Author: Hambardsumian Paul

ARMENIAN LOBBYISTS MENTION NECESSITY OF MORE ACTIVE COOPERATION OF RA EMBASSIES WITH ARMENIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEES

Noyan Tapan
Mar 15 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 15, NOYAN TAPAN. "Certainly, Turks and Azeris have
no traditions of ethnic lobbying, but they are very active in a
number of countries and spend much money on counteracting to our
initiatives." Susan Khardalian, Head of Armenian National Committee
of Scandinavia, stated this at the March 15 press conference.

In her words, the large Turkish community of Germany has learnt to work
with both political organizations and with media. She expressed anxiety
with the growing activity of Turkish and Azerbaijani organizations,
including in Sweden where she works.

In the words of S. Khardalian and another participants of the press
conference representing Armenian National Committees of Cyprus,
Canada, Argentina and Russia, Azerbaijani-Turkish activity does not
causes panic of Armenian lobbyists. "We must not surrender, we must
struggle and work directing our activity to creation of new structures
for counteracting to the initiatives of Turks and Azeris. We must not
forget that the basis of their activity is only finances and of our
activity fair requests and ideas," Aris Papikian, Head of Armenian
National Committee of Ottawa, stated.

The participants of press conference positively estimated traditions
of cooperation between Embassies of Armenia abroad and Armenian
National Committees.

At the same time, lobbyists referring to exclusively active support
Embassies of Turkey and Azerbaijan render to their compatriots living
abroad, mentioned the necessity to activize cooperation between
Armenian Embassies and Armenian National Committees.

PRESS RELEASE
AGBU London
Contacts: Armine Afrikian (07866064156)
Armen: 0732024631
email [email protected]
13/03/07

ARMENIANS INSIDE EUROPE : A DIASPORA CONNECTS WITH ITS INSTITUTIONS.

A conference and debate hosted on March 22 by the AGBU Young
Professionals in London

The European Union is increasingly shaping the lives of Armenians: it is
promoting multilingualism, cultural diversity, human rights and much
more through legislation, budgets and campaigns. It is helping shape the
future of Armenia; and may one day accept Turkey as a member.

How can contact be established with Brussels? Speakers will outline and
debate selected EU policies from the point of view of Armenians in
Europe, and share experiences of dealing with the European institutions.

Panelists:
– Dr Charles Tannock, MEP for London
– Dr Susan Pattie, Senior Research fellow, UCL, Director, Armenian Institute
– Dr Armine Ishkanian, lecturer, London School of Economics
– Jonathan Fryer, Chairman, Liberal International British Group
– Ara Sarafian, Director of the Gomidas Institute, London
– Hratch Koundardjian, political consultant and parliamentary
advisor, Aegis Trust
– Nicolas Tavitian, director, Inside Europe, Brussels

On 22 March 2007 at 7.30 pm at the Armenian House: 25 Cheniston Gardens,
London, W8 6TG
Drinks & snacks to be served
Participation: free

This event is supported by the European Commission and the AGBU and is
part of a project run jointly by Orer (Prague), Les Nouvelles
d’Arménie (Paris) and Inside Europe (Brussels).

MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE ATTACHES IMPORTANCE TO PROCESS OF ACCREDITATION OF INSTITUTES OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Noyan Tapan
Mar 14 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 14, NOYAN TAPAN. About one dozen of branches
of institutions of higher education of the Russian Federation
functions today in Armenia, but not all of them correspond to adopted
standards. Levon Mkrtchian, the RA Minister of Education and Science
expressed such anxiety at the March 13 meeting with students of
the Yerevan branch of the Moscow State University of Service. The
Minister emphasized in this sense the importance of the process of
accreditation of institutions of higher education, what, in his
words, is the most important and primary stage. "Institutions of
higher education must work out their educational, methodological and
organization programs with the help of well-founded self-examination,"
L.Mkrtchian emphasized.

The Moscow State University of Service Yerevan Branch has functioned
from 2001 and has 5 faculties and more than 800 students at present. As
institution Rector Mushegh Asoyan mentioned all conditions are created
at the institution of higher education to organize the educational
process corresponding to modern standards. He also stated that their
branch was honoured in 2005 in Geneva with a gold medal of the "High
Quality in Business Practice" international fund.

Levon Mkrtchian touched upon introduction of three-degree and credit
system, presented importance of unification of inner-republican
institutions of higher education, creation of institutional consortiums
what creates possibility of students’ free move among local and
foreign institutions of higher education to gather credits in the
direction of this or that speciality.

In the Minister’s words, the next important step to move concomitant
with international educational processes is introduction of continual
educational mechanisms. "Today scientific and economic processes
develop in the world so quickly that specialties proposed two years ago
can already have no demand for the present moment, so it is necessary
to found new structures for re-training and re-qualification,"
L.Mkrtchian mentioned.

eadrelease&releaseid=518988&ez_search=1

14 March 2007

500,000 Years of Climate History Stored Year by Year

The bottom of Turkey’s Lake Van is covered by a layer of mud several
hundreds of metres deep. For climatologists this unprepossessing slime
is worth its weight in gold: summer by summer pollen has been
deposited from times long past. From it they can detect right down to
a specific year what climatic conditions prevailed at the time of the
Neanderthals, for example. These archives may go back as much as half
a million years. An international team of researchers headed by the
University of Bonn now wants to tap this treasure. Preliminary
investigations have been a complete success: the researchers were able
to prove that the climate has occasionally changed quite suddenly –
sometimes within ten or twenty years.

Every summer an inch-thick layer of lime – calcium carbonate –
trickles down to find its final resting place at the bottom of Lake
Van. Day by day during this period millions and millions of pollen
grains float down to the depths. Together with lime they form a
light-coloured layer of sediment, what is known as the summer
sediment.

In winter the continual ‘snowdrift’ beneath the surface changes its
colour: now clay is the main ingredient in the sediment, which is
deposited as a dark brown winter sediment on top of the pollen-lime
mix. At a depth of 400 metres no storm or waves disturb this
process. These ‘annual rings’ in the sediment can be traced back for
hundreds of thousands of years. ‘In some places the layer of sediment
is up to 400 metres thick,’ the Bonn palaeontologist Professor Thomas
Litt explains. ‘There are about 20,000 annual strata to every 10
metres,’ he calculates. ‘We presume that the bottom of Lake Van stores
the climate history of the last 800,000 years – an incomparable
treasure house of data which we want to tap for at least the last
500,000 years.’

250 metres of sediment = 500,000 years’ worth of climate archives

Professor Litt is the spokesman of an international consortium of
scientists that wants to get stuck into a thorny problem: using high
tech equipment they want to cut drill cores as thick as a man’s arm
out of the lakebed sediment from a big floating platform – not an easy
task at depths of 380 metres. The researchers want to drill down to a
sediment depth of 250 metres. For this they have applied for funding
by the International Continental Drilling Programme (ICDP). This would
be the first time that an ICDP drilling was headed by a German. The
prospects of this happening are not bad. A preliminary application was
assessed as very good by the ICDP Executive Committee – above all
thanks to a successful preliminary investigation which the researchers
had carried out at Lake Van in 2004. The German Research Council
(Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) financed this. It has just
extended the project for two more years.

The sediment promises to deliver a host of exciting results. For
example vulcanologists can determine exactly when volcanoes near the
lake erupted. In this case there will suddenly be a black layer of ash
between the annual layers. ‘With our test drill we counted 15
outbreaks in the past 20,000 years,’ Prof. Litt says. ‘The composition
of the ash even reveals which nearby volcano it originates from.’

Chubby-cheeked pollen

Even earthquakes in this area of high geological activity are
painstakingly stored in these archives. What is the most interesting
aspect for Thomas Litt, however, is the biological filling contained
in the summer layers, especially. The microscopically small pollen
tells the palaeobotanist what sorts of things used to flourish on the
shores of the lake. In a piece of sediment the size of a sugar cube up
to 200,000 grains of pollen can be trapped. Under the microscope the
fine dust reveals a very special kind of beauty. The pollen of yarrow
is as prickly as a hedgehog, the pollen of pine with its air sacs
resembles the chubby-cheeked face of a hamster, ‘and look at the olive
tree,’ Professor Litt enthuses, ‘it’s also got a very nice pollen
grain.’

The researcher normally recognises at once what genus or species the
finds belong to – even when they are several thousands of years old,
since the exine, the outer coat of the grain, successfully resists the
ravages of time. ‘The material is extremely resistant to environmental
influences and even withstands strong acids or bases,’ Professor Litt
explains. Using hydrofluoric acid or potassium hydroxide he dissolves
the pollen grains from the sediment samples; the grains prove to be
completely impervious to such rough treatment. Under the microscope
the botanists then assess how much pollen of which species is present
in the layer in question. ‘At interesting points we take every
centimetre of material from the drill cores; in this way we achieve a
chronological resolution of a few years.’

The pollen permits pretty precise statements to be made about
temperature and average amount of precipitation for the period covered
by the finds, as every species makes different demands on its
environment. ‘If we find pollen in a specimen from different species,
whose demands on its habitat are known, we can make a plausibility
statement about the nature of the climate of the time,’ he adds. ‘Lake
Van promises to provide unique insights into the development of the
climate in Eurasia – and thus for assessing the current warm period.’

© AlphaGalileo Foundation 2003

3 MILLION NEEDED FOR REPAIR OF THEATER

KarabakhOpen
13-03-2007 14:54:14

2.5-3 million dollars is needed to reconstruct the Dramatic Theater
of Stepanakert, NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan stated a few days
ago. He said decoration is also possible but undesirable, however,
there is not enough money for the reconstruction of the theater. The
president said they are looking for sponsors. "There are some pledges,
and I hope that next year we will be able to solve the problem. If we
raise the necessary funds, we can add the rest from the state budget,"
said the head of state.

By the way, the only theater in Stepanakert is in a miserable
state. Pledges have been made over the past few years, even definite
dates had been set.

The theater was not included in the program of reconstruction of the
cultural sites in Armenia funded by LINCY Foundation either. Things
are right where they started.

PRECIPITATIONS FORECAST IN COMING WEEK IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Mar 12 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 12, NOYAN TAPAN. From time to time precipitations are
forecast on March 13-16 in some regions of Armenia. Due to cloudiness,
air temperature will rise by 3-5 degrees at night and will fall by
2-4 degrees in the daytime. As Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed
from Haypethydromet Department’s Meteorological Forecasts Unit,
in the coming days air temperature in the daytime in mountainous
regions will be 0 +5, at night -10, in Ararat valley, +9 +13 and -2
+3, respectively.

200 PEOPLE FOR TIBET INDEPENDENCE IN MARSELLE (FRANCE)
By Mathieu Vernerey

Phayul, Tibet
March 12 2007

We were nearly two hundred people gathered in Marseille (France)
to commemorate the Tibetan Uprising of March 10th 1959. These last
years, it was very difficult to mobilize people since the conjecture
of 2002 when the Tibetan Government in Exile requested to refrain
demonstrations, what created some confusion among Tibet supporters
in France and all over the world. This year in Marseille, we were
not many more people, maybe some few more, but there were old faces
and new ones.

This year in Marseille, people came back with a new spirit, with a
new hope and with a new determination. We shouted slogans for two
hours non-stop. We shouted slogans at the top our voice and from the
bottom of our heart : "Freedom for Tibet, Independence for Tibet,
Selfdetermination for Tibetan People, Last Chance for Negociations,
Decolonization of Tibet, No Olympics in China".

We walked during two hours from the Justice Palace to the Chinese
Consulate. We walked during two hours across the city over seven
miles. We walked and we shouted for the Tibetan Freedom.

After these two hours of walk and of so inspiring shouts, we arrived
in front of the Chinese Consulate. There were security policemen
waiting for us and protecting Chinese Consulate and French interests.

Of course, our protest was a peaceful one, but an energic one. But
more important, there were also French elected people waiting for us
protecting Tibetan sovereignty and French dignity.

Facing the Chinese Consulate, we unfurled gigantic banderoles
and large Tibetan flags. Then we started the solemn introduction
(Tibetan National Hymn and few minutes of silence) before reading
the Message of His Holliness the Dalai Lama. His appeal to unity was
very inspiring. His appeal to support TGIE’s Middle Way Approach was
legitimate and of course we listened to him.

We red some main parts of a last article of Jamyang Norbu (Looking
Back From Nangpa-La)also. By keeping in mind the words of Jamyang
Norbu, we remembered March 10th 1959. And so, on March 10th 1959,
Tibetan people may have surrounded the Norbulingka not only because
of fear that the Dalai Lama was about to be captured, but because
that he would make more concessions to Chinese demands, essentialy on
matters of sovereignty. What the Tibetan people basically did on that
March day in 1959 was declare : "We want the Dalai Lama back". And
they took him back.

After this, French elected people addressed to the meeting :
the Socialist MP (PS) Mr Christophe Masse, a representative of the
Republican MP (UMP) Mr Dominique Tian and the Green Regional Councillor
(Les Verts) Ms Catherine Levraud. They all expressed their strong
support to the peaceful struggle of the Tibetan people. They also
supported the Dalai Lama appeal for dialogue with China. But at the
same time, they acknowledged that there was no positive answer from
China and that there was no improvement in Tibet. So, after expressing
their support to the Middle Way Approach as a good and peaceful stand,
they said : "We support Tibetan Sovereignty. We support Tibetan right
to independence. Tibetans are not Chinese.

Tibetans are Tibetans. We support Tibetan Freedom".

A representative of the FRA Nor Seround (Socialist Armenian Youth)
expressed the support of her organization and of her community to
the just cause of Tibet. Being very optimistic, she feels that one
day Tibetan people will also get justice.

This demonstration in Marseille was held by the Marseillian TSG Tibet
Destination Rangzen which supports Tibetan Independence for more than
fifteen years. During all that journey, Tibet Destination Rangzen
collected some medical material for the Guchusum to bring help to
former political prisoners who are now refugees in exile. This is
why we all together remembered the Nangpa-La tragedy : "Remember
Nangpa-La ! Never give up Freedom!"

We were very happy to join this global revival of the Tibetan struggle
all over the world on this day. We were happy to believe again with
all our friends around the world that next time Tibet will restore
its sovereignty and its complete independence. We were happy to walk
and shout for a Free and Independent Tibet.

ticle=200+people+for+Tibet+Independence+in+Marsell e(France)&id=15932

Daily Georgian Times, Georgia
March 10 2007

Has Putin Downgraded Sergey Ivanov?

`Georgia does not owe anything to Armenia,’ says Ramaz Sakvarelidze

Russian President Putin’s decision to appoint Sergey Ivanov
Vice-Premier of Russia prompted analogies with Georgian President
Saakashvili’s move when he re-assigned Defense Minister Irakli
Okruashvili to the Ministry of Economy. The Georgian Times asked
Ramaz Sakvarelidze, an independent political expert and a former
foreign affairs adviser to President Saakashvili, to comment on
Ivanov’s reassignment.

Q: What was the rationale behind the cabinet shuffle in Russia? Would
you assess it as [Ivanov’s] advancement or downgrading?

A: The whole world would like to weigh in on it. No one has the exact
answer. I think Putin got rid of him. Ivanov had a rising political
rating and perhaps he would lay claim to Russia’s presidency, whether
or not it complied with Putin’s preferences. Ivanov’s policy was
based on the so-called `hawks” policy – or forceful methods in
politics. This ran counter to Putin’s political track.

Putin’s policy is also based on aggression, but it is built on
economic levers. Putin has taken a step that may seem pretty familiar
to us: he reassigned a high-rated Defense Minister to a position
which is honorable but also less popular. In his place, Putin
appointed the Chief of Tax Authorities, who may uncover some
financial disorders in the Defense Ministry and thus fund evidence of
Ivanov’s criminal accountability.

On the other hand, the appointment of the Tax Authorities Chief to
the Defense Structure suggests the ministry is going to lose its high
profile. Ivanov slipped out of control – he was leading an
independent policy that did not fully coincide with that of Putin.

Q: Should we blame Ivanov’s `independent playing’ for contributing to
tensions between Tbilisi and Moscow?

A: Certainly, the Defense Ministry has done the lion’s share in
deteriorating Georgian-Russian relations.

Q: Do you mean the Georgian Defense Ministry as well, or should we
just pile blame on Ivanov?

A: The Georgian Defense Ministry also played its part. After the
demise of the Soviet Union, the Russian Defense Ministry and
Intelligence Administration [known as GRU in Russia – GT] took over
control of the Caucasus region. The Defense Ministry of Russia was
trying to restore the Russian empire, while Putin does not seek to
reinstate the USSR. The Russian President hinges expansion plans on
economic levers. This is why there is infighting between President
Putin and the Defense Minister. Putin does not want the conflict to
erupt, as that would foil his plans of entering Europe. If Russia
plays a positive role in regional conflict resolution, Europe will
welcome Russia with applause.

Q: Let us leave Russia for a while and talk about Georgian-Armenian
relations. Quite recently, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed a
contract to launch a new regional railway project. Armenia again
found itself an outsider and expressed its protests. Does that mean
we are going to upset Armenia?

A: Georgia does not owe anything to Armenia. From history we remember
that in critical periods when Georgia was dependent on Armenia,
Yerevan took steps that served its national interests best but which
would compromise those of ours. Abkhazian events and its foreign
policy choices in Europe are good examples of this.

Georgia should not feel remorse if it prioritizes its national
interests. Armenia should realize soon that it has to become
friendlier towards its neighbors. It has yet to be made clear what
position Yerevan had towards Armenian military groups during the
Abkhazia war. I think Georgia has made more good-neighborly steps
towards Armenia than it was necessary. All three republics of the
South Caucasus should be interested in playing a common geopolitical
game. Therefore, we should forget old stories and look ahead. Georgia
should think of developing more harmonic relations in the future. The
same goes for Armenia. Armenia is running out of time. If we are
talking about Russia’s plans related to conflict settlement, then
there is a high risk that Armenia, with its current policy, will soon
be deadlocked.

Georgian Times

Bryan College Station Eagle, TX
March 8 2007

Artist’s portraits illuminate the lives of ‘torchbearers’

By JIM BUTLER
Eagle Staff Writer

Portraitist Robert Schiffhauer illuminates the lives of subjects he
chooses because of the light they have brought to the world.

Schiffhauer, whose work will be part of three exhibitions in the
Brazos Valley, calls the people he has chosen to capture on canvas
"torchbearers."

"[They] light our way towards just societies that build up
institutions for racial equality, freedom of speech, human rights,
healthy environments and wise use of resources of land and sea," said
Schiffhauer, who turns 70 on Monday. "They go beyond nationalism to a
love of humanity. In return, many were tortured and executed."

On Thursday, four of Schiffhauer’s portraits will be part of Texas
A&M University’s College of Architecture biennial exhibition in the
J. Wayne Stark Galleries in the Memorial Student Center on the
campus. Raphael Lemkin from Poland and Germans Franz Werfel, Armand
Wegner and Johannes Lepsius risked their lives to expose government
atrocities in Eastern Europe during World War II.

Schiffhauer subtitled the collection: "They shed light while others
shed blood."

"Lemkin coined the word genocide in connection with the Turkish
slaughter of Armenians," Schiffhauer said. "My personal favorite is
Wegner. He was a medical corpsman in the German Army and went into
these refugee camps and spirited out photographs of proof of what had
happened."

Werfel wrote The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, a novel that detailed the
Armenian genocide. Johannes Lepsius was a missionary who worked with
religious organizations to rescue children and pleaded with Turkish
authorities to end the killing.

The exhibit will have 65 pieces from 20 artists. A reception will be
held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Stark galleries. Admission is free.

The exhibit will run through May 6. Hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Tuesdays through Fridays and noon to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

On March 16, a retrospective of his work covering 40 years will be on
display at the Langford Building A in the College of Architecture.

In late May, a collection of Schiffhauer’s portraits is planned for
the Brazos Valley African American Museum, 400 E. 20th St. in Bryan.
Subjects of those portraits include Martin Luther King, John
Coltrane, Barbara Jordan, Louis Armstrong and W.E.B. DuBois. His
portraits of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Charles Gordone, who
taught theater at Texas A&M, were in one of the first exhibits in the
new museum.

Schiffhauer, an associate professor of architecture, pointed to
several influences that directed him to a career in art and education
and an attraction to the likes of King and Wegner.

"Discrimination has bothered me since childhood. I was discriminated
against as a German-American. Kids called me names and teased me."

Schiffhauer’s father, a first-generation German-American, worked in a
tool and die factory in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. "My family had no tradition
of higher education. Work in a factory was better than in a coal
mine."

With encouragement from a neighborhood art teacher, Schiffhauer
started drawing as a teenager.

"I think I was attracted to beauty because the town was so ugly,
banks of coal dust, slag heaps, factory buildings. My parents
couldn’t understand my wanting to go to art school. They said, ‘How
are you going to make a living?’"

Schiffhauer applied to several schools and received a full
scholarship to Cooper Union Art School in New York, considered one of
the best in the country. He earned graduate degrees from Yale
University and taught at the University of Houston before coming to
Texas A&M.

After experiments with abstract expressionism and minimalism,
Schiffhauer settled on portraits as his main interest.

"I got a lot from Vincent Van Gogh. I loved his self-portraits, so
revealing. The artist makes himself vulnerable, bears his soul."

Four years ago, Schiffhauer did an exhibit entirely of
self-portraits, each in a different style.

"The hard thing in doing portraits of these people [pointing to
paintings that will be in the exhibits] is that I don’t know them.
But I’ve immersed myself in biographies and their written works."

During his studies in New York, Schiffhauer became interested in
jazz.

"Music is symbolic of freedom. Coltrane compositions were so
spiritual, especially the Love Supreme that he did toward the end of
his life. Armstrong was America’s goodwill ambassador."

Schiffhauer hopes his paintings will remind viewers of the sacrifices
others made for freedom.

"So many things get lost in history. That’s why we have wars over and
over. People forget how horrible wars are.

"These people [in the paintings] paid a price to bring light and
truth into our lives. They shouldn’t be forgotten."

030807/entertainment_20070308048.php

TURKISH PARLIAMENTARIANS IN WASHINGTON D.C.

Turkish Press
March 6 2007

WASHINGTON D.C. – Saban Disli , a member of the Turkish parliamentary
delegation which is currently in Washington D.C. so as to express
Turkey`s sensitivity regarding the Armenian resolution submitted to
the U.S. House of Representatives, said that the delegation tried to
explain the consequences of the approval of such a resolution to the
related parties.

Disli, who is an MP of Justice and Development Party (AKP),
held a press conference in Washington D.C., together with other
parliamentarians from the delegation.

Stressing that "a large-scale struggle" was necessary on the matter,
Disli said, "this is a serious issue. It is a black spot trying to
defame our history".

Disli stressed that two separate parliamentary delegations would
visit Washington D.C. within this month as a part of this struggle,
aiming to explain the views of the Turkish society on the issue to
American congressmen.

Upon a question on which measures Turkey would take in case of the
resolution`s approval and whether a resolution condemning the "Indian
genocide" would be adopted at the Turkish parliament, Disli noted,
"We do not want to consider the probability of the approval of the
resolution. We are working for a lasting solution".

Being reminded that the major part of the logistic support to Iraq
was sent from Incirlik base, Disli stressed, "if we talk about a
specific issue, then it will be a threat. We are pointing to our
common benefits, not to threats. We said that our common interests
and in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and concerning Israeli-Palestinian
conflict could be damaged".

Commenting of the Jewish lobby`s stance regarding the Armenian
resolution as well, Disli indicated that the representatives of the
lobby expressed that they watched the issue closely, however they
did not want to affirm which steps they would take on the matter.