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The Armenian Mirror Spectator |    |
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For the columns from february on please visit
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EDITORIAL Armenia's Foreign Policy Challenges Armenia is a minor country, yet it is compelled to develop and execute a multi-dimensional and broad foreign policy because of its geographic location and because of its complex historic legacy. No matter how skillful the diplomats and statesmen of a country may be, their achievements will only be commensurate to the political weight that their respective country carries into the international ...
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EDITORIAL December 9, 2003 Ugly turn in the Caucasus The specter of strong-arm intervention was hovering over the Caucasus region for a long time. It became an ugly and ominous reality as the demi-god of war, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, marched into Azerbaijan and Georgia, skirting Armenia. That was a demonstrative gesture to signal that the first two countries had fallen under U.S. sway, while Armenia wavered in the Russian ...
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EDITORIAL November 18, 2003 Georgian Turmoil may destabilize the Caucasus If the powder keg known as the Caucasus region needed another shockwave, Georgia has provided it through its parliamentary election held on November 2. Georgia is Armenia's next-door neighbor, with a population of 4.9 million, and a territory of 69,700 sq. km, compared to Armenia's 30,000 sq. km. The country is the only other Christian nation in the area, with a ...
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Editorial Armenians of the World, Unite Entrepreneur Ara Abrahamian has a grand vision for Armenians around the world. He also fortunately seems to have both the money, and the dedication, to actually make a difference. Armenians are a famously independent group of people. As someone observed, look at all the fields in which Armenians succeed: tennis, business, chess, etc. Consider that Andre Agassi and ...
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EDITORIAL Turkish Embargo of Armenia Ever since Armenia gained independence Turkey and Azerbaijan have joined forces to stifle the fledgling republic. In addition to ordinary problems of transition from the centralized Soviet system to a free and democratic regime, Armenia was burdened with the huge catastrophe of a major earthquake. Rather than helping a stricken people, Turkey blocked the relief routes, rendering a tough situation even ...
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EDITORIAL Setbacks for Armenia During the last ten days Armenians suffered two significant political setbacks in Washington. The first one was the elimination of the genocide resolution, which was being drafted for a vote. Armenian Caucus members read the handwriting on the all and withdrew the resolution in view of the aggressive campaign conducted by the administration to defeat it. The other setback was the reduction of the aid ...
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EDITORIAL Double talk - Turkish style The new Islamist government of Turkey is on a campaign to dupe the public opinion in Europe and the US and continue its repression of minorities. There is a profusion of news items in the media to make believe that a breakthrough is about to happen in Armenian-Turkish relations: Indeed, Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdulla Gul met with his Armenian counterpart, Vartan Oskanian, in Madrid and the information emanating from ...
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EDITORIAL Armenians caught off guard ... again The recent Turkish diplomatic initiative has caught the Armenian leadership off guard .... again. Last week TARC held a meeting in Istanbul after a long lull. Before that, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey, Vartan Oskanian and Abdullah Gul, met in Spain. The outcome of those two meetings was the news that Armenia-Turkey border may reopen soon, without necessarily establishing formal ...
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EDITORIAL Freedom of the Press A recent survey by Freedom House had put under scrutiny the news media of the three republics in the Caucasus. The report had lumped Armenia with Azerbaijan, as countries denying freedom to the press, and Georgia was listed as having a partially free press. To begin with it is an insult for Armenia to be compared with Azerbaijan, which is ruled by an autocratic despot, a former KGB colonel. And the criteria used ...
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EDITORIAL New Turkey is old Turkey The more it changes, the more it remains the same. We mean Turkey. In its desire to join the European Union Turkey was forced to make some half-hearted efforts to make European leaders believe that it was capable and willing to change, to be ready to apply European standards of democracy at home and abroad. The outgoing Ecevit government had drafted some changes to the constitution, which the new ...
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EDITORIAL Election prospects in Armenia May 25th will mark a watershed in Armenia's political life, as the elections of the National Assembly (Parliament) will take place on that date. Calm has not been restored in the country since the Presidential election last March. It is very convenient for the opposition to continue fomenting agitation to put the government on the defensive, or even better, forcing it to resort to law ...
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EDITORIAL What Price Justice? It will take long and painful years for the former Soviet republics to establish rule of law and dispense justice on the level of Western civilized countries. Many groups in those countries have taken the law into their hands and settle scores with their enemies and competitors outside the jurisdiction of the courts, and with the breakdown of the Soviet system the former law enforcement officers have become lawless ...
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EDITORIAL "Civilized" Turkey continues to usurp Armenian property Last December, hoping that the European Union would be ready to set a date for negotiations leading to Turkey's admission to the Union, the Turkish parliament made some cosmetic changes to its constitution regarding minorities, human rights, the death penalty and a host of reforms that European Union had set as conditions for Turkey's admission. Those familiar with Turkey's bloody history ...
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A subtle warning to Armenia By E. Azadian The Nagorno Karabagh conflict remains one of the most intractable among the Caucasus political issues. It has been on the back burner since the ceasefire in 1994 between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Because of the impending war in Iraq, the international situation is focused on that country for now. But not for too long. As soon as the Iraqi issue is settled the Caucasus will emerge as the next ...
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Presidential election in Armenia by Edmond Azadian It was too good to be true. The election campaign in Armenia was conducted in an orderly and smooth fashion, except for two incidents that marred the process for a while - the assassination of Tigran Naghdalian, director of public TV, and the stabbing of an opposition member of the parliament. Although serious in themselves, these incidents did not impact heavily the election campaign and the ...
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Is the Armenian cause anyone's monopoly? by Edmond Azadian Is patriotism a monopoly? Is the Armenian cause anyone's monopoly? Apparently so for some Armenians. For a long time members of the Dashnak party professed that whoever did not belong to the party should not claim to be an Armenian. This dogma was loudly pronounced by the rank and file of that organization, but it was also practiced quietly by the leadership, narrowing down the ...
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Democracy in Armenia by Edmond Azadian The presidential election on February 19 is one more test to gauge Armenia's democratic credentials. A recent State Department report on the progress of the democratization process has ranked Armenia among four former Soviet republics run by a democratic form of government, while Azerbaijan was slated as a "fake democracy". Our State Department dispenses these democratic labels freely to many countries, yet ...
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"There are more positive elements in Armenia-Azeri dialog than reflected at U.N. session", says Foreign Minister of Armenia Vartan Oskanian Interviewed by Edmond Y. Azadian September 26,2002 issue of the Mirror-Spectator. Following his speech at the U.N. General Assembly, Armenia's Foreign Minister, Mr. Vartan Oskanian, had a whirlwind tour of the East Coast, delivering lectures at Tufts University (Boston, MA), Yale (New Haven, CT) and the ...
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by Lucy Ardash September 26,2002 issue of the Mirror-Spectator. Amid a whirlwind of activities, the Honorable Vartan Oskanian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and his wife, Dr. Nanig Oskanian, visited the Detroit area on September 20-21 as part of a multi-city fund raising effort. Accompanying him were the Honorable Arman Kirakossian, Armenian Ambassador to the U.S., along with Salpi Ghazarian, Executive ...
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TURKEY TO RESURRECT THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE As the debate about Iraq rages in the news media and world political forums, a sideshow is shaping up in the Middle East. Hawks in the Bush administration have their own agenda to attack Iraq, namely to eliminate a hostile regime to Israel, to fatten the coffers of oil companies and to cater to the military industrial complex that President Eisenhower had warned against. The actors in the Middle Eastern sideshow ...
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By Florence Avakian Special to the Mirror-Spectator UNITED NATIONS, NY ' Monday, September 9 was a special day at the United Nations for the Karabagh question. Through the eloquent words of Baroness Caroline Cox, the issue received attention before an international audience. It was part of the 55th annual conference at the world body, entitled "Rebuilding Societies Emerging from Conflict: A Shared Responsibility," under the aegis of the ...
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COMMITMENT OR COSMETICS ? August 2, 2002 is hailed as a historic day in Turkey because that datemarks the passage of the package of laws in the Parliament to qualify Turkey for membership in the European Union. Heated debate in the Turkish media preceded the vote in the Parliament. The Turks identified each segment of the package with an individual or with a minority. The abolition of the death penalty would spare Ocalan's life, the head of rebel ...
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