Author: Jagharian Tania

ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION HAS NO BOUNDERIES
A1+
[12:00 pm] 26 September, 2006
A number of Armenian, Azeri and Georgian journalists met in the
Georgian city of Shindis to discuss the issues of environment
protection and to find common ways of cooperation.
The Armenian and Azeri journalists focused on the issue of
mingling environment problems with political ones. They debated
on the rivers bordering the two countries. As we know the Azeri
side is constantly complaining that Armenia deliberately pollutes
the rivers flowing through Azerbaijan, whereas Armenia claims that
there is no evidence to prove it. The point is that the monitoring
is not perfect in either country, and the water quality of the
neighboring country is unknown. “Environment issues are often made
political. These issues often become the theme of such seminars but
they always remain insolvable,” noted Arevhat Grigoryan, an Armenian
specialist. Lilit Haroutyunyan, program coordinator of the environment
issues of the Caucasian region, added that the matter will find its
practical solution lest the countries shift the matter to political
sphere. “There is no political dialogue between the two countries,
and environment is beyond politics,” she said.
The Caucasian countries have got similar environmental problems –
the main concerns in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan are wood cutting,
wastes, and common utilization of the water pool.
The two-day seminar entitled “Assistance of political community,
state and mass media into the ecologic dialogue” and initiated by the
environmental protection centre of the Caucasian region was aimed at
revealing the common problems of the countries under question as well
as at finding ways for journalists to render assistance to countries,
NGOs and business sector. The journalists came to the conclusion
that the faults and shortcomings of the sphere are the same in the
three countries; the state bodies violate the laws regulating the
environment sphere, there are not willing to provide information and
sometimes we come across people in the sphere who are unaware of the
environment sphere and its problems.
“The state bodies, mass media and NGOs are on the way of development
and such debates will contribute to all sides,” noted Souren Deheyan,
representative of “Armenian Now” electoral weekly. By the way, the
journalists confessed that sometimes the journalist turns out to be
unaware of the problems of the sphere himself; he doesn’t understand
the information of the source properly or delivers it to the audience
in wrong way. “Eco-journalism is not so authoritative. In fact there
is an urgent need of serious and literate journalists. Journalists
can prevent new ecological calamities,” said manager of the program
Lela Janashia.

POPE BLESSES BROADCASTING OF ARMENIAN PROGRAMS IN VATICAN
ARMINFO News Agency
September 25, 2006 Monday
In Oct the Telepace Catholic TV channel in Vatican will start regular
broadcasting of Armenian programs, Abbot of Armenian Mkhitarian
Congregation, Archimandrite Haroutuyun Bezdikyan told ArmInfo.
Pope Benedict XVI will attend the opening of the program. Armenian
opera singer Magda Lazarian will sing Armenian sharakans.
The programs will be about the history and culture of the Armenian
Church, Armenians, Armenia, Armenian monuments.
To remind, Telepace broadcasts in 27 countries.

THE TURKS ARE LEAVING FOR LEBANON WHILE THEIR CASE IS BEING HEARD IN STRASBOURG
A1+
[02:34 pm] 25 September, 2006
Despite the complaints of the Armenian community of Lebanon about
the allocation of the Turkish peace-keepers in the country, the
troupes will leave for Lebanon today. They will consist of a thousand
soldiers. 400 of them represent the naval forces, 500 are infantrymen
and the rest are civilians. By the way, Turkey intends to “use” the
self-proclaimed “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” for sending
soldiers to Lebanon.
By the way, today the plenary session of the European Parliament
starts in Strasbourg where the report of the Foreign Committee of
the Parliament about the reforms in Turkey will be discussed.
In this document the European legislators criticized severely the
Turkish authorities and especially their steps towards the improvement
of the free expression of opinions, and the improvement of relations
with religious and national minorities and Cyprus.
With the same document the members of the European Parliament called
on Turkey to open the border with Armenia and to recognize the Armenian
Genocide. Most probably the heated discussions will concern this point.
According to Hilda Choboyan, head of the Hay Dat European Office,
two political powers of the Parliament, the socialists, and the
liberalists, intend to exclude the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide from the list of commitments of Turkey, Radio station
“Azatutyun” reports.
The socialists are the second in the Parliament by the number of
deputies. The first place belongs to the Christian-democrats who,
according to Hilda Choboyan, defend the requirement of recognizing
the Armenian Genocide.

ETHIOPIA: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW ON IN ETHIOPIAN FILM INDUSTRY
By Arefaynie Fantahun
The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa)
Sept 25 2006
As many will agree, the cinema industry in Ethiopia is still in its
infant stage. In recent times, the country is seeing a good number
of new generations of filmmakers, in their majority amateurs, who
are making films that are enjoying a good run in various cinema houses.
On a not brighter note, however, the contemporary films “are not up
to the standard,” many in the industry admit. There just is much to
be desired as far as the development of films is concerned, they say.
But, ironically, cinema was introduced to this country only three
years after the world’s first film ever was projected in Paris in
December 28, 1895 by the Louis Lumière brothers. To get a sense of
how far this industry has come and why it failed to make the progress
it should, read on the following article by our regular contributor,
Arefaynie Fantahun.
In an article appeared in ‘Annales d’Ethiopie ‘(2003), a French
journal on Ethiopia, Dr. Berhanou Abebe, a renowned historian who has
published extensively on aspects of Ethiopian history and culture,
wrote that in 1898, a Frenchman from Algeria brought one of the first
cinematic artifacts to Ethiopia, and sold it to the Italian minister
Ciccodicola, who presented it to Emperor Menilek of Ethiopia as a gift.
It so happened that, Minilik, had heard about the invention and was
keen to get the cinematograph. It was said that he watched several
films after he owned the projector.
According to Dr. Berhanou, there was a film house called ‘Pate’
owned by MM. Baicovich Frères in 1909 -1910. People were stunned
by this magical invention for the first months but soon they turned
indifferent. A French historian, Merab, in his ‘Impressions d’Ethiopie
(1922), quoted by Dr. Berhanou, said, ‘people apparently didn’t like
to entertain themselves.’ Dr. Richard Pankhurst, a distinguished
historian with several publications and books to his credit, in his
widely-acclaimed book ‘Economic History of Ethiopia’ (1968) wrote
about another attempt made in 1909-10 by some Armenians, but the
project attracted only temporary interest, and was soon abandoned.
But despite such indifference, the newly established Addis Ababa was
undergoing changes and was on its way to becoming the center of the
country’s political and cultural life.
It was at this time the first European oriented school, staffed largely
by the French, was opened in Addis Ababa, and with these were imported
teachers who would promote western-style dramas, the theatres, and
films in the years to come.
According to, Encyclopedia Aethiopica, Vol. I (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz
Verlag, 2003), in the early days cinema, cinema houses were called
‘Ye Seytan Bet’, (House of Satan), a definition which well suited
the technological “devilry” of cinematographically combined images
and movement.
The first film known to be produced in Ethiopia was a short 16mm
black-and-white film, produced by a certain Tedla on the occasion of
Empress Zewditu’s coronation day in 1917.
To be continued.
–Boundary_(ID_aEzmde70iar/7KraKn9ePw) —

ARMENIAN DIASPORA IN UKRAINE TO BACK PM VIKTOR YANUKOVICH
Today, Azerbaijan
Sept 25 2006
Members of Armenian community in Ukraine held a meeting in Kyiv
organized by the Union of Ukrainian Armenians.
The meeting participants strongly criticized President Viktor
Yushchenko’s policy to expand integration into NATO, APA reports.
Never Mkhitaryan, who is involved in Ukrainian political life,
said Armenians should make their efforts to support Prime Minister
Viktor Yanukovich. He said there will be a chance during the expected
political crisis in Ukraine to remove “orange” supporters from power,
and Armenians should take an active part in this process.
Mkhitaryan brought attention to Yanukovich’s special attitude to
Armenia, his conferment “Restoration of Armenia” medal and finally,
his being supported by Russia.
The similar meeting was held in Simferopol by Armenian community of the
Crimea. The participants stressed that Ukrainian “orange” government
could not achieve progress in the country and also failed to care about
Armenians. They arrived at a common conclusion that the authorities
failing to be ally of Russia cannot meet Armenians’ demands.
The community chief Frunze Mardoyan expressed dissatisfaction with
Yushshenko’s support for Azerbaijan reminding Armenian parliament’s
vice-speaker Vagan Ovannisyan’s “Ukraine was presented with the Crimea
by Khrushov as Azerbaijan was presented with Nakhchivan and Garabagh
by Stalin. Yushchenko might turn out to consider even some parts of
Kazakhstan and Iran as Azerbaijani territories”.
URL:

RA MINISTER OF TERRITORIAL ADMINISTRATION RECEIVED THE AMBASSADOR OF KUWAIT
Pablic Radio of Armenia
Sept 22 2006
Today in RA Government Minister of Territorial Administration Hovik
Abrahamyan received the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
of Kuwait Majdi Aldafiri (seat in Tehran).
Government’s Information and PR Department told “Armenpress” that
the parties turned to a number of issues of further development of
relations between the two countries. The interlocutors discussed issues
of Kuwait’s assistance to reconstruction of rural infrastructures in
Armenia, particularly water supply systems and community roads.

ARMENIAN PM THINKS COUNTRY ALREADY OVERCOME SHOCK OF TRANSITION
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Sept 22 2006
YEREVAN, September 22. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan thinks the country has already overcome the shock of
transition from socialism to free market.
He said Thursday in his interview with Kentron TV that 15 year ago
people were not prepared for that and the transition was very painful
for them.
The premier admitted that ordinary people had lost the social security
they enjoyed once, in soviet epoch. At the same time, he expressed
confidence that all the problems would be solved soon.
Margaryan stressed that the government does and will do whatever
necessary to solve social problems.
“The government’s all credit programs for last four years have been
focused on social situation improvement in the country”, he said in
his televised interview. M.V.-0–

CDA candidates recognize Armenian Genocide
ANP
22 September 2006
THE HAGUE (ANP) – CDA parliamentary members Ayhan Tonca and Osman
Elmaci recognize that Turkey committed a genocide against the Armenians
in 1915. In a statement, they said that they conform to the motion
of the ChristenUnie, in which the Armenian Genocide is addressed.
In December 2004, the Parliament, initiated by the ChristenUnie,
unanimously agreed that the Dutch government should continuously raise
the Armenian massacres in all of its negotiations with Turkey in the
framework of Turkey’s accession to the EU. According to the Armenian
community in the Netherlands, the two CDA candidates had, until now,
only expressed Turkey’s official view that an Armenian Genocide was
never committed.
This week, the Federation of Armenian Organizations in the Netherlands
(FAON) asked the CDA party administration about Tonca’s (35th place
on the concept-candidate list) and Elmaci’s (56) standpoint on the
genocide. The genocide has been recognized as fact by the United
Nations since 1985. In 1915, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians
perished.

“ON THE ROAD TO TRUTH AND RIGHT”
Raffi K. Hovannisian (Founder) Vardan Khachatrian (Chairman)
Panorama.am
16:40 21/09/06
The fifteen-year anniversary of Armenia’s independence is a fitting
occasion to reassess the watershed significance of sovereign
statehood. This opens before our nation vast horizons to live and
create in freedom and without shackles, to make the Republic prosper,
and to build a bright future for the generations next in line.
Armenia’s independence has other implications and lessons as well. This
liberty was achieved after a long-lasting intermission in statehood
and the sacrifice of thousands of patriots, thus further underscoring
its historic mission and modern meaning.
Real sovereignty and democracy, respect for human rights, and other
universally accepted values-which we certainly shall attain through
our united and devoted work-will turn Armenia into a cradle of civil
freedoms and equal protection, rule of law and due process, and a
country liberated from the parochial arbitrariness of ruling cliques
and extralegal permissiveness for the privileged.
The duty of building a new and strong Armenia has fallen to our
generation. We must place its cornerstone with a firmness of will,
a trueness of conscience, and a nobility of commitment so that the
preeminence of right, the letter and spirit of legal and ethical
benchmarks, and the expectation and conduct of a dignified life may
long endure.
Let us once again become the masters of our rich history and
civilizational heritage, adding our contemporary share to them and
faithfully passing them on to those yet to come. This is the paramount
order of the day.
On the occasion of this glorious anniversary for Armenia and the
entire Armenian nation, we extend our hearty best wishes to all
members and supporters of the Heritage Party and, more importantly,
to the children of Armenia the world over, whose might and mind,
in our deep conviction, will continue to discover ever-new avenues
toward the Homeland of our dreams.

ARMENIAN CEASEFIRE VIOLATION KILLS AZERBAIJANI SOLDIER
Azeri Press Agency
[ 22 Sen. 2006 10:48 ]
Armenian Armed Forces violated the ceasefire again killing Azerbaijani
Army soldier. APA’s Garabagh bureau reports Armenian Armed Forces
have broken the ceasefire more intensively recently in Agdam front.
The enemy from the positions in occupied villages of Gulchuluk and Bash
Garvand of Azerbaijani region of Agdam fired on opposite positions of
Azerbaijani Army at the night of September 20 to 21. Armenian forces
targeted Azerbaijani Army positions from the occupied Yusifganli
village of Agdam. As a result of the ceasefire violation, Azerbaijani
soldier Seyidaliyev Vusal died heroically while resisting the enemy’s
attack.
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry’s press service confirmed the report
on soldier’s death. It said Azerbaijani Army soldier was killed as
a result of Armenia’s violation of the ceasefire.