Author: Chakhmakhchian Vatche

Armenian police, Ukrainian Interior Ministry sign cooperation accord
Noyan Tapan news agency
13 Sep 04
Yerevan, 13 September: The chief of the Armenian Police, Ayk
Arutyunyan, and Ukrainian Interior Minister Mykola Bilokon signed a
protocol “On cooperation between the Armenian Police and the Ukrainian
Interior Ministry in 2005” on 13 September, the press service of the
Armenian Police has reported.
The document was signed on results of a working visit by the Ukrainian
interior minister to Yerevan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri pressure group pickets Foreign Ministry over Armenian officers’ visit
ANS TV, Baku
13 Sep 04
Members of the Karabakh Liberation Organization [KLO] are holding their
unsanctioned picket outside the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry at the
moment to protest against the [possible] visit by Armenian officers
to Baku within the framework of NATO exercises. The KLO members will
express their protest outside the Defence Ministry tomorrow.
To recap, protest actions are also planned in some districts of
Azerbaijan.

OPENING CEREMONY OF SECONDARY SCHOOL NAMED AFTER ZARIFA ALIYEVA IN BARDA
PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN ILHAM ALIYEV ATTENDED THE CEREMONY
Azertag
September 11, 2004
A solemn opening ceremony of the secondary school named after renowned
ophthalmologist, Academician Zarifa Aliyeva was held on September 11
in the city of Barda. President of Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev
attended the ceremony.
Tens of thousands of the Barda residents gathered near the school
building to meet the Head of State. They greeted President Ilham
Aliyev with warm cheers. A monument to Academician Zarifa Aliyeva
sculpted by Peopleâ^À^Ùs painter of Azerbaijan, Academician Omar
Eldarov had been erected in front of the school building. President
Ilham Aliyev unveiled the monument and laid flowers at its pedestal.
Opening remarks were made by Head of Barda Executive Power Elman
Allahverdiyev.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev addressed the ceremony as well.
Greeting the citizens of Barda, the Head of State congratulated them
on the occasion of the opening new school. I am especially happy
that the school build in the ancient Karabakh land bears the name of
outstanding scientist, good doctor, Zarifa Aliyeva, the spouse and
friend of our national leader Heydar Aliyev, and my mother, thank
you so much, he said.
The President noted as well that the newly built school meets
modern requirements, and expressed confidence that children would be
prived here with high-level education. Speaking of the development
of education in the country he mentioned that the budget spends 20%
on solving the problems of and develop this sphere. Over 4500 schools
will be equipped with modern computers and provided with the access
to the Internet that will become a revolution in our education as
compared with other countries of the region, the Head of State said..
Touching upon the socio-economic development of Azerbaijan, President
Ilham Aliyev noted that the state budget increases every year, and
its funds would be mainly spent on solving social problems. Our goal
is to provide better life for our citizens, and I donâ^À^Ùt doubt
we will reach the goal, he said.
The President also dwelt on the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh. He
emphasized that although a compromise may play an important role in
resolution of any problem, no compromise, however, is possible in
relation to the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
We want the problem to be solved peacefully, we want peace, but we
must be ready to liberate our land by military way at any moment,
the Azerbaijani leader said.
In conclusion, President Ilham Aliyev once again congratulated the
Barda citizens on the school opening and wished them good health
and happiness.

Pakistan Tribune, Pakistan
Sept 9 2004
The Crime at Beslan
Anwaar Hussain
Is it possible that a people who have lost everything may think they
have nothing more to live for, that a parent, who sees his children
blown to smithereens, loses love for others’ too? That it is blood
revenge, however unpardonable, that governs this mindless violence
rather than any thing else.
Let us state the obvious from the start without mincing any words.
The horrifying and tragic death of hundreds of blameless human beings
in the Beslan school tragedy, most of whom were innocent children, is
barbaric, unparalleled, inhuman and unpardonable. It is a crime of
heinous proportions and defies religion as equally as it does logic
and rationality.
Nothing, repeat nothing, justifies this despicable act of certain
individuals whatever their validation. Nor does it advance whatever
cause the militants are fighting for. Like the senseless killings in
Iraq, where innocent people – Muslim and non-Muslim – are being
murdered without a qualm, the crime at Beslan, too, will be viewed
with utter revulsion by the rest of the world. Any man, with even a
modicum of humanity, must condemn this horrendous act
unconditionally, categorically and unreservedly.
One does wonder though, as any thinking mind should, as to what
propelled the perpetrators to inflict a pain such as this? What led
them to take this horrendous leave from reason to commit an offence
that is as unpardonable as it is unthinkable? Could it be that they
themselves have been victims of similar atrocities? Or is it just a
one-time malfunction of their thinking faculties? Is it their
religion that exhorts them to indulge in some satanic rituals
offering human sacrifices to satiate the blood lust of their deity?
Or more unbelievably still, killing children is a pleasure pursuit in
which the Chechens indulge from time to time? I do not know.
What I do know is that the story of Chechen suffering is a long one.
In the early 19th century, independent Chechnya was conquered by
Russia after a long and bloody war. The heroic struggle of the
Chechen religious leader Imam Shamil and the inhuman conduct of the
Russian forces compelled the young Leo Tolstoy, who served in the
Russian Imperial Army in Chechnya in the 1840s, to resign in disgust
and write stories praising the Chechen leader.
What I do know is that in the 20th century Josef Stalin, the “Great
Father of the Nation” sought to purge the scourge in one go with the
religious and ethnic cleansing of the Northern Caucasus. He ordered
the deportation of an entire people on Feb. 23, 1944. This event is
to Chechens what the Holocaust is to the Jews or the genocide is to
the Armenians.
What I do know is that on that day, when Stalin packed the Chechen
population of 1 million into cattle cars and shipped them to the
wastes of Siberia and Central Asia, an indelible mark was forever
engraved on the collective memory of the Chechens.
What I do know is that blood-curdling stories of people crowded into
cattle cars without food, water, or bathrooms; corpses traveling with
children; the killing of protesters at the railway stations by KGB
guards, haunt the Chechens to this day. One-third of the population
died on the journey. Many others perished under the ruthless
conditions of exile.
What I do know is that more recently Chechnya was devastated by the
war in 1994-6, which left more than 80,000 dead. It watched in horror
as its basic infrastructures were again systematically destroyed.
Since September 1999, more than a third of the local population –
around 200,000 people – have been forced to flee the fighting and
seek a humiliating refuge in neighboring Ingushetia.
What I do know is that the world’s conscience was collectively
hibernating when a 12-year-old Chechen girl died of internal injuries
after being raped repeatedly by vodka guzzling Russian soldiers; when
a young pregnant woman had her body split open by machine gun fire
simply to check the effectiveness of that weapon from a certain
range, when an 84-year-old man had his throat slashed and was left to
die by the roadside, when a one-year old Chechen baby was impaled
with an AK-47’s bayonet as his mother was forced to watch on.
What I do know is that Chechnya has been reduced to a wasteland of
death and destruction. That the Chechen capital of Grozny does not
have a single building left intact after heavy bombing in a campaign
Russia dubbed as “the liberation of Grozny.” That human rights
violation are tremendous, as evidenced by many television broadcasts
that showed grisly footage of Russian soldiers piling mutilated
Chechen bodies into mass graves and that this is only the tip of the
iceberg.
What I do know is that countless villages in southern Chechnya have
been completely razed to the ground and the economy of Chechnya is
non-existent, that the Russian army is intent upon ridding Chechnya
of all its civilians and completely taking over the land once and for
all.
What I do know is that when a people declare its independence, a
central state can either let them go or beat them into submission.
But in the case of Chechnya, and adjacent Ingushetia, we have seen
some of both.
What I do know is that the Kremlin has done a brilliant job of
convincing the world that Chechens are bandits and terrorists despite
the fact that Putin’s own predecessors have gone down in history as
the biggest mass murderers of their own citizens. Stalin and Lenin
together caused the death of more than 30 million Russian citizens in
the first half of the 20th century alone.
What I do know is that with the misery it visited upon humanity, the
political creed of his forefathers is known as the most dreadful
thing ever to have hit the human race, without exception, even worse
than both world wars, the slave trade and bubonic plague all put
together.
What I do know, and with a sense of ominous foreboding, is that the
recent threats that Putin is hurling all around are bringing back
ghastly images from the past when horrific concentration camps had
been built in Russia aimed at imprisoning all Chechen males between
15-60 years of ages.
What I do know is that an international correspondent Eric Margolis
did once write, “We begin the 21st century watching silently as a
brutish Russia, which knows neither shame nor mercy crushes the life
out of a tiny but heroic people who refuse to bend their knees to
Moscow’s tyranny.”
Is it possible that a people who have lost everything may think they
have nothing more to live for, that a parent, who sees his children
blown to smithereens, loses love for others’ too? That it is blood
revenge, however unpardonable, that governs this mindless violence
rather than any thing else.
I do not know but I wonder.

World Cup: Finland beats Armenia 2-0
Associated Press Worldstream
September 8, 2004 Wednesday
YEREVAN, Armenia — Mikael Forsell and Alexei Eremenko Jr. scored a
goal each to lift Finland to a 2-0 victory over Armenia in a World
Cup qualifier Wednesday.
It was the second consecutive win in European Group 1 for Finland
after losing an away opener 2-1 to Romania and beating Andorra 3-0.
Finland controlled the game and Forsell put the visitors on the
scoreboard in the 24th minute, when he fired from the left corner of
the penalty box past Armenian goalkeeper Armen Ambartsumyan into the
left corner of the goal.
The home side came close to equalizing in the 45th minute – its only
clear chance before the interval – but Artur Petrosyan’s header off
a corner kick was blocked by Finland goalkeeper Antti Niemi.
Eremenko beat Ambartsumian one-on-one into the left corner to make
it 2-0 in the 68th minute.
Four minutes later, second-half substitute Pehha Lagerblen had a
chance to make it 3-0 when he made his way past three defenders but
his lob over Ambartsumian missed.
Edgar Manucharyan, who came on as a substitute for Albert Sargsyan
in the 54th minute, nearly scored with a solo effort from the center
of the pitch, but his shot from inside the box shaved the right post.
Lineups:
Armenia – Armen Ambartsumian, Yeyshine Melikyan, Karen Dokhoyan, Sargis
Hovsepyan, Artur Lazarian, Romik Khachatryan, Artur Petrosyan, Rafael
Nazaryan (Karen Aleksanyan, 73), Albert Sargsyan (Edgar Manucharyan,
54), Artavazd Karamyan (Davit Grigoryan, 79), Andrey Movsesyan.
Finland – Antti Niemi; Petri Pasanen, Sami Hyypia, Mika Vayrynen,
Mika Nurmela, Mikael Forsell, Jari Litmanen (Pehha Lagerblien, 46),
Joonas Kolkka (Antti Pohja, 85), Toni Kuivasto, Aki Riihilahti,
Alexei Eremenko Jr (Peter Kopteff, 73).
Referee – Paulius Malzinskas, Lithuania.

Armenia, Iran sign agreements on gas pipeline construction
Mediamax news agency
8 Sep 04
Yerevan, 8 September: Two documents on the construction of the
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline were signed at the end of Armenian-Iranian
talks in Yerevan today.
The documents are an agreement on financing the construction of
the Megri-Kadzharan section of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline and an
agreement on the contractor for the construction project.
The Armenian and Iranian energy ministers, Armen Movsisyan and
Habibollah Bitaraf [respectively], also signed a memorandum on
cooperation between their ministries.
At a joint news conference with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami,
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said that “the energy sector
remains the most important sphere in the two countries’ relations”. He
went on to add that over the recent years the two sides had accumulated
much experience in this sphere. “Building on that experience,
we intend to join our infrastructures which add a new quality to
our energy cooperation and will take it onto the regional level,”
Kocharyan said.

CONGRATULATION TELEGRAMS
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
7 Sept 04
On the occasion of the 13th anniversary of the Republic of Nagorni
Karabakh a large number of telegrams were sent in address to President
Arkady Ghukassian. Telegrams were received from the president of the
Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharian, the Catholicos of All Armenians
Garegin B, speaker of the National Assembly Artur Baghdassarian,
Prime Minister Anoushavan Danielian, members of the RA government, the
Central Bureau of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, vice-speaker
of the National Assembly of France Rudy Sally, member of the National
Assembly of France, chairman of the group of French-Armenian friendship
Francois Rocheblanc, Russian friends of Karabakh Vladimir Stoupishin,
chairman of the council of the Congress of the Intelligentsia of
Russia Sergey Filatov, chairman of the Writersâ^À^Ù Union of Russia
Svetlana Vasilenko, Valentin Ostotski, Andrey and Gallina Nuykin,
Victor Krivopuskov, Inesa Burkova, Kiril Alexeevski, as well as other
representatives of culture from Russia.
AA.
07-09-2004
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Anooshavan Kurkjian, 91; painted ‘high-oil’ portraits
By Tom Long, Globe Staff
Boston Globe, MA
Sept 2 2004
Anooshavan Kurkjian’s paintings are treasured by many, but few know
his name. His “high-oil” portraits of business leaders, brides, and
retiring judges were executed over photographs that bear the names
of photography studios, not the artist.
“A bride would have her picture taken and he would be given a sepia or
black-and-white photograph to paint over, ” Elizabeth Kurkjian-Henry of
Winchester said yesterday of her father, who died at 91 of congestive
heart failure Tuesday in Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge.
Mr. Kurkjian spent long hours under bright lights in smock and
eyeshade, bent over an easel in the Arcade Art Studio in the
Little Building in downtown Boston, trying to breathe life into a
black-and-white photograph.
“It was absolute concentration,” said his daughter. “I’d watch his
hands as he’d skillfully add just the right shading and the right
gradations of colors.”
She said he rarely got to meet his subjects, but “after spending
hours staring into their eyes he sometimes felt as if he knew them.”
That was certainly true when he created a portrait of Paul R.
McLaughlin after the assistant attorney general was assassinated
in 1995.
“He said he came to love and respect the prosecutor who was killed
so young,” said his daughter.
“That painting of Paul meant so much to me and Paul’s father,” former
lieutenant governor Edward F. McLaughlin, the prosecutor’s mother,
Elizabeth McLaughlin, said yesterday. “It captured his expression
perfectly and when we had it in our home for a few days it felt like
Paul was home.”
That portrait now hangs on the wall of the attorney general’s office
in the McCormack Building.
Mr. Kurkjian also did the portrait of John F. Kennedy that hangs at
the Dorchester Boys and Girls Club and a painting of Pope John Paul
II that hung in the window of the Jordan Marsh department store in
downtown Boston when the pope visited the city in 1979.
Mr. Kurkjian was a graduate of Watertown High School, where he was
active in sports and earned the nickname that would follow him through
life: “Flash.”
He was encouraged to pursue his interest in art by a teacher at
Watertown High, who also suggested that he enter a contest to create
a logo for a photography studio. Mr. Kurkjian’s entry, “Shoot with
a camera, not with a gun,” won the competition.
After graduating from Watertown High School, he graduated from the
Vesper George School of Art.
A tousle-haired man with a deeply cleft chin and a perpetual twinkle in
his blue eyes, Mr. Kurkjian kept in shape by playing handball nights
at the Boston Young Men’s Christian Union and the L Street Bathhouse,
where he beat athletes half his age.
He was also a gifted musician who loved to sing and play the
saxophone. He was fond of jazz, particularly the swing music of the
1930s and ’40s.
Though he rarely spoke of it, Mr. Kurkjian was a survivor of the
Armenian genocide. When he was 3, all the adult males in his family —
his father, uncle, and grandfather — were taken from the family home
in the mountain village of Kigi and murdered by Turkish militiamen.
His mother led the remainder of the family on a 300-mile trek to
safety, during which his brother and sister died of cholera.
He was the father of Boston Globe senior assistant Metro editor
Stephen Kurkjian, who accompanied his father on a return trip to his
homeland and wrote of the experience in a 1993 Globe magazine story
titled “Roots of Sorrow.” Mr. Kurkjian located the former site of his
family’s home, said a prayer for his father, and washed his face in
a brook that ran behind the house.
When his son asked him what the experience meant to him, he said,
simply, “It will help me in my drawing.”
Yesterday, his son said Mr. Kurkjian did indeed sketch the countryside,
but he never placed himself in drawings. “I think he was so small
when it happened, he was just blocked,” said his son. “He couldn’t
get to a place where he felt at peace with it.”
In addition to his son and daughter, Mr. Kurkjian leaves his wife,
Rosella (Gureghian); another daughter, Karolyn Kurkjian-Jones of
Boston; a sister, Mae Avakian of Watertown; and six grandchildren.
A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday in St. James
Armenian Church in Watertown. Burial will be in Mount Auburn Cemetery
in Cambridge.

Yerevan Considers Meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijan Ministers Successful
Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Sept 1 2004
The meeting of Ministers of Armenian and Azerbaijan foreign affairs
Vardan Oskanian and Elmar Mamedyarov, held 30 August in Prague was
“successful and positive”, informed press service of Armenian MFA.
TURAN-ARMINFO-BT — According to the same source, this meeting, like
previous ones had no specific agenda. The Ministers of foreign affairs
of Armenia and Azerbaijan discussed various aspects and prospects of
settlement of Karabakh conflict.
Co-chairmen of Minsk group of OSCE as well as Personal representative
of OSCE chairman were also present at the meeting. Before the meeting,
Armenian MFA head stated in interview with “Radio Liberty” that main
purpose of the meeting is putting of basement for continuation of
negotiations of peaceful settlement of Karabakh conflict.
Such meetings are useful and help specifying the positions of
parties of the conflict. He also said, for achievement of progress
in settlement of conflict Karabakh party is to be included into
negotiation process, just as well.
The representatives of official Baku have not yet commented results
of Prague meeting.

Armenian National Committee of America
888 17th St., NW, Suite 904
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Fax: (202) 775-5648
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet:
PRESS RELEASE
August 24, 2004
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
ARMENIAN AMERICANS DELIVER UNITED
MESSAGE TO U.S. HOUSE LEADERSHIP
— Grassroots Organizations Protest Congressional
Opposition to Genocide Legislation
WASHINGTON, DC – More than a dozen national grassroots Armenian
American organizations came together this week to communicate the
“extraordinary disappointment” of the Armenian American community
over the Congressional leadership’s opposition to legislation
recognizing the Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian National
Committee Of America (ANCA).
“We have seen, in recent weeks, a tremendous groundswell of
opposition from across the Armenian American community to the
Congressional leadership’s attack on the Schiff Amendment, and
their stubborn refusal – despite the strong, bipartisan support
enjoyed by the Genocide Resolution – to schedule a vote on this
human rights initiative,” said ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian.
The letter, written on behalf of the collective leadership of the
Armenian American community to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert,
gives voice to the community’s unequivocal opposition to the House
leadership’s efforts to reverse the Schiff Amendment to the fiscal
year 2005 Foreign Operations bill, H.R.4818, and expresses the
community’s “great dismay with your public statement against
holding a vote on the Genocide Resolution, H.Res.193.”
The letter comes in the wake of the adoption by the U.S. House,
last month, of the Schiff Amendment, which seeks to block the use
by Turkey of U.S. foreign aid to lobby against the Genocide
Resolution. It was adopted by voice vote, without any opposition,
on July 15th. Within hours of its passage, the Schiff Amendment
came under intense attack by the Congressional leadership, with the
Speaker of the House and his top deputies issuing a statement –
posted prominently on the first page of the Speaker of the House’s
website – that they would use their influence to block its adoption
as part of the final foreign aid bill.
The organizations that signed the community-wide letter were the
ANCA, the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church – Eastern and
Western U.S., the Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church –
Eastern and Western U.S., the Armenian Missionary Association of
America, and the Apostolic Exarchate for Armenian Catholics, as
well as the Armenian General Benevolent Union, Armenian Democratic
Liberal (Ramgavar) Party, United Armenian Fund, Armenian Relief
Society, Armenian Bar Association, National Organization of
Republican Armenians, Armenian Youth Federation, Homenetmen –
Armenian General Athletic Union, and Hamazkayn Armenian Cultural
and Educational Association.
The signatories to the letter stressed that the Schiff Amendment,
which was adopted by the U.S. House on July 15th, “simply
underscores the importance of protecting American people from
having their tax dollars used by the government of Turkey for a
purpose they find patently offensive – the denial of the Armenian
Genocide.” They also noted that the adoption of the Amendment
“reflected the breadth of the bipartisan opposition to Turkey’s
shameful campaign against H.Res.193, and, just as importantly,
demonstrated the clear and overwhelming support of a majority of
Members enjoyed by the underlying legislation.”
The Genocide Resolution, H.Res.193, was introduced last year by
Congressmen George Radanovich (R-CA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA), and
Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues Co-Chairmen Joe Knollenberg
and Frank Pallone. It has been cosponsored by 110 U.S.
Representatives and was approved, without opposition, in May of
last year, by the Judiciary Committee. This genocide-prevention
measure is supported by a diverse coalition of over one hundred
religious, civic, ethnic and human rights organizations, including
American Values, Union of Orthodox Rabbis, NAACP, Sons of Italy,
and the National Council of La Raza.
The full text of the Armenian American community letter to the
Speaker of the House is provided below.
#####
Text of Community Letter to Speaker Dennis Hastert
Dear Speaker Hastert:
We are writing, as the collective leadership of the Armenian
American community, to voice our extraordinary disappointment with
your opposition to the Schiff Amendment to the fiscal year 2005
Foreign Operations bill, H.R.4818, and to express our great dismay
with your public statement against holding a vote on the Genocide
Resolution, H.Res.193.
The Schiff Amendment simply underscores the importance of
protecting American people from having their tax dollars used by
the government of Turkey for a purpose they find patently offensive
– the denial of the Armenian Genocide. The adoption of this
measure on July 15th by the full U.S. House of Representatives
reflected the breadth of the bipartisan opposition to Turkey’s
shameful campaign against H.Res.193, and, just as importantly,
demonstrated the clear and overwhelming support of a majority of
Members enjoyed by the underlying legislation.
As you know, H.Res.193, which was introduced by Congressmen George
Radanovich and Adam Schiff, and Congressional Caucus on Armenian
Issues Co-Chairmen Joe Knollenberg and Frank Pallone, has been
cosponsored by 110 of your colleagues and was approved, without
opposition, in May of last year, by the Judiciary Committee. This
genocide-prevention measure is supported by a diverse coalition of
over one hundred religious, civic, ethnic and human rights
organizations, including American Values, Union of Orthodox Rabbis,
NAACP, Sons of Italy, and the National Council of La Raza.
We respectfully call upon you to reconsider your opposition to the
Schiff Amendment and to immediately schedule a vote of the full
U.S. House of Representatives on the Genocide Resolution,
H.Res.193. We make this request on several levels. First is that
the adoption of such a resolution represents a moral imperative
that we, as Americans, must take to defend human rights and protect
human lives against the crime of genocide. Secondly, we should not
allow a foreign nation, particularly one that so brazenly flaunts
basic American values and which blocked the U.S.-led coalition from
opening a northern front in the Iraq War, to impose its dictates on
the U.S. Congress. Thirdly, the clear majority of Members who
support this resolution should not be denied the opportunity to
take part in an up-or-down vote on this human rights measure.
Finally, by bringing this measure to the floor, you would be
honoring your public pledge to our community on this subject made
in October of 2000.
Thank you for your consideration of our concerns. We would be
pleased to meet with you personally to discuss this matter further.
Sincerely,