Author: Antonian Lara

Daily Pennsylvanian, PA
Dec 2 2004

Exchange program brings modern nurses to Eurasia
By carly weinreb

Penn Nursing professor and researcher Linda Aiken recently finished
directing a three-year program aimed at bringing four Eurasian
hospitals up to Western standards of health care and nursing.
The Nursing Quality Improvement Program was designed to improve the
quality of nursing and health care in former Soviet Union and
Armenian hospitals and sought to elevate the status of nurses — who
are often viewed more like janitors than professionals — in the
targeted hospitals.

After the program was completed, the hospitals were awarded the newly
created Journey to Excellence Award, which identifies them as
superior health care institutions.

The program is part of the Nursing School’s overall directive to
research and improve health care both in the United States and around
the world.

“If you don’t have good nursing, you can’t have good quality of care
in hospitals,” Aiken said.

The three-year program, which was mainly funded by the Population
Studies Center at Penn and the U.S. Agency for International
Development, paired four hospitals in the former Soviet Union and
Armenia with four U.S. hospitals of “magnet status” — some of the
best hospitals in the United States.

The program was run like a “nurse-exchange program,” sending American
and Eurasian nurses back and forth between the paired hospitals.

The American nurses found they had a lot to address with their
Eurasian counterparts. According to Aiken, many of the Russian and
Armenian hospitals did not have a code of medical ethics. For
example, nurses were still using leather restraints to handle
distressed patients — a practice now known to produce more injuries
than it prevents.

Many of the hospitals did not have updated equipment and medical
supplies and lacked a closed, sterile environment. According to
Aiken, some nurses were using plastic Coke bottles, which were not
necessarily sterilized, for drainage.

“It was like going back 50 years in time,” Associate Executive
Director for North Shore University Hospital Margarita Baggett said.

Baggett was the team leader of her hospital for the program and said
that, at Erebouni Medical Center in Armenia, there were no privacy
curtains or screens, flies swarmed everywhere and the plaster walls
were falling down.

In order to improve the quality of care at these hospitals, the
program set up an intercom system to enable better communication
between nurses and doctors and established a code of medical ethics
and a patients’ bill of rights.

American nurses introduced evidence-based practice — nursing based
on scientific principles — to their Eurasian counterparts. They also
taught them how to read an electrocardiogram, put together a plan of
care and maintain a daily flow sheet.

And to address the lack of privacy curtains, the Armenian and Russian
nurses sewed some themselves.

“There’s a great deal of interest in helping to empower nurses in
economically developing countries to deliver more professional
nursing care,” post-doctoral fellow in the Center for Health Outcomes
and Policy Research Mary Powell said. “Nurses are indeed
professionals that make a difference.”

After the program concluded, each of the Eurasian hospitals was
evaluated and determined to have achieved the 14 standards of magnet
accreditation, thus marking the program a success.

“It was one of the most thrilling things I’ve ever seen. The
rapidness of the change there was so impressive,” Aiken said.

The Journey to Excellence Award ceremonies were highly publicized and
were attended by politicians and dignitaries.

“It was the first time these nurses were on TV,” Aiken said. “Nurses
are kind of invisible there.”

Baggett was similarly enthusiastic about the experience.

The Armenian nurses “touched us so deeply. It was so great to share
the great practice of nursing,” she said.

Plans are in the works to continue the program in other economically
developing countries, and Aiken is in the process of talking to
potential donors.

And one of the researchers, first-year Penn Nursing graduate student
Lusine Poghosyan — who helped collect data for the project while she
was getting her master’s degree in Armenia — will soon be the first
person in Armenia to earn a Ph.D. in nursing. After her earning this
degree, Poghosyan plans to return home and become involved in
expanding nursing education.

HRANT MARGARIAN PRESENTS NEW COLLECTION IN NEW YORK

NEW YORK, December 1 (Noyan Tapan). The presentation of the new
collection of American-Armenian playwright and poet Hrant Margarian
was recently held at the hall of the Armenian Center in New York. It
was held upon the initiative of Hamazgayin.

According to the “Marmara” daily newspaper of Istanbul, Arevik
Gabrielian, Haroutiun Msyrlian, specialist in literature Vehanush
Tekian and employee of “Marmara” Zarmine Poghosian spoke about the
book during the presentation.

Hrant Margarian writes both in Armenian and English.

Armenian MPs urge Turkey to open borders, set up diplomatic ties

Arminfo
1 Dec 04

YEREVAN

Representatives of the Armenian delegation in the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation Parliamentary Assembly [BSECPA] have had a 30-minute
private meeting with Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc on the
sidelines of the 24th session of the BSECPA.

MP Gagik Mkheyan, chairman of the Armenian National Assembly
commission for public health, environment and social issues, told
today’s press conference that Bulent Arinc had initiated the
meeting. The Armenian deputy said that the meeting, which was also
attended by a representative of the Turkish Foreign Ministry,
discussed opening the Armenian-Turkish borders and establishing mutual
diplomatic relations.

At the meeting, Bulent Arinc said that Turkey was ready to establish
relations with Armenia, however, there existed a number of problems
that were impeding this. In particular, the Turkish speaker aired
dissatisfaction with lobbyist activities of the Armenian diaspora over
international recognition of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman
Turkey in the early 1900s.

At the same time, Bulent Arinc regretted the tragic events in Turkey
in the beginning of the 20th century. But he noted that those events
could not be qualified as genocide. He also expressed concern that
Armenia was limp-wristed in the issue of returning the seized
Azerbaijani lands. The speaker of the Turkish parliament said that the
OSCE Minsk Group was inefficient in the issue of peaceful resolution
of the Karabakh conflict. Bulent Arinc reiterated Turkey’s readiness
to mediate the peaceful negotiations on the Karabakh conflict.

In turn, the Armenian MPs said that the issue of international
recognition of the Armenian genocide remained as a priority issue on
Yerevan’s foreign policy agenda, but it was not an obstacle to
establishing diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey. The
Armenian delegation members noted that all disputable issues between
Armenia and Turkey could be resolved provided there are bilateral
diplomatic relations. They did not back Bulent Arinc’s opinion that
the OSCE Minsk Group’s work was inefficient. The Armenian MPs, in
particular, noted that the OSCE Minsk Group was today the only
acceptable format where a peaceful resolution to the Karabakh conflict
could be debated.

Speaking about Turkey’s possible admittance to the European Union, the
Armenian delegation said that Armenia was not against Turkey’s
membership of the EU provided Ankara should review its policy on
ethnic minorities in Turkey, as well as the issue of opening the
Armenian-Turkish borders.

On the whole, they noted that Armenia would be happy to have a
neighbour which was a member of the EU. The Armenian delegation also
noted the importance of expanding bilateral interparliamentary
cooperation, which could be conducive to setting up Armenian-Turkish
diplomatic relations. Gagik Mkheyan noted that very warm ties had
shaped between the Armenian and Turkish parliamentary delegations in
the BSECPA.

Turkmen president fires his ambassador to Belgium

.c The Associated Press

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) – Turkmenistan’s president fired the
country’s ambassador to Belgium after the diplomat allegedly defected,
state media and an official said Tuesday.

If verified, this will be the fourth recent defection by a senior
Turkmen diplomat abroad, following the nation’s senior envoys to
Turkey, Great Britain and Armenia switching sides.

President Saparmurat Niyazov fired Niyazklych Nurklychev on Monday
“for serious shortcomings committed in his work,” the Neutral
Turkmenistan newspaper said. He was stripped of his diplomatic rank
and state awards he has received in his career.

The paper gave no other details and authorities declined to comment.

An official at the Foreign Ministry said on condition of anonymity
that Niyazov signed the decree after Nurklychev’s defection.

Nurklychev had been the Turkmen ambassador to Russia before moving to
Belgium in the mid-1990s.

Niyazov has led Turkmenistan since 1985, when it was part of the
Soviet Union, resisting calls for democracy and economic reforms, and
cracking down on dissent. He has established a personality cult around
and his portrait adorns the country’s currency and most public
buildings.

11/30/04 06:07 EST

Myrtle Beach Sun News, SC
Macon Telegraph, GA
St. Louis Post, MO
Nov 29 2004

Latvian family fights for asylum a decade after coming to U.S.

BY PETER SHINKLE

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS – (KRT) – Ofelia Boudaguian says she hoped for fair
treatment when she and her family came to the United States in 1995,
after years of suffering discrimination and violence in Latvia.

After nearly a decade in the St. Louis area, though, Boudaguian says
she feels let down by the American legal system, which has denied the
family political asylum and now threatens them with deportation at
any moment.

“We live now day by day. It’s so scary,” she said. A knock on the
door might mean that she and her husband, Vitalik Boudaguian, and
their two children must gather their belongings, submit to arrest,
and go to a detention facility to await deportation.

Their one-year tourist visas expired May 18, 1996.

The family’s efforts to gain asylum have drawn support from a
dedicated group of friends, who met Ofelia Boudaguian through her job
as a cosmetologist at the Personalities Hair and Nails Salon in
Manchester.

After the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals here ruled July 22 to
deny the family’s request for asylum, the friends launched a
full-bore campaign to block their deportation. They have met with
First Lady Laura Bush, peppered acquaintances of Attorney General
John Ashcroft with letters and phone calls, visited the office of
President Bush’s uncle in Clayton, corresponded with the offices of
U.S. Sens. Christopher “Kit” Bond and Jim Talent, and collected 2,000
signatures on the family’s behalf.

When Laura Bush appeared in St. Louis on Aug. 17, Jeanne Nevens, the
campaign’s informal leader, had Ofelia stand in front of the first
lady holding a sign, “Ofelia Boudaguian,” while Nevens told the
family’s story. Ofelia cried; Nevens kept on talking. Secret Service
agents had warned them not to give Mrs. Bush anything, but Nevens
said she gave papers on the Boudaguians’ case to an assistant. Mrs.
Bush asked that information on the case be sent to her, Nevens said.

Later, after Nevens sent a packet of information to the White House,
Denise Bradley, director of correspondence for Mrs. Bush, sent a
letter saying she had passed it to the White House staff member
“responsible for your issue.” She wrote: “The agency will be in touch
with you directly.”

Since then, the family has heard nothing from the immigration
authorities. Indeed, it is unclear whether the campaign has had any
effect. A deportation order is in effect, but no one has come to
enforce it – or announce its cancellation. Has it been forgotten? Has
it slipped through the cracks? Is someone reconsidering the case? No
one seems to know.

A representative of the Justice Department declined comment on the
case.

Nevens said she was aghast at how judges in the 8th Circuit, in a
hearing in February, appeared to play down the bomb that exploded
outside the family’s home in Latvia. “That’s our legal system, and I
think it stinks,” she said.

Vitalik and Ofelia, both Christians of Armenian descent, grew up in
Shemakha, a village roughly 80 miles west of Baku, in Azerbaijan.
After Vitalik completed his education and his Soviet military
service, the couple moved in 1982 to Latvia.

There, the family claims it suffered a string of acts of persecution,
physical attacks and threats by ethnic Latvians. The Boudaguians, who
have the olive complexion and black hair typical of Armenians, say
they are easily distinguished from Latvians, who tend to be
fair-skinned.

Since Latvia became independent in 1991, Latvians have often shown
resentment toward non-Latvians who came to their country from other
Soviet republics during the Soviet era, the family says. For
dark-skinned foreigners, Latvians often use a Russian slur involving
the word “black,” Vitalik said.

The family claims a litany of abuse:

_In 1993, Vitalik Boudaguian was forced by the Latvian government to
close his business under duress, and a smoke bomb was thrown into the
family’s apartment. In addition, teenage boys doused the Boudaguians’
son, Khristopher, with gasoline and were poised to set him afire
until Vitalik intervened.

_In 1994, another bomb was thrown at the children’s bedroom wall,
causing the wall to crack, and Vitalik’s nephew was beaten and robbed
by Latvian police.

_In March 1995, Vitalik was badly beaten by Latvian policemen because
of his ethnic background, and when he reported the attack, he was
repeatedly warned to drop his complaint and leave the country or his
family members lives would be in danger.

In May 1995, the family came to St. Louis with the help of an
Armenian friend who already lived here. They began preparing a
request for asylum on the basis of persistent persecution – and fear
of more persecution if they return.

The U.S. Department of State said in a report in February that while
Latvia is a parliamentary democracy, some security forces have used
excessive force and mistreated people, and there are “some reports of
discrimination on the basis of ethnicity.”

Once the family settled in St. Louis, the children, Khristopher and
Khristina, began attending school. Vitalik worked as a contractor and
Ofelia, a cosmetologist. They live in a small townhouse apartment in
Manchester. They attend an Armenian church in Granite City.

“This family did everything right,” Nevens said.

The asylum case came before an immigration judge in 1998. The judge
found that Vitalik Boudaguian’s testimony about the incidents was
credible, but that those incidents did not rise to the level of
persecution, which must be shown if asylum is to be granted.

The judge said Boudaguian failed to prove the acts occurred on
account of his nationality or membership in a particular social
group.

Boudaguian appealed, but in June 2002, the Board of Immigration
Appeals dismissed the case, again finding that the family failed to
prove “past persecution or a well-founded fear or clear probability
of persecution in Latvia.”

The Boudaguians’ attorney at the time, Gene McNary, a former U.S.
commissioner of immigration, did not pursue an appeal in the 8th
Circuit Court, but instead filed a motion urging the board to
reconsider its ruling. On Dec. 3, 2002, the board denied the request.

Then, with a new attorney, the Boudaguians appealed to the 8th
Circuit. Here they faced arguments from the U.S. Department of
Justice that the Boudaguians had added no new evidence to their case,
and that they had failed to file their appeal on time.

The 8th Circuit agreed and dismissed the appeal on the grounds that
the Boudaguians “did not file a timely petition” to ask the 8th
Circuit to consider the case. The deportation order was issued.

Now, Vitalik Boudaguian is angry with McNary, whom he blames for
waiting too long to file the appeal. “The lawyer’s mistake cost me
too much,” he said.

McNary dismissed the notion that any mistake was made. “We felt that
our option was to file the motion to reopen,” he said. “I really
don’t want to argue the law.”

The Boudaguians have an opportunity to appeal to the U.S. Supreme
Court, but appeals in such cases are extremely rarely heard by the
court, said Timothy Wichmer, the family’s current attorney.

So now, the family waits. Khristina and Khristopher, both of whom
graduated from local high schools, are attending community college in
an effort to obtain their degrees before they must leave. Each day
the family fears the end of their life in America – and a return to
Latvia.

“We don’t know whether we’re going to be alive or dead,” Ofelia said.

Le Figaro, France
Mercredi 24 novembre 2004

Quel destin commun pour Ankara et l’Union ?
Turquie : les avantages du partenariat privilégié

Par JACQUES TOUBON *

Lorsque, il y a quatre ans, avec Alain Juppé, j’ai proposé de retenir
dans notre schéma de Constitution pour l’Europe la formule du
partenariat privilégié à destination de nos voisins et en particulier
de la Turquie, nous étions parmi les premiers à poser la question des
frontières de l’union politique.

La Convention a retenu, grâce aux positions courageuses de Valéry
Giscard d’Estaing, des dispositions très proches, c’est l’article 56
du projet de Constitution.

Aujourd’hui, au fur et à mesure que le débat sur les négociations
d’adhésion avec la Turquie s’intensifie, tout le monde, ou presque,
propose d’ouvrir une alternative avec le choix d’un partenariat
privilégié. Mais les partisans inconditionnels de l’adhésion ont bon
jeu de dire que cela ne signifie rien car ceux là même qui énoncent
ce concept se gardent bien de lui donner un contenu précis.

Or le partenariat privilégié, c’est une vraie politique d’alliance et
de destin partagés entre la Turquie et l’Union européenne qui seule,
s’inscrit dans notre ambition d’une union politique, source de
progrès économique et social et acteur majeur dans le monde.

Voici ce qu’elle pourrait contenir :

1. Une véritable politique commerciale commune. Il s’agit de dépasser
la simple union douanière pour intégrer la Turquie dans la politique
commerciale de l’Union. En vertu de l’article 13 du traité de 1995,
la Turquie est alignée purement et simplement sur le tarif extérieur
commun et ne participe pas aux négociations de politique commerciale
conduites par l’UE au nom des États membres. Le partenariat
privilégié prévoirait que la Turquie, par un accord particulier,
serait intégrée aux Conseils et aux groupes compétents en matière de
politique commerciale et négocierait les éléments du tarif extérieur
commun.

2. L’édification d’un État de droit. La voie de l’acquis
communautaire n’est pas la seule et elle peut apparaître comme moins
adaptée aux caractéristiques de la civilisation turque qu’une
coopération juridique et judiciaire, en matière civile et pénale,
pour assurer le respect des droits de l’homme et des droits des
minorités. Elle sera le meilleur moyen de préserver la laïcité
constitutionnelle de la Turquie tout en instaurant les principes des
libertés publiques et des droits de l’homme. C’est dans un tel cadre
que l’Europe pourra faire comprendre à la Turquie qu’elle ne peut,
seule au monde, continuer à nier le génocide des Arméniens en 1915.

3. Le contrôle de l’immigration. L’accord entre l’Union européenne et
la Turquie mettra en place un contrôle des flux migratoires
(éventuellement avec des quotas professionnels) et une surveillance
en commun des frontières extérieures de la Turquie. Il s’agit de
regarder la réalité en face et de la maîtriser, plutôt que de signer
un chèque en blanc sans aucune garantie, sauf la période de
transition.

4. La surveillance maritime. Le Bosphore et les Dardanelles ont une
importance majeure pour l’approvisionnement pétrolier ainsi que pour
le trafic militaire. Les traités internationaux contiennent des
dispositions en vue de garantir la liberté de navigation des
détroits. Il faut aller plus loin afin de contrôler les trafics
illicites de toute nature (drogue en particulier) et de se prémunir
contre tout risque d’interruption de la navigation. Pour y parvenir,
mettre en place une organisation commune du Bosphore entre l’UE et la
Turquie.

5. L’aide au développement. Une politique d’aide au développement
particulière à la Turquie et prenant en compte sa situation
spécifique (population, étendue, agriculture, niveau d’éducation,
minorités) serait contractuellement mise en place en s’inspirant du
système des fonds structurels de la politique régionale. Elle aurait
une efficacité plus grande et plus rapide que les négociations de
«marchands de tapis» qui marqueraient inévitablement la participation
de la Turquie à la politique régionale intégrée (le rapport Verheugen
prévoit même de faire une dérogation).

6. La politique étrangère et de défense. Prendre en compte la
situation géopolitique de la Turquie c’est acter sa nature
eurasiatique et promouvoir son rôle comme puissance de stabilité et
de médiation dans l’ensemble constitué par le Proche-Orient (arabe,
perse et turc), le Caucase et la mer Noire. Pour pouvoir jouer ce
rôle, la Turquie doit rester autonome des blocs et de l’UE.

La Turquie nouera des liens particuliers avec la PESC (Politique
extérieure et de sécurité commune) de la même façon qu’elle joue, aux
côtés des États-Unis, un rôle éminent dans l’Otan. Elle constituera
la charnière entre la PESC et l’Otan.

7. L’unification pacifique de Chypre. Il est évident que la Turquie
ne peut prétendre être membre de l’Union en refusant de reconnaître
la République de Chypre, État membre depuis le 1er mai 2004. Tout le
monde semble l’avoir oublié. Plutôt que de mettre entre parenthèses
cette situation pour permettre néanmoins l’adhésion de la Turquie, il
vaudrait mieux faire du règlement de la question chypriote l’un des
chapitres du Partenariat privilégié car il serait plus facile pour la
Turquie de sauvegarder dans cet accord les intérêts de la population
turque de l’île.

8. La politique culturelle. La Turquie conduit une politique assez
active dans des domaines variés : théâtre, musique, danse, cinéma.
Par exemple, elle vient d’adopter une loi sur l’aide publique à la
production cinématographique. La Turquie est membre depuis de longues
années du Fonds Eurimages du Conseil de l’Europe. Dans le partenariat
privilégié, elle participerait au Programme Media, appliquerait la
directive Télévision sans frontières et serait associée aux
coopérations en matière culturelle, notamment par la mise en valeur
du patrimoine artistique.

Conclusion : un partenariat privilégié, c’est prendre en compte de
manière réaliste, et non pas illusoire, la situation de la Turquie
contemporaine et les exigences de la construction de l’Union
politique. C’est réduire les dangers pour l’Europe et les contraintes
pour la Turquie qui résulteraient d’une adhésion formelle. C’est
permettre à la Turquie de jouer le rôle qui est le sien dans une
région-clé du monde. C’est tisser des liens spéciaux qui
correspondent aux traditions et aux valeurs des deux civilisations,
celle de l’Europe et celle du monde turc.

–Boundary_(ID_1uSVASw7mjzu3Rnv/DaYeA)–

AZERBAIJAN ADHERES PROCESS OF PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNY KARABAKH CONFLICT
[November 27, 2004, 12:14:56]

AzerTag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
Nov 27 2004

On November 26, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Republic
Elmar Mammadyarov has met delegation of the United Nations Organization
led by the High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers.

As was informed to AzerTAj from the press center of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, the Minister, having noted that the question
of refugees and IDPs is one of the most difficult problem for the
country, has told: “The management of Republic takes necessary
measures for improvement of social plight of these people driven
out by the Armenian armed formations from the native lands during
the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh conflict. Having noted that
due to the means allocated by the State Oil Fund, were built small
settlement for refugees, the Minister has stated that Azerbaijan
needs assistance in the said question. He has told: “Activation of
political efforts for quick settlement of the conflict, returning of
the IDPs and refugees to their homes is extremely important. Armenia
by holding destructive position in the resolution to the conflict,
for infringement of process of negotiations, resettles population in
the occupied Azerbaijan territories. For prevention of illegal steps
undertaken by Armenia, the government of Azerbaijan has addressed the
General Assembly of the United Nations. The Minister has emphasized
that the initiative of inclusion in the agenda of 59th session of
General Assembly of the United Nations of item “Situation in the
occupied Azerbaijan territories” pursues the aim to prevent illegal
policy of the Armenian side contradicting to norms of the international
humanitarian law and creating threat to peace talks, with attraction
of attention of world community. Having noted importance of the
Organization on the occupied grounds of mission concerning search
of the facts with participation of representatives of OSCE member
countries, the Minister has expressed confidence that it becomes
useful step in cause of settlement of the conflict. He has told:
“We once again confirm our adherence to carrying out of process of
settlement of the conflict within the framework of the Minsk Group
of OSCE, at the same time we count that the world community should
demonstrate position concerning the said conflict”.

Having asserted that hundred thousand IDPs and refugees is in heavy
condition, the High Commissioner of the United Nations on refugees
Ruud Lubbers has noted that among the efforts applied in the field
of settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh conflict,
he agrees with opinion on immediate returning of the refugees and IDPs
to their native lands. He has emphasized that the High Commissioner
of the United Nations on refugee adheres to rendering assistance to
the refugees and IDPs in Azerbaijan.

Having noted that protection of refugees and IDPs, search of ways
of the solution of problems directly concern the mandate of the
Commissioner, the visitor has emphasized that the structure supervised
by him will assist process of elimination of this or that problem
first of all from the humanitarian position. He has told that hopes
for immediate settlement of the conflict and returning of the refugees
in Azerbaijan to their homes.

MONUMENT TO VICTIMS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BEING CONSTRUCTED IN LYONS

Azg/arm
24 Nov 04

Gerard Colomb, Senator-Mayor of Lyons, and the local Armenian community
initiated the works on building a monument to the victims of the
Armenian Genocide. Le Monde informs that the monument will be the
symbol of all the crimes committed against humanity and the struggle
against them.

Lion Monument of the Armenian Genocide Company has been founded. It
unites 18 representatives of Armenian communities. The office of the
company is situated in the Becluar Square in Lyons.

The monument is being constructed in the Antonin Poncet Square of Lyon.

The municipal council that has signed a contract with the
abovementioned company will allocate 47500 Euros. In the spring of
2004, the company announced a competition for the artists and the
architectures. The monument will cost 110.000 euros in total.

Dominique Arnout, Leonardo Basmadian, Christian Aishen, Ann Perrot
and Marianne Ponslet are the authors of the monument. The monument
will be officially opened on April 24, 2005.

By Petros Keshishian

Karabakh population totals over 146,000

Arminfo, Yerevan
22 Nov 04

Stepanakert , 22 November: As of 1 October 2004, the population of
the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic NKR totalled 146,600 people, the NKR
statistics service has reported.

According to the source, as against the beginning of the year, the
NKR population increased by 0.8 per cent. In January-September 2004,
1,619 babies were born and 1,004 people died in the republic.

The natural growth of the population amounted to 615 people and dropped
by 11.5 per cent compared to the same period of 2003. Over the first
nine months of this year, 806 people arrived in the republic for
permanent residence and 303 people left it. The mechanical growth
as received stood at 503 people and increased by 69.4 per cent as
against the same period of 2003.

Government Of Buenos Aires Jointly With Hay Dat Committee Publish Brochure Devoted To Armenian Genocide

BUENOS AIRES, November 18 (Noyan Tapan). A brochure devoted to the
Armenian Genocide and prepared by the Committee jointly with the
Human Rights Department of the Buenos Aires Mayor’s Office has been
published owing to the consistent work of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun Hay
Dat Committee. Its presentation was held on November 8. The brochure
was distributed among the libraries and teachers of 600 secondary
schools of Argentina’s capital. The book with the circulation of 5000
copies consists of brief historical data, evidence of the famous
international and local figures concerning the Armenian Genocide,
the articles of that period, as well as illustrations and maps.

According to the ARF Dashnaktsutyun Hay Dat Bureau, Ambassador of
Armenia to Argentina Ara Aivazian, students and teachers of all
the Armenian schools of the city, `the leaders of the Armenian
organizations and those who were specially invited were present at
the presentation of the brochure.