Author: Badalian Vardan

The New York Times
July 11, 2004 Sunday
Late Edition – Final
Even Loosely Defined, Armenia Can’t Beat the Rest of the World
By Robert Byrne
In bygone days there were some wonderful team matches between the
Soviet Union and the Rest of the World. This was entirely reasonable,
because the Soviet Union so dominated the game. Recently, after a
long layoff, Armenia nominated itself as the Soviet Union’s heir.
But this team was no substitute for its brilliant predecessor. What
to do? Kasparov was dubbed Armenian because his mother is Armenian.
Peter Leko was dubbed Armenian because his wife is of Armenian
heritage. And Boris Gelfand was dubbed Armenian because he was the
most famous pupil of Armenia’s world champion, Tigran Petrosian.
That did indeed make Armenia, Friends and Relatives, a powerful team,
but in a match held in Moscow from June 10 to 15, the Rest of the
World defeated them anyway, 18 1/2-17 1/2. The winning team included
Viswanathan Anand of India, Michael Adams of England, Peter Svidler
of Russia, Loek Van Wely of the Netherlands, Etienne Bacrot of France
and Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain.
It got off to a rollicking start when Kasparov outplayed Van Wely,
winning with a striking mating combination. Unfortunately, it was a
flawed attack that could have been averted, spoiling Kasparov’s
chances for a brilliancy prize. Good thing there weren’t any
dunce-cap awards.
The English Opening, starting with 2 c4, is as much a part of
Kasparov’s arsenal as e4 or d4. In this match, it provided his only
victory, with five draws. What that means is anybody’s guess. The
Symmetrical Variation is introduced by 2 c5, and after 3 Nc3 Nc6 4 d4
cd 5 Nd4 e6 6 a3 Nd4 7 Qd4 b6 8 Qf4 Be7 9 e4 d6, there arises a
transposition to a type of Maroczy bind (white pawns at c4 and e4
confronting a black pawn at d6). This differs from Geza Maroczy’s
original setup, in which the black e6 pawn is at e7 and the black
king bishop is fianchettoed.
In this order of moves, White plays 6 a3 to prevent his opponent from
pinning with Bb4, which would otherwise limit the effectiveness of
White’s minor pieces. It seems well worth it to spend a tempo this
way.
With 15 Bg5, Van Wely sought to exchange the dark-square bishops,
presumably to make the defense of his d6 pawn easier, but this does
not work out. Kasparov played so convincingly that maybe nothing
would have worked out. Van Wely’s 21 h5 was intended to hold up an
avalanche of white pawns on the kingside. That could not work, as
will be seen, but an alternative, 21 … Kf8, keeping the black king
away from the king’s flank, may have been worth a try.
The point of Kasparov’s 26 Nb5 Qc4 27 Nd6 Qc7 28 Qh4 was to mobilize
the white pieces for an attack. After 28 Bc6 29 g4!, the full force
of his onslaught was revealed.
After 29 Ba4 30 g5! Bd1 31 gf! Rd6 32 Rg2! g6 33 fg, Van Wely gave
up. Kasparov had miscalculated, though; two moves earlier, Van Wely
could have forced a perpetual check with 31 gf! 32 Qf6 Bf3 33 Qg5 Kf8
34 Qh6 Ke7 35 Qh4 Kf8.

Azeri MP calls for European sanctions against Armenia at Scottish talks
ANS TV, Baku
5 Jul 04

[Presenter] The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh
is currently being discussed at a session of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly in Scotland today. The assembly’s chairman and
secretary-general are now delivering their reports.
[Correspondent over video of the building of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly] The 13th annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
has opened in Scotland’s Edinburgh. The session is entitled
“Cooperation and Partnership: Coping with New Security Threats”.
A report by the special representative of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly on Nagornyy Karabakh, Goran Lennmarker, was discussed jointly
by the Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations, Sattar Safarov, a member
of the Azerbaijani delegation, told ANS.
[Safarov, on the phone] The report said that [Azerbaijan’s] occupied
lands should be liberated and cleared of mines. Refugees and displaced
persons should return to their lands. It denounced aggression and
ethnic separatism. We started to discuss these issues. The
Parliamentary Assembly should impose economic and political sanctions
against the aggressor state.
[Correspondent] The Armenian side had its own arguments.
[Safarov] In support of their position, Armenia’s representatives said
that Karabakh was made part of Azerbaijan in the past. The talks were
proceeding very seriously. The Armenian side tried to justify their
aggressive policy. In turn, we criticized Armenia’s aggressive stance.
[Correspondent] The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly chairman and
secretary-general delivered their reports after the discussions [as
heard].
Afat Telmanqizi, ANS.

GEORGIAN PRESIDENT’S NEW RESIDENCE TO BE BUILT IN ARMENIAN DISTRICT OF
TBILISI
21.06.2004 17:58
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The new residence of Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili will be obviously built in Avlabar, the Armenian district of
Tbilisi. As Georgian leader told journalists in Batumi, the construction
speeding-up depends on the sale of the previous residence located in the
suburbs of Tbilisi – Krtsanisi, where Saakashvili does not have any desire
to work. Speaking of the possibility of selling the old residence, Georgian
President said: “If someone wants to live in a building, in which Lavrenty
Beria used to sleep, and near which Eduard Shevarnadze lives, God be with
him”.

Kurdmedia.com
Kurdish rebels rearm, infiltrate Turkey from Iraq: report
04/07/2004 AFP
ANKARA, July 4 (AFP) – 15h15 – Turkish Kurd rebels hiding in northern Iraq
are rearming and 1,500 of them have crossed into Turkey to engage in
violence, CNN-Turk television said Sunday, citing an intelligence report.
According to the report, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), known
also as KONGRA-GEL, had purchased weapons worth 1.7 million dollars from
unknown sources in Iraq, Iran and Armenia in the past year and had
intensified military training for members in camps in northern Iraq,
CNN-Turk said on its web site.
The increased activity was thought to be a prepartion for a possibile
military operation against the group by Turkey or the United States, both of
whom view the PKK as a “terrorist” organization.
Ankara has repeatedly urged Washington to take action against PKK rebels in
neighboring northern Iraq since last October, when the two countries agreed
on an action plan, including military measures, against the PKK.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated the call during talks
with US President George W. Bush in Ankara last week.
The Turkish authorities estimate that about 5,000 PKK militants have taken
refuge in northern Iraq since 1999, when the group announced a unilateral
truce with the government following a call for peace by its jailed leader,
Abdullah Ocalan.
The rebels ended the ceasefire on June 1 this year.
CNN-Turk quoted the intelligence report as saying that 1,500 armed militants
had infiltrated Turkey in the past six months.
The PKK has been blamed for a recent series of deadly attacks on Turkish
security forces in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey, bordering northern Iraq,
including the mining of roads.
On July 2, oficials accused the group of carrying out a car bomb attack on a
convoy carrying the governor of Van province, which killed three people and
wounded 25 others.
The PKK waged a bloody 15-year campaign for self-rule in Turkey’s
predominantly Kurdish southeast between 1984 and 1999. The conflict has
claimed some 37,000 lives.
The southeast enjoyed relative calm during the ceasefire period and Ankara
improved the cultural rights of the Kurdish minority in a bid to boost
Turkey’s chances of being allowed to join the European Union.

Bulgarian president receives Armenian parliamentary delegation
BTA web site, Sofia
30 Jun 04

Sofia, 30 June: The state and prospects of bilateral relations, with
an emphasis on initiatives to boost two-way trade, build
infrastructure projects, pursue regional cooperation and European
integration, figured on the agenda of Wednesday’s [30 June] session
between Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov and an Armenian
parliamentary delegation, led by National Assembly Chairman Artur
Baghdasaryan.
Last year witnessed a breakthrough in Bulgarian-Armenian trade, but
the two countries can and should do a lot better than the 23m US
dollars’ worth of goods they exchanged, the guest said, quoted by the
President’s Press Secretariat. He stressed that Armenia is
particularly keen on regional cooperation and will assist the
implementation of specific projects in this sphere, as well as the
twinning between Bulgarian and Armenian cities. The guests expressed
readiness to invigorate cooperation in education and culture and
specifically to help Sofia University open an Armenian Studies
Department.
President Purvanov noted that Bulgaria attaches enormous importance to
infrastructure projects and specifically the connection between
TRACECA and Pan-European Corridor No.VIII. “This will be the soundest
investment in peace and security of two regions which are key to the
entire continent,” he stressed. The president promised Bulgaria’s
active support to Armenia’s efforts to reach the threshold of European
integration. He also welcomed the idea to initiate the establishment
of culture centres in Sofia and Yerevan under the auspices of the two
parliaments.
It emerged at the session that a visit of the Bulgarian head of state
to Armenia has already been scheduled for October 2004.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
July 1 2004
Azeri, Armenian defense ministers expected to meet shortly
Azerbaijani and Armenian defense ministers Safar Abiyev and Serj
Sarkisian are expected to meet shortly to discuss the recently
frequent ceasefire breaches.
Russia’s RIA-Novosti news agency quoted Armenian Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanian as saying that the meeting of the two defense
ministers might take place shortly. Oskanian said that the issue of
frequent ceasefire breaches on the frontline was discussed during his
meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov in Prague
on June 21.
The two countries’ defense ministers were sent an appeal to hold
bilateral meetings to discuss the settlement of the Upper Garabagh
conflict.
The number of the dead and injured from both conflicting sides
increased as a result of the frequent ceasefire breaches in June.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Times of Oman, Oman
June 29 2004
Oman Mobile unveils new plans to serve you wherever you are

By Sharifa Al Kindi
MUSCAT – Oman Mobile yesterday unveiled further plans to fulfil its
pledge to `serve the customers wherever they are’.
`We hope to serve our customers wherever they are, through
innovative, simple and tailor-made solutions and services,
value-added features and to introduce a positive impact on the
national economy in general,’ said Dr Amer bin Awadh Al Rawas,
managing director of Oman Mobile Telecommunications Company, at a
press conference held at Hotel Grand Hyatt yesterday.
These plans include the opening of a large multimedia contact centre,
GPRS and MMS services and other services such as
transmitting/receiving photos, music, video and roaming facilities
for Hayyak (prepared card).
The press conference was also addressed by Dr Rasheed Alsafi Al
Huraibi, assistant head of Networks Division; Erik Van Essen, deputy
managing director; and Adil Al Raisi, head of customer service, who
explained to the gathering the details of the new company, its aims,
concepts and strategies.
The multimedia contact centre will `attend to the calls, SMS,
e-mails, fax enquiries, complaints, etc. A customer can even send us
an SMS for his/her bills, and it will be well attended to. This
multimedia call centre will be well staffed, with over 150 personnel
to attend to calls promptly. We will also be introducing multi-access
billing and collection system for our customers to increase their
convenience to pay the bills,’ said Adil Al Raisi.
Oman Mobile believes that growth of the telecommunications sector is
possible through `balanced and meticulously planned concepts and
strategies,’ stressed Al Rawas.
`Our aim is to provide a wide spectrum of telecom services round the
clock. Our first priority is to concentrate on both customers and
services that we provide; introduction of more value-added services,
expansion of company’s services and products portfolio, and
activation of the partnership with both public and private sectors.
We believe and aim to provide telecom services as an acquired right
for every citizen at an affordable price for all community sectors.
Oman Mobile will implement significant projects and will facilitate
more services in the months to come, in addition to increasing the
number of the trained Omani in the telecom field,’ Al Rawas stressed.
As part of the official launch they have waived off deposits for
post-paid users and cut down prices on the pre-paid Hayyak tariffs
and rates. This has been possible because `we now have grown in
technology; we have better internal systems and standards. Earlier
the deposits were levied because of the fear of bad debts, but now
with this waiver on deposits of post-paid users, we are bound to grow
in both sectors tremendously,’ he added.
The GSM subscriber population in the Sultanate recorded 220,745 in
2003, jumped to 232,663 in May 2004, whereas pre-paid Hayyak
subscriber population, which was 359,359 last year, increased to
409,000 last May.
`And we are sure it is going to be mutually beneficial, for both the
customers as well as for the telecoms sector in general,’ Al Rawas
said.
Speaking of value-added services being introduced, Al Rawas said
further to the recently introduced `Hala’ service enabling the
subscribers to receive various subject/channel selected information,
Oman Mobile has also put forward the GPRS and MMS services as a pilot
project prior to putting them into practical service in the near
future.
As far as the international roaming service, the number of the
international mobile service operators which have active roaming
agreements with Oman Mobile have reached 115 operators in 65
countries in various continents. New agreements were signed recently
to provide the roaming service in Russia, Iran, Bulgaria, New Zealand
and Armenia.
Highlighting the importance of the roaming services, Al Rawas said:
`There were lots of complexities in acquiring the roaming facility
with a new country. Especially if Oman did not have any business or
tourist tie-ups with those nations. In the past we have faced great
difficulties in getting the roaming facilities in various countries.
Now it has been made easier. New mechanisms, new professionalism, new
ideas, new strategies have enabled Oman Mobile to achieve roaming
over many countries. We keep an eye on the economic development and
tie-ups our country has internationally and then tap the source.
These agreements are good for the economy of our nation too. Today we
have strong international links and we were able to bring in
countries who were previously hesitant to enter into an agreement.
The brand identity and logo for Oman Mobile was unveiled at a
ceremony on Monday, under the auspices of Maqbool bin Ali Sultan,
minister of commerce and industry.
The brand identity is both unified and modern with technology
undertones. The first inspiration was the Cellular Telephony’s Basic
Structure, which works on the principle of hexagonal cells. The two
colours connote both technology and nature. Colour orange, in which
the letters are written, is the colour of the shade of sunrise –
symbolising the dawn of new technology – as well as the deserts and
mountains of the Sultanate.
It also depicts the colour of honey, seen as pure and full of
goodness. The `fluorescent green’ circles signify the essence of
life, of fertility and growth – aims of the organisation itself.
The hexagon encloses two letters in each of the words of the
typography – both English and Arabic – to depict cellular
communication. This high degree of bilingual compatibility shows up
as the orange hexagon in Arabic, forming the first alphabet `Meem’ of
the word written as mobile, while in English, the green inner circle
forms the second letter `o’ of the word mobile.
To further drive home the technology feel, a new techno-looking
typeface has been used. After the presentation of the logo and the
brand identity, there was a live acrobatic event presented by the
youngsters of the New-Age circus – reinforcing the four pillars that
will reflect Oman Mobile’s values – flexibility, connectivity,
coverage and customer care.

Armenian pressure group condemns president’s Council of Europe speech
A1+ web site
26 Jun 04

25 June: The Defence of the Liberated Territories public initiative
has sharply condemned President Robert Kocharyan’s speech at the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE] today.
“Recently, the Armenian president personally spoke for the first time
from an international rostrum about Armenia’s disgraceful readiness to
cede the territories. Answering a question from the head of the
Azerbaijani delegation in PACE, he confessed that he had agreed to
cede the liberated territories in Key West. The territories have not
been ceded yet only because of Azerbaijan’s firm position.
“Some representatives of the opposition bypassed this issue and
hurried to approve of the Karabakh-related section of Kocharyan’s
speech.
“We sharply condemn every phrase which hints at the possible return of
the liberated territories to Azerbaijan, partly or in full. We state
that neither the president nor other figures who make such statements
have the right to speak on behalf of the people of Armenia and ignore
its opinion. The return of even an inch of our liberated territories,
as well as a speech containing statements which contribute to this,
are a betrayal.
“It becomes obvious that a positive solution to the Artsakh [Nagornyy
Karabakh] war requires a change of the political elite.
“All the liberated territories are an inseparable part of our
motherland and any attempts to thrust another solution upon the
Armenian people are doomed to failure,” the statement said.

Virgo’s Lie is hot but Egoyan’s Love is cooler
Screendaily
by Denis Seguin in Toronto
23 June 2004
Summer is always the busiest season for film production. In Canada, where
the summer is as short as it is hot, that makes it busier than most. In
terms of heat, the hottest production by far is Clement Virgo’s new film,
Lie With Me, which started shooting in Toronto on June 16.
Virgo co-wrote the screenplay with Tamara Faith Berger based on her
`brazenly pornographic’ novel. Mark Urman head of theatrical distribution
for THINKFilm, which picked up world rights for the project, is already
making comparisons with sensual sensations of the past. `Clement and
Tamara’s script explores human sexuality with a bravery and honesty not seen
on screen since Bertolucci’s Last Tango In Paris,’ says.
`We are thrilled to be in bed with such a provocative filmmaker and fully
expect Clement, Tamara and their terrific actors [Eric Balfour and Lauren
Lee Smith] to create the most honest, erotic and intimate film about sex
ever made in North America.’ No small feat.
Second perhaps in sensation but higher in prestige is the prospect of a new
film from auteur Atom Egoyan. The heat is on the auteur and in more ways
than one. His previous film, Ararat, a film that explored the historical
impact of genocide, was critically lauded and created its share of
controversy. But it didn’t perform at the box office. The new film, Somebody
Loves You, is a clear departure from weighty subject matter. But it also
offers an opportunity for Egoyan to break from the
`intellectuals-only-need-watch’ track his career has lead him. Based on the
widely-admired novel by Broadway wunderkind Rupert Holmes, the story follows
a young celebrity journalist as she tracks the secrets of a showbiz duo who
were driven apart by a bizarre death in which one of them may have played
the part of murderer. The deeper she digs the more she finds herself
involved with both men and perhaps risking more than she bargained. The
project offers some audience-friendly genre landmarks (1970s LA noir) with
Egoyanesque touchstones like identity confusion. It’s the third novel Egoyan
has adapted (the others were 1997’s The Sweet Hereafter and 1999’s Felicia’s
Journey) but is by far the least depressing. The film starts shooting at the
end of August under Egoyan’s long-time collaborator producer Robert Lantos,
who is a third source of heat. After the failure Norman Jewison’s The
Statement, Lantos’ Serendipity Point Films needs a hit.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OPPOSITION ADMITS ITS MISTAKES
ArmenPress
June 22 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 22, ARMENPRESS: A senior member of the major opposition
Ardarutyun alliance admitted today that in an effort to force president
Kocharian into resignation through rallies and marches the opposition
made a chain of serious mistakes, which he said will not be repeated
in future.
Aram Sarkisian, the leader of the radical opposition Hanrapetutyun
(Republic) party has again claimed that the power in Armenia is going
to change soon. “We are going to continue the struggle for reinstating
constitutional order, for holding free and fair elections, for which
we have to be more organized,” he said.
Speaking at a roundtable on domestic political situation in Armenia,
Sarkisian said the the main goal was the departure of president
Kocharian.
On Monday Ardarutyun said it would most likely start a campaign of
signature collection for the removal of the president. According
to Viktor Dalakian, a senior member of the alliance, though the
undertaking would have a symbolic significance, as under the law even
a petition with millions of signatures in the support of opposition
calls does not provide for president’s resignation, it would expose
the volume of real popular distrust towards the authorities.