Month: November 2006

ENVIRONMENT ACTIVISTS CONCERNED WITH SEVAN ECOLOGY
Panorama.am
15:02 15/11/06
The Union of Armenian Writers, greens unions and other environment
related organizations are concerned with the intention of the
government to stop efforts which aim to raise the level of water
in Sevan.
Hakob Manaseryan, chairman of Greens Union, said the government has
prepared a draft planning to lower the level of wave up to 1.5 meters
instead of 5. The activists are going to come up with a suggestion
to reconsider the decision.

ORINATS YERKIR PROPOSES HIGHER COMPENSATION FOR SAVING BANK DEPOSITS
Panorama.am
15:04 15/11/06
Orinats Yerkir party proposes to double the amount of money which is
going to be compensated against deposits at the Saving Bank in 2007,
Heghine Bisharyan, faction secretary, told a parliament hearing on
budget today. She said 1 billion drams is not a big sum and it could
be doubled.
Bisharyan pointed out that despite of rising salaries of teachers they
still get some 16,000 drams. She also underscored higher salaries for
scientists. Bisharyan attached importance to health of women saying
many women get sick at younger age.

INDEPENDENT DEPUTY AGAINST RISE OF SALARY OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR 40%
Panorama.am
15:07 15/11/06
Hmaiak Hovanisyan, an independent deputy of the National Assembly,
spoke against the rise of salary of top public employees for
40%. Hovanisyan said the authorities in power pursue a policy
of keeping socially vulnerable population dependant on election
bribes. He said cases of “buying” votes for 3-5 thousand drams are
not singular. Hovanisyan suggested cutting short social polarization
which is evident in the budget.

VETERANS OF KARABAKH WAR JOIN IN CIVIC DISOBEDIENCE EFFORT
Panorama.am
15:12 15/11/06
The board of commanders of “Brotherhood of liberation war” promulgated
a statement calling for civic disobedience. The statement says the
victory in Karabakh war is the single achievement of 15 years of our
independence. Today there is a danger to lose territories which were
fought for by seven thousand freedom fighters, first commander of
defense army of NKR Arkadi Karapetyan says. The current process of
Karabakh conflict regulation the board compared with the events of
20s of the last century when 29 thousand square meters became part
of Armenia instead of 161 planned by North Agreement. The statement
also says the freedom fighters never thought that Karabakh will become
a subject for trade. Karapetyan even states the amount of money USA
has promised to republic authorities in power – 9 billion dollars, for
handing over the territories under control and deploying international
peacekeeping forces there. The board does not refer to its source of
information. The commanders say the authorities in power gradually
strengthen the idea of inevitability of handing over the lands in
the minds of the public. The board is sure the people will not allow
such developments. The situation can be corrected only by the change
of power, the veterans think. To reach their aim, they have decided
to join in the movement of civic disobedience.

HIV/AIDS INFECTED SAYS ARMENIA STRICT IN JUDGING THE SICK
Panorama.am
17:44 15/11/06
“There is an opinion in our society that HIV/AIDs is connected with
morality, life style, drug addiction, prostitution and similar
things. But any person can become infected by HIV/AIDs,” Gayane
Tovmasyan, project manager of the project “Support to sick people
infected with HIV/AIDs” said.
Yelena Strijak, who is also infected and came here from the Ukraine,
said Armenia is “stricter” in attitudes because of traditions. She
said there are more than 85,000 infected people in the Ukraine.
Tovmasyan said official number of infected people in Armenia is 443
but the number fluctuates from 2800-3000 excluding those with secret
phase of illness.

TURKEY ENDS FRENCH MILITARY TIES
BBC News, UK
Nov 16 2006
The French move led to street protests in Turkey The commander of
the Turkish army says his country has suspended all military ties
with France.
General Ilker Basbug said this was in protest at a bill passed by
the French National Assembly to make it a crime to deny the Armenian
“genocide”.
Armenia says Ottoman Turks killed 1.5 million people systematically
in 1915 – a claim strongly denied by Turkey.
Both France and Turkey are members of the Nato military alliance,
and Turkey is a market for French-made weapons.
The dispute comes in the midst of worsening relations between Turkey
and the European Union – of which France is also a key member.
Some European leaders say Turkey is not making sufficient progress
in membership talks to join the Union.
The new French bill, tabled by the opposition but opposed by the French
government, needs approval from the Senate and president before it
becomes law.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI OFFICIALS VOICE POSITIVE NOTE AFTER MEETING ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH
The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune, France
Nov 16 2006
BAKU, Azerbaijan: Azebaijani and Armenian officials were positive on
Wednesday about the potential for resolving the simmering conflict
over Nagorno-Karabakh, a day after foreign ministers for the two
South Caucasus countries met for talks.
Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous region in Azerbaijan that has been
under the control of Armenian and ethnic-Armenian Karabakh forces
since a 1994 cease-fire ended a six-year separatist war that killed
about 30,000 people and drove about 1 million from their homes.
The region’s final status remains unresolved, and years of talks
under the auspices of international mediators have brought few
visible results.
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian and his Azerbaijani
counterpart, Elmar Mammadyarov, met for talks in Brussels on Tuesday
under the auspices of international mediators.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the talks had a
“very constructive character” and that progress had been made. The
ministry also said the countries’ presidents could possibly meet at
an upcoming summit of leaders from ex-Soviet republics.
On Tuesday, Yerevan issued a statement that also said the talks took
place in a “constructive atmosphere.”
Neither ministry released details about the talks, but both noted
that mediators from the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe – which has long sought to resolve the
conflict – planned to travel to the region next week for meetings
with top officials.
/15/europe/EU_GEN_Azerbaijan_Armenia.php

TURKEY SUSPENDS MILITARY TIES WITH FRANCE OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL
The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune, France
Nov 16 2006
ANKARA, Turkey: Turkey has suspended military relations with France
in a dispute over whether the mass killings of Armenians in the last
century amounted to genocide, the land forces commander said Wednesday.
The move raises tensions with a key member of the European Union at a
time when Turkey’s negotiations to become a member of the 25-nation
bloc look increasingly troubled, with neither side willing to give
way on a dispute over divided Cyprus.
Gen. Ilker Basbug told reporters that military ties with France
were suspended after lawmakers in France’s lower house of parliament
approved a bill in October that would make it a crime to deny that
Turks committed genocide against Armenians. The bill would have to
be approved by the French Senate and president to become law.
“Relations with France in the military field have been suspended,”
the state-owned Anatolia news agency quoted Basbug as saying. Asked
whether there were any cancellations of military visits, Basbug said:
“There are no high-level visits between the two countries.”
France’s Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry had no immediate
comment.
The Turkish general spoke at a reception in honor of the founding of
the breakaway republic in Turkish northern Cyprus.
In 1974, Turkish forces invaded the island to stop a coup by army
officers that aimed to unite Cyprus with Greece. Since then, Turkey
has propped up a government of ethnic Turks on the north of the island
that no other nation recognizes.
In 2004, the Greek-speaking side of Cyprus joined the EU, and the
conflict has threatened to derail Turkey’s hopes of also joining
the union.
Turkey has refused to extend its customs union to include Greek Cyprus,
despite EU warnings that failing to do so would risk the suspension of
membership talks. Turkey insists, however, that it will not open up
to Cyprus until an international embargo against Turks on the island
is lifted.
“If by the end of the year Turkey still does not recognize the 25
member states, notably including Cyprus, then it appears to me
necessary to rethink the timetable for the adhesion of Turkey,”
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said last week.
France and Turkey are both NATO members, and Turkey has been a buyer
of French-made weaponry. The two countries also have participated
in military exercises together, and have sent troops to serve in the
international peacekeeping force in Lebanon.
But the Turkish military also has blacklisted several French firms
in the past in similar disputes over the mass killings of Armenians.
Turkey views the French genocide bill as a hostile, and has said
the lawmakers’ vote has deeply harmed Turkish-French relations. A
Turkish consumer’s union has called for a boycott of French goods,
and Turkey’s broadcasting watchdog suggested a complete boycott of
French films and other media.
Turkey vehemently denies that it committed genocide against Armenians,
though many nations have classified the World War I-era killings
as such.
Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died in mass
expulsions and fighting, but says the number of dead is exaggerated
and that most were killed in interethnic battles as the Ottoman
Empire collapsed.
Armenians and many nations say some 1.5 million Armenians were killed
in a genocidal campaign devised and executed by Turkish leaders.
The European Union and European media have criticized the French bill,
saying it is not in line with the principle of free expression and does
not promote dialogue with Turkey. The United States also criticized
the French bill, saying that it gets in the way of establishing a
Turkish-Armenian dialogue.
The Armenian issue is one of the most divisive and emotional in
Turkey. Those who classify the killings as genocide are often accused
of treason.

NOBEL PRIZE-WINNER PAMUK RECEIVES INAUGURAL HUMANIST MEDAL
By Liam Otten
Washington University Record, Washington
Nov 16 2006
The Turkish novelist will speak at ‘Celebrating Our Books’ colloquium
Nov. 27
Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in
Literature, will receive the University’s inaugural Distinguished
Humanist Medal.
The award – which includes a cash prize of $15,000 – is supported by
the Center for the Humanities and International and Area Studies, both
in Arts & Sciences. It will be given biannually to a distinguished
scholar, writer or artist whose career merits special recognition
for excellence and courage.
Orhan Pamuk Pamuk will receive the medal and make a formal address
during the fifth annual faculty book colloquium at 4 p.m. Nov. 27 in
Graham Chapel. Titled “Celebrating Our Books, Recognizing Our Authors,”
the colloquium honors the work of scholars from across the arts and
sciences disciplines.
Pamuk’s speech will be published in the University’s literary
journal, Belles Lettres. Pamuk also will conduct a question-and-answer
session before a select audience at Hurst Lounge the afternoon of his
visit. Text from the session is scheduled to be published in 2007 in
the new graduate student online publication, Arch.
“Pamuk was chosen for the award late last spring in consultation
with other faculty, well before he won the Nobel Prize,” said Gerald
Early, Ph.D., the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters in the
Department of English in Arts & Sciences and director of the Center
for the Humanities.
“James Wertsch (the Marshall S. Snow Professor in Arts & Sciences and
director of International and Area Studies) and David Lawton (professor
and chair of English in Arts & Sciences) were especially helpful,
as they both know Pamuk’s books very well,” Early noted. “It was felt
that Pamuk was not only a brilliant writer whose works provide us with
fresh, important perspectives on the divide between East and West,
but that his support of free speech in Turkey was a notable act. He
was an ideal selection for the prize, and he was happy to accept.”
In addition to Pamuk’s talk, “Celebrating Our Books” will include
presentations by John R. Bowen, Ph.D., the Dunbar-Van Cleve Professor
in Arts & Sciences and author of Why the French Don’t Like Headscarves:
Islam, the State and Public Space (2006), and Lingchei Letty Chen,
Ph.D., assistant professor of modern Chinese language & literature
in Arts & Sciences and author of Writing Chinese: Reshaping Chinese
Cultural Identity (2006).
“We bring Orhan Pamuk here not only to honor him for his achievements,
but to show how much regard we have for Washington University
faculty authors by having them share the stage with a writer of such
international eminence,” Early said. “We very much want to showcase
our writers and scholars.”
Born in 1952, Pamuk graduated from American Robert College in Istanbul
and studied architecture at Istanbul Technical University before
earning a degree in journalism from Istanbul University.
At 23, he decided to become a novelist and published his first book,
Cevdet Bey and His Sons, seven years later. Now one of Turkey’s most
prominent writers, his books have been translated into more than
40 languages.
Pamuk made international headlines in 2005 when criminal charges were
brought against him in Istanbul following his statement that Turkey
killed a million people in the Armenian Genocide of 1915-17 and
massacred 30,000 Kurds in the late 20th century. Pamuk was indicted
on charges the remark amounted to a “public denigration” of Turkish
identity, a crime in Turkey. Authors from around the world, including
Salman Rushdie and John Updike, spoke out on Pamuk’s behalf. Charges
were dropped in January 2006.
In addition to Cevdet Bey, Pamuk wrote The Silent House (1983), The
White Castle (1985) and The Black Book (1990). The New Life (1994),
about university students influenced by a mysterious book, is one of
the most widely read novels in Turkish literature.
His most recent books include My Name Is Red (1998) – his most popular
work in English – about Ottoman and Persian artists, the political
novel Snow (2002) and the memoir Istanbul (2005).
Bowen’s research focuses on the role of cultural forms in processes
of social change. His first three books – Muslims Through Discourse:
Religion and Ritual in Gayo Society (1993), Critical Comparisons in
Politics and Culture (1999) and Islam, Law and Equality in Indonesia:
An Anthropology of Public Reasoning (2003) – examine issues of
religion, culture and politics in Indonesia. In Why the French Don’t
Like Headscarves, he explores the French government’s 2004 decision to
ban Islamic headscarves and other religious signs from public schools.
Chen’s Writing Chinese addresses complex issues surrounding the claim
of “Chinese-ness” in our increasingly borderless world. Cutting across
geographical boundaries, the work challenges current discussions
of hybridity and nationalism by examining the politics of Chinese
cultural identity facing writers in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and
the United States. In the end, Writing Chinese proposes that the
aesthetics of hybridization are key to developing a more open,
creative and individualized notion of Chinese cultural identity.
The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited
and RSVPs are strongly encouraged. A reception and book-signing
will follow in Holmes Lounge. The reception will include a display
of all faculty books published in the past five years. In addition,
the Campus Store will display books by all three speakers, all of
which will be available for purchase.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FINLAND 1 ARMENIA 0
Sportinglife.com, UK
Nov 16 2006
Finland saw off a spirited Armenia display to claim all three points
and storm to the summit of Euro 2008 qualifying Group A on Wednesday.
HJK Helsinki’s veteran forward Mika Nurmela nodded the only goal of
the match within the opening 10 minutes as the hosts rarely broke
sweat in the sub-zero conditions.
The result, Finland’s third win from five games this campaign, sees
Roy Hodgson’s men hold a one point advantage over second-placed Serbia,
while Armenia remain second from bottom with a solitary point to show
for their four games.
Ahead of the game, the only major adaptation either side had to make
– aside from Finland having to cope without injured talisman Jari
Litmanen – was the use of an artificial pitch, but there was nothing
cosmetic about the nitty-gritty style of this game.
Finland’s Markus Heikkinen made the point within the opening two
minutes, crunching into Romik Khachatryan, before Armenia’s Aghvan
Lazarian underlined it with a hack on Mika Vayrynen.
The game soon settled, however, and the hosts showed their attacking
prowess – Toni Kallio heading narrowly wide and Vayrynen testing
Gevorg Kasparov’s reactions with a stinging drive from 20 yards.
In between Levon Pachajyan managed to call Jussi Jaaskelainen into
action at the other end, but Finland remained on top and hit the opener
on 10 minutes when 34-year-old Nurmela nodded Jonatan Johansson’s
chip into the bottom corner.
Vayrynen then added his miscued chance to the couple wasted by
Aleksei Eremenko as the hosts chased their second of the evening,
but the game was becoming more about strength than style.
Armenia briefly flirted with the latter, Hamlet Mkhitaryan’s corner
craftily deflected goalwards by Armen Shahgeldyan, but like the other
chances gone before Finland had little trouble dismantling the attack.
After the break, shooting from distance came into fashion, Joonas
Kolkka, Lazarian and Levon Pachajyan trying their luck from outside
the box, but neither goalkeeper had cause to be concerned until
Kasparov parried Johansson’s close range effort in the 77th minute.
Armenian frustration began to show and was promptly rewarded with
two yellow cards, but they were less aggressive in front of goal and
succumbed to their third defeat of the campaign.
Teams
Finland: Jaaskelainen, Hyypia, Nyman, Tihinen, Heikkinen,
Kallio, Kolkka, Eremenko (Kuqi 88), Vayrynen (Ilola 47),
Johansson, Nurmela.
Subs Not Used: Enckelman, Kuivasto, Kopteff, Lagerblom, Wiss.
Goals: Nurmela 10.
Armenia: Kasparov, Dokhoyan (Valeri Aleksanyan 52), Hovsepyan,
Tadevosyan, Pachajyan, Mkhitaryan (Ara Hakobyan 75),
Khachatryan, Lazarian, Artavazd Karamyan,
Zebelian (Arman Karamyan 78), Shahgeldyan.
Subs Not Used: Hambardtsumyan, Melikyan, Tigranyan,
Aram Hakobyan.
Booked: Artavazd Karamyan, Lazarian, Zebelian.
Att: 9,445
Ref: Craig Thomson (Scotland).