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The BBC is reporting that, in a recent election in Nagorno-Karabakh, over 98% of residents supported sovereignty for that nation. For those unfamiliar with the history of the region, Karabakh was placed under the control of Azerbajian after the collapse of the USSR, in spite of being comprised mostly of ethnic Orthodox Christian Armenians, not Muslim Azeris. In 1995, Armenia and Azerbajian fought a bloody war over the territory, with Armenia taking control of the region, a situation that still remains today. While many nations will probably drag their feet in acknowledging Karabakh’s independence, the almost 100% agreement amongst voters there implies that there is little doubt in Karabakh’s populace that the nation should be sovereign, despite repeated Azeri attempts to re-assert control over the region.

Hopefully, the United States will step forward quickly and acknowledge the ability of a people to determine their own sovereignty, in spite of the rich oil reserves the Mr. Bush wishes to suck dry from the neighboring Muslim nations. In spite of its recent failings, the Republican Party has traditionally supported Armenia, and has a chance here to take a stand for democracy over profit in a region where the current administration is being severely criticized for just such short-sighted greed. Whether they will do so or not remains to be seen. The text of the BBC article is quoted below:

Image source: BBC.com

Karabakh voters back sovereignty

A preliminary count showed more than 98% of those voting in the disputed former Soviet territory backed the declaration, officials announced.

The people are mainly ethnic-Armenian and want independence from Azerbaijan.

Ethnic clashes after the collapse of the USSR led to armed conflict in the 1990s which killed up to 30,000 people.

Officials in Nagorno-Karabakh hope the vote will take the small mountainous region a step closer to becoming an independent state, says the BBC’s correspondent in the region, Matthew Collin.

The area, while completely surrounded by the rest of Azerbaijan, has been under ethnic Armenian control since the war.

Armenia is the only country that recognises Nagorno-Karabakh’s government.

The territory’s election commission said turnout was more than 80% - more than enough to make the referendum valid.

“According to preliminary results, the constitution is adopted and 10 December from now can be declared as a Constitution Day,” election commission chief Sergey Nasibyan told Reuters.

Autonomy rejected

The separatist president of Nagorno-Karabakh, Arkady Gukasyan, said this was a historic chance to establish a democratic state.

But he admitted it did not mean the international community would immediately recognise Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence.

The Azeri government insists it must not be allowed to break away.

It said the referendum was illegal, and could damage the peace process.

Azerbaijan has offered Nagorno-Karabakh widespread autonomy as part of a peace deal.

But that has been rejected by the separatist authorities.

The conflicting opinions about the referendum simply demonstrate that even after years of peace talks, a solution to this long-running dispute remains hard to find, our correspondent says.

With many of the one million people displaced by the war still unable to return to their homes, the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh still provokes bitter resentments in the region.

nagorno karabakh, nagorny karabagh, karabakh, karabgh, armenia, armenian, azeri, azerbajian, muslim, orthodox christian, sovereign, independence, voting, voters

What a wonderful day for Afghanistan, a country which has seen oh so few wonderful days in recent memory.

A wonderful day in Afghanistan, ca. 1979.

Afghan man faces death after leaving Islam for Christianity
Prosecutors, judge, family insist convert should die

By Kim Barker
Chicago Tribune foreign correspondent
Published March 21, 2006

KABUL, Afghanistan — This story contains corrected material, published March 22, 2006.

(The headline as published has been corrected in this text.)

Abdul Rahman told his family he was a Christian. He told the neighbors, bringing shame upon his home. But then he told the police, and he could no longer be ignored.

Now, in a major test of Afghanistan’s fledgling court system, Rahman, 42, faces the death penalty for abandoning Islam for Christianity. Prosecutors say he should die. So do his family, his jailers, even the judge. Rahman has no lawyer. Jail officials refused to let anyone see Rahman on Monday, despite permission granted by the country’s justice minister.

“We will cut him into little pieces,” said Hosnia Wafayosofi, who works at the jail, as she made a cutting motion with her hands. “There’s no need to see him.”

Rahman’s trial, which started Thursday, is thought to be the first of its kind in Afghanistan. It goes to the heart of the struggle between Islamic reformists and fundamentalists in the country, which is still recovering from 23 years of war and the harsh rule of the Taliban, a radical religious regime that fell in late 2001.

Even under the more moderate government now in power, Islamic law is supposed to be followed, and many believe it requires the death penalty for anyone who leaves Islam for another religion.

“We are Muslim, our fathers were Muslim, our grandfathers were Muslim,” said Abdul Manan, Rahman’s father, who is 75. “This is an Islamic country. Imagine if your son told a police commander, also a Muslim, that he is a Christian. How would this affect you? It’s very difficult for us.”

Much of Afghanistan remains conservative and religious. But Islamic rules are violated in Afghanistan every day–whether by alcohol being sold openly on the streets, or by prostitutes who cater to both foreigners and Afghans, or by the booming opium trade.

Many Islamic scholars believe that Muslims who convert from Islam should be killed, but liberal and moderate scholars disagree. One Afghan liberal scholar, Ali Mohaqeq Nasab, spent almost three months in jail last fall after publishing a magazine challenging many traditional views on Islamic law, including the belief that Muslims who convert to other religions deserve to die.

Most Afghans are Muslim–only a few are publicly Sikh or Hindu. Christians are rare and prefer to hide their religion. Afghan Christians have no church, and foreigners worship either in small groups, or at embassies or military bases.

Rev. Giuseppe Moretti, who ministers to Catholics in Afghanistan, said he has heard of some Afghan Christians who converted overseas, but most keep that secret once they come back. No Afghans worship under him.

“I hope this man is not condemned,” Moretti said. “It’s a very delicate situation.”

Rahman and his family have a history of problems. Manan said his son never worked, beat up family members and seemed mentally ill.

Rahman left Afghanistan shortly after the birth of his daughters, now 12 and 13. He and his wife divorced. While overseas, Rahman converted to Christianity. He returned to Afghanistan about three years ago and moved back in with his father and daughters. He left for months at a time, working at a restaurant or as a security guard.

He stayed with cousins, who asked him to leave after he said he was a Christian. Eventually, Rahman moved back with his father.

“He is my son,” said Manan, crying. “But if a son does not care about the dignity of his family, the dignity of his father, God can take him away. You cannot make anything out of such a son. He is useless.”

He complained about Rahman’s behavior to local police, but did not mention his religious conversion. At first, police asked the family to try to resolve its own problems. Then in early February, Rahman showed up at the police station and complained about how his family treated him. While there, he announced he had become a Christian.

Police said they had no choice except sending the case to central police command.

“We knew he had converted, but we didn’t want to get involved in religious issues,” said Col. Abdul Mohammed, the deputy commander of the police district. “So we filed a report on the family’s problems to send to the central police. And he insisted over and over, `Please write in my file that I converted to Christianity.’”

On Thursday, the first day of the trial, Rahman appeared in court with no lawyer. Prosecutor Abdul Wasi said Rahman had been told repeatedly to repent and come back to Islam, but Rahman refused. Wasi called Rahman a traitor.

“He is known as a microbe in society, and he should be cut off and removed from the rest of Muslim society and should be killed,” Wasi told the court.

Rahman said he had surrendered himself to God. “I believe in the holy spirit,” he said. “I believe in Christ. And I am a Christian.”

Judge Ansarullah Mawlawizada, who is handling the case, said he normally takes two months to decide on cases. But because this case is so serious, he expected to hold another hearing within the next week and make a decision.

Mawlawizada, who kept Rahman’s green Bible on his desk, said he respected all religions. He emphasized that he did not favor the aggressiveness of the Taliban, who cut the hands and feet off criminals in a soccer stadium. But he said Rahman had to repent.

“If he doesn’t regret his conversion, the punishment will be enforced on him,” the judge said. “And the punishment is death.”

Quite depressing. But I’d like to focus on the bright spot within the article, namely one Ms. Hosnia Wafayosofi, who is a shining example of how far the Afghan Republic truly has come since 2001.

Hosnia “Lynndie England” Wafayosofi (artist sketch)

Why? Quite simply, Ms. Wafayosofi is working! That’s right, freed of repressive headgear and robes, she is now free to level her xenophobic scorn at those with less power than herself, just like her male counterparts. And not just any insults, but truly vicious language evocative of that of a truly fucked-up human being whose truncheon is going to her head. And furthermore, much of her anger appears directed against Christians, and we are definitely all Christians in her mind, which, if we look at it optimistically and extrapolate quite a bit, means there’s a good chance that slightly more than twice as many people hate us now as did before.