Ottawa Citizen, Canada
April 1 2004

The relevant facts

The arrest this week of Ottawa resident Mohammad Momin Khawaja on
charges of aiding a terrorist group and facilitating a terrorist
activity brought the war on terror a little closer to Canada. It also
prompted considerable debate about whether it was right for the
media, including the Citizen, to identify Mr. Khawaja as a Muslim. We
believe it was.

Mr. Khawaja, 24, who lives in Orleans, is a Canadian by birth, a
software developer by profession and a Muslim by faith. All of those
facts were reported by the Citizen, but only the reference to his
religion has caused controversy. Of particular concern was the
Citizen’s front-page headline Tuesday: “Ottawa Muslims held in global
terror sweep,” which prompted several complaints to the paper and a
letter to the editor from Ed Broadbent and Warren Allmand, two former
presidents of the International Centre for Human Rights and
Democratic Development, calling the reference “the most offensive we
can recall.”

In normal circumstances, identifiers such as a person’s race,
religion, nationality, marital status or sexual orientation would not
be included in a news article unless it was, or could be, relevant to
the story. When diplomats from Turkey were attacked in Canada, the
nationality of their attackers was relevant, given a series of
similar attacks by groups seeking to avenge the mass killing of
Armenians in 1916. When terrorists blew up an Air India jet over the
Atlantic Ocean in 1985, the fact that the principal suspects were
Sikh was also relevant.

Today, in an era of Islamist terrorism that has killed thousands of
people in such diverse places as New York, Washington, Istanbul, Bali
and Madrid, it is legitimate for a news story on a police raid linked
to the global war on terror to indicate the religion of the person or
persons detained. Spaniards know this only too well after the March
11 attacks on three Madrid trains: Initially, suspicion fell on
Basque terrorists, but it quickly became clear that Osama bin Laden’s
al-Qaeda network was to blame.

Identifying a terrorism suspect’s religion is not to brand every
adherent of that religion a potential terrorist. Just as the majority
of Roman Catholics opposed the murderous ways of the Irish Republican
Army, so too the majority of the world’s Muslims reject and condemn
the violent intolerance preached in the name of Islam by such people
as Mr. bin Laden.

When a terrorist suspect is arrested, whether in Ottawa or elsewhere
in Canada, our readers have a right to know all of the relevant facts
to help them understand what has happened. In this case, Mr.
Khawaja’s background, where he worked, lived and travelled, and, yes,
his religious affiliation, are important elements of the story that
we have a duty to report.

As an editorial on this page explained yesterday, we understand and
empathize with the sensitivity and feelings of vulnerability
experienced by some members of Ottawa’s Muslim community. These
concerns are real and must be taken into account, not only by the
news media in reporting this story, but also by police and
prosecutors as the case moves through the justice system.

Chessbase News, Germany
April 1 2004

Kimo – a new approach for chess engines

01.04.2004 Traditional chess programs blindly search millions of
postions to find good moves. A new chess program due for release this
month breaks with the tradition. It works with chess knowledge
derived from 20,000 master games. Tests with a late beta version show
that in spite of some glaring defects Kimo is able to hold its own
against the world’s strongest programs. Details…

Kimo – a new approach to chess programming
Most chess programs available on the market today are built on the
principle of super-fast full-width searches. They generate large
numbers of positions, and use tiny bits of chess knowledge to
evaluate them. This method has hoisted them to the very highest
levels of tournament play.

But is this “brute force” approach the only way to achieve chess
excellence? Instead of looking at literally billions of positions
between moves, is it not possible to insert enough chess knowledge
into a program to make it understand the difference between
meaningful continuations and the purely nonsensical moves that
traditional chess programs spend 99.999% of their time examining.

The new program Kimo, created by a team of Russian programmers
(hailing originally from Armenia and neighboring republics), sets out
to do exactly that. Kimo’s algorithms are based not on a brute force
search but rather on chess knowledge derived from around 20,000 high
quality games. These have been extensively analysed by the program,
which draws heuristic conclusions on the principles of chess: the
value of the pieces in different positions, their strenghs and
weaknesses, attacking and defensive motifs, etc.

In tournament games Kimo relies to a great extent on these
heuristics, which are applied to pattern the computer recognises on
the chess board. It also conducts a traditional look-ahead, but the
search is highly selective and only takes into consideration
“promising” lines of play. According to its authors Kimo generates “a
million times less moves” than traditional chess programs.

It is of interest to note that former world champion Mikhail
Botvinnik, who pioneered the concept of knowledge-based chess
programming, directly contributed important elements that are today
part of Kimo’s chess heuristics.

Testing Kimo
The program Kimo 1.0 is due to appear in the European computer stores
later this month. In the US there will be a two-month delay due to
import restrictions caused by the massively parallel hardware requred
to run the Russians program. The German magazine Computerschach &
Spiele (CSS) managed to get a late beta version and run initial tests
on it. A full report by Lars Bremer is included in the April edition
of CSS. Bremer is an experienced editor of Europe’s biggest computer
magazine C’T and is an expert on computer games (you may want to
download his Munstrum program).

Traditionally chess programs that are tested by CSS must first
absolve a rigorous test suite of chess positions in which the program
must find certain key moves. This “Weltmeister-Test” suite (which you
can download here) is derived exclusively from games played in world
championship matches. This led to a first problem for the CSS
testers. The 20,000 games used to prime Kimo’s chess knowledge
included all world championship games, and these were in fact given
high priority in the data mining process. The result is that Kimo
solves most of the positions in the “Weltmeister-Test” almost
instantaneously – simply because it recognises them. This naturally
allows us to draw few conclusions regarding playing strength of the
program.

In his next test Lars Bremer ran a series of informal blitz games
against other programs, with disasterous results for Kimo. Even older
versions of Fritz were able to beat the Russian program, despite the
fact that Kimo usually came out of the opening with an excellent
position. This was probably because the program has a tiny but very
high-class openings book.

Here is a typical position in a blitz game against its rivals:

White has a satisfactory position in spite of (or because of) its
advanced castle pawns. A good continuation would have been Rf3 with
slight advantage. But Kimo somewhat recklessly sacrifices the
exchange with 16.Qf3?, expecting to launch a decisive king-side
attack. After stubborn defence by Fritz White simply ended up with
material down and a lost position.

The results of the tests on the blitz level were indicative of a
principle shortcoming of the program: its tactical vulnerability.
Tima and again Kimo would get promising positions, and then, based on
its knowledge heuristics, play an over-optimistic move to ruin the
position and lose the game. Lars Bremer estimates that Kimo will not
be able to occupy a place amongst the top programs in the blitz
rating lists.

Tournament games
At slower speeds the situation is a different one. In ten games
against today’s top programs Kimo scored exactly 50%, much to the
astonishment of the CSS testers. The general impression was that the
program was positionally superior to its opponents, with occasional
tactical lapses costing it a possible victory. The individual scores
in the test matches were 3:3 against Deep Junior 8 and 2:2 against
Deep Fritz 8 – putting Kimo right on the top of the rating lists at
classical time controls.

The following game is a typical example of Kimo’s positional
abilities, which always appear when the position is devoid of
short-term tactical tricks.

Kimo vs Deep Fritz 8

In closed positions with locked-up pawn structures Kimo reigns
supreme. Here it has tied up one of the strongest programs in the
world and masterfully manoeuvred its pieces for the final assault.
42.Nxb7 Rxb7 43.Nxa6 won a pawn, maintained the pressure on Black’s
position and quickly won the game.

But we have to return to the tactical weaknesses, to which Kimo is
particularly prone in open positions. Here is an example from the
test match against the Israeli program Deep Junior:

Kimo vs Deep Junior 8

Kimo is a pawn down but has initiative. But instead of playing
32.Ng6+ and going for the sure draw Kimo 32.Rh5?? In its main line
the program displayed 32…Qxd4 33.Rxh7+ Kxh7 34.Qxf5+ and perpetual
check. If we look at the log files we discover that it did consider
the killer 32…Nxd4 briefly, but evaluated the position after
33.Ng6+ Kg8 34.Ne7+ Kf8 35.Nd5 Rxh7 as 0.84 pawns better for White.
What Kimo overlooked — and that is the main weakness of the
“knowledge” method — is that after 35…Nb3+! 36.Kc2 Na1+! White is
going to be mated. The game ended 32…Nxd4 33.Ng6+ Kg8 34.Ne7+ Kf8
35.Nd5 0-1.

The following test game looked like a loss for Kimo, but the program
simplified the position and, with the help of its unknowing opponent,
set up the following fortress position:

Deep Junior 8 – Kimo

The position is a dead draw, and Kimo displays this in its main line
(0.00). Junior, on the other hand, thinks it has a winning advantage
(+2.65). Other programs show a similar evaluation. And this is what
makes Kimo so exceptional: in a static analysis of the position,
assisted by a short, highly selective search, the program has
determined that Black has a safe draw since the white rooks are
permently tied to the defence of the b-pawn. Such analysis is out of
the reach of all its computer colleagues.

Conclusions
In summary the CSS testers come to the following conclusion:

On analysis levels Kimo often finds incredible moves, which other top
programs will not be able to see or understand. The openings book is
tiny by today’s standard (just 30,000 positions, compared to many
millions for the other programs), but of such high quality that we
have yet to see Kimo come out of book with an inferior position. In
middlegame positions it is very reliable in finding good, solid
moves, many of which actually seem to initiate long-term strategic
plans. The endgame is generally played at a very high level, but
unfortunately the manufacturers have failed to implement five and
six-piece tablebases, which put Kimo at a distinct disadvantage when
playing against other top programs.

In general Kimo is a very promising step in the attempt to discard
pure brute force and use the “knowledge” method. It’s the over-all
playing strength is quite astonishing and equal to that of the top
programs. As an analytical tool Kimo shows constistant flashes of
brilliance, but it can also miss important tactical points. You
should definitely double-check Kimo analysis with Fritz, Junior or
Shredder before you put full faith in it.

But the biggest problem with Kimo is the running expense. The program
will only work on a custom-built massively parallel hardware, and it
also requires extensive care and maintenance. All of this is
exorbitantly expensive compared to contemporary cash-and-carry PCs.
We estimate that each game played by Kimo can run a bill of thousands
of dollars.

For this reason the CSS editors conclude that Kimo is not yet ready
to compete commercially with the other engines. But it is aa very
interesting new direction and worthy of being watched.

Azer News, Azerbaijan
April 1 2004

Aliyev, Armitage reaffirm development of Azeri-U.S. relations

One of last week’s most important political events was the official
visit by first US Assistant Secretary of State, Richard Armitage to
Baku. The visit was part of a regional tour which included Ukraine
and Armenia. According to

Elizabeth Jones, Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia,
the goal of Armitage’s visit to Azerbaijan was to “study priority
directions of the Azeri President and his government’s activity”.
“Armitage has been preparing for this visit for a long time. The goal
of the visit is to discuss with the top officials ways to develop
relations between the three countries,” Jones underlined.
Particularly, cooperation in fighting terrorism, economic reforms,
energy, and the situation in the region were in focus during the Baku
talks.

`It is the first time U.S. officials have had such a high level
meeting in Azerbaijan since Ilham Aliyev’s election as President of
Azerbaijan. From this standpoint, the United States is interested in
studying the priority directions of the new President and his
government’s activity. The relations between Richard Armitage and
Ilham Aliyev set good groundwork for talks. Armitage is also expected
to meet leaders of the opposition and NGO structures,’ she stated.
Armitage, who arrived in Baku Friday evening after visiting Yerevan,
left Azerbaijan Saturday afternoon. While in Baku, he had meetings
with President Aliyev, leaders of two opposition parties and
pro-government and independent political figures at the US Embassy in
Baku. He also briefed journalists at the airport before his
departure. Armitage also had a closed-door meeting with President
Aliyev on Saturday. Afterwards, the meeting was opened to other
participants. Noting that bilateral cooperation is developing rapidly
in all spheres, President Aliyev said large scale energy projects
were being implemented in Azerbaijan with support from the United
States. Underlining that the U.S. government has assisted Azerbaijan
in carrying out economic reforms in the country, Aliyev voiced his
hope for the US’s support for the implementation of the
socio-economic development program in the future. Aliyev said, `We
are confident that this cooperation will strengthen in the future.
Azerbaijan is in alliance with the United States to combat terrorism.
We are allies and this policy will continue. All this shows that our
countries’ successful cooperation will deepen in the future.’ Stating
that the Upper Garabagh conflict presents great difficulties to
regional security, the Azerbaijani President underscored that peace
would be established in the region soon. `We hope that the OSCE Minsk
Group plays an active role in the settlement of the conflict and
Azerbaijani lands are liberated from the Armenian occupation within
international legal norms.

`No plans for military bases’ – Armitage
I appreciate your visit to Azerbaijan and I am sure that the
relations between us and our countries will develop after this
visit,’ Aliyev stressed. Armitage, in his turn, thanked President
Aliyev and the Azerbaijani people for supporting the United States in
fighting terrorism. `Azerbaijan is in coalition with us and takes
part in joint operations. I would like to particularly mention the
courageous service of the Azerbaijani military personnel who are
assisting us in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, our aim is to reach a
higher level in bilateral economic, political, military and social
cooperation.’ Touching upon the conflict over Upper Garabagh, the
U.S. official said that his country wanted the conflict to be settled
peacefully. `We believe that the Caucasus may become a very good
partner of the West in the future. However, above all, the existing
problems in the Caucasus should be solved. Therefore, I have great
confidence in talks with you.’

`No plans for military bases’
Talking to a Saturday news conference for local and foreign media at
Bina Airport prior to departure, Richard Armitage said that the
stationing of U.S. military bases in Azerbaijan was not discussed
with President Aliyev and his country didn’t have such a plan.
Armitage said he was satisfied with the results of his Baku visit. He
extended his gratitude to President Aliyev for the participation of
the Azerbaijani military in peacekeeping operations in Iraq. Stating
that the issue of freedom of press in Azerbaijan was also discussed
during the meeting, Armitage said President Aliyev pledged that
public television would become independent. He added that, “Ilham
Aliyev is promoting the development of the open-minded and
progressive individual”. Underlining that the status of human rights
in Azerbaijan remains unsatisfactory, Armitage said, “The situation
in this field could be better”. Touching upon the settlement of the
Upper Garabagh conflict, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State said that
the OSCE Minsk Group was only a mediator on this matter. He also
expressed his hope that the conflicting sides would reach agreement.
Stating that it would be good if borders between Turkey and Armenia
opened, Armitage said that during the meeting President Aliyev
stressed that opening the Turkish-Armenian borders would negatively
affect the resolution of the conflict. In reply to a question about
the stationing the U.S. military bases in Azerbaijan, Armitage said
that this issue was not discussed with President Aliyev and his
country didn’t have any plans to do so. It is also indicative that
besides Gambar and Karimli, the meeting was also attended by Garayev
and Imanov, who are often referred to as possible leaders of the new
opposition. Furthermore, the pro-government wing was represented by
S.Sayidov and A.Mammadkhanov, who are deemed in the West as the
“young reformers” of President Aliyev’s team. The Chairman of the
Party of National Independence of Azerbaijan (PNIA) Etibar Mammadov,
who often takes part in such meetings, was not present. This could be
explained by the fact that Mammadov has not made many public
appearances since the presidential elections. Asked of the US
military assistance to Azerbaijan, Armitage said that Azerbaijan
supported military action in Iraq and Afghanistan, which put a heavy
burden on Baku. It is for this reason that Baku is receiving greater
military assistance from Washington than Armenia. Also, Azerbaijan is
supplying fuel for US aircraft en route to Iraq, which also promotes
increased US financial assistance to Azerbaijan. However, the volume
of US economic aid to Armenia is greater than that to Azerbaijan and
other countries in the region, Armitage added.

Interfax
April 1 2004

Armenia, Iran to sign gas pipeline deal in late April

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Armenia and Iran will sign a final contract in
Yerevan in late April on the construction of a gas pipeline linking
the two countries, Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisian told
journalists.

Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh will arrive in Armenia to
sign the document.

Movsisian said that the new intergovernmental contract will “bring
bilateral documents signed in 1992-1995 into line with modern
requirements.”

The minister said that the two nations’ talks had also produced an
agreement on the volume of gas supplies and the main parameters of
the gas pipeline.
“The gas pipeline is intended to meet Armenia’s domestic needs,” he
said.

The pipeline’s construction will begin next year and be finished 20
months later. The cost of construction in Armenia is estimated at
about $100 million. The pipeline’s construction in Iran will cost a
little more.

Movsisian described the price for Iranian gas set in the contract as
“more than reasonable.”

The project will involve building new sections into the two
countries’ existing pipelines and reconstructing a number of segments
of Armenia’s gas transportation network.

The minister said that the planned pipeline will allow Armenia to
receive gas both from Iran and Turkmenistan, adding that “at this
stage, we do not see any differences on this issue. Only after the
gas pipeline is built, the economy itself will show whose gas is more
preferable.” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Boris Alyoshin said at the
start of February that the construction of a gas pipeline from Iran
to Armenia is in Russia’s interest. He said that Gazprom may become
the operator of part of the pipeline through Armenia in the future.
He said that Russia is consulting with Armenia on a feasibility study
for the pipeline.

The Iran-Armenia gas pipeline has been on the drawing board since
1992. In addition to the two main participants in the project, other
interested parties include Russia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, European
Union countries, and China. The European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development has said that it is ready to finance the project.

Armenia and Iran signed an intergovernmental agreement in 1995
establishing the route of the pipeline, which stretches 114 km,
including 41 km in Armenia and 100 km in Iran. The agreement also
sets the price for gas to be transported through the pipeline at $84
per 1,000 cubic meters. The cost of the project is estimated at $120
million.

The possibility of building a pipeline to the Armenian-Georgian
border is also being considered. In this case, the cost of the
project will increase to $306 million and the pipeline will be 550 km
long and have a capacity of 4.5 billion cubic meters per annum.

Turkish Press
April 1 2004

Who Would Gain What From A Solution In Cyprus?
BYEGM: 4/1/2004
BY MURAT YETKIN

RADIKAL- While Ankara’s National Security Council is evaluating
recent development on Cyprus, other countries will hold similar
meetings. Therefore, it would be useful to summarize the expectations
of the parties involved.

The Greek part of Cyprus: This is the party least willing to reach a
solution by May 1. It has scored economic and political progress even
as its Turkish neighbor has stagnated under a political and economic
embargo. It is acting with the assurance of guaranteed European Union
membership. But due to its worries about the sovereignty of the
Turkish side and international pressure, it’s still at the table.

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC): Nicosia’s greatest
hope is to gain EU membership and international recognition without
harming bizonality and Turkey’s guarantees. TRNC President Rauf
Denktas’s current stance is negative. The government can be a winner
if it manages to convince its people to approve an agreement.

Greece: If no agreement is reached, the Greek part of the island will
become an EU member, and Athens will be keeping its promise to the
Greek Cypriots. But it would face heavier EU pressure and would be
held responsible for a division in Cyprus and excluding Turkey from
the Union. In addition, the unresolved situation in Cyprus would make
reaching a solution in the Aegean more difficult. This situation
contradicts Greece’s policies of removing any threat from the east
and cutting its defense expenditures.

Turkey: A just and permanent solution in Cyprus will benefit Turkey
in many ways. Firstly, it will remove a real obstacle to Turkey’s EU
membership. Secondly, Anakra will have proved it can work within
Europe’s culture of political pacts. Thirdly, Turkey will be able to
conduct its foreign policy more effectively. Better steps will be
taken in the Middle East, the Balkans and the Caucasus.

Britain: The third guarantor nation for Cyprus will feel better if a
unified Cyprus joins the EU. The Cyprus problem will then be part of
the Union. If these problems end with Turkey’s own membership, this
will mean security and stability in the eastern part of Europe.

The European Union: A solution in Cyprus will boost the arguments in
favor of Turkey’s EU membership. In this respect, Germany’s claim
that Turkey as a secular Muslim country implementing Western
democratic values would constitute a bridge to other Muslim countries
would be strengthened.

The United States: Washington has more than one expectation in
Cyprus. A solution in the eastern Mediterranean could be an example
for the conflicts in Israel-Palestine and Armenia-Azerbaijan. The
solution in Cyprus on land could be an example for the Azerbaijani
land that was invaded by Armenia [upper Karabagh]. The Armenian
diaspora in the US is the only obstacle to such a solution. A Cyprus
deal would help the US convince the Armenians.

Bayside Times, NY
April 1 2004

Queensboro exhibit shows century of global genocide

By Ayala Ben-Yehuda 04/01/2004

Bayside High School student Jenny Mathew reads about the Warsaw
ghetto at Queensborough Community College’s genocide exhibit.
In 1904 about 65,000 Herero cattle herders in Southwest Africa were
wiped out after rebelling against their German colonial rulers. Women
and children were driven into the desert and died of thirst and
starvation, decimating the Herero population.

In 1994 Beatha Uwazaninka had to flee her home in Rwanda when several
of her family members were murdered during a genocide in which
800,000 people were slaughtered in the space of 100 days.

These stories of mass murder 90 years apart from each other are on
display at `1900-2000: A Genocidal Century,’ the newest exhibit at
Queensborough Community College’s Holocaust Resource Center and
Archives.

`As a college student, I didn’t know about all the genocides that
were happening,’ said Sarah Roberts, assistant director for
operations at the center.

`More and more schools are getting more involved with teaching about
genocide and what’s happening today in the world,’ Roberts said.
`It’s really scary out there.’

The exhibit opened Feb. 23 and runs until the end of this year. It
features wall text by the Holocaust center’s director, William
Shulman, defining genocide and describing its use against Armenians
in 1915 at the hands of the Turks, Stalin’s starvation of Ukrainians,
the Holocaust as well as mass killings in Cambodia in the 1970s and
more recent ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Rwanda in the 1990s.

A chart on the wall depicts lesser-known genocides such as the
Guatemalan army’s killing of 200,000 Mayans from the 1950s to the
1980s and the murder of a million Ibos and other ethnic groups in
Nigeria since 1966.

School groups in Queens have been coming to the exhibit and watching
films on refugees and the Rwandan genocide, said Roberts, whose
Holocaust center is sending mailings about it to schools all over New
York City as well as to churches and synagogues.

Roberts said so far no one who had suffered under one of the
genocides in the exhibit had come up to her during a visit to the
center, but said `I’m hoping I do get that reaction.’

Arthur Flug, a former teacher and chief of staff to Councilman David
Weprin (D-Hollis) and U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside), became the
center’s educational outreach director two weeks ago.

`The Holocaust has implications that go beyond the Jewish community,’
said Flug, such as ethnic discrimination and brutality – themes all
too common to the human experience around the world.

The college will mark the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide
with a Genocide Awareness Day on Wednesday, April 28. Scheduled to
speak are Jerry Fowler, director of the Committee on Conscience from
the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and
abolitionist Maria Sliwa, who will address modern-day slavery in
Sudan.

The Genocide Awareness Day and the exhibit are open to the public.
For more information, call 718-281-5770.

Reach reporter Ayala Ben-Yehuda by e-mail at [email protected] or
call 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.

Toronto Eye Weekly, Canada
April 1 2004

The art of survival

ROGUES OF URFA

Written and performed by Araxi Arslanian. Directed by Rebecca Brown.
Presented by Alianak Theatre Productions. To Apr 4. Tue-Sat 8pm; Sun
mat 2:30pm. Tue-Thu $15; Fri-Sat $20; Sun PWYC. Artword Alternative
Theatre, 75 Portland. 416-504-7529.

If you’ve been diagnosed with a neurological disorder that can cause
lethal stress-induced hemorrhages, acting might not seem the most
obvious — or safest — of career choices. If Rogues of Urfa is
anything to go by, however, that choice was definitely the correct
one for Araxi Arslanian.

The 32-year-old writer-actor recently (and successfully) fended off
AVM — Arteriovenous Malformations — an uncommon brain condition
that caused her to have a number of life-threatening grand-mal
seizures throughout her twenties.

The illness’s impact on Arslanian’s behavior led to her being
expelled from Montreal’s National Theatre School and ostracized by
many of the actors she worked with. This one-woman show is a memoir
of that time, with Arslanian coming to terms with both her ill health
and her ill treatment by friends and family.

That would be enough for a single play, surely, but her own tale is
ambitiously juxtaposed with that of her grandfather, Hovannes. A
refugee from the 1915 Armenian genocide, Hovannes escaped from Turkey
to Canada when, after the ruling Turk majority massacred over a
million Armenian Christians.

It’s a testament to Arslanian’s skill as a playwright that she can
deal with such weighty issues — genocide, brain disease — without
over-simplifying solemnities or guilt-tripping worthiness. She also
provides a virtuoso performance, often humorous, with the actress
ventriloquizing a large cast of characters — from Hovannes’ comrades
and captors to the petty backstage bitches of theatrical Toronto
(actors can be jealous sorts, you may be surprised to learn).

Apart from the fairy tale Arslanian uses to frame the beginning and
end of the play — a woodenly metaphoric device I could have done
without — this is for the most part slick, tragic entertainment.
PAUL ISAACS

IRNA Iran
April 1 2004

EP says Turkey lagging in reform in many areas

Brussels, April 1, IRNA — Turkey has made many important reforms
since last year in order to meet the political criteria for EU
membership but still needs to go considerably further and rigorously
implement the reforms in many areas, the European Parliament`s
Foreign
Affairs Committee said Thursday in a draft resolution on Turkey`s
progress towards accession.
The resolution calls on the Commission, as part of the
Pre-Accession Strategy, to systematically address the shortcomings in

the rule of law and the democratic deficit in Turkey.
MEPs criticize the continuing influence of the army in politics,
business, culture and education, continuing torture practices and
mistreatment, the intimidation and harassment of human rights
defenders, the discrimination of religious minorities and the fact
that trade union freedom is not fully guaranteed.
The EU itself must also be prepared, say MEPs, for Turkey`s
possible accession and the consequent new geo-political situation for

the EU.
The Foreign Affairs Committee stresses again that settlement of
the Cyprus conflict was an essential condition for progress on
Turkey`s EU membership application.
It also called on Turkey to reopen its borders with Armenia and
promote good neighborly relations with that country.

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
April 1 2004

Radical group plans to march to Garabagh

The Garabagh Liberation Organization (GLO) plans to march to Garabagh
on May 8 – the day of the occupation of Azerbaijan’s historic city,
Shusha GLO chairman Akif Naghi told AssA-Irada that members of the
radical group planned to march from Baku to Afatli village in Aghdam
District and further carry on the protest action in the
Armenia-occupied lands of Azerbaijan.

GLO intends to involve representatives from international
organizations in the march which is expected to bring together
hundreds of thousands of people. In December 2003, the GLO demanded
that the government of Azerbaijan take drastic measures against
Armenia by May 8 this year.

“If no measures are taken before the deadline, the GLO has the right
to take urgent steps in this respect,” Akif Naghi stressed.

Baku Today
April 1 2004

Renewed war might enforce sanctions on Azerbaijan

Baku Today 01/04/2004 12:24

Armenian -Azerbaijani conflict over Karabakh might grow into war as
long as Azeri lands are under Armenian occupation, said Azeri defense
minister Safar Abiyev yesterday.
“Azerbaijan is in a state of war, our lands are under occupation. The
danger of the restoration of war exists as long as Armenian armed
forces in our lands, ” said Abiyev.
Azeri political science experts have said, meanwhile, Armenia is
deliberately trying to attract Azerbaijan into the war, as the
renewed military operations can bring economic sanctions upon
Azerbaijan. Not only might the United States impose economic
sanctions on Azerbaijan, but also European countries may enforce
economic restrictions if war restarts , they said.