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REPRESENTATIVES OF COLLECTIVE SECURITY TREATY ORGANIZATION
MEMBER-STATES HOLD CONSULTATIONS IN MOSCOW

YEREVAN, AUGUST 21. ARMINFO. Consultations of CSTO member-states on
foreign policy and security issues were held at CSTO Secretariat in
Moscow on August 20.

The press-service of the CSTO Secretariat told ARMINFO that
consultations were attended by representatives of foreign political
departments and embassies of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia,
Russia and Tajikistan, as well as by plenipotentiary representatives
of CSTO member-states. The consultations were held by Deputy Secretary
General of CSTO Toktasin Buzubayev. The parties exchanged opinions on
the main points of the agenda of the 59th session of UN General
Assembly, discussed the attitude of the CSTO member-states to the
Initiative of Combatting dissemination of mass weapons and elaboration
of a common position of CSTO member-states on the main directions of
OSCE’s activity. The consultation-participants pointed out the central
role of the UN and the UN Security Council as the major mechanism of
peace-keeping and international security, as well as the urgency of
regular verification of the positions on the key issues related to the
interests and security of the CSTO member-states.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERBAIJANI SPECIAL SERVICES KEEP ON LOOKING FOR “ARMENIAN SPIES”

YEREVAN, AUGUST 21. ARMINFO. About 1/3 of “agents” detained by
Azerbaijan’s law-enforcers are charged with espionage in favor of
Armenia.

The Baku-based echo newspaper reports that during seven months of 2004
Azerbaijani law-enforcement agencies received information on at least
nine cases of espionage against Azerbaijan, all the detainees being
foreign citizens – two Armenian citizens, two Iranian citizens, 2
Russian citizens, two citizens of Georgia and one citizen of
Japan. The Japanese citizen, who was detained for being a student of
one of the Yerevan higher schools, was released.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IN SEPT OPPOSITION OF ARMENIA WILL BEGIN SERIOUS ACTIONS: HOVHANNES
HOVHANNISIAN

YEREVAN, AUGUST 21. ARMINFO. Liberal-progressive party of Armenia is
now carrying out consultations with other opposition political forces
to form a united camp. LPP leader Hovhannes Hovahnnisian informed
during the press conference today.

He declared that already in Sept of the current year the united
opposition will begin serious operations and make a serious
application for implementation of the change of the power in
Armenia. Speaking about the situation in the republic, Hovhannes
Hovhannisian stressed that Armenia has turned into a corrupted
country, where the laws do not work, and all takes place on the basis
of oral agreements between the powers that be. Armenia is a country
which has a potential for development, if the corruption is extirpated
here, he stressed.

Washington Times
Aug 22 2004

Week in Review

By David W. Jones

Chemical attack?

There was something curiously understated about the report of an
apparent chemical attack on villagers in the Sudanese province of
Darfur, which ran on Tuesday’s front page.

For one thing, the word “chemical” was never used by any of the
villagers. They simply described in matter-of-fact terms how one day,
instead of the usual bombs, the planes dropped plastic sacks filled
with a flourlike substance that made them sick and killed their
livestock.
“I came across the story just talking to the villagers in Shegek
Karo about their experiences during the bombing,” reporter Levon
Sevunts explained in a subsequent e-mail.
“They didn’t even realize what they were telling me was extremely
important. For them, it was just another of many ways the Sudanese
government had tried to kill them.”
Mr. Sevunt’s report was the first we had seen since the Darfur
story broke into the headlines this year to suggest the Sudanese were
using chemical weapons in the conflict.
That made it a big story, but also one on which we wanted to be
very careful of our facts – especially because Mr. Sevunts, a
freelance correspondent in the region for the Toronto Star, had filed
to us only a couple of times before.
But the innocent quality of the villagers’ stories gave the story
the ring of truth, and we were impressed by the fact that Mr. Sevunts
had carefully avoided making any unsubstantiated charges. He simply
recounted the stories the villagers had told him.
We had staff reporter David R. Sands in Washington make some
additional phone calls.
He learned that the British Broadcasting Corp. had reported the
use of chemical weapons in southern Darfur in 1999, and was told by a
specialist at the International Crisis Group (ICG) that there had
been unconfirmed reports of chemical-weapon use in Sudan for a
decade.
The ICG specialist, John Prendergast, also called for an
international investigation of all such charges. At that point, we
felt we had not only solid grounds for the story, but perhaps even an
obligation to run it.

Security concerns
One thing that troubled us: Mr. Sevunts, in his original story,
said representatives of Human Rights Watch had been to the village
and taken a sample of the powder to be analyzed. But when we called
Human Rights Watch from Washington, their spokesman was not aware of
the incident.
This might just be a case of poor communications between
headquarters and the field, common enough in situations like this.
When we queried Mr. Sevunts, he provided the name of the person who
took the sample and suggested another explanation.
“I think the HRW are denying it for the same reasons I had to
hold it for several days – security,” he wrote.
“But I couldn’t hold the story any more,” he said. On his way
back, he had run into reporters from competing organizations
traveling to the same village “and I wasn’t sure whether they got the
story, too.”
“So I filed at the first opportunity I got to recharge batteries
on my laptop and close enough to the Chadian border that I knew I
could make a run for it if the Sudanese came after us.”
We also did a bit of research on Mr. Sevunts – an easy enough
matter, thanks to Google. We knew he had worked several years for the
well-regarded Montreal Gazette, but not much more.
The Google search showed that he was Russian-born, that he had
lived in Armenia for a while, and that he had some remarkable
adventures during the fighting in Afghanistan at the end of 2001.
Mr. Sevunts “was once a soldier in the former Soviet Union,” says
a “blog” from that period by Kevin Sites, a freelance television
reporter for NBC and CNN. “That is probably why he is alive today. He
knows about war. Has been shot at before.”
That sounds like just the kind of guy we like to have reporting
from a conflict zone.

-David W. Jones is the foreign editor of The Washington Times.
His e-mail address is [email protected].

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Athens 2004, Olympics Official Website
Aug 22 2004

Men’s Greco-Roman 84kg : Abrahamian (SWE) seeking medal

ATHENS, 12 August – Ara Abrahamian (SWE) is ready to compete for his
first Olympic medal.

The Armenian born wrestler, made his international debut for his
homeland at the 1996 European Championships, still competed for
Armenia as late as the 1998 World Championships before moving to
Sweden and representing his adopted country at the 1999 World
Championships.

Abrahamian, who finished sixth at the Sydney 2000 Games in the now
discontinued 76kg class, has won two world championships since.

In 2001 he claimed the 74kg class title in Patra, Greece before
jumping up to 84kg class the following year and winning again.

At last year’s World Championships in France he won the silver medal.

The Men’s Greco-Roman 84kg competition begins on Tuesday 24 August at
the Ano Liossia Olympic Hall.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Athens 2004, Olympics Official Website
Aug 22 2004

Nazarian aims for third gold in third weight class

ATHENS, 5 August – Two-time Olympic champion Armen NAZARIAN of
Bulgaria will be attempting to become the second Greco-Roman wrestler
in Olympic history to claim a title in three different weight
classes.

Nazarian, 30, won gold at the 1996 Olympic Games at 52 kg, when he
competed for his birth country, Armenia. At Sydney, he took gold at
58 kg. At the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, he will compete at 60 kg.

Sweden’s Carl Westergren is the only Greco-Roman wrestler who has won
gold medals in three different weight classes.

Cuban Filiberto Aguilera Azcuy won Greco-Roman gold at 74kg at the
1996 Games, moved down to 69 kg to take gold in Sydney, and has now
returned to 74kg.

Hamza YERLIKAYA, 28, of Turkey won Greco-Roman gold at 82 kg in 1996
and at 85 kg in 2000, and has returned to 84 kg for Athens.

Only four Olympic wrestlers have won three gold medals, only two
achieving the feat in consecutive Olympic Games.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Rediff, India
Aug 23 2004

Ramesh holds Evgeny Vladimirov

August 22, 2004 19:50 IST

Grandmaster R B Ramesh held top seed GM Evgeny Vladimirov of
Kazkhstan to an easy draw to take joint-third position after the
seventh round in the Masters section of 14th Abu Dhabi chess festival
now in progress.

On a day that witnessed grueling battles for lead positions, GM
Pendyala Harikrishna was held to a draw by Mahjoob Morteza of Iran
and GM Tejas Bakre went down against his Russian counterpart Dmitry
Bocharov.

Former Asian Junior girls’ champion Tania Sachdev suffered a reversal
at the hands of International Master Imad Hakki of Syria and though
her second Women Grandmaster norm prospects have not suffered any
severe blow, the Indian might just need to push a little more for her
maiden IM norm.

Meanwhile, GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan of Iran was joined by GM Evegny
Gleizerov of Russia and Pavel Kotsur of Kazakhstan at the top of the
table on 5.5 points after the Iranian held on to his nerves and drew
with Ashot Anastasian of Armenia in a long drawn game.

Bocharov and Anastansian are close behind the leaders on five points
while a pack of nine players including Harikrishna and Ramesh are
also in reckoning for top prizes with 4.5 points in their kitty when
just two rounds remain in this US $16000 prize-money tournament being
played under FIDEs Swiss rules.

Ramesh did not have much to do except play correctly against
Vladimirov, who played the white side of an English opening. The
Indian is respected for his opening preparation and Vladimirov was
disappointed as he failed to get even a semblance of an advantage
with the favourable colour.

In fact, fearing he might end up being worse, Vladimirov signed peace
pact in just 16 moves.

Harikrishna tried hard against Morteza but his efforts did not come
good as the latter kept his position together with black pieces.

It was the Capablanca variation of Nimzo Indian in the opening and
the Iranian equalised almost by force, leading the game to a rook and
minor piece ending wherein Harikrishna had a slightly inferior pawn
structure. The draw was agreed to after 55 moves when Harikrishna
could make no headway against a near impregnable black’s position.

Tania was unlucky to lose against Hakki after putting up a spirited
show. The Syrian had only a level position for the major part of the
game till Tania blundered and lost a pawn without much compensation.

Tania is pitted against WGM Julia Mashinskaya of Russia, whose rating
is less than her own, in the next round.

Currently Tania’s performance rating is 2436 Elo points, which is
quite sufficient for the second WGM norm if she scores even one point
from remaining two matches. However, had Tania drawn the seventh
round game, the norm would have been automatically made as she would
have met another higher rated player.

Amongst other Indians in the fray, IM Neelotpal Das defeated
Al-Tamimi Hamad of Qatar and Eesha Karvade accounted for Amer Mohamed
of Egypt. Drawing their games were S Kidambi and Aarthie Ramswamy who
signed peace with local interests Jasim A R Saleh and Mohamed Hossein
respectively while WGM Nisha Mohota was on the receiving end against
Konstantin Chernyshov of Russia.

Complete results round 7 (Indians unless specified): Ashot
Anastasian (5, Arm) drew with Ghaem Maghami Ehsan (5.5, Iri); Pavl
Kotsur (5.5, Kaz) beat Mikhail Kobalia (4.5, Rus); Evgeny Gleizerov
(5.5, Rus) beat Artashes Minasian (4.5, Arm); Evgeny Vladimirov (4.5,
Kaz) drew with R B Ramesh (4.5); P Harikrishna (4.5) drew with
Mahjoob Morteza (4.5, Iri); Dmitry Bocharov (5, Rus) beat Tejas Bakre
(4); Tissir Mohamed (4, Mar) drew with Artyom Timofeev (4, Rus);
Marat Dzhumaev (4.5, Uzb) beat Sergey Kayumov (4.5, Uzb); Ramil
Hasangatin (4.5, Rus) beat Kivanc Haznedaroglu (3.5, Tur); Safin
Shukhrat (4, Uzb) drew with Jasper Lauridsen (4, Den); Zeinab
Mamediarova (4, Aze) drew with Taleb Moussa (4, Uae); Imad Hakki
(4.5, Syr) beat Tania Sachdev (4); Konstantin Chernyshov (4, Rus)
beat Nisha Mohota (3); Tahir Vakhidov (4, Uzb) beat Nezad Husein Aziz
(3, Qat); Elshan Moradiabadi (3, Iri) lost to Abdullah Hassan (4,
Uae); Shadi Paridar (3, Iri) lost to Yannick Gozzoli (4, Fra),
Saidali Iuldacev (3, Uzb) drew with Julia Mashinskaya (3.5, Rus);
Alexander Raetsky (3, Rus) drew with Mikhail Ulibin (3, Rus); Faruk
Bistric (3, Bih) drew with Firuza Velikhanli (3, Aze); S Kidambi (3)
drew with Jasim A R Saleh (3, UAE); Neelotpal Das (3) beat Al-Tamimi
Hamad (2.5, Qat); Mohamed Hossein (3, UAE) drew with Aarthie
Ramaswamy (2.5); Atousa Pourkashiyan (3, IRI) beat Saleh Nabil (2,
UAE); Tayeb Suhail (2.5, UAE) drew with Illijin Neboisa (2.5, Rom);
Eesha Karavade (3) beat Amer Mohamed (2, Egy); James Coleman (2, Eng)
lost to Adina-Maria Bogza (2.5, Rom); Khalil Ibrahim (1.5, UAE) drew
with Saleh Najueb (1.5, UAE).

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

“TEACHERS OF ARMENIA AND SPYURK AREN’T COMPLETELY PROTECTED,” HRANUSH
HAKOBIAN DECLARES

YEREVAN, August 20 (Noyan Tapan). Both in Armenia and in Spyurk
teachers aren’t completely protected, but the state undertakes certain
steps in the direction of this. Hranush Hakobian, the Chairwoman of
the RA NA Standing Commission on Issues of Education, Science, Culture
and Youth, mentioned this at the August 20 meeting with 50 teachers
from the Diaspora participating in the retraining courses in
Yerevan. She mentioned that compared with the previous year the
teachers’ salary has doubled in 2004 reaching from $30 to $60 and in
2005 it’s envisaged to increase the salary till 51 thousand drams
(about $100). Touching upon the issue of introduction of a joint
system of education H.Hakobian mentioned that each pupil living in
Armenia should also learn Western Armenian. The MP found it difficult
to speak about the terms of introduction of this system, but she
didn’t exclude that the RA government will make the corresponding
decision in the future. H.Hakobian also emphasized the necessity of
legislative stipulation of the right of double citizenship, which has
already been included into the package of Constitutional reforms.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Reuters
Aug 21 2004

Olympics-Boxing-Iraq’s Ali Dreams On

By Patrick Vignal

ATHENS (Reuters) – Just taking part in the Olympics was a victory for
Iraqi boxer Najah Ali and he could yet write another chapter to his
fairytale adventure by winning a medal.

Ali, who started with a fine win in the first round, will be back in
action at the Peristeri Hall on Saturday in a bid to defy the odds
again.

It seems unlikely that he will beat seasoned Armenian light flyweight
Aleksan Nalbandyan, but if he did he would be in the quarter-finals,
just one win away from a medal.

“I believe that if he gets it right, he can beat anybody,” said Ali’s
American coach Maurice “Termite” Watkins.

“He’s that good.”

Watkins, a former world title contender who went to Iraq to kill bugs
and ended up taking over the national boxing team, says he is not the
only one to highly rate his boxer.

“It’s not just me,” he said.

“Some very good judges who have seen the kid fight think he has a
really good chance of winning a medal.”

Not only Ali could give Iraq something to celebrate, the national
soccer team having reached the last eight of the men’s tournament and
take on Australia on Saturday.

Iraq have won only one Olympic medal, a weightlifting bronze in Rome
in 1960, the year the more famous Ali, then called Cassius Clay, made
the boxing world take notice with a gold.

The Iraqi Ali, a pocket-sized 24-year-old with a boyish face and
wide, dark eyes, may not have the skills of “The Greatest” but he has
come a long way already.

“I’m a symbol for the Iraqi people, who want freedom and peace,” he
said after winning his first bout on Wednesday.
For Watkins, the Iraqi athletes, who once risked torture for failure
at the hands of former Olympic chief Uday Hussein, son of Saddam, are
on a mission to restore their people’s pride.

The 47-year-old Texan first tried to draw together a real team but
none of his boxers managed to qualify and he needed a wild card from
the International Olympic Committee to travel to Athens with just
Ali, who was told to stop eating ice cream.

Each training session began with a team dance and a chant of “Iraq is
back,” a phrase that became a rallying cry and is printed on the back
of Ali’s shirt when he steps into the ring.

Watkins, who fought for the world light-welterweight title on the
same bill that saw Larry Holmes defeat Muhammad Ali in 1980, has
received several offers to turn his life into a film.

Iraq’s Ali had seemed condemned to play a bit part but, with a couple
more wins in Athens, he could end up with the star.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia laying fresh territorial claims to Azerbaijan – daily

Ekho, Baku
21 Aug 04

Yerevan is laying fresh territorial claims to Azerbaijan. Now the
official Armenian press has raised the issue of returning to Armenia
another 506 sq.km. of “land that has belonged to Armenia since time
immemorial along with” Karabakh and Naxcivan [Azerbaijani exclave].

[Passage omitted: report from the Armenian newspaper Golos Armenii;
comments by an Azerbaijani historian]

It is clear that the political leadership of Azerbaijan and our
Foreign Ministry should at least pay attention to the fact that the
official newspaper of the neighbouring state lays open territorial
claims to the lands of independent Azerbaijan. In fact, this is a
trump card that Armenia is carelessly giving to Azerbaijan. It is
necessary to benefit from this at the international level, i.e. to
draw the attention of influential international organizations and
states to the fact that the neighbouring aggressor country is not only
going to liberate the occupied lands, but on the contrary, is laying
additional open claims to Azerbaijani territory. This fact could be
the basis of Baku’s refusal to conduct talks with Yerevan.

[Passage omitted: Ekho failed to contact the Foreign Ministry]

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress