Author: Emil Lazarian

Assadourian to advise PM on foreign policy
By Lynne Cohen
Jewish Tribune
May 20, 2004 – 29 Iyar, 5764
Leaders in the Jewish community reacted cautiously to the announcement
that Sarkis Assadourian is stepping aside after almost 11 years
representing the Liberals in the Ontario riding of Brampton Springdale,
in order to join the Prime Minister’s office as a special advisor
on foreign affairs. The Syrian-born, Armenian MP will be responsible
for Near Eastern and South Caucasus affairs.
“I am delighted to be able to turn to Sarkis Assadourian for expertise
when it comes to matters of trade and foreign relations with the Near
East,” said the Prime Minister in a statement immediately following
the appointment.
Assadourian’s appointment is in exchange for giving up his riding so
that Manitoba-born Ruby Dhalla, a Toronto chiropractor, can run for
the Liberals in his place. Assadourian has been a frequent critic of
Israel in recent years. In 2002 he attempted to introduce a Motion in
the House of Commons calling on fellow MPs to express their support
for what he called “our government’s position at the UN” on Israel. At
the time he was referring to UN Security Council Resolution 1402
which called for the immediate “withdrawal of Israeli troops from
Palestinian cities, including Ramallah.” This resolution was adopted
after a series of Palestinian suicide bombings prompted Israel to
deploy Israeli troops around Yasser Arafat’s headquarters in Ramallah.
A spokesman for Assadourian, Daniel Kennedy, said the countries
involved in Assadourian’s new portfolio are Eastern European as well
as Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. “He is not advising on the Middle
East,” said Kennedy.
“Just because the countries under Assadourian’s mandate do not include
those in the Middle East, it does not necessarily follow that his
appointment will have no wider impact,” said Amos Sochaczevski,
National Chair of B’nai Brith Canada’s Institute for International
Affairs. “What happens in the Middle East impacts many different
countries in many different regions, several of which are struggling
with the rising tide of Islamic extremism and terrorism in their
own territories.”
Assadourian hosted a reception recently to provide a representative of
the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem with a platform to explain why
his organization was suing the Israeli government over the construction
of its security fence.
“Our concerns are not limited to international issues,” said
Sochaczevski. “For instance, not only does Assadourian oppose the
construction of a Holocaust museum, he also opposes the construction
of any museum on intolerance that would place emphasis on the Holocaust
as a unique event in history.”
Instead, Assadourian has been promoting a private members bill that
would see the creation of an exhibit at the Museum of Civilization
located in Gatineau, across the river from Parliament Hill, that
would commemorate in a generic sense all “crimes against humanity
perpetrated during the 20th century.”
“My position has been from day one that we can’t have one museum for
every minority,” explained Assadourian at the time.
“A museum… is not a doughnut shop that you open on every street
corner. It has to be inclusive…”
Assadourian’s appointment comes at a time when Canadian Jews are
beginning to ask themselves where exactly the Government stands
on issues of concern to the Jewish community. The day before the
announcement, Canada supported a resolution at the United Nations
that for all intents and purposes denied Israel any a priori rights
in the disputed territories. This is a move that contradicts the
government’s own guidelines on Middle East policy, which emphasize the
importance of not pre-judging the outcome of final negotiations and
of reaching a negotiated agreement between the parties. Canada’s vote
also went against Resolution 242 which it has always endorsed. That
resolution recognizes that modifications to the so-called Green Line
are necessary.
“Our Government must make up its mind on the fundamental issue,”
added Sochaczevski… “Either Canada supports Israel as the only free
and democratic country in the region, or it doesn’t.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
June 4, 2004
___________________
COUNCIL MEMBERS WILL MEET WITH CATHOLICOS
Last year, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of
All Armenians, invited diocesan councils throughout the world to hold
meetings at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
The Catholicos, during a visit to New York in the fall, personally
extended his invitation to the Diocesan Council of the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of America (Eastern).
Responding to that invitation, the Council members decided to go to
Armenia at the end of October — at their own expense — to hold their
regular business meeting and have an audience with the Catholicos and
other church leaders.
“What we’re trying to do is really create a closer partnership between
the Diocese and the Mother See, between this council and the Vehapar,”
said Diocesan Council Chairman Haig Dadourian. “We felt the best way to
do that is through physical closeness, and sharing of each other’s goals
and concerns.”
Most of the council members have been to Armenia, but a couple have yet
to visit. Dadourian said another benefit of the meeting is for those
who will be seeing their homeland for the first time make the journey.
“Going to Armenia makes a very lasting impression,” Dadourian said. “I
don’t want to get so dramatic as to say you’re never the same; but it
does make a lasting, positive impression.”
Along with attending a couple of days worth of meetings at Etchmiadzin,
the council members will also tour Armenia, and visit sites run by the
Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR) — the Diocesan-affiliated international
humanitarian aid organization. They will also tour some orphanages and
meet with children helped by the Children of Armenia Sponsorship Program
(CASP), run by the Diocesan Women’s Guild.
“It’s important that the leadership of the Armenian Church throughout
the Diaspora go and visit the Mother See, which has been the center of
our Christian faith for more than 1,700 years,” Archbishop Khajag
Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern Diocese, said. “They should pray in
the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin, visit historic sites, and see
the development of the independent Republic of Armenia. It’s important
for every Armenian to go, especially those Armenians in leadership
roles.”
— 6/4/04
# # #
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Ageless: Pioneer of Armenian rock regroups (on cd) across continents
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow
04 June 2004
ArmeniaNow arts reporter In the early 1980s, when rock music was still
an evil in Armenia, a band formed to test the limits of “glasnost”
and “perestroika” and bring the previously-forbidden music to a ready
audience of rebellious youth.
The faces have changed, but not the music.
Four musicians formed Thessilck in 1983, and as the controls of
communism were lifted, the rock band became popular to a generation
welcoming the freedom to wear jeans and listen to western music.
Many rock bands followed, but Thessilck was among the first.
Khachik Melekyan, Artur Safaryan, Harutyun Stamboltsyan and Hovhannes
Shadanyan, rocked Armenia toward independence, before the dark days
of struggle forced them apart.
The band broke apart in 1989, a victim of necessity, as its members
went off in search of better living conditions.
And it broke up leaving behind only memories of live performances
for its fans.
Now, 15 years since they last performed together, the music of
Thessilck has returned on a 17-song compact disc put out by founder
Melekyan from a studio in Los Angeles.
“This cd seems to be an embodiment of the old days. We’ve been thinking
about creating it for a long time, but a small incident took place
last year which simply obliged us,” says, Melekyan, the founder and
artistic director of Thessilck.
Melekyan relayed the incident to ArmeniaNow during a visit last week,
telling about a phone call he got last year while on his first visit
back, since moving to California in 1991.
A stranger called Melekyan (while Melekyan was here to promote a
solo instrumental cd “Mysticity, The Influx”), saying that he was
a big fan of Thessilck, that he’d traveled to all their concerts,
and was disappointed that the band’s music was not on record.
“Isn’t there a single record? Can’t we even listen to your songs?”,
the fan asked.
A year later, the answer is “yes”.
“Great desire and modern equipment allowed us to overcome time and
space,” Melekyan says. “All of us, the four members of the band,
live in different cities but we created and recorded together.”
Of the four members of Thessilck, only Shadanyan still lives in
Yerevan. Safaryan is in Moscow; Stamboltsyan, in Florida.
The distance was bridged by Internet.
To create the new cd, Melekyan first recorded general instrumental
parts, emailed files to the other members who added their respective
parts, then Melekyan put it all together in Southern California.
“Thessilck is like our baby, we gave birth to it from our young dreams
and emotions,” says Melekyan. “Even though we live so far from each
other, we’re always united with the history and the past of Thessilck.”
When Melekyan returned to Armenia this time, he brought cds (on sale
throughout Yerevan and through and posters, announcing
to Armenia’s first rock generation now with children of their own,
that Thessilck is back – at least in recorded form.
“This is neither rabiz, nor folk, nor even techno or hip hop. This
is Armenian rock,” the musicians claim.
It is a music born of chance in a time of change.
None of the members of Thessilck are academically trained musicians.
“We learned to play music on a neighbor’s piano,” Melekyan says.
Melekyan..
Melekyan and Stamboltsyan met in the yard and accidentally found
out that they both play guitar and started rehearsing and writing
songs together.
“We found out that some guys from a neighboring yard had formed a
band and they perform, so we thought why don’t we have our band,
too?” says Melekyan.
Then in their early ’20s, members of Thessilck had difficulty finding
instruments, not to mention countless other obstacles.
But in 1986 Thessilck participated in the first rock festival in the
Soviet Union, in Rostov, where they won the first prize. Afterwards,
there were concerts, tours and fame.
Other Armenian rock bands of those years, such as Vostan Hayots,
Ardzagank, 36.6, were in serious competition.
“Others were envious when we were appearing with a new song, and we
were envious of the success of others, but all of that is left in
the past since if we were competitors with Yeghish Petrosyan from
Ardzagank, today we’re friends,” says Melekyan sincerely.
The songs of Thessilck are remembered and reborn in a new way performed
by young singers, just like the most famous song of Thessilck “Andzrev”
(Rain) is performed by Arsen Safaryan.
Old songs get new soul through videos as well. Based on Melekyan’s
instrumental work director Hrach Keshishyan and actress Nare Haykazyan
produced a video and another one is being prepared.
Melekyan says they have to keep the soul of Thessilck since together
with them their baby grows up and it can get lost in the maelstrom
of life.
“Even the word ‘Thessilck’ (it means ‘vision’) has become a cliché for
us and in our speech the word mirage substitutes amazing, beautiful
words,” Melekyan says. “We’re looking for our past in a mirage; we
re-find in ourselves those young ones with endless dreams and folly.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Is Armenia an authoritarian state?
Yerkir
May 28, 2004
During parliamentary briefing on May 27 faction representatives
discussed more political development rather than legislative
activities.
Who is governing Armenia today? Is Armenia democratic? Did the
president behave accurately during the opposition activation
period? How is the legislative activity possible in terms of the
opposition boycotting? These questions were answered by all faction
except for the opposition which once again skipped the briefing.
ARF faction leader Levon Mkrtchian believes Armenia is now governed by
the constitution. The first person is the president who is responsible
for home and foreign policies. There is the political coalition which
has its share of responsibility. As to Robert Kocharian’s presidency,
he has been carrying out his functions and expressed his position at
every necessary point.
The leader of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) believes that
the presidents should have been stricter, since tolerance brings even
worse consequences.
Touching upon the estimation of an international legal organization
that called Armenia authoritative, Mkrtchian advised to consider
the purpose and period of the made assessment. “The activities of
such organizations have a subjective factor which implies certain
regional, geopolitical issues that do not exclude pressures,” said
Mkrtchian. “Our route is democracy, since otherwise we would not be
a member of many international prestigious organizations.”
Regarding these issues, leader of RPA Galust Sahakian said: “The
trouble is that any phrase and judgment of a foreigner is more
discussed than the issues of our national interests.”
Leader of the Orinats Yerkir faction Samvel Balasanian stated that
Armenia has a primary development stage of democracy.
As to the recessed dialogue, the coalition once again stated its
determination to bring the opposition back to the political field.
Levon Mkrtchian said: “The coalition always tried to get the opposition
back to dialogue, since otherwise political functions are passed to
the legal field.
The dialogues must take place not only between the coalition and the
opposition but the society must also be prepared for it. And the
society has mad clear its point: it wants t be able to peacefully
live and work in between the elections. It does not want shock.”
The political forces say the issue of depriving the boycotting
opposition of parliamentary mandates is not on the agenda, but it
can have more serious political consequences.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN TV CHANNELS REFRAIN FROM COVERING PROTEST ACTION
A1 Plus | 13:53:23 | 04-06-2004 | Politics |
Every-day protest action outside the Prosecutor General Office in
Yerevan continued Friday. Protesters keep on demanding a number of
political prisoners to be released from jail.
Only Aravot TV Company is highlighting the event.
Armenia’s other TV channels prefer to keep silence about that,
despite the organisations that staged the picket have repeatedly
invited crews from all TVs.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The PM: After the first six months
Windsor Star (Ontario)
June 2, 2004 Wednesday Final Edition
Prime Minister Paul Martin, like all politicians mired in an election
campaign, is running on a slew of promises. In his first week on the
hustings, Martin promised to hand cities at least $2 billion annually
from the federal gasoline tax and dump nine billion new dollars into
health care without raising taxes or introducing premiums to pay
for either.
But promises come cheap. Ontarians learned that the hard way when
Premier Dalton McGuinty whacked them with the biggest tax hike in a
decade just months after vowing on the stump to not raise taxes and
to balance the books.
With that in mind, prudent voters have no choice but to assess
politicians — particularly those who’ve governed and had the chance
to make changes — on past performances just as much as future pledges.
So how does Martin’s performance stack up? What did he accomplish in
his 163 days as prime minister before dropping the writ that might
convince Canadians to vote for him?
Sadly, very little. First, Parliament under Martin was a legislative
wasteland. His government passed only one major new bill — a piece
of legislation handing municipalities a 100-per-cent rebate on
the GST. Most of the other bills it passed, like one to establish
independent ethics officers for the House and Senate and another to
change the Patent Act so generic companies could sell cheap AIDS drugs
to Africa, were recycled offerings introduced in Jean Chretien’s final
term. The few major bills Martin’s government actually introduced
died on the order paper when the election was called.
Second, Martin failed to slay what he termed the “democratic
deficit.” He consulted with more people, more often, to be sure; but
his efforts at democratic reform were half-baked. After promising more
free votes in the House, he cracked the whip on a vote to continue
funding the rifle and shotgun registry and forbade his cabinet
ministers from voting in favour of a motion condemning Turkey for
the 1915 Armenian genocide. On the Supreme Court front, Martin hasn’t
given any clear indication how he’ll pick judges, despite the fact two
vacancies are pending. Martin gave no indication he’s about to engage
in meaningful Senate reform that would take the appointment process out
of the PMO. And Martin’s plans to expand the powers of parliamentary
committees produced only the farce that was the sponsorship hearings.
That brings us to another of Martin’s failures. He bungled the
investigation into the advertising money scandal. After he pledged
to get to the bottom of the mess, the Liberal majority on the public
accounts committee cut short its inquiry into the alleged scam 12
days before the election call.
All this ignores a host of other positive changes Martin might have
made as prime minister. He could have scrapped the gun registry, began
work on Senate reform and started the ball rolling on a much-needed
retooling of the High Court. But he didn’t. Overall, he has little
to show for nearly six months at the country’s helm.
A Martin performance review would be unfair and incomplete if it
ignored his nearly nine years as finance minister. As a fiscal manager
he did trim spending and cut taxes to revitalize Canada’s economy
and balance the country’s books for five straight years. But his
record was hardly blemish free. His balanced budgets were largely the
result of slashed transfer payments to the provinces. The sponsorship,
HRDC and gun registry fiascos occurred on his watch.
Since winning the top job, Martin has proved relatively inept; he
talks a good game but takes no action.
For that reason Canadians are right to question if Martin might not
be better suited to playing second fiddle than leading the band. At
the very least they have to question the veracity of his election
promises. He hasn’t delivered as prime minister. Canadians have a
right to wonder if Martin would morph into the mailman if re-elected.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Tie-breaker in Turkey
By Malcolm Pein
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
June 02, 2004, Wednesday
THE fifth European Individual Championship at Antalya in Turkey went
to a tie-breaker as the established players Vassily Ivanchuk and
Praedrag Nikolic saw off a strong challenge from the younger
generation and prospered in the later rounds. The pair ended on 9/13.
There were no British players among the 72 who competed in the
tournament, which was a classic Eastern European carve-up. From the
prize-winners below, you will find that even the players given as
coming from Western Europe actually emigrated from Russia, Ukraine or
Armenia.
There were a number of play-offs to determine the distribution of
medals, prize money and places in the next Fide knock-out
championship, should it ever come to pass. Levon Aronian secured the
bronze medal.
Final scores: 1-2 Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Nikolic (Bosnia) 9/13; 3-7
Aronian (Germany), Istratescu (Romania), Miroshnichenko (Ukraine),
Navara (Czech Republic), Gurevich (Belgium) 8.5; 8-16 Kempinski
(Poland), Krasenkow (Poland), Agrest (Sweden), Milov (Switzerland),
Asrian (Armenia), Sargissian (Armenia), Macieja (Poland), Gashimov
(Azerbaijan) Naiditsch (Germany) 8.
BY THE time Black develops his pieces, his opponent has a decisive
attack. For better or worse, 21…Qxe4 had to be tried.
V Milov – M Parligras
5th IECC Antalya (13)
Nimzo Indian
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Nf3 b6 5 Bg5 Bb7 6 Nd2 c5 7 d5 h6 8 Bh4
exd5 9 cxd5 Qe7 10 Qc2 0-0 11 0-0-0 Bxc3 12 bxc3 Bxd5 13 e4 Bc6 14 f4
d6 15 Re1 g5 16 fxg5 Nh7 17 Bg3 Nxg5 18 h4 Ne6 19 Nc4 Rd8 20 Ne3 Ng7
21 Bc4 Nd7 22 Ng4 Rf8 23 Nxh6+ Kh8 24 Qd2 Ne5 25 Bxe5 dxe5 26 Ng4 1-0
Parligras – p p 7 e o p g c m
o – p p p p o o p
p A p b p ‘ n p n p p b p f p b p p d 6 p *
Milov
Final position after 26.Ng4
FIDE world championship semi-final, game one:
Kovalevskaya 1-0 Koneru: Koneru totally outplayed her opponent and
then turned down an endgame with three extra pawns to continue the
attack, which, although winning, gave Kovalevskaya chances to resist.
Three blunders later, Koneru lost.
Stefanova draw Chiburdanidze: a complex tactical line of the Pseudo
Trompovsky 1 d4 d5 2 Bg5 led to a drawn endgame.
NIGEL Short could not defeat the tournament winner, Alexey Shirov, in
the last round at Sarajevo. Short held an edge for much of the game,
but the presence of opposite-coloured bishops always made the draw –
Short’s seventh in a row – more likely. The England number two had
his first bad tournament for a long time and did not win a single
game.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PM MEETS IMF RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE
ArmenPress
June 3 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 3, ARMENPRESS: Prime minister Andranik Margarian received
today James McHugh, IMF resident representative, who briefed him on
a recent meeting of IMF Board of Directors and discussed also future
cooperation plans between the lending organization and Armenian
government.
McHugh was quoted by the government press office as saying that he
was happy to inform the prime minister about the growing confidence
of the IMF in Armenia. “IMF Board of Directors is pleased with the
ongoing economic progress of your country,” he was quoted as saying.
McHugh said IMF is completing its current program in Armenia in
June. After reviewing the fulfilled work in September, the Board
of Directors will consider release of a new aid, he said. McHugh
said the successful accomplishment of previous programs inspires
hopes that the current one will also be a success. Other economic
development-related issues were discussed during the meeting.
According to deputy finance and economy minister, Atom Janjukhazian,
Armenia’s foreign debt as of December 31, 2003 stood at almost $1.1
billion, constituting 39.3 percent of the GDP. Around $875 million
were the government’s direct credit liabilities, $214.6 million were
credit liabilities of the Central Bank and $73 million were credit
guarantees of the government.
Armenia paid last year around $141 million to service its foreign debt.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia to amend foreign policy if Turkey admitted to EU – minister
Mediamax news agency
3 Jun 04
Yerevan, 3 June: Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan today
expressed the hope that US efforts towards the normalization of
Armenian-Turkish relations would be successful in the end. The
Armenian foreign minister said this at a meeting with students of the
international relations department of Yerevan State University today.
Vardan Oskanyan said that negotiations on the date of Turkey’s
admission to the European Union might start this year, which “will
give a new status to this country” and will require some corrections
to Armenia’s foreign policy.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NEW TIMES VERSUS NATIONAL UNITY
A1 Plus | 17:51:11 | 04-06-2004 | Politics |
Suit filed by New Times party chair Aram Karapetyan against National
Unity party leaders was heard Friday at the first instance court. The
suit has been filed over the allegation saying he is “the authorities’
agent”.
The plaintiff’s lawyer Levon Baghdasaryan demanded the defendant to
answer for their allegation.
The defense attorneys Gagik Kostandyan and Agassi Arshakyan said
their clients hadn’t intended to insult Karapetyan and hurt his
dignity. They only noted he had turned off the road of the opposition.
The defense side submitted their arguments, and the court gave the
plaintiff time to look through them. The second session is scheduled
for June 14. Azg newspaper correspondent Tatul Hakobyan will be
subpoenaed to court as witness.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress