Author: admin

Azerbaijan abolishes Internet fee

Assa-Irada
29 Dec 04

BAKU

Internet subscribers will no longer have to pay 3,500 manats [70
cents] for using telephone lines, Minister of Communications and
Information Technology Ali Abbasov told reporters today.

Abbasov said that the ministry has already adopted a decision on this
matter. Under the decision, Internet providers will pay less money
for having their lines installed. This means that prices will no
longer depend on the speed of the Internet.

Abbasov said some providers are accusing the ministry of
monopolism. In this connection, the two state providers (Bakinternet
and Aztelekomnet) will be merged, he said.

The minister also said the reduced prices will apply to all providers,
which will enable them to compete freely.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
12/29/2004
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1) DECLARATION: ARF Artsakh Central Committee
2) Balkan Pipeline Would Serve as Alternative to Turkish Ports
3) Greece No Longer Considered Top Threat to Turkey
4) Possible EU Condition on Turkey Ruffles Azeris
5) 2004 HyeRock LA Festival to Feature Charity Concert

1) DECLARATION: ARF Artsakh Central Committee

Dear Compatriots,

A politically motivated appointment is among the cabinet changes recently
made
by the president of Mountainous Karabagh Republic (MKR). Viewing the move as a
troublesome precedent, the ARF Artsakh Central Committee finds it necessary to
present the facts and its stance to the public.
On December 16, 2004, during an address to top state officials, MKR President
Arkady Ghukasian expressed disappointment with his government, accusing it of
ongoing corruption and proposing to counter it with structural and cabinet
changes. Astonishingly, days after his address, Ghukasian met with Minister of
Education, Culture, and Sport Armen Sargsyan, who is also a member of the ARF,
and despite praising his job performance, relieved him of his duties and
instead offered the minister the position of presidential advisor.
The official explanation for the president’s action is that, within the
context of the 2005 parliamentary elections, Sargsyan’s inclusion in the
cabinet as a member of an independent political party represents a conflict of
interest. The president seeks to create the impression that Sargsyan’s
termination is part of his fight against corruption. In fact, Ghukasian is
perturbed by the successes of the ARF and other democratic entities in past
local elections, and fears similar results in the upcoming parliamentary
elections. The offer to appoint Sargsyan as presidential advisor has been
refused by the ARF Artsakh Central Committee.
In recent years, there has been cooperation between the presidency of MKR and
the ARF Artsakh Central Committee. Sometimes the ARF has disagreed with
Ghukasian’s domestic policies, but has, nonetheless, supported the
president in
the foremost interests of the people of newly independent Artsakh. The ARF
Artsakh Central Committee has believed that it can be of benefit to the
republic’s government, and sometimes help the president to reconsider certain
hastily taken decisions. It is painful to note that at this critical juncture,
the person at the helm of MKR has failed to grasp the significance of his
mission, and not stoop to petty politicking. The president has failed to
become
a symbol of unity and harmony. With his recent action, Ghukasian has clearly
impelled the ARF, the progressive force of Artsakh, to oppose him. The
president’s action also indicates a failure to understand the local and
international importance of free, legal, and democratic elections in Artsakh.
Once again stating its stance on the issues of international recognition of
Artsakh’s self-determination, stability, the strengthening of its governance,
and economic prosperity, the ARF Artsakh Central Committee has resolved the
following:

1) In response to the politically motivated step taken by the president of
MKR
against the ARF, to recall ARF representatives serving in top levels of
government executive.

2) In view of the fact that a complete break would be counterproductive at
the
moment, to continue to have ARF representation in the president’s Security
Council. In the latter instance, the ARF’s decision is not self-serving and,
for understandable reasons, we consider maintaining our representation in the
Security Council as entirely rightful.

In the event of worsening future relations, the responsibility falls on MKR
president Arkady Ghukasian.

ARF Artsakh Central Committee
Stepanakert
December 29, 2004

2) Balkan Pipeline Would Serve as Alternative to Turkish Ports

Nano, Saxe-Coburg, and Macedonia’s Vlado Buckovski shaking on the deal
Tuesday.

SOFIA (AP/Balkanalysis)–Bulgaria, Albania, and Macedonia gave political
support on Tuesday to a $1.2 billion private trans-Balkan oil pipeline project
that aims to allow alternative ports for the shipping of Russian and Caspian
oil, which normally goes through Turkish ports.
Representatives from the three small Balkan states signed a declaration
giving
the green light to the US-registered Albanian Macedonian Bulgarian Oil Corp.,
AMBO, to launch the 912-kilometer pipeline between Bulgaria’s Black Sea
port of
Burgas and Vlore, on Albania’s Adriatic coast.
“This is one of the most important infrastructure projects for regional, EU,
and Euro-Atlantic integration for the western Balkans,” Albanian Prime
Minister
Fatos Nano told reporters.
Tankers ferrying oil to the Mediterranean and further west are currently
subject to frequent and costly delays as they travel through the Bosporus and
Dardanelles straits.
The long-delayed underground line, expected to begin operation in early 2008,
will be able to move up to 750,000 barrels of oil per day.
The first obstacle was the preoccupation of relevant parties during the
Clinton
Administration with the massive Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in Anatolia. Then
came the wars in Kosovo and Macedonia in 1999 and 2001, which left investors
jittery. Now that the situation seems to have stabilized, however, the future
looks bright for AMBO.
AMBO said it had already secured some $900 million from the US government
development agency Overseas Private Investment Corp., US Eximbank, and through
a syndicated loan arranged by Credit Suisse First Boston.
The remaining 25 percent of the funding will be raised by attracting private
equity investors and a new company, which will operate the pipeline on behalf
of the shareholders in one year’s time, said AMBO President Ted Ferguson.
Oil giants operating in the Caspian region like ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil,
and
BP, have long sought alternative routes to the Bosporus and Dardanelles
straits.
The pipeline was first discussed in 1994, but was delayed due to a lack of
political backing by the countries involved. The construction of the pipeline,
expected to start in a year, will not preclude another pipeline to carry
Russian oil from Burgas to the northeastern Greek port of Alexandroupolis
which
is now under discussion.
“We all know that Bosporus will sooner or later reach a point of saturation,
so any bypass will be welcome,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg
said.
That pipeline, a 256-kilometer route with capacity of 700,000 bpd, should be
built and run jointly by Bulgaria, Russia, and Greece, but so far the three
countries have failed to reach agreement on how to structure the 700 million
euro ($954.7 million) project.

3) Greece No Longer Considered Top Threat to Turkey

Diaspora population considered fundamental problem with Armenians

ANKARA–According to Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper, a secret National Security
Council memo cites that Greece no longer poses the top security concern to
Turkey. Iran has instead moved into that position with its powerful Shahab-3
ballistic missile that reportedly has a range between 1,300 and 1,500
kilometers.
The change, according to the document that addresses Turkey’s security
matters, is based on recent political analyses and reviews, and incidentally
results in Greece’s removal from that top position it has held for the past 82
years; the document, nevertheless, maintains that “there exists the
probability
of conflict with Greece.”
On Armenia, Turkish National Security Council experts agree that, in fact,
there exist no fundamental issues with the neighboring country, but that the
problem lies with its diaspora Armenians. According the Turks, the borders
with
Armenia remain closed because of Armenia’s policy on Azerbaijan.
The memo stresses the necessity to not only strengthen ties with Russia, but
also step-up its influence on developing countries so as not to see a
continuation of the discord that was created in the past with Uzbekistan and
Turkmenistan.
The Hurriyet article points out that there is not mention of Turkish
religious
minorities or sects in the memo.

4) Possible EU Conditions on Turkey Ruffles Azeris

According to the Turkish Zaman newspaper, talk of a possible opening of
Turkey’s border with Armenia–in the wake of the European Union’s (EU)
decision
to begin accession talks with Turkey–has become a big issue in Azerbaijan.
While a public opinion poll reveals that the majority of Azeris oppose any
concession by Turkey on the issue, politicians have also been vocal.
“As long as Armenians do not withdraw from Azerbaijani territories, the
Turkey-Armenian borders should not be opened,” said a spokesman for
Azerbaijan’s parliament Murtiz Alesgerov, adding that if negotiations do not
resolve the Mountainous Karabagh conflict, then Azeris would regain their
territory through military means.
Addressing the border issue, Azeri parliament president Aleskerov told a
group
of Turkish journalists, “Armenians are Armenians and the enemy is the enemy;
there can’t be anything else…If Armenians do not withdraw from the occupied
territories, Turkey will not open the borders towards that country. This issue
shapes Turkey’s main policy. Turkey will be loyal to this issue.”

5) 2004 HyeRock LA Festival to Feature Charity Concert

Artists for Kids Foundation Gathers Hot Local Bands for December 30 Benefit

By Jenny Kiljian

After more than ten years of working together in an unofficial capacity, a
dynamic team of visual and musical artists decided to form a non-profit
organization in order to better serve the international Armenian artistic
community, and children who have an interest or talent in the arts.
The Artists for Kids Foundation began with the collective vision of architect
Aram Alajajian, graphic designer and publisher Tom Hovespian, and musician
Arthur Meschian. Together with their families and friends, the group had
organized and sponsored many notable art exhibits and concerts, including a
sold-out performance by Rupen Hakhverdian at the Beyond the Stars Palace in
Glendale, California.
By early 2004, the organizing committee had grown to include Gohar
Karahagopian, Hagop Parseghian, Harry Vorperian, Anna Hovsepian, Nvart
Alajajian, Anjik Parseghian, Marina Hakopyan, Sahag Ekshian, and Jirayr
Habeshian.
According to its mission statement, the Artists for Kids Foundation was
created to build a cultural bridge between living generations by introducing
the public to exceptional artists in music and fine arts. Those involved with
the Artists for Kids Foundation believe that through the preservation and
promotion of artistic values, a kinder society will be fostered.
It’s with this goal in mind that the Artists for Kids Foundation is hosting
the 2004 Annual HyeRock Festival, taking place on December 30 at the Henry
Fonda Music Box Theater in Hollywood. Organizers tapped In Progress. . . , Red
Snow, Aviatic, the Gor Band, and Non-Eye, to take center stage that night.
Each
band caters to different age groups and musical inclinations.
Jirayr Habeshian, charged with producing the concert, forecasts a monumental
evening of music. “We’re bringing some of today’s youth to the concert and
having them see first-hand both the up-and-coming performers and the more
veteran rock musicians with Armenian backgrounds,” he said.
Habeshian, formerly the drummer of Red Snow, and currently working with the
Gor Band, says it was an organization such as the Artists for Kids Foundation
that was missing in his development as an artist. “I think the only thing
lacking for me, growing up as a rock musician was support. Within the Armenan
community, in general, there’s been a narrow vision of what the culture is in
respect to the arts, and I feel it’s much more broad,” said Habeshian, a real
estate agent, who has been involved in Homenetmen and Pyunic. “We have a
lot of
talented artists in all genres–music, scultpure, painting, the motion picture
industry, architecture–yet only a handful of Armenians know of the existence
of these people.”
The 2004 HyeRock Festival, according to Habeshian, is intended to introduce
the younger generations to the Artists for Kids Foundation and “to let them
know that alongside some of the existing organizations, there’s one with the
specific mission statement for youth who want to pursue the arts.”
2005 will also be a busy year for the Artists for Kids Foundation. Slated for
February is “Free Concert for Kids,” a two-night event featuring Rupen
Hakhverdian, which will coincide with the release of the renowned musician’s
new children’s album. A concert similar to the HyeRock Festival will take
place
in Armenia during the summer. The organization also promises assorted smaller
concerts throughout the year and, of course, the Annual HyeRock Festival.

HyeRock Festival 2004 at Henry Fonda Music Box Theater in Hollywood
December 30–7 p.m.

To reserve tickets call 818-523-9995 or 818-240-1515.

Featured Bands:

NON-EYE

Non-Eye was formed in mid-2004, with Hayk on vocals and guitar, Chris on
drums, and Narek on bass. The influence of the Armenian culture is apparent in
Non-Eye’s music, and the band cites Aram Khachaturian as one of its influences
along with System Of A Down, TOOL, and Rush. “This is a great opportunity
given
to us by the Artists for Kids Foundation, for our music to be heard on a
greater stage so early in our development,” said Hayk. “We hope to bring our
music to a more diverse audience and continue our progress as band.”

IN PROGRESS. . .

In Progress. . . has been working together since 2002. The acoustic folk rock
band comprises Mher Ajamian on percussion, Ara Dabandjian on lead guitar and
keyboards, Shant Mahserejian on violin, and Jeremy Millado on bass, while Saro
Koujakian (rythm guitar) and Gars Sherbejian share vocal duties. “We feel
honored to be a part of this show, as it will feature some of the best local
Armenian bands and we’re ecstatic to be considered in such talented company,”
said Mher Ajamian. “We’re also very excited about the variety of musical
styles
that will be on display. It’s for a great cause and produced by a first-class
organization.”

THE GOR BAND
This is Gor Mkhitarian’s second collaboration with the Artists for Kids
Foundation. Mkhitarian will be performing with his new band, which is Ara
Dabanjian on accordion, Vahe Terteryan on bass, and Jirayr Habeshian on drums.
Also with the Gor Band at the HyeRock Festival will be Jay Dean on guitar.
“It’s very exciting, but difficult at the same time because ours is the only
[Armenian] folk band. We’re not sure how that contrast will play out,” says
Mkhitarian. “No matter what, we’re glad to be doing something for the kids.”

AVIATIC

When their former bands parted ways, the members of Aviatic saw a tremendous
opportunity ahead of them. The band, with Sebu Simonian on vocals and
keyboards, Barrett Yeretsian on drums, Ryan Welker on guitars, and Clint
Feddersen on bass, has been working diligently to produce its first album.
“We’re very excited to play the HyeRock Festival and encouraged by any effort
to promote rock music in the local community, especially when there’s a such a
good cause attached to it,” says Simonian. “We’re looking forward to taking
the
stage at the glorious Henry Fonda Theater. It’s a beautiful piece of
architecture in the heart of historic Hollywood, and boasts one of the best
sound systems in all of Southern California. I can’t wait to blast our music
through it.”

RED SNOW

The intensity of Red Snow’s performances has been creating a flurry in the
Los
Angeles music scene. The band, which recently released its album Showtime
Motel, is LaLa Avedis on vocals, Vahe Marzbetuny on guitars, Shant Sarkissian
on drums, Jack Kurdian on keyboards, and Zareh Marzbetuny on bass. “We would
like to express our gratitude for the opportunity to participate in such a
worthwhile event. An event like this is a dream come true, and will showcase
the talents of Armenian rock,” said Vahe Marzbetuny. “We’re confident we can
motivate the youth to embrace rock music and support such a worthy cause such
as the Artists for Kids Foundation. We’re looking forward to seeing all our
fellow Hye brothers and sisters at the show.”

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Dec 29 2004

OSCE sets up fact-finding mission to visit occupied Azeri lands

The OSCE has set up a fact-finding mission to monitor the Azerbaijani
lands occupied by Armenia. The mission includes the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs and representatives from Germany, Italy, Finland, Sweden as
well as the OSCE Secretariat, a diplomatic source told AssA-Irada.

The mission is scheduled to arrive in Baku late in January-early in
February 2005 to further visit Upper Garabagh and monitor the
occupied lands. A report will be prepared after the monitoring is
over.
Late this November, the Azerbaijani government proposed to put the
issue on the occupied territories on the agenda of the UN General
Assembly session and establish a fact-finding mission within the
OSCE.
Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Yuri Merzlyakov has told
Armenian media that the OSCE mission will conduct monitoring not in
Upper Garabagh itself, but only in the seven regions adjacent to it.

Merzlyakov said Armenia will provide suitable conditions for the work
of the OSCE mission, while Azerbaijan will allegedly withdraw its
proposal to discuss the illegal settlement of Armenians its occupied
territories at the United Nations.
Azerbaijani officials have not expressed their position on the matter
yet.
Commenting on the fact that Azerbaijani and Turkish representatives
have not been included in the mission, chairman of the Center for
Political Innovation and Technology Mubariz Ahmadoghlu said
Azerbaijan has enough evidence to ensure that the mission experts
will conduct an unbiased monitoring in the occupied territories.
“Not only Armenia but also several international organizations,
including the International Committee of the Red Cross and Doctors
Without Borders, are engaged in purposeful settlement of population
in Upper Garabagh and other occupied lands of Azerbaijan.” The
political analyst said that several families of Armenian descent, who
became victims of an earthquake that hit Armenia in 1988, were
settled in the Lachin region, another Azerbaijani territory under
occupation.
This fact was indirectly confirmed by German, Russian and Armenian
representatives of an international organization on search of
prisoners of war and missing people. They officially stated that all
living conditions were created for mentally retarded Armenians in a
mountainous area in the Lachin region.
“Armenia will not be able to hide their large-scale activities on
settling population in the occupied Azerbaijani lands,” said
Ahmadoghlu.

Baku expects progress in January talks
Baku expects considerable progress at the meeting of Azerbaijani and
Armenian foreign ministers upcoming in January, Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov told local ATV channel.
“If Armenia continues to approach the issue seriously, as it did at
the Sofia and Brussels meetings of foreign ministers, remarkable
changes will be achieved in the Upper Garabagh conflict settlement.”
Asked whether the January meeting can be termed as a start of the
second stage of Prague meetings, Mammadyarov said: “In general, I am
opposed to breaking the talks into stages. The meeting should be
considered continuation of the Prague process.”
The foreign minister added that the parties will set the exact time
of the meeting early next month after a telephone conversation.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Globe and Mail, Canada
Dec 29 2004

Orange Revolution eyes Belarus

Activist recruiting Yushchenko backers to help in campaign against
President

By MARK MacKINNON

KIEV — Ukraine’s Orange Revolution is not over yet, but Denis
Buinitsky already is recruiting for what he hopes will be Eastern
Europe’s next popular uprising.

“Who’s coming to the revolution in Belarus?” the activist shouted,
waving his arms to draw a crowd to a list he had mounted last night
in the tent city that still blocks traffic on Kiev’s Khreshchatyk
Street.

Within minutes, a short line of orange-clad students forms to write
their names, addresses and cellphone numbers in red ink on the long,
white piece of paper. They are the young foot soldiers of the
movement that brought Ukraine’s pro-Western opposition leader, Viktor
Yushchenko, to the brink of the presidency.

And like modern-day Che Guevaras, they say they are ready to march on
to the next revolution as soon as their cellphones ring to tell them
where it is.

Four years ago, it happened in Serbia, where student-led street
protests brought down Slobodan Milosevic. Last year, it was the Rose
Revolution in Georgia, when Eduard Shevardnadze was forced from power
after a rigged election.

Then came the recent weeks of protests in Kiev, triggered by a
falsified presidential vote on Nov. 21, that forced the regime of
President Leonid Kuchma and his clique to the brink.

Ukraine’s Central Election Commission said yesterday that with all
votes from Sunday’s election rerun counted, Mr. Yushchenko has 52 per
cent of the vote to 44 per cent for Mr. Kuchma’s hand-picked
successor, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich.

The results are not official until all complaints of fraud are
studied, a process expected to last into the new year.

Mr. Yanukovich, citing alleged irregularities, has said he will
challenge the vote count in court. However, the Council of Europe,
pointing to reports from international observers who say the election
was relatively free and fair, called yesterday for him to concede
defeat.

Although critics, notably in the Kremlin, argue that all three
uprisings were designed and paid for by Washington, there is no
question they had massive support among people who longed for
something better.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, the young reformer who led
the demonstrations in Tbilisi last year and succeeded Mr.
Shevardnadze as President, said that what happened in Serbia, Georgia
and Ukraine is the leading edge of a third wave of European
liberation — the first being after the defeat of Nazi Germany in the
Second World War, the second after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Mr. Buinitsky hopes the wave will next hit his native Belarus, a
country of 10 million in the centre of Europe that has been ruled for
a decade by the dictatorial President Alexander Lukashenko.

During those 10 years, the country lapsed into economic backwardness
and become an international pariah for its poor human-rights record.

“People in Kiev have freedom now; this isn’t the case in Minsk.
Lukashenko has made it impossible to hold such a demonstration there
because people know if they go into the streets they will go to
prison. But maybe it will be possible some day soon,” Mr. Buinitsky
said, standing outside a tent erected in the centre of Kiev for
Belarussian activists. “This has given us hope.”

It’s not just Belarussians who suddenly talk of peaceful revolution.
Activists from pro-democracy movements across the former Soviet Union
joined the protests in Kiev, anxious to show their support and,
perhaps, learn a few tricks.

The flags of Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Armenia were flown
above the orange-clad crowd on Independence Square. Boris Nemtsov, a
co-leader of the liberal Union of Right Forces party in Russia, said
from the stage in the early days after the Nov. 21 vote: “We need to
have freedom and democracy in Ukraine so that we can have freedom and
democracy in Russia.”

Moscow-based political analysts said the regimes in Russia and other
former Soviet states can be expected to tighten, rather than loosen,
the controls, in an effort to prevent the Georgian and Ukrainian
examples from being repeated in their backyards.

The authorities in faraway Kyrgyzstan, part of which was Soviet
Central Asia, are nervous and warn that their country is facing an
“orange danger” ahead of a parliamentary election in February.

Belarus’s opposition is calling on its supporters to gather on March
25 in Minsk’s central October Square to demand that Mr. Lukashenko
step down.

If he rejects this ultimatum, organizers said, they will prepare for
their own Orange Revolution around the presidential vote scheduled
for the same date in 2006.

“If there will be too few of us, the regime won’t hesitate,” reads a
leaflet delivered to 500,000 homes in Minsk this month.

“If tens of thousands go onto the streets, as in Kiev, it will not
dare to shoot at people.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

St Petersburg Times, Russia
Dec 29 2004

China Wins 1st Internet Chess International

THE ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

The world’s first international chess tournament played over the
Internet ended Thursday with China clinching an unexpected victory
ahead of France, Russia and Armenia.

The Tigran Petrosian Internet Memorial tournament was held in
commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the birth of the late world
chess champion Tigran Petrosian, an Armenian. Each four-player team
played six rounds.

China was the lowest-ranked team, but finished with 14 points to
Russia’s and France’s 13, but France beat Russia on tiebreaks to take
second place. Armenia finished with 8 points.

The St. Petersburg Chess Federation with the support of the city
government and the Armenian community in St. Petersburg were among
the organizers of the competition, which took place Dec. 18 to 23.

The teams of the four competing countries fought it out for $55,000
in prize money without leaving their home countries.

The Russian team of Pyotr Shvidler, Alexander Khalifman, Alexei
Dreyev and Vadim Zvyagintsev played in St. Petersburg under
supervision of French referee Jean-Claude Templeur.

“Apart from the handshake, the playing conditions resembled the
conditions of any high-level tournament,” Templeur said. “Whether you
are playing on the Internet under official supervision or meeting
your opponent face-to-face seems not to matter much.”

“This tournament has shown that from now on it will be possible to
play chess under realistic sporting conditions from any part of the
planet, where you live,” he said. “Why don’t we dream of huge opens
played at 50 or 100 sites around the world. After my experience here
in St. Petersburg, I know that this is already possible.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia & New Zealand
10 Macquarie Street
Chatswood NSW 2067
AUSTRALIA
Contact: Laura Artinian
Tel: (02) 9419-8056
Fax: (02) 9904-8446
Email: [email protected]

29 December 2004

PRIMATE VISITS THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

Primate of the Diocese of Australia & New Zealand, His Eminence Archbishop
Aghan Baliozian met with the small but vibrant Armenian community of
Auckland, New Zealand during a 5-day pastoral visit from 22-27 December. As
the planned visit coincided with the Christmas celebrations of the western
calendar, the presence of Archbishop Aghan during this holy season was even
more significant for the community.

On his arrival at the airport late Wednesday afternoon, the Archbishop was
warmly welcomed by a group of community members who had scheduled a busy few
days of meetings, social outings and gatherings, and a liturgical service.
The program also included a meeting with the Chief Justice of New Zealand,
the Rt. Hon. Dame Sian Elias and a private visit with Dr and Mrs Minas
Elias. Dr Elias is a refined Armenian gentleman of 88 years who migrated to
New Zealand in the 1950’s from Burma (Myanmar) and has been the face of
Armenians in New Zealand ever since.

Friday afternoon, Archbishop Aghan was accompanied to the local cemetery by
community members where he blessed the graves and offered prayers for the
souls of the dearly departed Armenians interred in Auckland. The same
evening, the community gathered together for an evening of traditional
Armenian festivity with the children presenting a special concert for the
Archbishop demonstrating their many talents and all they had learnt during
their weekly lessons at Armenian school. The Archbishop was duly inspired
and invited to present the children with award certificates. He later
closed the evening with a speech and prayer.

During the 5-day visit, Archbishop Aghan took every spare moment to meet
with individual families in their homes. On Sunday evening, Archbishop
Aghan offered Holy Mass at St Peter’s Anglican Church in Takapuna. Present
also were clergy from the Anglican Church and Syrian Orthodox Church. The
sermon gave spiritual comfort and nourishment to the close-knit Armenian
congregation that have a special yearning to partake in the Divine Liturgy
of their mother language. A reception followed the church service when
community members had their final opportunity to enjoy the Archbishop’s
company in a social gathering before his return to Australia the following
day.

The Armenian community in New Zealand is made of migrants from Iraq, Iran,
Russia, Armenia, Uruguay, Lebanon and Jordan and numbers no more than 110.
All have settled in the city of Auckland on the north island of New Zealand.
The oldest Armenian family in New Zealand is known to be the Zohrab family
dating back to the 1860’s, followed by the Elias family who settled in the
mid 1900’s.

Contact with the Armenian Society of New Zealand can be made through the
Chairman, Mr Ara Ovanessoff at [email protected]

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The joy of Christmas (alone): So what did you do for Christmas? Pretend to
like your stepmum’s present? Eat too much rich food? Humour your drunken uncle?
Or watch appalling TV? Julian Baggini decided to skip all that this year –
and, like the millions of

The Guardian – United Kingdom
Dec 28, 2004

At 7.45am on Christmas morning I awoke at the Ibis Heathrow Airport
hotel. I could look forward to a continental-style breakfast buffet, a
few hours in my room, many more hanging around Heathrow terminal three
and, finally, an eight-hour flight to New York, arriving just in time
to go to sleep for the final few minutes of my 29-hour day. And all of
this I would do alone.

Spending Christmas alone is usually assumed to be a bad thing. Mine
may sound to you desperately sad, all too reminiscent of that
tragicomic icon of modern male inadequacy, Alan Partridge. But when
the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service reported that nearly half a
million older people would spend Christmas by themselves, no one asked
how large a minority were relieved not to have to bother with it any
more. My experience of this ultimate anti-Christmas, and those of the
other festive refuseniks I met along the way, suggests that any pity
or mockery is displaced. Envy might be more appropriate.

The cabbie who took me to the hotel on Christmas Eve was certainly
more than happy to be working the next day. Apart from the large
number of “wheelchair jobs” resulting from non-emergency ambulance
crews taking their holidays, there were lots of people who by early
evening were “desperate to get out”, he said, making the West End and
Knightsbridge in particular surprisingly busy. After all, what else
would he be doing, with no wife or kids to be with? “I’d be down the
pub talking a load of old rubbish with my mates,” he said.

I got to the hotel to find it about two-thirds empty. I checked in and
headed for the bar, where I was served by Vazken. He wasn’t over the
moon to have another shift the next day, but as an Armenian Orthodox
Christian, his Christmas is on January 6 anyway, so it was no big
deal. According to the last census, 28% of the UK population – among
them 1.5 million Muslims – is not Christian at all. With more than
one-quarter of the population with no reason to see the 25th as
special, why should it be strange not to celebrate it?

Indeed, I was to meet many more non-Christians, including the Muslim
cashier at the Travelex foreign exchange counter, who thought it was
“brilliant” to be working on Christmas day because of the extra pay;
and Mohamed, the waiter who served me my Christmas lunch, which we
will come to later. It was as though, for one day only, the sizeable
non-Christian minority got to run the country.

Another of Vazken’s customers on Christmas Eve was Margaret. Like me,
her official reason for spending the night alone at the Ibis was that
she would save money by flying out to America on the afternoon of the
25th, when the fares were half the price. This wasn’t the whole story,
however, since Margaret had made a habit of organising her trips to
avoid the traditional Christmas trappings. I asked her why.

Margaret did have some family hassles she wanted to get away from. But
her choice was more positive than simply being one of simple
avoidance. She was refusing to either go along with something that
would make her miserable, or to sit on the sidelines and get
depressed. She had taken charge and organised a trip that would make
her happy. This wasn’t bluff or bravado. In the bar on Christmas Eve
she was gregarious good company, enjoying a drink with other
seasonally spirited guests with no trace of the desperate race to
alcoholic oblivion typical of many so-called Yuletide
celebrations. Margaret was making her Christmas a success – more of a
success, I daresay, than many more traditional family gatherings.

Indeed, it is telling how her friends and family reacted when she told
them what she would be doing. “They say it’s great,” she told me. “The
word that best describes their reaction is envy.”

That was just what I found when I told people that I had extended a
conference trip so that I would have some spare time in New York at
the expense of Christmas Day with family. The idea of getting away
from the cooking, the excessive drinking, crap TV and inevitable
family tension is one that almost everyone found beguiling.

Those I left behind, even if they had managed to plan a day they would
be happy with, had more often than not been forced to negotiate all
sorts of family politics, usually hurting or disappointing at least
someone in the process.

That is what I think explained the curiously good-natured atmosphere
in the hotel bar, which to a casual observer would have looked
soulless, about as festive as a curry made from three-day-old
turkey. We could enjoy Christmas more than ever precisely because, by
choosing to skip it, we had freed ourselves from the burdens of
expectation that stand in the way of relaxed pleasure.

I checked out of the hotel at 11.30am on Christmas Day and made my way
to Heathrow, where I had six hours to kill. For many of the airport’s
70,000 staff, like the nearly one million people the TUC estimates
work on Christmas Day, it was business as usual. Although only around
a third of the 180,000 passengers a day who pass through the airport
over the holiday period do so on the 25th itself, staffing levels are
more or less the same.

This very normality is what makes an airport the ideal place for the
Christmas escapee. In homes and streets across Britain, the things
that make Christmas different – from the special TV shows to the
closed shops and the eerily quiet streets – all serve as constant
reminders of what everyone else is doing that day. At Heathrow,
however, you soon forget what it is you’re not doing. Christmas
really does disappear.

I decided to get check-in and security out of the way and spend my
time in the hermetically sealed world beyond passport control. As I
really wasn’t trying to be a total humbug, I then sought out the best
meal Heathrow had to offer, only to find that nowhere was serving a
Christmas lunch. Surprisingly, however, it wasn’t then a toss-up
between McDonalds, Garfunkels and an absurdly priced seafood and
champagne bar. I sat down to a perfectly decent lunch at Chez Gerard,
part of a mid-market brasserie chain.

Any attempt to inject a bit of class was somewhat diminished by the
sign on the table informing me that “due to security reasons, we can
only provide plastic cutlery with your meal”. Still, the tuna nicoise
went down well, and despite the unseasonal advice I had seen posted
all over Boots to avoid alcohol and caffeine before a flight, I
figured that a festive glass of wine and Irish coffee had plenty of
time to work their way through my system. It may not have been the
best Christmas lunch I had ever had, but nor was it the worst. And
being able to walk afterwards was a real bonus.

Lunch consumed, I renewed my efforts to track down tragic sole
travellers. David from New York had managed to arrange a day even
more humbuggish than mine: he had left the US on Christmas Eve and
would not be arriving at his final destination, Bombay, until 8.30am
on Boxing Day. He was travelling “to one member of my family and away
from a lot more. I am missing out on some things, but I’m gaining so
much more.”

Another solo traveller, Martin, was going to New York to be with his
girlfriend, a flight attendant with Virgin who was working on
Christmas Day. He too thought his friends were “quite envious,
actually” and said: “I’d rather be away from it, to be
honest. Christmas is overhyped.”

On the plane, I found myself sitting next to yet another lone
traveller. “Christmas has lost its meaning,” she said. “It’s become
too commercial.” But it transpired she had a more personal reason for
taking her trip on this of all days. Over Christmas last year, her
husband left her for one of her friends, and her young son would be
spending the holidays with him. “It hasn’t been a good year,” she said
with understatement. She was happy to get away and spend some time
with friends in New York.

Yet even this woman deserves more respect than pity. Running away from
problems has a bad name, but as any expert in self-defence will tell
you, sometimes running away is precisely the right thing to do. What
this woman was doing was defiant and positive. “I feel I’m one step
ahead,” she said, somewhat cryptically.

Perhaps what she meant was that by refusing to have a miserable
Christmas alone or accepting an invitation to share someone else’s,
which would never really be hers, she had defied the expectations of
those who think there is only one right way to celebrate, one they may
not enjoy, but feel obliged to enact.

There’s nothing wrong with a good family gathering at Christmas for
those who have a family arrangement that allows it, an opportunity to
make it happen and a cultural background that makes Christmas mean
something. But if we’re honest, there are many people who don’t fit
this mould. They should not be made to feel like like social pariahs
for opting out of the traditional Christmas, or any other widely
observed celebration. It is much sadder to attempt to cobble together
a traditional Christmas from pieces that don’t fit than to throw them
all away and do something completely different instead.

On New Year’s Eve, another trial of enforced jollity, I will be
raising a glass to my fellow Christmas refuseniks who dealt with their
situations with honesty and defiance. And I’ll be doing it at
35,000ft, on my way back from New York, avoiding yet another
celebration that some see as unmissable. If you feel pity, there’s no
need. And if you feel envy, there’s still time to do something about
it.

Julian Baggini is the editor and co-publisher of the Philosophers’
Magazine, and the author of What’s It All About? Philosophy and the
Meaning of Life, published by Granta.

Loneliness of the long-distance traveller . . . Baggini whiles away
the time in the lobby of the Ibis Hotel, Heathrow Airport

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Hrant Margarian: Peoples should decide their fates on their own

28.12.2004 15:02 interview

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – The interview of the news agency REGNUM with ARF
Bureau representative Hrant Margarian

Question: Today, the whole world is following the developments in the
Ukraine not only because what is going on there is interesting but
also because it is a precedent. Do you believe the same could happen
in Armenia too?

Answer: The first impression is that the events in the Ukraine could
be assessed as a popular movement that aims at forming its own
power. So it isfine. And if it is to come to Armenia, it is really
good. But this from the first sight. But there is another version,
another concern that as it was the case in Georgia, in the Ukraine
too, the external forces play a great role, and those movements are
financed and sponsored by external forces. If we look at those
developments from this point of view, then we cannot accept them.

Q: In this respect, is Russia’s interfering unacceptable too?

A: Exactly. I have to say that we are not concerned about the internal
situation of Armenia: the political life in Armenia is quite stable
and we have no concerns that the same can happen in Armenia. But we
are a small country, and we have serious issues, national issues,
Karabakh for instance. And this fragile situation in the country might
make some foreign forces think that the same scenarios could be
implemented in Armenia too. I am hopeful that our nation and our
political forces, having in mind our national issues, would be wise
enough to not get into this trap.

However, I wouldn’t like this stance to be comprehended as
anti-democratic as our party has always had the flag of democracy in
its hands. We have always tried to push the government toward
democratization and more freedoms. We consider it our pivotal
issue. You may have noticed that our recent positions were aimed at
democratization of the government.

Q: Your opponents don’t hide that it is possible to get aid from
outside, and they say “we are pro-Western, and you, in turn, get held
from Russia.” What do they mean by “close relations” between the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and Russia, especially when
the ARF was fighting against Russia’s influence during the Soviet
era. What is your opinion on the accusations that the ARF has adopted
the principle “three fronts, one border” allegedly imposed on you by
the Russian special services?

A: I don’t know whether it is good or bad that the ARF has no
assistance of any foreign force, but it is good that the ARF takes its
decisions on its own based on the reality and national
interests. Unfortunately, the relations between the ARF and Russian
government circles have never been on the desired level because
Russian politicians probably were under the impressions coming from
the Communist times.

As for such talks, yes, we believe that when our archrival Turkey
enjoyed the support of one of the poles of the two-pole world, it was
natural that could feel more confident in the orbit of the other
pole. But the world is changing. Anyhow, we seek Russia’s — and not
only Russia’s — friendship for our nation and party.

Q: Judging from your opponents’ statements, the repetition of the
Ukrainian scenario in Armenia would be under the choice “Armenia with
Russia or NATO.” What could Armenia do to join NATO without any
losses or turmoil?

A: I don’t know what would membership in NATO give to Armenia. But I
know something else: before Armenia could have a choice, Russia itself
should be present in the region. The issues would have a different
settlement then. What the Armenian National Movement (ANM) says is a
classical stance of a pro-Western party and it could not be viewed as
that of Armenia and the Armenia people.

Q: ANM’s statement has become a tool already that could serve as the
basis for imposing the Ukrainian scenario here. They would accuse the
ARF of being funded from outside, now they accept they too will be
funded from outside. It could affect the outcome of the
elections. What would you do if they succeeded?

A: I would like to stress once again that when talking about being
funded from outside, in our case they meant not a foreign country but
the Armenian Diaspora, which is different. When they admit they are
funded from outside,it means also they are led from outside.

The difference between Armenia, Georgia and the Ukraine is huge. The
fight between the authorities and the opposition in Armenia would move
to another field, the fight would be between the pro-national and
anti-national forces, or the pro-national forces and forces led by the
foreigners and then the pro-national forces would not fight for just
their political career, they would fight for national values.

Q: In the Ukraine there was a huge pressure on the election, and the
West said they would break their relations with the country if the
outcome was not what they wanted. In the case of Armenia, the Karabakh
issue is the weapon.

The Karabakh issue is related to Azerbaijan, Turkey and the
Genocide. If the West puts pressure in the Karabakh issue during a
revolution, would not the opposition — the pro-Western forces– adopt
the Western option of the settlement? Could you suggest a formula that
would be acceptable for all and would allow the opposition to win?

A: The Karabakh struggle is 16 years old and we have seen various
positions of the West, East and Russia. There are two essential facts
we should take into account. The first fact is that the great powers
are very powerful and have great potential but when they deal with
small regions, they have to accept the existing realities and also who
is in charge there. During the last 16 years, we have proved that we
have no intention to make concessions so those chauvinistic policies
would not succeed. And while the people have passed through social
hardships during those 16 years, no revolutions have happened due
tothose reasons.

A regime change took place only when there was a crisis of the
Karabakh issue. Whoever decided to make concessions — I am speaking
on behalf of the people — we have the capacity to push them aside. I
think there is no force in Armenia that would dare to exploit the
Karabakh issue for the benefit of its interest. But if the West
proposes an acceptable option, fine.

Q: What is the limit of concessions that the opposition could propose
having the support of the West?

A: I can’t speak of the opposition, it is up to them. In our case, I
believe we have already made concession. We live in peace for ten
years now, and that’s the best concession.

There is no war for ten years, and this says a lot. There are some
details. Some Armenian lands — Shahumian, Getashen, some parts of
Martakert — are still under occupation. We have a problem of having
final and secure borders with Azerbaijan. The issue is actually
settled but it should be also settled in talks. It will take some time
to secure the issue’s de jure settlement.

Q: The technologies that were put in work in the Ukraine were
powerful, raging from bribing the political elite and the mass media
to offering privileges for the Ukrainians working in Russia. Have you
though of gaining privilegesfor Armenians living in Russia?

A: I believe the nations should decide their fates on their
own. Neither Russia, or the West, or any other state should
interfere. We count on our nation. We believe there should be a dual
citizenship law in Armenia as there are more Armenians outside Armenia
than in Armenia.

Q: Opponents of the dual citizenship say there would be no one to
serve in the Armenian army. What could be done?

A: There are many countries that have dual citizenship. Whoever make
that statement have no knowledge of the issue. For instance, in
Greece, it doesn’t matter what country you are a citizen of, you
should do a military service for the Greek army too. The dual
citizenship laws differ in different courtiers.

Q: Robert Kocharian is serving his final term. What would happen if he
handpicks someone as his successor and you do not agree with that
decision?

A: If we do not like his candidate, we would not come to an
agreement. We would have our own candidate. We are not married, we
cooperated for reaching some political goals, and our roads could be
different tomorrow. We would nominate our own presidential candidate
for the next election, but we might also support theirs, or they might
support ours.

Q: Why there is no Saakashvili type charismatic leader in Armenia?

A: It is true that at currently there is no candidate in Armenia who
could have even a relative lead. The forces are almost equal. The
situation will be clearer as we approach the election. The political
parties in Armenia are not well-established and often a party’s rating
is seen as that of the candidate.

The ARF is different. The party has a certain rating but I can’t tell
which of our leaders has the corresponding rating. Maybe, this is
because we havea collective leadership and our party is not based on
individuals. I hope that in the next election people would vote for
the political platforms of the candidates and the candidates would
only gain from being represented by a party.

Q: Your opponents say that the ARF’s results in the National Assembly
election were faked. To support their allegation they point to the
fact that the ARF members did not win in the single-mandate
constituencies but they did under the party-list system.

A: Yes, the result were faked, but to the opposite direction. This is
a fact. We did not succeed in the single-mandate constituencies
because no political force did. It was the money that won because it
was easier to fake the results under the single-mandate system. I am
not saying we had the 50 percent but we had more than what was said we
had.

Our weight, however, is greater than the number of the seats we have
in the parliament. We did not challenge it, but we are not the party
which would easily digest it. It does not really matter whether we
have 12 seats in the parliament or 17-18, there would be no much
difference because I am sure that our small faction is more
influential than factions that have 30 or 40 members.We are the
largest Armenian political party. Everybody in Armenia would admit
that there is no party in Armenia that is larger or more organized
than the ARF. Until now, the Communists were considered a large party
too, but the situation is different now. This is a fact that no one
denies.

Q: The ARF was formed as a revolutionary and socialist party, but
after the Bolsheviks seized the power, the ARF moved to the Diaspora
and operated there as a nationalistic party. Maybe my question sounds
like one for a women’s magazine, but what exactly is the revolutionary
and socialist essence of the ARF?

A: The revolutionary is that we are not satisfied with the existing
situation and try to restore the full rights of the Armenian
people. Our socialism is defined in our fight for a fairer society
where peoples and nations would live in peace side by side and
develop.

We aspire for a better and fairer society for our nation and we
believe in such circumstances the people and the state would unite to
reach national goals. The revolutionary part does not necessarily
mean weapons. It is more a rebel against the injustice and can be in
form of political, public, cultural activities. If we were to
establish a new party with the same goals, we might call it
differently. Maybe.

But we have been carrying this name for 114 years and we see no
necessity to change it. We are the only political party of the former
Soviet Union that is a full member of the Socialist International. We
were not able to practice socialism in the Diaspora, there are no
class issues in the community. Bu I believe we have all the
opportunities to do so in Armenia.

Q: Is your party nationalistic, nationalistic-democratic,
nationalistic-liberal, like the parties of Yushchenko and Saakashvili?
Whatare the differences between them and you?

A: I don’t agree with those terms. We are the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation, they are them.

Q: Please comment on the European Union’s December 17 decision to
start entry talks with Turkey.

A: This decision cannot be qualified as final because if it is true
that the European nations are to make their decision through
referendums, then the EU’s decision means nothing. As for the Armenian
Genocide, I have to say that I have never believed — though I’d like
to believe so — that the Armenian Genocide would be a pre-condition
for Turkey’s admission. But also it is a fact that the Armenian
Genocide has never been raised so frequently, it has never been used
before to pressure Turkey. This is a great success. We made two issues
clear for us on December 17: Diaspora Armenians living in various
European countries and cities are as firm in the Armenian Genocide
issue as the Armenian residents to pay tribute to the Genocide victims
at the Tsitsernakaberd memorial on each April 24.

Secondly, it became apparent that a new stage began, meaning we should
mobilize our potential. No tragedy happened. Regardless of Turkey’s
membership we will continue our fight.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

So much injustice in Boxing Day tragedy

Canberra Times – Australasia
Dec 28, 2004

SURROUNDED as most of us probably are by the excesses, the detritus
and the general aftermath of Christmas, it’s impossible to imagine
what the survivors of the world’s most powerful earthquake for 40
years must be going through right now. The top news story on Boxing
Day was supposed to be the re-run of the Ukraine elections, not a
re-run of the Iranian earthquake that left 26,000 people dead in Bam
on 26 December last year.

It’s still too early to say how many people died in the quake that hit
the Indonesian state of Aceh on Boxing Day or in those countries – Sri
Lanka, Thailand, India and the Maldives – fringing the Indian Ocean
that was subsequently battered by a massive tsunami. The chances are
we’ll never know since many of the coastal settlements close to the
Oceanic epicentre were completely destroyed leaving no survivors to
furnish us with tidy statistics.

The difference between human and natural disasters is that the first
are avoidable whereas the second we can do nothing about – unless, of
course, we live in the first world and have a lot of money. Think of
all those millionaires in Los Angeles with their luxury
earthquake-proof homes slap on top of the San Andreas Fault. True to
what I have always considered to be the curiously un-Christian parable
of the sower, Matthew 12 verse 13: ”To him that hath, even more shall
be given and he shall have an abundance. To him that hath not, even
that which he hath will be taken away.” Natural disasters always seem
to dump on the poorest communities of the Third World. OK, there was a
freak hurricane in France just before Christmas which had people
missing planes and ferries and thousands of households without
electricity for a few hours, but that was a mere dot in the big
disaster picture. Every year thousands of Bangladeshis whose average
income is less than a dollar a week are swamped by typhoons and tidal
waves. To make their homes flood-proof by erecting low walls made of
concrete blocks containing a specially designed reinforcing agent,
would cost less than $10 a family, but the government simply can’t
afford it.

It’s at times like this when all I can do is feel helpless and listen
to the latest news updates from the disaster zone. It’s times like
this that I don’t envy an engineer called David Charlesworth who I met
about 10 years ago. As I write this he’s probably on a plane heading
for Jakarta with his bag of tools. David works for a charity called
The Register of Engineers for Disaster Relief. They are the unsung
heroes of natural disasters. They don’t have the glamour of doctors
saving the lives of small children in field hospitals or the photo
opportunity value of Red Cross drivers distributing food in refugee
camps.

REDR members are the low-profile operators who rebuild the roads and
bridges and improvise airstrips to make it possible for the doctors
and drivers to get to the disaster areas.

When I met David he had just come back from an assignment to the
Ascension Islands during the Falklands War. The RAF needed an
airstrip; REDR did it for peanuts. No-frills practicality is the aid
worker’s key word. A friend who went to Gujarat after the 1998 Indian
earthquake said that aid agencies often missed the basics because they
got carried away by headline-catching projects. In Gujarat the
American NGO’s were dead keen on the ”Adopt a village” idea, which
made great television. They spent days driving around looking for a
suitable candidate with preferably an articulate, photogenic head
man. In her experience, said my Christian Aid friend dryly, the
neediest people in disasters are not necessarily the most
vocal. Instead of a charismatic village head man, they’d have been
better off getting in touch with the local Sangam or women’s
group. Every Indian village has one. They are the people who really
know where the help is needed.

A year after Bam, President Mohammad Khatami is claiming that only
$A42 million of the $A2.5 billion worth of international aid promised
has been delivered. Sixteen years after the Armenian quake, only 50 of
the 256 houses destroyed in the village of Saramej have been
rebuilt. With many foreign tourists among the casualties, Sunday’s
victims can expect masses of aid, but how much of it will filter
through to tiny rural communities? Natural disasters are often
referred to, particularly by insurance companies, as Acts of God. Was
there ever a more cogent argument for becoming an atheist? This is the
first Christmas I didn’t go to Midnight Mass. With the benefit of
hindsight would there really have been much point? – The Independent

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RIA Novosti, Armenia
Dec 28 2004

MOSCOW AND YEREVAN TO DISCUSS BILATERAL ECONOMIC COOPERATION

MOSCOW/YEREVAN, December 28 (RIA Novosti) – On Tuesday the
Moscow-based President Hotel will host the sixth session of the
Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation between Russia
and Armenia.

The commission plans to consider a broad range of trade and economic
cooperation issues, including some energy, transportation, telecoms,
and humanitarian projects, the Russian Transportation Ministry told
RIA Novosti.

Russian Transportation Minister Igor Levitin is the Russian
co-chairman of the Commission; his Armenian peer is Armenian Defense
Minister and Secretary of the Presidential Security Council Serzh
Sarkisyan, who also heads the national delegation to the meeting.

Colonel Seiran Shakhsuvaryan, the press secretary of the Armenian
Defense Minister, said the meeting would discuss the implementation
of what had been agreed upon at the previous session on February 2003
and in the co-chairmen’s joint protocol of October 14, 2004.

A special protocol will be signed after the sixth meeting.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress