"UKRAINE REPORT-2004"
"An In-Depth Newsletter"
"The Art of Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World"
"UKRAINE REPORT-2004," Number 2
U.S.-UKRAINE FOUNDATION (USUF)
www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS)
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
Offices in Washington, D.C. and Kyiv, Ukraine
TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2004
INDEX OF TWELVE ARTICLES:
1. UKRAINE'S ECONOMY MINISTER SUBMITS RESIGNATION
Associated Press, Kyiv, Ukraine, January 3, 2003
2. UKRAINIAN PREMIER STRESSES NEED FOR TEAMWORK
IN CABINET, RESIGNATION OF ECONOMICS MINISTER
ICTV television, Kiev, in Ukrainian, 5 Jan 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, 5, Jan 5, 2004
3. UKRAINE MACROECONOMIC SITUATION, DECEMBER 2003
"Ukraine's excellent economic performance in the last three months of
the year should ensure that it will be among the best performing
countries in the world in 2003 in terms of GDP growth."
By Iryna Piontkivska and Ediberto L. Segura
SigmaBleyzer, Kyiv, Ukraine, January 5, 2003
4. INTERVIEW WITH UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER KOSTYANTYN
HRYSHCHENKO ABOUT INTERNATIONAL ISSUES
Lidiya Denysenko, 2000, Kiev, in Russian 19 Dec 03, pp A3, A7
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English
5. UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION LEADER VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
EYES ELECTORAL VICTORY IN 2004
Iryna Ivanchenko, Ekspres, Lviv, in Ukrainian 25 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, In English
6. BaWL: THE BEST AND THE WORST LIST FOR 2003
By Oksana Bashuk Hepburn [Ukrainian-Canadian Leader]
Published in E-POSHTA, Your Independent Ukrainian Internet Newsletter
Myroslava Oleksiuk, Editor-In-Chief, Dec 30, 2003, Vol. 4, No. 108
7. GO WEST, UKRAINE
By Lara Apasova, TCS: Tech Central Station, Wash, D.C. 01/02/2004
8. BOLSHOI OPERA DEFECTOR RENATA BABAK, 69, DIES
Was Born In Kiev, Ukraine
By Patricia Sullivan, Washington Post Staff Writer
The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., Fri, Jan 2, 2004; Page B05
9. UKRAINIAN COURT ORDERS ADVERTISING AGENCY TO
APOLOGIZE TO VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO FOR NAZI BILLBOARD
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian, 31 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 31, 2003
10. CHRISTMAS: UKRAINIAN HOLIDAY MEANS TRADITIONS FOR
PENNSYLVANIA FAMILY
Touching the forehead with a honey-laden wooden spoon to bring good luck is
one of many customs marking the celebration of Sviata Vechera.
By Mike Trask, Reading Eagle newspaper, Reading, PA, Mon, Jan 5, 2003
11. NO ESCAPE FOR GULAG'S FORMER PRISONERS
Vorkuta was the last of Stalin's infamous gulags. Ukrainians still trapped.
Julius Strauss in Vorkuta, Russia, Telegraph, telegraph.co.uk,
London, UK, Saturday, January 3, 2004
12. CALIFORNIA POLITICIANS GET BEHIND EFFORT TO GET U.S.
CONGRESS TO APPROVE RESOLUTION COMMEMORATING
15TH ANNIVERSARY OF UN CONVENTION ON GENOCIDE
Highlight Several 20th Century Genocides Including Ukraine and Armenia
The Fresno Bee, Fresno, California, Sunday, January 4, 2004
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UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 2: ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
=========================================================
1. UKRAINE'S ECONOMY MINISTER SUBMITS RESIGNATION
Associated Press, Kyiv, Ukraine, January 3, 2003
Ukraine's economy minister submitted his resignation Saturday, claiming the
government blocks his agency's work, news reports said.
Minister of Economy and European Integration Valeriy Khoroshkovskyi
complained that the Cabinet has approved only five of 11 deputy ministers
that he suggested five months ago.
"It destroys the ministry's work, because deputy ministers are overloaded
and fail to follow the ministry's key priorities," Interfax news agency
quoted Khoroshkovsky as saying in his open resignation letter.
No one could be reached at the ministry to comment. President Leonid
Kuchma's office also had no immediate comment.
Khoroshkovskyi also claimed the government's economy policy was put under
the Finance Ministry's supervision, resulting in "administrative
interference into markets rather than economic control and stimulation."
Khoroshkovskyi noted some "positive changes in the economic situation", but
warned against "serious threats" that would affect Ukraine's economy this
year.
If Ukraine fails to join the World Trade Organization, it may find itself in
a "total trade and investment isolation," particularly if this ex-Soviet
republic's relations with the European Union don't advance beyond recent
"political declarations," he warned.
Khoroshkovskyi had been the most outspoken Cabinet member voicing concerns
that the recently concluded post-Soviet common market deal between Ukraine,
Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, would jeopardize Ukraine's goal of joining
the WTO and integrating into the EU.
The issue exposed deep divisions in Ukraine, which is trying to balance
efforts to boost trade with its ex-Soviet neighbors with its desire to draw
closer to the West.
Last year, Kuchma, who approved the common market deal in September, said he
would support firing government ministers who opposed the plan, but he
refused to dismiss the ministers himself. Kuchma's comments came after the
Labor Ukraine party, which Khoroshkovskyi represents, vowed to recall him.
(am/mb) (END) (ARTUIS)
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UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 2: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
=========================================================
2. UKRAINIAN PREMIER STRESSES NEED FOR TEAMWORK
IN CABINET, RESIGNATION OF ECONOMICS MINISTER
ICTV television, Kiev, in Ukrainian, 5 Jan 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, 5, Jan 5, 2004
[Presenter] The Ukraine palace in Kiev is hosting New Year-Christmas
concerts. The country's main New Year party for children being held there is
a one-hour show called "The world of magic fairy-tales". [Passage omitted:
details of the show]
The little spectators were welcomed from TV monitors in the auditorium by
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych,
together with the children, lit up the New Year tree and performed a New
Year dance.
When the show finished, Viktor Yanukovych said he wished everyone to have a
better new year than the previous one. As regards the resignation of
Economics Minister Valeriy Khoroshkovskyy on 3 January, the prime minister
deems it reasonable because members of the Cabinet of Ministers should work
as one team.
[Yanukovych] I have repeatedly said that I accept only teamwork, and when,
as they say, this or that player on a team feels out of place, it always
leads to what has happened. Therefore, the person who has found the strength
to do what Valeriy Ivanovych [Khoroshkovskyy] did, that is, admit that he
needed to leave that post - [changes tack]. He admitted it, and it is very
good. He is still a young man, and he still has lots of opportunities in his
life.
[Presenter] It should be recalled that on 3 January the Ukrainian minister
of economics and European integration, Valeriy Khoroshkovskyy tendered his
resignation. He explained it by his belief that the work of his ministry was
subordinated to the interests of the Ministry of Finance headed by First
Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, while the Ministry of Finance was more
concerned with addressing running problems rather than issues of strategic
development. (END) (ARTUIS)
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UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 2: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
=========================================================
3. UKRAINE MACROECONOMIC SITUATION, DECEMBER 2003
By Iryna Piontkivska and Ediberto L. Segura
SigmaBleyzer, Kyiv, Ukraine, January 5, 2003
"ECONOMIC GROWTH
Ukraine's excellent economic performance in the last three months of the
year should ensure that it will be among the best performing countries in
the world in 2003 in terms of GDP growth. In November 2003, Ukraine's
real GDP grew by 12.1% yoy, following growth rates of 12.3 yoy in October
and 15% yoy in September. During January-November, Ukraine's GDP
grew by 7.7% yoy supported by an expansion of 15.5% yoy in industrial
output and a marked growth in construction of 23.0%."
NOTE: To read the entire Ukraine Macroeconomic Situation, December
2003 report click on: http://artukraine.com/econews/MACRO-Dec03.pdf.
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 2: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
=========================================================
4. INTERVIEW WITH UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER KOSTYANTYN
HRYSHCHENKO ABOUT INTERNATIONAL ISSUES
Lidiya Denysenko, 2000, Kiev, in Russian 19 Dec 03, pp A3, A7
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English
The recent events in Georgia which led to the resignation of President
Eduard Shevardnadze are unconstitutional and not an example to follow,
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Hryshchenko says in an interview with
Lidiya Denysenko. Asked about the Foreign Ministry's attitude to former US
ambassador to Ukraine Carlos Pascual's "unrestrained criticism" of Ukraine,
Hryshchenko offers cautions general comments.
The following is an excerpt from the interview published in the newspaper
2000 on 19 December entitled "We don't want it to be like in Switzerland":
The "Iraqi theme" means economics and certainly politics for Europe,
actually for all countries at that. Foreign Minister of Ukraine Kostyantyn
Hryshchenko visited Baghdad last week at the head of a delegation after
which they summed up as follows at the Foreign Ministry briefing: the visit
was successful and timely.
"Everything is revolving around Iraq now both oil and the dollar rate and it
is there that the USA is scoring its political points. We will begin our
interview also with Iraq" I suggested to Kostyantyn Hryshchenko. He did not
mind. The more so since it turned out that he had visited that country more
than once before the war as a member of the first UN inspections searching
for biological weapons.
[Denysenko] Any country, feeling the moment, so to speak, says: ready to
cooperate both with the provisional administration and the governing
council. We also say that. However, since you have really known this country
for a long time and thoroughly, do you think Iraq is ready to cooperate with
Ukraine?
[Hryshchenko] Although Iraq is going through the most serious crisis
imaginable I am absolutely convinced the Iraqis are the most developed
society in the entire Middle East region. [Passage omitted: need for
Ukraine's diplomatic presence in Iraq, the issue of sending Ukrainian
peacekeepers to Liberia]
[Denysenko] Possibly, by [sending peacekeepers to] Liberia Ukraine will
improve its image. To what extent will it be possible to improve its image
by appointing ambassadors who had had no previous experience of diplomatic
communication? I mean, first of all, the new ambassador in Germany, Serhiy
Farenyk. Maybe he has an excellent doctoral thesis, but he defended it at
the Institute of Philosophy. Maybe he was an ace in Ukrindustriya, but a
consortium is not an embassy.
[Hryshchenko] First, all the candidates for ambassadorial posts and above
all those who came to this service not from the Foreign Ministry undergo
obligatory training. Second, I am convinced: the person, who was successful
in the economic sphere on the international arena, can bring a fresh
approach to diplomatic work. Another indisputable plus: the newly-appointed
ambassador to Germany has a command of German and has a high scientific
title in addition. Besides, we have high-class diplomats, whom he can rely
on, working in Berlin. All this gives me grounds to forecast success of the
new ambassador's diplomatic mission.
[Denysenko] At the dawn of Ukrainian independence in the years 1991- 92 - it
happened that non-professionals were sent with diplomatic missions to
distant countries. Do you remember?
[Hryshchenko] These are so-called "political appointments". There were some,
though a few, who quite successfully coped with set assignments; but for the
majority this experience turned out quite painful.
[Denysenko] Do you think that now training of diplomats is good, for example
in the Foreign Ministry Academy?
[Hryshchenko] It is recognized at the most competent forums that modern
Ukrainian diplomacy is at a high level. I could go on enumerating the
achievements of the recent years.[ellipsis as published]
[Denysenko] ellipsis as published] no doubt, to congratulate all the Foreign
Ministry employees in this way, through the newspaper, with the Day of
Diplomacy marked on 22 December. You will probably say that there is a
multitude of "stars" in the ministry you are in charge of?
[Hryshchenko] I will not say that. Besides, would it be good if the entire
ministry were made up of geniuses alone? Geniuses, you know, tend to
disagree on elementary things and only keep arguing.
"Pro-western group of three"
[Denysenko] When the EES [European Economic Space] was being debated in
Ukraine, the Financial Times openly wrote saying that three ministers in the
Cabinet of Ministers the foreign minister, justice minister and minister of
economics are a "pro-western team". Their dispute with the country's
leadership "can lead to a virtual split in the government". Now, when
everything had been signed long ago, have you changed your opinion regarding
the EES or does it remain the same?
[Hryshchenko] It is natural that it was discussed. The process of discussion
already testifies to a responsible approach to viewing this issue. However,
if you are interested in my general attitude to the topic as a whole, I will
answer: it had never occurred to me that Ukraine should not seek an
opportunity to promote its interests where tangible prospects are opening.
The point is how to build a scheme that would best meet our aspirations.
Ukraine's stance in this respect is state-oriented and consistent. [Passage
omitted: disagreements within EU regarding its constitution and a European
alternative to NATO]
"Answer to Chamberlain" off the record
[Denysenko] In Georgia and this is Europe - NATO has already "taken root"
and the country's new leadership gave such honours to the States that nobody
has dreamed of. I am talking about the recent official celebrations in
Tbilisi, when it was the US anthem, which sounded first rather than Georgian
that would have been logical. Well, it is their business\ý [ellipsis as
published] Generally, Mr Hryshchenko, do you have your own opinion of the
methods of power change in Georgia? Do you approve of the revolution?
[Hryshchenko] The only correct way of power change in a country is the one
defined by the constitution. The constitution, as rule, envisages holding
elections. The authorities are supposed to perform their functions in
organizing them while the opposition may criticize them. In Georgia,
however, everything was taking place in the situation, which was far from
the normal constitutional process. Therefore I am deeply convinced: events
in Tbilisi can in no way serve either as an example or a scheme to follow.
[Denysenko] Diplomats really can express themselves in such a way that
instead of a simple "yes" they make up an ingenious complex sentence.
However, there is the other extreme. This is when the head of a diplomatic
mission in another country openly abuses this very country without
floweriness and various curtsies. You probably remember statements of the
former US ambassador to Ukraine Mr [Carlos] Pascual? His successor is a
follower of "traditions" in this respect. Or maybe he is not? If he is, why
doesn't the Foreign Ministry come out with notes of protest?
[Hryshchenko] An ambassador primarily works on the problems of interstate
communication, creating a field for cooperation as a whole. Naturally it is
up to him to decide how to inform his government and his capital. Still, in
public speeches it is general practice to be guided by considerations of
measure as well as usefulness for developing international relations.
[Denysenko] I did not understand: does the Foreign Ministry respond or not?
Does it send notes?
[Hryshchenko] Certainly, we inform representatives of foreign states of our
opinion. Still, we are diplomats. We do far from everything through the
press, first of all because it is not always effective from the point of
view of what you are trying to achieve as a result.
[Denysenko] Why do we need an ambassador in Antigua? Along with a diplomatic
mission in the USA you also performed the same mission in Antigua. Tell me
honestly: besides the tasks of establishing friendly contacts with the
island state, did you have the task of monitoring the theme of [former
Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo] Lazarenko's accounts?
[Hryshchenko] Ukraine as a state has an interest of returning money taken
illegally out of this country - stolen, in fact. And since a certain part of
it is in Antigua's banks, it was important for us to get official channels
of communication with the government of this small but "very proud" state,
as they used to say in the old times.
[Denysenko] Weren't the credentials of Ukraine's ambassador to the US
sufficient to have access to Antigua's VIPs?
[Hryshchenko] Washington, undoubtedly, has great influence there, but part
of the issues had to be solved directly. The theme has not been closed yet.
[Denysenko] The "Kolchuga" story is over. Nevertheless, it is only rumoured
so far that it was Hryshchenko who had to "extinguish" this theme in the
USA. Did you really "extinguish it"?
[Hryshchenko] From the very start of the Kolchuga scandal our attitude was
direct and clear. The point is that I dealt with the issues of export
control at one time and participated in the creation of the system existing
here to this day. Therefore I could say from the very beginning with
absolute certainty: it would have been impossible to send Kolchugas to Iraq
even if somebody had a desire to do so. I spoke directly about it. And now,
when at least the doubtful character of raising the Kolchuga issue is
obvious to all, I sometimes remind those, who actively promoted this theme,
about this story. Now they fell ill at ease when carrying out this dialogue.
[Passage omitted: Hryshchenko says he nearly became deputy defence minister]
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 2: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
=========================================================
5. UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION LEADER VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
EYES ELECTORAL VICTORY IN 2004
Iryna Ivanchenko, Ekspres, Lviv, in Ukrainian 25 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, In English
Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has said that his Our Ukraine
bloc will win the presidential election in 2004. In an interview published
by an independent western Ukrainian newspaper, Yushchenko predicted that the
authorities would not manage to muster the 300 votes needed to amend the
constitution and to ensure the election of the president by parliament
rather than by popular vote.
When 80 per cent of Ukrainians support direct presidential elections, Our
Ukraine could call on the people to take to the street to defend their
political rights, Yushchenko said. He criticized Ukrainian Communist leaders
for compromising with the authorities on amending the constitution.
Yushchenko also accused the cabinet of poor performance in agriculture and a
flawed 2004 budget.
The following is the text of the interview with Yushchenko by Iryna
Ivanchenko entitled "Viktor Yushchenko: `The year of 2003 is the last for
the current authorities', published in the Ekspres newspaper on 25 December,
p. 5. Subheadings inserted editorially:
The outgoing year was not easy for Ukraine. Bread prices soared and utility
rates also increased significantly. The pro-presidential majority hastily
adopted the [2004] budget, which provides for cuts in the minimum wage. The
prices of medicines are expected to rise too, as well as the prices of meat
and milk products. Still, the current prime minister, [Viktor] Yanukovych is
bold enough to call this budget "the most social". Probably, his own living
standards are a bit at odds with the reality of daily life of the Ukrainian
people. Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko sums up the results of the year
of 2003.
Poor cabinet performace
[Ivashchenko] Mr Yushchenko, how would you assess the outgoing year?
[Yushchenko] As was expected, this year was a year of tough political
struggle between democratic forces and the authoritarian authorities that
are desperately clinging to power. The authorities were preoccupied with how
to survive rather than with how to help the people. To survive they have
made up this so-called political reform. The outgoing year will be
remembered by many Ukrainians for rises in bread prices and for the
cabinet's decision to lower the minimum wage.
Earlier, the minimum wage could buy 200 loaves of bread, now only 120. These
calculations are discouraging. To a certain extent, bread prices soared as a
result of poor crops. But the main reason was the incompetent agrarian
policy of the cabinet. To cut a long story short, this was the year of the
authorities' all-out attack on both the political and social rights of the
people. Speaking about the colour of this year, one has every reason to say
that it was grey.
Unfortunately, it was one more year of wasted opportunities and uncertainty
for Ukraine. However, I am positive that this year was the last for the
current authorities. The era of [Ukrainian President Leonid] Kuchma is
coming to an end, no matter how hard his team and himself are clinging to
power. I do believe that in 2004 Ukraine will see important positive
changes.
[Ivashchenko] As a politician, which issues do you consider to be
priorities?
[Yushchenko] When setting priorities, my team was guided by the opinion of
the people. From the standpoint of social rights, the people are above all
interested in wages, pensions, jobs, health care and the prices of major
goods. As regards political rights, we have taken account of the fact that
over 80 per cent of the people support electing the president by universal
ballot. So our policy reflects these moods.
We did not succeed in everything because the opposition is in the minority.
In addition, the Communists are inclined to side with the authorities on
certain issues. In this case we have only 150 votes in parliament while 226
are needed to adopt a decision. But even in such difficult circumstances we
are managing to force the authorities to take heed of the interests of the
people.
Recently, the cabinet yielded to powerful pressure from Our Ukraine and gave
up the idea of imposing VAT on medicines. The imposition of this tax could
have raised the prices by 25 per cent at least. Given the proposed VAT on
medicines, the opposition coped with the role of the counterbalance for the
authorities. Well-founded pressure from Our Ukraine has forced the
authorities to retract their anti-people decision. Also we have managed to
defend small business from the attack of the cabinet which considered a
200-per-cent rise in the flat tax rate [for small businesses].
Our team has exposed one more cynical idea of the cabinet. Prior to
calculating pensions according to a new law, the Cabinet of Ministers
lowered the minimum wage in 2002 [as published] by 70 hryvnyas. This is one
of the basic components in calculating pensions. According to the State
Statistics Committee, the average wage in 2002 was 376 hryvnyas, while the
cabinet employed rather simple techniques to bring this sum down to 306
hryvnyas as was reflected in its resolution. We demand that calculations be
made on the basis of 376 hryvnyas.
One of our major objectives for the beginning of the next year is reviewing
the 2004 state budget in which the cabinet of [Ukrainian Prime Minister
Viktor] Yanukovych lowered the minimum wage from 237 to 205 hryvnyas.
Earlier they used to blame economic decline for difficulties in the social
sector, but the cause is absolutely different. This is the cabinet's
inability or even unwillingness to ensure the just distribution of the
national wealth, which is actually being accumulated quite rapidly.
Defending direct presidential elections
As regards the protection of political rights, Our Ukraine has collected
3.162m signatures in support of electing the president by universal ballot.
Lviv Region has posted the riches "yield" 362,000. It is followed by Luhansk
Region almost 200,000. You can see our activists working hard in eastern
Ukraine. I believe that despite total censorship, everybody understands: the
authorities intend to cancel the presidential elections that are due on 31
October 2004. The regime wants to elect to this post its own man in
parliament.
[Ivashchenko] Do the events of 23 December in parliament [the first reading
of the amendments of the constitution] mean that there will be no direct
presidential election in Ukraine?
[Yushchenko] No they do not because the final vote on this issue will be
held in parliament in February-March. I believe that at that time the
amendments to the constitution will not be backed by 300 votes [needed to
amend the constitution in Ukraine] even though Communist leaders have taken
the side of the authorities in defiance of the opinion of rank-and-file
Communists Party members who also support the direct presidential election.
Just imagine, the draft law on amending the constitution is now called the
Symonenko-Medvedchuk draft! [Petro Symonenko is the Ukrainian Communist
leader, Viktor Medvedchuk is the head of the presidential administration.]
Here you are, as they say. I believe that we shall defend the direct
presidential election, because opinion polls show that they are supported by
over 86 per cent of Ukrainian citizens. The authorities are not just trying
to deny the people their most important political right. They want to deny
the people the hope of the better future which people associate with the
election of 31 October 2004. If the [pro-presidential parliamentary]
majority does go as far as to cancel electing the president by universal
ballot, we will put this issue to a referendum.
[Ivashchenko] Is Our Ukraine ready to call on people to take to the street
if it fails to defend its positions in parliament?
[Yushchenko] I still believe that complex political issues should be settled
in parliament. But if the people are denied their right to decide their own
future at the polling stations, then the street will have its say, I am
confident. However, I should say that not just the political elite but the
whole of society should assume responsibility for the future of the state,
to show readiness to defend civic rights and freedoms. The authorities are
fearful of such unity. The authorities are strong only when the community is
split and indifferent.
[Ivashchenko] Do you believe in the possibility of a third term in office
for [Ukrainian President Leonid] Kuchma?
[Yushchenko] I do not, but I know that there are supporters of such a
scenario. Unfortunately, the Communist Party is assisting in these plans.
For this reason they want to move the presidential election to parliament,
because it is only the obedient majority that could "elect" Kuchma again. By
the way, the authorities do not have a rich choice of presidential hopefuls.
The current authorities will never win by honest means. Their only chance
lies in the government resource, pressure and falsification. So the
authorities are trying to avoid an encounter with their own people at the
polling stations, which will be fatal for them.
[Ivashchenko] How have you changed in the course of this year?
[Yushchenko] Indeed, I have changed. I could see my team becoming stronger.
I am encouraged by the fact that despite all persecutions Our Ukraine has
managed to preserve its values and the unity of the faction. This is
important, because the authorities fear the monolithic force that will win
in 2004. (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
WELCOME TO UKRAINE MAGAZINE
Issue Number Four for Year 2003 Just Issued. Best Magazine in English
http://www.artukraine.com/travel/wumagazine.htm
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 2: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
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6. BaWL: THE BEST AND THE WORST LIST FOR 2003
By Oksana Bashuk Hepburn [Ukrainian-Canadian Leader]
Published in E-POSHTA, Your Independent Ukrainian Internet Newsletter
Myroslava Oleksiuk, Editor-In-Chief
Canada, Dec 30, 2003, Vol. 4, No. 108
Almost everyone has a favorite list or two at this time of the year: best
movies, best books, person of the year. I would like to put forward my BEST
and WORST or BaWL dealing with things of particular interest to the global
Ukrainian community; perhaps this list will become an annual thing. My
candidates will be individuals, books, places, etc., that contributed to or
undermined Ukrainian issues in 2003.
The BEST
1. Lubomyr Luciuk and UCCLA: For making the campaign to remove the Pulitzer
Prize from the lying recipient Walter Duranty one of the more effective
actions of our community, thereby giving the victims of Communism's 1930's
genocide [Holodomor] in Ukraine an international recognition factor.
2. Martin Amis's book Koba, the Dread: The remarkably successful British
author exposed the crimes of the Soviet Union to a massive audience. Amis is
one of the first in English-language literature who asks the question: Why
is the Famine-Terror genocide in Ukraine not as equally treated as the
execution of the Jews?
3. Myroslava Oleksiuk: For creating e-Poshta and informing us about things
Ukrainian; and for her ability to attract good people to collaborate in
producing this biweekly online newsletter.
4. Morgan Williams, among others, a Senior Advisor U.S.-Ukraine Foundation,
Washington/Kyiv: his ever-vigilant comments on events in Ukraine are a
wake-up call. [Editor: "UKRAINE REPORT 2004"]
5. Yulia Tymoshenko: For her courage, charisma, and political fights. If she
can manage to take away the Communist vote from Kuchma, she may be the
deal-maker in the next elections.
6. Dzerkalo Nedili: A weekly publication in Ukraine, which provides some of
the best political analyses of Ukraine and, so far, has not stopped.
7. Sister Servants of Mary Immaculate: The first Ukrainian, among others,
businesswomen who set up and operated hospitals, retirement homes, schools,
and orphanages in a highly male-dominated and, initially, anti-Ukrainian
Canada, for the last 100 years. Bravo! They should be nominated for an Order
of Canada award.
8. Viktor Malarek's book The Natashas: For giving hope to abused sex slaves
by exposing this perfidy and motivating others to act in their defence.
9. Gerda Hnatyshyn: For understanding the Hnatyshyn family's commitment to
its Ukrainian heritage and elevating the Ukrainian Byzantine-rite funeral
service to a Canadian state ceremony.
10. Walter Gretzky: For producing a remarkable son, Wayne.
The WORST
1. The global network of oligarchs: For the danger that their excessive
wealth and influence pose to free democratic institutions due to their
global reach over governments, media, and key economic sectors without any
higher level of accountability.
2. Russia's Ambassador to Ukraine Victor Chernomyrdin: For repeated,
unrepentant, undiplomatic behaviour.
3. The Ukrainian government: For tolerating Chernomerdin rather than
declaring him persona non grata and sending him home. Don't they know that
they have the right and the authority to do this?
4. Pulitzer Prize Committee: Its inability to do the right thing and
withdraw Walter Duranty's prize is an indication of how deeply communism,
despite its atrocities, is inbedded in US institutions.
5. Stalin's Letters to Kaganovich l931-36
Compiled and edited by R.W.Davies et al: the whitewashing of the crimes of
that offensive pair continues; at least in the book review by Abraham
Blumberg.
6. Ukraine's television networks: For providing virtually no coverage to the
critics of the government, thereby placing the upcoming elections in
jeopardy.
7. Your pick.
8&9. Erroneous myths: Dangerous untruths that we tend to repeat, and worst,
treat as national values. Here are two of my WORST
MYTH #1: Two Ukrainians, three organizations; we are concerned about
creating "yet another organization," whereas in reality there are not enough
groups to handle most of the big issues like immigration resettlement; aid
to Ukraine; government policy development. The result is that many important
things do not get done because it is impossible for the established
organizations to do all of them well. THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO THE
POLITICAL OPPOSITION IN Ukraine.
MYTH#2: Ukrainians argue too much: when did you last attend a serious
discussion that had a forward-looking action plan?
10. The Canadian Department of Justice: For hiring Neil Sher to be its
highly paid US advisor after his questionable practices in the US Justice
Department's Special Office of Investigation. More shame: Recently, Sher was
disbarred in the US for inappropriate handling of monies.
* Koba the Dread, by Martin Amis was published late in 2002.
* The Right Honourable Ramon Hnatyshyn, former Governor General of Canada,
died in December 2002. (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 1: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
=========================================================
7. GO WEST, UKRAINE
By Lara Apasova, TCS: Tech Central Station
Washington, D.C. 01/02/2004
Last November, the European Parliament at its plenary session in Strasbourg
adopted a resolution on "Wider Europe-Neighborhood: New frameworks of
relations with our Eastern and Southern neighbors".
The answer came from Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in a plenary
session of the CEI Heads of Government in the Polish capital. "Ukraine's
pro-European choice is ultimate and it will be consistently and unswervingly
pursued," he said. "Whatever challenges may face us in the future, Ukraine
won't deviate from its European developmental course."
Sounds great, particularly after September's summit at which the presidents
of Republic of Belarus, Republic of Kazakhstan, Russian Federation and
Ukraine signed the Statement on Common Economic Space. This opened a door
not only to economic but also political integration of Ukraine and other
former Soviet republics into Wider Europe. Russia evidently sees the outcome
of that summit as a signal to toughen up the Ukrainian frontier.
Certainly, EU integration is more than attractive for Ukraine, and it is
important for it to keep relations with Central European countries such as
Poland and Hungary which in May 2004 will become EU members. But the Central
European market has already been open for Ukraine for a long time, and in
fact the historic developments occurring in May 2004 will be for some
Ukrainian businesses a backward step in EU integration.
For example, President Leonid Kuchma has pointed out that Ukraine will lose
a market for its metallurgy and chemical industries without any
compensation. Still, Kuchma reports that his meetings with European External
Relations Commissioner Christopher Patten have helped keep the country on
the Union's radar screen.
So, just how strong are the EU hopes for Ukraine? It's got size,
geographical location, deep historical, cultural, economic and other links
to Central and Western Europe, its mentality and democratic traditions, and
the hopes of the present generation to see become part of united Europe.
The EU and Ukraine have a common interest in accelerating the democratic and
economic transition process in Ukraine. A successful transformation will
bring prosperity not only to Ukraine but to the entire region. Ukraine has
enough potential to make a breakthrough towards new technologies in
industrial production, towards new relations in the sphere of economy,
towards new views on quality of life and living standards, towards social
and cultural integration of our population into the European community.
In his address to the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) "European
choice", Kuchma said the creation of real preconditions for solving the main
geopolitical task of our state - Ukraine's accession to the European Union -
should become the main focus of economic and social development for the next
decade. All institutional transformations, economic policy, social and
humanitarian reforms should be aimed at this. It is, however, a complex
system of transformations that would allow our state to apply for EU
associated membership by the end of 2007 and create real (internal)
preconditions for Ukraine's accession to the EU by 2011.
Ukraine has underlined its priorities for further cooperation, including
energy, trade and investment, justice and home affairs, legislative reform,
environmental protection, transport and regional and cross-border
cooperation. And now it is focusing on further development of the relations
between Ukraine and the EU in the light of the EU's future enlargement and
its coming nearer to Ukraine's borders. The Wider Europe concept gives a
mechanism that will move Ukraine-EU relations from the rhetorical to the
practical sphere. info@techcentralstation.com (END) (ARTUIS)
http://www.techcentralstation.com/010204C.html
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2003, No. 119: ARTICLE NUMBER EIGHT
=========================================================
8. BOLSHOI OPERA DEFECTOR RENATA BABAK, 69, DIES
Was Born In Kiev, Ukraine
By Patricia Sullivan, Washington Post Staff Writer
The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.
Friday, January 2, 2004; Page B05
Renata Babak, 69, an internationally known mezzo-soprano who defected from
the Bolshoi Opera in 1973, sang her U.S. debut to a standing-room-only
audience at Carnegie Hall two years later and spoke out against Soviet
repression for the rest of her life, died of pancreatic cancer Dec. 31 at
her home in Silver Spring.
Music critic Joseph McLellan wrote in The Washington Post in 1987 that Ms.
Babak "has one of the world's great mezzo-soprano voices." He had previously
written that she deserved, and might have had, a far more prominent career
had political circumstance not intervened.
Her life story was operatic. Born in Kiev, Ukraine, she studied at the
Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in Leningrad and was a soloist at the Leningrad
Opera, performing in Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Canada.
She was an international star with 10 years' experience at the Bolshoi when
she defected while the opera company was playing at La Scala in Milan.
Ms. Babak, who had been prohibited by the Soviet secret police from
traveling outside the Soviet Union for the previous six years, slipped out
of a hotel lobby wearing a wig and dark glasses, immigrated to Canada and
went into hiding for two years.
Her U.S. debut at Carnegie Hall in 1975 garnered enthusiastic reviews. She
moved to New York, but George London, then general director of the
Washington Opera, persuaded her to move to Washington.
When London was disabled by a massive stroke before he could begin to work
with her, she joined the faculty of the Washington Conservatory of Music and
gave recitals and sang roles that critics said did not often offer her the
chance to use her extraordinary voice to its fullest.
"Babak's career has been nowhere near as spectacular as her talent
deserved," McLellan wrote in 1984. "She has an extraordinary mezzo-soprano
voice, retaining its power in the dramatic soprano range, and it has won
critical superlatives wherever (all too seldom) she has performed -- in the
Washington area, usually at concerts connected with human-rights causes."
Her voice was described in 1982 as "both big and sweet, tremendously
powerful and superbly controlled in its upper register, with only a small,
piquant touch of the vibrato so often overindulged by Russian singers."
The KGB had undermined her career before she defected, not only by
prohibiting foreign appearances, but also by failing to publicize her
appearances and by prohibiting her from singing Ukrainian pieces.
In 1979, when the Soviet Embassy sponsored an exhibit of Russian art at the
Renwick Gallery, embassy officials very publicly canceled the exhibit
because Ms. Babak was scheduled to perform nearby.
In 1986, when the Chernobyl nuclear power plant failed, Ms. Babak spent days
dialing the international operator, trying to reach her parents in Kiev.
When she finally spoke with her 70-year-old mother, she discovered that her
parents thought there was no danger, although both suffered from a
flame-like feeling in their throats and dizziness. She urged them to leave
immediately and gave press interviews condemning the Soviet government's
handling of the crisis.
Her last opera was in 1997 in Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky's "Iolanta" with Opera
Camerata of Washington. She continued to sing recitals until last year.
Ms. Babak became a U.S. citizen in 1993 and taught Russian for 10 years,
until 2001, through an Agriculture Department program. Her marriage to
Sergei Doroshenko ended in divorce.
Survivors include a daughter, Natalia Kouzmina of Silver Spring; and two
grandchildren. (END) (ARTUIS)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48463-2004Jan1.html
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 2: ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
=========================================================
9. UKRAINIAN COURT ORDERS ADVERTISING AGENCY TO
APOLOGIZE TO VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO FOR NAZI BILLBOARD
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian, 31 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 31, 2003
Kyiv, 31 December: The Voroshilov district court in the city of Donetsk has
found that the actions of the Plazma advertising agency were damaging to the
honour, dignity and business reputation of [Our Ukraine centre-right
opposition bloc leader] Viktor Yushchenko, Our Ukraine's official internet
site has reported.
The Our Ukraine press service said that this ruling refers to the placement
of billboards on the streets of Donetsk depicting Yushchenko in an SS
uniform from the Second World War, which occurred on the night from 30 to 31
October ahead of Yushchenko's visit to Donetsk Region where an Our Ukraine
congress was to be held.
The court required the Plazma advertising agency to pay Yushchenko 500
hryvnyas in compensation and present him with a written apology.
In addition, Pavlo Zhovnirenko, Our Ukraine's chief of staff in Donetsk
Region, said that on 29 December the Shakhtarsk city court, at the
representation of Our Ukraine representative Ihor Dyachenko, found illegal
the 3 December decision by the executive committee of the Shakhtarsk city
council banning the setting up of a tent for collecting signatures from
members of the public as part of the action "A people's president for
Ukraine" [which is aimed at preventing changes to the constitution that
would replace the election of the president by popular vote with election by
parliament deputies]. (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 2: ARTICLE NUMBER TEN
=========================================================
10. CHRISTMAS: UKRAINIAN HOLIDAY MEANS TRADITIONS FOR
PENNSYLVANIA FAMILY
Touching the forehead with a honey-laden wooden spoon to bring good luck is
one of many customs marking the celebration of Sviata Vechera.
By Mike Trask, Reading Eagle newspaper
Reading, Pennsylvania, Monday, January 5, 2003
A honey-glazed forehead comes with Christmas for one Exeter Township family.
Deanne L. Snelling and about 40 family members celebrated Sviata Vechera
Ukrainian Christmas Eve on Saturday afternoon.
The traditional feast includes being touched on the head by a wooden spoon
dipped in honey. Deanne's father, William J. Kesack of East Norriton,
Montgomery County, does most of the touching. He said the tradition is meant
to bring good luck. Kesack and his sister Helen Coulter of Bethlehem [PA]
have carried Ukrainian traditions to their children and grandchildren.
The meal includes three soups mushroom, sauerkraut and split pea and no meat
or dairy products. For years Coulter, 76, cooked the dishes, including
pierogies, cabbage and a large loaf of bread. "The bread cannot be cut
because that symbolizes breaking ties," Kesack, 65, said. Everyone pitches
in to make the dinner, but it can be a struggle.
Coulter never wrote down the ingredients to her dishes. So it's been up to
various family members to watch and try to scribble down the recipe. Nobody
seems to forget such traditions as setting places at the meal for the
deceased and trying to keep everyone in the same room for dinner. "Some of
the things we don't even know where they came from," Kesack said. "They just
evolved." The food that four generations shared has remained the same.
"Most of the kids don't eat the food," Snelling said. She admitted that when
she was a youngster, she didn't care for the food either. "When we were
little my cousin used to sneak us to McDonald's," she confessed. The family
members said some of the stricter traditions have deteriorated over the
years.
Coulter reflected on how she used to fast until the big dinner. "The only
thing we could eat during the day was pickled herring," she said. There was
no pickled herring to be found in the Snelling home Saturday but people had
no trouble finding snacks.
Kesack said everybody used to have to eat a clove of garlic when he was a
boy. Now garlic is placed on the table but nobody takes a mouthful.
William W. Snelling, Deanne's husband, has been part of the tradition for
more than 14 years. "My family doesn't have the strong traditions that her
family has," he said. "So it was something different for me. But I didn't
want to run away." The Snelling's son Brian, 9, enjoyed his crowded home. "I
get to see lots of friends and family," he said. (END) (ARTUIS)
NOTE: Photograph: Reading Eagle: Bill Uhrich Print
William J. Kesack, left, of East Norriton, Montgomery County, grants good
luck by touching a honey-laden wooden spoon to the forehead of Helen Coulter
of Bethlehem as they celebrate Ukrainian Christmas Eve in the home of
William W. and Deanne L. Snelling, Exeter Township. David Y. Chomitzky,
Kutztown, right, carries a traditional loaf of pan bread. To see the
photograph click on: http://www.readingeagle.com/re/news/1203293.asp
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact reporter Mike Trask at 610-371-5030 or mtrask@readingeagle.com.
=========================================================
FOLK ART MAGAZINE: NARODNE MYSTETSTVO
http://www.artukraine.com/primitive/artmagazine.htm
A Great Magazine in Ukrainian....Excellent Ukrainian Magazine
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 2: ARTICLE NUMBER ELEVEN
=========================================================
11. NO ESCAPE FOR GULAG'S FORMER PRISONERS
Vorkuta was the last of Stalin's infamous gulags. Some
Ukrainians are still trapped there.
Julius Strauss in Vorkuta, Russia
Telegraph, telegraph.co.uk, London, UK
Saturday, January 3, 2004
More than 50 years after they were deported by Stalin, hundreds of
freed inmates remain trapped in the frozen north, writes Julius
Strauss in Vorkuta
When Lidya Wittman was 20 years old she was loaded into a railway
goods wagon in central Russia and shipped to a gulag in the Arctic.
It was 1943, the Soviet Union was locked in a fight to the death with
Hitler's army, and her crime was to be an ethnic German.
Vorkuta was the last of Stalin's infamous gulags and its name still
resonates with menace for older Russians.
Women such as Mrs Wittman were treated like slaves, laying railway
lines and toiling without wages in mines and factories. The camp
closed in 1962, but decades later thousands of former inmates are
still marooned in the decrepit northern settlement.
To get to where she lives from the nearest shop or bus stop in
Vorkuta, Mrs Wittman, now 80, must hobble for more than half an hour
down a frozen, rutted road. The temperature is minus 10C and a biting
wind whips up the snow. "I've been here for 60 years," she said. "I'd
leave tomorrow if I could."
After their release, most of the women tried to return to their homes
in Ukraine, the Baltic States and central Russia. But the harsh
Soviet registration system meant that as former "enemies of the
state" they were barred from migrating.
Their only option was to stay and find work, sometimes in the very
mines and factories they had been slaving in before their release.
When communism fell, the restrictions were gradually lifted. But by
then hyperinflation had wiped out the former inmates' life savings,
making an expensive move south all but impossible.
Today there are 40,000 pensioners in Vorkuta. Memorial, a Russian
charity that compiles statistics on the Stalinist era, estimates that
as many as four out of five are trapped former gulag inmates, or
their descendants.
Even in the context of the times, the suffering at the Vorkuta camps
was extreme. In the winter, temperatures on the tundra can drop to
minus 50C.
Inmates were provided with ill-fitting, poor quality clothes and
forced to work 12 or 14 hours a day on a starvation ration. During
the 1940s and 1950s a million prisoners passed through the Vorkuta
gulags, according to Memorial.
At least 100,000, perhaps many more, died. They were buried in the
rock-hard permafrost or simply left by the roadside to be covered by
snow.
"For 15 years I shovelled coal into the furnaces," said Mrs Wittman,
who still speaks faultless German, but poor Russian.
"At night we used to sleep on hard wooden shelves. So many people
died of hunger and cold."
When she was released, like thousands of others she was barred from
leaving Vorkuta. Eventually she got a job as a cleaner in a mine.
Later she married another former gulag inmate, also an ethnic German,
and they lived together until he died 17 years ago. Today she lives
with her son. "This is what Stalin did to me," she said. "I know I
can't undo the past, but I'd move to the south if only I had the
money."
Yaroslav Volagodsky, 73, a Ukrainian, is another former gulag inmate
trapped in Vorkuta. He was charged with "anti-Soviet activities" as a
young man and given a 10-year sentence.
"You can't imagine what it was like," he said, tears running down his
face. "We had no proper winter clothes, our boots were full of holes
and to eat we had crushed, salted fish and a small, frozen potato a
day. All my teeth fell out because of lack of vitamins.
"They made us work 14 hours a day in the mines and many men simply
died. At night we slept with our clothes on, on a mattress stuffed
with wood chips."
Mine 29, where Mr Volagodsky was interned, was notorious for its
brutality. When in the summer of 1953 a wave of strikes swept the
Soviet gulags, the inmates of Mine 29 joined in.
Four days later, on Aug 1, hundreds of troops surrounded the camp and
opened fire, killing at least 53, and injuring hundreds.
Mr Volagodsky was hit in the leg and the ear, but survived.
Afterwards he was forced to build coffins and dig graves for his dead
colleagues.
Today there is little left of Mine 29. Only some broken brickwork
around the shaft entrance marks where it once stood.
A memorial has been put up nearby by relatives of Lithuanians who
died there. But the camp itself is unmarked, a mass of broken wooden
beams not far from an old railway line.
When, in 1957, Mr Volagodsky was finally released he was refused
permission to return home. Later he was told that he could return,
but his wife, also a Ukrainian former gulag inmate, could not, so he
remained.
"For 50 years this place has been like a coffin for me," he said. "I
have no money to go and the local authorities tell me I don't qualify
for help."
Yevgenia Khaidarova of Memorial said: "These people would all leave
tomorrow if they could. But they haven't the means.
"For years Vorkuta was a political gulag. Today it has become an
economic gulag." (END) (ARTUIS)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/01/03/wgulag03.xml
&sSheet=/news/2004/01/03/ixworld.html
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 2: ARTICLE NUMBER TWELVE
=========================================================
12. CALIFORNIA POLITICIANS GET BEHIND EFFORT TO GET U.S.
CONGRESS TO APPROVE RESOLUTION COMMEMORATING
15TH ANNIVERSARY OF UN CONVENTION ON GENOCIDE
Highlight Several 20th Century Genocides Including Ukraine and Armenia
The Fresno Bee, Fresno, California, Sunday, January 4, 2004
The Armenian National Committee is leading a postcard-writing effort to
pressure congressional leaders into allowing a vote on a resolution
commemorating the 15th anniversary of the approval of the United Nations
Convention on Genocide.
The resolution on the anniversary -- officially known as the Genocide
Convention Implementation Act of 1987 -- has 110 co-sponsors and was
approved by the House Judiciary Committee more than six months ago, but
it has not been brought to the House floor for a vote.
Maybe, the Armenian National Committee said, postcards piling up in the
mailrooms of House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader
Bill Frist can help move it along.
"It's something tangible in this age of electronics," said Ardashes
Kassakhian, executive director of the western region of the Armenian
National Committee. He likened the impact to the scene in the film "Miracle
on 34th Street," when bags of mail are poured on a judge's bench in an
effort to prove Santa Claus is real.
The postcards, like the stalled resolution, highlight several 20th-century
genocides, not just the Armenian genocide.
They feature photos of Armenians being hanged, piles of Ukrainian bodies and
Jews being marched off by German soldiers. Also pictured are Cambodians,
Kurds and Rwandans. Across the bottom, it reads: "Help end the cycle of
genocide."
Armenian supporters say it is the Turkish lobby that stands alone against
approving the resolution and is exerting influence on Congress not to pass
it.
Among local legislators, the resolution has unanimous support. Rep. George
Radanovich, R-Mariposa, is listed as the lead sponsor, with fellow Reps.
Devin Nunes, R-Visalia; Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced; and Cal Dooley, D-Fresno,
signing on as co-sponsors.
"I am fully supportive of the recognition of human genocide," Nunes said.
"It is one reason I voted to send troops to Iraq, because of all the Kurds
Saddam Hussein killed. I am a strong supporter that the Armenian genocide
should be recognized."
In a statement announcing the effort, Radanovich said: "I applaud this
effort to pressure Congress to reaffirm their support of the Genocide
Convention and to appropriately recognize the Armenian genocide."
Locally, ANC member Paul Jamushian said Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic
Church alone has sent 600 postcards. Members are working on getting other
central San Joaquin Valley Armenian churches involved.
To date, Kassakhian said, of the 50,000 postcards ordered through his ANC
office, only a few thousand remain, and the ANC's Web site has had hundreds
of hits with people downloading a copy of the postcard to send.
In the Armenian genocide, 1.5 million Armenians died between 1915 and 1923
at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. The modern Turkish republic, born out of
the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, disputes that a genocide occurred. (END)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The reporter can be reached at jellis@fresnobee.com or 441-6320.
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/7966097p-8839011c.html
=========================================================
"UKRAINE REPORT-2004," No. 2: TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2004
"An In-Depth Newsletter"
TWELVE ARTICLES
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