Author: Karabekian Emil

Analyst takes dim view of Azerbaijan’s plight if USA attacks Iran

Yeni Musavat, Baku
10 Feb 05

Excerpt from report by Elsad in Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni Musavat
on 10 February headlined “The destruction of Iran’s nuclear assets
promises serious threats to the region”; subheaded “Azerbaijan has
face a very awkward situation”

“Had Iran owned nuclear weapons, it could have become as strong as
Russia and Turkey in the region. As it does not, Tehran is helpless
before Russia and NATO in the person of Turkey [as published]. Iran
might enjoy the same status as these states and protect its interests
if it had the weapons,” political analyst Vafa Quluzada has said.

He thinks that this is the main reason why Tehran does not give up
its nuclear ambitions.

[Passage omitted: Iran to target Israel first in case of military
operations]

The analyst regarded as realistic the possibility of a horrible strike
on Iran right on the border with Azerbaijan.

“If the US-Iranian conflict is resolved peacefully, Azerbaijan will
benefit from that as much as anyone else.”

[Passage omitted: Quluzada describes the current situation as tense
and complicated]

Commenting on the situation in which Azerbaijan found itself, he
said that it was extremely awkward. “On the one hand, 20 per cent
of our lands are under occupation. On the other hand, all monitoring
missions and negotiations are aimed at pulling the wool over people’s
eyes. Neither Azerbaijan, nor Georgia nor Armenia would, of course,
want a new war in the region. It is not known which of the countries
will be affected by radiation, if the USA attacks Iran’s nuclear
reactor. All the three South Caucasus countries are under this threat,”
he said.

The analyst thinks that Azerbaijan might not impact on the course of
operations even if it does not join a [US] coalition. “Azerbaijan is
not a great power and Iran has nothing to lose if Azerbaijan decides
not to join the coalition. The USA might not create it [presumably,
the coalition] either. Let people not think about Iraq. It is a
different country. The point is about air strikes on Iran’s nuclear
facilities. There is no need for the coalition.”

Quluzada does not believe that Azerbaijan is among the countries
which the USA has chosen as a target.

“Azerbaijan is innocent when Iran is concerned and no attacks on Iran
will be launched from our country,” he said.

Azeri paper accuses Russian, French mediators of Armenian sympathy

Yeni Musavat, Baku
9 Feb 05

Text of political department report by Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni
Musavat on 9 February headlined “Absurd statements from co-chairmen”
and subheaded “Russian and French co-chairmen spoke of the rights of
‘Armenian refugees’ from Nagornyy Karabakh in Xankandi”

The Russian and French co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuri
Merzlyakov and Bernard Fassier, have issued absurd statements in a
meeting with the head of the “refugee committee” of the separatist
regime in Karabakh, Sanasar Saryan. Regnum news agency quoted Saryan
as complaining about international indifference to the violation of
the rights of “about half a million Armenian” refugees from Nagornyy
Karabakh in a meeting with the co-chairmen, who were in Xankandi
as part of the OSCE fact-finding mission. “There are almost half a
million refugees from Nagornyy Karabakh across the globe. They do not
have appropriate rights and cannot receive any benefits or assistance.”

In response to Saryan’s complaints, Merzlyakov said that it would be
wrong to think that the co-chairmen were aloof to this issue. “We
are meeting refugees here, too. You should understand that the
co-chairmen should be impartial, but you should not accuse us of
having no feelings.”

French co-chairman Fassier said that he had seen many refugees living
in “hard conditions” during his visit to Karabakh. “Therefore, I
understand your pain,” the French co-chairman said. Fassier added that
it was necessary to deal with the issue of the status of Karabakh’s
“Armenian refugees”. “I know for now that it is necessary to tackle
it.”

The representative of the separatist regime told the OSCE mission
during its visit to the occupied territories that Armenian refugees
are being re-settled in those territories. Reports about the content
of Saryan’s meeting with the co-chairmen show that they have agreed
with this argument of the separatists and even expressed regret
about the conditions of the Armenians, who were settled in the
occupied territories of Azerbaijan in violation of all international
conventions. It is interesting that Merzlyakov actually backed the
statement by the representative of the separatist regime that half a
million Armenians had allegedly became refugees. This is despite the
fact that Merzlyakov cannot but know how absurd Saryan’s allegation
is. How could Nagornyy Karabakh produce 500,000 Armenian refugees
if the entire population of the republic was close to 165,000 people
before the start of military operations?

Despite his claims of impartiality, Merzlyakov sympathizes in part
with the absurd claims by the representative of the separatist regime
and concurs that the rights of “hundreds of thousands” of Armenian
refugees from Nagornyy Karabakh are being violated. All this raises
doubts about the objectivity of the OSCE mission assigned to examine
Armenia’s settlement policy in Azerbaijan’s occupied lands.

Celebrating the Best in Russian Security
By Kevin O’Flynn, Staff Writer

Moscow Times, Russia
Feb 7 2005

Ruslan Kochetkov / For MT

Ultimatum performing at the ZUBR awards ceremony on Saturday, which
honored the best in the Russian security industry.

Everyone needs to feel like a star now and again, and in an industry
reliant on danger and close run-ins with death, security guards are
not much different.

More than 500 people packed the security industry’s version of the
Academy Awards ceremony on Saturday to cheer the winners in
categories such as best bodyguard and best fire protection equipment.

The entire industry seemed to have been given the night off for the
show, held at the School of Dramatic Art on Ulitsa Sretenka, where
there was no one at the door and nary any shaven-headed men talking
into their thumb.

Now in their second year, the security awards are known as the ZUBR
(for za ukrepleniye bezopasnosti Rossii, or for the strengthening of
the security of Russia) and are billed rather grandly as one of the
new “civil society initiatives used to cooperate with the government
in the fight against new threats.” The word zubr means bison, so all
the award winners went home with a large metal bison.

“I think the industry is worthy of having such events,” Vadim
Ignatov, a winner in the information defense awards, said after the
ceremony, still clutching his framed diploma. “It’s like those best
film awards, the Oscars.”

If the names of awards such as best product in the sphere of
information security and best product in the sphere of personal
defense and rescue did not quite trip off the tongue as easily as
best actor or best film, the organizers still tried to make it as
grand an occasion as possible. Representatives of accounting firm
KPMG came up on stage to affirm that the voting had been done
correctly. Security people are an untrusting bunch.

The ceremony was one of large pauses interspersed with large dashes
of pomp. It began with a short-skirted troupe of female drummers
marching around the stage as the Russian flag fluttered in the
background on two large video screens. An all-girl pop group,
Ultimatum, then mimed its way through a song extolling Russia.

Best bodyguard went to Sergei Shchetinin for winning a national
shooting contest. To receive the award for him, he sent Dmitry
Fonarev, the president of the National Bodyguard Association, who was
part of Mikhail Gorbachev’s security team when he was the Soviet
leader.

Even without the awards, those in the security business have a right
to be pleased. The industry was worth $2 billion last year, and the
market is growing by more than 40 percent a year, according to Sergei
Trapani, who handles international marketing for Grotec publishers,
which puts out magazines on security themes and was one of the
organizers of the award ceremony.

The security business is not just bodyguards and reinforced jeeps.

“It is all around us,” Trapani said, pointing to fire safety systems
in schools and apartments, and plans by the Moscow government to
require most apartments to have video equipment installed on doors.

Russia is one of the leaders in the bodyguard business, Fonarev said,
and foreign experts come here to see how Russians provide protection
against assassination and kidnapping. There are 17,000 bodyguards in
Russia, with an average monthly salary of 750 euros ($965), he said.

The main stars of the ceremony, Armenian Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan and Audit Chamber head Sergei Stepashin, did not show up to
receive their awards. Stepashin could be seen Saturday attending a
similar Hollywood-inspired show, broadcast on television and with
many more all-girl groups than at the security awards, to celebrate
the 10th anniversary of the Audit Chamber.

DLU BECAME A PARTY

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
04 Feb 05

On January 30 the third extraordinary meeting of the public-political
organization Democratic Liberal Union took place. To the meeting were
also invited NKR National Assembly speaker Oleg Yessayan, prime
minister Anoushavan Danielian, members of parliament and government,
representatives of public and political organizations. Opening the
meeting the chairman of the central council Ashot Ghulian pointed out
the importance of the mission of the DLU in the home political,
social, economic and cultural spheres. According to the spokesperson,
the DLU had a significant role in the democratic reforms in the
country. Taking into account the regular course of accomplishment, as
well as the requirements of the law on political parties the necessity
of restructuringthe public and political organization into a political
party occurred. Along with the report on the works done before the
question of restructuring into a political party was on the
agenda. Assessing the activities of the Democratic LiberalUnion in
four years Ashot Ghulian emphasized their consistency in preserving
the positive and the necessity of not avoiding drawbacks and
mistakes. In comparison to other political forces DLU has had better
possibilities to impact the policy implemented by the government
thereby assuming its share of responsibility in state governance. In
this respect the work done by the union is significant. At the same
time, DLU also bears responsibility for the unsettled problems and
becomes a target of criticism on the part of other political forces.
Although the positive changes in the country in the past five years
are obvious, to which DLU has had an important contribution, it causes
anxiety that recently different political forces have set out in a
race for the prerogative of a standard-bearer of democracy. This will
have an instructive role in reconsidering and reevaluating the
strategy of future activity of the party. Restructuring into a
political party will become the fist step in its fulfillment. The new
political party was named `Democratic Party of Artsakh’. The
Regulations and the Program of the party were adopted. According to
the Regulations, the central council consisting of 25 members will
control the political activity of the party. Ashot Ghulian was elected
chairman of the central council of the Democratic Party of Artsakh.

SVETLANA KHACHATRIAN.
04-02-2005

IRNA, Iran
February 2, 2005 Wednesday 12:10 PM EST

Iran excluded from military training in UK

Tehran

Iran has continued to be excluded from 137 countries that have
received military training in the UK in the past three years,
according to official data.

In a written reply to parliament published Wednesday, Defence
Minister Ivior Caplin detailed more than 12,000 overseas military
personnel receiving training at UK establishment since 2002,
including countries involved in conflicts and wars.

The list excluded Iran but included many from countries subjected to
UK arms sanctions, like Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, , Azerbaijan,
Bosnia, China, Croatia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Iraq, Libya,
Sierra Leone, Sudan and Yugoslavia.

Among the Persian Gulf region, Caplin detailed that 108 students from
Bahrain had receiving training at UK military establishments, 1,021
from Kuwait, 518 from Oman, 176 from Qatar, 271 from Saudi Arabia and
546 from the United Arab Emirates.

Iran`s other neighbours included 7 from Afghanistan, 5 from Armenia,
8 from Azerbaijan, 30 from Iraq, 148 from Pakistan, 110 from Turkey
and 1 from Turkmenistan.

The effective ban on Iran receiving military training caused
particular controversy during Iraq`s 1980-88 imposed war, when it was
revealed that the UK was training Iraqi pilots but not offering the
same facilities to Iran.

Britain`s sanctions regime against Iran has also been found to be
uniquely based on a national arms embargo, unlike the overwhelming
majority of others that are imposed by international or regional
organizations.

Kansas City Star , MO
Jan 30 2004

Rebuilt Armenia stands as example

Tsunami responders can learn lessons from ’88 earthquake

By MARK McDONALD Knight Ridder Newspapers

SPITAK, Armenia – When rescuers pulled victims from the rubble of the
sugar factory in Spitak in 1988, the corpses seemed like ghastly,
crimson ghosts.

The bodies were covered with an awful goo, a coagulated mixture of
blood and powdered sugar.

The earthquake that crushed the sugar plant also destroyed every
other factory in this mountainous patch of northern Armenia. The
6.9-magnitude quake flattened schools, churches, homes and hospitals.
More than 25,000 people died. Half a million were left homeless.

The 1988 disaster was hardly on the scale of last month’s Asian
tsunami, but the grief and horror were the same. So was the
international response – massive, immediate, global and heartfelt.

But despite the huge donations and many successes, post-earthquake
Armenia could serve as a cautionary tale for the tsunami region: Even
the most heavily financed and best-intentioned relief missions can be
derailed by the aftershocks of economic crises, corruption, politics
and war.

`The people in the tsunami, their pain is our pain,’ said Asya
Khakchikyan, 70, who lost her husband, daughter and granddaughter in
the Spitak quake. `When I see the faces of those poor people in Asia,
I see the faces of the ones I lost.’

Other disaster zones have had bitter experiences with relief efforts
that dwindled or disappeared almost as soon as they started. When the
news media move on, aid missions often do the same.

That didn’t happen in Armenia, government officials, diplomats, aid
workers and survivors agree. After 16 years, international relief
efforts continue, many of them generous and effective.

A housing program under the U.S. Agency for International Development
ended only last month in Gyumri. The Peace Corps has 85 volunteers in
Armenia, several U.N. programs remain active, and dozens of
international agencies and private foundations continue to work in
the region.

`We haven’t recovered yet, but at least say we’re no longer dying,’
said Albert Papoyan, mayor of the hardscrabble village of Shirmakoot,
the epicenter of the quake. `We’re finally starting to breathe.’

An estimated 20,000 people across the quake zone still occupy the
metal shipping containers known here as `domiks.’ The containers once
held emergency provisions that came from abroad. Now people live in
them.

Only one of Spitak’s factories is back in business, and it employs
only a small fraction of the people it did before.

Some aid workers complain that some people still expect handouts.

Spitak lost 5,003 persons to the earthquake, nearly a fourth of its
population. The quake struck Dec. 7, just before noon, when children
were in school and most adults were working at the sugar plant, the
elevator factory, the leather tannery or the sewing collective.

International aid poured in. The grand total after 16 years is
difficult to estimate, although government officials suggest it could
be close to $2 billion, half of what has been pledged for tsunami
relief.

`The whole world helped Spitak,’ Asatryan said.

Today, Spitak’s new neighborhoods are known as the French, Italian
and Uzbek districts, commemorating the countries that financed them.

The immediate U.S. response was a planeload of search-and-rescue dogs
and rescue teams from Fairfax County, Va. American tents, heaters,
food and medicine soon followed. Trauma counselors also arrived,
along with some teachers of transcendental meditation.

Today, Armenia is one of the largest per-capita recipients of U.S.
government aid in the world, reportedly second only to Israel. A
large and influential immigrant population in the United States helps
drive those government appropriations.

AZERI STANCE ON KARABAKH CONFLICT “UNCHANGED”, PRESIDENT TELLS OSCE MISSION

Turan news agency
28 Jan 05

BAKU

President Ilham Aliyev today received the co-chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group and the fact-finding mission which will investigate
settlement on the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

Welcoming the guests Aliyev expressed his hope that the mission’s work
will be effective. He also noted the significance of the new format of
the talks on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, which are now
being held between the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers.

Aliyev said that Azerbaijan’s position on settlement of the conflict
remains unchanged. The conflict must be resolved only and only on the
basis of international legal norms – the principles of territorial
integrity and inviolability of state borders, Aliyev said.

He said that the illegal settlement of Armenians on the occupied
territories is one of the major difficulties on the way to achieving a
lasting peace. Aliyev said he was certain that the mission’s scrutiny
of the real situation on the occupied land would facilitate the end of
Armenia’s illegal activities on those territories.

The Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuriy Merzlyakov,
thanked Aliyev for Azerbaijan’s professional preparation of the
documents presented to the mission. “This is all very important for
the mission to accomplish the work on the occupied territories around
Nagornyy Karabakh,” the Russian diplomat said.

Saying that the OSCE Minsk Group intends to intensify its activities,
Merzlyakov hoped that successful results would be attained as a result
of the sides’ serious mutual efforts in peaceful negotiations.

Muslim WakeUp!, United Arab Emirates
Jan 28 2005

Remembering Auschwitz: Comparing Palestinians’ Unique Suffering with
Holocaust Leads Nowhere

By Ayman S. Ashour

The horrible genocide committed against the Jews by Nazi Germany,
with the collaboration of other Europeans, during WWII was one of the
worst events of the 20th century. To be sure, the last century had
many other horrible episodes of genocide: the Gypsies, the Armenians,
the Hmong, the Tutsis, and others. Horrors perpetrated by the likes
of Stalin, Pol Pot, and the Chinese Cultural Revolution make the 20th
century a very bloody one indeed.

Meanwhile, some Muslims and other sympathizers of the Palestinian
cause have taken to comparing the ongoing suffering of Palestinians
to the Holocaust.

The mass killing of millions of people from the very old to newborns
with industrial efficiency for the sole purpose of exterminating a
whole race is beyond words in its cruelty, criminality, abhorrence
and indeed in its uniqueness. The road towards peace and
reconciliation does not go through denial of the suffering of Jews;
understanding the narratives of the “other” is a prerequisite for any
real reconciliation. Those Muslims and other supporters of the
Palestinians who deny or minimize the Holocaust do major disservice
to the Palestinian cause and cause more Jews and Israelis to turn a
blind eye to the suffering of the Palestinians.

Indeed, Palestinian suffering is unique as well and should not be
compared to anything else. The courage of ordinary Palestinians
living under a brutal occupation, the non-violent Palestinians who
suffer in the refugee camps generation after generation, the
Palestinian families living in New Jersey or Michigan, leading their
new lives but remembering ..still remembering, writing, demonstrating
is unique. The ability of Palestine to remain a viable dream in the
hearts of millions despite its very powerful foes is unique! For over
a hundred years now, Zionism has enjoyed the backing of the world’s
most powerful powers; it has captured the imagination of the world’s
so-called liberals and progressives then moved on to capture the
imagination and support of its conservatives and evangelicals.
Throughout this time, the ordinary people of Palestine have continued
to struggle, and the word Palestine is now again an accepted part of
the vocabulary.

In Tibet, the suffering, destruction and colonization were brutal,
yet the world’s liberals, intellectuals and celebrities spoke out
against China and raced for a piece of the Dali Lama. The suffering
of the Tibetans is recognized by the world. In certain respects, the
eradication of their culture has been more complete than that of the
Palestinians. In much of the world, Tibetans are seen as peaceful and
spiritual, while Palestinians are portrayed as militant
double-talking terrorists.. Whose suffering is greater? Which wound
is more painful? When is a killing by one brutal occupier less
painful than the killing by another brutal occupier? Comparisons and
more senseless comparisons lead nowhere.

For Palestinians, where else are there such overwhelming odds against
a people, people who have sadly not been blessed with wise leaders
but who have an abundance of courage and perseverance? The suffering
of Palestinians should not be compared to the suffering of others,
and in the process be belittled by those who support them.

Let’s not compare, all suffering is unique, and the suffering of the
Palestinian people is no different. Let us today join the Germans,
the Russians, the French and pray for the souls of the countless Jews
who perished in the horrible ovens of Auschwitz – let’s honor and
respect their memory, and please, let us not compare!

Insurance Day
January 25, 2005

New York Life in first genocide payment

THE Armenian genocide case against New York Life has taken a further
step towards resolution with $3m being released by the Armenian
Insurance Settlement Fund Board for distribution to nine Armenian
charities.

It is the first payment to be made since a $20m settlement was agreed
last January (ID, Jan 30, 2004). The settlement will see payments
made to descendants of Armenians killed 90 years ago in the Turkish
Ottoman Empire, following the agreement by New York Life to pay all
valid claims on more than 2,000 insurance policies issued before
1915.

During the 1800s and early 1900s, New York Life sold thousands of
life insurance policies to ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
Armenians have always maintained 1.5m people were executed by Turkish
authorities between 1915 and 1919 on allegations of helping the
Russian Army. California’s insurance commissioner John Garamendi has
described the act as a “deliberate, systematic and
government-controlled genocide”.

This $3m charity payment was agreed under last January’s settlement,
and ratified at a final hearing in July.

The nine organisations set to benefit are: the Armenian General
Benevolent Union, the Armenian Relief Society, the Armenian Education
Foundation, the Armenian Missionary Association, the Armenian
Catholic Church, both the Eastern and Western dioceses of the
Armenian Church of North America, and both the Eastern and Western
prelacies of the Armenian Apostolistic Church.

The settlement fund board, an independent body appointed by Mr
Garamendi to evaluate claims relating to the case, is set to begin
considering individual claims in March. As well as the $2m charity
donations, the settlement includes $11m for the heirs of the
policyholders and $6m for attorneys’ fees and administrative
expenses.

All descendants of policyholders wishing to claim must register their
notice of claim forms with the board by March 16.

Separately, JP Morgan has sent a letter of apology to staff following
the revelation that around 13,000 slaves were used as loan collateral
by two banks which later merged into the JP Morgan group.

The two companies involved Canal Bank and Citizens Bank were later
swallowed up by other organisations which merged into Bank One,
bought by JP Morgan last year.

Following the revelation, JP Morgan has said it will set up a $5m
student scholarship programme in Louisiana, where the event took
place.

OCULUS, Fall 2004
A publication of the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter
Volume 66 Issue 3
THE SECRET LIVES OF ARCHITECTS
Mixing Palettes
By Ruth Altchek
Associate Editor of I.D. Magazine

Nishan Kazazian, AIA, wishes that art and architecture were not
thought of as distinct disciplines.” Look at all the mosques in Iran,
the temples in Greece. When did art stop being part of architecture
and vice versa?” he wonders. “Art, architecture, politics, commerce
mixing together – you have to be able to talk about all of it. If you
are not able to do that, your work becomes limited.”

Kazazian holds master’s degrees in art and architecture, both from
Columbia University. Since 1985, he has worked to re-wed the two
disciplines as principal of the Chelsea-based A&A Design Group (the
A’s stand for art and architecture), which focuses on residential and
commercial projects in the New York metropolitan area. His wood
construction from the 1990s are single planes of material that unfold
to generate forms, blurring sculpture, furniture, and
architecture. More recently, animation has been Kazazian’s chosen
medium. With his assistant Peter Mathias, Kazazian conceives and
directs politically themed, architecturally influenced animations.

For example, Endless Cycle? suggests parallels between September 11
and the Armenian genocide, for example. In the haunting
two-minute-long animation, zombie-like figures emerge and back into a
murky abyss, just as, Kazazian points out, “we raise our heads only
briefly before going back to our daily routines.” In Bleached Blood, a
ziggurat of contemporary world flags collapses, its colors dissolving
into a muddy pool. Set to a score of national anthems, the piece calls
into question themes of national identity, warfare, and shared
humanity. Kazazian’s animations have been shown at Art Resources
Transfer in New York and several international film festivals.