Author: Chatinian Lara

Armenian defence minister goes to Tehran for talks with Iranian leaders

Noyan Tapan news agency
7 Feb 05

Yerevan, 7 February: A delegation led by the secretary of the Security
Council of the Armenian president and Armenian defence minister,
Serzh Sarkisyan, left for Iran on 7 February at the invitation of
the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic
Republic of Iran, Hasan Rowhani.

Within the framework of the visit, the members of the Armenian
delegation will meet the head of the Iranian Foreign Ministry
department for CIS countries, Mehdi Safari, and the former Iranian
ambassador to Armenia, Farhad Koleyni, the press secretary of the
Armenian Defence Ministry, Col Seyran Shakhsuvaryan, told Noyan Tapan
news agency.

On the morning of 8 February, the Armenian delegation will visit
the Sa’adabad complex where they will meet the secretary of the
Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran,
Hasan Rowhani. After that, they will meet Iranian President Mohammad
Khatami and the chairman of the Iranian Expediency Council, Akbar
Hashemi-Rafsanjani.

On the same day, the delegation will visit Tehran’s Armenian eparchy
and the Armenian embassy in Tehran.

The delegation will return to Yerevan on 9 February.

PanArmenian News
Feb 7 2005

ARMENIA-LADA PRESIDENT KILLED IN TOLYATTI RUSSIAN TOWN

07.02.2005 17:10

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia-Lada Company President Rafael Shahmuradian
was killed in the Russian town of Tolyatti. Let us remind that his
life was once attempted on May 24 night last year. At that time saved
by a miracle Shahmuradian stated he has grave suspicions that his
murder was ordered by Armenian Minister of Transport and
Communications, Armenia-Lada stockholder Andranik Manukian.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
February 3, 2005 Thursday 9:05 AM Eastern Time

Armenia to send group of medics to Indonesia

By Tigran Liloyan

YEREVAN

The Armenian government is sending a group of doctors to Indonesia to
provide medical aid to the population of the country hit by a recent
devastating tsunami.

The decision was made at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday under the
chairmanship of President Robert Kocharyan.

In the next three days Armenia will send to Jakarta a traumatologist,
two infection disease doctors and an epidemiologist.

The Armenia has allotted 14,000 U.S. dollars for the dispatch of the
specialists.

PanArmenian News
Feb 1 2005

OSCE SPECIAL MISSION MEMBERS PUT ON CANDLES IN ANCIENT ARMENIAN
CHURCH IN KARVACHAR

01.02.2005 17:23

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azg newspaper reports the details of yesterday’s
visit of the OSCE fact-finding mission in the security belt
territories around Nagorno Karabakh. As reported by the newspaper, on
they way back in the evening the group members visited the medieval
Armenian Monastery of Dadivank, situated in the territory of
Karvachar (Kelbajar is one of the territories of the security belt),
where they put on candles. The Dadivank Monastery, where according to
the legend, relics of St. apostle Thaddeus are kept, is one of the
numerous monuments of the Christian culture, which are situated
within the territories of the security belt and preserve the memory
of the Armenian civilization, which had once prospered here and fell
into decay after these lands being inhabited by Muslim
cattle-breeding tribes. According to the newspaper correspondent’s
impression, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, who were also present at
the work of the commission do not display special enthusiasm on the
mission main goal, considering that those steps will hardly bring to
the solution of the conflict.

EiTB24.com, Spain
Feb 3 2005

Festivals of San Blas

On February 3, the traditional procession of San Blas is held in the
Basque Country, in honour of the Christian martyr who is attributed
with the miraculous healing of throat ailments.

People in the Basque Country hold every February 3 the procession of
San Blas. This procession is a tribute to San Blas, a Christian
martyr who is attributed with the miraculous healing of throat
ailments.

In the main squares of Basque towns and cities, stalls are set up
where you can buy the traditional doughnuts and coloured cords of San
Blas. The Basques bless the cord before the image of the Saint in
some churches. Afterwards, according to tradition, the faithful wear
the cord around their neck for nine days, after which it must be
burnt. If the process is carried out correctly, San Blas will protect
the throat of the wearer for the whole year.

Blas was an Armenian doctor and bishop who lived in the third century
A.C. He was a victim of the persecutions to the Christians by the
Emperor Diocleciano, so he hid in a cave in the mountain Argeo and
lived like a hermit there. In the year 313, the emperor Constantino
stopped the persecutions so Blas could come back to his diocese. Two
years after, the emperor Linicio resumed the persecutions. February
3rd 316 Blas was beheaded and his body torn to pieces with iron
hooks. Some people say San Blas healed miraculously a child who had a
fish bone put across his throat. This is why it is believed that this
saint protects us from the throat ailments.

Sean Connery offered role in Kurdish film

Wednesday, February 2, 2005

FEATURE

The unforgettable spy of the James Bond series, Sean Connery, has been
offered a role in a movie to be shot in Turkey that tells the story of
the Brukan clan

ANKARA ` Turkish Daily News

  The story of the Brukan clan, comprising 500,000 members in 117
villages of Van, will be retold in a movie titled ?Brukan: Exodus.?
The film, which depicts the migration of the clan from Diyarbakır’s
KaracadagË` to the Caucasus and Iran in 1609, will be produced by
Gültekin Movie Productions and directed by Engin Alap.

  Producer Kasım Gültekin, director Alap and General Coordinator
Sema Efe visited Van’s DogË`angün village to scout out places for
construction of the film set. The crew said they would start
shooting on March 15.

  

Sean Connery as S¸emdin Bey?

  Alap also noted that they had offered a starring role to Sean
Connery, the unforgettable spy of the famous James Bond. Alap said
they offered the role to Connery through an agency and that the famous
actor was warm to the offer. If he accepts the role, he will bring
the leader of the clan, S¸emdin Bey, to life.

  Alap emphasized that the film would be shot in Kurdish and
dubbed in English, saying, ?This film will reflect the culture of a
tribe.?

  Gültekin said the soundtrack would include Kurdish songs and
that they would try to promote their local music to the world by
means of this film.

  Gültekin, who says 2 billion euros are in place for the making
of the film, also said: ?This amount will be increased to 3 million
along the way. We don’t have any economic concerns about this
job. Three thousand character actors will appear in the film, and
it will be an international movie.?

© 2004 Dogan Daily News Inc. | Ri and Permissions

ABS CBN News, Philippines
Feb 1, 2005

Sargissian assumes control in Gibraltar

By MANNY BENITEZ
TODAY Chess Columnist

Armenian Grandmaster Gabriel Sargissian (2602) outfought Asian
champion Krishnan Sasikiran (2657) of India in a sixth-round, 64-move
marathon to seize the solo lead in the Gibtele.com Masters chess
championship in the British colony of Gibraltar off Spain.

Playing White, Sargissian, who turns 22 on Thursday, had 5.0 points
from six games, just half a point ahead of nine other big stars that
included the top seed, world No. 10 Alexei Shirov of Spain, and new
US champion Hikaru Nakamura, 17.

Among the other runners-up were two former world junior champions,
Emil Sutovsky of Israel, who won the under-20 crown in 1996, and
Sargissian’s compatriot, Lev Aronian, who did it in 2002.

With his loss, Sasikiran, 24, one of the early favorites, slid down
to a tie for 11th to 29th with 18 others who each had 4.0 points.

Sargissian employed the Fianchetto variation against Sasikiran’s
Gruenfeld Defense, and managed to advance his a-pawn to the sixth
rank early on.

Gaining a big plus in mid-game complications, Sargissian soon was the
exchange up and when the end came, he had a king plus rook and pawn
against the Asian champion’s king with bishop plus two pawns.

Sasikiran resigned when he realized he could not stop White’s rook
from gobbling up his a7 pawn to clear the way for a new queen.

Meanwhile, former Cuban champion Lenier Dominguez and former world
title candidate Boris Gelfand of Israel won their first games to take
the lead in the Bermuda International, a yearly event in the former
British colony miles off the US East Coast.

Reigning world junior champion Pent Harikrishna held Giovani Vescovi
of Brazil to a draw with Black in 43 moves of a Ruy Lopez in the
third pair of the six-GM field.

Dominguez had White in downing Andrei Volokitin of Ukraine in 46
moves of a Sicilian Paulsen, while Gelfand had Black in beating
Bartlomiej Macieja of Poland.

OSCE mission visits occupied Azeri district, meets residents – Armenian
report

Mediamax news agency
31 Jan 05

YEREVAN

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen and members of the OSCE fact-finding
mission today visited the centre and several villages of Kalbacar
which is controlled by the defence army of the Nagornyy Karabakh
Republic.

A special Mediamax correspondent reports that the members of the
mission are holding meetings with the district residents and asking
them to fill in questionnaires to establish where they were settled
before.

The co-chairmen and the OSCE fact-finding mission are planning to
visit Fuzuli and Cabrayil Districts. The visit of the OSCE mission [to
all seven occupied districts of Azerbaijan] is expected to last from
seven to 10 days.

Council of Europe resolution unacceptable to Karabakh – leader

Arminfo
28 Jan 05

YEREVAN

The resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
PACE contains provisions that are unacceptable to Nagornyy Karabakh,
the president of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic NKR , Arkadiy
Gukasyan, has told journalists in Yerevan.

The NKR president pointed out that he does not think that the
resolution can be of some fateful importance to Karabakh. At the same
time, Arkadiy Gukasyan said that the diplomacy of the Armenian side
should be more active in order to avoid such statements and
approaches.

“I think that David Atkinson’s speech was very subjective and
inconsistent with the current situation,” Gukasyan stressed, adding
that it is necessary to take political steps to neutralize such
approaches. He also said that he had appealed to the leadership of the
Council of Europe and David Atkinson, demanding that the presence of
Nagornyy Karabakh representatives be ensured when the report was
discussed.

Gukasyan said that the absence of NKR representatives from the
discussion of the Karabakh issue is absolutely not
understandable. “This was also a very subjective approach. There are
examples when the NKR leadership took part in sittings of the Council
of Europe in 1994 and 1998 and defended its approaches,” the president
recalled.

Social and economic reforms on right path, Karabakh premier says

Arminfo, Yerevan
27 Jan 05

STEPANAKERT

The prime minister of the NKR [Nagornyy Karabakh Republic], Anushavan
Danielyan, has noted a stable tendency for the development of the
economy and an increase in microeconomic indicators. Speaking at the
first sitting of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic government in 2005, he
said that social and economic reforms “are on the right path”.

Danielyan noted that the economic growth rate will almost double in
2006, an Arminfo correspondent in Stepanakert said. The prime minister
said also that GDP should reach 60bl drams [124.740m dollars], and
that a new goal of 100bl drams [207.9m dollars] has been set for 2010.

The prime minister noted that because of the high rates of growth a
need has emerged to reconsider the social and economic programme of
the republic for 2010.