Author: Karabekian Emil

Azeri official urges foreign companies to leave Karabakh

ANS TV, Baku
3 Aug 05

[Presenter] The activities of any country’s companies in Nagornyy
Karabakh are illegal because they are directed against Azerbaijan’s
sovereignty and territorial integrity. At the same time, the measures
the Azerbaijani authorities are and will be taking against such
companies are based on international legal norms, Deputy Foreign
Minister Xalaf Xalafov has said.

[Xalafov, shown speaking to camera] The activities of any country’s
companies in Nagornyy Karabakh are illegal because they violate
Azerbaijan’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and Azerbaijani laws.
Therefore, such companies have to understand that their activity is
illegal and that the measures the Azerbaijani side is and will be
taking are in full compliance with international legal norms.

This means that responsibility for any potential consequences of their
operations in Nagornyy Karabakh rests solely with these companies. And
these companies have to realize their responsibility and give a due
assessment to what they are doing. They have to end such activities.

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

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

PATRIARCH PAOULOS PROMISES TO LEAD EFFORTS FOR THE RECOGNITION OF
THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BY THE ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT

His Holiness Aram I and Patriarch Paoulos conducted a special requiem
service on July 28 dedicated to the souls of the victims of the
Armenian Genocide. The service was held in the Chapel of martyrs
in Antelias in Armenian and Ethiopian languages. Bishop Kegham
Khatcherian, the Primate of the Diocese of Lebanon, and members of
the Cilician Brotherhood participated in the service.

Praying for the souls of the innocent victims of the Genocide,
Patriarch Paoulos wished that Armenians acquire their rights by
continuing their struggle for justice. He asked for an end to racial,
ethnic, religious and other forms of discrimination, praying that
peace and harmony become the basis for brotherhood and coexistence.

The Ethiopian Patriarch will fulfill His Holiness Aram I’s wish by
leading the efforts for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by
the Ethiopian government.

His Holiness Aram I also asked peace for the souls of the Genocide
victims during the requiem carried out in the chapel.

##

View picture here:

*****

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

PanArmenian News Network
July 29 2005

AEPLAC PROMOTES EU-ARMENIA COOPERATION

29.07.2005 06:43

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian-European Policy and Legal Advice
Center (AEPLAC) is engaged in supporting the efficient undertaking of
elaboration activities of the National Prgram for Implementation and
Partnership and Cooperation Agreement signed between Armenia and the
European Community and its member-states as well as raising pubic
awareness, Director Tigran Jrbashian stated today at the presentation
of two books of the European Integration Library. In his words, these
books are unique, since the European Legislation was for the first
time published in the Armenian language, while the book titled
`European Integration: Financing and Implementation’ presents the
experience of 18 states on the way to the EU. To remind, the first
two-volume edition `Legislation and Management; EU-Armenia’ was
presented in March 2005.

La Tribune
28 juillet 2005

AXA PRIÉ DE RESTITUER LES AVOIRS ARMÉNIENS

A l’occasion du quatre-vingt-dixième anniversaire du génocide
arménien perpétré sous l’Empire ottoman, la European Armenian
Federation a réaffirmé, hier dans un communiqué, la nécessité pour
AXA de restituer aux descendants des victimes arméniennes les fonds
dormants des contrats d’assurance-vie souscrits avant 1915, comme l’a
déjà fait l’assureur New York Life Insurance.

ARNA News Agency
July 28 2005

THE FAMILY OF THE ARMENIAN OFFICER MURDERED IN BUDAPEST TO RECEIVE A
LAND LOT AS A COMPENSATION

YEREVAN, July 28. /ARKA/. The RA Government took a decision to render
help on the part of the government to the family of the Armenian
Officer Gourgen Margaryan murdered in Budapest. According to RA
Government’s Press Service Department, in regard with this the
government gave a land lot of 2 thsnd square meters, adjacent to
“Paros” restaurant (“Lighhouse”) on Sebastia street for gratuitous
use. The lot as a donation will be given to the mother of Margaryan
Shoushanik Minasyan.
To remind, on Feb 19, 2004 the Lieutenant of the RA Armed Forces
Gourgen MArgaryan, who attended English language courses in Budapest
organized by the national defense of Hungary in the framework of the
NATO Partnership for Peace Program, was cruelly murdered by means of
an axe when sleeping by Azerbaijani Officer Ramil Safarov, who was on
the same courses. The trial on the case of murder of Margaryan is
still in process. A.H. –0-

Anarkismo.net
July 28 2005

Anarchism in Turkey
by Unknown Thursday, Jul 28 2005, 4:54am

A short history of Anarchism in Turkey

A short but good history of anarchism in Turkey involving
revolutionaries form other nationalities as well.
In 1876, Christo Botev, `the first Bulgarian anarchist and national
hero… perished for the liberation of Bulgaria from Turkish power’.

In 1878, after leaving Beirut, Errico Malatesta’s ship docks in
Smyrna (Izmir), where the local authorities demand that Malatesta be
handed over to them. Fortunately, the Captain of `La Provence’
refuses the order and the ship continues on to Italy, France and
Switzerland.

The earliest formations of socialist activity in Turkey come from the
ethnic minorities of Bulgarians, Macedonians, Greeks and Jews. The
focus of their activity is in Thessoloniki. In these early formations
there is a split between the orthodox Marxists and a faction of
Bulgarian and Jewish `anarcho-liberals’. The two factions try to form
a mutual organization with the marxist Nicola Rusev as secretary. But
a split soon occurs with the marxists decrying the activities of
anarchist Pavel Deliradev whose associates include Angel Tomov and
Nikola Harlakov as well as people from Abraham Benaroya’s Sephardic
Circle of Socialist Studies.

The Bulgarian Macedonian Edirne Revolutionary Committee form in
Thessaloniki 1893. This group is to evolve into the major Macedonian
indepence group against the Ottoman Empire, IMRO (Internal Macedonian
Revolutionary Organization). The spokeperson of IMRO’s left wing is
Goce Delcev. He favors sabotage and attentats rather than the
nationalist’s call for a general uprising, which, it is believed
would be quickly crushed by the Ottoman authorities.

Bulgarian and Macedonian students in Switzerland frequent Russian
immigrant circles and discover the ideas of Bakunin. In 1898, these
students form the Macedonian Secret Revolutionary Committee and
publish `Otmustenie’ (`Revenge’). `Otmustenie’ declares war on the
nationalisms of the individual ethnic minorities of Ottoman Turkey,
but rather makes a call to unite with the Muslim people against the
Sultan’s government.

In 1896 Abraham Frumkin, a young man, came from Constantinople
(Istanbul) to London. He became a friend of Rudolf Rocker. He born in
1872 in Jerusalem. He spent a year in Jaffa as a teacher of Arabic.
In 1891 he went to Constantinople to study Law but he didn’t manage
it because of lack of money. In 1893 he went to New York and came in
contact with anarchist ideas for the first time. In 1894 he returned
to Constantinople with lots of anarchist books and propaganda
material. In the house of Moses Schapiro from South Russia and his
wife Nastia, which was at that time a place for young active people,
he found open ears and minds.

Schapiro, who had to flee from Russia because of his revolutionary
activities, quickly was inflamed by the new ideas and went together
with Frumkin to Paris and London. From there he took all books he
could get about anarchism (Kropotkin, Reclus, Grave, Malato etc.)
back home. From London the Yiddish anarchist paper `Arbeiterfraind’
was sent to Constantinople where the Jewish community around Shapiro
welcomed it happily. From now on Frumkin wrote for that paper. Then
in 1896 they decided to go to London to open a print shop for Yiddish
anarchist booklets. Many years later he wrote a book about this time
`From the spring period of Jewish socialism’. Shapiro had to return
to Constantinople in 1897. He left his print shop to Frumkin, who
decided to publish an own little paper `Der Propagandist’ (11
issues). After a while in Liverpool and Leeds in 1998 Frumkin went to
Paris to stay for a year. Then he went again to America in 1899.
Shapiro was later engaged in the Russian Revolution and was a
co-founder 1922-23 of the IWA in Berlin. He went to the US where he
died in 1946.

The Armenian, Alexandre Atabekian attempts on several occasions to
distribute anarchist pamphlets in Istanbul and Izmir.

The Italian anarchist, Amilcare Cipriani, much to the chagrin of
Malatesta, volunteers to fight in Crete’s 1897 revolt against Turkish
occupation. He records his impressions in the `Almanach de la
Questione Sociale’ published in Paris by the Greek anarchist Paul
Argyriades.

In 1903, the anarchist group `Gemidzii’ makes contact with Goce
Delcev. In April of 1903, the group carry out bombings on their own
initiative in Thessaloniki against a French Passenger liner and
Banque Ottomane Imperiale.

In May 1912, in London, Errico Malatesta is charged with being a
Turkish spy. The accusation comes from the Italian patriot (and
supposedly one-time anarchist) Bellelli who is offended by
Malatesta’s outspoken opposition to Italy’s adventures in Libya.

Albert Meltzer’s pamphlet `International Revolutionary Solidarity
Movement’ includes documents by the Spanish anarchist `First of May
Group’. This pamphlet makes numerous references to the activities of
Turkish anarchists in the late 1960s. (However his remarks have been
questioned).

The contemporary Turkish anarchist movement begins in the 1980s with
some former Marxists publishing in Turkish the pamphlet `Kronstadt
1920′ by Ida Mett.

In the late 1980s, two anarchist journals appear in Istanbul, `Kara’
and `Efendisiz’.

Civil Georgia, Georgia
July 28 2005

Georgia Detains Russian Military Convoy

Russian military convoy en route from Akhalkalaki military base to
Armenia was detained on July 28 by the Georgian border guard service
at the Armenian border after recovering five machine guns in one of
the armored vehicle, the Georgian Border Guard Department reported.

The convoy, which is currently at the Armenian border, consists of
four trucks and four armored vehicles moving to Armenia as part of
the withdrawal process of the Russian military base from Akhalkalaki.

Officials say that the convoy was stopped because the Russian
officers had no appropriate documents authorizing transportation of
arms.

Institute for War and Peace Reporting
July 28 2005

KARABAKH: RELIGION AND THE ARMY

Nagorny Karabakh debates what freedoms to allow its new religious
minorities.

By Ashot Beglarian in Stepanakert

Nagorny Karabakh is getting used to religious minorities, but the
relationship is a difficult one and three men belonging to foreign
Christian churches have ended up in jail for refusing to do military
service.

This has raised the issue of whether alternative military service on
grounds of conscience should be made legal in the unrecognised
republic.

A recent round table in Stepanakert succeeded in getting people of
different views on these issues to discuss them, although two
minority faiths, Pentecostalists and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, did not
attend.

The representatives of the religious minorities complained about the
use of the word `organisation’ or `sect’ to describe them and said
that they were unhappy that they were not allowed to register as
churches.

`We are God’s church and when we meet we only want to feed ourselves
and others with God’s Word,’ said Garnik Abreyan, who represents the
International Union of Evangelical Churches and recently settled in
Karabakh.

There are estimated to be more than 1200 members of the new churches
in Karabakh, which has an official population of around 100,000.

Albert Voskanian, a Karabakh human rights activist who convened the
meeting, said that despite the adoption of a law on religious freedom
in March 1997, religious minorities met with intolerance in Karabakh.

In particular, two Jehovah’s Witnesses and one Baptist have been sent
to jail for refusing to serve in the army.

There was much discussion about how the new churches had arrived in
Karabakh when fighting was still going on and had been regarded with
suspicion by locals, who thought they were threatening social
stability by the refusal of many of their adherents to take an oath,
take up arms and serve in the army.

`We can define attitudes to alternative service by judging whether a
person is a real believer, whether he is ready to go through more
serious trials than those of the army because of his belief or
whether he is simply shirking service and its difficulties,’ said
Abreyan.

Aveg Avanesian, who is now 19, was sentenced to four years’
imprisonment for refusing to do his military service. Armen
Grigorian, also 19, was given a two-year sentence in June for
desertion. He is now serving the remainder of his sentence in his
native Armenia. This month, Gagik Mirzoyan was given a two-year
sentence for the same offence.

Sociologist David Karabekian said that the religious minorities were
not being persecuted or actively obstructed by the Karabakh
authorities.

`It is more a question of the legal aspect of the activity of
non-traditional confessions and how religious organisations should
behave,’ said Karabekian. `The issue is that there is no law in the
Nagorny Karabakh republic which regulates the activity of religious
organisations.’

Karabekian said some are worried that if a law is passed which
defines these groups as religious rather than social organisations,
there will be a massive influx of foreign evangelists into Nagorny
Karabakh.

Karabekian suggested that Karabakh should follow the example of Great
Britain and Greece, where religious freedom is enshrined in law but
there is an established church with deep historic roots, `For
Armenians the church is something more than a spiritual institution
and so the Armenian Apostolic Church ought to have a special status
and not be put on the same level as other religions.’

The Armenian church has chaplains in almost all units of the Karabakh
army.

Voskanian is proposing the introduction of a law on alternative
service, analogous to the one in Armenia – adopted after Armenia
joined the Council of Europe.

`Experience shows that repression of religious minorities not only
fails to `uproot’ them, but actually strengthens them by creating an
image for them of `martyrs for the faith’,’ said Voskanian.

Supporters of alternative service say it would bring the unrecognised
republic into line with other countries of the region. Voskanian
cited the example of the abolition of the death penalty in Karabakh
in 2003. Opponents say it would set a dangerous precedent to
introduce it when the conflict with Azerbaijan remains unsettled.

Sergei Avanesian, a local resident, spoke for many when he said, `I
think it is too early for us to bring in alternative service.
Ill-intentioned people can abuse it. We have very modest human
resources and a constant threat of war and we cannot allow ourselves
this.’

IWPR was present at the trial of Armen Grigorian. He told the court
that his religion did not permit him to `fight physically’ which is
why he had refused to obey his commanders’ orders. That is why he had
fled military service and even fled the military hospital where he
was kept. He had even not been prepared to look after soldiers in
hospital since this was an indirect way of serving the armed forces.

Areg Avanesian, visited by IWPR in jail, said he was `ready to sit
out a jail sentence as long as I have to, but I will not go into the
army’.

The intransigence of both men made it clear that this is a problem
which will not go away.

Ashot Beglarian is a freelance journalist in Nagorny Karabakh and an
IWPR contributor.

Abkhaz Railway? Light at End of Tunnel?

The reopening of railway links with Georgia could
bolster peace efforts.

Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)
Caucasus Reporting Service
(CRS No. 297, 27-Jul-05)

By Inal Khashig in Sukhum and Giorgy Kupatadze in
Tbilisi

Georgia and the breakaway region of Abkhazia have
agreed to conduct a joint study on the feasibility of
reopening the railway that links them both to Russia ?
putting within reach a potential major breakthrough in
the unresolved conflict.

Following preliminary talks, it was agreed that on
August 9 a research group which will contain Georgian,
Abkhaz and Russian specialists will visit the Zugdidi
region of western Georgia and the Gali and Ochamchira
regions of Abkhazia to study the state of the railway
line there.

The Georgians have been keen to stress that things are
still at an early stage. ?The leadership of Georgia
has not yet taken a political decision about whether
the railway will be restored,? said Conflict
Resolution Minister Giorgy Khaindrava on July 19 after
a meeting in Abkhazia on the issue. ?At the moment we
are just talking about collecting preliminary data.?

Relations between the two sides are still strained
more than 11 years after the end of the conflict of
1992-3 which took thousands of lives and led to the
expulsion of tens of thousands of mainly Georgian
refugees. Last week, UN-sponsored talks in Tbilisi
were called off because of a row over the detention by
Georgian border guards of a Turkish ship headed for
Abkhazia.

However, even discussion of the question of rebuilding
the railway is an important development. The railway
line, closed since the start of the war, connects not
only the territories of Abkhazia and Georgia but is
also potentially the major transport route between
Russia and the South Caucasus.

Armenia, whose railway links with Azerbaijan and
Turkey are completely shut, is immensely interested in
reopening direct rail traffic with Russia via Georgia.

After 1992 wandering cows and pigs replaced trains on
the line and in many parts of Abkhazia subtropical
vegetation has entirely covered the tracks.

Two and a half years ago, the section between the
Russian town of Sochi and the Abkhaz capital Sukhum
(or Sukhumi as it is known in Georgia) was restored
and now a suburban train runs between the two towns
once a day and a passenger train comes from Moscow
three times a week. The government in Tbilisi strongly
objected to the move but the Russian government said
it was a humanitarian project implemented by a
commercial company.

Both sides would stand to gain economically from a
restoration of the railway link, but Georgia has until
recently been reluctant to make a concession to the
Abkhaz without getting guarantees on its major demand
? the right of return of more than 200,000 Georgians
expelled from Abkhazia during the war.

However, the Georgians are no longer openly linking
the issue of refugee return with that of the railway.

Political analyst Paata Zakareishvili said, ?If the
railway starts to work, then some of the refugees will
return to Abkhazia to work on restoring and servicing
it, if it will be set out in the agreement that
citizens of Georgia ? amongst whom the country?s
leadership includes residents of Abkhazia – ought to
do this.?

?The restoration of the railway should make a positive
difference into the Georgian-Abkhaz negotiation
process,? Giorgy Volsky, Georgia?s deputy minister for
conflict settlement, told IWPR. He said it should help
lead to the return of refugees and a rebuilding of
trust between the two conflicting sides.

The Abkhaz are suspicious of statements of this kind.
?The question of restoring railway communications is a
purely economic problem and it ought not to be
accompanied by political demands,? said Abkhazia?s
deputy prime minister Leonid Lakerbaia. ?If the
Georgians want to build trust between our peoples then
it should happen through the economy and without any
additional political demands.?

All sides acknowledge that the reopening of the
railway would transform the economic landscape of the
region.

?If the project goes ahead, then with a minimum
freight cargo Abkhazia will receive from 500 to
800,000 US dollars a month,? said Guram Gubaz, head of
Abkhazia?s railways, explaining that the current
monthly budget is just under two million dollars.
?Besides there will be a chance to use our ports.
Russian companies are seriously lacking in Black Sea
ports to transport their oil products.?

David Onoprishvili, head of Georgian railways, said
that ?sooner or later this railway has to open and it
will be useful first of all for Georgia and its
economy?.

The Georgian economy is now heavily reliant on transit
cargoes, which now comprise 70 per cent of all freight
traffic on the railways.

Another project which would benefit greatly from the
reopening of the railway is the Kulevi oil terminal on
Georgia?s Black Sea coast, which an international
consortium wants to build. Access to Russian markets
would enhance the project enormously.

The experts will be inspecting a 200-kilometre stretch
of the railway route in August. Most of it is in an
appalling condition. Sleepers are rotten, rails are
worn out and small stations are entirely dilapidated.

In the southern Gali region of Abkhazia (or Gal as it
is known to the Abkhaz), which has a majority Georgian
population, the railway line has disappeared
altogether. Local people have pulled up the rails for
use as scrap metal and burned the sleepers as winter
fuel. Even the railway embankment has been cleared
away and it is hard to see where the line used to go.

According to some estimates, it might take three years
to restore this section of the railway.

Russian Railways, the company which has been actively
promoting the project, has estimated that 100 million
dollars are needed to restore the railway.

Georgian experts refuse even to hazard a guess. ?We
are talking about rebuilding blown-up bridges and
clearing mine fields where the mines have not been
mapped,? said Giorgy Khukhashvili, an economic expert
and former Georgian railway manager. ?No one can say
how much it will cost.?

Another stumbling block is likely to be the issue of
customs and border posts and the security of railway
traffic through Abkhazia as a whole.

Previously, the Georgian government insisted it must
have the right of inspection on the border crossing
between Abkhazia and Russia at the Psou river ? the
point that is still internationally recognised as the
Russian-Georgian border. Otherwise, went the argument,
cargoes would be crossing unauthorised territory
without being checked.

Georgian parliamentary deputy Levan Berdzenishvili,
from the opposition Republican Party, argues, ?People
are forgetting that this is a rebel region and if the
Georgians and Abkhaz do not reach an absolutely
concrete agreement on this issue and don?t act
together, the trains will not run.

?We must not forget that the war in Abkhazia began
because the Georgian side could not control the
railway. If the authorities in Georgia want to start
another war, this is a way to do it.?

He was referring to the formal pretext for the start
of the conflict in Abkhazia in August 1992, which was
that Georgian troops supposedly intervened to protect
the railway.

The Abkhaz public is reacting cautiously to all the
reports about the reopening of the railway. No one is
speaking out against it but there is little of the
euphoria that accompanied the reopening of the
Sochi-Sukhum link ? an event that parliamentary
speaker Nugzar Ashuba compared to the launch of a
space-ship.

Giorgy Kupatadze is correspondent with the Black Sea
Press news agency in Tbilisi. Inal Khashig is
co-editor in Abkhazia of Panorama, a newspaper
supported by IWPR, and editor of the Chegemskaya
Pravda newspaper.

Schweizerische Depeschenagentur AG (SDA)
SDA – Service de base français
23 juillet 2005

Développement Négation du génocide arménien en mai à Lausanne
L’Association Suisse-Arménie dépose plainte

Lausanne (ats) L’Association Suisse-Arménie (ASA) a déposé plainte à
mi-juillet pour négationnisme contre le chef du Parti des
travailleurs turcs Dogu Perincek. Lors d’un discours prononcé le 7
mai à Lausanne, il avait affirmé que le génocide arménien n’avait pas
eu lieu.

Le texte prononcé par M. Perincek à cette occasion et reproduit
depuis dans le journal de son parti en Turquie est clairement de
nature négationniste, a expliqué samedi à l’ats Sarkis Shahinian,
coprésident de l’ASA, confirmant une information de “24 heures”. De
tels propos sont punissables par la loi suisse.

Dogu Perincek a été invité à participer, dès vendredi, à trois jours
de manifestations célébrant le 82e anniversaire du Traité de
Lausanne, fondateur de la République turque. Il devrait notamment
s’exprimer dimanche à Lausanne.

Manifestation sous tension

L’ASA a tenté sans succès de faire interdire ce rassemblement qu’il
juge négationniste. “La police cantonale nous a répondu qu’il ne lui
revenait pas de décider d’interdire la manifestation car le pouvoir
politique ne s’était pas prononcé sur son annulation”, a déploré M.
Shahinian.

L’association entend pourtant faire pression sur les pouvoirs publics
afin qu’ils ne laissent pas des propos négationnistes impunis. “Quand
une personne qui n’est pas turque viole la loi en Suisse, il doit en
répondre devant la justice. Nous ne comprenons pas pourquoi des gens
venus provoquer ne seraient pas passibles de conséquences pénales et
légales”, a expliqué son coprésident.

En revanche, aucune contre-manifestation n’est prévue dimanche à
Lausanne. “Ces provocations doivent être traitées par les organes
compétents. Ce n’est pas aux Arméniens de venir manifester pour
rappeler une vérité historique avérée”, a affirmé M. Shahinian. Tant
la Confédération que le Parlement vaudois ont reconnu le génocide,
dont les Arméniens commémorent le 90e anniversaire cette année.

Débat à Winterthour

Avant leur réunion de dimanche à Lausanne, des centaines de Turcs ont
pris part samedi à Winterthour à un débat au cours duquel Dogu
Perincek a réaffirmé ses positions. Sous le slogan “génocide
arménien”, des parlements européens ont adopté des résolutions qui
visent à la suppression de l’Etat national turc, peut-on notamment
lire dans le texte écrit de son discours.

Environ 300 Turcs sont arrivés vendredi en Suisse afin de participer
aux festivités prévues dimanche. Le colloque de samedi n’a donné lieu
à aucun débordement, a indiqué un porte-parole de la police
cantonale.

NOTE: deux derniers paragraphes nouveaux.