Author: Hunanian Jack

Christian Science Monitor
September 09, 2005
p.html

Agassi proves he’s still a contender

In a surprise upset at the US Open, Andre Agassi defeated James Blake
to advance to the semifinals Saturday.
By Mark Sappenfield | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Like every good Vegas act, Andre Agassi, it seems, has an encore. By
the measure of his hometown Strip, this might seem slight fare indeed
– a bald, 35-year-old father of two sweating in his tennis trunks with
nary a spangle or feather headdress in sight.
But this is New York and the US Open, and during the past fortnight
his racket has been more miraculous than any magician’s wand. Even
before he faces Robby Ginepri Saturday, Agassi has added to a legacy
of eight Grand Slam titles perhaps the most memorable turn of all – an
improbable run to the semifinal in Flushing Meadows.
Like a Madonna of the hard courts, he has once again reinvented
himself in this final – and most intriguing – act of his career. No
longer the floppy-haired heartthrob or even the rededicated pro,
Agassi has become tennis’s conscience as its elder statesman and one
of its most dedicated philanthropists – and this week has not only
been a celebration of the genius of his ground strokes but also an
appreciation of one of the sport’s true gentlemen.
“If there’s anyone I’m cheering for it’s Andre,” said James Blake in a
press conference early Thursday morning, only minutes after losing to
Agassi in five sets in Wednesday’s quarterfinal match.
Agassi has always had people to cheer for him. Early in his career, he
was James Dean with fantastic hair and a thunderous forehand. Never
mind the actual tennis, his mere appearance made Flushing Meadows feel
like a Skid Row video.
Yet years after he was shorn of his locks and his A-list entourage, it
was still Agassi – not native New Yorker Blake – who worked the crowd
into a lather Wednesday. On one hand, it is an odd sort of love
affair. In the place of the Man With the Mane is an almond-eyed
workaholic with all the on-court enthusiasm of “Rain Man.”
For the first two sets of Wednesday’s match, Agassi slunk around the
court in slump-shouldered meekness as Blake pummeled him. But even
then, there were seeds of the Vegas showman. Agassi lost the first two
sets. He was a break down in the third. He was a break down in the
fifth. He lost the first three points of the tiebreaker. All that
remained was for the ballboy to cover Agassi with a towel at the
changeover, James Brown-style.
Yet since Agassi dropped the rock-star persona in the late 1990s,
Agassi has entertained with his skill – becoming only the fifth man
ever to win all four Grand Slam titles in his career and bringing
Flushing to its feet Wednesday.
In a frenzied fifth set, he uncorked his inhibitions like a backcourt
matador, fending off the Blake’s sizzling shots with his own bolo-whip
strokes.
“This is what you work so hard for,” said Agassi after the Blake
match. “This means as much to me as being in the finals…. There are
few moments that can be this special.”
Clearly, there was an affection for tennis’s Grand Old Man, who became
the fifth-oldest man to make the US Open semifinals. Like Jimmy
Connors, who ignited New York when he made it to the semifinals in
1991 at age 39, and Pete Sampras, who capped his career with a US Open
title three years ago, Agassi is penning a Hollywood script – coming
back from a injury at the French Open at an age when most tennis stars
are honing their gardening skills.
But beneath the romance of the oldest – and most beloved – player at
the US Open making it to the final weekend, there is also an
appreciation of the man that Agassi has become both on and off the
court. Four years ago, he founded a charter college preparatory school
for disadvantaged children in Las Vegas. Earlier this year, he
switched shoe sponsorship deals to bring more money to his foundation,
which supports children’s causes.
In short, he’s just the sort of person that schoolteachers and mothers
say should finish first. This weekend, he will have the chance.
| Copyright © 2005 The Christian Science
Monitor. All rights reserved.

OSCE MONITORED CONTACT LINE BETWEEN KARABAKH AND AZERI ARMED FORCES
Pan Armenian News
08.09.2005 04:37
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today the OSCE mission held recurrent planned
monitoring of the contact line between the Armed Forces of
Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan. It was held next to Levonarkh
village of NKR Martakert region. Personal Representative of the
OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk and his field assistants
monitored the line from the positions of the NKR Defense Army. The
monitoring registered no breaks of the cease-fire regime, however the
Azeri party, in contrast to the Karabakh one, did not admit the OSCE
mission to the front line.

OUTSIDE VIEW: RUSSIA’S FUTURE
By Norman Levine
UPI, United Press International
September 6, 2005 Tuesday 11:25 AM EST
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Aug. 28
Today people over 65 in Russia are a lost generation, the old
communist welfare state is gone, and besides living in poverty they
are discredited as political mishaps from a bygone era.
World historical revolutions leave the effected country psychologically
traumatized. The sudden lose of customary politico-social environments
creates a state of psycho-social disorientation.
Communism was installed in Russia by the Leninist Revolution of
1917, and Leninism was extinguished by the Yeltsin Revolution of
1991. The Soviet Union lasted for 74 years, a span of time in which
four generations lived their lives, in which the structures of a
communist society were incorporated by individuals as behavioral norms.
Fourteen years now separates the Yeltsin Revolution from contemporary
Russia, but the population is still disquieted. A gap between pre-and
post Yeltsin generations is easily discernible, and the confusion
between the politico-social rules of communism, and the unexpectedly
triumphant demands of capitalism leapt from the lips of Russians
to whom I talked during my recent visit to Russia. Politically and
psychologically, the aftershocks of the revolution of 1991 reverberates
throughout Russian society.
“Fourteen years ago we were the second-greatest superpower in
the world,” Dr. Elizaveta Isaev, Professor of Russian Politics,
said to me. “Today we fear the expansion of NATO to the east, the
Islamic Revolution on our Southern Flank, and the encirclement by the
United States with its military bases in Uzbekistan, and Krygystan,
or Central Asia.
“Fourteen years ago seniors enjoyed a social safety net that gave them
dignity in later life,” Isaev said. “Today people over 65 are a lost
generation, the old communist welfare state is gone, and besides living
in poverty the are discredited as political mishaps from a bygone era.”
>>From the international perspective, the current Russian malaise
encompasses three geographic pivots: On its Western border Russia
fears European Union and NATO expansion eastward, on its Southern
Flank Russia worries about Islamic Fundamentalist secession, and
on its Eastern border it is concerned about U.S. encirclement from
Central Asian bases.
The Yeltsin Revolution not only denuded Russia of all territorial
gains made by Bolshevism, but also by Czarism, or a Double Imperial
Extinction.
On its Western Pivot the collapse of the Soviet Union extinguished
the Bolshevik empire in Eastern Europe. The fall of the Soviet Union
amounted to the cancellation of the Yalta Agreement, and Red soldiers
evacuated Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria.
But the Double Imperial Extinction also entailed the simultaneous
eradication of Czarist territorial acquisitions. The Baltic States,
Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia gained their freedom from Moscow
in 1991, and the Baltic expansion of 1791 of Peter the Great was
concurrently annulled.
Tsarina Catherine the Great suffered the same affront. This empress
absorbed the Ukraine and Crimea from the Turks in 1783, and by
participating in the three Partitions of Poland moved Czarist Russia’s
Western borders to Warsaw.
However, the collapse of the Soviet Union also involved the synchronic
loss of Catherine’s conquests. Although Russia retained the Crimea,
the Ukraine slowly gained its independence from Catherine’s initial
18th century grasp.
This Double Imperial Extinction meant that on its Western Pivot
post-1991 Russia retreated to the boundaries of 17th century Russia.
Approximately 300 years of territorial annexations were reversed.
“This was Gorbachev’s great failure,” Isaev said. “He did not negotiate
a Second Yalta. When he decided to pull Red troops out of Eastern
Europe he should have bargained for a Second Yalta with the West
setting hard limits to the advance of NATO and the EU into Eastern
Europe. Without a Second Yalta Russia was forced to accept a Second
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.”
The Double Imperial Extinction is also manifested on the Southern Flank
of Russia. The First Imperial Enlargement in the Caucasus and Central
Asia was carried out by the czars. In the 1880’s in the Caucasus the
czars had seized Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan from the suddenly
collapsing Persian Empire, and in Central Asia in the same decade
the czars took control of these mostly tribal territories. Power
vacuums in the Caucasus and Central Asia opened the way to Tzarist
penetration into the Islamic world.
After the Leninist Revolution the Communists’ Imperial Enlargement
simply absorbed the Czarist Imperial Enlargement in the Caucasus and
Central Asia. Like a carpet the Bolsheviks took the conquests of the
czars and swept them under the Communist rug, which was called the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Imitating the events in Eastern Europe, the Yeltsin Revolution
witnessed the erasure of the Communist Imperial Enlargement, which
was simultaneously the evaporation of the Czarist Imperial Enlargement
in the Caucasus and Central Asia.
The dismemberment of the Soviet Union in December 1991 led to the
Balkanization of the Caucasus. Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan,
all non-Slavic peoples, followed the Slavic Ukraine into declaring
their independence.
(Norman Levine is a professor of international history and a regular
contributor to the Munich-based World Security network. This article
is reprinted by permission of WSN.)
(United Press International’s “Outside View” commentaries are written
by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important
issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United
Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum,
original submissions are invited.)

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION PARTY SPLITS OVER FOREIGN POLICY COURSE
The Associated Press
09/06/05 14:16 EDT
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) – Several top members of a leading opposition
party said Tuesday that they were quitting in protest over what they
described as the party’s pro-Western stance.
Albert Bazeian, who left the Anrapetutsyun (Republic) party along
with six comrades, said its leaders’ push for Armenia’s membership
in NATO and withdrawal from the Russian-dominated alliances was wrong.
The Anrapetutsyun party’s leader, former Prime Minister Aram Sarkisian,
has recently called for Armenia to quit the Commonwealth of Independent
States, a loose alliance of ex-Soviet nations.
“It’s too early to speak about that,” Bazeian, a member of national
parliament and former mayor of Yerevan, said at a news conference.
“Armenia faces no threat from Russia.”
While many other ex-Soviet nations looked increasingly toward closer
integration into Western structures, Armenia has remained a staunch
Russian ally. It hosts a Russian military base, which has become even
more important for Moscow after neighboring Georgia pushed for the
withdrawal of Russian troops.
Russia’s energy monopoly assumed financial control of Armenia’s only
nuclear plant in 2003, and earlier this year it also has acquired
the right to manage and receive profits from Armenia’s national grid
company for the next 99 years. Armenia also depends on Russia for
natural gas supplies.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE ACTING CHAIR OF THE OSCE TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Sept 5 2005
YEREVAN, September 5. /ARKA/. The acting Chair of the OSCE, Minister
of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia Dimitrij Rupel will arrive in Armenia
for a two-day official visit. In the framework of his visit Rupel
will meet the RA President Robert Kocharyan, Prime-Minister Andranik
Margaryan, minister of Foreign Affairs Vardan Oskanian, as well as the
NKR President Arkadi Ghukasyan. It’s supposed that in the course of
the visit Rupel will discuss the results of Kazan meeting between the
Presidents of RA and AR, as well as issues concerning the approaching
referendum in November on constitutional reforms.
After Armenia Rupel will visit Azerbaijan, where he will discuss the
issues of Karabakh conflict settlement and parliamentary elections in
Azerbaijan. According to some diplomatic sources in Baku, the Head
of the OSCE will meet the AR President Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister
Arthur Rasi-zade, the Speaker of the parliament Murtuz Aleskerov,
Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mamediarov. A.H. –0–

THE ORGANIZATION FOR LIBERATION OF KARABAKH CONDUCTED A SOCIOLOGICAL POLL ON THE WAYS OF KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT
DeFacto, Armenia
Sept 5 2005
The Organization for Liberation of Karabakh conducted a public opinion
poll on Azeri people’s attitude towards Karabakh issue, Trend reports.
1943 respondents were asked a question how the Armenian aggression’s
consequences could be eliminated – by military or peaceful way. 39%
of those asked said they were for the military way of the conflict
settlement, 40% were the negotiations’ supporters, while 21% found it
difficult to answer the question. That was the adult people’s answer.
Young people gave the following answer: 40% were for the military
way, 35% were the supporters of the conflict’s peaceful solution.
To note, 49% of women were for the conflict’s military settlement,
while 37% were the negotiations’ supporters.

ENTRY EXAMINATIONS IN ARMENIA IN 2005 WERE ACCOMPANIED WITH GROSS VIOLATIONS, THINKS HEAD OF YOUTH ANTI-CORRUPTION STAFF
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30. ARMINFO. Entry examinations in Armenia in 2005
were with mass centralized violations and facts of corruption, Head
of the Youth Anti- Corruption Staff, Leader of the Armenian Youth
Party Sargis Asatryan told journalists today.
He says that at the beginning of the summer, an independent youth anti-
corruption staff was created and 92 employees followed the process
of entry examinations throughout the country. Asatryan states that
he considers himself a politician and makes a political statement and
has no intention to specify it. He says all the facts of violations,
that is 67 episodes of corruption, were brought in a special letter
to Armenian President, wherein the party proposes dismissing Minister
of Education and Science of Armenia Sergo Yeritsyan as the main person
responsible for the disorders at the examinations.
In response to the numerous questions of journalists related
the largest violations at the exams, Asatryan mentioned Gyumri
Pedagogical University and the State Agricultural Academy and the
subjects “Armenian language,” “English Language,” “Physics,” and
“Mathematics.” Asatryan thinks that such person as Sergo Yeritsyan
should not be in charge of the native science and the future of
children, and moreover, in charge of numerous grants and credit
projects in the sphere of education. He pointed out that responsibility
for “machinations at the examinations” are laid on Head of the Clearing
Center Ruben Topchyan distributing free and paid places. But the main
guilty person is Minister Sergo Yeritsyan, Asatryan reiterates.

ROBERT KOCHARYAN: NKR IS ABLE TO BE INDEPENDENT
DeFacto.am, Armenia
Sept 2 2005
“I have not given rise to think that our stand in Karabakh settlement
issue has become changed”.
Today RA President Robert Kocharyan who arrived in Nagorno Karabakh
to take part in the activities devoted to the 14th Anniversary of
Proclamation of Nagorno Karabakh Republic has informed journalists
of the fact.
According to RA President, “our stand has not been changed, and the 14
years have testified to the NKR viability. It is able to have its own
statehood”. Robert Kocharyan stressed that Nagorno Karabakh Republic
could serve as an example for some post – Soviet Republics.
“Nagorno Karabakh cannot be subject to bargaining, and people of
Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh are unanimous in the opinion”, said
President of Armenia.
Touching upon Armenian and Azeri Presidents’ meeting in Kazan Robert
Kocharyan noted it had been favorable. “The negotiation process has
some positive tendencies”, emphasized he.
RA President said Nagorno Karabakh took part in the talks indirectly.
Robert Kocharyan stated after the meetings referring to the settlement
he informed the NKR President of the outcomes.
NKR President Arkady Ghoukasyan refused to make comments on the
settlement process referring to its confidentiality. “I guess it is
not time to throw light on all the particulars of the talks, however,
I believe everything is all right, and Nagorno Karabakh need not
worry”, said NKR President.

EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
444
2.9.2005
Press release issued by the Registrar
European Court of Human Rights – September hearings
The European Court of Human Rights will be holding the following hearings in
September 2005.
Tuesday 20 September 2005
Chamber Hearing on the merits
9 a.m. Fener Rum Erkek Lisesi Vakfi v.Turkey (no. 34478/97) and
Yedikule Surp Pirgic Ermeni Hastanesi Vakfi v. Turkey (nos. 50147/99
and 51207/99)
Both applicants are foundations under Turkish law that were established
at the time of the Ottoman Empire. Fener Rum Erkek Lisesi Vakfi
was set up to provide educational facilities at the Greek Higher
Secondary School in Fener (Istanbul). Yedikule Surp Pirgic Ermeni
Hastanesi Vakfi is the foundation for the Armenian hospital Surp
Pirgic in Yedikule. The status of both foundations complies with the
provisions of the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 affording protection to
foundations that provide public services for religious minorities.
In accordance with Law no. 2762 of 13 June 1935, by virtue of which
they obtained legal personality, the applicant foundations filed a
declaration in 1936 of their aims and of their immovable property.
In 1952 the Fener Rum Erkek Lisesi Vakfi Foundation received a gift
of part of a building in Istanbul. It purchased another part of the
building in 1958. The Yedikule Surp Pirgic Ermeni Hastanesi Vakfi
Foundation received gifts of two properties in Istanbul in 1943 and
1967, one in Beyoglu, the other in Kadikoy.
In 1992 the Treasury applied to the Turkish courts for an order
setting aside the applicants’ title to the properties and deleting
their names from the land register. In three judgments (on 7 March
1996 in the case of Fener Rum Erkek Lisesi Vakfi and on 30 October
1997 and 24 February 1998 in the case of Yedikule Surp Pirgic Ermeni
Hastanesi Vakfi), the Istanbul High Court granted the Treasury’s
applications. Referring to a decision of the Court of Cassation of
8 May 1974, it held that the foundations, whose membership was made
up of religious minorities as defined by the Treaty of Lausanne
and whose constitutive documents did not contain a statement that
they had capacity to acquire immovable property, were precluded
from purchasing or accepting a gift of such property. Accordingly,
their immovable property was restricted to that set out in their
constitutive documents and finalised in the declaration made in 1936,
so that they were precluded from acquiring immovable property.
On appeals on points of law by the applicants, the Court of Cassation
upheld the judgments of the Istanbul High Court in decisions of 9
December 1996, 22 September 1998 and 20 October 1998.
In October 2000 Fener Rum Erkek Lisesi Vakfi applied to the Foundation
Commissioners for permission to amend its status to permit it to
acquire immovable property. However, its application was turned down.
In both cases, the applicants complain of the orders setting aside
their title to the properties. They argue that the Turkish legislation
as interpreted by the domestic courts deprives foundations established
by religious minorities within the meaning of the Lausanne Treaty of
all capacity to acquire immovable property. In their submission,
that incapacity amounts to discrimination when their position
is compared to that of other foundations. The applicants rely on
Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property), and Article
14 (prohibition of discrimination) taken together with Article 1 of
Protocol No. 1. Yedikule Surp Pirgic Ermeni Hastanesi Vakfi further
complains under Article 6 (right to a fair hearing) that it did not
receive a fair hearing in the Turkish courts.
***
Decisions, judgments and further information about the Court can be
found on its Internet site ().
Registry of the European Court of Human Rights
F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex
Press contacts: Roderick Liddell (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 24 92)
  Emma Hellyer (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15)
  Stephanie Klein (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54)
Fax: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 27 91
The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council
of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950
European Convention on Human Rights. Since 1 November 1998 it has sat as a
full-time Court composed of an equal number of judges to that of the States
party to the Convention. The Court examines the admissibility and merits of
applications submitted to it. It sits in Chambers of 7 judges or, in
exceptional cases, as a Grand Chamber of 17 judges. The Committee of
Ministers of the Council of Europe supervises the execution of the Court’s
judgments.
1 Under Article 43 of the European Convention on Human Rights, within three
months from the date of a Chamber judgment, any party to the case may, in
exceptional cases, request that the case be referred to the 17-member Grand
Chamber of the Court. In that event, a panel of five judges considers
whether the case raises a serious question affecting the interpretation or
application of the Convention or its protocols, or a serious issue of
general importance, in which case the Grand Chamber will deliver a final
judgment. If no such question or issue arises, the panel will reject the
request, at which point the judgment becomes final. Otherwise Chamber
judgments become final on the expiry of the three-month period or earlier if
the parties declare that they do not intend to make a request to refer.
Press Release
Council of Europe Spokesperson and Press Division
Ref: 444a05
Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 25 60
Fax:+33 (0)3 88 41 39 11
[email protected] 
internet:  
To receive our press releases by e-mail, contact :
[email protected] 
A political organisation set up in 1949, the Council of Europe works to
promote democracy and human rights continent-wide. It also develops common
responses to social, cultural and legal challenges in its 46 member states.
–Boundary_(ID_VmR24I3GVDiMEbZIh0khpA)–

RA NA President Artur Baghdasaryan’s Congratulatory Message on the
14th Anniversary of NKR’s Independence
National Assembly of RA (press release), Armenia
Sept 2 2005
RA NA President Artur Baghdasaryan sent congratulatory messages to
NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan, NKR NA President Ashot Ghulyan, NKR
Prime Minister Anushavan Danielyan on the 14-th anniversary of the
Nagorno Karabakh’s independence.
To NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan
Dear Mr. Ghukasyan,
I warmly congratulate you and all the Artsakh people on the 14-th
anniversary of the independence.
The past 14 years have proved that the people of Artsakh not only
withstood the tests of war and peaceful life but also created its
strong and stable statehood. I bow before the martyrs of the liberation
struggle and hereafter, I wish Artsakh to live in peace and democracy.
To NKR NA President Ashot Ghulyan
Dear Mr. Ghulyan,
I warmly congratulate you and all NKR National Assembly deputies of
Nagorno Karabakh on the 14-th anniversary of the independence.
The Artsakh people secured their right to a decent life in a liberation
struggle and reiterating their commitment to human values, carry on the
road of constructing the statehood, the role of the National Assembly,
as a legislative body, which is called on to ensure the legislative
bases for the development and progress.
On the occasion of the anniversary I wish you and all the deputies of
the National Assembly success, effective work and I express readiness
of cooperation of the National Assembly of Armenia.
To NKR Prime Minister Anushavan Danielyan Dear Mr. Danielyan,
Accept my warm congratulations to you and the NKR Government members
on the 14-th anniversary of independence.
The past years were tests of war and peace for the Artsakh people
and Artsakh not only passed the tests and proved its viability and
commitment but also created its independent statehood.
A country is strong with its economy, and the economic success
become as basis for the political progress, therefore, I wish you
and the members of the Government success on the way to the economic
strengthening of Artsakh.