Author: admin

Journal of Turkish Weekly

2005-03-16 10:40:59

Turkey Vows to Implement Reforms for EU Membership

LONDON (JTW) Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul on Tuesday rejected
criticism his government had failed to fulfill reform pledges and said
preparations for membership negotiations with the EU were on track.

Abdullah Gul, in an interview with the Financial Times, also said a
controversial draft law on regional subsidies would be revised to enable the
International Monetary Fund to approve a $10 billion stand-by program by
early April.
“We know that implementation (of the reforms) is most important,” said Gul,
referring to criticism by Brussels there had been a lack of implementation
on several rights reforms Turkey passed last year to win a date for EU
accession talks.

“We will continue. There is no way to stop this,” he said.

‘WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO FUTURE WITH TURKEY’

European Union Commission Turkey Representative Hansjorg Kretschmer has said
he has forgotten the remarks made by Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
about him and wanted to look forward to a future with Turkey. Indicating
that the European Union (EU) train covered distance very quickly, Kretschmer
emphasized that a political crisis would make the negotiation process
difficult. Saying Turkey’s image was stained due to the pictures of police
hitting a woman at an International Women’s Day demonstration, Kretschmer
explained: “There is a historical process ahead us. If we can achieve this,
we will achieve something that will not only affect the EU and Turkey but
also the entire world. I personally want this to be achieved.”

Kretschmer gave his first interview since Minister Gul’s provacative
statement, ‘Who is Krestchmer?’ to Zaman. Evaluating the current process,
the EU ambassador wants to ‘look to the future’. Explaining that some
Europeans wanted to stop the process due to the events in Istanbul,
Kretschmer told: “They were individual acts; however, Turkey’s image was
stained. It is necessary not to let these kinds of cases occur again in
order not to discourage Turkey’s supporters in the EU. The faster the reform
process, the faster the negotiations progress. If a slowdown occurs, the
completion of the process will be delayed.”

`ARMENIAN CLAIMS ARE NOT EU CRITERIA”

On the other hand, Armenian allegations on the agenda in France have raised
questions about how it will affect Turkey’s European Union (EU) ambitions.
European Union Commission Turkey Representative Hansjorg Kretschmer thinks
that the Armenian issue will not become a political criterion before Turkey.
Giving a brief statement about the political criteria, Kretschmer said,
“With the December 17 decision, it was accepted that Ankara had
‘sufficiently’ fulfilled the political criteria. Of course, it cannot be
said they were totally fulfilled. Government officials also think in this
way.”
Priorities according to Kretschmer: Some advice was given to the goverment
about 103 legal issues. Judicial reform should be made to ensure harmony
with the EU. Religious freedom of non-Muslim minorities should be provided.
The laws for foundations should be reviewed. Women’s rights should be made a
priority. Defects in the implementation of freedom of expression and the Law
of Association should be immediately eliminated.

Many in the EU remain deeply uneasy about admitting Turkey, a large,
overwhelmingly Muslim country of more than 70 million people, even though
negotiations could last a decade. Many extreme groups in the EU argue that
there is no room in Europe for Muslims because they think European Union is
a Christian civilization. There are many Muslim states, including Turkey,
Bosnia, Albania, Azerbaijan and Turkish Cypriot State, in Europe but none of
them is EU member.

Compiled by JTW Staff from Zaman, NTV and news agencies. 16 March 2005

Turkey-EU
2005-03-16 10:40:59

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Daily Times – Pakistan
Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Almatay conference to focus trade with CA

ISLAMABAD: The Minister for Commerce Humayun Akhtar Khan will chair the
maiden Envoys Conference beginning in Almatay, Kazakhstan on Tuesday

The meeting would be a good step towards improved trade relations as the
present trade policy of the country, specifically focuses on two regions
i.e. Central Asian Republics (CARs) and Africa, which remained neglected
earlier, according to an official hand out issued on Tuesday.

One of the initiatives in the Trade Policy 2004-05 is to hold Regional
Conferences of Envoys and Commercial Officers in CARs, Africa, East Europe,
Latin America, Middle East and Far East countries. The objective of these
conferences is to develop a comprehensive strategy for increasing and
diversifying Pakistan exports to these countries. The geo-strategic and
geo-economic importance of Central Asia cannot be under mined because of its
position between Europe and the Asian heartland as well as the tremendous
energy resources of the region that would gain increasing importance in
future.

The first Conference of CARs is being held at Almaty, Kazakhstan from
15-16th March. In-depth consultations will be held to assess Pakistan’s
export potential in each of these countries. The restraining factors like
import tariffs, non-tariff barriers, payment problems and visa restrictions
will be identified. The Conference would also examine the existing regional
trading arrangements. In this Conference, Kazakh-tan, Uzbekistan,
Kyrghistan, Turk-menistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and Armenia will be
covered. – Staff Report

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Associated Press Worldstream
March 15, 2005 Tuesday 9:06 AM Eastern Time

World Figure Skating Championships Results

MOSCOW

Results Tuesday from the World Figure Skating Championships at the
Luzhniki Sports Palace (ranking of participants with identical
secores is determined by tie-breaker):

Ice Dance
Compulsory Dance

1. Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov, Russia, 45.97 points.

2. Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, United States, 42.18.

3. Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov, Ukraine, 41.30.

4. Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski, Bulgaria, 40.81.

5. Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon, Canada, 40.51.

6. Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder, France, 40.51.

7. Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski, Israel, 39.13.

8. Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, Russia, 36.26.

9. Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali, Italy, 36.19.

10. Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe, Canada, 35.11.

11. Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov, United States, 34.40.

12. Sinead Kerr and John Kerr, Britain, 32.63.

13. Svetlana Kulikova and Vitali Novikov, Russia, 31.21.

14. Kristin Fraser and Igor Lukanin, Azerbaijan, 31.16.

15. Nora Hoffmann and Attila Elek, Hungary, 30.17.

16. Nathlaie Pechalat and Fabien Bourzat, France, 30.00.

17. Nozomi Watanabe and Akiyuki Kido, Japan, 29.20.

18. Anastasia Grebenkina and Vazgen Azrojan, Armenia, 28.53.

19. Natalia Gudina and Alexei Beletski, Israel, 28.40.

20. Yang Fang and Gao Chongbo , China, 27.57.

21. Christina Beier and William Beier, Germany, 27.24.

22. Alexandra Kauc and Michael Zych, Poland, 26.58.

23. Julia Golovina and Oleg Voiko, Ukraine, 25.24.

24. Olga Akimova and Alexander Shakalov, Uzbekistan, 24.25.

25. Laura Munana and Luke Munana, Mexico, 23.95.

26. Alessia Aurelli and Andrea Vaturi, Italy, 23.83.

27. Judith Haunstetter and Arne Hoenlein, Germany, 22.91.

28. Natalie Buck and Trent Nelson-Bond, Australia, 21.85.

29. Daniela Keller and Fabian Keller, Switzerland, 21.05.

30. Anna Galcheniuk and Oleg Krupen, Belarus, 13.36.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE MEDITATIONS OVER WAR AGAINST ARMENIA TESTIFY TO WEAKENING BAKU’S
POSITIONS IN ISSUE OF KARABAKH”

Azg/arm
16 March 05

According to the Azeri mass media, on March 11, Hajigha Nuriev, leader
of the Azeri Islamic Party, said that Azerbaijan should declare Jihad,
a sacred war, against Armenia to liberate the occupied territories. On
March 13, Ilham Aliyev said in the interview to the Turkish Public TV
that “We don’t want any war, but let them know that we are always
ready for a war.”

Such militant statements are not news. The Azeri president, members of
the government and the parliament, political parties and NGOs have
been making such statements since the very day of signing the
ceasefire with Armenia, i.e. May 9, 1994.

If Azerbaijan could fight in the war and would be sure that that would
not be the beginning of its end, it would immediately begin military
actions against Armenia. As they don’t do that it means that they are
attaining political goals. In the beginning, they tried to contrast
the war in the South Caucasus against the efforts of the international
community to maintain peace and stability in the region. They also
strive for leading the process of Nagorno Karabakh settlement in the
direction they want, blackmailing the OSCE Minsk group. They also pose
threats as a pressure measure over Armenia.

As neither the OSCE Minsk group yields the blackmail of Azerbaijan,
nor Armenia is frightened with the threats of the Azeri, the
determination of the Azeris to fight a war becomes a mere
mediation. In other words, Ilham Aliyev is “mediating” “on being ready
for a war. Maybe he thinks that the propaganda aimed to overcome the
psychology of a loser that is functioning in the subconsciousness of
the Azeris is not effective enough. That’s why Aliyev makes frequent
statements about the war against Armenia to comfort his people.

The attempt to comfort testifies to the concern of the Azeris. It
turns into a panic, when the West says that “Azerbaijan lost Nagorno
Karabakh in the war and should abandon this territory.” Zeyno Baran,
head of the International Security and Energetic program at the
Washington Nixon Center, said this atthe sitting of the US Congress
Committee for External Relations. Moreover, emphasized the strength of
the Armenian Diaspora, Mrs. Baran said that the U.S.A can’t exert
pressure over Robert Kocharian or the Armenian government.

This means that the meditations of Ilham Aliyev over unfolding a war
are based on concern. Meanwhile, he involuntarily approves the
statement of Vartan Oskanian, RA foreign minister, who said during the
March 9 press conference”We are in favorable positions in the Karabakh
issue.”

By Hakob Chakrian

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Moscow Times, Russia
March 16 2005

Kasparov: From Chess Hero to Political Zero?

By Tim Wall

In the sometimes genteel, sometimes weird world of professional
chess, Garry Kasparov has been the nearest thing to God for years:
omnipotent, all-seeing, with a mind like a Pentium processor and the
work rate of Hercules on amphetamines.

Like many more or less dilettante chess players, I have followed
Kasparov’s chess career with undisguised awe and at times outright
envy. While I spent too many years of my youth trying in vain to
climb the greasy pole of English junior chess, Kasparov was
conquering the world in his early 20s. When leading Western
grandmasters were giving up chess for accounting in the face of a
post-Soviet influx of their East European counterparts in the early
1990s, Kasparov was trouncing Britain’s geeky challenger Nigel Short
without breaking a sweat.

In many ways, Kasparov represents the ultimate triumph of Soviet
intellectual achievement. Trained by the father of Soviet chess,
five-time world champion Mikhail Botvinnik, he went on to pioneer the
use of computer programs and databases in analyzing chess, which
revolutionized the game during his two decades at the top.

But in the bleaker climate of Russian politics, the country’s media,
political analysts and even some of his fellow liberals see him more
as a dilettante who does not understand the rules of the game and who
has more than one failed political venture to his name, from the
Democratic Party of Russia, to the Liberal-Conservative Union, and
now to the risky Committee 2008: Free Choice. Critics and even
friends of Kasparov have noted an inability to commit to any one
project for a sustained period. In short, everyone seems to be
telling Kasparov: Don’t dabble with the real world, go back to the
safe confines of the 64 squares on the chessboard and the Wall Street
Journal op-ed page.

But if the politicos and media analysts were determined to show that
a chess player could not understand politics, they merely managed to
demonstrate their aptitude for mangling chess metaphors. The imagery
deployed to describe Kasparov’s decision to quit full-time chess for
something like full-time politics — both in the Russian and foreign
press — has been predictably chess-related, conjuring up all of the
limited metaphors in editors’ half-dozen-word chess lexicon. Some
Western newspapers hailed a “stunning move” that was delivering a
“check” to President Vladimir Putin, while other writers went even
further, predicting imminent “checkmate.”

The Chicago Tribune showed off its knowledge of chess and French by
describing Putin as “en prise,” a chess term that means a piece has
been left vulnerable to immediate capture. Meanwhile, the editors of
Britain’s Guardian newspaper headed an otherwise engaging interview
with the hoary old epithet “Endgame.” Ah, the omnipresent endgame —
as in the Yukos endgame or the endgame in Chechnya, by which the
media implies that it’s all over, even if it winds up taking months,
years or decades. As Kasparov could testify were anyone to ask him,
the endgame in chess is one of the most complicated and
little-understood parts of the game, which can take grandmasters a
lifetime to master.

Kommersant, of course, went one better with its typically caustic
headline, “Kasparov Slammed the Chessboard,” alluding to the world
champion’s famous temper tantrums. These are less frequent than in
his youth, it is true, but Kasparov’s recent epithets for Putin, such
as “fascist” and “Caligula,” can hardly endear him to the Kremlin.

It is a paradox, indeed: While chess is often used to describe
conflicts of great complexity, and chess players are rated the most
clever and logical of intellectuals, most of the time their standing
in the practical world is zilch.

Want a classic example of chess players’ unworldliness? Bobby
Fischer, the American world chess champion who beat the Soviets in
1972, now languishing in a Japanese detention center for breaking
sanctions in war-torn Yugoslavia. His behavior in retirement,
straight after winning the world title, ranks as one of the most
bizarre in sporting history, leading most onlookers to conclude —
with more than a little justification — that he was a total nut
case. The image of chess players as inmates of rook-shaped ivory
towers is further sustained by the bizarre record of the current
president of the international chess federation, the mercurial leader
of Kalmykia, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

So the idea that Kasparov could help bring some sense of direction to
crisis-wracked Russian liberalism does seem far-fetched to many. As
political analyst Andrei Piontkovsky pointed out this week, if
Kasparov has not been able to bring the warring sides of the chess
world together, how can he hope to succeed in building a political
coalition from Russia’s disparate opposition forces?

Kasparov’s unreconstructed free-market-and-democracy views, which he
likened to those of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s in a
Wall Street Journal comment Monday, could also require a little
tweaking in presentation if they are to have any effect on Russian
public opinion. And yet, for all its improbability, Kasparov’s
challenge — if not as a potential presidential candidate, then in
his own preferred role as a leading “thinker” — could be far more
successful than Kremlin spin doctors or professional politicians
expect. Stranger things have happened, and stranger characters have
achieved high political office.

Playboy-turned-inheritor of the Bush family legacy, George W. Bush,
now has the run of the White House, and ex-Hollywood action hero
Schwarzenegger is in charge of the world’s fifth-largest economy. And
midlife crises can come in very handy for public figures to reinvent
themselves, too. With his career as a Texas oil executive going down
the drain, George W. turned 40, sobered up, then got himself some
old-time Southern religion and never looked back.

One of Kasparov’s projects over the next year, a book provisionally
called “How Life Imitates Chess,” could give a clue as to how he
plans to apply chess logic to politics. If his preparation for
political combat is anything like that for his chess tournaments,
Kasparov’s opponents should be afraid, if not very afraid. The
stereotype of chess players thinking 20 moves ahead is usually just
that, but it is all too real in Kasparov’s case, as the world’s other
elite grandmasters can testify from their many losses to him where
Kasparov never deviated from home preparation. So instead of working
out powerful opening plays, crushing middlegame attacks and subtle
endgame strategies, Kasparov could be devising economic programs,
working out how to divide his political opponents and probing their
psychological weaknesses.

Do the skills translate? It’s hard to tell, but he certainly could
bring something useful to the debate. Does he need a coach to help
him hone his message? Maybe not so much as Dubya or Arnie did, and
for sure he’ll be a quick learner.

Kasparov was named earlier this month as a possible contender for
president in 2008 by Leonid Nevzlin, Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s chief
lieutenant still at liberty in Israel, along with former Prime
Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and independent State Duma Deputy Vladimir
Ryzhkov. Although as someone born to Jewish and Armenian parents in
Baku, the chances of Kasparov winning might seem remote. Yet there
have been precedents of non-ethnic Russian leaders, from Catherine
the Great to Stalin.

So after the Georgian and Ukrainian revolutions, could
black-and-white be the new orange?

Tim Wall, night editor at The Moscow Times, is a former editor of
British Chess Magazine. He contributed this essay to The Moscow
Times.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Christian Science Monitor
March 15 2005

Arms smuggling sting shows need for vigilance

FBI says bust uncovers efforts to sell Russian weapons in US.

By Ron Scherer

NEW YORK A shadowy arms broker starts negotiating with some Russian
mafia types to buy antitank weapons, surface-to-air missiles,
rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and machine guns. The broker
makes it clear: The weapons are for terrorists in the United States,
probably connected to Al Qaeda. The arms sellers don’t care: Just so
long as they get their money.

But the arms broker actually worked for the FBI as a confidential
informant. And Monday night, the whole scheme as described by US
authorities fell apart for 18 men now accused of trying to smuggle in
an arsenal for $2.5 million.

“It reads like a Hollywood script, but the plot is undeniably real,”
says Andrew Arena, the special agent in charge of the criminal
division of the FBI in New York.

According to the indictment handed down Tuesday, men with nicknames
such as “Soso,” “Jabs,” and “Tiko” claimed to have access to weapons
in such countries as Armenia and Georgia. Over the course of a year,
the men, mostly in the US illegally, began to trust the FBI’s
informant. Authorities say they delivered eight automatic weapons to
storage sheds in Los Angeles, New York, and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Also according to the indictment, they intimated that they not only
could get more weapons, but also had access to weapons-grade uranium.

Security experts say the bust shows that the nation still has to be
vigilant.

“If these people are so inclined, they can get weapons to carry out
serious attacks,” says John Cohen, senior homeland policy adviser to
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. “It’s very scary that there
continues to be an open market for these types of weapons, and it
clearly has to be one of our top priorities to do something about
them.”

At a press conference announcing the indictments, David Kelley, the
US attorney for the Southern District of New York, said the US was
working with foreign governments to try to locate the weapons and
shut down the ring. “It appears to be some rogue folks in the Eastern
European military circles we’re dealing with,” said Mr. Kelley. “It’s
hard to say at this point whether it’s coming directly out of the
military or some sort of black market.”

The sting operation began last March when a confidential informant
alleged to the FBI that a South African man, Christiaan Dewet Spies,
said he had connections to the Russian mafia in New York and Los
Angeles. The paid informant told Mr. Spies he was interested in
buying 10 to 15 rocket-propelled grenade launchers. According to
federal authorities, Spies said he was only interested in selling a
full crate of 2,000 RPGs at a time.

The government alleges that Spies then introduced the informant to
his contact, “Alex,” also known as Artur Solomonyan, an Armenian, in
a Manhattan restaurant. That’s when the serious negotiations began.
According to the indictment, Mr. Solomonyan indicated the weapons
would come from Russia and would take two months or less to get to
the US by ship – at the port of Los Angeles, New York, or Miami. The
informant indicated he was willing to spend $2.5 million.

Their next meeting was in a sauna and hot tub at a Brooklyn spa. At
this point, according to the indictment, Solomonyan said the RPGs
would be known as “fliers,” and he described them as military surplus
from Chechnya. He also said his group already had weapons in the US
earmarked for other customers. If that deal fell through, he is
alleged to have said, then the informant could buy them.

By last summer, the meetings increased. It was here that Solomonyan
is alleged to have offered enriched uranium, which the indictment
says, “could be used in the subway system.”

However, US officials doubt there ever was any uranium. “It was not
followed up … uranium was never discussed again,” said Kelley.

Authorities say the defendants started to revert to code words for
the weapons they wanted to sell. Machine guns became “condos” or
“small properties” or “apartments.” The RPGs became known as “large
apartments.” At yet another time, weapons became known as “cars,”
some with automatic transmissions, according to the indictment.

By late September, the FBI informant had purchased a machine gun in
Los Angeles for $2,000. In October, two military assault rifles were
delivered to a storage area rented by the FBI. By now, a much larger
group of illegal arms dealers were involved, including
African-Americans and Hispanics. The weapons now became “dogs,”
“puppies,” and “toys.” Money exchanged hands, and the government was
wiretapping everything.

At this point, the indictment says, the defendants indicated they
could not leave the country to get larger weapons because they were
apparently in the US illegally. The FBI’s source said he could get
them a “green card,” an immigration work visa. The US Citizenship and
Immigration Services provided the FBI with green cards that were
shown to Solomonyan. “This could be yours,” he was told, says Mr.
Arena.

On Monday night, Solomonyan and Spies showed up evidently to get
their green cards so they could travel overseas. Instead, they were
met by law-enforcement officers who packed them off to jail.

None of the defendants could be reached for comment.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Glendale News Press
Published March 14, 2005

A family’s affair with chocolate

For about 70 years, their sweets have been pleasing palates at in the United
States, Europe and the Middle East.

By Rima Shah, News-Press and Leader

The Terpoghossian family has been selling sin to the world for 70 years.
Only their sin comes in the form of richly flavored chocolate, which for
three generations has been in demand from chocolate lovers from Iran to the
United States.
advertisement
Mignon Chocolate, which initially catered to the Armenian population in the
United States, is now well known outside the community too, Joe
Terpoghossian said.
The popularity was so great in the Iranian and Armenian communities that Joe
Terpoghossian decided to leave his comfortable managing job in the insurance
business and join the family’s chocolate business.
He opened his chocolate manufacturing plant in Van Nuys about two years ago
and started the retail store on Glendale’s Verdugo Boulevard in April.
“Our family name is associated with Mignon,” Terpoghossian said.
His grandfather started the business in 1934 in Ukraine, where it became a
well-known name until he was arrested and deported to Siberia.
The rest of his family escaped to Iran where he ultimately joined them after
being released from prison.
He reestablished his business in Tehran, starting as a bakery but moving on
to chocolate. Terpoghossian’s father inherited the business.
“In the early ’70s, before the revolution, Mignon was well-known among the
members of the upper class in Iran,” Terpoghossian said.
The Shah’s family would often come to the chocolate store to sample the
wares, the family said.
After Terpoghossian and his brothers immigrated to the United States, they
would often arrange for special deliveries for Armenian immigrants here who
were well acquainted with the Mignon name.
With the growing demand, Terpoghossian finally decided to open his own
store.
They now ship their chocolates to the Armenian community in the United
States and to Europe.
“We use the most premium and freshest ingredients for chocolate,”
Terpoghossian said. “For chocolate you can’t cut corners. The difference
between us and the stores in the mall is that they often use vegetable oil.
We always use cocoa butter.”
Besides selling chocolates in his store, Terpoghossian takes orders for
weddings, birthdays and other occasions.
He also rents out chocolate fountains, which drip liquid chocolate. The
fountain is popular in parties and movie sets, Terpoghossian said.
His store, which recently started selling coffee, also serves drinking
chocolate.
“It’s got a 70% cocoa level,” Terpoghossian said. “For a chocolate lover,
it’s pure heaven. It’s like drinking liquid chocolate.”
The coffee bar’s most popular drink is the cafe glace, a concoction of ice
cream and coffee topped with the store’s Mikado chocolate, a wafer and
chocolate cream sandwich.
Alen Frank is one of the store’s regular customers, who comes for the coffee
and the free chocolate sample that coffee drinkers get.
“Cheap coffee, good coffee and good chocolate, which is actually a bad thing
because I am getting fat,” Frank said. “It’s very tasty. They move from the
healthy to the decadent.”
The cocoa beans are bought from West Africa and Brazil and processed in
Belgium, Terpoghossian said.
The truffles are the most popular items in the store. Terpoghossian changes
the flavors every week.
This week’s flavor is the cappuccino truffle

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
UCLA AEF Chair in Armenian History
Contact: Prof. Richard Hovannisian
Tel: 310-825-3375
Email: [email protected]

Dr. George Kooshian, Visiting Movel Professor at UCLA

UCLA–Dr. George B. Kooshian, Jr. has been appointed as Visiting
Movel Professor at UCLA for the Spring Quarter. A specialist on
Armenian immigration, Dr. Kooshian will teach a course on the history
of the Armenian community in California from its earliest settlers to
the present. Professor Richard Hovannisian, AEF Chair in Modern
Armenian History at UCLA, stated: “The Armenian community of
California has a rich and colorful history, which unfortunately
remains virtually unknown to great waves of recent Armenian
immigrants. The course Dr. Kooshian has been invited to teach will
certainly help to fill this void.”

George Kooshian was born and reared Pasadena, California, attended
Pasadena public schools and Pasadena City College. He graduated from
Seattle Pacific College with a degree in Latin. After two years in
the Army, he entered graduate school at UCLA and received an M.A. in
Linguistics and a Certificate in the teaching of English as a Second
Language. Dr. Kooshian then entered the Armenian History program and
studied under Professor Hovannisian. He was granted the Ph.D. in
2002. His interest in the American-Armenian community of his birth led
him to write his dissertation on “The Armenian Immigrant Community of
California, 1880–1935.” This work was based primarily on original
accounts in California Armenian-language newspapers and other sources.

For many years Dr. Kooshian has taught English as a Second Language,
American History and Government, Citizenship, and other subjects to
adults in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He has also taught
at the University of La Verne and the American Armenian International
College, and has served as a teaching assistant at UCLA. He recently
delivered papers on the history of the Armenian immigrant community of
Pasadena in New York and San Francisco and is currently preparing the
stirring autobiography of his father for publication. Dr. Kooshian is
a member of the Society for Armenian Studies, the Middle East Studies
Association, and the National Education Association. He has been
active as a volunteer in the Pasadena Unified School District and in
the Armenian Church, where he has served as a teacher, clerk, and
lector.

In announcing the appointment, Dr. Hovannisian stated: “I am deeply
gratified to Nora and the late Bob Movel for establishing the Movel
Fund at UCLA to support the Armenian Studies program through
fellowships and post-doctoral lectureships. The Fund allows us to
bring innovative courses and special events to campus and to assist
promising graduate students.”

Dr. Kooshian has placed information about the course on the Internet
at <;, together with the
course syllabus and many readings available for download, including
the complete text of his dissertation and The Web of Hope, his
father’s autobiography.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanArmenian News
March 15 2005

RUSSIAN BORDER TROOPS DETAINED 36 TRESPASSERS OF ARMENIAN STATE
BORDER WITHIN 2.5 MONTHS OF 2005

15.03.2005 05:37

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In March the servicemen of the Border Department of
the Federal Security Service of Russia detained an ethnic Kurd
Turkish citizen, who had tried to trespass the state border of
Armenia `in search of better life,’ Arminfo news agency reported. As
Press Secretary of the Border Department of the Federal Security
Service of Russia, colonel Ivan Zhirenko reported today, the detained
trespasser is already conveyed to the National Security Service of
Armenia and `work is held with him to clear out the circumstances.’
In Ivan Zhirenko’s words, within the period of report Russian border
troops have detained 36 trespassers of the state border of Armenia,
35 out of them – at the checkpoint of Zvartnots international
airport, 1 – the aforementioned Turkish citizen, detained at the
segment of the Gyumri border detachment of the Border Department of
the Federal Security Service of Russia. Within the same period
contraband of $18 thousand is conveyed to the respective bodies of
Armenia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSCE
March 15 2005

Milestone agreement initiates first phase of OSCE police assistance
programme in Armenia

YEREVAN, 15 March 2005 – The OSCE today launched the first phase of
the Police Assistance Programme in Armenia with the signing of an
agreement to refurbish the Police Training Centre.

The agreement, signed by the Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan,
Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin, and the Armenian Chief of Police,
Lieutenant-General Hayk Harutyunyan, is aimed at bringing basic
police training conditions into line with advanced European
practices. It is also intended to provide modern equipment and
teaching aids.

“Today marks a milestone in our endeavours within the framework of
the Police Assistance Programme, as this initiative represents the
foundation for a well-trained and community-oriented force,” said
Ambassador Pryakhin at the signing ceremony.

“It is an example of fruitful and constructive co-operation between
the OSCE and Armenia in fostering democratic institutions, to the
benefit of Armenian people.”

Lieutenant-General Harutyunyan also praised the co-operation with the
OSCE Office and expressed the deep appreciation of the Armenian
authorities to OSCE participating States for their valuable technical
support and financial contributions.

“This project serves the purpose of setting up suitable logistical
pre-conditions for the development of modern basic police training
for our forces,” he said.

Under a Memorandum of Understanding signed in July 2003, four areas
were identified for the Police Assistance Programme: the
refurbishment of the Training Centre for recruits, the strengthening
of the Training Centre, the introduction of a community-policing
model in one of the districts of Yerevan, and the establishment of a
new emergency response system and infrastructure.

The project will be implemented by the OSCE Office in Yerevan
together with the Armenian Police with advice and guidance provided
by the Strategic Police Matters Unit (SPMU) of the OSCE Secretariat
in Vienna. The project is financed by Belgium, the United States and
Sweden.

For further information, please contact:

Gohar Avagyan
OSCE Office in Yerevan
89 Teryan St.
375009, Yerevan
Armenia

Tel.: +374 1 54 10 62
+374 1 54 58 45
Fax: +374 1 54 10 61

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress