PRESS RELEASE

Fordham Psychology Associaiton
113 W 60th Street
New York, NY 10024
201 941-2266
E-mail: [email protected]

Round table on Forgiveness
10 AM – 12 noon
and
The Exclusivity of Suffering:
Psychological and Spiritual Perspectives of Genocide

Panel discussion
On
Saturday, May 15, 2004
113 W 60th Street (Corner of 9th Avenue) 12th Floor Faculty Dining Room
1pm – 4 pm

This panel promises to be a breakthrough on “The Exclusivity of Suffering.”
Our distinguished panelists, made up of acclaimed authors, academicians and
mental health professionals, will explore various histories, and the apparent
desire to create unique histories of suffering, its causes, and the impact it has
on victims, descendants and the greater communities in which we live.
During the last 50 years, the Holocaust has stood out as a reminding beacon
to remind us of the greatest crimes against humanity: Genocide. But it has
also over-shadowed, and often preempted, discussions and recognition of
co-victims of Nazi atrocities and all other genocides. The Genocide of the Armenians is
finally gaining recognition, but historian and advocates exclude mention of
the Genocide of the Pontic and other Asia Minor Greeks and Assyrians, the
co-victims of the same Genocide.
African Americans and Native Americans have had some of the longest histories
of both genocide and slavery, yet they have been, until recently, the least
heard. A manufactured hierarchy of suffering has been established that has left
those on the progressively lower rungs of this fabricated ladder struggling
for recognition of their own histories.
By accurately recording and acknowledging the history of each Genocide, we
have a greater chance of recognizing the signs and symptoms of an imminent
threat to human life. By being relieved of the struggle to be heard, scholars and
activists may actually have the energy and focus to fulfill the promise of “
Never again.”
Panelists:
Thea Halo, Author Not Even My Name: A true story of Genocide and survival, Ms
Halo will speak on the “The Pontic and Asia Minor Greeks and Assyrians: the
co-victims of the ‘Armenian Genocide.’”
Dr. Henry Huttenbach, Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Genocide Research, and
Professor of Russian and East European History, City College of New York City,
and will speak on: “When Genocide affirmation includes genocide denial.”
John L. Bolling, MD, adult and child psychiatrist, and author of The Heart of
Soul: An Afrocentric approach to Psychospiritual wholeness. Dr. Bolling will
speak on the first genocides of the 20th Century in Africa, and Black Slavery
as a form of genocide.
Dr. Anie Kalayjian, Author of Disaster & Mass Trauma, Adj. Prof. of
Psychology at Fordham University, Vice Chair of the UN DPI/NGO Executive Committee,
President, Armenian American Society for Studies on Stress & Genocide.
Marian Weisberg, Psychotherapist, Interviewer-Shoah Project. Video Survivor
Testimony.
Special guest: Ms. Zvart Joulhaian, Professional classical flutist

For information: Ms. Halo [email protected] or Dr. Kalayjian
[email protected]

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A1 Plus | 20:57:43 | 12-05-2004 | Politics |

COALITION MADE A STEP

Today Coalition powers have discussed the issue on dialogue with
Opposition and clarified the agenda. They think that the parliamentary
Opposition took a step in return to Coalition suggestion and it is
now their turn.

Coalition decided to meet half-ways. Some other issues were entered
on the agenda:

1/ Definition of possibility for agreed approval of key articles of
Constitutional reforms;

2/ Definition of possibility for agreed passing of the changes to
the Electoral Code fully corresponding with the international criteria;

3/ Working out models for active participation of Opposition in
anticorruption fighting;

4/ Working the schedule for implementing NN 1367, 1374 resolutions
by PACE;

Opposition will tomorrow discuss the suggested agenda and
Authorities-Opposition dialogue will most probably start tomorrow.

Fragile peace in Nagorno-Karabakh
By Steven Eke

BBC regional analyst
Wednesday, 12 May, 2004

I sit in a vineyard on the outskirts of Nagorno-Karabakh’s main
town, Stepanakert, the evening mist rolling down from the lush,
surrounding hills.

Everything is peaceful, the only sounds being those of farm animals
and the occasional passing car.

It is difficult to imagine this place at war, especially a conflict
such as that fought by Armenia and Azerbaijan, which saw both sides
commit appalling acts of cruelty against each other’s civilian
population.

The two South Caucasus nations of Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as
the unrecognised Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, saw ethnic cleansing
long before it would again appear in the former Yugoslavia.

But while some of those who committed the worst atrocities there are
now facing justice, Nagorno-Karabakh has not moved on. The wounds,
Armenian and Azeri, are still raw. And who, really, in the West
actually remembers the first signs of unrest here in 1988?

On one of the hills to my east, I can see the town of Shusha. From
there, Azeri forces relentlessly shelled Stepanakert. The town’s
people could only have been sitting ducks.

I know that the antipathy between Armenians and Azeris is very real,
and has existed for centuries. At every step, I hear anti-Azeri
statements, usually mixed with anti-Turkish sentiments.

Venom

Most Armenians still seem unable to distinguish Azeris from Turks. Yet
it seems strange to me that people who had lived together during the
Soviet period could have secretly harboured such venom.

In Stepanakert, it is easy to think you are in Armenia proper. The
Armenian national flag is everywhere – on lamp-posts, hanging
above shop doors. The telephone codes are the same as Armenia’s

On Wednesday, Nagorno-Karabakh is marking a decade of peace. Ten
years have passed since the end of war, but peace is fragile.

Even now, ordinary civilians and soldiers alike die in mine accidents
on the no man’s land separating Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan. There
is no peace settlement, and I cannot help but feel it would take the
smallest of sparks to ignite the region once again.

The military situation means it is only possible to enter
Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia, along a highway leading directly
from Yerevan.

There are no border controls with Armenia, and nothing to suggest you
are entering Nagorno-Karabakh. Indeed, part of the highway leading to
Stepanakert has been rebuilt, largely using money from the Armenian
diaspora, most of which is in the United States.

I was aware as I drove to Stepanakert, surrounded by untouched forests,
awe-inspiring mountains and fertile fields, that I was in what is
legally Azerbaijan. For the self-styled Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh
has not been recognised by a single other country on earth. Even
Armenia.

Sympathy

Yet in Stepanakert, it is easy to think you are in Armenia proper. The
Armenian national flag is everywhere – on lamp-posts, hanging above
shop doors. The telephone codes are the same as those in Armenia.

The people speak Armenian – admittedly with an accent. They have
restored the town, which is an attractive, green, relaxed place. There
is tradition – with farm animals wandering the streets. There is also
modernity – the ubiquitous mobile phone.

The people I spoke to made it abundantly clear: “We are Armenians”.

“Either we live as part of Armenia, or in an independent state,”
said others.

“But we don’t want to live in Azerbaijan, and we don’t want the Azeris
living among us”.

The most positive assessment I found was that Armenians and Azeris
could be “good neighbours”. Nothing more.

What surprises me most is the local people’s profound interest in
the outside world. They want the world to remember their troubled
republic. They believe that, whatever the territorial claims from
oil-rich Azerbaijan, the international community will somehow be more
sympathetic to their cause.

A1 Plus | 20:13:19 | 12-05-2004 | Politics |

MPS ARGUING ABOUT CITIZENSHIP FOR SEFILYAN

During today’s exchange of answers and questions between Government
and Parliament MP Manuk Gasparyan posed a question over not granting
citizenship to Shushi Battalion Commander Jirayr Sefilyan.

Manuk Gasparyan advised Serj Sargssyan to solicit to grant citizenship
to Karabakhi War hero. Naturally, Sargssyan didn’t respond and
Government Staff Head-Minister Manuk Topuzyan answered the question.

He just informed that Government is not empowered to consider the
issue since only the President solves the problem.

“Do you suggest me to appeal to the President? In that case I
will say the guys who fought to liberate our homeland would better
perish. Sefilyan is not an ordinary man. He has come from abroad,
struggled for his country and achieved a lieutenant colonel rank. He
used to be Shushi Regiment Commander”, Gasparyan said.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know the reasons for refusal. But I don’t think
that citizenship can be rejected baselessly”, Manuk Topuzyan answered.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
05/11/2004
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP://

1) First Couple Begins Official Visit to Lebanon
2) Georgia to Deploy Troops in Ethnic Armenian District Following Clashes
3) More Than 95% of ARF Candidates in Lebanon Elected
4) US General Blames Leadership for Abuse
5) Efforts to Control Sensitive Armenian Exports Discussed in Washington

1) First Couple Begins Official Visit to Lebanon

BEIRUT (Combined Sources)–Armenian and Lebanese Presidents Robert Kocharian
and Emil Lahoud met on Monday to discuss intensifying their already solid
bilateral relations. Officials said the two also reviewed the situation in the
Middle East, including Iraq. The Armenian president was due to meet with
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
Accompanied by Armenian first lady Bella, President Kocharian was greeted by
President Lahoud and Lebanese first lady Andrea at Beirut International
airport
early Monday.
A state dinner was held in honor of the Armenian first couple Monday evening,
and the two planned to visit historical and cultural sites on Tuesday. Lebanon
hosts the Arab world’s largest Armenian community, with about 200,000 members.
The community has government ministers and parliament members, and is very
active in the business sector. Kocharian was scheduled to meet church and
other
leaders.
Kocharian made a first visit to Lebanon in 2000. The Lebanese president,
whose
mother and wife are of Armenian origin, made a trip to Yerevan in 2002. Hariri
also visited Armenia in April, where he signed a series of agreements for
bilateral economic and cultural cooperation.

2) Georgia to Deploy Troops in Ethnic Armenian District Following Clashes

TSALKA (Combined Sources)–A 150-strong unit of Georgia’s Internal Troops are
to be deployed in Tsalka District following mass disturbances involving the
district’s ethnic Armenian and Georgian residents on Sunday.
A Prime-News correspondent reported from Tsalka that the president’s
representative in the Kvemo Kartli Region, Ioseb Mazmishvili, as well as a
group of investigators from the regional offices of the Interior Ministry and
the Prosecutor-General’s Office, arrived in Tsalka on Monday to investigate
the
incident.
The Prime-News correspondent has said that the regional administration will
stay in Tsalka until order is restored there. A temporary command post to
coordinate the activities of law enforcement officers will also be set-up.
Mazmishvili told Prime-News that the temporary command post will institute
special measures, to include the disarming of residents.
A-Info reported that clashes began when some 50 Svans (ethnic Georgian group)
ran into the field and began beating the Armenian soccer players after they
had
made a goal. Most of the victims, schoolchildren, suffered serious injuries.
Armenian youth from neighboring villages moved in to help, but before
reaching
Tsalka, were told that police had managed to stop the fight. Armenian and
Svans
clashed again in other areas.
A-Info also reported that the mainly Georgian local police arbitrarily
harassed Armenians, with one policeman opening fire on the car of a young
Armenian who had nothing to do with the events.
The president’s representative in the region has described the situation in
the district as tense.
Several dozen have been injured; one youth suffered concussion.
A group of doctors from Rustavi went to Tsalka on Monday to treat the
injured.
Mass disturbances involving ethnic Georgians and Armenians have taken
place in
the Tsalka District before.

3) More Than 95% of ARF Candidates in Lebanon Elected

BEIRUT (Aztag)–Of the 90 candidates running for seats in Lebanon’s municipal
and local elections on the ARF list, 86 were elected, reported the ARF Central
Committee of Lebanon. The elections began May 2 and ended May 9.
The turnout by Armenian voters was high and highly organized, in sharp
contrast to overall voter turnout, according to Lebanese news reports.
The ARF’s election machinery included 1,500 youth campaign workers, as
well as
750 vehicles that transported voters from outlying areas, including the Bekaa
Valley and the north, to the heart of Beirut.
“We congratulate the ARF’s election allies, who recorded major victories
throughout Lebanon,” read a statement issued by the Central Committee after
the
elections.
“The consolidation of the democratic order, and election campaigns waged on
that basis, constitute the starting point for the development of the
country…which is predicated on the development of municipalities and their
districts. It was with that understanding that the ARF approached the
elections
at this stage, and was able to achieve the election of 86 persons as municipal
council members and district heads,” the statement read.
The ARF waged the election campaign for the Beirut municipal and district
elections from headquarters in Mt. Lebanon. It had seven election headquarters
in Bourj Hammoud, seven in Antelias, three in Zalka and Jal-al-Dib, four in
Beirut, and one each in Ainjar, Zahle, and Jibeyl.

4) US General Blames Leadership for Abuse

WASHINGTON (Reuters)–The abuse of Iraqi prisoners reflected a failure of
leadership in the US armed forces, the general who investigated the
mistreatment says.
But he said on Tuesday that he found no evidence that American soldiers had
acted on the direct orders of higher-ups.
Asked directly in “your own soldier’s language” what had caused the abuse at
the Abu Ghraib prison, once the feared symbol of Saddam Hussein’s dictatorial
rule, US Army Major General Antonio Taguba recited a litany of ills.
“Failure in leadership, sir, from the brigade commander on down, lack of
discipline, no training whatsoever and no supervision. Supervisory omission
was
rampant,” Taguba, the author of a Pentagon report on the abuse, told the
latest
Senate hearing on the scandal, which has drawn worldwide outrage.
But Taguba told the Senate Armed Services Committee he did “not find any
evidence of a policy or a direct order given to these soldiers to conduct what
they did. I believe that they did it on their own volition.”
The hearing followed an all-day grilling of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
on Friday, at which Rumsfeld apologized for the abuse but said he would not
step down simply to appease his political enemies.
At the Pentagon’s insistence, Under Secretary of Defense Stephen Cambone, who
is in charge of intelligence, and other Pentagon officials also appeared with
Taguba to testify on the scandal that has sparked international outrage and
calls for Rumsfeld’s resignation.
Coalition military intelligence officers estimated that about 70 percent
to 90
percent of the thousands of prisoners detained in Iraq had been “arrested by
mistake,” according to a report by Red Cross given to the Bush administration
last year and leaked this week.
The report said the mistreatment of prisoners apparently tolerated by US and
other coalition forces in Iraq involved widespread abuse that was “in some
cases tantamount to torture.”

DEMOCRATS IRKED

Democrats on the committee were irked that the Pentagon balked at plans for
Taguba to testify by himself, calling it an “attempt to dilute Taguba’s
testimony”, a Democratic aide said. “Taguba is known as a straight-talker.”
Taguba’s report and photographs shown around the world of naked prisoners
stacked in a pyramid or positioned to simulate sex acts at the prison near
Baghdad have shocked Americans and set off an international furor that has
posed a serious setback to US efforts to stabilize Iraq.
With close US ally Britain battling its own abuse scandal, Amnesty
International accused British soldiers in Iraq of killing civilians, including
an 8-year-old girl and a wedding guest, who posed no apparent threat.
Already, a British judge has ruled that 12 Iraqi families whose loved ones
were killed should be given permission to argue that the European
Convention on
Human Rights applied to their cases.
The scandal broke in America as public support for the Iraq war was already
declining.
A CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll released on Monday found only 44 percent believed
the war was worthwhile. In a poll taken a month ago, 50 percent said it was
worth going to war in Iraq. A year ago, 73 percent thought the war was
worthwhile.
President George W. Bush’s own approval rating dipped to 46 percent, down
from
52 percent a month earlier.

SCATTERED VIOLENCE

In Iraq scattered violence, underlined the continuing lawlessness. A civilian
supply convoy was attacked on the main highway to Baghdad from Jordan and 21
vehicles were destroyed.
Three people were killed when a bomb exploded in a crowded market in the
northern oil city of Kirkuk, Iraqi police said.
And in Najaf, hundreds of Iraqis marched through the streets to demand that
militant cleric Moqtada al-Sadr withdraw his fighters from the Shi’ite holy
city.
It was the biggest and most public display yet of mounting local exasperation
with an uprising launched last month by Sadr’s Mehdi Army against the US
occupation force.
Despite the ongoing turmoil, the United States is planning to hand over
Saddam
Hussein and other top officials of his ousted regime to the Iraqis before it
transfers power to an unelected Iraqi government by June 30, according to
Iraqi
lawyer Salem Chalabi, who is coordinating the trial.
“The coalition forces now have more than 100 former regime officials,”
Chalabi
said in Kuwait. “They will be transferred to us before the transfer of power,
and they include Saddam Hussein, Ali Hassan al Majid and Tareq Aziz.”
In his report, completed in March, Taguba cited the “systematic and illegal
abuses of detainees,” and said between October and December 2003, “numerous
incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses were inflicted on
several detainees.”
While his 53-page report castigated the prison operation, Taguba told the
committee he did not see evidence it resulted from a deliberate policy on
extracting information from detainees.
“I think it was a matter of soldiers with their interaction with military
intelligence personnel who were perceived or thought to be competent authority
… influencing their action to set the conditions for successful
interrogations,” he said.
But Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the committee’s top Democrat, said “the
despicable acts” shown in the report “not only reek of abuse, they reek of an
organized effort and methodical preparation for interrogation.”
Levin said the abuses “were not the spontaneous action of lower ranking
enlisted personnel,” but “attempts to extract information from prisoners by
abusive and degrading methods were planned and suggested by others.”
Congress is now preparing to see a new set of photographs and a video that
Rumsfeld warned may be even more shocking.

5) Efforts to Control Sensitive Armenian Exports Discussed in Washington

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–Senior Armenian and US officials met in Washington last week
to discuss efforts to prevent possible transfer of sensitive equipment and
technology from Armenia to third-world countries, the Foreign Ministry in
Yerevan announced on Monday.
A ministry statement said the meeting was a part of “periodical
consultations”
between the two governments relating to exports of goods that could be used in
the manufacturing of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). It said the Armenian
side was represented by officials from several government agencies, including
the National Security Service and an exports control body.
The statement said their counterparts from the US Department of Commerce
praised relevant steps taken by the Armenian authorities, notably a law
regulating exports of “goods and technologies of dual use” and their transit
through Armenian territory which was passed by the National Assembly last
September.
The talks seemed to have come about as a result of a May 2002 incident over
the transfer of sensitive Armenian technology to neighboring Iran. Washington
imposed sanctions on an Armenian businessman who had allegedly sold the
technological equipment of a local biochemical firm to an Iranian-linked
trading company registered in the United Arab Emirates.
The company, based in the central town of Charentsavan, grew special bacteria
for the production of lysine, an amino acid added to animal fodder. Scientists
say they could also generate other biochemical substances. The businessman,
Armen Sarkisian strongly denied having any links with the now defunct firm
called Lizin.
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian stated at the time that Armenia had been
cautioned in 2001 of the dangers of exporting of lysine, which can be used for
military purposes, but that the Armenian government had no authority to block
the deal.
The incident prompted the government to tighten export controls on Armenia’s
border crossings.

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian opposition urges authorities to meet Europe’s demands

A1+ web site
11 May 04

11 May: The Justice political bloc today circulated a statement on
the authorities’ actions that run against resolution No 1374 of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE].

1. The authorities have not given up the practice of administrative
detentions. New arrests have been made (in violation of Point 9 of
the PACE resolution).

2. People arrested for participation in rallies have not been set
free immediately. Fourteen Armenian citizens have been arrested for
political motives. One of them – Martin Gazaryan – has been sentenced
to one year in prison.

3. No transparent and trustworthy examination has been started into
their cases to find those responsible for violence and trampling on
human rights (in violation of Point 9 of the PACE resolution).

4. The law on administrative offences has not been amended (in
violation of Point 9 of the PACE resolution).

Armenian civic forum condemns authorities’ anti-democratic policy

A1+ web site
11 May 04

11 May: “People in our country face violence every day, rigged
elections have become a norm and we live in an artificial information
blockade,” members of an initiative group, which includes about 40
public organizations, stated at a forum called “For and against civic
will” today.

A member of the Nadezhda [Hope] public organization, Karen Akopyan,
believes that the time has come when every citizen should feel guilty
of the existing situation.

The president of the Helsinki Committee of Armenia, Avetik Ishkhanyan,
believes that our society currently permits the authorities to drown
the entire people with their illegal actions. The forum’s key aim is
to set up a movement for the protection of human rights.

Today’s forum adopted a statement which said: “Gross human rights
violations in Armenia, deviation from the democratic path and the
authorities’ actions promote the formation of an atmosphere of
lawlessness.”

In their statement, the representatives of the civic society demanded
that all political prisoners be released, bureaucrats who violated
constitutional rights be punished and citizens’ rights to free access
to information be ensured. In this connection, the importance of
providing the A1+ TV company with a frequency was underlined.

UN refugee body, Azeri rights champion discuss Armenian fugitives

ANS TV, Baku
11 May 04

[Presenter in studio] The fate of Roman Teryan and Artur Apresyan, two
Armenians who have fled from [Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan’s
regime and come to Azerbaijan, was discussed today by the UNHCR
[UN High Commissioner for Refugees] representative in Azerbaijan,
Bohdan Nahaylo, and human rights campaigner Arzu Abdullayeva.

After the meeting, Bohdan Nahaylo said that before taking any steps,
the Commissioner has to receive appeals either from the Azerbaijani
government or the persons in question.

[Video of Bohdan Nahaylo, captioned, talking to camera in English with
Azeri voice-over] The document clarifying our position on the issue
was submitted to relevant state bodies last week. No government body
has applied to us yet so that we could start discussions. We are not
the kind of organization which maintains dialogue with the government
by means of the press or any other institution. We are open to direct
dialogue. We are waiting for open dialogue.

Armenian party leader downbeat on government-opposition dialogue

Noyan Tapan news agency
11 May 04

Yerevan, 11 May: “The current political consultations between the
coalition and opposition forces will hardly yield any result, because
the coalition has no elementary powers, which are concentrated in the
hands of President Robert Kocharyan,” Garnik Markaryan, chairman of
the Motherland and Honour Party, said in an interview with a Noyan
Tapan correspondent. He thinks that the president “is using the
coalition forces as a tool for preserving his power”.

Markaryan noted that the political consultations in essense have
substituted the real negotiations conducted between the sides by
the council of elders of the intelligentsia forum. “The fact that
the opposition went for these consultations is another mistake,”
he is sure.

Garnik Markaryan said that if the opposition does not drastically
change its organizational and management methods, it will be difficult
to expect any positive changes in its favour in the domestic political
process.

Apart from this, it is necessary to expand the geography of the
opposition’s activity, keeping Yerevan as the centre of the events
of course: “We must not forget that in Armenia there are also other
huge cities and regional centres”.

As for the possibility of changing the authorities’ behaviour,
connected with Resolution No 1374 of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe (PACE) on Armenia, Garnik Markaryan stated
that the ruling administration “has no desire to change anything,
and the process of intimidation and persecution is continuing”.

Nakhchivan Airport Is Due To Open

Baku Today
11/05/2004

Azerbaijan State Airlines Concern will hold opening ceremony for
Nakhchivan airport tomorrow. The airport has been under reconstruction
for almost year and half. The reconstruction was scheduled to end
by the end of 2003. The construction work has covered about 350,000
square meters.

Nakhchivan airport stands solely for transport communication
of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan with the rest
of Azerbaijan. Nakhchivan has been in blockade following Karabakh
conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The Airlines Concern was to announce about the opening of the airport
earlier. Yet the concern’s officials said, they had to postpone a
ceremony because of bad weather conditions.

President Ilham Aliyev is expected to attend the opening ceremony
in Nakhchivan.