Month: August 2008

Xinhua, China
Aug 23 2008

Medal-dropping Abrahamian was right, said CAS

2008-08-24 00:20:16

BEIJING, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) — Swedish Greco-Roman wrestler Ara
Abrahamian who was stripped of Olympic bronze medal for dropping it in
disgust on the mat during the victory ceremony had the right to be
angry, according to Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Abrahamian complained to CAS that his penalty in the semifinal of
men’s Greco-Roman 84kg bout on Aug. 14 against Andrea Minguzzi of
Italy, who finally won the gold, wasn’t assessed until after the bout
was over.

The International Federation of Wrestling (FILA), the governing
body of world wrestling, then denied Abrahamian’s coach’s request for
a video review and refused to consider a protest.

Silver medallist in Athens 2004 Games Abrahamian, 28, was stopped
from going after referees following his loss. He stormed away from the
mixed-zone and punched a door to the dressing room.

He went to the repechage matches after some friends’ persuading
and won a bronze. But Abrahamian walked off the podium and dropped his
medal on the mat and walked away. He declared that he retired.

The International Olympic Committee stripped Abrahamian’s bronze
for violating the spirit of fair play on Aug. 15.

The Armenian-born Abrahamian initially wanted referees in the bout
punished and his medal back.

"We limit ourselves to ruling that FILA must, consistently with
the (Olympic) Charter and general principles of fairness, establish
for the future a jury of appeal to determine the validity or otherwise
of complains of that kind ventilated by Abrahamian," wrote the judges.

Judges of CAS said Abrahamian was right, who also noted several
times that FILA did not appear at the hearing.

Editor: Xinhuanet

The FINANCIAL, Georgia
Aug 23 2008

Merkel opens up new Russian front
23/08/2008 18:36

The FINANCIAL – German Chancellor Angela Merkel is calling for a
summit of Georgia’s neighbours in the volatile Caucasus region
following the recent conflict with Russia, a government spokesman said
Saturday, Framce Press reported.

Russia itself was not on the list of countries envisaged by Merkel —
which included Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan — but no country
should be excluded from participation, the spokesman said.

"It’s up to the French presidency of the EU to decide if this
conference will take place, as well as when and who will be invited,"
he said.

According to the latest edition of German weekly Der Spiegel, which
will be published on Monday, Merkel proposed the summit idea to French
President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the European Union’s
rotating presidency. Berlin reckons the theme of the summit should be
"reconstruction and stability in Georgia and the region," the German
government spokesman said.

THE German Cabinet, headed by Angela Merkel, last Friday approved a
draft law aimed at fending off undesired foreign takeovers, setting
limits on investment that reflect concern over the growing strength of
sovereign wealth funds, Irish Independent reported.

Germany said last year that it will follow the US and France in
thwarting investments that jeopardise the security of key industries
such as telecoms and ports.

Sovereign wealth funds controlled by countries including Russia and
China manage ?¬2.5 trillion, according to the IMF. That sum may
be as much as ?¬12 trillion by 2015, it says.

"The majority of foreign investments won’t be affected,” Economy
Minister Michael Glos said. "Germany remains open to foreign
investments.” The draft law gives a commission, headed by the Economy
Ministry, power to block bids for 25pc or more of a target company by
funds or companies whose majority owners are not EU nationals.

Interfax, Russia
Aug 22 2008

NATION’S RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION CANNOT BE IMPEDED BY FORCE

Any attempt to use force in order to impede the exercise of self-
determination by the people of South Caucasus may have serious
military and political implications.

The tragic events in South Ossetia have shown that any attempt to use
armed force to suppress the desire for self-determination in the South
Caucasus may have serious military and political consequences,
Sargsyan said at a meeting with defense ministers of the CSTO
(Collective Security Treaty Organization) countries in Yerevan, the
Armenian president’s press office told Interfax.

Such conflicts must be settled on the basis of free will of the people
fighting for self-determination, he said.

Otherwise, we will witness acts of ethnic cleansing and violation of
international humanitarian law, said the Armenian president.

Yerevan has repeatedly pointed to the danger of unprecedented military
build-up by some countries in the region and attempts to use force in
resolving conflicts, he said.

The military way of conflict resolution has no prospects, and the
events in the South Caucasus will have a sobering effect on those who
still foster illusions about forceful resolution, the president said.

Sargsyan welcomed the joint initiative of the Russian and French
presidents on the six principles of the South Ossetian conflict
resolution.

Interfax, Russia
Aug 22 2008

About 2,500 servicemen participating in CSTO war games in Armenia

YEREVAN Aug 22

The Frontier 2008 exercise of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization began in Armenia on Friday.

The military attaches of the United States, Britain, China, Iran,
Greece and Bulgaria are observing the exercise, Armenian Defense
Ministry spokesman Col. Seiran Shakhsuvarian told Interfax.

The Georgian military attache is not attending.

The drill involves 1,392 Armenian servicemen and 1,106 servicemen from
Russia. Armor, air defense systems and aviation, including MiG-29 and
Su-25 fighter jets and Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters, will be used in the
maneuvers.

The delegations of the CSTO member-states will observe the active
phase of the command-post exercise, which unfolded at the Bagramian
training ground 40 kilometers west of Yerevan.

The troops will practice operations to provide military and
military-technical aid to Armenia in the event of aggression.

The plan of the exercise is conditional, but takes the current
military-political and military-strategic situation in the region into
account.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization comprises Russia, Armenia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Interfax, Russia
Aug 22 2008

Georgia claims attempt made to blow up bridge linking Georgia, Armenia

TBILISI Aug 22

Unidentified persons have attempted to blow up a railway bridge
linking Georgia and Armenia in Georgia’s Marneuli district, local
authorities reported.

A bomb, presumably an anti-tank mine, planted underneath a bridge
support, went off at dawn, but did not seriously damage the bridge,
Kvemo Kartli District Governor David Kirkitadze told journalists on
Friday.

The incident is under investigation, the governor said.

Interfax, Russia
Aug 22 2008

Armenian Defense Minister praises CSTO exercises

YEREVAN Aug 27

The joint command post exercises of Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO) Rubezh-2008 have been held at the highest level,
Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian told the press on Friday.

"The Rubezh-2008 exercises were held at the highest level. The
objectives of the exercises – to develop a pattern of interaction of
government bodies and CSTO operational groups and to improve the work
of commanders and staffs – have been fully reached," he said.

CSTO General Secretary Nikolai Bordyuzha said: "These exercises were a
good experience. They gave food for thought, for developing the
regulatory network aimed at settling conflicts by political means
without aggravating them to the point of the use of armed force."

The exercises were held in four stages and are ending in Armenia on
Friday.

Earlier press secretary of the Armenian Defense Ministry Col.

Seyran Shahsuvarian told Interfax that the military attaches of the
United States, Great Britain, China, Iran, Greece and Bulgaria
attended the exercise as observers.

The exercises involved 1,392 servicemen from Armenia and 1,106 from
Russia and also armed vehicles, air defense systems, MiG-29 and
Sukhoi-25 warplanes and Mi-24 and MI-8 helicopters.

The CSTO member-states are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Interfax, Russia
Aug 22 2008

MOSCOW HOPES RUSSIANS WILL BE FREE TO LEAVE GEORGIA

MOSCOW Aug 22

Moscow hopes that in the future the Georgian authorities will no
longer prevent Russians from leaving Georgia, said Russian Foreign
Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko.

"Georgia received a tough warning of the unacceptability of any
attempts to prevent Russians from leaving the country, which had a due
effect. We expect Georgian authorities to strictly adhere to their
given assurances," he told journalists on Thursday.

The text of his answers to the media was posted on the website of the
Russian Foreign Ministry.

As soon as Georgia began its aggression against South Ossetia, the
Russian Embassy in Tbilisi started receiving many complaints from
Russians who had difficulty in leaving Georgia, especially after air
traffic stopped between the two countries, the diplomat said.

By now the problem has been partially resolved, Nesterenko said.

Russian citizens can leave Georgia, first of all, through Armenia (by
motor transport, including a shuttle bus to Yerevan, and subsequently
by airplane) and through Turkey (Trabzon and Istanbul), he said.

There are also flights between Tbilisi and Kyiv, and from Tbilisi to
Baku, which resumed on August 16, the diplomat said.

"Russia, for its part, took necessary steps to provide every possible
help to its citizens in Georgia," Nesterenko said.

The Russian Embassy in Tbilisi is taking contact phone numbers from
citizens who asked for help, and through organizations of ethnic
Russians in Tbilisi, Batumi and Kutaisi which are also distributing
information on how Russians can leave the country, he said.

"The branch of the organization of ethnic Russians in Batumi and the
Russian Consulate General in Tranzon (Turkey) have organized trips for
Russians from the western part of Georgia," Nesterenko said.

According to the plan, the organization will register all Russians who
until now were unable to leave the country, while the Consulate
General will assist by booking a ferry from Trabzon to Sochi.

The next group of Russians will depart from Batumi to Trabzon on
August 22, Nesterenko said.

*** ROSTOV-ON-DON. Aug 22 (Interfax) – Over the past 24 hours, 330
Russian returning from Georgia have passed through the Verkhny Lars
border checkpoint on the Russian border.

"330 Russian citizens have returned from Georgia to Russia through the
Verkhny Lars border checkpoint as of 05.30 a.m. Moscow time on
Friday. Georgian border guards received five Georgians who wished to
go back to their home country from Russia," spokesman for the Russian
Federal Security Service (FSB) Border Guard Department for the
Southern Federal District Sergei Livantsov told Interfax on Friday.

Cooperation with Georgian border checkpoints to help Russians to
return from Georgia continues, he said.

"Hopefully, both countries’ border guard authorities will continue
their constructive cooperation on helping Russians and Georgians cross
the border," Livantsov said.

Many Russians who are returning home had traveled to Georgia on
vacation, to visit their relatives or on business.

The Verkhny Lars checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian national border
had been closed for reconstruction, however "in these days it
continues its work as an exception in order to help Russians who found
themselves in a difficult situation in the Georgia-controlled area,"
the official said.

"Some of our fellow countrymen have no money, some were left without
documents. All these matters are been considered by Russian border
guards as required by Russian law and are treated with understanding,"
Livantsov said.

Most Russians are leaving Georgia through nearby countries, in
particular, by ferry from the Georgian port of Poti to the Turkish
port of Trabzon. From there Russians continue their journey toward the
Russian coast where they will be met by Russian border guards,
Livantsov said.

The Nizhny Zaramag border checkpoint on the Trans-Caucasus road in
North Ossetia is working 24 hours a day, he said. It serves as a
border crossing point for Russians going from South Ossetia and those
who go back to the republic.

"A large quantity of humanitarian aid and construction materials for
South Ossetia is passing through Nizhny Zaramag these days. Apart from
the returning residents of South Ossetia, teams of specialists are
also heading to the republic to rebuild Tskhinvali. According to our
estimates, checks are being carried out on average for three or four
persons per minute at the Russian border," Livantsov said.

State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan
August 22, 2008 Friday

AZERBAIJANI LITERATURE SECTION TO BE PRESENTED IN VIENNA CITY LIBRARY

Baku 22 August

Austria-based Azer-Ata Society and Azerbaijan`s Embassy in this
country have reached an agreement to present the Azerbaijani
Literature section in the Vienna City Library. The section includes a
collection of books on Azerbaijan`s culture, history, art, literature,
the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as
activities of Azerbaijani national leader Heydar Aliyev, President
Ilham Aliyev, Heydar Aliyev Foundation`s President, UNESCO and ISESCO
goodwill ambassador Mehriban Aliyeva.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Weekend Australian
August 23, 2008 Saturday
5 – All-round Review Edition

Return to Armenia, in search of meaning

THURSDAY, AUGUST 28
by Jill Rowbotham

Family Footsteps: Armenia

8.30pm, ABC1

THIS intriguing story’s dark background is the Armenian genocide of
1915. This is the genocide denied by its alleged perpetrator, Turkey.

Joanna Kambourian’s family is one among millions for whom the
repercussions continue.

The graphic artist from coastal NSW is the troubled subject of the
first episode in the new series of Family Footsteps. She is the
daughter of a Dutch mother and an Armenian-American father. But it was
her Armenian great-grandfather on whom events turned. As conditions
deteriorated around him he had to choose between saving his family by
betraying his culture or accepting the high risk of their very cruel
deaths.

He chose life. Now Joanna wants to return to Armenia to see if time
has changed the harsh judgment.

“The worst thing about going to Armenia would be that the Armenian
people do not forgive my family for the past,” she says.

Her father is encouraging. “Here’s a culture you are part of, kid, go
do it,” he says.

Two weeks in the village of Ohanavan is every bit the cultural
bootcamp you may imagine, although she is warmly embraced by host
Tehmineh, a teacher; her husband Ara, an orchardist; and his mother,
Jemma, also a teacher.

Joanna struggles to contribute by working in the bakery, making lavash
bread using centuries-old techniques, eats unpalatable local
delicacies and even allows a rooster to be sacrificed for her host
family to confer a blessing on her.

In fact, this is only one of their gifts; the other is their
hospitality and care for her, signified by assigning her Jemma’s room,
the warmest in the house, being next to the stove.

Joanna’s winter visit inevitably means we see Armenia at its bleakest
and it’s hard to resist a shake of the head when she joins in a
celebration in Tehmineh’s classroom, staged because heating has been
restored to the school after two years.

The more conventional upsides are learning to dance with the women,
touring the market of the nearby capital, Yerevan, and visiting the
vicinity of Mt Ararat, where Noah’s ark landed, according to the Bible
story. Beyond it lies the village from which her family came, today
part of Turkey.

It’s all part of the search for her Armenian identity and some comfort
to take back to her father, so her visits to the genocide museum and a
local historian are powerful moments.

“I owe it to my family, my ancestry, to find a way to put a lot of
their feelings of grief and shame and loss to rest, but I’m not sure
how that is going to go,” she says.

The family could not have chosen a better emissary.

Hayots Ashkharh, Armenia
Aug 22 2008

Lessons of Georgian-Ossetian conflict as presented by ARF bureau
member Aghvan Vardandyan

by Lusine Hovhannisyan

"Attempts to settle conflicts by military means are doomed to failure
as the Georgian-Ossetian clash has showed," a member of the ARFD
[Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutyun] bureau said at
the Iranvunk-De Facto [press] club yesterday, adding that in this
context, the popular saying "he who takes the sword will be killed
with the sword" is true.

Aghvan Vardanyan believes that what happened would be a lesson for
Azerbaijan too. "When assessing what happened in our region, first of
all, we all should be concerned by the human tragedy: thousands of
victims, tens of thousands of refugees. These events affect Armenia
too, our country’s economic issues, shipments, etc."

He said that "it is very important that the international community
realizes that Armenia may also suffer from the conflict".

Vardanyan analysed what happened in the context of the Armenian
interests, concerns, issues regarding Armenia and Artsakh [Nagornyy
Karabakh].

"Artsakh will celebrate its independence day on 2 September, and I
believe it is a good occasion to show our unity. I am deeply convinced
that the soldiers defending the borders of Nagornyy Karabakh realize
that they defend not only Artsakh but also the Republic of Armenia,
our national interests. Without the right of Artsakh people to live
freely, Armenia cannot have great future in this region and in the
world."

Vardanyan said that the NKR, with its historic and legal status, as
well as today’s situation, cannot be compared with either Osetia or
Abkhazia. "NKR has more right in all terms and is a more established
and organized state that many recognized countries in the region can
learn lessons from."

Vardanyan thinks that "the consequences of the Georgian-Ossetian
conflict are a good reason for the key Armenian political forces to
show a united will on issues concerning Karabakh and other crucial
issues". He said it is said that the Armenian fundamental opposition
does not show signs of unity.

[Passage omitted: Vardanyan said that Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan’s being in Beijing during the conflict was a minor detail,
and the Armenian government performed well.]

He said Armenia should concentrate more on Turkey’s activeness.

[translated]

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress