was Secretary of State Colin Powell’s
fault for appointing L Paul Bremer as civil administrator in Iraq, or
Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld’s fault for slighting the professional
military, or National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice’s fault for
not coordinating between the hostile camps on either side of the
Potomac.

It is a queer sort of disaster, to be sure. World stock markets are
rising, the price of oil is falling, and the exchange rate of the
dollar barely flutters in the crosswinds. Is it possible that markets
have judged matters better than the pundits? Perhaps it is no
disaster at all, except for the ideologues who argued that America’s
political model could be exported and assembled in Iraq like so much
prefabricated housing. A generation ago, American satirist Walter
Kelly amended Commodore Perry’s 1813 dispatch “We have met the enemy
and he is ours” to read, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

By the same token, one might say to the peoples of Mesopotamia: “You
have met the enemy, and he is you.” Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurd have one
thing in common: they all eschew the American “melting pot” model of
democracy. They are determined to pursue their own tragic destinies
instead.

Last year, when American forces confounded the skeptics and swept
northward to Baghdad, I warned that it was no triumph (George W Bush,
tragic character,” Nov 25, 2003). Neither does the present impasse
make a disaster. Despite American policy, and despite America’s
enemies, the tragedy will unfold at its own pace. Iraq was not to be
saved in the first place (Will Iraq survive the Iraqi resistance? Dec
23, 2003). America once produced leaders who recognized tragedy when
it confronted them; Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address
portrayed the terrible Civil War of 1861-1865 as redress for the sin
of slavery. Lincoln did not expect a favorable reception for his
view, and he was right. Although the words of the inaugural are
carved on the wall of Lincoln’s memorial, they are as obscure to the
Washingtonians of today as hieroglyphs to sightseers in Egypt.

America’s 42nd president cannot grasp that Americans comprise a tiny
minority who fled the tragedy of the nations. Those who remained in
the old country chose a tragic destiny. “Men are not flattered by
being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the
Almighty and them,” Lincoln wrote shortly after his second inaugural.
In full denial, the Bush cabinet remains captive to the fixed idea of
Middle Eastern democracy. Bush’s critics spin silly conspiracy
theories about America’s “real” intentions (grabbing oilfields,
turning Israel into a regional superpower, and so forth).

The kingpin of conspiracy theorists, Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker,
sees an Israeli conspiracy behind the emergence of an independent
Kurdistan. In his dispatch of June 28, Hersh quoted a Turkish
official: “From Mexico to Russia, everybody will claim that the
United States had a secret agenda in Iraq: you came there to break up
Iraq.” Why should Washington care what Mexico thinks? And why should
Russia object to making the Turks miserable, especially if it
tightens the vice around the rebel Chechnyans?

One should learn more about the Kurds before portraying them as
puppets in anyone’s plot. If Aeschylus had scripted the tragedy of
peoples rather than heroes, the Kurds would have been at the top of
his list. In 1915, the “Young Turk” Ottoman government enlisted Kurds
to exterminate a million and a half Armenians during 1915-1923. More
Armenians died at Kurdish than Turkish hands. As their reward, the
Turkish government allowed Kurds to resettle the portion of Eastern
Anatolia then known as Western Armenia, that is, after killing or
driving out the entire Armenian population. That is why Kurds now
comprise a majority of the inhabitants of the former western Armenia,
and pose a continuing strategic threat to Turkey. I do not mean to
fault the Kurds; the neutral Swiss spent half a millennium earning
their keep as Europe’s mercenaries. Small peoples do not survive by
being squeamish.

One is tempted to think, “If the Kurds killed Armenians for land in
Eastern Anatolia, a fortiori they will kill Arabs for oil in Mosul.”
But the Kurds are fighting for something much greater, namely their
slim chance of escaping the great extinction of the peoples. “Unlike
animals, human beings require more than progeny: they require progeny
who remember them,” I wrote on August 31, 2001, just before the
suicide attacks on New York and Washington (Internet stocks and the
failure of youth culture.) “Frequently, ethnic groups will die rather
than abandon their way of life. Native Americans often chose to fight
to the point of their own extinction rather than accept assimilation,
because assimilation implied abandoning both their past and their
future. Historic tragedy occurs on the grand scale when economic or
strategic circumstances undercut the material conditions of life of a
people, which nonetheless cannot accept assimilation into another
culture. That is when entire peoples fight to the death.”

Tara Welat, a prominent Kurdish nationalist, cited my essay last
April 7 in a report on the Kurdish website “There
are competing claims concerning the will of oppressed nations to
survive. One view holds that by reason of their oppression, peoples
who are under constant pressure to assimilate eventually lose their
will to survive as a distinct people. They may live on a physical
existence, but eventually, they can no longer defend what makes them
unique. For evidence, contenders of such a view cite the fact that in
the last century 2,000 distinct ethnic groups have disappeared. The
other view maintains that people not only seek progeny but progeny
who remember them and to this end, humans will fight to the bitter
end to defend their way of life and to resist assimilation.”

Welat adds, “… While as a whole, the Kurdish people have survived,
for some Kurds, the temptation of assimilation has been all too
powerful … There are also other ideologies – aside from the
nationalist ideologies imposed on the Kurds by their colonizers –
namely Islam and socialism, which the Kurds have been willing to
accept, mostly at the expense of their Kurdish identity … I believe
that there is among the Kurds, enough people who love freedom for
itself and who will struggle for it obstinately until the Kurds enjoy
self-rule.”

Welat makes clear why American policy must fail. The Kurds understand
from the inside, as it were, precisely what America is about, and
will have none of it: “As more and more countries become ‘melting
pots’, where cultures and identities are merged into a ‘mosaic’,
attempts to assimilate the Kurds will increasingly come under the
guise of democracy. Just as Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in 1835 upon
his visit to America, we can confidently claim that ‘a great
democratic revolution is taking place among us’. This revolution has
swept through America and the West and it is now bursting through the
gates of the Middle East.”

Welat adds, “The argument of democracy tailored by the ruling regimes
to address the Kurds goes something like this: Why do you ask for
special rights or autonomy (or heaven forbid, independence) when we
can live as equals and brothers, with full freedoms, under one
(centralized) democratic state … We must question a conception of
democracy that is limited to creating a centralized state and which
will ultimately push for the homogeneity of its citizens.”

America will not succeed in assimilating the Kurds; a people who
consider Islam yet another foreign ideology imposed on them will not
worship de Tocqueville. As its policy crumbles in the region, the
Bush administration will ally with such forces as the Kurds – and the
tragedy will proceed to its next act.

New Straits Times, Malaysia
June 27 2004

Visiting Bush touts Turkey as example for Iraq

US President George W. Bush aimed to bolster ties with Turkey after
strains over the war in Iraq, meeting with political and religious
leaders as he touted the country as a model for the Muslim world.

The talks came just three days before new leaders are to take power
in Turkey’s neighbor Iraq, and as an Al-Qaeda linked Islamic group
there threatened to decapitate three Turkish hostages.

“I appreciate very much the example that your country has set, on how
to be a Muslim country, and at the same time a country which embraces
democracy and rule of law and freedom,” Bush said.

During a brief joint public appearance with Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Bush said they would discuss Iraq.

He also suggested Turkey “ought to be given a date” by the European
Union for its eventual accession.

“This is my first trip to your beautiful country as president, it
also happens to be my first trip to your beautiful country ever. And
we’re honored to be here. We appreciate the hospitality of the
Turkish people,” said Bush.

Bush was also to attend a NATO summit in Istanbul Monday and Tuesday,
fortified by the alliance’s commitment to train Iraq’s new security
forces and an EU endorsement of the interim Iraqi government set to
take power Wednesday.

The US leader arrived here late Saturday amid tight security
following a string of bomb attacks and protests over his visit,
taking his armored car in a race from the airport to his posh
downtown hotel.

He was to meet with religious leaders from Turkey’s Muslim, Syrian
Orthodox, Christian orthodox, and Armenian communities later in the
day to highlight Turkey’s pluralism and tolerance, values he hopes
Iraq will adopt.

Bush traveled here from a US-EU summit in Ireland, his second
fence-mending trip to Europe this month as the June 30 date for
transferring power from the US-led military coalition in Iraq to an
interim government.

Turkey, a NATO member, refused to allow Washington to use its bases
to launch attacks on Iraq during the March 2003 invasion, and has
expressed concerns about the role of the Kurds in that country’s
political future.

Seeking to soothe those concerns, Bush has said Iraq will not be
partitioned to give Kurds in the northern part of the country a
separate homeland, something Turkey worries might rekindle a
rebellion by Kurdish separatists within its own borders.

The US leader’s visit brought life in central Ankara to a near
standstill, as authorities banned traffic and deployed thousands of
police to guarantee his safety after a spate of bombings.

All main avenues and streets leading to the city center were blocked
off, while police stopped even pedestrians from walking around
Erdogan’s official residence.

Helicopters overflew the city, while riot police with plastic shields
stood guard at key junctions. Armored police vehicles were also on
patrol.

The police department has cancelled all leave for Bush’s visit and
about 10,000 officers were expected to be on duty across the city.

Frustrated residents were seen arguing with police or asking for
directions on how they can reach their destinations.

Authorities also closed the main road leading from the capital to the
airport until after Bush wraps up his visit later in the day.

Security fears over the visit escalated Thursday when a bomb exploded
outside the hotel where Bush was to stay in Ankara, injuring three
people.

Shortly afterwards, a bomb went off in a public bus in Istanbul,
killing four people and injuring 21 others.

A number of anti-American and anti-NATO demonstrations are also
planned around the country.

Turkey has been on edge since November when 63 people were killed in
four massive suicide bombings in Istanbul, blamed on local militants
linked to the Al-Qaeda network.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Iraq, an Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic militant
group threatened to kill three Turkish hostages unless Ankara pulls
its companies out of Iraq within 72 hours, according to a videotape
broadcast on Al-Jazeera television Saturday.

ARMENIAN LEADER “CREATING TENSION” TO COVER HIS OWN FAILURE – AZERI TV

ANS TV, Baku
24 Jun 04

(Presenter) Hostilities on the Armenian-Azerbaijani front line have
become a daily routine over the past month. Armenian attacks are
gradually taking on a more protracted nature.

(Passage omitted: A round-up of latest incidents on the front line)

(Reporter) There are grounds to say that intensive activities by the
Armenians have a number of reasons. First, Georgia and Azerbaijan made
statements on a number of serious economic projects earlier this
month. One of the projects that will ensure the Armenians’
international isolation is the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars
railway link. If this project materializes, Armenia will lose its last
chance of linking to international communication lines.

The second is the continuing domestic political crisis in Armenia. On
14 June when another opposition rally was brutally dispersed in
Yerevan, the Dashnaks fired at the village of Mazam in Qazax District
(northwest Azerbaijan) on the front line.

It seems that Armenian President Robert Kocharyan wants to counter
Azerbaijan’s success in the international arena and his own failure in
Armenia by creating tension on the front line. In this context, his
radical statement from the rostrum (of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe) in Strasbourg on 23 June is no coincidence.

(Kocharyan said that Karabakh has never been part of independent
Azerbaijan and that Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity has nothing to
do with the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic)

Persian Journal

Iran News
Iran, Armenia Call for Expansion of Mutual Ties

Jun 24, 2004, 04:32

Head of Armenian presidential office Artash Tumanyan and his entourage
conferred here Tuesday with Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi on issues
of mutual interest, IRNA reported.

According to the Information and Press Bureau of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Armenian minister of energy along with the country’s
deputy minister of transportation and telecommunication were also
present in the meeting. At the meeting, the two sides reviewed
expansion of economic and commercial cooperation. Describing the
current level of political relations as satisfactory, Kharrazi voiced
satisfaction over the outcome of Iran-Armenia Economic Commission
meeting and hoped to witness further expansion of economic and
commercial cooperation to a desirable level.

Calling the two sides relations as very significant, he expressed the
hope that both sides would take more firm steps to broaden economic
cooperation. He said the two sides’ economic cooperation would help
restore regional security. The Armenian envoy, for his part, described
bilateral economic activities as `fruitful’ and said the already
reached agreements between the sides would have positive impacts on
mutual relations.

Implementing macro-economic plans will have positive results on ties
between the two countries as well as those in the region through the
restoration of security and stability in the region, he said adding
that the countries in the region through a sincere cooperation can
prevent the interference of foreigners and their influence on regional
developments. The Islamic Republic of Iran is a stabilizing force in
the region, he noted. North-Corridor is a strategic project in which
Iran plays a very significant role, he concluded.

Armenian authorities have informants within opposition – presidential adviser

Aykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
15 Jun 04

Text of Naira Zograbyan interview with Garnik Isagulyan, presidential
adviser on national security, by Armenian newspaper Aykakan Zhamanak
on 15 June headlined “Moles are not moles”

[Correspondent] Who was behind the advice to [Armenian President]
Robert Kocharyan to appoint you adviser on national security issues?

[Garnik Isagulyan] Generally the president himself forms his team
and any appointment is, first of all, his choice.

[Correspondent] There are rumours that you have managed to leave
Kocharyan’s first assistant, Armen Gevorkyan, in the shadows, and to
occupy the place of Kocharyan’s favourite.

[Isagulyan] All this kind of information is not realistic. Everybody
in this building [president’s office] has their own function. As for
my relations with Armen Gevorkyan, we work together very well and
there is no disagreement between us.

[Correspondent] What kind of advice have you given to Robert Kocharyan
on national security during the past two months to justify your
appointment?

[Isagulyan] The most important is that a political research institute
attached to the president will be set up soon, which will deal with
internal as well as external and regional problems. Moreover, work
has been started to develop a national security concept.

[Correspondent] Mr Isagulyan, there are rumours that moles exist
amongst the opposition, with whom you cooperate, and who give
information to the authorities from time to time.

[Isagulyan] What does it mean to cooperate? There are no moles,
simply there are people who think soberly and today are trying to
have contact with the authorities and submit their viewpoint.

[Correspondent] If they share information with the authorities,
why do none of them publicly declare this?

[Isagulyan] You know, each of them is frightened of being called a
“mole”. They are frightened that their colleagues will not understand
them correctly, because there are people in the opposition who see
their death if they cooperate with the authorities, because these
people as politicians have no value.

[Correspondent] Mr Isagulyan, will you name some people from the
opposition who share information with the authorities?

[Isagulyan] I have no problem and would name them, but unfortunately
these people ask us not to mention their names, as they are frightened
of their so-called friends. They do not want to find themselves in
the tabloid press and do not want to see the failure of their work.

[Correspondent] Are their opposition friends aware of their service
to the authorities?

[Isagulyan] They are not serving the authorities, they are serving
our state, our nation.

[Correspondent] During your recent meeting with journalists you said
that the next president will be from Karabakh as well.

[Isagulyan] It was not so. A journalist asked me why the Armenian
president is of Karabakh origin, and I told him not to be in a hurry,
because it is not ruled out that the next president won’t be of
Karabakh origin as well. And this not a tragedy.