Author: Hovhannisian John

Flag dance of friendship that stepped on a nation’s pride
Tony Halpin in Moscow and Gayane Abrahamyan in Yerevan

The Times/UK
February 03, 2007

The modern dance performance was billed as a frank expression of
friendship between Britain and Armenia, the former Soviet republic.
Instead, Nigel Charnock’s solo show provoked diplomatic outrage after
he was accused by the Armenian Culture Minister of desecrating the
national flag.

Charnock, a noted dancer, has been called a `national treasure’ by
British critics and praised for his `eerie brilliance’ and `profligate
talent’ by The Times. The British Council had described Frank,
Charnock’s one-hour improvised performance, as `a stand-up, sit-down,
leap-around live show that picks you up, calls you names and lets you
in on some home truths’.

But the name-calling was largely done by Hasmik Poghosyan, the Culture
Minister, after Charnock, on his first vist to the country, had placed
Armenian and British flags on the stage and danced on them before an
audience at the Stanislavsky State Theatre, in Yerevan, on Wednesday.

Mrs Poghoysan, 46, who was not at the performance, ordered a second
show to be cancelled and accused Charnock of committing a criminal
offence punishable by up to a year in prison. She declared: `It is
unacceptable for us that someone who is considered a national treasure
in Britain would bring such low-quality art to Armenia.

`We honour the high art of British theatre and are sure that from the
Queen to ordinary Britons the greatest pride and treasure is
Shakespeare. It appears that the English perception of treasures has
been drastically devalued and Nigel Charnock is its best evidence.’

Mrs Poghosyan said that she was not censoring artistic expression but
acting to prevent disrespectful treatment of Armenia’s flag.

`Charnock may treat the British flag as he likes. He can drop it on
the floor, step on it, chew it or swallow it, but it is unacceptable
and punishable by law to treat the Armenian flag that way,’ she said.

At a press conference called swiftly by the British Council, a
chastened Charnock, 45, offered his `unconditional apologies’. He told
reporters: `All I’ m trying to do is communicate love.’

The Culture Ministry lifted the ban, provided that Charnock promised
not to repeat the offence, but by then it was too late to reschedule
the performance and the dancer flew home yesterday.

Lucine Ghulyan, arts manager at the British Council in Yerevan, told
The Times: `He was trying to show friendship between Armenia and
Britain. There was a total misunderstanding of his intentions.

`He was showing his affection for Armenia, but when I called the
deputy minister to explain this she didn’t want to listen to me. She
kept saying that she was offended as a citizen of Armenia to see the
flag on the floor.’

Ms Ghulyan acknowledged that some in the audience had been offended by
sexually suggestive movements during the performance. Charnock had
wrapped a Union Jack around his loins and then draped the Armenian
tricolor over his naked torso.

But Ms Ghulyan said that most had understood the show and many gave
him a standing ovation at the end.

Charnock, 45, has performed Frank around Europe since 2003, when it
was commissioned for the Venice Biennale. He co-founded the DV8
Physical Theatre before establishing his own dance company in 1996.

168 Zham, Armenia
Feb 1 2007

AUTHORITIES TO FORCE SALE OF GOLD MINE TO RUSSIANS

According to our information, the Armenian authorities are forcing
Vedanta Resources to sell the Ararat Gold-Mining Plant [AGMP] to the
Russians. Several days ago, the Armenian and Russian presidents,
Robert Kocharyan and Vladimir Putin, said in Sochi that Russia is
going to make investments in the mining sphere.

This information has been circulating at the AGMP for a month
already. The leaders of the company are even advising their workers
to find new jobs. The children of the Indian managers at the plant
have told their teachers at the Ashtarak school that they will stop
attending lessons as their families are going to leave Armenia.

The director of AGMP, Vardan Vardanyan, told us that he does not have
any information about this. But the intentions of the Armenian
authorities are already being outlined. Let us recall that the
Ecology Ministry last year audited the AGMP and twice found large
stocks of [unreported] gold. The plant appealed against those acts,
and at present the plant and Ecology Ministry are engaged in
litigation.

Let us also recall that there is a lot of gold at the Sodk deposit:
eight grams per tonne. And the Indian owners were to mine about 50
tonnes of gold over the next 12 years. Gold prices are rising on the
world market.

The Japan Times, Japan
Feb 2 2007

Tales of tribal terror

By KAORI SHOJI

When Hitler got his collaborators together and proposed the genocide
of Jews, one of the things he said to justify the act was that before
long the world will forget the whole thing. He is famed for having
cited the example of the Armenian Genocide (1915-1917, in which
around a million people were estimated to have been killed) and said
that after all, no one remembered such a thing had happened, so how
different could it be this time around?

It seems that the same logic applied to the instigators of the
Rwandan genocide. Indeed, one remark by a soldier in "Shooting Dogs,"
just before he takes a machete to a victim’s head, says as much: "No
one will remember you existed."

The point of films like "Shooting Dogs" and the earlier "Hotel
Rwanda" is less about how well they’re made than the fact that
they’re there: that they get on the international film distribution
circuit, or that such films continue to be made, again and again. So
what if these movies aren’t hardcore documentaries? If entertainment
value is what it takes to get audiences to see them, then I cast my
vote to entertainment.

This especially goes for "Shooting Dogs," directed by entertainment
artisan Michael Caton-Jones, who has made works as diverse as "Basic
Instinct 2" and "Rob Roy." Caton-Jones takes a craftsman’s approach
to the story, and doesn’t let himself cave under the enormous weight
of this fact: In 1994, 800,000 Rwandans were murdered in the space of
100 days.

In many ways, "Shooting Dogs" displays a surreal insensitivity and a
typical Hollywood handling of real-life filth — the interior shots
are defined by a pristine orderliness, everyone looks as if they had
showered that morning and the Europeans depicted here are annoyingly
well-groomed. Still, it’s impossible not to come away with nerves in
tatters. Caton-Jones keeps an emotional distance. There was probably
no other way to go about it.

Based on true-life locations and the life of a Bosnian priest who had
been one of two white clergymen to remain in Rwanda after every other
Westerner had evacuated, "Shooting Dogs" opens with the news that the
president has been killed in a plane crash. There are rumors of a
coup, which quickly escalates to a mass wave of ethnic cleansing,
underscored by a feud that had continued between Rwandan Hutus and
Tutsis for centuries. Hutu extremists seize the upper hand by
installing road blocks, closing public facilities and taking to the
streets with machetes and lists containing the addresses and names of
Tutsis. Some 2,500 Tutsis take refuge in a local technical school run
by the idealistic Father Christopher (John Hurt) and the
well-intended young British teacher Joe Connor (Hugh Dancy). Both
strive to save their neighbors, their students and families, but
they’re ultimately helpless; the most chilling scene is when Father
Christopher finally leaves the school (he’s the last white man to go,
and the last vestige of hope for these people) in a truck. Even
before the dust from the wheels have cleared, Hutu extremists (who
had all been waiting at the gates with machetes and cleavers) are
given the command to "let the work begin!"

"Shooting Dogs" was partly written and produced by BBC news reporter
David Belton. In 1994, he had been in Rwanda to report on the
massacre and was helped by the Bosnian priest who inspired the story.
Eventually Belton got out of Rwanda when the atrocities threatened to
extend to the whites. He learned later that the priest was murdered.
What surfaces throughout the story is Belton’s sense of guilt at
having abandoned the country and its people and his deep frustration
at having been powerless to "make a difference," an oft-repeated
phrase in the dialogue.

Connor, however, is not Belton’s alter ego. Of all the characters
here, he seems to be the least substantial and is perhaps meant to be
so; an amalgam of all the Westerners who, with the best intentions,
fled Rwanda, not least of all the U.N. peacekeeping forces. In the
story, a Belgian unit based at the school is given orders to shoot
the dogs eating the corpses from genocide ("it’s a health risk!") but
they do nothing to stop the Hutu militia from producing corpses by
the score. Once seen, "Shooting Dogs" isn’t likely to be forgotten,
and that’s exactly what it aims for.

2a3.html

"NEW MIGRATION POLICY OF RUSSIA IS AIMED TO PROTECTION OF MIGRANTS’
RIGHT AS WELL," GAGIK YEGANIAN FINDS

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 1, NOYAN TAPAN. When working out the migration
policy, every country attempts to solve the economic, social,
demographic as well as national security problems arisen in front of
it at the moment. Gagik Yeganian, the Chief of the Migration Agency of
the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration expressed such an
opinion at the January 31 press conference, touching upon the new
migration policy of Russia, which, in his words, is aimed to
protection of the migrant’s rights.

G.Yeganian mentioned that by the new legislation Russia make
foreigners’ entrance to labour market easy. According to it, a
foreigner must present only 4 documents: a passport, migration card,
receipt about the state duty and an application to a corresponding
structure to get permission to do work. 10 days instead of former 6-8
months were defined for study of those documents.

The agency chief also mentioned that according to the next most
important change, some limitations were made in Russia in the sphere
of retail trade. Particularly, the number of foreigners living in
markets will make 40% till April 1, and no foreign sellers will at all
be in markets after April 1. Those limitations, according to
G.Yeganian’s estimation, will not influence on Armenian migrants’
activity as the latters are involved mainly in the spheres of
construction and service.

It was also mentioned that according to Russian sources, payments and
taxes annually not credited in the country from outgoing working
activity make about 100 bln roubles. By the way, Armenian business
migrants created 1 mln working places in the RF.

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Feb 1 2007

NGOs summit on article 301 Friday

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that if NGOs would not bring
up a proposal reached by consensus that government would go ahead
with its own plan.

Güncelleme: 18:04 TSÝ 01 Þubat 2007 PerþembeANKARA – Representatives
of 19 Turkish non-governmental organisations will meet on Friday to
discuss proposed changes to the controversial article301 of the
Turkish Penal Code.

The decision to stage meeting came after the call by the Chairman of
Bar Unions Ozdemir Ozok last week.

Article 301, which covers the crime of insulting Turkishness, has
again become a subject of debate after the murder of Turkish Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, who had been was convicted under the article
prior to his murder on January 19.

Azeri Communication Minister against "electronic war"

ArmRadio.am
31.01.2007 18:00

Azerbaijani Minister of Communication Ali Abasov called to stop the `
electronic war’ between hackers of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Commenting
on the facts of attacking websites by hackers of the two countries,
the Minister noted he does not welcome such activity. `I think the
sides should refrain from such steps and should join the international
convention of website protection,’ the Minister declared.

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Jan 27 2007

Top Trabzon officials suspended after Dink killing

The New Anatolian / Ankara
27 January 2007

The governor and police chief of the northern province of Trabzon
have been recalled to the capital, a week after the shocking murder
of Armenian origin Turkish journalist Hrant Dink.

The city has now been shaken by two murder cases, with Italian
Catholic Priest Andrea Santoro killed by a reportedly mentally
unbalanced teenager last year, and journalist Dink slain in Istanbul
by yet another Trabzon teen.

Hours after the Interior Ministry launched an investigation into the
administrative and security personnel of the city, following claims
of a security lapses following Dink’s murder, Police Chief Resat
Altay and Governor Huseyin Yavuzdemir were called back to Ankara for
reassignment.

The ministry said in a written statement that two chief inspectors
were assigned to investigate the recent developments in the city
following the killing. It also added that the primary mission of the
inspectors is to find out whether the city’s security and
administrative heads neglected their duty in incidents and
demonstrations in the aftermath of the murder.

On Thursday it was reported that the gendarmerie asked the public not
to talk to people introducing themselves as secret service personnel
while questioning passers-by about the killer Ogun Samast and other
suspects.

A recently revealed intelligence report also said that certain
foreign circles had tried to establish youth gangs in the city that
resembled the gang allegedly founded by Yasin Hayal, reportedly the
second man behind the journalist’s murder.

A photo of Samast published by several dailies along with claims that
it was made available by the Trabzon gendarmerie has also fueled
concerns, as both the gendarmerie and police say they haven’t taken
photos of Samast since his detention.

Third man detained

Also on Friday, Erhan Tuncel, allegedly the third man behind the
killing, who in his initial testimony to police confessed to ordering
Hayal to found a gang and provide firearms training as well as
ideological indoctrination, was charged by the 11th Istanbul Heavy
Criminal Court. Tuncel reportedly exercised his right to remain
silent.

The total number of suspects reached six with the latest arrest.

Tuncel was seen behind Muhsin Yazicioglu, the leader of the
ultranationalist Grand Unity Party (BBP), in a newly released photo,
reinforcing speculation that the three suspects and unknown others
had been used by ultranationalist circles.

However Yazicioglu denied allegations of links to the suspect, saying
that he cannot know who is standing behind him everywhere. Reports
have claimed that all suspects were once members of an extremist
youth organization affiliated with the party.

Hayal, who was convicted for a bombing outside a McDonald’s
restaurant in Trabzon in 2004, told police that he was given bomb
training by Chechen militants in Azerbaijan, a country where a
notorious ex-army officer allegedly founded anti-Armenian assassin
groups.

The ex-general, Veli Kucuk, was also alleged to have threatened Dink
and sent his men to the journalist’s hearings. Dink’s prosecutor,
ultranationalist lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, is also said to be a close
figure to the former army member.

Bomb outside Parliament walls raises fears

Acting on a tip-off, police defused a bomb in a package found near
the outer walls of the grounds behind Parliament on Friday.

The package also contained a letter, signed by Turkish Revenge
Brigade, calling for Hayal and Samast be released.

"Set free our brothers Yasin and Ogun," said the letter, which also
protested demonstrations during Dink’s funeral ceremony.

The note resembled many others including those from political parties
that protested the banners, "We’re all Armenians, we’re all Hrant."
Even an unrelated civil group, the Association for Protection and
Evaluation of Natural Resources (EVDK) said, "We’re all Mehmed, tens
of thousands marched for an Armenian, we lose thousands of soldiers
each year; who marched to protest the losses?"

The threatening messages were also posted on the message board of a
website belonging to a local football club where both Hayal and
Samast was players for days after Samast was detained by police.

Those who posted the messages, apparently members of the football
club, called Hayal "the bomber," and expressed their hatred for Dink
while praising what Samast did.

The brigade became a high-profile yet mysterious illegal group when
it tried in 1998 to assassinate former Human Rights Association (IHD)
head Akin Birdal. The group last year claimed responsibility for a
number of bombings in southeastern Diyarbakir. A note on its website
read that they will kill 100 Kurds for every Turk killed.

Bomb causes minor damage in Samsun

Also on Friday, a bomb explosion at the entrance of a business center
in the northern province of Samsun, although it caused minor damage,
alerted police for further investigation.

Dink’s killer was apprehended at a bus terminal in Samsun, which
neighbors his hometown Trabzon, over the weekend.

The bomb was placed outside the Sengun Business Center where several
shops and non-governmental organizations are located.

The bomb went off around 2:15 a.m., shattering windows of the
building and damaging parked cars.

Police said a pipe bomb was responsible for the explosion.

TREE-CUTTING WITHOUT EXAMINATION

A1+
[06:01 pm] 25 January, 2007

The cut down grove between Aghayan 19 and Teryan 56 buildings hasn’t
undergone any ecological examination.

Under the acting law the territories of at least 1000 square meters
are subjected to examination. But the above-mentioned grove is only
512 square meters that’s why "it is not subjected to examination". The
answer of A. Santrosyan, head of "Ecological Examination" Department,
to Garegin Noushikyan, president of "Noushikyan Association" LTD
testifies to this phenomenon.

Reminder: on January 20, early in the morning "Noushikyan Association"
cut down over 20 trees for the construction of a hotel thus arousing
a wave of complaint in the neighborhood. The tree-cutters showed the
written permission of Vardan Ayvazyan, minister of Environment to
justify their step.

While talking with us, Romik Mangasaryan, head of the Yerevan regional
department, showed all the documents under which the activity of
"Noushikyan Association" is considered legal. "The Association is
the owner of the disputable area. In 2000 under the decision of
the Yerevan Municipality a bargain was made with the Noushikyan
Association" and in 2002 512-square-meter area was sold to them",
states Romik Mangasaryan. The letter of the association with warranted
facts addressed to the minister served as a ground to make the deal
legal and get the minister’s permission.

Under the given conditions the ministry couldn’t help denying. Our
rights are now limited though I must say that we denied the association
many times a few years ago. I am awfully sorry for the tree-cutting
of the grove as I live in the neighborhood and I have tried to combat
it myself. But it is already late; we must have taken measures before
the territory was put into auction", noted Mr. Mangasaryan.

By the way, the association is to plant more trees in return of the
cut down 20 ones. Mr. Mangasaryan added that at present the complaints
of the residents and their further actions are but a waste of time.

No unsolved problems standing between Russia and Armenia: Putin

Focus News, Bulgaria
Jan 24 2007

24 January 2007 | 15:41 | FOCUS News Agency

Sochi. Armenian President Robert Kocharyan arrived Wednesday in the
Russian resort town of Sochi on the Black Sea for talks with President
Vladimir Putin, the Russian RIA Novosti reports.

Putin said at the meeting that he and Kocharyan are satisfied with
bilateral relations, and that there is "not a single unsolved problem,
not a single difficult issue being discussed."

Azeri Press Agency
Jan 22 2007

Rene van der Linden: PACE on firm position of liberation of
Azerbaijani lands

[ 22 Jan. 2007 15:06 ]

Today PACE President Rene van der Linden has held press conference on
the commencing of PACE winter session, APA correspondent in
Strasbourg reports.

PACE President mainly touched on the issues that are on the agenda of
the session and gave information about his recent visits to Russia
and Belarus. He also expressed his opinion to death of Armenian
Turkish journalist. PACE President said that he is not pessimistic
about non-ratification the 14th protocol of the European Court on
Human Rights by Russia and noted that he had met with the chief of
the Duma. Rene van der Linden stated that Duma still considers the
issue.

"We will try to inspire Russia to ratify the 14th protocol," he said.

He also touched on the problem exisiting between Russia and Belarus
and stressed about possibility that the tenseness happened because of
Belarus’s approach to the European structures. He wished that Hrant
Dink’s assassination will not influence the relations of the
organization and Turkey.

"It should not influence Turkey EU membership process either," he
said.

The PACE president said that Armenian PACE commitments will be
discussed in the plenary meeting to be held tomorrow and noted that
Karabakh issue will also be in the focus of the meeting.

"We inspire the sides in the negotiations on Karabakh. Of course CE
can show its position in the negotiations; simply, we are waiting for
the results of the negotiations. As you know, PACE adopted
resolution, showing its firm position that Armenia occupied
Azerbaijani territories," he said. /APA/