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  • ASBAREZ ONLINE [06-01-2004]

    ASBAREZ ONLINE
    TOP STORIES
    06/01/2004
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    1) Armenian Military Plans to Set Up 'Dro' Think-Tank
    2) ANC Central California Demonstration Delivers Message to Speaker Hastert
    3) US Officials Discuss MCA
    4) Georgia's Carrot-and-stick Approach with South Ossetia
    5) Iraqis, US Cut Deal on President, Car Bomb at PUK Headquarters

    1) Armenian Military Plans to Set Up 'Dro' Think-Tank

    YEREVAN (RFE/RL)--The Armenian Defense Ministry unveiled on Monday plans to
    set
    up a special think-tank that will advise it on defense and national security
    issues.
    Defense Minister Serge Sarkisian and the leadership of Armenia's Armed Forces
    attended an official ceremony marking the start of work on a building that
    will
    house the ministry's National Strategic Research Center. Officials said its
    construction will cost $600,000 and will be complete within a year.
    The center will be named after the late General Drastamat (Dro) Kanayan,
    one of
    the most prominent military commanders of the first Armenian Republic that
    existed from 1918-1920. Kanayan's US-based descendants have donated $350,000
    for the project and were also present at the ceremony. The rest of the money
    will be raised by the Diaspora-financed All-Armenian Fund Hayastan.
    Sarkisian said that the center, the first of its kind in Armenia, is expected
    to provide the Armenian military and other security agencies with "quality
    advice" on security challenges facing the country.
    The think-tank will be headed by Colonel Hayk Kotanjian, who until recently
    served as military attaché at the Armenian embassy in Washington. It is not
    yet
    clear whether its personnel will be dominated by army officers or civilian


    2) ANC Central California Demonstration Delivers Message to Speaker Hastert

    FRESNO (ANCA-Fresno/Fresno Bee)--Local Fresno community members mobilized on
    very short notice for a demonstration in support of a coordinated national
    effort to urge Speaker Hastert and Majority leader Frist to bring House
    Resolution 193 (H.Res.193) to a floor vote. Speaker Hastert was in town to
    support Republican state Sen. Roy Ashburn's bid for Congress.
    Area Armenian Youth Federation and Homenetmen youth, along with community
    members were present at the gathering organized by the Armenian National
    Committee Central California, Fresno.
    Extensive coverage was provided by media outlets, with news crews there from
    local ABC and CBS affiliates, KMJ Radio; a feature article also appeared in
    the
    local newspaper, The Fresno Bee.
    After the fundraising event, Ashburn said he told Hastert he supports the
    resolution that recognizes the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands
    of the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923. If elected to Congress, Ashburn
    said, "I would ask Hastert to bring it to a vote."
    Demonstrators handed out information flyers, while enlarged poster size
    replicas of the ANCA postcards from its postcard campaign served as protest
    signs, along with others reading, "Hastert Hear the Cry From History" and
    "Hastert Holds the Genocide Vote Hostage."
    The House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the resolution more than a
    year ago, but Hastert has not brought it to the House floor for a vote.
    "It has international consequences to it, and it's something that we have to
    work with the State Department on and the White House" Hastert commented to
    local radio reporter Ron Statler about the issue.
    Statler said the Speaker "declined to say what changes are needed or what the
    international implications are."
    ANC spokesman Richard Sanikian informed listeners on air about the nationwide
    phone, WebFax, and 100,000-postcard campaign calling on Speaker Hastert and
    Senate Majority Leader Frist to take action on the measure. "After a year,
    he's
    not gotten back to us," noted Sanikian.
    Sanikian said local leaders who support the resolution include Rep. George
    Radanovich, R-Mariposa; Fresno Mayor Alan Autry; and Ashburn's political
    rival,
    former state Sen. Jim Costa.
    Costa, a Fresno Democrat, and Ashburn are battling for the open 20th
    Congressional District seat. Incumbent Cal Dooley, D-Fresno, is not running
    for
    reelection.
    The Central Valley is home to more than 60,000 Armenians, one of the oldest
    ethnic groups in the area.
    H.Res.193 marks the 15th anniversary of the US implementation of the United
    Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.
    If Speaker Hastert does not bring the legislation to a vote in the next six
    months, it will die at the end of this congressional session.
    For more information log on to www.ancfresno.org, or anca.org.


    3) US Officials Discuss MCA

    YEREVAN (Armenpress/RFE/RL)--Senior US government officials opened talks with
    Armenian leaders in Yerevan on Monday to discuss expectations of economic
    assistance under Washington's Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).
    Armenia is among 16 nations eligible for the multimillion-dollar plan to
    promote economic and political reforms in developing countries around the
    world.
    Aid allocations are to be decided by the Millennium Challenge Corporation
    (MCC), a US government agency handling the scheme.
    The corporation's chief executive Paul Applegarth, and three of his top
    advisers began their three-day visit to Armenia with a meeting with Prime
    Minister Andranik Markarian.
    Applegarth also met with Armenian President Robert Kocharian to review terms
    for assistance. Kocharian commented that the program can serve as a tool to
    assess work already carried out, but said there remains much to do. "This is a
    good opportunity for the country to improve conditions and create a good basis
    for further development," the president said.
    Parliament speaker Arthur Baghdasarian, who also met with the delegation, said
    the parliament will take part in formulating the program proposal which will
    target as priorities, development of sub-structures, promotion of small and
    medium business in the provinces, housing construction, and implementation
    of a
    poverty reduction and anti-corruption programs.
    Senior State Department official Carlos Pascual who co-chairs a US-Armenian
    intergovernmental "task force" cautioned earlier this month that the aid
    allocation is not a forgone conclusion, but will depend not only on the
    quality
    of the proposals but also on the improvement of the Armenian authorities'
    human
    and civil rights record . "The expectation, in order to be able to move
    forward
    with the program, is that there would be progress on these issues and not
    movement backwards," he told a news conference in Yerevan.
    A statement issued by the US embassy in Yerevan on Monday cited Applegarth as
    saying that it is also essential for the aid proposals to be the result of
    "wide discussions" and consensus among various strata of Armenian society.


    4) Georgia's Carrot-and-stick Approach with South Ossetia

    (Eurasianet.org/Interfax)--Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili is
    wielding a
    stick and extending a carrot to the separatist region of South Ossetia.
    Georgian leaders say their actions are driven by a determination to eradicate
    smuggling and corruption. Government critics, meanwhile, charge that
    Saakashvili seeks a repeat of the "Ajarian" scenario, in which Tbilisi
    brings a
    break-away region back under central control by fomenting popular unrest in
    the
    region.
    In late May, Tbilisi stepped up pressure on South Ossetia--an autonomous
    republic of Georgia that secured quasi-independence during a separatist
    struggle in the early 1990s--by establishing checkpoints at Georgian-Ossetian
    administrative border crossings. Those checkpoints are designed to cut off the
    flow of contraband between the region and Georgia proper. South Ossetia has
    long had a reputation as a smuggler's haven.
    Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania asserted during a May 31 broadcast by
    Imedi TV that the checkpoints reduced smuggling "to nil," adding that the
    government's success in curbing the illicit trade "has made people who have
    been making a lot of money through these channels nervous."
    South Ossetia's armed forces "have been ordered to destroy any aircraft or
    regiments that cross the border," Interfax cited Eduard Kokoity, the region's
    president as yesterday. Georgia is trying to accumulate as many Georgian
    forces
    as possible on the border "and to use them if an incident occurs."
    Tension escalated May 31 when Tbilisi dispatched Interior Ministry forces
    in to
    reinforce the checkpoints. The Russian commander of a joint peacekeeping force
    in South Ossetia, Maj. Gen. Svyatoslav Nabzdorov, called the Georgian move "a
    dangerous provocation that could have unpredictable consequences," the
    Interfax-AVN news agency reported. Georgian officials countered that they
    deployed reinforcements after Russian peacekeepers threatened to use force to
    remove the checkpoints, the Civil Georgia web site reported.
    South Ossetia, a region of about 100,000 people, set up a pro-Russian
    autonomous government in the 1990s and Russia maintains troops in the region.
    Georgia, which last month built police posts near the border, late yesterday
    withdrew the new units sent to the area, Interfax cited Lieutenant General
    Valery Yevnevich, a commander with Russian peacekeeping forces, as saying.
    Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili said last week, while his government
    won't accept the disintegration of Georgia, it is willing to consider models
    for a state that take into account the interests of regions such as South
    Ossetia. Georgia last month ousted Aslan Abashidze, the leader of the
    region of
    Ajaria, which also set up an autonomous government in the 1990s.


    5) Iraqis, US Cut Deal on President, Car Bomb at PUK Headquarters

    BAGHDAD (Reuters)--Iraqi leaders cut a face-saving deal Tuesday with the
    United
    States and United Nations on a president and government to lead the country
    out
    of occupation.
    An 11th-hour compromise saw Washington's choice of president make way for
    tribal chief Ghazi Yawar. He was then sworn in with an interim cabinet of
    technocrats in a televised ceremony rich in symbolism at a palace complex
    built
    by Saddam Hussein.
    A car bomb that tore through the nearby offices of a Kurdish political party,
    killing and wounding several people, underlined the scale of the challenge the
    interim administration faces in organizing first free elections in the New
    Year.
    Several rockets also landed around the US compound as officials were meeting,
    wounding one Iraqi. And a suicide car bomber killed 11 Iraqis outside a US
    base
    north of Baghdad.

    CAR BOMB

    The death toll was unclear in the bombing of the Patriotic Union of
    Kurdistan's
    Baghdad headquarters. A US officer said three people were confirmed dead
    and 20
    wounded, but police at the scene said the toll was considerably higher.
    A huge crater was blown into the ground at the entrance to the PUK building,
    close to the "Green Zone" compound where officials were announcing the deal on
    the new government.
    In a face-saving maneuver, the 22-member Governing Council initially dropped
    its objection to Pachachi. Then, within minutes, the 81-year-old former
    foreign
    minister renounced the post and Brahimi declared that Yawar would become head
    of state.
    Officials then announced that the Council, whose members US officials had
    accused of trying to cling to power by claiming positions in the new
    government, was being wound up.


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