Author: Jilavian Emma

BosNewsLife, Hungary
July 22 2005

Azerbaijan Releases “Beaten” Baptist Conscript
Friday, 22 July 2005 (4 hours ago)
By BosNewsLife News Center

Amid reported persecution the people of Azerbaijan try to make
a living. BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (BosNewsLife)– A Baptist young man who
received a two year suspended prison sentence and was allegedly beaten
for refusing to swear the military oath or wearing arms, has returned
to his unit to serve the remaining time of his obligatory military
service, Christian investigators said.

In a statement monitored Friday, July 22, the Voice Of the Martyrs
Canada (VOMC) said Gagik Mirzoyan had been called to serve in the
unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally considered
part of Azerbaijan.

In April, VOMC and other human rights activists reported that Mirzoyan
had been beaten and given ten days detention for sharing his He “was
beaten and detained for more than ten days in early April” before
being transferred to another location, said Forum 18, another human
rights group earlier.

“RESULTS OF BEATINGS”

Relatives reportedly saw the “results of beatings” on his face.
Military personnel allegedly promised them Mirzoyan would be freed the
next day but apparently changed their mind and deported him from army
barracks in Hadrut. “Mirzoyan is now back with his military unit in
the Hadrut district where he is under “special supervision,” VOMC said.

“He is not under any particular pressure at this point. Historically,
Baptists in much of the former Soviet Union are pacifists in doctrine,
but this has not prevented believers such as Mirzoyan from being
conscripted into military service,” the group added.

It urged supporters to “pray that Mirzoyan will be free to practice
his faith without further harassment” or punishment. Baptists have
attributed his release from prison to international pressure.

MORE IN JAIL

However Forum 18 cautioned that two Jehovah’s Witnesses – Karabakh
native Areg Hovhanesyan and Armenian citizen Armen Grigoryan, were
sentenced in Nagorno-Karabakh this year for refusing military service
on grounds of religious conscience and are still in jail.

Hovhanesyan is serving his four-year sentence in prison in the Karabakh
town of Shushi, while Grigoryan has been returned to Armenia to serve
his two year sentence, Forum 18 News Service reported. The US and
other countries have in the past expressed concern about religious and
political persecution in the country where Christians are estimated
to comprise less than seven percent of the country’s nearly eight
million population.

Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic with a Turkic and majority-Muslim
population, regained its independence after the collapse of the Soviet
Union in 1991. Despite a 1994 cease-fire, Azerbaijan has yet to resolve
its conflict with Armenia over the Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh
enclave, the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said.
(With Stefan J. Bos, BosNewsLife Research and reports from Azerbaijan).

$81143ffa463702ebdb389a124e51ccd4//list.news=880/1&country=290

Revivals are out, cutting-edge in at midtown stage festival

New York Daily News
July 18 2005

Theatergoers don’t have to wait until next month’s Fringe Festival to
see new shows on the fringe – such as a play in which a coat-check
girl has clairvoyant powers and a musical where a guardian angel
brings Princess Diana back to life.

Today the curtain raises on the Midtown International Theatre Festival,
which features an eclectic assortment of more than 50 original plays,
musicals and solo performances at five W. 36th St. spaces through
Aug. 7.

For Midtown producer John Chatterton, presenting more offbeat and
out-there fare has been a gradual process since the festival was
founded six years ago with only 19 shows.

“Where we used to do more Shaw and Shakespeare and other revivals,
there’s less and less of that now,” says Chatterton, publisher and
editor of online theater magazine OOBR (Off-Off Broadway Review).

“Our shows have become increasingly cutting-edge over the years,
and this year we only have one revival out of the 50 [works] we’re
presenting.”

The lone production with a pedigree is “It’s Only a Play,” a revival
of Terrence McNally’s biting satire of Broadway during the 1980s.

Other MITF shows generating a bit of buzz this year include “Charles
and Diana: The Musical,” a fantasy that has Princess Di getting a
second chance at life and love; “The Girls Who Wore Black,” based on
the poetry of such female Beat Generation writers as Diane di Prima,
Hettie Jones and Joyce Johnson; “21 Stories: A Broadway Tale,” a love
story about an English youth and a Texas woman who dream of being
Broadway stars, and “Good Opinions,” which deals with a coat-check
girl in a Manhattan restaurant who can foretell the reviews of a
powerful theater critic.

Among the standout solo shows are “on the Couch With Nora Armami.”
Armami, an Egyptian-Armenian-American actress who also starred in a
popular one-woman show at last year’s festival, returns with a humorous
take on her struggles to identify with her multicultural heritage.

In addition to these full productions, MITF is also presenting a
series of staged readings of nearly a dozen plays. MITF runs today
through Aug. 7 at Workshop Theaters, Where Eagles Dare Theaters and
Smash studios on W. 36th St. Tickets to all shows are $15 and $20.

For more info: or (212) 868-4444.

AZERI FM CONSIDERS REPORTS ON REFERENDUM IN KARABAKH RUMOR

Pan ARMENIAN Network, Armenia
July 16 2005

16.07.2005 03:50

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “As the talks are in process I cannot name the
issues, over which we have reached accord. Confidentiality principle
should be observed in order to make any progress. I can only say that
the principle of preservation of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan
forms the basis of the talks and these are held in compliance with the
Constitution of Azerbaijan.” Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
stated this to journalists. The FM called groundless the rumor spread
by Armenian media that in 10-15 years after the signing of a peace
accord a referendum will be held in Nagorno Karabakh. “The reasons
for spreading such reports may lie both in the domestic situation in
Armenia and the opportunity for the information to be of provocative
nature. Most probably it is aimed at studying the response of the
opposing party,” Mammadyarov said. The Azeri Fm also said the talks
concern not only liberation of 5 regions: “The issue of liberation
of the 7 occupied regions around NK are discussed at the first phase
of the negotiations. However, the issue of placement of peacekeeping
forces in the region after the return of the Azeri population to the
permanent residence place will be discussed once an agreement over
key issues is made.” According to E. Mammadyarov, the decision on it
was passed at the OSCE Budapest Summit.

NKR PRESIDENT NAMED AZERI LEADERSHIP CONDUCT “PERFORMANCE”

Pan ARMENIAN Network, Armenia
July 15 2005

15.07.2005 06:54

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “If the Azerbaijani authorities do not want to
consider Karabakh as a party to conflict, it means that they do
not want the conflict to be settled” NKR President Arkady Ghukasian
stated a press conference in Stepanakert. He reminded that the status
of Nagorno Karabakh as a party to conflict is fixed in the documents
complied during the OSCE summit in Budapest and was long ago recognized
not only by the OSCE Co-Chairs but also by Azerbaijan itself. Arkady
Ghukasian said the unwillingness of the Azeri authorities to recognize
this fact is mere performance. He reiterated that the problem cannot be
settled without the participation of Nagorno Karabakh. When commenting
on the Lachin issue frequently advanced by Baku lately Arkady Ghukasian
said Lachin cannot be an issue of compromise, since this road connects
Nagorno Karabakh with the outer world. “We will never deviate from our
position”, he stressed. However, he also noted a considerable progress
in the settlement process. In part, he pointed out to the fact that
Baku came to speak of the peaceful settlement of the conflict and
the necessity of establishing dialogue with Nagorno Karabakh. The
President did not rule out that this change can be conditioned by the
pressure exerted on Azerbaijan by the international community. Arkady
Ghukasian welcomed Baku’s readiness to discuss the most important
issue – the status of Nagorno Karabakh. However he rated the attempt
of the Azeri political figures to equalize in rights the Armenian and
Azeri communities of Karabakh as senseless, Mediamax agency reported.

WE ARE DISCUSSING THE RELEASE OF 7 REGIOINS OF AZERBAIJAN, ELMAR MAMMADYAROV
2005-07-15 14:49

Azerbaijan News Service
July 15 2005

Foreign affairs ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia plan to discuss
Armenia-Azerbaijan Daqliq Qarabaq problem on August 22 in Moscow and
prepare for meeting of presidents of two countries on August 26 in
Kazan, informed Elmar Mammadyarov, foreign affairs minister of
Azerbaijan. The presidents told FA ministers to discuss several
concrete issues after Warsaw meeting. It is not so easy, so, the
question that we won~Rt reach an agreement on will be presented to
discussion of the presidents. I agreed to hold meeting and now I~Rm
waiting respond of Armenian side , said Mr. Mammadyarov. FA minister
informed ten points containing all elements of future agreement are
being discussed in negotiations. The question is release of occupied
by Armenians Azerbaijani lands, rehabilitation of territorial
integrity, restoration of communication, deployment of peacekeeping
forces. Exclusion of one of these points may lead to collapse of the
whole structure. So, we are preparing in all spheres, mentioned Mr.
Mammadyarov. The Minister refused to elaborate the essence of the
negotiations, only noted that they were based on a principle of
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the Constitution of the
country. The sides and mediators are currently discussing a set of
elements of the peaceful agreement, which range from the liberation
of 7 occupied regions, repatriation of the internally displaced
persons, reconstruction of the communications and territories, a
mechanism on placement of peacemaking forces in the territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh.Mammadyarov also informed that said the Azerbaijani
and Armenian Foreign Ministers will hold next-in-turn talks under a
meeting of the CIS Ministries of Foreign Affairs due in Moscow on 22
August 2005.He also said that the forthcoming meeting of the
Presidents in Kazan would slightly depend on the results of the
Moscow talks. The Azerbaijani Minister find it difficult to answer a
question on possible signing of any document during a meeting in
Kazan and proposed to wait for the results of the meeting of the OSCE
Minks Group co-chairs in Armenia. The question of placing peacekeeper
forces in the region after the Azerbaijani population returns to
their native lands in Upper Garabagh will be discussed after the
agreement is reached on the principal questions. Elmar Mammadyarov
said that this was decided in the Budapest summit of OSCE. According
to his words, the mandate of the peacekeepers will be determined by
the sides in the mutual form.

Armenian president, OSCE mediators discuss Karabakh

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
15 Jul 05

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today received the co-chairmen
of the OSCE Minsk Group, Steven Mann, Bernard Fassier and Yuriy
Merzlyakov, who are visiting Armenia within the framework of their
regional visit.

The meeting was attended by the personal representative of the
OSCE chairman-in-office on the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, Andrzej
Kasprzyk. The meeting discussed the current stage of the process of
settling the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.

The co-chairmen briefed the Armenian president on the results of
their consultative meetings held in Baku and Stepanakert [Xankandi].

[Video showed the meeting].

NKR IS PREPARING FOR THE POPULATION CENSUS

A1+
11-07-2005

The Republic of Nagorno Karabakh is preparing for the October 18-27,
2005 population census, which is the first one since the proclamation
of its independence.

According to Chief of the Population Census Department of the NKR
National Statistic Service Sergey Davidian, the census will become
another stage of the Karabakh statehood development.

In the course of the census, a peculiar social research will be
conducted, as well as the social-economic situation in the Republic,
and the resources in various spheres will be researched. Basing on
this information, the Government will be able to elaborate
corresponding programs in the future, and to forecast the country’s
social-economic development. For organizing and conducting the census,
a general republican commission is created, with Vice-Premier Ararat
Daniyelian at the head.

The last census in Nagorno Karabakh was conducted in 1989.

A1plus

| 21:08:03 | 05-07-2005 | Politics |

GOVERNMENT’S DECISIONS ANTI-CONSTITUTIONAL?

Article 100.1 of the Constitution says that the Constitutional Court views
the government’s decisions from the aspect of their correspondence to the
Constitution.

When asked how many decisions were taken on such cases, CC chairman Gagik
Harutyunyan said, `None. There was no appeal, no case. Does it mean that all
the decisions by the government are constitutional? Proceeding from the
international practice I can say they are not.’

EurasiaNet Organization
July 6 2005

TBILISI ELECTION LAW FUELS GEORGIA’S POLITICAL OPPOSITION
Vladic Ravich 7/06/05

New legislation concerning the election of Tbilisi’s mayor has
sparked a political debate over President Mikheil Saakashvili’s
commitment to democratic reform. Opposition leaders say the new law
skews the electoral framework in a way that could help Saakashvili’s
National Movement maintain a tight grip on power.

Under the legislation, passed on July 1, the capital’s mayor will be
elected by the Tbilisi City Council, or Sakrebulo, rather than
directly by voters. The City Council itself will be elected primarily
under a winner-take-all system, rather than by the previous
proportional system, which allotted council seats to political
parties in accordance to their share of the vote. Under the new
system, registered political parties may nominate two or three
candidates in each of Tbilisi’s 10 districts, depending on the size
of the constituency. The party that receives the most votes in a
particular district will automatically gain all of that district’s
seats in the City Council. This system covers 25 of the council’s 37
seats. The remaining 12 seats will be allotted on a proportional
basis to parties that receive at least 4 percent of the vote in all
city districts.

Council members, in turn, will elect Tbilisi’s mayor. Prior to
passage of the new legislation, Tbilisi’s mayor was a presidential
appointee. The capital’s incumbent mayor is 33-year-old Zurab
Chiaberashvili, a Saakashvili ally who has held the post since April
2004.

Opposition politicians and some local non-governmental organization
(NGO) activists have denounced the new legislation as
anti-democratic. The chief intent of the new election system, some
allege, is to make it easier for the National Movement, which holds a
dominating majority in parliament, to control the country’s political
sphere. The New Rights Party, a leading Saakashvili critic, proposed
a bill that would have provided for the direct election of Tbilisi’s
mayor, but it did not gain sufficient support in parliament.
Opposition legislators were not on hand in parliament for the final
vote on the Tbilisi election law. At the time the vote was taken,
opposition MPs were participating at a rally staged to condemn the
use of riot police to disperse a June 30 street protest. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Saakashvili defended the election law, saying it strengthens the
political voice of elected local assemblies. The president, who
himself served in 2002-2003 as City Council chairman, also indicated
that the law would facilitate closer ties between the mayor, the
council and the ruling party. During the run-up to the law’s passage,
Saakashvili scoffed at the New Rights Party’s advocacy of a direct
mayoral election. “Do not believe claims that a directly elected
mayor of Tbilisi will be a strong figure,” the president told
reporters in a televised June 22 press conference. “No, he will be an
extremely weak figure. Only a mayor that has a council behind him
will be strong.”

One Georgian non-governmental organization – the International
Society for Fair Elections and Democracy – reminded Saakashvili and
his National Movement followers that they advocated direct elections
as a tactic to break then-president Eduard Shevardnadze’s
stranglehold on power. “Only two years ago, opposition political
forces [including the National Movement] considered the direct
election of … local government bodies as one of the most important
democratic values,” the NGO’s statement said. “Unfortunately,
electing the Tbilisi [m]ayor directly by the citizens of the capital
is now unacceptable for today’s revolutionary government.”

[The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy receives
funding from the Open Society-Georgia Foundation, which is part of
the Soros foundations network. EurasiaNet.org operates under the
auspices of the Open Society Institute, also part of the Soros
foundations network.]

Throughout the Caucasus, debate on the nature of local government,
and responsibility for the election/selection of local officials, has
intensified in recent months. For example, Armenia, citing the need
for political unity, long resisted pressure to hold direct elections
for the mayor of Yerevan. In June, however, Armenian officials
relented, succumbing to the wishes of the Council of Europe on
proposed constitutional amendments.

The Armenian example seemed to have little impact on the Georgian
legislative debate. “We do not need anyone else’s recommendations,”
Saakashvili declared during a televised interview in early June.
“What did the leader of the free world [US President George W. Bush]
say? Georgia is an example to everyone, a beacon.” [For background
see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Georgian opposition parties, which have been largely fragmented
during the Saakashvili presidency, have seized on the Tbilisi mayor
issue as a rallying point. Saakashvili opponents now hope they have
an opportunity to inflict political damage on the president. A recent
poll conducted by the International Republican Institute and funded
by the US Agency for International Development, showed that 89
percent of Tbilisi residents favor a direct mayoral election.

The New Rights, Labor, Republican and Conservative Parties have vowed
to boycott by-elections scheduled to be held in Tbilisi expected this
autumn. The Republican and Conservative Parties have also joined
forces with 20 NGOs to lobby for a national referendum that would ask
voters whether or not they want city mayors and regional governors to
be directly elected. At least 200,000 signatures must be collected
for the referendum effort to proceed.

Additional controversy surrounds the Central Elections Committee
(CEC), the body that would be charged with conducting a referendum if
the signature requirement is met. The CEC was recently restructured
to include members that are nominally independent. But the opposition
has charged that the chairman, Gia Kavtaradze, and most of the new
members, have ties to the government, or the National Movement. The
new members were selected by a commission headed by top presidential
aide Gigi Ugulava, and approved by Saakashvili.

“Everyday, they [members of the National Movement] are creating
something new and the only goal of these people is to stay in power
forever,” Irakli Iashvili, a Conservative Party member of parliament,
commented on the boycott decision. “I am very afraid for the future.”

One prominent Tbilisi analyst, however, countered that the
opposition’s concerns are misplaced. The real issue, he said,
concerns the constitutional interpretation of executive authority.
“The president is the only power in this country,” said Devi
Khechinashvili, president of the Partnership for Social Initiative.
“It is his right – it is only logical – that he would fill the CEC
with his people and dictate how to pick the mayor.”

Some opposition leaders are expressing doubt that the CEC would allow
a referendum to occur, even if the necessary number of signatures
were gathered. “The whole election system is controlled by the
government, the top management, the middle, the bottom, everybody,”
said Iashvili, “I am absolutely sure the referendum will not happen,
but I am very much interested in how they will explain the refusal.”
National Movement loyalists, meanwhile, deny that they would use
unconstitutional means to block a referendum.

Editor’s Note: Vladic Ravich is a freelance journalist based in
Tbilisi.

Tallahassee Democrat, FL
July 6 2005

Actor Thomajan, 87, dies

He had a long career with Hollywood titans, then spent his last years
in Monticello

By Mark Hinson

DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER

Feisty character actor Edd “Guy” Thomajan – who appeared in such
films as “Panic in the Streets,” “Miracle on 34th Street” and “The
Pink Panther” – died at his home in Monticello on June 28. He was 87.

Thomajan, who was also a veteran of World War II, retired to the
woods of North Florida to build his own house in the 1980s. A
lifelong bachelor, he left behind no family members or survivors.

The diminutive Thomajan had a scrappy personality and salty
vocabulary, but he could switch from crusty curmudgeon to charming
gentleman in a matter of seconds. Around his friends, he enjoyed
telling colorful tales of his days working on Broadway and in
Hollywood with such famous figures as James Dean, Marlon Brando,
Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters, Audrey Hepburn, Paul Muni and
legendary director Elia Kazan.

“He was a walking encyclopedia of great stories,” Steve MacQueen,
former Tallahassee Democrat theater critic and Thomajan friend, said
Tuesday.

Born in Massachusetts, the son of Armenian immigrants, Thomajan began
developing his street-tough persona as a kid after his family
relocated to a rough-and-tumble neighborhood in Brooklyn.

As a teenager in New York City in the ’30s, he hung around the Group
Theatre, known for its socially relevant plays. It’s where he first
met Kazan.

After serving four years in India, Burma and Japan during World War
II – a tour of duty that included the liberation of hellish prison
camps in Japan – Thomajan returned to find that Kazan had become one
of the most prominent directors in New York. He worked as stage
manager for a trio of Kazan’s landmark Tennessee Williams productions
on Broadway – “Camino Real,” “Sweet Bird of Youth” and “A Streetcar
Named Desire.”

During “Streetcar,” Thomajan’s jobs also included keeping Williams
supplied with “the right amount of bourbon” and sparring with Brando
backstage between scenes. Thomajan and Brando never became friends
and “would tolerate each other,” he said.

“As an actor, Brando is one of the greatest,” Thomajan said in 1995.
“Very powerful, very influential actor who could do some really
amazing things. As a person, of course, he’s a jerk, very selfish and
egotistical.”

The theater was always Thomajan’s first love, and he often spoke
passionately about the need for contemporary plays dealing seriously
with social issues and the human condition.

“Where are the new plays?” he said. “That’s what we need. What the
hell do you get out of revivals unless the people involved can
interpret them in a different way than they’ve been done for 400
years?”

Although he never obtained a college degree, the self-educated
Thomajan could discuss classic plays and literature at length. When
it came to chess, his playing style was as aggressive and keen as the
man himself. In the ’90s, the ever-restless Thomajan wrote an updated
stage version of Moliere’s “The Miser” and many other works.

Thomajan was on hand when Kazan’s career expanded beyond the stage
and onto the screen. He appeared in front of the cameras and behind
the scenes with the director on such films as “Viva Zapata,” “East of
Eden,” “Wild River,” “Boomerang!” and “On the Waterfront.”

In the famed car scene in “On the Waterfront” – the one in which
Brando tells Rod Steiger, “I could have been a contender, instead of
a bum, which is what I am” – Kazan filmed the shots of the two of
them, then did Brando’s close-ups as Steiger fed him his lines. But
when it was time for Steiger’s close-ups, Brando left. Steiger fumed.

“So Kazan said, ‘Edd, get in there and give him lines,'” Thomajan
said in ’95. “So on the close-ups with Steiger, when he’s looking
off-camera at Brando, he’s looking at me.”

In 1950, Thomajan co-starred with Jack Palance and Zero Mostel as one
of three disease-ridden lowlifes spreading a plague in Kazan’s gritty
classic “Panic in the Streets.” In one memorable scene, Thomajan was
tossed from a seedy second-story tenement into an alley in New
Orleans.

“We didn’t use any stunt guys on that picture,” he said in 1999 when
Kazan was being given an honorary Oscar. “It hurt my neck, but I
walked away. I would’ve done anything for Gadge (Kazan’s nickname).”

In the ’60s, Thomajan kept working, directing numerous summer shows
in Miami Beach and even made a film called “The Ex-Americans,” which
he directed in Rome (he later dismissed the movie as “just plain
bad”). He also worked as an executive production supervisor and scout
for a Canadian firm that financed lesser-known pictures all over
Europe. Other credits include directing a Broadway play (“Harbor
Lights,” starring Robert Alda) and even a few operas for New York’s
Civic Theatre.

When asked why he settled down in a remote A-frame cabin, which
intentionally had no phone or TV, in the woods near Monticello,
Thomajan liked to joke: “Because it’s halfway between New York and
Miami.”

Thomajan requested that no memorial service be held after his death.

THOMAJAN PLAYED …

A postal worker in the Christmas classic “Miracle on 34th Street”
(1947)

A court witness named Cartucci in Elia Kazan’s “Boomerang!” (1947)

A plague-infected thief who is eventually tossed from a balcony (by
Jack Palance) in Kazan’s “Panic in the Streets” (1950)

A gangster in “The Breaking Point” (1950), directed by Michael Curtiz
(“Casablanca”).

A dog-stealing henchman for David Niven in “The Pink Panther” (1964)

He was also stage manager for Kazan’s Broadway productions of “A
Streetcar Named Desire,” “Camino Real” and “Sweet Bird of Youth,” all
by Tennessee Williams.