Author: Harutyunian Christine

YOUNG CHESS-PLAYERS OF ARMENIA START WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WITH SUCCESS

BELFOR, JULY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. The boys’ and girls’ regular world
championships start in the city of Belfor, France. They are held in
three age-groups, at the same time go on in 10 tournamemts in which
more that one thousand chess-players of a dozen of countries
participate. 14 young men, who participate in all age-groups,
represent Armenia in the world championship. After the 3 rounds held,
some of the boys and girls from Armenia are in the group of leaders.
Samvel Ter-Sahakian, Roza Shakarian (12 years old age-group), Hovik
Hayrapetian (16), Arman Pashikian (18), who have 3 points each, play
with the most success. Ara Diloyan (10) has 2.5 points. 6
participants have 2 points each and can pretend on high places.

Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia)
July 22, 2005 Friday

Rigging claims dismissed

by Leo Schlink

RUSSIAN Nikolay Davydenko and Armenian Sargis Sargsian have been
cleared of match-fixing allegations.

The pair’s match in Gstaad, Switzerland, on July 4 was investigated
after complaints from bookmakers, but “no improprieties” were
uncovered by ATP officials.

ATP vice-president David Higdon said the match had been looked into
and there were no issues.

Website betting agency Onthepunt.com claimed the match between
Davydenko and Sargsian was suspicious.

“The sport of professional tennis is set to be further tarnished as
more evidence of suspected match-fixing on the ATP Tour surfaces,”
the Onthepunt.com website said.

“The latest match that has raised the eyebrows of bookmakers was
played between two good friends, Nikolay Davydenko and Sargis
Sargsian, at Gstaad on July 4. Sargsian was declared the winner of
the match when Davydenko sensationally retired while leading 6-1 1-0.

“Sargsian started the match as a big underdog at odds of up to $6.50.

“Davydenko cited a wrist injury for the retirement.

“One Europe-based bookmaker became suspect (sic) when a 4000 (euro)
bet was placed on Sargsian just five minutes before the match was due
to start. It is believed the bookmaker traced the IP address of the
betting account to the official player hotel in Gstaad.”

The website alleged some bookmakers had not fielded on the match
because of “irregularities surrounding previous matches involving
Sargisian”.

ATP officials monitored the match closely and were aware both players
carried established injuries into the contest.

Both players were specifically watched for “lack of effort” and there
were no reports from the match.

But Onthepunt.com insists there was something amiss.

“The timing of the latest controversy could not have come at a worse
time for red-faced ATP executives who have allowed a tournament in
Austria next week to be sponsored by one of Europe’s largest tennis
bookmakers,” the website said.

Georgian Irakli Labadze was this year summoned to appear before an
Austrian court to face questions over alleged match-fixing last
season in a match with Julian Knowle.

Austrian Knowle upset fourth seed Labadze 7-5 4-6 6-2.

Martin Fuehrer, identified by prosecutors as a friend of Labadze’s,
sued a betting company in Korneuburg, Austria, after it refused to
pay out on a $23,000 winning bet against the Georgian. The company
claims to have evidence Fuehrer knew Labadze would lose.

VENEZUELAN PARLIAMENT RECOGNIZED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

PanArmenian News Network
July 20 2005

20.07.2005 08:31

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Parliament of Venezuela adopted a resolution on
July 14 recognizing the Armenian Genocide, introduced by Parliament
Member Victor Hugo Morales and lawyer Janet Madris. Archbishop Komitas
Ohanian and Grigor Postalian represented Venezuela’s Armenian community
at the Parliament session. The resolution also calls on the European
Union to deny Turkey a European Union membership unless and until that
country recognized the Armenian Genocide. The Cilicia Catholicosate
and Catholicos Aram I have greatly contributed to the years-long
effort that crowned with success on July 14.

Azerbaijan aims at Turkish support through closer ties with Cyprus – daily

Zerkalo, Baku
19 Jul 05

Excerpt from K. Quluzada report by Azerbaijani newspaper Zerkalo on
19 July headlined “Azerbaijan de-facto recognized the Turkish Cyprus”
and subheaded “In response, the Greeks are threatening Baku with
supporting Nagornyy Karabakh”.

The latest moves by Baku mean a de-facto recognition of the Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan said prior to his visit to Russia.

[Passage omitted: TRNC president says Azerbaijan’s moves will help
them out of international isolation; details of Erdogan’s visit to
Baku in June]

Baku’s position provoked a sharp reaction in Greece, the Greek part
of Cyprus and Armenia. Calls started to be voiced at different levels
in these countries in response to official Baku’s plans to recognize
the independence of the “Nagornyy Karabakh Republic” (NKR). Besides,
the Greek community of Cyprus made a “threat” to open direct flights
to Nagornyy Karabakh.

We should note that there is quite a lot of resemblance between the
Karabakh and Cyprus problems. Despite its strategic alliance with
Turkey, Azerbaijan has so far avoided openly supporting the TRNC
as this may create a precedent for the international recognition of
“unrecognized republics”, one of which is the “NKR”.

Taking into consideration the existence of the Karabakh problem, the
position of Greece on the Cyprus issue should be closer to that of
Azerbaijan, rather than that of Turkey. What is more, a reverse effect
is also at work here. From a logical point of view, it would be more
advantageous to Ankara to obtain international recognition [for TRNC]
from any separatist formation, including Nagornyy Karabakh, because
in such a case, a chance arises to legitimize the TRNC. However,
due to the mutual aversion that has formed historically between the
two alliances – Azerbaijan-Turkey and Armenia-Greece, Baku supports
Ankara and Ankara supports Baku.

What has happened now, after all? Why did [Azerbaijani President]
Ilham Aliyev decide to change the policy towards the TRNC that was
previously conducted by [the late President] Heydar Aliyev? Will this
lead to the “NKR” getting out of international isolation?

The thing is that during the referendum held in Cyprus, the Greek
community refused to join the EU together with the Turkish community,
while the majority of the northern community accepted this plan of
settlement. After this, a new international atmosphere formed around
the Cyprus problem. The USA, the EU and even Russia (the details will
follow later) favoured taking the TRNC out of it’s isolation. The
Turkish Cypriots started to be regarded as being more ready for
compromise than the Greek Cypriots. This, in principle, could serve as
a reason for Baku to give Ankara more active and more visual support.

Besides, the intention to lift the TRNC’s international isolation
is possibly a signal from the Azerbaijani authorities to the public
of the country about the possibility of the Karabakh settlement
developing in the same way. Besides, it cannot be ruled out that
the Azerbaijani authorities are trying towards not so much the
international recognition of the TRNC as towards finding additional
markets in order to invest surplus funds available in the country.

True, with this, Azerbaijan’s policy on compiling “a black list”
of companies operating in the “NKR” becomes quite scrupulous. The
aspiration of the Azerbaijani authorities to obtain additional
support from Ankara in the run-up to the parliamentary election
can be considered as another factor. The supposed reasons for the
change in Azerbaijan’s foreign policy priorities are very diverse,
but they do not exclude each other. One thing is clear: Ilham Aliyev
is conducting a more active policy with regard to the TRNC than the
authorities in the 10 years before him. To all appearances, the most
important factor here is precisely the change in the international
atmosphere around the Cyprus problem.

[Passage omitted: details of the meeting between the Russian president
and Turkish premier in Sochi]

Boro boys in action for England
Story by Reggie Holdsworth

Scottish Fitba, UK
July 18 2005

Three of Boro’s rising stars helped England U-19’s earn a draw against
France in the opening game of the UEFA European U-19 Championship.

Tony McMahon, Andrew Taylor and James Morrison all started the game
at The Oval, Belfast.

England U-19’s took the lead, through Walsall’s Matthew Fryatt,
with less than ten minutes on the clock, but could not hold on,
as France equalised through Balde ten minutes later.

McMahon and Taylor played the full ninety minutes, but Morrison was
substituted with just over quarter of an hour remaining. Boro’s fourth
squad member, David Wheater, was an unused substitute.

England now play Armenia on Wednesday before completing the group
phase by playing Norway on Saturday. Norway beat Armenia 2-0 in
tonights other Group B game.

The top two teams will progress to the semi-finals.

Kiev studying Iran-Europe gas pipeline

IranMania, Iran
July 17 2005

Sunday, July 17, 2005 – ©2005 IranMania.com

LONDON, July 17 (IranMania) – Ukraine plans to join an international
consortium to build a gas pipeline for transportation of Iranian gas
to Europe, Petro Poshenko, the Head of Ukrainian National Defense and
Security Council said at a press conference, according to Ukraine-based
internet newspaper Forum.

Poshenko said he had discussed the issue during his visit to Iran.
according to Iran Daily.

Talks with Iran were held when Viktor Yushchenko was prime minister
in 2000, he said.

Several possible routes through Armenia, Georgia, Russia, and also
Turkey and the Black Sea have been considered, he said.

Experts have six weeks to calculate the costs and profit margins of
the routes and determine which one is the best, he added.

Deputy energy ministers from the countries interested in the
pipeline are to meet in Iran on July 24-25, Poroshenko said. Specific
deadlines and the list of countries taking part will be determined
at the meeting.

The project could cost over $10 billion and see over one thousand
kilometers of pipeline in Iranian territory alone, he said.

“Iran is ready to take part in financing the laying of the gas
pipeline in its territory and guarantee determined volumes of gas
supplies and fix prices for the recoupment period,” he said.

–Boundary_(ID_UnsYfxAfAbVCj2Qd7opJ9A)–

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway

The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief

================================================
Wednesday 13 July 2005
NAGORNO-KARABAKH: SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR EMBATTLED BAPTIST CONSCRIPT

Embattled Baptist conscript Gagik Mirzoyan received a two-year sentence,
suspended for one year, at his 7 July trial. He had refused to swear the
military oath or serve with weapons since being called up into the army of
the unrecognised republic of Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus.
“This means he won’t have to serve any time in prison – if of course
he does nothing wrong over the next year,” Albert Voskanyan of the
local Centre for Civilian Initiatives told Forum 18 News Service. Beaten
twice since his conscription last December, Mirzoyan spent 10 days in
prison for preaching his faith in his army unit. “After a lot of
pressure, Gagik was finally happy because he could see his brothers and
sisters from the church at his trial,” a Baptist told Forum 18.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH: SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR EMBATTLED BAPTIST CONSCRIPT

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service

Embattled Baptist conscript Gagik Mirzoyan from the unrecognised republic
of Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus who refuses to swear the
military oath or bear arms because of his religious convictions has been
given a suspended sentence, a member of the Council of Churches Baptists
has told Forum 18 News Service. On 7 July the district court of Hadrut in
south-eastern Karabakh sentenced Mirzoyan to two years’ imprisonment,
suspended for one year. “After a lot of pressure, Gagik was finally
happy because he could see his brothers and sisters from the church at his
trial,” the Baptist told Forum 18 on 13 July. “Some were even
there from outside Karabakh.” Welcoming the fact that the sentence
was suspended was Albert Voskanyan, director of the Centre for Civilian
Initiatives. “This means he won’t have to serve any time in prison –
if of course he does nothing wrong over the next year,” he told Forum
18 from the capital Stepanakert on 13 July.

Voskanyan attributed the relatively mild penalty to the international
attention the case has generated. “Of course the attention played a
positive part in achieving only a suspended sentence,” he told Forum
18. “This is a good result.” Mirzoyan’s fellow Baptists had
feared a prison term of up to two years. Karabakh officials have revealed
to Forum 18 in recent months that letters about his case had arrived in
Stepanakert from around the world.

Nagorno-Karabakh has compulsory military service for all young men, with
no alternative service provision. Mirzoyan was found guilty under Article
364 part 1 of the criminal code (Nagorno-Karabakh has adopted Armenia’s
criminal code), which punishes “refusal to perform one’s military
duties” with detention of up to 3 months, disciplinary battalion of
up to 2 years or imprisonment of up to 2 years. However, the court ruled
that the sentence should be suspended under Article 70 of the criminal
code, which covers conditional punishments.

Mirzoyan is now back with his military unit in the Hadrut district.
“He is OK there, though we have to keep an eye on the case,”
Voskanyan added. The Baptist agreed, reporting that although Mirzoyan is
under “special supervision” at the unit, he is not being
pressured at the moment.

Mirzoyan, a Karabakh native, was called up last December and refused to
serve with weapons or to swear the military oath on grounds of religious
conscience. Since being conscripted he has been beaten up in two different
military units and served 10 days in military prison (see F18News 6 January
2005 and 15 April 2005
).

On the day of the trial, an official of Nagorno-Karabakh’s foreign
ministry had told Forum 18 that no case against Mirzoyan had been
completed (see F18News 7 July 2005
). It remains unclear
why the official failed to tell Forum 18 that the trial was taking place
that day.

Two Jehovah’s Witnesses – Karabakh native Areg Hovhanesyan and
Armenian citizen Armen Grigoryan, who had been illegally deported from
Armenia to serve in Karabakh against his will – have been sentenced
in Nagorno-Karabakh this year for refusing military service on grounds of
religious conscience. Hovhanesyan is serving his four-year sentence in
prison in the Karabakh town of Shushi, while Grigoryan has been returned
to Armenia to serve his two year sentence (see F18News 7 July 2005
).

A printer-friendly map of the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is
available at
;Rootm ap=azerba
within the map titled ‘Azerbaijan’.

A printer-friendly map of Armenia is available at
;Rootmap=armeni
(END)

© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News

Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
July 12 2005

ARMENIAN FM, AAA REPS DISCUSS ARMENIA’S FOREIGN POLICY

YEREVAN, July 12. /ARKA/. RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has
held a meeting with President of the Board of Director, Armenian
Assembly of America (AAA) Enthony Bardamyan, AAA Executive Director
Bryan Arduni and Director of the AAA Armenia office Arpi Vardanyan.
The sides discussed Armenia’s economic development, as well as main
issues of Armenia’s foreign policy related to the Nagorno-Karabakh
settlement, Armenian-Turkish relations, as well as a number of
regional problems. He sides also addressed a number of issues on the
principal agenda of Armenian-American relations. P.T. -0–

Durham Herald Sun, NC
July 11 2005

Duke grad student detained in Armenia

BY PAUL BONNER : The Herald-Sun
[email protected]
Jul 11, 2005 : 10:57 pm ET

DURHAM — Duke University doctoral student Yektan Turkyilmaz is
something of a rarity in the chronically uneasy relationship between
Turkey and neighboring Armenia: a Turkish historian accepted by
Armenians as impartial.

Which makes it seem all the more odd to his Duke associates, friends
and family that after allowing him to conduct research at Armenia’s
national archives — reportedly the first Turk ever to do so —
Armenian authorities have detained him for more than three weeks.

Despite pleas from Duke administrators and others, Turkyilmaz remains
in a legal limbo. Although he has not been charged, he ran afoul of
an Armenian law that makes it a crime to take any book more than 50
years old out of the country without permission.

While researching in Armenia, Turkyilmaz bought several second-hand
books from street vendors, said his adviser, Duke professor Orin
Starn.

Turkyilmaz had finished a six-week stint at the Armenian archives in
the capital city of Yerevan, the last leg of travels that also have
taken him to Paris and Ankara, Turkey, for his dissertation on Turkey
and the surrounding region in the early 20th century. He was pulled
off a departing plane at Yerevan’s airport on June 17 and held by
Armenia’s National Security Service.

He has not been allowed to communicate with his family in Turkey or
with Duke associates, although he now has a lawyer, Starn said. The
lawyer has relayed word that Turkyilmaz is in good health and says he
has not been mistreated, said Starn, who has communicated with
Turkyilmaz’s sister in Istanbul.

“We’re deeply concerned about the situation,” Starn said.

Most of the books were from the 20th century, although one was
published in the 17th century, Starn said. If Turkyilmaz had declared
the books at the airport, he would have been allowed to keep them,
Starn said.

“None of these books, according to the lawyer, are rare books,
ancient manuscripts, national treasures or anything like that,” Starn
said. “I’m certain that Yektan didn’t know of the existence of that
law. Who would?”

Turk-Armenian relations still smolder over what Armenians say was
genocide against them by Turkey in the early 20th century. Turkey
disputes the extent of civilian deaths and denies any policy of
genocide.

Turkyilmaz, who belongs to the Kurdish ethnic group, speaks Armenian
well, and is acknowledged by the head of Armenia’s national archives
as “an impartial writer,” the AZG Armenian Daily newspaper reported.

“That’s what’s paradoxical about this situation,” Starn said.

Armenian claims of genocide are “something of a taboo subject” in
Turkey, he said. “And Yektan is one of the relatively few scholars
who have spoken out and called for the need for more dialogue and
understanding about what happened back then,” Starn said.

The 33-year-old student in Duke’s department of cultural anthropology
is a “brilliant” and well-liked researcher, for whom Turkish,
Armenian and English are just three of the seven languages he speaks,
Starn said. He is scheduled to return this month to Duke, where he is
a John Hope Franklin fellow for the coming academic year.

Top Duke administrative officials have urged his release, and U.S.
Rep. David Price’s office has asked the U.S. State Department and
Armenian Embassy to investigate.

Rocky Mountain News, CO
July 8 2005

When worlds collide
Romance crosses cultures in erotically charged drama ‘Yes’

By Robert Denerstein, Rocky Mountain News
July 8, 2005

Poetry and movies don’t make the best of bedfellows. So when a
director decides that characters should speak in verse as part of an
allegorical romance about faltering relations between the Arabs and
Westerners, it sounds as if a literary gun has been loaded and
pointed directly at our heads.

And when that director is Sally Potter (Orlando, The Tango Lesson),
one reasonably can worry about whether the resultant movie will feel
slightly arid. Potter has a fondness for cinema that’s all of a piece
but is somewhat abstract, style-driven work in which the style isn’t
always enough.

In Potter’s new movie, Yes, the characters do speak in verse, but
what easily could have been a pretentious exercise develops into a
rich display of eroticism.

Much of the credit belongs to the actors (notably Joan Allen and
Simon Abkarian), who downplay the poetry, delivering Potter’s
iambic-pentameter dialogue in the rhythms of ordinary speech. At the
same time, the poetry creates an atmosphere in which the stakes of
each conversation seem slightly heightened.

Potter, who says she began writing just after Sept. 11, has decided
to explore the subject of cultural rift in an erotically charged
movie in which two very different characters become romantically
involved. And although Potter doesn’t entirely win her bet, she must
be credited for jumping into difficult thickets, bringing her probing
movie to a surprisingly optimistic conclusion.

Seen earlier this year in the comedy The Upside of Anger, Allen plays
a scientist whose marriage to a diplomat (Sam Neill) has gone stale.
At a dinner party, she meets a chef (Abkarian) from an unnamed Middle
Eastern country. He immediately begins to woo her.

Allen is one of the few actresses who combine imposing intelligence
with eroticism, and she contrasts well with Abkarian, an Armenian
actor from Lebanon who brings charm and emerging rue to the role of
an Arab physician forced to work as a chef in London.

Neill has a wonderful air-guitar-playing moment that allows us to
peek behind his character’s pinstriped facade, but for the most part
Yes remains a two-character dance in which the steps are determined
by chemical attraction and cultural conflict.

When the workers in Abkarian’s restaurant make racist remarks, he
turns a single incident into an indictment of an entire culture,
spreading his venom to Allen’s character. He’s pushed to an extreme
that probably doesn’t represent his deepest beliefs, which is one of
the worst consequences of prejudice: It can deprive people of choice.

Allen’s character (called “She” in the screenplay) tries to balance
her need for sexual and romantic excitement with a scientific bent
that mistrusts both. Abkarian increasingly finds himself stuck in the
fissure between the demands of tradition and the need for individual
expression.

Potter also provides perspective on her characters by focusing on the
maids who serve as the movie’s chorus. One (Shirley Henderson) brings
a down-to-earth skepticism to the proceedings.

If you’re looking for a shattering conclusion about the possibility
of bridging cultural gaps, you’d do well to look elsewhere. Despite
its trappings (poetry, ideas and a Philip Glass score), Yes is less a
formal triumph than a movie that’s redeemed by the one thing movies
express better than ideas: a delicate yet compelling eroticism.

For a variety of reasons that Potter’s screenplay makes clear, two
people turn each other on. The rest, as they say, is struggle and
commentary.