Author: Emil Lazarian

Armenian Armed Forces killed one more Azerbaijani soldier
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Oct 21 2006
[ 21 Oct. 2006 15:29 ]
Armenian Armed Forces’ units in occupied Veyselli and Garakhanli
villages of Fuzuli region fired on opposite positions of Azerbaijani
Armed Forces, APA Garabagh bureau reports.
A soldier of Azerbaijan Armed Forces, Aliyev Arif Gulaga, born in
1980 and drafted by Ujar region Military Registration and Enlistment
Office died in the result of fire exchange. Azerbaijan Defense Ministry
confirmed the fact. /APA/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

49 ISSUES AND 10 INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS TO BE DISCUSSED AT COMING
NA 4-DAY SESSION
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 20, NOYAN TAPAN. Draft decision on making additions
to the agenda of the 8th session of RA NA of third convocation and
draft agenda of October 23-26 NA four-day session were discussed at the
October 20 working consultation presided over by RA NA Speaker Tigran
Torosian. As NT was informed from NA Public Relations Department, 12
issues were included in the additions part of the session agenda. 49
issues, 10 international agreements are placed on the agenda of NA
coming four-day session. The draft decision on making additions to
the agenda of the 8th session of NA of third convocation and the
draft agenda of October 23-26 NA four-day session will be approved
at the October 23 NA sitting.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ADVISER OF RA PRESIDENT POINTS TO NECESSITY TO CREATE INSTITUTION IF
INTERCOMMUNAL GOVERNMENT
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 20, NOYAN TAPAN. “Issue of dispersion of local
self-government bodies is sharply set today in Armenia.” RA
President’s Adviser, Seyran Avagian, said this at the October
20 seminar organized by the European Integration NGO with the
support of F.Ebert fund, dedicated to European experience in the
sphere of local self-government. In his words, Lithuania has only
64 local self-government bodies, while their number in Armenia is
900, at that only 50 or 100 people live in some communities. This
circumstance, in S.Avagian’s opinion, impedes effective governance
in communities. Solution to the problem of intercommunal government
acquires importance in this respect. He said that determination of
Yerevan status also remains one of the most important problems. The
President’s Adviser expressed the hope that the adopted constitutional
amendments will create new possibilities and resources, which will
make possible to solve both of these problems. Despite of unsolved
problems, in S.Avagian’s words, Armenia’s legislative field regulating
the activity of local self-government sphere has been almost formed.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Italian film honour for Meadows
BBC News, UK
Oct 21 2006
Meadows’ previous films include A Room for Romeo Brass Director Shane
Meadows has picked up the special jury prize at the inaugural Rome
Film Festival for This Is England. The film, set in 1983, is about an
impressionable young boy who becomes involved with a gang of skinheads.
“I thank the jury because the subject matter of the film is not
something easy to vote for,” Meadows told the AFP news agency.
Russian film Playing The Victim, a modern-day version of Shakespeare’s
Hamlet, won the best film prize.
Emotional
The films were judged by a popular jury of 50 film fans chosen from
the public.
The director of Playing the Victim, Kirill Serebrennikov, gave an
emotional speech after the winner was announced.
“This film is a film for Russia and for Russians. Because we
still believe that cinema can change people’s way of thinking and
consciences,” he said.
France’s Ariane Ascaride was named best actress for her role in Robert
Guediguian’s poignant drama Armenia.
Italy’s Giorgio Colangeli was judged best actor in the film L’Aria
Salata (The Salt Air) by Alessandro Angelini.
The film follows the story of a father and son who are reunited in
unusual circumstances after years of estrangement.
Sir Sean Connery was honoured with a lifetime achievement award on
the eve of the festival earlier this month.

Zaman, Turkey
Oct 21 2006
Internalizing Orhan Pamuk
ETYEN MAHCUPYAN
10.21.2006 Saturday – ISTANBUL 22:33
Societies which are unable to get out of their communal mentality
have always had trouble grasping the concept of the individual,
created by modernity, because being an individual requires, above
all, looking at oneself from out of one’s community.
This is already the very definition of the intellectual and this
difference also points out why the “enlightened” in Turkey fail to
become intellectuals. As for communities, they only create
“enlightened.” These are people who think they know what is true and
assume a mission of promoting the progress of society toward these
right goals. While doing so, they also pursue a goal of making the
values of their community dominate the demands of others. Such people
would not be awarded a Nobel Prize, for instance. All those who have
been awarded Nobel Prizes so far are people who succeeded in
developing a critical viewpoint toward their lands and created a new
localism out of this criticism. Therefore, it is not surprising that
Orhan Pamuk is perceived as a stranger because of the communal
perception in Turkey. In fact, Pamuk is even on the margins of the
secular circles in Turkey, not to mention the conservative ones.
However, for this very reason, his critical view toward every point
about himself made him real and enabled him to raise a localism with
a universal meaning to an intellectual level. In his book Istanbul:
Memories and the City, the author deals with his childhood, family
and the cultural structure around him. He describes the background of
Istanbul in such a way that he alienates and marginalizes while
localizing himself by making it a part of the world he is talking
about.
This novelist was awarded a Nobel Prize in literature for his ability
to handle his novels with this deep point of view. Those who say
Pamuk was awarded this prize for political reasons probably think his
books were translated into so many foreign languages and became
best-sellers as a result of lobbying activities. A parvenu culture of
keeping books on shelves instead of reading them is widespread in our
society but such a custom almost never existed in Western societies.
For over a decade Pamuk has been regarded as a “pioneering” writer,
in Western literary circles, reflecting the futuristic novel on the
present day. Hadn’t he dealt with political issues that much, perhaps
Pamuk would have already been awarded this prize because Pamuk’s real
strength lies in his distance from his objects and the courage to
declare this openly, as well as his ability to unite his high
intelligence, power of observation and expression within a literary
tradition. Pamuk also pushes the limits of the novel while doing so.
The remarks of those who criticize him show the abysmally low number
of people who possess the same intelligence and courage in our
society and how hard it is for a man of letters to look at himself
and things from out of his community.
Being a universal man of letters does not only imply an ability to
write well. Even intelligence and courage are not enough.
Synthesizing this in a way to address people’s minds and hearts also
requires honor. As for honor, it does not mean an official discourse
charged with preserving the national outlook as some people consider
it to be. It requires dealing with the society and history in a
conscientious way. Those claiming that Pamuk was awarded the Nobel
Prize because he had said a million Armenians were killed in this
country are apparently trying to say that this statement should not
be made by a “good” man of letters because a person with a conscience
cannot say the opposite. There may be various views on why these
events took place but rejecting the existence of the event just
reveals one’s fear in confessing his or her lack of ideas.
Pamuk is not that kind of a man. He is an honest person who combines
his extraordinary talent with intelligence, courage and conscience.
It is certainly difficult for communities to “internalize” such
people.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Pope’s visit to Turkey will help normalize interchurch relations
ArmRadio.am
21.10.2006 13:14
Ecumenical Patriarch His All-Holiness Bartholomew I has declared that
the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Turkey will help normalize
the relations between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.
According to the Turkish NTV, the Greek Patriarch said that the Pope’s
visit is a good chance for normalization of relations between the
Orthodox and the Catholics and to reinforcement of the opportunities
to live in peace with non-Christians. Noting that the main reason of
the Pope’s visit is the improvement of relations between Catholic and
Orthodox Churches, the Greek Patriarch said that as religious leaders
they are obliged to work to make people understand the opportunities
of preventing calashes and solving the discrepancies in a peaceful way.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN PARTY EXTENDED ITS OBSERVATIONS TO IAC
Lragir.am
20 Oct 06
The Armenian side extended its observations connected with the
Imterstate Aviation Committee’s conclusion on the crash of the
Armenian A320. The press secretary of the Agency of Civil Aviation
informed Regnum that the Armenian experts scrutinized the conclusion
on the cause of the crash and extended the summary to the IAC. If
the IAC finds it expedient, the observations of the Armenian party
will be published.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

COFFEE RESELL COMPANY HEADS SUED IN COURT
Panorama.am
17:47 20/10/06
The directors of one of large coffee resell companies, Royal Armenia,
have been under arrest for more than a year. They are indicted in
customs fraud and money embezzlement. Their cases were forwarded to
the district court after 1 year and 8 month long investigation.
Gevorg Minasyan, company lawyer, refuted all the charged saying,
“We are utmost sure all the charges are groundless.” He said public
court will make it clear for everybody. The court hearing date and
the name of the judge are not known yet. /Panorama.am/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HAMAYAK OGANESSYAN: FRENCH PARLIAMENT’S DECISION IS SERIOUS
CONTRIBUTION TO EUROPEAN INTEGRATION OF POST-SOVIET STATES
Yerevan, October 20. ArmInfo. Adoption of a bill on criminal liability
to deny the Armenian Genocide by the Parliament of a country to
first declare the human rights in the world history, is a serious
contribution to the European integration of post-Soviet states,
RA Parliament deputy, President of the Association of Political
Experts of Armenia, Hamayak Oganessyan, said in an interview to the
Moscow correspondent of an influential “Le Monde” French newspaper,
Madlen Vatel.
In Oganessyan’s opinion, the French Parliamentarians have demonstrated
that adherence to the historical justice, protection of individual
and collective human rights, realization of the fact the human life
is given by God is more important than any mercantile interests. “In
the modern world , where there are many states, ready to measure the
allied relations between the nations by oil barrels or cubic meters of
gas, the French Parliament has given an adequate lesson to everybody”,
the deputy outlined
Asked about the attitude of Russian political figures to the adopted
bill, H. Oganessyan answered that the Parliament’s decision contributes
to the strengthening of positions of the followers of the European
integration in Russia. It has demonstrated how mush objectively
the French lawmakers assess the historical heritage of post-Soviet
countries, with how much respect they treat the historical memory of
nations, living there.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LEVON TER-PETROSYAN MAY RUN FOR PRESIDENCY IN 2008
Yerevan, October 20. ArmInfo. First president of Armenia Levon
Ter-Petrosyan will run for presidency in 2008, said Ararat Zurabyan,
Chairman of the Armenian National Movement (ANM) party Board, at the
Discussion Clob “Pastark.”
He made a slip in speaking: “it is by personal opinion.” A. Zurabyan
thinks participating in the presidential election, L. Ter-Petrosyan
will “radically change the situation of disorder reigning the country
at present.” He noted that if L. Ter-Petrosyan refuses to run for
presidency, ANM will advance its candidate for presidency. For
instance, the candidature of Babken Ararktsyan, the former speaker
of the Armenian parliament.
Levon Ter-Petrosyan was elected president of Armenia in 1991. In
1996, he was officially declared the winner of the presidential
elections that were called rigged by many international authoritative
organizations and the country’s opposition. In the February of 1998,
L. Ter-Petrosyan resigned under pressure of some influential political
forces. Since then, he refuses to give interviews to the media. He
“appears in public” twice or trice in a year at official receptions
and congresses of the party.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress