Author: Jagharian Tania

Baku Today
Nov. 5, 2004

Four Caucasus Countries’ Railway Companies to Establish a Joint Venture

Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin said on Wednesday that Russia,
Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are going to establish a joint venture
to restore Transcaucasian railway network.

He said the decision has been taken during the negotiations between
leaders of three republics of the region.
“Three countries’ presidents confirmed they are ready to consider the
scheme of creation of operator company proposed by the transport
ministries,” said Levitin. “We understand that signing of the agreement
between four countries is a difficult matter from political viewpoint
and we offered to create the operator company, which will manage the
traffic.”

Azerbaijan state railway refused to give any comments on the
above-mentioned statement made by Russian Minister.

RIA Novosti
November 03, 2004

RUSSIA, TRANSCAUCASIAN COUNTRIES WANT TO RESTORE RAILROAD OPERATION IN
CAUCASUS

MOSCOW, Nov 3 (RIA Novosti’s Yelena Fyodorova) – Russia, Georgia,
Armenia and Azerbaijan intend to establish an operator company to
restore and service the Transcaucasian railroad, Russian Transportation
Minister Igor Levitin said at a Wednesday press conference in Moscow.

In his words, this decision was made after the talks with the
leadership of three Transcaucasian countries. “Three presidents
confirmed their wish that transportation bodies should suggest a scheme
of an operator company’s establishment,” said Mr. Levitin.

He explained that the political decision on the restoration of a
through railway movement in the Caucasus was difficult to make now,
that’s why it was decided to start from economic issues.

“A scheme of establishing an operator company which will take up the
functions of controlling traffic was proposed,” said Mr. Levitin. He
added that open joint-stock company Russian Railways would join the new
company on the Russian part.

Mr. Levitin said that in many respects, the consent of the
Transcaucasian republics’ presidents to restoration of the through
railway movement was defined by the very important geopolitical
significance of this project. The case is that a project codenamed
Silky Way – the construction of a railway via China, Kazakhstan finally
reaching Turkey – is being realized now.

Mr. Levitin said the volume of transit on the Transcaucasian railroad
in Soviet times was up to 15 million tons of cargoes annually.

Mr. Levitin recalled that movement on the Transcaucasian railroad was
suspended in 1990 due to events in Abkhazia (a self-proclaimed republic
on Georgian territory). As a result of warfare, many sections of the
railroad were damaged, and many sections of the railway bed were not
demined.

“Georgia is to give the Russian side documents on the state of the
railroad on its territory and assess the volume of necessary investment
until the end of November,” said the Transportation minister. Only
after that will Russia make the decision to participate in the
restoration of the railroad, he emphasized.

In the minister’s opinion, the consortium which is being created will
also address the issues of restoration of destroyed sections of the
Transcaucasian railroad. The four states will support this project with
loans. Besides, a banking consortium will be created to finance the
project, said Mr. Levitin.

He said Georgia was interested in integration of a Georgian airline
with a Russian one.

The minister recalled that Aeroflot was considering the issue on the
integration with the Georgian airline.

Mr. Levitin said this issue was complicated with Georgian airlines’
debt for aeronavigation servicing in Russia’s airspace.

Economic and drug-related crimes up in Armenia

Mediamax news agency
28 Oct 04

Yerevan, 28 October: The number of registered crimes in Armenia dropped
by 4.4 per cent in nine months of 2004 compared to the same period
last year, and the number of solved crimes increased, the head of the
public relations and information department of the Armenian Police,
Lt-Col Sayat Shirinyan, said in Yerevan today.

He said that 8,098 crimes were registered in January-September 2004,
while last year the figure was 8,467. Thus, Shirinyan said that 25.5
crimes were committed per 10,000 people in Armenia, while in Moldova
this figure was 210.4, in Russia 148.7, and in Ukraine 82.9.

Especially grave crimes account for 1.6 per cent and grave crimes
for 33.6 per cent of the total number of registered crimes. A total
of 82.3 per cent of especially grave crimes and 78 per cent of grave
crimes were solved.

In nine months of 2004, 77 crimes involving the use of firearms were
registered, which is four times less than in 2003.

In the course of the fight against drug trafficking, 339 drug-related
crimes were registered in January-September 2004, which is 102 cases
more than in the same period of last year. A total of 12,782 kg of
drugs were seized.

The number of economic crimes increased almost twice.

The number of persons brought to criminal liability was 4,905,
i.e. 5.3 per cent more than in 2003; 916 criminals were convicted
for the second time.

About 1,230 persons are on the wanted list, which is 3.5 per cent
more than last year.

Azeri official sees Armenians’ possible visit as “act of sabotage”

Bilik Dunyasi news agency
27 Oct 04

Baku, 27 October: The wish of Armenian MPs to attend a NATO
Parliamentary Assembly seminar in Baku is nothing but another act of
sabotage. According to Azerbaijani Deputy Speaker Ziyafat Asgarov,
the Armenians want to come to Azerbaijan not because they would like
to attend the NATO seminar – they refused to attend the previous 57th
seminar in Macedonia. Also, Yerevan has repeatedly stated that it is
not interested in strengthening NATO’s positions in the Caucasus.

The NATO administration, in turn, understands this and intends to
improve relations with Yerevan.

According to Asgarov, despite this, it is impossible to prevent the
visit of Armenian MPs because a NATO Parliamentary Assembly rapporteur
on the South Caucasus is expected to point to the Armenian occupation
of Azerbaijani territories at the organization’s autumn session
in Italy. And if Azerbaijan blocks the arrival of Armenians again,
relations with NATO may acquire a negative undertone. As a result,
the report by the German rapporteur may be withdrawn from the session
agenda, which is not in Azerbaijan’s interests.

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway

The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief

=================================================

Tuesday 26 October 2004
TURKMENISTAN: CONTINUED ISOLATION OF RELIGIOUS BELIEVERS

Turkmenistan has, as part of an apparent policy of keeping religious
believers isolated, denied permission for a group of Seventh Day Adventists
to visit the country, Forum 18 News Service has learnt, despite the fact
that their invitation came from Turkmenistan’s registered Adventist church.
Other religious communities facing obstacles in visiting co-religionists
include Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hare Krishna devotees, ethnic Uzbek Muslims,
and the Armenian Apostolic Church. The head of Uzbekistan’s Bible Society
has also been denied entry, as was the United Nations special rapporteur on
freedom of religion or belief. The only religious community to have
unimpeded travel to Turkmenistan is the Russian Orthodox Church.

TURKMENISTAN: CONTINUED ISOLATION OF RELIGIOUS BELIEVERS

By Igor Rotar, Forum 18 News Service, and
Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service

Turkmenistan’s Foreign Ministry has refused permission for a group of five
leading Seventh Day Adventists to visit the country in December, despite
the fact that their invitation came from Turkmenistan’s registered
Adventist church, Forum 18 News Service has learned. The group had intended
to meet officially with the staff of the government’s Gengeshi (Council)
for Religious Affairs in the capital Ashgabad and to familiarise themselves
with the work of the Church in the country, which received registration
again in June after a seven and a half year break. Also barred from
visiting Turkmenistan is the head of the Bible Society from neighbouring
Uzbekistan, whose fourth successive application was rejected in
mid-September. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Hare Krishna devotees have had many
visa denials over the past few years.

Officials at Turkmenistan’s foreign ministry have declined to explain why
foreign religious representatives are being denied visas. Reached by
telephone on 25 October, one official even told Forum 18 that the number of
the ministry press office is a secret and that he had no right to give it
out. Agdylek Jumaniyazova, third secretary in the ministry’s consular
section, told Forum 18 from Ashgabad the same day that she had “no
right to comment on visa refusals”. Asked whether it is harder for
religious figures to get visas than it is for other individuals, she said
she did not know.

The Adventists launched the application process at the beginning of August
for the five hoped-for visitors – Rubin Ott, head of the Church in
Central Asia, and his wife, Viktor Vitko and Valeri Ivanov from Moscow, and
John Graz, the Washington-based general secretary of the International
Religious Liberty Association. Although all the required documents were
presented, when church members went to the reception desk at the foreign
ministry in mid-September to collect the permissions they were told
verbally that this had not been granted. “No explanation was
given,” Adventist sources told Forum 18.

“This means that although we are registered as a religious
organisation and our statute specifically allows us to invite foreign
visitors, we don’t have the right to invite people in practice,”
Adventists in Turkmenistan told Forum 18. “We are upset, as
registration means nothing.” They point out that their congregations
in Turkmenistan are part of a worldwide Church and it is “only
natural” that leaders and fellow Church members should visit and learn
about Church life in the country.

Adventists have also been denied permission to worship, despite the
much-trumpeted “liberalisation” of Turkmenistan’s religious
policy (see F18News 4 October 2004
).

Local Adventists also asked the Gengeshi about how they should go about the
invitations. One of the deputy chairmen, Murad Karriyev, told them that
they need permission from the Gengeshi and instructed them to request such
permission in writing. “We wrote and got no reply,” Adventists
told Forum 18. “Karriyev told them that permission could take six
months to come through as it was not he who decided.”

Turkmenistan’s Adventist church does not know whether it will ever be able
to invite fellow-Adventists from abroad. “We have the foreign ministry
on one side insisting that it is their decision, while on the other the
Gengeshi insists they decide. But neither gives permission.”

The head of the Uzbek Bible Society, Sergei Mitin, told Forum 18 in the
Uzbek capital Tashkent on 15 October that the rejection of his visa
application was the fourth since 2000 and, as on the previous occasions,
the Turkmen Foreign Ministry gave him no reason for the refusal.

He said that on each occasion he had arranged an invitation as a private
individual through a commercial tourist company, but had indicated on the
application form his job as head of the Bible Society. He said one of his
main aims was to meet officials of the Gengeshi in Ashgabad to discuss the
return of 1,500 booklets belonging to the Uzbek Bible Society confiscated
by the Turkmen authorities in 1999.

The Turkmen Foreign Ministry has also denied visas to Hare Krishna
followers and Jehovah’s Witnesses from other Central Asian republics,
Anatoli Melnik, leader of the ruling council of Jehovah’s Witnesses in
Kazakhstan, and Andrei Gorkovy (Achuta garaji-das) of the Society for
Krishna Consciousness in Uzbekistan told Forum 18 on 21 October.

Both the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Krishna devotees tried to obtain
Turkmen visas as private individuals because their religious communities
were unregistered in Turkmenistan and therefore could not send them an
invitation. Given the lack of success of Turkmenistan’s Adventist church in
inviting foreign leaders, it seems unlikely that even with the registration
it gained earlier this year that the Hare Krishna community will be
successful in inviting devotees from abroad.

Foreign religious representatives occasionally manage to obtain a Turkmen
visa in spite of this, but only if the Turkmen authorities fail to
establish that the foreigner is coming to make contact with
fellow-believers. Uzbek Krishna devotee Aleksandr Prinkur lived and
preached in Turkmenistan for several years in the 1990s before being
deported and his name is well known to the Turkmen special services. But
his two recent applications for a Turkmen visa have been refused. After
returning from visits to Turkmenistan, Jehovah’s Witness Anatoli Melnik
gave several interviews to journalists about the infringement of Jehovah’s
Witnesses’ rights in the country. He was refused a visa last year, as was
Fedor Jitnikov, another leader of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kazakhstan.

Interestingly, Uzbek Muslims have no contact with their fellow-believers in
Turkmenistan. Abdurazak Yunusov, an adviser to Uzbekistan’s chief mufti,
told Forum 18 on 22 October in Tashkent that contact with Turkmen Muslims
ceased when Turkmenistan became independent, although Turkmenistan has a
large ethnic Uzbek minority which traditionally had close links with
Uzbekistan. “No-one invites us there, so we do not apply for Turkmen
visas,” Yunusov declared. “Why should we go there if no-one is
expecting us?” The Turkmen authorities have been placing obstacles in
the way of such contacts (see F18News 4 March 2004
).

It is notable that no foreign Islamic religious dignitaries attended the
opening of the largest mosque in Central Asia on 22 October, an enormous
personal project of President Saparmurat Niyazov in his home village, which
can accommodate 10,000 worshippers. Niyazov was reported by Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty as saying then that “We keep religion pure and we
will not use it for political purposes, nor will we allow anyone else to
use religion for their personal ambition.”

Although it does not have registration in Turkmenistan, the Armenian
Apostolic Church was occasionally able to send one of its priests, Fr Vram
Ghazarian, who is based in the Uzbek city of Samarkand. However on his last
visit in December 1999, at the invitation of the Armenian embassy in
Ashgabad, he held services only on Armenian diplomatic territory. Forum 18
was unable to reach Fr Ghazarian on 21 and 22 October to find out if he has
tried to visit Turkmenistan more recently.

The only faith whose representatives travel unimpeded to Turkmenistan to
meet fellow believers is the Russian Orthodox Church, which has always had
registration in Turkmenistan. “The bishop of the Central Asia diocese
and accompanying members of his delegation travel to Turkmenistan whenever
necessary,” Fr Nikolai Rybchinsky, archpriest for the Central Asian
diocese, told Forum 18 on 21 October in Tashkent. “Such visits take
place at least once a year, and sometimes more often. We have no difficulty
in obtaining Turkmen visas.”

Even United Nations (UN) officials have been denied entry to the country.
The previous UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief
Abdelfattah Amor applied to visit Turkmenistan in 2003, but the government
failed to respond with an invitation, as the current rapporteur Asma
Jahangir noted in her report to the UN General Assembly on 16 September
2004.

For more background, see Forum 18’s Turkmenistan religious freedom survey
at

A printer-friendly map of Turkmenistan is available at
s/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=turkme
(END)

© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved.

You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News

Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at

–Boundary_(ID_zbeLDLzjNVyDPuY6yW7urw)–

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
375010 Telephone: +3741. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +3741. .562543
Email: [email protected]:

The official visit of Foreign Minister Oskanian to Italy
Today, in course of his official visit to Italy, Minister Oskanian had
meetings with municipal authorities and business circles of Venice. The
General Secretary of the Venice Trade Chamber, Romano Tiotso, and local
businessmen received the minister. The talks were held about the necessity
of starting Armenian-Italian relations at the regional level.

Both sides marked the close historical ties and traditions between Venice
and Armenia, in which the role of the Mkhitarians’ Unity is significant in
our days. The two sides also underlined the importance of bilateral
cooperation in the sphere of small and medium-size business. In this field,
winemaking, agricultural production, tourism, and light industry were
considered as the most viable arenas.

The two sides agreed to arrange mutual visits of business groups, exchange
of experts, and business forums, in order to elaborate concrete programs of
cooperation. Minister Oskanian then met with local press.

In the afternoon, a meeting was held with the municipal authorities. In the
course of the meeting, Minister Oskanian expressed his gratitude to the
municipal authorities for their care for the Mkhitarians’ Unity, which held
a crucial role in maintaining the Armenian institutions of S. Ghazar island.

YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

OCTOBER 15-21, 2004

HIGHLIGHTS:

SECOND “PRESS CLUB” SHOW

DIRECTOR OF “AR” DOES NOT CONFIRM RUMORS ABOUT THE CHANGE OF TV CHANNEL
OWNER

RADIO LIBERTY CALLED ON THE AUTHORITIES TO INVESTIGATE THE MATTER

SECOND “PRESS CLUB” SHOW

On October 18 on the evening air of the Second Armenian TV Channel the
second show of “Press Club” cycle was broadcast. The cycle is organized by
Yerevan Press Club under “Strengthening Democracy by Free Expression in
South Caucasus” project, implemented jointly with “Article 19” international
organization with the assistance of Open Society Institute.

This time the focus of attention of the heads of the leading media and
journalistic associations of the country was on the recent abuse of the
rights of journalists and media, related to attacks on the representatives
of “the fourth estate” on professional duty. The subject of discussion
referred, in particular, to the incidents of violence against journalists
covering the opposition rallies in Yerevan on April 5 and the night of April
12-13, the attack the correspondents of “Photolure” news agency and “Aravot”
daily on August 24 in Tsaghkadzor as well as the assault on the Chief Editor
of “Syunyats Yerkir” regional newspaper on October 13 in Kapan. The second
subject raised was to the hotly debated event – the official registration of
“Jehovah’s Witnesses” religious organization in Armenia on October 8.

DIRECTOR OF “AR” DOES NOT CONFIRM RUMORS ABOUT THE CHANGE OF TV CHANNEL
OWNER

Since October 16 “AR” TV company stopped its broadcasts. As YPC was told by
the Director of “AR” Edgar Manukian, the pause is due to the need for
technical re-equipment of the channel, and the broadcasting will be resumed
in about a month. Edgar Manukian denied the persistent rumors that the
suspension of “AR” activities is related to the forthcoming sale of the
channel to the well-known businessman, the President of “Mika” company
Mikhail Baghdasarov. As it has been reported, in late 2002 the TV company
was acquired by another, equally well-known entrepreneur Hrant Vardanian,
the President of “Grand Holding” company and the owner of another TV
company, “Hayrenik TV”.

RADIO LIBERTY CALLED ON THE AUTHORITIES TO INVESTIGATE THE MATTER

On October 15 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty issued a press release on the
withdrawal “Azatutiun” (“Liberty”) program produced by the RFE/RL Armenian
Service from the air schedule of “Kentron” TV company. According to the
Director of the Radio Liberty Armenian Service Hrair Tamrazian, the first
issue of this 30-minute analytical program was aired on October 10 and
repeated on October 11. On October 13 the Director of “Kentron” Petros
Ghazarian informed Mr. Tamrazian, that the airing of the subsequent issues
of the program would be “indefinitely suspended”. As it is noted in the
press release the management of the TV company did not explain the reasons
for such a decision.

The first issue of “Azatutiun” featured a report from Strasbourg on the
debates at October session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe on the honoring of commitments to the CE by Armenia and exclusive
interviews of the RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian and the newly
appointed US Ambassador in Armenia John Evans on relations between Armenia
and Turkey.

Mr. Tamrazian expressed his concern over the suspension of “a very
successful TV show” “for unknown reasons” and called on Armenian authorities
to investigate into the matter. “I hope that “Kentron” and RFE/RL will
continue in a joint project that was eagerly awaited by many viewers and
listeners in Armenia”, the head of the Radio Liberty Armenian Service
stressed.

On his behalf, the Director of “Kentron” Petros Ghazarian told YPC that he
“sees no conflict in what has happened, the TV company and the Radio Liberty
Armenian Service remain partners”, however, there are certain financial
problems that call for a solution.

On October 19 the President of RFE/RL Thomas Dine addressed a letter to the
President of Armenia Robert Kocharian, in which he urged the head of the
state “to denounce this contemptible Soviet-style act, and to help return
“Azatutiun” on air”. Thomas Dine asserted that he is “determined to get
“Azatutiun” back on air and will make every effort to make it happen –
including raising the issue with the Bush Administration, the US Congress,
the Council of Europe and non-governmental organizations worldwide”.

The Radio Liberty press release with this letter also states that despite
the lack of explanations on behalf of the “Kentron” administration, there
are all reasons to suppose that the TV company “was pressured to suspend
further broadcasts of the program, either by official interests or local
media competitors”.

It should be noted that this was not the first attempt of the Radio Liberty
Armenian Service to go on air in Armenian capital. On September 28, 2004 a
program prepared by the radio company was aired by “Shant” TV company.

When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.

You are welcome to send any comment and feedback about the Newsletter to:
[email protected]

Subscription for the Newsletter is free. To subscribe or unsubscribe from
this mailing list, please send a message to: [email protected]

Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
____________________________________________
Yerevan Press Club
9B, Ghazar Parpetsi str.
375007, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+ 374 1) 53 00 67; 53 35 41; 53 76 62
Fax: (+374 1) 53 56 61
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site:

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER, EU’S REHN, GERMANY’S FISCHER ADDRESS CONFERENCE

Anatolia news agency, Ankara
20 Oct 04

Istanbul, 20 October: Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime
Minister Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday (20 October): “Turkey will
continue deepening its democracy on the basis of European
values. Actually, these universal values conform to Turkish people’s
traditional and moral values.”

Speaking at a conference organized by the European Parliament
Greens/EFA (European Freedoms Alliance) Group in Istanbul on “Turkey
in the EU: A Common Future”, Gul said: “Some political movements in
political history of Europe made decisive contributions to economic
and social development. Those contributions also affected the
universal politics positively. I consider the Greens Group one of the
most dynamic political powers of today’s Europe and world politics.”

“In the past, disagreements, misunderstandings, tension and
discussions were dominant over our relations with members of the
European Freedoms Alliance. Now, our relations have changed into
mutual understanding, confidence and cooperation. I believe that such
a change is necessary and beneficial in regard to the common future of
Turkey and Europe and their interests,” he said.

Referring to the economic and political reforms made by the (ruling)
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in its two-year political
power, Gul said: “A peaceful foreign policy has been accompanying
those political and economic reforms. Everyone is aware of Turkey’s
initiatives to prevent the war in Iraq, its efforts to reach a
compromise between Azerbaijan and Armenia, its priority to urgent
solution of Israeli-Palestinian dispute, and its courageous efforts to
find a solution to the Cyprus issue.” (passage omitted)

“Turkey-EU integration process should progress steadily towards the
target of full membership without any delay. Therefore, the decision
to be made at the EU summit on 17 December is of great importance as
regards to setting the route of Turkey-EU integration process,” he
said. (passage omitted)

Turkey’s EU membership will open new horizons for both Turkey and the
EU and bring forth new challenges, Olli Rehn, new commissioner of the
EU, said on Wednesday. He also said that Turkey’s accession to the EU
was one of the most important items of the union’s agenda.

Stressing that Turkey had made a series of very meaningful reforms
since 1999, Rehn listed some of those reforms as annulment of death
penalty, broadcast in Kurdish and the other languages and the new
penal code. There are still steps to be taken in fundamental freedoms,
minority rights, trade unions and human rights, but the most important
thing is that reforms should be sustainable in Turkey, he said.

The European Commission said in its progress report for Turkey that if
political criteria were violated, entry talks could be suspended, Rehn
said and noted that it was envisaged by the EU constitution and was
valid for all other candidate states. “Entry talks could last for the
next ten years. Opening of entry talks and Turkey’s ongoing efforts
will lead to a macro-economic stability in Turkey. Turkey’s dynamic
population will support Europe’s ageing population. We are about to
open a new page in the EU integration process. Turkey’s EU accession
process will be tough and complicated. However, the target at the end
of this path is quite meaningful,” he said.

Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said on Wednesday
that if the EU made a positive decision on 17 December and opened
entry talks with Turkey, it should put forward a clear perspective.

Fischer also said that Turkey’s modernization had integrated with
Europe’s perspective since foundation of modern Republic of
Turkey. The German government had always advocated the perspective
that Turkey belonged to the EU, he said.

Stressing that Turkey had recorded an unbelievable progress, Fischer
said: “I would like to ask our Turkish partners not to comment on
decisions of the EU against them. This is a learning process. This is
a process to understand implementation of reforms. I propose Turkey to
wait for decision of the EU Council on 17 December. In that case, we
will have taken the first step of our Bosphorus dream.”

Highlighting strategic importance of the Middle East and Mediterranean
for Europe’s security, Fischer said that the EU countries should
realize the importance of Turkey’s desire to become a member of the
EU. (passage omitted)

ARMENIA REGISTERS JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

ArmenPress
Oct 13 2004

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 13, ARMENPRESS: Armenian justice minister David
Harutunian said today that Jehovah’s Witnesses organization was
officially registered after it brought its statutes in line with
law requirements.

In response to fears that after registration the organization, viewed
by many Armenians with suspicion, will continue activities running
counter to law, the minister said registration is the first stage
and it does not give it right to breach laws. “If the organization
violates laws later all measures stipulated by legislation will be
applied against it,” he said. The minister said the organization had
been denied registration as its statutes and `forms of preaching’
were not in conformity with Armenia’s law on religious organizations.

The organization registration certificate was issued by the state
registry of legal entities on 8 October and was signed by the
deputy justice minister Tigran Mukuchian. The registration covers
the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ activity across the whole of the country.
Registering the Jehovah’s Witnesses was a key demand of the Council
of Europe.

Brawl between Orthodox archbishop, Jewish student highlights problems
By Judith Sudilovsky

JERUSALEM-CONFRONTATIONS Oct-12-2004 (790 words) xxxi

Catholic News Service

JERUSALEM (CNS) — The recent brawl between an Armenian Orthodox bishop
and an ultra-Orthodox Jewish youth has spotlighted the issue of such
religious confrontations, which some observers say are increasing.

The incident occurred Oct. 10 when an ultra-Orthodox Jewish student
spat at a cross carried by Armenian Orthodox Archbishop Nourhan
Manougian during a procession marking the exaltation of the holy
cross in Jerusalem’s Old City. The archbishop’s ceremonial medallion,
which has been in use since the 17th century, was broken during the
ensuing brawl, in which he slapped the student.

The archbishop and the student were questioned by the police, and
the student was arrested.

The Ha’aretz newspaper said religious Jews often spit on the ground
when they see the cross. The newspaper quoted the archbishop as saying
he had grown accustomed to people turning around and spitting when he
walked past, but to have a cross spit at during a religious procession
was a “humiliation we are not prepared to accept.”

“You meet a fanatic segment of Jews who have their own ideas;
sometimes when they see Christian clergy walking on the Via Dolorosa
with the cross, some fanatics (may say something or spit) but we
can’t generalize. It is not the sort of thing you see in general,”
said Father Shawki Baterian, chancellor of the Latin Patriarchate of
Jerusalem. “It may happen to individual priests sometimes, but they
don’t (lodge) complaints or pay attention to it.”

He said Archbishop Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem has never been insulted
or abused in such a manner.

Rabbi Ron Kronish, director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council
in Israel, said there have been increasing reports of such incidents.

“There is a lack of education in a very certain quarter of Jewish life,
but it is not sweeping Israeli society. It tends to be in the areas of
Jerusalem where (Christian clergy) come in contact with ultra-Orthodox
(Jews),” he said. “It is not an epidemic, but it is increasing.”

The problem is most intense in the Old City, he said, recalling
an incident when he accompanied a visiting Catholic cardinal to
the Western Wall, and an Orthodox Jewish youth shouted disparaging
remarks at the religious leader. The cardinal ignored the shouting,
and his visit continued as planned.

“There needs to be more education and statements by some leading
figures in the Orthodox (Jewish) world in Israel,” Rabbi Kronish said.
“But it is hard to educate people who are not open to dialogue. More
awareness that this is a city of three faiths would be helpful.”

The Armenian and Syrian Orthodox churches are generally the ones facing
the brunt of such antagonism because their communities are located
closer to areas where Orthodox Jews go and so have more chances of
contact, said Daniel Rossing, former adviser on Christian affairs for
the Religious Affairs Ministry and director of the Jerusalem Center
for Christian-Jewish Dialogue.

“You don’t hear of a lot of incidents near the Latin Patriarchate
area or near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, because those are not
areas where in general Jews are passing, (but) the Armenian Quarter
is along a major thoroughfare, with a human traffic flow of Jews
going to the Jewish Quarter and to the Western Wall,” Rossing said.

In general, he said, such attacks are perpetrated by younger male
members of the Orthodox Jewish community.

In its lead editorial, Ha’aretz called the incidents “Jerusalem’s
disgrace” and charged the police and Interior Ministry with not doing
enough to prevent such attacks.

“It turns out that for some time the Christians in Jerusalem have been
suffering from … provocations by wild young people. The provocations
… have become an ugly routine in recent years, fitting right in with
the increasingly extremist political atmosphere,” the newspaper said.

It called on the city to “take firm action” against the offending
youth.

“It is intolerable that Christian citizens of Jerusalem suffer from
the shameful spitting at or near a crucifix,” the paper said.

Many Orthodox Jews see the cross as a symbol of the violence
perpetrated on Jewish communities by Christians over the centuries.

Rossing said his center is planning to ask Christian churches to
report all such incidents so it can build a solid statistical base
with which to approach leading rabbinical figures to ask for their
assistance in curbing the abuse.

Jerusalem officials did not return a Catholic News Service request
for comment, but Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said
police have had only two complaints from Christians in the past
year. In both cases, the culprits were caught and punished, he said,
adding that police deploy a large number of patrols and employ special
technology in the Old City to try to maintain order.

END