Author: Emil Lazarian

‘ETCHED IN OUR MEMORIES’
Robert Leiter

Jewish Exponent, PA
Aug. 10, 2006

A barracks at the Buchenwald concentration camp after liberation The
first edition of Photos That Changed the World appeared in 2000, one
of various volumes put out by the great art and photography publisher
Prestel to commemorate both the accomplishments and tragedies of
the 20th century, in this instance as they were captured in still
photography. There’s a new edition of the work out this year, and
the only difference between the two is that the newer one contains
four additional images that bring the volume squarely into the
21st century. The inclusion of these four pictures makes perfect
sense, though they depict some of the most devastating occurrences
of the last several years: the attack on the World Trade Center;
the genocide in Darfur, Sudan; the tsunami in the Indian Ocean; and
Hurricane Katrina’s ravenous effect on New Orleans. Not pretty sights,
but definitely powerful and in need of inclusion in such a book.

Perhaps the most famous Holocaust image, taken in the Warsaw
ghetto In all other ways, the work is the same as its predecessor,
and is presented with the same intent. Once again, Peter Stepan,
the editor, notes in his brief foreword that many photographs exist
that we appreciate for their composition and taste — and then there
are those photos that disturb us "so deeply that they are etched in
our memories forever." The book he has given us, especially with its
additional images, is definitely about these latter kinds of pictures,
generally known as photojournalism, which tend, if successful, to
rock the foundations of our being.

The editor then takes his point one step further: Many of the images
that have been gathered here not only moved those who saw them but they
also managed to set social action into motion, helping to transform
society in positive ways. He cites as examples Lewis W. Hine’s photos
depicting the abuses of child labor in early 20th-century America
that compelled Congress to enact stringent laws protecting the young;
and the photos taken by the Farm Security Administration, especially
in the Midwest and South, that exposed the pervasiveness of poverty
in these regions during the Great Depression.

Eventual victims of the notorious S21 prison in Cambodia, run by Pol
Pot’s regime

"Similarly," Stepan continues, "Robert Capa’s photograph of a dying
Spanish soldier, photographs of massacres in Vietnam and China,
images of starvation in Biafra — to mention but a few — mobilized
public opinion."

But he’s also had to admit that some photographs, despite the fact
that they’re as equally powerful as those he’s listed, made no such
impact, though they clearly had the potential to do so. He points to
horrific photos taken of the genocides in Armenia and Tibet.

"Perpetrated ‘on the quiet’ in obscure corners of the world," he adds,
"these crimes are in danger of being forgotten."

Neither Jewish images nor Jewish photographers predominate in Photos
That Changed the World — though the book contains examples of both
— but the Holocaust and its aftermath, to say nothing of subsequent
genocides, are pervasive. And, considering this subject alone, you
could argue that images have done nothing to eradicate the problem,
though they may have stirred public opinion and mobilized people to
protest in favor of action.

But taking the long historical view, the exposure of the Holocaust
and its horrors has not put an end to genocide, as we know from
more recent examples of the crime in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and,
as this new edition reminds us, in Darfur.

A Hutu bearing scars of Tutsi violence inflicted during the Rwandan
genocide

Nor has exposure of hate crimes through images ended anti-Semitism
or any other form of bias against specific groups. Many writers
suggested at the end of World War II that exposure to the most famous
images from the camps — the rotting piles of corpses, the stick-thin
survivors staring back at the camera as if from some netherworld —
might finally convince people that those who’d always hated Jews
meant what they said and were willing, given the proper conditions,
to act upon their feelings.

Still, it seems that no amount of images — no matter how stark or
awful in their particulars — can eradicate the ancient hatreds or
stop the crimes that generally follow along from them. For example,
have the photos of the aftermath of suicide bombings in Israel helped
to erase even a trace of anti-Semitism? I think it’s the opposite.

They may even encourage more blood lust against Jews.

But using the history of the last 15 years as a guide, photos, even the
harshest or most artful, may whip hatred into a greater frenzy than
ever before — and, in a corollary development, may perhaps dull the
senses of some so completely that indifference grows, permitting the
bold ones to perpetrate the crimes without interference from their
more pacified fellow citizens.

0350/

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

STATEMENT BY KAREGIN II CAUSES SPLIT IN ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF TURKEY
Author: A.Alasgarov

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Aug. 10, 2006

The statement by Karegin II, which was made in Turkey on 27 June 2006,
has led to split in Armenian community of this country. He sated
that ‘the genocide has been committed and it should be recognized’,
Trendspecial in Ankara reports.

Along with support to the statement, some Armenians in Turkey said
that as a religious leader Karegin II was to express his views on
historic event in a peaceable way in a host country.

The Armenian-language papers published in Turkey, Agos and Zhamanak
accused the religious leader of the Turkish Armenia, Mesrop Mutafian,
of not impeding the conduct of a conduct a news conference by
Karegin II.

In reply to critical notes Mustafian banned the around 30 Armenian
societies, churches, hospitals, schools functioning in Turkey, to
sponsor, finance and place ads in these newspapers.

The conflict between the leaders of the Armenian church of Istanbul
and publishers of Agos and Zhamanak newspapers are accompanies by
insults in the local media.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GLENDALE’S ABRIL BOOKSTORE AN OUTPOST OF ARMENIAN CULTURE
By James Ricci, Times Staff Writer

Los Angeles Times, CA
Aug. 10, 2006

Abril Books in Glendale is a touchstone for immigrants and their
Americanized offspring.

Thirty years ago, with his native Lebanon going up in the flames of
civil war, Harout Yeretzian, a Lebanese Armenian, came to Hollywood
and joined his brother in founding a magazine devoted to the Armenian
language and culture.

One thing led to another. The magazine spawned a print shop, which
spawned a bookstore, which spawned a small publishing house.

Three decades later, the brother is gone. So are the magazine and
the print shop. Yeretzian’s dedication to his people’s literature,
art and music, however, remains, domiciled now in a cottage-like
brick building near Glendale City Hall.

Abril Books, which claims to be the largest of the half-dozen
Armenian-language bookstores in the United States, is light-filled,
as befits a place of cultural illumination. Open doors, front and back,
send air currents eddying among shelves and stacks of Armenian-themed
books, including the handful that Abril publishes each year, as well
as periodicals, greeting cards and music CDs.

Unseen loudspeakers lightly bathe everything in classical cello music.

The 62-year-old Yeretzian is a small bear of a man with a bristling
mustache and wavy, gray, sweptback hair. His voice is deep and abraded
by a daily succession of Marlboro Lights.

His mission is to help his fellow Armenians maintain their ancient
identity. It’s not an easy matter for a people that, in the 1st
century B.C., ruled an empire stretching from the Mediterranean to
the Caspian Sea but since has been scattered by economic privation
and persecution to the far reaches of the Earth. With only a tiny,
recently independent, Armenian state to serve as a point of contact
for ethnic sensibility, Yeretzian says, literature, art and religion
have had to play central roles in sustaining a sense of cohesiveness
among the world’s Armenian communities.

He cites, as an example, author Krikor Beledian, whom Abril Books
publishes. "This guy lives in Paris and teaches at the Sorbonne. He
writes in Armenian about Lebanon, and I’m here in L.A., and I publish
his books," Yeretzian says.

Abril – in Armenian the word means both "April" and "hope" – contains
about 5,000 titles, among them histories, novels, volumes of poetry
and treatises on Armenian art and music. The books include works in
Eastern Armenian, the language of Armenia proper, and Western Armenian,
the language of Armenians who hail from more westerly parts of the
Middle East, such as Lebanon and Syria. The differences between them,
Yeretzian says, are significant, including variations in word suffixes
and verb conjugation.

The challenge of multiple languages, however, is not insurmountable
for a small ethnic group that has had to live for so long in foreign
lands. As a boy in Lebanon, he says, he had to learn Armenian, Arabic,
English and French.

"It’s not really hard to learn languages," he says, with something
like incomprehension at the American aversion to the task. "But here,
the American people don’t even learn English very well."

Preserving the Armenian language among young Armenian Americans is
becoming a bit of a problem, however. Yeretzian says that at his
original store, off Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood, 80% of the
books he carried were in Armenian and 20% in English. In his present
store, which opened in 1998, Armenian-language books constitute only
about half of his stock. The other half is by Americans of Armenian
descent – such as Peter Balakian, author of "Burning Tigris: The
Armenian Genocide and America’s Response" – who write in English.

(Yeretzian notes that nearly half of the books in English refer to
the massacres of Armenians by Turkish authorities from 1915 to 1923,
while barely a quarter of the Armenian-language books deal with the
subject. Both of Yeretzian’s grandfathers died in the executions and
forced starvations, which took the lives, it is estimated, of 800,000
to 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children.)

Abril sold books to the Los Angeles Unified School District when
instruction for newly arrived immigrant children was conducted in
Armenian. Those sales ended, a significant blow to Abril’s business,
in 1998 with the passage of Proposition 227, which virtually banned
bilingual education in California.

As with other ethnic groups, assimilation of the young into American
culture is a concern to many older Armenians. The experience of
Yeretzian’s own son Arno, a 30-year-old filmmaker, is a case in point.

Arno, the only child of Yeretzian and his artist/gallery owner wife,
Seeroon, attended Armenian private schools through high school. All
of his friends were Armenian. Then he enrolled at UC Santa Cruz and,
as one of the relatively few Armenian Americans there, befriended
students of different ethnic backgrounds.

"The clash with American culture was very strong," Yeretzian says.

"Now he says we should have exposed him to more American culture when
he was a kid. Most of his friends are Americans now." Yeretzian has
faith, however, that the strength of Armenian families will keep the
Armenian sensibility intact among the next generation.

"A lot of people who are engaged to marry Armenians, or already
have, come in and ask for books on the Armenian tradition and
language. So, the assimilation goes both ways," he says with a
grin. "If a non-Armenian girl marries an Armenian, she has to learn
some Armenian words just to be taken into consideration as a human
being by his family."

That the bookstore is a sanctuary of Armenian identity is apparent
in the motivations of those who visit.

Narine Gabouchian of Glendale came into the shop one morning and
before long was carrying an armload of books, in Armenian and English,
as gifts for her daughter Margaret’s 16th birthday. Margaret came
with her family from Armenia when she was a toddler, and her parents
strove to teach her to read and speak Armenian.

Now a student at a private school in Pasadena, Margaret "knows she’s
Armenian and is very proud of it," her mother said. "She would like
to know more about her motherland."

Later that day, Avetis Bairamian, a sportswriter for the Armenian
language weekly Nor Or, dropped in on Yeretzian to exchange
pleasantries and discuss Bairamian’s self-published book, whose title
translates as "Famous Armenians in the World of Sports."

It contains the exploits of competitors of Armenian heritage,
including tennis star Andre Agassi, chess champion Garry Kasparov
and a succession of champions in weightlifting, a sport in which
Armenians have long excelled.

Bairamian proudly noted that at the 37th Chess Olympiad this spring
in Turin, Italy, the Armenian team won the gold medal. (China won
silver, and the United States, whose squad included 23-year-old
Varuzhan Akobian of Los Angeles, bronze.)

Ruzanne Barsegyan of Tujunga, meanwhile, was scanning the CD
shelves for a copy of the "Sonatina Toccata" by Aram Khachaturian,
the most famous Armenian composer of the 20th century. Barsegyan,
18, an animated recent high school graduate headed for premedical
studies at UC Irvine in the fall, is also a pianist.

Her conservatory-trained Armenian piano teacher wanted her to begin
learning the Khachaturian piece for a recital, she explained with a
mixture of excitement and dread.

"It’s very structured, and you have to find the rhythm and the rhythm
is hard to find," she told Yeretzian. "It’s very difficult, very,
very …. "

"Strong?" he offered.

"Yes. Strong."

Yeretzian shrugged knowingly. "It’s Armenian," he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANTI-CRIMINAL MOVEMENT GIVES A CHANCE TO THE CRIMINAL

Lragir.am
11 Aug 06

We have learned that the anti-criminal movement in Armenia is going
to have new expressions. The initiators of the movement are going to
set up a task force, which will study the data gathered by the task
forces of the movement, and will make its decision for every "prodigal
son". In other words, some representatives of the criminal may get a
chance of pardon of the public. Hence, it will be rather useful for
the criminal to cooperate with the anti-criminal pact if it hands in
the pages of its own biography honestly. Unlike the Armenian Apostolic
Church, the pact provides for the mechanism of individual repentance,
as well as privacy of the confession. By the way, some members of the
Republican Party wished to join the task force, who are dissatisfied
with the developments inside and around the political party.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA-DIASPORA FORUM ENRICHES ONES AND IMPOVERISHES OTHERS

Lragir.am
11 Aug 06

The Lragir.am has learned that a group of Armenian Dashnaks from
Greece wanted to arrive in Armenia in September and take part in
the third Armenia-Diaspora Forum, however they encountered the real
nature of the Armenia-Diaspora relation long before arriving in
Yerevan. After reserving air tickets, the group of Greek Armenians
decided to reserve rooms in a hotel in Yerevan. All the hotels in
Yerevan told them that there were no vacant rooms. Certain people from
the organizational committee of the Armenia-Diaspora Forum offered
the group of Diasporan Armenians to stay at hotels near the capital
and informed them that they would have to pay as much as 5000 U.S. for
ten days, food not included. The group of Dashnak patriots, including
mainly elderly Diasporans, thought that a "5000 dollar worth forum"
is too expensive and gave up the idea of arriving in Armenia at all,
returning the air tickets they had reserved.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

‘GODFATHER OF ALL ARMENIANS’ GUNNED DOWN
By Hovannes Shoghikian

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Aug. 10, 2006

Law-enforcement authorities were hunting on Wednesday for unknown
gunmen that shot and killed a controversial businessman who referred
to himself as the "godfather of all Armenians" and reportedly had
underworld connections.

Aleksandr Givoev, 53, was gunned down on Tuesday at a roadside market
on a major highway where he reportedly stopped to buy fruit while
driving his family to the northern city of Gyumri. An innocent woman
who sold agricultural produce there was also killed by a stray bullet
fired from what police described as a stolen car used by the gunmen.

A spokesman for the Prosecutor-General’s Office said the car was
found completely burned about 10 kilometers from the scene shortly
after the shooting. She said law-enforcement officials immediately
launched a criminal investigation but have made no arrests yet.

A father of seven, Givoev was officially known in recent years as the
head of a non-governmental organization campaigning for the protection
of children’s rights. He claimed to have helped to baptize more than
8,000 children from socially vulnerable families since the group’s
creation in 2000.

Givoev, notorious for his flamboyant behavior and statements,
unsuccessfully ran for parliament in the May 2003 elections. A
campaign booklet released in the run-up to the vote carried pictures
of Givoev surrounded by children. Curiously, he was also pictured,
apparently in Paris, with Jean-Paul Belmondo, a famous French movie
star. The booklet claimed that "the people" have bestowed on Givoev,
an ethnic Assyrian, the title of Godfather of All Armenians.

Givoev spent much of the past three decades in Russia, developing
a controversial reputation there. In 2001, the Armenian newspaper
"Iravunk" reprinted a Russian press report that listed him among
Russia’s leading crime figures of Caucasian descent. The businessman
reacted furiously to the information, urging President Robert Kocharian
to close the paper.

Givoev was last spotted by journalists in early May as he tried
to board a plane at Yerevan airport that carried relatives of the
Armenian Airbus A-320, which crashed off the Russian Black Sea cost,
to the site of the disaster. He said one of the crash victims, also
a reputed crime figure, was a close friend of his.

In addition, Givoev, who also sponsored the Armenian women’s
weightlifting team, was seen wearing an army general’s uniform during
the April 24 commemoration in Yerevan of the 91st anniversary of
the 1915 Armenian genocide. Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman
Seyran Shahsuvarian insisted on Wednesday that he has never served
in Armenia’s military, police or any other security structure.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PAPER REPORTS ON GREEK PEACEKEEPING MISSIONS SERVING OVERSEAS

Ta Nea, Athens
5 Aug 06

Text of report by Loukas Dhimakas, "Greek military expeditions to
the unknown", published by Greek newspaper Ta Nea on 5 August

Greece is preparing to embark on yet another uncertain "peacekeeping"
mission, with an unknown – and unpredictable – exit time. The
possibility of Greek participation in a military mission to Lebanon
was mooted by the government itself and, irrespective of official
statements, the Pentagon [Greek National Defence Ministry] has already
begun to draft various plans concerning our country’s participation.

As staff officers have pointed out: "The issue is not a simple
one and it is being carefully examined from the military point of
view." Beyond the grave operational dangers facing any mission
operating in an unknown environment, the staff officers have to
face another major headache – the sheer numbers involved. There are
currently 1,221 members of the Greek armed forces – men and women –
serving in "peacekeeping operations" under the auspices of NATO, the
EU or the UN, in 15 hot spots around the world. The cost to Greece
is nearly 200m euros per year.

However, this is not the only issue. A number of missions have
already existed for over 15 years, with the most difficult of them
being Afghanistan. In the case of that country, the official view
expressed two days ago was that another 15 years would be required
before this mission could be successfully concluded. It should be
remembered that when, in 2003, the first Greek Army engineers left
for distant Kabul, it was generally believed that the situation there
would have been settled within two or three years. Today, the Taleban
attacks are becoming even more fierce, with 1,700 persons killed this
year alone. In the meantime, a few days ago the Americans handed over
responsibility of the south Afghanistan hotbed to a NATO-led force,
while they are preparing for their gradual withdrawal.

The current situation causes serious concerns to many of the European
countries participating in the multinational mission there and
vindicates the German analyst of "Die Zeit," Mr Matthias Geis, who
recently wrote. Either today in Kosovo and in the Congo or tomorrow
in the Middle East, peacekeeping missions follow less and less a
well-planned strategy and more and more the necessities created by
the UN, the USA and… [ellipses as published] CNN!

In the countries of the former Yugoslavia, the foreign military
presence – including that of Greece – continues to be necessary for
over 12 years now, while there is no visible time for an exit. As
an experienced staff officer commented recently, "an exit strategy"
is rarely drafted. His comment was mainly directed at the Americans
who are, more or less, "directing" all peacekeeping operations during
the past 15 years. The same staff officer admits that "this can be
clearly seen in Iraq" and states that Washington is "applying pressure"
on its allies to join the countries willing to contribute troops.

However, he also points out that in certain cases, such as in the
Balkans, the Greek presence is necessary for geopolitical, economic
and diplomatic reasons. As he is quick to stress, "there exists a
new form of diplomacy – that of peacekeeping operations".

The commander of the Greek battalion serving in Afghanistan is a man
of a few words. He is Stavros Varounas, a lt-col in the commandos and,
as he explains: "Our mission is very difficult. There are dangers
every single day."

"Nevertheless," he adds quickly, "we are professionals, well-trained,
well-armed and, naturally, we take all precautionary measures".

These measures, however, did not prove sufficient to prevent a bomb
attack against a Greek convoy on the outskirts of Kabul a few months
ago. Nor did it prevent a rocket attack – fortunately without any
casualties – a few days ago against the headquarters of the ISAF
[International Stabilization Force] where 29 Greeks are billeted
temporarily.

"It was painful, but fortunately we suffered only two lightly-injured
soldiers," says a Special Forces non-commissioned officer that was
travelling on the convoy attacked. He believes that "we were mistaken
for others", since the "Yunan" (Greeks) are looked upon in a different
light from the other allies. A now retired general, however, takes a
more realistic view and says that the attack amounted to a "warning"
to the Greeks so that they, as well as the other Europeans, will not
consent to the handing over of responsibilities from the United States
to NATO.

The Greek mission, in addition to the security measures it is taking,
has another "shield". This is the humanitarian work it is carrying
out. This applies mainly to the Kosovo, where certain local leaders
and a number of Albanian-speaking extremist elements do not look
favourably upon the Greek presence.

As Lt-Col Nikos Mekras, commanding officer of the 501st Battalion
deployed in Urosevac told Ta Nea: "The Greek Force in Kosovo is a
factor for security and stability in the region." The battalion has
under its command one platoon from Armenia. As he explains, there
is constant collaboration with the local authorities, while the
main work of the ELDIKO [Greek Force in Kosovo] is the distribution
of humanitarian help, public works construction and the offer of
medical care.

Last year, a 15-member strong unit of Greek soldiers came very near
to a general shootout with an extremist mob that was probably directed
against them.

The incident took place in the northern Kosovo village of Urosevac. The
Greeks were guarding a Serbian Orthodox church when they were attacked
and endured an hours-long siege by Albanian-speaking extremists that
wounded one lieutenant. A non-commissioned officer who was a member of
the unit describes the incident as follows: "I lived through a mini,
but nevertheless real, ‘Black Hawk Down’ experience. Fortunately, the
armoured vehicles arrived on time, followed by US helicopters that
started firing, throwing tear gas and flares and were thus able to
save us." He stresses that it was a difficult night, with everybody
risking their lives.

PEOPLE’S OPINION TO BE OF DECISIVE ROLE IN ISSUE OF ACCEPTING RA NEW HYMN

Noyan Tapan
Aug 10 2006

YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Ministry of Culture and Youth
Issues got 85 claims for participation in the competition of the
RA new hymn from June 8 to August 1 inclusive. As Minister Hasmik
Poghosian stated at the August 9 press-conference, the claims were
dispensed among the following nominations: "New Word and New Music,"
"Famous Word and New Music," "Famous Word and Famous Music," "Famous
Music and New Word." By results of the first stage of the competition,
5 of the presented works entered the second stage. Those are works
written on Tigran Mansurian’s music and Yeghishe Charents’ text,
Yervand Yerznkian’s music and text of an author with "Ararat B" pen
name, on Edgar Hovhannisian’s music and Vahagn Davtian’s text, Aram
Khachatrian’s music and Arsen Soghomonian’s text, Robert Amirkhanian’s
music and Lyudvig Durian’s text. H.Poghosian mentioned that during
the second stage of the competition which will be held in the form
of public hearings, the mentioned 5 works will be performed in two
variants: by a symphony orchestra and by a choir to the accompaniment
of symphony orchestra. According to the Minister, though a competition
board consisting of 22 people will make the final decision, but the
public opinion will be of a decisive role in the issue of choice of
the RA new hymn.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AWFUL RESULT FOR ARONIAN
by Malcolm Pein

The Daily Telegraph (LONDON)
August 8, 2006 Tuesday

The Classical Chess world champion, Vladimir Kramnik, had a
morale-boosting victory at the Sparkasse Dortmund Chess Festival. A
last-round victory over Peter Leko took him to 4.5/7 and first place
on a tie-break from Peter Svidler.

Kramnik’s next battle is a world title unification match against
Veselin Topalov.

England’s Michael Adams managed to maintain his "plus one" score and
drew his last two games against Arkady Naiditsch and Peter Svidler.

The tournament was a catastrophe for the world number three, Levon
Aronian, who has had a superb year so far. Aronian lost his last two
games and ended on 2/7. His last- round defeat at the hands of the
Israeli number one, Boris Gelfand, is below.

Scores: 1-2 Kramnik (Russia), Svidler (Russia) 4.5/7; 3-5 Leko
(Hungary), Adams (England), Gelfand (Israel) 4; 6 Naiditsch (Germany)
3.5; 7 Aronian (Armenia) 2; 8 Baadur (Georgia) 1.5.

B Gelfand – L Aronian

Sparkassen Dortmund (7)

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.Bg2 c5 7.d5! (A
well-known type of sacrifice, but unusual in this position) 7…exd5
8.cxd5 Bxd5 9.Nc3 Bc6 10.e4 (White has development and some weak
squares on the d-file to work with) 10…Be7 11.Bf4 0-0 12.0-0-0
(e4-e5 looks like a serious threat, but White never carries it out)
12…Na6 13.Qe2 Nb4 14.a3 Qc8 15.Kb1 (Not 15.axb4 cxb4 16.Nb1 Bxe4+)
15…a5 16.Ne5 Re8 17.Rhe1 Bf8 18.g4! (Threat of g4-g5 winning the
Nf6) 18…g6 19.Bg3 Re6 20.f4 d6 (20…Bb7 21.f5 Re7 22.Nb5 or just
axb4 is very strong) 21.Nxc6 Nxc6 22.Nb5 Ne8 23.e5! dxe5 24.Bd5 a4
(24…Re7 25.fxe5 Ra6 26.e6) 25.fxe5 Ng7 26.Qf3 (Of course, White
could take on e6, but then a Black knight might land on d4 and
he would almost have a position) 26…Rb8 27.Nd6! Bxd6 28.exd6 Nd4
(28…Rxe1 29.Qxf7+ Kh8 30.Rxe1) 29.Rxd4! Rxe1+ 30.Bxe1 cxd4 31.Qxf7+
Kh8 32.d7 Qc5 33.Bb4 1-0 (In view of 33.Bb4 Qc7 34.Bf8)

Aronian

Gelfand

Position after 33.Bb4.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PUTIN AWARDS ORDER OF FRIENDSHIP TO ARMENIA’S RELIGIOUS LEADER

ITAR-TASS News Agency
August 8, 2006 Tuesday

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree awarding the
Order of Friendship to Catholicos of all Armenians Garegin II for
his considerable contribution to the development and strengthening
of Russian-Armenian friendly relations, the Kremlin press service
reported on Tuesday.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress