Author: Hambardsumian Paul

ROLE OF ARMENIA AND KARABAKH TO GROW AFTER KARABAKH CONFLICT
SETTLEMENT
STEPANAKERT, AUGUST 25. ARMINFO. The Karabakh conflict appears to be
the most complicated conflict in the post-Soviet area, says
international law expert David Babayan.
Any conflict is based on a dilemma of geo-political and ideological
motives. If one of the conflicting parties prevails in both
components the conflict can be settled quickly otherwise it drags on.
The peculiarity of the Karabakh conflict is that the conflicting
parties have absolutely different geo-political components. Azerbaijan
has a big geo-political advantage over Karabakh – it is a bridge
between Iran, Russia and Central Asia, it has oil and gas. As a
counterbalance Karabakh has ideological prevalence. First it is more
democratic than Azerbaijan. Elections in Karabakh are fairer and more
transparent which has been confirmed by international experts. One
example is the last local elections – in many communities winners were
independent candidates. In Azerbaijan this is impossible. So the
existence of a democratic state (even if it is not recognized
officially) is good for the whole democratic community.
The second important element of Karabakh ideological prevalence is the
historical peculiarity of the Armenian nation as a whole.
Most of the Armenians live outside their historical homelands (Armenia
and Karabakh). So being scarce – some 10 mln – they at the same time
constitute a multi-civilization nation. It is good for one to have
such an ally especially as most of the countries treat their local
Armenians as their own people.
So the Armenians appear to be a unique ideological element not only in
the South Caucasus but everywhere in the world. So the complementarity
policy appears to be quite a natural choice for Armenia. With Russia
Armenia enjoys centuries-old friendship, in the US it has a
multi-million diaspora. The US is building in Armenia its biggest
embassy in the world which shows that this country is valuable for the
West. Armenia has good terms with Iran, many Armenians live in Central
Asia and Middle East. None of the South Caucasian states have such a
vast ideological potential as Armenia does. Despite its complexity the
Karabakh conflict can be resolved – as soon as it is the role of
Karabakh and Armenia will grow.

RIA OREANDA
Economic News
August 24, 2004 Tuesday
Minister Of Transport Of Russia Reports To Vladimir Putin On Plans On
Development Of Transport Infrastructure In The South Of Russia
Sochi. Sochi. Vladimir Putin met with the Minister of Transport Igor
Levitin, the press-service of the President of Russian Federation
informed.
Issues on development of transport infrastructure in the south of
Russia were discussed. Share of southern region makes approximately
30 % of transportation volume, thus the transport network is advanced
non-uniformly. The Ministry of Transport plans to reconsider
transport concept with the purpose of harmonization of automobile,
railway, sea and air communications for reduction of costs at
transportations of passengers and cargoes and their safety.
Among actual goals are development of sea transportations between
Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia.
Besides, the Ministry of Transport plans finishing construction of
roundabout road around Sochi within four years. Moreover, according
to Levitin, 8 billion rubles will be spent on construction of seven
large bridges in southern regions of Russia in 2005.

Cordis News, EU
Aug 23 2004
Superconducting technology selected for International Linear Collider
[Date: 2004-08-23]
A key decision on the technology to be used for the future
international particle accelerator has been made, clearing the way
for work on the project to commence.
An international panel of physicists recommended the use of
superconducting accelerating structures that operate at 2 Kelvin for
the International Linear Collider (ILC), rather than ‘X-band’
accelerating structures that operate at room temperature. The
recommendation was accepted by the International Committee for Future
Accelerators at a conference in Beijing, China, on 20 August.
‘Both the ‘warm’ X-band technology and the ‘cold’ superconducting
technology would work for a linear collider,’ said the chair of the
panel charged with making a recommendation, Barry Barish. ‘Each
offers its own advantages, and each represents many years of R&D
[research and development] by teams of extremely talented and
dedicated scientists and engineers. At this stage it would be too
costly and time consuming to develop both technologies toward
construction.’
The ‘winning’ technology was developed by the TESLA consortium, which
brings together researchers from Armenia, China, Finland, France,
Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the
US. As stated in the recommendation text, however, the selection of
one technology over another is based entirely on the technology, and
not on design. ‘We expect the final design to be developed by a team
drawn from the combined warm and cold linear collider communities,
taking full advantage of the experience and expertise of both.’
The superconducting technology uses L-band (1.3GHz) radio frequency
power for accelerating the electron and positron beams in the two
opposing linear accelerators that make up the collider. The
advantages of this technology, outlined in the recommendation,
include: a large cavity aperture and long bunch interval that
simplify operations, reduce sensitivity to ground motion, permit
inter-bunch feedback and may enable increased beam current; the
largest technical cost elements – the main linac and rf systems – are
of comparatively lower risk; and the use of superconducting cavities
significantly reduces power consumption.
The collider will first be used to find the Higgs boson –
hypothetical elementary particles predicted by the Standard Model of
particle physics – or any alternative mechanism that takes its place.
If it exists, the Higgs boson should be discovered at the Large
Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, but measuring
its properties with precision will require a TeV-scale
electron-positron linear collider.
But work on the Higgs particle will be ‘just the beginning’,
according to Hirotaka Sugawara, also a member of the recommendation
panel. ‘We anticipate that some of the tantalising superparticles
will be within the range of discovery, opening the door to an
understanding of one of the great mysteries of the universe – dark
matter. We may also be able to probe extra space-time dimensions,
which have so far eluded us,’ he said.
Now that a decision has been made, the international particle physics
community can begin work on a design for the linear collider. At the
same time, science funding agencies from Europe and elsewhere must
reach an agreement on the funding of the project.
For further information on the International Linear Collider, please
visit:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CURRENT STEPANAKERT MAYOR CALLS FOR VOTING FOR OPPOSITION CANDIDATE IN
RUNOFF OF ELECTIONS
STEPANAKERT, August 20 (Noyan Tapan). The runoff of the elections of
the Mayor of Stepanakert will be held on August 22. Pavel Najarian,
who is supported by the “Zham” pro-governmental organization, and
Eduard Aghabekian, Chairman of the NKR NA Standing Commission on
Social Issues, who is supported by the Central Committee of ARFD
Artsakh, will continue struggle among the five candidates in the
runoff of the elections. To recap, N. Najarian received 42.8% of votes
in the first round of the elections, and E. Aghabekian received
34.5%. It should be also mentioned that Stepanakert current Mayor Amik
Avanesian, who won in the previous elections with the support of
“Zham”, called on the voters to vote for Eduard Aghabekian.

Schweizerische Depeschenagentur AG (SDA)
SDA – Servizio di base in Italiano
20 ago, 2004
Svizzera-Turchia: visita diplomatica delegazione svizzera, senza
Calmy-Rey
BERNA,
La Commissione della politica estera (CPE) del Consiglio degli Stati
si rechera’ in Turchia il 30 agosto per una visita diplomatica di
quattro giorni. Scopo del viaggio sara’ la cura delle relazioni
bilaterali tra i due Stati. Durante il soggiorno i delegati elvetici
incontreranno il ministro degli esteri turco Abdullah Guel. Non
esiste ancora, invece, una data per un eventuale incontro con la
consigliera federale Micheline Calmy-Rey.
Oltre a curare i rapporti diplomatici ed economici con Ankara, ha
anticipato il segretario della commissione, Paolo Janke, la
delegazione svizzera discutera’ anche di un eventuale ingresso della
Turchia nell’UE, delle questioni curda e armena, dei problemi di
sicurezza, di diritti umani e dei conflitti che insaguinano l’Iraq e
il Medio Oriente.
La CPE ha in programme anche visite a Erzurum e Istanbul con lo scopo
di incontrare politici locali, organizzazioni non governative (ONG) e
fautori dell’adesione all’UE.
Il gruppo di lavoro elvetico, che conta sei membri, come ha precisato
oggi all’ats il segretario Jenke, sara’ in Turchia dal 30 agosto al 3
settembre e sara’ guidato dal presidente della CPE, Peter Briner
(PLR/SH). La Confederazione intende cosi’ dar seguito all’invito
fatto dai deputati turchi. E’ la prima volta che una delegazione del
Consiglio degli Stati si reca in Turchia.
Il viaggio era previsto da tempo, ma in seguito alla piccola crisi
diplomatica, provocata l’anno scorso dall’annullamento della visita
della ministra degli esteri Micheline Calmy-Rey da parte di Ankara,
la spedizione e’ stata rinviata.
Nel settembre 2003, infatti, Ankara aveva ritirato l’invito ad un
incontro rivolto alla Calmy-Rey, in seguito alla decisione del Gran
Consiglio vodese di riconoscere come genocidio il massacro perpetrato
nel 1915 dall’Impero ottomano ai danni del popolo armeno. Lo scorso
dicembre poi, una maggioranza di consiglieri nazionali aveva
trasmesso un postulato al Consiglio federale affinche riconoscesse il
genocidio.

ARMENIA PROPOSES TO ESTABLISH ASSOCIATION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES
WITH PARTICIPATION OF FORMER USSR COUNTRIES
YEREVAN, August 20 (Noyan Tapan). Armenia proposed to establish an
Association of Information Technologies. The former USSR countries
will be its members. Arman Valesian, the Executive Director of the
Union of Information Technologies’ Enterprises, reported at the August
20 press conference that 9 countries have already responded this
proposal, including Russia, the Ukraine, Latvia and Belorussia.
A.Valesian mentioned that a portal will be also established where the
companies of the sphere of information technologies of the
country-members of the Association will be represented.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Athens2004 Official Website, Greece
Aug 15 2004
Men’s Welter (69kg) : Bouts 30 – 35
ATHENS, 15 August – Boxers in the hotly contested Welter Weight
(69kg) division have completed the afternoon session in the Olympic
tournament at the Peristeri Boxing Hall.
Armenian born Vanes MARTIROSYAN (USA) believes he can take the gold
medal, and he started his campaign strongly by beating the tough
Algerian Benamar MESKINE 45-20.
Two-time world champion, Lorenzo ARAGON ARMENTEROS (CUB), made his
return to Olympic boxing eight years after losing to Floyd MAYWEATHER
(USA) in the quarterfinals at Atlanta.
Against local hope, Theodoros KOSTAKOS (GRE), the lanky Cuban was
clinical and ruthless. The referee stopped the contest in round
three, by which time ARAGON ARMENTEROS had built a lead of 34-14.
He will have a tougher time against MARTIROSYAN in the next round.
In the third of the Welter Weight bouts in the afternoon session,
Ruslan KHAIROV (AZE) overpowered Adam TRUPISH (CAN), opening up a cut
on the bridge of the Canadian’s nose early in the third round with a
solid right cross.
The referee stopped the contest because of injury, on the advice of
the ring side doctor.
In the next bout Sadat TEBAZAALWA (UGA) was out boxed 29-17 by Silamu
HANATI (CHN) who progressed to the next round where he will clash
with KHAIROV.
Ellis CHIBUYE (ZAM) was brave, but no match for Bulent ULUSOY (TUR)
who took the decision 45-32 in the second last bout of the session.
The final bout saw World Championship silver medallist Sherzod
HUSANOV (UZB) knock Jean Carlos PRADA (VEN) to the canvas twice in
round two before winning a 33-20 decision.
HUSANOV will met ULUSOY in the next round.

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 14 2004
The Ministry of IT and Communications Stops the Armenian Broadcasting
The Ministry of Information Technologies and Communictations
constructed special transmitters to prevent the broadcasting of
Armenian TVs and radios in Azerbaijani territories, Azadinform
reported on Friday.
The transmitters are contsructed in the territories of Tartar, Oghuz
and Poylu stations. These transmitters will stop the brodcast of
Armenian TV and radios to Azerbaijani areas near the Armenian
borders.
The same problem exixsts with the Iranian broadcasters. Azerbaijani
and Iranian parties have already finished negotiations and signed
several documents to prevent the broacasting of Iranian TVs and
radios to Azeri districts situated near the Iranian border. In spite
of this Iranian side still hasn’t made any attempts to stop the
broadcatsing of Iranian programs in Azerbaijani districts.

My Telus
Aug 12 2004
Coffee With …
You might say that like some of the talent Arthur Evrensel
represents, he was discovered in an unlikely place.
A young man of Armenian descent who moved to Montreal from Istanbul,
Turkey as a six-year-old, Evrensel was in his second year with the
law firm of Heenan Blaikie, working on mainly commercial law and
securities, when he was asked to work with experienced entertainment
lawyer Michael Prupas, a new addition to the firm.
Other than enjoying movies or television shows, Evrensel didn’t
really have a background in the entertainment industry. In fact, when
he completed his bachelors degree in economics at McGill University,
his thoughts were to either obtain his chartered accountant
designation or pursue real estate law.
At the encouragement of a friend, Evrensel applied to law school at
McGill and completed a degree covering both common and civil law.
Along the way he landed a summer job with Heenan Blaikie.
Save HUGE with packages.

While happy to get the work, he didn’t quite see himself with the
firm long term. Heenan Blaikie had just 26 lawyers and did mainly
labour, litigation and commercial law.
“I was looking for a bigger firm and thought, ‘Hey it’s a summer
job,’ ” Evrensel explains as we sit this Thursday morning at one end
of a boardroom table that would make a giraffe’s neck look short.
But as he would note later on in our conversation at Heenan Blaikie’s
downtown office, you have to be good to be lucky and lucky to be
good.
Evrensel would stick with Heenan Blaikie and a year before he
graduated the firm announced it was welcoming former Canadian Prime
Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau into the fold.
And when Evrensel began working in the firm’s entertainment practice,
the media world was a dramatically changing place with the
500-channel universe coming into play.
“All of these new channels were needing product and we were in the
middle of it,” Evrensel notes, adding that the growth meant new
opportunities for Heenan Blaikie.
In 1989, Norman Bacal went to Toronto to open a new office for the
firm. Two years later, Evrensel, an almost lifelong Montrealer to
that point, made the unlikely move to Vancouver. At the time that he
was instrumental in launching the Vancouver office, B.C. boasted just
$88 million in film and television production.
But the industry grew and with it so did Evrensel’s profile. Last
year, buoyed by big budget films The Chronicles of Riddick, Catwoman
and I Robot, B.C.’s film and TV industry was worth $1.4 billion.
And a glance at Evrensel’s resume indicates that he has been a real
player in that growth. Just the sample of his clients on his resume
is far too long to list. But some of them include MGM Television
Group, The David Suzuki Foundation, The Jim Pattison Group, Royal
Bank of Canada, Columbia/TriStar Television, Sony Pictures, New City
Pictures, Da Vinci Productions (Chris Haddock), Troika Films (Walter
Daroshin), Shavick Entertainment, The Characters Talent Agency,
Morgan Creek Productions and Lions Gate Entertainment.
Evrensel actually sits on the board of directors for Lions Gate,
which is proving to have made a brilliant business move when it
released Michael Moore’s documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 after Disney
decided not to. Fahrenheit 9/11, which cost $6 million US to make,
has earned about $133 million worldwide.
Evrensel says he wasn’t worried about the repercussions from
releasing Moore’s documentary. The Edgemont Village resident notes
that the film is factually based and is in no way libelous or
slanderous. Further, the board of Lions Gate Entertainment has an
obligation to the shareholders to pursue what is in their best
interests. To not release Fahrenheit 9/11 would be showing political
partisanship and not prudent business sense.
But the 46-year-old Evrensel has many other projects he has
participated in as head of Heenan Blaikie’s entertainment law group
in Vancouver that he appears more gung ho to talk about.
He mentions Bell Making The Cut, a reality show airing on CBC Sept.
21st in which wannabe NHL hockey players, with coaches Scottie Bowman
and Mike Keenan as their guides, get a crack at their dream of an NHL
tryout.
Earlier on in our conversation, Evrensel pulled out a hardcover
coffee table book full of colourful aerial pictures of Canada’s
unique geography and cities called “Over Canada: An Aerial
Adventure,” which was produced by Jim Pattison Industries. He is
obviously pleased to have been involved with its production and notes
working with Pattison is a pleasure because he always learns
something.
Right now, Evrensel is working with B.C. company Brightlight, which
is producing an $8 million movie in Romania called Blood Rayne. It is
based on a video game and features Sir Ben Kingsley.

Romania, Evrensel notes, is cheap to produce in and the movie could
have never been made here for that price.
Competition, explains the man who is listed in the Canadian Who’s Who
and has been recognized by his peers the last few years as one of the
top entertainment lawyers in Canada, is getting fiercer all of the
time.
Not only are some American film industry types crying the blues about
runaway productions and California and Washington states considering
introducing tax credits to keep the industry at home, other countries
around the world are trying to duplicate the incentives Canada
offers.
The debate over federal support for the film industry hit home during
the federal election in June. North Vancouver Conservative MP Ted
White had indicated that he would not support tax credits or
incentives for the industry, characterizing it as corporate welfare.
Evrensel says that the Motion Picture Production Industry
Association, for which he sits on the board of directors, contacted
White in an attempt to clarify any misconceptions he may have had but
White responded that it was too close to the election for him to meet
with them and he didn’t think his constituents wanted him supporting
corporate welfare.
In the end District of North Vancouver Mayor Don Bell, the Liberal
candidate, upset White and it was widely believed that the votes from
local film industry workers proved the difference.
“The North Vancouver federal election was a very satisfying election
for us,” Evrensel admits.
He cites reports conducted by accounting firms PriceWaterhouseCoopers
and Ernst and Young that indicate the federal government actually
reaps a net positive return for tax credits provided to the film
industry.
Evrensel explains that U.S. film producers can, due to the size of
their consumer market with a population of 300 million, make a movie
and fund it entirely within. Canada, on the other hand, doesn’t have
that critical mass and needs to develop partnerships and sell its
product in foreign markets to succeed. Thus the need for government
incentives, or public-private partnerships as he describes them, to
ensure Canadians can compete with giants like the U.S.
Evrensel adds that B.C. has to be proactive and meet any challenges
that arise. The industry can’t be taken for granted and always has to
be treated well.
“You always have to service it. This is a mobile industry and anybody
who doesn’t understand that will regret it,” he explains.
Further, Evrensel notes the industry is always changing, and the
local industry needs to recognize that change and be on top of it.
He points out that reality programs now make up a major portion of TV
schedules, so if the industry is still only producing drama shows, it
should be asking itself why. Further, just five or six years ago DVDs
were not a known commodity.
“Last year sales of DVDs surpassed theatrical release in North
America. If you don’t understand the change, you’ll be left behind.”
The industry keeps him on his toes, Evrensel shares. Things happen
quickly and he says that unlike with a real estate development deal
where you can spend a longer amount of time to ensure all risks are
removed, an entertainment deal may have to be turned around in a
couple of weeks.
“If there’s one thing I learned about this business is you have to be
able to work with a certain modicum of risk. You have to accept a
certain level of risk in any deal. The key is to understand it and to
be able to evaluate that risk and whether or not it’s a realistic
risk you and the client can assume and live with.”
He notes, for instance, that if movie producers have decided upon Ben
Kingsley as a lead and Kingsley is only available for two weeks, the
determination has to be made as to whether or not the production can
adjust to his schedule. If not, then another actor has to be hired.
As for Evrensel, there can be no replacement. Nor is he likely to
make room for one. For while Evrensel might have been discovered in
an unlikely place, he finds himself in a position and an environment
he wants to stay in.
Evrensel says the people in B.C. are much friendlier than in
Montreal. He chalks it up to the fact so many have come from other
parts of the country that they are willing to interact with new
people and aren’t locked into cliques.
And as for that little firm Heenan Blaikie that Evrensel wasn’t sure
he wanted to stay with back when he was a law student in the mid
1980’s, it is likely now larger than any big firm he imagined himself
working for. Heenan Blaikie boasts over 350 lawyers, including
another former PM, Jean Chretien, and is the 10th largest firm in the
country.
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MEMBERS OF “CHHARMAHAL” UNION MEETS WITH HEAD OF ARMENIAN DIOCESE OF
TEHRAN
TEHRAN, August 13 (Noyan Tapan). A group of members of the Armenian
“Chharmahal” educational union of Tehran accompanied by Yesayi
Abrahamian, Chairman of the board of the union, and executives of
units, met with Archbishop Sepuh Sargsian, Head of the Armenian
Diocese of Tehran, on August 9. The purpose of the meeting was to
receive the blessing and advices of the holy father for their upcoming
performances to be held in Armenia within the framework of “One
Nation, One Culture” Pan-Armenian festival. These units are the youth
literary group of the union (16 members headed by art critic,
intellectual Misha Hairapetian), the “Kanach” dance group (16 members,
Arus Avagian is the dancing-master), the “Akunk” dance group (24
members, Karine Manucherian is the dancing-master). At the beginning
of the meeting Yesayi Abrahamian explained the cultural work carried
out at the union, speaking about the activities of the indicated
groups. The youth literary group of the union was established 20 years
ago, Misha Hairapetian is the founder and head of the union. The
literary group had and has vital literary and recitation activities
and educated many art amateurs during many years. Misha Hairapetian
said that during the festival the literary group will perform the
works of Sayat Nova, Charents, Hovhannes Grigorian, as well as the
works of several Iranian-Armenian writers. At the end of the meeting
the Archbishop Sepuh Sargsian spoke about the role of the Armenian
culture and emphasized the necessity of the succession of the national
and spiritual-cultural values of the Armenian youth.