Embattled Azeri imam hopes authorities to show common sense

Ekspress, Baku
4 Apr 04

The imam of an embattled mosque in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, has
said that his comments as a rights activist on the October
post-election riots might have been the reason for his arrest. Ilqar
Ibrahimoglu was taken into custody in the aftermath of the riots and
was given a conditional sentence and released on 2 April. Ibrahimoglu
said that the authorities’ attempts to turn the Cuma mosque into a
museum were “misunderstanding” and hoped that “common sense and logic
will eventually prevail”. The following is the text of Roya Rafiyeva
report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekspress on 5 April headlined “Why was
I arrested?” and subheaded “Ilqar Ibrahimoglu still does not know the
reasons”; subheadings inserted editorially:

One of those arrested in the aftermath of the 15-16 October
[post-election] clashes, Ilqar Ibrahimoglu, received a suspended
sentence and was released from custody on 2 April. In addition to
being the imam of the Cuma mosque, he is also the secretary-general of
the Azerbaijani branch of IRLA [International Religious Liberty
Association] and the coordinator of DEVAMM [centre for the protection
of freedom of conscience and religion]. Saying that “I am the only
international expert in the Caucasus to deal with religious freedom”,
Ilqar Ibrahimoglu gave one of his first interviews after being
released to Ekspress.

[Correspondent] You claim that the accusations levelled against you
were unfounded. You are also saying that these accusations have not
been proven.

[Ibrahimoglu] It would be good to address this question to those who
arrested me illegally and kept me in custody for four months without
any reasons whatsoever. I can tell you quite frankly that I did not
expect to be released yesterday [2 April]. I was prepared to go back
to prison after the trial. It is still unclear to me who was
interested in my arrest and why. I knew there would be a hue and cry
both inside and outside Azerbaijan over my arrest.

[Correspondent] Do you have evidence of what you did on the day of the
clashes?

[Ibrahimoglu] My role in the events was only that as a human rights
campaigner I monitored the situation for seven to eight minutes before
clashes began on Azadliq Square. I met many journalists there and even
went up to the rostrum. But let me repeat that I had left the square
before the events started and continued the monitoring from the
courtyard of a nearby building together with other human rights
champions, including a representative of the OSCE.

Black PR

[Correspondent] Was any pressure put on you while you were under
arrest?

[Ibrahimoglu] On 17 October, I first appealed to local and
international human rights advocates after I saw the first signs of
pressure. I went to the Baku office of the Council of Europe at their
invitation and tried to clarify the issue. I was the guest of the
Norwegian embassy for four days until the issue was cleared up. During
those days a representative of the Interior Ministry told me that
allegedly I was not on the wanted list, that there was some
misunderstanding and that no measures would be taken against me
because I had nothing to do with the events.

On the 22nd, I attended an OSCE Human Rights monitoring conference as
a member of an Azerbaijani delegation, which also included
representatives of the Foreign Ministry, the ombudsman’s office, and a
number of human rights and NGO activists. We officially crossed the
[presumably Georgian] border and there were no problems again. But as
soon as I left Azerbaijan, an extensive “black PR” campaign was
unfolded against me. I was following it through the Internet. The most
frustrating thing of all was that while we were raising the issue of
desecration of a mosque in Susa [Shusha] at the conference, which was
also attended by Armenians, such issues were being brought up against
us in Baku. The Armenians now want to give this mosque to the French
and as an advocate of religious rights I stated there that this was a
violation of international norms and European conventions. As a matter
of fact, a representative of the Foreign Ministry officially thanked
me for defending Azerbaijan’s national interests.

The conference continued till 28 October. Then I observed Georgian
elections until 3 November. And on 3 November, as I had planned, I
returned to Azerbaijan. And no measures were taken against me again.

Arrest

[Correspondent] But how were you arrested?

[Ibrahimoglu] One TV channel officially announced on 20 November that
Ilqar Ibrahimoglu was in Georgia and that he was wanted by
Interpol. Then I understood that the issue was taking a new
turn. Since there were some blind spots, I talked to lawyer Elton
Quliyev about my defence. Finally, on 28 November I was invited to the
Prosecutor-General’s Office as a witness. On 1 December, I went there
with Elton Quliyev. They asked me different questions about the
October events and about my work as a human rights campaigner. I
thought that it was being done in the interests of the investigation,
therefore, I answered all the questions to the best of my
knowledge. They even allowed me to go to the mosque for the afternoon
prayer.

But at 1800 they asked me whether I had an identity card of a human
rights advocate. I said I was the head of two human rights
organizations and that there was sufficient information about me on
their web sites. Several hours afterwards they told me that I was
being detained on suspicion, and from that moment I refused to give
any more evidence. This is how the four months passed. I was kept at
the “death section” of the Bayil prison in room No 120. It was not
possible to carry out any religious rituals there.

Prison

[Correspondent] Were you held there alone?

[Ibrahimoglu] No, there were four of us. Sometimes they were replaced
by others. They were all post-election prisoners. In the old days
death row inmates used to be kept in this section of the prison.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the prisoners. The
press was of vital importance to us there. That was our only source of
information. Naturally, we were also receiving Ekspress newspaper.

[Correspondent] When you came out of the dock you said you would fight
for rehabilitation. But so far none of the October prisoners has been
rehabilitated.

[Ibrahimoglu] According to my information, there are appeals
already. We are now part of Europe and there are new legal
opportunities for that. For this reason, I can be rehabilitated using
local and international institutions. I monitored the situation on
Azadliq Square as a human rights campaigner. I am not supposed to
prove that I am not a camel. There is a presumption of innocence.

Attacks on Cuma mosque misunderstanding

[Correspondent] Why do you think you were arrested?

[Ibrahimoglu] I think my comments as a rights activist may have been
the reason for my arrest. But I am saying quite candidly that not
everything is clear to me.

[Correspondent] After your arrest the Cuma mosque came under attacks.

[Ibrahimoglu] I still cannot understand who needed that and why. Since
2003, there have been quite a few attacks on the organizations of
which I am a member and the Cuma mosque is the latest of them.

The community is registered and its registration has not been
repealed. In 2001 we submitted documents to the Justice Ministry for
renewing our registration. There are no problems with the community as
it has always functioned in accordance with Azerbaijani laws and
international norms. I also think it is absurd to turn the mosque into
a museum. I think there was some misunderstanding and I hope common
sense and logic will eventually prevail.

A1 Plus | 18:55:52 | 05-04-2004 | Politics |

VIOLEMCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS BECOMES DANGEROUSLY COMMONPLACE IN ARMENIA

Geghamyan-staged rally had heavy consequences for the journalists
fulfilling their professional duty today. Aravot and Haykakan Zhamanak
newspapers’ correspondents Anna Israelyanand Hayk Gevorgyan underwent
violence: they were beaten and their cameras were snatched out and
broken.

Cameras of Kentron, Hay TV and H1 TV companies were broken as well.

Among those became victims of brutality was Investigating Journalists
Association member Onik Grigoryan.

Camera was pulled out also from Shant TV company cameraman hands.

National Unity cameraman was beaten and his camera was broken.

It should be noted that legions of policemen lined the pavement from
early morning to provide security.

When our correspondent on the scene asked one of them why they let
offenders act with impunity, he answered: “Who knows who they are?”

—

A1 Plus | 17:25:41 | 05-04-2004 | Politics |

DASHNAKS SPEAKING ON POLITICAL SITUATION IN ARMENIA

Dashnaktsutyun, one of the ruling coalition parties, issued a statement on
Monday saying the opportunity to make amendments through consensus to the
Constitution and the Electoral Code could constitute favourable ground for
softening political situation in Armenia.

“The coalition should be guarantor of dialogue”, the party member Armen
Rustamyan cited the statement at a news conference.

Before issuing the statement, the party said tension run higher in the
republic and escalated into open confrontation.

Rejecting the idea of power handover, Rustamyan, at the same time, said it
would be better to comply with the opposition demand to conduct confidence
referendum in order not to aggravate the crisis.

Another Dashnak Levon Lazarian said the opposition uncompromising stance
can lead to serious shocks and the authorities must make their step.

—

The Boston Globe

George Nersessian; ex-store owner had passion for writing

By Casey Farrar, Globe Correspondent
4/5/2004

For nearly four decades, George Nersessian of Chestnut Hill owned five local
retail stores. When he retired in the late 1980s, he pursued an interest in
writing and wrote two books — one in English and one in Armenian.

Mr. Nersessian, former owner of The Plaza Men’s Stores and author of “For
Love and Honor,” a story of his parents’ survival during the Armenian
genocide in 1915 and his experience in a German labor camp during World War
II, died Friday at Boston Medical Center of congestive heart failure. He was
85.

Born in Orestias, Greece, to Armenian parents, Mr. Nersessian spoke Armenian
and Greek. A standout soccer player, he joined the Greek national soccer
team and had planned to go to the Olympics when Greece was invaded by
Germany during World War II.

With his Olympic dreams dashed, Mr. Nersessian remained in Nazi-occupied
Greece until he was captured and taken to Stuttgart, Germany, to work in a
factory.

“The Germans were on the streets in these open two-seater cars . . .
patrolling the streets of Salonik, gathering the youth to take them to
Germany,” his wife, B. Betty (Maranjian), said yesterday. “George had a lot
of Jewish friends, and he went looking for them because he was devastated,
but he was grabbed up and put in a line to go to work in a factory with many
other Greek youth.”

Mr. Nersessian went to a factory called Salamander in Germany, where he
stitched boots for German officers until his release after the war, his wife
said.

In 1950, Mr. Nersessian, along with his sister, mother, and two brothers,
moved to the United States. He learned English — his fifth language after
picking up German and Turkish during World War II — while running a small
dry cleaning business in Dorchester, his daughter Sonya said.

He met his wife at a picnic in Massachusetts on Independence Day in 1953,
and the two married five months later.

They had two daughters, Sonya and Seta, and opened their first of five
retail stores in Dedham in 1959. The company expanded to three branches in
Dedham, one in Hanover, and one in Watertown.

After a heart attack in the late 1980s, Mr. Nersessian decided to retire
from the retail industry. He had his first short story published shortly
afterward, in the Navasart Literary Journal, a monthly magazine out of
California that was printed in Armenian.

“He had wanted to continue his education in Greece after high school, but
the war and all these events happened, so he never got to go,” Sonya said
yesterday.

Mr. Nersessian eventually began writing fictional short stories for the
monthly journal, and in 1991 published his family memoir in English. Four
years later, he released a book of collected short stories written in
Armenian.

Mr. Nersessian made frequent trips to Armenia with his wife. In 1998, he
funded the renovation of the only Armenian Apostolic Church in the city of
Ichevan, about 60 miles from the capital city of Yerevan. The Nersessian
family attended the church’s consecration ceremony. Former president of the
Dedham Rotary Club, Mr. Nersessian was honored as a Paul Harris Fellow by
Rotary International, and in 1998 he was named Man of the Year of the
Knights of Vartan.

In addition to his wife and two daughters, Mr. Nersessian leaves a sister,
Sarui; and four grandchildren.

Funeral services are private.

© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.

A1 Plus | 20:55:36 | 05-04-2004 | Politics |

LAW ENFORCEMENT INSTITUTION IMPOSES ORDER IN OWN WAY

Opposition bloc Justice released the list of those illegally arrested,
beaten or disturbed recently.

68 underwent police harassment – 41 of them are Armenian People Party
members, 17 are from Republic party, 7 are Justice’s supporters and 2
Democratic Party members – are listed here.

Besides, 47 activists of National Unity have been arrested. Total amount of
the law enforcement victims is 115.

—

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A1 Plus | 15:44:49 | 05-04-2004 | Politics |

MATENADARAN SURROUNDED BY POLICE

>From early morning the police surrounded Yerevan’s Matenadaran museum in a
bid to bar Artashes Geghamyan, National Unity leader and MP, from installing
microphones there and prevent him from holding the meeting with his
constituents scheduled for Monday.{BR}

Almost all roads to connected provinces with Armenian capital are closed for
the same reason.

—

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Posted on Mon, Apr. 05, 2004

The Charlotte Observer, N.C., 25-Year Job Column

By Carol Smith, The Charlotte Observer, N.C. Knight Ridder/Tribune
Business News

Apr. 5 – EDWARD AZARIAN: Born Jan. 29, 1939, of Armenian immigrant
parents who escaped from Turkish Armenia during the genocide of 1915.
Has been with Clariant 31 years

THE ORGANIZATION: Clariant is a major producer of specialty chemicals
for uses ranging from clothing to cars, cosmetics to computers and
everything in between.

THE JOB: Accounting manager. My primary duties include the processing of
payments to Clariant suppliers.

OTHER COMPANIES: Principally with other Swiss companies including
Hoffmann LaRoche and Lonza.

AN ANECDOTE: A couple of years ago, I no sooner arrived in Las Vegas on
vacation than I received a message from one of my co-workers to call
ASAP because there was a problem. A product cost had been overstated by
some $20 million because an employee used a unit cost of $40 a pound
rather than 40 cents a pound. My co-worker recognized that the situation
was serious and she also knew, even though I was on vacation, that I was
available to help her deal with it.

I made a call to a programmer at 5 a.m. Las Vegas time to instruct him
to place an inventory hold on the product so that we could correct the
error before any product activity occurred. All turned out well because
we worked quickly and as a team and, to this day, she says she never
would have known how to handle this without the training and knowledge I
had shared with her.

BEST ADVICE: The best advice I received was from my Armenian parents.
They reminded me that as an Armenian, I should perform all tasks given
to me (no matter how mediocre) to the best of my ability.

MEMORABLE TIME OFF: Attending an auction to purchase some stamps for my
collection.

SURPRISING FACT: As a teenager, I raised chickens, sheep, pigs and even
had a Black Angus steer that I named “Sputnik,” having purchased him the
day of the first Russian space launch.

For submission information, contact Carol Smith:
[email protected]

—–

To see more of The Charlotte Observer, or to subscribe to the newspaper,
go to

(c) 2004, The Charlotte Observer, N.C. Distributed by Knight
Ridder/Tribune Business News. CLN, RHHVF, LONN,

“Incredible how fixated they are on Turkey”
By our editor Hans Moll

NRC Handelsblad (Dutch newspaper)
April 3, 2004

Journalist Mehmet Ülger on Turkish nationalism

AMSTERDAM, APRIL 3. Many Turkish organizations are subsidised, however,
they do not promote integration. This is what Turkish-Dutch journalist
Mehmet Ülger says.

“Left-wing Netherlands protects right-wing immigrants”, says Mehmet Ülger.
He smiles but he does not really understand it. Last week an ‘updated
edition’ of “A Search for Turkish Extreme Right, Gray Wolves”, which he had
written with Stella Braam in 1997, was published.

[…]

Actively misleading the Dutch is often not even necessary. Ülger describes a
mosque in which, for those who understand, all kinds of symbols are hung
that refer to the Ottoman Empire and the last caliphate. To a Dutch person
this has no meaning, not only because he does not know the symbols, but also
because he is not a nationalist. Nationalism is a loaded concept in the
Netherlands that equals xenophobia and borders racism. “The Dutch hardly
have an idea of how deeply nationalism plays a role among Turks,” says
Ülger. He refers to the Austrian politician Haider who is depicted as a
nationalist and far-rightist in the Western media. But according to him,
Haider’s ideals pale before those of the Turkish MHP, the mother party of
the Gray Wolves. He refers to a meeting held last month in The Hague where
the president of the youth branch of the MHP, Alisan Satilmis, was a guest
of honor. “Satilmis led a demonstration against the showing of a movie in
Turkey about the Armenian genocide.” Recognizing that genocide means the
same as treason among nationalist Turks.

[…]

Ülger does not want his photograph in the newspaper. He is working
undercover again.

PRAVDA, 18:45 2004-04-05

Opposition members arrested in Armenia

Opposition activists are being rounded up in Armenia, according to the press
secretary of the opposition bloc Justice, Ruzanna Hatchatrian. As reported
by a Rosbalt correspondent, she said more than 10 members of opposition
parties were arrested Sunday night and Monday morning in Yerevan and
surrounding regions. In addition, another 40 people were summoned to the
procurator’s office for questioning. Among those arrested was the press
secretary of the party Anrapetutiun (Republic), Suren Sureniants.

Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
April 5 2004

Town Center site in limbo
Tenants are left to wonder about their futures after another project
is pulled.

DOWNTOWN GLENDALE — For merchants in the 15.5-acre Town Center
project site, another developer losing interest in building a new
retail development is business as usual.

“It’s been an ongoing situation for 20 years,” said Robert Kann, vice
president of Scotty’s & Sons, a hardware store in the area for more
than 40 years. “It seems like every five to seven years, you get all
sorts of people out here with a roll of tape, with official-looking
vests, but then nothing happens.”

Developer Rick Caruso pulled out of the project at Tuesday’s City
Council meeting, citing his frustration with what he called a
procedural issue. Three City Council members would not go along with
an amendment to the city charter that would have allowed a change in
zoning requirements to permit Caruso to build.

Nothing will continue to happen, at least until the Redevelopment
Agency gives some direction on what to do next with the languishing
and blighted property, which, if approved, would have been filled
within two years with a Crate & Barrel, Cheesecake Factory, a
multiplex theater and a host of other upscale tenants.

But as a city relocation plan has come to a halt, everyone from
property owners to tenants are in limbo. The city had been buying
land in the area — $34 million so far — and moving tenants to other
parts of the city.

“I’m concerned now that if they don’t do anything with the property,
what kind of tenant is going to come in and rent?” asked property
owner Ken Kevorkian, who owns property on the site on Orange and
Harvard streets. “There isn’t any foot traffic in the area now. The
whole property has been under an umbrella of possible condemnation,
and I can’t get a good tenant in there. Subsequently, my rent is half
of what it is in other places. If they are not going to develop, it’s
like a blight on the area.”

Complicating matters is that some of the remaining tenants cannot be
relocated until a property on the project site is purchased by the
city for demolition. And property owners are holding out for the best
deal they can from the city, particularly after the city paid $5
million for the Armenian Society of Los Angeles building at 221 S.
Brand Blvd. and relocation to its new site at 117 S. Louise St.

Kevorkian said the city offered him $1 million, but he did not take
the deal.

“When they offered me $1 million, comparatively speaking, that was
nothing,” he said.

Some are happy right where they are.

“We’re making a bit of money here, why get another location?” said
Roger Licup, a manager at Big 5 Sporting Goods. “Market-wise, we’re
doing OK down here. You are not going to get the good value somewhere
else. People know we are here.”