Author: Frangulian Shushan

KOCHARIAN AND PUTIN CONSIDER CIS A ‘USEFUL CLUB’
Azg/arm
26 March 05
Putin Officially Opened ‘Year of Russia in Armenia’
At a joint press conference on March 25 Armenian and Russian presidents
labeled the CIS a “useful club” and a “good tribune for solving
practical issues”. The presidents agreed that the CIS has to keep
functioning though said that hopes hope pinned on the Commonwealth
were not justified.
Robert Kocharian and Vladimir Putin think it’s meaningless drawing
parallels between the CIS and the EU. “If the states within the EU
work together in direction of unity then the CIS was formed for a
civilized divorce”, Putin said.
The Russian President reminded that the CIS never pursued major goals
in economical sphere. “If anyone is expecting that CIS will have
special achievements in economic, political and military cooperation
than he will be disappointed as there was none and could not be”,
he said.
“I think that the CIS should remain. Everybody is interested in it
regardless the authorities in power. There are always issues to be
solved, and people expect that they will be solved”, Putin said.
“The CIS is a good tribune for settling practical issues. We should be
glad to have such a tribune as there are always issues and problems
that need to be discussed and solved. At every CIS summit I meet at
least my three colleagues and it yields its results”, Kocharian said.
As it is known, the Russian President arrived in Yerevan to officially
open “The Year of Russia in Armenia”. After a meeting behind the
closed doors the presidents told that they discussed bilateral economic
issues, regional and international issues including the Karabakh issue.
In particular, Putin stated that Russia is ready together with
all other partner states to help the peaceful settlement of Nagorno
Karabakh issue. “We are looking forward to the next meeting of Armenian
and Azerbaijani presidents and hope that it will be productive”,
he said.
Speaking of the Armenian-Russian economic relations, Putin underscored
the importance of launching Kovkas-Poti ferry passage that will open
vast perspectives for the Armenian and Russian businessmen. “We hope
that this line will be beneficial for all the countries of the region”,
Putin said.
The Armenian President highlighted the transport sphere in the
Armenian-Russian economic relations. “We certainly need time for
setting tariffs and prices in order to open the Kovkas-Poti passage.
But I am sure that its exploitation will open broader perspectives”,
Kocharian said.
By Tatoul Hakobian

Azerbaijan to beef up embassies’ security on Armenian “genocide” anniversary
Lider TV, Baku
23 Mar 05
[Presenter] While Armenia is going to mark the 90th anniversary of
the so-called Armenian genocide, they are planning to take dangerous
steps against Turks and Azerbaijanis. Therefore, Azerbaijani diplomatic
missions abroad have been given special instructions over this matter.
[Correspondent over archive pictures] Armenia is making preparations
to mark the 90th anniversary of the so-called Armenian genocide
worldwide on 24 April. Armenia, which is planning to mark this date
in an unusual manner, is said to have planned large-scale attacks on
the Azerbaijani armed forces on the contact line. Armenians admit that
brief shootings on the front line will be permanent until 24 April.
Maj Ilqar Verdiyev of the [Azerbaijani] Defence Ministry’s press
service said that the Azerbaijani army was not worried by these
reports. If the Armenian army launches attacks or provokes us on the
front line on 24 April, they will be undoubtedly rebuffed.
As for the allegations of the Armenian side that the Azerbaijani
army has weak positions in Agdam, Fizuli, Qazax and Beylaqan, a
source at the Defence Ministry said that this was a trick of the
Armenian occupiers.
Apart from the contact line, Armenians are plotting bloody terrorist
acts worldwide on 24 April, which is typical of them. Representatives
of the separatist regime, funded by the Armenian diaspora, are not
hiding their intentions. So, 24 April will again see victims.
Azerbaijani diplomatic missions abroad have already received special
instructions in this regard and are taking serious security measures.
[Foreign Ministry spokesman Matin Mirza] Our embassies abroad have
appealed to the foreign ministries of the appropriate countries to
step up the security of the embassy buildings.
[Passage omitted: more criticism of Armenia]

ARMENIAN CAUCUS CO-CHAIRS’ JOINT LETTER TO SECRETARY RICE STRESSES
IMPORTANCE OF U.S. RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
WASHINGTON, March 22 (Noyan Tapan). Congressional Caucus on Armenian
Issues Co-Chairs Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ)
expressed to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice their support
of recent affirmations of the Armenian Genocide by leading U.S.
officials. According to the Armenian Assembly of America, in a joint
letter sent to Secretary Rice on March 18, the Co-Chairs declared
their support for remarks made by U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans
who publicly stated, “The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of
the twentieth century.” The Co-Chairs also noted former Ambassador to
Armenia Harry Gilmore’s comments to the media that the crimes against
the Armenians do indeed constitute genocide. Knollenberg and Pallone
explain in their letter that both Evans’ and Gilmore’s comments are
in keeping with the past statements of Presidents Ronald Reagan in
1981 and George Bush, who in 2001 employed the textbook definition
of the Genocide in his April 24 remarks to the Armenian-American
community. Additionally, the Co-Chairs reason that the U.S. National
Archives contain thousands of pages documenting the crimes and that
over 120 renowned Genocide and Holocaust scholars have proclaimed the
Armenian Genocide as an “incontestable historical fact.” Furthermore,
the letter also references the findings of a key legal study
backed by the State Department. That study, by the International
Center for Transitional Justice, concluded that: “The Events, viewed
collectively, can thus be said to include all of the elements of the
crime of genocide as defined in the Convention, and legal scholars
as well as historians, politicians, journalists and other people
would be justified in continuing to so describe them.” In other news,
Knollenberg and Pallone are asking their colleagues to sign on to a
letter urging President Bush to honor the United States’ historic
leadership in defending human rights and to properly characterize
the Armenian Genocide as such in his remembrance statement next
month. Over 80 Members of Congress have signed on to this letter,
however, many more signatures are needed in order to make an impact.

A New Look at Old Buildings
By Victor Wishna
Humanities Magazine, DC
March 22 2005
>>From the nave floor of the Amiens Cathedral in northern France,
Stephen Murray’s gaze sweeps upward to the vault high above. “This
really is my favorite view inside the cathedral,” he says, pointing
out the diagonal and transverse ribs that crisscross the ceiling of
this Gothic structure completed in 1269, a mere forty-nine years
after construction began. “It was really quite quick,” he says.
Click. Now he is in Turkey, soaring over the rooftops and zipping
through the streets of historic Istanbul. “Ooh, look at that!” Murray
exclaims, pointing to the intricate stonework in the courtyard of the
Sultan Ahmet Mosque, built in 1616. “I’ve not seen that before.”
Click. A building looks familiar . . . the Parthenon? “This is the
treasury,” he says. “Let’s go into the main hall.” Suddenly he is
standing before the statue of Athena, her golden veneer shimmering in
the light rays reflecting off the pool at her feet.
Of course, he’s not really in the Parthenon; it’s a reproduction in
Nashville, Tennessee. And he’s not exactly in Nashville, either-nor
was he in Amiens or Istanbul, but in Room 605 of Schermerhorn Hall,
Murray’s comfortable but architecturally less impressive office at
Columbia University.
Murray, a professor in the Department of Art History and Archaeology
and founder of its Visual Media Center, conducts his whirlwind tour
across continents entirely on the small screen of his PowerBook. Each
tap on the touch pad reveals another lifelike panorama offering
360-degree views in every direction.
These “nodes”–image modules rendered in QuickTime Virtual Reality
(QTVR)–are all part of the Visual Media Center’s new History of
Architecture web project supported by NEH ().
When the site officially launches this spring it will contain more
than six hundred such nodes encompassing dozens of buildings, from
temples in Greece to the great churches of Europe and shrines of
Yemen and Iran, to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater house in
Pennsylvania. Even in its nascent stages, the site is revolutionizing
the teaching of architecture and changing the way professors and
their students see and think about buildings that have stood for
centuries.
“There are a lot of new issues being raised-and that’s part of what
technology does,” says Robert Carlucci, who took over as director of
the Visual Media Center in 1999 and has overseen the rapid growth of
the History of Architecture project. “It’s a lot more information.
The psychology of the classroom is really changing.”
“What the media has done is not just unleash all these wonderful
images, but it allows you to ask questions that otherwise wouldn’t
have occurred to you,” Murray says, such as “‘How does it feel? What
do you hear?'”
The new technology, says Murray, allows for the dispersal of old
assumptions and for discussions that go beyond structural design. For
example, by enabling students to peer up into the corners, to see
where the vaulting shafts had been reinforced with chains and the
flying buttresses refortified and replaced, the node reveals that
Amiens was not the sturdy feat of engineering that stood the test of
time.
“There’s this old-fashioned view that Gothic architecture was driven
bit by bit, that it was so technical,” Murray says, when in fact, it
was the result of a series of creative leaps. “It was the ideological
that drove the thing, not the empirical.” He acknowledges that George
Lucas of Star Wars fame makes for a good analogy to a Gothic planner:
“Both projected a dream where the technology didn’t yet exist, but
that dream had an amazing effect.”
The lesson, he says, is that “scientific revolutions often come with
a paradigm shift,” that is, through grand visions rather than
incremental advancements. In the case of Gothic architecture, such
plans brought together great theologians, planners, and masons, who
otherwise wouldn’t interact.
An up-close look at the pilier columns and vault ribs reveals that
the magnificent concave and convex shapes of the cathedral were
created through the relatively low-tech methods of printing and
stamping, similar to how Jell-o retains the shape of a mold. For this
reason, Murray says, cathedrals were viewed as repositories of
memory; in medieval times, stamping-to stamp an image on the
brain-was the metaphor for memory. “Today, of course, that metaphor
is the computer,” he says.
The new technology has already been incorporated into the
undergraduate core curriculum at Columbia, one of the few
universities to include structural design in its required courses.
“The idea is that any educated person should have something to say
about a piece of architecture,” Murray says. Some of the nodes have
been used to teach at colleges and private high schools on an
experimental basis, and the goal of the site is to make them
accessible to teachers everywhere.
“More and more schools have electronic classrooms,” Carlucci says.
“That’s especially true at community colleges and state schools-more
than in the Ivy League in a lot of ways.”
While the project has blossomed in the last few years, its seeds were
planted nearly a decade ago, at the dawn of userfriendly
virtual-reality technology. Murray had been interested in “animating
architecture” ever since, as an undergraduate at Oxford more than
thirty years ago, he was part of an expedition to film an
eleventh-century cathedral in Armenia.
By the time he arrived at Columbia to teach medieval architecture in
1986, he had grown frustrated with the visual resources available,
especially because most great cathedrals stood on the other side of
the ocean. “There’s only so many times I could take my students to
St. John the Divine, which is a beautiful building, and we’re lucky
to have it,” he says of the nineteenth-century church that rises a
few blocks from Columbia’s campus. “Otherwise, I had to rely on
pictures. I can’t bring Amiens Cathedral into my classroom.”
With the help of colleagues in the architecture school and a grant
from NEH, he created a three-part film series entitled The Amiens
Project to recreate the geometric conception and construction of the
cathedral. The experience gave Murray the idea to animate the
medieval segment of Columbia’s core curriculum. This initiative led
to the founding of the Visual Media Center, which has since been
folded into the Department of Art History and Archaeology.
Student response to the medieval component was so positive that it
seemed shortsighted to stop there. “That’s when the idea arose that
we could create a general resource for the history of world
architecture,” says James Conlon, a staff research associate who has
worked on the site since 1999, collecting much of the imagery from
Turkey and Yemen. “Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Byzantine,
Islamic, even modern–we kept expanding.”
Today, the site contains all those categories, and a few more. In
many cases, the nodes are paired with interactive floor plans of the
building, enabling users to click on a “hot spot” to see the
perspective from that point. Some views are from dramatic
locations-thirty feet up on the triforium, on the roof, even inside
the massive spire-where normal tourists never go.
There is almost no text on the site, which is by design. Carlucci
says the idea is to make the site as user-friendly as possible, a
place to explore and discover rather than read. “The kind of
intellectual excitement one gets from a building-it dies on the page
with all this boring prose,” Murray says. “The whole idea that we
don’t have to kill the work of art in order to study it is a fabulous
thing.”
Most of the photography from Amiens and other medieval
sites–particularly the precarious shots from the parapets–is the
work of Andrew Tallon, a doctoral student in early Gothic
architecture.
As Tallon explains it, the technology is, conceptually at least,
rather simple. A highresolution digital camera is attached to a
special tripod and carefully calibrated to take several dozen photos
around a central point. These photos are then stitched together using
virtual-reality software. It’s a little like the tourist who takes
several overlapping pictures, and then, after developing them, cuts
and pastes them together to create his own 360-degree panorama. Only
the site’s panoramic nodes are perfectly seamless spheres and can be
downloaded from the Internet.
On the site, most nodes are rendered at low resolution so they can be
accessed with low-speed connections. For classroom use, the nodes can
be rendered at high resolution for a teaching demonstration that’s
light years beyond blurry slides. “I was able to zoom into
individual, sculptural details and move around without ever having to
change photographs,” says Tallon, who taught an introductory art
history class at Columbia last year. “This is an extraordinary
advance in terms of teaching medieval sculpture. The node is able to
preserve an entire view of a space in a way that no other
photographic technology can.”
Beyond the classroom, the most beneficial aspect of the site may be
in how it lets anyone explore the great buildings of the world at
their own pace, in their own homes, without the interference of tour
guides “charging ahead with their brightly colored umbrellas,” Murray
says.
Murray says he had two objectives when he began the project: first,
that it should provide students access to the same resources their
professors use, and second, that it should bring together faculty
from different institutions to form new collaborative relationships.
The first mission has been a success. Rather than sending students
home with only their notes and memories of the slides they saw in
class, “now I can say, ‘Go study Amiens Cathedral,’ and they can.
It’s changed me as a teacher,” Murray says. “I’m a much better
teacher than I was just a few years ago.”
While Murray and Carlucci have recruited colleagues at MIT, Bryn
Mawr, Mount Holyoke, and other institutions to contribute to the
site–Murray envisions a single great online course called Medieval
Architecture with each expert adding a segment-getting them to
actually use it has proven more challenging.
For some, the technology–and what it offers-may be intimidating.
“Say you’re a faculty member who’s been teaching the same image since
the beginning of time because that’s the only one that had been
published,” Carlucci explains. “And maybe that image was a view down
the center of the building. Well, now suddenly students can look up
and see something going on in the ceiling. Before you know it, you’ve
got questions being thrown at you that you were never prepared for.”
But Murray believes teachers will learn to welcome those
uncertainties. “I was amazed at how my students, on their own,
grasped the subtleties,” Tallon says from Paris, where he is
continuing to shoot for the site while completing his thesis on
flying buttresses. “They managed to understand spatial aspects of
Gothic architecture that would have taken an actual trip to the
building to communicate otherwise.”
And even then, says Murray, they may not get quite as good a look.
“The only way to get that perspective is to lie on your back in the
middle of the floor,” he says, studying his favorite view of Amiens.
“In reality, that’s not something you’re likely to do.”
Victor Wishna is a writer in New York City.
Columbia University received $575,000 from NEH to create the History
of Architecture web project. Stephen Murray received an NEH
fellowship and grant of $138,000 to create a multimedia education
tool on Amiens Cathedral. Murray has conducted four NEH summer
seminars for college teachers on the Gothic in the Ile-de-France.

PanArmenian News
March 21 2005
FBI AGENT: INVESTIGATION ON ILLEGAL ARMS TRAFFIC CONDUCTED JOINTLY
WITH APPROPRIATE ARMENIAN BODIES
21.03.2005 08:35
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The investigation on the illegal trade in arms in
the US was initiated over a year ago and was conducted jointly with
the appropriated Armenian bodies, Bryan Parmar, FBI special agent,
US’s juridical attaché in the Caucasus stated at today’s press
conference in Yerevan. When commenting on the role of Georgia and
possibly Azerbaijan, he noted that Georgian specialists also take
part in the investigation, while Azerbaijan has nothing to do with
it. As for the participation of the Armenian military or the Russian
military bases, the FBI agent stated that he possesses no information
in this regard but did not rule such a possibility. Agreeing with the
statement that no single weapon was taken out from Armenia, the FBI
representative stated that there was efficient ground for the arrest
of the gang. When answering the question whether Solomonyan’s words
were mere bluff, intended for a possibility to earn some money. Mr.
Parmar noted that the bargain was not carried through and the arms
could fall into wrong hands. “If everything did not go beyond photos
we would not pay serious attention to it”, he noted. Mr. Parmar
also confirmed that Artur Solomonian mentioned of enriched uranium
but did not revert to the topic afterwards. According to the FBI
representative, several sources of weapons are located in the Caucasus.
–Boundary_(ID_xuRMGAPLFCbPTwG08Of1bg)–

PanArmenian News
March 19 2005
TATUL MARGARIAN RELIEVED OF POST OF DEPUTY FM OF ARMENIA AND
APPOINTED ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR TO US
19.03.2005 03:49
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian signed a
decree on relieving Arman Kirakosian from the post of Armenian
Ambassador to the US, the Press Service of the Armenian leader
reported. By another decree Kocharian dismissed Deputy Foreign
Minister of Armenia Tatul Margarian and appointed him Armenian
Ambassador to the US.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Breakaway region interested in joining Russian Federation – Abkhaz leader
Interfax news agency
18 Mar 05
MOSCOW
The president of Abkhazia [a Georgian republic], Sergey Bagapsh, has
said that the issue of Abkhazia’s possible associated membership in
the Russian Federation remains on the agenda.
“This is a topical issue. It remains on the agenda and we will conduct
a dialogue, including here, in the parliament (of Russia – Interfax),
so that the issue gets a follow-up. It will not be stopped,” Bagapsh
told journalists when answering a question from Interfax.
In the State Duma today Bagapsh met the Duma deputy chairman, Sergey
Baburin, of the Motherland faction.
He said at a news conference after the meeting that the present
leadership of Abkhazia was interested in the issue of association with
Russia raised by the previous leadership of the republic. Bagapsh also
told Interfax that the issue of establishing a body for coordinating
cooperation between self-proclaimed republics and autonomous areas,
including Abkhazia, [Moldova’s] Dniester region, [Georgia’s] South
Ossetia and [Azerbaijan’s] Nagornyy Karabakh, was “being considered
practically”.
Bagapsh said that the recent meeting of the leaders of South Ossetia,
the Dniester region and Abkhazia was “impromptu”. “There will be an
official meeting. We will discuss the state of affairs,” he added.
The present news on South Ossetia and the Dniester region is causing
concern, Bagapsh said. “This is about a possible deterioration of the
conflicts (between Tbilisi and Tskhinvali, and between Chisinau and
Tiraspol – Interfax) in the spring-summer period,” he said.
“If someone is quite keen to unleash another conflict, we will try to
prevent this happening, using diplomatic measures for the time
being. If not, we will provide comprehensive support in this area,”
Bagapsh said.
He said he was primarily referring to “areas” such as South Ossetia
and the Dniester region. But “Abkhazia is also a possibility”, he
added.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSCE mission holds routine monitoring on Karabakh front line
Mediamax news agency
17 Mar 05
YEREVAN
An OSCE mission held a routine monitoring in the village of Seysulan
of Mardakert District of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR] on the
contact line between the Nagornyy Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed
forces.
An incident [truce violations] took place precisely on this area
because of the Azerbaijani side’s fault between 7-9 March which led to
casualties.
The monitoring was carried out within the framework of the schedule,
our Mediamax correspondent reported from Stepanakert.
The representatives of the NKR Defence Ministry submitted a report to
the OSCE mission. It said that the Azerbaijani armed forces had opened
fire on the Karabakh positions. It also reported the results of the
Azerbaijani side’s actions to get its positions closer to the
positions of the Nagornyy Karabakh defence army.

CENN – March 17, 2005 Daily Digest
Table of Contents:
1. Baku – Tbilisi – Ceyhan Oil Pipeline Will Ease Traffic In Turkish
Straits
2. Chief of Forestry Department Flees Georgia, Citing Intimidation
3. US Pushes for Kazakh Exports Via BTC
4. CEPF project Newsletter
5. Let’s change the European Investment Bank actively and artfully!
6. Small grants available from the Global Transparency Initiative
7. Tenth International Journalism Summer School on “Working of
Journalists in the Situations of Crisis”
8. conference related to Public Health
9. NGO Strategy Meeting on The EU Environment and Health Action Plan:
Final Report

1. Baku – Tbilisi – Ceyhan Oil Pipeline Will Ease Traffic In Turkish
Straits

Source: TurkishPress, March 16, 2005

Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline will lower the traffic in Turkish straits,
said a Turkish source.

”Aside from its economic benefits to Turkey, the oil pipeline will
help ease traffic in the Turkish straits of Bosphorus and
Canakkale. We estimate that at least 333 giant tankers will be
eliminated per year thanks to the (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) pipeline.”

According to information obtained by the A.A, the number of oil
tankers passing through the Turkish straits has dramatically increased
in the past decade. ”While the amount of oil carried by ships was
approximately 60 million tons in 1996, this amount jumped to 143,5
million tons in 2004.”

Turkish energy officials expect a rapid increase in the amount of oil
carried from Russia through the straits. ”When oil is transferred
from the Caspian region to Russia and then to Turkey, the tanker
traffic will likely show an increase. Each day at least 15 large oil
tanker pass through the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul.”

The Turkish straits have become an economic haven for thousands of
ships from Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria.

One Turkish official told the A.A that on the average one ship
carrying a foreign flag passes through the Turkish straits every 7
minutes. ”Every 50 minutes, a large oil carrier passes through the
Turkish straits.”

Asked about the importance of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, a
Turkish Ministry of Energy official indicated that there are some
economic benefits for the people of the region. ”However, the BTC oil
pipeline will help bring the risk of accidents in Turkish straits to a
minimum level possible. We are more interested in the safety of
Turkish cities than the economic benefits the BTC may bring to us.”

The BTC oil pipeline is approximately 1774 kilometers long. The
portion of the oil pipeline in Turkey is about 1074 kilometers.

2. Chief of Forestry Department Flees Georgia, Citing Intimidation

Source: Civil Georgia, March 17, 2005

Chairman of the Forestry Department of Georgia Bidzina Giorgobiani
fled Georgia citing pressure from the authorities, particularly from
the officials of the Security Service, which is currently under the
subordination of the Interior Ministry.

Before his departure Mr. Giorgobiani recorded a short video tape and
distributed it to the Georgian television stations. In the tape, which
was broadcasted by the leading Georgian televisions on March 16,
Bidzina Giorgobiani claims that officials from the Security Service
fabricated a criminal case against him after he unveiled a scheme of
appropriation of funds by the Security Service officials from the
illegal trade of logs.

“Controversy [with the Security Service] started after I have cut all
the channels of illegal distribution of shares [from trade of logs],”
Mr. Giorgobiani said.

Reports say that Mr. Giorgobiani was convened in the General
Prosecutor’s Office a month ago for interrogation. The law enforcers
suspected him for alleged “negligence” while selling logs. He was
released after handing over to the General Prosecutor’s Office a
written pledge not to leave the city.

Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili declined to comment on this case
and only said that the General Prosecutor’s Office is in charge of
investigation.

In a video tape Mr. Giorgobiani said that he is going to Germany,
“where I lived for 9 years.”

Mr. Giorgobiani fled Georgia first time in early 90s after ouster of
late Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia in 1992. Georgian daily
Rezonansi reported on March 17, that Mr. Giorgobiani returned to
Georgia after the request of late Georgian Prime Minister Zurab
Zhvania who offered him a position of Chief of Forestry Department
last year

3. US Pushes for Kazakh Exports Via BTC

Source: The Messenger, March 17, 2005

The United States would support a Chinese plan to build a major new
pipeline to export natural gas from Kazakhstan, said the State
Department’s point man on Caspian energy issues.

But Ambassador Steven Mann told a forum of regional business
representatives last week that the United States has deep reservations
about the sale of neighboring Georgia’s main gas pipelines to Russia’s
state-controlled monopoly Gazprom, saying the deal could jeopardize
Georgia’s energy independence.

US officials have been pushing for Kazakhstan to ship more of its
energy reserves through the highly touted new pipeline that bypasses
Russia by going through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. The
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is expected to begin operations May 25.

4. CEPF project Newsletter

Dear Readers,

February Newsletter of Strengthening Conservation Alliances through
CEPF Coordination in Caucasus project is available on the following
site:
(There are available English and Russian versions of the Newsletter)

Lana Ghvinjilia
Communications Officer
WWF Caucasus PO
CEPF project
11 Alexidze St.
Tbilisi 0193 Georgia
Tel.: + 995 32 330155/54
Fax: + 995 32 330190
E-mail: lghvinjilia@wwfcaucasus.

5. Let’s change the European Investment Bank actively and artfully!

Every year the European Investment Bank (EIB) lends more than any
other international financial institution. It lends primarily to
European Union states but overall it has a current portfolio of
investments in more than 120 countries, with roughly 17% of these
investments going to new EU Member States and places such as South
Africa, Asia, the Balkans, the Middle East, and Latin America.

In view of the importance of the EIB’s financial role we are
challenging the ‘house Bank’ of the EU to become a positive European
source for the public funding of public benefits worldwide. We would
like to see an EIB which is fully accountable to the public and
transparent in all of its operations. We envision the EIB lending only
for environmentally and socially sustainable projects, based on clear
policies, standards and rules, both inside and outside the EU, which
can proudly state that it supports only projects that enjoy the
consent of all affected communities.

As a part of civil society’s call to concerned citizens and European
policy-makers to join efforts to make the EIB an institution that
supports people and the environment, we invite artists from Central
and Eastern European countries to participate in a social poster
design contest entitled “Public Funds for Public Benefits”.

Awards – Awards – Awards – Awards

There will be one first prize award of 1000 Euros and two runners-up
awards of 200 Euros. An international jury will decide the
prize-winners. The jury is composed of Professor Piotr Kunce,
professional artist and the Head of Poster Art Studio at Jan Matejko
Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, representing the media, Jane MacKenzie
of the UK’s renowned satirical magazine Private Eye, and Tomasz
Terlecki, the Executive Director of CEE Bankwatch Network.

You can also vote for the best project

We would also like to give internet users the opportunity to vote for
the best project. Thus there will be a gallery featuring all submitted
projects on our website to allow the public to vote for their
favourite entry. The most popular design as voted publicly and
transparently by our web audience will also receive a prize worth 200
Euros.

Victory will establish you as a real bankwatcher

Not only is there the promise of financial reward by participating in
the contest, but you could also be the creator of the posters
promoting our campaign. Our intention is also to prepare a
street-exhibition featuring some of the submitted projects, which
would be shown in Brussels and Luxembourg around the time of the EIB’s
Annual Meeting in June later this year. So the projects will very much
stay alive after the contest and help to make the campaign visible.

The statute of the contest

The aim and the topic of the contest:

To gather original poster designs in A1 format (594mmx841mm) promoting
the EIB reform campaign of CEE Bankwatch Network. The contest serves
to widen the public’s knowledge about a public financial institution,
the EIB, and its imperfect way of functioning and also to encourage
civil society to participate in the process of monitoring the EIB’s
activities.

Organizer:
CEE Bankwatch Network
Jicinska 8
130 00 Prague 3
Czech Republic

Duration of the contest: March 1, 2005 – May 30, 2005

The deadline for sending competitive works: April 25, 2005 (on this
day we stop accepting works sent by mail or submitted by person)

The address for sending competitive works:
CEE Bankwatch Network
Czackiego 3A
r. 29, 70-216 Szczecin
Poland

With the sub-heading Contest
The founder of the prize:
CEE Bankwatch Network

The territory of the contest:

Belorussia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia,
Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Macedonia, Poland, Romania,
Serbia and Montenegro, Slovak Republic, Ukraine.

Requirements of the application and participation:
a.. A competitive project entry can be sent by individuals;
b.. Every participant can make a maximum of three variations on the theme;
c.. Printouts in A3 format should be glued to stiff board. On the board’s reverse in the upper right-hand corner, there should be an original password;
d.. Projects have to be sent in two printed specimens with an electronic CD version ( 1:1 size, 300 dpi resolution, TIFF);
e.. Submitted projects have to be under the ownership of the senders, must not have been publicized previously and must not infringe upon another author’s rights;
f.. Submitted projects will not be returned and fall under the ownership of the organizers;
g.. Senders pay shipping costs;
h.. It is necessary for the projects to be accompanied by a completed application from the website in an enclosed envelope;
i.. It is necessary to put an original password on the envelope, the CD and the reverse of every project speciment;
j.. It is not permitted for the organizers and all persons engaged in preparing the contest to take part in the contest;
k.. Incomplete applications will not be taken into account;
l.. Participation in the contest indicates acceptance of the statute and agreement on free project exposure after the contest;
m.. The first-prize winner will also be obliged to make possible minor changes suggested by the jury.

Jury:

a.. Jane MacKenzie, London, Private Eye;
b.. Professor Piotr Kunce, Cracow the Head of Poster Art Studio at Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow;
c.. Tomasz Terlecki, Executive Director, CEE Bankwatch Network;

The jury will convene in order to choose the best project in April
2005 in Cracow. Following this meeting, an announcement will be
made. The decision of the jury is final. The first prize is
anticipated to be EUR 1000. There are also two second prizes equaling
EUR 200 and a so called audience prize, which is also for EUR 200.

We would also like to give our web audience the opportunity to vote
for the best project. That is why we are going to establish a gallery
of all sent projects on the webpage to allow visitors to choose their
favourite. The best project, chosen publicly and transparently, will
be awarded with the audience price of EUR 200.

6. Small grants available from the Global Transparency Initiative

Dear friends,

The Global Transparency Initiative (GTI), a network of civil society
organizations promoting transparency at the international financial
institutions (IFIs), announces a Request for Proposals for small
grants in the following categories:

a.. Case studies/Audits regarding access to information and the
IFIs: Small grants of US$500 to US$3,000 will be made to research
and write case studies about the negative consequences of a lack of
transparency by IFIs or the positive effects of transparency by such
institutions, in specific instances. b.. Advocacy: up to US$5,000,
will be available for key advocacy activities which promote broader
issues of disclosure by the IFIs or are linked to other activities
of the GTI. The GTI seeks to improve the transparency of IFI’s by
influencing the disclosure policies and standards of these
institutions. This grant is available to individuals and civil
society organizations involved in precedent setting transparency
issues within the context of specific campaigns. c.. Translations:
up to US$1,000, will be made to translate case studies, transparency
audits and other relevant documents produced by civil society that
discuss issues dealing with transparency within a country context or
within the operations of the International Financial Institutions
(IFIs).

Organizations and individuals are eligible to apply. Only complete
proposals will be considered. Proposals for case studies/audits and
advocacy will be reviewed on a quarterly basis, while proposals for
translations will be reviewed on a more expedited basis, wherever
possible within two weeks after they have been received.

Please find more information at:

7. TENTH INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM SUMMER SCHOOL ON “WORKING OF
JOURNALISTS IN THE SITUATIONS OF CRISIS”

Mass Media Center School of Journalism, St.Petersburg State University
St.Petersburg, Russia

28 June – 6 July 2005
St.Petersburg, Russia

The Mass Media Center of the School (Faculty) of Journalism at
St. Petersburg State University (SPbGU) is inviting journalists,
scholars, educators, students, and communication specialists from
around the world to take part in the Tenth Annual International
Journalism Summer School, beginning June 28, 2005. This is the
excellent opportunity to widen the view on media studies studying
Russian media and journalism in the political, social, economic,
legal, ethnic, environmental and cultural perspective.

Leading university professors and professional journalists will lead
this course, which will include lectures and practical workshops
devoted to several issues, questions and problems related to the
development of the Mass Media. The main subject of the Tenth Summer
course will be “Working of Journalists in the Situations of
Crisises”. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss this
topic with professional journalists during the site visits to media
outlets as well as during a roundtable scheduled for July 6. Courses
are given by the best faculty and staff of the School of Journalism at
St.Petersburg State University and experienced professionals from a
wide variety of St.Petersburg Media.

The course also includes a cultural program, with sightseeing city bus
tour, excursion to the State Hermitage Museum, and performance at the
famous Marinsky (Kirov’s) Theater.

Working languages: English and Russian. The programme will be
conducted in Russian, with English interpretation.

Registration until: June 1, 2005.

Participants are responsible for the trip to St.Petersburg and for
getting of the Russian visas. Visa support is not included to the
tuition fee.

For more information, including application materials, contact the
Mass Media Center of the School of Journalism at
St.Petersburg State University: 1-aya Liniya V.O. Building 26, Office
602. 199004. St. Petersburg, Russia.
Telephone / Fax: (7-812) 323-00-67, 321-01-72.
E-Mail: [email protected]
Web sites: and

Contact person: Dmitry A. Ruschin, Ph.D., Associate Professor,
Director of the International Journalism Summer School and Winter
School on Public Relations at St.Petersburg State University. E-Mail:
[email protected] (main address) and [email protected] (additional
address).

MASS MEDIA CENTER
School of Journalism, St.Petersburg State University
1-aya Liniya V.O., # 26, office 606. St.Petersburg. 199004. Russia
Tel/Fax: (7-812) 323-00-67, 321-01-72.
E-mail: [email protected]

8. conference related to Public Health

Dear colleagues,

I am sharing with you this information about the conference related to
Public Health that will be organized in Armenia on September 17-20,
2005.

This is the Regional Public Health Conference and we expect to have
lots of local and international public health specialists as
participants. Your participation as well as sharing with this info
with your colleagues and friends would be appreciated. For more info
you are welcome to contact me.

Please visit the website, where you can find all info about the
conference

Best Regards,

Naira Gharakhanyan, MD, MPH
Health Program Coordinator
COAF Armenia
13 Yervand Kochar, Yerevan
Tel: (+374 1) 57 52 54
Tel/fax: (+3741) 57 53 55
Website:

9. NGO strategy meeting on the EU Environment and Health Action Plan:
final report

Dear Readers,

We would like to draw your attention to the final report of the NGO
strategy meeting on the EU Environment and Health Action Plan which
took place in Egmond aan Zee (The Netherlands) on 1 December 2004 and
was co-organized by the European Public Health Alliance Environment
Network (EEN) and the Dutch Platform for Environment and Health. The
report is now available both in English and in Russian, please find
both versions enclosed.

The meeting aimed to identify key actions proposed by WHO’s Children’s
Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe (CEHAPE) and to
recommend that they be taken forward within the EU Action Plan
framework. It also looked at how the EU’s Action Plan can be
implemented by examining areas such as biomonitoring, indicators, risk
communication and indoor air quality. The results were presented to
the EU member states and institutions at the Dutch Presidency
conference on December 2-3.

For further information please see our website at:

EPHA Environment Network
39-41 rue d’Arlon
B-1000 Brussels

Tel: +32 2 233 3875
Fax: +32 2 233 3880
E-mail: [email protected]
Please visit our new website:

*******************************************
CENN INFO
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)
Tel: ++995 32 75 19 03/04
Fax: ++995 32 75 19 05
E-mail: [email protected]
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LEADER OF “SELF-DETERMINATION UNION” PARTY CALLS UPON TO
REESTABLISH OLD ARMENIAN ORTHOGRAPHY
YEREVAN, MARCH 11. ARMINFO. At today’s press-conference, Leader of
the “Self-Determination Union” party Paruyr Hayrikyan called upon to
abandon the present-day orthography of the Armenian language and to
reestablish the Old-Armenian or “Mesropyan” orthography.
In his words, all the Armenians over the world use the Armenian script
created by the author of Armenian alphabet Mesrop Mashtots, and on that
script the Bible has been translated. Only the independent Republic
of Armenia abandons it and uses the orthography imposed to Armenian
people by Stalin and Bolsheviks. Celebrating the 1600th anniversary
of the Armenian alphabet is at least immorally, Hayrikyan thinks. He
intends to appeal to the National Academy of Sciences and to call
upon to reestablish the “Mesropian” orthography.
Answering the question on why Hayrikyan and his team-mates did not
raise this question early in 90’s when he was a Parliament’s member,
the SDU leader said that a Law on language was adopted just due to his
efforts, but “the foreign agents and, first of all, the Russian special
service, stealing into all the spheres” prevented its realization. -r-
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress