Author: Jagharian Tania

‘Jokes’ from Iranian President
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Sept 16 2004
Iran is ready to assist in the peace settlement of the Garabagh
conflict and Tehran is capable of making every effort in doing so,
the Iranian President Mohamed Khatami said in a meeting with Armenia’s
Yerevan state university students and faculty. Khatami visited Armenia
for two days last week.
“We honor the principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty and
support a peace settlement of the conflict. Iran particularly respects
Armenia, and we are ready to take specific steps in this direction”,
Khatami said. The Iranian President emphasized the importance of
eliminating sources of tension in the Caucasus, as “the regional
countries need to develop, which is possible only in the conditions
of peace”.
Khatami addressed the issue of South Azerbaijan in conclusion.
“Annexation of South Azerbaijan to the Azerbaijan Republic is the
funniest joke in the entire history of Iran.” Khatami explained this
by the fact that Iran has recognized the Azerbaijan Republic, and that
residents of Northern Iran have contributed greatly to stability and
the development of culture, history, science, politics and industry of
Iran. “We have no claims on Azerbaijan, but if the issue of unification
is raised, from the historic standpoint, northern Azerbaijanis will
aspire to establish closer ties with their Southern neighbors, but
not the other way round”, Khatami added.

Ferry repairs suspend cargo exchanges between Russia, Armenia
By Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 13, 2004 Monday
YEREVAN, September 13 — All haulage of cargo between Russia and
Armenia by motor vehicles has been suspended as Bulgaria’s Meridien
Company that operates the Burgas-Poti-Novorossisk navigation line
linking Bulgaria to Georgia to Russia has notified its partners that
it suspends operations until September 27 because the ferry needs
repairs, CEO of Yerevan-based Apaven Company Gagik Agadzhanian told
Itar-Tass on Monday.
“The suspension of the operation of the Bulgarian ferry is giving rise
to new problems for the Armenian national economy. Armenia has no
common border with Russia and the two countries’ exchanges of goods
have to use first the Black Sea routes and then rely on transit via
Georgia,” he said.
At present, 25 heavy trucks with goods from Russia are en route to
Armenia. It is not clear when they will be able to reach destination.

T.O. filmmaker documents Silent Genocide
By Rebecca Whitnall, [email protected]
Ventura County Star, CA
Sept 10 2004
Dr. Michael Hagopian speaks for those who no longer can. He’s a
storyteller by trade and his medium is film.
Much of his 90 years has been spent documenting a genocide that to
this day goes unheard of by even the well-educated and unrecognized
by many governments, including our own and countries involved in the
atrocities, he says.
In April 1915, the annihilation of almost 1.5 million Armenians
began. It is referred to as the Silent, or Secret Genocide.
Despite the great number of Armenians who lost their lives, Hagopian
isn’t shocked more people don’t know about it.
“I’m not surprised because there’s not been as much publicity,”
Hagopian said. “There is a lesser presence in the world of Armenians
than Jews. Also, there weren’t photographers and film because it was
much longer ago (than the Holocaust).”
The Turkish Ottoman empire claims the deaths were the result of civil
war. Hagopian’s films document that there was nothing civil at all
about these deaths.
Half-century of work
Most witnesses are now dead; the youngest remaining survivors would
be 86 now. Hagopian, however, has been filming interviews for more
than 50 years and has created what is reportedly the most complete
collection of testimonies about the Armenian genocide in the world.
His requirement in interviewing witnesses is that they were at least
10 when they witnessed the deaths, providing a more accurate account
than younger children could.
The Armenian Film Foundation, of which Hagopian is a founder and
chairman, is completing work on its third film in a trilogy, “The
Witnesses,” which documents the genocide.
“Caravan Along the Euphrates,” the series’ third film, incorporates
survivor accounts selected from the collection of more than 400
interviews filmed by Hagopian on four continents. The film’s target
release date is next year, coinciding with the 90th commemorative
year of the genocide and 35th anniversary of the film foundation.
The first film in the series, “Voices from the Lake,” was the
first feature-length documentary on the genocide and focuses on the
day-to-day tragedies that occurred in the city of Kharpert, Hagopian’s
hometown, where much of the annihilation took place.
“It was the city of no return for Armenians,” he said. They were
taken there but never able to leave.
The second film in the series, “Germany and the Secret Genocide,”
is set against the backdrop of World War I. It weaves interviews and
letters written by genocide survivors, with witnesses and experts in
the field to examine Germany’s involvement in the mass killings of
Armenians at the hands of the Turkish soldiers.
The organization’s films have won numerous awards, including the
prestigious Golden Camera Award in the history category from the U.S.
International Film and Video Festival, the largest festival of its
kind. It specializes in documentary, informational and industrial
films.
Hagopian also owns Atlantis Productions. He works from his home in
Thousand Oaks, where he lives with wife, Antoinette, and one of his
four children.
He has a doctorate in international relations from Harvard University,
is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley, and has done
more than two years of graduate work in cinema at the University of
Southern California.
Also, he has taught at a number of colleges and universities, including
the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was first inspired
to create documentaries.
Young filmmaker
Hagopian was unimpressed with the quality of a film presented by a
colleague as a possible teaching aid.
“It was very simplistic. I thought I could do better,” he said,
even though photography was only a mild hobby.
With that purpose in mind, he began looking for employment at
international universities and finally accepted a position at the
American University of Beirut in Lebanon, for the grand annual salary
of $2,000.
For a year he shot foot after foot of film and sent it back to an
adviser in the United States for critique.
He had no way of viewing the footage himself and his improvement
relied entirely on advice received.
The project begins
The following year, he shot 30,000 feet of film on the Nile, from
which he culled two movies. They won first prize at the Cleveland
Film Festival.
Encouraged, he went on to study filmmaking at USC.
“It wasn’t til 1965 that a community leader approached me and said
he wanted to mark the 50th anniversary of the genocide,” said Hagopian.
He agreed to work with the group and in a matter of weeks produced
a show for KCOP TV in Los Angeles titled “Where are My People.”
He said it was the first documentary on the secret genocide.
“It was a lamentation in a way, asking where these people are,”
he said.
His next film on the subject was the Emmy-nominated “Forgotten
Genocide.”
“Up til that time, I was doing them as individual films under the
Atlantis Production label,” he said.
The Armenian Film Foundation was established in 1969.
Though he tests the films by screening preliminary shows with members
of the foundation, he mostly works on them alone.
When working with a number of interviews and others’ stories,
“You let the film direct you,” he explained. “Once it directs you,
you do a lot of testing.”
But the creation, he said, “is kind of a one-man enterprise.”
“Documentary filmmaking is somewhat like being an artist. You can’t
make a statement by committee,” he said. “Do you think Michael Moore
works by committee?”
Hagopian said art films differ from documentaries in the way audiences
react to them.
“In art films, you’re expressing yourself, but I need to take the
audience into consideration,” he said. “If they don’t understand what
I’m saying, there’s no point.”
‘Asian Earth’
Hagopian’s next endeavor will be to revisit “Asian Earth,” a film
he made about life in India. “I think it’s my best work. It’s got
everything in it: life, marriage, death.”
The idea with this project would be having someone revisit the areas
covered in the film 100 years after the original footage was shot to
compare the way of life of people in both periods.
He also will be archiving the thousands of feet of film he’s taken
over the years for “The Witnesses.”
The foundation is looking at proposals by different agencies to take
on the job.
“I’m trying to tell the survivors’ stories,” he said.
“With such great violations of human rights there are lessons to
be learned.
“It’s a story that needs to be told.”

TEMPERS FLARE OVER THE ISSUE OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH “SOUVENIR” CURRENCY
Elizabeth Owen 9/07/04
Eurasianet Organization
Sept 7 2004
Over the past month and a half, two souvenir currency notes from
Nagorno-Karabakh have unleashed a storm of accusations and
counter-accusations between Azerbaijani officials and representatives
of the Armenian-controlled, self-styled republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh “souvinir” 10-dram note
On the surface, the red and green notes, which have no monetary
value, seem harmless enough. One diplomat even compared the notes to
money used for the board game Monopoly. But for those directly
involved in trying to achieve a Karabakh peace settlement — in
particular the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan, along with
Karabakh Armenian leaders — there is nothing about that is taken
lightly about the 1988-94 conflict.
At present, the Karabakh peace talks are deadlocked. Azerbaijan is
adamantly opposed to any political arrangement that leaves Karabakh
outside its jurisdiction. Armenia, meanwhile, will not accept a
settlement that restores any level of Azerbaijani control over the
enclave. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
For Baku, the two-dram and 10-dram notes represent an attempt by the
enclave to burnish its image as an independent entity. “Despite the
fact that this is not real money, we cannot accept this and we
strongly oppose any attempt at creating this currency,” said Fikret
Pashayev, economic counselor at the Azerbaijani embassy in
Washington, DC. “It could create further tension in the region.”
For Armenian leaders in the Karabakh capital of Stepanakert, the bank
notes are seen as an attempt to reinforce their republic’s right to
exist. “Of course, my government is involved in this,” said Vardan
Barseghian, the US representative of the self-declared
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. “We see this as a promotion for
Nagorno-Karabakh.”
The bills are meant not only to reinforce a sense of national
identity, said Barseghian, but, also, to encourage outside investors
and even tourists to venture into the remote, mountainous region.
Among the attractions touted for potential visitors are the 13th
century Gandzasar Monastery, once a residence of the head of the
Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church.
Still, for a publicity campaign, details have been scarce. Posing as
currency collectors, correspondents from the Baku-based daily
newspaper Echo found out that the notes had been printed by
Österreichische Staatsdruckerei, the Austrian State Printing House, a
200-year-old company now in private hands. The order was placed by
the Educational Coin Company, a wholesale numismatic firm located in
Highland, New York.
Barseghian characterized the print run as “not very large,” but could
not give an estimate of overall sales. The project, he stressed, “is
more of a souvenir type thing.”
That fact, however, apparently has yet to register with individuals
selling the souvenir currency on the online auction site E-Bay.
Prospective buyers have been told that the drams are already in use
in Nagorno-Karabakh, described as “a breakaway region in Armenia.” In
late August, bidding reached a high of $6.50 for a pair of two-dram
and 10-dram notes.
Azerbaijani diplomats in Washington raised the matter with the US
State Department, Pashayev said, and reportedly received assurances
from US officials that the Educational Coin Company could face “very
severe punishment” if it continued with its promotion and
distribution plans for the Karabakh currency.
Images of the Nagorno-Karabakh currency have been removed from the
Educational Coin Company’s website. David Laties, the company’s
secretary-treasurer, declined all comment on his firm’s deal with
Österreichische Staatsdruckerei. The State Department did not respond
to a request for information on its own role in the affair.
“They [the Educational Coin Co.] need to be careful when they get
involved in something that has a political side,” Pashayev said.
“After all, if some Armenian company tried to print money for Texas,
no one in the United States would support this, either.”
Meanwhile, representatives of Azerbaijan’s embassy to Vienna filed a
complaint with the Austrian government and met with Reinhart
Gausterer, director general of Österreichische Staatsdruckerei, Echo
reported. In a telephone interview from Vienna with EurasiaNet,
Valentin Inzko, head of the Austrian Foreign Ministry’s department
for the South Caucasus, stated that Austria has subsequently allayed
all of Azerbaijan’s concerns.
“Azerbaijan understands that we are not involved in this, and that
our position on Nagorno-Karabakh is unchanged,” Inzko said. “This is
a discussion between two private companies.”
The Azerbaijani response to Nagorno-Karabakh’s currency venture comes
as no surprise, Barseghian stated. “Azerbaijan reacts to everything,”
he said. “They don’t like anything.”
“What’s the big deal?” he went on to say. “The Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic has been developing for the last 15 years. Azerbaijan has no
influence whatsoever on what¹s going on in Karabakh.”
Editor’s Note: Elizabeth Owen is a is a freelance writer specializing
in political issues in the Caucasus.

Sports Illustrated
Posted: Saturday September 4, 2004 12:16PM; Updated: Saturday September 4,
2004 12:16PM
Singapore tops Indonesia in Tiger Cup warmup
SINGAPORE (AP) — Goals from Noh Alam Shah and Indra Sahdan Daud
gave Singapore a 2-0 win over rivals Indonesia in the Tiger Beer
Challenge trophy as the two Southeast Asian nations began tuning up in
preparation for the Tiger Cup, the region’s premier soccer tournament.
The match was also the first international for Indonesia’s English-born
coach Peter Withe — since he took charge last month from Bulgarian
Ivan Kolev — who left after leading them to the Asian Cup finals in
China that ended in August. Withe made the switch to Indonesia after
leading Thailand for five years and guiding them to the 2002 Tiger Cup.
Played before 3,000 at the Jalan Besar Stadium, Noh Alam, unmarked
on the left, opened scoring for the hosts in the 38th minute through
a header after a good cross from naturalized Nigerian Itimi Dickson.
Indonesia, ranked 92nd in the world, earned a penalty on the stroke
of halftime when Elie Aiboy was fouled just inside the box by the
city-state’s Noh Rahman. But top striker Bambang Pamungkas’ low spot
kick to the bottom right corner was saved by keeper Hassan Sunny for
the final play of the first 45.
Indra scored Singapore’s second in the 49th minute after a neat turn
away from his marker outside the box to fire a crisp, low drive past
Indonesian netminder Hendro Kartiko.
Ranked 121st in the world just behind Armenia and Benin, the win was
Singapore’s first this year.
The Tiger Cup will be co-hosted by Vietnam and Malaysia in December
and also features Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines,
Myanmar, Laos, Indonesia and debutants East Timor.
Singapore and Indonesia play 2006 World Cup qualifiers Wednesday
against Oman and Sri Lanka respectively but neither have much chance of
making the finals in Germany and are focusing instead on the Tiger Cup.

Detroit Free Press, MI
Sept 2 2004
About Chechnya
Population: 1.2 million; 85 percent are Sunni Muslim Chechens, the
remainder are Christians, mostly Russians or Armenians.
RELATED CONTENT
Terror takes over Russian school
Size: About 5,000 square miles.
History: Chechens have been fighting Russian occupation since the
late 18th Century. But the seeds of the current revolt go back to
World War II, when Chechnya was a semiautonomous republic within the
Soviet Union. While most Chechen males fought German troops, Soviet
dictator Josef Stalin ordered Chechnya wiped off the map. Secret
police burned villages and deported the entire Chechen population to
Kazakhstan and Siberia, accusing them and other Soviet Muslims of
collaborating with the Nazis.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, an independence movement
formed in Chechnya, but Russia refused to allow the secession. As a
result, Chechnya has undergone two civil wars, which have left most
of Chechnya under the control of the federal military. Chechen
separatists still claim an independent Chechnya and have orchestrated
attacks in Chechnya and other regions of Russia, including Moscow.
Some 150,000 people have died as a result of Chechen civil strife
from 1994 to 2003.
The rebel force: Military analysts estimate the number to be in the
low thousands. The rebels are thought to have the support of up to 30
percent of the Chechen population, although the vast majority of
Chechens say they are tired of the bloodshed. Apart from indigenous
Chechen fighters, the separatist force includes foreigners. Some top
commanders are from Saudi Arabia. Suicide bombers have notably
included so-called black widows — Chechen women who lost husbands in
fighting.

Armenian defence chief says US troops might be stationed in Azerbaijan
Mediamax news agency
27 Aug 04

YEREVAN
Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan “supposes” that US troops
might be stationed in Azerbaijan.
Asked about Yerevan’s reaction in case this scenario became a reality,
the Armenian defence minister said that “there is nothing special to
comment on, we think that this concerns solely relations between the
USA and Azerbaijan”.
“We cannot tell Azerbaijan what troops it should station on its
territory,” Serzh Sarkisyan said.

ARMENIAN NPP TO BE RESTARTED ON OCTOBER 4, 2004
YEREVAN, AUGUST 25. ARMINFO. The Armenian NPP, which is not operative
now, is to be connected to the energy system on October 4, 2004, RA
Minister of Energy Armen Movsisyan told reporters.
The NPP was shut down for maintenance repairs and re-fueling on July
31. The Minister pointed out that the work has been done 45-50 per
cent, and monitoring shows that it will be completed within 64
days. He added that fuel has for the first time been supplied on time
since 1995. The reactor is being repaired on the NPP’s internal
funds. Specialists of the Czech “Skoda” company are now testing the
strength of the metal case of the reactor in conformity with
international standards and technical requirements of the IAEA. This
work is to be completed within 5-6 days. To enhance the safety,
specialists intend to install 37 electro-gas circuit breakers. A
computer system will also be installed to register all the parameters
of the reactor, which will be filed for post-accident analysis.
In 2003, the NPP generated a total of 1.9bln. kw/h of energy, 36% of
the total energy output in Armenia. Last September, the NPP was
transferred to the management of the “Inter RAO EES” CJSC, a
subsidiary of the RAO “EES Rossii.”

ArmenPress
Aug 19 2004
MAMEDYAROV SAYS BAKU WILL STRIVE FOR PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO
KARABAKH CONFLICT
BAKU, AUGUST 19, ARMENPRESS: Baku will strive to the last point to
settle Nagorno Karabakh conflict peacefully, Azeri foreign minister
Elmar Mamediarov told a news conference today. He said that Nagorno
Karabakh “is the major conflict in the region and the oldest.” The
minister opposed the possibility of “freezing” the conflict. “We do
not believe that conflicts can be frozen,” he said. “International
community should understand that force is not a method for solution.
Armenian military forces have occupied territories,” Azeri foreign
minister said. “Such superpowers as USA, France and Russia should say
their word. The principle of territorial integrity is inviolable.”

Sportsnetwork.com
August 19, 2004
Ward wins Olympic boxing debut; Martirosyan falters
Athens, Greece (Sports Network) – Light heavyweight Andre Ward won his
Olympic debut Thursday, scoring a victory over Italy’s Clemente Russo at
Peristeri Hall. But welterweight Vanes Martirosyan wasn’t as lucky.
Martirosyan, a California native like Ward, dropped his second-round
bout with reigning world champion Lorenzo Aragon Armenteros of Cuba,
becoming the second American boxer in as many days to lose.
“He was the better fighter,” said the 18-year-old Martirosyan, who won
his Olympic opener Sunday, a lopsided 45-20 victory over Algerian
Benamar Meskine. “I hope he gets the gold.”
Martirosyan was never really in the bout, falling behind 8-2 in the
first round on the way to a 20-11 loss. Flyweight Rau’Shee Warren was
the first American to lose here when he dropped a decision to China’s
Zau Shiming on Wednesday.
For Ward, who hasn’t lost a fight since 1998, things went just as
planned. He opened up with a slim 2-1 advantage in the first round
before outpointing Russo 6-4 and 7-3 over the next two frames on the way
to a 17-9 triumph.
“Andre likes to feel his opponents out first,” USA coach Basheer
Abdullah said. “But he was more aggressive over the last rounds.”
Ward moved on to face two-time world champion Evgeny Makarenko of
Russia. He is just the eighth American boxer to win his Olympic debut.
08/19 11:58:42 ET
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