Author: Karakhanian Suren

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CYPRUS WELCOMES THE OLYMPIC FLAME
Archbishop Hergelian and the Armenian community of Nicosia greet the flame
as it crosses Armenia Avenue at 5:30 p.m.

July 8, 2004 (CNA/Gibrahayer) – The Olympic Torch has arrived in Cyprus,
final stop in its long journey back to Athens.

The plane ”Zeus”, carrying the Olympic Tor ch landed at Paphos
International airport at 8:30 a.m. where it received a red carpet welcome,
normally accorded to heads of state. It was then placed on a sailing boat
just outside Paphos International Airport and arrived at Paphos Harbour an
hour later where the official celebrations began.

The Torch then followed a route covering literally all government controlled
areas of Cyprus, through many communities and past many of the island’s
great landmarks and locations, before arriving at its final destination in
the centre of Nicosia.

The Torch arrived in Nicosia at 4:45 p.m. and headed west on Armenia Avenue
an hour later where hundreds were waiting to get a glimpse of it.

Archbishop Hergelian greeted the Torch at the entrance of the Armenian
Prelature where many Armenian Cypriot residents of Armenia Avenue had
gathered.

The gathered crowds chanted and app lauded the Olympic Torch Relay
entourage.

Ceremonies continued on Thursday night at the Presidential Palace and at
D’Avila Moat. The relay continued its journey into Larnaca on Friday.

80-1 OUTSIDERS GREECE WIN EURO 2004

Nicosia July 7: (Gibrahayer) – 80-1 outsiders Greece, won the Euro 2004
Football tournament in style, sending an entire nation into an extended
state of delirium.

They knocked out host nations Portugal twice, once in the opening game and
once in the final. They ousted European and world champions France in the
quarters, broke the winning streak of the Czechs in the semi-finals and
completed their Hudini act last Sunday against Portugal by 1-0.

The celebrations across Greece, Cyprus and the entire diaspora are still
going on and the world remains dumbfounded in front of the
near-to-impossible achievement.

On Monday the new European Champions were welcomed by more than three
million Athenians who took the streets to see their new Gods. In the
celebrations that followed at the Panathinaikos Stadium, the champions and
their coach Otto Rehhagel were decorated by the Mayor of Athens, the
Ministry of Sports and the Greek Orthodox Church of Greece.

KURDS REARM AND INFILTRATE TURKEY FROM IRAQ

04/07/2004Â AFP ANKARA – Turkish Kurd rebels hiding in northern Iraq are
rearming and1,500 of them have crossed into Turkey to engage in violence,
CNN-Turk television said Sunday, citing an intelligence report.
According to the report, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), known
also as KONGRA-GEL, had purchased weapons worth 1.7 million dollars from
unknown sources in Iraq, Iran and Armenia in the past year and had
intensified military training for members in camps in northern Iraq,
CNN-Turk said on its web site.
The increased activity was thought to be a preparation for a possible
military operation against the group by Turkey or the United States, both of
whom view the PKK as a “terrorist” organization.
Ankara has repeatedly urged Washington to take action against PKK rebels in
neighboring northern Iraq since last October, when the two countries agreed
on an action plan, including military measures, against the PKK.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated the call during talks
with US President George W. Bush in Ankara last week.
The Turkish authorities estimate that about 5,000 PKK militants have taken
refuge in northern Iraq since 1999, when the group announced a unilateral
truce with the government following a call for peace by its jailed leader,
Abdullah Ocalan.
The rebels ended the ceasefire on June 1 this year.
CNN-Turk quoted the intelligence report as saying that 1,500 armed militants
had infiltrated Turkey in the past six months.
The PKK has been blamed for a recent series of deadly attacks on Turkish
security forces in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey, bordering northern Iraq,
including the mining of roads.
On July 2, officials accused the group of carrying out a car bomb attack on
a convoy carrying the governor of Van province, which killed three people
and wounded 25 others.
The PKK waged a bloody 15-year campaign for self-rule in Turkey’s
predominantly Kurdish southeast between 1984 and 1999. The conflict has
claimed some 37,000 lives.
The southeast enjoyed relative calm during the ceasefire period and Ankara
improved the cultural rights of the Kurdish minority in a bid to boost
Turkey’s chances of being allowed to join the European Union.

CYPRUS AND ARMENIA SIGN HEALTH AND MEDICINE COOPERATION AGREEMENT

Nicosia, Jul 5 (CNA) — Cyprus and Armenia signed today an interstate
cooperation agreement in the fields of health and medicine. Cyprus Minister
of Health Constantina Akkelidou and Armenia’s Ambassador to Cyprus Vahram
Kazhoyan signed the agreement.

NOURITSA MATOSSIAN PRESENTS GORKY SHOW IN TURKEY

Cypriot writer Nouritza Matossian, writer of the life of Arshile Gorky
presented her one-woman show in Bolis. which received excellent comments
from the local and Armenian (Agos) press during her visit where she gave a
lecture and did excerpts from show. Enclosed her interview in the local
press in Turkish.

Araþtýrmacý yazar Nouritsa Matossian, geçmiþteki köklerin sanatçýlarý
yakýndan etkilediðini düþünüyor ve VanlýManug’un izini sürüyor
Arshile Gorky’nin gizemi
Kýsa bir tatil için Ã=9Dstanbul’a gelen – Amerikan sürrealizminin tetikçisi
Ermeni asýllý ünlü ressam Arshile Gorky’nin yaþamýný ve sanatýný anlatan
`Black Angel’ adlý kitabýn yazarý – NouritzaMatossian, gazetemizi ziyaret
etti. Atom Egoyan’ýn kitaptan etkilenerek Gorky karakterini Ararat filmine
taþýdýðýný söyleyen Matossian, bizleriçalýþmalarý hakkýnda bilgilendirerek,
Arshile Gorky’nin gizemli yaþamýný bu kez AGOS okurlarýyla paylaþtý.
РNeden Arshile Gorky? Sizi bu uzun yolculu̡a iten neydi?
N. MATOSSIAN – Arshile Gorky’nin eserleriyle ilk karþýlaþtýðýmda henüz genç
bir üniversite öðrencisiydim. Sanatla yakýndan ilgileniyordum. Ã=9Dlk anda
anlayamadýðým þaþýrtýcý duygularla sarsýldým. Kara gözlü bu esmer adam beni
son derece etkilemiþti. Ermeni olduðunu bilmiyordum. Fakat görüntüsü
ailemden birini andýrýr gibiydi… Ã=9Dnanmayacaksýnýz o anda bir Ermeni soluðu
hissettim… Ben Kýbrýslýyým, anneannem Kayserili, babam Antepli, Birinci
Dünya Savaþý’nýn öncesinde göç etmiþler Anadolu’dan… Yaþlý ninemin
anýlarý, tüm anlatýlanlar, ailem, çocukluðum bir anda herþey yeniden
canlandý. O coþkuyla ressam hakkýnda bilgi aramaya koyuldum.Kýsa bir yazý
iliþti gözüme, yaklaþtým, okudum… Ve o yazýtokat gibi patladý yüzümde…
Yanýlmamýþtým! Gerçek adýnýn Vostanik Manug Adoyan olduðu, Van’da doðduðu,
sonradan Amerika’ya göçettiði kýsa bir notla belirtilmiþti. Ã=9Dþte o an
araþtýrmacý ruhumun kabardýðýný hissettim.
– Gorky kitabýnýz nasýl oluþtu? more

Dear Friends, two new articles are added in website.
They are: Nmanutyun Hisus Qristosi, Girk A. Saghmosneri Meknutyune

The previously added articles are:

Yete mi enker unes  Prktchi Mayre  Anmah Hayrer
Avetaranakan Yeranutyunnere Parisezin u Maxavore
Amenayn Srboz Sere vaxtchan chuni Khosqin havatarim, Masn A.
Khosqin havatarim, Masn B. Khosqin havatarim, Masn C.
Khosqin havatarim, Masn D.  Zisagitutyun, Masn 01 Mankan xndranq
Mashtoz Vahe Lazaryan [email protected]Â Â Â

NEWS IN BRIEF
– Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh territory detained an Azerbaijani
soldier, Gusein Aidyn of Baku, who crossed into Armenian positions.

– Repercussions of a earthquake in eastern Turkey that destroyed houses,
killing 18 people and injuring 21 more on Friday, measured 5.1 Richter in
Turkey and 3 in Armenia.

– Azeri foreign ministry issued a statement yesterday condemning a US
decision to provide 5 million dollars to Nagorno Karabagh as part of its
assistance to foreign countries.

– 34.9 million dollars will be allocated for defence expenditure in
Azerbaijan constituting 2.3 per cent of the GDP.

– A worker was killed and seven others received injuries when a tank holding
sulphuric acid expl oded on Wednesday at an Armenian power station.

– A small X-32 agricultural plane crashed while surveying forests outside
the Agveran village Wednesday in northeastern Armenia, killing the pilot.

g i b r a h a y  c a l e n d a r

– THE TEKEYAN YOUTH MOVEMENT OF CYPRUS is organizing a unique excursion to
Armenia, 7-14 August. Participants will exclusively be Armenian youth (ages
13 to 35) from all over the world. The one-week programme is specially
organized to include an optimum amount of sightseeing, led by expert guides.
Trips to Shushi, Stepanakert, Noravank, Gladzor, Lake Sevan, Dilidjan, Barz
Lidj, Khor Virab, St. Etchmiadzin, Zvartnots, Sartarabad, Garni, Keghart,
Dzidzernagapert are included in the meticulously prepared programme. Lodging
will be at the “Lousakert” Hotel, 20 kilometres North of Yerevan, ideally
situated in an orchard. The hotel rooms are fully equipped with all the
necessary facilities. The price of the WHOLE PACKAGE, including FULL BOARD,
all the excursions, transfers from and to the airport, return air fare from
Cyprus and visa to Armenia is only 335 Cyprus pounds. Those interested
should immediately call 99747798 or 99929343, as availability is very
limited.

– Khanasor and Lisbon 5 Expeditions commemoration at Troodos Picnicsite of
“Kampos tou Livadhiou” on Sunday July 25, 2004, organised by AYMA,
Dashnaktsoutiun Cyprus Committee, The Armenian National Committee of Cyprus,
AYF, Larnaca and Limassol Armenian Clubs, Hamazkayin and ARS (HOM) Cyprus
Chapters. Hayer hishek nviragan ayn ore, Houlis amsoun ksanhinkin gadaretsek
mer done. Commemorative Programme begins at 12:00 noon.

– The Armenian Youth Federation is organising its Annual Summer Camp at the
Camp Site of Morphou Prelature from 9-15 August 2004. To receive more
information or to register please contact the following: Nareg Tavitian,
Nora Sarian or Simon Aynedjian.

– A Tour to Armenia is being organised by the Central Executive of
Hamazkayin from August 20-September 3, 2004 with the participation of
members and friends from Armenian diaspora communities. Trips to Karabagh
are also scheduled. To receive more info and to apply for the trip please
contact the Cyprus Hamazkayin committee members immediately.

– HAMAZKAYIN FORUM 2004 The 10th Forum, Lebanon:From July 12-18 (Optional)
Armenia: From July 19-31, 2004. Thought provoking lectures, trips to
historic and amazing destinations, and nights of dancing and entertainment
are only some of the Forum highlights. For many Armenian students across the
globe, the Hamazkayin Summer Forum is one of the most anticipated events of
the year. Those interested should visit the website for more details on how
to apply.

– The Armenian Prelature of Cyprus announces that the next permit for the
Armenian Cemetery visitation at Ayios Dhometios on the Green line, is
scheduled for Sunday 11 July, 2004.

– The Armenian Youth Federation has organised three events for Armenian
Cypriot youth for the month of July as follows: Limassol outing on Monday
July 12. Weekend in Ayia Napa on 17-18 July and Beach Party on Saturday July
31. Details to follow from the pages of Gibrahayer e-newsletter.

– POSTPONED The Annual General Meeting of The Hamazkayin Cultural and
Educational Association “Oshakan” Cyprus Chapter has been postponed for
Tuesday September 14, 2004.

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ArmenPress
July 8 2004

COLORS OF CHILDHOOD 2 PROJECT TO ENLARGE ART WORLD OF CHILDREN

YEREVAN, JULY 8, ARMENPRESS: About 600 schools children from 180
schools, all connected with each other through Internet, presented
their pictures, sculptures, goblins and other handicraft at the
Colors of Childhood exhibition which is launched by a project with an
identical title. The best works of children posted by the project at
were presented during this one day exhibition. This is
the initiative of Youth Achievements educational organization with
the financial support of the Open Society Institute.
“The ability to present works for starting talented artists is as
important as for professional artists. Internet is a place where many
people can learn about young artists and encourage them,” project
responsible Sona Manucharian told Armenpress.
This is the second exhibition by the project Colors of Childhood.
The first was an exhibition sale the raised money of which was
provided to a number of schools.

Armen Press
July 7 2004

CIS COUNTRIES FACE SOME OF THE FASTEST RATES OF HIV INFECTION IN THE
WORLD, UNDP REPORT SAYS

YEREVAN, JULY 7, ARMENPRESS: Today in the UN House in Yerevan the
United Nations Development Program (UNDP) launched the “Reversing the
Epidemic: Facts and Policy Options” 2004 HIV/AIDS Report for Eastern
Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Vladimir
Davidyants, Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Armenia, Ms. Lise Grande,
UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Mr. Samvel
Grigoryan, Head of the Republican AIDS Prevention Centre and
representatives of international and local organizations participated
in the event.
The Report presents the first comprehensive outline of the
HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 28 countries of East and South-Eastern
Europe, the Baltics and the CIS. The UN estimates that 1.8 million
people in the region have HIV and that 280,000 people contracted the
virus last year. Despite a comparatively low prevalence of HIV/AIDS
in the region, growth rates in Estonia, Russia and Ukraine are among
the world’s highest. The Report stresses that the HIV/AIDS crisis
poses a threat to the region’s economic growth, resulting in an
estimated loss of at least one percent GDP growth per year.
The Report shows that a one percent infection rate among the adult
population is the threshold above which efforts to turn back the
epidemic become extremely difficult. The Report also argues that
delays in taking proper action can be catastrophic: only twelve years
ago, South Africa was facing a less than one percent infection rate
among adult population; now that rate is twenty times higher.
According to Ms. Grande: “UNDP’s Report reveals that there is
already an HIV crisis in the CIS. Although the situation in Armenia
is not as disastrous as in some other major CIS countries, steps need
to be taken now to avoid the kind of catastrophe that is affecting
other countries. By working together, the Government, civil society,
the mass media and donors can make a difference. Through Reports like
the one we are launching today, we can help raise awareness among the
general public and promote responsible behavior among all people
living in Armenia.”
Background: From 1988 to July 1, 2004, 279 HIV carriers have been
registered in the Republic of Armenia, of whom 265 are citizens: 206
cases (77.7%) are men, 59 cases (22.3%) are women and 3 cases (1.1%)
are children. The majority of HIV carriers (79.2%) belong to the
20-39 age group. The most common modes of transmission in Armenia are
injection drug usage and heterosexual practices.

Armenian State TV and Radio Committee joins European media union

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
5 Jul 04

Armenia’s first TV channel has taken its first step towards
integration into Europe. The Armenian State Television and Radio
Committee became a member of the European Broadcasting Union
(EBU). Seventy one companies from the world’s 52 countries are members
of the EBU.

[Passage omitted: EBU background].

Interfax
July 6 2004

Multi Group invests $7.5 mln in Yerevan’s Ararat

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Multi Group, one of Armenia’s leading
diversified conglomerates, has invested $7.5 million in Yerevan
brandy maker Ararat, primarily in new equipment and building repairs,
group owner Gagik Tsarukian said.

The winery, which Multi Group acquired in 2002, began making Noi
brandy and using the Ararat label in April 2004 after standing idle
for eight years.

The Ararat winery and the Yerevan Brandy Company (YBC) recently
signed an open-ended agreement on the equal use of the Ararat logo,
and now only these two companies have the right to use the logo,
Tsarukian said.

The Ararat winery plans to compete with YBC in procurement of grapes
and on sales markets, he said. The winery plans to buy 15,000 tonnes
of grapes in Armenia this year at higher prices than YBC, he said.

The company plans to sell 2 million bottles of brandy by the end of
this year, of which 90% ordinary and 10% fine brandies.

Next year, the company plans to increase grape purchases to 20,000
tonnes, and brandy sales by 30-40%, Tsarukian said. The main markets
are now Russia and other CIS countries.

The company also plans to produce wine, he said, adding that the
company now has seven or eight types of old wines in its cellars
dating from 1913-1956.

By October, the winery will be completely modernized and renovated,
and its workforce will grow from the current 240 to 600 people, he
said.

As reported earlier, the Ararat winery has 6 million liters of brandy
alcohol, which is enough for three or four years of production.

Multi Group includes 37 manufacturing, service and trade enterprises.

A1 Plus | 17:09:23 | 29-06-2004 | Social |

WHEN WILL HOVHANNES VARYAN BE PUNISHED?

Wasn’t it possible to distinguish journalists from protestors?

“On June 10, 2004, the First Instance Court of Kentron and Norq-Marash
Communes sentenced 2 persons having committed violence to journalists during
April 5 rally to fine of 100.000 drams each. The trial turned into a farce.
We can’t call it otherwise since the preliminary investigation, the legal
proceedings, and the court verdict cause perplexity and discontent”, Yerevan
Press Club, Journalists’ Union of Armenia, “Internews” social organization
and Committee for Protection of Speech Freedom have made the statement.

According to the authors, they expected for disclosures and trials but
nothing was done to unmask the other masterminds of violence.

“Until now no steps were taken towards the policemen who did nothing against
the men beating journalists and breaking the cameras on April 5. The
policemen who beat journalists at April 13 night on Baghramyan Avenue weren’
t disclosed and punished, either. Even their actions weren’t criticized.
Instead the highest circles of Authorities announced it’s impossible to
distinguish journalists from protestors”, the statement says.

The organizations call upon Media and journalists to be more combined and
consistent when the matter is on professional solidarity, when the right to
freely gather and divulge information is violated.

Interfax
July 2, 2004

Russia posts trade surplus with CIS

MOSCOW. July 2 (Interfax) – Russia is the only member of the
Commonwealth of Independent States to have a surplus in CIS mutual
trade.

Russia’s trade surplus with the CIS was $3.01 billion in January-
April, the CIS Interstate Statistics Committee said.

Russian exports to the CIS totaled $7.95 billion and imports were $4.91
billion.

Ukraine posted the biggest deficit in trade with other CIS members. The
Ukrainian deficit was $2.219 billion, with exports of $2.434 billion to
the CIS and imports of $4.652 billion from the CIS.

Belarus had a deficit of $1.008 billion, with exports $2.052 billion
and imports $3.06 billion.

Kazakhstan’s deficit was $481.7 million. Exports were $1.272 billion
and imports $1.745 billion. Tajikistan’s deficit was $243.8 million,
with exports of $49.4 million and imports of $293.2 million.

Deficits were $116.3 million for Azerbaijan ($255.5 million and $371.8
million), $104.6 million for Georgia ($75.7 million and $180.3
million), $90.9 million for Kyrgyzstan ($74.2 million and $165.1
million), $59.5 million for Moldova ($155.6 million and $215.1 million)
and $39.7 million for Armenia ($39.3 million and $79 million).

The statistics committee did not quote trade figures for Uzbekistan or
Turkmenistan.

July 2, 2004

Deputy Interior Minister says Armenia has special role in combating
crime in Russia

19:01 2004-07-02
At a meeting between the Russian Interior Ministry and the Armenian
police department, Deputy Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev said that
Armenia played a special role in domestic law enforcement in Russia.

“In handling issues of domestic law enforcement, it is important today
for Russia to have the backing and active involvement of fraternal
states, among which Armenia has a special role,” Mr. Nurgaliev said.

He said that the issues were, above all, the fight against terrorism,
drug trafficking and illegal immigration, the human trade, racketeering
and economic crime.

Mr. Nurgaliev also proposed broadening the list of additional steps
that Russian and Armenian law enforcement agencies should take.

Specifically, additional protection for bilateral investment projects,
increased interaction in the planning and implementation of
antiterrorism actions and ensuring the security of important
facilities, Mr. Nurgaliev said.

He also proposed considering pressing problems and formulating
solutions at the bilateral meeting of the heads of the ministerial
divisions this fall.

“It would be expedient to consider matters of immigration, the creation
of practical mechanisms to monitor the movement of capital and the
development of immediate contacts between the information and
analytical divisions of the two agencies,” Mr. Nurgaliev said.

Armenian police chief Aik Arutyunyan said that over five months in
2004, the Russian law enforcement agencies had detained and extradited
23 criminals to Armenia.

In 2003, the Russian law enforcement agencies detained and extradited
48 people wanted by Armenian law enforcement agencies, Mr. Arutyunyan
said.

In 2003, the Armenian police established the guilt of and detained 62
individuals wanted by Russian law enforcement agencies. Over five
months of this year, the Armenian police found and detained 22 people
wanted by the Russian Interior Ministry, the Armenian police chief
said.

ARMENIA THIS WEEK
Friday, June 25, 2004

ARMENIAN OFFICERS ATTEND NATO EVENT IN BAKU AMID SECURITY ‘LAPSES’
Col. Murad Isakhanian and Sr. Lt. Aram Hovanisian of the Armenian Defense
Ministry attended this week a final planning conference for NATO’s
Partnership for Peace exercises set to take place in Azerbaijan this
September. Azeri officials prevented Armenian officers from attending the
first planning event held in Baku last January. The exercises dubbed
Cooperative Best Effort (CBE) – 2004 will test interoperability of NATO and
partner militaries in a potential peacekeeping operation. Georgia and
Armenia hosted similar games in 2002 and 2003.

As the Azeri Deputy Defense Minister Araz Azimov revealed this week, his
government was forced to acquiesce to the Armenian presence or “risk
cancellation of the exercises and cooling of relations with NATO.” Following
the January incident, the Armenian government and organizations, including
the Armenian Assembly, urged NATO officials to make sure that Armenia could
take partner as a full-fledged NATO partner or move the exercise to another
country. Alliance officials ultimately succeeded in winning Azeri President
Ilham Aliyev’s pledge that Armenians could take part. Following last
February’s brutal murder of an Armenian officer by an Azeri at another NATO
event in Hungary, security was expected to be tight.

However, radical Azeri groups linked to the country’s hard-line Ministry of
National Security succeeded in repeatedly disrupting the conference as it
got underway on Tuesday. Both Armenian and Azeri commentators questioned the
reasons behind police failure to provide adequate security. Azeri television
footage showed several protestors breaking into the hotel conference room,
disrupting the NATO event underway, with no police posted outside. One of
the perpetrators told the local daily Ekho that they were able to enter the
room twice and succeeded in “scaring” the NATO officers “who were afraid
that we might bring in explosives.” Police subsequently detained half a
dozen radicals, with some of them receiving two-month sentences for
“hooliganism.”

The same groups of radicals had earlier attacked Azeri peace activists, whom
the government accuses of “betrayal” of national interests and demanded that
they stop meeting with Armenian counterparts.

Most Azeri officials and commentators appeared embarrassed over the
incidents. Rauf Mirkadyrov, a leading commentator for daily Zerkalo, wrote
that while “our glorious police never had a problem quashing mass opposition
protests, [in this case] it failed to stop a few dozen protestors.” Foreign
Minister Elmar Mamediarov said that Azerbaijan must implement its
international obligations and “not fear” the Armenian military’s
participation. Member of the President’s staff Ali Hassanov criticized the
attack and insisted that “Azeris are cultured and civilized” people.

U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Reno Harnish urged Baku to improve security
measures, especially during the actual exercises in September. Deputy
Defense Minister General Artur Aghabekian said that Armenia agreed to scale
back its participation in the September CBE-2004 from a full-fledged
peacekeeping platoon to “five to seven officers,” in an apparent compromise
deal with Azerbaijan. (Sources: Armenia This Week 1-16; AAA Press Release
1-30; Ekho 6-22, 23, 24, 25; R&I Report 6-22; RFE/RL Armenia Report 6-22,
24; Zerkalo 6-22, 23, 25; Azg 6-23; Yeni Zaman 6-24)

ARMENIA REAFFIRMS KARABAKH POLICY
President Robert Kocharian told the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe (PACE) this week that Nagorno Karabakh (NKR) is an
established state and all Azerbaijani claims on its territory are without
basis. Kocharian reminded PACE members that Nagorno Karabakh had legally
seceded from Soviet Azerbaijan at the time the latter became independent in
1991 and then succeeded in defending that choice on the field of battle.

“The solution shall emerge from the substance of the conflict and not from
the perception of possible strengthening of Azerbaijan through future ‘oil
money’,” Kocharian said. The remarks were in reference to the recent claim
by Azeri President Ilham Aliyev that he was not in a hurry to settle the
conflict and would use Caspian oil profits to strengthen the country’s
military. “[This] approach is a formula of confrontation and not of
compromise,” Kocharian added. He further recalled that had Baku agreed to
the most recent peace proposals, it could have regained most of the formerly
Azeri-populated districts now held by Karabakh.

Meanwhile, a survey made public this week by a leading Yerevan think tank
revealed that Armenians are nearly unanimous on Karabakh’s independence from
Azerbaijan. Of 1,950 citizens surveyed by the Armenian Center for National
and International Studies (ACNIS) throughout the country, just over 1
percent would agree to Karabakh’s autonomy within Azerbaijan. Almost 60
percent want Karabakh united with Armenia, while 39 percent agree for it to
be independent. Some 41 percent said that they would agree to ceding some of
the territories outside NKR only in exchange for determination of its final
status, while another 32 percent are opposed to any territorial concessions.
68 percent said that they would be ready to “do their utmost” in defense of
Karabakh should fighting resume. (Sources: Armenia This Week 2-13; Arminfo
6-23; 6-23; 6-25)

Visit the Armenia This Week archive dating back to 1997 at

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Call to readers: The humanitarian situation in the Sudan continues to
deteriorate. Learn more at and .

_doctors_group_asserts_sudan_is_practicing_genocide

The Boston Globe
June 24, 2004

After visit to refugees, doctors’ group asserts Sudan is practicing genocide

Says world response needed now in Darfur
By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Correspondent

The violence in the Darfur region of Sudan includes systematic killings,
rape, pillaging, and destruction of villages that ”are clear indicators of
genocide,” according to a report issued yesterday by Physicians for Human
Rights.
A delegation from the Boston-based advocacy group visited the neighboring
country of Chad last month and interviewed non-Arab refugees from the Darfur
region, who gave firsthand accounts of being assaulted and chased while
their wells were poisoned, livestock stolen, and villages burned by an Arab
militia known as the Janjaweed, working with the Sudanese government.
”What we determined, based on a number of testimonies, is that there are
clear indicators of genocide,” investigator John Heffernan said. ”The main
point here is a consistent program of targeting non-Arabs.”
Under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide, which the United States has signed, any member country is
obligated to stop or prevent genocide if it is identified. The international
genocide convention, adopted in 1948, defines genocide as actions intended
to destroy a racial, national, religious, or ethnic group.
There is widespread agreement that the humanitarian crisis in Darfur demands
urgent action, but a coordinated international response is coming too slowly
for many critics. The physicians’ group said that by presenting evidence of
genocide, it hoped to instigate a more serious international response.
”Those countries which have signed on to the genocide convention are
committed to prevent and punish those who are perpetrating it,” Heffernan
said.
Darfur has been the center of escalating violence as the Arab-dominated
central government has fought non-Arab rebel groups over the past 18 months.
In April, a UN official called the conflict ”ethnic cleansing.”
The physicians’ group’s report noted that non-Arabs were consistently
attacked while neighboring Arab villages were spared. ”The Janjaweed
attacked us, and then the government helicopters attacked us. They want to
attack all the black people in Sudan, so that Sudan will be for the Arabs
only,” a refugee is quoted as saying.
Tens of thousands of people have died, and roughly 1 million people have
been displaced within Darfur. Most of these displaced people lack food,
clean water, and medical care and some are even living in ”prison
enclaves,” according to Heffernan. For the refugees in Chad, those
conditions will only worsen as the rainy season begins, making transport of
food or other humanitarian aid impossible, the report said.
The study outlines assault methods it said were intended to annihilate the
non-Arab group. They cite systematic attacks on villages, using coordinated
air and land forces.
The Arab militia worked with the Sudanese government’s troops to destroy
property and pursued fleeing villagers in order to kill, rape, or rob them,
the report charges.
The report called on the Sudanese government to halt the violence, and on
the international community to intervene.
A spokesman from the United Nations said yesterday that although the
secretary general is not prepared to call the atrocities ”genocide,” the
flagrant human rights violations occurring in Darfur are a major concern to
the UN.
”The idea is not to wait until it gets to that point,” said Jemera Rome, a
Sudan researcher at Human Rights Watch. ”The Security Council does not need
genocide in order to act.”
She said that the UN should invoke its Chapter VII authority of the UN
charter, which permits the Security Council to take all actions necessary,
including sending a military force, to ”maintain or restore international
peace and security.”
The US government has so far not taken a view on whether the violence
amounts to genocide. In a June 11 interview with The New York Times,
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said, ”I’m not prepared to say what is
the correct legal term for what’s happening. All I know is that there are at
least a million people who are desperately in need.”

Carolyn Johnson can be reached at [email protected].

ArmenPress
June 25 2004

GOVERNMENT, OTE SEEK OUT OF COURT SETTLEMENT OF THEIR DISPUTE

YEREVAN, JUNE 25, ARMENPRESS: Armenian justice minister David
Harutunian is currently negotiating in London with representatives of
the Hellenic Telecommunication Organization (OTE) in an effort to
reach an out-of-court settlement of the bitter dispute between the
government and OTE’s subsidiary ArmenTel operator.
The OTE subsidiary is accused by Armenian government of abusing
the 15-year exclusive rights granted in 1998, failing to provide good
quality communication and maintaining high cost of its services.
These charges are denied by the Greek side, which says the government
itself violated the 1998 takeover contract. Earlier this year the OTE
and Armentel filed a lawsuit to the London-based International Court
of Economic Arbitration, seeking hundreds of millions of US Dollars
in million in compensatory damages.
Harutunian is negotiating with the newly appointed chief manager
of Armentel, Vasily Fetsis. Armenpress learned from well-informed
sources that an amicable settlement of the dispute is possible in the
event of mutually beneficial proposals, which were not disclosed yet.
For the Armenian side this means good quality communication.
OTE’s priority in Armenia’s market is to enlarge the network of
mobile phone communication, that will allow it to improve its
financial standing, but despite this change in its policy Armenian
government decision stripping ArmenTel of its lucrative monopoly on
mobile phone services and Armenia’s Internet traffic with the outside
world enters into force on June 30.
Armentel says it has invested some $217 million in Armenia’s
telecommunications and plans to invest another 25 million euros this
year to expand mobile phone network.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
June 23, 2004 Wednesday Home Edition

A QUESTION OF GENOCIDE: Sudan’s killing grounds;
Slaughter of villagers sparks concern, debate

by MARK BIXLER

As one of the world’s longest and most devastating wars nears an end,
Atlanta-based CARE and the Carter Center are preparing to expand
their work in southern Sudan even as other humanitarian organizations
warn of possible genocide in another part of the country.

In the Darfur region of western Sudan, reports of atrocities
reminiscent of mass killings in Bosnia, Cambodia and Rwanda have
created a troubling dilemma for U.S. officials, who have avoided
characterizing the killings as genocide because doing so would
obligate them to act under terms of a treaty drafted in response to
the Holocaust.

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide, adopted in 1948 and ratified by the United States in 1986,
defines genocide as the “intent to destroy, in whole or part, a
national, ethnic, racial or religious group.” Signatories agree to
“prevent and punish” genocide, though the treaty does not define
prevention and punishment.

“No president wants to say there is a genocide and ‘Oh, by the way,
I’m not going to do anything about it,’ ” said Jerry Fowler, director
of the committee of conscience at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
in Washington, which has issued a “genocide warning” for Darfur.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said this month the Bush
administration is trying to determine whether events in Darfur fit
the legal definition of genocide. Other U.S. officials have described
the killings as “ethnic cleansing,” a euphemism conceived in the
early 1990s by the Serbs to refer to their practice of targeting
non-Serbs for killing or forced removal.

In Darfur, aid workers and officials say, Arab militias, often
working with the Sudanese military, have killed 10,000 to 30,000
black Africans and forced 1 million others from their homes to remote
areas where food is scarce. The U.S. Agency for International
Development warns that at least 350,000 could die within months.

The United Nations’ under- secretary-general for humanitarian
affairs, Jan Egeland, has called Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis
in the world.

Past reports of mass killings, however, have prompted a muted
response from the United States.

In her Pulitzer Prize-winning book “A Problem From Hell,” Samantha
Power, who teaches human rights and U.S. foreign policy at Harvard
University, documents a U.S. tendency to avoid decisive action when
confronted with evidence of atrocities.

>From the slaughter of Armenian Christians in modern Turkey in 1915 to
the execution of Bosnian Muslims in the mid-1990s, Power writes,
“decent men and women chose to look away.”

In Rwanda in 1994, the international community did little as members
of the Hutu ethnic majority hacked, shot and burned to death 800,000
members of the minority Tutsis. President Bill Clinton said in Rwanda
in 1998 the United States should have done more to stop the killing.

That experience has informed the U.S. response to the “crimes against
humanity” in Darfur, said Jemera Rone, a Sudan expert at Human Rights
Watch/Africa in Washington.

“I think the U.S. and the U.N. learned a lesson from Rwanda,” she
said. “They’re trying to do the maximum they can without calling it
genocide.”

The United States helped arrange a briefing on Darfur at the U.N.
Security Council. It also made clear it will not improve relations
with Sudan unless conditions change. The Security Council called for
a halt to fighting, and Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he plans to
visit Sudan.

‘Janjaweed rule’

Still, the United States could do more, said John Prendergast,
director of African Affairs at the National Security Council during
Clinton’s second term. He left Washington a few days ago for Chad,
where he plans to meet victims of the Arab militias in Darfur, known
as the janjaweed. He said the United States and United Nations should
threaten war crimes trials for janjaweed commanders and Sudanese
leaders involved in abuses.

“There is a developing consensus that what the militias are carrying
out on the ground is genocide,” he said before leaving for Africa.

Problems in Darfur began last April.

Just as a north-south war that has raged for all but 11 years since
1955 appeared headed for negotiated settlement, a new war erupted in
western Sudan. Two rebel groups in Darfur that had not previously
been involved in the fighting attacked a Sudanese military base in
April.

In response, the Sudanese government turned to Arab militias with a
history of animosity toward black Africans in Darfur, Rone said. The
government armed and trained them, she said, even giving satellite
phones to some janjaweed commanders.

Last August or September, the militias and armed forces began
attacking hundreds of villages in Darfur. Aid workers say attackers
raped many women and branded some afterward to add to the stigma.
They say attackers hurled dead bodies into wells to poison water
supplies.

“They’re going after civilians,” Rone said.

The Sudanese government says the violence is the result of tribal
conflicts over resources. On Sunday, President Omar el-Bashir said
his military will disarm warring parties in Darfur, including the
janjaweed.

The militias and their victims both are Muslims, but the janjaweed
are Arabs while most people in Darfur are black Africans.

Prendergast said he believes the Bush administration was slow to
pressure the Sudanese government on Darfur for fear that it would
scare Sudan away from the negotiating table with southern rebels.

North vs. south

The Sudanese civil war pits a northern government of Arab Muslims
against black Africans in the south who follow Christianity and
animist religions. The conflict is mainly over power and resources.

Fighting and war-related famine and disease have killed at least 2
million people since 1983. The war also has displaced more than 5
million people. Most casualties are from southern Sudan.

The northern government and the main southern rebel group, the Sudan
People’s Liberation Army, have signed accords that call for a
referendum after six years on whether southern Sudan will secede and
form an independent nation. When talks resume Friday, only procedural
obstacles remain before a final peace agreement is reached.

In anticipation of peace, the United Nations and nongovernmental
organizations are building roads to facilitate the delivery of relief
supplies and encourage trade, said Gary McGurk, CARE’s assistant
country director for southern Sudan.

“In order to get peace in southern Sudan, you’ve got to have
infrastructure and development,” McGurk said during a visit to
Atlanta last week.

He said CARE is building or rebuilding 300 schools in southern Sudan.

The Carter Center, meanwhile, has prepositioned filters and medical
kits and hopes to increase distribution in a peaceful southern Sudan
as part of its effort to eradicate Guinea worm disease, said Craig
Withers, who coordinates the center’s health programs in Sudan.

Southern Sudan is home to 63 percent of the world’s cases of Guinea
worm, an affliction in which larvae from contaminated water grow to
worms inside a human body and break through the skin in painful
blisters.

“We’ve been planning this for a while,” Withers said. “We’re ready to
go.”

GRAPHIC: Graphic: WHAT IS GENOCIDE?
The Genocide Convention adopted by the United Nations in 1948 says
genocide includes the following crimes committed with the intent to
destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group:
1. Killing members of the group
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
3. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
4. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated
to bring about its physical destruction
5. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSES OF THE 20TH CENTURY
1915 to 1923: 1.5 million people of Armenian descent are killed
during a campaign by the Ottoman Empire to expel them from eastern
Turkey. The Turkish government denies it engaged in genocide.
World War II: The systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored
persecution and murder of approximately 6 million Jews by the Nazi
regime and its collaborators. Nazis also target other groups because
of their perceived “racial inferiority”: Roma (Gypsies), the
disabled, and some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians, and
others). Other groups are persecuted on political and behavioral
grounds, among them Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses and
homosexuals. The killings are carried out throughout Europe. The most
infamous death camps include Auschwitz, Treblinka and Bergen-Belsen.
1975-1978: An estimated 2 million Cambodians, mainly from the
intelligentsia, die at the hands of the Pol Pot regime in what
becomes known as the “killing fields.”
1982: Syrian Baathists under the direction of President Hafiz
al-Assad destroy the city center in the Sunni Muslim city of Hamah
and murder thousands. Estimates of those killed range from 5,000 to
10,000.
1988: Poison gas attack kills between 3,500 and 5,000 Kurds in
Halabja, Iraq, under the regime of Saddam Hussein.
1994: Ethnic Hutu militants in Rwanda slaughter an estimated 800,000
ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus as the world turns away.
1995: Massacre by Bosnian Serb forces of roughly 8,000 Bosnian Muslim
men and boys in the city of Srebrenica. It is ruled as genocide in
April 2004 by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for
the former Yugoslavia.
1995: A national inquiry concludes that the Australian government had
knowingly pursued a policy of genocide in regard to the Aboriginal
peoples between 1870 and 1970.
1998: Yugoslav forces under the leadership of President Slobodan
Milosevic execute scores of ethnic Albanian civilians in Kosovo and
are believed to have detained as many as several thousand men whose
fate is unknown; they also engineer the greatest refugee crisis in
Europe since World War II, emptying villages and cities in forced
expulsions that send more than 500,000 ethnic Albanians into exile.
Darfur conflict
The largely Arabic Janjaweed militia, backed by the government in
Khartoum, rampages through the villages of mainly African farmers in
Darfur. Activists say the attacks amount to genocide.
Reason for conflict
Grazing rights; soil in Darfur region is fertile. And for
generations, nomads have fought farmers for soil and cattle rights.
Sources: Armenian National Institute, United Nations, Web Genocide
Documentation Centre, Genocide Research Project, Knight Ridder
Tribune, Photos by Associated Press
Research by ALICE WERTHEIM / Staff
/ MICHAEL DABROWA / Staff; Photo: Arab and African horsemen parade
before Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir last month as a show of
solidarity in Nyala, capital of Darfur. / BERT WESTON / Courtesy of
the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; Photo: Mukama Tharcisse, 74, one
of the survivors of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, is one of the
guardians of the memorial of the genocide in Nyamata. The memorial
houses remains of 20,000 victims. / Associated Press; Photo: Slobodan
Milosevic / Associated Press; Photo: Armenian deportees in a camp of
makeshift tents inhabited mostly by women and children in the barren
Syrian desert. / Associated Press; Photo: The remains of huts burnt
by militia in Sudan’s North Darfur village of Bandago on April 29.
UNICEF has said the fighting in Darfur has forced 1 million people
out of their homes and into camps in Sudan, while 200,000 people have
taken shelter in cities and towns in the region. About 110,000 people
have taken refuge in neighboring Chad. / Associated Press; Map: Map
pinpoints the location of Darfur in Sudan.