Author: Ekmekjian Janet

An-Nahar, Lebanon
May 25 2005
Translated from Arabic exclusively for Armenian News Network by Katia
M. Peltekian
A Tashnak Delegation visits Solange Jumeyel
Mrs. Solange Basheer Jumeyel met with a Tashnak delegation headed by
Hagop Pakradouni, vice-president of the Party and a candidate for a
parliamentary seat in Al-Metn, Mardig Boghossian, member of the
Central Committee of the Party, and Baruyr Arsen, director of the
Party’s parliamentary office.
Pakradouni congratulated Mrs. Jumeyel for winning the Maronite seat
in Ashrafieh uncontested and then informed her of the Party’s
decision to nominate him for the Armenian Apostolic seat in the
Al-Metn district to replace Sebouh Hovnanian.
Mrs. Jumeyel confirmed that the election law of 2000 was drawn
according to the conditions at the time that imposed on Lebanon
certain electoral combinations. She also stated that the current
electoral law will be amended as soon as the elections are over…

Pan Armenian News
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF GENOCIDE POSSIBLE ONLY HAVING REALIZED ITS CAUSES
24.05.2005 06:14
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Unless the Turkish society realizes and gets to know the
causes and consequences of the events of 1915, it will not be able to
acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. Stated Editor-in-Chief of Agos Turkish
journal Hrant Dink, when commenting on the holding of Ottoman Armenians in
Period of Collapse of the Empire: questions of scientific policy and
democracy conference in Istanbul, reported the Yerkir newspaper. In his
words, before the 20-es of the past century there was no taboo in Turkey on
the discussion of the Armenian issue, moreover, monuments to Genocide
victims were erected. However, since 1923, when people, who had committed
the Armenian Genocide, started `penetrating’ into the ruling elite of
Turkey, the discussion of the issues of the Armenian Genocide was banned.
Moreover, pensions were assigned to those charged for committing the
Armenian Genocide and the Turks killed. As noted by Dink, the Turkish people
thought for a rather long period of time that the Armenian issue is long ago
solved by the Treaty of Lausanne. The journal editor noted that the fact
that only 50-60 thousand Armenians live in Turkey today is an outcome of
Turkey’s brutal policy regarding national minorities. Answering the question
why Turks decided to exterminate the Armenian population he said that the
world wanted to return the indigene Armenians to the territories inhabited
by them, but the Young Turks decided to massacre Armenians to avoid it and
to leave the issue out of the agenda. As of the statements made in Turkey
that Armenians exterminated Turks, these are consequences of the wide-scale
genocide. Such actions were committed by revenge groups of Armenian, who had
lost their relatives.

PRESS RELEASE
Mijnaberd
Cultural Public Organisation (NGO),
38 Briusov street, apt. 6, Yerevan, Armenia, 375023
Tel: +374-9-43-81-96
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
Contact person: Nouneh Dilanyan, Vice-Chair
Mijnaberd and Caucasus NGO Forum are organizing a Creative Game
‘Strategic development of Armenia and Armenian civil society’. This is a
5-day long strategic seminar run with a special methodology in
Tsakhkadzor. It starts on May 27th and ends on June 1 (departure day).
Participants start moving at 8.30 on May 27 from next to Tamanyan
Monument in Yerevan.
Creative Game is a non-stop brainstorm using special methodology and
language (drawings, charts) for 30-120 people who work in groups all day
long and report back to the plenary in late evenings. It has an
agenda–topics of days–and names of groups. Its result is opening up
the minds and creative capacities of participants, building joint and
consensual philosophical visions, strategies and conceptual language,
and coming up with concrete ideas and tools for follow up. It is
facilitated by Game-Methodologists–specialist experts in
‘de-object-ising’ people’s minds and creative capacities and in
observing and registering the ways of thinking.
The Armenian Committee of Game-Methodologists was created in 1989. In
2003, a Caucasus Game-Methodologists Committee (CMC) was created, and
the group run several strategic Creative Games–all-Caucasian, as well
as in Georgia, Abkhazia and South Russia, sponsored by EU, UN etc.
This Creative Game is organised by Mijnaberd, an Armenian NGO, and
Caucasus NGO Forum–a network of NGOs from all over the Caucasus whose
office is currently in Yerevan.
The Game will be discussing many strategic issues pertinent to today’s
Armenia and Armenians-Armenia after the collapse of the USSR, Armenia
and Artsakh, Armenia in the world, global issues, Armenia and Armenians,
Armenia in the region, issues with Turkey and Azerbaijan, civil society,
development, etc.
The Game is sponsored by private individuals and Open Society Institute
Armenia.
The results of the game will be summarised within a month and widely
distributed, and will become available on-line.
If you wish to participate at your own expense, please let know Nune
Dlianyan, Vice-Chair of Mijnaberd and Game-Methodologist, at
[email protected]. You will have to arrive to Tsakhkadzor in time and be
obliged to take part in the entire duration of the Game. The language
is Armenian. You will have to pay your fees for travel, accommodation
and subsistence. You may have to accommodate yourself in a nearby
hotel rather than the one where the Game takes place (The University
Hotel). Participation is free.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Ex-Karabakh mediator says launch of oil pipeline rules out Azeri-Armenian war
Bilik Dunyasi news agency
23 May 05
BAKU
“No matter how great the economic and political importance of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline might be, this project will pour cold
water on the military option for resolving the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict,” the former Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group,
Vladimir Kazimirov, has said.
According to the Russian diplomat, the project sponsors believe that
the chances of military action in the region are much slimmer than
those of a negotiated settlement to the conflict.
Kazimirov also commented on the latest round of negotiations [on 15
May] between the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents on the Nagornyy
Karabakh problem in Warsaw. He said that despite the continuing
statements about the return of occupied territories to Azerbaijan, it
would be wrong to hope that a settlement could be achieved before the
status of Nagornyy Karabakh had first been established.

L’Armenie celèbre les 1.600 ans de son alphabet
Agence France Presse
21 mai 2005 samedi 1:30 PM GMT
EREVAN 21 mai 2005 — L’Armenie, qui celèbre en 2005 les 1.600 ans
de son alphabet, a inaugure samedi non loin d’Erevan une “allee des
lettres antiques”, destinee a commemorer l’invention du pretre Mesrop
Machtots en 405 après J.C.
A 1.600 mètres d’altitude au dessus de la capitale, 36 lettres de
pierre, d’une hauteur d’un mètre cinquante, ont ete erigees dans un
espace d’un demi-hectare au pied du mont Aragats.
Mesrop Machtots, aujourd’hui canonise par l’Eglise armenienne,
avait invente les 36 premières lettres de l’alphabet toujours en
usage aujourd’hui. Trois autres lettres ont ete rajoutees lors des
siècles suivants.
Les Armeniens considèrent que leur alphabet a ete un puissant facteur
d’identite de leur communaute, notamment pendant les periodes de
domination persanne et turque.
–Boundary_(ID_S78EzKPOX020kWaA0AK/uA)–

Sex is central to edgy new films in Cannes
By Erik Kirschbaum
CANNES, France, May 21 (Reuters) – Group sex, violent sex, gay sex,
and wife-swapping were among the central elements of stories in
entries at the Cannes Film Festival this year.
Whether a reflection of changing sexual mores around the world or
merely the work of edgy directors pushing new limits, Cannes audiences
were shown a great number of films with stories revolving around or
showing non-traditional sex.
“As the boundaries of what’s considered acceptable on and off the
screen get pushed back, directors are moving in to occupy that vacuum
of space and push the boundaries even further,” said Variety’s European
Editor Adam Dawtrey.
“In times that are tough for independent films, it’s important for
them to find an edge to give them some commercial appeal, though not
in a cynical way. The instinct is: ‘How do you grab audiences?’ And
the answer is with juicy scenes.”
Films with heterosexual intercourse or romantic suggestions of it have
long helped filmmakers in many genres to tell and sell their stories.
But this year a great diversity of sex has been displayed.
In “Where the Truth Lies”, Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth play a popular
entertainer duo with multiple daily sex partners, but their friendship
ends after sex with their hotel maid goes awry.
“I wanted to create this world that was intoxicating,” said Canadian
director Atom Egoyan, describing the need for group sex. “They could
take any amount of drugs they wanted and have as much sex as they
wanted. It was an unbridled atmosphere.”
“Don’t Come Knocking” is about a degenerate Hollywood star played by
Sam Shepard who learns he fathered two children, now adults, decades
earlier. But he’s slept with so many women in his life he at first
can’t even vaguely recall their mothers.
“Sam’s character is a womaniser and that’s one of his life’s
tragedies,” director Wim Wenders told Reuters. “It’s a disease like
alcohol. It’s why he missed his life because he was only always
thinking of the thrill of sex, drugs and rock and roll.”
In “Chromophobia”, a prostitute played by Penelope Cruz wears a
nurse’s costume for a sex ritual with a client, an elderly retired
judge who turns out to be her daughter’s father.
In Woody Allen’s “Match Point” a sizzling affair between the
brother-in-law and sister-in-law in a rich British family starts in
a rain-drenched wheat field but ends tragically after he gets her
pregnant and kills her to keep the scandal romance a secret.
Wife-swapping is the spice in life belatedly discovered by a retired
French couple in “Peindre ou Faire L’Amour”.
Barry Pepper clips and smells his dirty toenails in “The Three Burials
of Melquiades Estrada” before rising from the couch for a quick,
animal-like sex session with his bored wife while she continues to
watch television from the kitchen.
Perhaps the most controversial film is director Carlos Reygadas’
“Batalla en el Cielo” (Battle in Heaven). It starts with a teen girl
performing fellatio on an obese middle-aged Mexican who later has
graphic sex with his even heavier wife.
But he rejected criticism sex in his film is gratuitous.
“The whole world is involved in sex,” Reygadas said.
05/21/05 13:50 ET

AZG Armenian Daily #092, 21/05/2005
Armenian Genocide
A JOURNEY THROUGH GENOCIDE-STRICKEN PROVINCES OF OTTOMAN TURKEY
The website created by Montreal office of INFIVA
news agency offers a unique opportunity for a travel in Ottoman
Turkey. The website functioning since the 90th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide on April 24 represents testimonies of 20 survivors
of the atrocities in 1915.
Those 20 voices accompanied with sound effects and imagery unveil
the tragedy of the Genocide. Visitors of the site have the chance to
travel through 20 provinces of the Ottoman Empire and to listen to
the voice of a survivor telling about his/her painful experience.
While creating the website INFA agency cooperated with its webmaster
Araz Artinian who is now working on “The Genocide In Me” documentary.
By Melania Badalian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri experts wary about relocation of Russian bases to Armenia
Yeni Azarbaycan, Baku
20 May 05
Excerpt from Mais Piriyev report by Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni
Azarbaycan on 20 May “Russia increases number of military bases in
Armenia” and subheaded “Can Armenia station military bases withdrawn
from Georgia?”
A part of the Russian military hardware and property in Georgia will
be relocated to Armenia, the chief of the Russian General Staff,
Army Gen Yuriy Baluyevskiy, has issued this statement. He believes
that it is possible to pull out the military bases within four years
if this happens.
Political expert Rasim Musabayov does not think this is very
convincing. He believes that under the [flank agreement on conventional
weapons] agreements in force, it is impossible to station over 220
pieces of armoured hardware in Armenia: “Armenia has already delegated
part of its quota to Russia and its [Russia’s] military base is
deployed in Gyumri. Armenia may accept some more Russian weapons and
ammunition. However, its opportunities are very limited.” [Passage
omitted: OSCE Istanbul Summit stipulates the pullout]
Political pundit Zardust Alizada does not think that the stationing
of the military bases in Armenia poses a threat to Azerbaijan. There
are nearly 3,000 Russian troops in Georgia now and half of them are
Georgian residents. These residents are both Armenian and Georgian. The
expert believes that they will not abandon their houses to move to
Armenia: “They will simply quit the army to find new jobs. There
remains ineffectual, obsolete and dilapidated military hardware [at
the Russian bases in Georgia]. Contrary to various claims, the might
and importance of the Russian military bases in Armenia are not high,
the expert considers. I do not think it is necessary to threaten the
people with the Russian military bases.”
Mubariz Ahmadoglu, the chairman of [the pro-government] Centre for
Political Innovation and Technology, thinks there are two reasons
why international organizations and superstates should demand that
Russia pulls out its military bases from Georgia: “First, they want
the military bases to be withdrawn from Georgia, second, there should
be a minimum amount of weapons in the South Caucasus. I think Russia
wants to play a game with the international community. The issue of
restricting conventional weapons in the South Caucasus is on the agenda
now and Russia and the OSCE are at loggerheads over this matter.”
Ahmadoglu believes that Russia will have to pull out its military
bases from Armenia one day as it will from Georgia. He thinks that
the stationing of extra Russian forces in Armenia will lead to serious
international pressure on official Yerevan. It is not ruled out that
international bodies will one day urge the Russians to take a decision
on the withdrawal of Russian military bases also from Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SOLDIERS REFUSE ALTERNATIVE MILITARY SERVICE
A1plus
| 14:53:15 | 20-05-2005 | Social |
“The people preferring alternative military service are also
Armenians. The society and the military men must not have negative
attitude towards them”, said Avetik Ishkhanyan, head of the Armenian
Helsinki Committee. He is surprised by the fact that the Government
does not want to amend the RA Law on “Alternative Military Service”
which was adopted in 2004.
Today by the initiative of the “Cooperation for Open Society” organized
a discussion about the problem in which besides non-governmental
organizations representatives of the OSCE Yerevan office and
the Ministry of Defense took part. Ministry of Defense Juridical
Administration head Sedrak Sedrakyan informed that at present 24
RA citizens are in alternative military service. 11 of them have
applied to the commanders saying that they refuse to continue their
service. The reason was that the officers make them do duties proper
to soldiers and thus violate the law and their religious convictions.
Yesterday 4 alternative servers left their place of service in the
Vardenis for the same reasons. They will be put to Military tribunal,
as according to the law the punishments for the alternative and
traditional servers are the same.
According to the Armenian Helsinki Committee the Law must be amended
as soon as possible. Particularly, the date of 42 months for the
alternative servers must be reduced by at least 6 months. Also the mark
on their uniforms “Alternative server” must be eliminated, and, which
is most important, their service must be regulated not by military,
but by civic organs.

FRENCH SENATE TO CONDUCT DAY OF CAUCASUS
Azer Tag
[May 18, 2005, 15:04:07]
The Day of Caucasus will be organized on May 19 at the French Senate,
the country’s Embassy in Baku has announced. The goal of the event
initiated by Ubiframce, the International Agency for Development of
Enterprises is provide French companies with information on business
environment in the South Caucasus. At the Azerbaijan-related hearings
to be presided by Chairman of the France-Azerbaijan friendship
group Ambrose Dupont and French Ambassador in Baku Roland Blatman,
will particularly focus on the country’s oil sector, and small and
medium business. The Azerbaijan-France business Forum to be organized
by Ubiframce in Baku on June 22-24 will also be discussed during
the event.