Author: Hovhannisian John

OSCE fact-finding mission presents report to MG co-chairs

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 1 2005

Baku, February 28, AssA-Irada

The OSCE fact-finding mission presented its final report on the
settlement of Armenians in the occupied regions of Azerbaijan to the
Minsk Group (MG) co-chairs in Prague on Monday. The content of the
document is not disclosed yet.

The report will be presented to Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign
ministers at their meeting in the Czech capital on Wednesday.
The OSCE mission held a week-long monitoring of the illegal
settlement of Armenians in seven occupied Azeri regions early in
February.*

Azeri daily questions Karabakh remarks by US envoy to Armenia

Zerkalo, Baku
26 Feb 05

Excerpt from Rauf Mirqadirov’s report by Azerbaijani newspaper Zerkalo
on 26 February headlined “‘Karabakh cannot be given to Azerbaijan as
this will be a disaster,’ the US ambassador to Armenia, John Evans,
reportedly says”

“The idea of separatism in the 20th century is comparable to society’s
taboo on a divorce in the 19th century. The Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents should finally take a political step and move forward,”
the US ambassador to Armenia, John Evans, told representatives of the
Armenian diaspora in San Francisco asked about the prospects for the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict, Regnum news agency quotes the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) as saying.

Evans said that at present, there is no good reason for optimism
about the settlement of the Karabakh conflict because neither Armenia
nor Azerbaijan are close to making their own choice of the conflict
settlement, ANCA reported. Although the USA respects the territorial
integrity of states, “everyone realizes that Karabakh cannot be given
to Azerbaijan as this would be a disaster”, Evans said.

[Passage omitted: details of Evans’s statement and Karabakh discussions
at the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe]

It is worth pointing out right at the start that it is doubtful that
the US ambassador to Armenia has made such clear statements about
the future of Nagornyy Karabakh, especially as this information was
disseminated quoting ANCA, which can hardly be trusted. However,
such statements are another reason to remember the double position
of Western countries, including the USA, on the unsettled conflicts
in the post-Soviet area.

[Passage omitted: statement of former US co-chairman of the OSCE
Minsk Group; international community always declares its support for
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity]

Now let us talk about direct negotiations with representatives of
the Nagornyy Karabakh Armenians. The author of this article has
repeatedly said that Azerbaijan should be more flexible about this
issue. It is hardly expedient to immediately reject direct contacts
with the Nagornyy Karabakh Armenians, especially as the resolution
of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which meets
Azerbaijan’s interests on the whole, contains a call for this.

However, as a condition for establishing direct contacts with the
Nagornyy Karabakh Armenians, it is necessary to demand that Armenia
officially recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity within its
internationally-recognized borders. Moreover, this requirement is
fully in line with international legal norms and no-one, not even
the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, will dare to oppose this
position. Azerbaijan should announce that until Armenia makes an
official statement on the recognition of our country’s territorial
integrity, Azerbaijan will regard the Karabakh problem only as a
conflict between the two states.

Who will follow the orange revolution’s example?: Apricot, aubergine or
amber, popular uprisings in the former Soviet republics will continue

The Guardian – United Kingdom
Feb 25, 2005

The revolution in Ukraine was orange, and in Georgia the previous year
it was rose. Velvet revolutions, with their promise of closer links
with the West for former Soviet republics, are on a roll.

>From Kyrgyzstan to Moldova, the spectre of democracy is haunting
politicians and dominating the media. Design-conscious commentators
are guessing which colour the next uprising will adopt: claret in
wine-growing Moldova; apricot in southern Armenia; aubergine in
Azerbaijan; perhaps even amber in the Kaliningrad enclave where a wave
of unrest has hit dock workers. In Chisinau, the Moldovan capital,
nationalist leader Yuri Roshka has already booked the main square for
the period following the election on March 6. Banking on electoral
fraud, he plans to stage a repeat of the orange revolution.

Georgia and Ukraine are tempting examples, having overthrown their
ageing elites to usher in a new generation of western-educated
politicians committed to change. They seem to have reached the second
stage in the process of rooting out communism. And none too soon. Some
12 years after independence most of the republics have made little
real progress towards democracy. Having escaped from Moscow’s control,
many countries sank into one-party rule or outright tyranny.

The same corrupt elites, out of touch with popular demands, still hold
the levers of power, flogging to death Stalin’s maxim, “It’s not who
votes that counts. It’s who counts the votes.”

Yet stuffing ballot boxes no longer works. In Ukraine and Georgia it
was the electoral fraud organised by the regimes in power that
triggered their fall. They wrongly assumed that voters were still
apathetic, whereas they switched roles and rose in protest.

“There will not be any rose, orange or banana revolutions in our
country,” the president of Belarus, Aleksander Lukashenko, assured the
press in January. Kyrgyzstan’s President Askar Akayev, facing a
general election on February 27 and a presidential election in
October, has criticised “attempts by provocateurs to prepare a velvet
revolution” in his country.

They have good reason to worry. In Kiev the young activists of the
Pora (It’s time) movement, which spearheaded the orange revolution,
are determined to spread the word across the former Soviet
Union. Carrying on where others started, they have contacted
opposition parties in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

Russia sees these regime changes as underhand manoeuvres orchestrated
by the West. In the middle of the crisis in Kiev, the Kremlin’s spin
doctor Vyacheslav Nikonov warned: “If we lose Ukraine the West will
treat us as a banana republic.”

Reasserting Russian influence over its closest neighbours was among
the priorities for Vladimir Putin’s second term. But events have not
gone his way and Ukraine and Georgia are determined to join the EU and
Nato, following the example of the three Baltic republics.

The root problem is that Moscow has little to offer former Soviet
republics, apart from increasing energy dependency and one-sided trade
agreements.

Minneapolis Star Tribune , MN
Feb 24 2005

Movie review: ‘Vodka Lemon’ serves up yearning and hardship

Leisurely to a fault but emotionally generous, “Vodka Lemon” shows us
a season in the life of an icebound Armenian village and the economic
and emotional travails of several locals. Objectively, it’s a sad
story of yearning and hardship, but it’s structured and performed
like a comedy. As life is.

Hamo, a rugged old veteran, puts the best face on events as he talks
to his late wife’s headstone. He’s supplementing his skimpy pension
by selling off their possessions, and there’s not much left but the
wallpaper. Romen Avinian, who plays the part, bears a striking
resemblance to Omar Sharif and shares that actor’s aura of
unassailable dignity even in advanced age. Iraqi-Kurdish
director-writer Hiner Saleem uses that quality to stage some physical
comedy that would otherwise feel cruel.

A scene from “Vodka Lemon”Minnesota Film ArOn a visit to the
graveyard, Hamo crosses paths with Nina (Lala Sarkissian), a pretty
widow who works in the Vodka Lemon liquor store. (“Why is it called
Vodka Lemon when it tastes like almonds?” a patron asks. “That’s
Armenia,” she shrugs.) Nina is a decade younger than the courtly Hamo
but in equally dire straits. Saleem is in no rush to pair them up,
and their gradual realization that they might be good company for
each other proceeds as gradually as winter giving way to spring.

Vodka Lemon

*** out of four stars

Unrated; brief violence and adult themes. In Kurdish, Russian and
Armenian, subtitled.

Colin Covert

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

February 24, 2005
___________________

THIS SUMMER ST. VARTAN CAMP ADDS THIRD SESSION

Each year is better than the last at St. Vartan Camp. More kids want to
come each summer. More families want to take advantage of the camp’s
unique programs. And now, the program has settled into a new home, the
Diocese’s Ararat Center, just south of Albany, NY.

Also this year, to meet the exceptional demand, St. Vartan Camp is
expanding to three two-week sessions.

“We’ve been filled to capacity or near capacity for the past few years,
and there’s always been more young people who wanted to come,” said Yn.
Arpi Kouzouian, director of St. Vartan Camp. “This year, with an extra
two-week session, we will hopefully not have to turn anyone away.
Because the Diocese’s camp programs are truly unique and a vital part of
the Armenian community.”

This year’s St. Vartan Camp, run by the Diocese of the Armenian Church
of America (Eastern), has three two-week and three one-week sessions
which begin June 26, July 10, and July 24.

“We’re excited to be able to add this third session this year. It will
help us bring more young people into our Armenian community,” Yn.
Kouzouian said. “We’re not only making our programs and activities
available to more youth, we’re also strengthening the program for this
year’s camp.”

St. Vartan Camp — and its sister Midwest Hye Camp, a week-long program
running from July 31 to August 6 — is a unique, Armenian Christian
centered program for children between the ages of 8 and 12. Last year
nearly 400 youngsters benefited from the Diocesan camps.

The camp program also offers opportunities for young people to develop
leadership skills by becoming counselors-in-training or staff members.
This year’s St. Vartan Camp staffers will undergo an intensive one-week
training session.

For the second year, St. Vartan Camp will be held at the Diocesan Ararat
Center, just 30 miles south of Albany, NY, in the beautiful Catskill
Mountains. The breathtaking facility features a pool, tennis courts,
basketball court, and superior accommodations.

Early registration for campers is March 15, after which tuition will
rise. For more information and to register for St. Vartan Camp visit
For information on the camp or details on
becoming a counselor-in-training or camp staffer, contact Yn. Arpi
Kouzouian by e-mailing [email protected] or calling (617)
876-2700.

— 2/24/05

RIA Novosti, Russia
Feb 22 2005

TURKEY AND IRAN TO CONSUME ARMENIAN POWER

MOSCOW, February 22 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian UES (United Energy
Systems) Company plans electricity supplies to Turkey and Iran, UES
chairman of the board Anatoli Chubais has said.

“We are thinking of expanding the export of Armenian generating
capacity. Today electricity is exported from Armenia to Georgia and
we are thinking of a more complex arrangement of Armenian electricity
supply to Turkey and Iran”, Mr. Chubais said.

The UES manages a set of generating facilities in Armenia. It keeps
in trust management 100 percent of the Armenian nuclear power plant.
As part of its debt repayment for the Russian nuclear fuel, the UES
has received the property set of the Sevan-Razdan cascade and manages
the Razdan heat and power plant.

According to Mr. Chubais, the UES priority project in Armenia is the
fifth unit of the Razdan facility. He has called “realization of the
Razdan agreements concluded with the Armenian government” as the
target goal on the fifth unit.

The UES investments in building the fifth unit will come up to 120
million euros.

“This project (fifth unit) is linked to the Iranian gas pipeline
project, which is of interest to Armenia, power holding and Gazprom.
I don’t rule out that jointly with Gazprom we’ll build up a scheme of
participation in the gas pipeline project. If we do, we are ready to
make investments”, Mr.Chubais noted.

He also confirmed that the UES has received a proposal from the
British company Midland Resource Holding Ltd. on selling to the UES a
package of assets of the Armenian Electricity Grids, which the
British company has in management, of which some news agencies
earlier reported.

“I confirm having received the proposal. We are studying it. Whatever
decision is taken, it has to be coordinated with the leadership of
Armenia at the political level”, Mr. Chubais added.

`SAYING `TURK’ I UNDERSTAND GENOCIDE =80¦=80=9D

A1+
23-02-2005

`The Genocide is one of the meanest things that could ever happen:
victims, tears, sufferings, pain. But the Turks today are not guilty
for what their ancestors did in 1915. Saying `Turk’ I immediately
understand «Genocide’, but I’m not full of hatred towards the Turks’,
said Armine, a pupil of 9th form of the school after Javorov.

Another pupil of the same class, Anahid, does not hate the Turks
either. For her, a Turk is simply the representative of another
nation.

But not all the pupils have the same point of view. For example,
Mariam, a pupil of the 7th form, says, `I consider them an enemy,
because they have killed innocent people without reason, for their
profit. Genocide is something like greed, when people are not content
with what they have and wish for more.’

Today the pupils of the school after Javorov stood up in a moment of
silence in honor of the memory of the victims of the Genocide.

The Armenian National Philharmonic organizes concert – actions in
different schools of Yerevan devoted to the 90th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide. The aim of the action is not only to represent
songs but also to awaken the heroic spirit in the younger generation.

Today in the school after Javorov actor Vladimir Abajyan, singers
Arsen Haroutyunyan, Ayda Sargsyan and Anna Khachatryan and
doudouk-palyer Haroutyun Gevorgyan represented their art to the
pupils.

Foreign Minister on French co-chair’s statement

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Feb 18 2005

Baku, February 17, AssA-Irada — The statement by the French co-chair
of the OSCE Minsk Group (MG) Bernard Fassier that the OSCE fact-finding
mission discovered organized settlement of Armenians only in the Lachin
District, has drawn differing responses from the Azerbaijani public.

Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told journalists that the
French co-chair’s statement alone ‘can’t be considered sufficient”.
Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan will take further steps on a basis of
conclusions of experts from the countries included in the OSCE mission.

“First, we must study the report to be prepared by the mission and
then see which path Azerbaijan will choose.”

Mammadyarov went on to say that the report will be prepared by a group
of experts of Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Finland. “It is early
to speak about the conclusions in the document,” he said. In his
statement, Fassier said that unlike the Lachin District, Armenians
were not settled in the regions around Garabagh “purposefully”.

According to the French co-chair, the population settled in the
occupied regions is divided into three categories: refugees from
Azerbaijan, those hit by the earthquake that took place in Spitak,
Armenia in 1988, and those who left Armenia due to socio-economic
hardship.*

Settlement Of …
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SITUATION AT LISBON SUMMIT IN 1996, WHEN A DEFEATIST DOCUMENT ON
SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT WAS FORCED UPON ARMENIA, MAY REPEAT
AT CE SUMMIT IN WARSAW: LEADER OF NDP

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17. ARMINFO. If the international community
further considers Karabakh conflict as a territorial dispute between
Armenia and Azerbaijan, the situation at Lisbon Summit in 1996,
when a defeatist document on settlement of Karabakh conflict was
forced upon Armenia, may repeat at CE Summit in Warsaw fixed for May
2005. Leader of the opposition National Democratic Party Shavarsh
Kocharyan made this statement at a press conference at the Armenian
Parliament, Thursday.

He says that the present authorities of Armenia, who ousted Karabakh
from negotiation process, are responsible for transformation of
the Karabakh conflict into a territorial dispute between Armenia and
Azerbaijan in the eyes of the international community. If in 1991 after
the referendum of independence in Nagorny Karabakh Armenia recognized
the independence of NKR and demanded the international community to
do the same, now a considerable progress would have been reached in
this issue and there would be countries recognizing the sovereignty
of Nagorny Karabakh. He says that in 1991 several Latin-American
countries were ready to recognize the independence of Nagony Karabakh,
however the former ruling regime in Armenia “in the person of” the
Armenian National Movement categorically refused from such policy.
Unfortunately, the present authorities of Armenia did not do it either,
Savarsh Kocharyan says. In this connection, Shavarsh Kocharyan states
that Armenia must recognize the independence of Nagorny Karabakh only
after democratic elections are held in the country and a legitimate
power is formed.

Meanwhile, he says that the positions of the Armenian party in the
Karabakh problem are invulnerable from the legal point of view, and
the Karabakh conflict differs from the remaining regional conflicts
just with this. He notes that yet in 1991 Nagorny Karabakh held a
referendum of independence in conformity with international legal norms
and the USSR Law on the order of withdrawal of the Soviet Republics
from the USSR. As a result, two sovereign states, Nagorny Karabakh
Republic and Azerbaijani Republic, were formed in the territory of
the former Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic. Shavarsh Kocharyan
says that if the Armenian party constantly attracted the attention
of international structures to the legal aspect of Karabakh conflict,
the Azerbaijani propaganda based on falsified facts, would fail. After
all when Azerbaijan says that allegedly armed groupings exists in
the territory of NKR, the Armenian party can bring real facts that
representatives of Taliban movement and other terrorist groupings
fought on the part Azerbaijan in the course of the liberation fight
for Nagorny Karabakh, Kocharyan says.

Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
Feb 17 2005

Talk about Turkish-Armenian reconciliation
Thursday, February 17, 2005

Perhaps no entity in recent years has occasioned so much comment in
the Armenian community as TARC, the Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation
Commission. It is difficult to find anyone without strong opinions on
the subject – yet the actual participants have kept a low profile and
the exact nature of their discussions is largely unknown to most of
the public.

David L. Phillips, who served as chairman of the commission,
will discuss his experiences in a lecture entitled “Turkish-Armenian
Reconciliation: Lessons Learned from TARC,” on Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 8
p.m. at the Center and Headquarters of the National Association for
Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), 395 Concord Ave., Belmont.

Phillips is the first member of the commission to write
extensively about the experience of shaping and participating in the
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process in the newly published
“Unsilencing the Past: Track Two Diplomacy and Turkish-Armenian
Reconciliation.” The book will be on sale and available for signing
by the author on the evening of the lecture.

In his first lecture to the Boston-area Armenian community,
Phillips will offer a unique insider’s account of the ups and downs
of establishing a dialogue between Armenians and Turks: the
obstacles, accomplishments, and prospects for the future. A
question-and-answer period and refreshments will follow the lecture.

Phillips is senior fellow and deputy director of the Center for
Preventive Action at the Council of Foreign Relations and Director of
the Peacebuilding Program at American University, as well as a
visiting scholar at Harvard University and an analyst for NBC News.
Previously, he was a senior advisor to the U.S. State Department and
the United Nations.

Admission to the event is free (donations appreciated). The
NAASR Bookstore will open at 7:30 p.m. The lecture will begin
promptly at 8 p.m. and interested parties are strongly encouraged to
arrive early as space is limited and a large turnout is anticipated.

For more information call 617-489-1610, e-mail [email protected], or
write to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.