Author: Karakhanian Suren

Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
Dec 8 2004

Pearl Harbor lost in shuffle
Most schools skip marking Dec. 7, 1941, attack, instead honoring
Memorial, Veterans Day.

By Darleene Barrientos, News-Press and Leader

GLENDALE — To those of the World War II generation, Dec. 7 will always
be remembered as the date which will live in infamy.

But for many local educators and students, apparently it’s just
another day.

One sixth-grade Columbus Elementary school student quizzed by a
reporter Tuesday incorrectly guessed that Pearl Harbor was a plane.
His friend hit a little closer to the mark. He thought it had something
to do with a war.

But even as the rest of the country commemorated the 63rd anniversary
of the attack on Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 — the event
that marked the United States’ official entry into World War II —
local schools went about business as usual.

“We talked about it in each of the classrooms, but not as a unified
school,” said Kirk Dunn, Glendale Adventist Academy’s principal. Most
teachers at each school had the choice whether to address the event,
but it was not known how many teachers mentioned it.

No events to commemorate the event were planned at Flintridge
Preparatory School in La Cañada Flintridge, spokeswoman Karen Kahler
said. History teachers might have addressed the topic in Tuesday’s
lessons, but Kahler could not confirm that.

Glendale Unified School District teachers were also given the
opportunity to talk about Pearl Harbor with students Tuesday, but
it wasn’t known how many did. Sixth-grade Columbus Elementary School
student Kostik Galstyan said he believed the schools should specially
mark such an event.

“I know how my life is because of the [Armenian] Genocide,” Kostik,
11, said.

Hoover High School student Ben Silva, 14, said he thought
administrators should have at least made a mention of the anniversary
in his school’s daily morning announcements.

“They should have — it’s an important day,” Ben said.

At Hoover High, school officials commemorate D-Day — the day that
Allied soldiers landed in Normandy in a drive to defeat Nazi soldiers
— Memorial Day and Veterans Day, Co-Principal Kevin Welsh said.

“I think, when we memorialize and remember [Sept. 11], there’s always
a little bit of recollection that America was caught off guard. It
was the most serious intelligence setback since Pearl Harbor,” he
said. And it seems that only in context of the 9/11 terrorist attacks
that students seem to recall the date that Franklin D. Roosevelt
declared would “live in infamy.”

At Glendale Community College, students and professors were also more
concerned with upcoming final exams than remembering Pearl Harbor,
but the attitude is also due to an emotionally charged past year,
said Roger Bowerman, history professor and division chairman of
social science.

“Particularly since the invasion of Iraq, we’re at greater unease at
remembering something like that. The campus has its flag at half-staff,
but I don’t believe people see it or know why,” Bowerman said.

Part of the problem in remembering these history-changing dates
and events is partly because they are merely just dates to this
generation. If students were more aware of the ‘why’ behind some of
these dates, they would probably remember them better, he said.

“If it were not brought up by the press or films or TV, people
would kind of forget, because people are [uninterested in history]
in the United States. Many of them don’t remember when the [American]
Civil War was or even what caused it. History in public schools is
very names and dates driven,” he said.

–Boundary_(ID_o7bs5l5D5vfELg8z5q+x8A)–

ARMENIAN FM SPEAKING ON KARABAKHI CONFLICT IN OSCE

A1+
07-12-2004

Today Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan made a speech at the
12th meeting of OSCE Ministers. Referring to the issue of OSCE reforms,
Armenian FM stated that though there are various power poles inward
the organization, Armenia can’t fully join any of them, and suggests
being a colleague, neighbour and a friend instead.

Then Minister talked about Nagorno Karabakh. Mentioning the 4 meetings
between Armenian Azerbaijani FMs and the one of 2 Presidents in Astana,
during which some progress was fixed Minister expressed regret that
Azerbaijan misled Karabakhi issue from the constructive course by
raising the refugee problem in UNO agenda.

Minister reminded about the conflict beginnings and the reasons of
the present situation. A group of CE MPs who were in Nagorno Karabakh
during the tense hostilities, have registered the following in 1992:
“As a result of recent Azerbaijani attacks villages were completely
ruined, peaceful residents were killed and children suffered violence
in Nagorno Karabakh”.

“Taking into account the decided superiority of Azerbaijani Armed
Forces in comparison with human power, weapons and equipment, fuel and
food provision, frequency of air bombing of Nagorno Karabakhi one,
we can suppose that a few weeks if not less are left till collapse
of Karabakh. It is obvious that genocide and transmigration will most
probably follow”, Minister cited.

Armenia keeps remaining loyal to Minsk Group activity and expects
for the same adherence of Azerbaijan, Minister informed.

Minister Oskanyan expressed hope that European Union Summit scheduled
on December 17 will underline necessity of opening the frontiers with
Armenia in connection with launching negotiations over Turkeyâ~@~Ys
membership. Minister Oskanyan talked about these issues with Jean
Asselborn, Luxemburg Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs
and Migration that will assume EU presidency beginning from January,
2005.

Armenian FM left for Brussels from Sofia to partake in the ministerial
sitting of NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Cooperation Council.

–Boundary_(ID_d4qQK0r8YT+tfZF7qp1e4A)–

Turkish Press
Dec 2 2004

History Of The E.U.

BY ULUC GURKAN

STAR- When can Turkey join the EU? The leaked draft statement
prepared by EU Term President the Netherlands doesn’t answer this
question. In addition, French daily Liberation wrote, `Turkey can’t
become an EU member before 2015 or 2020.’ The EU is giving Turkey a
process of membership negotiations lasting more than 15 years but
isn’t guaranteeing full membership. It also stated that talks might
be suspended if human rights violations continue. The approval of
two-thirds of the 25 EU countries is envisaged to decide on this
issue. The draft statement doesn’t say that Turkey should give up
full membership and accept a special status. However, it also doesn’t
guarantee that this emphasis on special status won’t be added to the
final document at the Dec. 17 EU summit at France’s behest. Actually,
what’s envisaged for Turkey doesn’t seem to be full membership. The
draft statement clearly said that free movement might be permanently
limited. Obviously, if Turkey becomes a full member, the EU will be
under some pressure, so such limitations are natural. Likewise, this
was tried for other new members. However, these limitations can’t be
valid for full members.

It’s understood that during our membership talks process, we will
face a great many difficult conditions. The most important of these
are recognizing Greek Cyprus, solving our Aegean disputes in favor of
Greece, and recognizing the so-called Armenian genocide. Turkey can’t
accept these conditions by insisting on EU membership as our only
aim. Accepting them would mean giving up being a nation. Turkey
should be a real negotiator after Dec. 17. The way to ensure this
isn’t resisting all these conditions. Turkey should implement certain
arrangements which will improve its democracy and respect for human
rights. In addition, it should begin human-oriented development.
Claims of bad treatment and torture should end and the use of
excessive force in the fight against terrorism should stop. Turkey
should take steps to bring its democracy to world standards on its
own, not at the EU’s insistence. Turkey and Turks have the power and
experience to integrate advanced democracy with our own national
values.

noticias.info (press release), Spain
Dec 2 2004

IMF Executive Board Completes Final Review Under PRGF Arrangement for
the Republic of Armenia

/noticias.info/ The Executive Board of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) today completed the sixth and final review of the Republic
of Armenia’s economic performance under a three-year Poverty
Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement. The completion of
this review enables Armenia to draw an amount equivalent to SDR 9.0
million (about US$13.7 million).

In completing the final review, the Executive Board also approved
Armenia’s request for a waiver of two structural performance
criteria.

At the time of the fifth review on May 3, 2004 the period of the
arrangement was extended through December 31, 2004 (see Press Release
No. 04/90). Armenia’s PRGF arrangement was initially approved with
effect from May 23, 2001 (see Press Release No. 01/25) for an amount
equivalent to SDR 69 million (about US$105.3 million). With the
completion of the sixth review, the arrangement will be fully
disbursed. The authorities have also stated their intention to begin
discussions with the IMF on a new three-year PRGF arrangement that
would support an economic program through 2008.

Following the Executive Board’s discussion of Armenia’s performance
under the current PRGF-supported program, Agustín Carstens, Deputy
Managing Director and Acting Chair, said:

“The Armenian authorities should be commended for Armenia’s strong
economic performance in recent years, in the context of satisfactory
implementation of the PRGF-supported program. Prudent monetary and
fiscal policies, external financial support, and progress with
structural reforms have contributed to double-digit economic growth,
poverty reduction, low inflation, and a sustainable debt burden.

“Looking ahead, the authorities should maintain a cautious fiscal
stance and ensure that the expenditure envelope is in line with PRSP
priorities on social and infrastructure spending. Monetary policy
should remain tight while maintaining a flexible exchange rate regime
in order to bring inflation down to the authorities’ objective of 3
percent. To facilitate further financial intermediation, reforms are
needed to enhance corporate governance in banks, streamline
collateral recovery procedures, and improve court processes.

“Notwithstanding the progress made in recent years, the authorities
need to tackle more forcefully the remaining deficiencies and reduce
discretion in tax and customs administration. This will contribute to
an improved business environment and yield higher tax revenues to
finance pro-poor spending. On the expenditure side, a balanced mix
between current and capital spending will be critical to sustain the
high trajectory of growth. This will require higher allocations to
capital expenditures in the transport, agriculture, and water
sectors. At the same time, the envisaged increases in social spending
highlight the importance of ensuring that they will be utilized
efficiently and transparently.

“The authorities should be commended for the improvement in the
energy sector in recent years. Looking ahead, the authorities need to
complete the reform agenda in this sector and step up the
implementation of reforms in the water and irrigation sectors,
including through an increase in tariffs to cost recovery levels.

“Armenia’s medium-term prospects are likely to remain favorable
provided the authorities move ahead with the implementation of the
reform agenda and redouble their efforts to improve governance,” Mr.
Castens stated.

The PRGF is the IMF’s concessional facility for low-income countries.
PRGF-supported programs are based on country-owned poverty reduction
strategies adopted in a participatory process involving civil society
and development partners, and articulated in a Poverty Reduction
Strategy Paper, or PRSP. This is intended to ensure that each
PRGF-supported program is consistent with a comprehensive framework
for macroeconomic, structural, and social policies, to foster growth
and reduction poverty. PRGF loans carry an annual interest rate of
0.5 percent, and are repayable over 10 years with a 5 ½-year grace
period on principal payments.

Russia set to buy Armenian energy network – paper

Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
1 Dec 04

The former head of the Russian presidential administration, Aleksandr
Voloshin, who at present occupies the post of president of the RAO UES
[Russia’s power grid monopoly Unified Energy System] board of
directors, is visiting Armenia. He met President Robert Kocharyan
yesterday [30 November]. We got information from the press service of
the Armenian president that Kocharyan and Voloshin discussed
Armenian-Russian cooperation in the energy sphere, in particular they
touched on the programmes implemented by the RAO UES in Armenia.

It has become known from trustworthy sources that Voloshin has come to
clarify finally the details of buying the Armenian energy network
company. It became clear that the RAO UES wanted to buy the Armenian
energy network in November, when the vice-president of the RAO UES,
Andrey Rapoport, held negotiations with the management of Midland
Resources Holding, which is the owner of the Armenian energy
network. That time it was clear that the bargain would fail because
from the very beginning the World Bank was against giving the Armenian
energy network to the Russian company. When selling the network to the
Midland Resources Holding, the Armenian government signed a contract
with that company, in accordance with which the company needs the
consent of the Armenian government to sell the network to a third
party. If the Armenian authorities consent to sell the network to
Russia, they will have problems with the World Bank.

According to our information, to avoid this possible conflict the
Armenian authorities have persuaded the RAO UES to buy not the
Armenian energy network but Midland Resources Holding which is the
owner of the network. In case of striking such a deal, there is no
need to get the consent of the Armenian government, and the world
community cannot blame Armenia for giving Armenia’s last energy
fortresses to Russia. Incidentally, after making this bargain only two
non-Russian facilities will remain in the energy sphere of Armenia:
the Vorotan cascade and the Yerevan power plant.

PS. We received information late in the evening yesterday that
Voloshin also met the director-general of the Armenian energy network,
Yevgeniy Gladunchik.

Economist
November 30, 2004 Tuesday

Growing pressure for a fresh vote;
Ukraine’s political crisis

As Ukraine’s supreme court hears the opposition’s accusations of
widespread fraud in the presidential election, pressure is growing
for a new vote to be held-this time, a clean one

Growing pressure for a fresh vote

UKRAINE’S supreme court continued to hear allegations of widespread
fraud in the country’s presidential election on Tuesday November
30th, and its parliament debated a motion to sack the supposed
winner, Victor Yanukovich, from his current job of prime minister.
Meanwhile, the supporters of the pro-western opposition candidate,
Victor Yushchenko, kept up their big street protests. The chances of
a partial or full re-run of the election have continued to grow. On
Monday, the incumbent president, Leonid Kuchma, who had backed Mr
Yanukovich, conceded that a new election might be the best solution
to the country’s deep crisis. On Tuesday, the German government said
that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin-who is the pro-Moscow Mr
Yanukovich’s most important backer-had agreed with Chancellor Gerhard
Schroder that the outcome of any new election would be respected.

Mr Yanukovich himself now says that, if the supreme court upholds the
opposition’s claims of ballot-stuffing in his Russian-speaking
strongholds in the east of the country, he would accept either a
re-run of the election’s second round, just in those regions, or a
completely new election-but with different candidates. He said he
would also be bringing some complaints of his own, about the counting
of votes in Mr Yushchenko’s Ukrainian-speaking strongholds in the
west.

Mr Yushchenko’s supporters had begun to lift their blockades of some
public buildings in the capital, Kiev, but on Tuesday afternoon one
of his aides called for them to be reimposed, with the parliament
being spared to “give it a chance to make a decision” on sacking Mr
Yanukovich. The parliament has already cheered the opposition
supporters by voting to declare invalid the election, in which Mr
Yanukovich supposedly beat his rival by a margin of three percentage
points. Though the parliament does not in fact have the power to
overturn the election, its vote may influence the supreme court’s
decision.

Mr Yanukovich’s hopes of upholding his dubious claim to the
presidency received a further blow on Monday, when one of his most
important aides appeared to jump ship. Serhiy Tyhypko, the governor
of the country’s central bank, who has been doubling up as Mr
Yanukovich’s campaign manager, announced he was quitting both jobs.

Late last week, Mr Kuchma, high-level envoys from the EU and Russia,
and the presidents of Poland and Lithuania held talks with the two
candidates to try to broker a solution. The talks ended with only an
agreement to hold more talks, and a joint renunciation of violence
from the two rivals. The international mediators-including the EU’s
foreign-policy chief, Javier Solana-were due to return to Kiev on
Wednesday for fresh talks. The European Union and America have backed
the opposition leader’s calls for a re-run of the election.

Backers of both sides have continued to raise the stakes. Regional
governments in some of Mr Yanukovich’s eastern strongholds have begun
moves towards declaring autonomy from Kiev if Mr Yushchenko gains the
presidency. Though Mr Yanukovich has distanced himself from these
moves, Mr Putin’s envoy to the crisis talks, Boris Gryzlov, said that
he could see no other outcomes than either the break-up of Ukraine or
bloodshed. On Monday, one of Mr Yushchenko’s closest aides gave Mr
Kuchma 24 hours to sack Mr Yanukovich as prime minister, or they
would press for criminal proceedings against Mr Kuchma and impose a
blockade on his movements.

The opposition’s blockades and both sides’ intransigence threaten to
turn Ukraine’s political crisis into a financial meltdown. On Monday,
Mr Kuchma gave a warning that the country faced financial collapse
“like a house of cards” within days. The next day, to avert a
collapse in the banking system, the central bank imposed restrictions
on withdrawals. Ukrainian bond prices have plummeted.

A rapid and clear decision by the supreme court might bring about a
speedy resolution of the conflict. But the court may still take some
days to arrive at a ruling-and even then, there is no guarantee that
it will come down clearly on one side or the other. Ukraine does not
have much of a tradition of an independent judiciary, though its
supreme court has been known to rule against the authorities.

If Ukraine starts to enjoy western-style human rights and prosperity,
voters in Russia itself might begin to ask why they cannot have the
same

The outcome of the conflict in Ukraine-the second-largest economy in
the former Soviet Union-could affect the fate of the rest of eastern
Europe, including Russia itself. Mr Putin has strongly backed Mr
Yanukovich in the hope of reasserting Moscow’s grip on Russia’s “near
abroad”. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, several of Russia’s
former satellites have broken away to join both the EU and the
American-led NATO defence alliance. Mr Yushchenko proposes that
Ukraine do the same, while his rival has argued for maintaining
strong links with Russia. If Ukraine does now go West, so to speak,
it may trigger similar movements in those remaining bits of the “near
abroad” that still cleave to Moscow. Furthermore, if Ukraine starts
to enjoy western-style human rights and prosperity, voters in Russia
itself might begin to ask why they cannot have the same.

Mr Yushchenko’s supporters hope for a repeat of last year’s “rose
revolution” in Georgia, in which huge but peaceful protests forced
the country’s then president, Edward Shevardnadze, to resign
following dubious parliamentary elections. In the ensuing vote for a
new president, the country’s pro-western opposition leader, Mikhail
Saakashvili, emerged victorious.

However, some less rose-tinted precedents have recently been set by
other former Soviet states. Only two months ago, Belarus’s president,
Alexander Lukashenka, “won” a rigged referendum to allow him to run
for re-election. The EU decided last week to tighten its sanctions
against those in his government it blames for the ballot fraud.
Azerbaijan and Armenia also held flawed elections last year, in which
the incumbent regimes stayed in power.

While the turmoil continued in Ukraine at the weekend, presidential
and parliamentary elections were held in Romania-another former
eastern-block country that is seeking to move westwards. The centrist
opposition claims there has been Ukrainian-style ballot-stuffing and
implausibly high turnouts in the strongholds of the governing
ex-communist party, and is demanding a re-run. But, unlike in
Ukraine, international observers declared the election to have been
largely fair (though they did say the reports of irregularities
should be investigated). Also unlike in Ukraine, both of Romania’s
main parties are in favour of their country joining the EU, which is
expected to happen in 2007-long before Ukraine ever might.

NATO PA Secretary General says conflicting sides must continue peace talks

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 26 2004

The Upper Garabagh conflict can be solved only through agreement to be
reached between the conflicting sides, NATO Parliamentary Assembly
(PA) Secretary General Simon Lunn told journalists on Thursday.
Lunn said that security issues must be solved first in order to settle
the conflict. It is necessary that the conflicting sides continue
peace talks, he underlined.

“The settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper Garabagh
is a very long process and other states may assist the conflicting
sides to resolve the conflict,” the NATO PA Secretary General said.

Asked why NATO does not take similar decisive steps concerning the
settlement of conflicts in South Caucasus as it had done in Iraq,
Afghanistan and other countries, Lunn said that all situations differ
from one another.*

Defense minister: Azerbaijan committed to fighting terrorism

Associated Press Worldstream
November 25, 2004 Thursday 12:41 PM Eastern Time

BAKU, Azerbaijan — Azerbaijan is stepping up the fight against
terrorism by tracking down terrorist organizations and their sponsors,
the country’s defense minister said Thursday.

During the past six years, authorities have exposed six branches
of charity foundations believed to be financing terrorists, Defense
Minister Ramil Usubov said at a NATO Parliamentary Assembly seminar.

The organizations have been shut and 43 people associated with them
have been expelled from the country, Usubov added.

Meanwhile, in the last five years, authorities have detained 30 people
connected with the Islamic Jihad and the Islamic Army of the Caucasus
terrorist organizations, he said. Twenty members of rebel groups have
been tried in courts.

Usubov also said that Azerbaijan has detained and extradited to Russia
14 rebels believed to have organized various terrorist attacks.

He stressed that one of Azerbaijan’s main problems was illegal
migration, which fuels drugs and weapons trafficking, as well as
human trafficking and the smuggling of goods across borders.

The three-day seminar was supposed to have been attended by two
Armenian lawmakers, but they failed to show up at the last minute.

The Armenian deputies decided not to attend because their letter to the
heads of the Azerbaijani parliament and NATO Parliamentary Assembly
with a request to guarantee security of the Armenian deputies had
been left unanswered, said Mger Shakhgeldian, head of the Armenian
parliament’s commission for defense matters.

Previous visits to Baku by Armenian officials resulted in protests
staged by activists of Nagorno-Karabakh – an ethnic Armenian enclave
disputed by both countries.

Neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan is a NATO member, but both former
Soviet republics participate in NATO’s Partnership for Peace program.

OSCE report on Garabagh conflict to be discussed in Baku

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 25 2004

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly special envoy on the Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict Goran Lennmarker is scheduled to visit Baku on Friday. The
goal of the visit is to discuss with Azerbaijani officials his report
on the Upper Garabagh conflict.

The OSCE envoy is expected to meet with President Ilham Aliyev,
Speaker of the Milli Majlis (parliament) Murtuz Alasgarov and Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

Baku has expressed discontent with some provisions of the report,
head of the Azerbaijani delegation at OSCE PA Sattar Safarov has
said. During Lennmarker’s visit, these disputed provisions will be
clarified and a final version of the report agreed upon, Safarov
added.*

Armenian ombudsman voices concern over blast in opposition editor’s car

Arminfo
23 Nov 04

Yerevan, 23 November: The Armenian ombudsman, Larisa Alaverdyan,
has expressed regret and concern over the explosion in the car of
the editor of the Aykakan Zhamanak newspaper, the ombudsman’s press
service has told Arminfo.

The ombudsman’s statement reads that any kind of violence against
journalists is inadmissible and that it damages Armenia’s international
reputation as a country developing on the path to democracy and
protection of freedom of speech, which is one of the fundamental
human rights and freedoms.

Alaverdyan said she hoped that the gained experience of reacting
quickly to violence against journalists and giving the punishment
that fits the crime will work this time as well and that it will be
a deterrent for those who are trying to solve their personal problems
with the press in unlawful ways.