Author: Emil Lazarian

Fresno State Armenian Studies Program
ASP Office: 559-278-2669
Office: 559-278-4930
FAX: 559-278-2129
7th Annual Armenian Film Festival
February 10, 2006
Sponsored by the Armenian Students Organization
Armenian Studies Program
California State University, Fresno
Partially funded by the Diversity Awareness Program of the
University Student Union, CSU Fresno
First Call for Entries
Entries are being sought for the 7th Annual Armenian Film Festival
to be held on the California State University, Fresno campus.
Films made by Armenian directors/writers, or films with an Armenian
theme are being sought.
Films up to 1 hour in length
Films may be in any language, English preferred
Films may be on any topic, Armenian theme preferred
Film must be in video (NTSC)/DVD format
DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES TO BE RECEIVED IS JANUARY 15, 2006.
Please send the video/DVD to:
Armenian Film Festival
c/o Armenian Studies Program
5245 N Backer Ave. PB4
Fresno, CA 93740-8001
Entries should be accompanied by a CV of the director/writer and a
synopsis of the film.
Telephone 559-278-2669
Email: [email protected]
The Festival Committee will meet to view and judge which entries
will be accepted for the Film Festival. Entrants will be contacted
by email with the decisions.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PROPOSALS MADE BY ICG AS REFLECTION OF STRUGGLE FOR S. CAUCASUS
Gayane Movsisyan
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Sept 14 2005
Today representatives of the International Crisis Group made a number
of quite provocative statements on Nagorno Karabakh issue in Yerevan.
Thus, Allen Deletroz, Crisis Group’s Vice President for Europe suggests
that Armenia and Karabakh should “withdraw troops from the occupied
territories”. According to Allen Deletroz, the issue referring to
the status of Nagorno Karabakh is so difficult that is can hardly be
settled today.
Naturally, such statements have been repeatedly made by anonymous
high – ranking officials, however, no one has ever stated it openly.
Answering Armenian journalists’ questions Mr. Deletroz and Sabine
Freizer, Director of Crisis Group’s Caucasus Project, said while
preparing two reports on Nagorno Karabakh they had intentionally
avoided the historic aspects of the problems and conflict, which, in
their words, just hampered the search of the solution. Judging by their
utterances they do not consider the outcomes of the war unleashed by
Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh in 1991 the realities of today. “It
will be difficult for the country that has occupied another state’s
territory to integrate with the international community”, said Allen
Deletroz. Answering De Facto question why the international community
could not recognize the outcomes of the national referendum conducted
in December1991 he said: “The issue should be solved by democratic
way. All the sides should agree with the process and its outcomes. The
sides’ stands on the issue referring to status are so far from one
another that it cannot be settled now.”
However, the scenario suggested by the International Crisis group and
voiced by anonymous sources can result not in peace and stability,
but new escalation of confrontation. Who can guarantee that after
Azeri refugees return Baku will agree to deal with the problem of
the status of Nagorno Karabakh? Who can guarantee that international
community or its representatives will not need to unleash military
confrontation to alter the present situation?
As a matter of fact, the International Crisis group suggests that
we should return to the situation of 1988. By the way, it is not
clear whether the matter concerns Azeris’ return to the territories
surrounding NKR only or including NKR. Karabakh people believe
withdrawal of troops from the security zone surrounding NKR is a
suicide. I wonder whether Mr. Deletroz would commit suicide if he
lived in Karabakh.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MIDDLE EASTERN FLAVORS FROM THE HEART OF A CHEF
Carolyn Jung
San Jose Mercury News, CA
Sept 14 2005
Born in Israel to Armenian parents, Zov Karamardian’s greatest pleasure
when first settling in California in 1959 was watching Julia Child’s
cooking shows on TV.
She couldn’t get enough of them. And each day after school, she
would head to the kitchen to try out ingredients or techniques that
she’d seen.
It’s no wonder cooking became an integral part of her life. Since 1987,
she has been chef-owner of Zov’s Bistro in Orange County.
Drawing from the cuisine she has created there, Karamardian now has
published her own cookbook, “Zov: Recipes and Memories From the Heart”
(Zov’s Publishing, $35). The book includes more than 100 recipes,
reflecting her heritage and the 14 years she lived in Syria, Lebanon
and Iraq.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RUSSIAN SAILORS RELEASED FROM NIGERIAN PRISON
By Petros Keshishian
AZG Armenian Daily #164
14/09/2005
Russia
Azg informed on September 10 that the Nigerian court decided to release
12 Russian sailors charged with smuggling. Our newspaper also cited
the words of Ara Abrahamian, Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO, who said
that the sailors will be released on Monday and will be waiting for
the final decision of the court at RF Embassy to Nigeria or at the
Russian Trade Office.
RIA agency informed that the court decided to release the Russian
sailors.
“My representative in Nigeria and the new lawyer of the Russian
sailors went to the prison to transfer them to RF Trade Office so
that they can stay there until the court takes its final decision,”
Ara Abrahamian said in his interview to Azg.
Ara Abrahamian who closely cooperates with RF Foreign Ministry
considers the release of the Russian sailors the victory of Russian
diplomats. “No matter what the Nigerian court decided, the final
decision is after the President of Nigeria,” Mr. Abrahamian emphasized.
RF Embassy prepared apartments and all the required furniture for
the stay of the Russian sailors at the RF Trade Office in Lagos.

LOOSE ASSOCIATION OF FORMER SOVIET STATES HASN’T REPLACED USSR: THEY CAN’T EVEN UNITE FOR A COMMON CAUSE
by David Marples, Freelance
Edmonton Journal (Alberta)
September 12, 2005 Monday
Final Edition
Is the CIS dead? The recent summit, held in Kazan, Tatarstan, despite
official publicity making much of an occasion that coincided with
the 1,000th anniversary of the city, provided clear signs that the
association has become practically defunct, and little more than
ceremonial.
The Commonwealth of Independent States was founded in December 1991
by the leaders of three former Soviet republics — Russia, Ukraine
and Belarus — as a means to accelerate the collapse of the Soviet
Union and to ensure that the Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev,
was deprived of any meaningful function. At that time Gorbachev had
tried to persuade several republics to sign a document that would have
prolonged the Soviet Union through decentralization while allowing
Moscow to control defence and foreign policy.
The founders of the CIS anticipated that it would be of benefit to the
various republics (the Baltic States never participated) to continue
to maintain close economic and security links.
Initially the informal capital of the CIS was to be Minsk, Belarus.
Yet, from the outset, there were some serious problems. For one thing,
the legal basis of the new organization was never clarified.
The three leaders who had signed the deal had no consent from their
parliaments, and its secretive nature carried all the hallmarks of
a well-laid plot.
Ukraine never accepted formal membership, though it attended meetings
as an observer. The first Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, never
took the organization very seriously, other than during elections,
when he would use the CIS as a symbol of a Russian-led entity in what
he termed the Near Abroad.
As the Russian 14th Army established a breakaway republic at Tiraspol
in Moldova, several states feared that Russia intended to use the
CIS to control its former partners and to establish a new power base.
Other organizations developed outside and parallel to the CIS from
1996, the most serious being the GUUAM, a partnership that received
support from the United States and consisted of countries around
the Black Sea region (Georgia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and
Moldova); the Russia-Belarus Union (Russia and Belarus); and the Common
Economic Space Group (CES — Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan).
Other states have maintained a preference for bilateral relations
outside these entities.
According to U.S.-based Russian analyst Sergei Blagov, Russian
president Vladimir Putin has veered from supporting the idea of a
“divorce” among CIS states, to promoting greater unity after the 60th
anniversary of Victory Day in Moscow last May.
However, the Kazan summit appeared to make it plain that the CIS will
soon be dissolved. There are several reasons why.
First, Turkmenistan declined to attend the occasion, and its president,
Saparmurat Niyazov, declared that his state would become no more than
an observer in the future. Second, Georgia, one of the more activist
republics under President Mikhail Saakashvili, has initiated the
formation of what is termed a group of “democratic states” on the
border of Russia that would be oriented toward the United States
and the EU in particular. Third, Ukraine under Viktor Yushchenko has
stalled on the signing of 29 documents on the Common Economic Space,
agreeing to only about half of them.
The presence of Ukraine in Kazan at all was something of a surprise.
A meeting between Yushchenko and Belarusian president Alyaksander
Lukashenka produced few results and a proposed exchange of visits to
each other’s capitals failed to materialize.
Other states that might have resolved longstanding issues also failed
to do so, most notably Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed
territory of Nagorno-Karabakh; and the Republic of Moldova and its
separatist enclave, the Transdniester Republic.
Though the separation of the CIS states into authoritarian and
democratic regimes is somewhat facile, there is little doubt that
the states that have undergone political changes in recent times
–Ukraine, Kyrgyszstan and Georgia — are perceived by several others
as dangerously subversive, particularly by the virtual dictatorships of
Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, and the genuine dictatorship
in Belarus.
But such states have not found a natural home under Moscow’s influence
either.
Russia indeed remains the most enigmatic of the CIS states, as
Putin appears to have accepted a smaller role on the world stage and
focused more on consolidating his own authority and removing internal
enemies. To date, he has tried to maintain cordial relations with the
United States while increasing his control over parliament and the
media through his security forces. He may thus decline to take steps
to dissuade Turkmenistan from its departure, and other republics are
thus likely to follow.
That still leaves scope for Russia to tighten its links with its
closest allies, Kazakhstan and Belarus, while exerting pressure
on its former closest partner, Ukraine, through economic pressure,
particularly the threat to raise oil and gas prices to world levels.
The CIS served the essential function of legitimizing the rise of
Russia over the Soviet Union, and what was essentially an internal
coup d’etat by former president Yeltsin. But as a loose association
of willing partners, it has failed manifestly to replace the USSR,
or even to unite the former republics in a common cause.
David Marples is a professor of history at the University of Alberta
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR TO USA AND USAID CHAIRMAN DISCUSS ECONOMIC REFORMS IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13. ARMINFO. Armenian Ambassador to the USA Tatul
Margaryan and USAID Chairman Andrew S. Natsios discussed economic
reforms in Armenia in Washington.
Press and Information Department of the Armenian Foreign Ministry
informs ARMINFO that the sides noted the high economic indicators
in Armenia due to economic reforms. Ambassador Margaryan thanked
Andrew Natsios for constant support of USAID to Armenia. He noted
the importance of the projects implemented in Armenia, in particular,
in the sphere of poverty reduction, economic development, creation of
new jobs and raising the social level of the population. Ambassador
Margaryan emphasized the importance of the USAID- implemented program
in the disaster zone. In his turn, Andrew S. Natsios highly appreciated
the effective cooperation of USAID and the Armenian Government. Taking
into account the interests of Andrew Natsios, Tatul Margaryan invited
him to Armenia to get first hand view of the results of USAID projects
in Armenia.

Opposition leader says upcoming election to mark “regime change” in Azerbaijan
ANS TV, Baku
11 Sep 05
Ali Karimli, leader of the opposition People’s Front of Azerbaijan
Party which is part of the Azadliq election bloc, has said the
forthcoming 6 November parliamentary election will mark the beginning
of a regime change in Azerbaijan.
Speaking to the “Otan Hafta” programme of the Azerbaijani commercial TV
station ANS, Karimli said: “I want to say openly that the peculiarity
of this election is that we are not fighting for only parliamentary
seats in this election. As a whole, we view this election as a
regime change. The first stage of the regime change should happen
in parliament.”
Karimli said the Azadliq bloc can gain at least 75 of the 125
parliamentary seats if the election is free and fair. But he doubted
the election will be democratic.
“The electoral commissions, which rigged 2003 presidential and 2004
local elections and which are headed by school principals and heads of
[government] offices, cannot hold a democratic election,” Karimli said.
The opposition leader urged the people to take to streets and fight
for their votes if the election is rigged.
“You should believe in changes,” Karimli said, adding that Azerbaijan
can be the next country of democratic changes.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
HIS HOLINESS ARAM I GOES TO GENEVA
His Holiness Aram I left for Geneva on September 12. In the next few days he
will head the meetings of the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) secretariat,
executive committee and several specialized committees as chairman of WCC.
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

RUSSIA LAYS NO CLAIMS TO MONOPOLY IN DIALOGUE WITH EU
ARKA News Agency
Sept 12 2005
YEREVAN, September 12. /ARKA-RIA “Novosty”/. Russia does not lay
claims to monopoly in the CIS in the dialogue with the European Union,
Russian Permanent Representative to EU Vladimir Chizhov said.
“Russia’s official position is: we do not lay claims to monopoly of
the post-Soviet state. We are ready to develop a dialogue with the
EU, the more so that a number of the CIS countries aim at integration
into the EU,” Chizhov said in his interview to Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
“We are also ready to discuss prospects of cooperation with the CIS
structures, first of economic cooperation. This is Common European
Space and EurAsEc,” Chizhov said.
He pointed out that when the European Economic Space was formed “there
were natural question about how it was connected with our work with
the EU, and we provided comprehensive answers to those questions.”
As regards the Nagorno-Karabakh, Transdniestrian and other conflicts,
he said that the EU is interested in both discussing and assisting
in settling them. “We are ready to consider various political and
material proposals,” he said.
Chizhov said that each of the conflicts has its own format of
negotiations. In the case of Nagorny Karabakh it is the OSCE Minsk
Group. “These formats may not be perfect, but they are optimal and
acceptable for all the conflicting parties. If the EU wants and
can contribute to progress, we only welcome this. This position
is incorporated in a joint statement of the RF and EU adopted at
the Rome Summit in 2003,” Chizhov said. Speaking of the domestic
political situation in the CIS he stated that “each side is free to
state its opinion.”
“Any joint actions of Russia and EU to influence the political
situation in a country are out of the question. This concerns both
Belarus and other countries. As regards our assessments of colored
revolutions, we can make them as part of the RF-EU dialogue and on
other international platforms,” Chizhov said. P.T. -0–

ARMENIAN REPRESENTATIVES TO OBSERVE PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION IN NORWAY
Pan Armenian News
12.09.2005 03:29
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ September 12 representatives of Kyrgyzstan,
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Moldova
will observe the parliamentary election in Norway in 6 polling
stations. 26 observers from the CIS member-state will divide into
14 groups to observe the election in Oslo, Bergen, Drammen and some
other towns. Besides, they are expected to visit the parliament,
the town council and the headquarters of one of the leading Norwegian
parties. The idea of participation of international observers in the
parliamentary election in Norway belongs to the Norwegian Helsinki
Committee and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs,
IA Regnum reports.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress