Author: Emil Lazarian

Armenian president signs bill to combat money laundering
.c The Associated Press
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) – Armenian President Robert Kocharian has signed
into law a parliamentary bill on combating money-laundering, his
office said Sunday.
The new law, which is also intended to help block funding of
terrorism, requires banks to report money transfers by individual
clients exceeding the equivalent of US10,000 (about euro7,600) and
obliges business structures to report all real-estate deals worth the
equivalent of more than US$100,000 (about euro76,000).
The law establishes a special structure under the ex-Soviet republic’s
Central Bank to track down money-laundering.
01/16/05 13:41 EST

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Jan 17 2005
Positions of Baku, Yerevan getting closer – Russian Foreign Ministry

Russian Foreign Ministry says that certain progress is observed in
the positions of Baku and Yerevan getting closer and their approaches
to the Upper Garabagh conflict, the Ministry said in a statement.
On January 10-11 Prague hosted another meeting of Azerbaijani and
Armenian foreign ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and Vardan Oskanian,
attended by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs (Russia, United States and
France).
`Moscow welcomes the fact that the meetings of the two sides on
different levels, including those between Presidents and in the
`Prague format’, have become regular’, the Russian Ministry said.
Representatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia are considering literally
all aspects of the situation with the Garabagh conflict in their
internationally mediated talks, the same source said.
`These include such thorny issues as withdrawal of armed forces,
demilitarization of the territory, international guarantees and the
status of Upper Garabagh.’*

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Jan 17 2005
Armenia faces energy crisis

Armenia is facing energy and fuel crisis, as prices for automobile
gasoline have doubled, diesel fuel increased 1.5 times, while those
on stove heating oil and liquid gas 1.6 times.
Today, AI-95 brand gasoline sells in Armenia for $1.6, while AI-93
and AI-72 brands for $1.2 and $1 respectively.
Experts explain Armenia’s energy crises with the detention of trains
with transit cargoes which are transported to Armenia through
Azerbaijan and Georgia, on the Azeri-Georgian border and a relevant
investigation being carried out by the Azerbaijan State Customs
Committee.
An official from Armenian Energy Ministry Bagam Terbekian told the
local press that the country’s fuel reserves are getting exhausted.
Whereas 20,000 tons of gasoline was daily imported from Georgia, the
figure is currently 3,000 tons, he said.
Amidst the crisis, Iran has reduced the export of fuel to Armenia.
Terbekian said the reasons for the move are uncertain and that the
government will seriously examine the situation.
A new agreement on cargo transportation will be signed by the
Azerbaijani and Georgian customs agencies shortly. The agreement
includes a special provision which bans transporting cargoes going
through Azerbaijan to Armenia through Georgia.*

Spokesman Review (Spokane, WA)
January 14, 2005 Friday
Idaho Edition
?Healthy skeptics? find spirituality by following Ancient Traditions
by Virginia de Leon Staff writer
Kamori Cattadoris is a skeptic.
“The healthy kind,” explained the founder of Ancient Traditions
Community Church, a new congregation in Hillyard. “The kind that
wants to know truth. Not the cynic who rejects everything.”
Although she spent years questioning religious doctrine, Cattadoris
was still open to finding a path to God.
Spirituality eventually became possible for her, she said, through
ancient teachings found in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Sufism,
Tibetan Buddhism and other traditions.
After starting a study group four years ago for “healthy skeptics” in
search of faith, Cattadoris and her husband, Bob, bought an old
church building in north Spokane and established Ancient Traditions.
On Saturday, the new church will open its doors to the community by
offering several activities that emphasize traditional ethnic music
and dance, as well as Middle Eastern foods that members have spent
the past few days preparing.
Ancient Traditions is not a new religion, members say. While its
teachings are based on early Christian principles, it is an
interfaith congregation that doesn?t force anyone to believe in
anything, Cattadoris said. Their goal is to work together in pursuit
of personal transformation ? to “drop our inflated self-importance,”
she said, and to “seek God within the human heart.”
At the altar of the church sanctuary is a large wooden cross, left
behind by the previous congregation. “We?ve made it our own,” said
Cattadoris, emphasizing that the group is not exclusively Christian.
To the right of the altar is a Tibetan gong; to the left in another
corner hang half a dozen handmade bells from India. The white walls
will eventually be decorated with Egyptian papyrus and Tibetan art
painted on rice paper. The church?s library includes books like the
Quran, the Dalai Lama?s “Training the Mind” and Jon Kabat-Zinn?s
“Wherever You Go, There You Are.”
Many who joined this group have been influenced by the teachings of
George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, an Armenian mystic, author and composer
who established a religious movement in the 1920s through the
Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man.
Born in 1872 in Alexandropol near the Russo-Turkish frontier,
Gurdjieff spent years in Central Asia, North Africa and other areas,
where he came into contact with esoteric teachings. As a result, he
developed his own teaching: that ordinary people could attain a
higher state of awareness. After his death in 1949, Gurdjieff?s
followers started spiritual centers all over the world.
While Gurdjieff study groups exist throughout the United States, the
Spokane crowd is one of only two in the country that has evolved into
a church, Cattadoris said.
“We are an experiential group,” said Lyn Lamb, who joined Ancient
Traditions last year when it was still a study group. Through her
interaction with other members, she has focused on certain tasks each
week that include refraining from negative thinking and an emphasis
on self-observation ? actions, she said, that have given her more
awareness.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkish Daily News
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Towards political partnership with Russia
Turkish-Russian cooperation in the political sphere has the potential
of not only helping both countries realize foreign policy goals but
also of generating consequences that could go well beyond the borders
of the two countries
ANKARA –
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan’s three-day visit to Russia
last week not only gave a new boost to growing trade and economic
ties but also produced significant political developments, with
Russian President Vladimir Putin describing Turkish Cypriot isolation
as unfair and pledging help to resolve the disputes between Turkey,
and Armenia and Erdoðan announcing a surprise decision to consider
cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
The two leaders said they look to boost the trade volume between
the two countries from the current annual level of $10 billion to $15
billion and, in the next few years, to $25 billion. The two also
agreed to address new areas for cooperation in the energy sector,
such as electricity purchases from Russia, already the main natural
gas supplier of Turkey.
In the political sphere, Turkish-Russian cooperation has the
potential of not only helping both countries attain foreign policy
goals such as advancing Turkey’s EU membership and Cyprus bids but
also of generating consequences that could go well beyond the borders
of the two countries and transform the regional political setting.

Regional conditions right for Armenia to press for peace, paper says
Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
15 Jan 05

Text of unattributed report by Armenian newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak on
15 January headlined “Time for drawing conclusions”
They say there are no coincidences in policy and this point is always
proved in reality. At the same time that they are speaking more loudly
in Azerbaijan that without Russia’s aid Armenia could not gain victory
in the Karabakh war, and are threatening with a new war, Russian
Defence Minister Sergey Ivanov declares in the USA that Russia is not
going to push Armenia to any side in the geo-political sense and
Armenia itself should choose which way to move.
Indeed, against the background of Azerbaijan’s bellicose statements,
the Russian defence minister’s statement gains another context. And
the problem is not that in case of a new war Armenia will need
Russia’s support. If we speak about any possible war, Russia’s role is
large, because almost the whole of the Armenian army has Russian
equipment. Russia is our only military supplier. This means that the
authorities of Armenia, keeping Armenia even in a situation of
theoretical war, deprive us of an opportunity to be independent. In
its turn this means that the establishment of peace and relations with
its neighbours is the first guarantee of Armenia’s independence.
And though it may sound strange, now is the most convenient time in
the geo-political sense. Of course the Azerbaijanis when speaking
about war make a psychological attack on Armenia and maybe they do
that at Russia’s request. Undoubtedly the threat of war is an
important lever for Russia to keep Armenia in its orbit. But
“unfortunately” restarting the Karabakh war today is not to Russia’s
advantage either, because this war supposes the uncontrolled movement
of weapons and equipment in the region, but in the conditions of the
situation created in the North Caucasus it will be fatal for Russia
(note that on the Karabakh front, the cease-fire was established
almost at the time the Chechen war began). And if, at least
theoretically, we understand the necessity of being independent from
Russia in the political sense, we should also understand that while
Russia cannot establish the situation it wants to be in the North
Caucasus, we have such an opportunity, because today – in our region –
Russia cannot choose a way of settling a problem by means of war.
As for Azerbaijan, war may not be to their advantage either, since the
Azerbaijanis will hardly make up their minds to the idea of losing an
expected 4bn dollars from the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline each year
because of a pointless war. For this reason we should conclude from
the Russian-Azerbaijani political blackmail that Armenia’s strategic
interests require the establishment of an early and stable peace,
which in its turn will lead to real political independence.

“ONE SHOULD SPEAK OF ARMENIAN TRAGEDY MORE RESPECTIVELY,” FORMER PRIME
MINISTER OF TURKEY SAYS
ISTANBUL, January 14 (Noyan Tapan). “Chirac was mistaken in his
statements not in the least. The deportation took place indeed, even
if one may not call it Genocide. The people endured a lot, there were
numerous victims. Hence, one should speak more respectively of it. As
the matter concerns the tragedy, doesn’t it?” such a statement was
made by former Prime Minister of Turkey Mesut Yilmaz in the air of the
“Aber Turk” TV channel. According to the “Marmara” newspaper of
Istanbul, Kyurshat Bumin, a journalist of the Turkish “Eni Shafak”
newspaper, highly estimated Yilmaz’s abovementioned statement.
“Indeed, it was quite unexpected to hear such a thing from the person,
who achieved the post of the Prime Minister. One will not hear such a
statement even from an ordinary MP,” the author of the article
emphasized. He also held an opinion that one should approach the
problems like “land claims” or “compensation of damage” more
competently and evenly. Only then, according to him, “we will see how
difficult it is to have a collective memory based on negation. One
should free himself from the sense of guilty, which doesn’t alive us
alone,” writes Bumin.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EVERY MONTH 10 RESIDENTS OF JAVAKHK TO PASS FREE MEDICAL EXAMINATION
AT CENTER OF MEDICAL DIAGNOSTICS OF AKHALKALAKI WITH SUPPORT OF UNION
OF ARMENIAN RELIEF
AKHALKALAKI, January 14 (Noyan Tapan). – A-INFO. The Javakhk branch of
the Union of Armenian Relief (UAR) provided the population of the
region with free hospital places at the Center of Medical Diagnostics
of Akhalkalaki. According to Karine Tadevosian, the Chairwoman of the
Union of Armenian Relief (UAR), the diagnostic center is obliged to
examine every month 10 residents of Javakhk free of charge. According
to preliminarily made statements, vulnerable people will be examined.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RECEP ERDOGAN: IF ARMENIA DOES NOT ADMIT KARS TREATY FROM 1923, THEN
LET THEM NOT BE OFFENDED
YEREVAN, JANUARY 14. ARMINFO. “If Armenia does not admit the terms of
the Kars Treaty from 1923, then let them not be offended”, Prime
Minister of Turkey Recep Tayip Erdogan stated at a news conference in
Ankara concerning the results of his visit to Russia.
At the same time, he stressed that Turkey does not want to have
offended neighbors, but it aspires to regulate the problems with
Armenia, and “Armenia’s vacating the occupied territories of
Azerbaijan” must become a pre-condition here. “We have always taken
positive steps to meet Armenia halfway, in particular, we are working
towards establishment of land communication between the two countries
and organizations of private air transportation”, Erdogan mentioned.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

San Diego Union Tribune, CA
Jan 14 2005
‘Vodka Lemon’: Dry comedy via Armenia
By David Elliott
Union-Tribune Movie Critic
The red of communism has bleached from post-Soviet Armenia, and the
hills are white with dense snow. In “Vodka Lemon,” often penurious
rustics scuffle for U.S. dollars, hope for cash from relatives in the
West, and sell off heirlooms.
Hiner Saleem’s dry, wintry film is a gentle hug for Armenia as an
outpost of endurance; life is all coping. Widowed Hamo (Romen
Avinian) is in mourning and going broke, but has the time and vigor
to shyly court a lady (Lala Sarkissian) who sells vodka to
half-numbed truckers on a desolate road.
The tone is one of mildly mournful comedy, of a carpet gone
threadbare yet still richly colored. When the vendor is asked why
Vodka Lemon doesn’t taste at all like lemon, her reply is a sobering
shrug: “It’s Armenia.”