Author: Jalatian Sonya

YEREVAN DAY TO BE CELEBRATED

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| 14:20:32 | 12-09-2005 | Social |

Yerevan deputy mayor Arman Sahakyan confesses that in connection
with the Yerevan Day there will be a huge celebration with a lot
of fireworks. He mentioned about it during today’s briefing in the
municipality.

By the Government decision the Yerevan Day is celebrated every second
Saturday of October. This year it will be October 8. The event will
last two days. The director of the event is Vigen Stepanyan.

The deputy mayor also referred o the other fields of his arrangement.
Speaking about the commerce and service field, he confessed that
there is still street commerce in Yerevan. “We must realize that the
problem cannot be solved in 2-3 years”. The most terrible thing is
probably the open-air sale of construction materials. There are 256
suchlike places in the city.

The combat against mourning accessories street sale is also in
process. The hope of the municipality is the law which is still
being discussed. According to the law, the sale of coffins must be
realized near the cemeteries only.

Referring to culture once again Arman Sahakyan informed that the fees
of the pupils with special needs studying in musical schools will be
paid by the municipality.

Karabakh launches own currency – Russian report

ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow
9 Sep 05

YEREVAN

One million copies of the currency of the unrecognized Nagornyy
Karabakh Republic (NKR) – the Karabakh dram – has been put into
circulation, the president of the Central Bank of Armenia, Tigran
Sarkisyan, said.

The decision to issue the Karabakh dram has been taken by the NKR
government and the NKR Ministry of Economy and Finance is the office
of issue. In fact the dram is a collector’s item for numismatists, but
formally it can be used as a payment instrument in Armenia as well,
Sarkisyan said.

Specimens of the new currency “were circulated all over the world and
have already raised interest among the collectors”, added Sarkisyan
who also heads the All-Armenian Academy of Philately and
Numismatics. This ” will give millions of people an opportunity to get
to know Nagornyy Karabakh”, he added.

For over 12 years NKR has been using the official currency of Armenia
– the Armenian dram.

NKR’s Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance Narine Azatyan said in
Stepanokert that the Karabakh currency was issued in banknotes of two
and 10 drams and coins of one and five drams and 50 lum [one dram is
equal to 100 lum]. There are no plans to issue other denominations
yet.

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| 19:28:39 | 08-09-2005 | Official |

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT RECEIVED ARMEN JIGARKHANYAN

Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian met with head of the Moscow
Dramatic Theater, actor Armen Jigarkhanyan.

The President appreciated the contribution of A. Jigarkhanyan to the cinema.
Having noted Jigarkhanyan’s role in the development of Armenian-Russian
cultural relations, R. Kocharian considered actor’s participation in events
on the occasion of the Year of Russia in Armenia and Year of Armenia in
Russia scheduled in 2006 desirable.

Anchoring Ankara
Leader
Friday September 9, 2005
The Guardian

Europeans, or more precisely the EU member states, voted for Turkey last
Christmas when they solemnly promised to start long-awaited negotiations
with Turkey on its membership of the club. The date they gave was
October 3 2005, now less than a month away, and there is a whiff of
panic in the air that maybe, after all the fuss, this may not happen.
Turkey, long a trusted member of Nato, thought its European “vocation”
had been finally and definitively recognised in 2003, when the then
15-member EU was finalising its historic 10-country enlargement. But
anti-Turkish feeling in several countries and last summer’s rejection of
the union’s new constitution in France and the Netherlands have created
grave doubts. Thus yesterday’s warning by Jack Straw, in the hot seat of
the EU presidency, that it is vital to stick to that solemn promise,
even if, as expected, the actual negotiations take many years.

The biggest problem is the ever-tangled question of Cyprus, one of last
May’s newcomers. It had been hoped that UN efforts to reunite the island
would bear fruit before it joined. Since they did not (though more
because of the Greek than the Turkish side), and Ankara is refusing to
recognise the Nicosia government, the start of accession talks is in
jeopardy.
France has been very negative. But there is a bigger obstacle looming in
Germany, assuming Angela Merkel’s CDU wins this month’s election. Ms
Merkel wants Turkey to be offered only a “privileged partnership,” not
the full membership that has awaited all other candidates at the end of
their negotiations. To offer something different exclusively for Turkey
would seem to prove the resentful charge that the EU is a “Christian
club” that cannot accommodate the world’s only secular Muslim democracy
– and risk a dangerous backlash.

It bears repeating that the magnet of EU membership has already
generated huge advances under the conservative government of Recep
Tayyip Erdogan. Torture has been banned; there are now Kurdish language
broadcasts and the grip of the military has been weakened. It is thus
regrettable – and a gift to Turkey’s enemies – that at this delicate
moment the renowned novelist Orhan Pamuk is facing Ataturk-era charges
of “belittling Turkishness” over his brave comments about the Armenian
genocide of 1915. Countries that join the EU must be able to confront
their own past, and respect free speech. Still, Mr Straw is right. The
talks must begin on schedule. Any delay would be a betrayal of trust
that could weaken Europe’s battered credibility, and damage Turkey’s
reforms.

,7369,1565932,00.html#article_continue

PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research
395 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
Tel.: 617-489-1610
E-mail: [email protected]
Contact: Marc A. Mamigonian

DR. CAROLANN NAJARIAN TO SPEAK AT NAASR ON ARMENIAN FOLK MEDICINE

Dr. Carolann Najarian of Lincoln, Mass., will speak at the
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center in
Belmont, Mass., on Thursday evening, September 22, at 8 p.m., on
“Healers, Holy Books, Mountains, and Gardens: Armenian Folk Medical
Beliefs and Practices.” The lecture will be cosponsored by NAASR and
the Armenian International Women’s Association (AIWA).

Every culture has a belief system regarding healthcare, and,
notwithstanding the variations within the society, Armenians are no
different. Many of the belief systems that affect the practice of
healthcare in Armenia today are also familiar to diaspora Armenians.
Others may not be as familiar as they come from the Soviet Armenian
experience.

Modern Practices Rooted in Tradition

Armenian society today is undergoing tremendous upheaval and
change that challenge long held values. How are these changes affecting
healthcare and its practice given the traditional beliefs of Armenians?
One of the answers is that people are returning to traditional forms of
healthcare as a way of coping with uncertainty. Many of these practices
are rooted in Armenian traditional medicine – which is a product of
Armenia’s history and location and is supported by aspects of what we
might call its “national character.”

Dr. Carolann Najarian, stepping out of her role as a medical
doctor, has sought to understand this phenomenon through the eyes of a
medical anthropologist. (Medical anthropology is the study of healthcare
beliefs and practices.) She will present her findings and illustrate
them with the many stories she has heard – some of miraculous cures, all
of Armenians struggling to survive despite the uncertainty of their
lives today. Members of the audience will likely recall stories of what
their own parents and/or grandparents believed and what they did.

Dr. Najarian is the founder and president of the Armenian
Health Alliance, and her work in Armenia and Karabagh has brought her
numerous honors. A graduate of the Boston University School of
Medicine, she has been a practicing internist in the Cambridge-Watertown
area and an instructor in clinical medicine at the Harvard Medical
School. In 2004 she completed a Masters Degree in Medical Anthropology
with a thesis on Armenian folk medical practices.

Admission to the event is free (donations appreciated). The NAASR
Bookstore will open at 7:30 p.m. The NAASR Center and Headquarters is
located opposite the First Armenian Church and next to the U.S. Post
Office. Ample parking is available around the building and in adjacent
areas. The lecture will begin promptly at 8:00 p.m.

More information about the lecture is available by calling 617-489-1610,
faxing 617-484-1759, e-mailing [email protected], or writing to NAASR, 395
Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.

# # # # #

Belmont, Mass.

August 22, 2005

NEW ARMENIAN CHURCH TO BE BUILT IN WASHINGTON

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 7. ARMINFO. The construction of a new Armenian
church will be started din Washington in 2006.

This issue was discussed during the meeting of Armenian Parliament
Speaker Artur Bagdassaryan and members of the Council of the St
ariam-The Mother of God Church in Washington.

The project is estimated at $8 mln. The sides also discussed the
problems of the Washington Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

RUSSIA, ARMENIA TO HOLD JOINT MILITARY EXERCISE

RIA Novosti, Russia
Sept 6 2005

TBILISI, September 6 (RIA Novosti, Marina Kvaratskhelia) -Russia and
Armenia are to hold a joint military exercise from September 7 to 14,
a spokesman for the Russian armed forces announced Tuesday.

Vladimir Kuparadze, Press Officer of Russia’s South Caucasus Command,
said the exercise will be held at the Bagramyan firing range in
Armenia and that it will involve both air and ground forces.

It will be held in keeping with the CIS Collective Security Treaty,
which also includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway

The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief

================================================
Monday 5 September 2005
NAGORNO-KARABAKH: BAPTIST CONSCRIPT NOW IMPRISONED

Military leaders in the unrecognised republic of Nagorno-Karabakh in the
South Caucasus have successfully appealed to the courts for Gagik Mirzoyan
– handed a suspended sentence in July for refusing to handle weapons or
swear the military oath on grounds of religious faith – to be sent to
prison. On 5 September Hadrut district court imprisoned the embattled
Baptist conscript for one year. The court told Mirzoyan that if he
declared then and there he would swear the oath it would free him and send
him back to his unit. “Gagik responded that he couldn’t do so as the Bible
doesn’t allow it,” a fellow Baptist told Forum 18. “He was sentenced and
police took him away immediately.” Two Jehovah’s Witnesses have also been
sentenced to prison in Nagorno-Karabakh this year for refusing compulsory
military service because of their religious convictions.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH: BAPTIST CONSCRIPT NOW IMPRISONED

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service

Two months after a court in the unrecognised republic of Nagorno-Karabakh
in the South Caucasus gave Baptist conscript Gagik Mirzoyan a suspended
sentence for refusing to swear the military oath or bear arms because of
his religious convictions, a court has increased the penalty at the urging
of military leaders. The district court of Hadrut in south-eastern Karabakh
sentenced Mirzoyan today (5 September) to one year’s imprisonment. “This is
bad news,” Albert Voskanyan, director of the Centre for Civilian
Initiatives, told Forum 18 News Service from Karabakh’s capital
Stepanakert. “Mirzoyan is likely to be brought here to Stepanakert in the
next few days and then, it seems, to the prison in Shushi.”

Already held in Shushi prison for refusing military service on grounds of
religious conscience is Jehovah’s Witness Areg Hovhanesyan, sentenced on
16 February to four years’ imprisonment (see F18News 22 February 2005
<;).

“We were there in court with Gagik’s family today,” a fellow-Baptist told
Forum 18 from Stepanakert on 5 September. “Gagik looked well, but he was
much thinner, perhaps because of all the worry over the past few months.”
The Baptist reported that the court told Mirzoyan that if he declared then
and there he would swear the oath it would free him and send him back to
his unit. “Gagik responded that he couldn’t do so as the Bible doesn’t
allow it. He was sentenced and police took him away immediately.”

The Baptist, who preferred not to be named, insisted that Mirzoyan is
prepared to conduct an alternative service. “He’s ready to serve even in a
dangerous position, such as in a frontline medical unit, as long as it is
without weapons and without swearing the oath,” the Baptist told Forum 18.
“He believes this would be a witness for others to his faith.”

Mirzoyan, a Karabakh native and a member of a local congregation of the
Council of Churches Baptists, was called up last December. He announced
immediately that he was not able to serve with weapons or swear the
military oath on grounds of religious conscience. In the wake of his
conscription he was beaten up in two different military units and served
10 days in military prison (see F18News 6 January 2005
<; and 15 April 2005

< le_id=544>).

Nagorno-Karabakh has compulsory military service for all young men, with
no alternative service provision. At a trial at Hadrut district court on 7
July, Mirzoyan was found guilty under Article 364 part 1 of the criminal
code (Nagorno-Karabakh has adopted Armenia’s criminal code), which
punishes “refusal to perform one’s military duties” with detention of up
to 3 months, disciplinary battalion of up to 2 years or imprisonment of up
to 2 years. He was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. However, the court
ruled that the sentence should be suspended under Article 70 of the
criminal code, which covers conditional punishments. Mirzoyan was then
sent back to his military unit in Hadrut district (see F18News 13 July
2005 <;).

The Baptist said that conditional sentences are given so that those
sentenced “think over” what they have done. “But as they saw no progress
in persuading Gagik to take the oath, the military leadership appealed
against his suspended sentence and the case was brought to court again.”

Karabakh officials have revealed to Forum 18 in recent months that letters
about Mirzoyan’s case had arrived in Stepanakert from around the world.
Local Baptists say some 500 letters alone reached the court ahead of the 7
July trial.

The Stepanakert Baptist told Forum 18 he understands that “the young
state” of Nagorno-Karabakh is wary over allowing an alternative to
compulsory military service as long as hostilities with the Azerbaijani
government are unresolved. “There is still a state of war, and the
authorities fear other people will try to follow the example of anyone
allowed to do alternative service. But if such alternative service is hard
and even dangerous, it will separate out those who want to do it because of
their love of the Lord.”

Also sentenced in Karabakh this year for refusing military service on
religious grounds was another Jehovah’s Witness Armen Grigoryan, an
Armenian citizen who had been illegally deported from Armenia to serve in
Karabakh against his will. Grigoryan was returned to Armenia to serve his
two year sentence (see F18News 7 July 2005
<;). Jehovah’s Witness
sources told Forum 18 on 26 July that Grigoryan is now being held in the
prison in the town of Nubarashen close to the Armenian capital Yerevan.

A printer-friendly map of the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is
available at
<;Rootmap=azerba>

within the map titled ‘Azerbaijan’.

A printer-friendly map of Armenia is available at
< a&Rootmap=armeni>
(END)

© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News

Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at

STUDENTS DOING LESSONS IN BOOKSTORES

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| 15:02:56 | 06-09-2005 | Social |

“We have a very small number of professional literature in the Armenian
language”, director of Noyan Tapan bookstore Hayk Lazarian noted
when commenting on one of the most serious problems our students face
at present. “And the ones we have are too expensive, so the students
have to make notes in the bookstore”, he added.

The Russian translation of juridical, economic or medical textbooks
poses problems to the Armenian school leavers.

“I have to go to the bookstore because there are no textbooks in
the Armenian language in the library”, first year student of the
medical university Samvel Karapetyan says. He spends much time in
the bookstore, where students are allowed to use books, the price of
which starts with 3000 AMD.

ROBBEN DOUBTFUL FOR ARMENIA QUALIFIER

Supersport, South Africa
Sept 1 2005

Chelsea winger Arjen Robben is doubtful for the Netherlands’ World
Cup qualifier against Armenia on Saturday with an ankle problem.

The Dutch are already without striker Roy Makaay, who left their
training camp in Noordwijk earlier on Thursday because of a knee
injury.

Maakay will return to his club, Bayern Munich, for treatment and is
due to contact the Dutch team’s technical and medical staff on Sunday
to decide whether he will play against Andorra next week.

Robben will have a fitness test on Friday on the ankle injury he
sustained in a Premier League game against West Bromwich Albion
last week.

“Arjen trained separately today but he did well and proved fit in
controlled training without any ball contact,” coach Marco van Basten
told a news conference.

“Tomorrow after the group training we will take a decision about the
coming match but we have some good alternatives.”

Arsenal winger Robin van Persie could replace Robben on the left
flank for his first start.

Defenders Tim de Cler and John Heitinga and midfielder Nigel de Jong
were dropped by Van Basten, who reduced his squad from 23 to 19 men.

“We made this choice because the other players are better and also
because we want two substitutes, one right and one left footed,
for every line,” the coach said.

The unbeaten Dutch are top European Group One a point ahead of the
Czech Republic. They play Armenia away on Saturday and then host
Andorra four days later in Eindhoven.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Henk Timmer
(AZ Alkmaar)

Defenders: Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Barcelona), Jan Kromkamp
(Villareal), Barry Opdam (AZ Alkmaar), Khalid Boulahrouz (HSV Hamburg),
Wilfred Bouma (PSV Eindhoven), Theo Lucius (PSV Eindhoven)

Midfielders: Hedwiges Maduro (Ajax Amsterdam), Wesley Sneijder
(Ajax Amsterdam), Denny Landzaat (AZ Alkmaar), Rafael van der Vaart
(Hamburg SV), Phillip Cocu (PSV Eindhoven)

Forwards: Ryan Babel (Ajax Amsterdam), Robin van Persie (Arsenal),
Arjen Robben (Chelsea), Dirk Kuyt (Feyenoord), Ruud van Nistelrooy
(Manchester United), Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (PSV Eindhoven)