Author: Kajoyan Gevork

PUTTING ISSUE IN PERSPECTIVE
By Dan Kimber

Glendale News Press
Aug 22 2008
CA

Bulletin: Local councilman infers that one segment of the local
population smokes more cigarettes than other segments of the local
population. Councilman Dave Weaver’s indelicate reference to smoking
and Armenians has some in the "offended group" raking him over the
coals for his ethnic insensitivity. The high state of cultural (and
let’s not forget racial) awareness in our community has yet again
been activated at this most egregious affront and mindless stereotype.

I met Weaver only once, and I doubt that he remembers it. Our
"conversation" was a monologue with him talking and me listening,
an occupational hazard no doubt with politicians whose long service
has them being more over, than of, the people. He might want to
consider, soon, going back to being of the people. I would add,
though, that he is also deserving of our respect and gratitude for
his steadfast service to the community. This latest jab at him is
completely undeserved.

Let me say more directly what Weaver only alluded to: Armenians
(specifically the men) in Glendale do smoke more than non-Armenians. I
base that partly on 25 years of observing and working with students
who smoke in high school and of having some sense of the environment
around me. So shoot me for stating the obvious. Most of the kids in
school who have already begun the addiction, specifically Armenian
boys, come from families where male members, dad/uncle/brother/grandpa,
also smoke.

I come from a similar family. Dad smoked and so did all five of his
sons. The correlation is undeniable. All but one of us gave up the
habit. Most of my smoking buddies in high school have also quit. We
got the message drummed into us that an addiction to tobacco will
pretty much rule out a long life. That’s what we all grew up with,
and eventually the truth of that message came through.

People who come from other parts of the world to America have
historically had to adjust, not just to long-standing tradition,
but to current trend as well. Smoking in public is currently taking a
beating, not from an overbearing government but from increasing public
awareness of the health hazard, not to mention the outright annoyance,
of second-hand smoke.

But let’s try to put this ethnic thing into perspective. Our school
district, and others throughout the state, has targeted Latino
Americans for their consistently low scores on standardized tests. It
is a fact that they, as a group, perform well below other groups. Is
an acknowledgment of that fact grounds for Latino groups to rise up
in indignation, or is it an honest attempt to address a problem that
has an undeniable cultural component?

Should we all close our eyes to the fact that a preponderance of
smokers in public areas in Glendale are Armenian males?

In attempting to educate our children in our schools about the evils
of tobacco, should we address that ethnic component or pretend that
it doesn’t exist?

And while we’re on that subject, why doesn’t the Armenian National
Committee try wrestling with a real problem, like the disproportionate
number of young Armenian boys/men choosing an addiction that will
cut short their time on this Earth. Wouldn’t that be a more valuable
public service than being in a perpetual state of alert and waiting
to seize on the next perceived "racial" incident?

Old habits die hard, old customs harder yet. In Armenia, 70% of males
over the age of 15 smoke. It is the highest rate in all of Europe. If
that falls under the category of custom or "national pastime," then
it can only be hoped that coming to America will in time drastically
reduce those numbers.

As it is now, many of our children see smoking as a rite of passage
instead of the self-destructive, disgusting habit that it is.

The will to change that is not likely to come from statements made by
public officials but from men in the families who fully understand
the power of the example they set for the little boys who watch and
learn from them.

SELF DETERMINATION IS THE WAY FORWARD FOR THE WORLD (KURDISTAN OR TIBET)
By Peter Stitt

Kurdish Aspect
ml
Aug 21 2008
CO

In response to the article "Put Kirkuk to a vote, analysts say"
carried by UPI I have to applaud their findings.

The current problems between Georgia and Russia date back to the
drawing of the regional boundaries of Georgia that included two
completely Russian areas being placed under Georgian jurisdiction. When
everyone else in the UK was complaining abut Russia’s recent military
actions I was saying that they were defending "Russian people" who had
been attacked by the Georgian government forces. That border decision
was made at the same time as Sevres and Lausanne, the division of
Ireland, the ceding of an entirely Armenian area to Azerbejan. All of
these decisions, made by utter idiots who bought their commissions,
has led to over a hundred years of conflict and endless suffering
for untold millions.

The bottom line is that the people who live in what can be defined
as a territory should be able to decide which regional authority they
wish to belong to. Self determination is the only way forward and so
it is with Kirkuk.

And just to annoy the Turkomen who would love to believe that their
people have been there since the beginning of time, the Persians have
a better claim on Kirkuk than you have so shut up immediately. So
how about the people who were there before the Persian Empire? The
Kurds and other peoples, certainly not Turks who appeared on the
scene thousands of years later. An independent referendum in Kirkuk
is long overdue and it would be a constitutional betrayal by the Iraqi
government if it were not to occur. If that occurred then I guarantee
another one hundred years of conflict in the area and I will gladly
contribute personally to it.

On another related issue may I ask all Kurds at every level, from
government officials to private citizens, to please take into account
the feelings and history of the Assyrians and Armenians. Kurdistan
needs friends and so do they. Individually you are nothing but
collectively you could be formidable. There is a potentially huge
common cause of the smaller peoples of the middle-east/Asia minor
there, use it Kurdistan, Armenia and Assyria.

At the end of the day I am just another human being who wants to see
"fair play" but all of us have a voice and it is our duty to make
that voice heard for Kurds, Armenians, for Assyrians and, yes, also,
for Turks, Iranians, Syrians and Iraqis. That’s what puts us above
the politicians, we see people not profit.

EDWARD NALBANDIAN RECEIVES SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE COLLECTIVE SECURITY TREATY ORGANIZATION

ARMENPRESS
Aug 20, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 20, ARMENPRESS : Armenian foreign minister Edward
Nalbandian received today secretary general of the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO) Nikolay Bordyuzha.

The press division of the foreign ministry told Armenpress that Edward
Nalbandian and Nikolay Bordyuzha discussed Armenia’s upcoming rotating
chairmanship of the CSTO and the plan of actions to be implemented
during that time, as well as some issues relating to the CSTO foreign
ministers meeting in Kislovodsk and other issues related to CSTO.

They also exchanged ideas on the organization’s agenda issues and
ways to solve them.

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED FROM TANKIAN
By Aaron Lavery

Metro
Aug 19 2008
UK

Political activist, environmental campaigner and, most famously,
voice of alternative metal band System Of A Down, Serj Tankian has
never followed a conventional rock’n’roll career.

More likely to be found working alongside Rage Against The Machine
guitarist Tom Morello on behalf of Axis Of Justice – the non-profit
humanitarian organisation the duo formed in 2002 – than falling out
of a bar drunk, the Lebanese-born Armenian-American has long been
one of the more contentious and idiosyncratic frontmen in rock. Now
that he is effectively a solo artist, following the announcement in
2006 that System Of A Down were on indefinite hiatus, he is proving
just as unpredictable.

In October last year, Tankian’s solo debut, Elect The Dead, was
released to positive reviews, expressing relief that the singer had
abandoned the obscure Armenian folk of his previous side project,
Serart. In contrast, Elect contained the same hard-hitting blend of
soaring guitars, skewed time signatures and classical arrangements
that had originally made SOAD so distinctive. Unsurprisingly, Tankian’s
plans for the follow-up record are somewhat different.

‘I am putting together a world-class orchestra and a few opera singers
to collaborate with for the next one,’ he says. ‘I am looking at doing
a jazz/orchestral record: jazz on the intimate side and orchestral
on the grand side. I want the orchestra to be the electric guitar.’

In the meantime, Tankian is also working with playwright Steven
Sater on a musical adaptation of Greek tragedy Prometheus Bound. ‘I
have never done a musical or a play, so to me it’s interesting new
territory as a composer,’ he explains. He describes the project as
‘ranging in style from classical to pop, noise to rock to electronic’.

Although evidently keen to stretch himself artistically, Tankian
has not abandoned his rock roots, with this rescheduled UK tour
predominantly based around material from Elect The Dead. Then again,
if you’re not prepared for the odd snuck-in orchestral-jazz-noise-rock
fusion moment, then you just don’t know Serj.

IRAN TRYING TO PROVIDE SECURITY IN CAUCASUS SECURITY CHIEF

Islamic Republic News Agency IRNA
Aug 18 2008
Iran

Tehran, 18 August: Secretary of Supreme National Security Council
(SNSC) Sa’id Jalili said Iran tries to provide security in the region
of Caucasus.

According to the report of SNSC public relations office on Monday,
Jalili in a meeting with Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan
referred to Iran’s strategic ties with countries of the region,
especially Armenia, and said Iran will do its best to decrease problems
of the people in the region.

The visiting Armenian Energy minister, for his part, by referring
to Iran’s role in regional security arrangements, appreciated Iran’s
support for Caucasus region countries especially in hard situations.

EuroNews – English Version
August 17, 2008

Georgia claims loss of villages to Abkhaz forces

While a partial pullout of Russian forces may be underway in Georgia,
there was still plenty of military activity to keep observers busy.

Georgia has accused the Russians of setting forest fires near Tbilisi,
digging into positions near the capital, and occupying key villages
and a power station.

It also said Russian regular forces are supporting separatists from
Abkhazia on the Black Sea coast, who have occupied 13 villages on the
border, extending their zone of control. Gori, a key town, remained a
exercise ground for Russian tanks.

In other places, like Georgia’s key Black Sea port of Poti, the
Russians have gone, but have left devastation behind them, sinking
Georgian navy ships.

An unidentified group of men also blew up the main north-south railway
line at a key bridge. It cuts links to Armenia, and prevents
Azerbaijan exporting oil by rail to the west. This act in itself is a
major blow both economically and politically, as it puts into question
Georgia’s role as a safe and reliable energy crossroads.

Sunday’s Zaman, Turkey
Aug 17, 2008

`A Chemical Prison’ by Barbara Nadel

I can remember rushing home from high school to watch "Quincy, M.D."
on television, one of the first television series to highlight the
work of a forensic pathologist.

It was a great crime series — where the pathologist found something
suspicious on, or in, the body and then proceeded to make up for the
incompetence of the police by solving the case himself.

I was later to learn that life for a real forensic pathologist was
very different. One pathologist interviewed on the Web said, "In
contrast to the popular image of the television show ‘Quincy,’ we
usually do not run around the city solving murder mysteries, although
it would be interesting!" However shows such as "CSI" (which you can
watch on at least two channels on Digitürk every night of the
week) have given us a glamorized image of the forensic pathologist’s
work.

"Quincy, M.D." ran for 186 episodes between 1976 and 1983, a sure sign
of its popularity. It spawned a whole genre of forensic crime shows,
on both sides of the Atlantic. In each show a key feature of the plot
line is the relationship between the chief forensic investigator and
the chief police investigator.

In "Crossing Jordan" (also on Digitürk) the police officer
Woody harbors romantic feelings for Jordan, who resists, preferring
friendship because she believes it to be safer.

In the original "CSI" (Las Vegas) policeman Brass is a captain in the
homicide division and works closely with the grave shift CSI team. He
is a close friend of CSI Gil Grissom (whom he granted with his power
of attorney). The show has been heavily criticized almost since its
debut by police and district attorneys, who feel that "CSI" portrays
an inaccurate perception of how police solve crimes.

More realistic, perhaps, is "Waking the Dead," a British television
crime drama series featuring a team of police officers, led by DS
Peter Boyd. His multi-disciplinary team includes a psychological
profiler and a forensic scientist. The latter does not hesitate to
stand up to Boyd, when necessary.

Maybe in a desire to bring the pathologist to the fore, the BBC also
created "Silent Witness." Again, the series is often criticized for
apparently showing the pathologist (Sam Ryan) actively investigating
the crime. The police hardly feature! This characteristic of
pathologist as urban hero follows on earlier American series.

When Rob Chapman, one of the few UK government accredited forensic
pathologists was asked who is best: Sam Ryan of "Silent Witness" or
"Quincy, M.D.," he replied: "Well my job is nothing like theirs
[thankfully]. I suppose the pathology is similar, but I definitely
would not want to be chasing suspects and interviewing witnesses in
the way they do on television. I think that Sam Ryan is a bit too
dour. Quincy is much more entertaining."

Perhaps my favorite police officer-pathologist relationship is that
between Chief Inspector Morse of the Oxford police, and the
pathologist Max. (The books by Colin Dexter can be seen dramatized on
Hallmark Channel in Turkey.) Often called to a crime scene from an
official dinner, Max would arrive in his dinner jacket, and within 20
seconds the gruff police inspector would expect time of death and
cause of death to have been identified. Smart witticisms would always
follow.

Following in such a great tradition, it would be surprising if Barbara
Nadel’s crime novels set in Ä°stanbul failed to give us a
wonderful relationship between a police officer and his pathologist
colleague. Inspector Ã?etin Ä°kmen and Arto Sarkissian
have been friends since boyhood. "As children the two of them had
shared their play and their thoughts in equal measure. As adults that
state of affairs had not really changed except for their respective
professions."

As can be guessed from their names, theirs is a friendship that
crosses racial and religious divides. Ä°kmen is a shabbily
dressed Turk (he always brings images of Peter Falk as Columbo to my
mind!) and Sarkissian is "a round and jolly little Armenian."

Nadel cleverly uses their friendship, and the fact that the victim may
or may not be Armenian — and the only thing known in the neighborhood
about the man who appears to have kept him prisoner is that he is
Armenian — to delicately examine the relationship between the
majority and this minority.

Without side-stepping the very real issues, she has a character
conclude that "Whether we are Turks, whatever they are, Greeks,
Armenians, Venetians, all of us who live in this city are bound by the
irrefutable fact that we are Ä°stanbulites."

But "A Chemical Prison" is about much more than just the Turk-Armenian
relationship. Nadel cleverly weaves into the plot the story of the
Ottoman cage. The victim seems to have been a prisoner in a gilded
cage, in an old house called the Sacking House, which backs on to
Topkapı Palace.

Although at first sight a barbaric practice, the cage replaced the
previous custom that when a new sultan ascended to the throne, his
first act would be to order his brothers killed, to avoid attempts to
overthrow him. Royal fratricide was the standard of the day — and not
just those who had been born, pregnant concubines would also be thrown
into the Bosporus in sacks (that had been sewn in the Sacking House)
to avoid the birth of other potential contenders to the throne.

All of this changed in 1590 when the compassionate Ahmet ascended the
throne. Instead of murdering his brother Mustafa, he ordered him to
live with his grandmother in a single room of the harem known as the
Golden Cage. A special room, it had windows only on the second floor,
and a slot for delivering food. Though it was beautifully decorated on
the inside, it was merely an exquisite prison cell. The sultans that
followed, followed suit. Sadly, this meant that when those who had
spent their whole life in the Golden Cage were released at the death
of the sultan, they were often mad.

Ä°kmen and Sarkissian become embroiled in a case that has all
the hallmarks of a 20th century Ottoman cage. Nadel uses the facts of
the case as they emerge to cleverly question some practices used to
contain mental patients (the title "A Chemical Prison" refers to the
use of drugs to sedate a sane boy). Is this a novel that reconciles
Ä°stanbul’s present with the shadows of its past? Or is it
purely a good, fast-paced detective novel that keeps you guessing?
Maybe, it is a study in the issues of jailing and freedom — depicted
by what Ä°kmen calls "the old Turkish custom of paying to
release caged pigeons and thereby obtaining a blessing for setting
something free."

"A Chemical Prison" by Barbara Nadel, published by Headline, 6.99
pounds in paperback, ISBN: 978-074726218-3

17 August 2008, Sunday

MARION JAMES Ä°STANBUL

Sunday’s Zaman, Turkey
Aug 17, 2008

`A Chemical Prison’ by Barbara Nadel

I can remember rushing home from high school to watch "Quincy, M.D."
on television, one of the first television series to highlight the
work of a forensic pathologist.

It was a great crime series — where the pathologist found something
suspicious on, or in, the body and then proceeded to make up for the
incompetence of the police by solving the case himself.

I was later to learn that life for a real forensic pathologist was
very different. One pathologist interviewed on the Web said, "In
contrast to the popular image of the television show ‘Quincy,’ we
usually do not run around the city solving murder mysteries, although
it would be interesting!" However shows such as "CSI" (which you can
watch on at least two channels on Digitürk every night of the
week) have given us a glamorized image of the forensic pathologist’s
work.

"Quincy, M.D." ran for 186 episodes between 1976 and 1983, a sure sign
of its popularity. It spawned a whole genre of forensic crime shows,
on both sides of the Atlantic. In each show a key feature of the plot
line is the relationship between the chief forensic investigator and
the chief police investigator.

In "Crossing Jordan" (also on Digitürk) the police officer
Woody harbors romantic feelings for Jordan, who resists, preferring
friendship because she believes it to be safer.

In the original "CSI" (Las Vegas) policeman Brass is a captain in the
homicide division and works closely with the grave shift CSI team. He
is a close friend of CSI Gil Grissom (whom he granted with his power
of attorney). The show has been heavily criticized almost since its
debut by police and district attorneys, who feel that "CSI" portrays
an inaccurate perception of how police solve crimes.

More realistic, perhaps, is "Waking the Dead," a British television
crime drama series featuring a team of police officers, led by DS
Peter Boyd. His multi-disciplinary team includes a psychological
profiler and a forensic scientist. The latter does not hesitate to
stand up to Boyd, when necessary.

Maybe in a desire to bring the pathologist to the fore, the BBC also
created "Silent Witness." Again, the series is often criticized for
apparently showing the pathologist (Sam Ryan) actively investigating
the crime. The police hardly feature! This characteristic of
pathologist as urban hero follows on earlier American series.

When Rob Chapman, one of the few UK government accredited forensic
pathologists was asked who is best: Sam Ryan of "Silent Witness" or
"Quincy, M.D.," he replied: "Well my job is nothing like theirs
[thankfully]. I suppose the pathology is similar, but I definitely
would not want to be chasing suspects and interviewing witnesses in
the way they do on television. I think that Sam Ryan is a bit too
dour. Quincy is much more entertaining."

Perhaps my favorite police officer-pathologist relationship is that
between Chief Inspector Morse of the Oxford police, and the
pathologist Max. (The books by Colin Dexter can be seen dramatized on
Hallmark Channel in Turkey.) Often called to a crime scene from an
official dinner, Max would arrive in his dinner jacket, and within 20
seconds the gruff police inspector would expect time of death and
cause of death to have been identified. Smart witticisms would always
follow.

Following in such a great tradition, it would be surprising if Barbara
Nadel’s crime novels set in Ä°stanbul failed to give us a
wonderful relationship between a police officer and his pathologist
colleague. Inspector Ã?etin Ä°kmen and Arto Sarkissian
have been friends since boyhood. "As children the two of them had
shared their play and their thoughts in equal measure. As adults that
state of affairs had not really changed except for their respective
professions."

As can be guessed from their names, theirs is a friendship that
crosses racial and religious divides. Ä°kmen is a shabbily
dressed Turk (he always brings images of Peter Falk as Columbo to my
mind!) and Sarkissian is "a round and jolly little Armenian."

Nadel cleverly uses their friendship, and the fact that the victim may
or may not be Armenian — and the only thing known in the neighborhood
about the man who appears to have kept him prisoner is that he is
Armenian — to delicately examine the relationship between the
majority and this minority.

Without side-stepping the very real issues, she has a character
conclude that "Whether we are Turks, whatever they are, Greeks,
Armenians, Venetians, all of us who live in this city are bound by the
irrefutable fact that we are Ä°stanbulites."

But "A Chemical Prison" is about much more than just the Turk-Armenian
relationship. Nadel cleverly weaves into the plot the story of the
Ottoman cage. The victim seems to have been a prisoner in a gilded
cage, in an old house called the Sacking House, which backs on to
Topkapı Palace.

Although at first sight a barbaric practice, the cage replaced the
previous custom that when a new sultan ascended to the throne, his
first act would be to order his brothers killed, to avoid attempts to
overthrow him. Royal fratricide was the standard of the day — and not
just those who had been born, pregnant concubines would also be thrown
into the Bosporus in sacks (that had been sewn in the Sacking House)
to avoid the birth of other potential contenders to the throne.

All of this changed in 1590 when the compassionate Ahmet ascended the
throne. Instead of murdering his brother Mustafa, he ordered him to
live with his grandmother in a single room of the harem known as the
Golden Cage. A special room, it had windows only on the second floor,
and a slot for delivering food. Though it was beautifully decorated on
the inside, it was merely an exquisite prison cell. The sultans that
followed, followed suit. Sadly, this meant that when those who had
spent their whole life in the Golden Cage were released at the death
of the sultan, they were often mad.

Ä°kmen and Sarkissian become embroiled in a case that has all
the hallmarks of a 20th century Ottoman cage. Nadel uses the facts of
the case as they emerge to cleverly question some practices used to
contain mental patients (the title "A Chemical Prison" refers to the
use of drugs to sedate a sane boy). Is this a novel that reconciles
Ä°stanbul’s present with the shadows of its past? Or is it
purely a good, fast-paced detective novel that keeps you guessing?
Maybe, it is a study in the issues of jailing and freedom — depicted
by what Ä°kmen calls "the old Turkish custom of paying to
release caged pigeons and thereby obtaining a blessing for setting
something free."

"A Chemical Prison" by Barbara Nadel, published by Headline, 6.99
pounds in paperback, ISBN: 978-074726218-3

17 August 2008, Sunday

MARION JAMES Ä°STANBUL

GEORGIAN BOXERS LOST AMID WAR
By Ron Borges

The Sweet Science
Friday Aug 15, 2008

Mike Moynihan thought he had it all worked out for Mamuka Jikurashvili,
Levan Jomardashvili and his brother Shalva. Then the tanks started
to roll and the guns went off and three young Georgian boxers were
left in limbo.

Had they hailed from the state of Georgia you might be reading about
them as three young prize fighters on the rise by now but their lot
was to be born in what is the war-torn country of Georgia, which was
invaded by the Russian military on the very day Moynihan had them
set up to begin a journey to veteran trainer Don Turner’s training
camp in the wilds of western North Carolina.

"What happened to them could happen to anyone in the world we live
in today," said Moynihan, a former aide to retired Massachusetts
Congressman Brian Donnelly before Donnelly left the House of
Representatives to become ambassador to Trinidad in 1993. The
Boston-based lawyer has for some time helped professional athletes
from foreign countries work out their immigration and visa problems so
they could ply their trade in the U.S., a skill that was an outgrowth
of his work helping some of Donnelly’s constituents with similar visa
and immigration problems.

Serendipity is so often a part of such matters that the difficulties
the three Georgian fighters now face is hardly new to Moynihan,
who began working with foreign fighters because long-time trainer
Goody Petronelli’s gym just happened to be in Congressman Donnelly’s
district. A few problems arose with some of Petronelli’s foreign-born
fighters and Moynihan dealt with them. Next thing he knew he was
getting calls from hockey players and representatives of several Irish
fighters hoping to get work visas that would allow them to train and
fight in the U.S.

They included junior middleweight Ian Gardner and heavyweight Kevin
McBride, who was the last man to defeat Mike Tyson, but never has
he faced a situation quite like the one that happened on July 25,
the day a photocopy began what has turned into a nightmarish odyssey
for the three Georgian boxers.

"Jim Borzell (matchmaker for Irish Ropes, the promotional company
that handles middleweight contender John Duddy) introduced me to
a guy from Seattle, Egis Klimas, who was an informal advisor to a
fighter in Kazakhstan (rising light heavyweight prospect and former
Olympian Beibut Shumenov, who out pointed former light heavyweight
champion Montell Griffin on Aug. 2 and stopped Donnell Wiggins and
Lavell Finger within 12 days of each other in April)," Moynihan said.

"He asked me to help them put together visa requests for three fighters
in Georgia. (New York state athletic commission executive director)
Ron Scott Stevens and Don Turner helped out with some letters of
support and there was really no problem with immigration. I cabled
the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi and they approved a visa for a year for
them as athletes/entertainers and everything was set.

"It’s a pretty expensive process because the filing fees probably run
$2000 per fighter because we asked for an expedited process. Everything
was fine. But when the three fighters got to the Embassy they first had
to deal with a local person who looked at their paperwork. They’d been
sent their approvals electronically and the guy said they couldn’t use
a photocopy of their paperwork, which was wrong. That was on July 25.

"They went to get the original paperwork but when they got back
there was another complaint about it even though everything was in
order. That was a week ago. The Embassy stopped issuing visas the
next day because the problems with Russia had begun and a war was on."

At least three prize fighters now understand the difference between
fistic wars and real ones because they are captives, in a sense,
of that difference. The three remain somewhere in Georgia although
Moynihan did not know if they had returned to their hometowns or
continued living in Tbilisi under the protection of the Georgia Boxing
Association, which had been aiding them.

Moynihan has since tried to work through the Armenian embassy as well
as the one in Buku, but travel restrictions have prevented them from
moving any closer to getting to North Carolina. The Jomardashvili
brothers are natives of Gori, a town that has become the epicenter
of the battle between Russian and Georgian troops after the Georgian
army briefly moved into South Ossetia, a community bordering Russia
and one whose control has been long in dispute. Although the Georgian
army has since retreated the Russian invasion continues, a political
and military move that has left the three boxers unsure of what their
next move is or where they are headed.

"Once the war was on the U.S. embassy closed its visa section,"
Moynihan explained. "We have an embassy in Buku that said it would
help but the travel restrictions at the moment have prevented them
from going anywhere. It’s too dangerous because there are now criminal
gangs in the streets and the Soviet Army could stop them and hold
them if they’re trying to drive to the border. I don’t know where
they’re living at the moment.

"Two of them left their wives behind to come to the U.S. and try to
get their boxing careers going. They had a lot of success over there
but they understood they needed to move to get ahead in boxing."

Only one of the 61 fights the three have been involved in has been
outside of Georgia so their true talents have yet to be tested but
Shalva is an undefeated middleweight prospect (25-0, 18 KO), Levan is
an unbeaten light heavyweight (16-0, 13 KO) and Jikurashvili (20-1,
14 KO) has only one loss, to undefeated former Cuban Olympian Odlanier
Solis in Turkey.

The two brothers were a combined 127-5 as amateurs and won eight
national titles. Jikurashvili is a three-time national amateur champion
and is presently Georgian heavyweight title holder, for what that
may be worth. All three are presently managed by Klimas of E Point K
Consulting, a Seattle-based manager who also handles Demarcus "Chop
Chop" Corley.

The Jomardashvili brothers were among many residents of Gori, a town
of about 50,000, who became refugees after the Russian military began
bombing the town not long after the simmering conflict boiled over. Now
they sit somewhere in Tbilisi along with Jikurashvili waiting for the
fighting to stop long enough so their fighting can begin a long, long
way from home while Turner, the former trainer of Evander Holyfield
among many others, waits in North Carolina for news of the whereabouts
of his newest boxers, three fighters trapped in a war they had nothing
to do with.

YEREVAN SCRAPS VISAS FOR TURKISH SOCCER FANS

Today’s Zaman
16 August 2008, Saturday
Turkey

In a fresh overture to Ankara, Armenia decided on Thursday to
unilaterally suspend its visa regime with Turkey to facilitate the
arrival of Turkish fans for the upcoming first-ever match between
the two countries’ national football teams, the Armenian media have
reported.

The Armenian government stated that Turkish citizens traveling to
Armenia from Sept. 1-6 will not be required to obtain entry visas,
the online news portal armenialiberty.org said in a report posted on
Thursday. "The decision was taken to enable citizens of the Turkish
Republic to attend the Sept. 6 game between the football teams of
Armenia and Turkey to be played in Yerevan," the article quoted a
government statement as saying.

Approached by Today’s Zaman yesterday, diplomatic sources in
Ankara said they haven’t yet received an official notification
concerning the visa decision; yet, the same sources also said such
an initiative by Yerevan should be considered normal procedure. "For
sporting events, the parties involved often provide such temporary
implementations. If this decision by Yerevan was actually made,
this is not an extraordinary action that hasn’t been seen before,"
the diplomatic sources, speaking under condition of anonymity, told
Today’s Zaman.

Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan invited President Abdullah Gul to a
World Cup qualifying match between the national soccer teams of the
two countries in Yerevan on Sept. 6, calling for dialogue to help
normalize ties and saying this would be mutually beneficial.

Both diplomats at the Foreign Ministry and officials close to the
Cankaya presidential palace are tight-lipped on whether Gul will
accept Sarksyan’s invitation, which has led the international media to
define the current state of affairs as "soccer diplomacy." Analysts
say Ankara will probably announce its decision on the matter at
the latest possible moment while continuing its silence as long as
possible. Sources close to Gul’s office say, however, that "Cankaya
palace’s assessment of the invitation is positive." Ankara Today’s
Zaman