RA FOREIGN MINISTER TO MEET WITH OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS ON JULY 10 IN PARIS
Noyan Tapan
Jul 09 2007
PARIS, JULY 9, NOYAN TAPAN. After taking part in the ArmTech 2007
three-day conference dedicated to issues of high technologies in
Armenia, held in San Francisco, the RA Foreign Minister, Vardan
Oskanian, left for Paris.
As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA Foreign Ministry Press and
Information Department, V. Oskanian will meet with the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-chairs on July 10 in Paris.
ASHOT GULYAN: COE SECRETARY GENERAL HAS AN OBVIOUSLY BIASED POSITION ON KARABAKH
armradio.am
06.07.2007 17:35
Commenting on the statement by Terry Davis, the Secretary General
of the Council of Europe, that the international community will not
recognize the presidential elections in Nagorno Karabakh, NKR National
Assembly Speaker Ashot Gulyan told Mediamax that the "high position
of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Terry Davis had
to hold him back from obviously biased position on the forthcoming
presidential elections in Armenia."
In Ashot Gulyan’s words, "such position is characteristic to
conservative politicians of Europe, who do not wish to notice the
objective trends in the contemporary world." The NKR Parliament
Speaker said these statements are of destructive nature and encourage
the Azerbaijani authorities to prevent the participation of Nagorno
Karabakh in the negotiations on Nagorno Karabakh in full format.
"Being a full party to the conflict, Nagorno Karabakh has to have
legitimate authorities, which can really control the whole territory
of NKR and carry responsibility for the fate of people and the peace
process of the conflict resolution," Mr. Gulyan underlined.
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
SHOW: NEWSHOUR 6:00 PM EST
July 4, 2007 Wednesday
BBC Reporter Alan Johnston is Freed in Gaza
by Gwen Ifill, Margaret Warner, Ray Suarez, Judy Woodruff, Gregory
Djanikian
GUESTS: Steven Erlanger, Lorne Craner, Nikolas Gvosdev, Amr Hamzawy,
Anne- Marie Slaughter, Michael Beschloss
Kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston was freed Wednesday after being
held captive for 114 days in Gaza. Ray Suarez discusses the spread of
democracy around the globe with guests. As part of the NewsHour`s
occasional series on poetry, poet Gregory Djanikan shares his poem
about an immigrant family`s Fourth of July celebration.
[parts omitted]
(BREAK)
GWEN IFILL: Finally tonight, some Fourth of July reflections from
poet Gregory Djanikian. He directs the creative writing program at
the University of Pennsylvania. His fifth and latest volume of poetry
is "So I Will Till the Ground."
GREGORY DJANIKIAN, Poet: My name is Gregory Djanikian, and I was born
in Alexandria, Egypt, of Armenian parentage, and came to this country
when I was 8 years old. I spent my boyhood in a small town in
Pennsylvania, Williamsport, home of the little league, and my
acculturation to this country occurred in some ways on the baseball
fields of that town.
Now I live near Philadelphia, a city which saw the founding of this
nation. I`d like to read a poem called "Immigrant Picnic," which
describes a July Fourth get-together of my immigrant family, who,
with American families across the nation, contribute to the
celebration of independence.
The poem also describes how we might contribute to that great melting
pot that is the English language, that, for many of us who have come
from different countries, our difficulties with American idioms often
lead to unexpected syntactic constructions and surprising turns of
phrase which enrich the language and by which we all are enriched.
"Immigrant Picnic."
It`s the Fourth of July, the flags are painting the town, the plastic
forks and knives are laid out like a parade.
And I`m grilling, I`ve got my apron, I`ve got potato salad, macaroni,
relish, I`ve got a hat shaped like the state of Pennsylvania.
I ask my father what`s his pleasure and he says, "Hot dog, medium
rare," and then, "Hamburger, sure, what`s the big difference," as if
he`s really asking.
I put on hamburgers and hot dogs, slice up the sour pickles and
Bermudas, uncap the condiments. The paper napkins are fluttering away
like lost messages.
"You`re running around," my mother says, "like a chicken with its
head loose."
"Ma," I say, "you mean cut off, loose and cut off being as far apart
as, say, son and daughter."
She gives me a quizzical look as though I`ve been caught in some
impropriety. "I love you and your sister just the same," she says,
"Sure," my grandmother pipes in, "you`re both our children, so why
worry?"
That`s not the point I begin telling them, and I`m comparing words to
fish now, like the ones in the sea at Port Said, or like birds among
the date palms by the Nile, unrepentantly elusive, wild.
"Sonia," my father says to my mother, "what the hell is he talking
about?" "He`s on a ball," my mother says.
"That`s roll!" I say, throwing up my hands, "as in hot dog,
hamburger, dinner roll…"
"And what about roll out the barrels?" my mother asks, and my father
claps his hands, "Why sure," he says, "let`s have some fun," and
launches into a polka, twirling my mother around and around like the
happiest top,
and my uncle is shaking his head, saying "You could grow nuts
listening to us,"
and I`m thinking of pistachios in the Sinai burgeoning without end,
pecans in the South, the jumbled flavor of them suddenly in my mouth,
wordless, confusing, crowding out everything else.
GWEN IFILL: For more poems by Gregory Djanikian, to see and hear
other poets, and to sign up for our poetry podcast, visit our Web
site at PBS.org.
(BREAK)
23.4% OF YEREVAN POPULATION REGISTERED AT HEALTHCARE PRIMARY LINK FROM
APRIL 1 TO JUNE 30
YEREVAN, JULY 3, NOYAN TAPAN. In the first six months of 2007, the
number of people’s visits to Yerevan polyclinics made 1m 137 thousand,
which has increased by 1.3% as compared with the same period of 2006.
Armen Soghoyan, the Head of the Healthcare and Social Security
Department of Yerevan Mayor’s office, said at the July 2 press
conference that 77,305 calls were registered at the Ambulance CJSC in
January-June. 6,434 children were born at Yerevan’s ten maternity
houses in the same period, which exceeds the same index of the previous
year by 0.2%.
A. Soghoyan said that 23.4% of Yerevan’s population has expressed a
willingness to apply to district therapeutists and pediatricians in the
healthcare primary link from April 1 to June 30. Until October 1 people
can be registered and choose their doctor and the institution where
they wish to receive medical aid. It was mentioned that a maximum of
2300 and a minimum of 1000 citizens can be registered with one doctor.
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
July 24 2007
ARMENIA TO TAKE PART IN MEETING OF BSEC TRANSPORT MINISTERS’ COUNCIL
IN ISTANBUL
YEREVAN, July 4. /ARKA/. RA Deputy Minister of Transport Hrant
Beglaryan is to take part in a meeting of the Council of Ministers of
Transport of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC)
in Istanbul, on July 5, 2007.
Press Secretary of the RA Ministry of Transport Tamara Galechyan
reported that the meeting participants will focus their attention on
the signing of a memorandum on a program of constructing a ring road
round the Black Sea.
She also pointed out that no information on any meetings between
Hrant Beglaryan is available. `However, this dopes not that the
possibility of such meetings in ruled out,’ she said.
BSEC was founded in June 1992 in Istanbul and unites Azerbaijan,
Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Turkey
and Ukraine.
The organization aims at promoting multilateral regional cooperation
in trade, industry, transport, communication, science and technology,
agriculture, ecology and tourism. P.T. -0–
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
July 4 2007
ARKADY GHOUKASSIAN: WESTERN DIPLOMATS SHOULD EXPLAIN WHY KOSOVO MUST
BE INDEPENDENT, WHILE NAGORNO-KARABAGH MUST NOT
`’Unfortunately, world elite is not trying to find a legal solution
to the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict, taking the way of political
settlement,’ Nagorno-Karabagh President Arkady Ghoukassian stated,
while delivering a lecture at the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) State
University in Yerevan July 3. He also noted Stepanakert was not
against political settlement; however, the legal base might
contribute to rendering decision.
`Kosovo’s example encourages us, and it does not matter how hard we
are being convinced that it cannot be a precedent for other
unrecognized republics, it is not in logical frames,’ Arkady
Ghoukassian noted, adding the world avoided precedents. `It is much
easier for the world powers to act according to already existing
standards than to create the new ones. Besides, recognition of
Kosovo’s independence may become a cause for the creation of new
conflicts, while the world community does not want it to take place.
I am sure Nagorno-Karabagh has more reasons to strive for
independence than Kosovo,’ Nagorno-Karabagh President stated.
He reminded that western diplomacy considered that Kosovo could not
be a precedent for other unrecognized republics, however, Russia is
adherent to the opposite stand. `Western diplomats should explain why
Kosovo can be independent, while Nagorno-Karabagh cannot,’ Arkady
Ghoukassian stated. For Nagorno-Karabagh independence and
establishment of statehood was not an end in itself. `We did not want
to prove we can do it. Statehood is inevitability for defending
borders and mobilizing our resources to protect it,’ Arkady
Ghoukassian said, IA Regnum reports.
ICRC NOT ACCEPT LETTER OF ARMENIAN-CAPTURED SOLDIER’S PARENTS
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
July 3 2007
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Barda Office
refused to receive the letter by parents of Armenian-captured
Azerbaijani soldier Samir Mammadov, the captured soldier’s uncle
Vidadi Mammadov told the APA.
He said that though they wrote the letter yesterday, ICRC refused to
accept it. ICRC Azerbaijani representation’s press service asserted
the information.
The representation said that refusal of the letter is related to
Mammadov’s wish. Mammadov was captured by Armenians on December 24,
2006 and he wrote the letter to his parents on March 9 for the last
time. His parents also wrote him letter on May 19, but it was sent
back. ICRC representatives said that Mammadov did not want to receive
any letter.
FIRST OFFICIAL AZERI-ARMENIAN TOUR IN 13 YRS
ABC News
June 29 2007
Share BAKU (Reuters) – Official delegations from Azerbaijan and
Armenia have toured each other’s capitals for the first time since
the two countries met in 1994 to agree a ceasefire to a war that
killed thousands.
The predominantly Armenian populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh
broke away from Azerbaijan in the late 1980s, triggering a 1992-94
war between Armenian-backed separatists and the Azeri army that killed
more than 35,000 people.
Borders between Azerbaijan and Armenia are still closed and official
ties severed although the Azeri and Armenian president do meet on
foreign soil for talks from time to time.
"The emergence of a climate of confidence among the public of Armenia
and Azerbaijan will be a good contribution to the settlement of the
Karabakh conflict," Armenian president Robert Kocharyan said after
meeting the delegation in Yerevan on Thursday.
Azeri president Ilham Aliyev echoed similar sentiments later the
same day when the group, made up of scientists and cultural figures,
visited Baku.
Since 1994 a separatist army, backed by Armenian volunteers, has
controlled Nagorno-Karabakh whose 140,000 inhabitants have voted in
an internationally unrecognized referendum for independence.
Azeris and Armenians do discreetly travel between the two countries
via neighboring Georgia although both countries discourage it.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has
organized cross border trips for journalists from Azerbaijan and
Armenia and is trying to broker a permanent peace deal.
TURKEY AIMS TO TURN BLACK SEA REGION INTO FREE TRADE ZONE
ArmInfo
2007-06-28 16:06:00
Turkish State Minister Kursad Tuzmen said on Wednesday that Turkey was
determined to turn the Black Sea region into a free trade zone in the
next five years. In an interview with the semi-official Anatolia news
agency, Tuzmen said that within this framework, Turkey was about to
sign a free trade agreement with Georgia and had launched initiatives
to sign another one with Russia.
All member states of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) support
the idea of making the Black Sea region a free trade zone, and this
would make a positive contribution to economies of these countries,
he said.
"Turkish and Ukrainian technical delegations will launch initial
negotiations on Friday regarding an agreement. And we have also
agreed with Azerbaijan and Moldova to open talks on a preferential
trade agreement," Tuzmen said.
Turkey’s current trade volume with the BSEC countries stood at 38
billion U.S. dollars, said Tuzmen, adding that it could climb to 60
billion U.S. dollars in three years.
In addition, Turkish contractors have won projects worth at 28
billion U.S. dollars among BSEC countries so far, and Turkish
investments in these countries have exceeded seven billion dollars,
Tuzmen added. "We also want to turn the Caspian Sea into a free trade
zone. We will realize our ‘three seas’ project when we fulfill all
these initiatives. The Mediterranean Sea has already become a free
trade zone," said the minister. The BSEC is comprised of Bulgaria,
Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Albania, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Greece, Moldova and Serbia.
As RA FM’s spokesman Vladimir Karapetyan told ArmInfo, "this initiative
was not discussed at BSEC summit in Istanbul". Having doubted existence
of the initiative in the version, by which it is represented by
Turkey’s State Minister, he added that the matter possibly concerns
signing of bilateral agreement on cooperation among the countries of
BSEC region.
To note, no progress was achieved in normalization of the
Armenian-Turkish relations during negotiations between the Armenian
and Turkish Foreign Ministers within the frames of BSEC which have
been recently completed in Istanbul. In particular, in response to
RA FM Vardan Oskanyan’s appeal to open Armenia-Turkey border, A. Gul
again spoke of the Karabakh conflict settlement necessity.
EXHIBITION OF MODERN ARMENIAN ART BEING HELD IN PARIS
ArmInfo
2007-06-28 15:33:00
Within the framework of Armenia’s Year in France, an exhibition of
modern Armenian art opened in the orchard-house of the Luxembourg
Palace, Paris, on June 28.
The press-service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told ArmInfo
that about 100 works by 23 Armenian artists both from Armenia and
other countries were exhibited. Armenian Ambassador to France Edvard
Nalbandyan pointed out the French Senate’s support for the "1000
small ambassadors" program, which gave an opportunity to hundreds of
Armenian schoolchildren to visit several French cities. To remind,
one of the first key events of Armenia’s Year in France was also held
at the Luxembourg Palace.
To note, the exhibition is being held under the patronage of Christian
Poncelet, Speaker of the French Senate, and Edvard Nalbandyan,
Armenian Ambassador to France. The exhibition will last till July 15.