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AAA: Armenia This Week - 03/07/2005

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  • AAA: Armenia This Week - 03/07/2005

    ARMENIA THIS WEEK
    Monday, March 7, 2005

    In this issue:

    U.S. Ambassador Evans: Armenia is on the right track

    Leading critic of Azeri government's anti-Armenian mongering killed

    Turkish Ministry renames wild animals bearing "separatist" names



    U.S. ENVOY: ARMENIA ON RIGHT TRACK

    The United States Ambassador to Armenia John Evans described Armenia
    as "on the right track along several important vectors." Evans made
    the remark last month during a speaking tour of universities and
    Armenian-American communities in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San
    Francisco and Washington, DC. Evans said that while progress was
    often uneven and there were problematic areas, there have already
    been significant accomplishments.



    Speaking at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC Evans said that
    U.S.-Armenia relations were good when he took his post in Yerevan
    last August and that they continue to strengthen. He particularly
    noted Armenia's deployment with the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. Evans
    said that he fully realized that this decision was complicated by
    concerns over the safety of the Armenian community in Iraq and came
    after much internal debate. Evans also noted that the overall
    U.S.-Armenia security partnership, including cooperation on
    counter-proliferation, was developing quite rapidly.



    Evans along with Robin Phillips, the Armenia Director for the Agency
    for International Development (USAID), spoke of significant economic
    progress made by Armenia. The Armenian economy has now recovered from
    its post-independence crisis. Unlike the past, when much of the
    production was geared for the Soviet military-industrial complex, 80
    percent of Armenia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) today is generated
    by the private sector. With double-digit economic growth in the past
    four years, poverty levels have fallen from close to 50 percent in
    2002 to about 40 percent last year. Evans identified corruption as an
    issue that is widely perceived as a significant problem. He added
    that he was encouraged by President Robert Kocharian's pledge to
    fight unfair revenue collection and tax evasion.



    Evans also touched on Armenia's foreign policy challenges. On the
    Karabakh conflict, Evans said he was "very slightly encouraged" with
    continued talks between Armenian and Azeri officials, but that the
    overall outlook for settlement was not very promising because of the
    lack of mutual trust and continued bellicose rhetoric. While speaking
    at the University of California, Berkeley, Evans noted that while
    U.S. policy was to recognize the territorial integrity of other
    states "everybody realizes that Karabakh can't be given back to
    Azerbaijan."



    Evans further noted that the United States continues to hope for
    "evolution in Turkey" that would lead to a change in its policy
    towards Armenia. He further stressed that the murders and
    deportations of over one million Armenians from Ottoman Turkey should
    be properly characterized as Genocide. (Sources: ANC-San Francisco
    2-19; R&I Report 2-23; RFE/RL Armenia Report 2-25)



    LEADING DOMESTIC CRITIC OF AZERBAIJAN'S ANTI-ARMENIAN POLICIES
    MURDERED

    Azerbaijan's leading opposition journalist known for his harsh
    criticism of the Azeri government's domestic and foreign policies was
    murdered last week. Elmar Huseinov, 38, was shot four times,
    including once in his mouth in what appeared to be a contract killing
    just outside his apartment door. Reports from Huseinov's family and
    friends, who were first on the scene, said that electricity in the
    building went out and that his cell phone was switched off by a
    government-controlled company shortly before the murder.



    The U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan called Huseinov's death a "great loss"
    and urged that "everything possible" be done to locate the
    perpetrators. U.S. Ambassador Reno Harnish called Huseinov a true
    patriot, who wanted to see his country free and democratic. A leading
    opposition figure Ali Kerimov accused the government of orchestrating
    the murder, calling it an "act of state terror." Both Harnish and
    Kerimov made their remarks at Huseinov's funeral attended by
    thousands of mourners. The government, meanwhile, claimed the murder
    was a "provocation" by unnamed forces and promised a thorough
    investigation. Past murders of Azeri government critics were either
    left unsolved or resulted in dubious prosecutions of government
    opponents.



    The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) noted in a
    statement that the murder comes amid a broad government crackdown on
    the media and opposition activists. Observers believe that following
    recent government changes in Georgia and Ukraine, the Azeri
    government is nervous that domestic opposition groups may restart
    protests with Western support. Pro-Aliyev politicians have accused
    Western democracy organizations and even BP, a leading Western
    investor in Caspian oil, of helping the Azeri opposition foment
    unrest.



    Huseinov was the founder and chief editor of the Monitor, a weekly
    publication that, in addition to investigative reporting of the Azeri
    government's domestic corruption, was virtually the sole Azeri
    publication to publish articles that opposed the government's
    anti-Armenian actions and rhetoric. The magazine accused the
    government of instigating the anti-Armenian hysteria and its articles
    repeatedly called the Azeri President Ilham Aliyev's threats to
    launch a new war in Karabakh a "bluff," the Azeri army not ready for
    war and the government's entire approach to the conflict as
    counterproductive to its resolution. As a result, the government
    repeatedly fined and periodically shut down the Monitor, with
    Husseinov and other authors accused of treason and "insulting Azeri
    national dignity," imprisoned and assaulted.



    The Monitor countered the dominant trends in Azeri media, by
    repeatedly condemning anti-Armenian violence in Azerbaijan since the
    late 1980s and exposing government complicity, including that by the
    late President Heydar Aliyev and his associates. In its recent
    issues, the magazine criticized anti-Armenian vandalism in Azerbaijan
    and linked senior Azeri officials to terrorism and narcotics
    trafficking. Last week's issue was due to feature a report on a
    Monitor correspondent's trip to Karabakh. The correspondent, Eynullah
    Fatullayev, who was himself a target of an assassination attempt last
    summer, said in his interview after returning from Karabakh that he
    was pleasantly surprised with democratic and economic progress made
    there. He noted that Armenians were tolerant towards Azeris, and that
    Azerbaijan should focus on settlement of the conflict now.



    Azeri President Aliyev said last year that he was "not in a hurry" to
    settle the conflict, but would instead use oil revenues to build-up
    the military and intensify an anti-Armenian public relations campaign
    to coerce Armenians into concessions. (Sources: Armenia This Week
    1-24-03, 1-23-04, 11-15-04, 2-7; Zerkalo 2-23, 3-5; Ekho 3-1;
    Associated Press (AP) 3-2, 3; British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
    3-2, 3, 5; CPJ.org 3-2; Day.az 3-3; R&I Report 3-7)



    A WEEKLY NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY THE ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA

    122 C Street, N.W., Suite 350, Washington, D.C. 20001 (202) 393-3434
    FAX (202) 638-4904

    E-Mail info@aaainc.org WEB http://www.aaainc.org



    http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=7600



    Monday, March 7, 2005



    Separatist animals curbed

    Environment and Forest Ministry acts on animal names considered a
    threat to Turkey's unitary state



    ANKARA - Turkish Daily News



    The Environment and Forest Ministry has announced that it has changed
    animal names that contain the words "Kurdistan" and "Armenia," which
    they considered threatened Turkey's unitary state. Meanwhile, a
    United Nations Development Program official objected, noting that the
    change needed to be cited in relevant literature to come into effect.



    Some animals, whose Latin names included "separatist" words, have
    become a source of concern.



    The names of red fox, wild sheep and roe deer were officially changed
    by the ministry on Friday.



    >From now on, the Latin name of red fox will be Vulpes Vulpes, instead
    of Vulpes Vulpes Kurdistanicum, wild sheep will be known as Ovis
    Orien Anatolicus, instead of Ovis Armeniana and Roe deer will be
    called Capreolus Caprelus Capreolus, instead of Capreolus Capreolus
    Armenius.



    In a ministry statement, it was said that the changes were made,
    because the names were selected intentionally to pose a threat to the
    unitary state, and the foreign academics had acted very prejudicial.



    UNDP rejects the change:



    A UNDP official, who was asked about the changes by daily Hürriyet,
    said the ministry had to make a valid case for the changes and make
    sure the changes were cited in literature, before they could be
    considered official. The official said that it was up to the
    scientist who made the discovery to name the animal.



    Environment and Forest Ministry Nature Preservation Department chief
    Professor Mustafa Kemal Yalinkiliç admitted that scientific names
    could not be chosen by anyone, but claimed that certain games were
    being played over Turkey. He said these academics were using such
    names to argue that Armenians or Kurds used to live in these regions.

    --Boundary_(ID_1otu+CS65/17tRNYS8ENOw)--

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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