Author: Chilingarian Babken

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

HIS HOLINESS ARAM I RECEIVES
THE CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM DIALOGUE COMMITTEE OF LEBANON

His Holiness Aram I received the Lebanese Committee for Christian-Muslim
Dialogue in Bikfaya on September 5. Established in 1990, the committee
includes representatives from the seven main communities of Lebanon. The
Armenian community is represented by Dr. Jan Salmanian.

The committee members expressed their concerns in relation to the current
situation of Lebanon and put forth proposals for giving a new impetus to
inter-confessional cooperation in Lebanon.

The committee informed His Holiness of its plans to organize a meeting
between the religious leaders of the Lebanese communities.

His Holiness Aram I praised the activities of the committee and its future
plans, pointing out the following:

a.. In light of the current circumstances, the committee should adopt a
working plan that would relieve the Lebanese people’s confusion and win
their trust. A country’s biggest enemy is internal confusion, which could
have negative consequences on the political and economic fronts and harm its
internal unity.

a.. Cooperation between the various communities of Lebanon away from
political problems is essential. The communities of the country should
preserve their internal integrity and harmonious relations. This
necessitates frequent meetings between community leaders.

a.. Regardless of the internal and external circumstances surrounding the
country, now more than ever Lebanon needs to strengthen its internal unity.
Lebanon is a confessional country; a confessional structure based on close
cooperation forms the basis of Lebanon’s existence, its political and
administrative institutions. In this sense, the meetings between community
leaders and their united approaches are positive aspects both for the
Lebanese people and for the international community.

His Holiness assured that during his upcoming visits to Switzerland, Canada
and the United States, he will emphasize the role of Lebanon as a model
country of Christian-Muslim coexistence. He also promised to highlight the
importance of supporting Lebanon.

##

The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

EU BACKDOWN OVER TURKEY AS KEY REBELS LIFT THREAT OF VETO

Irish Independent
September 2, 2005

EU countries rebelling against the start of membership talks with
Turkey backed down dramatically last night.

Despite continuing opposition from Austria and Cyprus, neither country
threatened to veto the start of talks next month.

EU foreign ministers agreed they would put their own joint declaration
to the Turks, warning them that they must quickly move to open up
maritime and aviation routes to Greek Cypriot traffic.

Following increasingly acrimonious exchanges between Turkey and its EU
critics over the likelihood of it ever joining the EU, it now seems
that the vast majority of ministers accept existing commitments must
be met.

The formal start of accession talks will begin on October 3, although
it is not expected that Turkey could join the EU until 2013.

Austria has intensified its efforts to win support for an alternative
to full EU membership for Turkey. It argues that the poor Muslim
country of 62m people does not qualify to join.

Although the country’s foreign minister, Ursula Plassnik, stood by
this position yesterday, there was no attempt to veto the opening of
the negotiations.

The ministers effectively ignored earlier comments from the Turkish
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul who insisted his country’s refusal to
recognise Cyprus ahead of the reunification of the Turkish and Greek
communities had not changed.

France has also sounded increasingly sceptical, arguing that Turkey
should first fully recognise the Greek Cypriot regime.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, insisted that no country
had said ‘no’ to the opening of the talks. Irish Foreign Minister,
Dermot Ahern, also voiced broad support for Turkey. He argued that
new arguments shouldn’t be introduced to block the negotiations over
Turkey’s failure to formally recognise Cyprus.

The Turkish government, however, did its case no good yesterday with an
extraordinary decision to bring criminal charges against its foremost
writer Orhan Pamuk, who could face up to three years in prison for
comments made in a Swiss interview condemning the mass killing of
Armenians in the aftermath of World War One.

A Turkish public prosecutor said the comments violated the Turkish
penal code. On the Euro constitution, Jose Manuel Barroso, EU
President, caused a stir when he said he could see no way to bring it
back to life after its rejection. The EU was working well without it.

Officially, all 25 Union governments still support the constitution
and agreed only to “pause for reflection” while they decided how to
overturn the two ‘no’ votes and push ahead with ratification.

However, Senhor Barroso’s comments suggest that the pause for
reflection will simply be a prelude to burying the document.

He said in an interview with a Polish newspaper: “In the foreseeable
future we will not have a constitution. That’s obvious. I haven’t
come across any magic formulas that would bring it back to life.”

Conor SweeneyNewport, Wales

AZG Armenian Daily #157, 03/09/2005

Armenia-OSCE

ARMENIAN TRANSLATION OF THE HELSINKI FINAL ACT PRESENTED BY OSCE YEREVAN
OFFICE AND THE ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY

YEREVAN, 2 September 2005 – The Armenian translation of the Helsinki
Final Act, the first comprehensive document addressing European
security, was introduced today to the public in Yerevan on the occasion
of the 30th anniversary of its adoption.

Some 150 representatives of the Government, the National Assembly,
civil society, international community and the media participated in
the event.

The publication is a joint initiative of the OSCE Office in Yerevan
and the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

“We hope that this translation will help the Armenian people better
understand OSCE principles, values and commitments,” said Ambassador
Vladimir Pryakhin, Head of the OSCE Office.

He also praised the active role that Armenia has played in the
community of OSCE States and the good working relationship between
the Armenian authorities and the Office in Yerevan, as well as other
OSCE institutions.

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian underlined the uniqueness
of the Helsinki Final Act, saying it remains relevant within the
ongoing reform of Organization.

“The Helsinki Final Act created a platform for dialogue, where the
voice of every participating State had a right to be heard, every
opinion taken into account and interest articulated, no matter what
its military or economic weight,” he said.

The OSCE Office in Yerevan was established in February 2000 to promote
the implementation of OSCE principles and commitments, as well as
to encourage co-operation between the Republic of Armenia and the
Organization in all dimensions of security.

STATE BUDGET 2004 UNDER CONSIDERATION
Srbuhi Vanian.

Azat Artsakh Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
31 Aug 05

On August 29 the joint meeting of standing committees of the National
Assembly took place. The meeting was conducted by Vice Speaker Rudik
Hyusnunts.

Representatives of the government were invited to the meeting of
the standing committees. The report on the state budget of 2004
was presented at the meeting, which should have been discussed by
the previous parliament. The last meeting of the National Assembly
failed because there was no quorum. The NKR minister of economy and
finance presented in brief the performance of the state budget. He
mentioned that the budget receipts in 2004 were in surplus, totaling
4590191.2 thousand drams; the surplus was 990191.2 thousand drams. The
applications for financing expenditure were covered 100 per cent. GDP
totaled 42800000 thousand drams, increasing since the previous year
by 18.2 per cent. The social insurance tax collections were 95.2 per
cent. The return on tax was low for the part of land lease and rents
(63.1 per cent), and the total return on tax was 89.5 per cent. The
minister of finance informed that the plan of financing state budget
deficit was not implemented by 25 per cent and resulted in the failure
of the plan of deficit. By January 1st of the current year arrears
totaled 396188.3 thousand drams, increasing by 18.6 per cent since
the previous year. 98.9 per cent of the reserve funds were spent. The
chairman of the standing committee of finance, budget and economic
management Arayik Harutyunian gave a good evaluation of the budget
performance and mentioned that in future, apart from the report,
it will be necessary to present to the parliament a reference or
statement on the results of the social and economic programme. He
made observations on the scarcity of financial means directed at the
development of the economy, and mentioned that there is need for
greater investments in this sphere. A. Harutyunian also mentioned
that the government did not implement the agricultural programmes
adequately. “The state policy for irrigation systems needs to be
changed. It is necessary to supply money for implementation of definite
programmes instead of projections,” said the member of parliament in
answer to the minister of town planning B. Alakhverdian’ s comment on
the implementation of the programmes of improvement of the irrigation
systems. S. Tevossian said that the government is ready to provide
the parliament with additional information if necessary and discuss
their proposals and observations on different levels.

UN ETE DANS LA CROIX: LES ARMENIENS DE TURQUIE. (7/7).
J.-C. P.

La Croix , France
30 août 2005

Dossier. Des intellectuels turcs refusent l’Histoire officielle. Les
cartes postales racontent la coexistence perdue. À travers 750
photographies prises il y a un siècle, un livre et une exposition
defendent l’idee d’une societe plurielle. ISTAMBOUL, reportage de
notre envoye special.

par PLOQUIN Jean-Christophe

Sur la carte postale, une ribambelle d’enfants pose devant une rue
dont les maisons arborent de belles facades. Le clocher d’une eglise
s’elève non loin. La legende est sobre: “Jmisdt, Quartier armenien”.
La scène, prise a Izmit, figure sur la couverture du livre intitule
100 Yil once Turkiye’de Ermeniler (“Les Armeniens en Turquie il y a
100 ans”), edite en janvier a Istamboul. Son editeur, Osman Koker,
avait aussi organise ce mois-la une exposition sur la grande avenue
pietonne de la ville, Istiklal caddesi, reprenant le meme concept:
reveler, par la photographie, l’existence des Armeniens en Turquie
il y a un siècle.

Les 750 photographies rassemblees dans le livre representent un
vertigineux voyage dans le temps. Les legendes – la plupart du temps
en francais – sont d’une precision clinique: “Souvenir d’Erzurum. Le
clocher de l’eglise armenienne”, “Turquie d’Asie. Van. Boutiques
armeniennes”, “Souvenir de Trebizonde. Vue du cimetière armenien”…
Une serie de photos fait meme revivre une ville, celle de Kharpout,
disparue après les massacres de 1915. Une carte venant de la montre les
21 professeurs d’un collège tenu par des missionnaires americains. Les
noms sont presque tous armeniens.

Osman Koker a prepare pendant trois ans ce livre, ainsi que
l’exposition qui repose sur le meme materiel et qui devrait faire
etape a Munich dans quelques jours. En janvier, pendant onze jours,
plus de 10 000 visiteurs, dont beaucoup d’Armeniens, sont passes voir
les photos sur Istiklal caddesi. “Certains sont restes trois heures,
puis ils sont revenus avec leurs grands-parents, se souvient-il. Il y
a en un qui a reconnu son père sur une carte postale de Kharpout. Une
femme a ecrit sur le livre d’or: “Je suis heureuse d’avoir pu voir
cette exposition avant de mourir.””

Quant aux Turcs, ils etaient stupefaits. La plupart ont decouvert
par ce biais qu’il y a cent ans, des Armeniens vivaient dans leur
ville d’origine, qu’ils avaient un certain niveau d’education, que la
cohabitation semblait harmonieuse. “La societe aujourd’hui n’est ni
dans l’etat de nier le genocide, ni dans l’etat de le reconnaître,
souligne Hrant Dink, redacteur en chef du journal armeno-turc Agos.
Elle ne sait pas ce qui s’est passe. Mais elle est en train
d’apprendre.”

Apparemment neutres, l’exposition et le livre signifient pourtant
beaucoup. Ceux qui savent regarder comprennent que la Turquie de
l’epoque avait une identite plurielle, qu’une civilisation a ete
brutalement arrachee et que le pays a, depuis, beaucoup perdu. “On
nous dit toujours que les Armeniens ont trahi les Turcs. Mais on
ne dit jamais que ce sont eux qui ont cree les villes en Anatolie,
s’indigne Osman Koker. Notre système d’education ne parle pas des
minorites. L’Histoire commence avec les Turcs et finit avec les
Turcs. Or, la diversite est très importante pour le developpement
d’un pays moderne. Si la population prend conscience de cette realite
perdue, on pourra creer une societe plus pacifique, plus heureuse.”

Originaire de Maras, non loin de la Syrie, Osman Koker se souvient
d’une Americaine “qui parlait le turc avec l’accent du coin”, alors
qu’il n’avait que dix ans. D’origine armenienne, elle etait venue
revoir la maison paternelle et l’avait retrouvee. “J’ai decouvert que
les Armeniens vivaient la auparavant. Et qu’ils etaient chez eux”,
explique-t-il. Il prepare pour l’an prochain une autre exposition sur
le meme principe, cette fois sur les Grecs. Il publiera aussi, ville
par ville, des photos comparatives d’une place, d’un edifice, d’un
lieu, a cent ans d’intervalle, pour montrer parfois la continuite,
parfois la beance provoquee par l’eradication d’une culture. “La
question des minorites touche directement a la democratie”, resume-t-il
en un doux sourire.

–Boundary_(ID_8543ZNLkt1Ua1DrzGC2WwQ)–

Envoy rubbishes US media reports on Iran-Azeri ties

Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
25 Aug 05

[Presenter] Iranian ambassador to Azerbaijan Afshar Soleymani has made
interesting statements about the current state of relations between
Tehran and Baku. He said that Iran is not Azerbaijan’s enemy. Those
saying such things were a bit brainless.

[Correspondent over video of the ambassador’s news conference] US
media reports that Iran is going to attack Azerbaijan are nonsense,
Iranian ambassador to our country Afshar Soleymani told a news
conference today. The ambassador said that such reports were only
ridiculous. But his comments on this were also laughable.

[Soleymani speaking in Azeri] When a person bangs his head against the
wall, he says all sorts of things. He can’t help it. This might be the
case here. Naturally, a normal and healthy person will never say
so. I think he had dreamed it all.

This can never happen between Iran and Azerbaijan.

[Correspondent] Soleymani ruled out any problems between Iran and
Azerbaijan in any spheres and said that Iran always supported
Azerbaijan. Asked about the reasons for Azerbaijan’s absence from the
list of seven countries, including Armenia, which Iran had provided
with financial aid, the ambassador said:

[Soleymani] As far as Iran is concerned, Azerbaijan is not the same as
the other seven or seventy countries. This was the reason. Iran sees
the Azerbaijani Republic as a fraternal and neighbouring country.

[Correspondent] To prove his statements, Mr Soleymani said that trade
between Iran and Azerbaijan totalled 500m dollars. The ambassador also
noted that Iran had no humanitarian organizations in Armenia, unlike
in Azerbaijan.

Itar-Tass, Russia
Aug 26 2005

Azerbaijani, Armenian presidents to hold direct talks on Karabakh

BAKU, August 26 (Itar-Tass) — Azerbaijan’s President Ilkham Aliyev
is leaving for Tatarstan’s capital Kazan on Friday morning for a
meeting of the CIS heads of state and celebrations on the occasion of
the city’s millennium, the presidential staff has said.

Within the framework of the CIS summit on August 27 another round of
direct talks will be held between the presidents of Azerbaijan and
Armenia on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

As he dwelt on Baku’s position at the talks over Karabakh, Ilkham
Aliyev in his latest interview to the mass media said `as long as
there is the hope for a peace settlement of the conflict, talks must
go on.’

He noted `certain progress’ achieved at the negotiations lately, but
added there were still no guarantees in sight, because large
differences still remained.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said about the August 24 talks on the
Karabakh issue between the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers
produced `encouraging signs may be built up from at the meeting of
Ilkham Aliyev and Robert Kocharian in Kazan.’

Diplomatic sources in Baku do not rule out that at the summit there
may be a meeting between Aliyev and his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor
Yushchenko. Cooperation in the oil and gas sphere will be the main
theme on the agenda.

A delegation of Ukraine’s oil and gas company Neftegaz Ukrainy
visited Baku early this week for talks with the state oil company and
Azerbaijan’s government on the possibility of Ukrainian specialists
taking part in the development of oil and gas fields and the
transportation of Caspian oil through the Odessa-Brody pipeline.

AZERI ELECTION BODY ASKS OSCE TO HELP GET LIST OF VOTERS IN KARABAKH

Lider TV, Baku

24 Aug 05

The Central Electoral Commission [CEC] has appealed to the OSCE for
assistance in acquiring a list of voters – Azerbaijani citizens of
Armenian origin – in Xankandi constituency No 122, Rovzat Qasimli,
head of the CEC’s international relations department, has told APA.

Qasimli said the CEC stressed the importance of receiving the list
for holding the election in the aforesaid constituency.

During a meeting with Maurizio Pavesi, head of the OSCE office in Baku,
CEC chairman Mazahir Panahov also told him about this.

Qasimli said the CEC would make similar appeals to the OSCE Minsk
Group, the Council of Europe and other international organizations
as well. He said the process of making a list of Azerbaijani voters
in the constituency was continuing, adding that the voters would get
voter’s cards after the process ends.

U.S. DELEGATION ARRIVES IN ARMENIA TO REVIEW MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES PREPARATIONS

Armenpress
August 24, 2005

YEREVAN, AUGUST 24, ARMENPRESS: The US Embassy in Armenia said
three staff members from the United States House of Representatives
International Relations Committee are arriving today in Armenia for
a three-day visit. The delegation members are visiting Armenia to
review plans for the country’s pending development compact with the
Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

In addition to meetings regarding the Millennium Challenge Account
process, the delegation will discuss the full range of political and
economic development issues in Armenia and the region with high-level
government officials, NGOs, political leaders and diplomats.

The delegation, whose members have already been to Georgia for
a similar visit and who will visit Ghana and Benin following
Armenia, includes staffers Matthew McLean, Samuel Stratman, and Paul
Oostburg-Sanz. These un-elected staff members advise the Congressmen
who serve on the House International Relations Committee, which is
the standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives that
is in charge of legislation related to the foreign affairs of the
United States. During their visit to Armenia, the delegation members
will meet with Millennium Challenge-Armenia representatives and will
visit project-sites throughout Armenia that may receive assistance
if Armenia’s MCC proposal is accepted.

The delegation will also meet with various NGOs and donor community
representatives, as well as with Armenian officials, including Minister
of Foreign Affairs Vartan Oskanian, Minister of Agriculture Davit
Lokyan, National Assembly Speaker Artur Baghdassaryan, Presidential
Senior Advisor Armen Gevorkyan, Minister of Regional Administration
and Infrastructure Hovik Abrahamyan, and Deputy Minister of Finance
and Economy Khachatryan.

The U.S. Government continues to implement a development assistance
program in Armenia that is aimed at strengthening democracy and civil
society, promoting broad-based economic growth, and fostering regional
stability. To date, the U.S. Government has provided over 1.6 billion
dollars to help the people of Armenia.

Xinhua, China
Aug 24 2005

Armenian, Azerbaijani FMs wish for Nagorno-Karabakh settlement

2005-08-25 01:58:24

MOSCOW, Aug. 24 (Xinhuanet) — Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov were
hopeful Wednesday of progress in settling the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict after a day of discussions in Moscow.

“There is hope that we’ll find common denominators, which
wouldbring peace and stability to southern Caucasus,” Oskanyan told
theItar-Tass news agency.

Self-determination is the priority in settling the conflict of
Nagorno-Karabakh, which also requires attention to some other issues
such as elimination of the consequences of the conflict, the
territorial issue and the return of refugees.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a mostly ethnic Armenian enclave now
controlled by Armenia. Azerbaijan lost control of the region
following an armed conflict with Armenia in the 1990s.

Mamedyarov spoke positively of the Moscow meeting but said it is
premature to talk about any headway in resolving the conflict.

It is necessary to actively work on the settlement and there isan
opportunity “to arrive at a common denominator for this problem,”
Mamedyarov said.

Wednesday’s meeting gathered the foreign ministers of Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Russia as well as representatives of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe and was meant to pave the way
for the meeting of the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan later this
week, when leaders of former Soviet republics will gather in the
Volga River city of Kazan for a summit meeting.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the start of
themeeting that Russia hopes progress will be made in negotiations
over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Talks on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict began in
1991 and involved Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia and Kazakhstan. Enditem