Author: Jabejian Elizabeth

ArmenPress
Aug 23 2004

KOCHARIAN SAYS MEETING IN SOCHI A NEW BOOST TO ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN
RELATIONS

SOCHI, AUGUST 23, ARMENPRESS: “I would like to express my
satisfaction with the spirit and atmosphere of negotiations which
have marked all our meetings with Armenian leadership. Sincerity and
partnership, in its deep meaning, are typical of Armenian-Russian
relations and for that I would like to thank my counterpart, Robert
Kocharian,” Russian president Vladimir Putin told a news conference
followed by his meeting with Armenian president Robert Kocharian.
According to him, the sides have a good chance to “fix the clocks”
for all spheres of cooperation. The talks mainly related to
cooperation in economic field. Russian president mentioned a number
of concerning issues, particularly decline in trade turnover. V.
Putin voiced his hope that the problems will be overcome in the
nearest future, primarily connected with modernization in Armenal, a
Russian subsidiary in Armenia, and some other problems in one of the
fields which wait for their settlement soon, Russian president
assured. V. Putin mentioned that he had contacted right during the
talks with Russian side involved in Armenal transaction and learned
that works will be over in due time. The total investment by the
Russian side will make 36 mln USD.
Russian president also said that they have conferred on military
cooperation, particularly within Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO). He informed that a decision is developed which
will be presented to the discussion of State Duma. According to the
decision, political military cooperation in CSTO member states should
be equalized with similar transactions in Russia, i.e., all
procurements should be made based on Russian standards and prices.
The sides also discussed infrastructure development cooperation
prospects. According to V. Putin, there are a number of problems in
this important field connected with geopolitical situation of
Armenia. However, he cited a number of good prospects which Russian
president voiced that will be realized.
V. Putin underscored cooperation in energy field among the
economic ties. He praised the present level of cooperation in the
field and voiced his hope that in the future they will be deepened.
Robert Kocharian said that the meeting in Sochi has been a good
opportunity to discuss disposition in different fields. According to
him, issues accumulate from time to time which wait a boost “to pass
through cabinets.”
President Kocharian also expressed his satisfaction with the
nature of the discussed issues. He also mentioned that concerns have
been raised connected with the decline in trade turnover. However,
the president noted that this is not the sole indicator in bilateral
ties. Russian capital has grown in Armenian businesses and is
encompassing more and more new fields year by year, already today
involving agriculture, processed chemistry, hotel, banking, high
technology and other fields. He underscored all the transactions that
are marking Armenian-Russian economic ties today.
Speaking on economic development prospects, Putin also noted the
mentioned fields. “We have untied a “difficult clew” of debts and
responsibilities by handing over control packages of a number of
Armenian companies to Russians,” president Putin mentioned.
President Kocharian said that there a number of issues with Mars
factory and works are under way to increase industrial output there.
In better conditions is Hrazdan Hydro Electric Power Station. It is
normally operating and output may grow in relation to export
possibilities.
Among other issues was military technical cooperation as well as
preparation of Armenian cadres in Russian military establishments.
Responding to the question of Armenpress on the situation in South
Caucasus, Russian president said that South Caucasus is in a
difficult state now and “the present conflicts are the heritage of
the past.” He said part of the conflicts are frozen and some of them
burst out with a new rigor. It is, of coarse, a concerning matter.
However, Russian president voiced his hope that common sense, the
clear understanding of the importance of relations among regional
people will prevail over some pretensions. “By joint efforts and
compromise in negotiations many accumulated questions should be
resolved,” he said.
According to Kocharian, conflicts affect negatively on the whole
region and everything should be done so that they do not flare up.
According to him, there are different conflicts at different phases
of development . Conflict elements in South Ossetia are difficult to
control. The situation is different in Nagorno Karabakh. There is a
strict border line, military forces on both sides, there are no units
or actions which are out of control, violating the regime of cease
fire would result from a decision by one side to break it. According
to Armenian president, the situation is different in North Ossetia.
Here the sides should demonstrate political willingness so that the
conflict does not develop into a war.
V. Putin added that he has conferred on Karabakh conflict
resolution with president Kocharian, mentioning that they discussed
alternative solutions, preservation of dialogue and resolution of the
conflict. He mentioned that it is important to note that both sides
try to find a solution from the situation and president of both
countries have similar aspirations. According to him, the clew is
difficult and compromises should be looked for. V. Putin noted that
Russia will play a role of peaceful mediator, of coarse, in case of
consent by the sides.
Responding to the question what are the ways to bring trade
economic relations into adequacy and to what level conflicts affect
economic relations, Putin indicated the example of Armenal and the
present challenges which are connected with the lack of communication
routs. According to him, as soon as the situation in Trans Caucasus
becomes tense, transport of goods and people also become difficult.
There are no communication routs between Russia and Armenia,
therefore the sides go to modernization efforts which asks for
additional investment capital. Although this is a positive phenomenon
for Armenia, it also indicates that economic cooperation becomes more
difficult when conflicts are not resolved.
Robert Kocharian said the meeting is a new boost to
Armenian-Russian bilateral relations. There are a number of tasks
that president Kocharian will assign to his ministers. President
Putin has already contacted with the head of Russian government,
minister of finance and several other ministers to settle a number of
concrete issues on the spot.
The sides also decided on Russian co chair candidacy of
Armenian-Russian intergovernmental committee who will be Russian
minister of Transport Igor Levitin.
Robert Kocharian invited president Putin to visit Armenian at the
beginning of next year which Russian president accepted with great
delight.

The Times (London)
August 21, 2004, Saturday

Round the world in a caravan

by Hugh de Wet

In the Sixties, motor caravanning took off, with basic camping
equipment fitted into converted VW vans being very popular. These
days motor caravans come complete with luxury touches and the
benefits of modern engines, but few people have been as adventurous
as Alan Johnston was …

Mr Alan Johnston, aged 44, a teacher who sold his old house to buy a
new one in Wimbledon, found himself with about £5,000 to spare.
Uncertain about how the money could best be used, he bought a
motorised caravan and set off, with his wife and three small adopted
children, on a trip around the world.

The Johnstons have just returned to Britain after three years. They
covered more than 80,000 miles by road, plus about 15,000 miles by
sea, visiting 19 countries from Belgium, through Europe to Russia and
on through Iran, Afghanistan, India, Malaysia and Thailand to Japan,
then crossing to the United States and Canada, before recrossing by
sea to France and returning home.

Mr Johnston still has a substantial part of the £5,000 to spare.

In the summer of 1965 Mr Johnston, then teaching at the Bishop Bell
county primary school at Crawley, West Sussex, bought the compact
motorised caravan -a van with built-in eating and sleeping
accommodation -for £1,100, and £200 worth of spares.

“During the trip we lived for less than £50 a month,” he told me.
“Somebody has estimated that we did the trip for less than a dollar a
person a day.”

Shipping their vehicle between continents turned out to be the only
major item of expenditure. The vehicle, weighing some three and a
half tons fully loaded, and powered by a 1600cc engine, traversed
some of the world’s highest mountain passes and completed the trip
without any major overhaul. It broke down only once in the United
States when the coil failed.

When they set off, Mr Johnston was 41, his wife, Josephine Maria, 36,
and their three Anglo-Indian children, Anna, Tim and Lee, whom they
adopted through the Dr Barnardo’s organization, five, four and two
respectively.

“Some people were appalled when they heard that we intended taking
our children into places like Afghanistan and Iran,” Mr Johnston
said. “But we found the entire trip extremely pleasant. Not once was
there a dangerous incident.”

They spent about a month in Russia and then found that they could not
cross from Armenia into Iran because of a cholera epidemic.

“The border had been sealed because the Russians were afraid of the
epidemic spreading across into their country,” Mr Johnston said.

“We spent about a week waiting in Armenia. The Russians were
wonderfully hospitable. Then we were told we could cross into Iran.

“Although it was a Sunday, a Russian bank manager appeared and
changed our surplus roubles into Iranian money. Then we were given an
escort of Russian Army officers up to the border crossing-point at
Djoulfa. On the other side of the padlocked gates a group of Iranian
officers was waiting to receive us.

“The Russians were affable; they delivered speeches, shook hands with
the Iranians, and then both parties unlocked the gates
simultaneously; it appeared that the crossing-point was seldom used.”

In Iran the family weathered the cholera epidemic with the aid of
giant antibiotic capsules which they were forced to take in copious
quantities.

“We know of people who have been robbed and even murdered while
travelling in the Far East, but I think that in most cases these
people behaved imprudently,” Mr Johnston said. “In Iran and Pakistan
we slept in police stations or airport buildings and were quite safe.
In India we used the rest houses.

India is an extremely gentle country, and we spent about a year
there. “In Pakistan, after negotiating the Khyber Pass, the Johnstons
were invited to dinner at the imam’s home at Peshawar.

“The Imam’s stately home was full of animals,” Mrs Johnston said.
“They believe in keeping close to nature, and we had chickens and
goats running about and huge tame storks peering over our shoulders.
We called the place ‘the Stork club’ after that.”

After the dinner, Mr Johnston found his van crammed with women and
children from the palace, all eager to be taken for a drive. He
eventually took them on a jaunt through Peshawar, under strict
instructions that the vehicle’s curtains remained drawn and that no
lights should be used, as the women were in purdah.

The Johnstons have returned to their home at Wimbledon which they let
while on their tour. Mr Johnston takes up a teaching post at a
Wandsworth secondary school with the satisfaction of knowing that his
children -the eldest is now eight – have a flying start over their
contemporaries when it comes to geography, languages, and general
knowledge.

Paper slams USA’s “double standards” towards Azerbaijan

Zerkalo, Baku
18 Aug 04

Azerbaijan is becoming a testing ground for the super powers, as
Russian MPs express concern at possible US plans to base troops there,
an article in an Azerbaijani daily has said. Despite the USA’s
statements on supporting Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, “Baku can
sacrifice its interests for Washington, but Americans could not care
less about either Azerbaijan or the Karabakh dispute,” the article
concluded. “Uncle Sam is interested only in Caspian oil and elbowing
Russia and Iran out of its interest areas.” The following is an
excerpt from A. Rasidoglu’s report by Azerbaijani newspaper Zerkalo on
18 August headlined “Uncle Sam’s double standards” and subheaded “Baku
may sacrifice its interests for Washington, but no appreciation is
worth waiting for”; subheadings inserted editorially:

The search for ways of settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict
depends not on the Minsk Group co-chairs, but on the governments of
Azerbaijan and Armenia, Trend news agency has quoted the US
co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Steven Mann, as saying.

Asked about the illegitimate municipal elections in the so-called
Nagornyy Karabakh Republic, as well as the command and staff exercises
in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, Mann said that “The Department of
State has already answered your question. I am reiterating deputy
spokesman Adam Ereli’s words at a briefing. We do not recognize
Nagornyy Karabakh as an independent state. The USA supports
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. We do not believe that these
elections will have a negative effect on the Minsk Group’s
activities.”

Touching upon the impact of these steps by the Armenian side on the
collapse of the negotiation process, Mann said that ” Events
dissatisfying this or that side will always crop up in the region.”

“The responsibility of all the sides involved in the Minsk Group
activities is not to deviate from the negotiations and from taking
further the peace process. Let me explain why we are doing this and
why Azerbaijan and Armenia are doing this. The sides are not in the
negotiations process for the sake of politeness or for the sake of
observing some norms. We are all proceeding from our national
interests. Therefore, I believe that President Ilham Aliyev’s decision
to participate in the negotiations is correct and is based on
Azerbaijan’s national interests,” he said.

Speaking of the long-term US position on the Karabakh process, Mann
stressed that the settlement of the conflict should take into account
the wishes of all the inhabitants in the region. “The Minsk Group does
not support any of the sides. The international community has
recognized the conflict and decided to support the negotiations and
mediate them. The international community has not authorized the Minsk
Group to act as an arbiter. Our mandate from the international
community does not envisage this. It says we should work as much as we
can to find a common ground between the two sides and ensure real
discussions,” the diplomat underlined.

Passage omitted: BTC pipeline

Russia concerned at US troop deployment plans

It is interesting that the diplomatic gestures of the American
co-chairman coincided with US President George W. Bush’s statements,
who officially announced the biggest ever redeployment of troops since
the Cold War. About 70,000 servicemen will leave their bases in Europe
and Asia. The head of the White House disclosed the details of this
plan at a traditional meeting with veterans of overseas wars in
Cincinatti, Ohio during the night of 17 August, Baku time.

Passage omitted: Bush’s details about troops deployment

Earlier, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld detailed the US
intentions in a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Ivanov,
while General Charles Wald named the countries, which could host US
military bases, among which there was Azerbaijan, too. Rumsfeld said
that the US troops in Europe would be reduced by two-thirds.

Passage omitted: details of troops reduction

In turn, the military contingents in the territories of the USA’s new
allies in Asia and the former Soviet countries will be slightly
increased.

Passage omitted: details and reaction in the USA

Bush has equally alarmed Russian political analysts and
officials. “Our concerns are grounded,” the head of the International
Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma lower house of parliament
, Konstantin Kosachev, told Ekho Moskvy radio station. “We still have
to be sure that new threats will not be created for Russia following
redeployment of the US military bases. But, there is no ground for
panic yet,” he explained.

He said that the talk is now about the deployment of US troops in
Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania and it does not cause
fear. Granted that, as Kosachev noticed, “Americans say that it is
being done to fight terrorism and the bases will be directed towards
the south. But, if the deployment of military bases in Hungary,
Bulgaria and Romania is movement towards the southeast, the appearance
of military bases in Poland is movement to the east,” he told
Interfax.

If we talk about deployment of contingents in the Baltic nations, this
will certainly secure US interests, something that cannot please
Russia. “Russia should negotiate with the countries in the Caucasus
and Central Asia, which could potentially be a place for American
bases, for non-deployment of these bases,” the deputy says. He is also
convinced that only the refusal to host American troops could allow
countries like Moldova and Georgia to “ensure their security”.

Passage omitted: Russian Defence Minister Ivanov’s comments

Russian media say that if the USA happens to redeploy its troops in
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia, the operation will start not
earlier than four to six years. Probably, these deployments and
generally all military decisions will be discussed at a meeting of the
heads of defence and security committees of CIS parliaments in
October.

“And within the framework of the meeting we will certainly discuss
relations between the CIS and NATO,” the chairman of the Committee on
Security and Defence Issues of the Russian Federation Council, Viktor
Ozerov, said. In any case the former Soviet nations will still have a
lot of time to decide whom to establish blocs with when American bases
approach Russian borders.

USA does not care about Azerbaijan

So, Azerbaijan is becoming a testing ground for super states. Whether
it will positively affect the settlement of the Karabakh dispute is a
matter of time. But, as is seen from Steven Mann’s statements,
Washington is again applying double standards to this
issue. Azerbaijan is a partner of the USA, while Armenia is Russia’s
vassal. But, Uncle Sam is little concerned over these nuances. It
turns out that Baku can sacrifice its interests for Washington, but
Americans could not care less about either Azerbaijan or the Karabakh
dispute.

Uncle Sam is interested only in Caspian oil and elbowing Russia and
Iran out of its interest areas. The Azerbaijani people is unlikely to
agree to this degrading accord… ellipses as published

Guelph Mercury (Ontario, Canada)
August 14, 2004 Saturday Final Edition

These Birds soar, even without their wings; Author of Captain
Corelli’s Mandolin strikes poignant chord in new novel

by WILLIAM CHRISTIAN

BIRDS WITHOUT WINGS, by Louis de Bernieres (Random House of Canada,
625 pages, $36.95).

Perhaps you know Louis de Bernieres only through the movie version of
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and think that Nicholas Cage’s
cartoon-like Italian soldier is typical of the author’s work. If you
do, this book will be an illumination.

This is a work that will move you deeply.

A profound sadness and world-weariness pervade it, though at times it
moves us to anger and pity. As the First World War British poet
Wilfred Owen wrote, the poetry is in the pity.

The story is set in a small coastal town in the Ottoman Empire before
the Great War. There, Muslims and Christians (mostly of Greek
background, a few Armenians) lived peacefully together. Everyone
spoke Turkish and was loyal to the Sultan.

They herded goats, they made pots, they taught school, they
quarrelled with one another. If they were religious, they were not
noticeably more so than most people.

>From time to time they forayed into the outside world, but normally
they kept to themselves. They were birds without wings, but the
outside world would not leave them alone.

De Bernieres tells his story through a series of discrete chapters.
One powerful theme is the rise of Mustafa Kemal, later known as
Attaturk, the founder and modernizer of Turkey.

Like many other countries, Turkey gets entangled in the slaughter of
the First World War, but the political turmoil allows Kemal to
consolidate his power.

He wants to create Turkey out of the Ottoman Empire and war with
Greece gives him his excuse for ethnic cleansing, just as the Empire
had expelled the Armenians and other groups earlier. Greeks who spoke
no Greek, who had never been to Greece, were driven from their
homeland with great brutality in the name of a political ideal.

What makes the work so poignant is de Bernieres’ exquisite ability to
draw complex and fully realized characters about whom we come to
care.

There are Karatavuk, a Turk, and Memetcik, a Greek, the title
characters, a robin and blackbird driven apart by politics they don’t
understand.

There is Philothei, who waits for Ibrahim the Goatherd, who returns
from the war driven mad by its horrors. Rustem Bey, the complex and
sophisticated landlord, is a man who lives a lonely life until a
platoon of Italian occupiers arrives and he suddenly has an equal
with whom to converse.

None of these people understand what is happening to their lives.
They don’t know why the soldiers arrive one day, force them to gather
their possessions and travel to a strange land.

There is so much brutality in this book because there is so much
brutality in the world. Some, of course, is planned.

Some massacres are ordered to prove a point or achieve a specific
end. At other times, they happen because soldiers become
desensitized.

They kill people because it’s too much trouble to take them prisoner,
or they rape and murder civilians, as it were, for fun.

The worst brutality seems to be the bureaucratic sort. Move 200,000
people from point A to point B, but don’t bother too much about
transport, food or any other necessities of life and shoot any
stragglers, not out of spite but just to maintain order.

Death by bureaucratic indifference. Death because no one really
cared. Death because, to those who had power, they were simply
things.

De Bernieres will not let us forget that these things have happened
and will happen again.

William Christian teaches political science at the University of
Guelph.

Associated Press Worldstream
August 13, 2004 Friday 12:11 PM Eastern Time

Nagorno-Karabakh hands over detained Azerbaijani soldier

YEREVAN, Armenia

Authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh announced Friday that an Azerbaijani
soldier detained a week ago in the separatist enclave was handed over
to Azerbaijan.

Anar Samyedov, 21, was seized on Aug. 6 in the northeast part of the
enclave’s border after allegedly crossing the demarcation line,
Nagorno-Karabakh officials said.

His detention was immediately reported to the International Committee
of the Red Cross and the Organization of Security and Cooperation in
Europe.

Armenian-backed forces won control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a largely
ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, in a 1988-94 war that killed
some 30,000 people and drove a million from their homes.

Despite a cease-fire, Armenian-backed forces and Azerbaijani troops
continue to face off across a demilitarized zone, and shooting
occasionally erupts.

Xinhua Online
2004-08-14 20:12:50

Results of men’s 10m air pistol finals

ATHENS, Aug. 14 (Xinhuanet) — Following are the results of men’s 10m air
pistol finals at the Athens Olympic Games here on Saturday:

1. Wang Yifu, China, 690.0 points
2. Mikhail Nestruev, Russia, 689.8
3. Vladimir Isakov, Russia, 684.3
4. Tanyu Kiriakov, Bulgaria, 683.4
5. Jin Jong Oh, South Korea, 682.9
6. Kim Hyon Ung, DPR Korea, 682.0
7. Norayr Bakhtamyan, Armenia, 681.9
8. Kim Jong Su, DPR Korea, 681.2

PRESS RELEASE
“YERKIR”, UNION OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
FOR REPATRIATION AND SETTLEMENT
47 Bagramyan ave., ap. 10/A, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel. +(374 1) 26 28 75
Web:
Contact: Robert Tatoyan, [email protected]

AN EXCAVATION OF MONASTERY COMPLEX LOCATED NEAR THE VILLAGE OF KNARAVAN OF
NEW SHAHOUMIAN DISTRICT OF MKR STARTS ON AUGUST 6, 2004

Yerevan, Armenia. – On August 6, 2004, the excavation project of Hantapert’s
Unnamed Monastery complex, situated in New Shahoumian Region of
Mountainous Kharabagh Republic, started.

The works are carried out by the initiative of YERKIR, Union of
Non-Governmental Organization for Repatriation and Settlement and
sponsorship of Hartounian family (New Jersey, USA).

The mission of the project is to prepare a detailed study of the monastery
complex, to excavate the surrounding area, and elaborate the project of
restoration of one of its churches.

The expedition group, comprised of the first ranking archeologists of
Armenia and Artsakh are: Mr. Hamled Petrossian, Archeologist and group
leader, Mr. Vartkes Safaryan, Archeologist and Ms. Louda Kirakossian,
Architect.

The preliminary report shows that the monastery complex is from 10-14th
century. The expedition group will continue its mission until August 30,
2004.

The Monastery is located in the same vicinity as Village of Knaravan, built
by YERKIR and sponsored by The Hartounian Family. Knaravan is dedicated to
the memory of late Knar Hartounian.

In fall 2004, Knaravan Village will be home to more than 15 families with a
school for the children. A health clinic and a city hall will be built by
the end of the year.

For detailed information on the monastery and the Knaravan Village, please
visit To get better acquainted with YERKIR and its
projects, please visit

Ha’aretz, Israel
Aug 12 2004

Armenian lobbyists are facing a lost cause

By Nathan Guttman

Activists again failed to obtain U.S. congressional recognition of
the Armenian genocide. The obstacles they face include America’s ties
with Turkey and the Jewish lobby.

WASHINGTON – For a moment it seemed to Armenian activists in the U.S.
that they had made progress toward obtaining U.S. congressional
recognition of the massacre perpetrated by the Turks against the
Armenian people 98 years ago. U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff, a
California Democrat, succeeded on July 15 in getting approval from
the House of Representatives for an amendment to the Foreign
Operations Appropriations bill, which would bar Turkey from using the
annual American aid it receives to hire political lobbyists in
Washington to lobby against the decision recognizing the Armenian
genocide. Ostensibly, a marginal amendment and not terribly
important, but in the eyes of supporters of the Armenian cause in the
U.S., even approval of a minor amendment is considered an
achievement.

The battle to gain recognition of the Armenian genocide by the U.S.
Congress is transformed annually into a fight between the small group
of Armenian supporters in Congress and the rest of the world – the
Turkish representatives and the lobbyists working on their behalf,
the administration, the supports of the administration in Congress,
and also several of the large Jewish organizations. When the U.S.
tries to maintain good relations with Turkey, the price is paid by
those who want to see the American Congress include the Armenian
genocide in the decision denouncing such actions, Resolution 193,
which also recognizes the Armenian genocide as such, approval of
which has been delayed.

The minor achievement in Congress, which is now referred to as the
Schiff Amendment, did not last long. Republican leaders in the House
of Representatives – Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, House Majority Leader
Tom DeLay and House Majority Whip Roy Blunt – issued an especially
sharply worded statement the day after the amendment was approved, in
which they made it clear that the amendment was unacceptable to them
and that they would seek to annul it when the Foreign Operations
Appropriations bill came before the conference committee that
attempts to bridge the gap between the Senate and House of
Representatives positions, before a bill is sent to the president for
his signature. When the House leadership mobilizes to kill a bill,
chances are the effort will be successful and therefore it seems that
despite the Schiff Amendment, no one will deduct from U.S. aid to
Turkey the sums it uses to finance activities against the resolution
recognizing the Armenian genocide.

`The resolution is dead’

Even the chances of House Resolution 193 now seem slimmer than ever,
given that at the conclusion of their statement, the House majority
leaders declared that “Furthermore, we have no intention of
scheduling H.Res. 193, as reported out of the Judiciary Committee in
April, during the remainder of this Congress.” The practical
significance of that is the resolution is a lost cause. Elizabeth
Chouldjian, of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA),
believes there is a still a chance for getting the amendment passed.
The organization is currently urging its supporters to call and write
to the House of Representatives in order to overturn the decision of
the House leadership and nevertheless schedule a vote on the
resolution. “We’re getting good response in the House of
Representatives and have 40 co-sponsors on a similar resolution in
the Senate,” she said, but history teaches that even interest groups
that are stronger than the Armenian lobby have no chance when the
administration and the Congressional leadership are working against
them. Another Armenian activist openly admitted that “the resolution
is dead” and this year again there is no chance of passing the
resolution that recognizes the Armenian genocide.

Don’t upset Turkey

The main obstacle facing supporters of the Armenian cause in the U.S.
and their attempts to gain recognition for the Armenian genocide is
the administration’s basic position and that of many others, whereby
friendship with Turkey is more important than anything else. The
Turkish government, via its diplomatic representatives and lobbyists,
has made it very clear to the Americans that any recognition of the
Armenian genocide will be perceived in Ankara as a slap in the face
and will adversely affect ties between the two countries.

So, for example, when France was considering a similar law, the Turks
threatened a series of sanctions and in the end recalled their
ambassador from Paris for six months. In the U.S., the situation is
much more sensitive – the Americans need Turkey as a crucial ally in
its region, as a base for U.S. forces and primarily, to maintain
relative quiet in northern Iraq. “Our relationship with Turkey is too
important to us to allow it to be in any way damaged by a poorly
crafted and ultimately meaningless amendment,” said senior House
leaders in their reaction to the Schiff Amendment. The administration
maintains a similar position. The debate does not revolve around the
question of whether there was an Armenian genocide or its scope, but
around contemporary politics and Turkey’s possible reaction if
someone upsets them with regard to this issue.

The Jewish community in the U.S. and the Israel issue are also
entwined in the pressure campaign preventing approval of the
resolution. “The community is certainly a player on this issue,” said
a key Jewish activist in Washington, who like many others involved in
the issue, asked to remain off the record. Representatives of Jewish
organizations reported “a sense of discomfort,” as one described it,
when coming to explain their position on the Armenian resolution; on
one hand, the Jews as a community are sensitive to the tragedy
experienced by the Armenian people, but on the other hand, there are
Israel-Turkey relations to consider. “We have always had a level of
uncertainty regarding the balance that should be kept between the
moral factors and the strategic interests,” one Jewish organization
official cautiously explained.

Last year, Jewish organizations, primarily the American Jewish
Committee (AJC), have been more active in thwarting the resolution
acknowledging the Armenian genocide. This year the politicians
managed of their own accord and the resolution will be postponed even
without the involvement of Jewish organizations. But a central
activists in a Jewish organization involved in this matter clarified
that if necessary, he would not hesitate to again exert pressure to
ensure the resolution is not passed and the Turks remain satisfied.
The same activist said he had received numerous requests in the past
to work against the Armenian cause in Congress. “The State Department
asked us, other people in the administration did, even the Turkish
Jewish community asked us to act on this issue,” he said. The
prevailing opinion among the large Jewish organizations is that
“Turkey’s relations with the United States and Israel are too
important for us to deal with this subject,” according to one
community activist who was involved in blocking Resolution 193 last
year. The more expansive explanation, offered in meetings and
discussions, is that “the Armenian genocide is a matter for
historians, not for legislators.”

Even though ties between Israel and Turkey are the determining factor
in decision-making in the Jewish community, there is also some weight
to the matter of definition. The American term proposed in the
resolution refers to “genocide” of the Armenians, while the Nazis’
acts against the Jews during World War II are defined as “Holocaust.”
The distinction does indeed exist, but according to many Jewish
activists, there are some who feel discomfort over the mention of the
Armenian genocide alongside the Jewish Holocaust, for fear of
cheapening the concept of a holocaust.

The Jewish community’s involvement in the issue of the Armenian
genocide is affected by the status of Israel-Turkey relations. One
senior organizational official related that during the honeymoon
years of Turkish-Israeli ties, the Jewish organizations were more
enthusiastic about openly helping Turkey thwart previous
Armenian-related resolutions in Congress. Now, he adds, since ties
have cooled off somewhat, many Jewish activists are trying to lower
their profile in this matter. The organized Jewish community in the
U.S. has close ties with the Turkish government and one of Turkish
Prime Minister Racep Tayep Erdogan’s senior advisers even promised
recently at a Washington meeting with a Jewish audience that
Erdogan’s criticism of Israel was misunderstood and that Turkey will
do everything to restore ties to the way they were.

Armenians for Kerry

The insistence of the administration and Congressional Republicans to
bar the resolution on Armenian genocide does not make President
George Bush very popular among Armenians on the eve of elections. One
of the large Armenian organizations in the U.S. has already publicly
endorsed Kerry and the Democrats have two groups of Armenians for
Kerry working for them. So far, no Armenian group has voiced support
for Bush. But the Armenian community’s electoral power is not
significant. There an currently an estimate 1-1.5 million Americans
of Armenian descent, but most are second, third or fourth-generation
immigrants and therefore, not all of them vote based on the
candidates’ views on faraway Armenia. “There are those who base their
decision on the Armenian issue, those who vote only based on their
political views and those who vote based on different reasons
altogether,” explained Ross Vartian, the executive director of the
Armenian Assembly of America.

However, the Armenian community has also kept track of President
Bush’s record. He promised in his 2000 election campaign to recognize
the Armenian genocide and after his election worked to thwart such
resolutions; he allocated a smaller amount of foreign aid to Armenia
than he had recommended to Congress and favored issues relating to
Azerbaijan over Armenian ones; and the Armenians in the U.S. were
insulted when Bush’s administration announced that Armenians residing
in the U.S. would be required to register at the offices of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service, as foreigners from Arab and
Muslim countries were required to do after September 11. Following
pressure from the community, the decision was retracted after 48
hours.

Next year, the world will mark the 90th anniversary of the Armenian
genocide. Activists in the U.S. hope the international pressure and
perhaps also the results of the U.S. election will enable them to
obtain approval of the resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide
in the next session of Congress. Past experience shows that the
chances of that happening are slim.

San Antonio Express , TX
Aug 11 2004

Cary Clack: Cry for help over atrocities in Sudan must not be ignored

Forty years ago, the name of Kitty Genovese became synonymous with
looking the other way while someone suffered.

In the early morning hours of March 13, 1964, in a middle-class
neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens, Catherine
“Kitty” Genovese was attacked three times in 32 minutes. The
assailant stalked, raped and stabbed her to death.

During the attacks, Genovese screamed, “Please help me! Please help
me!”

A subsequent police investigation revealed that at least 38 people,
in the comfort of their homes, saw or heard the attacks, but no one
came to Genovese’s aid. The one call to the police came after the
murderer had completed his crimes.

Many times, people don’t act in a time of crisis or don’t do anything
to save lives because they’re unaware of the problem. When they are
aware and still do nothing, it can be attributed to physical or moral
cowardice, sheer callousness or the bystander effect, where people
see someone in need but assume someone else will intervene to help.

Doing nothing and assuming someone else will assume responsibility is
a reason why so many crimes flourish in communities throughout this
nation.

Doing nothing and assuming someone else will assume responsibility is
a reason why millions of people in countries around the world suffer
with little hope that they will be emancipated from their pain.

In the 20th century and these infant years of the 21st, there have
been many regions of the world that were the Kitty Genoveses of the
international community; places where cries of “Please help me!
Please help me!” went unheeded or were answered inexcusably late by
nations in a position to help.

Whether the Armenian genocide in 1915-1916, the Holocaust of World
War II, Bosnia during the 1990s or the slaughter in Rwanda in 1994,
reaction to the worst of brutalities was slow.

This column space is rarely filled with topics of foreign affairs but
replace the word “foreign” with “human” and it’s appropriate.

What is happening in Darfur, in the western region of the Sudan, has
been called by the United Nations and human rights organizations the
greatest humanitarian crisis of our time and merits at least a few
words of attention.

The word “genocide” has been aptly used to describe the plight of
black Africans at the hands of Arab militias, the “Janjaweed,” who
are supported by the Sudan’s monstrous blood-soaked government.

More than a million people have been driven off their lands, women
and girls are routinely raped, more than 30,000 have died and the
U.S. Agency for International Development says that hunger and
disease will kill an additional 300,000 before the year is done.

A U.N. resolution gives the government until Aug. 30 to disarm the
militias. A Human Rights Watch report out today says the Sudanese
government’s pledge to stop the atrocities isn’t credible.

People in this and other nations can do what besieged Sudanese
farmers cannot, and that’s to appeal to their elected representatives
to do something and to contribute to agencies providing food and
medicine.

A people’s pain, no matter how close or far away, can’t be ignored.

PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM IMPLEMENTED IN SEVEN BORDER VILLAGES OF TAVUSH
REGION

IJEVAN, August 11 (Noyan Tapan). The “Hope of Communities” public
benevolent organization along with the “German Technical Assistance”
organization and the branch of the British OXFAM organization is
implementing the “Primary Health Protection” program in the seven
border villages of the Tavush region. The repairs and modernization of
medical points have already been carried out and training has already
been held for nurses in the villages of Berkaber, Tsaghkavan, Kirants,
Sarigyugh, Itsakar, Hakhtanak and Chinchin. Besides that the packages
of hygienic items and the literature on health protection were given
to the population of the indicated villages, lectures on medical
topics were also organized.