Author: Jagharian Tania

RIA Novosti, Russia
March 18 2005
EURASEC SESSION TO DISCUSS INTEGRATION COOPERATION
MOSCOW, March 18 (RIA Novosti, Olga Semyonova) -Integration
cooperation and the draft budget for 2006 will be the main items on
the agenda of the session of the Inter-State Council of the Eurasian
Economic Community (EurAsEC) at the level of the heads of government
which will meet on March 24 in Astana (Kazakhstan), a spokesman for
the information and press department of the Russian Foreign Ministry
told RIA Novosti on Friday.
“The session’s agenda consists of the issues concerning the further
development of the integration cooperation between the Community’s
countries in trade, economic, energy, social, humanitarian and other
spheres and also the consideration of the Community’s draft budget
for 2006,” the spokesman said.
According to him, the heads of government of the EurAsEC countries
will deliver reports at the session about the economic situation in
their countries and will make proposals with regard to the problems
of economic cooperation which call for a joint solution.
The Russian delegation at the session will be headed by Chairman of
the Russian government Mikhail Fradkov.
The members of the Eurasian Economic Community are: Belarus, Russia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine
have the status of observers.

Record-Harvard Law School, MA
March 17 2005
Day of doom
By Raffi Melkonian
I’m kind of ashamed to admit it, but I used one of those law school
applicant discussion boards back when I was applying to school three
years ago. The one thing that makes me feel better about the whole
affair is that I’m sure I’m not the only one so besmirched on this
campus. Obviously, many law school applicants (and students) are
world-class neurotics, and it makes us feel better to try to exert
control over a fundamentally uncontrollable process – who precisely
is getting in to the schools we want? How do we compare? And most
important of all, when are we going to hear? Nor do we suddenly get
more civilized once in school – after all, the Greedy Clerks
discussion board for federal clerks and applicants is no less active.
Of course, I always noticed a lot of extraneous chatter on the
discussion board I used. Most of it was about things you expect
students to talk about – dating, for example – but some was really
offensive and nasty.
This week, though, there’s been a debate among some law professors –
writing online – about whether this kind of discussion board ought to
be cleaned up. I checked the most popular one, and it’s no surprise
that people are up in arms. Undeniably, the board has gotten pretty
bad in a lot of ways, including a startling quantity of the worst
sort of racism and anti-Semitism. As much as I share the protestors’
disgust with the speech involved, however, cleaning up such a web
site is a bad idea, for two reasons.
First, pressuring the site administrators to clean up the discussion
board by employing a software filter is the equivalent of sweeping a
potentially serious problem under the carpet. From the beginnings of
free speech theory, people have realized that one of the main
benefits of allowing people to voice even odious opinions publicly is
that those who disagree are confronted with the fact that the
minority opinion does actually exist. If there are law students who
feel comfortable using the kind of racial epithets contained on the
site, even under the thin blanket of internet anonymity, even as a
stupid sort of shocking joke, those of us who find such speech
disgusting should want to know about it. It’s all very easy to assume
that the great persuasive battles in terms of respect and civility
have been won. Displays such as those on the discussion board at
issue demonstrate that there might be work left to be done.
Second, just as with all (even private) controls on expression,
stifling evil speech might chill other speech that is really useful
and good. The overwhelming benefit of the discussion board, as I
remember it, was that traffic was high, knowledgeable people
abundant, and answers to questions quick. Every effort made to censor
discussion was quickly discovered to be over-broad, and instead of
leaving a clean board, changes made to get rid of the racists drove
away others as well. But those kinds of discussion boards are vital
for law applicants trying to figure their way out through a tough
process, and especially those without specialized institutional
support – my British alma mater, for example, had no advising
services, so I relied heavily on internet resources to organize
myself. If we believe in expanding this school’s diversity across
geography and social status as well as race, tools like admittedly
vulgar Internet boards are crucial in leveling the playing field of
applicant information. After all, the details that some people know,
and others don’t, are important – and if an active, unfettered,
discussion board can spread that kind of previously rare knowledge,
it’s a good thing.
I should be clear – I don’t like racists, and I don’t like
anti-Semites. Armenians, like myself, have had enough experience of
such people to know better. But people with offensive opinions do
exist, and from the evidence provided by the discussion board, some
may even be among us. Sending those people underground isn’t a good
way to solve this problem. Free speech, even when the censoring party
isn’t the government, is generally preferable to restricted speech –
and however uncomfortable such offensive language might make us, law
school applicant discussion boards aren’t an exception to that
general rule.
Raffi Melkonian’s posts on law school Internet discussion boards are
neither racist nor anti-semitic.

Russia Calls on Georgia for Repatriation of Meskhetians
Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 2005-03-11 21:28:33
In a statement issued on March 11 the Russian Foreign Ministry accused
the Georgian government of defying its commitment over repatriation
of Meskhetian Turks undertaken by Georgia upon its accession to the
Council of Europe (CoE) in 1999.
“Tbilisi does not even try to demonstrate that it wishes to solve
this issue. Numerous reminders by the Council of Europe look like
friendly reproaches rather than the attempts of inducing Georgia to
meet its commitments,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.
Currently a part of the Meskhetian Turks, who were deported from
Georgia in 1944, are residing in Russia’s Krasnodar district without
Russian citizenship

Eye of the beholder
By ELAINE D’AURIZIO, STAFF WRITER
NorthJersey.com, NJ
March 13 2005
Think that abandoned factories in Edgewater, oil tanks near the Pulaski
Skyway or factory smokestacks in Paterson are real eyesores? Do you
laugh at the razzing in movies and by comedians about the Garden State?
It’s all, as they say, in the eye of the beholder. To artist Dahlia
Elsayed, they’re beautiful monuments to be memorialized.
“It’s part of our history,” said Elsayed, who lives in Palisades
Park, where she grew up. “For the people of New Jersey, it’s their
landscape.”
Her work has connected with gallery owners and museum curators for the
past 10 years and is on display until the end of April at Manhattan’s
Here Arts Center.
One of her paintings shown as part of “Weird New Jersey: The
Exhibition” is named “Favorite Ruins So Far.” It’s of abandoned radio
towers along the turnpike.
“[The towers] are outdated but dear to your heart,” Elsayed said.
“There are a lot of abandoned sites [in the state]. Everything in
New Jersey has changed so.”
Elsayed is depressed when landmarks are torn down. So she documents
them in pastel acrylic paintings. The abstract but often recognizable
figures – buildings, rivers and highways – are accompanied by words.
Poem-like, they are the artist’s reflections and feelings and create
a dialogue with the viewers.
“I think of them as journalistic paintings,” she said. “They really
tell stories.”
Memories and experiences in New Jersey are relived with the artist.
Thoughts, sounds and smells are stirred.
“People recognize a place and say, ‘I used to live there’ … or
‘My dad worked there,’~_” Elsayed said. “I love it. That’s really
satisfying to me. You want to see your experience on the wall. You
want there to be some kind of connection.”
For the last four years, Elsayed has been on a state grant teaching
in schools all over New Jersey, including Bergen, Passaic and Essex
counties.
“Schools have me come in to share my process with the children and
do creative projects that are based in storytelling and their local
environment,” she said.
The artist – a graduate of Barnard College and the Columbia University
School of the Arts – writes on a manual typewriter before she
paints. Then she puts “layers of washes of paint” on watercolor
paper. “I combine the literary with visual arts,” she said.
When the environment changes as much as it does in New Jersey, there
can be feelings of grief and loss.
Elsayed fondly remembers a Howard Johnson on Route 46 in Ridgefield
that was torn down.
“My dad would take us there for ice cream when you’d win something
or if a friend came over,” she said.
Her Egyptian father and Armenian mother immigrated to the United
States and settled in New York City, where Elsayed was born in 1969.
Growing up in Palisades Park, she strongly connected to her cultural
identity.
Elsayed loved listening to stories her mother, a librarian, and her
father told of earlier days in Armenia and Egypt. Her grandparents
lived with them and they spoke Armenian at home.
“What became the family heirlooms were these places they had lived,”
she said. “Their stories fascinated me.”
Strongly influenced by literature, she kept illustrated journals. She
compares them to the rug work and embroidery her grandmother and
great-grandmother did that was handed down from generation to
generation.
“Even though the materials are different and the work serves a
different purpose, the expression still comes from the same place –
the need to visually record and document your presence in the world
around you … to create a communicable history,” she said.
After 9/11, Elsayed feared a backlash against the heritage so dear
to her.
“As an Arab, you fear that the world is going to think of you one
way,” she said. And although her work had been exhibited before,
she became even more sought out.
“Suddenly I was in demand,” said Elsayed, who has traveled the world.
People wanted to buy her art. So did the government: The U.S.
Department of State bought her works for its “Art in Embassies”
program. She received prestigious grants and residencies from the
New Jersey Council on the Arts, the Edward Albee Foundation, and
ArtsLink. And she was sought out as a teacher, which she does about
nine months out of the year.
The grants and residencies have given Elsayed time to be alone to
create in her studio, which is in a former silk mill in Union City.
When she does, her work often links her two “homelands” – New Jersey
and the Middle East, which she has visited.
For example, one set of paintings is of a White Castle in Union City
and a mosque she saw on a trip to Egypt. Another called, “Jersey
City/Nasser City” are of residences here and near Cairo. The letters
are on sticks, like the “Hollywood” sign in California.
“It’s a capturing of the human experience as a woman, as an immigrant
artist,” she said.
Sensitive to what surrounds her, Elsayed took friends on a boat tour
of the Hackensack River in the Meadowlands. It impressed her and
resulted in a painting of a factory she saw along the shore and a
tiny canoe in the water. It’s called, “On the Turnpike.”
That doesn’t mean Elsayed does not understand ribbing about the Garden
State. She admits the Pulaski Skyway “is black and sooty.”
“But it’s sculptural,” she said. The artist and writer in Elsayed
tries to see the beauty in what surrounds her.
“Radio towers, abandoned factories … I think they’re aesthetically
beautiful,” she said. “When I see it, I’m trying to capture it …
the sounds, the smells, the colors ~E the feelings. It’s my vision
and I’m trying to pass that on.”

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT AND GEORGIAN PRIME MINISTER DISCUSS PROCESS OF
SETTLEMENT OF CONFLICTS IN REGION
YEREVAN, MARCH 11, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian-Georgian relations have
always involved a wide range of issues of mutual interest, the RA
President Robert Kocharian pointed out at the March 11 working meeting
with the Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli. Robert Kocharian
expressed satisfaction with the fact that the Armenian-Georgian
intergovernmental commision will continue to be headed by the prime
ministers of the two countries. Zurab Noghaideli stated that an
agreement has already been reached on holding the regular siiting
of the commission in the next months. According to the Presidential
press service, during the meeting, the sides discussed in particular
issues relating to the power and cargo transportation spheres, as
well as to trade organization in the border areas. The process of
settlement of the conflicts in the region and the prospects of the
regional cooperation were discussed as well.

Report: ex-Soviet security body to sign military agreements at summer summit
AP Worldstream
Mar 09, 2005
Members of an ex-Soviet states’ security body plan to sign agreements
on military cooperation at a summer summit, a senior foreign ministry
official said Wednesday, the Interfax news agency reported.
Members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the security
arm of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a 12-nation
grouping of former Soviet republics, have agreed a set of accords
aimed at strengthening the body, said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei
Razov. He did not specify the date.
Razov said the deals will involve an agreement on training personnel
and shipping military products between member states at lower prices.
The Russia-dominated Collective Security Treaty unites six ex-Soviet
republics _ Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Belarus and
Armenia. Ukraine and Georgia, where pro-Western governments have come
to power, are not members of the security body although they belong
to the CIS.
Razov also said foreign ministers of CIS member states will meet in the
Belarusian capital Minsk on March 18 to discuss ways of improving and
streamlining the work of CIS bodies. If a draft document on the reform
is adopted, it will then be discussed at the CIS summit in Moscow in
May, held as part of ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the
end of World War II.

KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT DELAY PROFITS NONE OF CONFLICTING PARTIES
YEREVAN, MARCH 7. ARMINFO. The delay in the Karabakh conflict
settlement profits none of the conflicting parties, says former
Russian co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group Vladimir Kazimirov.
One should not follow the vicious logic – let me be bad but he will be
worse. All the conflicting parties are still suffering – each in its
own way – from the heavy consequences of the conflict this including
unnecessary military expenses, blockade costs, resumed blood shed
risks, economic and democratic setbacks.
The conflict will be settled only when the parties get realistic and
responsible before their peoples for stability in the whole region.
It is pity that many still confuse a bird in the hand with two in
the bush and change real benefits of stable peace and cooperation for
chimeras of bloody revenge. Kazimirov says that Karabakh’s future is
difficult but peaceful.

ARMENIAN-AZERI CONFLICT CAN BE SETTLED ONLY WITH NAGORNY
KARABAKH’S PARTICIPATION
YEREVAN, MARCH 7. ARMINFO. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan
can be settled by peaceful talks only with the participation of
Nagorny Karabakh, says former Russian co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group
Vladimir Kazimirov.
If anybody knew how this can be done he would have to be asked,
says azimirov noting that he has repeatedly proposed his alternative
solution to the conflict. He says that the conflicting parties should
first of all proclaim that Nagorny Karabakh is the gist (subject
and object) of the problem and that they are ready for historical
reconciliation.
Then they should start trilateral talks on all aspects of the
problem. There should be neither winners or losers in this century
long conflict. The parties need a draw to free their decedents from
revenge complex. What has already happened in Azerbaijan and Armenia
in Nakhichevan and Karabakh cannot be replayed without blood. But quick
settlement should include withdrawal of troops from the territories
outside Karabakh. The smell of oil is irremovable but it should not
be allowed to determine the fate of the whole region.
It is for the parties to decide if Nagorny Karabakh should be part
of Azerbaijan or Armenia or be independent. If they fail this should
be determined by the people in a democratic way. The non recognition
of the referendum held in Nagorny Karabakh in 1991 according to the
Soviet law because of non participation of the Azeri community is
is a weak argument considering the fact that it was Baku who ordered
this non participation.
It is a difficult question if a new referendum can be held without
the participation of several tens of thousands of Azeri voters.
Nakhichevan regularly holds elections despite the lack of big percent
of former Armenian voters, notes Kazimirov.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
March 7, 2005
Embassy of the Republic of Armenia
2225 R Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20008
Tel: 202-319-1976, x. 348; Fax: 202-319-2982
Email: [email protected]; Web:
Ambassador Arman Kirakossian’s Farewell Address to the Armenian American
Community
Dear compatriots,
At the end of March, I will complete my diplomatic mission as Armenian
Ambassador to the United States, and return to Yerevan to continue to work
at the Foreign Ministry.
During my tenure as Armenia’s Ambassador to the United States, I have always
communicated with the Armenian American community to keep them apprised of
the Embassy’s diplomatic activities, through press releases and annual New
Year addresses. I believe that the tradition of openness and transparency
has served the Embassy well. Before my departure, I want to share with you
my impressions and perspective on the course of U.S.-Armenian relations and
the highlights of my mission as Ambassador of Armenia in Washington, DC.
I believe that U.S.-Armenian relations have strengthened and expanded
greatly within the last 5 years, a process I am privileged and proud to have
been associated with. In part, the quality of our bilateral relations today
reflects an Armenia that is more stable, economically dynamic, and confident
domestically than it was 5 years ago.
The political dialog between the United States and the Republic of Armenia
continues on highest levels. Armenian President Robert Kocharian visited
with President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush, and Armenian
Cabinet members, including the Foreign Minister visit the United States on
periodic basis. Institutionally, the U.S.-Armenian Economic Task Force was
established in 1999 and since then, it has held its sessions biannually,
bringing together government officials from Armenia and the United States to
discuss issues of mutual interest in the areas of economic development,
economic, social, and legal reforms, trade and commerce, and energy. Armenia
and the United States periodically hold security consultations to discuss
issues of bilateral, regional, and global importance.
The United States has continued its positive involvement as the Co-Chair of
the OSCE Minsk Group, upholding its commitment to a peaceful settlement of
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The highlight of my term as Ambassador was
the Armenian-Azeri negotiations at Key West, Florida, hosted by the United
States government.
Economic and commercial relations between our countries have always been the
focus of my attention during my term as Ambassador, reflecting Armenia’s
continued need for foreign investment and increasing exports from Armenia.
The Business Forum in New York in May 2001, as well as Armenian Products
Expos held in Los Angeles in 2001 and 2002 boosted bilateral economic
cooperation. Armenian exports to the United States increased nearly
threefold, from 15.2 million dollars in 1999 to 46.1 million dollars in
2004. U.S. investments in Armenia also increased, especially in the
hospitality and software industries. It is heartening to know that every
year there is greater number of Armenian Americans traveling to Armenia for
business or pleasure. Both in Washington and during my visits to other parts
of the United States, I have promoted the Armenian industry and products,
encouraging the members of the local Armenian American community to visit
Armenia, and invest in the Armenian economy.
The United States government continues to provide significant assistance to
help Armenia’s economic transition. Armenia’s solid macroeconomic
performance was credited by the United States Government in its decision to
make Armenia eligible as potential recipient of a new form of U.S.
assistance, the Millennium Challenge Account, to promote further economic
growth and alleviate poverty in Armenia. The United States provided critical
support to ensure Armenia’s accession to the World Trade Organization, which
reinforced Armenia’s status as trade-oriented, liberal economy. Armenia’s
membership in the WTO validates the economic reforms in Armenia and helps
break the myth of Armenia’s isolation from the world. Since Armenia joined
the WTO, the United States granted our country the Permanent Normal Trade
Relations status. Most of Armenia’s exports to the U.S. qualify for a
duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences program. I
am confident that U.S.-Armenian trade relations will continue to increase
for many years to come.
Armenia’s military cooperation with the United States began in 2001, soon
after the terrible tragedy of 9/11 struck. The Armenian people expressed
their sympathy with the Americans, and the Government of Armenia has
provided tangible support to U.S.-led global war on terrorism. One of the
consequences of the post-September 11 geopolitical dynamics was the waiver
of Section 907, although U.S. government committed to ensuring that any
military assistance to Azerbaijan will not be used to destabilize the
fragile cease-fire regime. In the last five years, Armenia and the United
States exchanged visits by the Armenian Defense Minister and U.S. Defense
Secretary, as well as by high-ranking military officers of both countries.
The Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia and the State of Kansas National
Guard have established a State Partnership Program. The U.S. military
provided assistance to help Armenia to train a demining unit and to
establish peacekeeping capability. Armenian soldiers and officers serve with
their counterparts from the U.S. and other partner nations within NATO’s
Partnership for Peace program, and in the peacekeeping operations in Kosovo.
Armenia’s contingent is also serving in Iraq with many other nations, making
its contribution to stability and reconstruction in that nation.
During my tenure as Ambassador to the U.S., I have been privileged to visit
many universities and think tanks, attend conferences and seminars, and meet
with many distinguished scholars and academics. I have used these
opportunities to keep Armenian and non-Armenian audiences apprised of
Armenia’s domestic and foreign policies, social and economic development,
progress in democratization and economic transition.
As an historian, I have done my best to promote the Armenian Studies,
cooperation between Armenian Studies scholars in Armenia and the United
States, as well as collaboration between universities and scientists in both
countries. A recently published report on Science and Technology in Armenia,
prepared by the U.S. National Academies of Science, presents the current
state and prospects for development of the Armenian science and technology
sector, which has much to offer toward building a prosperous Armenia. I have
also made a modest contribution to the Armenian Political Studies via
publication of two books in English, “British Diplomacy and the Armenian
Question: from the 1830’s to 1914,” and “The Armenian Massacres, 1894-1896:
U.S. Media Testimony.”
Over the last five years, the Embassy has continued to promote the Armenian
culture, Armenia’s important business card. The tradition of holding
concerts, exhibitions, recitals, and community events truly makes the
Armenian Embassy in Washington, DC into the House of Armenia. We are truly
proud of the Embassy building, which is among the best Armenian chanceries
abroad, and its preservation and maintenance remained the focus of attention
of the Embassy, as well as the Building Committee comprised of distinguished
members of the Armenian American community. The building has received
necessary renovations and repair all these years.
In 2001, a khachkar stone sculpture, made in Armenia, was erected on the
Embassy grounds, in the garden, to celebrate the 1700th anniversary of
establishment of Christianity as the official religion in Armenia. His
Holiness Garegin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians,
graced the Embassy with his presence, and personally consecrated the
Khachkar, as a visible reminder of Armenia’s legacy in the heart of
Washington. For the last three years since the Khachkar was erected at the
Embassy, the members of the Washington-based Armenian community gather there
on April 24 to commemorate the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. This
solemn occasion brings together Armenians from all walks of life and
backgrounds, and the Embassy is proud to have contributed to the unity and
cohesion of the Armenian community in Washington.
Hardly a week goes by without an occasional visitor dropping by the Embassy
for a quick tour of the building. We keep our doors open, and I encourage
you to keep us in your minds during your next visit to Washington, DC. You
can also visit us virtually from the comfort of your office or home with the
help of the Embassy website,
It has been said many times that people are Armenia’s primary resource,
whether in the Homeland or in the Diaspora. It has been a great pleasure for
me to visit Armenian-American communities in the United States, go to the
Armenian Churches, meet with community organizations and activists, and host
them at the Embassy. I have appreciated the candor with which the
Armenian-Americans discussed the many challenges facing Armenia, and I
remain convinced that Armenians in the Homeland and in the Diaspora share
the same goals, aspirations, and vision of a stable, democratic, and
prosperous Armenia.
During my years in the United States, the Embassy of Armenia has received
tremendous assistance and moral support from the Armenian-American
community. I have worked closely with the Armenian Assembly of America and
the Armenian National Committee of America, other Armenian-American
political and cultural organizations, their local chapters and grassroots
activists. Armenia owes its successes and achievements to thousands of
Armenian-American activists, who successfully lobby in support of Armenian
issues and on behalf of Armenia. I also appreciate the steadfast support of
my colleagues and friends during my tenure as Ambassador of Armenia.
I am confident that my successor will continue and build upon the great
traditions of cooperation with the Armenian-American organizations to
promote Armenian interests in Washington, D.C.
I wish you well, and look forward to continuing our joint work toward a
better future for our Homeland Hayastan.
Dr. Arman Kirakossian
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
March 3 2005
Iranian parliament may discuss Khojaly massacre

The Iranian parliament may discuss the Khojaly massacre of
Azerbaijanis perpetrated by Armenians in 1992, the Iranian Ambassador
to Azerbaijan Afshar Suleymani told journalists on Monday.
Suleymani said that he had presented documents on the Khojaly tragedy
to the Iranian Foreign Ministry,
expressing confidence that the Ministry would express its position on
the issue shortly.
“Iran supports the territorial integrity and the position of
Azerbaijan within international organizations,” said Suleymani,
noting that no foreign forces can affect the relations between the
two countries.