Author: Chalian Meline

British shop that aims to put young designers on top
Deirdre McQuillan, Fashion Editor, in London
Irish Times
Feb 16, 2005
LONDON FASHION WEEK: Yesterday morning, in the august surroundings
of the Royal Academy in Mayfair, three new young generation British
designers sponsored by Top Shop got the chance to present catwalk
shows and their professional mettle to press and buyers.
The three, Gardem Demerdjian, a Lebanese Armenian from Beirut,
Ebru Ercon, a British-born designer of Turkish descent, and Swash,
two graduates of Central St Martin’s, produced widely differing
collections for winter 2005. Each had its strengths and surprises,
but Gardem was outstanding.
His clothes, hand-dyed in earthy colours, harked back to the l8th
century, but in a modern way. Highwayman coats flared over ballerina
layers of thin and delicate tulles, nets, silks and chiffons.
Imagine Marie Antoinette in a firmly fitted black jacket, raggy skirts
and long, loose hair. Chocolate leather jodhpurs and a tight, toreador
jacket was another typical combination and accessories like crystal
studded headphones, silver jewelled belts and mitts added witty,
decorative touches.
Swash was more tricksy and playful, using marine rope to loop elements
of a skirt together or to lace up a grey wool jacket.
Leg o’mutton trousers are not the most flattering clothing items and
the Long John Silver look appeared self consciously laboured. Outsize
bucket pockets, cropped academic gowns and a pink cable-knit coat
with gold lame trousers did little to excite the imagination either.
Ebru Ercom used robust materials like army blankets, rough hemp and
denim to fashion some artful combinations that often worked in a
folksy way like a black, empire-line pleated dress with a cutaway
white blanket bolero and white beads.
Top Shop is currently the single biggest patron of young British
designers, with an annual spend of around GBP1 million on practical,
behind-the-scenes support.
“Everybody who is successful in the industry should give something
back,” their marketing manager, Jo Farrelly, told The Irish Times
yesterday. “We would rather spend money on nurturing young talent
than on advertising.”
Valuable endorsement for Top Shop’s own design label “Unique” came
this week from the uber chic boutique, Corso Como in Italy, which is
to Milan what Colette is to Paris. It ordered the complete collection
from the British high-street chain.
Fashion retailing may be changing fast at the moment, but British
designers continue to raid the past. Jessica Ogden’s jaunty collection
of Madras cotton checks and ginghams evoked the 50s and featured
kimono tops, denim dungarees and big patchwork skirts with a certain
Gallic twist. Handiwork like embroidery and quilting mark her style,
and swing jackets added to the jaunty air of the whole collection
notable for fuller sleeves, fuller skirts and child-like smock tops.
Betty Jackson had a reflective moment, too, with a collection, as
polished as ever, that harked back to the 70s and hippy chic with
sequined dresses, embroidered Afghan coats and cowboy boots.
But whether it was a neat cigar leather belted coat over narrow
trousers or a flared check jacket over a full skirt, her sense of
colour and proportion was as sharp and as chic as ever.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RIA Novosti, Russia
Feb 16 2005
IRAN AND RUSSIA DEVELOP NEW ECONOMIC PLANS
MOSCOW (RIA Novosti political commentator Dmitry Kosyrev)
A delegation of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry led by a
former prime minister, Yevgeny Primakov, is touring the Middle and
Near East, with Iran the key point on the program. The reason is
simple: Iran is the regional leader in terms of the volume and
quality of economic relations with Russia.
Iranian-Russian trade has hit the $2-billion mark, with Russian
exports accounting for 90%. Given that one aim of Russia’s economic
development policy is to free the country from its dependence of raw
material exports, trade with Iran provides an appropriate export
structure: Iran buys Russian planes, cars, and high technologies in
the energy sector, including in nuclear power. New projects are being
drafted, such as the construction of a railroad in Iran, gas
pipelines to Armenia and India, and the Tabas coal power station, as
well as the modernization of other power stations in Isfahan and
Ahwaz. Mr. Primakov’s objective is to identify priorities in the
voluminous plans outlined by the two sides.
Russians engaged in cooperation projects with Iran regard the country
as the regional leader in terms of literacy (81.4%), economic growth
and quality of life. Russia’s political culture believes it
inappropriate to impose forms of governance and life-style norms on
other countries and societies, even when this society is a unique
Shiite theocracy. Indeed, it compares favorably with many Islamic
monarchies in the Near East.
The political results of Iranian-Russian cooperation are obvious,
even if we choose not to mention that Iran has never given support to
Islamic extremists in Chechnya and the North Caucasus, and blocked
every anti-Russian resolution when it recently held the rotating
chair of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). In point
of fact, Iran is still playing a key role in Russia’s gradual advance
to observer status and closer cooperation with the OIC, a role which
is no less important than that of the present OIC chairman, Malaysia.
In other words, Moscow will benefit from a strong and prosperous
Iran, without nuclear weapons but with a powerful economy. The form
of governance it chooses, secular or theocratic Shiite, is
unimportant. The Iranians can cope with their domestic affairs on
their own, as their near unanimity in overthrowing the shah and
installing in 1979 the present, unique regime shows. Naturally, no
monarchies or regimes last forever and Russia has no special reason
for supporting this particular regime in Iran. The only thing Russia
wants is to have its long-term investments in Iran’s development well
protected.
However, Russian interests in Iran should also be protected from
competition. In a sense, Mr. Primakov’s delegation, like any trade
delegation, is part of efforts to get an edge on Russia’s rivals, the
main one being the European Union. It accounts for nearly a quarter
of Iran’s trade (about 15 billion euros), with Germany and Italy
taking the lead. Iran’s trade with Japan, China, and South Korea
should not be ignored either ($6 billion, $5 billion and $4 billion,
respectively).
Russia’s hopes to catch up with these rivals on the Iranian market
are probably unrealistic. Besides, in its special relations with
Iran, Russia can hardly claim a greater role than India, which given
its improving relations with neighboring Pakistan is identifying
increasing economic opportunities in Iran. Indeed, a key
Russian-Iranian project to develop a transport corridor from the
Indian Ocean to Europe via the Caspian Sea is connected with India.
The route will be even more important than the Suez Canal, because
goods to Europe will be delivered cheaper and faster by the
North-South corridor through Indian and Iranian ports and Russia’s
Volga river port of Olya.
Therefore, Moscow can and must take a skeptical view on the zigzags
and vacillation in the attempts made by Iran and the United States to
find a common language. Tehran was a reliable ally for the US and
other countries in their operations against the Taliban and other
terrorists in Afghanistan, but their further rapprochement was
interrupted by the war in Iraq. This war has led to consequences
unexpected even by Iran itself.
The efforts of America and the other occupying powers in neighboring
Iraq have made the establishment of a theocratic state there ruled by
Shiites, who are friendly to Iran’s Shiites despite their
differences, entirely possible. It is worth noting that, as distinct
from the ancient Persian empire, Iraq’s existence as a single state
is a relatively recent experiment. Even its capital, Baghdad, was
built in the middle of the eighth century on the ruins of Ktesifon,
the historic capital of Persia, by Iranians who had overthrown Arab
rule as part of an Islamic caliphate. They installed the Abbasid
dynasty and made Baghdad their capital.
Although this is a lesson from the distant past, it is still
instructive today.

French co-chair confirms illegal settlement of Armenians in Lachin
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Feb 16 2005
Baku, February 15, AssA-Irada
The OSCE fact-finding mission, which recently conducted monitoring
in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, has confirmed the illegal
settlement of Armenians in the Lachin district, according to the OSCE
Minsk Group French co-chair Bernard Fassier. He said that the mass
settlement of population in Lachin shows that financial assistance
is being provided for this purpose.
Fassier also mentioned the activities aimed at restoring the destroyed
infrastructure of the district.
“In other regions, most areas do not get electric power, the living
conditions are poor and electricity is supplied to some areas from
Armenian military units or Upper Garabagh”, said Fassier, emphasizing
the relatively good living conditions in Lachin as compared to other
Azerbaijani regions. The co-chair said that unlike Lachin, he did
not observe a purposeful settlement of population in regions around
Upper Garabagh, and that the current residents moved there on their
own or with the aid of the Armenian Diaspora.
Fassier divided the residents that moved to these areas into
three categories: refugees from Azerbaijan, those affected by the
earthquake which hit Armenia in 1988 and those who left Armenia due
to socio-economic hardship.*

ILLINOIS HOUSE COMMITTEE DECIDED ON TEACHING COURSE ON GENOCIDE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
PanArmenian News
Feb 11 2005
11.02.2005 16:54
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The bill states that all public elementary and high
schools should have a unit covering genocide throughout the world,
including the Armenian Genocide, the killings in Ukraine as well as
recent incidents in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Sudan. Currently,
public schools are required to teach a course on the Holocaust only.

Chessbase News, Germany
Feb 10 2005
Women can compete
10.02.2005 At the recent US Championship a historic event went almost
unnoticed. Chouchanik Airapetian became the first woman ever to
receive a gender neutral invitation to the event. “Shoushan” predicts
that in five years a woman will win the overall US Championship!
Chouchanik Airapetian
By Jamie Duif Calvin
The US Championship has long had a tradition of inviting a few
amateurs, usually the winners of the US Junior Championship and the
US Open. This year with a historically large prize fund of $250,000,
the America’s Foundation for Chess also expanded the field to 64
players, many of whom could qualify by a strong performance at one of
several “national heritage” events.
Airapetian scored 5 out of 7 at the 2004 Chicago Open, qualifying her
for a US Championship invitation that was open to either a man or a
woman. (By the way, other players with 5 in the Chicago event
included soon to be US Champion GM Nakamura and the winner of the
Larsen Prize, GM Alex Fishbein.)
How did she do at the Championship itself? Just fine! She started out
ranked 60th out of 64, and finished in 54th place, ahead of two men
and eight women. Five of these players, including both of the men,
were rated higher than Airapetian at the start of the event.
In the last three years several women have achieved historic
milestones in America. In 2002, Laura Ross became the highest rated
13 year old, male or female, in the US. In 2003, GM Susan Polgar won
the US blitz Championship in a field that included five other
grandmasters (all male). And now in 2004 Airapetian has become the
first US woman to earn a gender-neutral invitation to the national
championship.
It perhaps says something about just how far we’ve come that these
accomplishments went largely unnoticed!
The making of a champion
Recently I had a very nice conversation with Chouchan (this nickname,
pronounced “Shoushan”, means “water lily,” which is what her husband
calls her). She told me that her father had died when she was only
six years old. When her mother was putting away the father’s things,
she found a wooden chess set in a box, which she left out. What her
mother did not know at first, though, is that Chouchan would sneak
the pieces out of the box and play with them like dolls!
Picture: Chouchan playing in a tournament at the age of ten
This went on for several weeks. Then one day the mother found some of
the pieces in the girl’s room, hidden under her pillow. She asked her
daughter if she would like to learn to play the game of chess.
Chouchan says she was amazed. She loved the little pieces, and she
said, “There’s a game that goes with them, too?” It is interesting to
note that Karpov has a similar story, except that he played toy
soldiers with the pieces from his parent’s set!
So Chouchan learned to play. Her mother thought her younger sister
Marina might like to play, too. But instead, she opened up the wooden
box and began to pretend that the chess set was a piano! And today
Marina is a professional musician. So the girls are very creative,
and their mother is very supportive of their talents. When Chouchan
was only 7 or 8, her mother would spend long hours waiting for her at
chess tournaments. She worked hard to make sure that Chouchan had the
right coaches and the best opportunities to continue to play chess.
Picture: In 1992, at the age of 18, Chouchan became the Yerevan
champion.
In the above picture she is in Tigran Petrosyan’s Chess House.
The family left Armenia in the early 90s, when things were very
difficult politically and economically. They moved to Germany, where
Sena and Marina still live. Chouchan speaks Armenian, German,
English, Russian, and a little Spanish. Later, Chouchan married a boy
she had known in Armenia, and she and her husband moved to the United
States. They now live in Seattle where Chouchan is a chess coach at
several elementary schools. They have one son, who is now two years
old.
Picture: Chouchan, her mother Sena and sister Marina portrayed in a
German newspaper
Chouchan says that she has actually become a much better player since
her son was born. She knows that many women give up chess when they
have children, but she has found that she has bits of quiet time
throughout the day, and she uses these to study. She also plays a lot
of Internet chess.
In the above newpaper clipping Chouchan is playing in the 2002 US
Championship in Seattle. “This picture is the funniest one since my
opponent’s reaction to my move,” she said. “It was a great
advertisement for the AF4C since it is the first championship where
women and men were competing together for the title. Among the
spectators are my friends and my husband in the middle, hiding his
smile by covering his mouth.
When she was a girl in Armenia, her mother took her to a children’s
chess club where there were many coaches, known as Khalikyan Hovik’s
Chess Club. The kids there could just play for fun, or they could get
lessons. So the coaches could find the really promising players, or
the ones who had a strong desire to learn more, but the kids who just
wanted to play for fun were also welcome. Chouchan hopes to start a
similar club in the United States. Her dream is use chess to build a
bridge between kids around the world by offering international open
tournaments for junior players.
Picture: Her collection of chess pins
She thinks that one of the things that has kept chess from becoming
more popular in the US is that there is this great divide between
professional and amateur players, almost like two different worlds.
The one place where it is different is on the Internet, but there the
teaching is more formal. So she thinks it would be good for both
amateurs and professionals if, at least at the kids’ level, there was
more mixing.
Chouchan said for example that even at the recent US Championship,
she really enjoyed the fact that on the rest days the players went to
a local school. She said she had a slow start at the event, which is
typical for her. But then when she saw the kids, they were all asking
“How are you doing? Are you winning a lot?” and she felt it really
inspired her! She felt she had to focus and play well in order to
meet the kids’ expectations!
Picture: Helping kids to become champions: Chouchan on the back right
She thinks that girls do need extra encouragement to play, at least
while they are such a small minority. But she doesn’t feel it has to
be a cash prize, if the boys feel that is unfair. Just something like
a medal for the best girl could be very effective, especially for
school age children. She says sometimes in a tournament you will have
200 boys and 10 girls. If a girl comes in 15th, Chouchan feels it can
help keep her playing if she gets a special mention.
Chouchan with her husband, Ararat Agaian (left) and GM Varuzhan
Akobian. This picture was taken after the last round of the Chicago
Open 2004 with Var’s cellphone. So it is brought to us thanks to
modern technology!
On the other hand, she believes absolutely that women can and will
play as well as men, especially as more enter the game. She predicts
that a woman will win the overall US Championship in five years!
for pictures:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian economy grows 10 percent in 2004: central bank chief
Agence France Presse — English
February 7, 2005 Monday 5:36 PM GMT
YEREVAN Feb 7 — Armenia chalked up economic growth of 10.1 percent
last year and could repeat its strong performance again in 2005,
the central bank’s president said Monday.
“We have not ruled out that the 2004 scenario — economic growth
of 10 percent or more — happens again in 2005” thanks to booming
industrial activity, Tigran Sargassian told journalists.
He also said he was forecasting inflation of three percent this year
compared with two percent in 2004.
–Boundary_(ID_vRFZWQK+eaEDyhxWoOvuxg)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Brattleboro Reformer (Vermont)
February 3, 2005 Thursday
Putney travel series starts with focus on Armenia
On Thursday, Feb. 3, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., Peter Dixon will show
slides and talk about his journey through and insights into Armenia
and its people.
The event will take place at the new Putney Public Library, and is
the first in a six-event travel series, “Bringing the World Back to
Putney,” offered by the library.
The annual winter series highlights the travel and good works of
residents from the Putney area, and gives the public a chance to
share in their journeys and insights.
Armenia, a county full of forests, rivers, canyons, castles and
monasteries, is a land of hidden treasure that is almost unknown to
the world. The Armenian people, mostly cut off from the outside
world, are eager to demonstrate to foreign visitors their traditional
hospitality and pride at their survival.
Dixon, of Westminster, worked for three-and-a-half months as a dairy
foods consultant for the USDA in Armenia in 2000. He traveled
throughout this intriguing country of dramatic beauty and
heart-wrenching challenges long enough to get a sense of its peoples,
culture and geography. Dixon’s work as a dairy specialist brought him
in contact with cheese makers and small business owners throughout
Armenia, which has a rich tradition of agriculture and cheese making.
Upcoming “Bringing the World Back to Putney” events include
presentations by local residents about their travels to Mt. Kailas,
Tibet [Feb. 17], Jordan [March 3], Botswana [March 17], Pine Ridge,
S.D. [March 31], and China [April 7]. All events are free and open to
the public.
For information, call [802] 387-4102, e-mail [email protected] read
about these events on

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Feb 3 2005
Russia states readiness to assist in Garabagh conflict resolution
BAKU

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and his Russian
counterpart Sergey Lavrov discussed the Caspian legal status, the
Upper Garabagh conflict, prospects for developing Russo-Azeri
relations and other issues in Baku on Wednesday.
Mammadyarov, touching on the Garabagh conflict at a news briefing
following the meeting, said that the Russian Minister indicated
Russia’s interested in establishing stability in the region.
`Our northern neighbor (Russia) is ready to take the necessary steps
with regards to the conflict settlement, and Lavrov confirmed this
once again.’
The Russian Minister said that his country is actively working in the
area of the conflict resolution, voicing his satisfaction with the
activity of the Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Yuri
Merzlyakov.*

ArmenPress
Feb 3 2005
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT, PRIME MINISTER CONDOLE ON ZURAB ZHVANIA’S DEATH
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 3, ARMENPRESS: Armenian president Robert
Kocharian has sent a message to his Georgian counterpart Mikhail
Saakashvili to offer his condolences on the death of prime minister
Zurab Zhvania.
“The news about the tragic death of prime minister Zurab Zhvania
has saddened us deeply. Our sympathies are with you. Zurab Zhvania’s
contribution to building an independent Georgia and strengthening
democracy is great. His role is deepening centuries-long relations
between Armenians and Georgians is invaluable. I express my personal
and all Armenians’ condolences to you and to Zurab Zhvania’s
relatives and friends,” the message reads.
A message of condolences was also sent by Prime Minister Andranik
Margarian to offer his sympathies on the tragic and untimely death of
Zurab Zhvania. The message reads as follows.
“The Armenian government expresses its deep condolences on the
tragic death of prime minister Zurab Zhvania. Together with our words
of deep sadness and regret it is painful to realize that an
extraordinary man, a gifted political and public figure who had
contributed greatly to building an independent and democratic Georgia
and to fostering friendship and cooperation with Armenia, passed away
in his flourishing age. His death is a great loss for all of us. We
mourn with you at this difficult hour and ask to convey our
sympathies to the relatives and friends of the decedent.”

Unified financial supervisory system to be set up in Armenia
Mediamax news agency
2 Feb 05
YEREVAN
A conference of the regional group of the Basel Committee on Banking
Supervision of Central Asian and South Caucasus countries and Russia
opened in Yerevan today.
The chairman of the regional group, Juma Eshov, noted that
representatives of countries with similar problems in their banking
systems were taking part in the conference, Mediamax news agency
reports.
He stressed that the problem of money laundering was the conference’s
main theme.
Armenian Central Bank Chairman Tigran Sarkisyan gave a presentation to
the conference participants on the situation in the Armenian banking
sector. He said that the assets ratio of the banking system to GDP was
19 per cent and that loans accounted for 7 per cent. The central bank
carries out a policy of strict supervision which ensures the
transparency and reliability of banks, Tigran Sarkisyan said. In
addition, he noted that a similar policy was increasing investors’
interest in Armenian commercial banks. Today, foreign capital accounts
for 54 per cent of capital in the Armenian banking sector.
Tigran Sarkisyan said that a unified financial supervisory system
would be established in Armenia in the near future, including, in
particular, supervisory bodies for insurance companies, the pension
fund and the securities commission.